Chapter 204 Unifying Currency and Weights and Measures
After the Law Enforcement Hall was established and the laws were drafted, everyone left, but Jiang Xuan remained seated, seemingly thinking about something.
Chishao was about to leave, but after seeing Jiang Xuan's expression, he stopped.
"Xuan, what are you thinking about?"
Jiang Xuan raised his head and said, "Corruption and bribery will definitely happen again in the future, and there will be a lot of them. People are greedy by nature. As long as there is a chance to take it, few people can resist."
“So, I was thinking about how to avoid this from happening as much as possible.”
Chishao asked doubtfully, "Didn't we just establish the Law Enforcement Hall? And the severe punishment of Di Gu should be able to deter many people, right?"
Jiang Xuan shook his head: "As long as the benefits are big enough, many people are willing to gamble their lives, so deterrence alone is useless. We must take other measures to prevent this from happening."
"Then what means should we use?"
Jiang Xuan was silent for a moment, then a light flashed in his eyes and he said, "Make coins!"
"What is a coin?" Chishao had never heard of this word before.
Jiang Xuan tried his best to explain in words that Chi Shao could understand: "Coins are a kind of commodity that everyone in a certain area needs and is willing to trade."
The essence of money is that it is a commodity that can be used for transactions.
As long as the people in the area are willing to trade it, it can be anything, such as tortoise shells, shells, or even cloth and stone tools.
Jiang Xuan continued to explain: "For example, high-quality stone is a kind of commodity that every tribe needs, and it can be used as currency."
"Xuan, do you mean that we can trade high-quality stone with other tribes in the future?"
Chishao frowned slightly because she still couldn't quite understand this question.
Although high-quality stone is good, its value is also quite high. Poorer tribes have trouble getting food and clothing, so what can they use to trade for high-quality stone?
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Superior stone can certainly be incorporated into the currency system of our Teng tribe, but it cannot be used as the main currency."
"Our main currency is bronze!"
"Bronze coin?"
"That's right. We can use bronze to make coins and then promote their use in the trading area. All goods will be clearly marked with prices, and the amount of coins will be determined by the amount of goods sold."
“This way, even if someone wants to embezzle, we only need to count the goods in the shop and the number of coins, and it will be easy to find out.”
Chishao thought about it and asked again: "It's OK for the goods that are sold, but what about the goods that are traded back? A lot of goods are traded back in a large pile, so it's hard to find out if someone takes a little bit, right?"
"I have thought about this problem a long time ago. So, in addition to making coins, the second thing we need to do is to unify weights and measures."
"What are weights and measures?"
Chishao felt a little overwhelmed. How much did Jiang Xuan learn from that mysterious old man? Why were they all things she had never heard of?
Jiang Xuan said: "Du means length. We can use a fixed unit of length to measure the height of a tree. For example, if we use 'meter' as a unit, then we can fix the length of a meter and measure the tree to tell how many meters tall it is."
"Quantity is a tool for calculating the number of items. For example, if we have a water tank, how do we know how much water is in it?"
"At this time, we need to use a tool, that is, a ladle. We use the ladle to scoop out the water in the water tank one ladle at a time, and then we know how many scoops of water there are in total."
"If we fix the size of the water scoop, then we can use it not only to calculate the amount of water, but also to calculate the amount of smaller grains such as bamboo wheat. For example, we can clearly calculate how many scoops of grain we produce on a piece of land."
"Heng means weight. For example, last year we harvested a large stone egg. How much did it weigh?"
"We can use the unit of 'jin' to measure it. If we can fix the weight of a jin and create a tool that can measure the weight, we will know how heavy the stone egg is."
"Do you understand my explanation, sister?"
Jiang Xuan was talking until his mouth was dry, so he picked up the ceramic cup and drank a large glass of water.
Chishao said honestly: "I think I understand, but you said too much and I can't remember it."
"It doesn't matter. When we make these things in the future and use them more often, you will remember them."
Unifying currency and weights and measures is a very important thing, because it can greatly promote fair transactions and promote the healthy development of trading areas.
If it were all based on eyesight, tribes like the Black Tooth Tribe that frequently traded would have a great advantage. Other tribes would often suffer great losses in front of them, so they would naturally be less enthusiastic about trading, and might even be wary and disgusted.
Only by unifying the currency and the weights and measures can we promote the healthy development of transactions. Even if someone is cheated, they can only be cheated in terms of price.
In terms of quantity, even if someone could tamper with the weighing tools, it would not be too obvious or too outrageous.
