Chapter 45

The scenery at Taibai Peak was as beautiful as ever, but Hu Niu, who was visiting for the first time, had no interest in the spring beauty outside the camp. Her and Xiao Letian's attention was already captured by the two small blast furnaces.

The red was the burning coal, the white was the scattered silver, and the flowing was the silver water emitting an eerie glow. On the ground were rows of iron molds. Under the lifting of two bare-chested strong men, the specially made iron pots carefully poured the silver water into the iron molds.

This was the real secret to Xiao Letian's wealth accumulation. The so-called foreign trade and business with foreigners were just a facade. The surface business was merely to cover up his true plan for making a fortune.

Privately minting silver coins, specifically the Mexican Eagle Dollar, was Xiao Letian's brilliant strategy for accumulating wealth at Taibai Peak. According to the thinking of people in the Qing Dynasty, privately minting coins was not a rare occurrence. There were many cases of private coin minting in Qing history.

Even anti-Qing organizations like the White Lotus Society and the Heaven and Earth Society secretly minted copper coins to accumulate wealth, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also issued its own currency. However, what Xiao Letian was doing was not so low-tech. He aimed to combine the two most influential silver coins in late Qing and early Republican China.

The minting technique was based on the Yuan Shikai Dollar (Yuan Toudai), while the design was based on the Mexican Eagle Dollar. These two coins, which had a profound impact on Chinese silver coin history, were finally combined in Xiao Letian's hands.

The Mexican Eagle Dollar was a new coin minted in Mexico after 1821, starting in 1823. The front design featured the national emblem of the Mexican Republic: an eagle with wings spread, holding a snake in its mouth, standing on a cactus growing from a rock in a lake. The design was surrounded by oak and laurel branches, symbolizing strength, loyalty, and peace.

During the late Qing and early Republican periods, the most common foreign silver coins in China were the Mexican Eagle Dollars. According to a survey in the second year of the Xuantong era, there were about 1.1 billion foreign silver coins in circulation in China, one-third of which were Mexican Eagle Dollars, showing the profound impact of this foreign currency on China's financial system. The quality of the Mexican Eagle Dollar was better than other foreign silver coins and remained stable over the years, making it a popular choice.

The Yuan Toudai, on the other hand, was more familiar to the people of later generations. The classic scene was people pinching the center of the silver coin, blowing on it, and then placing it near their ear to hear a clear humming sound. This unique design became a trademark of the Yuan Toudai.

A Yuan Toudai weighed 6.48 tael of pure silver, cast with a 9:1 silver-to-copper ratio, resulting in a total weight of 7.2 tael. The 10% copper content was a significant profit margin.

Xiao Letian imagined that from north to south and from east to west, people across China would carry his forged Eagle Dollars. Shopkeepers would blow on each Eagle Dollar they received, a scene he found incredibly beautiful.

"Mr. Xiao! Mr. Xiao..." Shi Dakai and Fan Lian, the shopkeeper, woke up Xiao Letian, who was drooling and daydreaming. "This is the first batch of Eagle Dollars today. Don't you want to try them out?" they teased.

How could Xiao Letian miss this opportunity? He cautiously touched the iron mold, finding it no longer hot. He then lifted an iron mold and slammed it to the ground. With a dull thud, the two iron molds separated, revealing the silver coins inside.

"My precious money, with you, I won't be bullied anymore..." Xiao Letian was visibly moved. He knelt down, carefully removing each silver coin and holding them in his hands as if they were his own children. Around him, dozens of wooden boxes were filled with rolls of Eagle Dollars, each roll containing 100 coins wrapped in red paper, looking incredibly festive.

"How many silver coins can we produce each day? How much silver do we use?"

"Currently, we can smelt 9,000 taels of silver and 1,000 taels of copper, producing about 13,000 silver coins. I wanted to open more furnaces, but we don't have enough scattered silver. The entire camp only has 300,000 taels of silver, which is not enough..." Fan Lian said regretfully.

Shi Dakai was also a bit frustrated. "If we had known about Mr. Xiao's brilliant plan, we should have stored more silver instead of so many jewels..."

Xiao Letian shook his head. "No problem. The Qing Dynasty has plenty of scattered silver. I don't believe that with such high-quality silver coins, we won't be able to exchange them for silver." He blew on the silver coin, and a melodious humming sound echoed, delighting everyone present.

"Let's slaughter pigs and sheep; today we have a grand feast at the camp..." Xiao Letian shouted, and the entire Taibai Peak erupted in cheers.

Money gives men courage, and this saying was spot on. At the banquet, Xiao Letian formally revealed his economic strategy to Shi Dakai and Fan Lian.

The elite at the table initially didn't understand the intricacies of Xiao Letian's coin minting. It wasn't until Xiao Letian, slightly drunk, explained everything in detail that they finally understood.

