Bailiyan judged that it was impossible for the Western tapirs to extract platinum by complicated means, and the most likely was that it came from the association of gold or silver mines, and Gusimi Khan's later statement also verified this.

Platinum is mostly associated with other elemental minerals, and it is not uncommon for gold and silver to be associated with platinum minerals. Because the physical properties and melting point of platinum are 800 degrees higher than that of silver and gold, platinum is not easy to form alloys under natural conditions.

Gold and silver ores containing platinum are smelted to produce platinum that cannot be melted, and platinum is twice as dense as silver and similar to gold, so platinum can precipitate with silver or float in gold.

The Western tapirs mined gold and silver and accidentally found platinum, because it is equivalent to silver, and will not corrode, the early Western tapirs also used platinum as silver, trying to exchange goods with the Central Plains, but the melting point of platinum is extremely high, and it can be smelted by charcoal and coal alone, so platinum can not be cast and shaped, and is rejected by the Central Plains.

However, platinum can be softened when heated, and the tapirs used it to hammer small or large pieces of platinum into jewelry, or utensils for decoration and everyday objects.

According to Gusmi Khan, ten catties of silver can get two or three taels or half a catty of platinum, and twenty catties of gold can get about half a catty of platinum.

Hearing this, Bai Liyan's heart moved, and he said:

"Ben Hou looks at this hard silver is very exquisite, can the envoy sell some with Ben Hou, Ben Hou is willing to buy it at a high price."

"Oh, Yongxing Hou is willing to buy hard silver?" Gu Simi Khan was overjoyed in his heart, and asked again: "How much does Hou Ye want to buy, and what is the price?" ”

"Hard silver is produced in your state, and the manpower consumed by the Hou is not careful, so it is better to make a bid."

"Alright, let me think about it before I reply."

Due to technical constraints, the mining and smelting of toxic platinum ore in Zhaocheng are backward, and the cost is very high, coupled with toxic pollution and land pollution, the cost is even higher. The platinum of the Western Tapir comes from a by-product of gold and silver smelting, and its smelting, technical and environmental costs are far lower.

After a short moment, Gusmi Khan made up his mind and spoke:

"What is the price of eighty percent silver?"

"Is this price too high, Ben Hou will buy a hundred stones first, and it will be cheaper."

"That's it!" Gu Simi Khan was taken aback, and immediately doubted in his heart, he asked: "Yongxing Hou wants such hard silver as jewelry?" ”

"Oh, that's the case, presumably the envoy also knows that my Xianguo can make accurate tools, and the scales used are all lead casting or copper and iron, etc., but they are all easy to rust and are not allowed, and it is okay for ordinary people to trade small goods, if it is a large amount of gold and precious goods, and even gold and silver measurements, they can only use gold and silver as the scales.

And Xianguo now makes tens of thousands of precision tools every year, and if they are all weighed in gold and silver, the treasury can bear it. Nowadays, there is this hard silver, which is just used for precision weighing, if the price is too expensive, it may be difficult to afford. ”

Gusmi Khan was extremely clever, and he quickly discovered the flaw:

"Hard silver can't be melted, so how can it be made into scales?"

"It is burned red and pressed into an iron mold, then beaten into pieces repeatedly, and then cooled and handed over to the hands of the goldsmith and silversmith, where it can be polished repeatedly."

Baili Yan said against his will, Gu Simi Khan heard a little reasonable, so he said:

"How about 60 percent of the price of silver?"

"Sixty percent, Ben Hou can give some more profits to your state in the goods, but the transaction on the bright side can only be traded at sixty percent of the silver price, how about the envoy?"

"Well, yes, it's not a loss. However, we still need the permission of our clan leader to trade, and I hope that Yongxing Hou will forgive me. ”

"It's okay, Ben Hou can wait."

"Then it is decided, and we will immediately send people back to the country, trade with your country as soon as possible, and exchange ideas about whether they have what they need."

"What the envoy said is very true, it is not the wish of the people of the two races to meet each other, but it is better to trade."

In fact, the people of the Central Plains also wanted to trade, but the productivity was low, the distance was long, and the transportation capacity was limited, so the cost of trade was very high, and at the same time, the greed of the ruling class and the internal political contradictions made the rulers more inclined to use force to divert domestic contradictions, and at the same time to obtain gold and silver resources by plunder.

However, the intrinsic increase in gold and silver cannot solve the fundamental contradiction of low productivity and insufficient material per capita. On the contrary, inflation will be imported, the economy will deteriorate, and then the cycle of ups and downs will be repeated, and eventually form a cyclical shock in which life is not good, and when there is internal contradictions, the contradictions will be transferred to the outside world by force, and the precious metals will be imported again.

To a certain extent, the eastward expansion of the country is still the result of its domestic political contradictions, superimposed on the deformity of productive forces and production relations.

The conversation with Gusmi Khan lasted two hours, and when he left, Gusmi Khan gave him a large box of platinum ornaments. There is no market for platinum in the Central Plains, and the platinum jewelry of the Western tapirs is not popular with the upper class, and it is more bought and worn by the middle and lower class wealthy people with a little petty bourgeoisie to decorate the façade.

Platinum could not perform the function of a precious metal and participate in the liquid exchange, but its price was not much cheaper than silver, and its color and appearance were similar to silver, so it gave the illusion that it could only be purchased for copper coins in the Liang Kingdom, and could not be traded in silver or gold.

