The fairy music is full of sky, the sky is falling, the crane-haired old fairy holds the green bamboo cane, steps on the colorful auspicious clouds and comes to Wu Chaoyue, and says to Wu Chaoyue with a smile: "Wu Chaoyue, I am a fairy, I know everything about you, after you came to this era, you could have enjoyed thousands of family assets, spent any time and wine, married a beautiful woman and raised a second wife, and slept until you woke up naturally, counting money until your hands cramped." But in order to bury the decadent and dark Manchu court, overthrow the cruel exploitation of the Chinese nation by feudalism, imperialism and bureaucratic capitalism, you resolutely abandoned these beautiful lives, tied your head to your belt and worked hard for your compatriots. ”

"Old fairy, how can you help me?" Wu Chaoyue asked.

"Three wishes." The old fairy smiled and said, "I want to reward you with three wishes, no matter what the wish is, I will fulfill it for you." ”

"That's great, thank you gods, thank you gods." Wu Chaoyue was overjoyed, hurriedly thanked him, and then said impatiently: "Old immortal, my first wish is to ask for 10,000 tons of gold and 10,000 tons of silver. ”

"Okay, I promise you, you really need money for the big things you want to do." The old fairy nodded with satisfaction, pointed behind Wu Chaoyue with a green bamboo cane, and said, "Look, all the gold and silver are yours." ”

Wu Chaoyue hurriedly turned around and found that behind him, there was indeed a mountain of gold and a mountain of silver, the gold was dazzling, the silver was dazzling, and it was magnificent. Wu Chaoyue was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Thank you immortals, old immortals, my second wish is to have a hundred beautiful women to serve me, and all of them are beautiful." ”

The old fairy hesitated for a moment, and then nodded and said, "It's okay." You have made such a sacrifice, and I should give you a little compensation. ”

Let's talk about it. The old fairy tapped a few times, and the fairy music sounded. The colorful clouds were fluttering, and a hundred stunning beauties with different postures came to Wu Chaoyue's face, Yingsheng Yanyu, or rubbing Wu Chaoyue's shoulders, or Wu Chaoyue's hammer back, competing to kiss Wu Chaoyue's dry and thin face, Zhou Guanghua hugged left and right, laughing.

Seeing Wu Chaoyue's absurd appearance, the old fairy sighed. Shaking his head, he said, "After all, you are still a mortal, I don't blame you, let's say, what is your third wish?" Want a steam press that can produce metal bullets? Or do you want a high-yielding rice variety that won't degrade? ”

"No, no!" Wu Chaoyue hurriedly shook his head, stretched out three fingers and said, "Old immortal, my third wish is to have another three hundred wishes!" ”

The old fairy's expression was glazed. Wu Chaoyue couldn't wait to say: "My three hundred wishes, the first is to want a million clone soldiers, they must be absolutely loyal to me, and they can also manipulate all kinds of land, sea and air weapons. Physical fitness must be up to the standards of special forces! ”

"The second is to want 3,000 F22s, 30,000 M1A2 main battle tanks, and 30 aircraft carriers. Aircraft tanks are also to be equipped with fuel and ammunition that can last for thirty years. ”

"The third is to want 3,000 atomic bombs, 1,000 hydrogen bombs. The yield of the atomic bomb must be large, and don't perfunctory me with the small-yield imposters like the American bombers. At least it has to reach the equivalent of the Russian big Ivan! And these carriers of nuclear weapons also have to be matched, the east wind blows the poplars, the militia is busy washing the ground, I want these three strategic missiles! ”

"By the way, there is also the industrial system, I want a complete industrial system! I'm not greedy, and I don't need to reach the level of industry in pre-reform China – as long as it's about the same level as the industry in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century. ”

"There are also battleships, amphibious landing ships and drones, and the drones must at least be global ......."

Hearing this, the old fairy couldn't bear it anymore, and smashed the green bamboo cane on Wu Chaoyue's head, "Lao Tzu beat you insatiable little bastard!" ”

…………

"Ouch!"

screamed, Wu Chaoyue opened his eyes, rubbed his head that was hurt by the desk and was confused for a long time, Wu Chaoyue finally came back to his senses, and found that he was still in the newly established Shanghai Silver Dollar Minting Bureau, there were no old immortals, no gold and silver mountains, and there were no charming beauties, he was just too tired just now, he took a nap on the desk, had a sweet dream, and then the dream was too good and happy, and he hit the desk with his head.

"If it's true, it's fine, don't do anything else, it's good to get me a steam press first, at least you don't have to use any inefficient and easy to produce drawbacks."

