Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

The monk Xuanzang used the privileges granted to him by Emperor Taizong of Tang to recruit many talented monks to help him with his work.

Among them, the monk Bianji from Huichang Temple in Chang'an was undoubtedly the best.

Bianji was very interested in Xuanzang's experiences in the Western Regions, so Xuanzang entrusted him with the compilation of the "Great Tang Records on the Western Regions." Generally, Xuanzang would dictate, and Bianji would record and organize the text, finally giving the manuscript to Xuanzang for final revisions and review.

While writing this book, Master Xuanzang would recall the impressive scenes he encountered in India.

Before arriving in India, Xuanzang always believed that India was the center of Buddhism in the world, and that it must be a pure land of Buddhism where the people were wholeheartedly virtuous, lived in peace and prosperity, and the upper class were also people of noble character.

However, the actual scene he encountered was far different from what Master Xuanzang had imagined.

During his travels in Dashravasti, Lumbini, Kushinagar, and even Kapilavastu, the birthplace of the Buddha, he witnessed the desolate scenes of broken Buddha statues, deserted temples, and monks changing their faith.

Social conflicts in the various kingdoms of India were also exceptionally acute.

The untouchables, who make up the largest segment of the population, are oppressed and discriminated against by the entire society.

The Brahmin class controlled the best resources, intermarried within themselves, and controlled all aspects of society.

In fact, the origin of Buddhism in India was closely related to the extremely impoverished lives of the local people and their need for spiritual solace.

At Nalanda University, the highest institution of Buddhist learning, Xuanzang not only studied profound Buddhist teachings but also keenly perceived that the decline of Indian Buddhism seemed to be an inevitable crisis.

This was a source of great sorrow for Master Xuanzang, who regarded Buddhist studies as his lifelong pursuit.

Once, during his travels, Xuanzang saw a Guanyin statue that had been overturned, with mud up to its chest.

Locals believe that if the Guanyin statue is completely buried in the ground, it will signify the complete demise of Buddhism.

Upon seeing this scene, Xuanzang was overcome with grief and immediately collapsed to the ground in tears.

All of this is closely related to the fact that Indian Buddhism has become increasingly "difficult" and elitist.

Imagine if Buddhism became an esoteric subject that only Brahmins could understand, it would inevitably lose its core audience, namely the Vaishyas, Shudras, and Dalits who spent their days in petty scheming and suffering.

The Venerable Xuanzang was very fortunate that he obtained the last batch of authentic scriptures before Buddhism completely collapsed.

If he had been born a hundred years later, Buddhism would have almost disappeared in India, and many things would have been lost to the dust of history.

Many classic works are irretrievably lost, or even unknown to anyone.

Of course, the monk Xuanzang was unaware that the monk Bianji, who helped him write the book, was actually a silver-monk like Pei Ruhai, despite his seemingly excellent young man who was dedicated to studying Buddhism.

Taking advantage of his time at Hongfu Temple, this man became intimately involved with the wives and daughters of a group of high-ranking officials and dignitaries.

This included Princess Gaoyang, the eldest daughter of Emperor Taizong of Tang and the daughter-in-law of Fang Xuanling.

……

After drifting on the water for several months, Li You felt a sense of groundedness when he returned to Tongbai Mountain Village.

Humans are, after all, terrestrial beings.

The population of the mountain village continues to rise, and everyone is very busy.

Copper ingots had already been delivered to the mountain stronghold. Yin Hongzhi spent a great deal of money to invite a master craftsman from Luoyang to carefully carve the "mother coin" of the Kaiyuan Tongbao, and purchased a large amount of lead from Ezhou.

After several rounds of experiments, the "mother coin sand casting method" was finally successfully implemented, producing coins that were identical to those made by the imperial court.

The later book "Tiangong Kaiwu" records the sand casting method of mother coins as follows: When casting coins, four wooden strips are used as empty frames. The frames are filled with the mother coins, and a hundred coins are arranged on top of them. The mold is then closed and turned over by hand. After it cools and solidifies, the rope is untied and the frame is opened. The hundred coins are then arranged in a neat pattern, like flowers and fruits attached to branches.

Compared to copper, lead has very abundant reserves in China, making it relatively easy to obtain.

During the early Tang Dynasty, the copper-lead ratio of coins was 8:2, but by the late Tang Dynasty, it had dropped to 6:4.

Having figured out the method, and with the 17,000 catties of copper ingots that Li You brought back on this trip, they were able to begin large-scale coin minting.

Meanwhile, the brothers in Raozhou and Xuanzhou were working hard to mine copper.

The continuous supply of copper ingots sent to the mountain stronghold would keep the minting of coins going.

Dou Jun, a merchant from Yangzhou, was stunned when he first came up the mountain and saw the scene of frantic coin minting. He stood there speechless for a long time.

Having spent his days surrounded by copper ingots and copperware, he never imagined that copper ingots could be directly transformed into copper coins.

Copper ingots can be directly converted into copper coins.

Copper ingots can be directly converted into copper coins!

Dou Jun's fingers moved involuntarily, a habitual action he took when performing calculations.

Having a thorough understanding of the prices of copper ingots and copperware in various regions, Dou Jun quickly calculated the result.

Simply put, casting coins directly from copper ingots can yield four to five times the profit; casting artifacts from copper ingots, however, only yields two times the profit.

Dou Jun finally understood why Prince Li You of Qi wanted to purchase a large number of copper ingots in Xuanzhou.

To argue with someone like that over copper ingots would be incredibly foolish of me.

If my own family could also get involved in this business, wouldn't that be...?

Dou Jun came to the side of King Qi. At this time, Li You was intently looking at the mother coin that the craftsman had given him.

"My lord, may my Dou family invest in this copper coin minting project?"

Li You glanced at Dou Jun.

"Investing? How do you plan to invest? Will your father agree?"

"With such a huge profit, my father will surely agree."

"Can you really control your father?"

"this……"

"If your family gets involved and makes a fortune, won't other merchants be envious? Won't news spread that someone is illegally minting copper coins in the Tongbai Mountains? Do you want the government troops to come into the mountains and wipe out Huang Chao's army?"

"Well……"

Dou Jun felt embarrassed upon hearing this and dared not mention investing again.

Yin Hongzhi, who was watching the commotion from the sidelines, warned, "Dou Jun, now that you've joined Huang Chao's army, you'd better behave yourself and stop thinking about your Dou family, understand?"

Dou Jun nodded repeatedly in agreement to Yin Hongzhi's "advice".

He already knew that the person in front of him was a descendant of the Yin family from the previous dynasty, and that his father had dug up the emperor's ancestral graves.

Li You handed the mother coin in his hand to the craftsman who was casting it, and then said, "Uncle, we must keep our coin-casting business a secret, even within the mountain stronghold. The fewer people who know about it, the better."

Yin Hongzhi nodded: "I understand. I'll move these craftsmen to a secluded place later."

"Hmm, and about the silver ingots, do the craftsmen mint foreign silver coins?"

"Silver is soft and can be shaped using only a die-casting process, which is much easier than casting copper coins."

"Alright, after the silver mine at Lion Mountain in Xuanzhou produces silver, we should also start making silver coins."

Dou Jun asked curiously, "Foreign silver coins? My lord, what are you minting foreign silver coins for?"

"Foreign silver coins are naturally used to purchase scarce goods from abroad. There are many foreign merchants in Luoyang and Chang'an, and the pepper, fennel, turmeric root, camphor, musk, gemstones, gold and silver utensils, exotic animals, Sassanid glass, as well as beautiful foreign women and strong Kunlun slaves—aren't they all good things?"