Zhu Youzhen then asked again: "How is the reorganization of the imperial store?" ”

Zhang Xingsheng immediately said: "According to His Majesty's requirements, the Four Seas Commercial Bank has set up a store in each square of the capital, and all kinds of materials have been prepared. Now wait for Your Majesty to set an auspicious day so that we can wait for the opening. ”

Zhu Youzhen asked uneasily: "Can the buildings of these stores be sturdy?" Can the décor be uniform? ”

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the minister personally inspected these 24 stores, and there are no problems." Zhang replied confidently.

"That's good, is this the opening date? Lu Qi, you go and call Zhang Yixian, I want to ask him, does he have any eyebrows for the new money he supervised the printing of the treasure banknote lifting division? ”

In front of Zhu Youzhen, there were six brand-new banknotes, including one yuan, five jiao, two jiao, one jiao, five cents, two cents, and one cent, and the color of the banknotes was divided into three types: yellow-brown, blue-green, and loess ochre.

The banknotes are printed with newly developed inks, so they look quite delicate. Due to the tight schedule, the pattern on the banknote was chosen as a simple floral pattern. From the one-yuan pine-leaf chrysanthemum to the one-cent **, it seems to come alive in the candlelight, and people can't bear to look away.

Zhu Youzhen reached out and took a piece of banknote, and carefully rubbed it with his hand, the thickness of the paper was very heavy, and it felt quite scratchy to the touch.

"Can the formula of the paper manufacturing and printing ink be guaranteed that it will not be easily imitated?" Zhu Youzhen raised the issue of greatest concern.

"The banknotes are made from the bark of a tree species endemic to the North Naoli, as well as some cotton and other miscellaneous species. The minister has already ordered the selection of barren mountains near the outskirts of Beijing, and is ready for large-scale planting in the spring.

As for the color of the ink, Chen had carefully inquired about Xu Cheng's father and son. Although the color of this ink is not difficult to match, if you want to match the ink without distortion, I am afraid that it will take countless experiments.

Therefore, it was impossible to forge these banknotes for at least two or three years. Zhang Yixian replied carefully.

"Have you decided on the number of prints for the first batch?"

"According to the calculation of the materials stored by the Four Seas Commercial Bank, the minister thought that it was appropriate to print the first batch of banknotes of 5 million yuan. But Your Majesty, why should this yuan be set as nine or three percent of the Taikuang silver seven coins and two cents? The minister thought that it was more convenient to calculate directly as one tael, and the conversion between banknotes and copper coins. Zhang Yixian persuaded from a practical point of view.

"If the monthly salary of a sergeant is one yuan, the monthly salary of a small flag is three yuan, the monthly salary of the general flag is six yuan, the monthly salary of 100 households is 10 yuan, the monthly salary of 1,000 households is 20 yuan, and the monthly salary of the commander is 30 yuan, and the military salary is reformulated, then the first guard in the Beijing camp will be issued 7,730 yuan per month.

I thought it would be more appropriate to reduce the Beijing camp to 10 guards, and it would be 77,300 yuan per month. The number of Jinyi Wei and Shang 12 Wei was reduced to half of the number in Beijing, at 50,000 yuan per month.

Then the monthly salary of the Beijing camp and the pro-army is about 127,000 yuan, which is 1.65 million yuan per year. This is still a lot of savings compared to 3 million stone years of grain, 220,000 years of silver, and 170,000 taels of horse material silver every year.

If one dollar is equal to one tael of silver, wouldn't it cost an extra three percent of silver? Zhu Youzhen said with a calculation.

Zhang Yixian nodded, but immediately shook his head and said, "But Your Majesty, isn't it true that Jingying and Jinyiwei will cut half of the people?" Originally, there were not many soldiers in Beijing, but now there are half of them, Your Majesty, the defense of the capital is worrying? ”

"If there are more people, you can fight? There are 250,000 people in Beijing, but now there are only 11 or 20,000 people. I might as well count on them, and I might as well count on the new army. Zhu Youzhen said with disdain.

Zhang Yixian didn't dare to say anything silently, now there are eunuchs and eunuchs in the three major battalions of the Beijing camp, of course he knows that there are a lot of cats in it.

The Rong government was responsible for the drills and weapons and equipment of the soldiers in the Beijing camp, and the commanders of the governor's office and the guard post of the five armies were responsible for the distribution of food and salaries for the soldiers in the Beijing camp, while the household department was only responsible for the number of non-commissioned officers and the amount of money and food.

That is to say, the officers of the three battalions can embezzle ordnance, horses, and horse feed and silver, while the officers of the governor's office and the guard post of the five armies are embezzling the soldiers' salaries.

After abolishing so many sergeant quotas at this time, Zhang Yixian immediately thought that those officers of the Beijing camp, the officers of the guards, and the ministers of the Beijing camp supervision army would definitely not give up.

Zhu Youzhen continued: "Can this first batch of banknotes be printed before New Year's Day?" ”

Zhang Yixian nodded and said: "There is nearly a month, which is enough to complete the printing task of this batch of banknotes." ”

Zhu Youzhen immediately said to Zhang Xingsheng: "Then set the opening of the Sihai Commercial Bank on New Year's Day, and take advantage of this time to improve the preparations." Also, are all the currency exchange points set up in the commercial bank? Do you have enough manpower? ”

Zhang Xingsheng nodded and said: "Originally, the manpower in the imperial store, plus the bookkeeping guys sent by those shareholding merchants, there is no problem with the manpower. ”

"Those beggars taken in by Dongchang, if they are about the same age, let them enter the Four Seas Commercial Bank as apprentices, but the time for half a day of study every day cannot be pulled down."

