When the fire of the sealed gold furnace was raised, every once in a while, Fu Yuanqi on the side muttered to himself, constantly adding saltpeter from the moving cave door to help burn and warm......

In the crowd, Han Yu was dumbfounded, these natural and artificial creations, he was very difficult to see in the Confucian classics.

Soon, the refining of the gold furnace was completed, and after it was opened, Fu Yuanqi, who covered his face with wet wipes, and several sergeants pointed to the filamentous white thing condensed on the ash, "Wei Gong, this is the refined platinum." ”

And under the grass ash is all red yellow powder, "This is silver rust, also called yellow dan, but in fact it is all lead." ”

Originally, when the flame of the gold furnace was burned, the lead was first oxidized at high temperature, separated from the silver, and then seeped through the grass ash and flowed into the bottom of the furnace; And the silver is left on top of the grass ash.

After a while, Gao Yue twisted the white gold on the surface with his hand, he was very excited, and said to the military officials who congratulated him: "This is raw silver, that is, platinum, our Yangzhou platinum!" ”

"Congratulations to Wei Gong, the silver pit is divided into three kinds, one is a single silver, one is a mixture of silver and lead, and one is a mixture of silver and copper, the latter two as long as a certain gold smelting method is used, not only silver can be smelted, but also more copper and lead can be smelted. A bucket of reef sand can smelt an average of five taels of silver. ”

Gao Yue bowed his head happily, this is the "gray blowing method" that runs through almost the entire Middle Ages.

"That is to say, most of the silver pits in eastern Zhejiang and Fujian are the latter two?"

"Yes, yes." Fu Yuanqi replied hurriedly.

Gao Yue was overjoyed, and said that the 5,000 diggers would gather tomorrow and take a boat to the Ling Canal to dig the canal for Du Gong.

As for Fu Yuanqi, he immediately came to the palace in Yangzhou, and gathered the Taoist priests of the "chemistry" of the Huaiyang Society to consult together.

Because Gao Yue was not satisfied, he clearly set the research goal of Gongguan for Fu Yuanqi, "This kind of gold smelting method is good, but there are too many charcoal, willow charcoal, grass ash, etc., this Dao heard that there is also a kind of alchemy, which comes from mercury, which is more convenient than the gold smelting method, you can study it carefully." ”

Fu Yuanqi was embarrassed and said that it was unheard of for a certain person who knew how to use mercury to make fake silver, and he could use mercury to refine real silver.

"This way will set up the palace view, as long as the refiner concentrates on studying, if it doesn't work for three years, it will be five years, and if it doesn't work for five years, it will be ten years, as long as it is successful, you will be a character for a hundred years and a thousand years in the future." Obviously, Gao Yue is determined to obtain this mercury refining method.

At the same time, Du You also sent 10,000 Huanwang rice by boat, and Gao Yue ordered a large-scale trial planting in Chuzhou.

With the pursuit of mercury smelting, Fu Yuanqi was ordered to leave.

Then Gao Yue couldn't wait to summon Hu Shang "Jewelry King" Hu Daoji, he had a younger brother named Hu Daocheng, hired a few Persian craftsmen who were proficient in coinage, Gao Yue spent a lot of gold, let them make the first standard silver coin in the history of the Celestial Empire, "Xingyuan Silver Treasure" (the history of this plane, the first standard silver coin of the Celestial Empire, is the Jin Dynasty minted 'Cheng'an Treasure Goods', but the circulation time is not long, and there is no physical object).

Xingyuan silver treasure made fifty pieces at one time, Gao Yue announced that each silver treasure weighed one tael, the fineness was nine and eight, and it was worth two copper coins - and then Gao Yue gave this batch of Xingyuan silver treasures to the women and children in the military palace.

This silver treasure is exquisitely cast, the middle is non-porous, there are reliefs and words, the relief is the symbol of Wu Yijun's black and white Pixiu, the text is the first year of Xing, and the words of "Huaiyang treasure".

