Top Scholar

Chapter 588 Zhu Datou

After some discussion, the draft of the Zhengde silver dollar was finalized.

This silver dollar is based on the style and fineness of the Spanish Real. The obverse features the portrait of Emperor Zhengde. Whether it is a frontal portrait, a side profile, or some other more impressive angle is up to the artist to present and respectfully submitted to the Emperor's judgment.

As for the back, a concentric circle is engraved in the center, with the two characters "壹圆" (Yi Yuan) in regular script within the circle. Two five-clawed dragons surround the circle symmetrically. Above the outer edge of the circle, the six large characters "大明正德年制" (Made in the Zhengde Year of the Great Ming Dynasty) are engraved horizontally, with a consistent font style. The overall layout is symmetrical, and even just looking at the sketch, one can feel that the design is very dignified and mature, exuding the grandeur of a great nation.

There is also a ring of regular engravings around the edge, which looks very exquisite.

"Excellent!" The other students were also very satisfied with the design, praising it highly: "These silver dollars are far superior to silver ingots. How can the people of the world not love them?"

“But, Brother Zhuangyuan, there is something I don’t understand,” Xia Bangmo asked. “Why is a silver coin set at seven mace and two candareens? Why not simply cast it to weigh one tael, which would be more convenient to use?”

Lu Ying followed up with a question: "That's exactly right. Besides, since the coins were made of silver, why is it written 'One Yuan' instead of 'One Tael'?"

Su Lu replied, "The 'one yuan' on this coin originally refers to one silver dollar. The ultimate intention of setting it this way is to replace the 'tael' with the 'yuan' and establish a new monetary unit."

The two then asked in unison, "Why change it? Isn't using 'two' more convenient?"

"Yes, why is that?" Su Lu smiled and threw the question back to everyone, saying, "Let's leave it as homework for everyone, and we'll discuss it in detail at the next meeting."

As for the Zhengde gold coins, their designs were largely similar, but since gold was not a circulating currency, there was no rush to produce them; the focus should be on making silver coins first.

~~
After the morning meeting ended, everyone went to the dining hall for lunch, while Su Lu had to rush to Tengxi Palace to dine with the Emperor.

At this time of year, the weather is cold and the days are short. Zhu Houzhao usually sleeps until almost noon before getting up, so he simply combines breakfast and lunch into one meal. Moreover, he insists that Su Lu accompany him, saying that eating alone is no fun.

Moreover, Zhu Houzhao had a rule that state affairs should not be discussed during meals, saying that it would spoil one's appetite... At present, there is bad news all over the court and the provinces, which is indeed easy to lose one's appetite.

Eunuch Liu couldn't bear to see the disaster victims, so he drove them all away; Zhu Houzhao was kind-hearted and couldn't stand bad news, so he wasn't allowed to report bad news to him... No wonder he was raised by Eunuch Liu, he had picked up some of his older brother's habits.

Therefore, things that would please the emperor could still be reported. For example, Su Lu presented the design draft of the Zhengde silver dollar, which Zhu Houzhao had been looking forward to for a long time, to the emperor at the dinner table.

Zhu Houzhao took the draft and immediately beamed with joy, praising it highly: "Excellent, excellent! It's even more beautiful than I imagined! This thing is far superior to silver!"

Su Lu then respectfully said, "I would like to request Your Majesty to bestow a portrait of the Emperor so that the design of the portrait on the front of the silver coin can be finalized."

After an emperor ascends the throne, a portrait of him is always painted. Zhu Houzhao had been on the throne for many years, so Su Lu didn't ask if there was one.

To everyone's surprise, Zhu Houzhao's face fell and he said, "Sigh, speaking of this, I am troubled! Those court painters in the Hanlin Academy, no matter how many times they paint, they can't capture my majestic appearance. They either don't look like me at all, or they make me look like a weasel. I wish I could chop off their hands!"

