Witness to the Rise and Fall of Currency —— Jin Cuodao of Luoyang Museum
It takes three days to test the authenticity of jade, and it will take seven years to distinguish wood.
After the Duke of Zhou feared rumors, Wang Mang was humble and did not usurp the throne.
Shi Xiang died at the beginning, but who knows the truth of his life.
-Bai Juyi. "Let's talk about five third songs."
Wang Mang is famous for "usurping the throne" and "restoring ancient ways" in history. In a sense, the Han Dynasty was still an aristocratic society, and Wang Mang was also an aristocrat. Wang Mang is a Wang family, which can be traced back to the Tian family of Qi during the Warring States Period. As we all know, Qi is a legend in history, and the "King Tai Gong" is the vassal state of Jiang Ziya, and the royal family should be. Later, when Qi Huangong was in the heyday of Qi, Tian Wan, the prince of Chen, defected to Qi and became Gong Zheng. With the development of history, Tian Wan's son Tian Chang became the prime minister and the most powerful minister of Qi, and Tian became a political force that could compete with the royal family of Qi. Later, Qi Jinggong was helpless, and the chef bought people's hearts on a large scale. After Qi Jinggong's death, there was an argument about the right of inheritance. As a result, Tian suppressed other political forces in the State of Qi and began to monopolize state affairs. Finally, in the early years of the Warring States, Ji Kanggong was banished to the sea, and Tian He, the leader of Tian, was named Qi Hou by the king of Zhou. This is the story of Tian.
Later, Qin Shihuang unified the six countries and destroyed Qi, and there was chaos in the world at the end of Qin Dynasty. Tian An, the son of the royal family of Qi, took the opportunity to occupy some cities in Shandong, and later went to Xiang Yu, the overlord of the western Chu Dynasty, and was named King of Jibei. But later, his younger brother Tian Rong wanted to restore Qi, so he rose up against Xiang Yu and killed Tian An who supported Xiang Yu. The Tianan descendants changed their surnames to Wang to avoid disaster. Later, this Wang Xing was the ancestor of Wang Mang. In the Han Dynasty, the Wang family was revived as a nobleman, and even the queen of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty was born, so the Wang family became a consort-an important force in the political competition in the Han Dynasty.
Wang Mang's methodology of usurping the Han Dynasty is similar to Tian's. At the beginning, both of them used small favors to buy people's hearts, create public opinion, put officials loyal to themselves in key positions, then used the contradictions arising from political operation to crack down on political enemies, realized exclusive control over state affairs, and finally usurped the throne. However, Tian still used violence in the end, while Wang Mang usurped the throne of the Han Dynasty by accepting the abdication of Liu Ying, the late Han Dynasty. From then on, "abdication" became a ceremony of peaceful transfer of power in China's ancient feudal empire, which was followed by later generations.
After Wang Mang ascended the throne, he began his own reform, especially in the monetary field. Before he ascended the throne, in the first year of Jushe (AD 6), Wang Mang began to cast wrong knives, right knives and banknotes, which were in parallel with the main currency at that time, five baht. Among them, Jin Cuodao is the most famous one. It happens that there are many pieces in Luoyang Museum, which are precious.
As a currency, "Jin Cuodao" is exquisitely made, made of fine copper and exquisitely cast, and rarely exists in the world. In modeling design, square hole round coin modeling and knife coin modeling are integrated, which is quite like a key used by modern people. The inscription design is also divided into two parts: the square hole round coin modeling part has an inscription engraved with the word "one knife", written in gold, and the visual effect is very good. The inscription with the words "5,000 square meters" in the shape part of the knife coin below is read as "5,000 square meters with one knife", so it is also called "5,000 square meters with one knife" copper coin.
Jin Cuodao was the witness of Wang Mang's currency reform, but the reform was against the economic laws, and the effect was not good, especially in Jin Cuodao, which stopped production after only three years. Jin Cuodao generally weighs 25 to 35 grams, with a face value of 5,000 pieces of 5 baht. If the weight of five baht is 3.33 grams, then the weight of Jin Cuodao is only 10.5 baht. The issuance of this large denomination currency only relies on personal authority to forcibly circulate, which violates the basic principle and law of value scale of money, and the consequence is that the new dynasty established by Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty will perish in 15.