It is already a hot summer, there is a heat wave in Luoyang, not many people dare to go out, Luoyang, there has not been such a hot time for a long time, this is also a lot of ministers are worried, worried that this strange weather, will cause drought in the Sili area, in such a hot climate, the heat of the Gongfu has reached the point that people can not tolerate.

In the backyard of the Gongfu, there are three blast furnaces, each of which is burning with raging flames, red molten iron flows out of the furnace mouth, into the mold, the craftsman hurriedly took these, raised the hammer in his hand, and smashed it down, there are people carrying a pot of cold water on the side, sparks burst, and there is billowing smoke straight up to the sky.

In the case of the original scorching heat, the heat here naturally reached the extreme, everyone took off their shirts, revealing the amazing tendon flesh, all red, like bronze, sweat soaked the whole body, Ma Jun took the lead and was busy, looking at the sun seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, Ma Jun shouted: "Rest for half an hour!" Many craftsmen at the bottom breathed a sigh of relief.

Ma Jun climbed down the ladder, and immediately someone came over and whispered, "Someone is visiting." ”

"Oh? Who? ”

"Yanzhou sent people, saying that they wanted to borrow some craftsmen, just like Yuzhou."

"Oh, just according to the situation in Yuzhou, just give it to them."

"There is also a servant of the Shaofu who shot Liu Ba, he has been waiting outside the door for a long time."

Ma Jun was a little puzzled, recently, this young servant always came to the Gongfu to find himself, sometimes he came to send funding, and sometimes he just chatted, Ma Jun knew in his heart that he must have something to help him, however, this guy is in charge of finances, and the Gongfu wants to conduct more research, so it is impossible to avoid dealing with this person, and it is best not to snub him too much.

Ma Jun walked towards the door, just walked to the door, he saw Liu Ba with a smile on his face, Liu Ba smiled and walked towards him, the two met each other, the officials on the side handed the cloth, Ma Jun wiped his face, wiped off the sweat, Liu Ba looked at Ma Jun in front of him, red, as if dyed, he just stood at the door, because he was afraid of the heat wave and did not dare to move forward, but he had to be busy in it all day.

Liu Ba couldn't help but be a little touched in his heart, and said: "Ma Gong is fortunate, I think, in fact, it would be better to do this at night, this time is too hot, I'm afraid it will hurt the craftsman." Ma Jun nodded and said, "Yes, I can't stand this ghost weather, and I don't know why, it's so hot today..."

"Ma Gong has been busy improving iron smelting recently?"

"Yes, this blast furnace smelting iron can be regarded as some achievements, and strive to be able to promote it to several major iron mining areas in Dahan before next year... By the way, the previous funding of Shaofu was not in vain, the mud that was originally intended to be used for railroad tracks has been confirmed, and it can be used for construction, hahaha, this year's expansion of Luoyang, I'm afraid that this new material will be used! ”

"After these materials are sold, the three million dollars supported by the state treasury can be repaid within a year." , Ma Jun said cautiously, he naturally didn't want to cut off the support of the treasury, Liu Ba heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up, his support was originally for another purpose, but he didn't expect that there would be other gains, as a servant of the Shaofu, he naturally cared about these treasury incomes.

"How much does it cost?"

Ma Jun pointed to the distance and said, "A bag of that size costs less than two hundred yuan, and I sold it with Yuzhou for three hundred yuan before." ”

"Hahaha, okay, Ma Gong! Good! Liu Ba suddenly became a little excited, and he said: "If it is promoted to the whole country... The three million dollars are really worth it, so Ma Gong will hand over the promotion to me! I'll make this mud worthwhile!! ”

Ma Jun just smiled and didn't rush to speak.

Liu Ba suddenly understood, laughed and said: "In this way, I will play the Houde Hall tomorrow, this month, the Shaofu's support for the Gongfu will not be less than five million yuan, what does Ma Gong think?" ”

"Hey, Liu Gong, you and I are like brothers, and I don't want this support..."

"Six million!"

"Gong Liu, you are out of sight, the promotion and sale is under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu..."

"Six and a half million, if there are more, I won't approve it if I'm afraid of the Houde Palace..."

"Good!" , Ma Jun immediately said, Liu Ba couldn't help laughing, the two discussed a little more, and Liu Ba said seriously: "Ma Gong, there is one more thing, I need you to help me..."

"But it doesn't hurt to say it."

"If I want to turn a piece of paper into money to circulate, so that no one else can make a fake, the truth can be seen at a glance, just like the credentials of the money village today, what can Ma Gong do?"

Ma Jun pondered for a long time before he said, "Yes." ”

"Oh?? It's true?? What's the solution?? ”

"First of all, in terms of materials, I recommend you to use Shu paper, Shu paper is bright and white, exceptionally durable, and after that, it is necessary to strictly prohibit the circulation of Shu paper among the people, and it is not allowed to be produced privately, and it can only be manufactured by the temple."

