The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Li Sancai immediately expressed his position: "This machine is far more efficient than the previous coinage method, and it saves labor. It is really a great invention that benefits the country and the people."

He then turned to the person in charge of the Nanjing Household Department and said: "If we can get such a machine, the Caoyun Yamen and the Household Department will jointly set up a factory to make silver coins, and the profits will definitely be huge."

Wang Wenlong quickly answered: "Jiangnan Physics Society will definitely support it fully. I think if we want to build a silver coin factory, we can also ask businessmen from the society to come and raise funds."

"This method is very good."

Li Sancai and Wang Wenlong sang in harmony, and the officials on the side also nodded. At this time, an old man among the businessmen present said: "This machine is very well made. If you want to set up a silver coin factory, the Zhan family in Huizhou is willing to join." One share.”

Recognizing the old man who spoke, Li Sancai smiled, nodded and said, "Boss Zhan has such good intentions."

The speaker's name is Zhan Jingyin, a native of Huizhou. He is not well-known in history, but his brother Zhan Jingfeng is a famous figure of the generation.

Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty had fourteen prefectures under its jurisdiction. Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture were the richest. Songjiang, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang were also places like gold-selling caves. However, although the people in these prefectures were rich, Nanjing's most famous businessman But almost all of them are from Huizhou.

Suzhou's literati and Huizhou's businessmen were deeply rooted stereotypes at this time. Many Huizhou businessmen pursued elegance after they got rich, so they went to Suzhou to buy real estate, pursue literary figures, and hold literary events.

Zhan Jingyin's elder brother Zhan Jingfeng was a calligrapher and painter in history, and he was also a celebrity born in Huizhou. He also had the identity of being a representative of Huizhou merchants. The Zhan family was also a well-known rich man in Huizhou.

Wang Shizhen, one of the "Later Seven Sons", once laughed at Huizhou people in front of Zhan Jingfeng: "When Huizhou businessmen see Suzhou literati, they are like flies chasing the smell, and they can't drive them away." Zhan Jingfeng also mercilessly ridiculed: "When Suzhou literati see them, they can't drive them away." Huizhou merchants are like flies chasing odors, unable to drive them away."

Wang Shizhen and Zhan Jingfeng are close friends, so they can put down their shame and make such a joke.

Now that Zhan Jingfeng has passed away, Zhan Jingyin is in charge of the family business. With the strength of their family, they are indeed able to participate in the operation of the government-run workshop.

After Zhan Jingyin expressed his stance, other landlords and businessmen also reacted.

"The Wang family in Huizhou also joined the group."

"Shaoxing Xingye Tang can go to Shaoxing to raise funds on your behalf."

"The Zhenjiang Chamber of Commerce also wants a share."

Big businessmen have promised that the production efficiency of this machine is so high. Everyone sees it and naturally they are not willing to miss such a good opportunity.

In addition to big businessmen, there were also some small businessmen and landowners present who had no chance to participate in such a large investment.

But they also stepped forward and surrounded the members of the physics club to inquire carefully, but they wanted to buy a coin making machine.

As long as silver coins are made into silver coins, people's acceptance will be greatly increased, and there will be a big gap in the price of silver ingots and silver coins of the same weight.

This difference was originally not enough to offset the fire consumption used to refine silver into silver coins, but if there was such a simple coin making machine to produce silver coins, the fire consumption would be greatly reduced, enough to turn the production of silver coins into a profitable business.

These merchants and landlords don't care about anything illegal. Not to mention that privately minted silver coins are always in a gray area and the court may not catch them. They dare to make copper coins that the court has repeatedly ordered to prohibit private minting.

In fact, the centers of private coin minting in Jiangnan at this time were in Su, Song, Chang, Zhen, and Hangzhou.

At this time, at least 3,000 coin minters who originally belonged to Guanlu have been recruited by the "Jiangnan Rich Renxia Family". This has exceeded 30% of the employees of Guanlu. A large number of landowners are casting coins with "thin bodies and poor culture". "Bad coins are mostly mixed with low material".

According to the original historical development, during the Tianqi period more than 20 years later, the popular money making in Jiangnan will be "mostly mixed with lead sand, not enough to make an inch, and will break when thrown" - there may be more private money than made money. It is also a good thing to discriminate against these merchants and buy coin machines to make silver coins.

As a large amount of silver poured into the Ming Dynasty after the Longqing Switch, the landlords and wealthy merchants in Jiangnan now had a lot of silver in their homes, and a lot of silver was hidden in cellars.

The circulation value of currency must be reflected in the exchange, and a large amount of physical objects are exchanged for silver, and then the landlords store the silver in cellars for no use. This behavior is really not good for the Ming Dynasty's economy. If silver can be made Turning it into silver coins will definitely greatly increase the circulation of silver. When this coin-making machine is widely used to a certain extent, the circulation of silver coins all over the world can even greatly alleviate the Ming Dynasty's demand for silver.

After lunch that afternoon, Wang Wenlong took the people from the physics club back to the work site and started up the coin making machine again. The production efficiency test with the workers in the morning was just for publicity, but this time it was to test the actual production. efficiency.

