The Western Jin Dynasty is unique in the history of Chinese currency in that it was the only dynasty that did not mint currency.

In the Jin Dynasty, the style of metaphysics was popular, the mainstream ideology was very nihilistic, and the scholars and doctors were also absurd. Whether the imperial court did not mint money, whether it was because it was lazy, or because it was chaotic and could not take care of state affairs, it was not clear, anyway, it left a blank in China's monetary history for more than 100 years.

So what should the people do with the money? Yes, use the old currency of the previous dynasty or private coinage.

Because the Western Jin Dynasty inherited Cao Wei, it used the five-baht coin of Wei. When I arrived in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, because the territory was in the area of Dongwu in that year, I used the old money of Dongwu.

Even Sima Shu was thinking about how to take back the right to mint coins, and he said that he had a banquet in Hualin Garden for Zhang Bin, the first assistant of the cabinet, "Come, how about Mr. Mengsun taste the tea I brewed?" Let Xiao Dengzi hand the brewed tea to Zhang Bin, and then he himself picked up a cup, took a deep breath, and tasted the refreshing fragrance!

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zhang Bin has a very harmonious relationship with Sima Shu and his ministers, and sometimes he is a little informal in private, "Your Majesty has been frowning recently, I don't know what to worry about?" ”

"Alas, Mr. Mengsun, you also know that there is a problem with the imperial court's finances, and I want to take back the right to mint coins through this opportunity, but I don't know where to intervene, and I feel a little bored." He didn't hide it from Zhang Bin, Sima Shu threw out the problem in front of him.

"Your Majesty, let's not talk about the right to mint coins, the minister has a question for Your Majesty, if the imperial court coinage is planning to remint five baht coins? Or will it be minted separately? ”

"Aiqing, is there any difference between the two?"

"Each has its pros and cons! The five-baht coin was issued in the fifth year of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (118 B.C.), and was used until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. ”

"The Western Han Dynasty five-baht coin, weighing five baht, has a regular shape, a standard weight, and a well-minted coinage, and has a huge reputation among the people. However, over the past few hundred years, many private individuals have destroyed five-baht coins and minted inferior coins, resulting in the flood of all kinds of inferior five-baht coins. If His Majesty plans to remint the five-baht coin, it will be able to circulate quickly as long as it is in good condition, and the only thing to worry about is that the flood of bad coins everywhere will have an impact on the new five-baht coins of the imperial court. ”

"What if I mint another coin?"

"The first imperial court can take the opportunity to collect and destroy all the bad coins in the world, and the second majesty changes the yuan to ascend the throne, and the minting of new coins and the issuance of new money will help show everyone that the new dynasty has a new atmosphere. However, minting requires a lot of cost, and if you don't prepare enough, if something goes wrong, the new coin is likely to die! ”

After listening to Zhang Bin's words, Sima Shu was immediately reminded again, this kind of thing he said is not impossible, and the most obvious example is Wang Mang's reform. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang's new dynasty indiscriminately minted coins, so that his original little public opinion base disappeared in an instant, and under the blow of the rising peasant uprising, the dynasty completely collapsed!

Currency reform is not based on administrative orders can work, the early Ming Dynasty relied on administrative means to issue banknotes, but because of the poor management of the imperial court, the final circulation of banknotes failed, and gradually was forced out of the market.

In fact, the ancient Chinese currency was never truly unified.

There are a number of reasons for this, one of the most important of which is that China is a country that lacks precious metals, and both gold and silver need to be imported from the outside world. This is also the objective reason why copper has always been the main currency in China. It wasn't until the end of the Ming Dynasty that silver really established its status as a currency.

Although Sima Shu also wanted to establish a silver standard, he knew that unless he took the silver mines of the Wa Kingdom, the silver standard would be a utopian dream. Because in the past, the imperial court and the local government minted money, and lead was added when coining money in various places, and sometimes the copper content in the copper coin was only three percent, and it could be broken if it fell to the ground, which shows how much the currency has depreciated at this time.

"Mr. Mengsun, I have thought about it carefully, and it is more appropriate to issue five baht coins. After all, this currency has been in use for hundreds of years, and its credibility is the highest. The imperial court had too few copper mines, and many large copper mines were located in Jiangdong and other regions. ”

"As Mr. said, if we force a new coin without being prepared, it is likely to cause serious damage to the newly recovered economy. Although there are many inferior five-baht coins on the market, there are also some very good five-baht coins that can be used directly. ”

"As long as we intensify our efforts to crack down on illegal coinage, we will be able to prevent inferior money from circulating on the market to a limited extent. The most important thing now is to take back the coinage rights from the Maison. ”

"If the coinage rights are withdrawn, how does Your Majesty plan to manage it? Your Majesty, money is a big profit, and the officials who were responsible for managing the coinage in the past dynasties will be greedy for ink, and some officials rely on adulteration of coinage to obtain money. ”

"I plan to set up a government-run bank to be directly responsible for currency issuance, and this bank only issues currency and does not take over other businesses. The head of the money bank will be an official of the fifth grade, who will be directly responsible to the emperor and the cabinet. ”

Although Sima Shu does not know much about the financial system, he at least knows that minting money can obtain considerable profits, and at present, the imperial court's finances are tight, so he just takes this opportunity to unify the national currency and increase fiscal revenue, why not?

