Chapter 140: I have no money and I lose a yarn

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"Hedong victory, Hedong victory!"

Before dawn, the people of Luoyang City woke up from their sleep and were surprised to find that the little babies who used to set up stalls selling "Dahan Monthly" at the corner of the street were all over the street, holding a piece of paper in their hands and shouting loudly.

"Special issue, special issue, Hedong victory. Watch Marshal Gao pacify the white wave thieves, and the rebellious Niu Fu and Li Dao were punished! ”

In fact, this is already selling newspapers, but the circulation time has not yet been fixed, and the number and scope of circulation are very small. With the experience of buying a monthly magazine, people said that they had no pressure to buy a newspaper, but when they inquired, it still made people vomit blood a little because they could sell a newspaper for 200 yuan.

Liu Hanshao's black heart is simply certain, but the main reason is that money is not worth much.

First, money was not the only currency in circulation at that time, grain and cloth also had the function of circulating currency, and even the ministers of the court and the central government had a lot of stones, so grain was more difficult than money.

Second, the minting of coins is not uniform, although the Han Wu Emperor had the right to mint money back to the imperial court, but there are still a large number of private coins in circulation, which belong to counterfeit money but are used as genuine coins, if Dong Zhuo does not die, will also mint a small five baht. As long as there is copper, people can mint money by themselves, and when they are rich, they can go out to buy things with the coins they have minted, can such money be worth it?

Third, wars and disasters make materials scarce, prices soar, which is a typical inflation, even if it is valuable money, when encountering such a problem, it will quickly depreciate, not to mention the current situation in the late Han Dynasty? People pick up a stone of money to buy grain, but they can't buy back a stone of grain, even so, where do the people get a stone of money?

For economics, a high-level subject that can only be played by smart people, Liu Hanshao, who is a scumbag, naturally can't play with flowers, but if he wants to restore production and economy, a fool also knows that there must be a kind of reasonable money first. However, whether the new money is issued and whether it is recognized by the market and whether it is recognized by the people who use it is not up to the person who issued the money to have the final say. Brackets, even if it is issued by the emperor, it will not work.

Therefore, the idea of making new money has long been and has been under development, but Liu Hanshao and his Aiqing have never had the opportunity to make new money come out.

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In the west of Luoyang City, Shanglin Yuan, a certain unit of the Han Zheng Army was stationed and heavily guarded.

This is where the national mint is located, and the official in charge of it used to be called "Captain of the Water Balance", and now it is called "Director of the Mint". Liu Hanshao, his two master bookkeepers and Yang Xingxing got out of the carriage, and Wu Fu, the director of the Mint, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately greeted him.

Liu Hanshao asked with a smile: "Deyu, how is the pattern coin?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the pattern has been completed, please come in and take a look at it."

Wu Fu, the word Deyu, a native of Wufang in Runan, was originally a general He Jindong Cao, and later moved to Yue Cavalry Captain. In the original history, Wu Fu was also a lone hero who assassinated Dong Zhuo, but unfortunately Dong Zhuo saw through it and hacked to death with a knife. And now, he is only responsible for minting coins, and when he heard that His Majesty was going to hand over the important treasure of the country to himself, he was moved to tears.

The crowd followed Wolfer into the mintage and was immediately shocked by the loud roar, and then came to a large room, where they were dazzled by the glittering sight. This is the last process, the finished product inspection. Woofu asked an inspector to pause his work and bring a plate of brand-new copper coins.

The embossed pattern on the front of the copper coin is exactly the same as the logo on the military flag of the Han Zhengjun, the side Guo above the pattern is printed with "Made in the Han Dynasty, it must be a fine product", the word "Yiwen" is printed below, and the reverse side is vertically capitalized "Worth ten coins", and the words "Guangxi First Year" are printed horizontally on the bottom.

The copper coin in Major General Liu Han's hand flew up, then clasped it with both hands, and said to the two master books: "Bet on a meal, guess whether it's a word or a flower?" ”

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao recovered from the shock, a little crying and laughing, one said words, the other said flowers, as a result, Cao Cao lost a meal, but Yuan Shao secretly scolded and let this little black fat man take advantage, so he could only show his cleverness and studiousness, and asked humbly: "Your Majesty, how is such a beautiful coin made?" ”

Liu Hanshao said proudly: "Director Wu, take them to open their eyes?" ”

"Good!"

Living up to His Majesty's trust, Wu Fu was also proud, and said as if offering a treasure: "Your Majesty, the two main bookkeepers, please come here." ”

If you want to make copper coins, molten copper must be the first step, the molten copper through the mold, cast into a thin copper strip, while the copper strip is red, and is sent into the middle of the two corresponding large iron rollers, the iron roller rotates, swallows the copper strips, and hot-rolls into copper plates, and there are three groups of such large iron rollers, in order to ensure that the thickness of the copper plate is uniform.

Because it is a copper plate rolled from copper strips, the copper plate is very narrow, like a belt, and then it is stamped into a smooth plate blank without patterns.

