Chapter 13 The establishment and development of the second section Tongbao money system

In the fourth year of Gaozu Wude (AD 621), the "Kaiyuan Tongbao" coin was cast. Its shape and calligraphy are all modeled on the Shanglin Sanguan five baht coin, which is a standard square hole round coin.This money is round on the outside and square on the inside. There are meat and meat and inner and outer Guo. coinage standard.Every ten coins weighs one or two, and later generations call them "one coin" and "one penny".This "one coin" is consistent with the weight of one coin in Kuping in the Qing Dynasty, which is the beginning of the decimal weighing method of two or less in later generations.Units of measurement such as baht tired are no longer used.Since then, the weight is no longer used as the name of the coin, but it has been renamed Tongbao, Yuanbao, Chongbao and so on.Kaiyuan Tongbao is not an annual coin, but a Tongbao that opens up a new era.Not using the weight as the name of the currency lays an ambush for the weight reduction of later coins, eliminating the trouble caused when the weight of the money name does not match the actual weight of the money.There is a unified standard for the fineness of this coin: copper accounts for 83.32%, paraffin wax 14.56%, and black tin 2.12%.The calligraphy of Kaiyuan coins is exquisite, written by Ouyang Xun, a great calligrapher in the early Tang Dynasty.After Emperor Gaozong, coins of the reign title were minted several times.Most of the dynasties after the Tang Dynasty were coins of the year title, which was a symbol of the ruling power of a certain emperor, and provided reference materials for later generations to study the society, economy, and culture of a certain historical period.

After Kaiyuan Tongbao coins were released, all ancient coins and private money were expelled because of their moderate shape, weight, size, neat production, reliable quality, and happy use in the market.In the world of Zhenguan, the value of this coin is stable and its purchasing power is relatively high.At the beginning of Zhenguan, rice bucket was only worth three coins.After Zhenguan, the Kaiyuan coins cast in various dynasties remained basically unchanged.Some coins are engraved with various marks on the face or back of the money, such as stars, moons, double moons, lotus patterns and so on.Some "Yuan" characters are double-picked, left-picked, and right-picked, and their positions are also different.There are also big Kaiyuan coins that weigh ten and small Kaiyuan coins that only weigh two grams.Generally: the early Kaiyuan coins have fine rounds and exquisite characters; the middle period has many stars and moons and other patterns on the back;

In the first year of Emperor Gaozong's Qianfeng (666 A.D.), due to the war against Korea and financial constraints, the "Qianfeng Quanbao" was cast as ten coins, with a diameter of 2.5 cm and a weight of 3.3-3.5 grams. Qian Shiwen was seriously depreciated, and the people refused to use it, and it was abolished in less than a year.From then on until Xuanzong's later years, Kaiyuan coins continued to be used.But private money is flooded, and bad money is prevalent. During the reign of Emperor Suzong, due to the lack of military and administrative expenses and lack of financial resources to deal with the Anshi War, he turned to casting big money.In October of the first year of Qianyuan (AD 758), "Qianyuan Chongbao" was cast as ten coins, with a diameter of 7.7 cm and a weight of 5.97 grams.In the following year, "Chonglun Qianyuan Chongbao", also known as "Chonglenqian", was cast again, with a diameter of 3.5 cm, a weight of 11.94 grams, and a weight of 20 catties per thousand coins.Substantial weight loss and serious depreciation of coinage caused prices to skyrocket, and rice buckets cost 7,000 wen, and "the starving dead sleep in the Tao" ("Old Tang Book·Shihuo Zhi").In the first year of Shangyuan (760 A.D.), the Kaiyuan coins were increased to one for ten, and the Chonglen coins were reduced to one for thirty.In this way, the folks called the two kinds of Qianyuan money "virtual money" and Kaiyuan money "real money", resulting in two prices: virtual price and real price.Pirates and casts are rampant, and severe punishments and laws cannot be stopped.At the same time, Shi Siming cast "Deyi Yuanbao" and "Shuntian Yuanbao" in Luoyang, with a diameter of one inch and four cents and a weight of about 21 grams.It is a heavily devalued military currency.

In the first year of Daizong Baoying (762 A.D.), Chonglun coins and ordinary Qianyuan coins were changed to three Wen Kaiyuan coins, and Qianyuan small coins were taken as two.Later, it was changed to one for one for big and small money.So private casting turned into private melting, and every thousand double-edged coins can be melted to get 20 catties of copper, which can be converted into 3,200 Kaiyuan coins, and the profit is more than three times.During the Dali period (766-779 A.D.), due to the end of the Anshi War, the imperial court adopted various measures to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, which gradually stabilized prices, but the currency value was still lower than before the war.Feeling that the amount of money was insufficient, the imperial court added furnaces to cast "Dali Yuanbao" and "Dali Tongbao".At the beginning of Jianzhong (AD 780-783), Dezong cast "Jianzhong Tongbao" and "Jianzhong Yuanbao".Both of the above are low-quality pennies for weight loss.At the beginning of the Jianzhong period, Lianzhou copper-nickel copper was used to cast large Kaiyuan coins, one for ten characters, with a diameter of 4.5 cm and a weight of 16.8-18 grams.About 60 years after this, due to the low value of the currency, there was a deflation, and it was not relaxed until Wuzong.

In the fifth year of Wuzong Huichang (845 A.D.), Buddhist temples all over the world were abolished, and the bells and chimes of bronze Buddha statues in temples were collected, so that money workshops were added in various places, and "Huichang Kaiyuan" coins were cast in large quantities. 3.4-3.5 grams.There are 22 place names engraved on the back of the money, namely: Beijing (Jingqian), Chang (Yangzhou), Luo, Yi, Zi, Lan, Jing, Xiang, Yue, Xuan, Hong, Tan, Yan, Run, Hubei, Ping , Xing, Liang, Guang, Fu, Dan, Gui.In the following year, it was clearly ordered that only new money should be used in the whole country, but the old money was not withdrawn, and the deflation was slightly eased.Xuanzong (847-859 AD) overturned Wuzong's policy and melted new money to cast Buddha statues, but the effect was not great.In the eleventh year of Xiantong (870 A.D.), Emperor Yizong cast "Xiantong Xuanbao" money.After Wuzong, all generations imitated Huichang Kaiyuan coins until the end of Tang Dynasty.At the end of Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao captured Chang'an, founded Daqi, changed Yuan and Jintong, and minted "Daqi Tongbao" money, which is not much in the world.

In the Tang Dynasty, Kaiyuan Tongbao coins were minted and issued for nearly 300 years, and they were always enjoyed by the people. Although there were several setbacks during the period, new coins were cast, but they still could not replace them.This kind of coin has always prevailed in a long dynasty, which is unique in subsequent dynasties.Moreover, this style of currency has not declined for more than 1,000 years after Tang Dynasty.Some royal families wanted to use the money of this dynasty as the standard of money in the world, but they never did.The truth is indeed thought-provoking.One thing is certain, in addition to the superior conditions of the coin itself, how to obtain the long-term trust of the people is the key to the problem.