Liangshan heroes like to divide gold and silver, value righteousness over wealth, and fight for righteousness one by one.

For the first time in the novel, Wang privately went to Yan 'an mansion to learn from his teacher. Later, Wang wanted to leave, but Shi Jin couldn't stay. He gave a banquet to see him off and gave him one hundred and twenty pieces of silver as a gift. This is the first time that "money" is mentioned in the novel, and it is 1 taels of "flower silver" at first hand.

for the second time, Lu and Shi Jin met. Once they met the bullied Kim family and wanted to help them. He had five taels of silver on him, and when he felt that he was short, he asked Shi for it. History into the word, took out 12 silvers, Jong Li took out 22 silvers. Shen Zhi despises them, but he doesn't want them. Finally gave the Kim fifteen taels of silver.

Lu's weapons are a water mill stick weighing 62 Jin and a Buddhist monk's knife, which he spent 52 taels of silver to build.

Besides these, everything involved in the novel can't be separated from money, such as dealing with prison officials, rewarding brothers, buying people's hearts, and traveling in rivers and lakes. It seems that silver is 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, 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 take 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 the tenth time. Party reform and Wu Yong personally went to Shi Jiecun to invite the three Nguyen brothers to join us. Wu Yong also gave Ruan 1 two taels of silver. Ruan used the money to buy 1 urn of wine, 2 Jin of raw and cooked beef and "a pair of big chickens".

generally speaking, the purchasing power of one tael of 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 it all day and help the poor, 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.

Currency can be divided into credit currency and non-credit currency in nature, and shell currency, iron currency, copper currency, silver currency and gold currency in substance.

In ancient China, there were coins of different materials, including silver coins, among which silver coins first appeared in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

However, for more than 1 years, copper coins 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 the whole country was 215,, and then it generally remained at the level of more than 22, per year, 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 GDP was several times this figure, and the output of silver was negligible. If silver is the main currency, it is obviously not enough.

copper has been the main currency since Qin and Han dynasties. 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 a penny, and about 1 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, 3 coins. At the county level, the monthly salary is 12 according to the size of the county.

At that time, the average income of the people at the bottom was about 1 articles a day.

you can order a plate of delicious food in the restaurant. As a kind of credit currency, there is also a reserve corresponding to the issuance amount, but it is not gold or silver, but copper coins.

from the song and yuan dynasties to the middle of the Ming dynasty, paper money changed constantly, and forms such as meeting money and treasure money appeared, which made the monetary system pattern of "copper paper money" last for hundreds of years. Silver has always been a rarity in people's daily life, and some people even think that many people have never been exposed to silver in their lives.

maybe this statement is a little exaggerated, but it is roughly the same.

Therefore, it's wrong for Liangshan heroes, Yue Jiajun and Yang Jiajiang to always fail to give much money.

Similar mistakes often appear in martial arts novels. Guo Jing was generous when he chased Huang Rong. As soon as we met, we gave Huang Rong mink, bloody BMW and other valuables.

Guo Jing invited Huang Rong to dinner for the first time in Zhangjiakou, which is not prosperous. Huang Rong ordered food, and Guo Jing paid the bill, and ordered "rose kumquat, fragrant grapes, frosted peach fruit, pear meat, good husband" and so on. Nice name, but nothing.

when I checked out, I found that I spent "1927 money and four cents", which is definitely a huge sum. Looks like Guo Daxia was slaughtered.

this is not the problem. The problem is that as people living in the Southern Song Dynasty, Guo Jing and Huang Rong paid for going out with money. It's like going to a restaurant to eat "Yuan Datou" now. Time and space are misplaced.

why is there a currency error?

This is because the novel was written in the Ming Dynasty. After the mid-Ming dynasty, the monetary system has undergone fundamental changes. Silver, which has always been a secondary currency and reserve, has become the main currency. People don't use copper coins instead of silver coins.

due to the "opening-up" policy after the middle of the Ming dynasty, a large number of cheap goods were exported to all parts of the world, making the Ming dynasty the largest net exporter in the world and getting a lot of silver.

according to the research of foreign scholars, at that time, half of the world's silver production flowed into China, reaching several hundred million taels, and silver was no longer scarce.

in Zhang's political reform, he changed the physical tax into monetary tax, and the tax was converted into silver, which was equivalent to the default of the silver standard system, and silver became the main currency in circulation.

The writer is from the Ming Dynasty. Although the novel is about the Song Dynasty, many places have the shadow of the Ming Dynasty.

For example, there is an interesting detail in the novel. Every time a hero goes out to a restaurant, besides good wine, beef is essential, and he hardly writes about eating pork. People in the Song Dynasty didn't eat pork at all? Lu You also wrote, "Don't laugh at the farmer's wax wine, and leave a few chickens and dolphins in good years."

It is speculated that the Ming emperor's surname was Zhu, and writing "pig" was taboo, so the Water Margin only ate beef instead of pork.

The imprint of this era is still reflected in many novels, and giving "silver" from the Ming Dynasty to the Song Dynasty is one of them.