"My lord, Mr. Kong, they have arrived."

Zhang Han has been in a daze at the intersection for a while, this is a four-way intersection parallel to the intersection of the barracks, the north is the barracks area and the workshop area, the west is the Tiancheng Acropolis, the southwest is to Lingqiu, and the east is the avenue to the direction of Feihu Yu, although Feihu Yu is a pure mountain stream passage at the junction of mountains, the widest point is more than 20 meters, the narrowest point is only four meters, the average altitude is above 1,000 meters, it is an out-and-out moat, in Yang Sichang's words, it is: thousands of people draw their swords, Lu Li Xing gathers, looking back on all changes, such as bead ants wearing, the high place is " High as the gate of heaven", this road is one of the eight paths of Taihang, is the junction of Heng Mountain, Taihang Mountain, Yanshan Mountain, before when there was no and Yusheng, the road to Feihuyu is also rugged and difficult to travel, after all, Ulzhou, Lingqiu are from a few hundred meters above sea level to more than two thousand meters above sea level, there are few plains, there are many roads in the mountains winding or even chiseled, the road in disrepair has become an obstacle affecting Shanxi to Hebei, in recent years, Zhang Han has invested more than 100,000 taels of silver to build the road, which also earned him a better reputation, Kong Minxing and the others came galloping on the eastern road, surrounded by an endless stream of convoys and pedestrians on foot, as well as small caravans of donkeys and mules, which were Hebei and Henan merchants from the Flying Fox Trail.

There were also many people in the surrounding farmland, seeing Zhang Han was enough to make them happy, and seeing the arrival of "Mr. Kong", these farmers showed a simple and honest smile on their faces, and they seemed even more happy.

Many people put down their sickles, bowed in the field and saluted, so close to Li Zhuang The acres of land are Zhang Han's, these people are tenant farmers, but the rich harvest has made them get more harvests than in previous years, the average yield of four stones per mu has increased the income of these people at least three times compared with previous years, and they don't have to worry about the white list after becoming tenant farmers, this is all Zhang Han's business as a landowner, and the forced labor will not be too heavy, at least after Zhang Han becomes the commander of the garrison and guard, whether it is repairing the acropolis or building roads, or building bridges, The manpower of the guard has never been requisitioned for free, they are all paid wages, and the grain harvest is high, and everyone is very happy in their hearts, and there are some honest people who want to put their faces on the ground, as if they can express their inner respect and gratitude even more if they bow their bodies lower.

Kong Minxing and the others arrived in the blink of an eye, Zhang Han also rode a horse to greet them, the two had not seen each other for less than three months, and their appearance had not changed much, Kong Minxing stared at Zhang Han for a while, and said with a smile: "Wen Lan has lost some weight after all, and he used to shave off his beard when he came out, but now he has left it out." ”

Zhang Han touched his chin and said with a wry smile: "It's really too late to trim." ”

"That's fine." Kong Minxing looked at it and said, "People seem to be much more mature. ”

"It's about everyone." Zhang Han said: "When I was young, I wanted to be more mature, and when I was old, I wanted to be younger. ”

The two friends laughed together.

After laughing, Zhang Han said: "Come down for tea or go back to my signing room?" ”

Kong Minxing said: "I know you are very busy, and I am also busy, I will go to the town guard to see the wheat harvest in a while, I am always ...... Well, your father-in-law is also waiting for me over there, we are studying the matter of the north-south irrigation canal, and after half a month after the wheat harvest, we will almost be able to start work. ”

The two found a tea stall to sit down, there are many forks in the road, tea sheds are indispensable, and there are many shops selling dim sum, Zhang Han saw that there is also a small shop known as Shandong steamed buns, the owner of the shop does have a Shandong accent, selling dim sum and tea and selling wine shops are lined up far away, you can't see the edge at a glance, it is estimated that there are at least two or three hundred, the prosperity here in Li Zhuang is all-round, these shops have found business opportunities, and they have done very successfully.

Zhang Han asked the boss to serve tea, and thought about it: "The north-south irrigation canal is very important, not only the water in the fields, but also the water in the workshop of Li Zhuang. ”

Kong Minxing said somewhat dissatisfied: "Last year, I said that I would dig the north-south canal, but it has been dragged down, Wenlan, you yourself said that food is the most important, why do you forget it from time to time?" ”

Zhang Han hurriedly laughed and said, "Where did you say you wouldn't dig it?" It's just calculating the financial resources, since it is going to be dug, of course, it is to meet the demand, otherwise it will cost money to dig in the future, and it will be extremely troublesome. ”

"That's just as well." Although Kong Minxing is a technical expert, he is not a pedantic person, so he nodded in understanding at the moment.

However, he was also curious, and said: "The current east and west canals can almost meet all the machines in the factory, even if you add the newly bought casting cannon lathe, the water storage capacity of the north and south canals is much greater than that of the east and west canals, and it is more than ten miles long, how big a workshop do you need, and how many machines need such a large canal to drive!" ”

"I've thought about it......" Zhang Han said slowly: "The reason why the account bureau can't attract too many people to invest is mainly because we don't really get what to do, and in the future, I may learn from the Europeans to make coinage machines......

