Disciplining Emperor Gaozu of Han

boom.

The shopkeeper slammed his right hand on the counter, glared at the woman, and shouted, "You audacious woman! This is the land of the Han Dynasty, not the land of the tyrannical Qin! You still yearn for the Qin Dynasty? Are you planning a rebellion?"

"I..." The woman was startled, her face turned pale, and she was at a loss for what to do.

"Come on, there's a woman here who's devoted to the tyrannical Qin..." the waiter shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Fine, I'll take it, okay?" The woman came to her senses, her face full of reluctance, but she had no choice but to accept the twenty copper coins that were as thin as paper.

"You're smart to know what's good for you." The waiter was satisfied.

"Do you...do you have salt?" the woman asked, startled.

"Yes. Ten coins for one tael," the shopkeeper said.

"I'll buy two ounces of salt." The woman placed the copper coins on the counter.

"I want half a tael of Qin salt." The shopkeeper pushed the copper coins in front of the woman and stretched out his right hand: "Two taels of salt, twenty half a taels of Qin salt."

"Isn't this the money you just gave me?" the woman asked incredulously.

"This worthless money, whoever wants it can have it, I won't take it." The shop assistant glanced at the copper shop, curled his lip, and said with great disdain.

"But this is what you gave me." Tears welled up in the woman's eyes.

"Uncle, what's going on?" Liu Ying was not only incredulous but also very confused.

"Liu Ying, you've only just arrived in Guanzhong and are unaware of the currency situation here," Xiahou Ying explained to Liu Ying. "After pacifying the Three Qin regions last year, the King of Han frequently issued 'unauthorized minting orders,' allowing anyone to mint coins with the King's permission."

"He didn't have control over the minting?" Liu Ying felt as if thunder had struck him.

Minting coins was one of the core powers of a state and had to be firmly held in its hands. In later generations, anyone who dared to dabble in minting coins was either executed along with their entire family or had their entire clan wiped out.

Liu Bang actually delegated the right to mint coins, something Liu Ying never dreamed would happen.

What Liu Ying didn't know was that the private minting of coins, which had been practiced since the early days of the Han Dynasty, was not taken back by Emperor Wu of Han.

That was a century later.

"The King of Han believed that the ministers had followed him and made great contributions, so he allowed them to mint coins." Xiahou Ying shook his head and sighed, "Once the ministers were given the right to mint coins, they cut corners and minted large quantities without restraint, and such practices were rampant."

Liu Ying was not surprised at all by this.

When the state does not control the right to mint coins, but allows private individuals to mint them, shoddy workmanship is inevitable.

Moreover, everyone wanted to mint more coins, fearing that others would mint more than them, so they desperately minted coins, which ultimately resulted in inflation and persistently high prices.

"These coins vary in quality; some are slightly better, some are very poor. In short, there are no high-quality coins, so the common people don't use them. They use Qin coins for buying and selling." Xiahou Ying gritted his teeth: "These people are really ruthless when it comes to making money."

"Do you have any Han coins?" Liu Ying asked Xiahou Ying.

"Who will take care of him?" Xiahou Ying grinned.

"Let's go take a look." Liu Ying turned around, came to Lu's shop, looked up at the woman, clasped his hands in a salute, and said, "Auntie, may I take a look at the Han coins?"

"Here you go." Without hesitation, the woman gave Liu Ying one.

Liu Ying thanked him, took the coin, and examined it closely. He saw that the Han coin was about 1.5 centimeters in diameter, round on the outside and square on the inside, with the square hole in the middle taking up most of the space. The edges were irregular, as if a dog had chewed them. The reverse side was blank, while the obverse side had the characters "半两" (Ban Liang).

It's as thin as paper, and feels like nothing in your hand.

Liu Ying pinched the copper coin between his index and middle fingers, and gently tossed it forward. The coin flew up like a kite, swaying and wobbling, before landing on the ground four feet away.

He stepped forward, picked it up, and asked Xiahou Ying, "How much does it weigh?"

"Three zhu," Xiahou Ying replied.

Twenty-four zhu equaled one liang, and one liang in ancient times was sixteen grams. That is to say, one zhu was two-thirds of a gram, and three zhu were two grams. In reality, it's hard to say whether the coin actually weighed one gram.

This shoddy workmanship is not just ruthless, it's frighteningly ruthless—more than half of the materials have been cut.

"Qin Banliang." Liu Ying stretched out his right hand towards Xiahou Ying.

Xiahou Ying took out a Qin Banliang coin and handed it to Liu Ying.

Liu Ying first saw this money when Xiahou Ying bribed the army guarding the city in Feng County, giving them Qin Banliang coins.

