The first material exchange was the currency that humans used at that time. In primitive societies, people needed materials and exchanged them for barter. For example, exchange a pig for a hammer. But sometimes limited by the variety of materials, we have to look for both sides to exchange for goods, that is, raw money.
The shell is the earliest currency used by human civilization. The shape of the shell is small and hard, making it easy to carry. For the early civilizations of mainland China, it was not easy to obtain shells and would not be devalued. Most of the characters related to money in Chinese characters are "shell edges", because the currency in the early period was shells.
However, after many years of historical changes, in modern society, the items used for trading have gradually been replaced by metals and silver. The advantage of using the metal silver genus is that they cannot be obtained from nature, only human labor is needed. It is also easier to store.
In the Analects, it is said: "Luxury is not inferior, and frugality is solid." Rather than being inferior, Ninggu means that luxury will appear undepident, thrifty housekeeper will appear cold, rather than not humble, it is better to be humble. Spending money indiscriminately is a symbol of the loser, so the ancient Chinese people liked to save money.
The historical King of Shangyi lost the country because of the losers. When King Huan was still on the throne, the Shang Dynasty was still very powerful. But he was always insatiable, and in order to satisfy his desires, he increased taxes a lot, and plundered money from the people to fill his own treasury. He also collected rare treasures everywhere and placed them in the royal palace for his own enjoyment.
The king filled the pool with wine and hung the meat in the woods, leaving them naked to play and chase in the forest. He also sent people to build palaces in the sand and capture rare beasts for him and his concubines to enjoy. This extreme corruption not only harms the people, but also corrupts the country, and eventually leads to its demise.
And in the 36th time in "Dream of the Red Chamber", Shi Xiangyun, with the help of Xue Baochao, invited everyone to eat a full table of crab feasts. The cost of this crab feast was said by Grandma Liu at the banquet, and the wine and dishes on the table cost a total of more than twenty taels of silver. What is this concept? It is equivalent to more than a year of living expenses for ordinary people, which is a lot of luxury!
Keeping in mind history, people have gradually developed the habit of thrifting and saving money. In modern times, it is possible to put money in a bank. Set yourself a small goal, such as depositing 1,000 yuan a month and transferring it to a fund account for a fixed period of time. Or open an account and save your own pocket money.
But the ancients didn't have banks, so how did they save money? Ordinary people do not have much money, and they will wear copper coins in a string and hang them on the beams of their houses, also known as "full". Ancient thieves liked to climb on beams to steal money, which is the origin of "gentlemen on beams". And the thief also likes the beam, because there is money on the beam.
The richer households will build cellars, and the "cellars" can put gold and silver treasures in the jar or bury them in the ground to ensure that they will not easily corrupt. Therefore, it is necessary to "dig three feet into the ground", and the scale is relatively large. This is where the joke that "there is no silver in this place is three hundred and two".
Archaeological excavations in 1970 revealed a number of large-scale excavations from the cellars. At that time, on the base of Hejia Village, the mouth altar and silver jar were dug out manually. When you open it, there are thousands of important items such as gold bars, jade, gold and silver jewelry stored inside. Later, after archaeologists examined it, it was left by people during the Tang Dynasty.
In addition to "cellaring", there are also methods such as wall storage and multi-layer burial methods. Wall hiding is the treasure of gold and silver treasure in the crevices of the wall. At that time, when Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, was demolishing Confucius's old residence, he found books such as "Spring and Autumn" and "Analects" left by Confucius in the cracks in the wall. In history, it is called "Hole Wall In the Scripture".
The "multi-layer burial method" is to continue digging on the basis of cellaring and adopt a layered approach. Put the first layer first, cover it with dirt and then put the second layer, up to four or five layers. In order to strengthen the layers, they are stacked with slab tiles, and the layers are sealed with rice paste and lime. In this way, even if there are tomb robbers to dig, they can only dig to the top.
I heard that during the Republic of China, the famous doctor Chen Shuren learned that 20 altars of silver were buried in the house, so he asked people to dig and witness this deep digging and layering cellar method in the family. At the beginning, only 8 cylinders were dug out, and there were more than a dozen cylinders, expanding the area, how to dig did not dig, was it stolen? Later, experienced elders said that they would continue to dig deeper, and finally dug out 12 cylinders of silver buried deep in layers.
In order to prevent tomb robbers, the ancients racked their brains, came up with various ways to hide money, and also set up mechanisms, so that even if thieves came, it was too late to dig, so the wisdom of the ancients was very clever.
As history was buried by vicissitudes, the ancients would often dig up the money stored in old houses with a long history. In ancient times, there was no national regulation on "digging out cultural relics and handing them over", so in the Song Dynasty, some people would often get rich because they dug out those gold and silver jewelry.