After Su Ze arrived at the mine, he saw a skinny old eunuch. He was standing next to Eunuch Hu, his body hunched, his eyebrows squeezed together.
This should be the Tao Dajuan that Young Eunuch You was talking about.
When Su Ze stepped forward, Tao Dajuan's eyes lit up.
Su Ze's extraordinary demeanor made people feel trustworthy. This gave Tao Daxuan, who was already in a critical condition and seeking medical treatment, a glimmer of hope.
Tao Daxuan did not expect this matter to be so difficult to handle.
He thought it was a lucrative job, but in order to grab this job, the old eunuch almost spent all his savings. Only then, on the recommendation of his godfather Li Fang, became the eunuch in charge of money making 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 that many coins and meet the requirements of the court.
Now let alone make a huge fortune from it, it is even difficult to complete the imperial court's set task of distributing money.
Eunuch Tao knew the position of eunuch very well.
Eunuchs were the emperor's domestic slaves, and civil servants from other dynasties were the shopkeepers of the emperor's family.
If the shopkeeper doesn't do something well, as long as it doesn't involve too big a problem, he will be fired at most.
Although the Ming Dynasty did not treat scholar-bureaucrats as favorably as the Song Dynasty, if ministers did not do well, they would be demoted or, at most, sentenced to live in idle life (deprived of their posts but retired early as officials), and depriving them of official status would be a very severe punishment. .
But if the eunuch can't handle things well, people will die.
Eunuchs who do bad things always have to pay a visit to Beizhen Fusi.
Many people are watching this coin minting mission. If it doesn't go well, the colleagues in the palace will first need to take eye drops.
Ke Dao Yan Guan also argued endlessly about the matter of coining money. There were also many Yan Guan who opposed coining money, and even opposed the emperor sending eunuchs to be in charge of coining money. If the money in Fujian was not done well, Ke Dao Yan Guan would not let it go. Own.
In fact, the matter of making money was not done well every time. Eunuch Tao also understood his mission, which was to make money for the emperor.
Making money is just a cover, making money is the method!
Even if the money law in Fujian is chaotic, as long as he gets the money, he, Eunuch Tao, can survive when he returns to the palace. If he does it too much and smoothes the relationship, he will not only be able to be greedy, but also leave a "competent" character in the emperor's heart. "evaluation of.
But if he couldn't get the money and messed up Fujian's money laws, then Eunuch Tao might not be able to return to the palace, and he would be directly pushed out by the emperor to bear the blame.
Eunuch Tao saw clearly that Fujian's account books were in chaos, and he came to Eunuch Hu in a panic 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 high expectations for a county scholar, but after meeting Su Ze, he felt good about him. He took Su Ze's hand and said, "I heard that Eunuch Hu said that Mr. Su is a capable person. This time The Zajia family supervises the minting of Fujian, please save me, Mr. Su!"
Su Ze said quickly: "Su can't afford the husband-in-law that Da Yue talks about. Let's go in and discuss it."
On the way here, Su Ze had already thought of several plans. Everyone entered the mine supervisor's living room and Eunuch You served tea.
Eunuch Tao explained his predicament to Su Ze in detail, and also told him how much copper was still in the treasury of Fujian Zangsi Yamen and how much new money the imperial court required him to issue.
Su Ze just listened quietly, and waited until Eunuch Tao finished speaking before Su Ze said:
"I have three methods: upper, middle and lower. I wonder which one Eunuch Tao wants to listen to?"
Eunuch Tao's eyes lit up. For such a difficult matter, Su Ze came up with three solutions at once. He quickly said: "Ms. Su, what's the law?"
Su Ze said directly: "Make silver coins."
Eunuch Tao and Eunuch Hu were both shocked. Su Ze said: "What is the root cause of the money law chaos? It is that both the people and the court are using silver, but silver is not controlled by the court. The fineness and specifications of silver vary. In fact, the use of silver It sounds more confusing than copper coins. If the imperial court can mint silver coins, it will definitely be welcomed by the people. With silver coins as the mainstay and copper coins as the supplement, the copper coins issued together can also be quickly accepted by the people."
Eunuch Tao naturally understood what Su Ze meant. Although the court used silver and the people used silver, there was no official silver currency in the Ming Dynasty.
Those "silver ingots" released by the government are also available in various shapes. They are only cast into ingots for the convenience of transportation and counting. Private transactions rarely use ingots directly, but use broken silver.
