Deng Tong's wealth is recorded in many history books. He was as famous as Liu Bi, the king of Wu at that time. He is rich in the world by mining copper mines and minting coins. It is said that the coins cast in Deng Tong are very exquisite, with the advantages of "bright luster, sufficient weight, uniform thickness and pure texture", which are deeply loved by the people. According to history books, from princes and ministers to tycoons to farmers and pawns, they all like Deng Tong's money. Deng Tongqian and Wu, cast by Wu Wang and Liu Bi, also spread all over the country and became world-famous billionaires. This practice of privately casting money also caused a lot of opposition in the DPRK, among which Jia Yi, a celebrity, was the most intense. Jia Yi once wrote to Liu Heng, demanding that the private right to mine copper and cast money be stopped and nationalized, but it was not adopted by Liu Heng.
According to the mainstream view in the history books, Deng Tong was regarded as a favorite of Liu Heng, so he got this special care. There are many stories about love in history books, the most famous of which is about carbuncle. Deng usually helps him suck the affected area to relieve the pain. These peach rumors left in the history books became the basis of Liu Heng's love for Deng Tong, and were also considered to be the reason why Liu Heng gave Deng Tong the power to cast bronze mountains and money. But judging from the historical performance of Liu Heng, he was a thrifty and stingy emperor. His overemphasis on Deng Tong is completely contrary to his usual style. In fact, apart from Tongshan and Coin, there is no record of Liu Heng's favorite Deng Tong in history books, which makes people feel puzzled.
Liu Heng's frugality is very famous in history, more famous than many emperors who are famous for their simplicity. His frugality is not only reflected in his personal life, but also in the government affairs of the court. This style of work continued in his twenty-three years as emperor, and this frugal style of governing the country remained unchanged until the economic situation in the Western Han Dynasty improved. History records his frugality. "Emperor Xiaowen was handed down from generation to generation and ascended the throne for twenty-three years. It is not convenient to relax and benefit the people when the court serves the dogs and horses. It costs 100 yuan to make a terrace and ask craftsmen to plan it. " He said: "I am always afraid to be ashamed of the wealth of ten people." I am in the palace of my late emperor. Why should I do it? " Therefore, this stingy rule has become a symbol of Liu Heng in history.
Not only that, Liu Heng was also very stingy in arranging his own funeral. The scale of the mausoleum, funerary objects and funeral scale should be as low as possible, and the "thin burial" should be carried out to the maximum extent. According to historical records, "Baling is governed by earthenware, and no gold, silver, copper and tin ornaments are allowed to save the people." The scale of this kind of funeral is not only inferior to that of emperors, but also superior to that of many prominent officials.
Compared with this extremely frugal style, he gave Deng Tong the Tongshan Mountain in Shu County and granted him the right to coin money, which was very extravagant. Coinage right is a typical embodiment of a country's economic strength and a part of national sovereignty. Liu Heng gave this power to Deng Tong, which not only deviated from the frugal style, but also was suspected of coma and abuse of power.
Liu Heng's contradictory style caused great controversy in later generations, and some people even thought that he was a hypocrite with one thing to his face and one thing behind his back. Some people say that his style is "superficial" for the whole world to see, but Deng Tong's extravagant rewards and pride are his real side. However, historically, Liu Heng's extravagant style is just an example, and there is no more historical data to prove his "hypocrisy".
According to the principle that isolated evidence does not hold water, this incident obviously cannot fully explain that Liu Heng is a hypocrite. So we can only think that he may have made a counterintuitive decision under special conditions and circumstances. Judging from his status as an emperor, this decision is unreasonable, but it is within his power and has great influence. This shows that the reason why he did this is not just trusting Deng Tong.
Deng Tong was a favorite of Liu Heng, and his early position in the palace was Huang Toulang, who was in charge of navigation affairs. He was able to be an official in the palace because the special talent system in the Western Han Dynasty stipulated that families with more than 100,000 yuan could send people to Beijing to be an official. Deng Tong's father, Deng Xiansheng, was born in Nan 'an, Shu County, and established the Western Han Dynasty, thus avoiding the crisis of war. Therefore, his family background is relatively affluent and he is qualified to send his son to Beijing to be an official. According to historical records, Deng Tong's character is not very cheerful, but rather gentle and cautious, not fond of publicity and not good at communication. According to the truth, it is difficult for such a person to be an official, but Deng Tong was highly valued by Liu Heng, became the most important minister in Liu Heng, and even gave Tongshan the right to coin.
In fact, judging from this record, Deng Tong's identity was very embarrassing at that time. At that time, the court of the Western Han Dynasty was controlled by the Founding Fathers' Group headed by, Guan Ying and others, and the powerful princes of Liu from all over the country also sent many officials to the court. Deng Tong entered Beijing as an official through his family's status as a rich man with assets of over 100,000 yuan, which has little to do with the above two factions. So how was he reused by Liu Heng?
