Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 363 is truly a comrade-in-arms.

"receive!"

Zhang Fei forced Yue Jin back with his spear, taking a step back as a gesture of giving him an opportunity: "Yue Jin, disarm!"

Le Jin hesitated for a moment, then threw down his spear and called to his men, "Retreat! Put down your weapons..."

Most of Zhang Fei's troops also began to retreat.

Only a few guards were slow to stop, and taking advantage of Yue Jin's disarming, they continued to attack relentlessly, seemingly determined to kill him.

"Zhang Da, stop!"

Seeing that Yue Jin had already given up, Zhang Fei roared.

Zhang Da reluctantly stepped back: "Dean, the dead here were all my comrades, how can we let them go?!"

"Dean" is how people at the art academy address Zhang Fei. Zhang Da is currently a teaching assistant at the art academy, specializing in engraving and plate making, and is also Zhang Fei's most valued subordinate.

Guo Jia dismounted and climbed the mountain, just in time to hear this. He glanced at Zhang Da and asked, "...Was the one who died here truly a comrade of the Right General?"

Zhang Da glared at Guo Jia: "Guo Fengxiao! Hundreds of my troops died here in battle, and you dare to speak like this? Are you trying to insult the fallen soldiers?! ...Are you looking down on us just because our lord values ​​us?! I think you, Guo Fengxiao, are a traitor...You came to Qingzhou probably for the sake of the army!"

Zhang Da's followers began to stir.

These soldiers had followed Zhang Fei for a long time, and the army was naturally united in protecting their own. Guo Jia, on the other hand, had only recently joined Liu Bei's camp, so Zhang Da's words made Guo Jia the target of everyone's criticism.

Fortunately, Guo Jia was also an art school graduate and was familiar with most of Zhang Fei's troops, so the soldiers did not act too impulsively.

"shut up!"

Zhang Fei frowned and glared at Zhang Da.

The entire retinue fell silent.

Zhang Fei then turned to Guo Jia and asked, "Fengxiao, what did you mean by what you just said?"

Zhang Fei's face was very pale. He and Guo Jia were drinking buddies who hit it off immediately and got along really well, but the current situation seemed to have a lot of strange things going on.

"Master Zhang, this matter is complicated..."

Guo Jia calmly looked at Zhang Fei and said in a low voice, "Is Zhang Da in charge of the defense of the Tugu area?"

Zhang Fei waved his hand, signaling his men to tie up Yue Jin first, then turned and glanced at Zhang Da.

Zhang Da was very nervous at the moment, and he also seemed somewhat surprised and regretful, his expression extremely complicated.

This place has gone wrong, and so many people have died. The troops responsible for patrolling the Tugu area certainly bear a great deal of responsibility, but Zhang Da's expression suggests that it's not just about responsibility.

“It is true that Mr. Le was deliberately lured here. That person was probably from the money exchange, otherwise he wouldn’t have known so much about our situation… He did exchange the money in our car. Mr. Le also needed to buy grain, so he couldn’t have committed robbery.”

As Yue Jin was being led by his limbs past Guo Jia, he immediately described the fat man's appearance to Guo Jia: "That man is somewhat obese, with a sparse beard, a broad face, and light eyebrows... He was here not long ago, and may have run south into the forest. Please capture this thief..."

"I see."

Guo Jia nodded and gestured for Yue Jin to stand next to Cheng Yu.

"Zhang Da stays...the rest of you go down the mountain."

Seeing that Zhang Da's expression was not quite right, Zhang Fei waved his hand, signaling the others who were escorting Yue Jin to wait at the foot of the mountain.

After everyone else had gone down the mountain, Guo Jia pointed to the still-burning smelting site and said in a low voice, "This place is Zhang Da's defense zone, but there was no mint here, nor was the treasury here... This smelting site was originally only used to make farm tools. Master Zhang, you might as well ask Zhang Da why there are so many large coins here?"

The Zhangqiu iron mine is an open-pit mine, but the ore quality is not very good. This smelter has always been used to make farm tools. Zhang Fei, who is in charge of affairs in Jinan, naturally knows this.

There was no mint in Jinan... How could something as important as money be produced in a small place like Tugu?

Liu Bei had only one mint, located between Linzi and Dong'anping, less than five li from Dongge. It was an expansion of the workshop built by Zhuge Liang.

Now that place is a large factory covering thousands of acres, and there is also a military factory there, all under Liu Bei's nose.

