The Spanish phalanx was more flexible in the use of musketeers, and in the past few decades, they basically won all foreign wars except for the Ming Dynasty, and if they win, they have the opportunity to clean up the battlefield, which means that muskets are not consumables, musketeers are.

Armor was rare for ordinary musketeers, but musketeers with heavy muskets often wore cuirasses, and even then they required a high degree of flexibility, as they were suitable for changing formations on the march, spreading quickly in battles, advancing and retreating during shooting, and sometimes changing quickly from small to large phalanxes.

The Ming had much less of a mission, and when the enemy had cavalry activity, they would hold on under the protection of the trenches, and if the Burmese infantry were to slowly approach the enemy, they would be able to protect themselves from stray bullets at a distance of 70 paces, and even within 30 to 70 paces, they would have a high chance of saving their lives.

There is a premise for the proper implementation of such a tactic, which was ignored by General Fu, who was eager to sell heavy armor musket companies—the Ming army often had an advantage in the quantity and quality of field artillery in positional warfare.

The Birdgun team will not be smashed by a few enemy guns, so it is possible to run the tactics perfectly.

Of course, for Duke Alva, this 'Ming Machinery Company' is not in vain, anyway, it was given by Chen Mubai, and as for whether it is easy to use or not, no one will think that it is not easy to use.

When Alva returned, he asked the troops to take off their armor...... It's not for other reasons, it's just that it's too hot, the cloth iron armor similar to the plate armor is not breathable, the outside is still covered with a cuirass, and the ribs are still tied with leather strips, just thinking about it makes you sweat, Alva doesn't want his men to suffer from heat stroke.

Just as Duke Alva was testing the protective ability of this armor in the fortress, he received a letter from Chen Mu, which mentioned two things, both related to money.

Brother Acosta took the letter and read it to the old duke, and said, "After inspecting the border trade last year, the Ming army found that we exchanged a lot of Wanli Tongbao, but not all of them were used for trading, and when they finally checked the accounts, they came to the conclusion that one million and four hundred thousand Tongbao were missing, and he thought that our merchants had taken them. ”

"In addition to that, they received counterfeit money, like this one."

Acosta took out a crooked silver dollar with Philip's emblem from his wide monk's robe, and said, "After comparison, they said that they had received more than 500 silver coins of white copper and silver and thought that we were deceiving him with counterfeit coins. ”

Duke Alva, who was carrying a heavy musket and was going to experiment on the armor, was stunned for a long time when he heard the monk's words, took the coin and looked at it again and again, and paused before asking, "Copper, what is it?" ”

Acosta also shook his head: "I only know these two words, white white and copper mine, all together...... Not sure what it is. ”

"This is silver, or even a silver coin in very good condition, does Chen Mu think that he can blackmail my money by making up an excuse casually?"

Alvazai took a closer look at the coin, and he was very sure that it was a silver coin, no different from other silver coins in terms of weight, color, and material, and if there was any difference, it was only that the silver coin was a little too deliberate in the edges and corners, and did not look like something shoddy by the Spanish Mint.

When Duke Alva's angry reply crossed the border and was delivered to Chen Mu, the Oriental Military Government was also surprised: "They don't know what white copper is? Still talking nonsense with his eyes open, he actually said that this is silver! ”

Chen Mu knew very well that these coins that looked like silver coins were not silver, they were copper-nickel alloys, although they looked very similar to silver, but as long as they were lightly scratched with a needle, they knew that they were not silver, silver was very soft and could leave scratches, but white copper was not.

White copper is a special product of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, which was first recorded in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Chen Mu intercepted the export of this kind of goods when he was in Xiangshan Qianhu.

Could it be a problem on your side?

Once he had this idea in his head, he couldn't stop guessing, and finally had to order the village lieutenants and lieutenants in various places to strictly investigate the illegal minting of coins.

This kind of thing cannot help but be investigated, and it is only 10 days before a village lieutenant reports that there were signs of private minting of silver coins in neighboring villages, and they also sold the silver coins to Westerner merchants on the other side of the border for profit.

It made Chen Mu feel gloomy.

I thought it was the Spaniards who had a thief, but I didn't expect that it was the people on my side who made the counterfeit money, and it was someone else's counterfeit money.

Chen Mu was so angry that he scratched his head in the yamen of the military government, and asked as he walked: "Since he is planning to make counterfeit coins, why don't he make Tongbao and make fake Spaniards?" ”

Speaking of which, it is technically much easier to make a private Tongbao than to make silver coins from white copper, not to mention that the furnace temperature required for copper smelting is higher than that for iron smelting, the key is where do you find nickel in the New World?

The one who came to report was Xu Jin, a small hundred households on the border line, and the incident happened in his subordinate village, so he naturally looked frustrated when he came to confess his guilt, and reported in a low voice: "The handsome man has an order, and they don't dare to disobey the ......order."

"Then I have to thank them for being obedient, right?" Chen Mu was so angry that his head hurt, rubbed his head and asked, "Where did they get the white copper?" ”

"Back to Dashuai, they brought some white copper fake silver when they went to sea from China, I thought they could get through the customs here, but they didn't expect that Asia didn't use silver taels, and they didn't dare to exchange for Tongbao at the customs, so they had to follow to the border, and later they found that Xiyi used silver coins...... Dashuai, Lin Qianhu asked the humble post to ask, how to deal with it? ”

Co-authoring is a hit and it off.

How to dispose of it?

Chen Mu also wanted to know what to do.

There are no regulations on how to deal with counterfeit money from other countries in the laws of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Mu stretched out his arm and stood between him and Xu Jin: "Don't talk to me first, I have a headache!" ”

But after sitting for a long time, Chen Mu said slowly: "First of all, the stolen money will be confiscated and confiscated, and there will be no punishment such as cane punishment, the mint in Changsheng County is under construction, and they will be used as mints for all of them, and they will not be allowed to leave for eight years." ”

"They can do counterfeit money at the top of the way, so Alva can't see it, and it's no problem to make real money."

Chen Mu's departure made Xu Jin breathe a sigh of relief fiercely, who knew that before he had time to wipe the sweat on his forehead, he saw Chen Mu turn his head and stare at him viciously and said, "How did you behave as a hundred households?" And those village captains, you don't know that the common people minted coins? ”

Saying that, Chen Mu pointed to the soldiers in the room, and ordered: "Go and tell Lin Hu'er, punish him for one year, let him check for me, check from top to bottom, those who accept bribes will be killed on the spot, those who know the situation but do not report it will be removed immediately, and those who do not know the situation will be fined for half a year." ”

Chen Mu rubbed his head, and the more he thought about it, the more irritated he became...... What was he supposed to tell Alva? Could it be that he was mistaken, this thing is a silver coin?

He didn't want to admit that the counterfeit money had come from him, nor did he want to help the Europeans know what copper was.

"Alas!"

Chen Mu felt that the problem was very tricky.