So, Master Lu Youcai explained to the Seven Fairies with a smile: "The deposit is that you need to pay us a large sum of money first, and then we can build a house for you, after all, you have paid a large amount of money, and after we help you build a good house in the future, you can't not want us to help you build a good house." ”

"Ugh. The Seven Fairies obviously understood the meaning of the deposit.

So the Seven Fairies asked Master Lu Youcai, "I don't know how much deposit Lu Dao wants?"

"Oh, this young lady, the price of the house you need to build is three thousand and fifty-one taels of gold, and the fraction is counted, so the price of the house you need to build is a total of three thousand taels of gold, and the deposit is half of the price of the house, so you need a deposit of one thousand and five hundred taels of gold. ”

"Oh. The Seven Fairies replied very casually.

The performance of the Seven Fairies made Master Lu Youcai very, very disappointed.

Because Master Lu Youcai was very much looking forward to the time when the Seven Fairies heard "three thousand and fifty-one taels of gold...... showed an expression of disbelief. However, I didn't expect that the Seven Fairies just answered very casually.

Therefore, Master Lu Youcai was very, very disappointed in his heart.

However, the next sentence of the Seven Fairies made Master Lu Youcai's eyes shine.

The Seven Fairies asked Master Lu Youcai, "What is gold?"

What is gold?

Gold is gold, the symbol of the chemical element Au, is a soft, golden-yellow, corrosion-resistant precious metal. Gold is one of the rarest and most precious metals. In the world, gold is generally measured in ounces, and in ancient China, two were used as the unit of gold.

In ancient times in our country. Gold is used as currency.

When the metal gold is used as currency, it is generally poured into gold ingots.

Gold ingots are made of precious gold or silver, generally silver is the majority, and gold is rare. In the history of Chinese currency, gold and silver were officially called "ingots", which began in the Yuan Dynasty. However, as early as the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, when the Yuan Tongbao was in the world, the folk had the meaning of taking its huge and valuable, and it was read as "opening the ingot". In the Yuan Dynasty, gold and silver coins were called "ingots", which meant the treasure of the Yuan Dynasty.

Goldcoin is equivalent to gold coins in foreign languages, and is an ancient currency in circulation. In the history of Chinese currency. Officially called gold and silver "ingots", which began in the Yuan Dynasty. However, as early as the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the people had the meaning of taking its huge and valuable. It is read as "opening ingots". And the Yuan Dynasty called gold and silver money "ingots". It means the treasure of the Yuan Dynasty. Gold is called gold ingots, and silver ingots are called silver ingots, which have political implications. It is also a common term for gold and silver currency.

In the thirteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1276), after the army of the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, he returned to Yangzhou, and the prime minister Boyan plundered the soldiers excessively, ordered to search the luggage of the troops, and all the silver collected was sold and cast as ingots, and returned to the dynasty for collection. The money seller who handled this matter made silver ingots weighing 50 taels per according to the example of the gold dynasty, named "Yangzhou Yuanbao", and presented it to the ancestor Kublai Khan. At that time, the ingots were in the shape of a saddle, with arcs at both ends and a girdle in the middle, which was very similar to the silver collar of the Southern Song Dynasty and gold in shape. "Yangzhou ingots" have been unearthed in later generations, generally about 14.5 centimeters long, 3 centimeters thick. The back is engraved with the large character of "ingot".

In the history of Chinese currency, silver was discovered and used later than gold, and experts believe that this is because silver ore is often combined with copper and lead, and it is difficult to master the smelting and decomposition technology. Therefore, silver as a currency material was a matter after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and it was used as a weighing currency to be fused into various shapes for payment, which began in the Tang and Song dynasties.

However, before the advent of gold ingots, metal gold was generally poured into gold bricks when used as currency [gold bricks, a kind of high-quality paving bricks used for important buildings such as palaces in ancient times. Because of its fine texture, knocking like a metal sonorous sound, so it is called gold brick. The gold brick is a two-foot square brick, and since the first days of the Forbidden City, this special process has been the exclusive product of the Forbidden City. In the important palaces of the Forbidden City, such bricks are laid. The gold bricks of the Taihe Hall that we see now were laid during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. To this day, they are still as bright as new. A total of 4,718 gold bricks were laid in the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City. Of course, these are not gold bricks that are generally poured into metal gold when it is used as currency, and metal gold is generally poured into gold bricks when it is used as currency...... It's a gold nugget of metal like a brick].

