Amid the noisy sound and the pungent smell of coke coal, Zhu Gaoxu walked around. He had a general understanding of the process of making coins and the techniques used by the mint.

It's just that Zhu Gaoxu didn't understand all the specific process of making it for a while, so it doesn't matter; Just like Song Li, who is in charge of this matter, it is estimated that he does not know everything, he just needs to find the right person and arrange everything.

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

A delicate copper coin with a smooth surface and bright colour, with four larger characters on each side and some smaller characters. On the front is "Wude Tongbao", and at the bottom there are four small characters "Central Bank"; On the reverse side is "All over the world", with a small line of numbers at the bottom. Because it is forged with steel, the words on it are in the form of relief.

And numbered?

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

Song Li hurriedly said: "Back to the saint, each batch of steel fans will be deformed after a while, and they will have to be re-engraved, and the words will be somewhat different; Copper is also different. These numbers mean batches of steel fan. ”

"Makes sense, it's well thought out." Zhu Gaoxu nodded in praise.

Song Li said again: "Those who are worried about the minister, guard against fakes." Newly minted coins are difficult to make, and it is difficult for ordinary people to imitate them. The imperial court just increased the value of the new money, such as one new coin and two old coins of the same color, so that the imperial court could make a lot of money by minting coins. ”

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

Zhu Gaoxu said: "The value of copper coins is not high, and the cost is high; The biggest profit is still money. However, the amount of copper and silver mined will affect the exchange ratio. We can call the silver coin 'one yuan', the copper coin is still one penny, and the exchange rate is set by the 'central bank' for a period of five years.

In addition to the copper coins in advance, you can also calculate the cost of raw materials and forging, and increase the number of coins with a face value of 10 or 20 yuan, so that the shops can facilitate circulation when retailing. Large coins are also cast with silver coins, without square holes and increased edges. ”

Song Lizuo said: "The ministers obey the order. ”

Zhu Gaoxu rubbed the copper coin in his hand and pondered for a while. The heart said: No matter what the problem is, but the monetary policy of minting the currency is definitely more stable than the Ming treasure banknote, which is conducive to economic development.

The theories and systems of Gaine's time were still relatively backward. The lack of money in the imperial court is also the norm, and without effective accounting and supervision, the imperial court will take risks to solve the finances, and it is difficult to ensure that paper money is not issued indiscriminately. But the coinage of precious metals is different, and valuable raw materials must always be used; This currency also has great drawbacks, but it is the best choice in a backward economic system.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the copper coin for a while, then looked up at Song Li, and finally said decisively: "Chief Song, you have stepped down from the official position of the household department, and after you go to the ministry to hand over, you will be the promotion officer of the central bank." Zheng Sanpin Yamen, whose authority is responsible for minting coins and formulating monetary policy decrees, is 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, knelt down on the dusty ground, and kowtowed: "The minister bows to thank the emperor, and the saddle is set before and after the horse to share the worries of the saint, and live up to the trust of the saint." ”

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

Zhu Gaoxu continued: "Originally, the Treasure Banknote Lifting Division had four branches: the Paper Copying Bureau, the Banknote Printing Bureau, the Treasure Banknote Library, and the Row Library. In the future, the Papermaking Bureau will be responsible for the acceptance of copper and silver materials, but the yamen that provides the raw materials is the Ministry of Industry. The bank library was relocated to the name of the household department, which was responsible for the acceptance of finished coins. If there is a problem with the outflow of coins, the relevant persons of the Ministry of Industry, the Central Bank, and the Ministry of Households will be investigated according to their authority, and severely punished in accordance with the law. ”

The officials answered the order one after another.

This kind of layout was thought of by Zhu Gaoxu a long time ago. He believed that the separation of powers and checks and balances was the means of guarantee, and that it could not only rely on the selection of a chief official with high morals and integrity.

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and found Wang Yu from the crowd, and said, "The errand of the right envoy Wang is doing a good job. We have created all kinds of technology over thousands of years, and someone has to collect it and develop new technologies based on those who came before us. The book compiled by the Counterfeit Academy, I have a name, and it is called "Heavenly Creation". ”

Wang Yu bowed and said, "Holy and sage." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "This ceremony must be controlled, and it is strictly forbidden to flow out of the imperial court, let alone foreign vassals." Those who smuggle foreign vassals will be punished for felony and raze their clans for treason! In order to use the new technology, domestic merchants must pay money to buy patents from the Imperial Division; And the Guardian can also pay to buy exquisite craftsmanship records from those craftsmen who have passed on their skills. ”

Wang Yu said: "The minister's decree." ”

Zhu Gaoxu turned to look at the few noble generals beside him, and said with a smile: "Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed." We have spent so much work, raised so many people, and built the mint, not just to mint copper coins. If the Japanese army fails to get the silver, it will really be ridiculous to the world. ”

Sheng Yong, Qu Neng and others first agreed. Unexpectedly, Liu Sheng immediately comprehended the holy will, and bowed straight to him: "The minister invites the commander of the army, if you can't win, come and see you!" ”

Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a moment and said, "This kind of thing will be decided at the court." ”

At this time, Song Li said: "The saint has worked hard, please go to the living room and sit down for a while." ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded in agreement.