Counterfeiting large coins is not easy. Making coin molds requires extremely fine craftsmanship and cannot be done simply by casting existing coins. With the current level of technology, if the serrated edges and twelve small protrusions are made by casting, there will almost certainly be misalignment, deformation, unevenness, or air bubbles.

The coins at the Linzi Mint were not "cast" but rather pressed out by squeezing molten copper (alloy liquid) using a sleeve mold.

The serrated edges are the venting and copper removal holes from the pressing process. During pressing, excess molten copper overflows, causing only the serrated edges to create burrs. When the pressing sleeve is pulled up, the burrs are cut off by the cutting edge of the steel sleeve, forming regular serrations.

This is a process that has been improved many times. It relies on manual pressing and can be cooled directly by pouring water on the outside of the sleeve, making it very efficient.

Even with water cooling, this type of sleeve pressing will not produce bubbles, unevenness, or unclear textures, ensuring that all the coins produced are uniform.

However, this type of sleeve pressing mold is not easy to manufacture and requires very high precision.

Currently, only Zhang Fei's art academy has the capability to replicate this mold.

The mold was originally carved by Zhang Fei, and Zhang Fei and his assistants also participated in the mold making during the subsequent improvements.

Zhang Da was one of Zhang Fei's assistants. He was not only highly skilled in engraving, but also knowledgeable about most processes and techniques.

This area is Zhang Da's defense zone, and a workshop that privately mints coins has appeared. Zhang Da is certainly involved.

"...privately minted large coins..."

Zhang Fei also figured it out, and suddenly turned around and shouted: "Zhang Da!!"

Upon hearing Zhang Fei's shout, Zhang Da suddenly lunged down the mountain, tumbling and crawling as he fled.

"stop!"

Zhang Fei angrily raised his spear and threw it.

The spear did not hit Zhang Da, but only stuck a few steps in front of him.

Zhang Da knelt down tremblingly, stopped running, and turned around to wail loudly.

"...Are you short of money?!"

Zhang Fei walked up to Zhang Da, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up: "Unauthorized minting of coins? Why?!"

After saying that, he slapped Zhang Da hard across the face.

"Dean, I won't do it again... but I didn't know it would turn out like this..."

Zhang Da was slapped to the ground, half his face twisted in pain, tears streaming down his face: "I... I just wanted the brothers to live more comfortably... I thought it was indeed Le Jin who did evil, but I never expected... I've been deceived!"

"Stop calling me Dean... Let the brothers live comfortably? Hmph... Hundreds of brothers have died, and this is comfort?!"

Enraged, Zhang Fei kicked him, shouting, "You've been tricked? You want to silence me?! You even want to sow discord between my elder brother and Cao Mengde?! I never knew you had such guts... I consider you a confidant, yet you harbor thoughts of betrayal... Tell me, who do you intend to serve?!"

Zhang Fei was smart enough to connect the dots.

But Zhang Da shook his head while crying, "No... I have no intention of betraying them... I only want my brothers to acquire more property and make more money. If they all benefit, why would I need to silence them? My family and friends are all in Qingzhou, so how could they possibly have any thoughts of rebellion..."

Guo Jia stepped forward and asked, "The person who brought Le Jin here, Le Jin already described his appearance... Did that person lie to you? Who was that person?"

“It’s Fan Yi. He came from Pingyuan at the end of last year. He funded the construction of this mint. He would usually exchange inferior coins at the money shop to recast them… The Fan family of Tugu is his relative.”

Zhang Da is from Pingyuan and is currently a military commander under Zhang Fei. He is in charge of the Tugu defense zone, so it's quite normal for local powerful families to contact him, and it's also normal for them to offer bribes or cooperate in developing industries.

Especially when fellow villagers from the plains come seeking cooperation, this is really not a big problem.

Even if it was unauthorized minting of coins, it was still a case of Liu Bei's corrupt leadership leading to corrupt practices among his subordinates...

After all, Liu Bei had also been privately mining and minting coins when he was in Youzhou, and he did it so that his brothers could live comfortably.

After a pound of inferior coins is remelted, it can yield at least sixty coins through the pressing method. Redeeming the inferior coins for recasting is itself a huge profit.

Are all the soldiers here your men?

Guo Jia continued to ask.

“They are all my people… Fan Yi only hired some laborers from the Fan family to transport the money.”

Zhang Da looked utterly dejected: "I shouldn't have trusted him... These brothers were truly my comrades-in-arms..."

(End of this chapter)