In the Ming dynasty, there was an illegal phenomenon that puzzled many people-smuggling copper coins. When the word "smuggling" is mentioned, many people will shudder, because smuggling was also very serious in ancient times, and the illegality was enough to break up the wife and family of an ancient wealthy businessman. Therefore, even if someone wants to smuggle illegally, they are smuggling some valuables, such as gold, silver and jewelry. However, during the Ming Dynasty, many businessmen risked being sentenced to death to smuggle worthless copper coins at that time. As we all know, businessmen have always put interests first, and naturally they will not do "business" at a loss, let alone do such a transaction that will kill them at any time. In fact, there are huge benefits hidden behind seemingly uneconomical transactions, and "worthless" copper coins may be "priceless" in their eyes. First of all, everything happens for a reason. The catalyst for merchants smuggling "cheap" copper coins in Ming Dynasty. First, the influence of supply and demand, overseas countries' demand for ancient copper coins in China is greater than that in the early Ming Dynasty, with strong national strength, rich products and extensive opening up. Zheng He's seven voyages to the West are the most typical example. He has visited more than 30 countries and regions in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean. It strengthened the ties between the Ming Dynasty and overseas countries, and also strengthened the trade with overseas countries. Over time, China's copper coins flowed into various countries in these close trade exchanges. In order to make international transactions more convenient, these countries must unify their currencies to measure the traded goods in long-term trade. Among the countries with frequent overseas trade at that time, only the Ming Dynasty had a strong national strength, mastered the skillful coinage technology, and always maintained the image of a big credit country in trade. It can not only ensure the long-term circulation and supply of money, but also not depreciate because of the decline of the country. It is really the "best choice" for international funds. In this way, the copper coins of the Ming Dynasty prevailed in various overseas countries, and the overseas demand for copper coins far exceeded that of China. (2) Under the catalysis of interests, the implementation of the "sea ban" policy in the Ming Dynasty controlled the trade between the coastal areas and overseas to a certain extent, but it also promoted the proliferation of smuggling activities. Coastal residents live and eat by the sea. The sea ban policy undoubtedly cut off their "way out" and eventually forced them to smuggle. Due to the popularity of copper coins in overseas countries at that time, there was a great demand for copper coins overseas and the currency value was stable. Because of this, many people who do business in the coastal areas take a fancy to this point, and secretly transport China's copper coins and materials overseas, and then buy overseas goods and even silver at a low price and transport them to China for sale at a high price. Earn the price difference in the middle in this way, and the profit is much more than that of overseas trade in the past. Therefore, businessmen who only care about interests will of course smuggle copper coins regardless of their lives and strive to "get rich." (3) Problems left over from history and the influence of the "copper ban" in Song Dynasty. As early as the Song Dynasty, the imperial court began a "copper ban order". That is, it is forbidden to transport China's copper materials overseas and prohibit copper coins from flowing to overseas markets. That's because with the development of national economy, the domestic demand for copper coins is increasing, and the materials for making copper coins at that time were not enough, resulting in a small number of copper coins in China. Therefore, since the Song Dynasty, the "copper ban" has always existed and has far-reaching influence. As the saying goes, "Where there is oppression, there is resistance". The existence of the "copper ban order" in the Ming Dynasty even drove those "scheming" businessmen to smuggle more unscrupulously. Because the smaller the export volume of copper coins, the higher their overseas value, the greater the difference they can earn and the higher their profits. Therefore, the "prohibition of copper" from the Song Dynasty affected the smuggling of copper coins in the Ming Dynasty to some extent. Second, it is widely concerned by the rulers. The evolution of the status of copper coins in the Ming Dynasty was in the early Ming Dynasty, and only paper money was circulating in the market. It is popular in society not to use banknotes. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, also promoted paper money because of the small number of copper coins in China and the lack of copper materials for making copper coins. If it is circulated in the market as a major currency, it will inevitably have adverse consequences for future economic development. Even according to historical records, in the 276 years of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court issued only one kind of paper money called "Daming Treasure Note" every year. At that time, although the imperial court minted copper coins every year, the main currency issued by the imperial court was paper money, and the value of copper coins was far less than that of paper money. However, as the trade between the Ming Dynasty and overseas countries became closer and closer, the status of copper coins was increasingly recognized by overseas countries. Because those smaller countries want to make their own coins, they not only need to mine a large number of copper mines, but also have to master superb casting technology. Instead of painstakingly making coins by yourself, it is better to use trusted China copper coins directly. In this way, copper coins gradually