Gu Yuanchen was still very efficient in his work. Five days later, stacks of banknotes smelling like ink... er, food stamps, were placed in front of His Highness the King of Chu.
Li Heng and two county magistrates were also invited to watch the ceremony together. They saw that the food stamps were divided into two colors.
The blue food stamps have a denomination of one stone and are made of porcelain blue paper. The white food stamps have a denomination of one bucket and are made of Chupichuan paper provided by a prisoner. Of course, that person also received bonus points.
The three officials each picked up a blue food stamp, which was about three inches long and one inch wide. Its surface was painted with pastels and waxed, and the cloud and dragon patterns were painted with gold and gold, surrounded by eye-catching "
The words "One Stone".
Below the food stamps is printed the words "Printed by Suzhou Dyeing and Weaving Bureau, redeemable at Suzhou prefecture and county reserve warehouses".
On the back are clichés such as ‘Each ticket has a number, forgery is strictly prohibited, counterfeiting will be punished, and damage will be exchanged free of charge’, and there is also a miniature pattern of the scene outside Changmen. It looks like a piece of art...
"It's so beautiful." Li Heng exclaimed in admiration, then pointed to the large blank space at the top of the ticket and said, "Isn't there a bit too much blank space here?"
"It's better to add something more." Schrödinge and Fei Mi also agreed.
"Bingo!" His Highness the King of Chu snapped his fingers and said, "Then please ask the three of you to sign on top. Coupled with the number and seam seal, the anti-counterfeiting effect will definitely be great!"
"As ordered." The three officials felt quite honored at first, until they heard His Highness say worriedly:
"Oh, but if I reprint it, I'm afraid it will be too late. I have to work hard and write it by hand."
"No, do you have to write on every one?" The three of them were shocked and sweated on their foreheads. There were so many food stamps, and each person only signed one-third. They couldn't sign them all today, right?
"Of course." Zhu Zhen said seriously: "It's difficult to fake. If the three of you encounter fake food stamps, you can tell at a glance that your signatures are forged."
He said with an apologetic smile: "In this case, the three of you should work harder and sign your names on every food stamp. It's a little more troublesome now, but it will be much easier in the future."
"..." Li Heng and the others twitched at the corners of their mouths. They couldn't finish the signing in three days.
But who dares to disobey His Highness’s will?
Rather than sighing here, it’s better to start work as soon as the sun breaks!
The three of them resignedly took off their official hats, rolled up their sleeves, picked up their pens, and began to sign their signatures on the small food stamps...
Fortunately, the three officials were not very good at signing their names. The signature signature was so fluent and unique that no one else could imitate it.
Just like that, they signed and signed until it was time to hold the lamp, and then His Highness the King of Chu let them go.
"Thank you for your hard work, go back and have a rest." Zhu Zhen said with a smile.
"Thank you, Your Highness..." The three officials wanted to salute with their hands raised, but they couldn't raise their right arms, so they could only make a funny one-handed salute.
"Come early tomorrow." Zhu Zhen's next sentence almost knocked the three of them to the ground.
At this time, Luo Guanzhong finished counting, and the three of them signed a total of 5,000 food stamps today.
"No, it's too slow." His Royal Highness the King of Chu finally showed mercy and said: "The food stamps of one bucket's denomination will be stamped with your private seal instead."
"Thank you, Your Highness..." The three officials were moved and knelt down directly.
If they want to stamp, they don't need to do it themselves. Find a group of young and strong guys and use their unicorn arms to stamp the stamps in turn, and they can stamp a hundred and eighty thousand stamps in one day...
However, Li Heng and the other three couldn't be lazy, because the one-stone food stamps required the signatures of the three of them...and this blue stamp could exchange for a full 120 kilograms of japonica rice from the reserve warehouse, so be careful.
That's right.
~~
On the first day of the fifth lunar month in the 10th year of Hongwu's reign, the Dyeing and Dyeing Bureau began to pay food stamps as deposits to factories that accepted orders.
Those factories belonging to the behind-the-scenes faction would naturally turn over the food stamps immediately after receiving them, and still pay their workers in copper coins.
But those returning home factions, and those factories that are not from any faction, will naturally not keep food stamps... Although this small piece of paper is quite nice, it is not as reassuring as real money!
So when it came time to get paid after work, the weavers in these factories had one more choice...either a hundred cash banknotes or two white food stamps.
Converted according to the price of grain, a grain stamp with a face value of one bucket is worth exactly fifty cash.
At this time, the weavers had been working for more than ten days and had basically survived the most difficult period of famine, so many people chose the latter...
Because they are curious - the hottest topic in Suzhou City recently, apart from the sudden high salary grabs by big businessmen, is what exactly are "food stamps".
Everyone is curious, not knowing that this thing will attract so many stores, and they even promise to get discounts by using food stamps!
Who doesn’t want to see what the ‘food stamps’ that these men are obsessed with look like? Can they really buy things from the store? Can they really go to the reserve warehouse to exchange for food?
Driven by curiosity, many workers received two free food stamps and then went out to the streets with their friends.
Mainly because I am afraid that I will be beaten up alone...
Liu Erdan was one of them. He followed his co-workers to Xuanmiaoguan Street, clutching the two food stamps in his arms tightly, fearing that pickpockets would take them away.
A worker on the side laughed at him: "I usually pay wages, but I haven't seen you be so careful."
"Isn't that rare for me?" Liu Erdan opened his mouth and spoke with a northern accent.
The worker laughed and said, "I don't know if I can buy anything yet?"
"You'll know if you take a look." As Liu Erdan spoke, he walked into a delicatessen with a sign that read, "Use food stamps for 10% off."
The co-workers also came in. They didn't dare to enter high-end places such as clothing stores and gold and silver stores, so they only dared to enter stores like these that could be visited during the holidays.
"How many guys want to have some braised food with wine?" The shopkeeper knew that they were all weavers, so he smiled naturally. One hundred yuan a day is definitely a high income!
Liu Erdan was still not used to the shopkeeper's sudden enthusiasm, and was too embarrassed to look at him.
"Yes. Come with half a pound of water and half a tongue." Erdan nodded and said in a bad Wu voice.
The waiter quickly cut up the two items he ordered and wrapped them in lotus leaves. He said crisply: "Twenty cents, thank you for your patronage!"
"Take this, do you want to take this?" Erdan nervously took out two wrinkled food stamps from his arms. The workers also held their breath.
"Food stamps? Of course I take them." The shopkeeper became even more enthusiastic and said with a smile, "And there's a 10% discount."
"Shiba Wen, thank you for your patronage!" the waiter changed his words.
"Okay, great." Erdan hurriedly handed over a food stamp, and the shopkeeper gave him thirty-two copper coins in change.
Erdan held the copper coins in one hand and the lotus leaf bag in the other, grinning and saying, "You're really not lying!"
When the workers saw this, they also took out their food stamps and happily bought braised food with a 10% discount...
