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

In addition to the complex mechanical structure, the difficulty in manufacturing the coin machine is the two front and back molds. These must be cast from fine steel. The steel used must have considerable hardness to reduce wear and tear in industrial production. Such hard steel is destined to be difficult to carve, and it is difficult to solve the problem of bubbles and pores by engraving patterns on steel using the melting and casting method.

The solution given by Wang Wenlong is electro-etching.

The mold for the sample coin was made by Wang Wenlong. He used paint to draw a pattern that did not require etching on the steel plate. Then he soaked the steel plate and the negative electrode metal in the electrolyte, and connected it to the volts made of green vitriol and positive and negative electrode metals. Use the battery as a power source and slowly carve the pattern onto the steel plate.

This process sounds simple, but in fact it is very complicated to make. The patterns on both sides of the coin are not flat. If you want to carve a layered pattern with different depths, you must go through multiple etchings.

The formulas of primary batteries and electrolytes also need to go through repeated experiments.

Jiangnan Physics Society has mastered this technology after half a year of experiments, and it has an absolute monopoly. It can directly open its eyes to downstream manufacturers, and directly ask for eighty taels for a set of templates.

While coin-making machines and electrolytic etching technology were rapidly recovering funds, Wang Wenlong asked the Physics Society to launch a new project: researching metal formulas suitable for manufacturing gold, silver, and copper coins.

The silver coins currently used on the market are only small heads, and the currency that is really used in large quantities is still copper plates.

It is not difficult to suppress copper coins. The key is that if the copper coins produced are to compete with those privately minted inferior coins on the market, the cost must be reduced.

Wang Wenlong knew that the copper content of private money in the Ming Dynasty was actually not low. The main reason why it broke when dropped was because the formula was not adjusted properly when the small workshop was casting. If the physics club could come up with a suitable cheap formula, it would be real. Sent.

The research on the formula of copper coins is still in the exploratory stage. At the same time, after the launch of the coin making machine, it immediately became popular in Jiangnan.

The efficiency of this thing is so great that some people even started to imitate it soon.

It is too difficult to completely copy the original precision machine. However, many carpenters and blacksmiths in the Ming Dynasty used their brains and quickly figured out the principle of the coin making machine after disassembling the sold machines. Then they used wood and copper. They tried to produce imitation products based on similar principles.

Naturally, these products are not as efficient as the original machines and do not meet the standards for use in large factories, but they are sufficient for small private workshops.

As for the steel molds, they are made directly from cast iron and then ground and refined with jade sand.

Anyway, silver is soft enough. Cast iron molds replace steel molds, but they wear out faster, and the silver coins produced have lower pattern clarity. They cannot be used in big cities, so they are sent to small places for use.

Moreover, these merchants soon discovered that people had a natural sense of trust in machine-made coins, and were even more willing to accept metal coins printed by these machines than copper coins.

Pressing copper coins requires a special formula, which cannot be produced by small factories that produce private money, but it is still possible to use other metals to make inferior coins.

As a result, currencies made of various metals: nickel coins, tin coins, and lead coins flooded into the market in the past few years, causing headaches for the court. The successive bans continued for decades, and they were still unable to catch them all.

Wang Wenlong's coin-making machine invention directly led to an additional category in the coin collection market in later generations: Wanli miscellaneous coins.

The designs of these coins are basically made directly from foreign coins or copper coins as master molds. They have various colors and patterns, and their value is not high. However, these Wanli miscellaneous coins are considered by experts to be of considerable historical value.

Even a few hundred years later, middle school history textbooks included a photo of a Wanli miscellaneous coin with the pattern "Wanli Tongbao" printed on it. This coin was donated to the National Museum by the Wang family in Fujian, and the text of the textbook included this cultural relic. Summarize the reflected historical situation:

"The emergence of a large amount of low-priced currency reflects the reality of the increased demand for currency during the budding period of capitalism in the Wanli Dynasty. The premise for the large amount of Wanli miscellaneous money is that the Jiangnan Physics Society founded by Wang Wenlong invented the highly efficient toggle coin-making machine. , economic activity and scientific and technological enlightenment undoubtedly indicate that China in the Ming Dynasty has reached the eve of capitalism..."

While Wang Wenlong and others were busy experimenting with coin machines in Jiangnan, the more important thing for the entire Ming Dynasty was the new wave of upsurge launched by Li Sancai.

Li Sancai didn't have time to meet before, and Wang Wenlong was doing this.

At the end of the 31st year of Wanli, Li Sancai, the governor of Fengyang Water Transport, wrote a letter to the government and the public. The first sentence at the beginning made it clear what he meant: "Nai said that lightning struck the mausoleum with lightning, strong winds shook the trees, floods surged to the sky, and great changes occurred. …”

Li Sancai's request was nothing new. He still advised Emperor Wanli to take back the world's tax supervisors. The reason why this document caused shock in the government and the public was that too many bad things happened at the end of the 31st year of Wanli:

In September, Zhao Yuangu revolted in Xuzhou and was sentenced to death.

Then, Li Darong in Bozhou revolted and beheaded.

Then, Suizhou thieves harassed water transportation and were pacified.

Then another demon book case appeared in the capital.

Xuzhou, Bozhou, Suizhou, and Jingcheng are different from the previous Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. In the minds of people of this generation, these places are the heart of the Central Plains. They should be quite stable and peaceful places. Within half a year, uprisings in these places have continued one after another. Moreover, demon books appeared even in the capital, so something was obviously wrong.