Su Lu suppressed a laugh and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. I recommend a renowned painter who excels at capturing the spirit of a person and knows how to meet the needs of his subjects. He will surely be able to paint a portrait that satisfies Your Majesty."

Zhu Houzhao was delighted and said, "Good, good, good! Quickly summon him to the capital and have him painted a fine portrait for me!"

"Your Majesty, rest assured, he is in the capital. I will arrange an audience with him as soon as possible," Su Lu said with a smile.

"Good, good." Zhu Houzhao happily put a chicken leg on his plate.

After eating and drinking his fill, the emperor leaned back on his dragon throne, closed his eyes slightly, and began to digest. Then, remembering something, he lazily asked, "By the way, that magnifying glass you gave me before was really fun to play with, but it can only magnify things that are close up. If it could make distant objects clear, that would be amazing."

As he spoke, he looked up at Su Lu and asked, "Do you have any way to improve it?"

Zhang Yongxin, who was serving tea to the emperor, thought to himself, "They're treating Su Xian's nephew like a wishing well, expecting any wish to come true."
"Yes, Your Majesty, yes." To everyone's surprise, Su Lu calmly smiled and said, "I was just about to present it to Your Majesty."

After saying this, he took out a section of brass tube that looked like a bamboo tube from his sleeve and presented it to Zhu Houzhao with both hands.

He knew Zhu Houzhao's habits too well, and knew that the young master was about to want something new again, so he had prepared it in advance, just waiting for the emperor to speak.

"See? That's what you call perfect teamwork!" Zhu Houzhao laughed triumphantly at Zhang Yong. "Even twins can't compare to the two of us..."

"Yes, yes, yes." Zhang Yong hurriedly replied with a smile, "Scholar Su is the reincarnation of the Left Assistant Star, born to accompany Your Majesty, the Purple Star."

"Haha, that makes sense!" Zhu Houzhao happily took the brass tube and immediately brought it close to his eyes, examining it as if it were a magnifying glass.

To everyone's surprise, when they looked at each other, Su Lu in the camera suddenly appeared much farther away and smaller, as if he and his chair had retreated several meters away!

"Hey, this thing of yours is interesting. But it's exactly the opposite of what we need!" Zhu Houzhao said with a laugh, putting down the brass tube.

Su Lu also laughed and said, "Your Majesty, why don't you try turning it upside down?"

"Oh..." Zhu Houzhao readily complied, turning the brass tube upside down and bringing it close to his eyes again. This time, Su Lu's image indeed became much closer and larger, even the patterns on the fabric of his official robe were faintly visible, incredibly clear! Zhu Houzhao's interest was immediately piqued, turning the brass tube back and forth repeatedly, watching Su Lu appear nearer and further away, larger and smaller before his eyes, laughing so hard he almost fell over: "Fun! So much fun!"

He then showed it to Zhang Yong, saying, "Second brother, you should take a look too."

Zhang Yong followed the emperor's instructions and took a closer look. Sure enough, just as the emperor had requested, the object that had been in the distance was brought right in front of him!
He was filled with admiration and exclaimed in every sense of the word, "Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"

Su Lu then explained from the side, “Your Majesty, this device has two cylindrical layers, an inner and an outer one. If you try gently rotating the inner cylinder, you can adjust the lens and not only see further but also see more clearly.”

He drew the design and commissioned skilled craftsmen from the Silverworks to create it. The double-layered brass sleeve is internally spiral-shaped, with convex and concave lenses made of top-quality East China Sea crystal embedded at the front and back.

"Mmm." Zhu Houzhao nodded hurriedly, and adjusted the cylinder as Su Lu had instructed. The scene before him became clear—he could see Tengxi Palace directly, and on the opposite bank of Taiye Pond, under the artificial hill, a young eunuch was hugging and kissing a palace maid.

"Good heavens, they can still do this?!" He stopped what he was doing, about to ask Zhang Yong to do something about it, but then stopped himself.

