My life skills in Daming Liver

After Su Ze arrived at the mine, he saw a skinny old eunuch standing beside Eunuch Hu with a hunched body, his eyebrows and eyes squeezed together.

This should be the Tao Dang that Eunuch You mentioned.

When Su Ze stepped forward, Tao Dadang's eyes lit up.

Su Ze's extraordinary demeanor made people feel trustworthy, which gave Tao Dadang, who was already in a hurry to go to the doctor, a glimmer of hope.

Tao Dadang did not expect this matter to be so difficult.

I thought it was a profitable errand, but in order to grab this errand, the old eunuch almost wiped out his savings, so under the recommendation of his godfather Li Fang, he became the eunuch in charge of making money in Fujian.

But when eunuch Tao came to Fujian and saw the copper reserves in Fujian, he was dumbfounded.

According to the copper stored in Fujian, it is impossible to issue so many coins, and it is impossible to meet the requirements of the court.

Now, not to mention making a lot of money from it, it is even difficult to complete the task of distributing money set by the court.

Eunuch Tao knew the eunuch's position very well.

Eunuchs are the emperor's domestic slaves, and civil servants in foreign courts are the treasurers of the emperor's family.

If the shopkeeper does not do well, as long as it does not involve too big a problem, at most he will be fired.

Although the Ming Dynasty did not treat scholar-bureaucrats as preferentially as the Song Dynasty, if the ministers did not do well, they would either be relegated, or at best be sentenced to a crown belt and live in idleness (deprivation of their posts to retain their official status and early retirement), and it would be a very severe punishment to lose their citizenship for the people. up.

But if the eunuch can't handle things well, he will die.

For eunuchs who can't do well, Beizhen Fusi will inevitably visit him.

How many people are watching this coin minting errand, if it is not done well, first the colleagues in the palace will have to take eye drops.

Ke Dao officials are also arguing endlessly about the matter of casting money, and many officials are opposed to casting money, and even oppose the emperor sending eunuchs to supervise the casting of money. Own.

In fact, the matter of minting money was not done well every time, and Eunuch Tao also understood his mission, which was to make money for the emperor.

Making money is just a cover, making money is the means!

Even if the money law in Fujian is chaotic, as long as he gets the money, eunuch Tao will be able to survive when he returns to the palace. "evaluation of.

But if he couldn't get the money and messed up Fujian's money law, then eunuch Tao might not be able to return to the palace, and the emperor would directly push him out to bear the blame.

Eunuch Tao saw the account book in Fujian and was in chaos, so he came to Eunuch Hu in a panic and asked for help.

Eunuch Hu recommended Su Ze to Eunuch Tao, saying that he was a capable scholar in Nanping County.

In fact, Eunuch Tao didn't have too high expectations for a scholar in the county, but after seeing Su Ze, he felt good about him. He took Su Ze's hand and said, "I heard that Mr. Hu said that Mr. Su is a capable person. Miscellaneous family supervises Fujian coinage, please save me, Mr. Su!"

Su Ze said quickly: "Su can't afford the husband-in-law that Da Dang is talking about, let's go in and discuss."

On the way here, Su Ze had already thought of several plans, and everyone entered the meeting room of the mine supervisor, after Little Eunuch You served tea.

Eunuch Tao explained his predicament to Su Ze in detail, and then explained how much copper was still in the treasury of the Niesi Yamen in Fujian and how much new money the court asked him to issue.

Su Ze just listened quietly. After Eunuch Tao finished speaking, Su Ze said:

"I have three methods, upper, middle and lower. I don't know which method Tao Gonggong should listen to?"

Eunuch Tao's eyes lit up. Su Ze came up with three solutions to such a difficult matter. He quickly said, "Mr. Su, what is the right way?"

Su Ze said directly: "Cast silver coins."

Both Eunuch Tao and Eunuch Hu were shocked, and Su Ze said: "What is the root of the chaos in money law? It is that both the people and the imperial court use silver, but silver is not controlled by the imperial court. Silver is of different colors and specifications. In fact, it is used It sounds more chaotic than copper coins, if the imperial court can mint silver coins, it will definitely be welcomed by the people, with silver coins as the main and copper coins as a supplement, the copper coins issued together can also be quickly accepted by the people."

Eunuch Tao naturally understood what Su Ze meant. Although the imperial court used silver and the common people used silver, there was no official silver currency in Ming Dynasty.

The "silver ingots" released by the government also come in various shapes, and they are cast into ingots only for the convenience of transportation and counting, and seldom use ingots directly in private transactions, but use broken silver.

Su Ze's suggestion is definitely pertinent, but the issue of money is not something Eunuch Tao can discuss.

He lowered his head and said: "Young master is a great talent, but the emperor only asked me to mint coins. This is a grand scheme of money law, so I dare not do it."

