At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

What Yan Xing said made Han Sui suddenly realize, and immediately realized that if he continued to be weak, even [-] troops would be deprived by Ma Teng. up.

"But what should we do to survive?"

Han Sui looked at Yan Xing.

Yan Xing thought about it, frowned, and said for a long time, "The only one who can ask for help now is Guo Zifeng."

Chapter 663 .670 Two Dong Zhuo Doesn't Understand Economics

After hearing Yan Xing's words, Han Sui shook his head again and again.

Although the current situation is indeed dangerous, the possibility of asking Guo Peng for help is too low.

"Guo Zifeng is already ready to be a minister of power. He doesn't want to fight anymore. Half of the soldiers of the three assistants are taken away by him. That is to defend, not to be aggressive. Guo Zifeng will not rashly use troops because of this matter. Ma Teng was appointed by him. Inspector of Liangzhou, he is not facing Ma Teng, is he facing me?"

"Then you can't sit and wait for death. It's better to fight for it than to sit and wait for death?"

"That's what I said, but how can I win over Guo Zifeng?"

"False accusation!"

Yan Xing said: "Let's send someone to Chang'an to falsely accuse Ma Teng to Cao Zixiao. Cao Zixiao is the governor of Guanzhong appointed by Guo Zifeng. Let's say that Ma Teng often criticizes Guo Zifeng in Liangzhou, saying that Guo Zifeng kidnapped the young master and kidnapped the emperor to order the princes.

Ma Teng often said that what Guo Zifeng is doing now is what Dong Zhuo used to do back then. Guo Zifeng is no different from Dong Zhuo, and Dong Zhuo is second!If we frame Ma Teng like this, Cao Zixiao will be furious and will send troops to attack Ma Teng. "

"Is this okay?"

Han Sui looked skeptical: "Although Guo Zifeng is not here, Cao Zixiao is someone Guo Zifeng trusts very much. Would someone Guo Zifeng trust believe in such a simple divorce?"

"Let's do it first, no, then think of other ways. Right now, we have no way out. We must send people to Chang'an to fight for it. At worst, pay some money, and then cut some land. Cao Zixiao can also mobilize the three assistants around Chang'an. Thirty thousand soldiers, that is our only hope."

Yan Xing couldn't think of a better way, so he could only be a dead horse as a living horse doctor. After fighting for it casually, he said: "If they are willing to send troops, we still have the strength to fight, so we will help them. Guo Zifeng will not kill people." , Ma Shoucheng and Ma Meng want the lives of you and my son-in-law!"

After hearing this, Han Sui thought it was very reasonable. Of course, he had no choice but to do this, and he was in a desperate struggle.

So Han Sui decisively sent his confidant Cheng Gongying.

He asked Cheng Gongying to take his own letter to Chang'an to find Cao Ren, and to report to Cao Ren that Ma Teng "criticized Guo Peng for plotting to do something wrong".

He wants Cao Ren to recognize Ma Teng's reactionary nature and send troops to destroy Ma Teng, lest Ma Teng become bigger and separate Liangzhou to rebel against Guo Peng, it will be too late.

In exchange for Cao Ren sending troops, he also promised Cao Ren horses and gold, and promised to cede Beidi County and Wudu County to Guo Peng as a reward after the dispatching of troops was completed.

Cheng Gongying was Han Sui's confidant and was very loyal to Han Sui. After receiving Han Sui's order, he immediately ran to Chang'an City regardless of his own danger.

Chang'an City is currently Cao Ren's territory, and Cao Ren conscientiously carries out Guo Peng's various orders in Chang'an City.

Cao Ren was very busy, really busy. He not only had political and military tasks to be responsible for in Chang'an, but also a very important task, which was to collect Dong Zhuo's small coins and send them back to Yecheng.

After Guo Peng pacified the land of Guanxi, he ordered Cao Ren to stay in Guanzhong. At the same time, he also ordered Cao Ren to collect small coins made by Dong Zhuo left over in Guanzhong and send them back to Yecheng.