Chishao thought about it and raised another key question: "But these things were made by our Teng tribe ourselves. What if other tribes don't recognize them?"
Jiang Xuan smiled confidently and said, "As long as our Teng tribe becomes stronger and stronger and has more goods, the nearby tribes will have no better trading partners than us, so they will have to recognize us even if they don't want to."
Jiang Xuan's words were very domineering. After hearing them, Chi Shao was stunned for a moment. After coming to her senses, she felt very proud because Jiang Xuan was her brother! "Then do it. I support you!"
"Okay, I'll go to the smelting workshop now and make the ruler first!"
A ruler is one of the most important tools. With a ruler with a fixed scale, the things made by the Houteng tribe can be of consistent size and mass-produced.
Jiang Xuan went to the smelting workshop, and Chishao also returned to his own yard. The first batch of witch doctor apprentices had been selected, a total of ten people, both men and women, all of whom were interested in herbs and witch medicine.
Chishao needs to teach patiently and train these ten apprentices into witch doctors so that they can treat more tribesmen.
East bank, smelting workshop.
Jiang Xuan first used softened insect wax to make a model of a ruler.
After the model was completely solidified, Jiang Xuan used a small wooden stick to fold it into sections, and then carved scales on it to ensure that the length of each scale was consistent.
When he finished, a model of a ruler with scales appeared.
There are three units on a ruler: meters, decimeters, and centimeters.
One meter is equal to ten decimeters, and one decimeter is equal to ten centimeters. It is very clear.
Of course, Jiang Xuan's one meter was only similar to the length in his previous life, not the same, because he did not have an accurate ruler.
But it doesn't matter, as long as the Teng Tribe is strong enough in the future, the ruler in Jiang Xuan's hand will be the most accurate ruler in the entire primitive continent! If other tribes want to measure something, they must use the length of the Teng Tribe's ruler as the standard, otherwise it will be difficult to trade with the Teng Tribe.
Jiang Xuan modified the ruler made of insect wax and carved the totem pattern of the Teng tribe in the blank space.
Afterwards, he wrapped the ruler made of insect wax with clay and used the lost wax method to make the first ruler blank.
Finally, Jiang Xuan poured liquid bronze into the pottery. After the bronze liquid solidified and cooled, Jiang Xuan smashed the pottery, and the first bronze ruler of the Teng tribe appeared!
Jiang Xuan held the one-meter-long bronze ruler in both hands and said excitedly: "This is the first bronze ruler of the Teng Tribe, and it is also the master version of all future rulers!"
The soldiers in the smelting workshop didn't quite understand the meaning of the first ruler, but they were happy to see Jiang Xuan happy.
After the excitement, Jiang Xuan made dozens of bronze rulers according to the appearance and scale of the first bronze ruler.
One of them was given to the smelting workshop for them to use in measuring length in the future.
The usage of the ruler is not difficult to understand. In addition, the Teng tribe has long begun to popularize numbers, and the soldiers in the smelting workshop can understand the numbers marked on the bronze ruler.
After Jiang Xuan taught them several times, they understood how to use the bronze ruler.
"From now on, except for those weapons and tools that are tailor-made, all other items must be of uniform size and length, so that they can be easily traded with other tribes."
The soldiers in the smelting workshop nodded one after another and took Jiang Xuan's words to heart.
After making the bronze ruler, Jiang Xuan began to make other things related to weights and measures.
First, there are two square bronze basins, one large and one small. The small bronze basin holds one liter when fully filled, and the large bronze basin holds one dou when fully filled.
Ten liters equals one dou, and ten dou equals one shi. The conversion method is quite simple and practical.
Jiang Xuan fired a batch of basins of the same size to be used for measuring liquids or small grains in the Goto tribe.
After casting the Shengdou basin, Jiang Xuan cast a square bronze block with a large number of Teng tribal totem patterns carved on it.
Jiang Xuan determined the weight of this piece of bronze to be one jin, which means that all weight units in the future will be based on this one jin piece of bronze.
After deciding on the unit of weight, Jiang Xuan began to make the beam balance.
The beam balance is one of the most important, practical and simple weighing tools.
Jiang Xuan plane a straight purple blood tree to make a weighing beam, and then cast the weight, weighing pan, weighing hook, handle, etc. out of bronze.
The purple blood tree is very tough, solid and durable and not easy to deform.
After a simple fire roasting and straightening, it becomes the best weighing rod.
