4. It can be seen from the unearthed silver ingots of Ming Dynasty that there were a lot of characters on the silver ingots before the middle of Ming Dynasty, and even for a long period after the middle of Ming Dynasty. Before the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 50 characters on the silver ingots in the Yuan Dynasty, so there were also 50 or 60 characters on the silver ingots in the Ming Dynasty. These words can sometimes explain the origin of silver ingots, and almost all of them have the name of the silversmith, which is the guarantee of the fineness and weight of silver ingots. The silver ingots unearthed from the Ming Tombs in Sichuan and the Ming Tombs in Hongya range from ten to fifty or sixty words, which is another remarkable feature of casting silver ingots before the middle of the Ming Dynasty. From the middle of Ming Dynasty, silver became the main currency in circulation. In the forty-first year of Jiajing (1562), "Banjiang" levied silver, and in the ninth year of Wanli (158 1), people from all walks of life widely needed silver. This makes it possible to use the same characters on many silver ingots without carving one by one, so it can be directly cast into characters, which is convenient and quick, and is more conducive to the use of silver and the circulation of silver ingots. Therefore, the characters have also changed, and the number of words has changed from complex to simple, and the corresponding trend has decreased. Some small ingots have only one year's figures on them. In the late Ming Dynasty, silver was used not only for large transactions, but also for small businesses, which was vividly and accurately recorded in unofficial history's miscellaneous notes and opera novels in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the concise and lively words on "Daming Yuanbao" are more suitable for the needs of private transactions and warehousing at all levels in the late Ming Dynasty. At that time, merchants were rich in silver, and millions of silver were called Dajia; Dozens and tens of thousands are called Zhongjia; One hundred and twenty is Xiao Jia. Emperors, bureaucrats, and small and medium-sized landlords competed for cash registers. For example, Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen is an emperor who loves to save money; Zheng De, Jiajing, Liu Jin, Zhu Ning, Yan Song and his son, ministers in one's hand and in one's hand, all had thousands and millions of taels of silver (6). So it is reasonable, based on the fact that Daming Yuanbao was cast in the late Ming Dynasty.
5. During the 277 years from the founding of Zhu Yuanzhang in 1368 to the death of Li Zicheng in 1644, money was not called "gold ingot" in Qian Wen because it was both silver and paper money. In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, Bao Tong was named Qian Wen, and the name "Yuanbao" was abolished. The reasons are as follows: First, it avoided the taboo of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang; Second, the word "Yuanbao" can be attached to the cooperative's "Yuanbao", so in the Ming Dynasty, money, from arrogance to perpetual calendar, regardless of its size, was called "Bao Tong", and its pronunciation basically abolished other types and was read separately. Therefore, from the unearthed funerary wares and coins recorded in historical books, it is not difficult to find that there was no coin called "Yuanbao" in the late Ming Dynasty. So, how to understand the silver ingot of "Daming Yuanbao"? A fake of later generations? Or is it a forgery by modern people? In addition, is there another explanation: that is, during the war in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the court had no time to take care of this, and local and folk private casting. This point should also be fully recognized and considered.
6. The words "Ding Chou Year" are cast on the silver ingot of Daming Yuanbao, but what year does "Ding Chou Year" refer to? According to the author's calculation, there were five times in the last 277 years of the Ming Dynasty, as shown in the following table:
Notes on Jiazi Year and Ming Di Year
1397 ding chounian hongwu thirty years Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang
1457 Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was reset in the first year of Tianshun in Ding Chou.
157 1 year Ding Chou Year Zheng De Twelve Years Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao
1577 ding chounian Wanli five years Ming Shenzong Zhu Yijun
1637 Ding Chou-nian, Chongzhen, ten years, Ming Si Zhu always has a room.
As can be seen from the above table, there were five emperors in Ming Dynasty who had "Ding Chou Year" respectively. Because it has been discussed before, the casting time of "Daming Yuanbao" can only be after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, so I won't do too much research in the thirty years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty and the first year of Shunshun tomorrow, only from the following three years:
(1) Nianqian was not cast in the Zheng De period of the Ming Dynasty, and now Zheng Deqian, which has been handed down from generation to generation, is made up by later generations. In the old society, there were all kinds of collateral sayings about Zheng Deqian, such as "Zheng De is Youlong, and there is no wave when he crosses the river"; "If you have righteous money around you, you will win the bet" and so on. Because in the late Ming, early Qing and even the Republic of China, there were many imitations among the people, and the number was quite large. According to 1955 unearthed from the Ming Tomb in Hongya, Sichuan Province, the surface characters of silver ingots in Zheng De's period were intaglio, which still belonged to the early casting shape. It can be inferred that the possibility of casting "Daming Yuanbao" in Zheng De's twelfth year is extremely small, which is not suitable for the Ming case.
(2) Wanli Bao Tong copper coins were cast in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and there are still many. Wanli Bao Tong has another kind of money, which is rare from generation to generation. According to "A General Examination of Continued Documents", "Dreams in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Ming Dynasty" states: "During the Wanli period, Hao Jing gave money to things, saying, every money is a penny. . . Say Daming Bao Tong ". However, nothing was unearthed. During the Wanli period, due to the autocratic decision of the famous minister Zhang, the reforms he promoted, especially the "one whip method", were conducive to social progress and economic development, feudal economy