It was almost noon when I came out of the coinage prison. Guo Jian played with a few iron coins in his hand and thought it was very magical. Since the beginning of the Song Dynasty, mysticism has slowly begun to be excluded from mainstream thought, but its influence over the millennia has been deeply rooted, and when it comes to secret medicine, it can arouse people's interest at once.

After entering the Yamen of the Third Division, Xu Ping asked Guo Jian: "Before coming to me, did you go to visit the provincial lord?" ”

"That's not true, because I was under the deputy envoy's subordinate, and I have known each other for many years, so I came directly to the Salt and Iron Division."

Xu Ping heard that Guo Jian came directly to his place, so he stopped and said: "This is not appropriate, otherwise, I will take you to see the provincial lord, he is not a difficult person to get along with." ”

As a rule, when an official takes up his new post, he naturally has to meet with the director of the department first, and then in turn. However, Guo Jian and Xu Ping have known each other for many years, and it is understandable to skip Kou Ying, and it does not seem too abrupt.

So the two of them didn't go back to the Salt and Iron Division first, but turned to Kou Ying's chief's hall.

Xu Ping's subordinates are in charge of the military case, and the officers and soldiers in the three divisions are under his control, and he is in charge of setting up the case, and the welfare distribution of officials and officials in the three divisions is under his control. Along the way, whether it was the soldiers guarding the door or the officials who came and went on the road, they all stood respectfully on the side of the road when they saw Xu Ping coming over, saluting and greeting.

As a matter of fact, in all prefectures and counties across the country, the officials on the staff, including some of the van soldiers engaged in economic services, are under the jurisdiction of military cases. In addition to the Privy Council and the Three Yamen, the Three Divisions were the most armies under the rule of the Great Song Dynasty, which also shows the special status of the Three Divisions.

When they arrived outside Kou Ying's prefect's hall, the generals guarding the door shouted loudly.

Inside, Kou Ying said loudly: "Deputy Envoy Xu came just in time, I was about to call you, come in quickly!" ”

Xu Ping took Guo Jian into the governor's hall, and saw that in addition to Kou Xuan, there was also a middle-aged man in good spirits sitting at the bottom.

Kou Yang pointed to the middle-aged man and said to Xu Ping: "This is Li Hong, the deputy envoy of the Duzhi branch, who has just returned from the Khitan envoy. The two of you are both deputy envoys of the Third Division, but you have never met, and you just happened to get acquainted today. ”

Li Hong is older, although the official is under Xu Ping, Xu Ping still came up to greet him first.

Li Hong hurriedly stood up from his seat, supported Xu Ping and said: "Yunxing Young Hero, the battle of Yongzhou is famous all over the world, and I have heard a lot about it in Khitan. Even the Khitan monarchs and ministers praised each other and were deeply afraid. How can I deserve your gift? ”

Kou Ying said: "As an official in the yamen, you don't need to be polite, and you will have a long time working together in the future." ”

Li Hong is the nephew of Li Changling, the governor of Taizong Zhenzong's Dynasty, his father served as a prisoner on Guangnan East Road, and his cousins were married to Fan Zhongyan and Zheng Jian respectively, and they were born in a family of officials and ministers. I have also held important positions, and I have been a judge of the three divisions of the DPRK, a judge of salt and iron, and a long time as the imperial historian.

Generally speaking, officials with this kind of experience are capable, and those who are slightly less capable are basically in the central government and the central government, and the local government is only appointed as the governor, and there is little contact with specific affairs.

After meeting Li Hong, Xu Ping introduced Guo Zheng. Guo Yan was born in a poor family, his career was not smooth, and he didn't know a few people in the officialdom, Kou Ying and Li Hong were already very remarkable when they heard his name, and they had no impression at all. Kou Yang agreed to promote him to be the judge of salt and iron, completely for the sake of Xu Ping's face, and he didn't know anything about Guo Jian's ability and how to behave.

Xu Ping saw that the two of them had a cold attitude, and sighed secretly in his heart. Officialdom is so realistic, if you don't have a good background, you have to climb a father-in-law who is a big family early, and if you don't have it, you have to make friends, an official like Guo Jian is a technical nerd, not to mention this era, it will not be popular in any era, and you can only try your luck in the officialdom.

