After Li Yan received Feng Cheng's report on the seizure of a large amount of gold and silver, he immediately asked Bai Shixiong to take the cavalry and quickly respond. With such a large sum of gold and silver, he was also a little excited.

In recent years, due to material scarcity, especially the reduction of food, silver money has become worthless, so the area under his control has always used barter, and even grain as a measure of the value of goods. At most, when the officers are rewarded for their merits, they are given some silver.

But since last year, it seems that the drought has not been so severe, and there has been more rain than usual. In the future, when there will be more grain, it will not be appropriate to use grain as an equivalent exchange, and it will still be necessary to use silver money.

It is said that Li Zicheng took tens of millions of taels of gold and silver with him when he left, and if he could get this money, he would at least be able to pay the officers and soldiers. But that was only after Shandong and Zhili could stabilize. And he has always felt that the silver ingots are really inconvenient, the silver treasury is a large ingot of fifty taels, and when it is distributed below, it will have to be melted into small pieces of silver, and the cost in the middle is too serious. There is also the fineness and weight, which have to be identified separately, and it is not very convenient to circulate.

So he wanted to make the silver into a uniform silver coin, so that it would be much easier to circulate. And there is also a lot less multiple smelting and cutting in the middle, so that the silver is less useless loss. Of course, this also deprives many people of the opportunity to profit from it.

However, it is a pity that he went to the Baoquan Bureau in the capital to see that the coinage there is still made by turning sand, and the copper coins produced cannot be perfect in terms of shape or text. The value of copper coins is not large, and some differences are acceptable, but silver coins are different, and if they are not highly consistent, then there is not much point in making silver coins.

So Li Yan picked up the pen and wrote a letter to Li Zhong in Kaifeng, asking him to organize craftsmen to see if he could use iron molds to mint silver coins. Although he thought that it seemed better to use the method of die-casting, there were many technical links in the middle, and at least it was possible to make a forging machine with sufficient strength first, so he didn't mention it much.

"Someone," Li Yan wrote the letter and ordered, "Send this letter to General Li Zhong." ”

Sun Sifu came in and took the letter, and then reported: "Dashuai, John Tang is here, just outside the camp." ”

Li Yan didn't live in the palace, one was that it had just been burned down, and everything was a mess. Another is that he doesn't trust those eunuchs, palace maids, and forbidden soldiers very much. Who knows if someone will want to avenge the Ming Emperor, it's not good to have a sudden attack. With such a small number of troops, he still has to control the key places in the entire Beijing, how can he have the spare strength to guard the palace for him. So he simply lived in the barracks, which was convenient and safe.

Li Yan ordered, "Let him come in." ”

After a while, John Tong, who had green eyes, a high nose and a yellow beard, was invited in. However, he was wearing a Confucian shirt and a square scarf, and when he came in, he arched his hand and said in Chinese: "The villain Tang Ruowang has seen the generalissimo." ”

Li Yan nodded and ordered: "No need to be polite, sir, please take a seat." ”

"Generalissimo Xie sit down." After thanking him, John Tang sat half his ass on the chair, ready to answer the question at any time. He has always taken the upper route, mostly dealing with scholars and doctors, so he still has a complete understanding of etiquette.

Li Yan said with a smile: "I invited Mr. here today to ask him some questions." ”

John Tang stood up and arched his hand: "Please ask the generalissimo to inquire." ”

"This book was written by Mr." Li Yan picked up the book "Telescope Theory" and pointed to it.

Tang Ruowang looked up and was sure that he had written it himself, and his heart was happy. In the past, they made up the book and presented it to those in power. Unexpectedly, this new ruler of Beijing took the initiative to find their books to read, and I thought that I would also have a good impression of their master.

He smiled and nodded: "Yes, this book was written by the villain." ”

Li Yan nodded and asked, "Very good, that gentleman can make glass?" Grinding lenses? Then he took out the telescope and said, "Then make a telescope like this." ”

Tang Ruowang hesitated for a moment and asked, "Does the generalissimo want to make a telescope?" ”

"Yes." Li Yan said: "In your book, you only talk about the principle of the telescope, but you don't say how to make it, especially the key component of the glass lens. I want to confirm whether the gentleman will or not. ”

"We have a lot of missionaries, and each one has a variety of skills, and there must be people who can make glass and lenses, so please don't worry about it, Generalissimo." John Tong said, "However, the villain asks to see you often, so that he can always pass on the gospel of the Lord to you." ”

Li Yan smiled and said, "Yes, as long as you can make glass and lenses, and hand them all over to my craftsmen, you can come to see me every day." But if you can't do it, sir, your missionary work will be a great setback. ”

"Generalissimo," Tang Ruowang was stunned for a moment, feeling that Li Yan didn't trust them, so he hurriedly said, "Do you doubt our honesty?" ”

"Yes." Li Yan did not shy away from it, and said directly: "I have seen the cannon you cast, which is no different from the cannon made by the Ming Dynasty, it is the same thick and fragile. And they are all small-caliber artillery, which is quite different from the Hongyi artillery of the Portuguese directly purchased. ”

Tang Ruowang was a little surprised, he didn't expect Li Yan to know Portugal, and other people could call these Europeans Hongyi, or Fanren, and never cared about the name of their country.

"That's because their craftsmen are too bad," John Tang immediately distinguished, "It is impossible for us to implement each step in detail, and those craftsmen have no way to follow our instructions." They only did it according to their experience, so all the large-caliber guns were scrapped, leaving only those small-caliber guns. ”

Li Yan also felt some truth when he heard it, so he said, "Okay, I accept your explanation." So now you guys get ready, and I want to see you done as soon as possible. Of course, you can gather missionaries from other places, or even from European countries. ”

Although Tang Ruowang was a little uncertain, he still agreed: "Okay, Generalissimo." It will take a lot of time, though, and I hope to see you anytime in the meantime. ”

Li Yan shook his head: "I'm afraid this won't work." You're going to Henan, where I've prepared the kilns for firing glass, and I'm going to stay in Beijing for the time being. It's not very peaceful here, it's dangerous at any time, and I don't want your work to be affected in any way. ”

John Tang was blinded, glass is also the top secret in Europe, and they only know a little bit of skin at most. He originally wanted to get some lenses from Hao Jingao to assemble them, but if he asked them to go to Henan, wouldn't that be exposed?

"It's okay in Beijing, as long as you have some troops, the walls here can block any enemy attack." John Tang hurriedly redeemed it.

Li Yan said toughly: "Sir, don't say any more, I'll send someone back with Mr. now to help you pack your things." When my troops have cleared out the bandits along the way, I will send the gentlemen to Henan. ”

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