Lengxiang Garden, in Shuiyun Pavilion.

Jiang Xueying and Ma Xianglan were sitting side by side at the desk, discussing something intently.

Qiaoqiao was sitting there bored, and when she saw Zhao Hao come in, she couldn't help but smile.

Just as she was about to speak, Zhao Hao put his finger to his lips, signaling Qiaoqiao not to make any noise and disturb the two of them.

He tiptoed over, stood behind the two of them, and listened to their serious discussion.

It smells quite good.

Uh, Mr. Zhao was referring to the seven or eight bills of different styles on the table, as well as the Ming Dynasty treasure notes that have disappeared from the market.

Well, the smell of money, nothing else.

"In fact, Wu Ji has accumulated a set of methods to prevent counterfeiting of banknotes over the years of running the bank, such as watermarks and micro-carving seals."

Jiang Xueying then picked up a ticket from Wu Ji with her slender fingers and explained in a crisp voice:

"You can see a circle in the middle of the Wu Ji Hui ticket. If you look at it horizontally, the inside of the circle is blank, but if you hold it up to the light, you can see five connected mountain peaks. This is our Wu Ji's 'watermark'."

"How was this printed?" Ma Xianglan asked curiously.

"I heard that it is formed by changing the thickness of the paper pulp through the change of the silk screen during papermaking." Jiang Xueying explained: "And there are also hidden marks on the fonts and patterns on the watermark, so the bank can tell the authenticity at a glance."

She pointed to the red seal on the lower right corner of the ticket. "As for the micro-carving seal, my sister is proficient in calligraphy and painting, so I don't need to explain it to her."

"Yes." Ma Xianglan nodded. The content of the micro-carved seal was a poem of several hundred words. It was carved very delicately and could not be carved with ordinary technology.

Because the content is too complex and detailed, even the original sculptor cannot carve out a micro-carved seal that is exactly the same as the previous one.

Moreover, the bank would deliberately leave some subtle flaws when carving, making it even more difficult to forge.

"But it's too difficult for ordinary people to tell the difference. So we still have to work on more intuitive aspects."

Jiang Xue greeted him and said, "For example, our Wuji uses special hemp paper. The formula is a top secret of the bank and only three or five people know it. The same goes for ink."

Then she picked up the Wanyuan ticket and said, "This is the best ticket on the market today. It's made of specially formulated Sichuan paper with red grids and green lines printed on it. It's not only beautiful, but more importantly, it's very difficult to forge."

"Yeah." Secretary Ma nodded, propped up the increasingly small glasses on her nose with her fingers, and said softly:

"Two-color overprinting is not difficult. Our own printing workshop can do it."

"We can't just satisfy the two-color overprinting requirement, we also have to do three-color overprinting." Zhao Hao said with a smile.

"Brother is back?" If it were someone else, they would definitely be scared by him, but Jiang Xueying and Ma Xianglan were very calm.

"Sir, please change people quickly. Sister Xueying insists on making the best quality banknotes." Ma Xianglan stood up to make room for Zhao Hao and couldn't help but smile bitterly, "How can I understand this? You decide, and I will draw according to your instructions."

Sister Ma not only knows how to hide her shortcomings, but also shows weakness. Her level is much higher than Jiang Xueying. Even the discerning CEO Jiang can't see that she is a traitor who has connections with foreign countries, and he still regards Sister Ma as a good friend of Daming.

Zhao Hao sat on Ma Xianglan's chair and said with a smile, "Xue Ying is right. Our banknotes are bearer-less and do not identify the person who issued them. We pay the banknotes as soon as we see them. The anti-counterfeiting requirements are much higher than those for ordinary banknotes."

"Yes, the ticket can be used to identify both the ticket and the person, and there are reserved seals and secret stamps, which are enough to prevent people from forging." Jiang Xueying nodded and said distressedly:

"But if we want our silver bills to circulate among the people without going through banks, most of the methods we use are useless. We can only work hard on printing silver bills."

The seals and stamps on the tickets must be verified by the bank with the reserved information to distinguish the authenticity. How can ordinary people outside the bank do this?

If the silver bill is to play the role Zhao Hao expected, it must overcome this problem and allow ordinary people to distinguish the authenticity of the silver bill.

There are so many counterfeiters in Jiangnan that they can even make a fake of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" that is so lifelike, let alone a small silver note?

In order to prevent the counterfeiters from giving up the idea of ​​counterfeiting, I believe that countless fake banknotes will soon flow into the market.

Ordinary people could not go to the bank to verify the authenticity of every silver note they received. If they found out that they had received a fake silver note that could not be exchanged for silver, they would definitely be furious.

With so many things like this happening, who would dare to accept or use silver bills in daily transactions?

In that case, the banknotes of Jiangnan Bank would lose their monetary properties and revert to the level of "withdrawal slips". What is the difference between them and meeting bills?

If Mr. Zhao couldn't fulfill his dream of printing money, why would he open a bank?

~~

"Don't worry, sister. We have scientific anti-counterfeiting technology and guarantee that no one can imitate it." Young Master Zhao was confident. As he spoke, he took out a few pieces of white paper from his arms and placed them on the table.

He has always been carefree and even requires others to hold his handkerchief and sunglasses, but he keeps these papers close to his body, which shows how precious they are to him.

The two girls quickly examined the paper carefully, and even Qiaoqiao joined in the fun and picked up a piece, and couldn't help but exclaimed, "It feels really good, very scratchy."

Jiang Xueying also nodded and said, "Very tenacious indeed."

As she spoke she folded it again, and surprisingly there was no crease.

"Try tearing it again." Zhao Hao laughed again.

Ma Xianglan twisted the two ends of the paper and tried to tear it, but it took a lot of force to tear it out of shape.

"I can't even tear it apart. What's this paper made of?"

Mr. Zhao smiled slyly and said, "This is a company secret."

He asked Qiaoqiao to bring the basin of water over and soak the paper in the water.

As a result, after soaking for a long time, the paper did not deform or break.

Finally, Master Zhao took out a lantern and burned a piece of paper, but it only produced smoke and charred, but no flame appeared...

"I believe that within a few decades, no one will be able to imitate this kind of paper." Young Master Zhao asked with a smile, "If it is used to print banknotes, it should be the most suitable."

Of course it is appropriate, because this is the paper used to print RMB notes four hundred years later.

Unlike the papermaking using bamboo and wood pulp at that time, wood pulp only accounted for half of the raw materials for printing banknote paper, and the remaining 95% was cotton linter.

Cotton linter, also known as 'cottonseed linter', is the remaining fiber on the cotton seeds after cotton is ginned.

Because nutrients are more easily transported to the short lint, the cellulose content of cotton lint is much higher than that of normal lint. Therefore, the paper made from it is very tough, difficult to tear and not afraid of water... In addition to being used as banknote paper, it is also the main raw material for making nitrocellulose.

Moreover, Zhao Hao added an appropriate amount of lime powder to the cotton pulp used in papermaking. This lime powder is very magical. It can not only be used to burn cement, but also eliminate the acidic substances in paper, making it acid-free paper!

The reason why paper loses its strength and fades is because of the acidic substances. After neutralizing them with calcium carbonate, you can get the so-called permanent paper, which makes the paper stronger, more flexible and less likely to fade.

This kind of 'pure cotton acid-free paper' has delicate transition levels during printing, and has excellent expression of texture coating. It can print more complex and delicate patterns, which is beyond the reach of other papers at this time.

ps. Please wait for the next chapter.