"Old Zhao, have you thought about another question?" Another scholar on the side said: "The money shortage in the two Song Dynasties resulted in no unified monetary value to measure when exchanging materials. If grain is used to uniformly mark the exchange value, , regarding the problem you just mentioned, the difference in food prices between abundance and shortage is also huge. The last 'object' used to explain the quality of goods is difficult to find."
"Old Wang raised this question very well." The other remaining old man said: "I found the feudal dynasty. The depreciation of the currency is also very harmful. This issue is easy to understand in modern times. In the 50s and 60s In the New Year, eggs cost five cents per catty, but now eggs cost one or two yuan per catty. Therefore, even if Xiao Zhou and the others made this "Table of Yearly Price Changes in Various Regions in the Two Song Dynasties", it would be difficult for everyone to accurately grasp it. The real value of the goods at that time"
"Of course I also understand this situation. "I know," the scholar known as Lao Zhao said: "Let's not worry about the details first. Let's build the data table first. We can continue to do the analysis slowly! Don't you think so?"
< br>The old man was so eager that he even called out the nickname that Mr. Gu just called out.
"This is indeed something we have not considered before. This project is very meaningful." Zhou Zhi was also very happy, so he did not argue with the old man about his problem of calling other people's nicknames: "And the analysis is also very simple. , because currencies are all with orders Positions are mostly represented by 'Jin', 'Guan', 'Mo', and 'Wen' in Song Dynasty documents. This conforms to our search function label setting method. Technically speaking, there is no need to find another way, and it will not be better than personal name search. More complicated.”
"There are also '缗', 'PI', and 'SHI'." Mr. Gu added: "Don't forget that ancient grain and silk cloth also had some monetary functions."
"This 'Stone' , should it be pronounced as stone or as burden?" Zhou Zhi asked.
"Ask Professor Zhao about this." Mr. Gu said with a smile: "He even wrote a paper specifically for this. You are scratching his itch."
"This is A typical example of vulgar pronunciation encroaching on elegant pronunciation, "Dan Shi Zhi Lu", from a phonological point of view, should it be pronounced as "Dan Shi Zhi Lu" or "Dan Dan Zhi Lu". Your teacher said that you are talented in phonology, so there is no need for this. Ask?"
"Yes," Zhou Zhi replied: "From "Shuowen" to "Kangxi Dictionary", Shi Du has only one pronunciation, Chang Jie, and there is also "Yesterday" in Li Bai's "Tiger Walk" Fang is a guest in Xuancheng, ringing the bell and transporting two thousand stones. Sometimes Liu Bo is so excited that he goes around the bed three times and throws it. "From the rhyme, two thousand stones should be read as Chang Zhiqie."
"The basic skills of the elbow are still excellent," Zhou Zhi's answer made Lao Zhao very satisfied, even a little surprised, and said: "This name is actually for the simplification and misfortune that occurs when keeping accounts. Jianghuai people call Xiao Dou who measures grain. Dan, the weight one person bears is equivalent to a pick in Shu, that is, It’s one load and two baskets.”
“But this Dan is difficult to write, so everyone thinks of “Shilu one hundred and two Shihu, known as two thousand shi in the world”, and associates it with “Dan Shizhilu”. The word '石' replaces the word '勋' and '苑'. ”
“ After the Song Dynasty, this usage gradually spread from Jianghuai to the whole country. As a result, Shi also had a pronunciation that was not found in "Shuowen" and "Kangxi Dictionary". "
"Well, it seems that this is also the same. A kind of literary hegemony between developed regions and underdeveloped regions." Zhou Zhi thought of another idea. A question: "It seems that now everyone likes to call their husbands husband. This is the influence of Cantonese on the country with the strong economy."
"You, this apprentice, are really smart." Lao Zhao turned to Gu Lao laughed and said: "Lao Gu has caught it!"
"The key is to be eager to learn, and to express doubts immediately, regardless of the occasion or time." Another old man said: "If you keep this attitude, it will be strange if you are not good at learning."
"Don't praise me either. ” Gu Lao was very happy in his heart, but his face was tense.
“Actually, I have a suggestion about finding a value reference in the Song Dynasty to measure the value of goods.” “Oh?” Several old men suddenly became interested: “Tell me about it.”
“Through file search, we discovered that there was a commodity with a very stable value in the Song Dynasty,” Zhou Zhi said: “That is...salt.”
"I don't know if the Song Dynasty intended to stabilize the price of salt for a long time, and by the way, the price of salt imports was stable for a long time. In the Song Dynasty, except for the salt producing areas such as Xiejiechi and Lingjing along the coast, it basically remained at 40 to 50 Wen for a long time. Jin, Shu money is 1 to 2, Ji En maintains it at 80 to 100 yuan per jin. "
"This is a price that is strictly enforced by the government. In addition to this, there is also private salt."
"What's even more funny is that the price of private salt in these non-salt-producing areas is still high. It is equivalent to the public price in salt-producing areas, and is basically half of the public price in non-salt-producing areas. ”
“This also illustrates a potential value system, that is, the price at which the official collects salt is actually the price at which private salt dealers sell salt, and the price of official salt is double the selling price of private salt. There seems to be a potential relationship between several prices.”
"We still need to continue to study the underlying relationship, but at least the price of salt can be regarded as a relatively stable commodity in the Song Dynasty for hundreds of years. Measuring the prices of various commodities by the salt that could be exchanged at that time can help identify commodities. The role of nobility.”
Old men, you look at me and I look at you. It should be said that although salt has been important in all dynasties, the use of salt as currency only became popular in the Song Dynasty. This phenomenon is far more advanced than the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. It's common.
However, although everyone knows the importance of salt yin in the Song Dynasty, few people have quantified how salt yin was used as currency. This information is hidden in a vast sea of historical materials, and it is too troublesome to collect it in detail. , and there are almost no scholars who specialize in this exchange ratio.
“About this, have you published a paper?”
This magical phenomenon was actually discovered by Jiuzi when he was writing the Song Dynasty novel. For the details in the novel, it must be In order to grasp the value of some commodities at that time, we even had to understand the changes in commodity prices in the span of several decades in the book. Therefore, when the old men discussed this issue, Zhou Zhi thought about it.
But when it comes to writing a thesis, Zhou Zhi really hasn’t thought about it.
"Write one by one." The old men encouraged with a smile: "It is still very important to clarify this issue."
"Then it's settled." Mr. Gu nodded: "The elbows go first. Put together a paper for me Let's take a look, and then establish the commodity price system of the two Song Dynasties. Nowadays, it is said that the economy takes the lead, and several of our cultural and historical projects should be tilted in this direction to fill in the blanks before."
said. After that, I turned to the rest of the People said: "A few old guys, now that we understand what this digital library can do, why don't we imitate Lao Zhao and see how fast he reacts?"
"Old, we now also If you can come up with some ideas, your career still needs to be Young people like Jiuzi are here to do it." Old Zhao waved his hands and said: "In the past, it would have taken several years just to pay off the salt prices in various places in the two Song Dynasties according to Jiuzi's instructions." (End of this chapter.) )