Chapter 132 The era of crazy expansion

Chapter 131

The number of coins actually minted in the Ming Dynasty was very small. With Cheng Shijie's in-depth understanding of ancient coins during this period, he realized that no coins were minted during the Hongxi, Zhengtong, Jingtai, Tianshun, Chenghua, and Zhengde years.

Although coins were minted in Yongle and Xuande years, not much was minted. Yongle coins were very small, and Xuande coins were minted in total. Only 100,000 coins were minted. In the next fifty years after Xuande, no coins were minted at all. Hongzhi Tongbao was minted in the 16th year of Hongzhi, but

The quantity was insufficient; Jiajing coins were minted only about 100,000 guan each year. The sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty lasted for 277 years. Compared with the Tang and Song dynasties, the amount of coins minted was much less, even one-tenth of that in the Song Dynasty.

Less than.

The Ming Dynasty court rarely minted money. There are many reasons. First of all, with the arrival of the Silver Age, and after Zhang Juzheng's whipping method, the court's tax revenue mainly relied on silver.

But silver is just a precious metal, which is easier to oxidize than gold and copper. Tax silver collected by governments in various places can be recast into silver ingots, and fire consumption is also an additional income for officials, which is basically legalized.

Another point that makes Cheng Shijie feel incredible is that even in the Chongzhen Dynasty, Ming copper coins were circulated in surrounding countries, but because they were afraid of being circulated abroad, they did not mint coins.

This is simply turning a blind eye when there is an opportunity to make money.

In later generations, Dalian had more than 70 iron ore resources, more than 40 copper ore resources, and more than 20 lead and zinc deposits. Due to backward technology and exploration capabilities, Cheng Shijie's people have only found 16 so far.

Iron mines, fourteen coal mines, and four copper mines.

The preliminary conditions for casting copper coins and silver coins are mature. In addition, Cheng Shijie's warehouse also stores more than 400,000 kilograms of copper ingots. According to the ratio of copper to lead of 73, copper coins can be minted at least more than 60 Xiaoping coins.

Chongzhen Tongbao comes in four sizes: small flat coins, worth two coins, five coins, and ten coins, and the weight ranges from 3.72 grams to ten grams.

Cheng Shijie thought about it and first mobilized manpower from within to cast Chongzhen Tongbao.

The local talent pool in Liaodong really has all kinds of people, because not all the money minted by the Chongzhen Dynasty was placed in the Ministry of Industry in the capital, but there were also many places. Judging from the Chongzhen Tongbao discovered in later generations, there are Guizhou (Guizhou)

), Chong (Chongqing), Jiading (Sichuan), Gong (i.e. Tong "Gong", Gongcheng, Guangxi, and Pinglefu in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties), Jiang (Jiangning, Jiangsu), Guang (Guangdong), Ji (i.e. Jihan)

, refers to Shu Han.), Ying (Ying Tianfu), Zhong (Zhongzhou, Sichuan), Qingzhong, Qing (Chizhou Prefecture, Nanjing or Qingpu County, Songjiang Prefecture, Qingyang County, Nanzhi), E (Ezhou), Yu (Yulin, Shaanxi), Shanghai

(should be Lu, Luzhou, Sichuan), Ning (the abbreviation of Nanjing, Jiangsu, named after the Sui Dynasty as Jiangning County, Jiangning Capital, and the seat of Jiangning Prefecture.), Taiping (Taiping County, Kuizhou Prefecture, Sichuan).

There are also dozens of production areas such as Gongwu, Jianwu, Huwu, etc. With the severe inflation in the Chongzhen Dynasty, even 30% of the profit from minting money can no longer make up for the losses of inflation. In this case, private individuals are unwilling

Do something thankless.

Craftsmen who are good at casting have also lost their livelihood and become refugees. Just like Li Lin, the master of coin casting, this is an old man in his fifties. In future generations, if he has money, he can barely be considered an uncle. If he has no money, he can barely be considered an uncle.

, that’s a dead old man.

"Li Lin, a common man, pays homage to Mr. Jinglue!"

"Can you mint money?"

