Spring and Autumn I Am King

ps: The data in this chapter are from "Guanzi. National Storage", "Qin Lu. Jinbu Lu", and "Han Shu. Food and Goods". I have been very busy these days, and I have no time to divide chapters. The book friends who have been rewarded will thank you another day

With the end of April and the weather getting hotter day by day, wealthy doctors began to put on silk cicada clothes, and scholars and Chinese people also began to make summer clothes with fine cloth. 【...】

As the saying goes, "Praise Jiejun, be virtuous, grow up when you grow up, make a rank, and you must be in the position", this is also the day when Xilu officials' salary is issued.

According to the new trend of the world in the spring and autumn, the captured cities and towns, Zhao Wuxi will no longer be entrusted to his ministers, at most, they will be granted food fields according to the merits made, and they are allowed to hire landless farmers to cultivate the food fields and rent rice. The large and small retainers under his command, as well as the military officials and soldiers who have made outstanding contributions, have basically become the emerging landlords in Xilu.

In addition to Litian, officials serving in the government are also distributed with Lumi every year. However, since the end of April, as the minting workshop has continuously minted new coins of Xilu, in addition to Lumi, there are also stipends!

Zhao Wuxi spoke bluntly to Zhang Mengtan: "I don't expect high salary to support integrity, but some people's expectations of being enshrined in Xiaoyi have not diminished, and they must improve their treatment to comfort them."

It's helpless to say, after all, the highest ideal right now is to become a monarch in one place and rest with the country. Even in the world of the Warring States Period, the ideals of Qin, Qi, Zhao, and Chu, one after another, are still the same. Li Dui, the prince of Fengyang, Wei Ran, the Marquis of Rang, Tianwen Xue Gong, and Chunshen, who ruled Jiangdong separately, are all like this. Being stunned by the status of the emperor on the ground, let alone the people of the Spring and Autumn Period?

Concepts need to be subtly changed, hoping to achieve centralization. If at the beginning of the business, if a group of lords and lords go out, Zhao Wuxi is making himself unhappy. Fortunately, Confucian disciples of Confucianism are salaried. A strong supporter of Shitian, Confucius once set a good example for them by rejecting the fiefdom of the Marquis of Qi. The current Confucian scholars are far from the scumbags who will be arrogant as soon as they hear about feudalism.

So on this day at the end of April, Cheng Tuan, the judge of Yuncheng, also received a large string of copper coins as salary...

"Outer circle and inner side. It's novel..."

Playing with the big and small Zhao money in his hand, Cheng Tuan knew that it was distributed to promote the circulation of Zhao money in Yuncheng, and he couldn't help thinking of the "Golden Law" recently formulated by Si Kou.

"Jin Bu Lv" is the price standard set by Zhao Wuxi as a ruler. Among them, there are two kinds of exchange ratios between large and small Zhao money and various common goods.

Cheng Tuan held the money in one hand and the cloth in the other, and explained to the colleagues who came to inquire: "For example, if the second or third son wants to make summer clothes, the Zhao family's big money is five for a one-foot-square fine cloth, and twenty-five for a small one-foot square. A fine cloth is equivalent to forty dollars. Or two hundred small dollars can buy a medium-sized summer coat..."

The officials suddenly realized, and looked at those in their hands: "It turns out that after distributing these stipends, we are equivalent to an extra piece of clothing every month."

Some people are from poor families and feel happy that they have taken a small advantage. Some people are from rich families, but they don't think so, but on the bright side, they have to express their gratitude to Si Kou's mansion from afar.

Only Cheng Tuan was still thinking about it in his heart.

Determining the status and value of newly minted coins in the form of written laws and then distributing them to officials is the first step in the circulation of coins.

Officials and scholars either let the slaves go to the weaving workshop to buy fine cloth for summer clothes, or go directly to the clothing store in the market to make it. In this way, Zhao money is circulated to the market... With the protection of the "Golden Cloth Law", I am not afraid that those silk cloth merchants who see the city's little officials nod and bow their heads and bow down to the extreme will not accept it!

...

"The rogue Chi Chi, hold the cloth and trade silk. When the bandits come to trade silk, I will make a plan."

In the streets and alleys of Yuncheng in April, humming this well-known folk poem about a man's heartbreak, the sericulture girls once again carried bamboo baskets full of silkworm cocoons on their heads, and went from Lilu in the suburbs to the weaving workshop in the outer country of Yuncheng.

