Bright Spring

Amidst the noisy voices and the smoke and dust filled with the pungent smell of coking coal, Zhu Gaoxu walked around in a circle.He had an overview of the process of making coins and what techniques the mint used.

It's just that Zhu Gaoxu didn't fully understand the process of how to make it for a while, so it doesn't matter; just like Song Li, who is in charge of this matter, he probably doesn't know everything, he just needs to find the right person and arrange everything.

Zhu Gaoxu walked out of a room and stood by a sluice.He took out two samples of copper coins given by Song Li from his sleeve pocket, and looked at them again and again.

An exquisite copper coin with a smooth surface and bright color, with four large characters and some small characters on each side.On the front is "Wu De Tong Bao", and there are four small characters "Central Bank" at the bottom; on the back is "Tian Tian Tong Tong", with a small line of numbers at the bottom.Because it is forged and pressed with steel, the words on it are in the form of relief.

And the number?

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and asked, "What do these numbers mean?"

Song Li hurriedly said: "My lord, each batch of steel molds will be deformed after a period of use, and they have to be re-carved, and the characters will be somewhat different; the copper materials are also different. These numbers mean the batches of steel molds."

"It makes sense, it's very thoughtful." Zhu Gaoxu nodded in praise.

Song Li said again: "What I think about is to prevent counterfeiting. It is very difficult to make newly minted coins, and it is difficult for ordinary people to imitate. The court just increased the value of new coins, such as a new coin, and two old coins of high quality. Coins, so the court can make a lot of money by minting coins."

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but glance at Song Li.Xindao: Sure enough, he is a person who has been an official of the household department for many years.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "The value of copper coins is not high, and the cost is high; the biggest profit is still silver coins. However, the amount of copper and silver mined will affect the exchange ratio. We can call silver coins 'one yuan', and copper coins are still one penny. The exchange rate Every five years as a period, stipulated by the "central bank"; then the public will be announced in the form of residence newspapers, and public announcements will be posted outside post stations and county government offices.

In addition to the one-cent copper coin in advance, you can also calculate the cost of raw materials and forging and casting, and add large coins with a face value of ten or twenty coins to facilitate circulation in shops.Big money is also cast with silver coins, without square holes and increased borders. "

Song Li made a bow and said, "I will obey the order."

Zhu Gaoxu rubbed the copper coin in his hand and pondered for a while.Xin said: No matter what problems there may be, the currency national policy of minting coins must be more stable than Daming banknotes, which is conducive to economic development.

Gein's theories and systems of this era are still relatively backward.It is also normal for the court to be short of money. Without effective accounting and supervision, the court will take risks to solve its finances, and it is difficult to guarantee that paper money will not be issued indiscriminately.But the minting of precious metals is different, and valuable raw materials are always needed; this kind of currency has great disadvantages, but it is the best choice under the backward economic system.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the copper coins for a while, then looked up at Song Li, and finally said decisively: "Master Song, you have resigned as an official in the Ministry of Households, and after handing over to the Ministry of Officials, you will be promoted to the central bank. You are the third-rank yamen, and the power It is responsible for minting coins, formulating monetary policy laws and regulations, directly responsible to the emperor or the cabinet, and is not subject to the control of the six ministries."

Song Li was stunned for a moment, then knelt down on the dusty ground, kowtowed and said: "I thank the emperor for his kindness, and I will share the sorrows of the holy majesty with the saddle and horse, and live up to the great trust of the holy majesty."

Zhu Gaoxu helped Song Li up, and all the civil and military people around him congratulated Song Li one after another.

Zhu Gaoxu went on to say: "In the past, the Banknote Lifting Department had four branches: the Papermaking Bureau, the Banknote Printing Bureau, the Banknote Depository, and the Banknote Depot. It is the Ministry of Industry. The bank is relocated under the name of the Ministry of Accounts, responsible for checking and accepting the finished coins. If there is a problem with the outflowing coins, the Ministry of Industry, the central bank, and the relevant personnel of the Ministry of Accounts will be inspected according to their powers, and they will be severely punished according to the law.”

