I'm really not doing business

Chapter 562: A Brief Version of the Yongle Encyclopedia

The Yongle Encyclopedia is all-encompassing and is the largest encyclopedia of the Ming Dynasty. This is the specific and realistic cognitive boundary of the Ming Dynasty.

Books like the Yongle Encyclopedia have been compiled in all dynasties. This type of book is called a "classified book", which is a compilation of past information divided into categories, while correcting previous cognitive errors and finally compiling it.

A large volume of informative book, such as an encyclopedia, is not a permanent rule once compiled and followed by generations; it needs to be supplemented from time to time. For example, the Yongle Encyclopedia was revised once during the Jiajing period, and Lu Kejiao, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College in Nanjing, requested the court to publish it after the revision.

Lack of money was the reason why the Ming Dynasty was unable to publish it on a large scale.

After Zhang Siwei got the job, he never worked seriously. He was only thinking about the infighting in the court and was not interested in publishing. After Zhang Siwei was specimend, Zhang Juzheng accepted the job and became the president. It took him ten years to print it.

Even if Zhang Siwei did something seriously, he would not be reduced to a specimen.

"Your Majesty, I have submitted some detailed corrections and corrections. Please review them." Zhang Juzheng said with his head bowed.

"Okay." Zhu Yijun nodded.

The eunuch brought a plate with sixteen volumes of books on it. Zhu Yijun took the volumes and asked eagerly, "Is this all you have revised?"

"This is the catalog." Zhang Juzheng replied in a low voice.

"Ah? The catalog of corrections and errata." Zhu Yijun smiled, opened it and took a look. There were a lot of corrections and errata.

The first major aspect focused on mathematics and the study of things, such as the natural circulation of water, atmospheric pressure, the relationship between pressure and area, hydraulic principles, steam engines, etc. These were the brilliant achievements of the Ming Dynasty Royal Academy of Studies.

The second major aspect focuses on agronomy, and a lot of flattering words appear in this part, because the compilation, editing and annotation of past agricultural books in agronomy were completed by the young emperor and the officials of the Baoqisi day and night in more than ten years.

The Wanli Book of Agriculture was written by the emperor himself and recorded many new crops.

During the process of correcting and proofreading the agronomy in the Yongle Encyclopedia, various scholars made great contributions to the description of woolen cloth. Animal husbandry is now also included in the scope of agronomy and is not a separately classified subject.

"Aren't there too many flattering words in this part?" Zhu Yijun looked at those disgusting flatteries with a look of disgust. Such shameless words made him, the emperor, feel ashamed. He didn't know how these scholars wrote them.

"Your Majesty, is it possible that this is not slander? I have read it and it is all true." Zhang Juzheng blinked and said, "Your Majesty's contribution to agronomy is highly recognized by everyone. Even Hai Zongxian thinks that what he said is not excessive and his evaluation is very conservative."

Zhang Juzheng still pulled out Hai Rui, who was good at scolding the emperor. Hai Rui scolded the emperor in an unprecedented way. With one sentence "Jiajing Jiajing", every family will be clean. The Taoist will live forever in his name, but he will never be able to turn over in his life.

In Hai Rui's opinion, those who participated in the revision were conservative and very restrained in their evaluation of His Majesty. There was no exaggeration, no flattery, and it was not even a fair evaluation.

"From the sweet potatoes in the early years of the Wanli period, to corn, and then to Antonio's contribution of massive seeds to the New World, sugarcane, rubber, palm, etc., Baoqisi's breeding, the compilation and revision of agricultural books, to forage grass, and the emergence of water and fertilizer, each of these things were witnessed by my own eyes, and I don't think they are slander." Zhang Juzheng gave examples directly.

The only emperor who was engaged in farming and was good at farming was Emperor Taizu Gao.

This is also the reason why the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was quite fond of Antonio. Antonio brought a lot of seeds, which was indeed a flattery and an investment for the emperor.

As the saying goes, "Give a peach, give a plum in return", Antonio now has the throne of Portugal.

"They just say nice things, but who knows in their hearts they are scolding me for not doing my job properly and being moody." Zhu Yijun waved his hand and continued to look at the correction details in his hand.

Zhu Yijun never relaxed his vigilance against the civil servants. This was a knot that could never be untied. It had come to the point where the king was assassinated and the palace was burned down. How could Zhu Yijun still believe it?