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

An important part of Wude's new policy is to pay attention to technology. Today, Zhu Gaoxu personally inspected the mint, which also embodies this concept of governance. Everyone was talking about craftsmanship in the living room.

Zhu Gaoxu asked Wang Yu about the progress of developing the four-wheeled carriage last time. As a result, there was not much progress, and the method of connecting the front and rear wheels by means of chains and other means did not seem to be very practical.

Zhu Gaoxu remembered a story that Edison did tens of thousands of tests in order to find the tungsten filament when he invented the electric lamp.

He encouraged Wang Yu and said: "To make something new, it often requires continuous trial and error, which requires time and cost, and it is unavoidable. I also thought of something new, the 'Spring Cold' gun was ignited with a fire rope, which had many drawbacks. Maybe you can make another kind of ignition mechanism, using flint to set fire; The flint is struck with a reed control mechanism to produce a spark that ignites the firing agent of the firebolt. ”

Wang Yu immediately promised that he would gather the officials and craftsmen who guarded the Imperial Sinan Office and immediately began to try this skill.

Zhu Gaoxu said that he was very uplifted, and then said: "We must continue to improve our firearms technology, and then sell the relatively backward firearms to foreign vassals for use, which is also a way to increase the revenue of the state treasury." ”

Wang Yu said: "Will the foreign feudal people imitate our firearms?" ”

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

However, the assembly line operation in our workshop, the equipment that adopts new technologies, mass production, and cost reduction, may be cheaper than other countries' own imitations, so we can continue to sell arms. In addition, when other countries imitate it, we have better technology, and there will be a time difference in the middle, and the advantage can still be maintained. ”

Wang Yu nodded yes.

Zhu Gaoxu continued to subtly sell his new policy to the civil and military forces present, "The imperial court only relied on agricultural taxes, and its profits were limited, and it was difficult to increase its income due to the fact that it was limited by the way of the year. To open up territory, the cost of using troops remains high, and troops must be sent to govern.

But if we develop industry and commerce, open up trade routes, and profit from trade advantages, then we can expand our sphere of influence almost indefinitely. Only when the country continues to grow rich and strong, the world does not have to fight for limited benefits and long-term internal friction, and the common people will not rebel against the imperial court because of lack of food and clothing. Only then can the various problems of the imperial court be fundamentally solved. ”

There were a lot of civil and military weapons in the living room, but Zhu Gaoxu still didn't say it carefully, he said with great interest: "After we got the Iwami silver mine in Japan, there are other gold, silver, copper, and sulfur mines in Japan, and those don't need to be occupied by soldiers and horses." At that time, the imperial court only had to force them to open the country to trade, and trade could be exchanged for heavy metal raw materials. Isn't there a lot of guardian daimyo in Japan who are vying for hegemony? When the time comes, we will sell weapons and armor to fight for them, and we will fight enough.

There was also a thousand-year-old struggle between the Muslims and the Nestorian Christians in the Far West, and I felt that the intensity of the war between them was too small to show devotion to the gods, so the Ming court needed to provide a large amount of arms so that the sects of all sides could fight happily.

The contradiction between Annan and Champa was not a day or two, and the accumulated grievances were never resolved, and they did not distinguish between victory and defeat, mainly because they were limited by the lack of arms, which was a bit regrettable.

The royal family, nobles, and lords from afar need to live in style and exquisiteness, otherwise they will not be able to reflect their superior pure bloodline. Well-made silk and brocade, white and flawless porcelain with wonderful patterns, finely processed silver alloy tableware at the jewelry level, and delicious spices are just enough to solve their needs and help people's needs.

The world is full of trade opportunities for the country to get rich, and our country has thousands of years of technological superiority, and we must not rest on our laurels and give up the benefits in front of us......"

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head to Ru Yu and said, "When the Ming army's land and water officers and soldiers go to the outer domain, the Ministry of Industry should send people to make friends with the local nobles and look for trade opportunities. The Ministry of Industry received precious metals, which could be supplied to the central bank for coinage. ”

"Yes, yes." Ru Yu hurriedly answered.

Civilian officials did not refute Mr. Chu's remarks, but no one echoed them. After all, the literati who read the books of sages and sages are very concerned about moral right and wrong, and Zhu Gaoxu's remarks are indeed not very noble; Therefore, even if some officials feel justified, they will probably not express such a claim in public.