Chapter 335: One Hundred Million
By the time Ding Gong got the news, the information that Chengdu was going to issue a new currency had already spread.
He quickly summoned Ma Ling and Dongmei from Shunfeng Division for questioning.
Ma Ling knew that the truth must be told about such an important matter, so he gave the secret letter from Zhao Yulin to Mr. Ding, and concluded that someone had leaked the news at the last meeting.
Because the next day Qian Fuxing suddenly posted the exchange rate, causing panic in the entire street, and Chengdu then became lively.
Mr. Ding felt a little regretful. At that time, Zhao Yulin asked them to keep it a secret and asked Ma Ling and others to make preparations as soon as possible.
He asked about Dongmei's news again.
Dongmei said that Shunfengsi's key monitoring targets were not in this area. After the news of the new currency issuance came out, they immediately investigated. The initial clues they found were consistent with the third young master's. It was basically confirmed that someone at the enlarged meeting leaked the news. Qin Qinyao, the deputy envoy of transportation who was in charge of money and currency affairs, was the most suspected.
The old man was angry and asked Dongmei to investigate it carefully for him.
After Dongmei left, he asked Ma Ling what to do now?
Ma Linger said that since the news had leaked out and people were talking about it, we should let the Chengdu Weekly publish a message to officially announce the issuance of new currency. We would make it public as we progress so that people can see it clearly and they will not panic too much.
As for the money, just let it rise and fall freely, and we can also find out who is causing trouble.
She gave Ding Gong some advice, asking him to accept the consultation of the editor of Chengdu Weekly and personally clarify the issuance of the new currency in the newspaper.
The old man thought about how Zhao Yulin often used newspapers to do things , and he really became interested. He ordered Wang Rong, the deputy director of the office, to find the best editor and reporter of the newspaper, and he started speaking to them eloquently.
The next day, the speech of King Ding Gong was published in the newspaper.
The editors dare not publish all the reports in newspapers, but only pick out the confirmed ones for publication.
When the common people saw Ding Gong personally talking about the new currency in the newspaper, they were delighted, and they rushed to buy the newspaper to read: Wow, look, the king has spoken, our New Song is going to issue a new currency, a brand new one, different from the money issued by Qianyin.
Some people say, "Oh, it's so comfortable. This kind of paper money can be exchanged directly for silver coins at the bank. You can exchange as much as you want, and it's equal value. That's great. You don't have to carry a purse around the street anymore. You can travel around the world with two paper money."
Some people also said that the imperial court was going to build a bank. There were plenty of silver coins in the bank, so if you wanted to exchange them, you could go to the bank.
Finally, there is something even funnier. Ding Gong asked the editor to publish the news that the Third Young Master has gone to supervise the production of new coins. The Third Young Master wants to personally produce a new coin that is unique in the world for everyone.
The people were happy to see such news.
Ordinary common people didn't have much money in their hands, so when they saw that the Third Young Master was going to make brand new banknotes for them, they were extremely excited and looking forward to it, because the money made by the Third Young Master must be good stuff.
Zhao Yulin was still eating, and Lao Cao went to find him with a newspaper in his hand, laughing.
When he saw the newspaper that Ding Gong wanted him to supervise the production of new currency in person, he was also confused, and then helpless. The newspaper was sent out three days ago. It is estimated that because the news of the issuance of new currency in Chengdu leaked, Ding Gong had no other choice but to publish an advertisement to clarify the incident, which put him in trouble.
Lao Cao asked him if he was going back, as Mr. Ding had assigned him a task in the newspaper.
Zhao Yulin smiled and patted the newspaper, saying that the king had ordered a general to go and make a trip. After the banknotes were made, he would come back to accompany him fishing and soaking in the hot springs.
Zhao Yulin brought Yangjin and Feiyan back to Cuiping Mountain and immediately went to Guigu to invest in the research and development of paper money.
At that time, the banknote trial production institute in Guigu, Cuiping Mountain had been trying to produce new banknotes for more than a year. According to Zhao Yulin's requirements for paper, woodblock printing and printing anti-counterfeiting, they repeatedly tested them, formulated trial production plans based on the best ones, and made several new banknote samples. Zhao Yulin was very satisfied after seeing them.
Director Dai Xianglong told him: It is better to use Zhenba paper. This kind of paper is made of hundreds of herbs from the mountains, and one of them is a Chinese herbal medicine that can effectively prevent insect infestation, which provides a safe guarantee for the preservation of banknotes.
Some time ago, Zhenba County sent over a whole kiln of paper. The paper was slightly thicker and stronger, and the thickness of the paper was very uniform. It was the best paper they had ever seen.
Zhao Yulin followed him to the storage room and saw neatly stacked papers. The director took out a piece of paper and showed it to him. The paper was slightly yellow in color and felt like the weight of banknotes from later generations. When he tapped the paper lightly, it made a crisp sound.
Zhao Yulin thought it was a good idea and decided to use it.
When I came back, the craftsmen had already placed the engravings on the table. The masters made engravings with four denominations of ten strings of coins, five strings of coins, one string of coins, and five hundred coins, based on the style of the military medals of the Shenwei Army.
He saw that there were ears of wheat on both sides of the front pattern, a soaring golden dragon in the middle of the pattern of the ten-string coin, the earliest knife-shaped coin in the center of the pattern of the five-string coin, a dog-beating stick with distinct bamboo joints in the center of the front pattern of the one-string coin, and two sickles and axes intertwined in the center of the front pattern of the five-hundred-wen coin. The craftsman smiled and said that this denomination of money is the most commonly used by ordinary people, so he engraved a sickle and an axe on it.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said okay.
