Chapter 18 Section VII The Currencies of the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries

The Five Dynasties (AD 907-960) and Ten Kingdoms (AD 891-979) were another period of great division in Chinese history. During this period, political divisions and wars were fought every year. There was never peace and disasters abounded.The Five Dynasties are called "orthodox" by historians. In 54 years, five dynasties changed—Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou, and 14 emperors changed.The situation of the ten countries is the same, you rob each other, annex each other, and make a mess.They are economically interdependent, and the south supports the north.At that time, most of the wars were fought in the Guanluo area in the north, and less in the south.Many small countries were established in the southern region. In order to survive and expand, they all encouraged farmers to develop production and trade, so the products were abundant, and the north relied on the south for supply; the currency formed a multi-currency system and regional depreciation.Countries mint more bad money as a means to strengthen their own strength and weaken other countries.In Chu, Fujian, and Southern Han, copper coins, gold and silver were widely collected, and lead and iron miscellaneous coins and low-quality alloy coins were specially used.The northern countries strictly forbid the entry of bad money, forming intricate currency wars.Official casting and private casting, modern and ancient coins, vary in size and have many names.Some circulate with each other, and some are limited to regional use.Raw gold and silver, various coins, gold and silver ornaments, grain and silk, and soil all served as currency.

The Five Dynasties are five feudal separatist regimes that successively settled in the north.Later Liang and Later Tang continued to use Kaiyuan money.Houliang cast "Kaiping Tongbao" big money.In the later Tang Dynasty, Mingzong cast "Tiancheng Yuanbao" Xiaoping coins, and the entry of Chu lead and tin coins was strictly prohibited.Due to the fierce war between Liang and Tang Dynasty that lasted for decades, coupled with the civil strife in the last year of Tongguang and financial difficulties, the plan to cast a lot of money failed.In the later Jin Dynasty, Shi Jingtang betrayed the country in exchange for the throne, and the officials and the people rejected it. In order to ease the conflict, in the third year of Tianfu (938 A.D.), a sample of money was awarded, and the officials and the people made "Tianfu Yuanbao" coins by themselves.The above three money is very little.Only five years after the post-Han regime, "Han Yuan Tong Bao" was cast in the first year of Qianyou (948 A.D.), and its shape and quality imitated Kaiyuan coins.The situation in the next week is better than that of the first four dynasties.Zhou Shizong worked hard to govern, rectified the discipline, reformed the currency system, concentrated the minting power of the royal family, strictly prohibited private casting and private melting, the government purchased and sold copper materials, rewarded officials and people for mining copper, destroyed 3336 Buddhist temples, melted their bronze statues and bronze wares to make money, and banned copper for casting device.Reject bad money from various countries.A large number of "Zhou Yuan Tong Bao" coins were cast, wide and neat, 2.5 cm in diameter, 3.5-3.6 grams in weight, with moon patterns and star and moon patterns on the back of the money, taking Huichang Kaiyuan as the criterion.The full set of reforms in the latter week achieved great results, which prepared the conditions for Zhao Song to rectify the currency system.

The ten countries occupy a large area, have a large population, have better economic conditions, and have a lot of coins. Among them, Wuyue and the Northern Han Dynasty have cast coins according to the ninth volume of "Tong Kao", which is yet to be tested; Jingnan has not cast coins. aIn the Southern Tang Dynasty, its predecessor, the State of Wu, did not see any coins being minted.It is said that Li Min [bian Bian], the powerful minister, cast Daqi Tongbao before he received Zen.Southern Tang cast more money.Li Jing (Jing Jing), the master of the middle, casts four kinds of coins: "Baoda Yuanbao", "Datang Tongbao", "Kaiyuan Tongbao" and "Tangguo Tongbao".At the beginning, one thousand coins weighed three catties and twelve liang, and later reduced to one catty.There are two types of Tongbao in the Tang Dynasty, big and small, and the big one counts as two, which is more neat than Tang Kaiyuan coins."Yongtongquan Goods" were also cast as ten coins, and there were many stolen coins, which would be scrapped in less than two months.The later master Li Yu cast iron coins and used them in a ratio of four to six copper and iron coins; later only iron coins were used, and copper coins were hidden by the people.At the end of the year, only ten pennies of iron money was exchanged for one penny of copper money. Private casting was rampant, and bad money was flooded.

b Chuma Yin occupies Hunan, and there is a lot of lead and iron in the territory. Chu Nai has large cast lead, iron, tin coins and large copper coins and other low-quality money, so that foreign merchants can't take the money out, so they have to buy local products to develop their own economy. .From 907 to 930 A.D., there were large copper and iron coins of "Tiance Fubao"; large iron coins of "Qianfengquanbao", weighing 28 grams, with one as ten and nine characters as a string; Qianfengquanbao copper coins were very few.Because iron money is bulky and difficult to use, folks use deeds for transactions, which are slightly prototypes of paper money.

cThe former and later kings of Shu established the state of Qianshu (903-925 A.D.), and their son Wang Yanjun was arrogant, extravagant and greedy, and was destroyed by the Later Tang Dynasty.Wang Jian cast four kinds of ingot coins, namely "Yongping", "Tongzheng", "Tianhan" and "Guangtian".Wang Yanzhu "Qiande Yuanbao" and "Xiankang Yuanbao".At the end of the Later Tang Dynasty, Meng Zhixiang took advantage of the chaos to occupy Xichuan, which was called Houshu in history.His son Meng Chang was weak and was destroyed by Song Dynasty.Once cast "Guangzheng Tongbao" large copper and iron coins.

dSouthern Han Liu Yin was based in Lingnan Jiaozhi, and the country was named Han.Subsequent generations were all licentious and brutal, forcibly minting bad money.There are "Qianheng Tongbao" copper coins, "Qianheng Chongbao" copper coins and lead coins, ten coins as copper coins and one penny. e Minyin is small and poor, the ruler of Fujian is tyrannical, civil strife is endless, and the currency system is chaotic.The "Kaiyuan Tongbao" large copper and iron coins, the "Yonglong Tongbao" large copper and iron coins, the "Tiande Chongbao" and "Tiande Tongbao" large iron coins have been cast.

In addition, Liu Rengong and his son occupied Youzhou, imitating a large number of ancient copper and iron coins, and using them by force.Collect all the money on the top of Da'an Mountain and dig holes to hide it.