Chapter 620

The current currency of the Han Empire is gold, silver and copper. Among them, copper coins are copper coins. Copper coins are mainly made of alloys such as copper, tin, lead and zinc. The casting of copper coins is completely in the hands of the imperial court. Local officials and powerful people are not qualified to cast copper coins. It is a felony to cast copper coins locally, Few people will do such a thing except a few who are willing to take risks and risk losing their heads.

However, gold ingots and silver ingots are different. If local officials and rich families have enough gold and silver in their hands, they can melt and cast gold ingots and silver ingots by themselves. The imperial court does not restrict the storage and circulation of gold and silver ingots, which has caused a lot of chaos. In order to make huge profits, many black hearted people mix Tin Lead and other metals into the melted silver and replace them with inferior ones, Intentional adulteration has caused a lot of confusion.

In the actual use process, there are many disadvantages in using natural gold ingots and silver blocks as currency, which is very unfavorable to the development of Commerce. Take any merchant in Pingxi city. When receiving the gold seal, the first thing for those merchants is that the boss has enough eyesight and eye color. Through hand feeling and weight, The color is used to identify whether the gold and silver received are adulterated. If it is confirmed that the quality of the gold and silver received is sufficient, the second step is to weigh the gold and silver received on the scale and determine the weight. The third step is that if the silver received is for change, the shop owner will use steel scissors and spare no effort to cut the silver pieces to make change, so behind the counters for business, The scales for weighing silver and the steel scissors for cutting silver are almost all necessary things for businessmen. Yan Liqiang saw in the film and television dramas in his previous life that everyone would leave without a ingot of silver when shopping and eating. Although it can't be said that there is no, it is far from the reality and the lives of many ordinary people

If the quality of silver is not good, the shopkeepers and bosses either don't accept it when they see it, or they have to discount it, which will cause many disputes. At the same time, because of the accuracy of the silver scale and the weight of one or two grams of silver, there are quarrels and big fights between merchants and customers everywhere.

The imperial court was unable to deal with these situations, so it had to let them go.

There are also a small number of silver coins and gold coins in circulation on the market, but those circulating gold and silver coins are not really gold and silver coins. They are just that some rich families deliberately make the gold and silver of large ingots look like copper coins when smelting. One of those gold and silver coins is very rough and the standard weight is not uniform, The second is that the quantity is very small and there is no large-scale circulation. Most of the gold and silver coins are engraved with the words "longevity" and "blessing" and "Tianding's happiness". In order to show off, a few rich and powerful families took them out in some important family celebrations and gave them to their servants, so these gold and silver coins, In essence, it is still a small piece of precious metal

The rich families of the Han Empire did not understand the significance of casting gold and silver coins, but for Yan Liqiang, turning the circulating gold and silver into circulating gold and silver coins contained a great opportunity - the right to coin!

Once the gold and silver coins issued by governor Qi Yun's residence circulate in the market and become the circulating currency that everyone is willing to accept, resulting in a fait accompli, once this credit is established, it will not be in the future.

Unfortunately, up to now, no one in the Han Empire can see the significance of this. Perhaps someone thought of forging gold and silver coins to facilitate circulation, but there is no technical means, because it is not easy for those people to cast gold and silver into money. If they really want to get gold and silver coins according to the existing technical means, the cost is too large and unacceptable.

For Yan Liqiang, all this is not a problem at all, because to cast gold and silver coins, it only needs a coining machine. The structure of the most reliable and stable coining machine, the elbow press coining machine, is not complicated at all. He has existing drawings in his mind. The structure of this machine is even simpler than that of a steam engine, There are no complex structures and parts, and they are very durable and efficient. Some of the coin minting machines he saw in the museum in his last life can still be used after nearly 100 years.

Yan Liqiang has even thought about the appearance of gold and silver coins to be issued. All gold and silver coins initially take one money as the basic weight. One or two silver coins are ten silver coins, and one or two gold coins are ten gold coins. It's easy to calculate and easy to use

It was only a few days before he gave the drawings to the manufacturing Bureau. It is estimated that the craftsmen of the manufacturing bureau are still exploring and studying the mystery of the elbow press coin machine these days. They have not yet understood it, but Yan Liqiang believes that in a few days, the manufacturing Bureau will be able to put the first coin machine in front of him.

……

At sunset, Yan Liqiang's carriage finally stopped.

When the door opened, Qian Su and Lu Wenbin got out of the car first. Then Yan Liqiang sorted out his clothes and got out of the carriage.

Outside the carriage, it was already in front of the gate of the county government office in Yingwei county. The accompanying guards stood on both sides of the county government office and surrounded the streets. Many people in the county poked their heads around. Fu Changde, wearing a county magistrate's official uniform and a black hat on his head, and a cadre of officials in Yingwei County, stood at the gate of the county government office in good order and saw Yan Liqiang coming down, Fu Changde bowed to the ground with all the large and small officials in Yingwei County, "Yingwei county magistrate Chang Lu has seen the governor..."

In order not to let people guess their origin, but also to let the seven departments of sand and soil relax their hostility to the newly established governor Qi Yun's palace, Fu Changde has always used an alias rather than his real name. In addition to Yan Liqiang, even the people around Yan Liqiang don't know his life. Yan Liqiang took a look at Fu Changde, then looked at many familiar faces of those officials in Yingwei County, and smiled, "Lord Chang, are you still used to wearing this official uniform?"“ Today, I knew that the warden was coming, so I put on this official suit to meet him, so as not to be rude. On weekdays, I feel that this official suit is a little cumbersome, and I don't feel comfortable without a sheepskin jacket... "Fu Changde grinned at Yan Li. That smile, with a bit of cunning and hidden sharpness, is impressive. Among the people Yan Liqiang knows, Only Fu Changde can have such a smile on his face“ OK, you don't like wearing this official dress. I'll allow you not to wear it when you see me in the future, and it's not your crime of disrespect! "“ Thank you, warden! " Yan Liqiang raised his head and looked at the mottled county yamen gate in Yingwei county. Yan Liqiang touched his stomach. "Well, let's talk inside. Lord Qian and Lord Lu and I have been running around on the road all day. We've been hungry for a long time. Have dinner first..." dinner is ready, please! " Chang Lu said, bowing and taking Yan Liqiang, Qian Su and others into the county government. Chang Lu also knows Yan Liqiang's temper and knows that Yan Liqiang doesn't like to talk about pomp on such occasions. Therefore, in order to meet Yan Liqiang's prepared dinner, it is only rich. There are meat and vegetables. It is delicately made, which is not a luxury. After dinner, Yan Liqiang was in the official office behind the county yamen. Just after a short rest, Fu Changde and situ Feixing, who was wearing ordinary official clothes, walked into Yan Liqiang's room together... After they sat down, Yan Liqiang directly asked situ Feixing, "what's the connection with the black Capricorn people?" Situ Feixing licked his lips and looked at Yan Liqiang with some admiration. "The little master knows everything like God. The black Capricorn people have been hooked. After tasting some sweetness, the black Capricorn people's appetite is getting bigger and bigger..." this novel has been translated by www.novelhall.com and if you are reading this somewhere, they have stolen our translation