Liu Di was suspicious.
Wang Mang was hailed as history's first transmigrator.
Having brought so many advanced ideas, he should have introduced reforms and improvements. The country should have enjoyed peace and prosperity for a time.
But...
Why did the surroundings look anything but peaceful and prosperous?
Liu Di walked through the streets.
He saw an old man clutching copper coins as he bought grain.
Yet after receiving the sack of grain, the old man broke down and wailed, "Two coins used to buy a dou of rice, but now it costs fifty! How are we supposed to survive?"
Liu Di noticed that the copper coins the old man had handed over were the currency Wang Mang had standardized after ascending the throne. They were called Da Quan Fifty, and they were made of bronze.
He had merely altered the monetary system, yet things that once cost two coins now cost twenty-five times as much!
Puzzled, Liu Di asked the old man, "Doesn't your family have land to farm? Didn't Emperor Wang Mang divide the land equally?"
Tears shimmered in the old man's eyes as he said despairingly, "He proposed a policy of equal land distribution, but he never supervised it. Corrupt officials kept all the land for themselves, and it's hard for ordinary people to get any. This is worse than before! Chang'an City is doing all right, but in more remote places, plenty of people are starving to death!"
Liu Di frowned.
Was there something wrong with Wang Mang's system?
Or was it simply unsuited to this era?
Suddenly, Liu Di noticed that the old man still had some old-dynasty copper coins that could no longer be spent.
Liu Di looked himself over, then removed the ornament hanging from his waist and handed it to the old man.