In mid-June, good news finally came from Soga Heihei. After more than two months of carving, he actually made a qualified carving mother. A total of four carving mothers from Soga Heihei's letter were sent to Kiragi. Looking at it in my hands, I can see that these carved mother-of-pearls are indeed several times larger than ordinary Yongle coins, and they are much heavier. The handwriting is clear and beautiful, the characters are thin and tall, the characters are deep and sharp, the strokes are strong and powerful, and the ground seals are smooth and clean. , with no casting marks on its body, even he couldn't help but want to collect one. These four carved mother coins are two copper coins each of Hongwu Tongbao and Yongle Tongbao. These two coins are also the most widely circulated and popular coins in the market. At the same time, Heibei Suga told him that besides Xiaoping, Hongwu Tongbao In addition to the money, in the future, we will also make the mother-of-pearls for large coins that can be divided into two, three, five, and ten coins. Yongle Tongbao only needs to prepare the mother-shaped coins that can be folded into two coins. Each copper coin with a face value weighs only a corresponding amount. Very small error. The appearance and quality of Hongwu coins vary, but they are very popular because they are the second batch of standard copper coins in the Ming Dynasty and the earliest batch of copper coins introduced into Japan. The special features of Yongle coins are good quality, beautiful shape and sufficient weight. This is the main reason why these two types of money are so popular. What he is sending now is the carved mother of Xiaoping coins. The large coins that have been folded into 2% are still undergoing final modifications. The large coins from Hongwu coins that have been folded into 2% or more will have to wait for a while before they can be minted. This speed has already made him very satisfied, so he is happy. Said: "You did a good job! I will reward you with five hundred guan of Yongle money! Work hard in the future! There will be more rewards!" Soga Heibei did not look happy at all, as if he was making some difficult decision. , suddenly bowed down and said: "I have a favor to ask, Your Highness Sakamoto, please allow me to serve in the Kira family!" "Don't you want to be a businessman? Hmm! The temptation of becoming a samurai is indeed not small!" Kira Yoshi thought. It was a good idea. He would not worry about releasing such a high-level talent. He nodded and said: "Okay! I agree! I will reward you with three people to support me, and an annual salary of two hundred guan to work on my craftsmanship!" "But " Soga Heibei hesitated. Kira Yoshi said a little impatiently: "It's nothing, do you still want to go into battle with a sword and chop off your head to perform meritorious service? Don't be stupid! Do what you should do, you will be a samurai among craftsmen, a craftsman among samurai, from now on You will pass this skill on to your descendants, do you understand?" Su Gapingbei leaned over and said respectfully: "I understand! Thank you for your grace!" Hongwu Tongbao follows the rules of the Ming Dynasty. Each penny of Xiaoping weighs one qian, and if it is divided into two qian, it weighs two qian. When it is three qian, it weighs three qian. When it is five qian, it weighs five qian. When it is ten qian, it weighs one tael. Yongle Tongbao uses the same format and in terms of its current scale. It is still not possible to cast Jiajing Tongbao on a large scale with new anti-counterfeiting techniques such as fire paint, lathe edges, and gold backs. Theft of Yongle money actually began to appear before the Yingren Rebellion, and began to appear on a large scale after the Yingren Rebellion. However, those famous people did not have the technology to cast sand into money, and secondly, they did not have mother money, let alone what mother money was. Things, so the stolen copper coins are of poor quality. There are many pitted "beach holes" on the coin body. The coin body is dark and very light, which can be seen through at a glance. The Hongwu Tongbao and Yongle Tongbao cast during Kiragi's reign can no longer be considered stolen. Both the foundry money casting method and the carvings used are strictly in accordance with the craftsmanship of the Ming Dynasty, and this kind of money is only used as currency in circulation in Japan. There is no need to worry about people from the Ming Dynasty discovering it. Even if the Ming Dynasty finds out that there are so many extra Hongwu Tongbao and Yongle Tongbao, they will not pursue them. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Hongwu and Yongle Dynasties cast copper coins as hard currency for foreign trade to gain profits. Within the Ming Dynasty, another set of currency was popular, namely the infamous Bao Bank. This method was still good in the decades after the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Later, because the Ming court did not understand the principle of recycling old banknotes to maintain credit, it continued to print banknotes crazily, causing the value of the treasure banknotes to plummet. In the end, they were not even used as toilet paper, so the Ming court had to terminate this system. Following a tradition of more than a hundred years, copper coins began to be minted on a large scale as the main currency. However, the Ming Dynasty was always short of copper, and even more practical copper coins. Folks had a tradition of melting copper coins to make bronze utensils to make profits. Some landlords and wealthy merchants simply melted pure copper and pure silver into large balls and buried them in the cellar. This vulgar habit has caused the original function of currency circulation to be infinitely transformed into a collection function. How much pure copper and silver are there in the market for them to melt and cast like this? Of course, the more copper is lacking, the more expensive the copper price will be, and the more expensive copper price will prompt more Multiple people melted copper and stored it, creating a vicious cycle. The money shortage caused by the lack of copper also inhibited the capitalization development speed of Jiangnan handicraft industry and suppressed the economic development speed of the Ming Dynasty. Japan happens to have a lot of copper. The Dewa Kunio Kazawa Mine that mines and passes has been mined intermittently for 800 years. years, and will continue to be mined for another four hundred years. The new coins minted at the time of Yoshihiro Kira were recast according to the standard of four copper and six lead. Compared with the original version,The variegated Hongwu Tongbao is naturally much better, but it is slightly different in color than Yongle Tongbao. Of course, this difference is not obvious and only the Kira family's money house can distinguish the subtle differences between the two. At that time, Ji Liangyi recycled Yongle money and melted it into pure copper. According to the standard of copper 4 lead 6, a large number of recasts would become his important income. This ratio would be used by a certain Tatar dynasty more than a hundred years later. For the casting of official copper coins, the usual weight of newly minted copper coins is just over seven pounds and four taels. This standard is exactly in line with the shakukan method popular in Japan. The shakugan method stipulates that the weight is equal to seven kilograms and five taels, which is close to the official hair standard. Even if it was sold on the market in the Ming Dynasty, there is nothing to worry about. Most merchants are surprised by this kind of Hongwu Tongbao He had never seen it before, but he would never doubt that it was made privately by Kira Ji. He was not worried about being exposed because the Jiajing Tongbao, which used a new technology, weighed one qian and two cents per small flat coin, and the usual price was only seven jins and eight taels. Later, The weight has increased to the point where each Xiaoping coin weighs one qian, two and a half cents, and a regular coin weighs eight jins, which is already the limit. Pure lead can be obtained directly from copper coins. You can also melt the required pure lead by purchasing crude copper blocks with slightly lower precision in large quantities. If you have copper and lead, you can continue to recast copper coins. Although you know that this business is very profitable, but In order to prevent Kiragi from being leaked, he did not dare to recruit Omi's manpower, so he could only use Soga Heibei's men, but his speed could not increase. Kiragi thought hard for a long time before he realized that Mikawa Country was not rich in honest farmers. He immediately contacted Nobuzada Ohuchi of Mikawa and asked him to select a thousand farmers from Mikawa Country. Regardless of age and origin, they only required loyalty, honesty, and a strict mouth. If he could Nothing better than home relocation.