Tang Dynasty Crossing Guide: Chang'an and People's Life Manual

Chapter 13 Do as the Romans do, you must have basic life knowledge (3)
When the emperor received these silver collars, he would use some of them to cast various utensils.People in the Tang Dynasty believed that using gold and silverware in daily life could cure all diseases and prolong life, so there was a great demand for it.The royal family kept some of the cast gold and silver wares for their own use, and many of them were rewarded to their ministers.

Of course, the emperor sometimes rewarded some of the received silver collars to his ministers intact.In addition, some local officials, especially those in silver-producing areas, also used silver as gifts or bribes to ministers of the DPRK and China.

There is another channel that may obtain a large amount of silver. For example, your family is a wealthy businessman engaged in cross-border trade. He has business dealings with Hu merchants in the Western Regions or Nanyang barbarians. He has just completed a large transaction and the other party paid for the goods with gold and silver. .

Now that we understand these three main cashier channels, let's see what the white lotus mother and daughter will think of when you spent a lot of money just now.

First of all, you are talking about 1000 taels of silver, so it will not be silver vases, silver bowls and other silver utensils, but silver collars and silver ingots with marked weights.The sources of these things are as follows:

The first type, the emperor rewarded my family.Very good, the gift from the royal family, the time, place of origin, source, and contributors are all engraved on it, and you can find out the ins and outs of things with a search. Your boss actually used it to prostitute, which really makes the emperor and his family look good. ah?

The second type is "sent" by local officials to your family.You are afraid that others will not know that your family is accepting bribes and selling officials, right?
The third type is the payment received from foreign trade.Brother, since you are a businessman, can you be economical?Silver is something that the common people in the Central Plains don't like, and it is most useful to do business with Hu merchants. It is hard work and thankless for the bright pearls to be cast secretly, so why bother.

The fourth type is to rob the convoy of paying taxes and tribute on the way, or the caravan of Hu merchants, or enter the government warehouse through the wall in the middle of the night, and steal the court's silver deposits. Reasonably generous.

Do you understand now?Do you know why they kicked you out of the house directly?

Pat on the shoulder, you don't need to be depressed, there is no grass anywhere in the world, and white lotus blooms everywhere in the universe of the traveler, as long as you buy a first night to redeem yourself next time, you should first get some currency knowledge.

For example, you just like the heavy feel of precious metals, and you think it’s fun to throw a lot of gold and silver in the past. Gold collars, gold pancakes, or more naturally, some small gold and silver utensils, spherical sachets, gold hairpins and silver combs specially made for a confidante.

Yes, you heard it right, in the Tang Dynasty it was not acceptable to pay directly with silver, but it is quite common to pay directly with gold for large amounts of payment.

vomiting blood?cheating?Why do you ask?Does this... need a reason?Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, gold has been a representative of precious value, and the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty especially liked to give gold to their ministers.We all know that gold has been the most popular store of value until modern times, so after hundreds of years of great turmoil after the Wuhu Incident, until the Sui and Tang Dynasties, on the one hand, people are generally obsessed with gold and are willing to accept it; on the other hand, the amount of gold held in society There are also more and more common, so everyone accepts gold as a means of payment for large amounts. Is there anything difficult to understand?
Well, you ask how much gold is needed to redeem the white lotus?It's hard to say, art is priceless.I can provide you with a reference value: in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, according to the self-report of a well-known lady in Pingkangfang, she could be saved from the fire pit with one or two hundred gold.Of course, if the white lotus you love is very popular and there are many suitors, and her false mother stands on the stage with a small hammer to bid for it, then it will be a bottomless pit.

What is the concept of 100 taels of gold?

One tael of gold and silver in the Tang Dynasty was equivalent to about 1 grams today. 42 taels of gold, about 100 grams, the ancient smelting process was not strong, the fineness may not be high, the gold content is 4200%, the current gold price is about 90 yuan per gram, then if you travel back with 315 taels of gold from the Tang Dynasty, you can be in modern times Selling for about 100 million yuan.

If you can't wear it back, and you want to spend the 100 taels of gold on the spot in the Tang Dynasty, what can you buy?

