"Geng Teng, the magistrate of Guchang County, Xiaguan, and Yin Hui, the director of the Guchang Copper Mine of Caomin. Meet Da Sima. ”

Why do I see people who have gone down in history everywhere I go?

"County Magistrate Geng, Mine Chief Yin, what do you call the two table words? How many years do you have? Where are you from? ”

"Lao Da Sima asked, the official name is Meng Sheng, who is twenty-one years old this year. His ancestral home is Chengdu, Shu County. ”

"The grass people are clearly written and are thirty-five years old this Chinese New Year's Eve. Caomin is a native of Tianshui, and he used to be under the command of General Zisi (Zhuge Xu). In the first year of Yanxing, he surrendered with General Zhenxi under Yang'an Pass. Yanxing came here in August of the second year. ”

It seems that it is right, this Geng Teng has achieved the internal history of Yizhou in the Western Jin Dynasty on the basis of history. and the Zhao I met not long ago, they are a couple who love and kill each other. Oh, I have to sigh again, there are so many talents in Yizhou.

As for this Yin Hui.

"Ziming, you and the Zhijin Wu who was not Lu in the past two years (Yin Xian, Jiang Wei's hair child. What is the relationship? ”

"Hehe, Zhi Jinwu is the uncle of the grass people. Da Sima, Yin Zai Tianshui is a big surname. The two surnamed Yin can have something to do with each other. So this clan uncle, there is really nothing. ”

"Well, this official is here this time. I mainly want to see the mining and sales of Guchang copper mine. In this way, Ziming, you lead the way, and the official must completely see the entire process of excavation, classification, smelting, and copper formation of copper mines. ”

"No! Please follow the grass people. ”

The copper mines in Yunnan are mainly bornite and chalcopyrite. The ore here contains more than 1 percent copper, making it a rare bonanza. However, for a variety of reasons, the value of copper production here has not been fully appreciated. Until the early Qing Dynasty, Wu Sangui was named the king of Pingxi and sat in Yunnan. In order to raise funds for the war against Kang Mazi, the copper mines here were developed on a large scale. After the failure of the Wu rebellion, the Qing Dynasty continued to improve the production and further development of the copper mines here. The production of Yunnan copper has flourished. In the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the peak output of copper in Yunnan reached 13 million catties, accounting for 95% of the country's total output at that time.

Copper, as a metal with conductive properties second only to silver. In modern society, its main use is to make wires. And in this era, of course, it was the main material for coinage. In other words, the massive amount of money needed for the Northern Expedition after Guan Da Sima mainly came from here. Therefore, Guan Yi attaches great importance to this place.

"Da Sima, the above is the whole process of copper mine production. In general, we dig up 100 stone of ore, and after various screening and smelting, we can get about one stone of pure copper. ”

"Well, how many people do you have here from Longxi? How many people of all ethnic groups are employed? ”

"Back to Da Sima, there are more than 700 prisoners of the original Longxi Army in the Guchang Copper Mine. When we first started production last year, we didn't hire locals. This year, after finding the direction of the ore vein and starting to expand the scale of production, we recruited some locals to work in the copper mine. Well, that number is constantly changing. As of last month, more than 1,700 locals had entered the mine to work. ”

That's 2,400 people, huh? Count the dozen or so other copper mines. That's 30,000 people. And these 30,000 people are still led by former soldiers...... Guan Yi only felt a pain in his head when he heard this number.

But there is no way, the excavation of such a large-scale mine must be a large-scale labor-intensive industry. If there are fewer people, it's not enough to see.

"This official saw in the imperial court's report that your mine is the largest among the many copper mines in Nanzhong, and it also has the most people. So this is the first stop of this official's trip to Nanzhong. So, what is the annual output value of your mine? ”

"Da Sima, last year because it was just started. So the production is very small, and I won't talk about him. This year, from July, production began to be constant. Basically, if you don't continue to increase the number of people. The mine's monthly production of copper (pure copper) is 1,000 stones. In addition, since this mine is a copper-iron-tin alloy mine, in addition to copper, we can produce 300 stone of iron and 180 stone of tin every month. ”

The five-baht coin in the Western Han Dynasty was of better quality, and it was not only a monetary unit, but also a unit of weights and measures. Since the improvement of the currency system after Lu Hou, the five baht of the Western Han Dynasty is basically about 8 grams each. The copper content is 6 grams, and the lead-tin alloy content is a little more than 2 grams. And each five-baht piece has a pressure ring on the edge – preventing someone from scraping the copper material off the edge of the coin.