"What's wrong with His Majesty?" Zhang Yong asked hurriedly.

"It's nothing," Zhu Houzhao shook his head. When he was happy, he didn't want to break up a fake couple. Because he really might beat them to death...

The next moment, a sudden inspiration struck him, and he slapped his forehead, exclaiming, "Hey bro! This thing of yours isn't just fun, it's also very useful!"

"What's it for?" Su Lu asked knowingly.

"Think about it," Zhu Houzhao said, "when we're marching and fighting, having this thing in our hands will allow us to see farther than others. Not only will the vanguard be able to spot the enemy earlier, but it will also allow the commander-in-chief to better direct the battle!" The more Zhu Houzhao thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, so he immediately instructed Zhang Yong:

"Prepare the horses, I'm going to inspect the military camp in the western suburbs and try out this new... what's this thing called?" he asked Su Lu.

"I was just about to ask His Majesty to bestow a name upon me." Su Lu always gave her plenty of emotional value.

"Haha, okay, let me think." Zhu Houzhao scratched his head, then clapped his hands and said, "Let's call it 'Seeing Far Ahead'!"

"What a wonderful name! It's truly a masterpiece of simplicity!" Su Lu complimented. Thus, the telescope of the Ming Dynasty came to be known as 'See Far'.

~~
Zhu Houzhao always acted immediately upon remembering something, and in the blink of an eye, he was dressed in full military attire. As he mounted his horse, preparing to leave the Leopard Chamber, he suddenly remembered something and instructed Su Lu, who was seeing him off:

"Good brother, hurry up and finalize the regulations for the grand review and the subsequent plan for allocating land to soldiers. We'll need them in a few days."

"Yes, Your Majesty, rest assured, it won't be delayed." Su Lu bowed and watched Zhu Houzhao leave, surrounded by a large contingent of imperial guards.

As the military supervisor of the regiment, Zhang Yong naturally had to accompany the emperor. Before leaving, he whispered a few instructions to Zhang Zhong.

A fierce glint flashed in Zhang Zhong's eyes. As soon as the emperor left, he led his men toward the artificial hill in Taiye Pond.

Su Lu suddenly shouted behind him, "Run! Eunuch Zhang is here to arrest people!"

Zhang Zhong was so angry his nose was crooked, but when he turned around and saw it was Su Lu, his anger immediately vanished, and he said with a wry smile, "Your Majesty, you are truly kind."

"Let it go, don't waste His Majesty's good intentions," Su Lu said with a smile. "Just tell them to be more careful in the future."

"Yes, yes, whatever you say," Zhang Zhong replied repeatedly.

"And what did you call me?" Su Lu rolled her eyes at him again.

"Your Majesty, even the Emperor calls you my good brother. If you're not Your Majesty, then who is?" Zhang Zhong said with a fawning smile.

"Come on. Don't treat me like Liu Jin, that fool who doesn't know his own mortality!" Su Lu said seriously, "I'm happy if you call me Brother Su, and I'd also be happy if you call me Lord Su, but if you dare to call me anything else, I'll really get angry."

"Yes, yes." Having failed miserably in his attempt to flatter, Zhang Zhong quickly knelt down to apologize, slapping himself across the face with both hands.

"Alright," Su Lu stopped him, "Don't do that. Let's just treat each other like friends."

"Hey, hey." Zhang Zhong stood up awkwardly and said, "These scholars are just different. If we eunuchs gain the emperor's favor, we have to treat them like ancestors."

"There's no way around it, every industry has its rules." Su Lu smiled, patted his shoulder and said, "Could you please talk to them too, brother, so that I won't feel embarrassed in the future?"

"Yes, don't worry!" Zhang Zhong hurriedly replied respectfully.

P.S.: The bonus chapter contains an image of a Zhengde silver coin generated by Doubao (a type of Chinese steamed bun). You can take a look.

(End of this chapter)