Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 218 The Problem of Copper Coins

The emperor finally returned to Beijing. Prince Zhu Youxiao, Xin Wang Zhu Youjian and a group of trusted ministers all stood on the wharf of Taiye Pond excitedly after hearing the news.

As soon as Taichang got off the boat, without waiting for the ministers to finish their salutes, he pulled the chief assistant Xu Guangqi over and asked, "How is the situation of the rebels?"

At this time, what he was most worried about was the rebels. If the rebels snowballed during his absence, it would be troublesome.

Hearing this, Xu Guangqi couldn't help but worried and said: "Your Majesty, there are more and more rebels. According to reports from Jin Yiwei's spies, the largest group of rebels now has 6 to [-] horses, tens of thousands of horses. There are more than ten shares of rebels, and there are probably thirty or forty shares of hundreds or thousands of others!"

In this way, there are only two to three million rebels, and the situation is not very serious.

Taichang thought for a while, and then asked again: "Where is the prince, is there any movement?"

Xu Guangqi said rather helplessly: "Except for King Tang of Nanyang, there is no vassal lord who is willing to spend money and food. They are all sending urgent reports, asking the court to send troops to protect them."

snort!
Still want money not life, right?
OK, you wait slowly.

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help snorting coldly: "Leave them alone, no matter how many urgent reports they send, you have to tell them back, the imperial court has no soldiers to transfer!"

Alas, if things go on like this, it is estimated that some feudal lords will be killed by the rebels.

The problem, this is the royal family's own business, and it really has nothing to do with courtiers like them.

The emperor is not in a hurry, so why is he in a hurry?
Xu Guangqi could only cup his hands helplessly and said, "I understand."

Xin Wang Zhu Youjian saw that the two of them had almost chatted, and immediately came up and said excitedly: "Father, there are more than 20 bank branches, and almost all the big and small cities along the Grand Canal have our colonies, and there are more than 2000 bank branches. It’s too scary, more than [-] million taels!”

Is 2000 million taels a lot?
Not much really.

You know, Li Zicheng has been tested in history. He just caught the officials in the capital and beat them to death, and he spent more than 7000 million taels of silver!
At the moment, South Zhili is much richer than North Zhili. Not to mention Jinling City, the total amount of silver in South Zhili must be more than 7000 million taels, and Zhejiang and Shandong are not bad either. They are relatively rich places. .

In other words, if the wealthy people in these two provinces really put all their silver in the Daming Bank, it would be at least hundreds of millions of taels!
It’s only more than 2000 million taels at the moment, which is really not much.

Taichang nodded slightly and said: "Well, yes, you send someone to discuss with Sun Chengzong, and ask him to replace all the elderly in the Liaodong Army to serve as guards for the bank. These people have fought for the country for many years, so they should be retired. Take it easy."

The letter king Zhu Youjian cupped his hands again and again and said: "I understand, I will write the letter later."

At this time, Wu Yangchun, the patriarch of the country, saw that the letter was almost the same as the emperor, so he hurriedly came up and cupped his hands and said, "Your majesty, many merchants have mentioned the issue of copper coins to the shopkeeper of the semicolon. I hope the court can find a way to solve it. Your majesty, do you think?"

Question about coins?
There is not enough copper for casting guns at the moment, so copper coins are still being made?

You must know that the amount of folk copper coins is not a little bit. Even if there is only one copper coin in hand, it is hundreds of millions. It is probably useless to make hundreds of thousands or even millions of coins.

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help frowning and said: "I really can't do anything about it for the time being, we use too much copper, and the imperial court doesn't have any extra copper to make copper coins."

Unexpectedly, Wu Yangchun shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, this is not what the merchants are talking about. They are saying that there are too many types of copper coins. In the Jiajing Dynasty alone, more than ten kinds of Tongbao were minted. What else are Zhengde Tongbao, Longqing Tongbao, etc.?" Wanli Tongbao, etc., plus private casts, there are too many types of Tongbao in folk circulation, and these Tongbao have different weights and materials. They are a headache to collect, and some places do not recognize many Tongbao. , If they go to those places to do business, they have to go to private banks to exchange copper coins, which is really too troublesome."

