The second year of Yuanguang (133 BC) was a completely different year for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Because in this year’s court meeting of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu’s reign was divided into two completely different eras. Emperor Wu unified the ideology and established the national policy of resisting the Xiongnu.
From then on, the countdown to Emperor Wu’s unparalleled achievements of sealing the wolf and restoring the sea began.
In order to complete this national policy of resisting the Xiongnu, the court meeting of this year passed a reform plan for the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, and adjustments were also made to the appointment of the court’s leadership. Gongsun Hong was promoted to the Left Inner Historian, and later served as the Prime Minister.
History is so coincidental. When the country changes its major strategic policies, it is always accompanied by adjustments to the leadership cadre of the court.
The reason why Gongsun Hong was different from his predecessor Tian Fen was not only because of Gongsun’s low-key quality. It was also because he came from a humble background and could not compare to Tian Fen’s foreign relatives, who had deep roots in the court.
At the same time, the Han Dynasty had just experienced a three-year drought, and it coincided with the imbalance of water and heat in the south of the Yangtze River, resulting in a poor harvest.
Many people in the countryside were confused, and some said: “With all industries declining and the people’s lives in hardship, why doesn’t the Prime Minister save the economy soon?”
Gongsun Hong has been away from us for a thousand years, and I’m afraid it’s not easy to ask him in person. This question can only be answered by Goose Shao, and you can read it with a smile, but don’t say too much.
1
In the fourth year of Yuanshou (119 BC), the late stage of the Han-Xiongnu War, the court’s campaign against the Xiongnu’s Mobei Wangting entered the most critical year. The Shuiheng Duwei of the court issued the largest coin in our history: the leather coin.
“Historical Records” records: “Then use a square foot of white deer skin, edged with algae and embroidery, as a leather coin, worth 400,000. The princes and nobles must use leather coins to present jade when they come to pay homage and offer gifts, and then they can proceed.”
That is to say, this leather coin was made of the skin of white deer from the Shanglin Garden, exquisitely made and officially certified by the Shanglin Garden, and one leather coin was worth 400,000 coins. When the princes and kings offered tribute to the court, they had to use leather coins, so where did the leather coins come from? The princes had to buy them from the Shanglin Garden for 400,000 coins.
A mere piece of deer skin, even if it is exquisite, cannot be worth 400,000 coins. This is nothing more than a means of overissuing currency by the Shuiheng Duwei.
Every time a leather coin is produced in the Shanglin Garden, the court’s account will have 400,000 more coins. Its efficiency in collecting money is unprecedented.
However, this is only the largest denomination currency produced by the Shuiheng Duwei. Before the appearance of the leather coin, the Shuiheng Duwei’s coinage had undergone several changes.
During the reign of Emperor Wu, the court recast the Wuzhu coin. At the beginning of the casting, the currency had a certain amount, and the color of the Wuzhu coin did not change much, basically made of copper with sufficient gold and silver.
But as the Han-Xiongnu War deepened, the court’s treasury was gradually depleted. Under the series of designs by Sang Hongyang, a new set of financial measures began to be implemented.
This included a new currency, “Three Grades of White Gold”.
The so-called three grades of white gold refer to: Dragon Coin (worth 3000), Horse Coin (worth 500), and Turtle Coin (worth 300). These three coins were not made of pure copper, but mixed with cheaper tin.
Adding tin to the copper coins, and the face value of the coins far exceeds their actual value. The court, by casting these dragon coins, horse coins, and turtle coins, one coin was worth 3000 coins in the past, and then spent them in the private sector, which could replenish the treasury.
And the officials and merchants who had a close relationship with the court earned these coins in the first place.
2
These wealthy merchants and powerful people built mansions and purchased land in the Toad Ridge of Chang’an in the first place.
The Toad Ridge was filled with pavilions and buildings, and when there were no more properties to buy, these merchants would then spend these dragon coins and horse coins in the brothels, wine shops, and theaters. They staged a scene of “Young men of Wuling compete for the headscarf, a song of red silk, I don’t know the number”.
“The Wild History of the Han Dynasty” records that a certain official and merchant of the Han Dynasty went to the Jinguancheng with a woman, under the name of official business, but in fact for illicit affairs. This woman claimed to be a woman from the capital, living under the Toad Ridge, with a plump figure, graceful and charming, with a slender waist, and I still feel pity!
There is a poem:
Scattered flowers and water mist pleated skirt, green water gathers thin smoke gauze.