Regarding Chongzhen's request, Zhang Xingsheng said with some hesitation: "But Your Majesty, most of these are orphans, they have no identity, plus they have been begging for many years, this character..."

"If you don't have a good character, can you educate? It's all half-sized, and I don't think it's all going to break my mind. As long as half of the people can use it, I think it's worth it. Zhu Youzhen interrupted Zhang Xingsheng's words without hesitation.

Zhu Youzhen then said to Zhang Yixian: "There are a few more things, I have also ordered you, the first thing is that all the remaining treasure banknotes in the treasure banknote lifting department have been destroyed, and the engraving of the treasure banknote has also been destroyed, and the Ming treasure banknote will no longer be printed from today."

The second thing is to ask the craftsman who engraves the copper plate of the banknote and the official of the treasure banknote lifting department to start designing the pattern of the second version of the banknote, which is more complicated. And to engrave the completion date, I hope that in 3-5 years, it will be replaced with the second edition of the banknote.

The third thing is to send a few clever people to investigate the situation of the Changlu Salt Farm, and then find a few stove households from each salt farm to come to the capital, I want to hear what they have to say about the current salt farm. ”

After Zhang Yixian accepted Chongzhen's order, he left in a hurry. Zhang Xingsheng was asked by Chongzhen to understand the operation of the glaze factory and the black kiln factory set up in Mentougou in the palace, as well as the lives of the workers.

After sending away the two eunuchs, Zhu Youzhen walked out of the Qianqing Palace, and on the empty white marble platform, he seemed to be able to touch the sky as soon as he raised his head.

Zhu Youzhen looked up at the waning moon in the sky, the air in this era seemed to be particularly clear, and the stars in the sky felt exceptionally bright around the moon.

"In a few days, maybe the night won't be so quiet." Zhu Youzhen thought silently, he didn't know if the judgment he made would really not make him regret it.

When Zhu Youzhen looked up at the starry sky above his head, Wang Chengen finally came back. He quietly walked to Chongzhen's side, and then advised: "It's cold outside, it's not appropriate to stay for a long time, Your Majesty should go back to the palace." ”

Zhu Youzhen did not listen to Wang Chengen's advice, but asked thoughtfully: "This Jiliao Governor Wang Zhichen heard that he has a good relationship with Ningyuan's general soldier Mangui, right?" ”

Wang Chengen paused, and then replied, "The minister heard that this is the case. ”

Zhu Youzhen was silent for a while and then said: "I often hear the imperial brother say that Man Gui is loyal and brave, and Jiannu has already launched a war this year, so there will probably be no more action." You draw up an edict for me, asking him to bring 1,500 cavalry back to Beijing, and I want to meet him, and by the way, see what is the difference between the cavalry of this army and the cavalry of the 3,000 battalions. Tell him that it is best to arrive in the capital before New Year's Day. ”

Wang Chengen agreed, and Chongzhen turned around and returned to the palace. Wang Chengen hurried to the celebrant and went to draft the edict.

In the British Mansion, since the end of the Imperial Conference, the British Duke Zhang Weixian, who returned to the palace, locked himself in the study.

The prince Zhang Zhiji, the grandson Zhang Shize and several brothers were anxiously waiting outside the study, for fear that something would happen to the Dinghai Divine Needle of the British Mansion.

Zhang Shijie stood alone in the corner, leaning on the wooden pillar in the corridor, holding his hands on his chest and staring at the ground with his eyes.

Although he was a little worried about his grandfather, he was more confused at this time. Since his grandfather and father ordered him not to interfere in the investigation of the inside of the Beijing camp, Chongzhen left him in Jinyiwei and ignored him.

Zhang Shijie naturally knew that His Majesty was suspicious of him. Although Chongzhen has always maintained courtesy to the British government, Chongzhen's attitude has always made people feel left out.

In the days by Chongzhen's side, Zhang Shijie felt that there was not enough time every day, and this young son of heaven always had all kinds of whimsical ideas and never-ending instructions.

This kind of sense of accomplishment of relying on a little bit of effort by oneself to watch the whole thing be completed in your hands is by no means comparable to the lingering enjoyment of the singer.

However, his grandfather was unwilling to get involved in the party struggle in the court, nor did he want to offend the nobles and eunuchs who relied on the capital camp for food, so he simply instructed him not to assist Chongzhen's investigation, which made him lose the emperor's trust.

Zhang Shijie, who was busy every day, soon became idle again. I began to feel that time was too slow, and life in the Guogong Mansion was really depressing.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Zhang Weixian's personal servant walked into the study and lit a candle for him.

Zhang Weixian, who had been in a daze for an afternoon in front of the book case, was finally awakened by the candlelight. He lay down on his chair decadently, and commanded: "Let Zhiji and Broad & Bright come in, and let the others go back." ”

After hesitating, Zhang Weixian's mouth finally added Shijie's name. Although the British Mansion is large, Zhang Weixian's study is extremely small and warm.

As soon as the three of them entered the door, Zhang Weixian looked at Zhang Shijie and asked, "How is Your Majesty treating you now?" Is Your Majesty still investigating the situation in Jingying? ”