The imperial examination of the Western Wei Kingdom ended successfully, and there was one less thing to do in the feudal domain.

At present, there are only two things left for Gao Yihuan to do, one is to raise a military budget for the expedition to Sichuan and Shu, and the other is to marry the princess.

He doesn't have to worry about the big wedding, the Ministry of Rites is responsible for supervising it, and he has to come forward to raise military expenses.

In the morning, Lu Yifang came to report to him that the financial gap of the feudal government was at least one million taels, and without this silver, the army would not be able to go on the expedition.

The Western Wei Dynasty fought with the Qing army, and the feudal government was basically exhausted, and the rewards for soldiers could only be replaced by land instead of silver.

In fact, the Western Wei Dynasty did not have a lot of resources in hand, including grain, mines, cattle, sheep and livestock, but it was just short of money, and not only the feudal government was short of money, but there was also generally no silver in the local area.

In the Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was developed, and most of the silver was concentrated in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

For example, when there is a good grain harvest, they only need to cover the silver, reduce the amount of silver in circulation, and make the market scarce, so as to increase the purchasing power of silver and lower the price of grain.

Or when the people want to use silver to pay taxes, the circulation of silver is also tightened, so that the people can't find silver, so that the original 1,000 copper coins can be exchanged for one tael of silver, and it takes 1,500 wen to exchange for one tael of silver, increasing the burden of the people to pay taxes.

After the taxes were paid, they relaxed the circulation of silver and restored the exchange rate between copper coins and silver, so as to achieve the purpose of accumulating wealth.

This is also an important reason why the taxes of the Ming Dynasty brought such great pressure to the people.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, the imperial court never obtained the right to control the currency.

One of the reasons why Gao Yihuan wanted to establish a modern financial system, run a money bank, and issue silver bills was to put all the control into the hands of the feudal government.

This will not only regulate the economy and solve fiscal problems, but also withstand the onslaught of overseas silver.

After seeing Li Yan away, Gao Yihuan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes and pondered for a while, then opened his eyes, called in a guard, and ordered: "Go, inform Mr. Lu and Gao Xinghao, and ask them to call the heads of the chambers of commerce, and come to the palace early tomorrow morning to discuss matters, and there is something to discuss with them." ”

The guard saluted, then hurriedly turned and went out.

Gao Yihuan rested for a while, stood up, changed into his regular clothes, and took the guards out of the palace and went to the workshop outside the city.

At this time, the Wei army had nearly 300,000 people, and there were less than 100,000 armored soldiers, many of whom wore armor and used old weapons.

Gao Yihuan repeatedly demanded that the workshop should increase its output, but the funds allocated by the feudal government were limited, and the expenditure of each department of the feudal government had a budget, and it was impossible to use all the taxes for the workshop to build weapons and armor, so the output could not be increased.

In the case that the manpower and scale cannot be further expanded, how to improve efficiency has become a problem, and it has also become a direction for the workshop to break through.

Not long ago, a director of the Ministry of Engineering named Tu Shaoxuan borrowed water power to manufacture a forging instrument driven by water power.

This Tu Shaoxuan is also a friend of the historical celebrity Song Yingxing, and he can have this idea, it is said that it is because of the correspondence with Song Yingxing.

At present, the main link that restricts the output of the workshop is in the forging aspect, using manpower to swing the hammer and smash it, even if the man is very strong, he will have no strength after a few smashes.

If water power can be used for forging and stamping, it will undoubtedly liberate craftsmen from heavy manual labor and greatly improve the speed of forging.

Therefore, when Gao Yihuan heard the news, he attached great importance to it and asked about it almost every day.

At this time, although it was already afternoon, Gao Yihuan was still surrounded by guards and galloped to the eastern suburbs, the workshop by the water.

When they came to the workshop, Chen Huiting and Tu Shaoxuan greeted each other, and the group came directly to the edge of Ba Shui.

Bashui is a tributary of the Wei River, originating in the Lantian Mountain area at the eastern foot of the Qinling Mountains, with a relatively large drop, and the power of the water flow is barely enough.

At this time, Gao Yihuan, accompanied by the two of them, stood in front of a large instrument that looked like a waterwheel, and the river water hit the blades of the waterwheel, making the waterwheel rotate again and again.

Tu Shaoxuan connected the waterwheel through a connecting rod, and brought the generated power to a stamping hammer that was hoisted with a bracket, and the hammer was constantly falling and being pulled up.

At this time, Tu Shaoxuan introduced: "Your Highness, using this method to forge iron, the craftsman can save effort, and there is no problem with continuous forging for four hours a day, and because it is borrowed from water power, the power is endless, and the strength of each forging is almost the same, which is much more stable than human hammering." ”

Gao Yihuan doesn't understand very well, but he still looks quite powerful. He remembered that there was a kind of hydraulic stamping machine, which was capable of forging plate armor.

Gao Yihuan smiled and asked the question he was concerned about, "Can this device increase the output of the workshop right now?" ”

Tu Shaoxuan said: "Back to Your Highness, now you can only carry out preliminary forging, and the delicate parts still need craftsmen to build." He is currently trying to adjust the strength of the hammer so that the hammer can be forged with different forces and speeds according to various needs. But there are no eyebrows yet. ”

Gao Yihuan heard that it could increase production, and the smile on his face was even stronger, "This device is very good, Tu is the director, you continue to study, don't be afraid of spending energy and money, in short, you must improve the function of this device." ”

Saying that, Gao Yihuan turned his head to look at Chen Huiting, "Chen Qijian, the workshop must fully cooperate with Master Tu, and when this hydraulic forging equipment is perfect, I will give you credit." ”

Chen Huiting seemed to have something on his mind, and was stunned for a moment, before he hugged his fists and said: "Uh~ The minister receives the order!" ”

Gao Yihuan saw his expression, and couldn't help frowning slightly, "Something?" ”

Chen Huiting's face was entangled for a while, and he said in a low voice: "King, the minister has something to do and wants to react to the feudal mansion. ”

Seeing that he was so mysterious, Gao Yihuan took a step, walked aside with him, and asked in a deep voice: "What is it, you can say it!" ”

Chen Huiting bowed first, and then twisted and said: "Back to the king, there has been a female servant in the minister's mansion recently, and she has lured the ministers to get the information of the workshop. The minister didn't know whether she was from the north or the south, and in order to find out her identity, the minister would plan and put her to sleep! ”

Gao Yihuan's face was stunned for a while, he was stunned for a while, and his brows were furrowed, "Then have you figured out her identity?" ”

"I'm ashamed to say that her shadow is well hidden, and the minister really can't figure it out, so I can only report it to the king and ask the king to send Xuanyi Wei to identify." Chen Huiting sweated on his forehead.

Gao Yihuan fell silent, it is estimated that Chen Huiting took a concubine, and after falling asleep, he found out that it might be a small work, and he may have leaked a lot of news, so he chose to report it because he was afraid.

"This matter is known to Lone, don't startle the snake first, Lone will let Xuanyiwei deal with it!" Gao Yihuan pondered for a while before speaking.

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(End of chapter)