Clothes and gifts: Last time we talked about, Dazai has never had a day, eclipsing ten thousand yuan, and still feel that there is no place to put chopsticks and no food to eat. His arrogant and extravagant spirit immediately spread out. Shi Chong and Wang Kai Fighting wealth. Wang Kai uses silk as a step barrier, which is forty miles long, and Shi Chong uses brocade to make fifty miles. These stunning records are clearly written in official history. I don’t know what everyone thinks. I always want to spy on what the situation is.
Before discussing this issue, we must first figure out one thing, that is, is the money of Western Jin worth it? Ten thousand, this unit seems to be quite large, but it’s ten thousand dollars or ten thousand won, and the difference is huge.
Let’s take a look at the source of the property of the Western Jin Dynasty’s apes. I sorted out the details for them. There are about a few channels:
. One is salary and welfare . In any dynasty, wages and benefits are an important part of the income of the business ape. Jinchao The salary of the work ape is completely in kind, generally including grain and cloth. Note that salary is with no money. Other benefits may be paid in the form of money. For example, the emperor's favorite grandson of Sima Yan , Sima Yu (read Ruyu), can receive 500,000 yuan per month to maintain various expenses. However, Sima Yu is probably more able to spend money, so he always advances two months of money, which means that he often applies for one million yuan a month.
[Sima Yu was very smart when he was a child]
What the historian wants to tell us is that Sima Yu is too luxurious! However, Dazai He Zeng, a eclipse of tens of thousands of yuan per month, is 300,000 yuan per month. Then, the entire Eastern Palace, dozens or even hundreds of people, costs 500,000 or one million per month, which seems a bit shabby.
The second is the fief tax . From the end of Wei to the Jin Dynasty, the fifth-class title system was implemented. From the princes of the Sima family to other dukes, marquis and bozinans, the number of titles was quite large. If you have a title, you have a sealed household and you can collect taxes, and this part of the income may be much higher than your salary.
Third, the emperor rewarded . Sima Yan has a wide face and often rewards his subordinates. In addition to chariots, horses, clothes, and utensils, a large amount of grain, cloth, and money were also given. For example, after pacifying Wu, Sima Yan was awarded great meritorious officials. In addition to increasing the number of entrusted households in terms of merit, he also rewarded a large number of grains, cloth, etc.:
Yang Hu , ten thousand pieces of silk, ten thousand hu of grain (Yang Hu had passed away at this time); Zhang Hua , ten thousand pieces of silk; Du Yu , eight thousand pieces of silk; Wang Jun, ten thousand pieces of silk, qian , three hundred thousand pieces of silk; Sima Yichang , six thousand pieces of silk; Wang Hun , eight thousand pieces of silk, etc.
In addition, Sima Yan will also give rewards when an official retires, is seriously ill or dies, such as:
Wang Xiang , 1.3 million yuan, 500 pieces of silk, and 100 pieces of cloth.
Zheng Chong , money is 1.3 million, 500 pieces of silk, and 100 pieces of cloth.
He Zeng, the money is one million, three hundred pieces of silk, and a hundred pieces of cloth.
stone bud , 300,000 yuan, and 100 pieces of cloth.
Yang Hu, 300,000 yuan, and 100 pieces of cloth.
…
Similar rewards are quite a lot. The above examples are rewarded with silk and cloth, and sometimes, they also give grains. For example, when Situ Li Yin died, he gave two million yuan and thousands of hu of grain. Judging from the ratio of money to cloth and silk, money is at the level of millions, and the corresponding cloth and silk are hundreds of pieces. However, there are also special cases. For example, Empress Yang ’s uncle Yang (read Ru Yao) once asked for retirement, and Sima Yan gave him millions of money and 5,000 pieces of silk .
To be honest, I even suspect that these five thousand horses may have been remembered by the historian.
Look at it this way, Sima Yan's reward for his subordinates is indeed quite wide, but judging from the "money" alone, Sima Yan's reward is still a small matter compared to the Han Dynasty.In his "History of Chinese Monetary", Mr. Peng Xinwei made statistics:
Western Han Dynasty : The total number of money given is 155,080,000, and the average of money given per emperor is 119292461, and the average of 7246728 per year;
Eastern Han Dynasty : The total number of money given is 531200,000, and the average of money given per emperor is 442666666, and the average of 2724,102 per year;
Jin : The total number of money given is 13640,000, and the average of 9093,333 per emperor is 880,000 per year. Among them, Sima Yan was rewarded 38 times, with a total of 234,000 yuan .
Obviously, just in terms of "money", Han Chen is much richer than Jin Chen, haha.
[Liu Che: Sima Yan, we are both Emperor Wu, your little money is not enough for me to reward once! 】
The fourth is to lend . Some business apes lend money to collect profits.