Upon handling the Qin Banliang coin, a metallic texture immediately comes to mind, heavy and authentic. Looking closely, it retains the classic round-within-a-square shape, yet its superior quality and exquisite craftsmanship immediately reveal it as a top-grade coin.

Compared to the Qin Banliang coin, the Han coins are far inferior.

Liu Ying held a Han coin in his left hand and a Qin coin in his right, then brought them together. The two coins collided with a crisp metallic clang; the Han coin chipped, while the Qin coin remained unharmed.

He tossed the Qin Banliang coin back to Xiahou Ying, then grasped the Han coin with both hands, snapped it in half with a strong pull.

"You..." The woman felt very sorry for him.

"Calm down," Xiahou Ying stopped the woman.

Although no one wanted to use Han coins, they were still a rare find for her. She sized up Xiahou Ying and, seeing his distinguished bearing, had no choice but to endure it.

Liu Ying swung his right arm in a wide arc, slamming the Han coin in his hand heavily onto the ground, where it shattered into several pieces, scattering everywhere.

He stepped forward, lifted his right foot, stomped on a piece of broken metal, and crushed it into copper shavings.

"How bad must this be?" Liu Ying was deeply shocked.

Many coins unearthed in later generations, which had been buried underground for hundreds or thousands of years and were severely corroded, were still better than these newly minted Han coins.

What Liu Ying didn't know was that the first edition of Han Dynasty coins, because they resembled elm pods, were also known as "pod coins," which were the most famous pieces of worthless money in history.

none of them.

Later generations could easily mint coins of much better quality than the old ones.

Even the currencies of the previous six countries were of much better quality than the Jiaqian.

"How much money would it take to buy... a shi (a unit of dry measure) of rice?" Liu Ying wanted to know the prices.

"Hmph." The waiter looked at Liu Ying with disdain and did not answer.

"I'm asking you a question," Xiahou Ying shouted.

"Do you know my master...?" The waiter was about to start exaggerating.

"If you dare not answer, I'll have Lu Wan break your legs." Xiahou Ying's face darkened.

"May I ask who you are?" The waiter's heart sank, but a smile appeared on his face.

"Speak," Xiahou Ying glared at the waiter.

The shop assistant's heart skipped a beat, and he cautiously said, "Ten thousand coins for one bushel of rice."

"How...how much? Ten thousand coins?" Liu Ying thought she was hearing things and had misheard, so she raised her voice.

"It's ten thousand coins," the waiter confirmed.

"You're not lying to me?" Liu Ying still couldn't believe it.

"It is indeed ten thousand coins," the woman affirmed.

"Ten thousand coins for one bushel of rice? Prices are skyrocketing!" Liu Ying felt her understanding had been refreshed once again.

"Prices really are soaring!" Xiahou Ying chimed in.

"Great! Excellent!" the woman clapped her hands in agreement.

At that time, the Qin system was in effect, and one shi was one hundred and twenty jin. The Qin system used the small jin system, and one jin was equivalent to half a jin in modern times, which is sixty jin, or thirty kilograms.

According to official regulations of the Han Dynasty, the weight of the jia qian (a type of coin) was three zhu (another type of coin), hence it was called sanzhu qian (three-zhu coin). One coin weighed two grams, so 10,000 qian would weigh 20 kilograms.

Exchanging 20 kilograms of money for 30 kilograms of rice is like the price of goods is skyrocketing.

Liu Ying's statement is very apt.

The shopkeeper bought a bolt of linen for twenty coins, which was practically free.

"Auntie, can you give me this money?" Liu Ying stretched out her right hand.

"This..." The woman hesitated, gripping the Han coin tightly.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of your problem," Liu Ying said with a smile.

The woman gritted her teeth and handed the Han coins to Liu Ying.

Liu Ying thanked him, took the bag, and winked at Xiahou Ying.

Xiahou Ying understood and said to the shopkeeper, "A bolt of linen is worth 35 qian of Qin half liang, and salt is 3 qian of one liang. You have to give her 11 liang of salt and return 2 qian."

"Why does this look so familiar?" the waiter exclaimed in surprise.

"Hurry up and give me the things," Xiahou Ying urged.

The shop assistant dared not disobey. The woman took the salt, thanked him profusely, and left quickly.

"Uncle, let's go back to the palace. I know how to raise funds for the army." Liu Ying put the Han coins into his pocket, and left the market with Xiahou Ying and Liu Ying, heading straight for the palace.

Note:

The Book of Han, Treatise on Food and Commodities, records: "At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, it was believed that the Qin coins were too heavy and difficult to use, so the people were ordered to mint coins. One pound of gold was used to pay for the coins. However, unscrupulous people who were driven by profit accumulated their surplus to sell at the market, causing prices to skyrocket. Rice cost 10,000 coins per shi (a unit of dry measure), and horses cost 100 gold coins per pi (another unit of dry measure)."