Time in a blink of an eye to May, in the east of Yibohai to build the fortifications of the five cities has begun, Ge Lulu immediately transferred 20,000 people from the ministries, plus Beiting recruited 5,000 migrant workers, the personnel are sufficient, the construction of the city is going very smoothly, this afternoon, Li Qing'an inspected the five cities returned, he first returned to Beiting City, as soon as he entered the city gate, he asked Wang Changling urgently: "Where is the money furnace from Chang'an?" ”

He got the news halfway that the smelting furnace transported from the Chang'an Shaofu Supervisor had arrived in Tingzhou, and he hurried back to Tingzhou.

The envoys of the towns of the Tang Dynasty generally serve as debriefings, which mainly depends on the degree of trust of the emperor, for example, Li Qing'an has a series of other titles in addition to the deputy envoy of the festival and the governor of Tingzhou, and the more important is the imperial history Zhongcheng, which is the right of supervision; At the same time, he also made a transfer of fields, which was equivalent to mastering the economic lifeline of Beiting; In addition, he also served as the supervisor of the Baigong Branch and the supervisor of coinage, the former was to manage the craftsmen of Beiting, and the latter was to hold the power of coinage, including the right to mine and smelt.

It is precisely because of these titles in his hand that Li Qingan can grasp the military and political power of Beiting, of course, he does not have all powers, for example, he does not have the most important personnel rights, and the appointment of all civil and military officials still has to be carried out through the military department and the official department.

Considering the remoteness of Anxi's courtyard and the inconvenience of transporting copper coins, Li Linfu agreed to install a coinage furnace in Tingzhou, and the coins minted were used to meet the needs of Beiting and Anxi, which played a vital role in the economic prosperity of Beiting.

Wang Changling hurriedly said: "They have been here for ten days!" ”

At this time, a soldier led a low-level junior official hurriedly over, he bowed down and saluted: "The lowly position is Lu Bai of the Longyou Metallurgical Bureau, the supervisor of the Shaofu, please take care of you." ”

He was just a petty official from Jiupin, who was transferred to Beiting to assist Li Qingan in managing the coin furnace, and he was actually a technical supervisor.

Although the position of this technical director is low, Li Qingan still asks him, and hurriedly returns with a smile: "It turned out to be Lu Yecheng, welcome to Beiting, I don't know if Lu Yecheng is going to stay in Beiting for a long time, or temporarily to assist in guidance." ”

"Back to the envoy, the appointment letter says that you will stay for a year, and please take care of the envoy in the future."

Lu Bai is not from a professional class, and he has nothing to do with the Lu family, a famous family in the Tang Dynasty, his family has been poor for generations, only because he has been a small official for 20 years, and he has accumulated qualifications before becoming an official, this is the first official in his Lu family for five generations, so he cherishes his own small official hat from the ninth grade, which is manifested in the attitude towards those in power is groveling, and even has a little flattery.

"Envoy, please come with me to see the money furnace."

He took Li Qing'an to a city wall of idle courtyard, here is the temporary coinage of the Beiting Metallurgical Department, more than a dozen rooms, the coinage is actually a series of projects, the Tang Dynasty has adopted the sand casting method, copper smelting, molding, melting, molding, polishing, selection, wearing money and other processes are in this, there are about 30 craftsmen, and the Beiting copper transportation is inconvenient, must be mined and smelted on the spot, which at least a few thousand people, so the imperial court agreed to the Beiting coinage, in fact, it is to give it a big industry.

Li Qing'an walked into the courtyard and glanced around, only to see that a swarthy copper smelting furnace had been built in the corner of the courtyard, with tools scattered around it, as well as dozens of molten copper crucible jars, and a stone foundation for pressing the money.

Only then did he realize that the so-called furnace was just an earthen kiln made of bricks and mortar, not an iron furnace as he imagined.

Li Qing'an stepped forward to take a closer look, and saw that there were more than a dozen iron money fans in the iron box next to him, that is, work molds, so he picked up a money fan casually, and it could be seen that it had been very old, covered with rust, and the shape was not standard, Li Qingan reached out and peeled it, and immediately there were large pieces of rust peeling off, rusty, almost every piece of money fan was like this, he couldn't help frowning, and said to himself: "How can it be so tattered?" ”

Lu Bai blushed a little, and hurriedly explained: "This is the old money model that the Longyou Money Mint Office eliminated a few years ago, and it has been stored for a few years, and it has rusted to the point that it is not in shape, and now we all use the mother money to turn the sand to make money, and these money models are only used for experiments." ”

He saw that Li Qing'an's brows were not stretched by his explanation, so he muttered: "Envoy, I don't know if I should say something or not?" ”

"You say!"

