Take the warehouse back to the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 246 Forging and Pressing to Make Silver Coins

"My lord, do we still need to continue producing silver coins?" Zhang Helang looked at Zhao Wen and asked slowly.

Now Zhao Wen has allocated enough money to the bank. Although a considerable part of the money has been loaned out, there is still a lot of money left.

For these silver, Zhao Wen did not explain the purpose before, but just minted some of them and the silver copied from various houses in Xuanzhen into silver coins.

So Zhang Helang wanted to ask whether the silver was stored or cast into silver coins.

Zhao Wendao: "Then mint silver coins, all the silver in the bank will be minted into silver coins, and all the silver loaned in the future will be exchanged for silver coins.

By the way, didn't I ask your mint to replace a few steam engines before, how is it now? "

"My lord, these steam engines have almost been installed, and the money fan for stamping and producing silver coins is currently being assembled. It is estimated that silver coins will be produced in a few days."

Zhao Wen transferred several steam engines from the ironworks to the Mint after cleaning up the roads in Xuanzhen.

In this era, whether it is casting silver ingots or copper coins, casting methods are used.

If it is cast, it will waste a lot of time, and the copper coins minted will also have a high scrap rate.

In order to solve these problems, Zhao Wen transferred several steam engines from the ironworks to the mint.

The purpose of Zhao Wen dropping the steam engine to the mint is to mass-produce silver coins by stamping.

The production of silver coins by stamping is not only fast, but also has a high yield rate, which can save a lot of manpower and material resources, and save a lot of cost.

"My lord, the previous batch of silver coins were minted, and it took a lot of time to mint that batch of silver coins.

If the method of stamping silver coins is really as the adults said, it is estimated that the speed will be much faster. Zhang Helang looked at Zhao Wen and said slowly.

Zhao Wen said with a smile: "This method of stamping silver coins is indeed much faster than casting. When casting silver coins, you need to pour molten silver into the coin.

But in this way, a lot of labor is required, and this method is not easy to operate. If the injection speed is slow, the silver water in Qian Fan may solidify before it is fully injected.

Moreover, it will take a lot of time for the silver coins in the money box to cool down, and it will take countless time to come and go.

When using minting coins, it will cost a lot of labor, which is a big expense.

Although the money fan is also needed when stamping silver coins, the money fan used for stamping is not the same as the money fan needed for casting.

The money fan used for stamping has only one characteristic, and that is hardness.

The high-carbon steel we produced can just meet this condition. When these money fans are manufactured, put the lower part of the money fan on the workbench of the steam engine, and then put the cast silver plate on the money fan. Then put the upper part of Qian Fan on the silver plate to fix the two firmly.

Then start the iron hammer on the workbench and press it directly towards Qian Fan's upper section.

After the hammer has pressed down the money fan in the upper section, then raise the hammer up.At this time, the silver coin is forged.

The coins we make are integral, and each coin can produce more than 100 or nearly 200 silver coins at one time.

In this way, the speed will be greatly increased. "

"Okay, let's not talk about this, and go to the mint with me to have a look."

Zhao Wen waved his hand, and then walked outside.

Zhang Helang followed Zhao Wen, thinking about what Zhao Wen said just now.

This is the first time that silver coins are produced by stamping, and it has never appeared in history.

In this regard, Zhang Helang really has no bottom in his heart.

The mint is in Xuanzhen City, not far from the bank.

The purpose of Zhao Wen's placing the mint in Xuanzhen City is for safety.

After all, the mint is not something else, it is the lifeblood of the economy, and Zhao Wen really can't rest assured that he is not holding on to it.

After a short time, Zhao Wen took Zhang Helang to the outside of the mint.

The Mint is located in a small courtyard, which covers an area of ​​about three acres.

Inside are all large bungalows covered with cement.

From time to time, the roar of steam engines sounded.

Outside the yard, there is a hundred soldiers patrolling non-stop.

The walls of the yard are all three feet high, with barbed wire and other things to prevent climbing. The entire mint is extremely strict.

When Zhao Wen walked into the mint, Zhang Helang led Zhao Wen to the workshops with steam engines.