Using flowers and clusters of flowers to sing praises and weave information cocoons is the specialty of the famous scholars.

Zhu Yijun would not be fooled.

The third major aspect of the revision of the Yongle Encyclopedia focused on medicine. The rapid development of anatomy made medicine standardized and many things became clear. In this era when people's bodies and hair were inherited from their parents, the anomaly of the anatomy hospital did inject new vitality into the development of medicine.

Regarding this aspect, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty cursed while going to Huimin Pharmacy to see a doctor. This was a typical case of putting down the bowl and cursing, with words saying one thing and actions saying the other.

The fourth aspect is the military records, mainly the detailed records of various artillery and muskets, such as the mainstream bird guns, flat guns, flintlock muskets, cavalry guns, bowl-mouth guns, tiger squatting cannons, mother-and-child cannons, general cannons, 6-jin, 9-jin, 15-jin and 30-jin naval guns, warships, three-masted horse ships, five-masted ocean-going ships, fast sailing ships, etc., all of which were recorded in detail under the degree bypass.

The Ming Dynasty attached unprecedented importance to firearms. This was the result of the large amount of saltpeter sold from the West to the Ming Dynasty, which enabled the large-scale production of gunpowder. It was also the greatest confidence for the Ming Dynasty's unremitting pursuit of firearms.

The last major category is ocean-related. The Yongle Encyclopedia was completed in the fifth year of the Yongle reign, and Zheng He sailed to the West in the sixth year of the Yongle reign. Therefore, there is not much in-depth information on navigation technology in the Yongle Encyclopedia. In the 30th year of the Jiajing reign, the old records of Zheng He's voyage were not found and no additions were made.

The printing and publication during the Wanli period made up for this deficiency. The navigation technology included the astronomical knowledge of the Ming Dynasty, such as the precession of the equinoxes, etc., which were obscure and difficult to understand, so the supplementary content, especially those related to technology, were all written in vernacular Chinese, in order to express it as clearly and understandably as possible to avoid ambiguity.

"What about the theory of contradiction, the theory of public and private, the theory of production diagram, the theory of class, and the theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest?" Zhu Yijun looked through the memorials and found some omissions. The products of the great political and economic debates were not included in the revised catalogue of the Yongle Code.

Engineering machinery such as steam engines were kept secret, so the Yongle Encyclopedia did not include detailed information. This was at Zhu Yijun's request.

Patented technology needs to be gradually released. Right now, the price per piece is still too expensive. It is in the stage of making great efforts to achieve miracles, and has not yet reached the stage of commercial use.

Zhang Juzheng hurriedly said, "Well, Your Majesty, these have been published throughout the country, and it is more appropriate to put them in the Ming Dynasty Code."

"I think it is appropriate to add them to the Yongle Encyclopedia." Zhu Yijun was still a little stubborn and was determined to put these political and economic works into the Yongle Encyclopedia.

In fact, this kind of political and economic thinking is more suitable to be included in the Daming Hui Dian, which is a legal code, and the Yongle Dadian is an encyclopedia.

"I am stupid." Zhang Juzheng didn't understand why His Majesty was so persistent.

"Because it is called "Yongle Encyclopedia", sir, Yongle, the laws established by our ancestors." Zhu Yijun gave the key words.

In fact, the purpose was very simple, to ask the ancestors to endorse it. As for whether Zhu Di agreed to this question, Zhu Yijun would ask it again during the year-end Taimiao sacrifice. The right to interpret whether Zhu Di agreed or not was in the hands of the Ming Emperor. If he didn't say anything, it would be considered as tacit agreement.

Zhang Juzheng thought for a moment and said, "I obey your order."

It was about obeying the order, not agreeing with it. Editing a book was a very serious matter. Zhang Juzheng felt that putting political and economic books into the Yongle Encyclopedia was somewhat inappropriate, but after thinking it over, Zhang Juzheng still obeyed the order. Your Majesty was actually a little lenient with the enemy. If you leave these books to the ancestors now, there would be more resistance in the future when you turn over the pancakes.

