The "Eternal Lineage" currently lives in the imperial palace in Kyoto, and ordinary people cannot see him at all. Zhao Xin actually visited the Kyoto Imperial Palace in another time and space. But the problem is that it's too big inside, how to get that person out? This matter needs to be thought over carefully and cannot be rushed.
After three consecutive days of hard work, more than half of the people in Beihai Town mobilized and caught nearly 200,000 kilograms of salmon on the two rivers; an average of four fish per person.
Chen Qingsong's previous requirement for all refugees was that each family could keep two pieces, and the rest should be dried or pickled for preservation. So since the last time Xu Dayong and the others were forced to pickle 7,000 kilograms of large yellow croaker, Beihai Town has launched a vigorous salmon pickling activity. Salmon rubbed with salt hangs in front of every house, and even the food in the big cafeteria these days is salmon roe rice bowl.
The nine-person teacher team headed by Lao You and Fang Hua finally reached an agreement with Zhao Xin that they could stay and teach, but the remuneration would be doubled; secondly, the nine of them would become the bosses of the education system in Beihai Town. What would they teach? , the nine of them have the final say on how to teach, and Zhao Xin has no right to interfere; the last point is that since most of the nine people are over fifty, medical and health issues must be taken seriously. Once Hong Tao can't handle it, Zhao Xin must send the patient back to another time and space.
Regarding the first and third points, Zhao Xin said that there is no problem at all. As for the second point, Zhao Xin only accepted half of it. There is no problem if he wants to be the boss of the education department, but ideological and political education must be controlled in his own hands. The Nine-member Group can assist, but is not allowed to oppose.
After a day of closed-door deliberations and a belly full of fried and grilled salmon, Lao You and others finally accepted Zhao Xin's conditions. So on the fourth day, the new education department office began to be located next to Hong Tao's "community hospital".
Teacher Fang Huafang in the nine-member group, after talking with Zhao Xinshen for a night, took his luggage to the workshop on the east bank of the river the next day and took over the manufacture of black powder.
On the third day after the salmon harvest, Zhao Xin, Chen Qingsong, Liu Sheng, Zhao Liang, Hong Tao, Zhang Bo, and Wu Siyu all gathered in Zhao Xin's office.
There is a wooden box on the table, and several newly minted coins are placed on the red velvet cloth inside the wooden box.
There is only one kind of gold coin. The obverse is a full-length portrait of Emperor Xuanyuan, which is based on the portrait of the Yellow Emperor from the Eastern Han Dynasty that remains in Wuliang Temple, Shandong. The reverse is a ring-shaped wheat ear with the words "100 yuan" marked with Arabic numerals in the middle.
There are three types of silver coins: 10 Yuan, 5 Yuan and 1 Yuan. The obverse is also of Xuanyuan Huangdi, but with a bust; the pattern on the back is exactly the same as the gold coin.
The last two coins are 50 cents and 100 cents made of aluminum and copper alloy. The 50 cents coin is slightly larger than the 10 cent coin. On the front is a side image of RX9620 surrounded by wheat ears, and on the back is the currency value.
Since it was a sample coin, Zhao Liang specially used a mirror polishing process when making it. First, various alloy cylinders are smoothed by mechanical cutting, and then polished using sandpaper of different grits. Mechanical pressing can only be carried out after polishing is completed. After pressing, a wool wheel is used to polish again. The coins produced in this way have a flat base, high gloss, delicate patterns, and prominent layers, which are very eye-catching.
Everyone was stunned after hearing the production process introduced by Zhao Liang.
Hong Tao wore a white glove, held the gold coin and exclaimed: "It's so beautiful. Do you want to do this with your money in the future?"
Zhao Liang shook his head with a smile and explained: "In the future, I will use a polishing machine or chemical polishing agent. If I polish it like the sample, I will be exhausted."
Liu Sheng held a 1-cent coin and asked Zhao Liang, "What's the diameter of this?"
"20 millimeters. The 5-cent ones are 25 millimeters." Zhao Liang pointed to the various coins held in everyone's hands and explained: "The gold coins are made of 99% pure gold and 1% silver, with a diameter of 39.5 mm. The weight is 32.49426 grams. Each gold coin corresponds to 30 10-yuan silver coins.
