After reading some ancient books, we can find that the monetary value of one or two pieces of silver is actually quite high.
In A Dream of Red Mansions, Granny Liu saw the Jia family eat crabs for 24 taels of silver and lamented that the small family could live for one year. You know, Granny Liu's family was also middle class at that time. She has a house and land, and can afford to hire a worker's maid. The first time I went to Jiafu for a windfall, I got twenty taels of silver, which I am very grateful for.
History: During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, one or two taels of silver could buy two pieces of rice of average quality. At that time, a stone was about 94.4 kilograms, and one or two pieces of silver could buy 188.8 kilograms of rice, which was 377.6 kilograms. At present, the rice eaten by ordinary families in China is between 5 yuan and 2 yuan per catty1. Based on the median price 1.75 yuan, it can be calculated that one or two pieces of silver in the Ming Dynasty = 660.8 yuan. In the Qing Dynasty, the circulation of silver increased, and silver was cheap and expensive. One or two ounces of silver is equivalent to RMB in 200 yuan now.
If these two pieces of silver were obtained in the Tang Dynasty, the purchasing power would be higher. During the Zhenguan period of Emperor Taizong, material civilization was extremely rich. A barrel of rice costs only 5p. Usually, one or two pieces of silver can be converted into 1 0,000 copper coins (also called consistency), and you can buy 200 buckets of rice, and 10 bucket is 20 stones. A stone in the Tang Dynasty was about 59 kilograms. At today's average rice price 1.75 yuan a catty, one stone.