nanming man

Chapter 525
Not having copper ingots is indeed a troublesome thing. China has always had less copper and less silver, and the reserves of copper are only slightly more than silver mines.

At this time, the iron smelting process was not mature enough, and the performance of copper cannons was stronger than that of iron cannons. In the West, bronze cannons were mostly cast.

In the field battle with the Qing army last time, the lightweight rapid-fire bronze cannon performed very well, causing huge troubles for the Qing army, and it can be said to be a sharp weapon in the field.

Now that the bronze cannon has been tested in the war and indeed has a great effect on the war, Gao Yihuan naturally wants to vigorously cast it to expand this advantage.

If there are more than 100 or even [-] cannons that can bombard the Qing army at a distance of two miles, it will give Wei Wujun a huge advantage in field battles.

They were about to be attacked from a long distance away, and the tactics of the Qing army's cavalry, shooting and harassment would be greatly reduced.

Therefore, Gao Yihuan attaches great importance to the casting of copper cannons, which can enhance the strength of Wei Wujun's field battles and facilitate Wei Wujun's fighting.

Gao Yihuan turned to look at Lu Yifang, "Can't Hu Cao think of a way?"

Lu Yifang said: "Marshal, there are too many copper ingots needed to cast cannons. Hu Cao purchased a batch from Tongling County in Nanzhili a few years ago, but it was used up not long after. Afterwards, Hu Cao melted another batch of copper coins and obtained There are a lot of copper ingots, but too much copper money has been melted, and the copper coins on the market are not enough. In this way, copper coins from other places will come in, buy the materials in the country, or directly exchange the silver in the country, and the locals may Something went wrong."

The production of copper and silver in China has always been insufficient, and it is precisely because of this that copper and silver can become currency.

Because the internal production is limited, once the silver flows out, there will be problems.

Of course, too much silver inflow will cause problems.Copper coins are not as sensitive as silver, but too much or too little will also bring various crises to society.

With fewer copper coins, the exchange rate of copper and silver will change. In the past, one thousand renminbi was exchanged for one tael, but now eight hundred renminbi is exchanged for one tael. The purchasing power of copper coins increases, and copper coins from other places will come in, enough to buy various materials, causing prices to soar. Or just exchange one thousand cash for one or two taels of silver.

Gao Yihuan frowned slightly. If copper tickets can be implemented, the copper coins can be turned into copper cannons, which can be counted as the military government's copper reserves. If Gao Yihuan has copper, the money in the market will not decrease, and it will be possible to melt another copper coin , but now copper tickets have just begun to be implemented, and the market does not accept them at all. In order to ensure market stability, large-scale money melting cannot continue.

Now that the Qing army is about to go south, and the war is coming again, internal stability is even more needed.

Gao Yihuan pondered for a while, and asked, "Have you thought of any way to solve it?"

Song Zhisheng, who is in charge of engineering, said, "Commander, the Ministry of Industry has already mined copper mines in Zaoyang County in Xiangyang, but the output of the mine is limited and cannot meet the needs of the workshop."

Song Zhisheng and Chen Mingxia are on the same list, one is the second place and the other is Tanhua. Originally, Chen Mingxia also invited the last champion of the Chongzhen Dynasty, but the other party seemed to be more upright, and Gao Yihuan failed to gather three yuan in the final.

"Is it lack of manpower or lack of material resources?" Gao Yihuan asked, "Why not increase mining?"

Song Zhisheng said: "It's not a problem of manpower and material resources, but a problem of the mine. The copper mine in Zaoyang is very inconvenient to mine, and the reserves are limited, so it is difficult to expand mining. As for the place where copper is produced, it is Tongren and Hebei in Guizhou. Tongling in South Zhili produces a large amount of copper, and the mineral products in other places are not very good, not as good as these two places.”

There must be copper in the name, there must be a huge copper mine, otherwise I would not dare to be so awesome.

Hearing this, Zhao Daxian interrupted: "Then knock down these two places, won't it solve the problem?"

Gao Yihuan glared at him, "Stop talking!"

Gao Yihuan has no solution now. He pondered for a while, "The actions of the Cannon Workshop cannot be stopped. The Ministry of Households will find a way to go to Nanzhi to buy some copper ingots and come back to meet the needs of the workshop. The copper mines in our territory have to increase Large-scale mining. In addition, you can go outside to exchange some copper coins for melting, but we must ensure that we have enough silver and copper coins in our hands.”

Several officials nodded and responded one after another, expressing that they would try to get another batch of copper ingots.

Gao Yihuan visited Zhubaofang for a while, and led everyone back to the Yamen near noon.

At this time, Gao Yihuan was still worried about the copper ingots. The most cost-effective way to cast the copper ingots needed for the cannon was to mine them himself, followed by buying other people's copper ingots, and finally melting the copper coins.

Copper was also an important war preparation material for the Ming Dynasty, so it was not easy to buy a large number of copper ingots, and the bad coins in the market chased the good ones, and many copper coins were not in good condition. , the cost of melting copper coins into copper ingots is too high.

Therefore, Gao Yihuan still prefers to mine by himself, but he does not have a large copper mine in his hands.

At this time Gao Yihuan returned to the study, and Zhao Daxian's words began to resurface in his mind.

Gao Yihuan stood up, walked to the map hanging on the wall, glanced at Tongling, shook his head immediately, and finally set his eyes on Tongren.

Tongling is located in South Zhili, and Tongren is in Guizhou, but it is close to Huguang, just west of Chenzhou.

Gao Yihuan frowned, and suddenly shouted out: "Go, let Yi Daosan come to see this commander."

Not long after, Yi Daosan was brought to the yamen by the soldiers. He opened the door and came in, saluting, "The commander-in-chief is called a low-ranking officer?"

Gao Yihuan nodded, stretched out his hand to signal him to sit down, walked back from the map and sat on the Taishi chair, and then said unhurriedly: "Ben Shuai, I went to Zhubaofang to check today, and Chen Qijian responded to me. There are not enough copper ingots in the warehouse. After thinking about it, I found that my colleague is a good place. Not to mention the copper, it happens to be at the junction of Guizhou and Huguang, and the copper ore is mined. Defu."

Yi Daosan raised his brows, "Commander, let's send troops, the low-ranking troops will take down this Tongren."

"Hehe~" Gao Yihuan smiled slightly, wondering why his subordinates are full of these things.

Gao Yihuan stood up and walked back to the map, "Dao San! I have just reached a settlement with Nanjing, and now I am sending troops to occupy Tongren. It is a bit unethical. Others will call me a bad faith."

Yi Daosan rubbed his hands together and said, "What does the handsome mean?"

Gao Yihuan said: "Tongren is located at the junction of the two provinces. The government is weak and the chieftain is powerful. Han and Miao live here mixed, and conflicts often occur between Han and Miao. The copper mine is sometimes occupied by strong people, and the government has no power to manage it!"

Gao Yihuan stared at Yi Daosan while talking, and the latter suddenly realized: "Marshal, I understand."

"Hehe~" Gao Yi laughed and said, "Very good, let's do it, but there is one thing, you can't reveal your identity!"

Yi Daosan cupped his fists and saluted, "Don't worry, Commander, brothers are best at pretending to be bandits."

Gao Yihuan nodded in satisfaction and waved him away.

Zhengzhou, the camp of the Qing army, Duoduo went south from Beijing to Henan, and still presided over the southern expedition.

At this time, in Duoduo's big tent, Duoduo was sitting on the commander-in-chief, asking some of his subordinates, "What did Gao Manzi do during the time this king left Henan?"

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(End of this chapter)