First of all, I would like to remind you that the gold mentioned above can be spent directly, and it has always been emphasized as a "large payment method", that is, you can use gold to invite celebrities to accompany wine and sing, give gifts and bribes to officials, pay tribute to the emperor or conduct business with foreign businessmen. International trade or something.If you walk into a Xishi Hotel with a wad of gold (usually 10 taels) to buy wine and drink, the owner will probably point to the door: Mr. Wang, turn left when you go out, there is a gold and silverware shop on the corner of the street, please go and change it Turn into copper coins and then come to visit the small shop.

Cheng, you go to exchange money, of course you will definitely ask, brother, how much can you exchange for this 100 taels of gold?Don't let profiteers take advantage of you if you don't know the place you've just passed through.

Oh, you are making things difficult for me.The price of goods in the Tang Dynasty has been fluctuating, and the price of gold has changed quite a lot. It is said that at the lowest point, 1 tael of gold could only be exchanged for 3500 copper coins, and at the highest time, 1 tael of gold could be exchanged for 8000 coins... So, based on the information I have, it seems that It is more common and reasonable to exchange 1 tael of gold for 6000 coins, so your hundred taels of gold can be exchanged for 60, which is 600 guan.

You exchanged a 10 taels of gold ingot in that gold and silver shop and got 60 guan coins... what?You said that it would be troublesome to go to the gold shop, so it's better to exchange them all for copper coins at once.Boss, do you know how much 600 copper coins weigh?More than 2500 kilograms in modern times!Are you going to drive a crane from Sany Heavy Industry through it?It's only 60 coins, and there are more than 500 catties (market catties) in modern times. When you go out, you have to buy a few strong labor male slaves, and then buy a cart to hold copper coins.I advise you to cut open the 10 liang ingot in the gold shop, exchange it for 1 liang, and take the 6 guan of money to carry it away.

You carried more than 50 catties of copper coins on your back, and you returned to the hotel just now, wiped the sweat from your brow, and put your rucksack on the wine table (this solid wood furniture is strong, the case creaked and twisted for a long time) , did not collapse), shouted: "I'm thirsty! The doctor will give you a bucket of wine!"

1 bucket of wine?why?Is it because of "Li Baidou's Hundred Poems on Wine"?Well, the owner of the hotel probably has seen a lot of time travelers, so he calmly came over to share his hands, and please give us the money for the wine first.Ordinary wine in the small shop costs 1 Wen per dou, fine wine costs 150 Wen per dou, and the limited-edition royal wine for dignitaries and dignitaries costs 1 guan per dou.

You suck your teeth, count out 300 copper coins and throw them in his hand, the shopkeeper turns around - boom!
A gigantic wine jar is thrown on the table in front of you (the solid wood furniture is of good quality, really...), and inside it is a bucket of good wine you want. How much is 1 bucket?Well, you know the German draft beer you often drink before crossing, a glass is almost 1ml.One bucket of wine made in the Tang Dynasty is exactly equivalent to ten cups of draft beer.You always enjoy it slowly.

What a waist of 10 guan, riding a Hercules transport plane to Yangzhou, what a hundred poems about Li Datong fighting wine... You know how cheating the literati are.Okay, okay, don't cry!
While wiping your tears, you slowly drink these ten glasses of good wine.There is nothing to do, and there are still a few copper coins that have just been grabbed from the backpack. Let's take a closer look at this popular currency that was the most accessible and popular in the Tang Dynasty.

Since time travel, everything you have seen is very strange, and you have bumped into walls everywhere. Now looking at these copper coins, you finally feel a little familiar and kind.These are similar to those copper coins you have seen in TV dramas before time travel, or at cultural streets and fake antique stalls. The outer circle is square and the inner square is eight centimeters in diameter. The ingredients are copper, tin, lead, and copper has a little more color. It is redder, more tin is whiter, and the weight is "one coin" (the unit of weight of one coin commonly used in later generations is based on the copper coins of the Tang Dynasty). Around the square hole in the center of the coin, there are also cast With four pure European characters, you turn your head up and down, left and right, and read out: "Kaiyuan Tongbao."