5 is to do business . Sima Wang, the king of Yiyang, was rich and stingy. His grandson Sima Qi also likes money and sent people to , Jiaozhou and Guangzhou to do business. Later, he was reported by relevant departments and was demoted to Tinghou. Among the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest, Wang Rong not only achieved Situ, but also liked money and was extremely stingy. According to "Book of Jin: Biography of Wang Rong", Wang Rong is very interested in making profits and bought a lot of land and mills, covering the world. He earned too much money, and Wang Rong counted money with his wife every day to play with him. Wang Rong's family had very good varieties of plums, so they took them out and sold them. They were afraid that others would get the seeds of the plums, so they drilled the core of each plum and were ridiculed by the world.
Why do I often smile bitterly when I read " Jin Shu "? Because, things that often appear in books that are beyond my understanding. Wang Rong, as Situ of the Great Jin Dynasty, took out his own plums and sold them for money, which was incredible enough. He could even do such an imaginative thing as drilling a hole in each plum core, which made me very doubt my IQ. Readers, who can tell me what tools Wang Rong used to drill? Can anyone tell me who would buy plums that were drilled? Such an inexplicable record as
really makes people feel urged to curse.
6 is asking others for . "Book of Jin: Biography of Pei Kai" records that Shizhong Pei Kai is generous, but he is not very frugal in life. He has a good relationship with many nobles. When he goes to other people to play, he will ask for treasures whenever he likes them. Liang Wang Sima Lun, Zhao Wang Sima Lun are all precious people. Pei Kai asked these two princes for one million each year to share it with his relatives. Some people laughed at him, and he said that reducing the excess to make up for the shortcomings is the way of heaven. The princes cannot spend some money, so it is natural for me to spend it for them.
This kind of asking the prince for money directly may exist, but there must be a reason behind it, but we just don’t know.
7 is the scattered association . This situation should be very common, and there are many records in history books. For example, there is a man named Yuan Yi who gave gifts to Beijing officials and even Shan Tao collected 100 kilograms of silk. For example, Du Yu, one of the heroes of Wu, guarded Jingzhou and gave gifts to Luoyang several times. Someone asked him why, and he said, "I don't want them to help me get promoted, I just want them not to frame me."
8 is the rush festival business travel . This matter is specifically directed to the rich man Shi Chong. According to historical records, after Shi Chong was appointed as the governor of Jingzhou, he robbed merchants and became a huge wealth. The record of
is probably untrue.
" Jin Book·Criminal Law Chronicle " records that thieves burned people's houses, accumulated thieves, and more than five stolen horses were abandoned in the market.
In other words, stealing during the robbery festival is a crime. If you rob five horses, you will be executed in the street. If it were a chaotic time, local officials used their fists to grab the festival, it might be possible, but it has been more than ten years since the Jin Dynasty unified the world and the world has been peaceful. Shi Chong openly grabbed the festival, which is really unreasonable. Shan Tao accepted 100 kilograms of silk, but was chased and impeached. Shi Chong became a rich man during the robbery, but he was even at large. He was bullying the silk law department of the Jin Dynasty!
So, what was used as the currency during the Jin Dynasty?
"Book of Jin·Food and Message" records:
Dong Zhuo After he was in power, he destroyed the Wuzhu coins and cast a small amount of coins. Therefore, the money was not good, and a hu of grain was sold for millions of dollars. After Li Jue and Guo Si took office, Chang'an area, 500,000 yuan of grain per hukou and 200,000 yuan of beans and wheat. Cao Cao After becoming the prime minister, he reused Wuzhu coins, but due to the small number of coins in circulation, physical objects such as grain and silk still assumed the function of currency, forming a situation where money and goods were parallel. In 221 AD, Cao Pi abolished the Wuzhu coins and the people used grain and silk to buy and sell things. By the time of Cao Rui , many people had trouble soaking the grains to increase their weight in order to gain benefits, and specially weaving thin silk to trade. The government cracked down on this behavior, but the results were minimal. After , was discussed by , Cao Rui recasted the Wuzhu coins and was still in use until the Jin Dynasty.
During the Jin Dynasty, Because the imperial court had not minted coins, there was a very shortage of coins in circulation, which significantly enhanced the monetary nature of the valley. In market trading activities, people can use cloth to buy grain, rice, daily necessities, and even slaves. According to "Shi Chong Slave Certificate", Shi Chong bought a slave and used 100 pieces of silk.
That is to say, at that time, using cloth or silk to trade was a very common phenomenon, and it was even more convenient than using money. The reason I made this judgment is because since the Jin Dynasty did not mint money, there was no sign of deflation in - there was little money and more things, theoretically the prices should be very cheap, but in fact, the prices in the Jin Dynasty were much higher than most of the Han Dynasty. It can only be explained that money, as one of the currency , does not dominate .
