Chapter 42: Coinage

"Counterfeit money..."Rao has been a black-hearted official for many years, and Mr. Su was also stunned by Zhang Song's bold ideas. Counterfeiting money is a crime that has been punished by a thousand knives in all dynasties. What's more, the direct target of the scourge of fake money is the common people, and once discovered, it is enough to ruin the perpetrators.

"It's to make real money..."And Zhang Song's words completely show the gap between the realm of corrupt officials and corrupt officials. It is all copper money, the material is poor, the light weight is fake money, the material is sufficient, and the heavy weight is true. Even if they all turn into copper lumps, it is the latter who is more welcome..."

Lest the audience not understand what he meant, he paused deliberately, and then slowed down his tone to explain, "No matter how hard copper is, it can't be as hard as steel." No matter how complicated the money is, it can't be as complicated as the patterns on the plate armor made by my Huaiyang. In the past, coinage and copper into water were the most labor-intensive, and it was also the process with the greatest loss in addition to human hands. If I Huaiyang minted money, I could directly carve a mold and forge it on a copper and lead plate, without any need to turn juice, and the leftovers could also be collected and recast on the board. As long as the mold is not broken, the money forged by us here must be more uniform than that of Bianliang, and it must be better than that side. In the eyes of the common people, our Huaiyang money is real, and his Bianliang money is fake. If Du Zundao's money can't be spent, he can't make it. If you can't earn it, you won't have money to raise soldiers, and you won't have the capital to start an internal conflict with Liu Futong!"

Since the year before the fight, Zhang Mingjian was given to Huai'an Army as a meeting gift. What he undertook in the Huaiyang Governor's Mansion has always been a shady task. Although there are many major cases of suspected rebellion, hundreds of meticulous works sent from all over the country have been arrested, and they have made great achievements. But in the eyes of everyone and himself, he has always been a cool official such as Ning Cheng and Lai Junchen. Once it loses its usefulness, it will end up in a different place.

So today, it is rare to have the opportunity to be in front of Zhu Chongjiu, and Zhang Song naturally wants to show his strengths. In a few words, he said the advantages of his side. And every sentence fell within the range that Zhu Chongjiu was most familiar with, which made the latter's gaze unconsciously show a bit of appreciation.

"Wei Chen is not talented, and he is willing to take on this matter of minting money for the lord..."Sensing the change in the attitude of his lord, Zhang Song, the director of the Internal Affairs Department, was secretly happy in his heart, but the expression on his face became more and more humble.

"Well, you're also familiar with the art of blacksmithing?" Zhu Chongjiu's brows jumped again, and he asked with a bit of surprise.

"Wei Chen doesn't dare to say that he understands, but he is responsible for preventing thieves, so he naturally has to understand what thieves are most worried about..."Zhang Song bowed again and responded very carefully.

When Zhu Chongjiu heard this, the people in his heart felt more and more that this person was clever. For several years in a row, despite his efforts to improve the income and status of the craftsmen, and despite the fact that the firearms produced by the Hundred Workshops made the Huai'an army invincible, in the eyes of most officials and scholars of this era, industrial technology was still a miscellaneous science, and could never be compared with the quotations of the ancient sages. There are few scholars who are willing to calm down and seriously figure out the essence of human culture behind the primary industrial technologies that have brought great changes to Huaiyang.

Zhang Song is the only one, who was born in the old-style imperial examination and is busy with official work every day, but he still has the heart to find time to learn new things. Immediately, Zhu Chongjiu prepared to give an order to Zhang Song. Unexpectedly, before the words could be spoken, Lu Luzeng's angry scolding voice suddenly came from his ears, "Shameless thief, don't want to bewitch the lord... As long as the old man lives for a day, you will succeed..."

"Master?" Zhu Chongjiu was taken aback, and looked back at Lu Luzeng, who was panting and running over, with a little confusion in his eyes. "How did Director Zhang offend you? Makes you so angry? ”

In the second half of the sentence, there was already a hint of reproach. Because in his opinion, there was nothing wrong with what Zhang Song said just now. Industrial production, even in the most rudimentary form of hydrodynamic industrial production, is far from being able to be compared with manual work in terms of controllable precision and efficiency. With this advantage, even if Huaiyang loses the same amount as Bianliang in the process of making money, the unit cost will be far lower than that of the opponent. As long as you put the open amount of coins on the market, you will definitely be invincible in the end.

"The lord thinks he is a courtier of the King of Song? Or do you want to become the laughing stock of the world's heroes? Lu Lu once snatched the crutch from Huang Lao's crooked hand, pestled it under his arm, and continued to roar loudly while gasping, "Make money, make money, no matter how good we build, it is also a dragon and phoenix treasure, and we also borrowed the momentum of Bianliang." Sooner or later, someone will come to the door..."