After Dong Zhuo's small coins were sent back to Yecheng, they were recast into standard five baht coins to stabilize the economy in the Kansai region and restore economic order.

The five baht coin is a legendary currency in Chinese history. From the time when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty cast the five baht coin until the Tang Dynasty abolished the five baht coin, the life of the five baht coin lasted for more than [-] years, which is unique in Chinese history. A successful and long-lived currency.

Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the economy of the Eastern Han Dynasty had been relatively stable, and the circulation of five baht coins was relatively prosperous and smooth.

This situation was broken after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and after Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, the economic situation in Kansai collapsed completely.

Originally, it is not surprising that the war would cause economic recession, but it is really rare that Dong Zhuo completely ruined the economy of the very prosperous Guanzhong land in the Han Dynasty.

This is not the credit of Dong Zhuo alone. The coalition of princes to challenge Dong, especially the attack of Guo Peng and Sun Jian is also an important thrust to fuel the flames.

Dong Zhuo was beaten by them and had no choice but to move the capital, but moving the capital cost a lot of money and required a lot of money. Dong Zhuo's first idea was not to mint money, but to rob.

On the day when the capital was moved, Dong Zhuo first charged the wealthy people in Luoyang City with crimes and robbed them of their property, and then ordered his subordinates to burn all the palaces, government offices and private houses within [-] miles of Luoyang. From the imperial mausoleum to the tombs of ordinary officials, none of them were spared.

Under such a catastrophe, the court and the people lost all the supplies necessary for life. After the wave of looting passed, life problems followed one after another.

People always have to solve the basic necessities of life, and it is impossible not to solve it. No matter how young Dong Zhuo is, he will also face such problems.

In desperation, Dong Zhuo had to order coins to be minted so that he could go to various places to buy living supplies to solve the living problems of the soldiers and civilians in Xindu.

So Dong Zhuo searched for copper in Chang'an. For this reason, he destroyed the "Twelve Golden Men" cast by Qin Shihuang, and also destroyed the original five baht coins, which were used as raw materials to cast coins.

The money he minted was Dong Zhuo's small money. This kind of small money has neither outline nor decoration, and is extremely light in weight. It does not weigh five baht at all.

He thought that the more coins the better.

Originally, there was a shortage of living materials in Guanzhong at that time. Dong Zhuo did not understand economics, did not have any economic knowledge, and did not know the relationship between currency and goods, so he put a lot of small money into the market.

He thought that would be all right, the money would appear, and the problem would be solved.

Then, the circulation of Dong Zhuo's small money almost immediately triggered a very serious hyperinflation in the market.

The speed of inflation is extremely terrifying, but Dong Zhuo doesn't care, he has accumulated a large amount of supplies enough to live for 30 years in Meiwu, and he is chic and happy, regardless of people's lives.

Then Dong Zhuo died, and Li Jue and Guo Si took power, causing even more dire chaos, with hyperinflation reaching its peak.

According to the information collected by Guo Peng, the price of Yihu Valley around Chang'an rose to as much as [-] yuan at that time.

At the same time, in Qingyan Erzhou, Guo Peng's base camp, a large amount of food and supplies have been accumulated due to the policy of garrisoning land, and Guo Peng has the confidence.

So after killing Lu Bu, Guo Peng set up grain stores, cloth stores, salt stores, etc. in his jurisdiction to assist in the restoration of the casting and circulation of standard five baht coins, and slowly restore the destroyed commodity economy.

At that time, he only needed [-] qian for grain for one dendrobium.

Ten to fifty thousand, this number may be exaggerated, but it can give a glimpse of the extent of the inflation terror in the Guanzhong area at that time.

Basically it's trash.

Therefore, after the Hongnong court stabilized, the Kansai area at that time no longer accepted the circulation of Dong Zhuo's small coins. Everyone agreed to give up the currency, and the whole directly degenerated back to the original trading era of barter.

The Liangzhou Group was stunned to bring back the prosperous money and commodity economy in the Kansai region during the Han Dynasty to the primitive era of barter.