Minting coins is profitable, but many people didn't understand how. First, silver coins cannot be made of pure silver; to increase hardness, other hard metals must be added. For example, the Yuan Toudai contained 10% copper.

Compared to the price of silver, the cost of copper is negligible, so the 10% profit is easily earned.

Secondly, the fire loss system in ancient times must be considered. The term "fire loss" first appeared in the Ming Dynasty, created by the famous statesman Zhang Juzheng. His single-whip tax system introduced silver into the national tax system, making it a part of the currency family.

Silver must be minted, and in daily transactions, it's impossible to use large silver ingots. Ordinary people with a few taels of silver were considered wealthy. As for the local government, the silver collected through taxes was mostly scattered. For convenience and accounting, the silver was melted into large ingots at the county level. The loss during this process was called "fire loss."

Soon, officials in the Ming and Qing Dynasties discovered the financial benefits of fire loss. The amount of fire loss for one tael of silver was entirely up to the officials. Even the most honest officials would charge three mace of fire loss for one tael, while corrupt officials charged even more.

In ancient China, one catty was 16 taels. The fire loss charged by honest officials was 20% of the principal. This added 20% to the tax burden of the people. As for corrupt officials who charged more than five mace, they only encouraged rebellion.

Xiao Letian wanted to mint more silver coins, which required more scattered silver. He wouldn't charge three mace of fire loss, but two mace was reasonable, providing a 12% profit margin.

"Mr. Fan, my good prince, what business can earn 22% profit without effort? This is a no-cost business! Now you understand why I bribed the entire officialdom of Yixian County. I'm preparing to absorb a large amount of silver from the people, and with the protection of these officials, we can absorb as much silver as we want."

"Yixian County, though small, has an annual tax of 200,000 taels, all of which will be our raw material for minting coins. Think about how much that is. Add the silver accumulated in the people's hands, which is several times the annual tax. The landlords in our Qing Dynasty love to bury silver in their warehouses and fields. Think about your brother..."

Fan Lian nodded in anger. His brother, who had separated from the family, had dug ten large pits for the silver vault, hiding no less than a million taels of silver. Yet, during the separation, he only gave Fan Lian 100,000 taels, claiming it was a favor, when by right, he should have given nothing. Bah...

"The accumulated wealth in Yixian County is no less than three million taels. In places like Jiangnan, the accumulated silver in a top county could be tens of millions! Imagine if we minted all this silver into coins. How much profit would we make?"

"Moreover, when we have large ships, we can directly purchase silver ore from Japan, Mexico, or even the United States. The cost of minting will be even lower!" Xiao Letian suddenly stood up, raising his wine glass.

"Wave my hand, and silver dollars will rain from the sky. It's up to you whether you have the courage to catch them..." Liu Lang and the old shopkeeper were already red-eyed and ready to go wild, but Shi Dakai remained calm.

"Adviser, even if we can mint so many coins, how do we spend them? Such a large amount of money will reduce the scattered silver in circulation, drastically reducing the fire loss. The Qing rulers will surely notice. Even if they are as greedy as He Shen, they won't dare to melt the silver dollars back into ingots, which would only encourage rebellion."

Xiao Letian burped. "Your Highness, you worry too much. I've already said I'll set up a trading company in Tanggu and bring in the American Lewis, giving him 10% of the shares. Do you think the court will dare to investigate a foreign company?"

"Regarding the Mexican Eagle Dollars we are minting, I can tell you that millions, if not tens of millions, are already circulating privately in the south. Who in the court would dare to investigate?"

"Not only that, but we have other protection. We are not misers; we will spend the money to buy the loyalty of local officials. We will gradually infiltrate county by county. Yixian, Zhuozhou, Guan, Langfang, Xianghe... and the counties around Beijing, one by one."

"We will offer money to those who want it, and take their lives if they refuse. All those who defect will write blood oaths and put their fingerprints on them, just like Liu Sanbian, making them our secret agents while publicly serving the Qing Dynasty."

"I don't need honest officials; we need corrupt ones. The Eighth Prince, Yinzhi, could form a small court under Qianlong and Yongzheng. I don't believe we can't do it..."

Xiao Letian was truly drunk, revealing his plan to everyone at the table. Fortunately, they were in Xiao Letian's study, and only Shi Dakai, Liu Lang, Fan Lian, Hu Niu, and Xiao He Xin were present. If the other brothers had heard, it would have caused a commotion.

Even so, Xiao He Xin, Wang Huaiyuan, and Sima Yun's eyes were already shining like light bulbs, completely moved by the adviser's passion, their blood boiling.

"Let's do it! Following the adviser is truly exhilarating..." The young men stood up. Shi Dakai and Fan Lian, being more mature, held them back.

"Let Mr. Xiao rest. We'll discuss things tomorrow. Hu Niu, help Mr. Xiao to bed... You young men, shut your mouths. What the adviser said is top secret. If you reveal anything, don't blame me for being ruthless..."

By then, Xiao Letian was already snoring loudly.