Su Ze's suggestion was definitely pertinent, but the issue of money was not something Eunuch Tao could discuss.
He lowered his head and said: "My husband is a great talent, but the emperor only asked me to mint coins. This is a big money plan, so I don't dare to do it."
Su Ze didn't expect the eunuch to accept this plan. Only the cabinet was qualified to discuss the use of money.
Su Ze came up with another strategy: "The next strategy is to collect the ancient coins on the market and then smelt them into new coins. The disadvantage of this is that collecting copper coins from the market will inevitably lead to greater chaos in the money law, and re-casting copper coins will consume a lot of money." A lot of fire consumption.”
Tao Dajuan sighed. He had also considered this plan as a last resort.
There are naturally many disadvantages to 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 that simple to set up a blast furnace to resmelt old coins. This requires a large number of manpower, which will inevitably cause huge commotion. The copper coins must be melted into copper water, the substances in the ancient coins must be separated, and the various metals must be re-mixed before they can be cast. Produce usable copper coins.
The cost of fire consumption is huge. Let alone making money, it would be good to get back the money.
However, after only two strategies were mentioned, Eunuch Tao stared at Su Ze and asked, "Ms. Su, what is the middle strategy?"
Su Ze put forward his final plan: "Make big money, make good money."
Eunuch Tao sighed, this plan is not new, many places ended up doing this.
Casting big money means casting copper coins with larger denominations, and then forcing the people to use these large denomination copper coins. Then when the government forces the people to use large coins, they quickly clear the copper coins and exchange them for silver.
But to do this, Fujian must cooperate with everyone. Eunuch Tao has a weak character and mediocre skills, and he can't handle the veteran officials in Fujian.
On the contrary, many people are watching his every move and are ready to impeach him at any time.
Su Ze said: "My key 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: "Money containing more copper is good money."
Everyone nodded. Eunuch Tao wanted to mint money, so he had naturally studied this.
Su Ze shook his head and said, "Yes, not entirely."
"The ancient coins that are still in circulation today are mostly official coins from the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties."
"The money of the Han Dynasty was five baht coins, the money of the Tang Dynasty was Kaiyuan Tongbao, the official money of the Song Dynasty was a lot, and the money of the Song Dynasty minted after Shenzong was all usable, and it is still popular in Fujian today."
Eunuch Tao nodded. The coins Su Ze mentioned were indeed common copper coins.
At this time, eunuch Xiaoyou took out a few copper coins. Su Ze first said: "Five baht coins were minted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. All subsequent emperors of the Han Dynasty minted five baht coins. But does your father-in-law know that the five baht coins in Han Dynasty are half as long as those in Qin Dynasty?" Two coins should be light and contain less copper, but why can five baht from the Han Dynasty be used all over the world?"
Eunuch Tao saw Su Ze putting a Han five-baht coin and a Qin half-liang coin together. Indeed, the Han five-baht coin was smaller.
Su Ze took out another Kaiyuan Tongbao and said:
"Kaiyuan Tongbao is not money minted by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Kaiyuan Tongbao has been minted since Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty. It was the largest issue during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Everyone thought it was issued under the name of Xuanzong's Kaiyuan Year."
"The fineness of Kaiyuan Tongbao is worse than that of the Han Five Baht. Please take a look, Eunuch Tao, which of these two coins has better copper color?"
Eunuch Tao looked over and saw that the Han five-baht coins were indeed larger and heavier, and the copper coins were more yellowish.
Kaiyuan Tongbao of Tang Dynasty is a little whitish, which is the reason why the coins are mixed with more lead.
Su Ze said: "My father-in-law, please see, even if emperors like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty minted money, the copper color was getting less and less, and the money was getting lighter and lighter, but why could the money they minted be circulated all over the world?"
This touched upon Eunuch Tao's knowledge blind spot. He glanced at Eunuch Hu blankly, and Eunuch Hu also shook his head.
Su Ze said: "There are two points. One is that these coins are minted in the prosperous times. The court has prestige and the circulation is large. It can be forcibly promoted for use throughout the country."
Eunuch Tao lowered his head. Although he was a eunuch, he knew what was going on.
Don't look at this scene of burning oil, but this is not a prosperous time.
Don’t these eunuchs still know what their emperor is like? How can you compare with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty?
Even Emperor Wen of Han, whom Jiajing often compared himself to, couldn't compare to him!
