If you have been to Shaanxi History Museum, you must have seen many attractive golden cakes of the Western Han Dynasty. These 2 19 golden cakes were found in a brick factory in the northwest suburb in 10. Each piece weighs about 247 grams, which is about one catty of Han Dynasty. Their appearance confirms the record of "rich in gold" in the Western Han Dynasty in the history books.
More than 2000 years ago, Chu used the gold plate as shown in the picture, which was customarily called "seal gold" because its seal was small square or round. The inscriptions on the gold plate are Ying, Chen, Zhuan, Qin, Ge and Lu. Especially Ying, the so-called "gold". Ying is the name of the capital of Chu, and Shen is the unit of monetary weight at that time.
The winter in 205 BC was very cold. It snowed for nearly a month, and the two armies of Chu and Han were deadlocked in Xingyang.
Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, was already on pins and needles. He wanted to win the war as soon as possible, so he tried every means to cut off the tunnel where the Han army transported grain. The Han army, which was constantly attacked by Chu army's hay, did have some support. Liu bang doesn't want to wait endlessly in this ghost weather. He must do something!
Late at night in December, a group of chariots and horses slipped out of the camp of the Han army and went straight to the Chu army. The leader's name is Chen Ping. He looks serious and complicated because the motorcade behind him carries tens of thousands of pounds of gold. Chen Ping can't help recalling the scene when Liu Bang asked him for advice a few days ago. Liu Bang was very upset and sad, so he suggested that no one can resist the temptation of gold, and gold can be used to alienate Chu kings, especially Zhong Limei and Fan Zeng, who are famous for their honesty and frankness. Liu Bang was overjoyed and immediately ordered someone to bring 40,000 Jin of gold to Chen Ping and let him spend it casually. There are some people in the motorcade behind him, who are used to buy off the soldiers under the account of Chu army and let them spread rumors about Zhong Limei.
Just a few days after the gold was delivered, the rumor spread, and the soldiers said, "After hard work, I began to feel dissatisfied with Wang Xiang's refusal to give him land as king. He wants to unite with the Han army and destroy the Xiang family, so that he can carve up the Chu land and be king. " When this rumor reached the ears of Xiang Yu, he began to doubt Zhong Limei and gradually alienated him.
The effect of 40,000 Jin of gold is far from over. In April of the following year, Chen Ping bought three cows, sheep and pigs with gold, prepared a sumptuous banquet, and waited leisurely at the camp for the envoy sent by Xiang Yu. As soon as the messenger arrived, he ordered a rich banquet to be sent to the messenger's residence. As soon as he entered the door, he pretended to be surprised and said, "I thought it was the messenger of my father Fan Zeng!" " "Send someone to serve immediately. After returning home, the emissary described his situation to Wang Xiang, and from then on he became suspicious of Fan Zeng. When Fan Zeng learned about this, he asked to retire, but he died on his way home.
Wang Xiang, who lost his right-hand man, committed suicide by the Wujiang River two years later. This 40 thousand Jin of gold, to some extent, opened the Western Han Dynasty. It also seems to indicate that the Western Han Dynasty will be a "rich" dynasty.
The Western Han Dynasty was "rich in gold", which is the conclusion of historians of past dynasties. Not to mention the 40,000 Jin of gold in "The Founding of the People's Republic of China", it is enough to surprise people. Let's take a look at the gold stock in the Western Han Dynasty, which is the so-called "gold reserve" in modern times. Its huge amount is also rare in the ancient history of China, which can be said to be the highest in history.
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the total amount of gold used was more than one million Jin. According to the historical data of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, one kilogram in the Western Han Dynasty is equivalent to 248 grams today, and one million kilograms in the Western Han Dynasty is 248 tons today. In 2003, China's gold reserve was 600 tons, which means that the gold reserve in the Western Han Dynasty reached 4 1.3% of that in China in 2003.