This month, the sericulture has largely come to an end. It is said that those mysterious Si Kou concubines are now taking thirty or forty girls to learn silkworm mulberry, and she took the lead in offering silkworm cocoons to Si Kou. So silkworm farming has to follow suit, and in addition to the cocoon tax, they have to donate their labor income to the weaving workshop. In exchange for corn, or cloth coins and knife coins as rewards.

As soon as they entered the weaving workshop, the laughter of the sericulture girls suddenly stopped. They timidly offered silkworm cocoons to the merchants for inspection. go. Look for excuses to cut prices.

Finally, when the sericulture girls took over a string of strange coins strung with fine hemp ropes, they couldn't help looking at each other.

Under their push, the silkworm farmer, who was famous for being treated by the doctor Bian Que, stood up and asked timidly if it could be exchanged for daily knives, or food.

The silk merchant raised his eyebrows and scolded: "This is a new coin minted by Si Kou, and in Yuncheng, although knife coins and cloth coins are not prohibited, they are no longer recommended to be used. Go to exchange, otherwise the Yi Temple will not accept it when you pay taxes and oral money, and you will be responsible for the consequences! There is also a "Golden Law" posted at the gate of the city, you can watch and ask yourself."

The sericulture girls were frightened and frightened, so they could only escape with a string of copper coins, and another swarm of bees rushed to Yi Temple and the city gate to watch. There was indeed a notice made of a piece of paper, with dense seal characters, and a small official next to him was there to explain to the onlookers that what the silk and silk merchants said should be true.

So the sericulture girls caressed their beating hearts and asked about the exchange ratio of "Zhao's one or two" and "Zhao's five baht" to rough hemp...

In this world, the charcoal burners shiver in winter, the brick burners live in shabby houses, and the silkworm breeders don't wear silk or silk. They are not used to wearing the luxurious clothes that are slippery and greasy like snot, and they dare not keep it privately, otherwise they will be beaten to death by the men at home, and the poor will die.

Linen is rough and heavy, but like silkworm cocoons, it is sold by the pound.

Thin as a cicada's wings, this adjective is enough to describe silk clothes. It can be made into several layers of silk clothes with a few taels, and the black moles on the chest can be seen through two layers.

The rough hemp is different, just one piece, you will feel the weight of pulling you down when you wear it. According to the exchange in "Golden Cloth Law", a pound is worth two big coins.

The sericulture girls counted with their fingers for a long time before they figured out that ten kilograms of rough hemp was enough to make a brown coat to keep out the cold, that is, it would cost twenty dollars. They sighed involuntarily. The mulberry tree belongs to the weaving workshop. After paying the cocoon tax on the income of the family in the past few months, the exchange is only for the family's summer clothes for one season, and the remaining money. Don't know how much corn to buy?

They live on the outskirts of the city, and they specialize in sericulture but cannot afford to farm, so they have to go to the market inside and outside the city to exchange for food...

...

Since being hired by Zhao Wuxi as a "peasant officer" in January, Fan Xu began to walk continuously on the land of Xilu. He walked on the ridge. Amidst the deserted fields, outside the abandoned farmhouses, in the newly reclaimed saline-alkali land...

Like Hou Ji, as the official of farming and grain, personally lead farmers to sow hundreds of grains, persuade mulberry to be cultivated, so as to provide enough food and clothing for ten thousand people, this is Fan Xu's ideal. This is the "li and music" that Fan Xu likes. It is not like Zhou Gong and Confucius who lives in the temple, and not like Laozi, who avoids the rivers and lakes. Rather, it is rooted in the countryside.

He is also constantly learning various new farming methods, such as the field method, such as cattle farming, Zhao Xiaosi Kou's encouragement has been surging in his heart, writing a farming book belonging to Wanmin, crops and gardens, You can also open a family school!

In April, Fan Xu, who had still circled twice in Xilu, returned to the vicinity of Yuncheng again. He wanted to organize pavilions to drive away the wild beasts so that they would not harm the crops, and at the same time, he had to warn the nobles of various places. Do not hold large-scale field hunting to interfere with farming.

During this period, he naturally noticed the new changes in Lilu Small Market.

Different from the big bazaars in Yuncheng that are prospering day by day due to the transfer of governance, the "Tingshi" and "Lishi" that Fan Xu sees are just like the "collections" in the northern rural areas of later generations, on specific days. A place formed by common people's conventions and spontaneous gatherings.

Once the market is formed, people from dozens of miles around will be attracted to buy and sell goods and exchange goods here.

Fan Xu noticed early on that although it is known as men farming and women weaving, in theory a farmer can achieve self-sufficiency. j Dogs hear each other and don't communicate with each other, but in fact, exchanges can never be avoided.