After a pause, he raised his right index finger again and poked at Zhang Song's nose viciously, "The ancients had clouds, and if something is good, it will be effective... It seems that this kind of courtier, what he is best at is figuring out the holy will. The lord is focusing on the study of hundreds of crafts today, and he will also focus on finding opportunities from this. When the lord likes to kill people and sell goods, he will immediately pull out a knife and cut off someone's head. After all, he is a good dog with a fox and a fake tiger, how can he see the long-term in his eyes? ”

"My lord, even if there are some mistakes in the previous advice offered by the younger generation, it is out of a public heart. I really can't afford to be so harshly reprimanded by the boss..."Zhang Song, the director of the internal security department, was scolded and discouraged, and took several steps back one after another before he got out of the scope of Lu Lao Jinshi's saliva. arched his hand, and defended himself with a face full of grievances.

"Are you embarrassed to say negligent? If you are not in a hurry to vote for the favor of the lord, how can you not see the hidden danger of forging dragon and phoenix money? Lulu glared and continued to roar loudly.

"Don't blame adults, the younger generation is indeed a shallow learner..."I am afraid that this person will be angry, and Lu Shuang'er will be worried, and Zhang Song, the director of the Internal Affairs Department, does not dare to fight back. In my heart, there are one hundred and twenty unconvinced. The lord even refused to participate in the Jin Wei ceremony for the King of Song, so how could he care about making fake money from Bianliang? Even if it is made clearly, Du Zundao has to work hard to deal with Liu Futong, how can he have the courage to take the initiative to come to the door?

However, Lulu's next words made all his dissatisfaction disappear. "The lord has always done things above board, why did he have to do such a shady trick this time? Doesn't you just want Du Zundao's money to have nowhere to spend? The lord will make us Huaiyang's own money now. As long as it is issued before the dragon and phoenix Tongbao is issued, it can be used directly. All the schemes of Du Zundao naturally fell into the empty space. Wouldn't it be better to wait for someone else's new money to come out before going to the army to make a risky move? ”

is the so-called army plot, since he knows Du Zundao's plan, he should take action in advance, so that his plan is stillborn. How can there be any reason to know the other party's plan and wait for it to make a move before dismantling it? Smart people don't need to think carefully at all, and at a glance, they know that this plan is inferior.

Besides, it is also money, and the common people care about its quality and weight, and they don't care whose money is printed on it. Just like in the Huaiyang market today, there are Yuanzhen Tongbao of the Great Yuan Dynasty, Shaoxing Tongbao of the Great Song Dynasty, and even Xu Shouhui's Tianwan Tongbao is also used in transactions. For all kinds of copper coins of different colors, the folk have a set of customary rules for redeeming huàn. No one is stupid enough to be artificial, an article is a text, regardless of its true value.

As long as the new coins minted by Huaiyang are in good condition, the amount is sufficient, and the supply can be opened, it will definitely be able to defeat any copper coin on the market. Even Han Lin'er and Xu Shouhui ordered that Huai Qian be prohibited from circulating in its territory. Ordinary people will also secretly use it in transactions because of its credit value. I don't care about a dead letter from the government at all...

"Since the Song Dynasty, private money has been repeatedly banned..."Seeing that everyone was speechless by himself, Lu Lu was always happy. He paused on the ground with a copper cane, and continued: "The lord doesn't want to have a bad relationship with King Xiao Ming right now, so he can choose a coin and cast it on my Huaiyang money." The main plan is to stabilize prices and unify the chaotic currency value in the market in Huaiyang. The old minister doesn't believe it, what else can outsiders say..."

This is a typical blind person who treats people outside, but compared to the previous Zhang Song's strategy, it is still much more open. More importantly, Qian Wen's self-selection shows that Huaiyang has been completely independent of any red scarf system. From the de facto reform of the founding of the country, there is only the last layer of window paper.

Those who can gain a firm foothold in the core of the Huaiyang Grand Governor's Mansion are all smart enough. Immediately, someone took the lead and chimed in: "What the boss said is very true, and what we planned before is indeed short-sighted. ”

"The boss is right, let's make money in Huaiyang, why use other people's year names? …”

"The minister seconded the proposal, please set the money for yourself..."

"Yangzhou belonged to Wu in ancient times, and the lord could choose Qian Wenwei, Wu Yuan Tongbao..."

"Wu Yuan Tongbao is not as good as Wu Xing Tongbao. It means that the government of Huaiyang will flourish in the world in the future..."

You say a word, I say a word, gossip. In the end, on the surface, it sounded like he was helping Zhu Chongjiu come up with an idea to choose the right Qian Wen, but in fact, he was already encouraging him to do his best to establish a national name.