As can be seen from historical records, Liu Heng's influence in Beijing was very limited in the early days of his accession to the throne, and only six cronies even entered Beijing. In this case, it is difficult for him to control the palace and the army, so he has no ability to completely control the court. In order to get rid of this unfavorable situation, he must install a confidant minister in the court to increase his control over the political situation.
There are two situations for Liu Heng to install confidant ministers. One is to recruit confidant from his original fief to replace the country, and the other is to win over the centrists in the imperial court. Deng Tong was from Shu County, not China, so he was not Liu Heng's confidant when he was king. Judging from the way and procedure of being an official, he is obviously a centrist. He is neither a member of the founding fathers' family nor has anything to do with the princes of Liu. Such a minister was sandwiched between two factions in the imperial court, which happened to be the object of Liu Heng's recruitment. From this perspective, Liu Heng valued Deng Tong not only for personal reasons, but also for the deep consideration of political factions. Extending this line of thought, Liu Heng granted Deng Tong Tongshan the right to make coins, which probably also had this political purpose.
At that time, the Western Han Dynasty adopted a national policy of recuperation and accepted Jia Yi's advice economically, mainly "emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce". However, the monetary policy is rather chaotic, and local governors are casting coins privately, which makes the monetary system in the Western Han Dynasty very chaotic. One of the most famous is Wu Wang Liu Bi. His territory, Zhang Yu County, had Tongshan Mountain, so he privately mined coins and became one of the richest princes at that time.
The importance of coinage rights is related to the whole economic policy of the country. Therefore, the warlord's coinage actually made the coinage right fall by the side, which brought great harm to the national economy. However, at that time, the Western Han Dynasty was beset with domestic troubles and foreign invasion, the Huns were eyeing up, the founding fathers were ambitious, and the princes of Liu were powerful, so the court was unable to control these poaching behaviors.
In the case that it is impossible to recover the right to coin by political and military means, it is also a helpless choice for Liu Heng to let Deng Tong collect copper coins. It is impossible for Liu Heng to hand over the coinage right to the court, because giving it to the court is equivalent to giving it to the founding father group. At first, the Founding Fathers intended to raise Liu Heng, but Liu Heng was politically opposed to them. How can he take the initiative to grant such great power? Lord coins are very popular all over the world. If no measures are taken, the economic dominance will be lost to others. Therefore, Liu Heng can only let his heart collect copper coins and compete with the princes in the money market. As long as the coinage in Deng Tong can still control part of the market, the coinage right will not be completely controlled by C.C. such as Liu Bi. ..
From this point of view, although Deng Tong has rich copper coins in Shu County, he also won half of the right to coin for Liu Heng. This situation is very conducive to controlling the national economy and the government's fiscal revenue, which not only prevents the economic situation from being controlled by Liu's vassals, but also inhibits the influence of the founding fathers group on the government. It can be said that this is a currency war hidden in the dark, and it is also a continuation of the political struggle of the imperial court. His operation is to cover up his favorite appearance, paralyze the founding father and Liu's vassals, and make him quietly control economic power. Under the background that the imperial court was unable to carry out military struggle with Liu, fighting for political interests in this way also reflected his outstanding political talent.
Just as Jia Yi opposed this practice, the people's right to coin is a great harm to the national economy. Although Liu Heng mastered part of it through Deng Tong, private coinage was still rampant, and Liu Bi also supported a large number of troops through the proceeds of coinage. Liu Heng's action is a compromise without any way, and it will also produce the result of appeasing the traitors. The chaos of the Seven Kingdoms during the period of Liu Qi, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was the bane of this compromise, and it also threatened the survival of the court and the throne of the emperor. From this perspective, the operation of Liu Heng and Deng Tong is also a double-edged sword, which not only strives for political interests, but also hurts the country. Fortunately, after Emperor Wudi ascended the throne, the right to coin was gradually recovered, and the court also unified the five-baht system, which did not leave a long-term hidden danger to the Han Dynasty.
To sum up, it is not a simple favor for Liu Heng to grant Deng Tong Tongshan and the right to coin, but a political overall plan. As the main controller of the imperial court, the Founding Fathers Group has always been bitter about the loss of the right to coin. It's reasonable for them to play tricks on history books and throw some dirty water on Liu Heng. But from this incident, we can also see that Liu Heng is not as honest as he imagined, but he also has a cunning side of power. In many of his abnormal political operations, his political goals are hidden and his means are extremely clever. This means has become a guarantee for Liu Heng to recapture the North Korean regime from the founding fathers and princes, and it is also an important help to maintain the stability of North Korea.