The Right to Mint

Shen Yan, a graduate student in economics, transmigrates into the Northern Qi dynasty as the magistrate of Yongfeng County, the poorest county. Out of 32,000 people, fewer than 10,000 are alive. No copper coins have been issued for three years, and the people have no money. In the neighboring county, rice costs 1,000 coins per dou, but in Yongfeng it's 3 coins per dou—yet no one can buy it because the entire county can't scrape together three coins. Shen Yan realizes the root problem isn't a lack of food, but a lack of currency. He does something crazy: using the 3,000 dan of old grain in the county granary as collateral, he issues "tax grain vouchers"—a piece of paper that says, "This voucher can offset three coins of grain tax." Paper isn't money, but it can be used as money.