Emperor Wudi's reform of the currency system was a major reform in history, and history still has a very high evaluation of this reform, but modern historian Lu Simian believes that Emperor Wudi's reform of the currency system is "particularly harmful" and believes that this is a policy of exploiting the people. What was the purpose of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty in reforming the currency system? Why is it said to be a policy of exploitation of the people? Let's take a look at why Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty reformed the currency system. What is the purpose of reforming the currency system? What are the good and bad points of reforming the currency system?
Free coinage led to serious currency over-issuance
Before Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty reformed the currency system, the right to mint coins was free, that is to say, as long as there was money and technology, they could mint coins themselves, and coins could still circulate to the market. For a long time before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the right to mint coins was free, but it was precisely because the minting rights were too free that led to serious currency over-issuance. The currency of the Qin Dynasty was called half two, and its numismatic weight was also half two (Qin system 1 two = 24 baht, half two is 12 baht). Although the nominal amount of coins is 12 baht, in fact, the excavated Qin Dynasty coins often do not reach this weight (the heaviest physical objects unearthed are 6 baht, and the lightest is only 2 baht). The main reason for the problem of insufficient numismatic weight is not caused by technical problems, but by deliberate creation. The Qin Dynasty law stipulated that the people must recognize these insufficient coins, which led to the opportunism of the minters, all thinking of minting the most coins at the smallest cost, and the denominations of the coins were the same anyway.
"Sleeping Tiger Di Qin Tomb Bamboo Jane Jin Bulu": The official government recipients, a thousand dollars, with a beggar and an order to print. Those who do not have a thousand will also seal it. Money is not good, real miscellaneous ... The people use money in the city, and the beauty and evil are mixed, and do not dare to be different.
This leads to serious currency over-issuance, which is supposedly a direct consequence of inflation, which depreciates rapidly. However, the Qin Dynasty still maintained the denomination of the coins by force, and plundered the world's wealth by means of unified weights and measures. The original means of the Han Dynasty were the same, Liu Bang further reduced the legal weight of coins (legal weight of 3 baht) on the basis of the amount of coins in the Qin state (legal 12 baht). In order to solve the problem of excessive currency issuance, Lü Hou raised the weight of coins to 8 baht, but it was useless, and at this time, the state's control over the currency was minimal. There's a saying in Currency Wars: "As long as I can control the issuance of a country's currency, I don't care who makes the law." "I don't make a comment on the book 'Currency Wars', but I think this sentence still makes a lot of sense. The right to issue money is very important, and at this time, the right to issue money is in the hands of rich merchants, and the state cannot use administrative means to control currency issuance.
Lü Hou tried to recover the right to mint coins, and formulated standards for the weight of money, trying to save the problem of excessive currency issuance. But it was useless, the "eight baht money" issued by Lü Hou did not achieve the desired effect, and the situation of private minting of coins by the people was very serious. Later Emperor Wen of Han did not solve this problem, and the recuperation of Emperor Wenjing gave the mints an opportunity to make a windfall. Historically reliable, coins during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han had a legal weight of 4 baht, but the coins unearthed were actually only 0.2 baht. This is very serious compared with the weight of coins in the Qin Dynasty, and the serious over-issuance of currency has led to the rapid depreciation of coins, the original price of rice (1 stone) is dozens of dollars, but the price of rice (1 stone) during the Han WenDi period is as high as 10,000 yuan. The prices of horses, land, and cloth in the same period were much higher than in the ordinary period, which shows that there was a serious inflation problem at that time (see the economic analysis of inflation in the early Han Dynasty).
Serious over-issuance of money leads to serious depreciation of coins (the "Chronicle of History and Equalization" records: money is more and lighter, and goods are less and expensive. In this case the rulers were desperate to solve the problem of inflation. The currency reform of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty was somewhat historical, because at that time the national fiscal deficit was very large, and social wealth was mainly concentrated in the hands of rich merchants. In order to solve a series of economic problems such as currency over-issuance, inflation, and fiscal deficits, the reform of the currency system cannot be delayed. Of course, this currency reform has a certain purpose, and its main purpose is to solve the problem of excessive currency issuance and exploit wealth.
