When Han Qi heard that there was a second book, he said curiously: "Why, don't you carve the book here at one time, and do you have to publish it one by one?" There are a lot of books in the series, but I haven't heard of such a new collection. ”

Xu Ping said: "What's this, I plan to publish a book in half a month, when will I explain the matter of the money law clearly, and when will I stop." After reading the book in front of you, you can write down any ideas in the next one. ”

"This is also new, Yun Xing can always come up with these strange methods." Han Qi shook his head and smiled, "But in this way, I don't know if the engraving will be in time, but I'm afraid that the cost will be expensive." ”

"Why are you worried about this! I have movable type, and I don't waste much effort on typesetting. And the typesetters were originally hired to type other books, just to find time to type out our books. ”

Han Qi slapped the table: "I forgot that you proposed the movable type first, how could you not use it yourself?" However, the quality of the books printed with movable type here in Jingshi is not good, and it is far inferior to that of the engraving. I have also read the book you printed with movable type in Yongzhou, and the quality is much better than that of Jingshi, so I think there must be a trick. ”

"It's nothing more than paper and ink, and the craftsmen here in Beijing are used to printing and engraving books, and they are not good at movable type."

Xu Ping used ink in Yongzhou, and the paper was also refined, how could it be compared to the bookstore in the capital? Of course, the quality of movable type printing with engraving is poor, which is why only some official documents are used. But now that Xu Ping has returned to Beijing, the new Sansi Engraving Bookstore will definitely lead a new trend.

After talking to Han Qi about some of the content involved in the article, Xu Ping was suddenly surprised: "By the way, today the provincial lord and several deputy envoys made an appointment to go and see the new iron coins, the time is almost up, I have to prepare." By the way, if Zhigui is fine, he will also take a look with him, see if there is anything wrong, and give advice. ”

Anyway, it has already come out, so Han Qi will let it go. Since you want to write the history of the development of Xishu iron money, how can you not look at how to cast the new iron money, and said to Xu Ping: "Okay, then let's go together." ”

The two of them left the editing office, and after walking a short distance, they arrived at the coinage prison. These were originally under the three divisions, and did not go beyond the scope of the three divisions.

Guo Jian was already busy in the coinage prison, directing the craftsmen inside and out, moving charcoal and opening the furnace, and sweating in winter.

Xu Ping introduced Han Qi and Guo Jian to each other, and stood aside to watch Guo Zheng busy.

Guo Yan wiped his sweat and said to Xu Ping: "Deputy envoy, the furnace is about to open here, is it necessary to start preparing the secret medicine inside?" lest it be too late for the money to be minted. ”

"It's okay, it's not too late to prepare when the provincial lord comes, so that they can watch it with peace of mind. You just have to direct the minting of money, remember to watch carefully, don't mint too much waste money. ”

Guo consulted and went to see the craftsman.

At this time, the sun slid through the middle of the sky, softened a lot, and the sun was still warm on the body. Guo Zhi stood intently beside the craftsman, looking at the red fire, and the iron in the furnace slowly turned into red molten iron.

Xu Ping also thought about changing the method of making money from casting to forging, but that was related to materials and equipment, and it was not something that could be done in a hurry. And now he wants to make some achievements as soon as possible to increase the confidence of those who are optimistic about him.

There was a commotion at the entrance, and the third envoy Kou Yang finally arrived with Wang Weizheng, the deputy envoy of the household department, and Li Hong, the deputy envoy of the Duzhi.

Xu Ping and the three of them hurriedly stepped forward to meet the salute, and led the three people to the coin casting site.

Standing by the fireside and watching for a while, Kou Ying asked, "Deputy Envoy Xu, have you prepared the secret medicine you said?" ”

Xu Ping hurriedly said: "I'm waiting for the provincial lord to come over before I can debug, you guys come with me." ”

After speaking, he walked to the three houses next to him.

These people didn't come to see the coinage, so they had seen it many times, so it was not unusual. They came to see what Xu Ping's so-called secret medicine was, and what magical power it had, which could make iron money black and not afraid of rust.

Entering the house, Kou Ying saw some iron coins still thrown on the ground at a glance, picked one up, took it in front of him and looked at it carefully, and asked Xu Ping: "When was the iron money on the ground minted?" ”

"It's been two months, and because I didn't know the bottom of my heart at the time, I threw it in this house to see if it would rust."

Kou Yang nodded, and handed the iron money in his hand to Wang Weizheng and Li Hong to watch.

Han Qi, who was following behind, was curious, picked up a cane of iron money, and couldn't see what the material was, so he checked it in his hand, and it was heavy. He took out a copper coin from his bosom and put one in each hand to compare it, only to confirm that the black coin was iron, and it felt lighter than the copper coin.

Xu Ping stepped forward quickly and ordered a servant who followed up to take down the three large jars on the shelf.

The mouth of the jar opened, and a group of people came over to take a look, only to see the white flowers in the jar, and some of them were slightly clumped.

Li Hong said: "Deputy Envoy Xu, this jar looks similar to salt, but it is much whiter. ”

Xu Ping nodded: "Deputy Envoy Li is right, this secret medicine looks like salt, so you have to store it carefully, for fear that someone will accidentally take it home and use it as salt." ”

"It looks like it, but I don't know if it's salty or not—" Li Hong said, and stretched out his hand to the jar.

Xu Ping was startled and hurriedly stopped: "Deputy Envoy Li be careful, this secret medicine is poisonous, don't touch it!" ”

When Li Hong heard that it was poisonous, he was so frightened that he retracted his hand suddenly, and asked with palpitations: "Poisonous, why didn't Deputy Envoy Xu say it earlier?" Is it poisonous or not? ”

"It's not strong, as long as you don't touch it, it's fine."

Xu Ping said, motioned to the official to take the scales out, took out several powders in the jar with a spoon, weighed them one by one with the scales, and divided them into three small piles.

These officials have all done this with Xu Ping, and they are already familiar with the steps. And when the powder was divided, the servants brought in the charcoals, and laid them under the sink in the middle of the house.

"Why is there still a fire under the trough?" Wang Weizheng looked at it and asked.

"Yes, this secret medicine should be dissolved in water, and hot water is the best, so you should burn a fire."

Xu Ping said as he instructed the officials to pour water into the trough. The amount of water and the amount of medicine used Xu Ping had already calculated last time and made a scale in the sink, but this time he just did it step by step.

In a moment the trough was filled with water, and the servants started a fire underneath. The other two took the weighed order, sprinkled it evenly in the sink, and stirred it back and forth with a wooden stick.

Li Hong asked, "Why doesn't this medicine have to wait for the water to boil?" ”

This is not boiling meat, what kind of water is boiling before it comes down? Xu Ping replied with a smile: "It's okay, it's the same when the water is cold and the water is hot." ”

"Here, new money is coming!" At this moment, Guo Qian came in with a craftsman carrying a string of new money. (To be continued.) )