Su Ze didn't expect the eunuch to accept the plan. Only the cabinet was qualified to discuss the use of money.

Su Ze gave another bad strategy: "The worst strategy is to collect the ancient coins on the market and then smelt them into new money. The disadvantage of this is that collecting copper coins from the market will inevitably lead to greater confusion in the money law, and recasting copper coins requires consumption A lot of fire consumption."

Tao Dadang sighed, he had also considered this plan, and it was the last resort.

Naturally, there are many disadvantages of this plan. Purchasing copper coins from the private sector will inevitably cause fluctuations in copper prices, and the cost of minting coins will be higher.

It is not so simple to start a blast furnace to remelt old money. It requires a lot of manpower, which will inevitably cause huge disturbances. It is also necessary to melt copper coins into copper water, separate the substances in ancient coins, and re-proportion various metals before they can be cast. Produce usable copper coins.

Among them, the cost of fire consumption is huge, let alone making money, it is not bad to be able to pay back.

But only after two strategies were mentioned, Eunuch Tao stared at Su Ze and asked, "Mr. Su, what is the middle strategy?"

Su Ze threw out his final plan: "Make big money, make good money."

Eunuch Tao sighed, this plan is not new, as it was done in many places in the end.

Casting big coins is to cast copper coins with larger denominations, and then force the people to use these large denominations of copper coins, and then quickly clear the copper coins and exchange them for silver when the government forces the people to use large coins.

But to do this, Fujian must cooperate from top to bottom. Eunuch Tao's character is weak and his wrists are average, so he can't handle these old fritters in Fujian official circles at all.

On the contrary, many people are watching his every move, ready to impeach him at any time.

Su Ze said: "My middle strategy is not to make big money, but to make good money."

"Good money?"

Su Ze asked, "What is good money?"

Eunuch Tao blurted out, "Most copper in money is good money."

Everyone nodded. Eunuch Tao wanted to mint money, so he had naturally studied these.

Su Ze shook his head and said, "Yes, not all."

"The ancient coins that are still in circulation today are mostly official coins from the Han, Tang, and Song Dynasties."

"The money in the Han Dynasty is five baht money, in the Tang Dynasty it was Kaiyuan Tongbao, and in the Song Dynasty there was a lot of official money. The Song money minted after Shenzong is still usable, and it is still popular in Fujian."

Eunuch Tao nodded. The few Su Ze mentioned were indeed common copper coins.

At this time, the eunuch Xiaoyou took out a few copper coins, and Su Ze first said: "Five baht coins began to be minted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the later emperors of the Han and Han Dynasties all minted five baht coins, but does your father-in-law know that the five baht coins of the Han Dynasty are more expensive than the half-baht coins of the Qin Dynasty?" The two coins should be light, and the copper content should be less, but why can the five bahts of the Han Dynasty be used in the world?"

Eunuch Tao saw that Su Ze put together a Han five baht coin and Qin Banliang coin, and it was true that the Han five baht coin was smaller.

Su Ze took out another Kaiyuan Tongbao and said:

"Kaiyuan Tongbao is not the money minted by Tang Xuanzong. Kaiyuan Tongbao has been minted since Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty. It was the largest issue during Tang Xuanzong's period. The world thinks that it was issued in the year of Xuanzong Kaiyuan."

"The quality of Kaiyuan Tongbao is worse than that of the five bahts of the Han Dynasty. Please take a look, Mr. Tao. Which of these two coins is better in copper color?"

Eunuch Tao looked over, and sure enough, the five baht coins of the Han Dynasty were bigger and heavier, and the copper coins were more yellowed.

Tang Kaiyuan Tongbao is a little whitish, which is the reason why there is more lead doped in the coins.

Su Ze said: "Elder-in-law, please see that even emperors like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Tang Xuanzong cast money, the copper color is getting less and less, and the money is getting lighter and lighter, but why can the money they cast be used in the world?"

This touched Eunuch Tao's blind spot of knowledge. He glanced blankly at Eunuch Hu, who also shook his head.

Su Ze said: "There are two points. One is that this money is minted in the prosperous age. The imperial court has prestige, and the circulation is also very large. It can be forcibly promoted and used throughout the country."

Eunuch Tao lowered his head. Although he was an eunuch, he knew it well.

Don't look at the scene of the fire cooking oil, but now it's not a prosperous age.

Don't these eunuchs know what the emperor looks like? How to compare with Han Wudi Tang Xuanzong?

Even Emperor Wen of Han, whom Jiajing often compares himself to, can't compare to him!

Su Ze added: "Another reason is that the money is good."

Su Ze said: "Because the minted copper coins are exquisite, the common people are more willing to use them."