All the officials responded to the order one after another.

This kind of layout is what Zhu Gaoxu had thought of a long time ago.He believes that the separation of powers and checks and balances are the means of protection, rather than relying solely on the selection of high-moral, clean and honest chief officials.

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and found Wang Yu from the crowd, and said, "Wang Youshi did a good job. We have created various crafts and technologies for thousands of years, and someone must collect them and develop new ones on the basis of the predecessors." Technology. The book edited by the fake museum, I will call it "Heavenly Creation of Things"."

Wang Yu bowed and said, "Your Majesty is a wise man."

Zhu Gaoxu said: "This grand ceremony must be controlled. It is strictly forbidden to flow out of the imperial court, let alone to be obtained by foreign vassals. Those who smuggle it to foreign vassals will be punished with treason and the barbarians! Domestic businessmen who want to use the new technology must submit to guards The Yusi pays to buy patents; and the Shouyusi can also pay to buy exquisite craftsmanship records from craftsmen who pass down their skills."

Wang Yu said: "The minister receives the order."

Zhu Gaoxu turned to look at the noble generals beside him, and said with a smile on his face: "Everything is ready, we only owe Dongfeng. We have spent so much money, raised so many people, and built the mint, not just for Casting copper coins. If the conquest of Japan fails to obtain silver materials, it will really make people laugh."

Sheng Yong, Qu Neng and others first agreed.Unexpectedly, Liu Sheng immediately understood the holy intention, and bowed directly: "I invite you to lead the army. If you can't win, come and see me!"

Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a moment, and said: "We will decide on such matters in the court."

At this time Song Li said: "Your Majesty has worked hard, please take a seat in the living room and rest for a while."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded in agreement.

So Song Li and others took a group of monarchs and ministers, left the workshop area, and went to a small courtyard.The handyman brought tea and water, brought in some melon and fruit snacks, and everyone sat and talked for a while.

An important part of the Wude New Deal is the emphasis on technology.Today, Zhu Gaoxu personally inspected the Mint, which also reflects this governance philosophy.Everyone talked about craftsmanship in the living room.

Zhu Gaoxu asked Wang Yu about the progress of the four-wheeled carriage he was asked to develop last time.As a result, little progress has been made. It seems that the method of connecting the front and rear wheels through chains is not practical.

Zhu Gaoxu remembered a story. It is said that when Edison invented the electric lamp, he made tens of thousands of experiments to find the tungsten wire.

He encouraged Wang Yu and said: "To make something new, it often requires constant trial and error, which requires time and cost, and is unavoidable. I also thought of another new thing, the 'Chunhan' gun uses a matchlock to ignite, and there are many disadvantages. Maybe you Another kind of ignition mechanism can be made, which uses flint to make fire; the reed control mechanism hits the flint to generate sparks, which ignites the firing powder of the firecracker.”

Wang Yu immediately promised that he would summon the officials and craftsmen of the Southern Imperial Office to try this skill immediately.

Zhu Gaoxu was excited, and said: "We have to continuously improve the firearm technology, and then sell the relatively backward firearms to foreign domains for use. This is also a way to increase the national treasury revenue."

Wang Yu said, "Will the outsiders imitate our firearms?"

Zhu Gaoxu said: "There is no way, even if we don't sell weapons, sooner or later other countries will be able to get samples and imitate them, the army is equipped with so many firearms, it is difficult to avoid such things from happening.

However, the assembly line operations in our workshops, the use of new technology equipment, mass production, and cost reduction may be cheaper than other countries' own imitations, so we can continue to sell arms|ammunition.In addition, when other countries imitate it, we will have better technology, and there will be a time lag in the middle, so the advantage can still be maintained. "

Wang Yu nodded in agreement.

