From Zhao Dechuan's mouth, Zhu Youzhen learned. From the melting and casting of silver and copper raw materials, the ratio of fineness, rolling into the specified thickness of the silver plate, and then punching and cutting the blank cake, baking and annealing, cleaning, pressing, inspection and other processes, in order to complete a finished product. A group of people is expected to be able to make 800 silver dollars a day.

“… However, none of the Jesuit priests personally presided over the minting of coins, but they had only heard or seen a few of the processes. Therefore, the ministers did not know whether this speed was equal to the speed of the European coinage machines. ”

Zhu Youzhen played with the one-yuan silver coin in his hand, noncommittal to Zhao Dechuan's modesty, he thought for a while but said: "After the machine minted silver coin test was successful, then try to make copper coins, as ten, twenty, and fifty-three. ”

Zhao Dechuan hurriedly agreed: "The ministers will definitely make the copper coins required by His Majesty as soon as possible, there is already this machine, and the production of copper coins only needs to be blended." ”

When Zhu Youzhen just wanted to nod his head in approval, he suddenly thought of something, and continued to ask: "What do you use to clean the blank cake?" ”

Zhao Dechuan replied: "It is a liquid sent by the Academy of Sciences, which is said to be diluted sulfuric acid, which is corrosive, and it is also used carefully by craftsmen so that it cannot be splashed on their bodies." It is said to be a liquid obtained by dry distillation of bile alum and introduced into water. ”

Zhu Youzhen immediately understood that this is dilute sulfuric acid made in the laboratory, and the triacid and two alkalis are the basis of modern heavy industry, but it seems that in this era, large-scale production cannot be carried out, and only small batches can be made.

He shook his head, throwing away the thought of industrial production of sulfuric acid in his mind, and in an era when even qualified steel could not be smelted, it seemed too luxurious to talk about how to industrially produce sulfuric acid.

Zhu Youzhen looked at the machine in front of him again, and asked again after a while: "I look at the connection between some parts of this machine, it seems that bolts are used, are the threads on it made by hand?" ”

Zhao Dechuan bowed and said with a smile on his face: "Your Majesty's magic eye is perfect, these bolts are indeed handmade." However, the craftsmen of the institute are already working on a machine for cutting threads according to the materials translated by the Academy of Sciences.

Soon, the bolts on the remade coinage machines will become uniform specifications, and His Majesty's request for uniform specifications of parts and interchangeable parts will be fulfilled. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded, praised him a few words, and planned to go back first. He came this time mainly to see the coinage machine.

After continuous follow-up investigations, Zhu Youzhen found that his expectations for paper money to replace silver circulation were still too optimistic.

Although paper money is very useful in the capital, those merchants in the capital have always used it as a kind of cashable bill, not as a currency.

Under this concept, the one-dollar note still represents only seven cents and two cents of kuping silver, rather than a monetary unit.

When most merchants used paper money to buy goods such as glass lampshades, they first converted them into the weight units of Kuping silver, and then traded goods with the Four Seas Merchant House.

It can be said that the issuance of banknotes not only did not hit the monetary status of silver, but strengthened the strong position of silver in the market.

It is the copper coins that are hit by paper money. In the first year, 1 tael of silver could be exchanged for 600 yellow-backed copper coins, but as the people of the capital accepted the trade methods of the Four Seas Commercial Bank, the copper coins, which were originally in the status of auxiliary coins, were suddenly affected by the impact of paper money.

In the capital, the exchange price of copper coins for silver quickly fell to 800 to 1, and began to move closer to 1,000 to 1 in the south. People with flexible brains have begun to exchange copper coins in the capital and silver in nearby counties to earn the difference.

The current situation is obviously not in line with Chongzhen's idea of promoting paper money and slowly replacing the status of silver currency.

Of course, the best way is to expand the Sihai Commercial Bank to the entire Ming Dynasty, control all the civilian resources such as grain, cotton, oil and so on, and then forcibly bind paper money, which can naturally replace the status of silver currency.

New China used to do this back then, but Chongzhen could only think about it. Without a strong organization behind it, without strong management of the grassroots villages, collecting and controlling most of the country's people's biological resources, and forcibly implementing paper money is Chang Kaishen's second.

In this era when the monetization of silver has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, Zhu Youzhen can only choose to temporarily back down and first change the silver weighing currency into a silver counting currency. As a result, there was an urgent need to produce silver coins with elaborate designs that merchants could not imitate.

As long as this kind of silver coin can be accepted by the people, then the fire consumption caused by the shearing weight during currency exchange or the process of melting and casting silver ingots of a specified weight can be avoided as much as possible.

Even in the capital, under the strict surveillance of Jinyiwei, the merchants of the Four Seas Trading House who stole the silver when they smelted silver ingots have been arrested dozens of people by now. It is hard for Zhu Youzhen to imagine that outside the capital, expatriates who have opened exchange points in various places can become models of honesty and honesty.

