People's familiarity with the "golden melon seeds" is thanks to two TV series: one is "Kangxi Dynasty", Xiucai Li Mingshan once found that Kangxi "stepped on the golden melon seeds that fell on the ground with his feet" when Kangxi was eating tofu brain, thus changing from "famous mountain" to "famous sun mountain". There is also a "Biography of Zhen Huan", the queen concubine used the "golden melon seed" to reward the eunuch Su Peisheng, Su Peisheng was grateful to Shu Zero. It seems that the "golden melon seed" is a very valuable thing, and everyone hopes to be able to come to it. So, what exactly is the golden melon seed thing? Will the emperor really give a handful of land one by one?
Golden melon seeds are actually a general term for loose gold. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, gold and silver were gradually commonly used in the folk, and the value of the silver ingots that had been minted was too large and inconvenient to use, so there were small silver nuggets with irregular minting, commonly known as loose silver. The emergence of loose silver reduces the weight of silver, which also reduces the value it represents, so that it can be easily circulated in the market. However, this method only applies to silver, not gold. Because the unit value of gold is about twenty times that of silver, no matter how it is split, the value is also very large. Therefore, the folk can not use.
The people can't use it, but the emperor can use it. The emperor usually does not buy anything, and the biggest expense is "reward". Everything has rules and regulations, and once ministers, concubines, and slaves have meritorious service, the emperor will give rewards. This kind of reward can be recorded in the register, drawn from the national treasury, generally in large quantities, and most of them are integers, such as the eighth year of Yongzheng, Zhang Tingyu was rewarded with twenty thousand taels of silver from the emperor because of his ability to do things.
But in the palace, many small favors are inevitable. The emperor is usually happy on any day, or the slaves and palace women have a little merit, so that the emperor is happy, and the emperor must also give rewards, and the number of such rewards is not large, they cannot be on the table, and there will be no records in the history books. At this time, you need something of relatively small value, but it looks very valuable. The "scattered gold" of golden melon seeds came into being and became the main item that the emperor usually rewarded the internal servants.
Because of this narrower use, it is doomed that the golden melon seeds are unlikely to be rewarded in large quantities. The emperor and the empress dowager usually gave small favors and gave one or two, three or four people in the palace, and it was already the end. If the quantity is larger, is it okay to give the rules of gold and silver directly to the ingots? Why bother? For example, in some film and television dramas, the queen concubine gives the eunuch a large box of golden melon seeds, which is somewhat unnecessary. Generous rewards, directly to gold and silver ingots more convenient. Moreover, the emperor's pockets were also limited, he could not hold so many things, carrying twenty or thirty of them, which was already the end.
In addition, in many film and television dramas, the "golden melon seeds" are really cast like the current sunflower seeds, which is a bit ridiculous. Sunflower seeds were only introduced to China during the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty did not spread to that point. At that time, even if someone really had nothing to do, they had to make the loose gold into the shape of melon seeds, and watermelon seeds had to be more appropriate. Moreover, although the "golden melon seed" is named melon seed, there is no certain rule in shape, and the long and short round ones are flat. Moreover, there is no fixed mass, generally between 20 grams and 30 grams. Its role is only a low-value tip item, and there is no need to be so delicate.
Of course, from the perspective of value, golden melon seeds are indeed more valuable. Taking 20 grams of golden melon seeds as an example, it is now between about 9,000-10,000 yuan, which is indeed a considerable income. At the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the amount of gold was far less than now, and the value would only be higher, so it was no wonder that Li Mingshan, even if he disregarded the dignity of the reader, had to rob a girl who sold tofu brains, and it was no wonder that Su Peisheng did not even dare to ask for gold melon seeds in the face. This thing is really worth a lot. At the same time, from one side, it can also be seen that the emperor of the Qing Dynasty is really extravagant and wasteful, and a small favor is such a high value. The people's anointing has been wasted inadvertently.