Muttering in his heart, Wu Chaoyue got up by rubbing his still sore head, walked to Zhao Liewen, who was supervising the craftsman minting silver dollars, and asked about the silver dollar minting. Zhao Liewen replied very excitedly: "The silver water has been poured into the mold and is cooling, wait, wait a little longer, our first silver dollar in Shanghai will come out." ”

Yawning and waiting for a long time, the temperature gradually decreased Tiefan finally cooled to the point that people could touch it, with the help of several craftsmen, Zhao Liewen personally lifted the lid of the Tiefan, revealing a hundred Shanghai silver dollars that had just been successfully minted, regardless of the fact that he was still a little hot, picked up one with both hands, held it in front of Wu Chaoyue, and said excitedly: "Comfort Pavilion, look, our Shanghai silver dollar, the first silver dollar made by our Shanghai Silver Dollar Foundry Bureau." ”

The so-called Shanghai silver dollar is quite simple in shape, there are grooves on both sides, the front is the traditional Chinese 'one yuan' two characters and the sketch of Shanghai County, and the back is 'Shanghai Foundry Bureau', 'Wu Chaoyue supervised' two lines of words and some anti-counterfeiting patterns. Wu Chaoyue, who was a little sorry in terms of finance, was far less excited than Zhao Liewen, and took the silver dollar that had not even been polished and looked at it casually, and then handed it back to Zhao Liewen, and sighed: "It's finally made, but unfortunately, the imperial court only allows us to mint 500,000 pieces, even if all 500,000 pieces are made, we can't earn a few silver." ”

It is true that he can't earn a few pieces of silver, and adopting Zhao Liewen's suggestion, Wu Chaoyue's Shanghai silver dollar weighs the same weight as the Mexican silver dollar currently in circulation, each weighing seven coins and two cents, and the purity of silver is about five percent lower than that of the Mexican silver dollar, and the same as the Spanish silver dollar is ninety percent, and the actual silver content of each silver dollar is six coins and four cents and eight cents. Even if it's cast in 100% sterling silver. Each silver dollar also earns only seven and a half cents of silver, and the total of 500,000 silver dollars is only 36,000 taels. And because it is the acquisition of miscellaneous silver casting of different colors on the market. Add in all the costs and inevitable wear and tear, and half a million silver dollars can be fully minted. Wu Chaoyue may not even be able to earn eighteen thousand taels of silver.

"What are you anxious about? There will be opportunities to earn money in the future! Zhao Liewen rolled his eyes and said confidently: "Do you believe it or not?" As long as the first batch of silver dollars we make is put on the market, we will be able to squeeze the privately minted silver dollars, miscellaneous silver, and broken silver on the market to death! And even the foreigners' eagle dollars (Mexican silver dollars) have to be affected by us! ”

"Attacking the eagle yuan of foreigners? Is it possible? Wu Chaoyue didn't have this confidence, and reminded: "Huifu, don't forget, the silver content of our silver dollar is only ninety percent, but it is the same as the Spanish double column dollar, and the silver content of the eagle dollar is more than ninety-six percent." What do we use to shock it? ”

"Weiting, then do you dare to make this bet with me?" Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "As long as we can control the silver content of the Shanghai silver dollar at 90% without reducing it, not to mention that the common people and businessmen prefer to use our money, even foreigners will come to us to discuss and ask you to mint more Shanghai silver dollars." ”

The bet proposed by Zhao Liewen was just a good banquet on the table, Wu Chaoyue certainly made this bet, but soon, Wu Chaoyue found that he should invite Zhao Liewen to dinner. Because after the Shanghai silver dollar, which remained at 90% fine, was put on the market, it was indeed widely welcomed by the people and merchants. Like the Spanish silver dollar and the Mexican silver dollar, it has obtained the market position of the same weight of silver, and 500,000 silver dollars have been fully digested by the market in less than half a month, and the supply is still in short supply.

What surprised Wu Chaoyue the most was the reaction of the foreigners. After the Shanghai silver dollar was put into the market, foreigners were not only willing to accept the Shanghai silver dollar, but consuls and businessmen from Europe and the United States also approached Wu Chaoyue one after another. Wu Chaoyue was asked to mint a large number of Shanghai silver dollars to supply the market, and he couldn't wait to express his willingness to invest. Joined forces with Wu Chaoyue to mint the Shanghai Silver Dollar – and many even suggested that Wu Chaoyue recast the Mexican Silver Dollar into the Shanghai Silver Dollar to make a bigger profit.

on this. Of course, Wu Chaoyue, who is financially poor, is a little inexplicable, and when Wu Chaoyue asked Ah Liguo, who strongly asked to join forces with him to mint money, Ali Guo also shouted at Wu Chaoyue: "Wu, you cunning guy, what are you pretending to be with me?" We, the foreign merchants, like you Chinese merchants, are fed up with the miscellaneous silver and broken silver in China's folk circulation, and it is inconvenient to calculate and cannot guarantee the fineness of silver! Every year we English merchants lose money on this, and how much time we waste calculating the exchange of scraps of silver and silver dollars! ”