"I have a brief version of the Yongle Encyclopedia to present to you. The brief version selects the most important contents and compiles them into a book, totaling 23000 volumes, which is presented to Your Majesty for your perusal." Zhang Juzheng gave a brief version of the Yongle Encyclopedia. The Wanli version of the Yongle Encyclopedia totaled 3.9 volumes and million words. A bookworm may not be able to finish reading it even if he studies the classics for a lifetime.

Just skimming through the book doesn't count as reading.

There were more than 1,400 carpenters from the Sanjing Factory involved in the printing of the Yongle Encyclopedia, and the total number of people involved in printing and publishing exceeded 13,000.

No one could finish reading the Yongle Encyclopedia, and Zhang Juzheng did not finish it either, so he chose to select the most important aspects and gave a brief summary.

The thirty-two volumes were the result of his careful selection of important contents from these vast books for larger-scale printing, such as simple hygienic prescriptions in medicine; the manufacture and application of simple agricultural tools in engineering; the heliocentric theory, star maps and navigation in astronomy; the geography of the Ming Dynasty and the local customs in various places; the planting and consumption of various crops in agronomy;

The most important one is the Illustrated Book of Gewu, which records the explanations of the infinite principles of all things by the doctors of the Five Classics.

There are more than 1600 illustrations in the brief version, and 700 illustrations in one volume of Gewu Tushuo.

If you have finished reading the summary and want to continue looking for more detailed content, it is not too late to look for records in the encyclopedia. If you just want to understand this world, these 32 volumes of the summary are more than enough.

Zhang Hong came over with the second plate of books, on which were placed thirty-two volumes. Each volume was made of cotton paper, and there was a faint scent of ink when the pages were opened. The handwriting was extremely clear. These were official editions, so the quality was naturally impeccable.

The set of "Brief Edition of the Yongle Encyclopedia" in Zhu Yijun's hand was annotated by Zhang Juzheng himself. When he encountered something he didn't understand, he would consult the doctors of the Five Classics.

Zhang Juzheng placed all his hopes on the emperor, hoping that the emperor could lead the Ming Dynasty to move forward and pull it out of the quagmire, or at least not let it perish in the hands of His Majesty.

Zhu Yijun checked it out and said with a smile: "Sir, you are a great talent! Thank you for your hard work."

The publication of the original copy of the Yongle Encyclopedia represented that it had changed from a palace collection to a series of books distributed throughout the country. The price of the original copy was extremely expensive, and it was made on an order-by-order basis. Powerful and wealthy families who wanted to collect it had to report to the imperial estates in various places and pay a 30% deposit. Only after they confirmed that they wanted to buy it would printing begin, just like the shipyards that produced five-masted ocean-going ships for the West in the past, collecting deposits first and then paying extra for the ship.

Zhu Yijun planned to print twenty sets first and give them to the four major governor-general's offices in the fifteen provinces of the Southern Court, with each of them keeping one set, as a reference book database for people to borrow.

The Wanli edition of the Yongle Encyclopedia has a total of 23000 volumes, and the final price is silver coins per set. This price is extremely expensive. For example, novels such as "The Romance of the Gods", "Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" have a total of ten volumes and are priced at two taels of silver per set.

However, considering the issue of printing volume, even if the price was 50,000 silver per set, it would still not be able to recover the cost. After all, engraving the plates cost a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources, and only printing the original copy of the Yongle Encyclopedia was destined to be a losing business.

This is what Zhu Yijun thought. In his opinion, this kind of book would not sell many copies. The really popular one should be the "Brief Edition of the Yongle Encyclopedia". The reading volume of 32 volumes is not large, and it is completely sufficient to use it as a reading material for a preliminary understanding of the world.

The original version of the Yongle Encyclopedia began to be printed throughout the country in the 12th year of the Wanli reign, and the abridged version was available for printing and publication at the end of June. The 32 volumes were priced at six taels of silver, which was still very expensive, but compared to the original version that cost 50,000 silver per set, it was free when rounded off.

But Zhu Yijun soon found out that he had wrongly predicted the popularity of the original copy of the Yongle Encyclopedia. The Sanjing Factory had just announced that it was available for pre-order, and libraries headed by the Tianyi Pavilion immediately came to hear the news!

Libraries such as the Tianyi Pavilion had been closely following the progress of the publication of the Yongle Encyclopedia and had prepared the silver early on.