Due to the scarcity of precious metals, the lower middle class preferred to trade copper coins for platinum jewelry to highlight their status and status.

In general, platinum is mostly popular in the city of Jinye, and even most people in the outside world confuse it with silver, and it is not clear that it is separated.

At this time, Zhou Kong, Chunrou, Chunfang and others were in a restaurant not far away, and Bai Liyan found Tang Tao, Bai Lifang and Xu Yan here, so he asked Zhou Kong:

"What about Tang Tao and Fang'er?"

"I went to Four Seasons Fang an hour and a half ago, and Xu is still there."

"Four Seasons? That's not Le Fang, two women's homes, what are you going to do in Four Seasons Fang. ”

"Why don't you go and take a look."

Zhou Kong proposed, Bai Liyan nodded in agreement, and then led everyone to the Four Seasons Fang.

Four Seasons Square is the largest music workshop in the city of Jinye, with singing, dancing and drum music, and although there is no brothel, it is also a place where the miasma of black smoke is pimped.

Unlike the Xian State, which has been purged for many years, the business scope of music shops and brothels is clearly bounded, and the situation in other vassal states is much more complicated than that of law-abiding, and the situation in other vassal states is much more complicated.

Bailifang sees the glamour at home, but when it goes abroad, it is basically the darkest side of society.

When I arrived at the Four Seasons Square on foot, the three-storey building is very magnificent, the three well-shaped buildings in the front, middle and back are lined up one after another, and the east, west, north and south sides are surrounded by a wall more than one zhang high, which can be called a small palace, and it will never lose the palace building and majesty in the heavenly womb, and I am afraid that the second such amazing music square will not be found in the whole world.

Compared with other shops and stores on the street, in the street where the Four Seasons Square is located, there is a piece of bluestone brick white ground with a length of 20 zhang and a width of 5 zhang in front of the door, with a horse tether pile and a horse climbing stone, which is specially used for parking and resting horses.

"Why don't you call someone in and have a look?" Zhou Kong twisted his eyebrows, as if he was asking for information, but in fact, he didn't want Bailiyan to enter the music shop to ask for another Ninth Lady.

Bai Liyan also heard what Zhou Kong meant, but she didn't think so. The mess is enough for him to clean up at the moment, how can he have the leisure to ask the ninth lady to go back and enjoy it. He said:

"Don't worry, I'm measured."

"I'm not at ease, in case I ask for a Ninth Lady again, how can I explain to Sister Rong."

At this time, Chunrou and Chunfang laughed, Bailiyan coughed lightly, and said seriously:

"Wei Qi, take four people into the workshop with me, and the others stay outside the workshop."

"No!"

Strictly speaking, the Bandroom is an elegant place to enjoy music and dance, both men and women can enter, in fact, women rarely enter and leave the Band, because most of the Bands are not clean, and women in and out of the Bandfang are easy to be mistaken for women in the Band, which leads to trouble, so women rarely enter and leave the Band.

In addition, in recent years, the customs have gradually been lifted, and the music workshop in the Yanling area also accommodates serious women to learn art here, and even has developed into a blind date and marriage introduction.

Stepping into the music square, a white-faced student with twenty-five or six green jacquard brocade stepped forward, his eyes swept over Bai Liyan and the others, and he was startled by the scar on Zhou Kong's face.

He immediately turned his gaze and landed on a scarlet satin straight-lined robe, with a sword wrapped around his waist, with a beautiful jade hanging bead, and a hundred miles of swallows with flying and noble hair.

"This must be a nobleman, I don't know what I can do here?"

Bai Liyan didn't say a word, took out a small silver bean from the belt around his waist, twisted it between his index finger and thumb, and said:

"Find someone down there."

The white-faced Xiaosheng raised his eyebrows, took away the little silver bean in Bailiyan's hand, and said busily:

"It's easy to find someone to say, whether the guests are looking for a dancer or a music girl, as long as it is a beautiful woman in the workshop, it will be found by the nobles one by one."

"An hour and a half ago, there was a man in white, a lady with pink satin and wide sleeves, and a black brocade man in his fifties and several men came to your place, have you ever seen it?"

The white-faced Xiaosheng was happy, and when he heard Bai Liyan say something in detail, he learned that he was not here to consume, and he immediately felt that a small silver bean just now was quite worthless, but he still said with a honey-like smile on his face:

"There are more guests in and out of this square in all kinds of costumes, and they were not on duty an hour and a half ago, so why don't you wait for a moment for your guests, and ask them down."

"Well, I'm tired."

Bai Liyan raised his hand and gave a slight salute, and the white-faced Xiaosheng turned around and plunged into the crowd. At this time, Zhou Kong asked:

"How can Le Niang here be a man?"

The voice fell, and Chunrou on the side answered:

"Only Xianguo has Le Niang, and more than ten years ago, Xianguo Music Fang did not have Le Niang only Lu Gong, after the implementation of the new policy, Hou Ye changed the rules, and there was only Le Niang and no Law Gong in Le Fang."

"And here's the thing."

Zhou Kong was surprised, where had she been to the Le Fang brothel. Soon after the Black Turban Incident, the Le Fang brothels were confiscated and "confiscated", so there was no Music Fang on the territory of the Black Turban Army.