And the exchange between paper money and fixed-value silver coins can eliminate as much as possible the opportunity for those who handle them to embezzle silver. Of course, this can also be said to be forced by the situation.

Seeing that the emperor wanted to leave, Zhao Dechuan hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the Wensi Academy also has some new things in the research of transmission parts, do you want to review one or two?" ”

Zhu Youzhen suddenly stopped, turned his head to look at him and asked curiously, "Oh, what is the new thing?" ”

Zhao Dechuan hurriedly replied: "It is the improvement of the gear transmission used in textile machinery, and several craftsmen have come up with a new gear transmission method with reference to the gears on the continuous grinding..."

When Zhu Youzhen saw the strange-looking gears on the spinning machine in front of him, he was taken aback, isn't this the prototype of planetary gears.

Standing beside the emperor, Zhao Dechuan didn't notice his expression, and introduced himself: "... This gear part is much more stable than the previous method, and the spun yarn is more uniform and tough. ”

Zhu Youzhen had already reacted at this time, he softened his expression and said: "Very good idea, let the craftsmen get a set of physical objects and send them to the Academy of Sciences, and then let the Academy of Sciences study it.

It's called planetary gear, the working principle of this planetary gear, and what kind of machine can it be used in. In addition, let the Academy of Sciences mathematically study how gears should be designed to get the best effect..."

Immediately, Zhu Youzhen asked Zhao Dechuan again: "Who invented this planetary gear?" ”

"It's the craftsman Fang Yimian and Brother Huang Tong."

Chongzhen said without hesitation: "Call them here and let me meet them." ”

Zhao Dechuan was used to it, and the emperor liked to summon the eccentricity of craftsmen. He turned back to his subordinate and commanded a few times, and one of the subordinate ran out in a hurry to find someone.

Zhu Youzhen touched the unpainted iron shelf above the spinning machine, and asked casually: "How is the cotton spinning factory located near the Liuli Factory in the outer city operating now?" ”

Zhao Dechuan has a good understanding of the operation of various machines in the cotton spinning mill, but he is confused about the production capacity of the cotton mill.

Zhu Youzhen suddenly woke up, Zhao Dechuan is not Zhang Xingsheng, he mainly manages the work of the Wensi Institute, and he is not clear about the various new factories that are not under the jurisdiction of the Wensi Institute.

After figuring this out, Zhu Youzhen stopped asking. After the two craftsmen, Fang Yimian and Huang Tongge, arrived, Zhu Youzhen commended the two of them a few words, and asked with concern: "Can you two read and write?" ”

Fang Yimian, who seemed to have a more flexible brain, immediately replied: "The villain and Brother Huang Tong have both participated in the literacy class in the hospital, and the villain has known more than 600 words, and Brother Tong has more than 800 words. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at it with some surprise, and Brother Huang Tong, who looked a little shy on the side, casually asked a few math and geometry questions, and tried to test the two of them.

Fang Yimian, who seemed to be smart, only got two questions wrong, but Brother Huang Tong answered all of them correctly. Zhu Youzhen looked at the two of them and smiled and said: "The two of you are not bad, but knowing 800 words can only be called getting rid of primary illiteracy, and only knowing 3,000 common words can be called out of illiteracy."

Knowledge is the fairest thing, and it will not give me more just because I am the emperor, nor will it give you less because you are a craftsman.

Knowledge is knowledge, and there is no distinction between high and low. I can give you money and office, but I cannot give you knowledge.

In the same way, I can take away everything from you, but I can never take away the knowledge from your heads. It can be seen that knowledge is the most valuable treasure of every person, and it is also a wealth that cannot be taken away.

Therefore, I hope that the two of you will learn more knowledge and continue to study in depth, and maybe one of the two of you will become the most valuable treasure of my Ming Dynasty. ”

When Zhu Youzhen said this, he left to stand on the other side of the hall, looking at the craftsmen here with envy, he raised his head and said to the craftsmen over there: "Not only the two of them, you also have a chance, as long as you work hard to learn, there will always be something to gain." This is not learning for me, for the court, but for your own, for changing your destiny. ”

After shouting at the craftsmen, Zhu Youzhen asked Zhao Dechuan, "What level are the two of them in the courtyard now?" ”

Zhao Dechuan was thinking about what the emperor said, and it took him a long time to react, and he hurriedly replied: "There are five levels of master craftsman, craftsman, craftsman, craftsman, and apprentice in the Wensi Academy, and both of them are assessed craftsmen. ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said: "The planetary gear they invented is very beneficial to the development of the machine and can be applied to many places. For example, the machine tool being developed by the arsenal can be used.

Therefore, elevate them to the rank of master. In addition, there are other incentives formulated in the hospital, and I will let Zhang Xingsheng approve it. ”

Zhao Dechuan hurriedly asked the two craftsmen to thank the emperor, and Zhu Youzhen looked at the two and added: "If the two of you can know 3,000 commonly used words, then I will give special permission to let the two of you enter Yenching University to study part-time..."