My hotel is full of emperors throughout history.

"Technology? What technology?"

Liu Che frowned.

"Wouldn't having papermaking technology solve the problem?"

"No!"

Chen Mo shook his head.

"Aren't you afraid that others will copy it?"

"counterfeit?"

Liu Che scoffed.

"If he dares to counterfeit it, I dare to exterminate his entire family!"

"Let's see how many generations of his family he has to be executed!"

Old Zhu nodded in agreement.

"Speak up! Later on, we'll just write 'Counterfeiters are guilty of treason, their entire family will be executed!!!' on the money!!!"

"If anyone dares to risk having their entire family executed to forge this, then we'll respect them as a man of honor and send them to the execution ground of a thousand cuts!"

"..."

Chen Mo's lips twitched.

He laughed at Zhu Yuanzhang (Liu Che) for not understanding technology, while Zhu Yuanzhang (Liu Che) laughed at him for not understanding the feudal system.

Chen Mo coughed lightly and spoke.

"A great man once said that if there is a 10% profit, capital will be used everywhere; if there is a 20% profit, capital will become active; if there is a 50% profit, capital will take risks; for a 100% profit, capital will dare to trample on all human laws; and with a 300% profit, capital will dare to commit any crime, even risking the gallows."

"And all that's required is the initial cost of forgery and paper; there's no profit to be made. It's an absolute windfall!"

"Of course, although you didn't have the capital back then, there were still people who wouldn't dare to take the risk."

Chen Mo's expression turned serious.

"If someone dares to risk the extermination of their entire family to forge these, and succeeds, they could even deceive the imperial court and produce a large number of counterfeits..."

Chen Mo's voice carried a hint of coldness.

"Then he doesn't need to use this counterfeit money to buy things at the market."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the emperors, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"He only needs to choose an opportune moment, such as when a natural disaster strikes a certain place, or when the imperial court is preparing for a major war, and the national treasury is strained and the market is experiencing a money shortage... to suddenly release a large quantity of counterfeit currency that is indistinguishable from the real thing into the market!"

"What will happen?"

Liu Che frowned; he vaguely sensed something was amiss.

"A silent disaster is about to occur!"

Chen Mo's tone was serious.

"First of all, the sudden influx of so much money into the market will cause prices to skyrocket and lead to inflation!"

"Ordinary people will find that they can buy less and less with their money, leading to widespread discontent and social unrest!"

"Secondly, and most fatally,"

Chen Mo looked at Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Once counterfeit money becomes rampant, even to the point where people can't distinguish between real and fake, everyone will start to doubt—is this money still worth anything? Can we still trust the paper money issued by the imperial court?"

"At that time, people will frantically run on banks, demanding to exchange their paper money for real gold and silver!"

"The imperial court's gold and silver reserves are limited and simply cannot redeem all the circulating paper money!"

"The result was—a collapse of trust!"

"The monetary system painstakingly established by the imperial court will collapse overnight!"

"Paper money becomes worthless, the national treasury is empty, the economy collapses, and the people lose all support! This could be even more serious than the consequences of losing a major war!"

Chen Mo looked at the emperors, whose expressions were gradually becoming serious, and continued speaking.

"The forger didn't even need to do anything else; he just had to wait quietly."

"When the economy is on the verge of collapse because of the counterfeit money he's printed, he'll step forward and use his previously hoarded real gold, silver, or grain to buy up fertile land, shops, and even... people's hearts at extremely low prices!"

"Then what to do, you all probably know, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Che's expressions turned grim.

Execute nine generations of relatives? Lingchi (death by a thousand cuts)?

That sounds pretty ruthless!

However, if the other party is well hidden and has the help of the aristocratic families.

By the time you realize it, it may be too late to turn back!

Seeing that they had finally realized the seriousness of the problem, Chen Mo slowly spoke.

"Therefore, we need technology, and we need anti-counterfeiting technologies that are difficult to imitate and easy to identify."

Chen Mo paused for a moment, then went into the house and took out a hundred-yuan bill, which he handed to everyone for them to see.

Everyone looked at the hundred-yuan bill and felt that it felt different from ordinary paper, but otherwise it seemed just so-so.

Chen Mo looked at everyone, smiled, and pointed to the collar of the coin.

"Feel this area; can you feel the distinct contours?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was the first to reach out and touch it. His rough fingers ran across the paper, and he could indeed feel the clear raised lines.

"Huh? It really is! That's a deep imprint!"

"This is called intaglio printing."

Chen Mo explained.

"Using a pre-engraved metal plate, immense pressure is applied to deeply penetrate the ink into the paper fibers, creating this unique three-dimensional tactile texture. This is one of the most basic and most difficult anti-counterfeiting features to imitate; ordinary offset printing simply cannot produce this effect."

Then, Chen Mo tilted the banknote and pointed to the number "100" on the front.

"Look here, the color of the numbers will change."

Under the curious gaze of the crowd, the color of the number "100" kept changing as the angle changed.

"This is called photochromic ink," Chen Mo said. "The formula for this ink is extremely complex. It changes color when viewed from different angles, making it very difficult for counterfeiters to mix."

Then he picked up the banknotes and held them up to the light from the window.

"Now, let's look at the watermark."

A clear portrait of a great man and the number "100" watermark are clearly visible when held up to the light.

"Watermarks are patterns formed during the papermaking process by changing the density of paper fibers. They can be seen when held up to the light, but are hidden at other times."

"And this too."

Chen Mo pinched the edge of the banknote and pointed to the broken metal wire.

"These are fully embedded security threads and windowed security threads. During the papermaking process, metal or plastic threads are embedded into the paper, partially buried and partially exposed on the surface. When viewed against the light, it appears as a complete thread, with microtext on it."

"It's almost impossible for counterfeiters to add it in later."

In addition, Chen Mo pointed to the number on it.

"Each bill has its own unique serial number!"

"Each bill has a unique serial number, so counterfeit bills can still be detected."

Chen Mo recounted the various anti-counterfeiting technologies in great detail, as if reciting a familiar story.

Each time a new name was mentioned, the expressions of shock on the faces of the emperors deepened.

Gravure printing, optically variable ink, watermarking, security thread, microtext, fluorescent fibers, registration printing technology...

Li Shimin murmured to himself, his face full of admiration.

"Such exquisite designs are incorporated into such a small space; it's truly a masterpiece! This transcends the skill of a craftsman, approaching the realm of art!"

Liu Che took a deep breath, his eyes burning with fervor.

"If our Han Dynasty coins possessed even one or two such techniques, why would anyone fear counterfeiting them?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"Damn it! So many tricks up your sleeve! Let's see which assassin can imitate them! Kid Chen, can our Ming Dynasty learn these techniques?"