Gold bricks, popularly known as "gold bars".

Along with gold, silver and copper are the metals used as currency.

Silver, that is, silver, is called silver because of its white color, as opposed to gold. It is often used as currency and decorations. In ancient times, it was called silver when it was used as currency. The color of pure silver is white, mixed with impurities and metallic luster, the quality is soft, and it becomes hard after being mixed with impurities, and the color is gray and red. The specific gravity of pure silver is 10.5, the melting point is 960.5 °C, the conductivity is good, and it is soluble in nitric acid and sulfuric acid. Silver is one of the metals found in ancient times. Although silver also exists in nature, most of it exists in the form of chemical compounds. Silver is highly malleable, so it can be crushed into a transparent foil that is only 0.3 microns thick, and a 1-gram silver grain can be drawn into filaments about two kilometers long. Silver's thermal and electrical conductivity is among the best among metals.

When the metal silver is used as currency, it is generally poured into silver collars.

Since the Tang Dynasty, as a circulating currency in ancient times, silver collar has been stored by the state, private cellars, and even as tribute and gifts, and most of them have inscriptions and marks. In the Song Dynasty, it had another function: it gradually evolved into a special currency for national and local taxation, and the people held it as a kind of "voucher" for tax payment. As a result, it derived a special Southern Song Dynasty "exit tax" silver collar.

Ancient silver collars mainly appeared in the Tang, Song and Jin dynasties, because its shape resembles the kidney of a pig, the local people commonly known as "pig waist silver". Common shapes are round-headed corset, flat-headed corset, and curved corset. After the Yuan and Ming dynasties, similar silver nuggets were called silver ingots and ingots.

When silver was used as currency, it was also once poured into silver ingots. The gold poured is called gold ingots, and the silver poured is naturally silver ingots.

Like gold, the metal silver is also poured into silver bricks when used as currency.

After all. Pouring gold and silver into a brick-like shape is relatively simple and easy to handle.

Copper is a chemical element, its chemical symbol is Cu (Latin: Cuprum), its atomic number is 29, and it is a transition metal. Copper is one of the earliest metals discovered by mankind and the first metal widely used by humans. Copper and some of its alloys have good corrosion resistance, and because they are shiny and easy to machine, they are used to make currency. Copper is also used in the manufacture of weapons, utensils, and cables. In moist air, a layer of green patina is formed on the surface of copper (the main component of basic copper carbonate Cu? (OH)?CO?）。

When copper is used as currency, it is generally poured into copper coins.

Copper coins: Ancient copper coins. Commonly known as copper coins. It refers to all kinds of square hole round coins after the Qin and Han dynasties, and the minting period of square hole round coins has been extended to the end of the Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the development of the commodity economy, the metal weighing currency that had to be divided and identified in circulation was gradually unsuitable. It was replaced by metal coinage. Most of the ancient Chinese coins were struck in the form of copper alloys. The square hole coin (copper coin) was the most common type of ancient coin.

Coins from more than 2,000 years after the Qin Empire. Except for Wang Mang's once knife cloth, there is a hole in the middle, so the money is called "square hole money". He is also nicknamed "Brother Kong Fang". Fangkong money evolved from Yuan money, with the Qin Empire's "Half Two Coins" as the earliest, and the "Republic of China Tongbao" during the Republic of China period as the latest. Ancient Chinese coins have a long history, a long history, a variety of varieties, colorful, and are a treasure in the traditional culture of the Chinese nation. For thousands of years, China's monetary culture has condensed the wisdom and talent of the Chinese nation to create a self-contained, dazzling and unique oriental currency culture. Ancient coins are also called springs, cloths, silks, Kong Fang brothers, etc. It has become a new hot spot for collectible investment, and many ancient coins have performed well at auction. Collecting and appreciating ancient coins requires knowledge of monetary history, numismatics, archaeology, epigraphy and cultural relics, ancient Chinese, and more.

The square hole copper coin should be said that the sky is round and the place is round, and the ancient people believed that the sky is round and the earth is square, so Qin Shi Huang minted money in this type.

