Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Sichuan will not engage in divi- sion for the time being because currency reform is more difficult.

The imperial court wanted to gradually replace Sichuan iron coins with silver coins and copper coins, but it was too difficult to implement them.

Iron money cannot be abolished directly, otherwise there will be chaos in Sichuan and the property of countless people will be wiped out.

And if we want to proceed step by step, wealthy households will become the biggest obstacle.

They would collect silver coins and copper coins on the market and hide them in their cellars to pass on to their children and grandchildren.

The Sichuan currency reform in the early Northern Song Dynasty was screwed up in this way. No matter how much copper coins were thrown into Sichuan, they were quietly hoarded by wealthy households. The Northern Song Dynasty court was so angry that it was immediately destroyed and ordered that copper coins should not enter Sichuan to prevent copper coins from various provinces from being involved in the bottomless pit of Sichuan.

The Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue took the lead in formulating the Sichuan (and Hanzhong) currency exchange plan last year.

First, the seven money-making prisons in Qiong, Jia, Ya, Li, Kui, Mei, and Yi were closed. From now on, iron coins will no longer be minted in Sichuan.

The seven money-casting supervisors in Sichuan (and Hanzhong) were changed to smelting steel and making iron tools. Five of the prisons were converted into private companies, and the remaining two were converted into soldiers.

Second, severely crack down on private money making.

According to the law, the three tribes of Yi should be allowed to live, but the court decided to grant amnesty and instead distribute them to the barbarian lands in southern Sichuan!

Encourage people to report, and once verified, you will be rewarded with a generous reward of 500 coins. If the case is serious, a generous reward of one thousand guan will be given.

Third, the people were allowed to pay taxes with iron money.

The iron money and taxes collected by the government are retained by local governments for their own use, and all are handed over to the central government for smelting. It was equivalent to destroying a batch of iron money handed over to the central government every year, which would sharply reduce the central government's tax revenue. The Northern Song Dynasty court was unwilling to do this, but Zhu and his son believed that it would be beneficial in the long run.

Fourth, a batch of copper coins from other provinces are distributed to prefectures and counties in Sichuan through transfer payments every year.

These copper coins from other provinces can only be used for infrastructure and salaries. For example, repairing official roads, plank roads, water conservancy, etc. can also be used to pay salaries to officials.

…

Yazhou, Mingshan County.

The famous mountain tea produced here was the flagship product of the tea-horse trade in the Song Dynasty and was deeply loved by the leaders of various grassland ethnic groups.

Therefore, the people in Mingshan suffered a lot, and too many soldiers died and fled away while collecting tea, so the army was drafted to collect tea. They went all the way north from western Sichuan, entered Shaanxi from Hanzhong, and then headed to Qinghai or Xixia.

In one round trip, nearly half of them died.

The poor people in Mingshan County were extremely loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

Because the method of tea-horse trade changed, it was replaced by merchants purchasing and transporting tea. Sichuan tea merchants transported it to Hanzhong, and Hanzhong tea merchants then transported it to Lanzhou, where Lanzhou's Tea Horse Company was responsible for the purchase.

When the official fortune is changed to the commercial fortune, no one will die immediately, and even if there are deaths, it is an accident.

In addition to tea, Mingshan County also specializes in iron coins!

Baizhangjian (money casting institution) is located at the junction of Mingshan County, Baizhang County, and Pujiang County. Last year, the court announced that it would cease production and sell it to merchants for civilian use.

Sun Mengliang, the first Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty, was standing by the Tiexi River with a frown on his face.

Dutou Hu Ming ran over quickly: "Master Sun, I searched all over and couldn't find it. Is it a mistake?"

A man in brown clothes next to him said: "That's right, iron money has been privately minted here for four months. It is said to be smelting pig iron and making farm tools, but in fact it is secretly casting iron money. The officials are saints and have great kindness to the people of famous mountains. If officials say they are not allowed to mint private money, then it must be against the law!"

Sun Mengliang remained silent.

