Lu Zhishen's weapons are a 62-pound water mill stick and a Buddhist monk's knife made of 52 taels of silver. Besides these, everything involved in the novel is inseparable from money, such as dealing with prison officials, rewarding brothers, buying people's hearts and walking in rivers and lakes. It seems that silver was the "hard currency" of that era.
So, how many things could two silver dollars buy at that time? This novel has at least two direct narratives. Once and for the ninth time, Lin Chong was sent to Cangzhou. I met my old friend Li Xiaoer, who opened a restaurant. One day, "two mysterious guests" came to the store, and one of them took out a silver or two and asked Li Xiaoer to bring three or four bottles of good wine. "Fruit and wine will ruin the future." It seems that the purchasing power of this silver is still quite large. The other time was in the tenth time. The reform of the Party and Wu Yong personally went to Shi Jiecun to invite the three Ruan brothers to join us. Wu Yong also gave Ruan Lingyu 1 two pieces of silver. Ruan used the money to buy 1 jar wine, 20 Jin of raw and cooked beef and "a pair of big chickens". Generally speaking, the purchasing power of 1 silver is at least several hundred yuan now, right?
However, there is a common sense error in all the above descriptions. Although Liangshan heroes are "not short of money", they won't have so much money in their hands, let alone spend all day on poverty alleviation, because until the Song Dynasty, silver was not the main currency in circulation. Like other Song Dynasty people, Liangshan heroes usually use copper coins instead of silver dollars.
Currency can be divided into credit currency and non-credit currency in nature, and can be divided into shell currency, iron currency, copper currency, silver currency and gold currency in essence. There were coins of different materials in ancient China, including silver coins, which first appeared in the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. However, for more than a thousand years, copper coins have almost ruled the world. Silver coins and silver coins are as rare as gold coins and iron coins in the market.
This is because China was not rich in silver in ancient times. On the one hand, the silver resources discovered at that time were very limited, with poor grade and low silver content. On the other hand, the smelting of silver ore is complicated and the purification is difficult. According to limited historical records, in the first year of Yuanfeng in the early Song Dynasty, the total output of silver in China was 265,438+502,000, and it has remained at the level of more than 202,000 per year since then, which seems to be quite a lot. But at that time, the national fiscal revenue was tens of millions of dollars every year, which was tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars when converted into silver. The gross domestic product is several times this figure, and the output of silver is negligible. If silver is the main currency, it is obviously not enough.
Since Qin and Han Dynasties, copper has been the main currency. Although its appearance is constantly changing, round and square holes are the basic forms, and this currency was also used in the Song Dynasty. A copper coin is equal to a penny, and about 1000 copper coins are called a coin. The monthly salary of senior officials at the level of prime minister and envoy is "3 thousand", that is, 300 coins. At the county level, the monthly salary is 12- depending on the size of the county. At that time, the average income of the bottom people was about 100 articles per day. You can order a plate of delicious food in the restaurant. Goulan tea is 65438 pounds.