Zhu Gaoxu continued to subtly promote his new policy to the civil and military present, "The imperial court only relies on agricultural taxes, and its profits are limited. It is limited by the year and the sky, and it is difficult to increase the annual income. The cost of using troops remains high, and troops have to be garrisoned. governance.

But if we develop industry and commerce, open up business routes, and profit from trade advantages, we can expand our sphere of influence almost infinitely.Only when the country continues to prosper, the world will not have to fight for limited benefits for a long time, and the common people will not raise their heads against the imperial court because they cannot survive due to lack of food and clothing.The various problems of the imperial court can be fundamentally resolved. "

There are many civil and military personnel in the living room, but Zhu Gaoxu still did not speak carefully. He said enthusiastically: "After we got the Iwami silver mine in Japan, Japan also has other gold mines, silver mines, copper mines, Sulfur mines, those don’t need to spend labor and horses to occupy them. At that time, the imperial court only needs to force them to open up the country and trade, and trade can be exchanged for heavy metal raw materials. Aren’t there many guardian daimyos in Japan who are fighting for hegemony? At that time, we will sell weapons, Give them armor to fight, fight as much as you want.

There is also the thousand-year struggle between Islam and Nestorianism in the far west. I feel that the intensity of the war between them is too small to show their piety to the gods. Fight happily.

The conflict between An Nanguo and Champa was not a day or two, and the grievances have not been resolved. They did not win or lose, mainly due to the lack of arms, which is a bit regrettable.

The royal families, nobles, and lords in the distance need a refined and stylish life, otherwise they will not be able to reflect their superior pure blood.Well-crafted silks and brocades, flawless white porcelain with beautiful patterns, exquisitely processed silver alloy tableware at the jewelry level, and delicious spices are just what they need and what they need.

This world is full of trading opportunities for the country to become rich. We have thousands of years of technological advantages, and we must not rest on our laurels and give up the benefits in front of us..."

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and said to Ru Ting: "When the officers and soldiers of the Ming army went to foreign domains, the Ministry of Industry should send people to make friends with the local nobles and look for trade opportunities. The Ministry of Industry has obtained precious metals, which can be provided to the central bank to mint coins."

"Yes." Ru Yu hurriedly replied.

The civil servants did not refute Zhu Gaoxu's remarks, but no one echoed the discussion.After all, literati who read sage books are very concerned about moral right and wrong, and Zhu Gaoxu's remarks are indeed not very noble; therefore, even if some officials think it is reasonable, I am afraid they will not express such opinions in public.

Chapter 799 What's Wrong

A group of people talked for a long time in the living room in the courtyard, and Zhu Gaoxu said that he should clean up the dust on his clothes and take a rest.He left the living room, followed by two confidant eunuchs, to another room in the courtyard.

Zhu Gaoxu changed his clothes.After the eunuch brought water into the house, he washed his face again.

But Zhu Gaoxu did not show up again. He sent Zhang Sheng, the commander of Jinyiwei, to prepare another carriage and select some followers.Arranged properly, he went out through the back door and left the mint.

After a while, the eunuch Cao Fu went to the courtyard to announce the decree, and asked the civil and military officials who were resting everywhere to drive back to the imperial city.Naturally, the emperor could no longer appear in public.

Maybe some officials will feel a little strange and suspect that the emperor is not on the Luanjia, but it doesn't matter.It was relatively easy for the emperor in the early Ming Dynasty to leave the palace; ministers generally didn't care about such things.

Zhu Gaoxu left the brigade, and the place he was going to was Ma Enhui's mansion.

The mint is within the upper gate of the outer gate, and Enhui's mansion is near the Taiping Gate in the inner city.However, both places are in the outer city, and they are also on the east side of the inner city; so Zhu Gaoxu can go to Ma Enhui's house on the other side of Yanque Lake as long as he goes north while he is outside the palace today.

I haven't seen Ma Enhui for a long time, and Zhu Gaoxu also wants to see her...