"Your silver dollar is stable in fineness, and has been internationally recognized Spanish silver coins are basically the same quality, and easy to calculate and circulate, you Chinese merchants and people are willing to accept the use, as long as you can use your minted silver dollars to buy the same value of Chinese goods, of course, they are also willing to accept and use, the market needs a large number of silver dollars minted by you, you just don't want to make money! Stop talking nonsense, go and get your stupid court to allow you to mint more Shanghai Silver Dollars, we need it, and so do your people and merchants! ”

Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate to go to the Manchu court, reported the popularity of the Shanghai silver dollar in front of the people and overseas merchants, and asked the Manchu court to allow him to mint a large number of Shanghai silver dollars, so as to facilitate the use of the people and foreign trade. And when it was time to ask Zhao Liewen to ghostwrite, Zhao Liewen said: "Weiting, you'd better report the profits from the minting of Shanghai silver dollars to the imperial court, so that the imperial court knows how much silver you have earned and how much profit you can make from your own silver dollars." ”

Wu Chaoyue didn't immediately adopt Zhao Liewen's suggestion this time, but just hesitated and said: "Huifu, it's not that I don't want to serve the imperial court, it's that you also know that those dignitaries and dignitaries in the household department and the military aircraft department are all insatiable masters, and when they see such a good opportunity to make money, I'm afraid they won't miss it." ”

took out a Shanghai silver dollar, pointed to the five traditional characters of 'Wu Chaoyue Supervision', Zhao Liewen smiled very treacherously, and said: "This is the reason why I must add this sentence on the back of the Shanghai silver dollar, why don't you want to think about it, with the virtue of the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the emperor and the court let them mint their own Qing silver dollars, can they not pluck their feathers and try every means to take the opportunity to make money?" At that time, the silver dollar minted by the imperial court and the Shanghai silver dollar made by you will circulate in the market at the same time, do you say that the merchants and the common people would prefer the Qing silver dollar, or the Shanghai silver dollar that you supervised? ”

In a word, it is a prophecy. After Wu Chaoyue's excerpt was sent to the capital, Emperor Xianfeng, who was already so poor that he was casting fifty yuan to loot the people's wealth, almost didn't even blink an eyelid. He immediately ordered the household department to follow Wu Chaoyue's example and mint the Qing Dynasty silver dollar, and at the same time as a reward for Wu Chaoyue to open up financial resources. Emperor Xianfeng also allowed Wu Chaoyue to mint another million Shanghai silver dollars.

However, it is a pity that the silver dollar minted by the Qing court was too clear and the officials were too honest, except for the silver dollar sample sent to Emperor Xianfeng, there was no silver dollar with a silver content of 90 percent, and no one was willing to accept it except for forcibly forcing the people to accept it, and the foreigners categorically refused to accept it. While Wu Chaoyue continued to mint money, he also strictly guaranteed 90 percent of the silver content, so the reputation of the Shanghai silver dollar not only far exceeded that of the silver dollar minted by the Qing court. At the same time, because of the sentence Wu Chaoyue on the back, it has gained a well-known reputation in the market - Wu Zaoyang! Abbreviated as Wu Yang! It has always been in a state of short supply, and it has also laid a solid foundation for many future events of Wu Chaoyue.

Self-minted silver dollars allowed Wu Chaoyue to gain credibility, and also earned some silver, and the article of salt instead of pay made Wu Chaoyue make money every day, and it was also when it was time to really handle the matter of salt substitution, Wu Chaoyue knew how dirty and chaotic the salt industry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was, and the Manchu court granted Wu Chaoyue a tax-free salt ticket, and a pound of salt ticket could actually buy more than three catties of salt in the salt-producing area. When you clear the card, you only need to stuff a little silver to get unimpeded, so it stands to reason that you can only earn a tax-free salt ticket of 30,000 taels of silver at most, but in fact, it is more than 70,000 taels of silver for Wu Chaoyue.

No one will think that they have too much silver, and Wu Chaoyue is certainly no exception. However, while smiling and counting the silver, Wu Chaoyue never dared to forget to care about military preparations, and supplemented the strict training of soldiers early. At the same time, he is somewhat conscientious, and he has always been paying attention to the battle situation on the main battlefield of Ningzhen. But no matter how much you care, it's useless, Xiang Rong and Qi Shan are sitting in the Jiangnan camp outside Nanjing. A hid in the Jiangbei camp outside Yangzhou to enjoy fine wine and concubines, or an excuse to contain the main force of the Taiping Army. Or only send his subordinates to lead the partial division to launch a few symbolic attacks, perfunctory, without the slightest enterprising spirit, and spend nearly 500,000 taels of silver per month, without building a size.