By the end of June, the Yongle Encyclopedia had received a total of 147 orders. The largest number of book collections came from the Southern Courts of Zhejiang, followed by Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi. What was very regrettable to Zhu Yijun was that Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi did not receive even one copy, which indirectly reflected the unfairness of educational resources in the Ming Dynasty.

"We received 220.5 million silver coins as a deposit alone. If the printing and delivery are completed smoothly, the total transaction amount will be 735 million silver coins, with a gross profit of about 200 million silver coins. The treasury and the national treasury are split 100-100. The Sanjing Factory has earned million silver coins this year just from printing the Yongle Encyclopedia." Feng Bao reported the annual income of the Sanjing Factory. This printing was completed by the cooperation of the Internal Office and the Outer Court. The - split brought in an additional million silver coins from the internal treasury this year.

"This shouldn't be the case. Why would so many people want to collect the original copy of the Yongle Encyclopedia?" Zhu Yijun always felt it was a bit strange.

In order to build a database for various places, Zhu Yijun issued a database for each province, and even the four overseas governor-general's offices had one. Zhang Juzheng prevented him from investing in highways and opening up the sea, so Zhu Yijun secretly invested in culture and education. Although it was not much, it was also considered a spendthrift act.

Promoting culture and education is also a form of distribution to the lower levels. Breaking the monopoly of knowledge by the powerful and wealthy scholar-official class is equivalent to breaking their monopoly on power.

Feng Bao bowed his head and said, "The reason why the books are collected in the libraries of various places is to copy them."

"Your Majesty, I remember that the six rooms of each prefecture, state, and county had copying rooms. They copied the official reports and sold them everywhere. In fact, these libraries are the same. For example, this Tianyi Pavilion, after their library has collected books, scholars from all over the country will come to their homes to borrow and copy books."

"This is not just a business, it's also about connections. In the words of scholars, it's the cultural heritage accumulated over a hundred years, and the Confucian spirit continues to be passed down from generation to generation."

"A set of authentic copies of the Yongle Encyclopedia is a collection of cultural contexts from a prefecture and a state. It is naturally profitable, so there are so many of them."

The Ming Dynasty official edition was sold by imperial farms in various places. A set of thirty-two volumes was sold for six taels of silver, which was very expensive. So if you bought the edition and wanted to know the details, you had to either borrow it from the provincial capital or go to local libraries. There was no other way.

Money is not important, what is important is the feelings. For example, Song Lian, who wrote the preface to Ma Sheng of Dongyang, loved learning when he was young, but his family was poor and he could not buy books to read. He could only borrow books and copy them from book collectors. In winter, it was so cold that the inkstone was frozen and his fingers could not bend or stretch, but he did not dare to slack off.

When Song Lian succeeds, the family who lent him the book really wants Song Lian to help, and it does not violate the Ming Dynasty law, it is just a matter of saying hello, so Song Lian will definitely help.

Therefore, when the emperor invested in culture and education, the powerful and wealthy people in various places were not fools. They immediately chose to follow suit and placed heavy bets.

Obeying Your Majesty's orders and promoting culture and education is a sign of loyalty to the emperor and the country, and will also help consolidate one's own position.

"That's good too." Zhu Yijun never regarded the powerful and wealthy as enemies, nor did he regard them as money bags that could be confiscated at any time, nor did he regard the money as just deposited with them to be withdrawn at any time.

These words sound like those of a scholar, so shameless!
Chen Mo, the chief judge, raided 227 houses in one day, setting a record of unprecedented proportions. He raided the houses of all the extravagant households in Baoding! What a brutal act! What a way to decide life and death for the people below!

Is it Zhu Yijun's tyranny that is to blame? These 227 wei owners have made people into compost. If the emperor does not deal with them, is he waiting for the whole country to revolt, and the poor and coolies to rise up and come to the capital, making him, the emperor, as confused as Louis XVI?

The Huang family of Penglai, the Sun family of Songjiang, the Wan family of Dianbai and even the Wang family of Pucheng of Wang Chonggu were all powerful and wealthy families that emerged during the Wanli Reform. As long as they abide by the law, they are good and can be united with. If they are willing to be loyal to the emperor and the country and work together for the great cause of the Wanli Reform, they are fellow travelers.

The abridged version of the Yongle Encyclopedia was also put on the shelves in the imperial garden at the end of June. In order to publicize the publication of the abridged version, the Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun asked the Ministry of Rites to mobilize the public opinion machine and let all the miscellaneous newspapers in the capital publish the news of the abridged version on the shelves.