The silver content of the three silver coins is 92.5%, which is commonly known as 925 silver, and the rest is copper. The 10-yuan silver coin weighs 60.5 grams, the 5-yuan silver coin weighs 37.29 grams, and the 1-yuan silver coin weighs 7.46 grams. "
Hong Tao curiously asked Zhao Xin: "How much is such a gold coin worth over there? Where do you plan to use it?"
Zhao Xin explained: "According to the price of 330 per gram, it is almost a little over 10,000. However, we have almost no gold reserves now, so this can only be used as a reserve currency and will not be used daily. It is most used internally and externally. The ones will be silver coins and copper-aluminum alloy coins."
"What if someone forges it?" Zhang Bo asked, holding a 50-cent coin.
Zhao Xindao: "We use copper-aluminum alloy. In this era, aluminum is more expensive than gold. No, aluminum is now even rarer than gold."
Industrial production of aluminum would have to wait until the end of the 19th century. Electrolysis of aluminum became possible only when electricity became cheaper with the advent of new generators.
Except for Zhao Xin, everyone else was very interested in gold and silver coins, but they didn't care much about the 50-cent and 1-cent copper-aluminum alloy coins. In fact, they don't know that the most important thing here is the copper and aluminum coins.
Because gold was to be obtained from the island country, the weight and silver content of the silver coins formulated by Zhao Xin were anchored to the silver coins issued by the shogunate.
The weight of 1 yuan silver coin is 7.46 grams and the silver content is 92.5%.
Why set this weight? This is because the silver content in the 1-yuan silver coin directly corresponds to the silver content in the shogunate's four-yuan silver coin. The shogunate silver coin is 3.75 grams, and the shogunate silver coin is 15 grams. However, the silver content of the shogunate silver coins is only 46%.
The anchor of Beihai Town's currency is not rice, but gold. The silver content of the silver coins was set based on the shogunate's silver coins, and its ultimate goal was to extract the entire island country's gold reserves.
In the "three goods system" system of the Edo period, there were mainly two types of silver coins: dingyin and beanban silver. Among them, Ding Yin is a large-denomination currency with an oblong shape and a weight between 30 and 50 pieces. Douban silver is a small-denomination currency with variable shape and weight, and is generally round in shape.
Originally, when the Tokugawa shogunate first formulated its monetary policy, the content of silver coins was around 80%. As a result, due to insufficient currency circulation and reduced gold and silver mine reserves, the fifth shogun Tsunayoshi carried out a currency reform during his reign, which lowered the fineness of gold and silver coins.
In 1736 AD, the nationwide "Xianbao Famine" came, causing rice prices to rise sharply and triggering social unrest. In order to restore the economy, the shogunate once again launched currency reforms. The gold content of small coins was reduced from 84.29% to 65.71%, and the grade of silver coins was significantly reduced from 80% to 46%. As a result, the silver content of the original silver coin is reduced by half; that is to say, a 3.75-gram silver coin actually contains only 1.725 grams of pure silver.
Historically, from ancient times to the present, the weight and fineness of gold and silver coins have directly reflected the economic status of a country. The heavier the weight and the higher the fineness, the better the economic situation will be, and vice versa, the economic situation will be poor.
Since the 1-yuan silver coin in Beihai Town corresponds to the 4-yin silver coin of the shogunate, in a mathematical sense, a 5-yuan copper-aluminum alloy coin in Beihai can be exchanged for 2-yin silver; in addition, aluminum is an absolutely precious metal in this era. , the value of the 50-cent coin is highlighted.
The official currency exchange policy of the shogunate is to exchange 58 pieces of silver for one or two gold, but the merchants in the island country are not fools, and no one will exchange according to this ratio. According to what Zhao Xin heard from Shengshan Chuansan before, the current gold and silver exchange ratio on the market is usually between 62 and 65.
Calculating based on this exchange rate, Beihai Town can exchange for one or two silver coins with a total silver content of 104.04 grams (1 coin for 10 yuan, 1 coin for 5 yuan) plus a 50-cent copper-aluminum alloy coin. 65.71% gold coins. Converted into modern currency, this means that 550 yuan was used to obtain 810 yuan.
As for the silver content of silver coins, it will only maintain a ratio of 92.5% at the beginning. Later, as the issuance increases, the silver content will decrease appropriately, so more gold can be extracted.
Of course, whether this arbitrage process can be completed in actual transactions requires the support of Beihai Town's economic and military strength.
It is said that during the Edo period, the transactions of rice, mineral products and bulk commodities controlled by the shogunate were all traded with gold and silver currencies, and only small-scale commodity transactions in urban and rural areas were paid with coins.