After Qin Shi Huang unified China, he also unified the currency. Abolish coins such as knives, cloth, and shellfish, and use "half taels" as currency. That is, with the later garden-shaped square hole copper coin of the Qin State, the text is "half a tael", weighing 12 baht (one tael is 24 baht), which is called the "half tael" copper coin that is as heavy as the text. Since then, this kind of "half tael" evolved from round hole ring money has been circulating in China for more than 2,000 years.

The square-hole coins minted in the Han Dynasty are still called "half taels", but their weight has been reduced. For example, in the second year of Lu Hou (186 BC), it was reduced to eight baht, and in the fifth year of Emperor Wen (175 BC), it was reduced to less than one baht, which was called "pod money". In the first year of Emperor Wu's founding (140 years ago), he minted three baht coins. And in the fifth year of Yuanjia (118 years ago), the "half tael" was abolished, and the five-baht money was changed to the text "five baht". This kind of five-baht coin began to be used from the Eastern Han Dynasty, followed by various dynasties, until the abolition of the fourth year of Tang Wude (621), the use of a long time, the value of the currency is relatively stable, and it has become an important coin in the history of our country.

During the period when Wang Mang became emperor, he implemented the treasure goods system, called the money "spring", and added two sets of coins of "six products of spring goods" and "ten products of cloth goods". The six products of spring goods, also known as "six springs", are the general name of the six round coins in Wang Mang's treasure system. That is, small springs, small springs, young springs, middle springs, strong springs and large springs. Koizumi has a diameter of six cents, weighs one baht, and is worth one penny, and there is the text "Koizumi Naoichi" on it. Other coins vary in diameter, weight, and value. The six springs are all coins of insufficient value, but the two types of coins, Koizumi and Oizumi, are widely circulated. The ten products of cloth goods are also known as "ten cloths", and they are also the general name of the ten kinds of cloth coins in Wang Mang's treasure system, namely small cloth, Xuan cloth, young cloth, original cloth, poor cloth, medium cloth, strong cloth, brother cloth, secondary cloth and large cloth. The small cloth weighs fifteen baht, is one inch and five cents long, and is worth one hundred wen. Others will increase by one baht, one point for long, and one hundred wen for the face value. The large cloth weighs 24 baht, is 2 inches and 4 cents long, is worth 1,000 Wen, and has a large circulation. The other cloths are illegible, easily confused, and inconvenient to circulate.

Ancient Chinese coins were also often named after the emperor's year name, also known as "year name money". It was first cast by the Cheng Han Kingdom of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms. In 338, Li Shou established himself as emperor in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, with the country name Han and the year name Hanxing. Began to mint "Hanxing money". Soon, the Southern Song Dynasty cast "Xiaojian Five Baht" in the Xiaojian period (454), and the Northern Wei Xiaowen Emperor cast "Taihe Five Baht" in the 19th year of Taihe (495). The year name money has become customized since the beginning of the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the era name changed frequently, and there were a lot of coins minted. After the Yuan Dynasty, the money minted in successive dynasties was basically named after the year name. Such as the "Zhiyuan Tongbao" of the Yuan Dynasty, the "Hongwu Tongbao" of the Ming Dynasty, and the "Qianlong Tongbao" of the Qing Dynasty.

Tongbao is a name for coins after the Tang Dynasty in China, and is named after the word "Tongbao" in the minting text. The word "Tongbao" on the coin originated from the "Kaiyuan Tongbao" minted in the fourth year of Tang Gaozu Wude (621). Kaiyuan Tongbao weighs two baht and four bases, and ten pieces weigh one tael. Since then, copper coins are no longer as heavy as the text, and they are named after weight, and they are renamed "Tongbao" circulation. Coins are also really starting to become currency symbols, no longer exchanging for the value of the currency itself. In the future, Tongbao was used in successive dynasties, and the name of the year, dynasty or country was crowned in front of the word Tongbao, and it was minted on the surface of the coin. Such as the "Kaiping Tongbao" of the Later Liang, the "Datang Tongbao" of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the "Taiping Tongbao" of the Northern Song Dynasty, the "Chongxi Tongbao" of Liao, the "Dading Tongbao" of Jin, the "Zhizheng Tongbao" of Yuan, and the "Hongwu Tongbao" of Ming. After the Xinhai Revolution, Guangdong, Fujian and other places of the "Republic of China Tongbao" is the latest Tongbao coin in China. (To be continued......)