Shoulders like cut waist like plain, charming and boneless and charming.
The situation of the woman and the official and merchant was drawn by those who liked to meddle, and made into a picture album, which was broadcast daily in twenty-four episodes under the Tianqiao, and it became popular all over the country. Women in the capital competed to imitate it, becoming a fashion of the time, and Chang’an was in short supply.
But what then?
After the wealthy merchants spent the dragon coins and horse coins (I’m not referring to anything specific by this name), the coins slowly circulated into the hands of the people in the countryside, and the people would find that there were more coins circulating in the market, and the price of rice rose accordingly.
In the early Han Dynasty, a stone of rice cost tens of coins, but in the late period of Emperor Wu, a stone of rice was worth tens of thousands of coins.
Every time a new coin is cast, the more tin is mixed in the copper coins, it will indeed make the accounts of the officials and merchants look good in the short term, and boost the price of the Toad Ridge villas in Chang’an, and then drive the short-term prosperity of the fireworks and wine shops.
But every time this is done, it is further exhausting the people’s strength, and the price of rice for the people will only become more and more expensive.
The Han Dynasty actually doesn’t need so many Toad Ridges, nor does it need so many fireworks and wine shops.
The people’s strength has reached its limit, the people are unbearable, and the princes are unbearable. The court and the public turned their矛头 to Sang Hongyang, who presided over the reform, and unanimously wrote a letter “Please cook Sang Hongyang!”.
They demanded that Emperor Wu cook Sang Hongyang, who was in charge of the new policy.
The Han-Xiongnu War was in a critical moment of urgency, and the Han Dynasty was facing a major test of high winds and waves, or even a storm.
At this time, Emperor Wu would certainly not cook Sang Hongyang, but he also had to give an explanation to the people of the world.
In 89 BC, Emperor Wu issued the Luntai Edict of Self-Condemnation, “From now on, if there is anything that harms the people and wastes the world, it will be abolished!”
3
If you go back to the second year of Yuanguang, and you ask Prime Minister Gongsun Hong, the economy is so bad, why didn’t you issue the leather coins soon?
How would Gongsun Hong answer?
The Han Dynasty has indeed been difficult in these three years, but if you only issue leather coins because of the imbalance of rain and heat, then when the Han Dynasty faces the major test of high winds and waves, or even a storm, what cards can you play?
What is the major test of high winds and waves, or even a storm, for the Han Dynasty?
After Yuanguang, the era that stirred people’s hearts in the history books was ushered in. The first battle between Han and Xiongnu, the siege of Mayi, Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions, Li Guang’s difficulty in being sealed, Wei Qing’s direct attack on Longcheng, Huo Qubing’s sweeping across Mobei…
The ultimate ideal of the Han Dynasty was to recover the sea, and to let the flag of China fly over the Langjuxu Mountain. It is to subdue the barbarians, and to submit to all the seas. It is the unification of the world, and the unification of China!
In front of these, what does the imbalance of rain and heat in three years matter?
The reason why Emperor Wu became Emperor Wu, and became the eternal figure in the history books that will never be avoided, was not because of recuperation, but because of the unparalleled military achievements of quelling the Xiongnu.
Starting from the second year of Yuanguang, how much time does Emperor Wu have?
How much time is left before the start of the Mayi siege?
At least five years, at most ten years. In short, it won’t be too far.
Before that, in the second year of Yuanguang before the Mayi siege, would the court launch such a big move and issue leather coins?
Once the leather coins are issued, it is delaying the time for the Chang’an shrimp toad ridge to explode, it is expanding the debt of the local counties and counties that are not enough to pay, and it is adding a heavy burden to the price of rice for the people.
This is precisely accumulating risks, not releasing risks.
If you let it go and even issue leather coins to fuel the flames, when Wei Qing directly attacks the Xiongnu Wangting, the food and grass in the front are in urgent need, and the domestic situation of “Please cook Sang Hongyang” is intertwined, what will the court do?
For the long term, the court will not save the economy now.
Gongsun Hong has no choice, and even Emperor Wu has no choice. Issuing leather coins now is to ruin the Han Dynasty in the future, and the foundation of a hundred years.
Which is more important, is it difficult to choose?
Looking at history, for thousands of years, there is nothing new under the sun. It’s just:
The peaks are like gathering, the waves are like anger, the mountains and rivers are inside and outside the Tongguan Road!
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