The Jin Dynasty lacked gold and silver, so he used copper as the main currency in circulation, and he could use the copper reserves in Shu to mint copper coins and accumulate experience for the future issuance of silver dollars. As for the issuance of paper money, Sima Shu never thought about it, because he knew that under the ancient [***] system, once paper money was issued, the last unlucky person must be the ordinary people.

Even during his reign as emperor, he could rely on strong means to maintain the credibility of paper money, but what about later? After a few generations, once the descendants are mediocre and indiscriminately issue paper money, it is very likely to cause the collapse of the country's economy, and when all the money in the hands of the people becomes waste paper, it is more terrible than the people have no food to eat!

As soon as he thought of this, Sima Shu simply called all the cabinet members and discussed the matter together. As for Sima Shu's desire to issue currency, everyone was not too surprised. They are all smart people, knowing the current predicament of the court, the wealth accumulated in Guanzhong has been exhausted in the war, and the money stolen from the family has also been invested in the reconstruction of the Central Plains.

If the imperial court wants to get rid of the current financial constraints, it has to think of other methods, among which coinage is a good means of accumulating money. Moreover, after the establishment of the Western Jin Dynasty, in view of the great power of the local tycoon, the imperial court did not issue currency at all, but let private currency circulate all over the world.

At this time, Sima Shu's proposal to take back the coinage right was not unexpected at all, but some family officials who were related to the coinage were a little uneasy. Since they had tasted the methods of the crown prince, they did not dare to confront the imperial court at all.

"I know that in the past, there was some relaxation in the law and discipline of the imperial court, which led to the popularity of private currency, and in the future, I plan to rectify the national currency, and all private currency will be disqualified from circulation. Of course, I can't let some people's wealth go down the drain, so you can make it clear to them when you go back that the court is willing to pay for the copper mines, the coinage equipment, and the craftsmen in their hands! ”

"Your Ministers obey!"

The matter of minting money, not a sentence can be done, which involves a lot of things, from casting to distribution to circulation, there is a lot of knowledge, although Sima Shu boasts of all-rounder, but in this regard is still a little unclear, after the surname Suo proposed this matter, he let it go, in short, asked Jiang Tong and others, to get this matter done quickly.

"Has Your Majesty heard of Deng Chong? They are the Deng family operator of the largest private mint house! This Deng Chong is a Nanyang clan, and he began to mint coins privately from the Western Han Dynasty. As long as the Deng family can take the lead in handing over the copper ore in their hands, the other families have nothing to worry about. ”

As a big family, Wang Yan knew very well the details of some of the heroes, so after thinking about it for a while, he made a suggestion to Sima Shu.

"Oh? I didn't expect that my Great Jin Dynasty would have such a family? "Listening to the words of his cheap father-in-law, Sima Shu was a little surprised." Well, this matter will be handed over to my father-in-law, as long as the Deng family is willing to cooperate, I will not hesitate to reward! If you do it well, I will remember you a great achievement! ”

"Hey, good! Your Majesty, just look at it! ”

Wang Yan agreed to come down with a fart, seeing that the prince was getting higher and higher, and he was becoming more and more beautiful, even the Wang Dun brothers in Jiangdong secretly wrote to him, putting the hope of revitalizing the family on him, which made Wang Yan unswervingly stand on Sima Shu's side.

A few days later, Wang Yan drove to Deng's house, and Deng Chong, the head of the Deng family, heard that the reign of the emperor was visiting, so he hurriedly went out to greet him.

"The prince's visit really makes our mansion shine!" Deng Chong smiled and walked Wang Yan's arm inside, complimenting the other party as he walked, after all, Wang Yan was not only the former leader of Shilin, but also the father-in-law of the emperor of the dynasty, and a member of the cabinet, and every title was not comparable to the Deng family.

"Hehe, the old friend is polite, today the old man came to give a fortune to the Deng family, but I don't know if the Deng family is interested or not!" Wang Yan didn't say anything polite to the other party, he had the prince behind him, and there was really no one in the world who scared him.

Deng Chong raised his eyebrows when he heard this, he has heard some rumors these days, but he didn't expect it to come so soon. He never thought of running away, as long as he dared to make a move, the imperial army would immediately wipe out the Deng family.

"Alas! Prince, you are also an old friend of the Deng family, and the old man does not speak secretly. The Deng family was able to hand over the copper mine and all the craftsmen to the imperial court, and promised not to engage in the minting business again. It's just that I don't know ...... imperial court."

Wang Yan glanced at Deng Chong and knew that the other party was making conditions, he smiled slightly and said: "Your Majesty personally promised the old man that as long as the Deng family is willing to cooperate with the imperial court, the first government-run money house in the Great Jin Dynasty will be handed over to the Deng family to operate." In the future, you will be the head of the money bank of Zhengwupin, and you will be responsible for minting coins for the imperial court! What do you think? That's a good condition, isn't it? ”

"Really? Lord Wang didn't lie to the old man? Deng Chong couldn't believe that this was true, if he could take this opportunity to step into the court, then their Deng family would not suffer at all.

"Of course, No, even the old man of the Holy Decree has brought it!" As he spoke, Wang Yan took out a bright yellow holy decree from his arms, which confirmed that Deng Chong was appointed as the head of the five products. (To be continued.) )