Nie, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, wrote in his poem "Regret for the Past" that new silk was sold in February and new grain was harvested in May. Cured my immediate pain, but dug out my heart. Someone has to ask, where did the new silk come from before the birth of the silkworm baby in February? The May Valley is not yet mature, so there are no new valleys. In fact, this poem is about how the poor in the Tang Dynasty were exploited by usurers. Although the silkworm baby has not grown up, it has mortgaged the new silk it will earn. Although millet has not been harvested, it has also become something in someone else's warehouse. Therefore, this is called treating the symptoms rather than the root cause, but gouging out the heart. There are even usurers who are greedy for money, and they specialize in lending when the green and yellow are not available. The borrower was forced to repay the loan at half price. If these are not enough, we have to borrow money from other places at higher interest rates to solve our urgent needs.

Some people are eager to sell and consume their semi-straight men, and no one asks for leave, and the cost is twice as high.

As a commercial form, lending has existed since ancient times. Li, a very famous businessman in the Spring and Autumn Period, was also engaged in this kind of business. Lending is divided into normal lending and usury. Gong Fan Li is doing normal lending, and the so-called eleven interests, that is, one tenth of the annual interest rate, exceed this standard, which is usury. In the Tang Dynasty, usury was divided into two types: usury and pledge. Usury is a kind of credit loan, which does not need to mortgage anything, but needs a guarantor as a guarantee. Pledge is a kind of mortgage loan, which needs to be mortgaged by the borrower's real estate or physical object. Of course, for farmers, land is the most common collateral.

Loans in the Tang Dynasty were divided into official loans and private loans. Interest on official loans is relatively low. In the first year of Tang Wude, the interest of public funds was 100%, which was called monthly money. Then it will gradually decrease. The interest of public funds of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty in Zhenguan for six years was 70% of the annual interest: 5,000 yuan, of which 7 points were profitable and 4,200 yuan was lost in one year. 5000 yuan, 4200 yuan a year. In the first year in Huichang, Tang Wuzong, the monthly interest rate will still be fixed at 5 points, with an annual interest rate of 60%. This can be said to be the lowest in the history of the Tang Dynasty, generally around 100.

Private lending in the Tang Dynasty was also rampant. Although it was stipulated in the sixteenth year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, from now on, the world should only take four points of profits. Actually, it's just talk. The official loan has reached six or seven points, and it is impossible to get four points for private loans. During the period, a poor man named Peng borrowed two stones of wheat from a man named Zi in May and returned four stones in September. The interest for four months is twice the principal, and the annual interest is as high as 300%. Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, once farmers were caught in the net of usury, they could never turn over. There is only one way out except to sell children, women and land and sell yourself as a slave.

Loan sharks are as fierce as tigers. Cherish life and stay away from usury.