Li Shanchang was a step late, so naturally he couldn't surpass Zhang Ximeng. Moreover, he had some bad habits that were hard to change, so Lao Zhu couldn't completely rest assured.
However, Li Shanchang can still grasp clearly that Lao Zhu's team has great potential. In just a short time, it has already established a solid base and hundreds of thousands of dedicated people.
As long as we are given a few more years to fully develop and conquer the world, it is not an empty talk!
Therefore, what Zhu Yuanzhang said to Peng Zaozhu was not without purpose.
His pattern is already there.
If you are determined to be a founding hero, what difference does it make whether you are ranked first or second?
It's just that a little kid took the limelight, and we, Mr. Li, were a little dissatisfied.
Li Shanchang also wanted to break up with Zhang Ximeng, but instead of fighting fiercely, he wanted to let Lao Zhu know that he, Li Shanchang, also had abilities that Zhang Ximeng could not do.
In a word, Lao Li wants to get involved with Zhang Ximeng!
There is no doubt that this is a very good thing for the entire Zhu Group.
Zhang Ximeng is not in competition with Li Shanchang. You have the ability to take over all the work and do it beautifully. I am happy and free.
But after all, there are still some things that Lao Li can't do, such as this market bond.
The biggest enemy of any kind of banknotes, apart from excessive issuance, is counterfeiting.
So the first thing to solve is how to prevent counterfeiting.
Zhang Ximeng got some Yuan Ting treasure notes, and the moment he got them, he shook his head.
This thing is too crudely made.
In fact, the treasure banknotes of the Yuan Dynasty had a period of reliability, and due to sufficient reserves, the currency value was relatively stable. But unfortunately, just like the Yuan Dynasty, it could only be maintained for a short period of time, and then the banknotes were issued indiscriminately and shoddily produced.
, especially for the purpose of repairing the Yellow River, new banknotes, old banknotes, real banknotes and fake banknotes were mixed together on the market. The currency system completely collapsed, causing many places to simply retreat to the level of barter.
Zhang Ximeng had already experienced these things when he first crossed over.
It is easy to destroy something, but it is very difficult to build a new one.
It is necessary to use food as a guarantee, and to ensure that there are no counterfeit banknotes, so as to facilitate and benefit the people... After studying for some days, Zhang Ximeng finally summed up the anti-counterfeiting methods of the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
The first step is to select the material. It must be rare bark, which is not allowed to be used by the public. The bark of the mulberry tree is usually used.
It is a pity that as the control of the Yuan Dynasty disappeared, Chupi could no longer be used, and private people also misappropriated it in large quantities. Therefore, the current treasure banknotes and paper are hard to describe, and they are no better than the papyrus used to wipe the buttocks.
It is obvious that Chuzhou is not the only place to produce a kind of paper.
Secondly, the pictures and text on banknotes must be complicated and difficult to imitate.
Thirdly, multi-color overprinting such as red, black, and blue must be used.
Finally stamped with the official seal.
In addition, there are some special methods. Specialized personnel must be arranged in the market to distinguish authenticity from fakes... After all this is done, the Jiaozi and Baobao of Song and Yuan Dynasties can only be said to be unsatisfactory.
Zhang Ximeng is very worried now. He cannot solve the problem with materials, and Chuzhou does not have the technology for multi-color overprinting. He can actually design some numbers, but it may not be possible!
Anyway, no matter whether it works or not, just give it a try!
Zhang Ximeng had someone make a batch of sample money and was wondering whether to give it to Lao Zhu when Li Wenzhong and Zhu Ying happened to arrive.
"Brother Zhang, why did you bring the treasure money we were playing with?"
Zhang Ximeng was stunned, "What are you doing?"
Zhu Ying smiled and said, "My seatmate belongs to a bookstore. He can copy books, draw illustrations, and is very literate. He drew a lot of treasure notes for us to spend."
"What?" Zhang Ximeng was shocked, "Does your classmate still have such talent?"
Zhu Ying nodded, "That's right! Our Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is much better than yours." As he spoke, Zhu Ying glanced at Li Wenzhong provocatively.
Li Wenzhong just touched his head with his hand.
"You are still young. If you are a few years older, you will come here. Will you still be able to look down on the elementary school then?"
Zhu Ying rolled her little black eyes and finally stopped talking. Instead, she picked up the treasure banknote in front of Zhang Ximeng, looked at it again and again, and then said disgustedly: "Brother, why is this painting not as good as my deskmate?"
Zhang Ximeng frowned, "It took several skilled craftsmen to make this."
Zhu Ying is not convinced. No matter how many skilled craftsmen there are, they just can’t do it!
He rummaged through his pocket for a long time and finally found a crumpled coin and slapped it in front of Zhang Ximeng.
"Look at it!"
Zhang Ximeng took it in his hand and didn't pay much attention at first. He just thought it was strange for children to draw banknotes and play with them. He had done this before in his previous life... But when he picked it up and took a closer look, it was strange!
The painting of this treasure note is so lifelike. Compared with the treasure note of Yuan Ting, it is not exactly the same, but it is better than the previous one!
The paper, lines, colors...even the large print are impeccable.
"That classmate of yours has a bookshop in his family? How old is he?"
"It should be twelve or thirteen years old. Brother, last time you selected students from the military. In the future, can you choose some young people from the private sector? This classmate of mine is really awesome! Don't waste your talents!"
Zhang Ximeng could only smile bitterly. When is a person who can draw counterfeit money not a talent?
"Well, you go and call him over, and I'll have a chat with him."
Zhu Ying agreed, and at night, he brought a young man with handsome features. He was wearing a slightly faded gown, his head lowered, and he was a little scared.
