Chapter 49 2. The root cause of the disaster

In the "Nancun Stop Farming Record" written by Tao Zongyi at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there is a small order "Drunken Taiping", which says: "The dignified Yuan, the treacherous and sycophantic power. Opening the river to change the root of the disaster, causing thousands of red scarves. The official law is indiscriminate, and the criminal law Serious, people complain. People cannibalize people, money buys money, never seen it before. Thieves become officials, officials become thieves, and fools are fools. It’s a pity.” The author’s name is no longer testable, but this small order hits the current disadvantages and was popular at the time. In order to spread, "everyone can tell from the capital to the south of the Yangtze River."

It is the epitome of the troubles in the last years of the Yuan Empire. In the author's view, the opening of the river and the change of banknotes are the root causes of disasters. In 1344 A.D., in May of the fourth year of Yuan Dynasty, the middle reaches of the Yellow River suffered heavy rain for more than 20 days. Due to the long-term disrepair of the embankment, the Yellow River overflowed and burst, and the water depth on the flat ground was more than two feet.In June, the Golden Dike was breached in the north again, causing serious floods. Counties along the river such as Jining Road, Shanzhou, Yucheng, Dangshan, Jinxiang, Yutai, Fengxian, Peixian, Dingtao, Chuqiu, Chengwu, and even Caozhou, Dongming, Juye, Yuncheng, Jiaxiang, Wenshang, Rencheng and other places were all affected.The overflowing river water poured into the canal channel, causing the canal to burst again, causing floods in some counties on Jinan Road and Hejian Road.

The impact of this catastrophe was severe. By August, there was a tragic scene of cannibalism in Shandong.Moreover, misfortunes never come singly, droughts, locust plagues, and plagues also occurred one after another. Many people died, and those who were lucky enough to survive were also precarious. Although the Mongolian nobles in most cities did not care much about the survival of the Han people, they were still very clear about the impact of the flood on their personal income, which "damaged the Lianghuai Division saltworks and seriously affected the national economy".In the winter of the ninth year of the Zhengzheng Dynasty, Tuotuo, an official at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, was re-appointed as the prime minister, and tried his best to control the floods in the Yellow River Basin. Emperor Shun called the court officials to discuss whether Jia Lu, the director of the Water Transport Department of the Ministry of Communications (actually the "du water transport envoy"), was the professional counterpart. , put forward two specific repair plans: or "build the north embankment to prevent horizontal collapse", or excavate the new Baimao River in Huanglinggang area, and then plug the gap, so that the river flows into the sea through the Huaihe River in the east of Xuzhou.The former "saves labor", but it is only an expedient measure; although the latter "works a lot", it can solve the problem of flooding in the Yellow River for a long time.After repeated consideration by Yuan Ting, he decided to take the latter case in order to settle it once and for all.Although this decision of the Yuan Dynasty will benefit later generations, it paved the way for its own destruction.

In the eleventh year of Zhengzheng, that is, in 1351 AD, the imperial court took Jia Lu as the Minister of Construction and the Director of the Yellow River Control Committee (Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, General River Control Envoy), and expropriated 13 migrant workers from Bianliang, Daming, etc. Fifty thousand people, supervised by more than 20,000 troops from the 18th wing including Luzhou, were transferred to the Yellow River Basin to control the river.For a while, the people of the Central Plains were disturbed. This is the so-called "open river". We know that since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Central Plains Empire has always adhered to the "copper standard" system, mainly using copper coins for domestic trade, and only using precious metals such as gold and silver in foreign trade-this is common in Western countries at the same time. Precious metals as currencies are different.After the Yuan Dynasty entered the Central Plains from Mobei, the credit came from the Semu people from the West, who were in charge of the country's finances.These Semu people also introduced the precious metal financial system to the Central Plains.Therefore, the Yuan Dynasty did not make much money, but used precious metals as the main currency, and silver taels were widely used, making China a "silver black hole" in the eyes of Westerners.

However, China is not a country that produces a large amount of silver. At that time, the age of great exploration had not yet begun, and the main silver producing areas in America had not yet been included in the system of the civilized world. Therefore, when the huge Chinese market suddenly switched to the precious metal silver as currency, it immediately caused a world Sexual silver shortage.For the crisis of deflation, the government of the Yuan Dynasty responded by printing and issuing banknotes desperately. The printing and use of banknotes has been recorded as early as the Northern Song Dynasty, and the printing technology is quite mature.However, people at that time lacked the concept of modern financial knowledge and failed to truly grasp the unspoken rules of banknote circulation, and there were always problems in circulation: private issuance, credit is difficult to ensure; national issuance, printing too many banknotes at every turn.Therefore, paper money has not been able to completely replace metal currency.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, due to the extravagance of the ruling class, the precious metals such as gold and silver used as currency could not make ends meet, and the finances gradually became tight.In order to pass on this crisis, in the tenth year of Zhengzheng, Emperor Shun issued an edict: "One thousand copper coins will be used to save the power of one thousand coins, and the two coins of the Yuanbao banknote will still be cast. Real banknotes. As far as Yuanbao banknotes, the currency is the same as before, the son and the mother are in power, the old and the new are in harmony, the original intention of the ancestors' legislation." However, casting copper coins is obviously more troublesome than printing banknotes, so the Yuan Dynasty simplified and avoided complexity, cutting corners and cutting materials. Not many coins were minted, and a bunch of banknotes were printed upside down. "Yuan History Shihuo Zhi V" said: "It is printed every day, it is innumerable...the delivery materials are scattered all over the world, and there is nowhere." As for the exchange rate, the court stipulated that the delivery of banknotes should be compared to treasure banknotes. Second, it is tantamount to forcibly devaluing the notes in the hands of ordinary people by half, which is no different from robbery.Not to mention, due to the unrestrained printing of banknotes, inflation will soon be caused. "After a long time, the price is more expensive, and the price is more than ten times." In the capital, you can't buy a bucket of millet when you pay 500 yuan in banknotes. .

This is the so-called "changing banknotes". These actions of the Yuan Dynasty made the common people who lost their country and their jobs and struggled in slavery every day, full of resentment.