"Grass People's Association!"

Li Lin asked how to mix copper and zinc and how to control the temperature. Because zinc has a low melting point and is easy to volatilize, copper and zinc are the main raw materials for making copper coins. Zinc and iron can also be made into tinplate.

"The heat is very important. Every time the zinc is melted, it will consume 25%!"

Li Lin was very reserved when he first met Cheng Shijie, but as he talked about his major, he became more fluent, talking and gesticulating how to make money molds and how to pour copper and zinc liquid into the molds.

, how to refine it, wait for the explanation.

Cheng Shijie heard that Li Lin was very professional and said directly: "I want to mint money. It doesn't matter whether it is different from official money. What is important is that you have to mint qualified money. I plan to mint four million Xiaoping coins."

When you think of two coins, it’s two million coins. When you think of five coins, it’s one million coins. When you think of ten coins, it’s one million coins.”

One million coins sounds like a lot, but in fact, even if a thousand coins are exchanged for one tael of silver, the total of eight million coins in these four specifications is only equivalent to 23,000 taels of silver.

However, this requires hundreds of thousands of kilograms of copper and tens of thousands of kilograms of zinc.

Will Cheng Shijie be taken advantage of and do something thankless?

Definitely not. Once anything changes quantitatively, it will change qualitatively.

There was indeed inflation in the Ming Dynasty, but the problem is that Liaonan has more materials and less money, and prices are lower than other places. Besides, the problem of outflow of copper coins, once the amount of new money reaches a certain scale, the problem of outflow of coins will not be big.

.

"List how many workers and supplies you need in the early stage!"

"It's the common people who can save it!"

"As for your remuneration, you serve as the director of this mint, and it is temporarily designated as a hundred-level general. You will have an annual salary of 36 shi of grain and 60 taels of silver. If you do well, I will give you a heavy reward!"

"Thank you, Commander!"

Li Lin burst into tears immediately. He was originally a mint craftsman recruited by Sun Yuanhua, but Sun Yuanhua found out that he would lose money by minting coins, so he closed the factory.

Hearing Li Lin's explanation, Cheng Shijie's eyes lit up: "So, Mr. Futai prepared tools and equipment for you before?"

"We're ready. We've made more than 150 sets using mother money alone!"

Cheng Shijie said: "These equipments are now in my hands. You come with me and we will look for them. If there are ready-made equipments, this mint can be put into operation immediately!"

Li Lin timidly said: "I beg the commander-in-chief to forgive me for my son-in-law!"

Li Lin had no son, but he gave birth to three daughters. With no one to support him in old age, he took the younger daughter's husband as a daughter-in-law and passed his skills to his son-in-law Huang Sizheng.

Huang Sizheng was an honest man who couldn't beat him with three sticks, and he lived with him all the time. Later, Kong Youde rebelled, and Li Lin's son-in-law Huang Sizheng was kidnapped and entered.

It is difficult for a person to learn well, but it is too easy to change. Huang Sizheng was originally an excellent template maker and was also good at making silver and gold jewelry. He went on a long journey and worked for his future wife at a landlord's house in Taolin Town.

The daughter makes jewelry.

The work went very smoothly at first, but the problem came up that there was a naughty young man in the landlord's family. Seeing that Huang Sizheng didn't talk much, he started to play tricks on him. He used the dog basin at home as a soup basin for Huang Sizheng and made him drink noodles.

The noodles were poured into the dog's food bowl, and the dog thought it was its food. Seeing Huang Sizheng eating, it naturally came over to grab the food. The dog was very fierce and bit Huang Sizheng's right hand. As a craftsman, Huang Sizheng's right hand was disabled.

, which is equivalent to losing your job.

Later, the rebels from Kong Youde's tribe broke into the landlord's compound. The angry Huang Sizheng took a dung fork and stabbed the young master of the landlord's family to death.

No matter what the reason was, Huang Sizheng killed a nine-year-old child and was a heinous criminal. In this way, he was sent to the coal mine for rehabilitation.

A month ago, Li Lin went to see Huang Sizheng and found that Huang Sizheng had lost his shape. His small body might not last long.

