Text|small writing
Editor|Pillow History Books
Cai Jing entered the dynasty four times in the late Northern Song Dynasty, presided over many money law reforms, and Shaanxi Road became a pilot area for Cai Jing to promote new currencies such as dangshi money and tin money because of its special military status and currency origin.
When the ten coins and tin money continued to depreciate, they were forcibly maintained by the Song court with official credit, and eventually formed a deformed exchange relationship. Small banknotes and money also existed in name only, becoming a weapon for officials to exploit the people. As Shaanxi gradually integrated into the mainland's financial system, it also fell victim to political gladiatorial battles and the emperor's enjoyment.
Cai Jing's monetary reform was characterized by rapid expansion and then rapid contraction, and in order to increase government revenue, he plundered private wealth through currency promotion, and gradually pushed the financial system that Shaanxi Road had constructed for nearly a century into the abyss.
Since the Li Jiqian Rebellion, Shaanxi Road has gone through the five dynasties of Zhen, Ren, Ying, God and Zhe, and gradually built a unique economic model born of war and different from other regions.
However, the situation changed during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, and the late Northern Song Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Hui and Qin was an era of extreme economic turmoil, and in addition to the impact of the war, political ups and downs and the formulation of economic policies were also important reasons.
Prior to this, there were three major types of currency in the Shaanxi Road currency market: copper coins, iron coins, and paper money, which were mutually exclusive and complementary when a certain payment method lost its credit.
Among them, copper money is mainly small flat money and folded two money, iron money is mainly large iron money and small iron money, and paper money is mainly salt money and jiaozi.
In the Hui and Qin dynasties, in addition to the above six kinds of circulation methods in the Shaanxi Road money market, 3 kinds of copper coins were added: three kinds of copper coins, five coins, and ten coins, one new tin money was added to iron money, and two kinds of small banknotes and money were added to paper money, a total of 12 kinds of currency appeared and flowed through one after another, making the financial situation of Shaanxi Road more complicated.
Not only because of the disorder of the monetary system, but also the complexity of the financial system of Shaanxi Road in the late Northern Song Dynasty was reflected in its relationship with the central government and the mainland.
The reason why Shaanxi was able to become a special currency zone at the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty was precisely because of its important geographical location close to Western Xia, and the various circulation methods and financial means used here were all for military purposes.
Since the Song court promoted large copper coins to the whole country in the second year of Chongning, Shaanxi Road jumped out of the original independent financial system and integrated into the domestic environment.
From a certain point of view, although Shaanxi still retains the distinctive economic characteristics of key areas for national defense, the trend of economic and financial development has become more dependent on changes in the central government and the economic situation in the hinterland, which is another prominent feature of the development of Shaanxi Road in the late Northern Song Dynasty.
The beginning of the turmoil ——— the Chongning period
In the first month of the first year of the Yasukuni Dynasty, with the death of Empress Dowager Xiang, the personnel arrangements that the Song court had intervened through the curtain for more than half a year were about to usher in a major change.
The first measure of Cai Jing's reform was to make Shaanxi Road "minted as five coins", in an attempt to mechanically increase the circulation of money in the local market.
However, probably drawing lessons from Song Renzong's failure to mint ten coins in Shaanxi Road, when determining the denomination of large money, the Song court did not directly stipulate that big money should be one for ten, but intercepted the middle number between when ten coins and later evolved into two coins——— when five to prevent large-scale poaching and devaluation.
However, this phenomenon lasted less than a year, and the Song court changed the casting of Dangdang Ten Qian on the basis of Dang Wu Qian in the second year of Chongning not long after.
In fact, the material of each of the ten big coins minted during the Qing calendar year of Song Renzong is three times that of a small flat coin, and if you follow the material example of the nearest small flat money in the fourth year of the Qing calendar, each thousand small flat money is "net four catties and eight taels", and every thousand small flat money should have a net weight of thirteen pounds and eight taels.
And the ten coins minted on the basis of five coins in Chongning in the second year, although the weight of the money has increased, but every thousand words is only fourteen pounds and seven taels.
Compared with the big money in the Qing calendar year, the weight gained less than one pound per thousand letters, and each coin was only three coins, which still maintained a ratio of about 1:3. This obviously cannot make up for the huge gap between the counterweights of large and small copper coins, so the problem of devaluation and piracy is predictable.
However, all this was covered up by the illusion of prosperity created by Cai Jing and others, and it was not until Cai Jing's first resignation in the fifth year of Chongning that Song Huizong gradually perceived the drawbacks and uncontrollability of being a big ten money.
In the first month of the second year of Chongning, the circulation of money in the two circulation fields of copper money and iron money officially began to be raised, and there was also another emphasis on the circulation area of this batch of large money.
In February of the same year, Cai Jing played: This batch of first minted ten coins cannot be used in iron money circulation areas such as Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Hedong.
In these areas, either due to special minting problems or military needs, iron money has been used for a long time, and gradually evolved into a unique circulation pattern of the local area.
Taking Shaanxi as an example, since the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, iron money has gradually shown an explosive depreciation trend. Before Emperor Huizong of Song came to the throne, the ratio of copper and iron money used in Shaanxi Road even reached the point of 1:4.
Thanks to Song Zhezong's implementation of several years of isolation of copper coins on Shaanxi Road, the value of copper coins privately stored by the people has continued to appreciate. When ten coins are one for ten, and big iron money is one for two, the small copper money is used as the exchange standard, if enforced, it will undoubtedly overthrow the financial system that the late Song Shenzong and even the Song Zhezong dynasty has worked hard to cultivate for nearly two decades.
Cai Jing did not understand this truth, and found that "Shaanxi has been traveling iron money for a long time, and the currency is light", so he "tried to do his best to mint tin money", hoping to expand the circulation while reducing the cost of iron money minting, and achieve the reconciliation purpose of "slightly heavier coins" without changing the principle of iron money as the main means of circulation.