"It turned out to be money made during the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty." You nodded suddenly, admiring your profound knowledge, but the hotel owner gave you a calm look that was powerless and familiar with others, and you were busy with your own affairs.

what happened?Brother made a mistake again?Didn't Tang Xuanzong Li Longji have a year name called Kaiyuan?Aren't these Kaiyuan Tongbao made during the Kaiyuan period?
It's really not.

As long as you travel through the landing time, after the fourth year of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, you will be able to see Kaiyuan Tongbao all over the street.The reign title at that time was the "Wu De" of Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty. The money he made for himself was named Kaiyuan Tongbao, which means "opening a new era and entering a new era".Therefore, there was neither Wude Tongbao nor Zhenguan Tongbao in the Tang Dynasty. Whether it was Li Shimin, Wu Zetian, or when Dezong, Xianzong, and Xuanzong were in power in the later period, Kaiyuan Tongbao was always popular in the market.Well, occasionally you can also see some Qianyuan Chongbao and Dali Yuanbao. These are coins of the year, but the circulation is very small and does not occupy an important position.

Turn over a few Kaiyuan Tongbao in your hands, and you find another rare thing: one or two coins are engraved with a half-moon imprint on the back, some are engraved with stars, and some are not engraved on a bare plate. What's so special about this?

This is the starting point of many gossip about the royal family that people in the Tang Dynasty talked about.

For example, when Kaiyuan Tongbao began to be cast in the fourth year of Wude (621), the craftsmen first made a few sample coins with wax and gave them to the rulers for review.At that time, the biggest official in the imperial court was Li Shimin, the king of Qin, who was the official minister. The wax sample was given to him, and his wife, Changsun, who was later named "Queen Wende", was also by his side. Picking up a wax coin to examine carefully, he accidentally pinched a half-moon mark on the back of the coin with his long nails.

Li Shimin waved his hand, my wife is right in everything she does!The wax samples were returned just like that, and the craftsmen did not dare to alter them randomly. They made mud blocks on the outside of the wax coins, poured copper juice into them, and the cast copper coins had the same half-moon imprint as the wax coins.

This story is the version of the early Tang Dynasty. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the hero of the story was replaced by Xuanzong Li Longji, and the heroine was replaced by Yang Guifei. The plot is similar.There is also a version with a similar plot, but the protagonist is a ghost, saying that the long nails belonged to Li Yuan's wife - Li Shimin's mother - "Queen Taimu" Dou, because this old lady had died a lot when the Tang Dynasty was established year, so...

Pat on the shoulders, hurry up and drink a few sips of wine to warm your stomach and drive away evil spirits. In fact, I tell ghost stories to help you digest these ten glasses of good wine.Cough, according to the serious research of modern scholars, the star pattern and crescent pattern on these coins may be related to the religion believed by the Hu people in the Western Regions.A large number of Kaiyuan Tongbao with moon patterns became popular after the Anshi Rebellion, and Anlu Mountain, which rebelled at that time, had its own money casting furnace, and his rebellion also largely used religious means.In short, these are all gossips that have nothing to do with it, let me serve you a drink.

To be serious, you now have 99 taels of gold in your arms, 5 guan and 700 Wen coins on your back, and want to prosper in the Tang Dynasty, so what can you buy with these currencies?

First, I advise you to buy two strong and capable servants to help carry money and things.You say you can't do the business of buying and selling people?There is no way, do as the Romans do, in the Tang Dynasty it was much more difficult to find a temporary worker to do the work than to buy a slave.If you really can't get around your own sense of justice and morality, you can buy them first, and then make a written statement to "release" these slaves and let them restore their status as free citizens. It's a good thing, right? ?

As for the price of slaves, it also varies greatly according to different times, regions, and conditions.A stunning maidservant may ask for hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars, and there are also weak and stupid servants who will sell for two or three pennies.The kind of strong male slaves you want to buy... about 5 Wen each, 50 guan.If you spend 17 taels of gold, you should be able to buy two knuckles.

