Every married man has a secret he can't tell, and that is to hide his own private money. Now many men have their own small vaults because they are "afraid of their wives", but this is not a unique habit of modern people, in ancient society, whether it is a large family or a small family, married men also have the habit of hiding private money.
Although in ancient times it was a society in which men were superior to women, many times men's wives also had a certain status. Many celebrities in ancient times were also famous for their "strict wives", so it was not unusual to be afraid of wives in ancient times. In the Ming Dynasty, there was such a man, who hid his private money in wood carvings for more than 600 years.
Due to the backwardness of modern China, many antique treasures are scattered overseas, so Chinese antiques can often be seen at auctions held in some foreign countries.
Once, at an auction in Melbourne, Australia, a collector was preparing to auction off a piece of his own collection, a ming dynasty wood carving, carved into the shape of an arhat head. The whole wood carving texture is clear, although after years of erosion, the color of the wood carving appearance has become uneven, but you can still see the exquisite carving skills, even if you do not know how to identify the layman can see that this treasure is of extraordinary value.
Before the auction, according to the custom, when the staff routinely inspected the items with special instruments, they found that the wood carving was actually hollow, and there was another mystery inside the wood carving. Generally speaking, wood carving is carved with some solid rare wood, and carving with hollow wood is more difficult, because a little attention may destroy wood in carving.
The staff then asked the collector of the wood carving, but the collector of the wood carving was also very confused, because the wood carving was not told to him when the previous owner sold it to him, and he did not notice it in his hands for many years. After careful study of the wood carvings by the experts present, it was found that the base of the wood carvings was hidden in the mechanism, which was difficult to find if you did not pay attention.
With the consent of the wood carving collector, the expert slowly turns the mechanism, and the secret hidden in this hollow wood carving is also revealed. Hidden inside the wood carving is not jade or gold and silver, but a Great Ming Treasure Banknote.
Paper money has appeared in the mainland since the Song Dynasty, and the original paper money was just something similar to a passbook issued by a large bank, and later the official began to issue official paper money. The Daming Bao banknote was issued during the Zhu Yuanzhang period of the Ming Dynasty, and there were six different denominations from one hundred to the same.
The consistent treasure banknote is equivalent to one or two pieces of silver, which is converted into about one thousand yuan in modern times. However, because the Ming Dynasty government at that time did not understand the economy, the number of bao banknotes issued later was seriously excessive, which eventually led to serious inflation, and by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the bao banknotes had been devalued to only one penny.
The treasure banknote hidden in the wood carving is the consistency of the largest denomination, because the paper is difficult to preserve, so there are not many banknotes left over from the past, and the treasure banknote hidden in the wood carving has gone through more than 600 years, depending on the preservation environment inside the wood carving, so that it is not weathered and can be completely preserved.
This treasure banknote has reappeared in the world after more than six hundred years, and the value naturally cannot be worth only the same money, due to the scarcity of the Daming treasure banknote, the value of this complete treasure banknote has already exceeded the wood carved Luohan head itself.
Experts later conducted detailed examinations of wood carvings and treasure banknotes, and deduced that the owner of the treasure banknotes was likely to be a man from the early Ming Dynasty, because the treasure banknotes had been depreciating since they were issued, and if they were treasure banknotes from other periods, there was naturally no need to hide them at great lengths. If you can hide such a huge banknote, the identity of the owner must be either rich or expensive.
The reason why the treasure note was hidden in the wood carving was probably because it was the man's private money. Although the ancient society was inferior to male and female, there were inevitably exceptions. Of course, this treasure note may also be a little pocket money hidden by a lady of a large family, but it may also be hidden by a family for political reasons, which means that this treasure note is likely to be a bribe accepted by an official.
However, the time of history has gone far, and we can no longer know the real story behind this antique wood carving, leaving us with only a cultural relic with a historical atmosphere.
In fact, in ancient times, the private money was more women, although there were also "fear of the inside" situation in ancient times, but after all, they were all minorities, but after all, the status of ancient women was relatively low, there was no independent economic ability, and they could only rely on men materially, so ancient women would hide some private money in case of emergency.
Of course, the consequences of the discovery of ancient women hiding private money are also very serious, but it is not like this, sleeping in the living room, kneeling on the washboard will be fine, it is likely to be driven out of the house by a letter of resignation.
In ancient times, private money was not only hidden by low-status women, even the emperor who was honored as the Ninth Five-Year Emperor would also hide his own private money. Some people may wonder, isn't the emperor alone in the world, why does the emperor have to hide his own private money?
In fact, in ancient times, the treasury and finance were managed by special ministers, and each financial expenditure had strict restrictions. If the emperor suddenly wants to build a palace one day, or go out to play, then soon a group of ministers will jump out to persuade the emperor to be frugal, even if the ministers finally agree to the emperor's expenditure, but also have to go through various cumbersome procedures, and when the emperor can spend money, he may have long lost interest.
The small treasury of the emperors of different dynasties also has different names, the Song Dynasty is called "Fengpi Library", the Ming Dynasty is called "Nei Shuai", and the Qian Emperor in the small treasury can be used at will, without looking at the face of the minister and listening to the minister's nagging. Therefore, many emperors in history have their own private small treasury to meet their own extravagant and lavish needs.
A Daming treasure banknote was hidden in wood carving for six hundred years, and in modern times, two collectors have not discovered the mystery, which makes us have to lament the exquisite skills of wood carving carvers, and also let us understand that the original operation of painstakingly hiding private money is not only a patent of modern people, and the technology of the ancients to hide private money is really not bad for modern people.
In modern society, women have the same equal status as men, and after marriage, because men are busy with work, all women are generally in charge of financial power, and hiding private money has become a unique skill of men.
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