A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 274 Curly Hair Hu Ji Green Eyes

Li Yi was thinking about the two dandy princes, but as soon as he mentioned Cao Cao, he appeared.

"Wuyi, you don't treat us as brothers. Moving into a new house is such a happy event, but you didn't even invite your brothers."

As soon as the two brothers entered the door, they gave each other a warm hug and were very familiar with each other.

"Your house is nice, but it's a little small."

"It's not small. Although the house is not big, the garden is quite large. It covers a total of 48 acres. I also bought the polo field next door, which leaves 24 acres."

Today, both young princes wore purple silk robes with double peacock patterns embroidered with gold thread, nine-ring belts, six-way boots, long-legged fu hats, and purple embroidered headbands.

"It's a bit small, only forty-eight acres?"

The two brothers proudly said that their princely mansions each occupied half a block of land. Although the block south of the imperial city was smaller, it still covered more than 200 acres of land.

"I've been under the watchful eye of a saint recently, studying. My brain is almost turning to mush. Today I'm finally free."

"After New Year's Eve, my brother and I studied hard every day. We were confined to the mansion and didn't hear anything about the outside world. When we got out, we heard that Brother Wuyi showed up several times after the New Year and made many great achievements.

This was another case of Guzhou capturing three forts and five strongholds at night, and persuading nine powerful generals from Guandong to surrender and recruiting more than ten thousand soldiers and horses with just his words.

After returning to Chang'an, he went to Sizhu Garden to suppress the bandits and killed Zhu Shanhai and Zhang Zihui, the two villains who had killed three third-rank generals of the Tang Dynasty.

The two brothers slapped their thighs like they were performing a crosstalk, saying, "How come we just missed it? If we hadn't been locked up in the mansion to study, we would have gone out to Guzhou with Brother Wuyi to fight in Sizhu Garden. How wonderful it would have been!"

"I really missed it, I missed it."

The two brothers did not come empty-handed, they brought gifts.

Li Boyi, the King of Longxi, brought a cart of Gaochang wine and a blue-eyed Persian Hu girl. Li Fengci, the King of Bohai, was not stingy either, and gave a cart of Sanlejiang and a Sogdian Hu girl who was good at dancing the Huxuan dance.

"Brother, I promised to give you the beautiful Hu Ji on New Year's Eve, and I will never break my promise. If I hadn't been locked up in the mansion to study, I would have sent her here long ago."

Li Boyi waved his hand,

Then his men brought in two women wearing veils on their heads and wide hat brims with thin silk pulled down to their feet. Although it was hazy, it was clear that they were both white women.

Young and beautiful.

After the two came in, the brothers asked them to take off the veil, "We will never let you down, brother. And don't worry, although this is carefully selected by me, it has never been used."

The fence is removed,

Suddenly, a Dilireba and a Gulinaza appeared in front of me.

Curly-haired beard with green eyes,
The Persian girl had long wavy golden hair and a pair of jade eyes.

The Sogdian girl had skin as white as jade, a nose as sharp as a cone, and a long grape-shaped belt hanging on one side. She was also obviously Caucasian and had beautiful long brown hair.

Both of them have fair skin and are good at singing and dancing.

She is also very young and beautiful.

Li Yi felt that although the two brothers were young, they were worthy of being the Prince of Fenglang who had collected more than a hundred beauties. Their aesthetic taste was very high, and Li Yi resonated with them a lot.

No wonder the Han and Tang dynasties had to make long expeditions to the Western Regions throughout history.

These beauties alone are worth it.

Both beauties had their hair loose, with flower ornaments on their foreheads and symmetrical dimples on their lips. They wore low-necked skirts, half-exposing their breasts, and high-waisted, multicolored long skirts, making them look particularly plump and tall.

One has a silver chain around her waist, the other has a bell hanging from her waist, and they wear short leather boots, which is full of exotic style.

Li Yi admitted that
Who doesn’t like such a Hu Ji?

But sending someone home directly is too direct.

"They came all the way from the Western Regions, stayed in Liangzhou for two years, and have only been in Chang'an for a year, but they speak Chinese well."