Afterwards, Jiang Xuan installed the handle, scale pan and scale hook, and hung the weight with a rope.
Finally, he placed the bronze block weighing one pound on the scale pan and moved the weight to keep the scale beam steady.
After the scale beam was stable, he marked the position of the weight rope. Whenever he weighed things in the future, if the scale beam could remain balanced when the weight rope was moved to this position, it meant that the item on the scale pan or hook weighed one kilogram.
Because it is rather troublesome to make Libra, Jiang Xuan temporarily uses a carving knife to carve indentations, and then paints the carved areas to make it easier to identify.
He measured it with a bronze ruler and divided one catty into ten taels. He also carved a notch on each tael and painted it with paint. The notch on one tael was much smaller than that on one catty.
After everything was done, Jiang Xuan owned his first scale.
Then, he followed suit and made more than a dozen beam scales.
With these beam scales, the weight of items can be determined in the Goto tribe's trading areas, warehouses, and other places.
Whether it is recording or trading, it is much more convenient and accurate.
After the beam balance was manufactured, the first generation of measuring tools of the Teng tribe was also completed.
These measuring tools will become the benchmark for all lengths, weights and volumes of the Teng Tribe in the future.
Jiang Xuan placed the first bronze ruler, the rising basin and the bucket basin, the bronze block weighing one jin, and the first beam balance in a room next to the altar as a template.
All measuring tools manufactured in the future must be the same as these tools, so as to ensure the unification of the measurement of the Teng tribe in the future.
The next step is to make coins.
The most primitive currency, and the one that was used on a large scale, should be shell money, which is hard shells of similar size picked up from the seashore and used as currency.
It is worth noting that at that time, the reason why shell money appeared was because sea shells themselves had a certain value and were needed by most people.
In other words, it first circulated as a commodity in the trading market, and only after it became more accepted by everyone did it gradually evolve into a special currency.
Jiang Xuan wanted to simplify the process to a certain extent and directly mint copper coins.
With the credit of the Teng tribe as endorsement, strong strength as guarantee, and the trading area as a promotion point, the tribesmen who come to the trading area to trade will gradually recognize the currency issued by the Teng tribe.
However, the tribesmen were not easy to accept the direct casting of round copper coins, because these coins were of no use other than trading with the Teng tribe.
If one day the Teng tribe no longer recognizes this thing, or the Teng tribe is simply destroyed, what is the use of them having the coins?
Therefore, the first version of currency of the Teng tribe could not be round copper coins with square holes, but knife coins that were more easily accepted by the tribesmen.
As the name suggests, the knife coin is a coin in the shape of a knife. It has a handle, a blade, and a ring at the end. The knife coins can be strung together for easy carrying.
The advantage of the knife coin is that you can use it as a knife as long as you sharpen the edge, which is very convenient.
In essence, it is still a commodity with a clear purpose, which makes it much easier for the tribesmen to accept it.
Once everyone gets used to the knife coin and recognizes its value, it will be natural to launch the second edition of the coin, which is a round copper coin with a square hole that is more convenient to carry.
At this time, the tribesmen were much more receptive.
Not all knife coins are the same, otherwise it would be very inconvenient in transactions.
Therefore, Jiang Xuan planned to manufacture three specifications of knife coins. The first type is a small knife coin, one is a large knife coin, and the other is a knife coin made of high-quality stone.
Ten small knife coins can be exchanged for one big knife coin, and ten big knife coins can be exchanged for a knife coin made of high-quality stone.
In this way, the currency issued by the Teng tribe can basically meet the transactions of bulk and small goods.
However, when Jiang Xuan told Chi Shao about this idea, Chi Shao raised a crucial question: "Xuan, didn't you say that the bronze should be kept secret? If it was made into knife coins, wouldn't it be taken away by people from other tribes?"
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Bronze does need to be kept secret, but what is kept secret is its smelting method and proportion. I have never thought of keeping bronze in one place in the Teng Tribe."
"As long as we are strong enough, we can always master the most advanced bronze smelting and casting methods. Even if other tribes learn from us secretly, it will take them a very long time to learn."
"By the time they learned, we had already made a lot of money from bronze and had already started using another metal."
"What metal?"
Chishao was stunned when he heard this.
Jiang Xuan took a deep breath and said, "Iron!"
Bronze as a material still has some major flaws, and iron is the only artifact that can truly be used on a large scale!
Thanks to the book friend "I will write when I have read enough" for the reward.
(End of this chapter)
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