Chapter 17 19. Money Rolls in Like Water

Although the process was tortuous, the result was satisfactory.

Xiao Pingtai successfully found a furnace head named Jin Bingwei. After some communication, since someone was willing to waste materials (for experiment), Jin Bingwei was very happy to practice his craftsmanship (as for the sand casting method, I will not copy it, after all, we are not novel chapter writers who make a living by water).

As for making the mother, it is simple. Use one cent of gold to ask the goldsmith to carve a gold coin slightly larger than the normal Yongle coin. As for the four characters of Yongle Tongbao, don’t we have Uncle Gangliang who has a relatively high level of Chinese culture? Let’s not talk about Xiao Pingtai’s dog-climbing brush calligraphy.

This thing is very fast. In just a few days, fifty gold-carved Yongle coins were delivered to Xiao Pingtai. (There is no need to question where the gold came from. Uncle Gangliang is a middle- and high-level samurai with a watch of more than 150 kan. How can there be no gold!)

After that, Xiao Pingtai and Uncle Gangliang carried a lot of charcoal (taken for free by the village) to the smelting furnace in Jinshan. After all, it would be unreasonable to use public firewood and charcoal.

Xiao Pingtai roughly explained the concept that the melting points of copper and gold are similar, and asked Jin Bingwei to do it according to his own method. Except for the special attention to adding Japanese lead (zinc), adding lead is not a big deal. The ash blowing method of smelting requires a lot of lead, and Jin Bingwei is very skilled in it. (But think about it, most of these craftsmen died of chronic lead poisoning in the end, which is quite pitiful.)

Sure enough, smelting alloys is a very simple thing for insiders to operate. Pour the copper alloy solution into the prepared mold in advance, and the rest is to wait.

When the cast copper liquid is cool, Xiao Pingtai and his nephew can't wait to pick up the tree-shaped copper coin blanks, which are bright and shining, and flashing golden yellow under the fire (idealized).

One by one, the coins were broken off from the coin molds. Twenty frames totaling one thousand coins were all of very good quality. After being put on the iron rod and the edges were carefully polished, the flawless imitation Yongle coins were presented in front of the uncle and nephew.

For more than ten days after that, until the New Year, Xiao Pingtai and Jin Bingwei stayed by the furnace and did not go home at all, and Tsunayoshi also ran to Jinshan whenever he had time. Tsunayoshi's three wives all suspected that the cheap uncle and nephew had an affair, but thinking of Xiao Pingtai's unflattering appearance, the matter was over.

By the New Year, the two men had brought back more than 74 kan of copper coins from Jinshan (think of the spectacular situation of more than 70,000 coins), and this tortuous coin casting was finally over.

In addition to paying two kan of coins to Jin Bingwei, they spent some miscellaneous items to purchase charcoal and some ironware. The material money of less than 14 kan of the two people plus the labor and processing fee of 4 kan can get three times the profit (think about the low copper price in Japan), and all the previous anxiety and unhappiness disappeared.

In addition to the salary of 15 kan of coins issued in the New Year, Xiao Pingtai suddenly became a small local tyrant with 50 kan, and according to the market price, he could buy a more noble godfather.

Of course, there was no need to do so. Kobayata just ordered a set of Wufu made of top-grade Koshu silk. At this time, the advantage of being 1.4 meters tall was revealed. It didn't cost much material. I didn't know whether I should be happy or not.

Then he also wanted to get a flashy Nanbando, preferably the Milan-style with a visor. It's not that Kobayata is so afraid of death. After all, there are no eyes on the battlefield. If you can wrap yourself up tightly, the safety factor will be higher.

But the craftsmen in Southern Shinshu don't have this skill. In fact, it should be possible to give them a piece of iron plate and let them knock one according to Kobayata's own body shape, but it is definitely not as good as steel. I think it's better to get a genuine Nanbando. I asked the big merchants in the town if anyone brought it from Kyushu or Sakai to sell (don't think it's expensive, Furuta Oribe, who has a salary of 200 koku, has a Nanbando), but it turned out that there was no one. So I had to give up and wait for an opportunity to find a set.

After Kobayata saved enough money for a bigger deal next time, he found Tsunayoshi and had a long talk with him. Even if the two of them were doing a small business, the profit they could make in a year would be nearly 600 kan, which was completely comparable to the salary of the scribe, Hosokawa Harumiya, and was enough to support and mobilize more than 30 mounted samurai (Takeda Shingen used 5,000 kan in Shinano Ueno to support more than 400 red-armored warriors of Obata Norishige).

They couldn't keep this money, so it was better to use it as a stepping stone to advance, and use the pillow talk of his sister who had already secured a position in Yamauchi Fuchu Castle and was known as Matsu no Den to persuade Yamauchi Yoshiharu. It could not only make her stay in the harem of Yamauchi Yoshiharu, but also allow the uncle and nephew to take a step forward.

Since ancient times, true love cannot be retained, only money can move people's hearts. Everyone understands this truth, and Tsunayoshi decided to do so after just one thought, not to mention that if they were close to Yamauchi Yoshiharu, the two of them might get even more.

So he promised to go into the city to see his daughter the next day and talk to her about this matter.

I am now firmly in the 4,000-plus recommended votes. I am very happy. Thank you all very much.