Of course, it can't be said so absolutely, Qishan's Jiangbei battalion is barely a little bit of a fight, always blocking the canal waterway, and never giving the Taiping army a chance to send reinforcements to Yangzhou City, Zeng Lichang, the general of the Taiping Army guarding Yangzhou, was alone, fought very hard, and the situation was also very difficult.

Of course, such a little dedication of Qi Shan could not satisfy Emperor Xianfeng, and he scolded and forced Xiang Rong and Qi Shan to attack the city and break the enemy as soon as possible, and the holy decree was sent to Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps in three days, and Deng Shaoliang, who had just become the governor of Jiangnan, was also taken off the top, if it wasn't for the fact that no one could be found, Emperor Xianfeng simply cut off the hearts of Xiang Rong and Qi Shan.

Although the Qing army in Jiangyin and Changzhou has always been eyeing the Taiping army in Wuxi City, and the supply of grain and grass to the main battlefield of Ningzhen in southern Jiangsu has never been interrupted, but because Wuxi City can't get it back, Emperor Xianfeng also issued a special decree to reprimand and question Wu Chaoyue - I have given you so much silver, why can't you even get back the small city of Wuxi that is close at hand?

It also happened that the day after receiving this holy decree, the guns and ammunition ordered by Wu Chaoyue from Prussia were finally sent to Shanghai by detouring the Cape of Good Hope and crossing the Indian Ocean for tens of thousands of miles, and were delivered to Wu Chaoyue. At the same time, Ali Guo also sent good news, the grenades ordered by Wu Chaoyue from him have also been sent to Hong Kong, or they will be sent to Shanghai in a few days.

Personally ran to the Wharf of the Huangpu River to meet the Prussian merchant ships, holding the long-awaited firing pin gun and ammunition, Wu Chaoyue of course laughed so much that he couldn't even close his mouth, and Wu Jianzhang, who came with him, was angry when he saw his grandson's smirk, and patted his precious grandson's head and scolded: "What are you smiling at? When the weapons and ammunition arrive, Wuxi should get them back quickly, otherwise, the emperor's next decree may not be as simple as scolding! ”

When it comes to fighting Wuxi, Wu Chaoyue's face is full of sadness, not to mention the infinite benefits of letting the Taiping Army control Wuxi to Wu Chaoyue, Zhou Xiuying alone makes Wu Chaoyue 10,000 unwilling to fight Wuxi - Wu Chaoyue has already received news from Wuxi, confirming that Zhou Lichun and Zhou Xiuying's father and daughter have indeed gone to Wuxi with the weapons and ammunition they stole from Li Yuandu to defect to the Taiping Army, Wu Chaoyue doesn't want to use the firing pin gun he just bought to hit this little beauty.

When Wu Chaoyue was worried about how to further connive at the Wuxi Taiping Army, two days later, a newspaper from the imperial court that shocked the world was suddenly sent to Wu Chaoyue - on August 26, the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Taiping Army, which had moved thousands of miles, highlighted the surprise soldiers to attack Linhao Pass, and the governor of Zhili, who was sitting in Linhao Pass, was caught off guard, and he was greedy for life and afraid of death to the extreme, and he directly abandoned the pass and fled, and threw all the grain and grass to the Taiping Army who was alone in the depths, Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan easily entered the territory of Zhili, The whole territory of Zhili is shaken, and the capital is also directly threatened!

After reading this newspaper, Wu Chaoyue only thought about it for less than three minutes, and immediately called Zhao Liewen, and asked Zhao Liewen to write an excerpt for himself to Emperor Xianfeng, when Zhao Liewen hurriedly asked about the content, Wu Chaoyue replied: "Tell our Emperor Your Majesty, just say that my weapons and ammunition have finally arrived, the quantity is not very much, I can't withstand much tossing, originally I wanted to go to Wuxi immediately, but I heard that Changmao has entered Zhili, threatening the Gyeonggi land, I am anxious, so I want to ask for the order to go north to King Qin's escort through the sea to reinforce Gyeonggi, Exterminate the thieves of Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan for the imperial court. Let the emperor and the court decide for me, see whether to let me go to Wuxi first, or save the capital first? ”

"King Qin of the North?" Zhao Liewen was stunned at first, then quickly came to his senses, and said with a smile: "Good idea, if you want to make more credit, there is nothing easier than making meritorious service under the emperor's nose." ”

Wu Chaoyue smiled and nodded, echoing Zhao Liewen on the surface, but said in his heart: "Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan are isolated, and they will definitely be wiped out as in history, if the Wild Boar Skin IX promises to let me go north to King Qin, I will adapt to the situation in the north, and maybe there will be a way to help them escape back to Nanjing." Even if you don't have the opportunity to help with this, it's not bad to pick up this great credit for nothing. (To be continued.) )