For example, pottery pots, kettles and other cooking utensils or necessities of life, not every lilu can produce clay pottery, various craftsmen have their own specialties, and it is impossible to work while farming, so they must go out to exchange. .

Moreover, people must eat salt. When the state of Qi imposed a ban on salt against Lu and Cao, it was even possible to buy it in Yuncheng. Because of the lack of salt, many people seem to be very hungry and weak in farming. They often eat soil salt and are prone to diarrhea, which gives Fan Xu a headache.

Fortunately, Zhao Xiaosikou had his own means to transport salt from Wu State, Ju State, and even Anyi of the Wei family. It was like a spring rain, and the salt price in Yuncheng stabilized, and normal salt was able to be supplied and circulated. It's just that each kiosk has to be limited according to the population. In this way, the population of Lilu, who has been unable to be sorted out, is also counted in one go.

Limin is the first step in realizing the centralization of power. King Xuan of Zhou could not even do this at that time. Fan Xu also understands this, but his pursuit is to let the people live better, produce more, and trade fairer...

When he came back this time, he was sensitively aware that the sporadic Qi knife coins and Weibu coins that were exchanged in the market disappeared, replaced by some new coins with round square holes.

"Si Kou finally minted coins..." Fan Xu didn't know how to live within his means, but even if he had been sitting on the side of the farmers, he had realized that the copper shell coins of Lu Guo were not suitable for exchange.

For example: sometimes rich taxis have to carry buckets of "shell coins" or "imitation shells" to the market in order to buy a cow. The calculation at the time of payment is also very troublesome. When buying more expensive things, I am afraid that the number of "shell coins" to be carried is shoulder-to-shoulder, and the cart can only be paid. This has caused chaos in the circulation order. This single low-value currency system can no longer be maintained, and it is not common practice to rely on Qi Guo knife coins or Wei Guo Bei coins all the time, so a new currency is imperative. .

The change in currency has brought about a new exchange method. Fan Xu noticed that many silkworm farmers in the outskirts of Yuncheng were holding coins the size of Zhao's family, wanting to exchange food from farmers.

I don’t know if it’s because of the eyes and ears of the merchants in the city. The people in the city are more slicker than the people in the suburbs of Waiguo, and the people in the suburbs of Waiguo are more slicker than the farmers in Lilu. Therefore, in bargaining, the farmers will never be able to raise silkworms. women.

"Ten coins for one stone! That's how it used to be!" The silkworm farmer insisted that she would trade at the rate of the former Qi's knife coins in exchange for food.

The farmer who wanted to exchange grain for money and then money for utensils scratched his head, which was covered with straw and millet husks, and planned to agree, but the transaction was stopped by the pavilion who was patrolling from the side.

"There is a "Golden Cloth Law" in the pavilion, and the official government of Qi knife coins will not accept it from now on, according to the weight. 1 knife coin is exchanged for newly minted big coins 2, small coins 10 A stone of corn sells for 20 coins, or 150 baht Money is the most suitable, Si Kou Zhongnong, you should not deceive. Disrupt the market!"

Fan Xu breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that Si Kou didn't want the new money to hurt farmers.

He also calculated the account in his heart, food, one and a half stone per month, and a family of five eats ninety stone of millet all year round. A family that is not involved in farming needs 1,800 yuan to eat enough. Ninety percent of the 30,000 households in Xilu have 500,000 yuan for the remaining 10 percent. How much copper, tin, and lead are there in the treasury to cast?

Forget it, this is not what he should be concerned about. The next May is the season when millets are ripe.

...

When he learned that even Lilu outside Yuncheng also began to circulate large and small coins of the Zhao family. Linghu Bo knew that Zhao Wuxi's currency reform had been half successful.

Because of Wei Ju's instructions, he has been paying attention to Zhao Wuxi's governance from beginning to end, and any new measures can make him curious for a while.

"To make money, it is important that the lord has enough power and credibility. Zhao Wuxi has a strong military pawn, and he also has the prestige of winning the Qi people in military affairs, so he does not lack power. And credibility, I heard that he I have done things like burning securities and righteousness before, which is quite popular in Xilu."

"So even if you doubt the appearance of the new currency. As soon as you hear that it is the 'legal currency' stipulated by Zhao Xiaosikou's written law, most people will use it without any doubt, and are even willing to use the Qi Guo knife coins and Wei Guo knife coins in their hands. The cloth coins were exchanged... As everyone knows, this Zhao Wuxi is a man of village aspirations. After the knife is melted, he can mint three pieces of Zhao's big money, but he only exchanged two coins for others. During this period, he did not know how much profit he grabbed and minted money. To make a profit, thanks to him being able to figure it out..."

