In order to issue new coins as quickly as possible, it is necessary to mint a sufficient number of coins in a short period of time.

For this reason, Liu received the task given to him by Zhao Junsheng, and the new coins must be issued in Qianjing City within two months, and then gradually issued in other counties and counties.

In order to mint enough coins within the specified time limit, Liu He tried his best, first of all, to increase the number of craftsmen who minted coins and increase the smelting furnaces; secondly, it is to increase the number of money fans; Thirdly, the casting group was increased, at the beginning there were only ten casting groups, but now the smelting furnaces have been increased, and the craftsmen have also increased, and the casting group has been increased to fifty, so that the minting speed of the coin has increased fivefold.

In order to keep the metal smelting method and metal mixing formula secret, Liu Qi had to separate the two processes and send heavy troops to guard them, and no one else would not only enter, but would be shot once they approached.

At the same time, Liu also asked Zhao Junsheng to issue a decree to punish craftsmen who leaked the coinage process or guarded and stole from themselves, so as to warn these craftsmen and handymen.

Too many craftsmen and handymen not only brought management difficulties, but also in the future the number of coins minted reached a certain saturation, and there was no longer a need for so many craftsmen, how to settle these craftsmen became a big problem, and if the craftsmen were left to the people, they were likely to leak the coinage process, which was a headache.

Zhao Junsheng has always been worried about a problem, if the actual value of the new coin is higher than the face value, then wouldn't the imperial court lose a lot?

What does that mean? It means that it took 120 yuan of materials to make a coin with a face value of 100 yuan, is it a loss?

This is not just a matter of losing money, if someone in the people hoards a large number of new coins, and then melts them down and sells them again, this is equivalent to selling the actual value of a coin with a face value of 120 yuan, and these people can make a huge profit from it, and the loss is the imperial court! Not only is the imperial court losing a lot of money, but the speed of minting money is not as fast as that of those speculators!

As soon as he thought of this question, Zhao Junsheng couldn't sit still, and immediately sent someone to summon Liu Qi to come and interrogate.

"How much does it cost to mint a new coin?"

As soon as Liu Qi heard it, he knew what Zhao Junsheng was worried about, and this question had been considered for a long time, and he replied: "Back to the king, including the purchase of raw materials, equipment wear, labor costs, distribution and transportation, and so on, all expenses are counted, and the cost of casting the money to the issuance to the hands of the people is about 950 Wen, and the imperial court still has a surplus of 50 Wen!" ”

Zhao Junsheng breathed a sigh of relief, "That's very good!" In a few days, it will be the day when the new coin will be issued in Qianjing, is the numismatic department ready? ”

"Back to the king, the mint has minted 800,000 guan so far, I don't know how the king plans to issue new coins?"

Zhao Junsheng thought for a while and said: "In this way, it will soon be the day to distribute the money to the ministers and officials of the court, just a few days in advance, this batch of coins will be distributed as their money, and tomorrow you will send someone to transport the coins to the Yamen of the Ministry of Households!" ”

"Obey orders!"

Zhao Junsheng then issued an edict to issue new coins in an all-round way, gradually replacing the circulation role of old coins, cloth, silk, etc. in the market, ending the situation of bartering within two years, and prohibiting the circulation of old coins of the previous dynasty in the market for three years.

The edict also said that starting next year, the grain and livestock purchased by the imperial court and the government will be paid for in new coins, and this edict also reassures the people that the old coins of the previous dynasty in their homes will not become a pile of broken copper and iron without any purchasing power.

On the fifth day of the third month of 437 AD, the first batch of new coins was issued in Qianjing, and the ministers and officials received the new coins as Yulu.

As soon as they got their hands on these new coins, many officials fell in love with them at first sight.

The new coins are full of materials, no more and no less, although they follow the shape of the old coins of the previous dynasty, but the coins are golden, there are not only words on the surface of the coins, but also patterns, and the casting process is extremely fine, and the people and neighboring countries want to imitate can not do it.

As soon as the new coins were introduced to the market, they were immediately loved by traders and ordinary people, and their purchasing power was extremely strong, and some people were willing to exchange five Southern Dynasty five baht coins for a Qiankun Tongbao with a face value.

The first Qiankun Tongbao was issued as a gift for the ministers and officials of the imperial court, so unless these ministers and officials used these coins to buy daily necessities in the market, ordinary people could not obtain them from other sources for the time being.

There was no way to do it, the mint's output was limited, and even if it was minted with all its might, it would not be able to meet the needs of the entire Qianjing region in a few days.

And the most frightening thing for those wealthy families and wealthy families is that once the Qiankun Tongbao is issued, the old coins of the former dynasty hidden in the cellar of their homes begin to depreciate, and as a last resort, these wealthy families and wealthy families take out the mountains of old coins of the former dynasty in the cellar to buy cloth, silk and other goods, and they can only buy these goods as currency circulation, grain and livestock are controlled by the imperial court, and they can't buy them if they want to buy them in large quantities, and if they buy other goods, it is useless to buy them back, and they may rot at home.

Although the old currency of the previous dynasty depreciated greatly, it was a hard currency after all, and it was minted with copper and other metals, and even if it was melted down and sold for copper, it could be worth a lot, so its depreciation was limited.