【Mr. Peng, it’s admirable! 】
Use rice to shop, there are very few records, let’s mainly look at how to trade with cloth.
According to the "History of Chinese Monetary":
The value of cloth was generally one piece of silk that was worth three pieces of cloth before the Han Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, two pieces of cloth and one piece of silk were placed on them. Northern and Northern Dynasties Three pieces of cloth against two pieces of silk. It can be seen that the price of cloth is increasing. If you use copper coins to calculate, the price of silk will gradually increase. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the price of silk ranged from 125 to 150 yuan per piece, and the price of cloth was one third of it. The most expensive white purity in the Western Han Dynasty was 800 coins per piece, and the price of zipper (a double-wire thin silk. The price of zipper is about half of the price of zipper, which should be 400. The silk is about one-third cheaper than zipper, and each zipper is about 260 coins. The prices of silk and silk in the Eastern Han Dynasty rose, with each piece of silk worth 618 coins, and each piece of silk worth 400. There is no information on the price of silk in the Jin Dynasty, but the price of silk in the post- Zhao is very high. Shile At that time, the official price of silk is 1,200 per piece, and the lower silk is 800 per piece; the market price is 4,000 per piece, and the lower silk is 2,001 per piece.
So, how to use cloth as currency? If something is worth two or five pieces of cloth, then it's okay. If something is worth only one foot and three inches, or three or five inches, can it be said that the cloth must be cut?
, you are right. Is there any evidence for
?
has.
"Book of Jin·Biography of Zhang Gui", "Book of Wei·Food and Memorials" and other historical books are recorded. The general meaning is that when using cloth to buy things, it is often necessary to cut the whole piece of cloth into pieces. The cloth originally has the value of ready-made garments. After cutting it, it loses its original function and causes a lot of waste.
【Come on, cut some change】
The normal prices of the Jin Dynasty are basically no historical information. The "Xiahou Yang Summary" mentions three types of rice prices, namely one hundred and twenty, one hundred and thirty-five per bucket. The prices of these three types of rice are similar, and they should be regarded as normal prices.It is generally believed that Xiahou Yang was from Jin. Then, the normal rice price in the Jin Dynasty should be around 1,300 liters per stone, which is much higher than the normal rice price in the Han Dynasty.
OK, now let’s take a look at has never had a eclipse of ten thousand yuan per day, what does it mean ?
Now we know that the price of rice in the Jin Dynasty was about 1,300 yuan per hu, and 10,000 yuan could buy 7.7 hu of rice. One hu is equivalent to 20 liters now, and 7.7 hu is 154 liters. I specifically measured it. 250 ml of rice weighed about 250 grams, so one liter of rice weighed about two kilograms. 154 liters, weighing 308 kilograms. Nowadays, rice is very expensive, and there are two or three yuan per pound. We count three yuan per pound, so 308 pounds is 924 yuan.
That is to say, He Zeng’s food expenses are about 924 yuan.
I used to go on business trips when I was at work, and our daily meal fee was 100 yuan. I am at the deputy department level, and the daily food fee is 100 yuan. He Zeng is a Taizai. The daily food fee is 924 yuan, which is more than nine times that of mine. I think Mr. He has exceeded the standard, but if I have to say how much it has exceeded, I have no idea.
Let’s take a look at Wang Kai and Shi Chong fighting wealth. Wang Kai used silk to build a forty-mile long step barrier, and Shi Chong used brocade to build a fifty-mile (the step barrier refers to a tent set up next to the road when traveling in ancient times, which was blocked by the wind and cold dust, or prohibited from peeping).
Since the Han Dynasty, the specifications of cloth have been quite stable, both two feet and two inches wide, four feet long as one piece, and six feet as one end.
a mile, about 415 meters. One foot is 23.1 cm, one piece of cloth, forty feet, 9.24 meters, and one mile is equivalent to the length of 45 pieces of cloth. Of course, the step barrier must be in two directions. 40 miles, and the two directions are 80 miles, which is equivalent to 3,600 horses. The width of the cloth is 2.2 feet, which is 51 cm. The step barrier must be able to block others' peek. Three pieces of cloth are arranged side by side and 1.53 meters high, which obviously cannot be blocked. Four pieces need to be side by side. So, Wang Kai needs 14,400 pieces of cloth for 40 miles, and Shi Chong's 50 miles, 18,000 pieces are required.
In "Xiahou Yang Summary", there are two types of cloth prices, one is 1,300 yuan per horse, and the other is 1,700 yuan. We count at 1,300, Shi Chong needs to spend 23.4 million yuan. But Shi Chong used brocade, which was much more expensive than cloth. We calculated three times that it was 70.2 million yuan. Above, we calculated that there was no eclipse of 10,000 yuan per day, which was equivalent to RMB 924. So, in order to set up a step barrier on a road, Shi Chong spent RMB 6416,280 yuan.
