On the first day of the third month, under the recommendation of his father-in-law Cui Wending, Li Zhi and Cui Wending went together to find the second Qian, who is said to be the best silver ticket craftsman in Tianjin. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Cui Wending rode a horse and walked side by side with Li Zhi, walking halfway, Cui Wending looked at Li Zhi's gorgeous honor guard with some embarrassment, and said: "Grandpa Guo, I still remember when you came to my house to propose, when you were still a deputy thousand households. Who knew that a few years later, Grandpa Guo has become the Duke of Jin Guo of my Ming Dynasty. ”

Li Zhi heard what Cui Wending said, smiled and didn't speak.

Cui Wending saw that Li Zhi didn't say this, thought about it, and said directly: "Grandpa Guo, now Cui Changwudu is already the commander of the guard of Zheng Sanpin, wearing a black gauze hat all day long, wearing a red official robe, very majestic. I can't hold the shelf in front of him! ”

Li Zhi looked at Cui Wending and guessed what Cui Wending meant-Cui Wending is now less than fifty years old, in good health, and still wants to be an official.

Cui Wending saw that Li Zhi still didn't speak, so he had no choice but to recommend himself and said: "Guogong, when will there be a suitable position, and you will also let me work under you, how about it?" ”

Li Zhi asked, "Brother-in-law's business is not done?" ”

"It's a trivial business, let Cui He's younger brother, my son Cui Xuesheng, who was born in the side room, do it, and he is also twenty-five years old. As soon as others heard that he was the younger brother of the Duchess of the Kingdom, they were all respectful, and no one dared to lie to him! ”

Li Zhi smiled, nodded and said, "Okay, if there is a suitable position in the future, I will let my father-in-law do it, and let my father-in-law also be an official." ”

When Cui Wending heard the last sentence, he laughed, gently slapped his hand on Li Zhi's shoulder, and patted it several times.

Seeing that Li Zhi agreed to his request, Cui Wending was in a good mood, raised his hand and said:

"Guogong, the second Qian I introduced to you is said to have passed down a pair of ancestors to make a 'watermark', specially for the major money houses in Tianjin to make silver ticket paper. There are all kinds of watermarks on the paper made by Qian Lao and the second-hand, which can be seen just by looking at it. Therefore, whether the business of Qian Er's printing workshop is good, it is said that Qian Lao Er will charge one cent of silver for making a silver ticket, and he can make a net profit of six or seven taels of silver a month. ”

Li Zhi is looking for the second money, naturally for the matter of printing money. As long as Li Zhi is willing to spend money, the cost of counterfeiting banknotes will be greatly increased, and the probability of counterfeit banknotes will decrease. To prevent counterfeiting, banknotes naturally need to be made of special materials and need to use watermark technology.

Li Zhi walked into the printing alley with Cui Wending and saw that there were printing workshops on both sides of the alley that covered a considerable area. In the largest courtyard of the alley, Li Zhi found Qian Lao'er.

Qian Laoer is a middle-aged man in his early thirties, who is producing paper for silver tickets in the yard. Seeing Li Zhi coming, he knelt at the gate of the courtyard with all the employees. However, although the second Qian was kneeling on the ground, his attitude was very philistine, and he looked Li Zhi up and down with his eyes while kneeling.

Li Zhi also looked at Qian Er, and saw that he was barefoot on his feet, and he had a dog skin plaster on his head, and his image was really indecent.

Li Zhi waved his hand and asked Qian Lao Er to stand up.

Cui Wending said loudly: "Second Qian, Grandpa Guo came to you to discuss the printing of a new type of silver ticket. You have been making silver tickets for so many years, you must have some research on anti-counterfeiting methods? ”

Qian Lao Er got up, looked at Cui Wending, and stared at Li Zhi for a while, as if he was wondering what silver ticket Li Zhi wanted to print, and then said: "Grandpa Guo, this anti-counterfeiting thing depends on how much money you are willing to spend." As long as you are willing to spend money, there is a lot of article in this silver ticket anti-counterfeiting. If the grandfather of the country has enough money, it is impossible for ordinary forgers to spend so much money to get a set of counterfeit equipment. ”

"For example?"

