5 Cash - Jiading Yuanbao, Lizhou, iron

The Jiading Yuanbao issues were struck under Emperor Ningzong during a period of intense military pressure from the Jurchen Jin dynasty to the north, with the Southern Song government operating a fragmented and often locally managed mint network to keep armies paid and markets functional. Lizhou, a prefectural mint in Sichuan, turned to iron specifically because copper had become strategically scarce — the metal was being hoarded, exported, and consumed by a military economy that the court in Lin'an could not fully control.

Sichuan iron cash from this reign are notoriously variable in casting quality, a direct consequence of decentralized production.