In addition, if we open the examination of China's past dynasties' weights and measures, we will find that there are countless examples of the Western Han Emperor giving gold, and the gold content is tens of thousands of Jin every time, just like ordinary radish and cabbage. For example, Liu Ying, the eldest son of Liu Bang, paid a generous reward in gold for his father Liu Bang's funeral after he succeeded to the throne, especially for those who personally participated in the grave robbery. Generals pay 40 pounds of gold, officials with an annual salary of 2,000 stones pay 20 pounds of gold, those with an annual salary of 600 stones pay 6 pounds, and those with less than 600 stones pay 2 pounds.
As you can imagine, the huge mausoleum must be put into construction in Wu Wen, the capital of the Manchu Dynasty, so the amount of reward is really large. After Emperor Gaozu Liu Heng acceded to the throne, he gave 5,000 Jin of gold to zhou bo, 2,000 Jin of gold to Chen Ping and Guan Ying, and his daughter to Liu Zhang and Liu Jie. In the fifth year of Yuanshuo, Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, rewarded Wei Qing, the general of Hu Jun, with more than 200,000 gold.
So, what caused the huge amount of gold in the Western Han Dynasty?
It is undeniable that the greatness of gold in the Western Han Dynasty benefited from the accumulation of past dynasties: before the Spring and Autumn Period, gold had become a treasure of people; In the Warring States period, all the rulers regarded gold as their wealth, and they all tried their best to collect it. At that time, Qin Chu had the greatest power and wealth. Chu Ruhan area is rich in gold, and Jin Fang is popular all over the world. Qin "used gold" at his peak; After the reunification of Qin, wives and concubines of all countries naturally included gold, which was collected in the treasure house of Qin, and the gold accumulated in past dynasties was finally transferred to the Western Han Dynasty.
The arrival of the Iron Age promoted the rapid development of the mining industry in the Western Han Dynasty, constantly producing more gold and enriching the treasury of the Western Han Dynasty, which already had a large amount of gold. Through continuous practice, the people of the Western Han Dynasty not only inherited the methods of the previous generation, but also discovered the methods of finding new mines according to the distribution of veins and observing the golden light to find gold mines, all of which were recorded in Hanshu and Historical Records and Biography of Huo Zhi.
The origin of gold has also increased compared with the past, from the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins to the depths of the two major basins. The number of people involved in gold mining can also be illustrated by an example: Gong Yu, the minister of Emperor Hanyuan, saw that the agricultural population was greatly reduced at that time and put forward a series of suggestions, one of which was: "Stop officials who collect pearls, gold and silver to make money." It can be seen that, at least at that time, the government set up a special organization to mine pearl gold and silver, and the number of people engaged in gold mining under this organization must be a minority, otherwise it would not be serious enough to be dismissed.
In addition, the complaints of Roman historians are also worth mentioning. They complained bitterly about the foreign trade between Rome and China in the Western Han Dynasty, believing that Rome spent huge amounts of gold to buy silk and other commodities from China. For example, a kind of double warp and double weft thick fabric called jincan is used to make clothes and pockets. At present, the domestic price is more than 400 to 600 copper coins, but it is the same price as the gold in the Roman market, that is, one or two gold coins. A gold coin weighs about 25 weights and can be exchanged for 25 gold coins.
According to the statistics of Roman historian Pliny, during the Western Han Dynasty, at least 654.38 billion Cestes gold flowed into China every year in the Roman Empire. This figure is amazing, and the current unit of measurement is more than 5 tons. No wonder Roman historians complain that the exchange of gold for China silk is the main reason for the economic recession of the Roman Empire.
A lot of gold brought back by silver miners.
On the other hand, because China was one of the few countries with developed economy and culture in the world during the Western Han Dynasty, the import of commodities was relatively small, and there was almost no outflow of gold. Only a small amount of gold flows to the western regions and South China Sea countries to buy rare treasures. For example, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty often bought good horses from Dawan and pearls and colored glaze from overseas, and that's all.