"Oh, you're going to mint silver coins?"

Zhang Han raised his eyebrows, and said in his heart: It's easy to deal with smart people and insiders!

Kong Minxing smiled and said, "I have talked about this with my teacher, and we have also thought about doing this......

The Europeans were the most reminted coins, and their trade was mainly gold coins, and the Spaniards could carry hundreds of thousands of gold coins in a boatload, all of which were plundered from their colonial places and transported back to Europe in a steady stream, so the country became rich and had an extremely powerful fleet. In addition to gold coins, there are Spanish silver coins, as well as copper coins, gold coins are mainly the gold standard monetary system, and silver coins and copper coins are only auxiliary coins...... This kind of financial system is actually the best, the silver standard financial system of the Ming Dynasty is relatively backward, and even the silver coins have not been minted, not only lagging behind the European countries, in fact, even the copper standard trade system of the former Song Dynasty is far inferior, the pre-Song Dynasty a year of coinage in the Ming Dynasty has to use decades to catch up, the former Song Dynasty coinage, the Ming Dynasty 200 years of time may not catch up...... To put it bluntly, it is the gap in the level of management, in the level of financial management, the Ming Dynasty is not only behind the Europe of this dynasty, in fact, it is also far behind the Zhao and Song dynasties hundreds of years ago, which can not but be said to be a shame.

Zhang Han said: "Of course, no one is interested, and they don't know how to do such a thing......"

"Yes, ......" Kong Minxing sighed: "In private, Master Li and I have met some people, mentioning such a thing, whether it is the Ministry of Works, or the Ministry of Households, everyone is dumbfounded, speechless, some people suggested that it should be played first, and then the cabinet will take the lead, and the officials of the second department of the household will be called to discuss, and then decide what to do, think about the river workers of the Yellow River can be dragged by the Ministry of Households for many years, this coinage, who will really take it to heart, our master and apprentice, can only do it." ”

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the west wind was moving eastward, and the Ming Dynasty was still the upper kingdom of the Celestial Empire, and it was still an out-and-out superpower in terms of all-round volume, but in many subtleties, it had begun to lag behind Europe after the Renaissance, from the military system to the military doctrine, to the casting of cannons and guns, to the ability to sail in the ocean, to the pioneering spirit, and from scientific theories to the system.

Take the coinage as an example, of course, it is undoubtedly a good thing, but the bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty has been too big and inappropriate, losing any possibility of accepting new affairs, especially the coinage is not as good as imitating a few cannons, and the casting of cannons can see the effect in the short term, and the coinage is not only a gold coin problem, involving gold and silver control, collection, casting, use, etc., just think about it on the head as big as a fight, when the Ming official, not greedy and not a few dozen taels of silver a year, there is that free time and three or five friends to drink two cups, Or wouldn't it be more comfortable to visit an antique shop?

There is no need to think about it, Kong Minxing's advice from his master and apprentice must be in vain.

Zhang Han said quietly: "Da Ming can't help but privately mint silver taels, since this is the case, Yusheng and I will set this precedent......"

Kong Minxing said unceremoniously: "I'm afraid you are also particularly interested in the income from coinage, as well as the interest of the account bureau in the future!" ”

Zhang Han was said to have hit the deepest thoughts, and smiled a little embarrassedly.

In this era, it is difficult for ordinary people to understand the interest of money, that is, coinage, in the eyes of outsiders, cashier minting coins, and then exchanging them, there must be losses in doing such things, but the result is still a lot of money?

Of course, there is a lot of profit, the loss of the coinage is very limited, and the part of the blending is that the profit is very large, and there will be a slight difference in weight, of course, the difference is that with the issuance of more and more silver coins, it can be larger and larger, and then the coinage will definitely bring about a large increase in the amount of financing of the account, and the subsequent profit of money interest is also amazing.

Kong Minxing said: "Wen Lan is planning to mint silver coins? ”

Zhang Han nodded and said: "I can only mint silver coins, gold, I have insufficient reserves here to support it, copper, it is a strategic material, I am afraid that the cannon will not be enough, so I am asked to search around, and there is nowhere to find it for the time being." ”

China's gold reserves after two thousand years of mining, easy to mine gold has been mined almost, after the Mengyuan Dynasty, two thousand years of wealth was almost plundered, the reason why the early Ming Dynasty adopted a conservative economic policy, and at the same time issued treasure money, is also because the reserves of precious metals were swept away, Ming Taizu had to do it. As for copper, the Ming Dynasty now has very low copper reserves, and most of them are not easy to mine, in the early Ming Dynasty, copper was relied on Myanmar and other countries to pay tribute, Yunnan's copper mines were not discovered until the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and only mined in large quantities in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.

It is silver, which has been pouring in in large quantities, although the problem of the silver standard is very big, but if it is to be changed, the problem is even greater, minting a large number of silver coins, and adopting the silver standard for a long time in the future, which is also the result of Zhang Han's thinking for a long time.

If all goes well, the minting will drive the account, and it will become a business with its own core like the pig iron and iron business, and the profits will roll in.