The Three Kingdoms: Hindsight is 20/20, and the Three Revivals of the Han Dynasty

To ensure the smooth issuance of the new coins, Zhuge Liang and Cao Xuan checked all the preliminary preparations for days, including requisitioning workshops, recruiting craftsmen, making coin molds, and raising copper materials. The entire process, from preparation to the circulation of the new coins in the market, was expected to take about three months.

Setting a limit of "120 million coins" was not intended to target the actual minting target, but rather to limit Cao Cao's possible strategic large-scale distribution of old Wuzhu coins.

Even with the national casting capacity at its peak during the Eastern Han Dynasty, achieving this amount would have required nearly five years of concerted effort, and it was clearly unrealistic given the casting capacity under Liu Bei's rule.

Taking into account the actual production capacity of the nine commanderies and three kingdoms under Liu Bei's rule, Zhuge Liang's plan was to control the actual minting of new coins to around one million coins.

With this scale, the price of grain can be stabilized at about 150 coins per shi (a unit of dry measure).

There will certainly be obstacles to the implementation of new monetary policies.

After all, issuing new coins is essentially a redistribution of existing wealth, and its main target is the local powerful families who hoarded a large number of old Wuzhu coins.

In contrast, ordinary farmers, land reclamation workers, and migrants are less likely to hoard old money as their primary form of wealth.

To avoid the risk of their wealth becoming worthless due to currency devaluation, they were more accustomed to bartering, and therefore had a relatively weaker resistance to new money.

Compared to the issuance of the Zhibai coin in Shu, the current population composition of the nine commanderies and three kingdoms under Liu Bei's rule is more conducive to the implementation of the new coin.

Whether it was the tens of thousands of people who migrated from Xuzhou, the tens of thousands of people rescued from the Hu people, the more than 100,000 people from Heishan, the more than 100,000 people from Weijun and Julu who went north to avoid the war, or other people who migrated in one after another, plus the more than 300,000 people who were originally registered, the vast majority of these groups did not have a large number of old Wuzhu coins in their hoards to lose.

On the contrary, they will become staunch supporters of the new policy: the issuance of new coins will end the cumbersome barter system and avoid the losses caused by holding old Wuzhu coins whose value has depreciated sharply.

This is precisely the source of Zhuge Liang's confidence in promoting the new currency.

Of the million people under Liu Bei's rule, the majority were beneficiaries of the new policies. Their actual burden was negligible, and in the long run, they benefited even more.

With such overwhelming support, it was naturally difficult for a few powerful and influential families to cause trouble.

Zhuge Liang even hoped that powerful families would create chaos by resisting the new currency. In times of chaos, in addition to issuing new currency, confiscating the property of powerful families was one of the most direct and effective means of wealth redistribution.

However, the reality was that in the nine commanderies and three kingdoms under Liu Bei's rule, no powerful clans dared to openly resist the new currency.

The powerful and influential families that survived nearly two decades of war were mostly those who were pragmatic and opportunistic.

Moreover, the Zhang and Chu families of Changshan had already been investigated and their property confiscated by Zhuge Liang. Even those who were unwilling could only resort to underhanded tactics in secret.

As Cao Xuan stated, they were nothing more than "selling off old Wuzhu coins to exchange for new ones," "inflating the prices of new goods," and "hoarding new coins on a large scale."

However, these tricks ultimately failed under Zhuge Liang's masterful strategy of "casting secret tokens with coins," "using labor as a substitute for exchange," and "encirclement and suppression by merchant alliances."

With the new currency circulating freely, public support naturally grew.

The world is bustling with activity, all driven by the pursuit of profit.

Only by firmly binding the vital interests of the nine prefectures and three kingdoms together can they truly share a common hatred and unite against external enemies.

The power of the new currency extended far beyond this, its influence subtly permeating the counties and kingdoms of Ji Province under Cao Cao's control. This was because Zhuge Liang had established an ironclad rule for the powerful families who sold Shu brocade: if the people of Ji Province under Cao Cao's rule wanted to purchase Shu brocade, they had to exchange it for the new currency first.

Shu brocade was extremely popular, attracting people from Jizhou to eagerly seek it out, and there was a constant stream of people exchanging it for new money.