The man who reported the private money casting said anxiously: "This place was built under the supervision of Yang Twelve Lang himself. He comes here every now and then. He also told the craftsmen that anyone who dares to gossip will kill his whole family. Usually there are people on guard in the surrounding mountains, so no one is allowed to do it. Anyone can come and go at will, I escaped over the mountain and through the cliff over there..."

While he was talking, a middle-aged man came by boat. When he landed on the shore, he bowed his hands and said, "I have seen Mr. Sun's book. I am Yang Hao, named Yangzhi, and his clan is twelve."

Sun Mengliang said expressionlessly: "Wait."

"What are you waiting for?" Yang Hao was stunned.

Sun Mengliang said: "Wait until the county magistrate borrows troops from the state city."

Yang Hao was frightened in his heart and pretended to be calm: "It's all a misunderstanding, why bother alarming the state soldiers. My brother had already gone to Hanzhong to join the government before the Song Dynasty was destroyed, but now he is serving as the magistrate in Yanping. I heard that Sun The chief registrar is from Fuzhou, so my brother has time to go and pay a visit."

The Yang family belongs to a famous mountain family and owns many tea mountains. Hanzhong is their economic lifeline.

Therefore, the Zhu family and his son raised troops in Hanzhong and blocked the passage to sell tea from the north. The famous mountain Yangjiama escaped and defected. Not only is there a lot of money, but there are also children of the Yang family who have been promoted to the prefect level.

Sun Mengliang sneered: "It is precisely because the Yang family has ministers who have served the dragon and have great magical powers in famous mountains that the county magistrate had to go to the city to borrow troops. I asked myself how I came without anyone noticing, but I didn't expect that the Yang family would have received the news in advance. If you tell the county government who is the insider as soon as possible, you can be given a lighter sentence when the case is tried."

"How can there be such a thing? Private coins are minted by the Yi people!" Yang Hao continued to pretend to be stupid, "I am a famous Yang family. I want money and officials. I bought this from the government last year. Living in an iron mine, not only making a lot of money every day, but also having enough to eat and drink. I am afraid that I am suffering from madness, so I will do business with the Yi tribe."

"Haha." Sun Mengliang laughed dryly.

Yang Hao was a little anxious and said: "Master Sun, my brother is not only a magistrate in Fujian, but also acquainted with ministers and ministers, and worked together in Hanzhong. If today's misunderstanding can be resolved, what will Master Sun do in the future? I, Mingshan Yang, promise to do my best to help."

Sun Mengliang asked: "Are you using cabinet ministers and ministers to threaten me?"

"I don't dare, I just want to make friends with Master Sun." Yang Hao quickly explained.

Sun Mengliang said: "Master Yan, please stop working in vain. Even if he had received money from the Yang family, he would not dare to cover it up for you, and he could take the opportunity to make up for it. I'm afraid you don't know that when Sichuan officials evaluate their political performance, , if the case of privately cast iron money is solved, it can be directly rated as the best."

Yang Hao's legs felt weak after hearing this. He really didn't know about this.

"Take it!" Sun Mengliang ordered.

Dutou Hu Ming was hesitant and suggested: "Should we find out the person before arresting him? After all, the Yang family is a famous family, and there is also Conglong Wenchen."

Sun Mengliang looked at Hu Ming: "Are you also in contact with the Yang family?"

"Absolutely not!"

Hu Ming denied it, and then shouted: "Get someone!"

"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding..."

Seeing several government officials rushing over and not listening to his own excuses, Yang Hao turned from panic to arrogance and shouted angrily: "I am Yang Twelve Lang, who dares to take me?"

The officials were really frightened and stopped one by one.

Yang Hao continued to play tricks: "My name is the Yang family, and I have the same origin as the Yang family in Chengdu. Which official of the Chengdu Tea Horse Department in the former Song Dynasty is not familiar with my Yang family? In the second year of the Ming Dynasty, when the prince occupied Chengdu, he faced During the six-pronged siege by the officers and soldiers of the former Song Dynasty, I, the Yang family, risked beheading and surrendered to your majesty. Is this a great achievement? Is this loyalty to the Ming Dynasty? Let me tell you, my brother is still your majesty’s registered disciple and has been with your majesty for a month. Official document!"

