Chapter 34 Section 3 Establishment of the two-bank system

The "two" in the silver system is a measure of the name, borrowed as the currency unit for calculating silver, and still retains the historical form of metal weight pricing.Therefore, the silver system belongs to the relatively primitive weighing currency system in the metal coin system.It uses the weight and fineness of the metal to determine its marked price.This primitive silver currency system, since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, has been in line with the currency concept of ordinary people in the feudal economy, and is far better than banknotes.It can also make up for the shortcomings of coins, which is convenient for large-amount receipts and payments, counting and storage, and complements coins.

Silver was used as currency in China as early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods.It will be used spontaneously among the people in the future.It was used more in the late Tang Dynasty, and the Song and Yuan dynasties achieved the status of legal goods.The two Songs were collectively called silver ingots, and the Yuan Dynasty was commonly called Yuanbao, which was used in subsequent dynasties.The largest one weighs 500 taels, the common one weighs 50 taels, and there are silver ingots of various weights.During the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, the currency status of silver was increasingly consolidated.In order to promote the precious banknotes, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty banned silver many times, but it could not be banned.Many regions specialize in silver transactions, and taxes only accept silver.In the ninth year of Hongwu (AD 1376) and the 30th year, Xu Min used money instead of grain to transport taxes.In the first year of Yingzong Zhengtong (AD 1436), the ban was abolished, and Jinhua and silver were levied in Minguang, Jiangnan.In the third year of Jingtai (1452 A.D.), official salaries in Beijing were paid in silver.During the reign of Wu Zong, the official salary was distributed according to the ratio of money, silver and nine.In the eighth year of Jiajing (1529 A.D.), Xiejing silver was ordered to be cast into ingots, and the date, name of officials and craftsmen were printed on the ingots.At this point, the silver currency system was formally established.In Sejong and subsequent dynasties, silver was used for official large numbers, and money was used for decimal numbers.After the implementation of the one-whip law, agency silver was promoted and silver was generally collected. "The Book of Diseases of the Commanderies and Nations of the World" states that both officials and people use silver for receipts and payments.Mined silver coins in the Wanli period, the big ones weigh four coins, and the small ones weigh four cents.The mine supervisor and the tax supervisor paid 3 million taels of silver to the imperial court, which actually collected more than dozens of times.

In the feudal ruling group of the Ming Dynasty, a large amount of silver was collected.For example, Daizong confiscated Wang Zhen's family property, more than 60 gold and silver treasuries, and countless other treasures.Wu Zong copied Liu Jin's house. There were 80 large jade belts, more than 12 million taels of gold and more than 259 million taels of silver.There are many similar situations.In Gu Yanwu's "Tinglin Collected Works", Volume 1, "On Money and Grain", he painfully recorded the tragedy of the peasants who had nothing to exchange for silver to pay taxes due to taxation of silver, and their families were ruined.

During the Wanli period, Western colonialist countries such as Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, in their trade with China, imported their silver coins into China one after another.For example, Spain casts double-column silver dollars weighing seven cents and two cents, and the Netherlands casts horse coins or horse swords with large silver coins of more than eight cents.During the reign of Chongzhen, Sino-British trade was established, and more silver was imported.