Second, solve the transportation problem.If you want to buy a powerful and famous car (a strong cow + a two-wheeled cart), you have to spend 30 taels of gold (200 guan).Can't bear it?Then you can hire a car, the price is about 1 penny per catty of load to travel a mile, and my brother doesn't use a meter, so you need to negotiate the price before getting in the car.

Third, just like before time travel, it is very difficult for you to buy a house in the imperial capital.Living in Chang'an is not easy. A house in a good location will cost at least 500 guan. Your hundred taels of gold will be enough, and you will be unable to pursue luxury decoration. Let's live in thatched shacks and yellow land for a few years first. (You said you traveled all the way to the Tang Dynasty for what?)

But there is good news, that is, the housing prices and rents of the imperial capital are beyond the eyes of the government. The low-rent housing policy has just been introduced, and it is strictly stipulated that the monthly rent of each apartment near the bustling business district should not exceed 500 Wen.If you rent one room, rent one room for two servants, and the three masters and servants will live in Chang'an for a month, and it will only cost 1 Guan (2000 yuan).

Fourth, food is the paramount necessity of the people. Next, we will solve the stomach needs of your master and servant.

The simplest and most corrupt - go to a restaurant!The highest-level Beili Famous Flower Banquet in Ancheng, Chang’an, costs 300 renminbi for the banquet, eats and drinks until dark, and doubles the amount of lanterns.If you fall in love with a little lady, you will have to double it for the first time to stay overnight. You will pay 1 and 200 Wen a night, which is more expensive than a month's rent.

You said this is too extravagant, you have to make a fire and cook by yourself?Yes, let's go buy food first.The price of grain in the Tang Dynasty also fluctuated very drastically. In the peaceful and prosperous times, 3 Wen could buy a bucket of rice.Generally speaking, before the Anshi Rebellion, the grain price was an average of 1 Wen per dou of rice, but after the Anshi Rebellion it increased tenfold, to 1 Wen per Dou of rice.

Your one hundred taels of gold = 600 coins, before the Anshi Rebellion, you can buy 4 buckets of rice, and take it back to modern times, which is roughly equivalent to 170 tons of rice (Tang Doumi = 8.5 catties today); after the Anshi Rebellion, you can buy 4000 Dou rice, modern 17 tons.

The standard ration for strong men in the Tang Dynasty was "2 liters per day" and 6 dou per month. For your master and servant, three strong men, first buy 18 dou of monthly ration, which costs 270 Wen or 2700 Wen. (Don’t ask me how big my stomach was at that time. How could I eat the current 1 catty and 7 taels of grain in a day? That’s what it says in the data. The 1 catty and 7 taels may be unhulled millet, or it may include The cost of non-staple food such as pig feed.)
Of course, it is more common for northerners to eat flour and millet (millet) ground from wheat than to eat rice.The official pricing in the Tang Dynasty was 3 buckets of rice = 5 buckets of millet. In the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, 1 bucket of wheat in the Western Regions was about 35 Wen. If you need to buy it, please convert it yourself.

1 catty of salt costs 40 Wen, and 1 liter of vinegar costs 5 Wen.

1 penny can buy three eggs, 30 pennies can buy a chicken, 500 pennies can buy a pig, do you want to eat beef instead of chicken or pork?Bear with it, killing a cow is against the law and you will be spanked!Even if you have money, you can't buy beef.

A big pot that can cook 3 buckets of rice costs 700 Wen, a bowl costs 30 Wen, and a steel kitchen knife costs 80 Wen.Industrial products at that time were really expensive.

With pots and pans, rice, noodles, meat and salt, you need fuel to cook.A dozen renminbi can buy a bunch of firewood, and two or three renminbi can buy a catty of charcoal.

You said that summer is very hot, do you want to keep some drinks at home?Before Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, it was not easy to buy tea in the market. In addition to wine, you can also prepare some yogurt at home, and you can buy it for 5 Wen per liter.

Have a drink and want a snack?Are you planning to carry a few boxes of Coke along with you?Forget it, raisins cost 15 cents per liter, jujubes cost 1 cents per liter, plums cost 5 cents per liter, and almonds cost 1 cents per liter. They are almonds from the Western Regions, not American almonds.

Fifth, if you have food, buy two clean and decent clothes!

(End of this chapter)