"Envoy, in fact, whether it is money or money, you can make it yourself, as far as I know, many people privately mint copper coins, which are better than official furnaces, the key is that Beiting has the power to mint money, as for Fanzi! It doesn't have to be made by officials. ”

Li Qingan immediately understood what he meant, there is no difference between the technical government and the private office of the coin, the key is to break the law or not, he also heard that the cost of minting money has always been only 700 Wen, many people have privately minted copper coins to make huge profits, and some of the private money is more exquisite than the official money, of course, there are also inferior money with insufficient copper materials, Datang's Kaiyuan Tongbao has no anti-counterfeiting technology, the only means of prevention is severe punishment, and civilians will pay the price of killing their heads when they privately mint copper coins.

But in fact, many powerful and wealthy families are also secretly making private money for huge profits, as long as no one reports, the imperial court can only turn a blind eye, but Beiting is different, Beiting has no ready-made copper materials, can only mine and smelt, so it can not be low-key, once the construction starts, it will be known immediately, so it is particularly important for Beiting to get the right to mint money, Li Qingan can now openly, large-scale mining and minting money.

As for changing the mold or the mother's money privately, the problem is not very big, but this Lu Yecheng's thinking is very pragmatic, which surprised Li Qingan very much.

Li Qingan smiled slightly: "I don't know when I will be able to refine the first furnace of money?" ”

Lu Bai hurriedly said: "I have tried two furnaces the day before yesterday, and minted a hundred yuan, so please come with me." ”

Lu Bai took Li Qing'an to the warehouse, there were a few soldiers guarding the door, they walked into the house, there were two large bamboo baskets in the center of the house, the bamboo baskets were full of yellow and clear copper coins, and the two craftsmen in the upper body were busy wearing money, that is, the scattered copper coins were worn with ropes one by one, a thousand pieces were consistent, of course, it was not the most primitive method, a money was worn one by one, not to mention that it was inefficient, and it was easy to make mistakes.

Lu Bai pointed to the basket and continued: "Datang mints 320,000 yuan a year, a total of 99 coinage offices, and each coinage office mints about 3,300 yuan a year, in fact, as long as the copper material is sufficient, we can mint 20,000 yuan a year." ”

Speaking of this, he looked at Li Qing'an's face, and hurriedly said with a smile: "Of course, how much money to cast is ordered by the Shaofu Supervisor, if Li Yuanjun wants to make a little more, it's okay." ”

He knew that this kind of frontier town was not a county in the interior, there were not so many restrictions on supervision, and how much money was actually determined by the Jiedu envoy, and he heard that the actual amount of money minted in Youzhou was three times the amount given by the Shaofu Prison, and there was no problem, not to mention the Tiangao Emperor's far Beiting, it is said that the supervision power is in the hands of this Jiedu envoy, so how much Li Qingan wants to mint is not up to him.

The amount of money under the Shaofu Supervisor to the North Court is 10,000 guan a year, including 5,000 guan money to Anxi, in fact, the Beiting is only 5,000 guan a year, which is enough to cope with the usual administrative expenses, and the cloth can also be used as currency to supplement the shortage of copper money, and the army is mainly food and materials, and the money and silk are not consumed much, so the imperial court only gives 10,000 guan to mint money, which is actually a financial restriction to prevent the recruitment of private soldiers.

But in fact, this kind of quota is just a dead letter, the envoys of the middle and late Tang Dynasty have to make private money without the right to mint money, not to mention that Li Qingan got the right to mint money, of course he will not stop at the annual 10,000 copper coins, Li Qingan did not say anything, only smiled and asked: "If I want to make a batch of money and silver money, I don't know if there is a mold." ”

'Gold and silver money? Lu Bai was stunned, and he hurriedly said, "Yes!" Yes! ”

He hurriedly ran into the house, took out a small wooden box, handed it to Li Qing'an, and said: "Envoy, this is the mother money I received from the Shaofu Supervisor, there are a total of ten gold, silver, and bronze three kinds, and the envoy is the money casting supervisor, and the mother money should be kept by the envoy." ”

Li Qing'an took the box, opened it and looked at it, and there were indeed thirty exquisitely shaped mother coins inside, the body of the money was slightly thicker than ordinary coins, the text was deep, the font was beautiful and slender, and the copper was delicate and white.

