As the temperature of the water-fire boiler rises, after the speed regulating valve is pressed, the flywheel of the water-fire slowly rotates. The rotating flywheel of the water-fire drives the huge metal turntable of the elbow-operated press coin casting machine with many spokes like the rudder of a ship with gears. As the huge disc on the coin casting machine rotates, the connecting rod connected to the spokes also moves. This connecting rod is connected to the elbow joint fixed on the machine with a movable joint. The upper end of the elbow joint is fixed to the machine body, and the lower part is the slider for placing the upper coin mold. As the connecting rod pushes the elbow joint, the slider moves all of a sudden, presses downward, and the automatic feeding clamp also starts to feed automatically...
In the blink of an eye, clatter...
A pleasant sound was heard, and glittering silver coins flowed out from the coin outlet of the elbow-operated coin press and fell into the frame below.
To the ears of the people around, this sound was like the sound of nature and caused a commotion.
"It's out, it's out, this coin is really out..." the craftsmen nearby shouted, causing cheers.
The steam engine was turning, and the elbow-operated coin press was also turning. Because the casting materials had been prepared long ago, silver coins flowed out of the coin outlet of the coin press every one or two seconds.
"It's really made, it's that simple!" Qian Su was also watching from the side, his eyes widened. Even though the coin minting machine and the water-fire machine were both made in the manufacturing bureau, Qian Su still felt it was magical and dreamy when he saw the two machines made by his familiar craftsmen connected together to turn silver into silver coins. In Qian Su's eyes, the two rotating machines seemed to have a magical rhythm that made people intoxicated. Coin making was originally an extremely difficult task, but under Yan Liqiang's hands, it suddenly became extremely simple.
In just a short while, there were already hundreds of silver coins in the frame below the coin outlet of the coin minting machine. Qian Su bent down and took a silver coin from the frame. Just holding the silver coin in his hand, the glittering silver coin made Qian Su feel like he couldn't let it go. He exclaimed repeatedly, "It's so beautiful, so beautiful. How can this coin be made so delicate and beautiful? It's even more delicate than women's jewelry and more beautiful than a painting..."
The silver coin in Qian Su's hand was about the same size as the mouth of the bull's-eye cup for drinking. Compared with the various sizes and colors of silver circulating on the market, this silver coin was simply incredibly beautiful. The main material of the silver coin was of course silver, but a small amount of copper was added to the silver. The strength, hardness, wear resistance, glossiness and texture of the silver coin in the hand were greatly improved compared to ordinary silver.
"Ah..." Qian Su was stunned for a moment. His thoughts could no longer keep up with Yan Liqiang's pace. "Minting copper coins for the court?"
"Well, this is just an idea of mine. We have to wait and see. Once this thing is successful, even if the profit is only 5%, it will be great..." Yan Liqiang said vaguely.
On the front of the silver coin, the pattern on it is the Qiyun Mountain range. Surrounding the mountain range, there is a line of neat and beautiful Chinese characters - Supervised by the Qiyun Protectorate of the Han Empire. Below the Qiyun Mountain pattern, there are two characters "one cent", which is the equal weight face value of the silver coin. Below the two characters "one cent" is the time of this year - the 16th year of Yuanping!
On the back of the silver coin, there is a cute sheep covered in wool, and below the sheep, there are two words "one penny"...
There is a circle of fine and delicate side teeth on the silver coin, and the pattern of the whole silver coin is uneven, like a work of art that has been carefully carved...
It is no exaggeration to say that the entire Silver Continent has never had such exquisite coins since ancient times.
Looking at the silver coin in his hand, Qian Su couldn't help but take out a copper coin issued by the Han Empire from his pocket to compare it - the rough font and the smoothed edges on the copper coin were like the difference between a village aunt and a stunning beauty...
"This silver coin is so exquisite. But according to custom, even if we distribute it to everyone, I'm afraid no one would be willing to spend it. I think ordinary people would hide it once they get it and would not spend it easily..." Qian Su looked at Yan Liqiang and said.
Yan Liqiang also held a silver coin in his hand. At this moment, Yan Liqiang had a strange sense of pride in his heart, because the teacher who taught him to paint in his previous life once said that painters like them with special skills are the most proud and the most awesome ones who can print their paintings on money. The pattern on the silver coin was made using Yan Liqiang's paintings and calligraphy.