Eunuch Tao looked at Han Wuzhu and Kaiyuan Tongbao, knowing that the Han and Tang Dynasties are very far away now, but the characters on the coins are still clear, and the shape of the coins is also very standard, which makes people willing to use them.

Su Ze said: "For coin casting, the more copper the better, the important thing is the coin casting process and the ratio of various metals."

"As long as copper coins of higher quality than those of the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties are cast and the denominations are larger, the common people will accept them."

Eunuch Tao has somewhat followed Su Ze's train of thought. As long as the money he casts is more exquisite, it will be regarded as poorer in quality, lighter in weight, and larger in denomination, and the folks will recognize it.

He couldn't help asking: "How to make good money?"

Su Ze smiled slightly and said, "I'll ask Eunuch You to explain this."

"I?"

Eunuch Xiaoyou pointed to himself and asked.

Su Ze nodded. He pointed to Han Wuzhu and Kaiyuan Tongbao and asked, "Little Eunuch You, why are the ancient Han and Tang coins turning green and white?"

Eunuch Xiao You blurted out: "The ancient coins of the Han and Tang Dynasties are mostly cast with copper, iron, lead, and even lead (tin). The combination of copper and lead turns blue, and the lead turns white."

Su Ze nodded approvingly, and even Eunuch Hu looked at him with admiration.

This metallurgical alloy knowledge was naturally taught to him by Su Ze, and Su Ze said again: "Little Eunuch You, have you made the brass you mentioned last time?"

Little Eunuch You nodded quickly. He quickly took out two metal bars from the room and handed them to Eunuch Hu and Tao.

I only saw the two metal strips emitting a yellow metallic light, but Eunuch Tao weighed them with his hands, and they were lighter than copper.

"This is?"

Su Ze said, "Brass."

Eunuch You explained: "Brass is a mixture of copper and Japanese lead."

Eunuch Tao looked at the brass alloy and quickly asked, "What's the price of Japanese lead?"

Little Eunuch You said: "Japanese lead is cheaper than lead."

Eunuch Tao asked again: "How much copper is there in brass? How much Japanese lead? Is there more Japanese lead or more copper?"

Little Eunuch You said: "Of course, the more copper there is, the brighter it will be, but it can also be done if there is more Japanese lead than copper."

Eunuch Tao became excited now, the appearance of this yellow orange is worth money, ordinary people don't know how much copper it contains!

Su Ze smiled. In fact, good brass is mainly copper-zinc alloy, and Japanese lead is zinc.

Japanese lead is a by-product of silver refining in the Japanese country. It is very cheap in the Japanese country, and a lot of it was sold to Daming through maritime trade. Because its shape and properties are similar to lead, it is called Japanese lead.

On the historical line of Su Ze, from the late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, due to the influx of zinc, the coins became yellower and yellower, closer to the appearance of copper coins in modern people's perception.

The older copper coins are actually bronze coins, not the brass coins we know.

Coins made of brass are indeed yellower, and people naturally think that the yellower the coins, the higher the copper content.

The density of zinc is similar to that of copper, which means that the cast brass alloy is not too light, and the addition of tin will not be too light, so the cost of casting coins is lower, but they look better.

Su Ze helped Eunuch Tao mint coins, but he was thinking about alloy technology, or casting cannons.

In fact, at all times and in all over the world, the earliest alloy is "money".

For the pursuit of money, the mysticism such as injection alchemy and alchemy was born. The two mysticisms of the East and the West have the same goal by different routes, and they have become the ancestors of the earliest alloy smelting.

However, the study of alloy formulations requires a lot of financial, material and human resources.

The same is true of modern materials science. Poor labs can only try carefully, relying on a little bit of characteristic change.

The Tuhao laboratory can produce a large number of alloys, and then measure their properties one by one.

Large laboratories can produce a few breakthrough papers at will, and the labs are forced to study and analyze carefully, and the final results are not as good as the waste products thrown away by others.

Such is the case with alloy processing, an industry that requires a lot of trial and error and capital investment.

Isn't this eunuch Tao the angel investor No. 3 who came to your door?

To study a suitable brass alloy, you can also study other alloys.

Studying coins, isn't it also possible to study alloys for casting guns?

Moreover, Mrs. Tao supervised the minting, so she could mobilize the artisan resources of the entire Fujian, and Su Ze could stuff more private goods into the project.

After Alloy finished speaking, Su Ze said again:

"In addition to the material, the shape of the copper coin is also important. I have a hydraulic hammer stamping method."

Although Eunuch Tao didn't understand heavy hammer punching, he still looked at Su Ze passionately, and said in his heart, "It's a pity that such a talent doesn't enter the palace!"

Hydraulic hammer stamping coins, brass alloy, Japanese lead, can be regarded as a foreshadowing recovery.

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ps: The collection of ancient coins is too deep, everyone be careful!