Linghu Bo played with the large and small coins in his hand, speculating about Zhao Wuxi's sinister intentions. I sneered in my heart.

However, this is also a very profitable thing, and Zhao's porcelain, silk and silk, and paper are all quite popular goods. As long as Zhao Wuxi gives an order, he claims that these things also require Zhao coins. In exchange, it is not difficult for this kind of coin to spread all over the world, especially the Lu country, which does not have its own coinage, can be penetrated by Zhao coin overnight!

Even the homeland of Jin will be affected. I wonder if Zhao Yang will use his son's achievements directly. If so, Wei Shi has to guard against it!

He pondered: "Wei's pointed head cloth is not dominant among the six ministers. Maybe, after I go back, I can let the prince follow Zhao Bi and make a kind of money?"

Because after removing the jealousy and malicious speculation about Zhao Wuxi in his heart, looking at these Kongfang money, it does have great advantages over the currency of the current princes.

One is simple and beautiful, with almost the same shape, which better reflects the authority of the official.

The second is that it is relatively small in size and easy to carry. The basic currency unit of Zhao Qian is "money", and the highest currency unit is "Kuan": it is counted as a thousand, and it is threaded into a string called Guan, and the middle unit is a small string of one hundred coins. Always put money in the wide sleeves and you can go to the street, instead of being tied to the waist like the Qi Dao and Jin State's pointed cloth coins, the sharp part will stab people if you are not careful.

Well, but when Wei Shi imitates, you can replace the square hole with a round hole...

Wei Ju, whose word is Ziteng, is a horse that turns a horse into a Teng. He and Linghu Bo seem to have identified many of Zhao Wuxi's ideas, and it must be right to follow suit. Wei Wuzu copied Zhao Wuzu, Wei's Recruitment Hall copied Zhao's Juxian Hall, and now even the currency system is going to be copied...

However, what Linghu Bo didn't know was that the origin of the money in the later generations was precisely the state of Wei a hundred years later. Only then did Qin Banliang, and even Brother Kong Fang, who remained unchanged for all eternity... The historical line is messed up again here. It is not clear who is the copycat and who.

...

In less than half a month, Zhao's large and small money became popular around Yuncheng. Zhao Wuxi was relieved and relieved.

The creation of currency, in addition to benefits, also has great symbolic meaning, which means that Xilu has officially become an economic entity.

And for a country, whoever has the right to mint coins is the one who controls the country's economy!

Therefore, the six ministers of the Jin state shared the economic lifeline of the Jin state, and each had their own specialties.

Therefore, Zhao Wuxi's economic power will spread to the entire Lu country invisibly!

However, there are not many people who realize this in this era, and only a few people such as Guan Zhong. Therefore, when the officials of various countries mint coins, they foolishly do not prohibit the minting of private coins.

However, Zhao Wuxi clearly stipulated in the "Golden Cloth Law": The private caster shall die! The whole family is punished as a servant!

In addition, in order to unify the shape of coins, in addition to promulgating strict decrees, it is also necessary to unify the shape technically~www.wuxiahere.com~ Although the pottery fan and stone fan crafts currently in use are easy to make, but after all They are soft clay and talc, which are easily damaged in the process of casting money. If a large number of coins are cast, the stone fan must be updated frequently, and the shape of the money will be difficult to unify. Therefore, only by using durable copper vanes, can coins of consistent shape and quality be minted in large quantities.

Just as the currency gradually circulated in Xilu, the time began to enter the midsummer and May, the rain was sparse and sparse, and a series of measures were issued from the Qi State Hall.

In the end, following Zhao Wuxi's "Remonstrance and Ban on Salt", he decided to stop the economic sanctions against Lu, and at the same time sent envoys to try to make peace with Lu.

"Reconciliation? Qihou sent an envoy to ask for peace with Lu?"

When he got this news, Zhao Wuxi, who had just sent Linghu Bo off the dock, was stunned.

This move of the Marquis of Qi can be said to be a stroke of genius, and it hit Zhao Wuxi's sore spot all at once, and then, a series of moves by the state of Qi made people overwhelmed. Qihou, this monarch who has been a little dull most of the time seems to be reborn, and it seems that he is Zhao Wuxi's terrifying opponent who has never been masked, Yan Ying is reborn! (~^~)

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