Teacher, you didn’t arrive first, one day what I drew also appeared on the coin, Yan Liqiang said secretly in his heart.
To be honest, at the beginning, he originally wanted to make the pattern on the back of the silver coin into his own portrait, but then he thought about it carefully and felt that this seemed a bit too exaggerated, so he decided to put a pattern of a cute sheep on the back of the silver coin.
After returning to Pingxi City from Baishi Pass, Yan Liqiang spent many consecutive days in the Manufacturing Bureau. Under Yan Liqiang's personal supervision and guidance, the Manufacturing Bureau finally built a prototype of this elbow-operated press coin casting machine. To be honest, this elbow-operated press coin casting machine is not as complicated as a steam engine in terms of structure and manufacturing difficulty. The structure and parts are relatively simple. Before, because there was no real object, the craftsmen of the Manufacturing Bureau were not sure about several places on the drawings drawn by Yan Liqiang, especially about the operation of the elbow joint and the die of the coin casting machine. That's why they didn't make it. This time, Yan Liqiang personally guided by the side, and it was completely natural to make this machine.
Although the coin minting machine in front of us looks a bit rough, especially the steel frame parts cast on the machine appear a bit bulky, there is no doubt that it can be used.
Hearing Qian Su's words, Yan Liqiang threw the silver coin in his hand into the frame and smiled at Qian Su. "If the number of this silver coin is small, people will hide it and will not use it easily. But if it is issued in large quantities, then slowly, everyone will get used to it and will naturally use it. I think in a few months, the salaries of officials at all levels in Qiyun County, as well as the military pay and rewards of soldiers in the army, can be paid with silver coins. But the coin minting machine in front of us is not enough. The Manufacturing Bureau needs to build a mint and put hundreds of these coin minting machines in the mint. The efficiency will naturally be high..."
"By the way, what are the uses of these fine teeth marks on the edge of this silver coin?" Qian Su touched the edge of the silver coin in his hand and asked puzzledly.
"If someone wants to be sneaky and tamper with this silver coin, even if it's just to grind off a tiny bit of silver powder from a silver coin, once the teeth on this side are ground flat, it will be discovered!"
"Ah, that's how it is!" Qian Su looked at the copper coin in his hand with its edge smoothed out, and suddenly he understood something. He patted his head and said, "Excellent, excellent. Li Qiang, you can really think of anything. Ahem... Ahem... With this prototype, it is not difficult to produce other coin minting machines. However, once this coin minting machine is made, someone will definitely know about it. If someone wants to buy it at that time, should we sell it to them?"
"Of course not. The confidentiality level of this coin minting machine is the same as that of the spring in the manufacturing bureau. I'd like to trouble you, Uncle Qian, to pay more attention to this!"
Yan Liqiang said as he walked outside, leaving the place to the craftsmen. Qian Su watched Yan Liqiang leave, put away the silver coin in his hand, and followed him. "This coin minting machine is profitable. If you want to sell it, the sales volume will be very good. It will definitely be more popular than the water and fire machine. Liqiang, why don't you want to sell it?"
Seeing that there were no outsiders around, Yan Liqiang blinked at Qian Su and said, "The imperial court is now spending a lot of money on minting copper coins. I heard that for every pound of tung wood distributed, the imperial court can only make six or seven taels of copper coins. Uncle Qian, if I take over the copper coin minting business from the imperial court and reduce the cost of minting copper coins by half, will the imperial court be willing?"
"Ah..." Qian Su was completely stunned by Yan Liqiang's wild ideas and couldn't keep up with Yan Liqiang's pace at all. "Minting copper coins for the court?"
"This is just an idea of mine. Let's wait and see. If this is accomplished, the profits will be thousands of times greater than the wool business..." Yan Liqiang said vaguely.
"Speaking of the wool business, news came from Baishi Pass that the Shatu people have been unwilling to surrender for three consecutive days. Now, there are already 70 or 80 Shatu caravans gathered outside Baishi Pass. They are fighting with us outside Baishi Pass and are unwilling to sell us wool. In the border market of Yingwei County, all the wool from the past two days has been sold out. The merchants from all sides cannot buy wool, which has caused a little trouble..."
Yan Liqiang smiled slightly, "Those Shatu people are still a little bit lucky now, and are still waiting for news from their master. Uncle Qian, just wait and see. As long as we do our job well, it won't take a few days for those Shatu people to become soft. They won't be able to hold on for a few days..."
(End of this chapter)