Saying that, Yang Hao turned to Sun Mengliang: "You are a small chief clerk, and you use chicken feathers as arrows. You dare to find out the Yang family without any evidence. This made His Majesty Long Yan very angry, and your career in this life will be ruined." To be buried!"

Sun Mengliang mocked and said: "His Majesty's registered disciple? Hehe, I'm afraid you don't know that His Majesty's personal disciple touched thousands of dollars in Luoyang, and was severely punished by His Majesty's personal order. Your clan brother is His Majesty's registered disciple, so I will Aren't you a disciple of the Emperor? I am the first Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty!"

Yang Hao felt increasingly guilty but said harshly: "Which one is more important, a minister from Long Dynasty or a Jinshi from Shouguo? You are the chief secretary, so don't show your authority carelessly. There are many people in the world you can't afford to offend! Then he said to the two chief envoys of Sichuan , and the magistrate of Yazhou also has friendship with my brother."

Sun Mengliang said: "I have written down this statement. I will definitely go to the imperial court and ask the Third Law Division to investigate them thoroughly."

Yang Hao said: "You are just a district registrar, what qualifications do you have to go to the imperial court?"

Sun Mengliang said: "I am a serious official, why can't I be promoted? Even if my memorials fall into the sea, my Sun family will have no reason to continue to be an official? The Sun family, a marquis, is not taking it easy. Take someone!"

The distant ancestor of the Sun family, a marquis in the Song Dynasty, was Sun Liang, the son of Sun Quan.

All the officials looked at each other in confusion. They listened for a long time, but they didn't understand who was more awesome.

But Dutou Hu Ming shouted: "Get someone, listen to me."

"yes!"

Several officials immediately held Yang Hao down, and their expressions were quite excited. It was obvious that the Yang family had a very bad reputation and had killed many people in the tea-horse trade in the early years.

"You've rebelled, you've all rebelled. How dare you attack the Yang family? You're going to destroy them one by one!"

Yang Hao was still roaring incompetently, but Sun Mengliang turned a deaf ear.

A few hours later, a government official came over and said, "I found the coin-making mold. It sank in the Tiexi River. After diving for a long time, I finally found it. I also found many iron coins from the bottom of the river, with burrs all over them." It hasn’t been polished off, and it looks like it’s newly cast.”

Sun Mengliang was overjoyed: "Keep salvaging! Hu Dutou, you can temporarily recruit some young people, and you can call any friends to come. Go and surround the Yang family's old house. No one is allowed to let go."

"As you command!"

Hu Ming felt that he was going to make a great contribution, and that he would be promoted and make a fortune soon.

From last winter to this spring, out of the five money-making prisons sold to private individuals, four have received reports from craftsmen one after another.

These guys are obviously not short of money, but they risk being attacked by the Yi clan and secretly engage in the business of casting private money.

It's okay to just repay the privately minted copper coins, at least they can be used.

The private casting of iron money was completely against the imperial court. The emperor and the prince wished that the iron money would be melted down as soon as possible.

As long as it is verified, the head of the household involved and the actual manager will be beheaded directly. Although the people of the three tribes were granted amnesty, they had to be exiled to southern Sichuan and had to deal with the barbarians from then on, and all their property was confiscated.

This can be regarded as supporting the development of Southwest China.

From now on, all offenders in Sichuan who are guilty of crimes worthy of exile will be thrown to southern Sichuan.

Junlian, Yanjin, Xuyong, Gulin... are now in the hands of barbarians and urgently need to be enriched by Han people.

Far away in the capital.

The cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs are having a heated discussion on whether banknotes should be reissued in Sichuan, and most officials are opposed.

(Woof woof woof, bark three more times, and I promise to complete that chapter tomorrow!)