If Shi Chong is either a lunatic, he is just writing nonsense in history books.
[I understand, this is the thing for step barrier]
I personally tend to think that Shi Chong is probably quite luxurious, but far from reaching this level. Last time, we said that some people compared Wang Xizhi to Shi Chong, which made Wang Xizhi very happy. I guess Shi Chong's reputation may not be that bad before the publication of "New Words of the World".
Let me talk about Shi Chong. According to "Book of Jin: Biography of Shi Chong", Shi Chong was appointed as the Weiwei and flattered with the famous handsome talent Pan Yue (i.e., Pan An ). Jia Mi was originally named Han Mi , and was the grandson of Jia Chong . After Jia Chong died, he was approved to be Jia Chong's grandson and changed his name to Jia Mi. In this way, the queen Jia Nanfeng is his aunt, Jia Chong's wife and Guangcheng Jun Guo Huai are his grandmother. Therefore, Jia Mi is very popular in the court. Shi Chong was on the road, and whenever he saw Guo Huai's car, he would immediately park his car aside. Then, he got off the car and looked at Guo Huai's car. Guo Huai's car whizzed past, rolling up waves of dust. It is said in history that Shi Chong "look at the dust and worshipped, and his humbleness is so humble."
Wang Kai, Yang Xiu , Wang Ji and others who are fighting for wealth with Shi Chong are all royal relatives. Shi Chong "looks at the dust" of Guo Huai's car. If you give him the courage, how dare he suppress these noble relatives everywhere? How dare he break the coral tree that Sima Yan gave to Wang Kai? Having said that, the emperor did not have a 50-mile obstacle when traveling. What are you, Shi Chong, who dares to do this? This is called presumption, it will kill people!
There may be some shadow about this guy fighting for wealth, and as they pass on it, it becomes distorted.
The records of Shi Chong and others in "Book of Jin" are probably from "New Words on the World", and the author is Liu Song's King of Linchuan Liu Yiqing . If Liu Song destroyed Eastern Jin , he had to give himself the legitimacy and rationality of winning the world and find some reasons. Examples of the destruction of the country due to extravagance are common in history books. Therefore, the Jin Dynasty was extravagant from top to bottom, which led to the anger between man and gods, which was a very good subject.
In fact, the people of the Jin Dynasty themselves may also think that luxury is not very good, and have also made some discussions. For example, in "Book of Jin: Biography of Fu Xian", Fu Xian felt that the world was extravagant, so he wrote a book saying:
I think that if the grain and silk are hard to plant, they will be scarce if they are not used in a vacancies. Therefore, in the past, the sage kings taught the world and had regulations on eating meat and dressing. I think that luxury is even more important than natural disasters. In ancient times, Yao Cai lived in thatched huts, and now the people are competing to decorate their own houses. In ancient times, ministers could not eat exquisite food, but now merchants can eat big fish and meat. In ancient times, only concubines were qualified to wear special clothes. Nowadays, all maids and concubines were covered with silk and satin. In ancient times, only literati and officials could ride a car, but now even low-level officials drove a fat horse and light carriage. In ancient times, there were many people and few people who saved because of frugality; now there were many people who were worried about lack of money because of luxury. If you want to guide an era to advocate frugality, you should firmly oppose luxury; if luxury is not blamed, everyone will chase it, and so on.
Fu Xian seriously criticized the luxurious social atmosphere of the Western Jin Dynasty, giving us the feeling that the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty was caused by the extreme desire for extravagance. Actually, not. Fu Xian was born in 239 AD and died in 294 AD. Shi Chong and others fought for wealth. If there was really a fight for wealth, Fu Xian was the witness. But did you notice that he did not accuse Shi Chong and his group of people. What he opposed was ordinary people decoration, merchant big fish and meat, maids and concubine silk and satin, low-level sect driving a private car, what he opposed was this!
That is to say, what makes Fu Xian angry is that Confucian strict hierarchy system has been destroyed. Those who were not qualified to live in a good house, eat meat, wear and drive, even live in a good house, eat meat, wear and drive, and the untouchables turned over and live a good life. You are so brave!
You really don’t know. After looking at it like this, I felt that under Sima Yan’s rule, Shi Chong and other guys were probably extravagant. The lives of ordinary people are probably good, which is a manifestation of social prosperity.
As for why the Western Jin Dynasty was so short-lived, I personally believe that it is not because of the extravagant social atmosphere. I would rather understand it from the perspective of Zhengzhijia Gang and Quanli Dou, and we will analyze it slowly later.
[Image from the Internet]
