"Money is the body, have something to do. The inner side is cylindrical. " This passage comes from a classic famous sentence in The God of Wealth, which tells how prominent money is in the Western Jin Dynasty, including Gankun and the outside world, and is known as an artifact of a Chinese Odyssey. It can be seen that the ancients had different understandings of money. In some respects, there was money worship. But unfortunately, no matter how much the ancients worshipped money, it was always less convenient than modern people, because the gold and silver jewelry in their hands were real, while the gold and silver jewelry in our hands was just numbers. In the digital field, tens of millions and tens of billions of actions can be transmitted anywhere at will, but the ancients can't. If they carry tens of millions, they will carry a mountain, which is not only particularly ostentatious, but also robbed by others.

Then the problem comes. There were many very rich people in ancient society. Take the Han and Tang Dynasties as an example, there should be quite a few people with tens of millions of property. So, do these people really need to carry a mountain if they want to go out and do big business? Where should they put so much money safely? In fact, unlike modern people who kept them in banks or Alipay, the ancients had their own methods. After reading it, we may really feel different about them.

First, the ancient trading currency

It has been recorded in "A Brief History of Mankind" that shells were the main currency used by the ancients at the beginning. Shells were scarce and light at that time, which was convenient for people to exchange. However, with the gradual expansion of the transaction amount, shells are not enough to support, so people began to trade on the basis of copper coins, supplemented by gold and silver jewelry. At this time, the ancients had basically formed the concepts of gold, silver, copper, iron and other currencies that we saw in film and television works. Copper coins are the most common and the least valuable. Iron coins only existed in a few periods, and gold, silver and jewelry are particularly valuable things.

But unfortunately, even though a relatively complete monetary system had been formed at that time, it was still very troublesome to trade. The reason is very simple, because although the weight of copper coins is relatively light, its base is too small, so if you have to pay dozens of taels of silver, you may have to trade copper coins in sacks. And if it is stored in the business currency, it will be as troublesome as the ancient retro merchants, because in the works of Mr. Yue Ming, he once converted it to us, and 1000 silver needs a load of several hundred kilograms, which is not only extremely huge, but also very inconvenient to transport. So, how should the ancients deal with such an embarrassing situation?

Second, the way ordinary people store and transport money.

According to historical records, in ordinary people's homes, their business volume is actually relatively small, so it is relatively simple for them to store and transport money. For example, if it is a farmer's family, their family income may be only two or three Liang a month, so the storage and transportation of these currencies is very simple. Two or three ounces of silver are only 1/4 the size of one or two ounces of silver, so it is very convenient to carry or store at home. If they want to exchange silver for copper coins, the amount may be even larger, so they will put the money in a storage box and then secretly hide it on their beams.

Generally speaking, the beams in ancient times were relatively high, unless you went to someone else's house, you had to climb up with a ladder to get them, and there were people in other people's houses, so this insurance factor was very high. If these ordinary people go out to eat, it will be very simple. They turned a whole piece of silver into countless copper coins, and then took out a part to hang on them. This is the so-called string of money, go out to spend. Generally speaking, a sesame seed cake only needs three copper coins, so the consumption of the poor in ancient times is not particularly high, and a string of copper coins is enough to carry around. So transportation is really simple for ordinary people. After all, there is no extra money. However, although ordinary people do not have such traffic problems, the rich are in big trouble. They have more money. So how should the rich store and transport?

Third, the early way of storing wealth.

According to historical records, rich people have a lot of money in their hands at first, but they will try their best to change their money from copper coins into gold, silver and jewelry. There is a simple reason. The proportion of gold, silver and jewelry exchanged for copper coins is very large, which can make his tens of millions of wealth become the size of only one warehouse. Therefore, when all the money is stored in a business way, he will choose to put it in his own small vault, and the key will be kept by a special person, with many people around him. Of course, there are also some people who are afraid of the turmoil in the war years and will bury their money in the soil. This way of saving money is also common. Before the earthquake, experts and archaeologists found 450 kilograms of 5 baht in the Han Dynasty, which shows that the way rich people saved money at that time was really embarrassing. However, this is only an early storage method, and rich people will naturally find ways to improve their services.

Fourth, enrich and mature storage and transportation methods.

According to historical records, when the commodity economy was highly developed in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the national economy needed to issue a large amount of money if it wanted to develop better. It was in this period, especially in the Song Dynasty, that paper money appeared, which is the famous jiaozi. Later, in the Song Dynasty, the so-called merchants' distribution center warehouse was implemented on a large scale, which is also called the early draft number, where large-scale lump-sum deposit and withdrawal can be carried out, and only one bill can be exchanged. Generally, these places are jointly guaranteed by several big businessmen, so the credit value is relatively high, and the rich can also get better money storage and transportation.

However, the Song Dynasty soon faced greater turmoil, followed by a crisis of great division between the North and the South. At such a critical juncture, the transportation of merchants itself could not be guaranteed, so the temple with absolute authority stood up and assumed the function of storing wealth. According to the general history of China, when the Northern and Southern Dynasties were in chaos, no one could guarantee safety, but the temple was worshipped by everyone. There is a simple reason. In order to maintain order, all dynasties worshipped Buddhism, so Buddhism not only has armed forces, but also has a strong ability to operate funds.

Therefore, at that time, the temple became a new banking institution, where everyone could deposit and withdraw money, and even the emperor put money here, which was reflected in the large-scale transportation of Liang Wudi's currency. It can be seen that the temple at that time was really amazing, and this is how the concept of bank came into being. This turbulent way went through a long time until the first real money house appeared in the middle of Qing Dynasty. At this time, paper money began to be recognized nationwide, and the deposit and withdrawal of silver became easier and easier. More importantly, the rich, the emperor and the people at the bottom can save and withdraw money. And this is the evolution of the whole way of saving money in ancient times.