In order to quell the rebellion in the southwest as soon as possible, the emperor issued an order: Zhu Xieyuan, the governor of Sichuan, added the title of secretary of the military department, and concurrently supervised the military affairs of Guizhou, Yunnan, and Guangxi provinces, and gave Shang Fang a sword to command the pacification of the southwest rebellion. Qin Liangyu was appointed as the governor of the capital, the governor of the capital, and was crowned as his wife, Ma Xianglin was appointed as the consolation envoy, Qin Minping was the deputy commander-in-chief, and Qin Yiming and Qin Gongming were generals.

Zhu Youxiao asked the eunuch who announced the decree to bring the pocket watch and binoculars to Lu Qin, and asked the eunuch to pass on the message, explaining that his class would be discussed after returning to Beijing, and he should be the deputy general first.

The minting machine finally came, and Xu Guangqi reported the good news to the emperor, which made Zhu Youxiao very happy. Because now not only is there a shortage of money in the treasury of the household department, but his own internal funds are also somewhat unable to cope with it. The War Bureau is a money-burner, and the newspaper is also a money-burner, and he has ordered the restoration of the three major halls to be temporarily stopped last time, so that he has a little more money at hand. As an emperor, he was really drunk when he was short of money.

At the same time as the minting machine, there is also the machine tool that Zhu Youxiao once said, but now it is not called this name, some are called grinding machines, and some are called boring machines, which can be used for machining. Zhu Youxiao asked people to summon Sun Yuanhua, and then went to the mint with Xu Guangqi.

Li Zhizao greeted him at the gate of the mint, and Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, asking him not to be polite, and several people came to the factory. Two missionaries who assisted Li Zhizao were operating the machine with the craftsmen who came with the minting machine, and when they saw the emperor, they came to salute together.

"No need to be polite, show me the operation process." Zhu Youxiao said anxiously. The two missionaries and the craftsman said a few words, and the craftsman began to operate, and the missionary explained beside him.

The craftsman first used a machine to press the silver into a thin silver plate, and then placed it in the mint, the sledgehammer on top was pressed down under the pull of the animal force, and there was a steel mold at the bottom, and there was a round hole in the middle, and a round silver coin fell out from the bottom, and the craftsman presented the silver coin.

Zhu Youxiao looked at it carefully, the cut surface was very smooth, and there was nothing on the silver coin, that was because the mold had not been made yet. "Good, good." Zhu Youxiao said happily: "What's going on with the mold, Li Qing." ”

"We have prepared a number of patterns, and we still need Your Majesty to choose a suitable one to use as a mold." Li Zhizao took the pattern prepared by the mint.

Zhu Youxiao looked at it, pointed to a lotus picture and said, "This is very good, but I have to change it first, and I will ask someone to send it over tomorrow." Also, how is the size of the silver coin determined? ”

"The mint has two plans, one is to use half a tael of silver, and the other is to use one tael of silver, and I respectfully ask Your Majesty to judge it."

"Take a tael or a half tael and give it to me." Zhu Youxiao picked up two pieces of silver and tried them, and felt that the half tael was a little lighter, and the one tael was a little heavier, so he gave the two pieces of silver to Xu Guangqi next to him and Sun Yuanhua, who had just arrived, and asked them to try it too.

Xu Guangqi shook the silver and said, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that half a tael is a little lighter, and one tael is a little heavier, can you take one of them?" ”

Li Zhizao immediately objected: "The minister thinks that either one or two or half taels, if you use seven coins and five cents, it will not be easy for people to calculate." He didn't care that Xu Guangqi was both his boss and his friend, and he didn't hesitate to directly oppose it.

Zhu Youxiao felt that it made sense, although he thought that seven dollars and five cents were easy to calculate, but after thinking about it, he still felt that it was better to listen to Li Zhizao, because he thought that it was always right to listen to professionals, of course, Xu Guangqi could actually be regarded as a professional, but he was not in charge of this.

"Okay, according to Li Qing's wishes, just half a tael, silver eight or silver seven?" This refers to the silver content of the silver coin.

"The minister thinks that if the early issuance is issued, the silver eight is better, and the silver seven is too low, and the silver seven or even the silver six can be used in the future. Copper coins are prepared to use copper six, which can also be slowly reduced in the future. The gold coins that Your Majesty said last time are ready to be used in gold and silver. ”

"Very good, Sun Qing, you look at those machines, which ones can be used in the manufacture of weapons, all of them are closely related to the military battle first, especially in terms of armor, I think that if you use a whole iron plate to make armor, it should be easier to defend against bows and arrows than the current scale armor, you can try it in this direction." In addition, it should be easier to drill with machinery for gun pipes. ”

Sun Yuanhua was ordered to see the machine tools, and after a while he came back with joy, and said excitedly: "Congratulations to the emperor, the minister thinks that these machine tools can not only speed up the production of gun tubes, but also should be much more standard than handmade ones, and can also be used in making cannons, but just now the missionary said that the use of animal power may be less effective, and it is best to use water power." ”

"Okay, you and the people of the Ministry of Industry find a place with rich water power, install these machine tools first, and then set up a division in the Ministry of Industry for weapons production, these things will slowly turn around from the War Bureau, slowly, no, let's do this, let the Ministry of War cooperate with the Ministry of Industry to build a new bureau for me, it will be called the Weapons Bureau, and the craftsmen in the original palace and the Ministry of Industry and the Ordnance Bureau will be transferred out, and this bureau will be managed by you first, and only I will be responsible."

"Your Majesty, this is not in line with the old practice." Xu Guangqi immediately reminded.

"The old case, since it is the old case, of course it can be changed, I will tell Fang Shoufu about this, Sun Qing, you first put up the shelf, mainly with craftsmen from the War Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau, and the management personnel are drawn from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War, by the way, Xu Qing also drew a few experienced people from the Ministry of Household to keep accounts. The regulations are still implemented according to the Military Bureau, and the Gunpowder Bureau has also moved out, by the way, the chosen place can be a little far away from the capital, this thing is very dangerous, don't disturb the people. He remembered that there seemed to be a big explosion at the Wang Gong Factory, and the Wang Gong Factory happened to be the station of the Gunpowder Bureau of the War Bureau. Although this explosion is not necessarily caused by a gunpowder explosion, it is certainly best to prevent it from ignition.

Xu Guangqi also proposed that a large amount of silver will be used for large-scale relocation, although the construction of the three major halls has been stopped now, but considering the later use, I am afraid that it will be a little more frugal. Moreover, Wang Gongchang's War Bureau will be rebuilt after it is changed to the Ordnance Bureau, and no matter what it is built, it will also require a lot of money.

It's money again, it's really troublesome, Zhu Youxiao is also preparing to build a new school after moving out of the Ordnance Bureau, this is also a money-burning thing, where can I get money?

Raid Li Sancai's property? There seems to be no reason for this. After the mint came, you can get a certain amount of money interest by using new silver coins and copper coins, but that is a matter of slow money, do you want to make some inventions to find some money? Glass? Think about it, if you have learned to make glass in high school, isn't there transparent glass in the telescope, which means that the current process can make transparent glass and make mirrors? I also studied it in this high school, so it's not complicated. Zhu Youxiao was very happy that his high school chemistry was not bad, and he thought about whether cement could also be made, not only to make money, but also to build roads or something.