At present, the wages of ordinary people for a day's work are only about 200 coins, so the 500-coin banknote is of course the most commonly used one among them.
He said happily, "That's good," and let's do it.
He asked Dai Xianglong to stamp the "New Song First Mint" seal on the lower right corner of the front of the engraving, indicating that this was the first time that the New Song minted coins.
Director Dai nodded immediately and asked him where the code was placed.
He pointed to the upper left corner and said that he also had to design an anti-counterfeiting coding device. After the banknotes were printed and sent to the transfer vault in Chengdu, the bank of the transfer department would complete the final registration and anti-counterfeiting coding.
The craftsmen then dispersed, each busy with their own work, and Zhao Yulin began to design the final anti-counterfeiting coding process.
This is not a number, but a special dot array. After gravity coding, a gravity coding machine with patterns appears on both the yin and yang sides.
The distance between the corresponding positions of the coding machines is different, so the positions on the banknotes are different. This is like soldiers changing their passwords every day during combat. It would be extremely difficult for someone to crack the counterfeiting.
Zhao Yulin and the craftsmen worked for ten days to modify a coding machine. After trying it out and finding good results, they considered the task completed and asked Dai Xianglong to seal it up for future use.
Over there, the craftsmen have already cut the paper and printed it according to the adjusted engraving and production procedures. Although it is just a small piece of paper, it has to go through nine kinds of color mixing and countless processes to be made.
Zhao Yulin personally supervised the burning of all the scrapped paper and completed the printing of 10 million banknotes before the Great Cold.
One hundred million strings of cash is one hundred million strings of cash.
At that time, the Song people did not say 100 million, but 100 million. Zhao Yulin asked Dai Xianglong to escort the dismantled and sealed machines to Chengdu for delivery.
When he returned to his home in Cuiping Mountain, he felt that the two women's bellies had rapidly grown forward an inch, and they were very obvious even through their thick winter clothes.
Especially Zhao Feiyan, whose thin body but belly was far away, as if they were afraid that she would fall and fall to the ground.
Zhao Yulin smiled and stretched out his hands to help his two wives up, one on the left and one on the right, and took them for a walk in the yard. He told them that they should walk more at this time. The two women smiled and closed their eyes as they walked, enjoying the rare treatment of the Empress Dowager Cixi.
In the evening, Zhao Yulin invited Lao Lu and told him that he would go to Xinshi Town to spend the New Year with Lao Cao. He was worried about the issuance of banknotes in Chengdu, so he asked Lao Lu to go to Chengdu to give him some advice.
Lao Lu said that the issuance of paper money is imminent, which is known to everyone. During this period, the exchange rates of Jiaozi and Guanzi have almost fallen and have stabilized.
What he is worried about now is how much money notes those big merchants have in their hands, especially the Thirteen Shops that used to be responsible for the circulation of money notes. If someone hides a large amount of these money notes and takes them out to exchange when our banknotes are issued, we will suffer a great loss.
Zhao Yulin said that the New Year is coming, the New Year is just a hurdle, and this is what he is worried about, so he wants to ask our great steward Lu, who is the stabilizing force, to go to Chengdu without making any noise.
Lao Lu hadn't had any big cases to work on for a while and wanted to stretch his legs, so he packed up and set off immediately.
Zhao Yulin was about to leave for Xinshi when Cui Hao, the governor of Xuzhou, came to wish him a happy new year. He laughed and said that it was still too early for the New Year and Cui Hao was too polite.
Cui Hao said that he had visited the master several times but never got to see him. Today, God must have opened his eyes.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that our New Song officials are materialistic, not idealistic, and do not believe in ghosts and monsters.
Cui Hao immediately burst into laughter and reported to him that the New Year was approaching and Xuzhou was planning to hold several events and invited Lord Zhao to join in the fun.
Zhao Yulin said that he would not participate in the event and suggested that the prefect invite more celebrities from Xuzhou and elderly people from the prefecture to participate. He was about to go to Xinshi Town to spend the New Year with General Cao.
Cui Hao already knew that Cao Youwen was in Xinshi, but he did not expect that both of them would stay in Xinshi for the New Year. He immediately proposed to invite the general to spend the New Year together in Xuzhou.
Zhao Yulin denied it immediately and told him that the general was ill and had come to Xinshi Town in Xuzhou to recuperate, so he should not disturb him.
Cui Hao then understood the reason and said he would visit Xinshi again on another day.
He waved his hands repeatedly to say no, and sent the two women on board the ship to the new town that day. As soon as they arrived, the Baiyue people came rushing over.
Lao Cao said with a smile that he had not had a drink with Baiyue for a long time, and it was a good opportunity for them to have a good drink together.
After three rounds of drinks, Lao Cao spoke.
Lao Cao pleaded for Baiyue and asked Zhao Yulin to transfer him to the front line to serve.
Zhao Yulin was stunned for a moment, and the atmosphere at the table suddenly froze.
Lao Cao said that it was he who insisted on going to Guanzhong and dragged Baiyue to play with him, but he left the impression of disrespect in his brother's eyes. Baiyue knew his mistake a long time ago.
Zhao Yulin then realized that the old man was speaking for Baiyue.
He said that this matter had already passed, so why was the general bringing it up?
When the general marched eastward to Luoyang, he was also acting on orders. It never worried about the Baiyue following the general on the expedition.
Zhao Yulin asked Du Baiyue: Do you really want to go to the frontier?