Li Sancai's Shang Shu hit this moment in time, and it immediately aroused a lot of discussion in the world.

The first place to start the commotion was Changzhou. The Donglin Party was preparing to build Donglin Academy into its own headquarters and needed to build momentum, so it took the lead in calling for it - the Changzhou government office was once again surrounded by literati. The craze spread, and literati in Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Zhenjiang counties responded.

It spread all the way north to Nanjing, Xuzhou, Huizhou, Fengyang, and Jiangnan was full of curses.

It spread to the south: Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Chaozhou, Guangfu, and Shaoguan, and literati also took to the streets in large numbers.

Emperor Wanli ignored all these scoldings, and he also ignored the memorials sent by cabinet ministers who followed these remarks and requested to fill in the ranks of ministers, prefects, patrol censors and other officials.

He felt that these were not facts and there was no need to distract him. What Emperor Wanli was really personally concerned about was, first, the unresolved demon book case, and second, the river problem.

Emperor Wanli ordered six ministries to discuss the issue of digging the Ya River and dredging the Yellow River for water transportation.

In recent years, the Yellow River water transport has been heavily damaged due to natural disasters, and the siltation of the Yellow River has caused people in Xuzhou to be severely affected by spring floods every year.

River officials everywhere are busy.

People were writing articles, people were planning to return to the country, and the people along the canal were worried that they would be forced to work as coolies. They began to brew the next wave of uprisings, and the local governments were also preparing to suppress it... Amidst all the disturbances, time came. In the thirty-second year of Wanli.

Wujiang, Zhaotian Village.

"Mr. Liao Fan" Yuan Huang lived in seclusion here after resigning.

Yuan Huang is a master of miscellaneous studies. He was taught by Zen Master Yungu since he was a child. In addition to teaching Yuan Liaofan, Master Yungu also taught Master Hanshan Deqing, one of the four great monks of the Ming Dynasty. He can be regarded as a disciple. All over the world.

Yuan Huang studied miscellaneous studies since he was a child under Zen Master Yungu, and studied astronomy, arithmetic, water conservancy, military affairs, and medicine.

A few days ago, Yuan Huang received a letter from a friend who was an official in Nanjing. He knew that Emperor Wanli wanted to dredge the Ba River, so he sent his disciple Ye Shaoyuan to Nanjing to deliver his books on river regulation.

Yuan Huang told his beloved disciple Ye Shao Yuan: "When you go to Nanjing this time, you should pay more attention to making friends with famous people. It will be of great benefit to you in the future, but you must also be targeted. If you have no experience in river management, if people ask you, you will Just show him my book and don’t make any unreasonable comments, which will make the capable people look down upon you.”

Ye Shaoyuan nodded and said: "Remember Master's teachings."

"Go."

Ever since Shen Yixiu married Wang Wenlong, Ye Shaoyuan felt empty in his heart for some reason, so he returned to his master's sect and concentrated on his studies. For two years, he hardly cared about foreign things.

Yuan Liaofan was also a wise man. Although he could see that his disciple had something on his mind, he did not ask him specifically. He only waited until Ye Shaoyuan had studied hard for more than two years, and then he felt that his disciple's character had become stable, so he asked Ye Shaoyuan. Help him go to Nanjing to deliver books.

Ye Shaoyuan took his master's three newly-written books, "An Examination of the Dividing the Yellow River to the Huaihe River", "An Examination of the Canal" and "Imperial Capital Water Conservancy", as well as specially written letters to friends in Nanjing. He packed his bags and took his servants to the canal ferry and got on a boat. A small boat headed north to Nanjing.

Wang Wenlong and his family were also returning to Nanjing from Suzhou at this time.

Ye Shaoyuan's ship passed through Changzhou and entered Yangzhou. It anchored in the port town and while waiting to cross Caoguan, he saw a medium-sized ship next to it with its window open, and a familiar pretty face revealed in the window.

The moment Ye Shaoyuan saw Shen Yixiu, he couldn't help but froze.

Ye Shaoyuan liked Shen Yixiu very much. Everything from Shen Yixiu's appearance to literary talent met his standards. However, he did not expect that as soon as Wu Jiang met him, Shen Yixiu would go south with his father two days later, and then there was news that she was getting married. information.

Ye Shaoyuan inquired about Wang Wenlong and found out that he was just a supervisor who had some fame in the world because he wrote books.

Ye Shaoyuan still finds it difficult to accept that the Shen family pushed forward his marriage with Shen Yixiu just because of such a person.

At this time, Shen Yixiu also saw Ye Shaoyuan. After all, the two families were family friends and it was impossible to pretend that they didn't know each other.

Ye Shaoyuan saw her turn around and say a few words to the people in the cabin, and then the boat came closer to his boat, and a smiling man in a scholar's shirt walked out of the bow to say hello to him.

Ye Shaoyuan didn't really change his mind. He was still the noble son of the Ye family, but after suffering some setbacks, he finally learned to tolerate his anger.

In the past two years, he studied hard behind closed doors and became more and more proficient in learning. Now he has been appreciated by Nanjing officials and is about to become an official.

This time, he also had the thought of going to Beijing to seek an official position. Even when he left Wujiang, he vaguely thought that the next time he returned to Wujiang, he would go to the Shen family with such a great reputation. He even imagined what it would be like to meet Shen Yixiu again. , but I didn’t expect this moment to come so soon.

(End of this chapter)