Nan Ming Sun Never Sets

Chapter 47 Daming Treasure Notes
This list by Zhang Xianyu of the Ministry of War spans the military services and takes into account the sea and land.In Bai Mingxiu's view, this list is simply a white paper on the future development of the Ming Dynasty Restoration Army.

Zhang Xianyu advocated the production of 30 flintlock muskets and 6 12-pound and 2000-pound army field guns.Corresponding accessories include various artillery mounts, carriages, vehicles responsible for logistics transportation, and various accessories in logistics, such as military cans, military medicine and first aid kits, military uniforms, and even books and picture albums for entertainment.

In terms of the navy, Zhang Xianyu requested that Xitian Mansion's mature industrial technology be used immediately to develop iron-clad ships, that is, ships whose main body is made of wood and covered with iron armor, and which adopt new large-caliber rifled guns.Zhang Xianyu's procurement plan listed in one breath includes four 4-ton armored battleships and four 5000-ton protected cruisers.

In his list, many things are things that Bai Mingxiu doesn't have yet.For example, Zhang Xianyu hoped that the military could obtain rifled guns, Armstrong cannons behind them, ironclad ships, and even hoped that the military could develop heavy machine guns like the Maxim... In short, Bai Mingxiu thinks that Zhang Xianyu is basically the same as himself. I knew what weapons would appear later, so I made the request directly.

Zhang Xianyu's huge purchase list cost tens of millions of taels of silver, which made Bai Mingxiu stunned.

Bai Mingxiu completed the main task of the Battle of Northern Burma, and got a million taels of gold. Recently, he searched the wealth of the Burmese Royal Palace and the Dutch East India Company, which made Bai Mingxiu actually quite rich in funds.But spending tens of millions of taels all of a sudden is too much in any way.

Bai Mingxiu gave instructions at the end of Zhang Xianyu's report: "Funds are first allocated for development work, and production tasks are divided into stages. The first batch should meet the needs of the current stage."

His instructions were tantamount to approving Zhang Xianyu's huge military production plan in a disguised form, and it was also to maintain and stimulate Xitianfu's industrial manufacturing.

As Bai Mingxiu established the Lizhengyuan, he became more and more busy, basically all kinds of things needed him to decide.Although he entrusted most of the work to Tang Beilu, who had been promoted to the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, he basically had to ask about it.

Tang Beilu and Zhou Ziliang, governor of the central bank, visited Bai Mingxiu. This time they needed Bai Mingxiu to finalize Daming's banknote issuance work.

"...Australia is basically implementing a gold-silver dual standard system at this stage. We use the authority of the central bank to set a fixed exchange rate for gold and silver, which is 1:15. This ratio is lower than that of Daming, and similar to Europe. It is to avoid the phenomenon of international arbitrage. The official currency name we recognize is 'Mingliang'. According to the situation after the reform of weights and measures, that is, the silver content is 50 grams. Mingliang is equal to 1000 'Mingwen'. According to the custom, one thousand yuan is Consistently. In issuing banknotes, we consider using copper and nickel as the material, and make coins of 1 Wen, 10 Wen, 50 Wen, and 100 Wen respectively for people’s daily circulation. 1 tael we cast Yuanbao and issue 1 tael banknotes, as the largest currency in daily circulation. We also consider printing 10, 50 and 100 banknotes, but considering whether the local people will accept it in the future, we need to study it slowly. As for the use of For commercial and storage purposes, we will also issue notes of 10 taels, 50 taels and 100 taels."

What was displayed in front of Bai Mingxiu was a sample of banknotes that the central bank had prepared for printing. Compared with the exquisite banknotes of the era before Bai Mingxiu traveled through time, the currency printed in Xitianfu still looked like earlier banknotes.However, these "Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes" already have a sense of design and will not lack beauty like those banknotes that already exist.

On the Yimingliang banknote, the obverse pattern is Bai Mingxiu's Ninghai-class clipper sailing battleship, which looks very majestic and beautiful."Printed by the Central Bank of Daming" is printed on the banknote, as well as the words "one tael" in capital letters.The word "two" is written with a gold character on the left side, which is regarded as the creation of this character, which is used exclusively for currency.

Zhou Ziliang, governor of the central bank, said again: "Our banknotes can be exchanged for real gold and silver in various commercial banks in Ming Dynasty. After all, we don't have the conditions to implement credit currency now. We produce gold and silver in Australia. American silver is also continuously imported into China, so it is easy for us to maintain the value of our currency, the only risk is the fluctuation of the price ratio in the gold and silver market, but we can also adopt the method of floating price ratio.”

Bai Mingxiu asked again: "How about the anti-counterfeiting technology?"

Zhou Ziliang said with a smile: "First of all, the materials of our banknotes cannot be imitated by other countries. In addition, we have other anti-counterfeiting technologies superimposed. It is impossible for any country to imitate our banknotes."

Bai Mingxiu nodded and said, "That's all right. Can the output of the banknote printing factory meet the needs of the entire Ming Dynasty?"

"It may be a little difficult for a while, but if His Highness takes back some provinces in the mainland, he can also open a mint, and the output will naturally increase by then."

"Haha, that's the same reason." Bai Mingxiu smiled.

After seeing off the governor of the central bank, Prime Minister Tang Beilu still stayed with Bai Mingxiu to discuss matters with him.Unlike Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang who lived in Beichen Palace, Bai Mingxiu, who was the crown prince in charge of the country, lived outside the palace instead.His residence is a very ordinary residential house in the eastern suburbs of Xitian Mansion. It is a two-story house with a basement and a living area of ​​about 500 square meters.That's the Prince's official residence there, but it's really not the East Palace.

The place where Bai Mingxiu works is the administrative building of the Council of Parliament, which is actually the former Sydney City Government.

Bai Mingxiu looked a little more serious, and said: "Although the Xitian Mansion has been established and everything is going according to the new court's regulations, the most important thing is to restore the country. The King of Jin may have already invaded Yunnan by this time. Trade routes are still very important. Australia must continue to send materials to Myanmar by sea. Myanmar’s self-production capacity for weapons and logistics is not strong, so we need Australia’s supply, and we still need what is there in Yunnan situation, so I am going to order Dayang Company’s merchant ships to quickly pull up a batch of stored weapons and supplies, rush to Myanmar, and report back the situation there.”

Tang Beilu responded to this matter, and asked: "Your Highness is determined to destroy the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. I wonder if he is going to send troops in the future. After all, Xitian Mansion is just a place hanging overseas with a small population, and it is not enough to become a king. Your Highness always We still have to return to our homeland to fight.”

"That's true. As long as Australia's affairs are settled, I will set sail and go straight to Guangdong. At that time, some members of the Legislative Council will also go north with me. Xitian Mansion will return to the municipal government, and some will be in charge of production. Just manage it with the logistics officials.”

"His Highness is very kind."

(End of this chapter)