When gold and silver goods perform their payment function, cash is usually not used. Payment is mostly completed in the form of bills of exchange or promissory notes through merchants. This is basically the case for trade between private merchants and government merchants.
In other words, if Zhao Xin starts regular bulk trade with an island country and requires the other party to pay gold or silver, the other party will usually pay with "gold zha" or "yin zha" (money notes). And if he wants to withdraw physical currency, he needs to go to a dealer to exchange it.
Having said so much, the actual operation will be even more troublesome. Because the island country's current gold and silver are anchored by rice, gold and silver are valuable when rice prices fall in good years; when rice prices rise in disaster years, gold and silver become less valuable.
Of course, Zhao Xin can also drive the Thor and mount the cannon to rob alive. But when the other party is lying on the ground like a dog, kneeling and licking at the feet, no matter how fierce the robber is, he will be embarrassed to attack. Therefore, robbery should never happen again, not to mention that he had already robbed a lot from Sendai Clan and Nagasaki.
The coin appreciation meeting came to an end, and Zhao Xin signed the first coin minting order. The workshop must complete the task of producing 30,000 5-cent alloy coins, 50,000 1-cent alloy coins, 20,000 1-yuan silver coins, and 10,000 5-yuan silver coins before the spring of next year.
Zhao Liang took this order, shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "We still need to increase our manpower."
Zhao Xindao: "If you need any equipment, please make an order."
"Magnetic polishing equipment is definitely needed, and copper-aluminum alloy and 925 silver must also be purchased."
Chen Qingsong smiled and said: "Tomorrow I will personally select the location for the mint. This time we won't build a wooden shed, just a reinforced concrete building."
"No. I also want steel and concrete for the military workshop!" Zhao Liang pushed further and began to bargain.
Two days later, the Thor, carrying thirty-two "intellectual women" and fifteen girls from the Qing Dynasty, finally returned.
Not to mention how surprised the stunning women standing on the deck were when they saw Beihai Town, Zhao Xin, Liu Sheng and Hong Tao were the first to board the ship after the ship entered the port and lowered the gangway.
The reason why Dr. Hong came here was because he missed Director Liu. During the period when the two were separated, Hong Tao could not eat well or sleep well; Liu Siting could not go anywhere during the day except for the night in Yangzhou where she disguised herself and boarded the boat.
As soon as the two met, they gave each other a warm hug. This scene made Tang Xiao and the others blush, but also extremely surprised.
The girls were whispering to each other and talking in low voices.
"Bah! I'm so shameless. I don't even care about the defense of men and women in public."
"That's right. I thought Dr. Liu was a nice person at first, but I didn't expect that he didn't understand any etiquette."
Tang Xiao turned around and looked around, and saw a somewhat familiar figure entering the ship building with another big man.
"This man looks very familiar, as if I've seen him somewhere."
After hugging him, Director Liu smiled and introduced to Tang Xiao and others: "This is my boyfriend, who is also a doctor. His surname is Hong, you can just call him Doctor Hong."
After hearing this, all the women quickly clenched their hands into fists, moved their right hands to their left hands and placed them at their sides. They turned sideways and bowed their heads to Hong Tao. This is the "Wanfu gift" of the Qing Dynasty.
These girls have been trained by their mothers-in-law since they were young, and they demand beauty in every word, deed, and move they make. Therefore, everyone's movements are completed by the slight movement of the skirt.
Doctor Hong Taohong looked dumbfounded when he saw dozens of Yingying Yanyan dressed in ancient costumes performing ancient rituals towards him. How has he ever seen this scene before?
"Hey hey hey! Are you stupid?! Can't you pull out your eyes?" Director Liu Da was unhappy.
"Ah!" Hong Tao trembled in his heart. He was jealous. He then quickly explained: "No way! I've never seen so many ancient people." He almost said the word "beauty".
The sister in Ertangzhong asked curiously: "Doctor Liu, what did you mean by 'boyfriend' just now?"
Liu Siting said: "It's just my boyfriend."
Hong Tao quickly explained: "We are not married yet, so I am just her boyfriend."
Liu Siting glared at Hong Tao and whispered: "I want you to talk more!"
When the women heard this, they realized that these two people were not married yet, so they were not husband and wife! They all said with disdain in their hearts: "You dare to cuddle and cuddle without getting married. How shameless." But they forgot that if they were still working as skinny horses in Yangzhou waiting to be bought, the best result would be Concubine; don’t even think about a formal marriage with three books and six etiquette.
Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng came to the cockpit and met Wang Yuanfang, Ding Guofeng and Deng Fei. When asked why they came back so late, the three of them shook their heads and smiled bitterly.
Ding Guofeng said: "You three just slapped your butts and left. We have gone through many hardships along the way!"
Zhao Xin smiled bitterly and said, "You think the three of us are relaxed!"
Deng Fei said to Wang Yuanfang: "I'll go to the engine room to take a look first, and I'll find you later."
Several people went to the conference room on the lower floor. Zhao Xin first talked about the night attack on Wang's house, and then Wang Yuanfang began to talk about their experiences along the way.
Time has to go back to when Wang Yuanfang and the others arrived at Flower and Bird Island.
When Wang Yuanfang drove his official boat to the northern bay of Flower and Bird Island, a simple trestle made of wooden planks on the coast was almost completed.
Huang Maocai arrived one day in advance, and all the food supplies brought by sand ships had been delivered ashore. Because he didn't know how long Wang Yuanfang and the others would have to wait here, he made preparations according to the number of fifty people and ten days; rice, water, bacon, vegetables, firewood and cooking utensils. There are a lot of fish, shrimps and shellfish around Flower and Bird Island. If food is insufficient, these can also be used as emergency supplies.
In addition to arranging firewood boats to transport supplies to the shore, Lao Huang spent more than a day. The other thing he had to do was to have his men dismantle the wooden houses on the island to build temporary trestles and measure the water depth in various parts of the bay. These are what Zhao Xin told him before. Since he wants to use Flower and Bird Island as a former cargo transfer station, it is necessary to build a permanent dock.
Seeing the white official boat breaking through the waves, Lao Huang, standing on the coast, finally let out a sigh of relief, he finally arrived!
By the way, Zhao Xin and the others have caused such big things in Shanghai and Yangzhou, and Lao Huang has been living in trepidation these days. He was often awakened by nightmares at night, dreaming that officials would arrest him and Shen Jingdan's family, imprison them, and execute them all. But after waking up at night, he often secretly rejoices in the profits brought by cigarettes.
Between worries and secret joy, Lao Huang felt for the first time that life was really full of contradictions!
When Wang Yuanfang's boat docked at the trestle, and Liu Siting took the girls off the boat one by one, the sailors on the boat and on the shore were stunned and put down all their work; even Lao Huang ran to the trestle Look at the beauty in front.
The sailors were stunned as they watched the stunning young ladies getting off the strange ship one after another. Their graceful figures were like willows following the wind, supporting each other and walking on the swaying trestle. Every slight shake of the trestle would cause the little ladies to scream in surprise, and even the sailors to scream in surprise.
By the way, what is going on? Many sailors drooled three feet long. Could it be that fairies descended to earth collectively? !
"How many girls have you brought out?" Lao Huang looked at this scene in shock and asked Ding Guofeng, who was the first to walk off the trestle.
Ding Guofeng responded calmly: "Thirty-two big ones and fifteen small ones."
"Ah! So many!" When Lao Huang saw Wang Yuanfang getting off the boat with a girl in his arms, he couldn't help shouting: "My mother! Why did you even snatch the child?"
Ding Guofeng was about to step forward to respond. After hearing this, he turned around and said angrily: "You are robbing children! They were all trafficked by human traffickers! They are all as hungry as bean sprouts."
Lao Huang roughly understood what was going on, shook his head and sighed: "What a crime!"
When everyone got ashore, Wang Yuanfang went to Lao Huang and said, "Boss Huang, please go back overnight. When we came, all the Qing soldiers along the way saw us."
Lao Huang understood what Wang Yuanfang meant. Zhao Xin had told him and Shen Jingdan before that Wang Yuanfang and the others would be blatant and loud in order to attract the attention of the Qing court so as not to suspect Shen Jingdan because of Wang Jinglong's incident. If Su Song Navy's patrol ship arrives here and discovers his sand ship, everything he has done before will be in vain.
Thinking of this, he nodded and said: "Then we will leave in a moment. Mr. Wang, please be careful at night."
After dark, a group of sailors, amidst Lao Huang's urging and curses, turned around and boarded the sandboat, then raised the sails and headed west.
Afterwards, Lao Huang was extremely lucky that he left in time, because if he had not left that night, he would never have been able to return early the next morning.
(End of chapter)
