After looking at the mural of the greeting, I noticed that there were many wooden boxes stacked next to the mural.

I wondered, "What's in these boxes?"

In the faint light, I slowly groped my way through, lifted a wooden box, and the smell of patina came to me.

"Copper coins? This smell, no wonder the literati have scoffed at it since ancient times. I scoffed, picking one up.

This copper coin is covered in blue-green patina. "It seems that the copper content is very high. ”

"Take advantage of Tongbao. "I looked at the four words on the copper coin, a little confused.

I wondered what period this was a coin.

The coin-minting activities of Wu Sangui and his regime had a profound impact on the economy of Yunnan-Guizhou and the vast regions of southern China in the early Qing Dynasty. However, some of these issues are still not very clear so far, such as the exact minting time of "using Tongbao", the meaning of the word "utilization", the amount of minting and the scope of circulation of these currencies, etc., have not yet been determined, and few scholars have conducted special studies. Due to the lack of literature, there is little discussion of the coinage process, numismatic composition, and relationship with the local copper smelting industry of Wu Sangui and his regime.

In the first year of Kangxi, Wu Sangui killed Zhu Youlang, the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty, in Kunming. The Qing court made Wu Sangui the Prince of Pingxi and placed Guizhou Province under its jurisdiction. Wu Sangui then long-ago town Yungui. At the beginning of entering Yungui, Wu Sangui set out to capture and kill Emperor Yongli while pacifying the Tusi, so he needed a large amount of funds to solve military expenses and restore the local economy. At that time, Wu Sangui had asked Emperor Kangxi to mint money on the spot to supply the local currency circulation, but the Qing ** did not give Wu Sangui the right to mint money, but supplied Yunnan with copper coins minted by Baoquan and Jiangning. Because the coinage of the Baoquan and Jiangning bureaus could not be transported to Yunnan in a timely manner, it could not meet the needs of local currency circulation, which had a serious impact on the local economy. Under these circumstances, in order to solve military expenditures and develop the local economy, Wu Sangui began to use the copper ore resources in the area under his jurisdiction and the old money, equipment and craftsmen of Sun Kewang and Yongli regime in the local area to mint copper coins "using Tongbao". Wu Sangui initially minted the "use of Tongbao" to fold silver money, and the main purpose of minting money was to increase local revenue and solve military needs. The nature of the coin is that of a local currency. In November of the twelfth year of Kangxi, Wu Sangui rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and continued to mint "using Tongbao" in the area under his control, at this time "using Tongbao" had become the currency issued by Wu Sangui's independent regime, and the minting scope of coins had also expanded to Hunan and Guangxi. "Using Tongbao" has a small flat money on the back of the light, the Jidi money on the back of "Yun" and "Gui", as well as a variety of folded silver coins on the back of "centi", "two cents", "five cents", "one cent" and "one cent", and there are many layouts of various money. At this time, Wu Sangui's purpose in minting money was to expand his political influence in southern China through currency circulation, and at the same time declared independence to the Qing Dynasty. In the seventeenth year of Kangxi, Wu Sangui proclaimed himself emperor in Hengzhou, changed Yuan Zhaowu, and changed Hengzhou to Dingtianfu. After being called the emperor, Wu Sangui cast the "Zhaowu Tongbao" year money. There are two systems of "Zhaowu Tongbao" money, one system is the seal script "Zhaowu Tongbao", the face text is read directly, there are two kinds of size, the big money is cast on the back of the "one point" to show the folding of silver "one point"; the other system is the regular script "Zhaowu Tongbao" copper coin, there is only one kind of small flat money, and the light back and back wear the word "work". The seal script "Zhaowu Tongbao" survives less, most of them were unearthed in the Shaanxi and Gansu regions, and the regular script "Zhaowu Tongbao" has a huge number of surviving lives, and is similar to the "use of Tongbao" in terms of money and overall style, and belongs to the same monetary system. Wu Sangui claimed that the emperor died of illness less than a year ago, and at this time the Wu army was already in a clear rout. Guo Zhuang coerced the "grandson" Wu Shifan to ascend the throne in Yunnan in the seventeenth year of Kangxi, and the "pseudo-edict" was everywhere, and the eighteenth year of Kangxi was changed to "Honghua", and the capital was Guiyang, and the "Honghua Tongbao" copper coin was cast. "Honghua Tongbao" only has small flat money, and those who divide the back and the back of the "worker" and the "household" are respectively minted by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household of the Wu Zhou regime. Like the "use of Tongbao" money of Wu Sangui Casting Bank twelve years after Kangxi, "Zhaowu Tongbao" and "Honghua Tongbao" were both currencies independently issued by the Wu Zhou regime.

Wu Sangui coinage, initially followed the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty silver money system, formed a "Xing Dynasty - utilization" monetary system, Wu Sangui continued to mint and issue currency after the Qing Dynasty, at this time the coinage gradually got rid of the influence of the silver money, more affected by the Ming Dynasty coinage, in the money and shape have inherited the Ming Dynasty coinage legacy. Since the Yunnan-Guizhou region controlled by Wu Sangui for a long time was the main copper-producing area in China, and the currency was minted during the Ming Dynasty and the Sun Kewang and Yongli regimes, the rich copper ore resources and advanced coinage technology created conditions for Wu Sangui and his regime to mint currency, making it possible for Wu Sangui and his regime to use the advanced "sand minting coin" technology in the Ming Dynasty to mint coins of various formats. Kangxi pacified the three feudatories, and the coinage activities of Wu Sangui and his regime also ceased with the demise of the regime. The Qing Dynasty twice ordered the recovery and destruction of the coinage of Wu Sangui and his regime, but because the coinage of Wu Sangui and his regime had been circulating in Yunnan, Guizhou and Jiangnan for more than ten years, and had a certain social foundation, it did not really withdraw from the field of currency circulation until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

I continue to recall that the metal composition of the Qing Dynasty coins remained copper, six, zinc, and four for a long time, which reflects the stability of the money-making system. Song Yingxing of the Ming Dynasty described the relationship between lead content and the quality of coinage in "Heavenly Creations", "Where the level of money is divided by the amount of lead, its thickness and thinness, it is obvious." Lead is cheap and copper is expensive, and the private casters are half of it, and they throw it on the stepping stone, and the sound is like wood and stone, and this low money is also. If the high money is copper, nine leads, and one, then the ground will be made of gold." The purpose of adding lead is to reduce the cost of minting. However, this use of Tongbao obviously has a sign that is different from the composition of the official coinage alloy of the Ming and Qing dynasties, which is mainly manifested as "more copper and less zinc". This seems to indicate that the Yunnan-Guizhou region controlled by the Wu Sangui regime at that time was rich in copper resources and mined in large quantities, and the cost of copper for local coinage was low, so the copper content in the coins was generally high.

It can be seen from many documents that the use of Tongbao is confirmed to be the currency minted and issued by Wu Sangui, and there are many types, complex layouts, and different sizes and weights. However, so far, the records of the use of Tongbao in the genealogies are only a few words, and there are discrepancies in the contents, and many of the issues such as the time of minting, the meaning of the coin, the area of circulation, the exchange situation, the time of circulation, or the disagreement or the record is not clear or only stop at the textual description, and the nature of this coin has not been further discussed. There are many unclear problems in the use of Tongbao money, which are worthy of further study. So far, there have been no treatises on the use of Tongbao, and as a currency that played an important role in China's political scene in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, it needs to be paid attention to and discussed.

As I thought, I picked up a few copper coins and put them in my pocket.