After hearing Li Lin's cry, Cheng Shijie realized that he had been a little abrupt when dealing with Kong Youde's rebel soldiers. However, Cheng Shijie did not use his identity to pardon Huang Sizheng. Instead, he asked Zhang Ruyi, the president of the court, to re-examine the hurried criminals.

old cases decided under.

Although Cheng Shijie now controls the life and death of four to five million people, the life and death of these people are all determined by his thoughts. Although the power is great, just as Sun Yuanhua said at the beginning, he cannot exercise power or do whatever he wants.

There are problems with the system and it can be changed. However, some things need to be implemented instead of Cheng Shijie, the manager, taking the lead in destroying them.

When managing a small company, you can rely on human nature or your own preferences. However, now, Liaonan has surpassed the later Hansteel Group in size, at least in terms of number of people. But the problem is, this

The management of a large enterprise requires a system.

Rather than making a decision when your head is hot, patting your head to make a decision, patting your butt and leaving directly, wouldn’t that make you a cadre with three pats?

Cheng Shijie took Li Lin to the storage place where the materials moved from Dengzhou were stored. Cheng Shijie had given an order not to let go of even a nail.

At present, most of these equipment have been transported to various factories to play new roles, and there are not many things left. These crucibles for casting copper coins have been taken away and used in other factories. Fortunately, any equipment and facilities can be picked up.

Records are easy to find.

However, these crucibles were made by mixing the finest mud powder and charcoal powder, and were of very high quality. The molds and mother coins of the copper coins were still intact.

Li Lin also recruited the money-casting craftsmen who were also recruited by Sun Yuanhua. Many of them were doing well in the new work unit and they were not willing to get into this troubled water again.

Despite this, Ning Haijun's mint also put up its gears, and the remaining six crucibles began to melt the prepared copper materials, as well as zinc, and the originally made molds for more than 150 copper coins.

Two days later, the first batch of copper coins produced, in four specifications, or four denominations, totaling more than 1,500 coins each, were placed in front of Cheng Shijie.

Cheng Shijie took the new coins and weighed them on a small electronic scale. The weight of the small coins was 3.72 grams, which was almost the same weight. This made Cheng Shijie feel incredible.

The maximum weight of this sensitive electronic scale is only ten kilograms. The sensitivity is very high. Even if one hundred items are weighed together, or one thousand five hundred items, the maximum error between each hundred items is one gram, and the minimum error is 0.14.

Gram. On average, the single error is almost negligible.

How did these craftsmen do it without accurate electronic scales in the late Ming Dynasty?

Although there were small and precise crane scales in the Ming Dynasty, although the crane scales were more accurate, the problem was that if the scale was slightly higher or lower, there would be errors.

"Commander, Yang Yunniang wants to see you!"

"Let her in!"

At this time, Yang Yuniang was dressed in men's clothing, wearing a Xiaoyao scarf, a blue Confucian shirt, a sash, and boots. This was also the standard dress for scholars in the Ming Dynasty.

Although Yang Yuniang did not apply makeup, it could still be seen that she was a woman. Of course, this was related to the customs of the Ming Dynasty. Generally speaking, when women went out to work, they rarely dressed in fancy clothes, which was not convenient.

"I pay my respects to the commander-in-chief!"

Yang Yunniang's eyes fell directly on the new money.

"sit down!"

Yang Yunniang still got straight to the point and got straight to the point: "Commander, I have a question for you!"

"What's the problem, you can ask!"

"This is how our bank solves the problem of deposits and withdrawals in different places!"

Yang Yunniang smiled bitterly and said: "Now we need to establish six branches, from the southernmost Lushun branch to the northernmost Haizhou branch. The distance is more than 700 miles. Even if we use the fastest horse to transmit account information, it will still take three

God’s time!”

"how to solve this problem?"

Cheng Shijie suddenly thought about the ancient times when Internet literature was developed. At that time, there were novels he liked to read on Tiesue.com, but the problem was that there was no online payment in that era. How to solve the problem of charging virtual currency into the account?
To be continued...