The currency casting during the Eastern Han Dynasty was different from that of the Western Han Dynasty. In the Western Han Dynasty, the imperial court minted its own coins. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the coinage power was delegated to local counties and counties, who were responsible for the specific smelting matters.
The department in charge of currency casting in the Luoyang court was the Jincao under Taiwei, but it only carried out macro-control and did not personally participate in the specific currency casting.
He only directs the general policies and does not do anything specific. Of course, in the current situation, Jin Cao's role is infinitely close to zero, and no one will pay attention to anything he says.
The occurrence of this situation is probably related to the fact that the Eastern Han Dynasty government did not pay attention to the casting and circulation of currency. It even ordered the "forbidden casting" and "abandonment" of coinage many times. It was quite indifferent to the monetary economy and had no regard for it at all.
Thinking about developing a commodity and currency economy.
For them, currency means instability in a sense, and they only pursue stable rule. The currency economy does not mean much to them.
There are even quite a number of officials in the court who hope that the economic situation will degenerate into the era of barter. It may be better for everyone to barter without currency.
Under this kind of monetary policy, the five-baht coins used throughout the Eastern Han Dynasty were very problematic. Their copper content, casting techniques, and styles of coins were all different, so that not only local counties and counties could cast coins, but also private coins.
All can make money.
The entire currency circulation field is not only clean and tidy, it can also be regarded as a chaotic mess.
Coins minted in some places are of high quality and have a relatively high copper content, but coins minted in other places are of very poor quality, which not only look ugly but also have a very low copper content.
People often exchange low-quality coins for high-quality coins, and then hide the high-quality coins without using them. Over time, the market is full of low-quality coins with a copper content of less than 60% or even 50%.
As the economic situation in the late Han Dynasty continued to decline, the copper content of coins became lower and lower, and the face value became smaller and smaller. People's trust in bad coins became lower and lower, and the monetary economy fell into an endless cycle. In many places, even
Bartering appeared again.
This situation was particularly obvious in Liangzhou.
When Liu Bei first took control of Liangzhou, there were almost no currency transactions in Liangzhou. Bulk goods were all bartered. This was also true for small-scale private commerce. Even monetary rewards for the army had requirements, and they had to be high-quality currency.
You can't use inferior currency to make up for your losses——
The big soldiers know the difference between high-quality currency and low-quality currency quite well. If you want to use inferior currency to deceive the big soldiers, you have to ask the big soldiers whether the steel knife in their hands will agree.
This situation is naturally unhealthy and cannot meet Liu Bei's needs. It is also quite difficult to collect taxes. It is easier to collect currency, but the value of currency is different. It is safer to collect physical objects, but the requirements for grassroots administrative capabilities are too high and the calculations are too high.
It was so complicated that Liu Bei couldn't handle it.
Faced with this economic situation, Liu Bei's response was to make his own money.
Liu Bei used the captured copper and the copper mines he controlled to mint the popular five-baht coin, which was initially called Liangzhou coin in the local area.
Its copper content is configured at 85%, which is basically the highest peak of ancient coinage and is also a highly reputable copper content.
It is not enough to just mint money yourself. Just minting high-quality currency yourself will also cause the economic phenomenon of bad coins driving out good coins, which will make Liangzhou money become a collection and cause Liu Bei heavy losses. After a long time, he just made wedding clothes for others.
So Liu Bei thought of a good way.
Link your minted money to Liangzhou fine salt.
At that time, Liangzhou fine salt was fully spread in Liangzhou with Liu Bei's manipulative methods. It was also fully spread in trade with the Qiang people and even some areas in the Western Regions. Liangzhou fine salt defeated all opponents and became the only popular local seller.
As for table salt, everyone only recognizes Liangzhou fine salt and does not accept other salts.
Of course, there is no other table salt that can be sold in the entire Liangzhou area.
Therefore, Liu Bei linked this crucial product, which was closely related to the national economy and people's livelihood, with Liangzhou money, giving it a credibility far beyond anyone's imagination.
Moreover, Liangzhou money must enter the circulation field - Liu Bei stipulated that only Liangzhou fine salt can be purchased with Liangzhou money minted by the Liangzhou government. Coins minted in other places will not be accepted, nor will any barter be accepted.
, must be purchased with Liangzhou money.
It's not even possible to bring Shu brocade, we won't sell it, we only take Liangzhou money.
Don’t have Liangzhou money?
Yes, first take goods of equal value or coins from other places and exchange them for Liangzhou money according to the actual value. Liangzhou has a special money exchange office with official equipment, fair prices, and no bullying.
Then exchange the Liangzhou money to go to the official or some private salt shops to buy Liangzhou fine salt.
All in all, if you don’t take Liangzhou money, you can’t buy salt.
People must eat salt. This alone can ensure the commercial circulation of Liangzhou money.
Moreover, through the money exchange channel, Liu Bei successfully collected a large number of privately minted five-baht coins in local areas. He did some research on these five-baht coins and found that they included not only coins of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but also coins of the Western Han Dynasty.
The coins can be traced back to the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Some valuable coins were kept by Liu Bei as a collection and carefully preserved for future generations. The rest of the inferior coins were recast by him as raw materials for casting Liangzhou coins, and then put into circulation again.
In this way, a cycle of good money driving out bad money was formed in the Liangzhou Trade Zone.
In response to the possibility of counterfeit currency production, Liu Bei also took some targeted measures.
First of all, local counties and counties were not allowed to mint money under his decree. Local copper mines were taken over by Liu Bei's people, and coin minting craftsmen were also registered and managed uniformly, which directly cut off the possibility of local counties and counties minting money.
Private money making is somewhat secretive and difficult to detect.
However, the Liangzhou official coins have a very high casting technology. The Liangzhou coins are larger in area, heavier in weight, and have a special pattern. Liu Bei designed the pattern himself and handed it over to excellent technical craftsmen to complete the coin molds. He wanted to copy it.
If you forge it, it will take a lot of effort.
Private coins generally do not have high craftsmanship, there are not so many patterns in pattern design, and Liu Bei is not as willing to give copper. It is easy to tell the difference between Liangzhou coins and private coins.
Therefore, once five-baht coins that are not Liangzhou coins appear on the market, the currency supervision departments set up by Liu Bei in various places will immediately discover it and then report it to the county and state officials for targeted investigation and crackdown.
There are only a few families that can privately mint coins, so Liu Bei's targeted attack did not have a great social impact.
The privately minted currency in Liangzhou area was cut off less than a year after the fine salt trade was launched. It was completely cut off and never seen again. As the fine salt business gradually expanded outward, Liangzhou's
What happened was repeated everywhere.
Over the years, as Liu Bei's control over the area west of Luoyang has increased, especially after the implementation of the slave restriction order, private coinage in the area west of Luoyang has basically disappeared, and the tools and professional technical personnel needed for coinage have been almost completely owned by Liu Bei.
Take it for your own use.
With the growth of Liu Bei's power and the gradual maturity of the monetary supervision department, Liangzhou coins are like a new official in the officialdom with support from above, starting a smooth journey forward.
At the beginning, Liangzhou's five-baht coins were only used within Liangzhou. However, as Liangzhou fine salt continued to be sold, Liangzhou coins began to move to the land of Sanfu and Sanhe. With the expansion of salt interest groups,
The scope of application and value of Liangzhou money are also increasingly recognized.
After Liu Bei became the general, Liangzhou money had a new market name - general money.