The main content of the currency reform of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
The first reform of Emperor Wudi of Han and the second reform of Emperor Wudi of Han
These two reforms are put together, because neither reform is new. During the han dynasty, the "four baht money" was issued, and when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty first reformed, it was issued "three baht money", because the currency value was equivalent to the "four baht money", so it was useless, and the market did not recognize the "three baht money". Emperor Wu of han's second reform issued half a dollar, the same as before, and there was no major change, but the weight of the currency was re-determined. These two reforms have not achieved much success, the market recognition is not high, and they have not played a role in curbing currency over-issuance. The real highlight is the third reform and the reforms that follow, and it is these reforms that really affect the currency.
Third reform
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty issued two kinds of coins in the third reform, namely: white deerskin coins and platinum three products, and issued an order for the death penalty of privately minting coins. This time the reform action is very large, the main impact is as follows:
1: White deerskin coin: This coin is mainly for the princes, simply put, it is to make a coin with white deerskin, and then require the princes to use white deerskin coins when sacrificing the temple. This white deerskin coin is worth 400,000 yuan, the value of the coin is very large, and the princes must also use the white deerskin coin, otherwise Emperor Wu of Han will find an excuse to destroy you. Because the white deer skins were basically in the hands of the officials, it was unlikely that they would be privately minted, and Emperor Wu of Han made a fortune by doing so, but then had to abolish them because of the resistance of the princes.
2: Platinum Three Products: This coin is mainly aimed at the people, simply put, it is made of tin into coins, and then set an inflated price, thereby replacing the copper coins on the market. The three platinum coins are: dragon coins (worth 3000), myring coins (worth 500), and turtle coins (worth 300). The coins on the market are basically minted in copper, and the value of ancient copper is very stable, so the recognition of copper coins is relatively high. The value of tin is not as good as copper coins, and the face value of coins should be calculated according to the metal value of tin and copper. However, Emperor Wu of Han did not care about this set, he forcibly set the worthless tin coins to an inflated price, and exchanged these worthless tin coins for copper coins, which was completely robbery. There are countermeasures under the policy, in this case, the people on the one hand resist this kind of tin coin in the transaction, on the other hand, they also secretly mint tin coins for arbitrage. Everyone is pitting people, and no one should say who.
3: Prohibition of private coinage: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is exploiting others in these two kinds of coins, but when he exploits others himself, he prohibits others from exploiting, that is, prohibiting private minting of coins. This actually involves recovering the right to mint, but it is useless, as long as the profits are in place, the work of losing the head is rushed to do. Using worthless tin coins to exchange for valuable copper coins, almost no capital to buy, why not enjoy it? In this case, the people secretly minted coins, of course, the imperial court was also constantly arresting people, until the prison could not be loaded. Historically reliable, hundreds of thousands of counterfeiters were held in prisons at the time, and millions of people turned themselves in (after Emperor Wu announced his pardon for counterfeiters) saying that they had made counterfeit money. At that time, there were only more than 40 million people, and there were more than 1 million people who were reliable counterfeiters in history, and an average of dozens of people had one counterfeiter, which was a terrible proportion.
Emperor Wu's third reform was entirely to exploit, and his relatives (princes) and subjects under his rule were the objects of his exploitation. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made a fortune by relying on these two means of exploitation, and the fiscal deficit gradually became smaller. But these two coins caused the people to boil over, and the society was bound to be turbulent. In order to solve the problem of public resentment, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty decided to restrain a little and try to use more moderate means to exploit the people. A fourth reform was followed, along with the abolition of inflated currencies.