That morning, the 3,000 copies of the brief version were sold out immediately, and the Sanjing Factory had to work overtime to print more copies. This was Feng Bao's fault. Feng Bao had expected the brief version to be popular, but he didn't expect it to be so popular! These were 3,000 copies.

The popularity of the abridged version of the Yongle Encyclopedia was not surprising; it was within Zhu Yijun's expectations. However, as for the original version, under the leadership of the Tianyi Pavilion Library, libraries all over the world responded positively, and orders are still increasing steadily.

On the first day of July, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty happily came to the Wenhua Hall and continued his royal duties as he had done day after day for the past ten years. He did not feel bored, but rather continued to enjoy it.

"I apologize to the Ministry of Works." After greeting everyone, Wang Daokun did not sit down, but stood in front of the long table to apologize.

"What crime have you committed?" Zhu Yijun asked puzzledly.

Minister of Industry Wang Daokun said solemnly: "The Feiyun's sea survey has failed."

"Didn't it return safely? I noticed that the speed of Feiyun is roughly the same as that of Youlong, and it doesn't have any structural problems. It also passed the gunpowder test of the Ministry of War with ease. Even the Governor-General of Luzon, Kokusing Zhengmao, submitted a memorial to congratulate the court on the addition of another powerful weapon. How could it have failed? Wasn't this a great success?" Zhu Yijun was even more puzzled.

According to reports from the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of War, and the Songjiang Navy, the sea trial of the Feiyun should have been going very smoothly.

“The Feiyun needs to be dismantled and the structure of the propeller needs to be changed. We had originally planned to put it into mass production this year, but we will have to wait a little longer.” Wang Daokun explained the technical details, mainly because there were problems with the propeller and many unreasonable designs, to the point where it had to be dismantled and reinstalled.

"So, if we don't meet expectations, it's not considered a success? Isn't this a rich accumulation of experience?" Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "Most of the main goals have been achieved, especially the reliability, which has been confirmed. This is already very good."

Wang Daokun shook his head and said, "According to the design of the ship design institute, even when there is no wind, it can travel 30 miles per hour. However, during this sea survey, the propeller failed to do so and was even entangled by seaweed three times."

Obviously, according to the standards of the Ministry of Industry, if a ship fails to achieve all of its goals and only completes the main goals, or even needs to be dismantled and modified, it is a failure. Once a ship is dismantled and modified, its fate is doomed to fail, and it may even be necessary to abandon the modification and start over.

"I pardon you. We had agreed to give you two million silver coins to start production on Youlong, and the Ministry of Works has completed it as promised. Feiyun was a pleasant surprise." Zhu Yijun understood the Ministry of Works's stubbornness and nodded, saying, "Teacher, tell me that nothing can be successful at once. If you choose to be discouraged or even give up when faced with failure, you are not determined. If you fail to achieve your expectations perfectly, you should overcome difficulties. In this way, you will not be discouraged over time."

"A scholar must be broad-minded and resolute."

"I will follow your instructions." Wang Daokun bowed his head again.

After receiving two million silvers from His Majesty, everything went smoothly for the Youlong. However, the Feiyun kept having problems of one kind or another, which made everyone in the Ministry of Works uneasy. On the one hand, there were engineering difficulties, and on the other hand, they were worried about accountability from top to bottom.

Ding is Ding and Mao is Mao. Since it was agreed that there would only be the Youlong, there should be no accountability for completing the Youlong, and one should even be rewarded. This is a clear distinction between rewards and punishments.

"Are you out of money?" Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "How much is the gap?"

"Your Majesty, it's not that we are short of money. The two ships have been launched from the two million silver coins your Majesty gave us last time, but we still have more than 500,000 silver coins left, which can be used for a long time." Wang Daokun hurriedly bowed his head and said.

"It's not used up yet." Zhu Yijun said with a little disappointment: "Speak when you are short of money."

"I thank Your Majesty for your grace." Wang Daokun thanked him again. His Majesty forgave the Ministry of Works for failing to complete the task beyond expectations, and also planned to increase the salary. In many projects, too much money would lead to low efficiency. It would be a problem if you could get paid whether the project was completed or not. The Ministry of Works politely rejected His Majesty's plan to increase the salary.