The five baht of the Eastern Han Dynasty is not good, about 3.5 grams to 4 grams of one piece. The copper content is only about 3 grams. By the time of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the five-baht money was getting lighter and lighter, and during the reign of Dong Zhuo, the inferior five-baht reached its peak: only 0.5 grams each. The copper content is less than 0.1 grams.

As for the Shu Han regime. Liu Bei's shameless death is not much better than Dong Zhuo. When he first entered Yizhou, in order to boost morale, he said to the soldiers under his command, after conquering Chengdu, I don't want anything in the treasury of Liu Zhang's mansion, and I will give it all to you! As a result, after he took over Yizhou, he became a poor egg. So at the suggestion of Liu Ba, he issued a hundred and five baht - a top Han Dynasty five baht and a hundred pieces. How much does it weigh? 0.8 grams! Except for the government's forced purchase of private materials and robbing the people's money, this kind of scum currency is completely unable to circulate normally.

In the Zhuge Liang period, the Shu Han government still made five baht coins honestly, and the weight of a Shu Han five baht also recovered to about 3.5 grams in the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, due to Zhuge Liang's lack of geographical knowledge of the traverser, Shu Han has been short of copper for a period of time. On the basis of history, compared with Cao Wei's five-baht coin, the five-baht coin of Shu Han is small in size and large in thickness (the lead and tin in it are too brittle, and it is easy to break if the thickness is not increased), and the color of the copper coin is extremely dark. And with the later Chen Yuan coming to power, in order to come up with a large amount of money and grain to supply Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition. Shu Han's five-baht coin began to decrease again, falling from 3.5 grams all the way. At its most exaggerated, there was even a 5-baht coin of 0.2 grams...... Because of this, Cao Wei and Eastern Wu did not accept Shu Han's five baht, so that when Guan Yi was in Fuling County, he often had to use foreign exchange (Cao Wei's five baht) to buy things.

Now Guan Da Sima has opened the golden finger again, and he got the Yunnan copper out in advance. Shu Han finally no longer suffers from the lack of copper.

"Well, a month produces 1,000 stones of pure copper, which is 27,000 kilograms, which is converted into 27 million grams. According to the standard of five baht in the Han Dynasty, three grams of copper were used for each five baht. The production here alone is enough to mint nine million coins every month. That's 100.8 million in a year. There are more than a dozen mines in Nanzhong, and the output of a year can probably guarantee the new coinage of one billion coins per year for the imperial court. ”

That's not a small amount - he's putting new money into the market every year. But it's not much - compared to the Northern Expedition that Guan Yi is about to do, a billion dollars? It won't be long before it's spent.

However, this is almost the limit of Yunnan copper production in this era. Hey, take your time, the Northern Expedition is the last few years. However, the production of Yunnan copper can last for hundreds or thousands of years.

"Ziming, how is your livelihood now?"

"Hehe, Lao Da Sima asked. The grass people are still doing well. ”

"Now, you help me settle the score, what is a good way?"

"That's right, Da Sima. As for this copper, we are now mainly selling to the Mijia firm and the shooter firm. They all give the same price. Two thousand dollars per stone of copper. In addition, there is iron, tin and so on. This sells cheaply, and it's only seven or eight hundred dollars per stone. All in all, the monthly income of our mine is about 2.5 million yuan. According to the rules of the imperial court, we have to pay 30% of the mining tax. What actually got us was about 1.65 million yuan. We have a total of 2,400 brothers from the north and locals, and each of us receives an average of nearly 700 yuan per month. Seven hundred dollars! In recent years, the imperial court has implemented 30 taxes and 1 and land occupation orders, and the price of grain has dropped to the level of 100 yuan and 1 stone. In other words, our income can buy seven stone of grain every month! With such an income, not only can a person live very comfortably, but also more than enough to support a family! ”

This is Guan Yixin. Shu Han and the soldiers of Cao Wei in the past, the annual salary is about 5,000 yuan. Before the price of grain fell, the annual income was only enough to buy more than 30 stone of grain. It is completely different from the current annual income that can buy more than 80 stone grains.

And......

"Ziming, I heard that you hire locals to mine for you, and you only give people one stone of grain a month?"

"Why! It couldn't have been so low. Miners are manual workers, and it is easy to eat one stone of food a month. If we really give someone a stone of food, then they will have nothing left but food every month! The lowest salary we get here is 200 dollars a month! Da Sima, you can ask County Magistrate Geng about this. His men are stationed in the mines, and they have to check our accounts every month so that we can collect taxes! We can't afford that! ”