In the Chang'an Mint, several furnaces were filled with thick smoke, and countless copper materials were melted into copper water in the furnace. The craftsmen then added an appropriate amount of metal zinc to turn this furnace into copper-zinc alloy (brass).

The "Mingde Tongbao" that is about to be circulated throughout the world is made of brass. Such copper coins are yellower than ordinary copper coins, and look yellow and like gold coins, adding a layer of "nobleness".

Brass, which was used by a vibrant social organization to impersonate gold for profit, is an alloy that should not have appeared in this era. After more than ten years of development, its smelting technology has become very mature and the cost has been significantly reduced.

Of course, the smelting technology of brass is limited to the mastery of new mints. For the people, the smelting technology of such copper alloys is still a secret.

Even if someone finds out how to make brass roughly, it is impossible to make brass at a low cost. The specific ratio of brass used in mint coins is a secret.

When a mint melts brass, it requires precise "ingredients". After the ingredients are finished, the molten brass will flow into the already-made casting mold and turn into strips.

The cast strips are rolled into coins by a sheet mill. The sheet mill, that is, the sheet mill or rolling mill, are divided into rough rolling and fine rolling. After several rolling processes, the length of the brass strips increases significantly, and the thickness becomes significantly thinner.

The rolled brass strips are too long and need to be cut and divided into sections by shearing machines, and then rolled to the standard thickness required for "Mingde Tongbao" money through the finishing rolling process.

After the standard thickness brass strips are made, the craftsman puts them into the die and punches the round cake with square holes in the middle.

This hydraulically driven punch is equipped with a steel mold, which can punch out more than 100 copper coin cakes per minute, saving time and effort.

The stamped edge chips are returned to the melting furnace, and the copper coin cakes are manually selected and entered the "rolling edge" process.

To smooth the edges of the cake, it is a "rolling edge". The machine used is a light edge machine, also known as a edge rolling mill, which is also a hydraulically driven machine.

The cake passes through the groove between the turntable of the edge machine and the crescent-shaped edge plate, causing the edge of the cake to protrude. After manual selection, it enters the most critical process: press molding.

The four words "Mingde Tongbao" are "pressed" onto the cake by a pressing machine. At this point, the "Mingde Tongbao" are completed. After manual selection and proper polishing of the burrs, they can be packed and shipped out of the factory and started circulation.

The production process of "Mingde Tongbao" is completely different from the production of traditional copper coins. Traditional copper coins are actually minted coins, while "Mingde Tongbao" is a "mechanical currency", which is a coin made by a machine.

The Changan Mint, like several other new mints, is equipped with brand new mint equipment. As long as you ensure that the raw materials are sufficient and the craftsmen are proficient, you can make a large number of machine coin "Mingde Tongbao" every day.

The production cost of such a mechanism currency is lower than that of traditional minted coins, but even so, the production of "Mingde Tongbao" coins is still a loss.

The more money you make "Mingde Tongbao", the more you lose.

This is not a moral issue or a system issue. The problem does not lie in technology, management, system, but currency value.

The face value of a "Mingde Tongbao" is a single document, and no matter how much the coin making process is improved, the cost of coin making cannot be lower than that of a single document.

Use precious metals to make money, and as long as the face value is too low, you will not be able to escape such an ending.

It seems that it is not difficult to solve this problem.

For Prince Yuwen Weicheng, who was visiting the coining process on site, he felt that as long as the currency value of a "Mingde Tongbao" is stipulated to be two liters, the imperial court would not lose, or would not lose too much.

Prince Yuwen Weihan and Yuwen Weining also held the same view on this. The three brothers thought so, but they did not dare to speak because they knew that their father would definitely think of this, but did not implement it. It must be because there were problems with the implementation.

Yuwen Wen could see what his sons were thinking, so he asked a question: "What is the essence of money?"

This question is not difficult to answer, and the three brothers all answered: "It is the currency in circulation."

"Yes, currency needs to be circulated, and it must be used by someone, and it must be convenient for people to use it, so that it can have the value of circulation."

Yu Wenwen transformed into a "professor of economics" and began to instill basic economics knowledge into his sons. Although he himself did not understand economics very much, his knowledge always surpassed this era, so he felt it was necessary to impart some common sense from later generations to his sons as family knowledge.

"You know that a penny can do many things, such as drinking a big bowl of tea, eating a bowl of vegetarian noodles, drinking a spoonful of 'Bozhou Ma Yu' or 'Jiaozhou Wolf' wine..."

"A penny is nothing to us, but for ordinary people, a penny is very important. It is not easy for them to live. It is enough to buy some joy with a penny, which is enough to give themselves some courage to face the bleak life."

"For people with a penny to spend money and buy some joy is already a very luxurious behavior for people with poor families. What should they do if such consumption starts at least two pennies?"

"The people in the world need coins in the face value of a penny. They may save less than ten cents of coins in their lifetime, and they cannot be extravagant. Therefore, Wuzhu coins have been popular for thousands of years, and the currency value has always been one penny."

"You all know what the result is that you have ever made in dynasties, 'because you've been using 100' coins, 'because you've got a thousand coins."

"The first problem lies in credit. The court that promotes big money does not abide by the currency exchange regulations they make, so the people will naturally not abide by. Big money has no practical value to the people, so this kind of currency cannot last long."

Speaking of this, Yuwen Wen pointed out the key point: "Secondly, many people are ignorant of the people and cannot count. If they calculate one penny when buying and selling items, they can count their fingers at least. How can they calculate it clearly if you ask them to calculate two penny and two penny?"

"The first priority of the court's minting and making coins is to facilitate the people, for the sake of people's livelihood, not to make money. Therefore, a copper coin is worth a penny. This is an iron rule and no one can change it."

When the three brothers heard their father say this, they suddenly realized that they often followed their father out of the palace in vain and went to the market to experience the lives of ordinary people, so they probably knew what it means to the two ordinary people that a penny would mean.

They have been frugal since childhood and have no idea about money, but because they follow their father to understand the people's sentiments, they know that a penny can do a lot of things, and know that a commoner family may only save a few coins in their lifetime.

It costs a few cents of money, and even a month's heating fee is not enough.

Yuwen Weicheng looked at the coin making machine in front of him and felt a lot of feelings. He had to grit his teeth and bear it when making coins. This is the responsibility of the king of a country. His father was right. The greater the power, the greater the responsibility.

but...

"Father." Yuwen Weicheng looked at Yuwen Wen and asked, "'Mingde Tongbao'money is made for the benefit of the people, so 'Jinyinmo' is for, for...uh..."

Yuwen Wen faced the question and replied: "Yes, 'Jinyinmo' is built for profit, earning money from rich people, and using it to make up for the deficit of making 'Mingde Tongbao'."

"The two types of coins have a one-to-one exchange value, but there are essential differences."

A gentleman is ashamed of making profits, but the family is making profits at this time. The three brothers are a little unwilling to let go and stutter: "Uh... then... then, the rich man is not as smart as something, so how can the court be honestly used to make money by the 'gold and silver road'?"

Yuwen Wen's answer was still very direct: "Just put a trap!"
Chapter completed!