Human wisdom is naturally the best on this earth.

After Chen Han's operation, the box of gold was safely extracted from the ground, and the whole box was extracted.

Following the same pattern, the other two boxes were quickly extracted.

After that, the three boxes of gold were sent to the laboratory next door.

The laboratory archaeologists waiting there will separate these gold cakes and horseshoe gold individually and then weigh them.

Gold was generally not the main currency in circulation in the Western Han Dynasty. It was the currency used for emperors' collections, rewards, gifts and large-scale transactions.

Of course, it will be used in foreign trade.

But in the Western Han Dynasty, it was not circulated among the common people anyway. The only currency circulating among the common people was the five-baht coin.

As for gold, after the emperor rewards the ministers, the ministers basically use it for their own collection, or give it to other people, or use it as a betrothal gift for their daughter's marriage.

The function is actually a bit similar to modern precious cultural toys, calligraphy and paintings, etc.

Anyway, the significance of collection is greater than the significance of actual use.

But this thing is rare and rare is valuable, so there is no doubt that this thing is a good thing.

The three boxes of gold given to Marquis Haihun were obviously gifts from the emperor.

It is very common for the emperor to reward the princes and princes with gold.

Of course, after the princes and princes obtained gold in their fiefdoms, they would also make gold cakes of this standard.

That is the standard unit of gold measurement in the Western Han Dynasty, "gold"!

Now, as long as the gold is made into gold cakes and horseshoe gold, and weighed, you can know how much a piece of gold in the Western Han Dynasty weighed, and whether it is as much as "a pound" as most scholars believe!

Chen Han and others were not asked to wait any longer.

The next day, the single gold cake and the single gold horseshoe that were first cleared out were weighed.

As expected, Chinese scholars still have two skills.

The individual weight of the gold cake is 247 grams.

The individual weight of horseshoe gold is 250 grams.

This shows that a piece of gold in the Han Dynasty was probably between 245 and 250 grams!

This is similar to the Western Han Dynasty, which weighs 248 grams per pound!

It also shows that one gold in the Western Han Dynasty is indeed one pound!

It is worth mentioning that the unit "jin" was actually not static in ancient China. On the contrary, it changed very quickly.

For example, in the early days of Chu State, one pound was equivalent to about 220 grams.

After the Warring States Period, based on the wooden scales and copper weights unearthed from the tombs of the Warring States Period in Chu, one kilogram in the Chu State gradually became 250 grams.

When we arrived in the Qin Dynasty, the Gaonuhe Stone Bronze Quan unearthed from the Epang Palace site said it weighed one stone (one hundred and twenty kilograms). According to the measurement, the total weight was 30,750 grams. When converted, it was approximately 256.3 grams per kilogram.

According to the weight of one pound unearthed from the arsenal of the Western Han Dynasty, one pound during the Western Han Dynasty was approximately 252 grams.

According to the copper weight calculation from the Wang Mang New Dynasty unearthed in Gansu, it is approximately 249.6 grams per catty.

The Eastern Han Dynasty Dasinong copper unearthed in 1981 weighed twelve kilograms. The actual measurement was 2996 grams, which is converted to 249.7 grams per kilogram.

It can be seen that the Chinese weight unit was not very accurate at the beginning, but gradually became more and more accurate.

After the Eastern Han Dynasty, a pound was basically 256 grams, which was basically very accurate. Unlike before, a pound was sometimes 256 grams and sometimes 252 grams.

However, after the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the weight of a pound gradually began to increase.

In the Southern Qi Dynasty, one pound was equivalent to about 375 grams. In the Liang and Chen Dynasties of the Southern Dynasty, one pound was equivalent to 250. In the Northern Wei and Northern Qi, one pound was equivalent to 500 grams. By the Northern Zhou and early Sui Dynasties, one pound had risen to 700 grams.

, heavier than one pound now.

However, by the end of the Sui Dynasty, one kilogram dropped back to 250 grams, no longer living up to the previous situation.

From the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, one pound fluctuated between 640 grams and 684.768 grams.

For example, the Jiayou year copper seal unearthed in Xiangtan, Hunan in 1975 said it weighed 100 kilograms, but the measured weight was 64,000 grams. When converted, each kilogram is equivalent to 640 grams.

It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that one pound gradually dropped to below 600 grams.

In the third year of the Apocalypse, the measured weight of three liang weights in Wuxian County, Changzhou was 109.3 grams, which was equivalent to 582 grams per catty.

In the 29th year of Qianlong's reign, the Ministry of Industry built 500 taels of weights with a total weight of 18,700 grams, which is equivalent to 598.4 grams per catty.

At this time, the weight of one pound is already very close to the modern market pound.

As for when the modern market was determined, we have to wait until the Wanqing period, when China and Western civilization had a lot of exchanges.

After the 3rd International Conference on Weights and Measures in 1901 stipulated the kilogram as the unit of mass, China gradually accepted this measurement method.

Because one kilogram and one catty are about the same level, they are also commonly called kilograms to distinguish them from market jins.

It can be seen that the gap between "one pound" in different periods in China is very large.

The same pound weighed only 250 grams in the Qin and Han Dynasties, but in the Ming and Qing Dynasties it weighed more than 500 and almost 600 grams.

Therefore, when many people are not clear about these small details, when reading historical documents, it is easy for many people to regard "one pound" in all periods as 500 grams, and then they will make a lot of jokes.

Even many scholars have made mistakes when calculating the degree of social development in different eras because they are not clear about the weight of different periods.

For example, if people in the Han Dynasty ate two jins of staple food and people in the Qing Dynasty ate two jins of staple food, would it be the same if they weighed the same amount?

Obviously it’s the same two pounds, but people in the Han Dynasty ate less!

But if you don't notice the difference in weight, some scholars will mistakenly think that people in the Han Dynasty ate quite well.

Of course, this is just an analogy.

After the weight of the standard gold cakes and horseshoe gold in the tomb of Haihunhou was measured, the most important impact was to solve an unresolved problem.

How much did a gold coin in the Western Han Dynasty weigh?

Now we know that one gold in the Western Han Dynasty is actually one jin. We just use "jin" and "jin" to distinguish upper coins from lower coins.

Gold is the upper currency, and the unit is gold.

Copper coins are lower coins, and the unit is kilograms.

Yes, although the basic unit of copper coins is five baht, they are also measured in "jin".

For example, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty rewarded ministers, he once rewarded tens of thousands of catties and hundreds of gold.

Wanjin of money is easy to understand, but how much "hundred gold" actually weighs has always puzzled scholars in the past.

During the Western Han Dynasty, gold was an extremely valuable asset.

According to the official comparison, one thousand gold coins is equivalent to ten million dollars.

In the Han Dynasty, one gold was theoretically equivalent to 10,000 yuan, but in fact, the value of gold was higher than this.

During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the total wealth of ten middle-class families was only one hundred gold.

After quelling the rebellion between Wu and Chu, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty only rewarded Dou Ying with one thousand gold.

Wei Qing was a general and had great achievements in defeating the Xiongnu. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che's reward was only one thousand gold.

But scholars have always been confused about how much this "one gold" weighs and why it is so rare.

There has been speculation that one gold is equal to one hundred taels, there has also been speculation that one gold is equal to one catty, and some scholars believe that one gold is equal to ten catties of gold.

After all, Liu Che's reward to Wei Qing was only one thousand gold, which shows that one gold must be worth a lot of money.

Finally, now I know.

One gold in the Western Han Dynasty is 250 grams, so one thousand gold is 250 kilograms, which is five hundred catties of gold!
Chapter completed!