"My lord, this is the first time we have come into contact with this method of stamping coins. We really don't know much about it." Zhang Helang walked beside Zhao Wen, his face full of doubts.

Zhao Wen chuckled, and said slowly: "Didn't I give you a flow chart for stamping and minting coins before? You just follow this and don't worry about the rest."

"Although the adults gave me that, I still feel a little uneasy. These coins have been minted for thousands of years from ancient times to the present. This is the first time I have seen this stamping." Zhang Helang was still a little worried Said.

"What are you afraid of? At that time, if the stamped silver coins are not good, it will be all on my head."

Zhao Wen patted Zhang Helang on the shoulder and expressed his relief for Zhang Helang.

"Okay, let's not talk about this for now. Have you checked the Qian Fan sent by the iron factory, and is there anything wrong?"

Zhang Helang said: "My lord, the coins sent by the ironworks are all very standard coins, there is nothing wrong with them.

Workers in the mint are assembling these coins today. "

"Take me to have a look!" Zhao Wen nodded and said slowly.

After a while, Zhao Wen was taken to a workshop by Zhang Helang.

Workers in this workshop are fixing Qian Fan's lower section on the workbench.

When these workers saw Zhao Wen coming in, they rushed over to greet him.

Zhao Wen waved his hands at these people, and said slowly: "No need, you all go to work first."

As soon as Zhao Wen's words fell, these people returned to their posts.

Zhao Wen kept patrolling back and forth in the workshop.

In today's workshop, a considerable part of Qian Fan has been fixed to the workbench.

Zhao Wen couldn't help but nodded as he looked at Qian Fan who was fixed.

When all these coins are fixed, the efficiency of the entire mint will increase a lot.

"My lord, there are already tens of millions of taels of silver in the bank. Do we have to mint so much silver into silver coins?" Zhang Helang looked at Zhao Wen and asked slowly.

Zhang Helang still couldn't believe that Zhao Wen was going to turn all the silver in the bank into silver coins.

This is tens of millions of taels of silver. What if these silver coins are not recognized?
Zhao Wen laughed, and said: "Mr. Zhang, I hope you remember a sentence, only the silver that is in circulation can be called silver, and the silver that is not in circulation is a stone.

The value of silver is not its own value, but the value that people assign to it.

If there are countless silver in vain and cannot be circulated, then this silver is useless to us.

Now that our Daming Bank has formed a scale, it is a good time to throw silver coins out.

And you also know the silver of our Daming, and you also know the quality of the silver on the market.If the quality is different, the lead alone in a tael of silver is estimated to be worth four to five cents. Although these silvers weigh a tael, they are definitely not worth a tael.

Nowadays, this kind of silver is everywhere in the whole market, which has great disadvantages for our business development.

The common people have long hated this kind of silver, and our silver coins can perfectly solve this problem.Even if it may be difficult to implement in the early stage, it will be much easier if the people accept it. "

Listening to Zhao Wen's words, Zhang Helang couldn't help but fell into deep thought.

Yes, only the silver in circulation can be called silver.

If the silver is not circulated, but only stored in dark warehouses, then these silvers cannot be called silver at all.

And the quality of silver on the market is indeed much worse.

After a long while, Zhang Helang's eyes were bright, "My lord, I understand."

Zhao Wen looked at Zhang Helang and nodded, "Just understand, just understand."

Zhao Wen looked at Qian Fan who had already installed it, and said to Zhang Helang, "You can make arrangements for this workbench to run."

Zhang Helang cupped his hands at Zhao Wengong, and then called a few workers to open the already installed workbench.

There is no difficulty in casting silver plates, so the casting speed is much faster.

There are many standard silver plates minted throughout the Mint today.

These silver plates are about four millimeters thick, about one millimeter thicker than Yuan Datou of later generations.

It is slightly smaller than Qian Fan in terms of length and width. After all, the silver plate is to be wrapped by Qian Fan.

When the steam engine is started, the gears on the workbench used to transmit power also start to rotate.

The gear above the workbench drives a huge hammer, and there is a lever between the gear and the hammer to control the connection between the two.

The lever is to the left, the hammer and gear are off.

The lever is to the right and the hammer and gear are connected.

Zhao Wen stood by, quietly looking at the workers who were working on the workbench.

