Datong Prison is in Jiaocheng County, not far from Fenshui, and at the eastern exit of Luliang Mountain. The prison is located in the Yiquan Society in the west of Hutu Mountain, in the mountains, dozens of miles away from the county seat. This subway mine is abundant, and there are many mountains and forests, and iron smelting has a history of one or two thousand years.

After the New Year, when the spring was cold and the snow had not melted, Du Zhongxiao took Tao Seventeen and Thirteen Lang to Datong Prison.

Governor Li Gui took a group of officials, greeted ten miles away, and picked up Du Zhongxiao and his party.

Du Zhongxiao saw that the so-called Datong Prison was nothing more than dozens of thatched huts, surrounded by a fence, which was very simple. The industry here is single, almost all of which are related to iron smelting, not to mention the state, but it is incomparable with all the counties I have seen.

When he sat down in the official hall, Li Gui arched his hand and said: "I came from afar to sign the judgment, and I prepared a wine feast with the officials of this prison, and I don't dislike it." ”

This is the routine of officialdom, Du Zhongxiao thanked him and asked: "Zhixian, it is said that this prison has a backlog of hundreds of thousands of catties of iron, but is there such a thing?" ”

Li Gui shook his head and sighed: "That's true." A few years ago, there was a war with the party, and the Hedong Road used iron money, and the iron prison was very prosperous. After not wanting to use iron money, there are a lot of people stealing and minting, and after a few years, it will be unprofitable to mint money. The backlog of iron classes is not hundreds of thousands of catties. ”

In his previous life, Du Zhongxiao had heard that bad money drove out good money, and it was really staged here on Hedong Road. After the iron money was used in Hedong Road, the official money was quite good, and the currency value was stable. Not long after, the private piracy swarmed, the quality was poor, and the value of the currency fell rapidly. In order to deal with this situation, the government has come up with tricks one after another, such as casting a lot of money, when five is ten, and stealing is even more powerful. In a few years, Hedong Road, which originally used copper and iron coins together, has been extremely difficult to see copper coins in daily transactions, and even officially minted iron coins are rare. The Chase supervisor continued to mint money, and the more he minted, the more he lost, and then stopped.

Copper coins have been stolen by the people, but due to the rarity of raw materials, the harm is not serious. Iron can be seen everywhere, and there is a tradition of iron smelting in many places on Hedong Road.

Li Gui's main position is the magistrate of Jiaocheng County, and the governor of Datong is only concurrent, and he doesn't know a lot of the situation, so he doesn't talk much.

Despite the official iron backlog, the folk iron smelting in this vicinity is still very prosperous, and it is sold along the Fen River until the Central Plains. Where there is iron smelting, there is an iron class, and the accumulation of iron in the Chase Prison is increasing, and it has become a trouble. The official account is like this, it is clear that the iron backlog cannot be sold there, but the officials dare not sell it at a low price, otherwise they will not be able to explain to the above. The iron accumulates more and more, and even if it rots, it will not dare to sell it.

After chatting in the official hall for a while, Li Gui took Du Zhongxiao to inspect the iron accumulation of Datong Prison.

Just like the soil and salt of Wynn Prison, the iron here is also piled up on the site, most of them have a simple shed, and some do not even have sheds, which have been corroded badly by the sun and rain. Iron in this place is not worth much, there are only five kuzi and three dogs, looking at hundreds of thousands of catties of iron

Du Zhongxiao turned around briefly, and he was also worried. These are mostly pig iron, which is not of high value. The point is that the surrounding mountains are full of iron-smelting people, and in the Datong prison, you can see the smoke of the mountain furnaces. The iron class of private iron smelting is one-tenth, and the official iron price is high, and under the competition of private iron, the iron here cannot be sold at all. In previous years, it relied on minting money, plus losing money to the state. Now that the money prison has stopped, and the war with the party is over, the capital is no longer iron, and can only be piled up here.