After entering, he saluted Zhang Ximeng.
"You're welcome, I'm not much older than you."
Zhang Ximeng asked him to sit down, personally brought him some fruit, and asked about his studies, and the young man answered honestly.
Then Zhang Ximeng took out a pen and paper, a ruler, and various colors of paint.
Finally, he took out a market coupon he had obtained and handed it to the young man.
"You can draw one accordingly."
The young man looked at it and concentrated again. After a while, his eyes became obviously focused, as if everything outside was not in his mind.
He slowly picked up the pen and drew on the blank paper, finishing the whole process in one go.
It only took half an hour to put down the pen.
"I've finished the painting."
Zhang Ximeng took it and took a look and was speechless.
His paper money plan is probably going to be ruined.
"Um...what's your name?"
"My name is Lu Zhou."
Zhang Ximeng nodded, "Well... do you think this thing is difficult?"
Lu Zhou said without thinking, "It's not difficult. In fact, compared with the good treasure notes in the past, it's pretty simple."
Zhang Ximeng asked again: "Then let me tell you, is there any way to imitate it on a large scale?"
"Are you going to print?"
"Yeah!" Zhang Ximeng nodded.
Lu Zhou thought for a while and said slowly: "It's not difficult to print engravings. There are them in Yangzhou, maybe Jiqing can do it too. After all, our family has only printed books and never made banknotes. We are not that familiar with it yet. Give it to me."
It may take ten days and a half to get it out." The young man told Zhang Ximeng with a serious look on his face.
Zhang Ximeng felt bad all over.
He thought hard, found several skilled craftsmen, and spent more than ten days to make it. This kid can make it by himself in ten days and a half, so what else is he playing with?
"Now it seems that it is 80% impossible to create a banknote that can prevent counterfeiting in the short term. Maybe we will have a chance until we win Jiqing."
Zhang Ximeng thought over and over again that this kid Lu Zhou is a talent and must be kept by his side. What if he ran away and hid in a corner studying how to draw counterfeit money every day, that would be a bad thing.
As for now?
Zhang Ximeng thought over and over again and decided to use a stupid method!
Get a food bank!
Anyone who goes to a grain bank to deposit grain will get a bankbook with the amount of grain deposited written on it.
If people want to buy something, they can take their bankbooks to the market and exchange them for corresponding tickets... For example, if you want to buy pork, one pound of pork requires five pounds of grain.
If you cross out five kilograms of grain here, you can get one kilogram of meat coupons and go to the market to buy meat.
But be careful, this meat ticket has an expiration date. If you don't buy it for three days, it will be invalid.
After all, not everyone can draw a meat ticket casually like Lu Zhou.
In three days, it is very difficult to fake it.
Moreover, this thing is for a designated purpose. You can’t buy cloth with meat tickets, and you can’t buy porcelain with cloth tickets. The possibility of counterfeiting is immediately minimized.
But at the same time, trading has become very troublesome.
Not only those who buy things need to exchange various tickets, but also the vendors who sell things need to exchange the tickets they earn into food and deposit them in their bankbooks after a busy day.
To be honest, it's just a little better than bartering, and the strength is very limited. You don't have to carry heavy grains on your back, and you don't have to worry about the quality of the grains, that's all.
In order to attract people to save grain, Zhang Ximeng even proposed the concept of earning interest on grain storage. For example, if one hundred kilograms of grain is deposited, one hundred and ten kilograms will be included in the bankbook.
Zhang Ximeng also wanted to get it right in one step and come up with banknotes that everyone could accept...but conditions did not allow it. Yuan Ting's excessive issuance of treasure banknotes and banknote changes had made banknotes notorious. The confidence of the people was gone.
Now Lao Zhu doesn't have that much gold, silver, and copper on his hands, so he can't issue metal currency.
But we still want to mobilize the enthusiasm of the people, concentrate financial and material resources, and develop production. Is there any other way besides adopting a grain-based approach?
This method can only be an excessive method. Use it for one or two years, or three to five years, and then discard it when the situation gets better.
Zhang Ximeng thought about it over and over and finally made up his mind to go find Lao Zhu.
Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was not there.
Guo Ying told Zhang Xi that it was Mr. Li and Mr. Yang who invited the superiors to pray for rain!
Pray for rain!
Only then did Zhang Ximeng realize that he had forgotten that after the summer harvest, it seemed that there was not much rain in Chuzhou, which indeed affected the sowing... But does praying for rain work?
Don't let it be Li Shanchang and Yang Yuangao who confuse Lao Zhu, right?
Zhang Ximeng went to the Dragon Temple in Fengshan, southwest of Chuzhou, with a strategy in mind.
When Zhang Ximeng arrived, Zhu Yuanzhang happened to be thinking something.
"If the drought is like this, we will pray for rain for the people. The Dragon God relies on the people here for worship, how can we not care about the people? Within three days, the sky will rain. If there is no rain... I will not destroy this ancestral hall and smash the golden body!"
After Lao Zhu finished speaking, he took off the big bow from his back and shot three arrows at the Dragon God!
Whoosh whoosh!
After shooting, he came out proudly, frightening both Li Shanchang and Yang Yuangao... What kind of rain prayer was this? It was clearly meant to intimidate the Dragon God!
Zhang Ximeng was stunned when he saw all this.
Lao Zhu, I really belong to you!
Zhang Ximeng raised his head and looked at Si Yu Dragon God in his seat. He hoped that there would be some backbone and it would stop raining within three days. What kind of dragon god would he be if he bowed his head after being coerced by a mortal?
Remember, don't lower your head, the crown will fall off!