I saw a few workers carefully lift the taken out silver plate onto the money fan, and then accurately place the upper part of the money fan on the silver plate.

Because there are pin holes for proofreading on the upper and lower money fans, it is not difficult to align them.

When the upper and lower money fans are aligned, the worker fixes the two money fans, and then shifts the lever to the right.

Driven by the gears, the hammer above the workbench slowly rose upwards.

When rising to the highest point, the worker dials the lever to the left.

Under its own gravity, the huge iron hammer fell heavily towards Qian Fan below.

"Oh!"

The hammer hit Qian Fan fiercely, making a loud noise.

Zhao Wen stared at Qian Fan with a pair of eyes, only to see that Qian Fan in the upper section was suddenly shocked by the impact of the heavy hammer.

The worker shifted the lever to the right again, and the hammer moved upwards slowly under the control of the gear.

When the hammer reached the highest point, it slammed down on Qian Fan again.

After repeating this three or four times, the worker raised the hammer and stopped it in mid-air.

At this time, several workers carried down Qian Fan from the upper section.

When the money fan in the upper section was carried down, there were nearly two hundred silver coins neatly arranged on the money fan.

When the workers put these silver coins into a frame and put them in front of Zhao Wen, Zhao Wen let out a long breath, pointed at the silver coins, and said to Zhang Helang, "What do I say? Is this method faster than casting silver coins?" A lot?"

Looking at the silver coins in the frame, Zhang Helang gasped, "This speed is too fast, it's unimaginable."

Zhao Wen chuckled, then squatted beside the frame, and took out a silver coin from it.

The entire silver coin is about 43 mm in diameter and [-] mm thick, and the whole body is silvery white.

The specifications of silver coins are slightly larger and thicker than those of Yuan Datou in later generations.

After all, Yuan Datou in later generations did not weigh one tael. Yuan Datou in later generations weighed six cents, four cents and eight cents, while Zhao Wen's silver coin weighed one tael, so this size was larger than Yuan Datou.

In the center of the front of the silver coin, there are two block letters of "one or two" written in Chinese characters, and below the Chinese characters are written a few small characters of "made by the Bank of Ming Dynasty".

On the edge of the back of the silver coin, there are several block letters of "Daming Chongzhen Five Years".

In addition to these block letters, there is also an extremely exquisite chrysanthemum.

The reason for using chrysanthemums is that the patterns on the one-yuan coins of later generations are chrysanthemums. Zhao Wen didn't know what pattern to use at the time, so he directly moved over the chrysanthemums of later generations.

Moreover, the chrysanthemum pattern is easier to process, and Qian Fan is relatively simple to make.

The patterns and specifications of the stamped silver coins are similar to those of the minted silver coins, but the stamped patterns are more exquisite and clear than the cast ones.

Zhao Wen pinched the silver coin in his hand, put it to his mouth, and blew suddenly.

Then Zhao Wen put it to his ear again. Hearing the buzzing sound in his ear, Zhao Wen narrowed his eyes.

"This silver coin is not bad, and the color is not bad."

Zhao Wen put the silver coin in his hand into the frame, took out another silver coin, put it in his mouth, blew it, and listened again.

Looking at Zhao Wen's appearance, Zhang Helang followed Zhao Wen's example and took out a silver coin from the box, put it to his mouth and blew it, and then put it to his ear.

"My lord, can this silver coin still make a sound?" Zhang Helang looked at Zhao Wen suspiciously.

Zhao Wendao: "This is the magic of this silver coin. The way to judge the authenticity of this silver coin is very simple, that is, blow the silver coin and put it to your ear to listen.

If there is a buzzing sound, the silver coin is real, if not, it is fake. "

"My lord, this method is good. In this way, the authenticity of the silver coin can be easily distinguished." Zhang Helang put down the silver coin in his hand and said to Zhao Wen.

"My lord, this silver coin weighs one tael, of which silver accounts for seven cents and copper accounts for three cents. This means that we can earn three cents of silver for one silver coin. In this way, we will be able to Make a lot of money."

　The title of the chapter is wrong, it should be stamping to make silver coins, but the title seems to be unchanged, so please forgive me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)