Siheyuan: The romantic and suave Xu Damao

After sending Lou Xiao'e away to buy some snacks, Xu Damao stayed alone to set up his stall. He first took out a worn straw mat from his bag and spread it on the ground, then looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to him, so he took out various items from his personal space and placed them neatly on the straw mat.

After putting all the miscellaneous items on the stall, Xu Damao hesitated for a moment, and then he put the gold wine jug and Hetian jade Chihu cup he had just received on the stall.

At this moment, he suddenly remembered something and slapped his forehead in annoyance: "Oh, I should have gone to talk to that old fellow Yan Bugui about the blue porcelain today. He must be itching to get it. Oh, how could I have forgotten about it?"

Xu Damao finally sorted the silver dollars he received by type and placed them neatly on the stall. Each type of silver dollar had its own price tag. After doing this, he picked up a silver dollar with the words "Shanghai One Liang" printed on the front and examined it carefully.

Lou Xiao'e also came over with two paper bags. She was wearing simple clothes and had a gentle smile on her face as she walked to Xu Damao.

"Xiao'e, what delicious food did you buy?" Xu Damao asked with shining eyes, looking at the paper bag in Lou Xiao'e's hand. He knew that Lou Xiao'e would always bring back some delicious food.

"Nothing, I just bought some fried peanuts and gave you a bag." Lou Xiao'e replied with a smile. She handed one of the paper bags to Xu Damao, with a hint of tenderness in her eyes.

Xu Damao took the paper bag and opened it impatiently. A strong aroma of peanuts hit his nose. He said excitedly, "Great, I'm a little hungry." Then he grabbed a handful of peanuts from the paper bag and began to eat them with relish.

At this time, Lou Xiao'e noticed the Shanghai one-liang silver dollar on Xu Damao's knees. She asked curiously, "Is this silver dollar special? Why don't you sell it on the stall? And why is there English on this silver dollar!" She picked up the silver dollar and observed it carefully, her face full of curiosity.

Xu Damao smiled and said proudly: "This silver dollar is not just special, it is very rare! That's why I can't bear to put it on the stall to sell." He peeled a peanut and put the peanut kernel into his mouth, completely ignoring Lou Xiaoe's open mouth waiting for him to feed her.

Lou Xiao'e frowned, looked at Xu Damao with dissatisfaction, and muttered, "Hmph, you only care about eating yourself and don't even bother to feed me one." Then, she lowered her head and continued to study the silver dollar.

"If you don't understand, then don't watch it. You won't be able to tell the difference even if you watch it all night. Let me explain it to you, hahahaha."

Xu Damao looked at Lou Xiaoe with a smug look on his face, his face full of sarcasm.

When he saw Lou Xiao'e's curious look, he couldn't help but feel a sense of superiority.

Lou Xiao'e frowned and said angrily, "Humph! You should have told me a long time ago!"

She felt that Xu Damao should not treat her like this, so she decided not to let Xu Damao be so proud anymore.

Lou Xiao'e reached out and placed the silver dollar in Xu Damao's palm, then waved her hand, indicating that she did not want to continue arguing.

At the same time, she did not forget to roll her eyes, which made her look very playful and cute.

"Xiao E, do you know why this Shanghai one tael silver coin is so rare? It can even be said that most people have never seen it, or even heard of it, because this kind of silver coin has never circulated in the market since it was minted!"

Xu Damao explained proudly.

After hearing this, Lou Xiao'e frowned slightly and seemed to be interested in this question.

"Do you know the Jingnan Treaty of the Qing Dynasty?"

Xu Damao continued to ask.

Lou Xiao'e nodded and replied, "I know! I learned in school that the treaties in the late Qing Dynasty were either about ceding territory or paying compensation!"

Her tone was full of anger and dissatisfaction, as if she had a deep memory of that history.

Lou Xiao'e recalled the history knowledge she had learned in school and felt very indignant about the series of unequal treaties signed in the late Qing Dynasty.

These treaties not only ceded a large amount of land, but also brought a heavy burden of reparations to the country, putting China into a difficult situation.

That's right! After the signing of the Treaty of Beijing and South China, the southern Hong Kong Island was ceded to the British. However, the British did not have their own currency when they first established a port on the island. At that time, the currencies used on Hong Kong Island were varied, including all the currencies circulated in the inland. Around 1859, a newly appointed governor wanted to make a difference and hoped to gain control of the financial power here by promoting Hong Kong's trade. So he wrote to the British government requesting the construction of a mint in Hong Kong Island and the issuance of various currencies belonging to Hong Kong Island.

Not only that, the Governor of Hong Kong also planned to sell these silver dollars to the Qing government at that time to gain more benefits. Of course, this requires the approval of the Qing government. So the question is, how can we get the Qing government to agree? It must be said that the Governor of Hong Kong is really capable. He actually came up with a clever idea - engraving a dragon pattern symbolizing the Chinese emperor on the front of the silver dollar.

"At that time, Shanghai had just opened as a port. As a modern metropolis in the Far East, its business was very prosperous, and trade, economy and other aspects were very prosperous. Therefore, the British thought that if the word 'Shanghai' was engraved on the silver coin, perhaps the mainland people would have a higher sense of identity with this currency."

"In order to reflect the equal status between countries, the reverse side of this silver coin is designed with a pattern of the British Royal Order of the Garter. In addition, because they mistakenly believed that the silver content of the silver coin circulating in Shanghai in mainland China was as high as 98.8%, they set the silver content of this silver coin to 98.2%."

"Moreover, the weight of the silver coin is 566 grains, which is slightly more than 26 grams."

"Xiao'e, take a close look at the back of this silver coin. Are there really the numbers '982' and '566'?"

"Hey, it's true!"

"Look below. It's the English word for Hong Kong and the year of its minting, 1867. At that time, there were two versions of this Shanghai silver dollar. One version had rays of light outside the medal, and the other was the one in your hand."

"After these two versions arrived in Beijing at that time, the Qing government did not agree, so the silver dollar was stillborn, and only a small number of samples remained. That's why I said this kind of silver dollar is very rare, and I am a little reluctant to sell it..."