open sea

Chapter 902 Counterfeit Money
The Spanish phalanx is more flexible in the use of musketeers, and they have basically won all foreign wars in the past few decades except against Ming Dynasty. If they win, they will have the opportunity to clean up the battlefield, which means that muskets are not consumables. The musketeers are.

Armor is rarely seen on ordinary musketeers, but musketeers who wield heavy muskets often wear breastplates. Even so, there are extremely high requirements for flexibility. , advance and retreat during shooting, and sometimes quickly change from a small phalanx to a large phalanx.

The missions of the Ming army's musketeers are much less. When the enemy has cavalry activities, they will stick to the protection of the trenches. If the Burmese infantry, they will slowly approach the enemy. Wearing solid armor can make them Not being injured by stray bullets beyond seventy paces, even within thirty to seventy paces, there is a good chance of saving one's life.

There is a prerequisite for this kind of tactics to be properly implemented, which was ignored by Fu Zongbing, who was eager to sell the heavy armored musket company-the Ming army often had an advantage in the number and quality of field artillery in positional warfare.

The bird gun team will not be overturned by a few artillery pieces of the enemy, so that it is possible to operate the tactics perfectly.

Of course, for the Duke of Alva, this 'Mingjian Company' is not for nothing, it was given by Chen Mubai anyway, and as for whether it is easy to use or not, no one will think that it is not easy to use.

Alva asked this army to take off the armor when he returned... It was not for other reasons, but it was too hot. The cloth armor similar to the plate armor was not breathable. Fastened, just thinking about it will make you sweat, Alva doesn't want his subordinates to suffer from heat stroke.

While Duke Alva was testing the protective ability of the armor in the bastion, he received another letter from Chen Mu, which mentioned two things, both related to money.

Brother Acosta took the letter and read it to the old Duke, saying: "After checking last year's border trade, the Ming army found that we exchanged a lot of Wanli Tongbao, but not all of them were used for trading. When they finally checked the accounts, they found that there were 140 Wantongbao is nowhere to be found, and he thinks our businessman took it."

"On top of that, they also received counterfeit money, like this one."

Acosta took out a crooked silver dollar with Philip's emblem on it from the large monk's robe, and said: "After comparison, they said that they received more than 500 copper-nickel silver coins, thinking that we were deceiving him with counterfeit coins."

Holding a heavy musket and intending to experiment on the armor, Duke Alva was stunned for a while when he heard the monk's words. He took the coin and looked at it again and again, before asking after a pause: "Phronronickel, what is it?"

Acosta also shook his head: "I only know these two words, white white, copper ore copper, put together... I don't know what it is."

"This is silver, and it's even a very good-looking silver coin. Does Chen Mu think that he can blackmail me with just an excuse?"

Alvazai observed the silver coin carefully, and he was very sure that it was a silver coin, which was indistinguishable from other silver coins in terms of weight, color, and material. Some are too deliberate to look like something shoddy from the Spanish mint.

When Duke Alva replied angrily across the border and sent it to Chen Mu, the Dongyang military government was also surprised: "They don't know what cupronickel is? Or are they talking nonsense with their eyes open, saying that it is silver!"

Chen Mu is very clear that these coins that look like silver coins are not silver, but copper-nickel alloy. Although they look similar to silver, you can tell that they are not silver as long as you scratch them lightly with a needle. Silver is very soft and can leave scratches Yes, but cupronickel can't.

Cupronickel is a special product of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. It was first recorded in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Chen Mu intercepted the export of this kind of goods when he was in Xiangshan Qianhusuo.

Is it a problem on my own side?
Once I had this kind of idea in my head, I couldn't stop guessing, and finally had to order the village lieutenant and deputy lieutenant to strictly investigate the matter of privately coining coins.

This kind of thing can't help but be investigated. Once the investigation is accurate, only ten days later, the village captain reported that there were signs of private minting of silver coins in the neighboring village, and they sold the silver coins to Western merchants on the other side of the border for profit. .

It made Chen Mu feel ashamed.

I thought that there were thieves in the Spaniards, but I didn't expect that it was the people on my side who made the counterfeit coins, and they were making counterfeit coins from others.

Chen Mu scratched his head angrily in the military government office, and asked as he walked, "Since he is planning to make counterfeit coins, why doesn't he make Tongbao instead of making Spanish ones?"

Speaking of it, it is technically easier to make Tongbao privately than to use cupronickel to make silver coins. Not to mention that the furnace temperature required for cupronickel smelting is higher than that of iron smelting. The key is where do you find nickel in the New World?
The person who came to report was Xu Jin, a small hundred household on the border. The incident happened in a village under his jurisdiction. Naturally, he came to confess his guilt in a dejected manner, and reported in a low voice: "The commander-in-chief ordered that the privately built Tongbao blunderbuss be killed. , they dare not disobey the order..."

"Then I have to thank them for being obedient, right?" Chen Mu was so angry that his head hurt, he rubbed his head and asked, "Where did they get the cupronickel?"

"Back to Commander, they brought some white copper and fake silver when they went to sea from China. They thought they could get through the customs here, but unexpectedly, Yazhou didn't use silver, and they didn't dare to exchange for Tongbao at the customs, so they had to follow them to the border. Later they found Xiyi used silver coins... Marshal, Lin Qianhu asked the humble official to ask, how to deal with it?"

Co-authoring is a hit and miss.

How to deal with it?

Chen Mu also wanted to know how to deal with it.

There are no regulations on how to deal with imitation of counterfeit currency from other countries in the Ming Dynasty. Chen Mu stretched out his arms and stood between him and Xu Jin: "Don't talk to me yet, you have a headache!"

But after sitting for a long time, Chen Mu said slowly: "First of all, the stolen money will be confiscated and confiscated, and there will be no punishment such as rod punishment. The mint in Changsheng County is being built, and they will be fully used as minters in the mint." , not to leave for eight years."

"They can make counterfeit money so well that Alva can't see it. It's no problem to make real money."

Chen Mu's departure made Baihu Xu Jin heave a sigh of relief, but before he had time to wipe the sweat off his forehead, Chen Mu turned his head and stared at him viciously, saying, "You Baihu, what are you doing?" What about those village lieutenants, you don’t even know how ordinary people mint coins?”

Speaking of which, Chen Mu pointed to the guards in the room, and ordered: "Go tell Lin Hu'er, fine him a year's salary, and ask him to check for me, check from top to bottom, and shoot anyone who accepts bribes on the spot. Those who don’t report the situation will be dismissed immediately, and those who don’t know the situation will be fined for half a year.”

Chen Mu rubbed his head, the more he thought about it, the more irritable he became... How should he tell Alva?Could it be that he misread it, this thing is a silver coin?
He didn't want to admit that the counterfeit money came from him, nor did he want to help Europeans know what cupronickel is.

"Ugh!"

Chen Mu felt that the problem was very difficult.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)