After looking at the iron storage, Li Gui said: "There are several other iron storage yards in this prison, all of which are near the smelting furnace, which is not much different from here. Since the peace with the party was discussed, the capital no longer made weapons, and the iron stored became more and more accumulated. Now that all the freight yards are full, there is nowhere to store them. I once went to the imperial court to stop collecting iron classes and let the people lose money. Why the people are unwilling, it is impossible to think. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded and did not speak. As with the problem of soil salt and fur, the government collects taxes in kind, and after collecting them, they cannot sell them, so they accumulate more and more. Soil salt is an official monopoly, there is always a way to think about it, fur is the market need, and the problem of iron is even more troublesome.

Jiaocheng and Wenshui counties are the iron smelting centers of Hedong Road, and they produce a lot of iron. The market is occupied by private iron, and the official iron has no more way to think of than for its own use. If you ship the railway here and no one pays the freight, it will be extremely troublesome to deal with.

This place is not the same as Yongcheng County, where Du Zhongxiao stayed, where it is necessary to import iron from other places to make agricultural tools, but there is a lack of blacksmiths here, and even that method is not possible. It is difficult to make agricultural tools and other products here.

After seeing the freight yard and returning to the official hall, Du Zhongxiao asked Li Gui: "Zhixian, is the Qian Prison far away from here?" ”

"Not far away, in the valley that turns the hill. However, due to too much theft, it is unprofitable to mint money, and the money prison has been closed. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, thought for a while, and said: "This place is in the mountains, the population is sparse, and it is still necessary to find a way to deal with the accumulated iron. ”

Li Gui shook his head again and again: "Don't hide the judgment, use iron to cast money, I have thought of all the ways I can think of." Why is it that money is cheap and expensive now, and if it is cast, it will be lost, so I have to stop. I have inquired, and most of the iron coins used in various places are stolen locally. Don't talk about official money, it is the shoddy money stolen by the people, and it will lose money when it is transported to other states. Alas, there are many inconveniences in using iron money. ”

Du Zhongxiao knew that there must be many unavoidable reasons for Datong Prison to fall into today's predicament. If it is easy to solve, it will never change a few magistrates, and you still have to wait for yourself to solve it.

After thinking about it, Du Zhongxiao asked Li Gui: "Zhixian, I don't know what the price of tin is nearby?" ”

Li Gui said: "Hedong Road does not produce tin, and the price is not cheap. Why, do you want to mint copper coins when you sign the judgment? Copper is also produced locally, but the veins are difficult to find, and smelting is extremely difficult, and it is not easy. ”

Du Zhongxiao was overjoyed when he heard it: "Is it locally produced copper?" I didn't expect it. ”

After asking, I found out that there is indeed a copper mine in Jiaocheng Mountain, and it has been mined since a long time ago. By now, the easy-to-mine seedlings have long been mined, and basically no one has mined and smelted them.

After listening to Li Gui's introduction, Du Zhongxiao had no choice but to dispel the idea of copper mining. After thinking about it again, he said: "Datong Prison is surrounded by mountains, and there are very few households except for the smelters in the mountains. Hundreds of thousands of catties of iron, it is really not easy to handle. My initial plan is to spend a month or two to requisition the smelters under my control and first smelt the accumulated pig iron into mature iron. After smelting mature iron, there are many ways to think of it. If you can buy an appropriate amount of tin and lead, you can re-mint money. Datong is in the deep mountains, and if he doesn't mint money, it will be difficult for him to have the financial resources to deal with the iron class. ”

Li Gui said: "Of course, it is good to be able to mint money, but the price of iron money is cheap, and one accidentally loses the capital." The four roads of the Sichuan Gorge use iron money, and they have the task of handing over the children there, so there is no need for long-distance transportation. Shaanxi Road is the same, there is tea lead, and Jiaozi is also used, otherwise how can it be done? If Hedong Road also has a handover of children, the iron money can barely be cast. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled and shook his head: "Don't worry, I have other ways." Iron money is difficult to do, one is heavy and cheap, and the other is that there are too many private thefts. If I have a way to make iron money more expensive and make it difficult for the people to steal and mint, it is also feasible. ”

Li Gui shook his head and didn't speak, obviously not believing. However, his main responsibility is to Jiaocheng County, and he doesn't care about the affairs of Datong Prison, and he doesn't bother to distinguish with Du Zhongxiao.