After handing Tang Yuan's sample pattern of the anti-counterfeiting seal drawing to Liu Yidao, Li Zexuan went to find Uncle Fu and assigned another task.
"Master, is there really such a magical paper in this world?"
Uncle Fu couldn't help being surprised when he heard Li Zexuan's intention.
Li Zexuan smiled and said: "Of course there is, but the production method is more troublesome. Once it is made, Uncle Fu, you will understand that what I said today is true!"
That's right, he plans to have the workshop make a special batch of paper specifically for the production of banknotes!
After all, if you want to prevent banknotes from being counterfeited in the future, just relying on an anti-counterfeiting seal is not enough. If you add another anti-counterfeiting method, you will have an extra insurance in the future!
"Okay! Since the young master is so confident, there's no harm in giving it a try!"
Uncle Fu nodded, then took a pen and paper from the side, and said with emotion: "Haha! Master, don't blame me! I am getting older, and my memory is not as good as before! Master, please tell me in detail how to make this water pattern paper. I’ll write it down first and try to use common sense in these two days!”
Li Zexuan looked at Uncle Fu's wrinkled but kind face, smiled gently and said: "What's so strange about this? After all, a good memory is not as good as a bad writing! Uncle Fu, you usually leave the affairs of the workshop to the following Just let people take care of it, but don’t get tired!”
Uncle Fu smiled with a smile on his face and said: "Haha! Thank you for your concern, young master, I'll spare you the trouble! Now in the workshop, I just move my mouth and it's not considered tired. Doctor Sun even praised me for my strong health a few years ago!"
"That's good!"
Li Zexuan smiled sincerely, and then got down to business: "Uncle Fu, this kind of paper is actually not complicated to make. First, let the steel factory forge a batch of water-patterned rollers with protruding patterns, and then we will Watermark rollers are mounted on our paper machine rollers and are used to imprint paper.
During the papermaking process, the watermark roller will contact the front of the paper, and the front of the paper will be printed with watermarks! The vertical and horizontal water patterns on the wet paper page will show a uniform and neatly arranged pattern with different transparency, visible when viewed from a flat surface!
By the way, the material for producing water-textured paper must be Pu bark, and no other materials can be used. Later, Uncle Fu, please arrange for someone to buy a batch of Pu bark for the workshop. First, buy it near Chang'an, and then go to Bashu area. Buy it, because there should be a lot of Pu trees in Bashu area. "
Water-grained paper is the kind of paper that can show bright lines or patterns other than curtain lines when viewed against the light. Just like modern RMB, you can see the heads of great figures when viewed against the light. This kind of water-grained paper can Adding to the potential beauty of paper, it can also be used to prevent counterfeiting of banknotes!
In fact, water-patterned paper has existed since ancient times and is not a patent of modern people. According to the original history, in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, Chengdu people would invent "water-patterned paper", which has two distinct printings, dark and light, which cannot be produced in other areas. , so it is called "Sichuan paper".
Thanks to this, the earliest paper currency in Chinese history, Jiaozi, first appeared in Sichuan, and then spread slowly!
At first, people didn't take paper money seriously at all. They just used it as stubs and thought it was very easy to carry. Later, they found it very useful and began to use it for transactions. This is how Jiaozi gradually became popular.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, because the water-grained paper specially used to make Jiaozi in Sichuan was not in supply, paper printing from the Jianghuai area was used instead. However, Jiangnan paper does not have the special anti-counterfeiting capabilities of Sichuan paper, so a large number of counterfeit coins appeared on the market. At that time, there were more fake Jiaozi, Guanzi, and Huizi coins issued in Jiangnan than genuine coins. Even harsh punishments could not stop the counterfeiting of banknotes. This directly caused the economy of the Southern Song Dynasty to fall into a quagmire!
Therefore, the water-textured paper used to produce banknotes is a very critical anti-counterfeiting method!
"Culpa bark? Master, why must we use mulberry bark to make paper?"
Uncle Fu nodded repeatedly, but at the end, he couldn't help but ask.
Li Zexuan replied: "Uncle Fu, the paper made from mulberry bark is not only tougher than ordinary paper, but also has an even better feel!"
Uncle Fu nodded doubtfully, and then felt a little strange, "Master, why did you spend so much time making water-patterned paper?"
It's his fault that he only cared about technical issues before and ignored the purpose of Li Zexuan's move.
Li Zexuan smiled mysteriously and said: "Uncle Fu, you will understand this later. In addition to the water-grained paper, there is one more thing that I need to trouble Uncle Fu to arrange for manpower to do as soon as possible!"
"Master, please tell me!"
Uncle Fu had already become immune to Li Zexuan's creative ability, so he didn't make a fuss about it at the moment.
Li Zexuan paused and then said: "Uncle Fu, you have recently tried to make a slightly softer steel by controlling the carbon content in the steel. I plan to use this steel to make an engraving plate and gravure printing." Engraving plate! After this steel is refined, ask Master Liu to draw the engraving patterns I gave him on the steel plate, and I will carve it myself later!"
Gravure printing, referred to as gravure printing, is a traditional method of modern banknote production. In the 21st century, gravure printing is still commonly used in banknote production in countries around the world. The inking part of this kind of printing plate is concave. When printing, the printing plate is in direct contact with the paper surface. Under strong pressure, the ink in the concave grooves is directly transferred to the paper. The ink appears three-dimensional on the paper. Touch it carefully with your hands. There is a feeling of unevenness.
On modern RMB, you can easily find two characteristics of gravure printing. One is that the ink layer is thick and feels strong; the other is that it has a strong three-dimensional effect.
Gravure printing was Li Zexuan's ultimate means of anti-counterfeiting for Tang Yuan. He didn't believe that anywhere in the world could have such advanced printing technology!
More importantly, the motherboard used for gravure printing is hand-carved. Hand-carving has unique anti-counterfeiting properties, because each engraver’s work has its own personal style and characteristics, and also has a certain degree of contingency. This cannot be imitated by others, including himself, who cannot carve another engraving that is exactly the same as before!
Although there are many advanced copying technologies and counterfeiting methods in modern society, none of them can produce banknotes that are exactly the same as hand-engraved works.
With such a three-pronged approach, Li Zexuan can be said to have blocked all the paths for those who want to imitate banknotes!
Although Uncle Fu had never seen gravure engraving plates or gravure printing, he could roughly guess what Li Zexuan wanted to do just from the words. After pondering for a moment, he nodded and said:
"Okay! At present, the workshop can smelt steel. The soft steel that the young master mentioned should be no problem!"
Li Zexuan said "hmm" and then stood up to leave.
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