Chapter 664 .670 Sanguo Peng Reclaims the Right to Mint

Apart from Guanzhong, outside the area controlled by Guo Peng at that time, the practice of privately minting money was prevalent in the world.

The private currency is complicated, the currency value is unstable, there is no credibility, and the transaction is difficult, so many places simply resumed barter.

Since the Qingyan Erzhou era, the most important thing that Guo Peng did every time he captured a place was to ban the local privately minted coins, and then announced the recovery of various privately minted coins in a certain proportion.

The recovered coins were exchanged for the standard five baht coins produced in the mint factory he controlled, so as to replace the money circulating in the market and carry out economic unification.

After the military unification, the first thing Guo Peng did was to unify the economy.

Relying on the abundant grain reserves obtained by the garrison system, Guo Peng linked his standard five baht coin with grain, a hard currency in troubled times.

He stipulated how much food can be purchased with a five-baht coin, and it is not allowed to rise or fall at will, so as to increase the credibility of his standard five-baht coin.

With the guarantee of hard currency, everyone is willing to believe in Guo Peng's standard five baht money.

So Guo Peng successfully replaced most of the various privately minted coins circulating in various places with his own standard five baht coins, such as five baht for weight reduction, five baht for cutting edges, and five baht for invading wheels.

Guo Peng also ordered that only the standard five baht currency be used for transactions in his jurisdiction, and no other currencies were accepted. The powerful Guo Wei official business force headed by Mi Shi took the lead in complying, and the standard five baht currency was used for commercial settlement.

So Guo Peng quickly defeated all kinds of five baht coins privately minted in various places, and established the economic status of Guo's standard five baht coins.

While expanding his territory, Guo Peng also set up a wide range of factories where various workers concentrated to work. Not only that, Guo Peng also restored the policy of salt and iron monopoly during Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Only the government can trade salt and iron in its own jurisdiction, controlling the social and economic lifeline of this era, making these large-scale handicraft factories the de facto state-owned enterprises of the Guo Wei regime.

Not only that, Guo Peng also set up foreign trade agencies to manage food, war horses, weapons and other materials that the major forces are in short supply. He also controlled these agencies and turned them into his own state-owned enterprises, leading foreign trade by himself.

Whenever he conquered a place and ordered that all trade in the area must be settled with standard five baht coins, all kinds of five baht coins privately minted by the local area would have no resistance.

All the private coins recovered, including the five baht coins minted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the Western Han Dynasty, and the money minted by Wang Mang, Guo Peng did not waste them, and all were returned to the furnace and recast to become his own standard five baht coins, and re-entered Circulation market, restore circulation, restore economic order.

At the same time of economic unification, Guo Peng ordered Guo's legal team to draft a law and announce it to the world, and to ban the policy that the central government did not care much about minting rights since the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Guo Peng issued a strict order to take back the coinage rights of various places and return them to the central government.

Any local government agencies, non-governmental commercial institutions and individuals are not allowed to privately mint currency. Once discovered, they will be dealt with severely, and the lightest is hard work.

In this way, within a few years, while Guo Peng captured various regions to expand the territory, he also restored the economic order of the regions under his jurisdiction.

As a result, the commodity economy of the Central Plains and Hebei regions, which was severely damaged after the war, gradually recovered under Guo Peng's administration, and even slowly returned to the state before the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

As a result, Guo Peng also began to gradually lower the agricultural tax quotas of the villagers, so that they would have a little more money to spend, so as to stimulate economic development and expand domestic demand.

Then Guo Peng gradually issued more currency gradually to increase the circulation of currency, and then used part of the money harvested from economic growth for infrastructure construction, improving traffic and public security conditions, and launching various infrastructure construction actions such as water conservancy, storage, and urban construction. , Gradually revitalize the economic situation in the area under its jurisdiction.

As a result, Guo Peng's cautious actions have brought about a state of political integrity and harmony in the areas under the Guo Wei regime, which has been widely praised.

Within the scope of what he can do, Guo Peng is willing to treat the lower class people as well as possible, to make their lives better, to let them eat as much as possible, and to enjoy as much as possible. development dividends.