At this time, the government issued a notice announcing that the people and officials could use the old coins in their hands to exchange for Qiankun Tongbao at the yamen of the government, and three five-baht coins could be exchanged for one Qiankun Tongbao, but the number of exchanges per day was limited.

On this day, Liu Qi came to see Zhao Junsheng and presented another new coin.

"King, this is a gold coin minted with gold as raw material, the shape, weight, pattern, and face value are the same as the Qiankun Tongbao, but the material is different, the size is different, and the color is also different!"

Zhao Junsheng took it and looked at it, it was golden, and he felt very good, and asked, "This is pure gold?" ”

"Yes!"

Zhao Junsheng asked, "Can it be circulated in the market as a coin?" ”

Liu Qi said: "As far as the minister knows, the overall gold stock of our Qianguo is relatively rich, but most of it is in the people, and the gold stock reserved by the imperial court is not enough to mint coins and issue them!" If the imperial court wanted to make gold coins a currency that could be circulated, the minister thought that it could order that officials and civilians should be allowed to exchange gold for Qiankun Tongbao! ”

"A further decree was issued prohibiting any official or private person from using gold as a material to make utensils, except for jewelry; It is forbidden for any official or private person to use gold and coins as burial goods to accompany them in the coffin chamber! In this way, the loss of gold can be reduced! ”

Zhao Junsheng nodded and asked, "Liu Qi, Lone has always been very confused, gold is a very valuable and valuable metal, why has it not been able to become a coin circulation?" As far as Gu knows, in the Western Han Dynasty, large transactions were paid for with gold, and the gold reserves at that time should not be small, but in the Eastern Han Dynasty, gold gradually withdrew from the ranks of transaction payments, why is this? ”

Liu Qi obviously has studied this aspect, he said: "King, the world's gold production is low, limited by the problem of gold production and civil loss, so the total amount of gold in the world has not been much, which is one of the reasons why it has not become a coin circulation!" ”

"Also, there is a large gap between the gold stock of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, in the Western Han Dynasty, gold is indeed used as a means of payment for bulk transactions, and the value is very clear, to the Eastern Han Dynasty gold as a means of transaction payment has gradually withdrawn from the historical stage, the reason is that since the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the stock of gold has declined significantly!"

"During the Western Han Dynasty, the emperor rewarded his courtiers with gold more than 100 times, and sometimes rewarded tens of thousands of gold, while the Eastern Han Dynasty only had nine times, the number was small, and the money and things were given more, and the copper coins were recorded more than 60 times, and Liu Bei rewarded Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu and others with only 500 gold each, which is too different from the number of courtiers rewarded by the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty!"

"The reduction of gold stocks, on the one hand, is the low production; On the other hand, the government and the people have a preference for collecting gold, and they like to hide it when they have gold, and even when people die, their descendants do not know where the gold is hidden, and there is also a custom of burying the deceased with gold; Another reason is that Buddhism spread eastward during the Han Dynasty, and Taoism also rose after the Wei and Jin dynasties, and gold was mostly used to cast Buddha statues and ritual instruments, which caused gold to not be able to become a coin in the market for various reasons! ”

Zhao Junsheng listened to Liu Qi's words, he thought for a long time, and said: "Then don't issue gold coins for the time being, if one day, the imperial court can get a large source of gold, and then issue gold coins!" In this way, the Mint first made 10,000 gold coins and stored them, and used them to reward meritorious officials, not to circulate them as coins! ”

Liu He agreed: "Yes, King!" ”

Zhao Junsheng returned to the inner palace after handling military and political affairs, and saw Hua Mulan walking in from outside, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "What have you been doing these days?" How do you leave early and return late like me? Your belly is getting bigger day by day, and it's about to give birth, so it's better not to run out anymore, right? ”

Hua Mulan said: "The women's talent contest is going to be held in Qianjing soon, I've been busy with this for the past few days!" It's only a matter of three or five days, and when I'm done, I'll stay in the palace and give birth with peace of mind, so you can rest assured! ”

Zhao Junsheng knew that since the last time Hua Mulan presided over the women's poetry conference, the first women's poetry contest was held very successfully, not only talented women from famous families from all over the Qianguo, but also talented women from the Southern Dynasties, Pingcheng, Chang'an, and even talented women from Bashu across thousands of mountains and rivers rushed to participate.

After the women's poetry conference was held, Hua Mulan not only did not ask Zhao Junsheng for a penny, but also earned a large amount of advertising expenses from merchants, in addition to the expenses and bonuses for holding the poetry conference, she also made a lot of money, and a large number of sons and students who came to Qianjing from all over the country made great contributions to the economic development of Qianjing.

Zhao Junsheng asked curiously: "How much advertising money did you collect from those merchants this time?" ”

Hua Mulan stretched out five fingers: "Five hundred gold!" This time, I also plan to charge tickets to the audience, the seats in the front row will be charged 35,000 yuan, the middle row will be charged more than 1,000 yuan, and the back will be charged a few hundred yuan, don't you say, only two or three days of work, the tickets will be sold out! ”

Zhao Junsheng was dumbfounded.