"Grand Marshal, is our Ministry of War short of money? I know very well that the Beijing camp has no shortage of silver, but what about the nine borders? What about the military garrisons on the borders?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zeng Shengwu and asked.

"Your Majesty, the nine border towns receive military pay in kind, including rice, flour, grain and oil, with only a small amount of silver and Tongbao. Currently, each town has enough for military supplies. Since the promotion of sweet potatoes, the border towns have finally saved some money." Although Zeng Shengwu did not understand why His Majesty was in a hurry to spend money, he still answered honestly.

The Ming Dynasty began to try to provide sufficient funds in the third year of the Wanli reign, and it was not until the sixth year of the Wanli reign that it achieved some temporary success. After that, there were no more reports of rebelling, howling in the camp, demanding funds, or asking for rewards.

Zeng Xingwu thought about it carefully and explained, "This is actually due to sweet potatoes and Guojiao. Guojiao is actually sweet potato wine. Guojiao is like this. In addition to using sweet potatoes to relieve famine, various places also use sweet potatoes to make wine. The sweet potatoes are used to make wine, and the grain is saved, so each town finally has a little surplus."

Not only Hai Rui and Shen Li, but also the Ministry of War and Zeng Shengwu were listed in the "Wanli Agricultural Book" to sing praises.

Sweet potato wine is actually not very tasty. Although it has been distilled, its taste is still inferior to Shandong Qiulubai and Jiangnan Five-Spice Liquor. But because Guojiao is also brewed with sweet potatoes, people are still able to accept this kind of wine.

"The Ministry of Revenue is short of money. Does the Ministry of Revenue want to borrow some more?" Zhu Yijun looked at the Minister of Revenue Zhang Xueyan and asked the Ministry of Revenue's thoughts.

Wang Guoguang stopped Zhang Xueyan from answering and asked, "Silver coins?"

"Silver." Zhu Yijun shook his head.

Wang Guoguang immediately said, "Then I won't lend it to you."

Borrow silver and pay back silver coins? The Ministry of Revenue is not that stupid. It can still tell which one is more convenient for circulation. Just keep the silver for yourself!

The treasury is carrying a huge thunder, that is, the huge thunder of silver flowing into the dam. The absolute number of this thunder is not stressful for Zhu Yijun now, mainly because of its increase, and the inflow of silver is still increasing.

The Armory Bureau could print 250 million taels of silver a year. If we calculate based on million taels of silver, the Ming treasury would have to increase by more than million taels of uncirculated silver a year, which would further aggravate the money shortage and intensify the deflation in the Ming Dynasty.

Antonio's debt was extended for 4 years, with an annual interest rate of 4%, which may not seem like a lot, but in this era of currency shortage and general deflation, % interest rate plus deflation? This debt interest rate is really not low in this era.

The biggest problem with this bomb is that the growth rate of silver inflow is greater than the growth rate of printing silver coins.

Cui Min, the eunuch in charge of the treasury, did a quick calculation and was terrified. He hoped that the emperor could spend some of the money and not let it pile up in the treasury.

However, after Zhu Yijun looked around the court, he found that he could not spend any of the money. The Ming Dynasty lacked silver coins, not silver.

"Even if we have a hydraulic printing press, we can only print 3 million silver coins a year?" Zhang Juzheng was obviously aware of this concern. The silver was piling up in front of the Armory like a flood. The water level upstream was too high, and there was no water available downstream. This was the biggest problem at the moment.

The solution is either to come up with money or to put pressure on the Ministry of Industry to speed up technological innovation.

Zhang Xueyan, the Minister of Revenue, looked at Wang Daokun and said, "At least the growth rate of the Mint of the Armory Bureau should be greater than the growth rate of silver inflow."

"This is really difficult, but I will try my best to urge it." Wang Daokun had no choice but to agree. He had no choice but to agree. With the emperor, the prime minister, and the Ministry of Revenue putting pressure on him, he had no choice but to hurry up and increase the production of imperial silver coins.

At this moment, Wang Daokun wished that a hundred hydraulic printing presses would fall from the sky to complete the emperor's task, but large-scale production of hydraulic printing presses also takes time.

Wang Chonggu smiled and said, “The workshop of the Coal Bureau can also provide some parts to speed up production.”

(End of this chapter)