Chapter 98: Craftsmen in the Treasure Banknote Administration

The Baochao Tizhusi now has an awkward position in the Ming Dynasty government, but due to its special circumstances, the area where the Baochao Tizhusi is located can be regarded as a better place in Yingtian Prefecture.

When Zhu Chong arrived, he noticed that the Baochao Tizhuo Office was located by the mountains and the water, which just separated the office area and the Baochao production area.

But Zhu Chong did not come here to see the office environment. Under the guidance of Zhang Quan, he came to the heavily guarded treasure banknote production workshop.

There was no routine identity verification. As soon as Zhu Chong arrived, he was greeted by a special Jinyiwei. However, Zhang Quan was checked very strictly, even his hair bun and official hat were not spared.

Zhang Quan did not show any discomfort with such differential treatment. After everything was confirmed, he walked up to Zhu Chong and introduced him as they walked.

"Please look, sir. The banknote printing and paper printing bureaus are located in front of us. In addition to the workshop here, there are three other workshops outside the city for the banknote printing bureau, but there is only one banknote printing bureau here."

Zhu Chong frowned as he surveyed the heavily guarded bungalows surrounding the building. "Are you saying that besides this place and the Banknote Printing Bureau's workshop outside the city, there are no other warehouses?"

"That's right." Zhang Quan nodded repeatedly. "The banknotes produced by the Banknote Bureau are special. All the banknotes used in the treasure notes can only be produced in one workshop here. This is to avoid any accidents."

"It is also in response to His Majesty's needs this year that the Banknote Printing Bureau recently opened three additional workshops outside the city. Otherwise, the banknote printing workshop and banknote paper workshop would only be here."

Zhu Chong nodded. It seemed that Old Zhu's demand for treasure notes was indeed growing. Otherwise, he would not have reacted so strongly after hearing his pessimism about treasure notes, and would not have sent himself here to be the leader.

"Sir, look here. This is the workshop where the banknotes are printed. All the banknotes of the Ming Dynasty are transported from here and then handed over to the Ministry of Revenue for storage."

"All the banknotes are first taken from the Banknote Bureau, then printed here. After being counted and verified, they are escorted to the Ministry of Revenue by special personnel. The entire process is completed under the supervision of the Jinyiwei..."

Zhang Quan patiently and almost repeatedly introduced the production process and procedures of Baochao.

Zhu Chong also listened with great interest. He waited until Zhang Quan finished speaking before nodding and saying, "Okay, let's go see the treasure banknote production workshop first."

"Sir, please come this way!" Zhang Quan immediately stepped forward, opened the door of the workshop for Zhu Chong, and led Zhu Chong in.

After entering the workshop, Zhu Chong discovered that the space inside the workshop was extremely large, and was even divided into two floors. However, there was only a corridor on the side of the wall on the second floor. There were at least a dozen Jinyiwei standing there, like puppets, looking down from above.

With just one glance, Zhu Chong understood what it was for.

Using the Embroidered Uniform Guards to supervise the work, it seems that Lao Zhu is very attentive to this workshop and is afraid that someone will smuggle things in.

But in Zhu Chong's eyes, what was so worthwhile about smuggling the current treasure notes? Moreover, according to Zhang Quan, the craftsmen here had no human rights at all. They had lived in the workshops for almost generations, with no chance to leave.

Moreover, when Zhu Chong looked around, he found that the craftsmen in the entire workshop were like emotionless robots, turning a blind eye to any external situation, as if they had no perception at all.

For example, Zhu Chong had been in there for a long time, but no one turned around to look at him. This felt unbelievable to Zhu Chong. Is this a workshop or a prison labor camp?

"Hey, Zhang Quan, call someone over here. I have something to ask you." Zhu Chong was in a bad mood and spoke in a bad tone.

Zhang Quan suddenly became nervous. He didn't understand why Zhu Chong's expression suddenly became strange when he was fine just now. He didn't dare to ask, so he could only quickly do as Zhu Chong said. He first greeted the Jinyiwei on the second floor above his head, and then called over a skinny old man.

"Sir, this is the workshop manager. You can just call him Old Liu. He's in charge here."

"Manager Liu, right?" Zhu Chong asked casually, but he didn't expect that Old Liu would kneel down after hearing his words.

"Sir, I dare not call you that. I am just a craftsman here. I really cannot take what Manager Liu said seriously!"

Seeing Old Liu kneeling on the ground and explaining carefully, Zhu Chong frowned even more tightly and looked at Zhang Quan and asked, "Can you let him get up and find a place for me to talk?"

"Yes, yes, I'll do it right away!" Zhang Quan agreed hurriedly, but he still informed the Jinyiwei first. Then he led Zhu Chong and Old Liu out of the door. He personally brought a small stool and a small table, and then brought a bowl of water to the two of them from somewhere.

Zhu Chong frowned again, too lazy to talk nonsense, and went straight to the point, "Old Liu, I am the new treasure bank supervisor. I came here today to see you and have some questions to ask you. Please answer truthfully."

"Yes, yes, yes. If you have any questions, I will tell you everything I know!"

When Old Liu heard Zhu Chong introduce himself as the new supervisor, his attitude immediately became more respectful.

"I just checked the workshop. Why aren't there any young people? It's all being run by you old folks. How many hours do you work every day?"

Just one sentence and a few questions stumped Old Liu and Zhang Quan. They looked at each other and tacitly kept silent.

"What's wrong? Didn't you just say that you would tell me everything you know? Why are you silent?" A sharp light flashed in Zhu Chong's eyes.

"Sir, this..." Old Liu was a little nervous and looked at Zhang Quan eagerly, but Zhang Quan also looked embarrassed.

"Sir, this is a long story!" Zhang Quan hesitated for a long time, but finally told Zhu Chong the reason.

After hearing what Zhang Quan said, Zhu Chong finally understood that the reason he didn't dare to speak out was because of Old Zhu.

The story started after Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country and divided the people of the world into scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans.

To be honest, Zhu's original idea was good, but with the changes in national policies and human factors, the situation became more and more wrong.

When Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, as long as a craftsman had a skill, his or her skills would be enough to support not only a comfortable life but also a family.

However, as Zhu Yuanzhang launched foreign wars year after year, the court recruited more and more craftsmen, which led to many strange things happening.

The most bizarre thing is that when the government recruits craftsmen to serve the country, they do not give them any financial subsidies. It is purely voluntary labor, and at most they are given food to eat.

As a result, the number of people willing to be craftsmen has plummeted. Nowadays, people would rather farm than become craftsmen, just to avoid working for the court for free.

As a result, the craftsmen that the Baochao Tizhusi can currently recruit are all craftsmen recruited from the older generation.

After Zhu Chong understood the situation, his expression suddenly became ugly.