Chapter 88: The Hamster's Hoard

Zhen Qian could hardly imagine what his fate would be if he lacked both the protection of official status and aristocratic lineage—if he were but a self-reliant farmer, sweating blood for every grain. By now, he would surely have been devoured by greedy officials, not even a bone fragment left behind.

He recalled the days of Kaiyuan's golden age: even the smallest towns sheltered tens of thousands of households. Rice glistened with oil, millet was white as snow, and both public and private granaries brimmed with abundance. In those years before the An Lushan Rebellion, the Tang dynasty truly shone as an unparalleled era of prosperity among feudal dynasties. A dou of rice cost no more than ten coins, and in the twin capitals of Chang’an and Luoyang, no more than twenty. Wheat flour fetched thirty coins, a bolt of silk a little over two hundred. Grain and textiles were plentiful, roads were smooth, prices were low, travel was safe, and commerce flourished.

A dou of rice in the Tang weighed about 6.25 kilograms by modern measure. One tael of Tang silver equaled 42 grams, and by current international silver prices, that would be roughly 252 yuan. With a thousand coins to a tael, one coin was about 0.25 yuan; thus, ten coins—2.5 yuan—could buy 6.25 kilograms of rice. That meant just 0.4 yuan would buy a whole kilogram of rice—astoundingly cheap!

If someone today earned 3,000 yuan a month and traveled back to the Tang’s golden age, his wages would buy 7,500 kilograms of rice. Brought to the present, and sold at five yuan per kilo, that would be worth 37,500 yuan—over ten times the original sum. Wealth would be inevitable.

Of course, this calculation glosses over one key point: what was the average Tang citizen's income? But do not forget—the An Lushan Rebellion was about to erupt!

Grain prices in the Tang dynasty fluctuated greatly over time. The New Book of Tang records that in the early Zhenguan era, it took a whole bolt of silk to trade for a single dou of rice, indicating that rice was expensive then. The Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government notes that in Zhenguan’s fourth year, an abundant harvest brought people home from exile, and a dou of rice cost only three or four coins. The New Book of Tang also confirms that in the fourth year of Emperor Taizong’s reign, a dou of rice was just three coins.

By the first year of Emperor Gaozong’s Yongchun reign, however, due to various political, military, and economic factors, compounded by natural disasters, the price of rice soared a hundredfold compared to Taizong’s time, and even cannibalism occurred in some regions. The Comprehensive Mirror records: “That year, famine struck Guanzhong; a dou of rice cost three hundred coins, prompting the emperor to consider moving the capital. Floods, drought, locusts, and then epidemics struck Guanzhong; a dou of rice rose to four hundred coins. Corpses lined the roads between the two capitals, and people resorted to eating each other.”

During Emperor Zhongzong’s reign, though rice was dozens of times more expensive than in Zhenguan, it was still better than during the worst famines under Gaozong. The Mirror notes that in the third year of Jinglong, a famine in Guanzhong drove the price of rice to one hundred coins per dou.

By the Kaiyuan era under Emperor Xuanzong, prices fell again: the Comprehensive Mirror states that in the thirteenth year of Kaiyuan, a dou of rice in the eastern capital cost only fifteen coins. During the Tianbao years, prices dropped further: The New Book of Tang records that in the fifth year of Tianbao, with the empire prosperous, a dou of rice cost thirteen coins, and in the Qing and Qi regions, only three. A bolt of silk was two hundred coins. The regional price gaps could be severalfold.

Unfortunately, the glory of the Tang’s golden age was short-lived. In Xuanzong’s later years, he indulged in wine and pleasure, neglected state affairs, empowered traitorous ministers, and let regional military governors run amok. This led inevitably to the An Lushan Rebellion, after which the once-mighty Tang dynasty began its decline, and prices soared.

Consider this: The Old Book of Tang recounts that Lu Ling, besieged in Nanyang, held out for months until food ran out. They boiled cowhide and horn for food, and rice fetched forty or fifty thousand coins per dou—if it could be found at all. Even with fifty taels of pure silver, one could not buy a single dou. Compared to the Zhenguan era, this was a ten-thousand-fold increase; compared to the Kaiyuan years, a 2,600-fold rise—a chasm between heaven and earth.

After the An Lushan Rebellion, official records show: in 766, a dou of rice cost 830 coins, a bolt of silk 3,500. In 780, a dou of rice was 200 coins, a bolt of silk still 3,500. By around 820, a dou of rice dropped to 50 coins, silk to 800. Later, rice prices hovered around a thousand coins per dou. By modern standards, that would be forty yuan per kilogram of rice—prohibitively expensive, heralding a society on the brink of collapse, and the Tang dynasty’s slow demise.

Nevertheless, during the height of the Tang, prices remained low and stable, goods plentiful, quality high, and everything seemed harmonious and beautiful.

But in this very context, a storm was brewing that would shake the Tang dynasty to its core...

Forewarned and astute, Zhen Qian did not sit idle. He secretly and diligently planned for his survival, quietly transporting cartloads of grain into Xiantai Village, hiding them deep in the mountains.

At any time, the deliberate hoarding of grain was a grave offense. But Zhen Qian had his own grain shops and taverns near Hengzhou as cover, ensuring his activities went unnoticed. Grain shops, taverns, and oil mills made excellent fronts. The large-scale land consolidation of the Tang era also provided him with a protective shield—thousands of acres yielded tens of thousands of shi of grain each year. Like a tireless groundhog, he hauled grain into his burrows without end.

All this was carried out according to a careful plan. Since grain prices were so low before the An Lushan Rebellion, few merchants bothered to hoard it, which made Zhen Qian’s plan all the easier.

Even so, Zhen Qian’s large-scale, secret grain purchases did cause local price fluctuations, necessitating the import of grain from neighboring regions to replenish the supply in Luquan County.

Yields per acre in the Tang were not high. Top-grade fields produced just under two shi per acre; poor fields, less than one. The average was just over one dan per acre. Thus, people often lamented that even an extra three or five dou per acre would ruin the peasants. (One shi was ten dou, about 120 jin, or 60 kilograms—a yield that seems shockingly low today.) The so-called “three or five dou more” was no exaggeration, but a harsh reality.