The Hu girls in Chang'an were basically Sogdian Hu merchants, who were brought here along the Silk Road. It was said that this business was much more profitable than selling horses, with profits of at least three to five times as much.

Many Hu merchants brought a dozen or even dozens of people at a time and traveled thousands of miles to the Central Plains. They made a lot of money and greatly enriched the lives of the Chang'an nobles.

These two brothers are so generous.
Li Yi felt that since he was setting up a bamboo paper workshop, he had to bring people along, otherwise it would be unreasonable.

"Don't you guys have to study lately?"

"His Majesty said that my brother and I are not cut out for it, so he didn't force us."

"Since the two kings are free, why not come with me to visit Yishou Palace in a couple of days?" Li Yi invited the two brothers to the flower hall, and also called Qiu Shenyan, Li Dejiang, Wu Junyaji, Sigong and others.

“Making paper from bamboo?”

"Well, the technique of making paper from bamboo is said to have been improved by Ge Hong during the Jin Dynasty. The paper made from bamboo is as good as hemp paper."

Li Boyi only knew that the paper used for court documents was jute paper, and the best jute paper was produced in Shuzhong.

In Guanzhong area, parchment paper is the mainstream material, which is made from mulberry bark and paper mulberry bark.

"I heard that Ge Hong is an alchemist, and he can also make paper. He uses bamboo to make paper? Bamboo is so hard, how can it be used to make paper?" Li Fengci was a little skeptical. After all, no matter whether paper was made from hemp, bark, or rags, they were still soft. How could paper be made from bamboo which is so hard?

"Paper can be made by retting and crushing bamboo. Of course, young bamboo can also be used to make paper, which is of better quality." Li Yi smiled and said, "Are the two kings interested in setting up a bamboo paper workshop together?"

"Then let's have some fun," Li Boyi said nonchalantly. He was not short of money, he just wanted to play with Li Yi.

Wu Junya and others were naturally willing to work with Li Yi to set up a paper mill. They were all from aristocratic families, but they were all young people and their family's money belonged to their family.

Although I have never heard of making paper from bamboo, since Li Yi said this, everyone believes it.

We have seen so many incredible things about Li Yi. If he said he could make paper from stone and straw, I guess everyone would believe it.

The five major materials for papermaking are mulberry, mulberry, paper mulberry and bamboo. Bamboo papermaking will be the way to go in the future.

I took a three-day vacation in Chang'an.

After moving to a new house, I discussed with Li Boyi and others about starting a paper mill together, and we also played a few games of polo together.

Playing polo is quite exciting, but his skills are too poor. However, the worse he is, the more fun it is.

After three days of rest,

Li Yi returned to Yishou Palace, and this time he brought along the brothers Li Boyi and Li Fengci, and even his own cat and two dogs.

Li Hua was now strong and sturdy, and no one at home cared about him. He was brought from Yusu Township to Chang'an, but he started fighting everywhere. So Li Yi simply brought him to Yishou Palace.
There are many rats in the mountains, and they make a lot of noise at night. But with the tabby catkins to keep them at bay, the rats dare not come.

Wangcai and Lai Fu are two silly dogs. One is a Qiang Mastiff, which has grown as strong as a bear and likes to cause trouble. Everyone in the family thinks it is too big and too fierce. The other is a stray dog, which only knows how to eat and sleep at home. Even Uncle Fu, the doorkeeper, despises it.

During the three days he rested at home,
Zhao Feng and others who were in charge of the Yishou Mint Bureau worked very hard. After the carved ancestral coins were approved by the emperor, they immediately opened the golden mouth of the ancestral coins, and then carefully cast a batch of mother coins by sand casting.

These mother coins are cast very finely, with clear inscriptions and regular edges. These mother coins are the molds for casting coins, and their quality is better than coins cast in large quantities.

"We started minting coins yesterday,"

"How many were cast?"

"Because it was a trial casting, only 10,000 coins were cast in each furnace,"

All thirty-six furnaces were put into operation, and three hundred and sixty strings of coins were cast yesterday.