"For example, the treasure banknotes printed by the government follow the method of the Yuan Dynasty, using mulberry paper as the main material of banknote paper, and adding a large number of discarded official paper to pulp as ingredients. The color of the banknote paper is characteristic blue-gray, and the paper is extremely thick, and although it is heavier, it is difficult to imitate. ”

"Another example is the silver tickets of various money houses in Tianjin, which are all made by me to make watermarked bottom tickets with watermarks. After I made a blank ticket, I sent it to another workshop to print the pattern, and then stamped it with the big seal of the bank, and the private seal of the shopkeeper of the bank, so that the forger could not imitate it. ”

"If Grandpa Guo is willing to spend money, he can also go to the capital to find Liu Mingtao and find him to make extremely fine engravings. This Liu Mingtao carving is very tight! The lead plate he carved out can print dozens of small characters on a paper half the size of a palm, and ordinary forgers can't afford to spend so much money on this kind of fine carving. ”

After Qian Lao Er finished saying this, he took a blank piece of paper with a watermark from an apprentice next to him.

"Grandpa Guo, look at it, this is the watermark paper I made."

Li Zhi took the piece of paper and looked at the sky, and saw that the paper was printed with four watermarks: "Zhan's Qianzhuang".

Li Zhi looked at Qian Er, nodded, and said: "Okay, Qian Er, I intend to hire you as the director of the mint, responsible for the production of watermarked mulberry paper and silver ticket paper, I will give you ten taels of silver a month, how about it?" ”

Qian Laoer's eyes lit up when he heard that Li Zhi hired him. Only then did he respect Li Zhi, tore off the dog skin plaster on his head, and said to Li Zhi: "Okay! Do you still need to think about it? There is an official to do things with Grandpa Guo, as long as Grandpa Guo can afford to look up to Qian Er, Qian Lao Er has nothing to say! ”

Li Zhi saw that as soon as the second Qian came up, he vaguely asked him to be an official, and he was a little dissatisfied with the philistine style of this Qian Er. However, technical talents are rare, and Li Zhi cannot ask a technician to be selfless and have the world in mind.

Li Zhi said lightly: "If you don't make a mistake in one or two years, a hundred households will not be able to escape." ”

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On March 15, the first branch of Li Zhijinqi Bank opened in Fanjiazhuang and began to issue banknotes.

Li Zhi's banknotes had a minimum face value of one cent of silver, and on top of one cent there were five cents of silver, one penny of silver, five coins of silver, and one tael of silver. There are five denominations in total.

In order to publicize the opening of this bank, the Tianjin Daily conducted a full five days of warm-up, analyzed the convenience of the bank's banknotes from various angles, and encouraged people to deposit their silver in Jinqi Bank in exchange for banknotes.

Of course, convenience alone will not make people get into the habit of using banknotes as currency. The front page of the "Tianjin Daily" carried a big trick by Li Zhi to promote the use of banknotes -- if citizens used the banknotes of the Jinqi Bank to pay taxes, the banknotes with a denomination of one tael could be offset against the tax of one tael and two cents of silver.

In other words, if the silver is deposited in the Jinqi Bank in exchange for banknotes, you can save two percent of the tax.

It's a bargain. Although the tax incentive of 2% is not a lot of money, you can get such a discount by simply depositing the money in the bank, which can not do such a good thing? The people of Fanjiazhuang flocked to Li Zhi's first bank, waiting in line to exchange money.

Even other vendors near Fanjiazhuang and even the traders of the Tianjin Acropolis came. These vendors are all required to pay commercial taxes, and one by one there is a long queue in front of the bank.

However, the bank's counters are limited, and the speed of changing banknotes is limited, and many vendors look at the long queue spreading on the road, knowing that they will not be able to exchange banknotes without spending half a day, and they all know the difficulty and retreat.

Although these vendors did not exchange the banknotes, the scarcity of the banknotes of the Jinqi Bank was deeply imprinted in the minds of these traders. In the days to come, if the guests used the banknotes of the Tenzi Bank to buy their goods, the merchants would be one hundred and twenty happy. Even if a customer takes a tael of silver to buy goods, these vendors are willing.