The latter process is a bit "high-tech", and Liu Hanshao calls it an edge grinding machine. Imagine the appearance of a bearing, the smooth plate is like the rollers in the bearing, which are fed into the edging machine one by one, and the "inner ring of the bearing" is also an iron roller, which is brought in to grind the bare plate blank while rotating. However, the opening of the machine is the same size as the bare board blank, and it is smaller when it turns in, and when the bare board blank is turned out, it is not only smooth and clean at the edge, but also slightly thicker than the middle, which is the edge of the copper coin.

The polished edge of the bare plate blank can be embossed, that is, to become money, but it is not easy to get to this point, because if you want to press a clear pattern on the copper plate, you need hundreds of tons of pressure. To this end, the technicians in charge of tackling key problems in the Institute of Science and Technology built dams and waterwheels on the Luoshui River, just to be able to drive the heavy hammer. Gravitational acceleration, this hammer smashing down, is estimated to be the maximum force that people in the world can use. It can also be imagined from this that the noise of the shuttle loom made by Su Qi is like a mosquito humming an ant compared to this.

Material selection, copper melting, plate rolling, blank, edging, embossing, all the processes are refreshing, this is the power of knowledge, the light of science, only relying on Liu Hanshao's guidance, can not be done at all. For example, the five-baht coin also has a bianguo, which is an iron rod worn through the money hole to round the money like a rolling pin. But the copper coin has no money holes, and the edging machine was designed by them, and the inspiration came precisely from the bearing.

Of course, these are only superficial processes, the most critical and confidential of which is molding. Shui Heng Duwei originally had three subordinate officials: "Zhong Guan" was responsible for casting, "Copper Identification" was responsible for reviewing quality, and "Skill" was responsible for carving, that is, engraver.

First, let the carver carve a copper coin pattern on the clay, and then turn it into a plaster mold to create a copper mold, which is also the mother mold. Then use the master mold to make a gypsum mold and pour the steel mold, that is, the sub-mold.

The sub-mold should also be quenched to increase the hardness, and then the mold base is repeatedly stamped to make a working mold with a concave pattern. The working die stamps the blank of the glazing plate, and the copper coin with the embossed pattern is produced. However, if the working die is used for a certain number of times, it will be damaged, such as problems such as pattern deformation and blurring, so it is necessary to use the sub-die again to stamp a new working die. If the master pattern is also damaged or needs to be modified, the master copy will be reprinted.

Once such copper coins are in circulation, are you still worried about others counterfeiting?

From power problems, to mechanical problems, to technological processes, none of them can be imitated by others. Even if others really have this ability, set up a waterwheel by the water, and smash the earth-shattering sound of "pop, pop, pop", it is not equivalent to shouting "Official, come and destroy the family!" ”

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The new coin is beautifully made, Liu Hanshao is quite satisfied, and the next thing is to worry about whether it can be recognized by the market and accepted by the people.

Yuan Shao said with some concern: "Your Majesty, the new currency is certainly exquisite, but if the old currency is abolished and the new currency is used, it will be difficult to do so." ”

"Oh? How so? ”

"First, recovering the old currency and making new currency is a very huge project, which is suspected of working the people and hurting the money; Second, the quality of the old coins is different, melting the old to make the new, and the fire consumption is huge, which means that whoever has more money, the greater the loss, and the ministers are afraid that the rich will resist; Thirdly, although the production of new coins has been greatly facilitated, the pace is still too slow to meet the needs of the country. ”

It can be seen that Yuan Shao was able to raise these questions, because he really thought about Liu Hanshao and worried about the country, and he was screwed in his head.

Liu Hanshao nodded seriously and said, "What I said at the beginning is extremely true, the problem of new currency production needs to be solved urgently. Deyu, you have to pay attention to this question. The first few processes, the speed is OK, but the final embossing process is slow, you can build a few more embossing machines, so that the workers take turns in three shifts, each shift works for four hours, and the machine does not stop. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the minister will do it immediately!"

"As for the old currency......

Liu Hanshao smiled slyly and said to Yuan Shao: "Brother has no intention of abolishing the old coin. Let the old and the new circulate in the market together, and let the people have the final say to see who can finally occupy the market. ”

Bad money drives out good money, just like a person has a new and an old banknote, always thinking about spending the old banknote first and leaving the new banknote, everyone thinks so, and slowly the market will be full of old banknotes in circulation, and the new banknotes will be collected by people, so as to withdraw from the market.

On the contrary, there is good money to drive out bad money, both new and old banknotes can be spent, those who buy things with money want to spend the old banknotes first, but the sellers make their own choices, only accept new banknotes, and when all the sellers only accept new banknotes, the new banknotes are the "hard currency" that occupies the market, and the old banknotes have to withdraw from the market.

Whether it is bad money driving out good money or good money driving out bad money, these things are not something that Liu Hanshao can say, but as a traveler who has heard of stocks, funds and insurance, how can he have more knowledge than the ancients, right? He just felt that he was sure that he would make a profit and not lose money, as for who would be harmed...... Anyway, the poor people have no money in their hands, and they have no money and lose a wool?