became the international currency at that time, and their value abroad far exceeded that at home. This has aroused widespread concern of the rulers. If we ignore this phenomenon for a long time and do not take measures to solve it, the domestic monetary system will soon be disintegrated by rampant merchant smuggling activities, and the economy of the Ming Dynasty will therefore enter a downturn. Therefore, with the development of banning copper, the status of copper coins in China has gradually improved, and "parallel coins" have become the main trading mode in the market. Later, in the late Ming Dynasty, with a large amount of silver flowing into China's market through overseas trade, the problem of currency shortage became increasingly serious. The monetization of silver has gradually appeared in the domestic trading market, but in order to protect the country's currency face value, the court also specially ordered the prohibition of folk gold and silver barter. However, the widespread popularity of silver has prompted people to use silver more and more frequently. The court knew that the trend at that time was out of control and could only accept the fact that silver was monetized. Finally, in the first year of Qin Long, the court officially recognized the monetary status of silver for the first time, and ordered copper coins to be popular in the market as an auxiliary currency of silver. Third, the influence of the smuggling of copper coins by merchants in the Ming Dynasty and its enlightenment to later generations (1) The amount of copper coins in China has been greatly reduced, resulting in deflation. With the proliferation of copper coins smuggled by merchants in the Ming Dynasty, a large number of copper coins flowed out. Although the currency used in the Ming Dynasty was not just a kind of copper coins, the number of currencies with smaller value on the market suddenly decreased, which easily destroyed the economic system of the Ming Dynasty at that time. Therefore, the role of copper coins can not be ignored as well as large denomination banknotes. As a kind of currency, copper coins existed in all aspects of people's daily life and transactions in the Ming Dynasty, although their face value was not large. Because people didn't have enough ability to earn a certain amount of silver or paper money with large face value at that time. Closer to their lives are more copper coins. At that time, farmers, a cheap labor force, could only earn copper money. However, with the massive loss of overseas copper coins, domestic copper coins have been greatly reduced, so the price has naturally soared, but the income of farmers has not changed. Therefore, farmers could not afford to buy rice, oil and salt, and at that time, the number of ordinary people was the largest among social groups. They don't have enough silver to buy goods, which leads to a large number of unsalable goods. To a certain extent, it caused deflation, the social and economic operation system was destroyed, and the overall economy showed a downward trend. (2) The gap between the rich and the poor is widening gradually, and the social state is extremely unstable. As mentioned above, businessmen smuggle copper coins overseas, buy silver and other commodities cheaply from overseas, and then return to China to sell them at high prices. In this process, businessmen only acted as "transporters" and did not pay too much labor. But just the profit they earned in a smuggling is something that ordinary people can't earn all their lives. In addition, when they are engaged in smuggling and profiteering, domestic prices are soaring, which is actually indirectly exploiting the surplus labor of farmers. Generally speaking, businessmen smuggle copper coins, which not only seek their own interests, but also harm the interests of the broad masses of peasants. In the end, the merchant group is getting richer and richer, and the peasant group is getting poorer and poorer, and even the most basic survival has no money to supply. In the long run, the unfair voice of farmers will become louder and louder, and then peasant uprisings will break out one after another, and society will be in a state of turmoil for a long time. (3) Take coercive measures to stop the outflow of copper coins, and use violence against violence to eventually lose both sides. In the face of the outflow of copper coins at that time, although the Ming rulers realized the consequences of this phenomenon in the future, they took compulsory measures to prevent the outflow of copper coins, believing that it would not threaten their own economic interests. But the effect is not what the rulers expected. Coercive measures accelerated the outflow of copper coins, but on the other hand, with the comprehensive national strength of the Ming Dynasty at that time, the court was fully capable of controlling the outflow of copper coins through normal trade. Because in the eyes of overseas countries at that time, the Ming Dynasty was vast in territory and abundant in natural resources, with rich products and many rare treasures. If the rulers at that time could seize this point to earn silver from overseas countries, and then expand the inflow of domestic silver to make up for the loss of copper coins. If the Ming dynasty did not order the "sea ban" to force the outflow of copper coins, it would not be involved in a series of subsequent social problems. From this point of view, the method of compulsory treatment of problems can not bring ideal treatment results. The method of fighting violence with violence seems to have obvious effect, but it will endanger its own interests to some extent. This method of harming others at the expense of others is not worth advocating at any time. However, the experience and lessons of the Ming Dynasty sounded the alarm for future generations and had a far-reaching impact on the development of future generations. References: The History of Ming Dynasty, A Reading of English and Elegant, and Ming Hui Dian.