That's what it meant!
This is really troublesome.

Taichang immediately understood the feelings of the merchants.

This business is really hard to do. The copper coins collected are not one kind but more than a dozen or even dozens of kinds. If it is Tongbao minted by the imperial court, it is better, even if it is exchanged, it will not lose much.

If it is private money, it will be troublesome, because some private money does not even have copper in it, and it cannot be used if it is taken out. Even if there is a place to exchange it, two or three can be exchanged for a Tongbao made by the court. If you accidentally receive such private money, you will lose a lot!
Well, this problem must be solved. Dozens of kinds of Tongbao and the pricing of the goods do not know how troublesome it is.

Taichang thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Well, you can ask the local branches to issue a notice, so that all merchants can prepare for it. After half a month, the Daming Bank will start accepting Tongbao. All types of Tongbao will be priced according to the material and weight. The imperial court will make all the collected Tongbao into a unified Taichang Tongbao and send it back to them."

Why wait until half a month later?

There is no way, there is no steam-driven punching machine at the moment. If you use a manual-operated punching machine to punch copper coins, the efficiency is too low. If you use sand casting, the efficiency is even lower.

You know, there are not a few copper coins circulating among the people at the moment. For example, the capital city and Jinling city, the two big cities have a total of 200 million people. Even if each person only has one copper coin, that is 200 million!

Besides, no matter how poor a person is these days, it is impossible to have only one copper plate, because a copper plate is equivalent to a few cents in later generations, which is less than one yuan.

Even the ordinary people in the capital and Jinling city, no matter how poor they are, would they always have assets worth tens of dollars per person?
If it is converted into copper coins, it is an average of hundreds of copper coins per person.

In other words, the copper coins in the hands of the people in the capital and Jinling alone are at least hundreds of millions, or even hundreds of millions!

This amount is too scary. If you want to replace all the folk copper coins with unified Taichang Tongbao within a few months or a few years, it will definitely not work without a steam punch.

This steam press is not very complicated. With Wang Zheng's ability, he should be able to make it with a little mention.

Early the next morning, after the morning court, Taichang took Wang Zheng to the Armor Factory of the Ministry of Industry.

At this time, the Armor Factory of the Ministry of Industry was very lively. Five hundred manual presses, thousands of furnaces, and various auxiliary equipment almost filled all the sheds and workshops. "The stamping sound was continuous and non-stop.

Taichang didn't say anything, he took Wang Zheng directly to a huge work shed, pointed to a punch not far away and said, "Liangfu, have you ever thought about using steam to drive this thing?"

Wang Zheng nodded repeatedly and said: "Your Majesty, this humble minister has indeed thought about it, but the pole protruding from the steam engine is not long enough. It is difficult to pull the mold on it by one foot, and this mold must be stretched at least seven or eight feet. High momentum is enough!"

How will future generations solve this problem?

After careful consideration for a while, Taichang came up with a general idea.

He directly reminded: "Do you know how big the water wheel on the wheel is?"

Wang Zheng nodded without hesitation and said: "This humble minister knows that the water wheels on the wheel are all five feet long."

This five feet refers to the diameter.

Taichang reminded again: "So, how long is the rope around the water wheel?"

Wang Zheng reckoned, "At least one foot five."

Isn't this the end?
Taichang said straightforwardly: "Think about it, the steam engine is connected to a pedal, and the pedal is connected to a crank to drive the water wheel of the wheel to rotate continuously, right? If you add a foot valve, step on it Just let the water wheel turn half a circle, and the rope around it can pull things seven or eight feet high?"

When Wang Zheng heard this, his eyes lit up.

He understood almost instantly that the emperor meant to wind the rope of the punching machine around something as big as a water wheel, and then drive it with a steam engine!
This speed is astonishingly fast, and the abrasive tool on it will be pulled up to a height of seven or eight feet immediately when you step down. As for how to fall down quickly, you just have to try it, there are many ways.

Thinking of this, Wang Zheng couldn't help but excitedly said: "I understand, three days, Your Majesty, in just three days, I can make a steam punch."

(End of this chapter)