In the first month of the third year of Chongning, Xiaoping money and Dangwu money were all abolished, and at the same time, the minting of Dangshi Ten Coins in Shaanxi Road began to enter its peak period, and "all official funds were converted to 10 coins", which shows that Dangshi Qian is no longer a unique product of Shaanxi, but gradually spread throughout the country.
This also means that the financial system of Shaanxi Road is also on the verge of disintegration, gradually moving closer to the national market.
In this way, although the series of monetary reforms made by Cai Jing and others in the three years of Chongning are suspected of expanding the economy and increasing output, they can generally achieve specific analysis of specific local problems in Shaanxi and special treatment in combination with problems left over from history.
However, this is not a good signal, opening the precedent of ten coins minting, Shaanxi Road from the key area of national defense to the special currency area of wealth collection area is only one step away.
This situation lasted until the first year of Daguan, when Cai Jing entered the phase for the second time and re-chaired the currency reform.
The general trend ——— the period of the Great View
In the first month of the first year of Daguan, Cai Jing first resumed the minting and circulation of tin money: "In the first year of Daguan, Beijing Fuxiang, Sui Lowering Money and Tin Mother on the Road to Coinage, Special Drum Casting for Money-Minting Institute".
The amount of tin money circulating in the domestic money market once again ushered in the peak of minting, and Cai Jing also adjusted the positioning of small banknotes.
When Cai Jing went to government in the fifth year of Chongning, the original intention of the Song court to issue small banknotes was to absorb the depreciated ten big money in the market and restrict its circulation, so as to achieve an effect similar to that of Sichuan Jiaozi exchanging iron money.
However, after Cai Jing re-entered the phase in the first month of the first year of Daguan, he stipulated that the amount of exchange of ten coins for private minting by the private people to the official amount, that is, one for three, if he still held ten coins for private minting after the exchange time, it would be considered a crime.
This is an important move by Cai Jing to gradually dilute the absorption of small banknotes as ten coins. In just a few days, it will inevitably be impossible to pay all the ten coins circulating among the people, but in fact, the subsidies given to the people by the Song court are also more suitable for the actual value of large money, and can also attract the people to exchange.
Therefore, the actual significance of this edict is to deny the private minting of the ten coins by the people, and at the same time affirm the recirculation of the official ten coins, which also has a certain positive effect on combating the illegal minting of the people.
It is not difficult to imagine that when the ten-dollar and tin money were reactivated, Shaanxi's financial system began to integrate into the mainland.
After all, even during the Caijing strike at the end of Chongning, when the ten and tin money could still legally circulate in the Shaanxi market, which meant that the local market in Shaanxi was much more tolerant of this inferior currency with hidden dangers of depreciation than the rest of the roads.
Shaanxi Road, which has always been a pilot area for currency and a place for inferior currency absorption, underwent a monetary rectification that synchronized with the mainland at this time, which undoubtedly accelerated the pace of Shaanxi Road's financial system into the whole country, but this shaky state was also a harbinger of its collapse.
The final situation has been decided——— and the Jingkang period
Zhang Shangying, who presided over the reform of the Qian Law in the first year of Zhenghe, was attacked by Taiwan ministers and involved in the case, and in August of the same year, Ding Wei deposed. The dark tide of the Northern Song Dynasty gradually began to spread in the domestic economic field. Thanks to Cai Jing's de-administration, monetary policy has not developed in the direction of expansion for the time being.
During the Xuanhe period, the minting of tin money did not change much.
Probably after Cai Jing's third strike in the second year of Xuanhe, Shaanxi Road properly drummed up small flat money to maintain the dilapidated monetary economy, but it was then corrected again after Cai Jing's fourth entry into the phase in the sixth year of Xuanhe, and those who supported the drumming of small iron money in Shaanxi were punished.
It was not until the first year of Jingkang after Emperor Qinzong of Song came to the throne that the imperial court "abolished the government and cut off the disciples with copper money for two years with the law of thousands of miles."
It shows that iron money has completely lost its credit and value in Shaanxi Road, and the recovery of copper money also symbolizes the complete collapse of the financial system that has operated on Shaanxi Road for more than a hundred years since Song Renzong.
The iron money that the Song court painstakingly minted had no credit guarantee in Shaanxi Road, and the people preferred barter to no longer trust the iron money cast by the official drum.
Shaanxi Road, originally intended as a special national defense zone for characteristic economic construction, eventually became a microcosm of political corruption in the late Northern Song Dynasty.
epilogue
In a short period of more than two decades, Cai Jing entered the phase four times, throughout the history of the late Northern Song Dynasty, which must be attributed to the repeatedly compromised Song Huizong.
Conscientious condemnation made him constantly support Zhang Shangying and Zheng Juzhong's repair when Cai Jing was on strike, but his spiritual and material enjoyment made him inseparable from Cai Jing's absurd means of accumulating wealth, and tens of thousands of people became victims of Cai Jing's confrontation with political enemies and Song Huizong's extravagant enjoyment.
The failure of the construction of the financial system in Shaanxi Road is a good confirmation of the contradictory relationship between the financial system and the national defense and military in the Song Dynasty. The economic construction of the border areas and the hinterland, especially the central government, cannot blindly follow the same path. Just as consumption arises from demand, the theme of construction between different regions is different, and the focus of economic development is naturally different.
This at least shows that during the Northern Song Dynasty, not all measures to strengthen centralized power were advanced.
In the contradiction between local economic development and centralization, how to clearly activate the independence of the local system and ensure that its subordination to the central government and its jurisdiction remains unchanged should be the ultimate issue to be considered in the local economic development of ancient China.