Taking the iron money in Guo Zheng's hand, Xu Ping took it to Kou Ying and said, "Judge Guo's arrival has caused me a matter of concern. A few days ago, I have been trying to cast practical iron coins, and I also have a few sample coins, which will be handed over to Judge Guo in the future, and I will be able to improve the casting method. ”

Kou Yang took the iron coin, shook it in his hand, and asked with a puzzled face, "Is this the iron coin?" ”

Seeing Xu Ping's signal, Guo Jian hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Provincial Lord, this is indeed iron money. Outside, Deputy Xu used a secret medicine, and the money turned black, which looked conspicuous, rust-proof, and durable. ”

Kou Ying asked Xu Ping, "What secret medicine?" ”

Xu Ping said: "This is not clear in a word, roughly speaking, it means that after the money is made, it is boiled several times in the bath of the secret medicine, and then it becomes like this." This black is made of money, and it can't be worn off when you are idle. ”

Kou Ying handed over two coins in Li Fu's hands, and the two of them rubbed each other with the iron coins in their hands, because they only imitated the appearance of coins colliding, and did not use force. After grinding it a few times, I picked it up and looked at it, and sure enough, it didn't change.

Li Hong asked: "Deputy Envoy Xu, how can this money be rust and corrosion prevented?" ”

Guo Zheng replied: "The black layer outside is not afraid of rust, and these sample coins, which I specially took and soaked in water and buried in wet soil for two or three months, still have not changed color." ”

Li Hong nodded, played with the iron money in his hand for a while, glanced at Kou Xuan, and asked Xu Ping: "Deputy Envoy Xu, is there anyone other than you who knows about the secret medicine used in this money?" ”

Xu Ping shook his head: "No, this secret medicine is not easy to make, and there should be no second person in the world who knows about it." ”

Kou Ying slapped the table: "That's good, the more difficult the secret medicine is, the better!" With this secret method, this kind of iron money cannot be cast by the people, it is enough to pass the world, and the court is very profitable! ”

Xu Ping was stunned, why was it not right when he heard this? Asked Kou Xuan: "Does the provincial lord mean to use this kind of iron money as copper money?" Iron money is iron money after all—"

"So what?" Kou Xuan waved his hand, "As long as the people can't steal the casting, what are you afraid of!" The court said that it could be used as copper coins, which one dared to say that it was not needed? Not to mention that it is used as copper coins, it is common to use one as ten! ”

This answer greatly surprised Xu Ping, and he hurriedly said: "In this way, what is the difference between Xu Shen and Xu Shen using iron and copper to cast money?" Taking cheapness as expensive is not a long-term way after all! ”

"The difference? The difference with Xu Shen is very simple, he can't cast it, Vice Xu makes you cast it, this is the difference! ”

After Kou Xuan finished speaking, seeing Xu Ping's stunned look, he lowered his voice and said, "Why is Xu Shen's method of casting money valued by the imperial court?" To put it bluntly, it is nothing more than the lack of copper coinage in the imperial court, and with such a secret method, it can replace the copper used to cast money, which is what the imperial court urgently needs. Why, isn't Vice Xu asking you to study this method just to mint money? ”

"It's good to cast money, but what I want is only to cast iron money, five coins as a copper coin, to facilitate private trade. Small farmers in the countryside, in order to make a living, may take a few eggs, pick a basket of fruit from the tree, and sell them at the market in exchange for some firewood, rice, oil and salt. There are many inconveniences in using copper money, but with iron money, this business can be done. ”

After listening to Xu Ping's words, Li Hong smiled: "Deputy Envoy Xu is a real person, and he doesn't know how to cheat in his life." But if you think about it, if you can use one as ten copper coins, how can you convince the ministers in the court to use five coins as one copper coin! ”

When Xu Ping heard this, he was stunned, and his mind spun quickly, thinking about the words. From the use value of money to the function of the exchange scale, to the expulsion of good money by bad money, I think a lot in my head, mix it together, but I can't spit it out. (To be continued.) )