We do not hear much of gold in the earlier times, but in 237 B.C., when Ts'in was straining every nerve to conquer China, the (future) First August Emperor was advised that "it would not cost more than 300,000 pounds weight in gold to bribe the ministers of all the states in league against Ts'in." Yet in 643 B.C., on the death of the First Protector, the orthodox state of Cheng (lying between Ts'i and Tsin to the north and Ts'u to the south), was bribed with "metal" of some sort--probably gold or silver--to abandon Ts'i. In 538 the celebrated Cheng statesman Tsz-ch'an informs his Ts'u colleagues that the Tsin officers "think of nothing but money." What kind of money this was is doubtful, but it will be remembered that about this time the "powerful family" of Lu had succeeded in bribing the Tsin ministers, or the "six great families" then managing Tsin, to deny justice to the fugitive Lu duke. In 513 B.C. the powerful Wu king who made (modern) Soochow his capital is said to have possessed both iron and gold mines, and it is stated that not even China proper could turn out better weapons. Large "cash" are said to have been coined by the Emperor who reigned from 540 to 520 B.C.; and in 450 B.C. the King of Ts'u is reported to have "closed his _depot_ of the three moneys." As only copper was coined, it is not easy to say now what the other two "moneys" were. In 318 B.C. a bribe of "one hundred golds" was given by Yen to one of the well-known political diplomats or intriguers then forming leagues with or against Ts'in; it is not known for certain how much this was at that particular time and place; but a century or two later it meant, under the Ts'in dynasty, twenty-four ounces; during the Han dynasty, conquerors of the Ts'in dynasty, it was only about half that. Cooks seem to have held official positions of considerable dignity. "Meat-eaters" in Confucian times was a term for "officials" or "the rich." Thus when the haughty King of Wu was suddenly recalled home, from his high-handed durbar with Tsin, Lu, and other orthodox states, to go and deal with his formidable enemy of Yueh, he turned quite pale. By dint of bold "bluff" he managed after all to gain most of his political points, and to retire from an awkward corner with honour; but Chinese spies had their eyes on him none the less, and reported to the watchful enemy that "meat-eaters are not usually blackfaced"--meaning that the King of Wu evidently had some very recent bad news on his mind, for "the well-fed do not usually look care-worn."