Guo Zaizhen's sons got two silver treasures and happily went to the Zenzhi Temple market to buy pastries and playful utensils, but the dealers didn't dare to admit it, so the sons all cried and went home, saying that what kind of silver treasure this silver treasure is, it is not worth it at all, and the Wei Guogong lied to us, making Yuwen cry and laugh.

In the next few days of the military palace, Gao Yue couldn't put down the "Xingyuan Silver Treasure" cast and played with it repeatedly.

The official Han Yue was a little displeased, so he admonished that platinum is the same as beauty, dogs and horses, but it can mess people's minds, and Wei Gong should return it to the treasury as soon as possible!

"Vault? No, this road will not attribute these silver coins to the treasury, but to Huaiyang transfer, now the market is not recognized, or because the amount is too small, and then the road will be notified to Zhedong, Fujian two provinces, on the side of the mine set up a bureau, a large number of smelt platinum, and then minted into coins. After that, the silver treasure was the main coin, and the copper coin was the auxiliary coin, and commerce could be further developed. In addition, the province is about to start the second batch of ships to be repatriated. ”

"Do you want to trade the gold and silver that came to the Wa Kingdom?" Han Yu had a faint premonition in his heart.

"Don't panic, the Japanese are not fools, and they will not be unaware of the harm of the outflow of gold and silver, so we will trade large quantities of normal goods first."

"Normal goods?"

Gao Yue nodded: "Cotton, raw silk, silk, porcelain, paper, and war horses." These things are necessary for life, I first only need the Japanese country to exchange sulfur, and when the demand of the Japanese country is getting bigger and bigger, and more and more inseparable from us, I will take the opportunity to enter the copper coin, and soon they will be completely inseparable from my Tang copper coin, knowing the benefits of copper money, when the time comes, it will be convenient to use copper coins to arbitrage, ah no, it is to trade the gold and silver of the Japanese country. Money in the Wa country must be heavy, then gold and silver are cheap, I made a silver treasure in Huaiyang, can be worth two money, and the same in the Wa country, two money may buy a full two taels of silver, one back and forth, you can arbitrage, ah no, is to get double the profit, this is the way money can make money. When the circulation of silver coins is equivalent to 6 million to 8 million copper coins, Zhongtu will soon have to use all my Huaiyang silver coins, and I will be able to manipulate the 'silver money road' to Haidong in Yangzhou, ah no, it will benefit the whole world. ”

"It's really dirty......" Han Yu looked at Gao Yue and sighed in his heart.

Gao Yue did what he said, and soon he called Zhang Xi and Zhang Baogao to come closer, and first asked Zhang Baogao and said: "When you drifted to Mingzhou in eastern Zhejiang, the route was the same as the one that Bendao had sent to the Wa Kingdom before. ”

Jang Baogao replied yes, the route between Tang, Silla and Japan was fixed, because the sea was not long between the three countries, and even flat-bottomed sea ships could complete the voyage.

"What do you all use to navigate?" Gao Yue asked curiously.

Zhang Baogao's eyes widened, "Navigation...... You don't need any navigation, anyway, starting from our Wandao County, as long as you obliquely, diagonally, you can get to Yangzhou or Mingzhou! ”

Then Zhang Baogao was afraid that Gao Yue would not understand, so he repeatedly gestured and said, "Diagonally, diagonally".

Gao Yue understood, according to Zhang Baogao, the ship from Yangzhou, as long as you follow the fixed diagonal line, you can go to Wando-gun, the southernmost tip of Silla, and to the other side, the Tsushima Strait, and then whether you open or close your eyes, you can go to Tsushima and Tsukushi in Japan, and then you can go directly to Setouchi and arrive in Namba, Japan.

So where you need any navigation tools, it's all up to experience, or just look at the sun and stars in nature.

"Bao Gao, you and Zhang Xi are both following the ship this time, the purpose is to ask the Japanese to accept fixed trade."