After working non-stop for an hour, there was no problem with the coin-making machine this time. It was calculated that the coin-making machine could produce about 1,500 silver coins per hour, and the output was more than ten times higher than the traditional sand casting method.

Li Sancai was very satisfied with the results of this experiment. When he saw the machine, he felt that countless money was waving to him.

As a result, many people present also became interested in the various researches of the Physics Club, and Wang Wenlong arranged for everyone to visit the Physics Club.

A group of people went there out of curiosity and felt very curious when they saw the research laboratories, libraries and teaching centers arranged by the Physics Society all over Suzhou.

A few days later, "Suzhou Xunbao" reported the incident in detail, and not only "Xunbao" but many figures from the Taoist temple wrote articles and published them in the newspaper.

For example, "Xihu Xinbao" is a major newspaper in Hangzhou. Among the famous people present that day, one of them was a part-time reporter for this newspaper. After visiting the physics club, this reporter was very curious and excited to write an article. So a few days later, "Xihu Xinbao" A full-page report was published:
"Wang Jianyang is famous for his articles, but few people know that he is also a master of miscellany. Jianyang is good at mechanical mathematics and founded the Jiangnan Physics Society in Suzhou with his colleagues."

"Recently, a coin-making machine developed by the Physics Society was launched. It was tested with old craftsmen in the Baoquan Bureau workshop south of Taohuawu, Suzhou. Fifty or sixty people, including dignitaries, gentry and businessmen, were invited to visit."

"At the beginning of the competition, the machine was stuck in operation, but the furnace worker burned the silver very quickly. The silver juice was poured in one furnace, and the Physics Club only produced a few defective products. Everyone thought that the machine was unusable. However, after the machine was repaired, in the blink of an eye It exceeds manpower... In the second game, the machine produced more than a thousand silver coins in an hour, all of which were fine coins with exquisite patterns. They were not inferior to the fine foreign coins, and were even more exquisite than the money made. There were dignitaries present. It’s surprising when you see it.”

"In the afternoon, Wang Jianyang and other celebrities from the society led us to visit the Jiangnan Physics Society in Suzhou. We saw the experimental workshops in the Physics Society, and there were five places called 'laboratories'. They all had bright and clean windows. There were vacuum tubes and other things in the laboratories. Take a vacuum tube and try it. Put a very light chicken feather and a good coin in the tube. The feathers and copper coins fall from the same height. The copper plate is as light as a feather and falls to the bottom of the tube at the same time. Everyone is shocked... There is also a black box with a small hole. Take a When the object is in front of the hole, enters the box, and covers the four doors to make it dark, you can see that the object in front of the hole is reflected on the back of the box, and its spirit and appearance are fully revealed. Although it cannot be compared with the description by famous artists, if you put a piece of white paper behind the box , take a pen and trace the pattern on the paper, and it immediately becomes a picture. With this thing, even if a child can paint, it can be compared to that of a famous artist... There is also a kaleidoscope, which is made of a built-in bronze mirror... There is also an experiment with a pendulum clock. This thing can beat copper for timekeeping. leak……"

The various experimental equipment used for teaching in the Physics Club were too impatient for people at this time. To visit the knowledge, everyone rushed to participate in experiments like primary school students going to a science and technology museum.

As soon as this report came out, many novel things introduced immediately attracted many curious people in Hangzhou to become interested in Jiangnan Physics Society. Many scholars with money and leisure simply went north to Suzhou to check out the physics society on the spot. As a result, the club recruited a large number of members, and the coin-making machine developed by the Physics Club also attracted many people's interest and inquiries.

And a lot of publicity results have been obtained since then.

A few days later, Li Sancai decided to invest in a new mint in Suzhou. The share capital was each accounted for 30% by Suzhou Baoquan Bureau, Caoyun Yamen and private funds. Jiangnan Physics Society also had a 10% stake in it and was responsible for equipment manufacturing and repair.

In addition, customers from Changzhou and Zhenjiang ordered two coin-making machines. The physics club offered a price of two hundred taels per machine, and the businessman agreed without hesitation.

Wang Zheng was very busy in the next year. The dozen or so machines needed by factories and businessmen were enough to make the physics club's manufacturing department work overtime.

This time the experiment was successful, and the bonus given to the corresponding personnel by the Manufacturing Machinery Physics Society alone exceeded 500 taels. Although many of the personnel involved in the development were out of curiosity, with such an income, it is unreasonable to not spend any money.

Under Wang Wenlong's initiative, the fabrication department of Jiangnan Physics Society was specially separated and an organization similar to a research company was established.

This institution is 80% owned by Physics, and the remaining 20% ​​is invested by Wang Wenlong and other powerful figures in the company. Wang Zheng is responsible for the management of the institution and is responsible for its own profits and losses.

After the establishment of the organization, not only will they receive income from machines, but they will also be responsible for the coin design and mold making of Baoquan Bureau's new factory. This is also a very promising technology.

(End of this chapter)