If he can do it, he is willing to try and do it.

After all, five baht coins have been in circulation for hundreds of years, and people all over the world have recognized five baht coins.

When the world is chaotic and various forces are doing their own thing and minting private coins, especially after Dong Zhuo minted small coins to destroy the Kansai economy, the government that uses the standard and full amount of five baht coins is the government that can be trusted and has credibility government.

During this period, not to mention Dong Zhuo's small coins and the five baht coins issued by the Central Committee of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the five baht coins minted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Xuandi and other Western Han emperors, and even all kinds of money minted by Wang Mang were in circulation.

Every place has its own hard currency, and every place also has its own private coins.

Some tycoons own vast manors and hide a large number of people, so they mint their own currency in the manor and issue their own currency.

He asked the people who depended on him in the manor to only use the currency he minted to facilitate his better exploitation, just like a small private kingdom with independent economics.

The monetary chaos at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was far beyond what people imagine today.

Political chaos and military separatism will inevitably bring about economic chaos.

There are many types of official and privately minted currencies in circulation in the market, and the mainstream currencies in different places are also different, which seriously hinders the development of commerce. It is no wonder that people have regressed back to the situation of bartering.

After all, in that era, money was not indispensable.

Therefore, Guo Peng insisted on using five baht coins and improved the casting technology of five baht coins to make it full and sufficient, with relatively exquisite craftsmanship and sufficient value preservation, so everyone was happy to use such five baht coins.

With his strong material reserves and correct policies, he helped good money gradually drive out bad money, and the economic order was restored accordingly.

The economic order was restored, and the social order was basically restored, and the pressure on the security of the Guo Wei regime was greatly reduced.

In the past, when Qing and Yan prefectures were just occupied, such an economic policy had not been established, and when the newly occupied area had not had time to implement the farming policy, the local area was often very chaotic.

Bandits and thieves are often rampant everywhere and are very difficult to deal with, so Guo Peng was forced to join the army to fight, arresting a large number of criminals and putting them in prisons, making the prisons everywhere overcrowded.

This kind of situation often has to be gradually implemented after the garrison system is gradually implemented, and everyone gets their own land and settles down before it ends.

After Guo Peng gradually worked out such economic countermeasures, he conducted a successful experiment in Hebei.

After such an economic policy was successfully implemented in Hebei, Guo Peng has accumulated some experience, and a group of talents who are good at economics and currency have been added to the team of accounting officials under his command.

Guo Peng called them out separately, and established a financial secretary under the cabinet to be in charge of currency issuance and minting, as well as the implementation of economic policies.

Later, when conquering Yuzhou and Huainan, as well as the land of Kansai and Xuzhou, such policies played a positive role and played an important role in stabilizing people's hearts.

Obviously, Guo Peng felt that such a policy was successful, so he pushed it hard.

Chapter 665 .670 Sicheng Gongying's request for help

Right now the land of Kansai is full of ruins, because there is a lack of copper for minting coins, so Guo Peng asked Cao Ren to be in charge of this matter, and searched everywhere in the land of Kansai for the small coins minted by Dong Zhuo.

Needless to say, after the war, the extremely large amount of small coins minted by Dong Zhuo were regarded as waste by people, and were often discarded in large quantities, so they were often found in piles.

If Cao Ren found a treasure, he immediately excavated a large amount of it, loaded it into a car, and transported it to Yecheng to hand it over to Guo Peng.

In this way, Guo Peng was able to obtain enough copper for coinage, and did not cause deflation due to the sudden expansion of land.

It is a very serious problem that money is not worth much, and it is also a very serious problem that money is too valuable.

The former makes the people unable to buy things with banknotes, and the poor only have money. The latter makes the people hold their money and is unwilling to go out to consume, and the poor only have money.

Therefore, as the controller of the central government, Guo Peng must manage the economy carefully, and cannot rashly use his brains when formulating economic and monetary policies.

At least for the time being, banknotes and the like are superfluous.

Those things are only needed after the society is completely stable and the commodity economy develops to a certain extent.