In people's daily life, copper coins can meet a great demand for money, followed by silver and silver ingots, which generally appear in bulk commerce, and then official contacts. Silver ingots and broken silver are very common, especially broken silver, which is very popular in all walks of life. It is called broken silver because it is fragmented. Broken silver doesn't have a fixed weight. It is the part that was removed from the silver ingot at first, so the shape, weight and size are different, and the way to remove it from the silver ingot is also different. So there won't be two identical pieces of silver, even if there is a special tool for cutting silver ingots.
However, after a long period of contact with silver, people can still weigh the broken silver, and there are special tools for weighing the broken silver, so it is more convenient for the broken silver to circulate. After all, broken silver is generally less than one or two, so it is even more popular than copper coins in small transactions.
The antonym of broken silver is golden melon seeds, but it is actually broken gold. It is estimated that gold is more expensive than silver, and broken gold is smaller, so broken gold has a better name, that is, golden melon seeds. Of course, many people think that golden melon seeds are the same shape as these broken golden melon seeds, which is the case in TV dramas. This is actually a wrong idea.
After all, ancient broken gold was not made with professional tools. In fact, it, like broken silver, appeared as a part removed from the big gold ingot to meet the needs of circulation. Therefore, it is impossible for such golden melon seeds to have the same shape, size and weight. But because the broken gold looks very small, it is like catching a golden melon seed in your hand, so it is called a golden melon seed.
The circulation time of golden melon seeds is not long. There was circulation before the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the whole society was circulating golden melon seeds. However, after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, in order to promote paper money, he ordered the prohibition of folk gold and silver as currency circulation. Of course, this absolute ban did not last long. In the later period, silver trading was still very common, but the circulation of gold did decrease a lot because it was too expensive.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the appearance of gold was mostly related to the emperor's reward. It is impossible for the emperor to reward the minister with 22,000 pieces of gold, but it is possible to reward 120 pieces. However, the reward range of golden melon seeds is wider than that of Jin Yuanbao. For example, the emperor can give them to ministers, concubines and so on. Concubines can also give them to maids and eunuchs who have made great contributions, or to show kindness to eunuchs around the emperor. In other words, ministers can also give them away.
However, even if it is a gift, its circulation function as a currency can not be ignored. It is different from other gifts, because it is still money, so it can be used directly. If you can get a handful of golden melon seeds, even a small one, you will become rich overnight now. Moreover, when the emperor gives gifts to his concubines, you must not give one or two golden melon seeds, but get a small one anyway. If concubines give them maids and eunuchs, they are likely to be rewarded one by one. Even so, it is not a small fortune.
A golden melon seed is generally 20 to 30 grams, which is equal to one or two. According to the conversion relationship of one to ten, a golden melon seed is equivalent to eight or nine hundred and twenty pieces of silver, which is inexhaustible in the eyes of ordinary people. Of course, it's not a small sum in the palace. Let's take the Qing Dynasty as an example. There are rules in the year of concubines in the harem. The queen only has 65,438+0,000 taels of silver a year, which decreases in turn. Expensive talents only have 1 1,000 taels of silver, while the promised amount is only 30 taels of silver. This contrast shows the importance of a handful of golden melon seeds to concubines.
Empresses in the palace already have several golden melon seeds. On one occasion, Zhuang Mei gave Su Peisheng a handful of golden melon seeds. At that time, Mei Zhuang was pregnant with a child, which was cured by Dr. Wen. In order to save the children, eyebrow zhuang designed to meet the emperor, and was later favored. Su Peisheng was ordered to give the emperor's reward to Mei Zhuang, who grabbed a handful of golden melon seeds in a box and gave them to Su Peisheng.
This detail is more interesting. Eyebrow zhuang and Zhen Xuan are sitting at the table talking. There are two boxes of golden melon seeds and fruit on the table. If it weren't for their good looks, they really thought it was cucumber seeds. It is the shape of melon seeds. Isn't sunflower watered with water melted by gold from the beginning of seedling, and then grows into golden melon seeds?
There are also golden melon seeds of Daming Fenghua, which are being broadcast now. They are also full, just like colored melon seeds. This is the result of pursuing similarity. But with the progress of science and technology, there are really golden melon seeds with the same shape as melon seeds. 20 19 golden melon seeds appeared in a jewelry exhibition in Beijing, which should be exactly golden sunflowers, sunflowers made of pure gold.