He closed the box and handed it to Wang Changling next to him and said with a smile: "This is used every day, and it is inconvenient to put it next to me, so let the army keep it!" ”

Wang Changling accepted it, Li Qingan nodded and said with a smile: "Tomorrow we will start minting money, there are ready-made 80,000 catties of copper, wax and lead in the Beiting warehouse, and I will send three hundred sergeants to help cast together, there is no problem with Lu Zhicheng!" ”

Lu Bai understood what Li Qing'an meant, in fact, he was sending someone to learn the art of coinage, he didn't dare to refuse, and hurriedly said: "No problem, let Jun send someone to help." ”

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The arrival of the money casting craftsman made Li Qing very proud, he can get the right to cast money on a large scale, of course 10,000 yuan a year is not enough, the key is that he also got the right to mine, there is a large copper mine in Yizhou, and there are gold and silver mines in Jinshan, as long as the machine starts, the money will not roll in?

Of course, the shortage of mining labor is still a big problem, he is not worried about this, there are not enough Han people, and the Hu people can also be on top.

Li Qing'an has been inspecting the construction of the five cities for a month, and he has not returned home, he is homesick, and after inspecting the coinage, he turned around and went home.

Walking on the streets of Jinman County, the streets seem to be more crowded than before, bustling, very lively, Li Qingan couldn't help but think of Chen Zhonghe, the county commander of Jinman County, it is said that this person resigned and went to Chang'an to sue himself for the imperial complaint, without hesitation, even the old mother, wife and children were left behind, he couldn't help but sigh for a while, although this person is capable, but after all, he is a scholar, under the plan to restore the broken leaves, how could Li Longji listen to his complaint.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! It's going to be sold out if it's late. ”

Seeing that he was about to arrive at his house, there were suddenly several women's low shouts behind him, Li Qingan couldn't help but look back, only to see three or five young Hu Niang carrying money bags in their hands, hurriedly running forward, everyone's eyes were full of expectation.

Li Qingan couldn't help but be a little strange, what did they go to buy?

Turning a corner, Li Qingan was stunned for a moment, and from a distance, he saw that the front of his mansion was crowded with young women, and everyone was scrambling for something? He could see clearly that many women were holding a long skirt in their hands and gesturing on their bodies.

"Don't rob it, these skirts are guaranteed to be the best goods in Chang'an West City, you look at this workmanship, the silk of this skirt can't be seen in Beiting."

A picturesque voice came from afar, and through the gap in the women's heads, Li Qing'an saw the picturesque, she was standing on a high table, her sleeves rolled up, her hair combed in a bun, revealing a long snow-white neck, and her pretty face looked extraordinarily ruddy in the sunlight.

"Eldest sister, your skirt is three times rich, right! A penny can't be less, it's already very cheap, when I bought it, it was three dollars, this skirt has never been worn, you see how bright the color is, I don't earn yours for a penny, okay! Xiaolian, collect the money for me. ”

Seeing Xiaolian come out of the crowd, take a bag of money from a Hu Niang, and count it seriously, Li Qingan became more and more surprised, and he saw the maid in the dancing costume Yunu who seemed to be helping.

Just the three of them, busy selling a bunch of long skirts and some supplies, all brought from Chang'an, Li Qingan waved his hand lightly, pointed to the side door, the soldiers understood, and walked to the side door, he turned over and dismounted, walked slowly to the gate with his hands behind his back, stood on the steps and smiled at this grand scene.

At this time, Xiaolian had finished counting the money and handed over the long skirt to Hu Niang, who took the pomegranate skirt and looked left and right, and left happily.

Xiaolian took the money and turned around and was about to go back, when she suddenly saw Li Qing'an, there was a surprise in her eyes, she was about to run up, but Li Qing'an raised her index finger, shhed at her, and pointed to the picturesque.

"Okay!" There was a picturesque and crisp laugh from the crowd, "Two times and five hundred wen, we will make a deal, Xiaolian, and collect the money from this beautiful lady again." ”

Ruhua reached another deal, urging her, Xiaolian had no choice but to turn around and collect the money.

"Hey! Little lady, how much does your tea set cost? ”

A woman took a fancy to a set of porcelain, and immediately smiled: "Sister, your vision is good, it is Dayi's high-grade white porcelain, which is only sold in the old store of Zhangjia in Chang'an East City, and I only have three sets of tea sets, if you like it, take it away with ten dollars." ”

Li Qing'an looked at the tea set, he suddenly remembered, this seems to be bought when they moved to a new house in Chang'an, he remembered that he bought six yuan at that time, and this little lady actually offered ten yuan.