Zhao Feng took Li Yi to see the newly minted coins. The Li Boyi brothers were curious about every aspect of the mint.

In the warehouse,
The imperial guards take turns to guard the place, and entry and exit require a badge, which is very strict.

Entering the warehouse, there are piles of money.
The golden light shines brightly.

Kaiyuan Tongbao coins are bronze coins, but the newly cast bronze is golden, which looks very nice, a bit like the color of 18K gold.

These copper coins will only become less yellow as their surfaces slowly oxidize during use.

Li Yi checked the newly minted coins one by one.

Three hundred and sixty strings of coins, each string containing a thousand coins, brand new coins, brand new hemp rope,

The first batch of coins was better than Li Yi expected, and the finished product was very good.

68% copper, 24% lead, and 8% tin. This is the final alloy ratio, which is lower than the copper content when Kaiyuan Tongbao was first minted in history. In history, the copper content of newly minted coins was more than 80%.

However, in this version of Kaiyuan Tongbao, copper only accounts for 68%, less than 70%.

However, the quality of the coins is still quite good, and they do not appear bluish or white just because lead and tin account for 32%.

Old coin minters like Zhao Feng have very good technical skills. Even if they use new technology such as sand casting, for them who have been immersed in coin minting for decades, they are proficient in one method and master all methods.

"Have you calculated the cost?"

"Our preliminary calculations show that the cost of minting one thousand coins is seven hundred coins."

Among these costs, copper material has the highest cost. Copper is expensive now, and together with lead and tin, the cost of this material accounts for 60% of the total cost.

The fuel and smelting costs are also quite high. A furnace burns hundreds of kilograms of charcoal a day, and the loss when smelting alloys reaches eleven percent.

Other craftsmen's wages, management and transportation costs, and mold losses, etc.

All in all, the cost of casting one thousand coins was seven hundred coins, and the profit was three hundred coins.

The profit is already very high, reaching 42.8 percent.

"Is my calculation correct? How could there be so many?"

"This is just a trial casting. If production increases in the future, losses can be reduced, labor costs and other expenses can be reduced, and profits can be increased. I estimate that with an investment of 600 coins, 1,000 coins can be cast."

This made Li Yi feel that the profit was too much, and perhaps he should increase the copper material. Otherwise, if the profit from coin minting was too high, it would inevitably lead to private minting, and would also cause currency devaluation and price inflation.

There is no need to mint bad coins, just mint official coins with the same standards. With a capital of 600, you can make 400, which is a profit of 66.7%.

"If the copper content is reduced to 60%, then the cost of casting 1,000 coins would only be 400."

Li Yi was still thinking about increasing the copper price, but Zhao Feng and others thought it could be reduced further.

"The newly minted Kaiyuan Tongbao coins weigh a full hundred taels, much heavier than the Sui Dynasty's five-zhu coins. Furthermore, they use the sand casting method, making the coins more exquisite. Even if the copper content is reduced, they are still good coins."

But Li Yi thought about it and felt that the profit from coinage should not be too high, otherwise it would be the same as minting ten or twenty coins.

In the era of metal currency, it is better for currency to match its own value.

There must be profit in minting coins, but it cannot be too high. Otherwise, it is no different from minting ten or twenty coins. Both are directly robbing the people's wealth, and this kind of money will eventually have problems.

"Adjust the copper-lead-tin alloy ratio to 83% copper, 12% lead, and 5% tin."

Zhao Feng was surprised. "The copper material would have to be increased by at least one catty for one tael of money."

One thousand copper coins contain eighty-three taels of copper, and there is an eleven-point fire consumption during smelting. In total, one thousand coins will consume more than ninety-two taels of copper, which is more than five pounds and seven taels.

"After this adjustment, the cost of casting one thousand coins will be nearly eight hundred coins. When we cast them in large quantities in the future, the maximum we can reduce it to is around seven hundred and fifty coins."

Li Yi was very satisfied with the result of increased costs and reduced profits.
"If I can mint one thousand coins with a capital of seven hundred and fifty, I'll still have a profit of two hundred and fifty. That's pretty good."