Especially for wealthy and powerful families who have no shortage of old Wuzhu coins, what harm is there in preparing more new coins if they only want a piece of brocade?

Within just a few months, Liu Bei's treasury was full and his wealth was abundant.

This scene initially amazed Liu Bei, then filled him with elation. Although he could not fully grasp the secrets of Zhuge Liang's new coins, the effect of this ingenious plan on enriching the treasury was undeniable.

It should be understood that maintaining the people's livelihood and ensuring the stability of the country, as well as strengthening the army and developing military capabilities, all require a large amount of money and grain as a foundation!

The eighth year of Jian'an.

February.

Gongsun Du, who was far away in Liaodong, suddenly sent his envoy Guo Yuan to Zhuo County, intending to form an alliance with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao.

The reason is that after Cao Cao executed Yuan Tan last year, he sent generals to pacify the counties of Qingzhou. When pacifying Donglai County, he also defeated Liu Yi, the governor of Yingzhou appointed by Gongsun Du, causing Gongsun Du to lose the counties of Donglai that he had managed for many years.

As early as the first year of the Chuping era, Gongsun Du took advantage of the turmoil in the Central Plains and relied on the prophecy that "Sun Deng will become the emperor, and the governor will be surnamed Gongsun, named Shengji, with Sheng being the same as Deng." He wanted to achieve the status of king and hegemon. After pacifying Liaodong, he crossed the sea to take over the counties of Donglai and established Yingzhou as governor. He also called himself the Marquis of Liaodong and the governor of Pingzhou.

When Yuan Tan was alive, he maintained a good relationship with Gongsun Du and tacitly approved Gongsun Du's appointment as governor of Yingzhou, only planning to move south to Xuzhou.

After Yuan Tan was executed, Cao Cao naturally could not tolerate that the Qingzhou region would still be divided into Yingzhou by Gongsun Du, so he directly sent his general Zhang Liao to Donglai to defeat Liu Yi.

Gongsun Du was furious when Cao Cao seized Yingzhou, which he had managed for many years.

Upon hearing this news, Xu You seized the opportunity to persuade Gongsun Du to form an alliance with Liu Bei, exchange resources, and jointly resist Cao Cao.

At this time, Liu Bei officially replaced the Yuan family as the actual ruler of the north. After weighing the pros and cons, Gongsun Du agreed to Xu You's proposal and recruited Guo Yuan, a disciple of Zheng Xuan who was seeking refuge in Liaodong, as an envoy.

Guo Yuan originally did not want to accept Gongsun Du's offer of service, but Xu You privately told Guo Yuan, "Sun Qian, a disciple of Duke Kangcheng, is also under the command of the Left General. If Zi Ni wants to return to the Central Plains, this is a good opportunity. Moreover, the Left General is eager to seek out talented people, is benevolent and loves the people, and has also received more than 6,000 volumes of books from Duke Kangcheng. Zi Ni has the ability to govern a prefecture and county, and is also a distinguished disciple of Duke Kangcheng. How can you grow old in the bamboo forest of Liaodong and be buried in a foreign land?"

After careful consideration, Guo Yuan realized that Xu You's words made sense. So he pretended to accept Gongsun Du's invitation and went to Zhuo County to be Liu Bei's envoy. Xu You also wrote a letter of recommendation and asked Guo Yuan to deliver it to Liu Bei.

After learning of Guo Yuan's purpose, Liu Bei was not very interested in forming an alliance with Gongsun Du, but was more interested in Guo Yuan's identity and abilities as mentioned in Xu You's letter.

With the ability to govern a prefecture and county, combined with the outstanding talent of Kang Cheng Gong, he was simply a prefecture and county talent tailor-made for Liu Bei!
However, Liu Bei did not directly recruit Guo Yuan. Instead, he said, "Kang Cheng Gong is currently residing in Zhuo County. If you have time, you may go and visit him. Kang Cheng Gong will surely be pleased to see you return."

Liu Bei's words shocked Guo Yuan, who was immediately overwhelmed with emotion. He bid farewell to Liu Bei and went to visit Zheng Xuan.

Two hours later, Guo Yuan returned from Zheng Xuan's place and met Liu Bei again. This time, however, he volunteered: "I, Guo Yuan, am unworthy, but I am willing to serve the Left General." (End of this chapter)