Ten guan money seemed to be a little more expensive for this woman, but she couldn't put it down, hesitated for a moment, and she shouted: "Little lady, is it sold for eight guan money?" ”

Picturesque smiled and said: "Sister, I basically don't make money, this kind of high-grade white porcelain can not be seen in the Beiting market, the porcelain shop next door to the Xianyang wine store is sold, but the texture is much worse than mine, but the price is twelve, eldest sister, you don't believe it to take a look." ”

Speaking of this, she turned back to a woman and smiled: "That is an embroidered gold shutter skirt, every woman should have a pressed bottom of the box, I will buy five times five hundred yuan, sell you six yuan for money, and only earn five hundred yuan." ”

The woman who bought porcelain here was excited, and it was a little too expensive to buy it, after all, ten yuan was also a large amount, and Ruhua looked back and smiled: "Sister, let's do it!" Nine yuan for porcelain, I'll give you another bag of fine tea, worth 500 Wen, how about it? ”

The woman's eyes lit up, and she finally nodded: "Okay, let's make a deal, I don't have so much money with me, you put away the porcelain first, I'll go back and get it, by the way, is the silver okay?" ”

"Yes, nine taels of silver."

The woman squeezed out of the crowd, got on a small donkey, and hurried back to get the money.

At this time, Ruhua finally saw Li Qing'an, she suddenly jumped up in surprise, and she didn't care about doing business anymore, jumped off the table, and rushed straight towards Li Qing'an.

She hugged Li Qingan's arm and said coquettishly: "Brother, when did you come back?" Don't let people say it first. ”

Her intimate behavior caused laughter from the women behind her, and Li Qingan lovingly wiped the sweat on her forehead and said with a smile: "What about poetry? Why didn't she come to help you? ”

"She's shy, so she won't come!"

Picturesque whispered to Li Qing'an and laughed: "The one she once a month is here, and she can't go anywhere." ”

Li Qing'an understood, so he smiled and said: "If you are a painter, please continue to be busy, and report your business situation to the proprietor in the evening." ”

Ruhua glanced at him, pouted and said: "What a picturesque shopkeeper, it's so ugly, my surname is Li, Li shopkeeper." ”

"Yes, Shopkeeper Li, go get busy!"

"Alright! I went, and I'll come back to you in the evening. ”

Pictured winked at him mischievously, then went back and jumped on the big table, smiling at the scrambling women, "Don't worry! Hold your horses! Come one by one. ”

"Li Xiaoniang, how much is this Xia curtain, my daughter is going to get married, so I want to buy one for her, but I can't find it in the county." A woman asked excitedly holding a long and narrow scarf with a jade pendant underneath.

Ruhua pursed her lips and smiled: "The eldest sister really has a vision, your Xia curtain is made of high-grade Shu brocade, the market price of Chang'an East is twenty guan, I have only used it once, so as long as you are eighteen guan, in fact, a shop called Jinshan silk shop in the east of the city is also sold, you might as well take a look, I tell you, their price is not less than thirty guan, and the counteroffer can only be up to twenty-eight guan, I will keep this Xia curtain for you, you can compare it and come again." ”

Li Qing'an has never seen such a business talent in a picturesque manner, in his impression,

Picturesque has always been a lively and outgoing girl, a little similar to Mingzhu, but she does not have the status of Mingzhu, she is a plaything raised by An Lushan to give to the powerful, she has no chance to go out since she was a child, and she has only been in contact with the outside world in the past two years with herself, but she is so flexible, so good at selling goods, and no one has ever taught her, which can only be explained that she has a talent for business.

Li Qingan couldn't help but look at her with admiration, at this time, his brows suddenly frowned slightly, he noticed the picturesque dress, she was wearing a red and gorgeous pomegranate skirt on her lower body, but she was wearing a thin shirt on her upper body, it was May, the sky was getting hotter, the women basically wore shirts, the shirts belonged to summer clothes, it was a kind of single clothing without lining after the Han Dynasty, and the shirts of the Tang Dynasty were mostly wide necks and large sleeves, sewn with leno, light as smoke, thin as cicada wings, and the skin was faintly visible.

Picturesque is wearing such a shirt, in the sun, you can clearly see the two round and full rufang on her chest, with her arm swinging, the two full rufang like a white porcelain jade bowl is beating with a bullet, and then look at other women, in fact, it is the same, but these women are not as pure and beautiful as the painting.

Li Qingan will also appreciate other women, but his own woman's chest is so exposed, he always feels a little uncomfortable in his heart.

He looked at the narrow scarf in his hand, and suddenly remembered something that would be used by women in later generations.

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(To be continued)