"Why bother so much, just call it Huaiyang, just call it Huaxia Tongbao." Zhu Chongjiu was so noisy that he waved his hand impatiently. The money had to be minted, but no matter what, he had to restrain the minds of the crowd. The matter of building a country cannot be rushed. No matter how bad Zhu Dapeng's history is, he always remembers the sentence "build a high wall, accumulate grain, and slowly become king". He didn't have to put on that trouble-inducing King Wu hat right now...

"According to the fineness of the Tang Kaiyuan Tongbao, each piece is one penny" After a little hesitation, Zhu Chongjiu quickly changed his mind, "Each piece is five grams, round on the outside and square on the inside." Ten Tongbao is just counted as fifty grams, and two hundred Datongbao is just one pound. Director Zhang, you go to the Great Craftsman Academy to find Jiao Yu, and then call Huang Zheng, the deputy director of the Shanghai Engineering Bureau, to get the money mold out together. The words are written by Song Ke, and his words look atmospheric. ”

As early as when he was trying to unify Huaiyang's own weights and measures, Zhu Chongjiu had promised Huang Laowei and Jiao Yu that they would have the opportunity to mint money by themselves. There hasn't been much fighting this year, and he just has the energy to push it forward. On the one hand, it can block the opportunity for Du Zundao to make money by coinage, and on the other hand, it can also speed up the recognition of the new weights and measures among the people.

"Weichen, Weichen obeys..."Zhang Song, the director of the Internal Affairs Department, was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute tremblingly. Weichen, Weichen has another word, please let the lord let Weichen say it in detail..."

"Let's go..."Zhu Chongjiu nodded, smiling and encouraging. Try not to be disturbed by the anger on Lu Luzeng's face. He has his own set of views on employing people. Therefore, although Zhang Song's conduct may not meet the standards of scholars and doctors of this era, as long as the latter is willing to work hard, he is still willing to give him enough space to show.

"The minister, please add a small amount of steel under the copper coin..."The opportunity is rare, Zhang Song seized it without hesitation, "Therefore, during the Song Dynasty, the imperial court minted hundreds of thousands of yuan every year, but the people were still rampant with inferior iron money. The reason is that the face value of copper coins is too large, and it is inconvenient to trade. But iron money can be used as one in ten. ”

As the saying goes, being a corrupt official also requires talent, and in terms of understanding money, Zhang Song is indeed much deeper than others here. Very implicitly, he pointed out the flaws in Zhu Chongjiu's previous order, and gave a practical and feasible improvement plan.

According to the internal standards of Huaiyang Hundred Workshops, a full-colored Kaiyuan Tongbao weighs only more than three grams. If the governor's office promulgates a five-gram copper coin, it will inevitably lead to excessive face value, and it will be inconvenient for the people to find change. And using lower-value steel to mint small coins can effectively compensate for this shortcoming. And with Huaiyang's current steelmaking process, the texture of the steel money has also swept the private minted small iron money on the market, making the latter lose its utility forever.

"Hmm... If you use stainless steel to cast money, will you lose money? Zhu Chongjiu pondered for a while, and then understood what Zhang Song really meant. Nodding and smiling, he consulted.

"The cost of steel, Weichen is not clear, so I need to ask Huang and Jiao Dajiang to help..."Zhang Song knows how to grasp the balance very well, and responds truthfully, "But as far as Weichen knows, in my Huaiyang Hundred Workshop, steel is also divided into many grades. Making money is no better than making armor, and the texture of steel doesn't need to be so hard. Choose one of the less expensive ones to build. Although some books may be folded at the beginning, as long as the people can circulate and in the long run, it will still be beneficial to my Huaiyang and not harmful..."

"You're talking about the credit value of money..." Zhu Chongjiu quickly summed up an incisive answer with the memory of another time and space. Yes, there is no harm in doing it. This manager is right. In addition"

Looking back at Lu Luzeng, Mr. Su and the others with confused faces, he added with a smile, "On top of the copper coin, another silver coin is minted." It is called the Chinese silver dollar, modeled after the Persian way, with a pattern on the front and back. What it is, you can discuss it together. What is the weight and what is the price of copper and silver on the market now? ”

"About two thousand hundred denarii for one or two pieces of silver. However, according to our standards, the money on the market is a little more than two grams. Two thousand one hundred dollars, at most four catties. And the fineness is also poor, copper four money six, even copper three money seven, copper two iron eight are a lot..."Zhang Song gave the answer very accurately as if he had been prepared.

"Then make it according to the ratio of two hundred dollars to one silver dollar, and the weight of the silver dollar shall be converted by yourselves. Just like you said before, we can suffer a little loss, the key is to build up the credit of Huaxia money first..."Zhu Chongjiu waved his hand again, full of pride.

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