Li Boyi and his brother were listening curiously. "Isn't it good to make more money? Why do they have to add more ingredients, increase costs and reduce the profit?"

"Because this is official money from the imperial court, every penny must be worth its weight in gold."

The two brothers found it a bit confusing.

"But you only spent 750 yuan, didn't you?"

Zhao Feng explained, "If someone wanted to counterfeit and mint such official coins, it would cost them more than a thousand coins."

"Then why?" They were completely confused.

"Because the costs of copper, lead, tin, labor, charcoal, and our casting technology are all beyond the reach of ordinary private mints, their costs are higher than ours in every aspect. Unless they cut corners, private minting and then using counterfeit coins is a crime on top of a crime."

If you privately mint money that looks like official money, it will be difficult to trace it, but if you mint counterfeit money, you will be discovered and held accountable.

Zhao Feng looked at the newly minted 300-odd coins and felt a little distressed: "These coins have already been minted, what should I do with them?"

"Of course it was melted down and recast."

There is no need to adjust the master coin, mold, etc., only the alloy ratio needs to be adjusted.

"I think these coins are pretty good. They're just a few hundred strings. There's no need to melt them and recast them. They can be used even if mixed together." Li Boyi said.

"That won't do. All the money that leaves the Yishou Palace must be finely minted, cleanly polished, and free of defective pieces before it can be stored and handed over to the Ministry of Civil Affairs for circulation."

Three hundred and sixty strings of cash,

They were all pulled out of the warehouse and re-smelted to separate the copper, lead and tin, which took a lot of effort.

After readjusting the alloy ratio, Qian Jian opened the fire at full capacity and all thirty-six furnaces began casting at full capacity.

Workers working on the assembly line,

Each coin casting furnace is a production team, which prepares sand, makes molds, melts and casts coins, and then someone is responsible for demolding and taking out the coins.
Remove the mold, take out the money tree, cut off the money, then polish the copper coins, remove burrs and polish the edges, and further chisel the square holes to ensure uniformity.

More than 30 people in a group,
The work is in full swing,
They worked from sunrise to sunset, and the workshop provided two meals a day. The food was quite ordinary: corn rice with bamboo shoots and wild vegetable soup. Three days later, they could have some meat or two. Even with such a simple diet, the workers were very satisfied.

After all, most of these people were refugees before, forced to live in the mountains and become bandits. Now they can have two meals a day, so what is there to be dissatisfied about? Everyone cherishes this job.

The output is increasing every day.
Each furnace minted 10,000 coins a day, then 20,000, and then 30,000. The daily output of the entire mint exceeded 1,000 strings of coins.

The task assigned to Li Yi by the emperor, to mint 20,000 coins, was also completed ahead of schedule.

A total of more than 36,000 coins were minted, and then there was no more copper.

The minted Kaiyuan Tongbao coins piled up like mountains in the warehouse.

"County Magistrate, the copper materials from the Ministry of Works have not been delivered yet, and we have no materials to start the furnace. The minted coins have not been transported by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and they are all piled up in the warehouse." Old man Zhao has been in high spirits and has a rosy complexion recently. He even feels a few years younger.

"We need to urge the Ministry of Works to replenish the materials. If we stop for one day, we will lose thousands of coins."

"Okay, I'll go to Chang'an again."

Li Yi didn't pay much attention to the coin minting these days. Everything was on track and going smoothly. He focused more on the spring plowing and planting in the 72 villages in the mountains, organizing the people to dig spring bamboo shoots and pick wild vegetables, and even setting up a bamboo paper workshop with his friends.

I didn’t expect that we would complete the task ahead of schedule and exceed the target, and we were also out of materials.

It took only one month to collect more than 36,000 strings of cash.

Li Yi was amazed.

"Everyone has been working hard for a month. Now that we've run out of supplies, let's take a three-day break and have a good rest."

"It's a three-day holiday, wages will be paid as usual, and there will still be food in the cafeteria." Li Yi said generously.

(End of this chapter)