"The other is the problem of patterns, now there is the art of printing, you can go to a few famous artists, let them design the pattern, the more complex, the more difficult to depict the better, finally, it is me here, we have recently developed a dye, which can make the paper blue and white, this dye can be used as a special color for credentials, except for the Gongfu, no one will use it, and ah, you can set up a few officials in the local area to distinguish the real from the fake."

Ma Jun thought for a long time before he said: "In addition, when saving money, you can keep two copies of the voucher, one in the money bank, and one in the hands of the people, so that if you distinguish the authenticity, you will know the comparison..."

Liu Ba was dumbfounded, he thought that Ma Jun would just give him some technical advice, but he didn't expect that most of Ma Jun's proposals had nothing to do with technology, some coincided with him, and there were even aspects that he hadn't thought of, seeing Liu Ba's sluggish appearance, Ma Jun said with a wry smile: "I just said casually, if there is anything wrong, Liu Jun should not be surprised." ”

"Ma Gong is humble, Ma Gong can say so much casually, it's really embarrassing..."

"If Liu Jun wants to implement these, dyes, and paper, I will definitely do my best to help."

Liu Ba shook his head and said with emotion: "I forgot, Ma Gong is a disciple of Wenren Gong, Ma Gong is in the Gongfu, Qu Cai, Qu Cai...", Ma Jun said disapprovingly: "In the temple, there are many talented people who are more talented than me, and there is no shortage of me, but in the Gongfu, there is only me like me." ”

"What Ma Gong said is reasonable, but it's a pity that I have no chance with Wen Rengong in this life, otherwise, I will definitely worship under his door."

"Alas...", Ma Jun sighed and said: "I disappointed Shijun and failed to inherit his mantle, I have been good at this since I was a child, and finally became a master craftsman... He is only one disciple of mine..."

"Hey, although Ma Gong is not a young man, but over the years, the increase in income for the treasury is more than in the past, Wen Ren Gong has knowledge, he will be happy because of this, Wen Ren Gong is most worried about the income of this treasury, he opened up his financial resources and saved expenditures, but it is not as good as Ma Gong's research and development now, just this iron smelting technique, hahaha, I don't know how much wealth can be added..."

The two chatted for a long time, and when they saw that Ma Jun and they were about to start construction again, Liu Ba didn't dare to disturb, so he said goodbye and left.

Ma Jun stood up, raised his head, looked at the several blast furnaces in front of him, led the craftsmen again, and continued to be busy, the heat wave hit his body again and again, sweat soaked his body, but Ma Jun was still very happy, his face was full of smiles, and he hummed happily.

The days are getting better and better, the craftsman also has his own status, and the support received by the Gongfu is getting more and more year by year, from the initial tens of thousands of dollars to today's millions of dollars, this life is really good, Ma Jun raised his head, wiped off the sweat in front of him, but showed the most beautiful smile.

After Liu Ba returned to the mansion, he entered the study, and for three days, he did not go out, and later, the officials of the Shaofu were busy, some people went to contact the officials of Yizhou, some people went to contact the Gongfu, and some people went to Taixue and other schools, and found some sacrificial wine, so after more than ten days, Liu Ba finally came to the Houde Palace.

Liu Xi was not the slightest surprised by Liu Ba's arrival, and even the purpose of his arrival, Liu Xi was clear, Yuan Shang had already noticed the change in Shaofu, and the relevant content had already been sent to the Houde Palace, however, Liu Xi could not show it, only for those restless people, he would put on an attitude of knowing the world's affairs and beat, for Liu Ba, there was no need for this.

"Liu Shaofu is here?"

"Hahaha, great, these days, I'm thinking about you, come, come, sit down, have you ever eaten?" Liu Ba sat in front of the Son of Heaven, took out the documents he had prepared in the past few days, put them on the table, and took out a few unusual pieces of paper and put them in front of the Son of Heaven.

Liu Xi picked up these papers in surprise, there are six kinds of papers, different sizes, different colors, and different numbers on them, Liu Xi asked suspiciously: "What a beautiful paper, what is this?" ”

"Your Majesty, this is the paper money that the minister wants to promote, this one, the smallest, that is, one money, this is five money, this is ten money, fifty money, one hundred money, and this is the largest, it is five hundred money, the paper is made of Bashu paper, this paper is produced in Bashu, the output is not large, usually only Yizhou people use it, this dyeing is specially made by the Gongfu, no one can imitate it, Your Majesty look at the pattern on the top..."

Liu Ba explained seriously, from the materials used to various anti-counterfeiting measures, Liu Xi nodded from time to time.

"Your Majesty, next, the voucher of the money bank, unified replacement with such paper, only to declare the new voucher to the outside world, in case of forgery, so that the people can gradually accept this banknote, within ten years, the banknote will replace today's copper money, become the circulation of the Han Dynasty, the paper money is convenient, if it can be promoted and circulated earlier, it will be able to promote the development of the Han Dynasty's commerce.. The treasury will never be empty again..."

"Hahaha, good, good, Liu Shaofu is not my marquis!"

"You go to Shang Shuling and let him be responsible for contacting the rest of the prefectures, and you can do this with confidence."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!!"