Fourth reform
The fourth reform is more gentle, and the main contents are as follows:
1: Issue five baht money
This was the reissuance of "five baht coins", but due to the limited ability of the Han central government to issue currency, it had to involve the county state as well. This leads to a very serious problem, that is, each other cut corners. The actual weight of the five-baht coin does not match the legal weight, and they all use this loophole to plunder the people's wealth. There is nothing wrong with the coin itself, but this loophole makes the "five-baht coin" likely to repeat the same mistakes. That is to say, the Central Han Dynasty and the counties will continue to reduce the weight of coins, and the problem of excessive currency issuance in the past will recur. The currency at this time is not significantly different from the previous currency, but only a technical means is added.
2: Use technical means to avoid private casting
Copper coins were minted in copper, and at that time there was a means of coinage that was to buy some copper coins, and then a little copper chip was dropped on each copper coin, and then minted into copper coins. The legal value of the original copper coins has not changed, and I have some more copper coins. However, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty added a layer of protection to the "five-baht coin", the purpose of which was to prevent criminals from stealing coins.
Fifth reform
The fifth reform is again the same old way, because the fifth reform produced a "red five baht money". Under normal circumstances, the value of a currency should be determined by the market, and the market will convert a proportion according to the weight of the currency. However, Emperor Wu of Han did not take the usual path, and he forcibly stipulated that the value of the "Red Servant Five Baht Money" was five times the value of the ordinary "Five Baht Money". He took another detour of "white deerskin coins", the market on the one hand boycotted the red five-baht money, on the other hand, as far as possible to privately mint the red five-baht money.
Sixth reform
The sixth reform was the final reform of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, this time determining the currency system of the Han Dynasty, as follows:
1: Determine the coin
In the end, Emperor Wu of han issued the "Shanglin Three Officials Money", which was quite a currency and acceptable to the market. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty abolished all the miscellaneous coins that had been used before, and finally only this coin remained. But there is a big problem, that is, the problem of insufficient numismatic weight has never been solved. Emperor Wu of Han only tried his best to avoid the people, merchants, and princes from cutting corners, but he did not consider whether the Central Han Dynasty would cut corners. Since then, the feudal dynasty has been using this currency system, because the feudal dynasty can plunder the people's wealth by controlling the weight of the coin, that is, artificially creating inflation. The problem of currency over-issuance has not been solved, and perhaps this problem will not be solved at all.
2: Recover the right to mint coins
It was very difficult to recover the right to mint coins, and Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty only increased the difficulty of privately minting coins. For example, increase anti-counterfeiting signs, reduce the face value and cost of coinage, and increase the punishment for private coinage. If you don't make money by minting coins privately, then the merchants will naturally give up. Once the difference between the cost of minting and the face value of the currency becomes larger, then the merchant will still take risks and mint coins privately.
The benefits of the currency reform of emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
Solve the problem of excessive currency issuance, stabilize the financial and economic systems, and strengthen the control of money
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took the right to mint coins into the central government, effectively solving the problem of excessive currency issuance. Because the right to issue money is in the hands of the government, the government will issue a certain amount of money according to the market, thereby maintaining and stabilizing the financial and economic system. At the same time, the Han central government's control of the weight of money effectively solved the problem of private coin minting and strengthened the control of money. This is still very useful for the stability maintenance of the dynasty, when the dynasty is short of money, it can plunder the wealth of merchants by controlling the weight of money, and then use it for disaster relief and conquest, and the huge military expenditure of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty is often maintained by plundering the people's wealth.
The disadvantages of emperor Wudi's monetary reform
The Han Central Committee plundered the people's wealth in order to create inflation
In fact, the disadvantages of the original currency are not large, at most, it is a little inconvenient to carry, but the copper coins issued during the Han Wudi period and the previous ones do not have a qualitative gap, so the improvement for the people is not great. However, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty withdrew the right to mint coins, which led the government to artificially create inflation by controlling the weight of copper coins, and then plunder the people's wealth. Therefore, some people still have a very low evaluation of Emperor Wudi's reform of the currency system, believing that this is a policy of exploiting the people, in fact, Emperor Wudi of Han did use this policy to exploit the people.