Su Ze added: "Another reason is that the money is good."
Su Ze said: "Because the copper coins are exquisitely minted, people are more willing to use them."
Eunuch Tao looked at the Han Wuzhu and Kaiyuan Tongbao. You must know that the Han and Tang Dynasties are far away now, but the characters on the coins are still clear and the shape of the coins is very standard, which makes people willing to use them.
Su Ze said: "When casting money, the more copper the better, the more 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 minted, and the denominations are larger, the people will be able to accept them."
Eunuch Tao has somewhat followed Su Ze's thinking. As long as the money he casts is more exquisite, even if the quality is different, the weight is smaller, and the denomination is larger, the people will recognize it.
He couldn't help but ask: "How to make good money?"
Su Ze smiled slightly and said, "I have to ask Eunuch You to explain this."
"I?"
Eunuch Xiaoyou asked, pointing at himself.
Su Ze nodded, pointed at the Han Wuzhu and Kaiyuan Tongbao and asked: "Little Eunuch You, why are the ancient coins of the Han and Tang Dynasties green and white?"
Eunuch Xiaoyou blurted out: "Most of the ancient coins of the Han and Tang Dynasties were made of copper, iron, lead, and lead (tin). When copper and lead are combined, they will turn blue, and if they contain lead, they will turn white."
Su Ze nodded approvingly, and even Eunuch Hu looked at his adopted son with admiration.
This knowledge of metallurgical alloys was naturally imparted to him by Su Ze. Su Ze then said, "Little Eunuch You, have you made the brass I 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 Eunuch Tao.
Only these two metal bars were seen emitting a yellow metallic light, but Eunuch Tao weighed them with his hands and found that they were a little lighter than copper.
"This is?"
Su Ze said: "Brass."
Young Eunuch You explained: "Brass is a mixture of copper and Japanese lead."
Eunuch Tao looked at the brass alloy and asked quickly: "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? Is there more Japanese lead or more copper?"
Young Eunuch You said: "Of course, the more copper, the brighter it will be, but it can also work if there is more lead than copper."
Eunuch Tao suddenly became excited. The yellow-orange color looked valuable at first glance. Ordinary people didn't know how much copper it contained!
Su Ze smiled. In fact, good brass is mainly copper-zinc alloy, while Japanese lead is zinc.
Japanese lead was a by-product of silver refining in the Japanese country. It was very cheap in the Japanese country, and a lot of it was sold to the Ming Dynasty through maritime trade. Because its shape and properties are similar to lead, it was called Japanese lead.
In Su Ze's historical line, from the late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, due to the influx of zinc, the coins became more and more yellow, closer to the appearance of copper coins recognized by modern people.
The older copper coins are actually bronze coins, not the brass coins we know.
Coins made of brass are indeed more yellow, and people naturally believe 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 light, and adding tin will not be too light. This makes the coins cost lower and look better.
Su Ze helped Eunuch Tao mint coins, but what he had in mind was alloy craftsmanship, or cannon casting.
In fact, throughout ancient and modern times, the earliest alloy was "money".
The pursuit of money gave birth to mystical sciences such as alchemy and alchemy. The two mystical sciences of the East and the West reached the same goal by different paths, becoming the earliest ancestors of alloy smelting.
However, researching alloy formulas requires a lot of financial, material and manpower investment.
The same is true for modern materials science. Poor laboratories can only try cautiously and write papers based on some changes in characteristics.
Rich laboratories can produce a large number of alloys and then measure their properties one by one.
No matter how big a lab is, there can be a few breakthrough papers, but if a poor lab conducts careful research and analysis, the final results are not as good as the waste products that others throw away.
Such is the case with alloy crafting, 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 our door?
To find a suitable brass alloy, you can also research other alloys.
If we study coinage, can't we also study alloys for cannons?
Moreover, by supervising the coinage, Tao Tao could mobilize the craftsmen resources of the entire Fujian Province, 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 appearance of the copper coin is also important. I have a hydraulic hammer stamping method."
Although Eunuch Tao didn't understand the heavy hammer punch, he still looked at Su Ze passionately and sighed in his heart: "It's a shame that such a talent does not enter the palace!"
The water-powered hammer stamped coins, brass alloys, and Japanese lead were also recovered as foreshadowing.
I’m dazzled by the article, please vote for me!
ps: The collection of ancient coins is too deep, so please be careful!
(End of chapter)
