Chapter 2068 - Masters Assembled
"If we could somehow seize those bronze ceremonial figures during transport, might we not disrupt the enemy's dragon-vein energy?" Living-Bug Zhao mused speculatively. "Of course, such priceless national treasures will undoubtedly be heavily guarded in transit. If Heroes Zhuo and Huang were still among the living, we might have attempted such a bold stroke—alas..."
"Talk of fate, fortune, and geomantic energy is largely smoke and mirrors; we shouldn't invest too heavily in such mysticism," Tribute Paper Lin interjected pragmatically. "If destroying a single bronze figure could meaningfully damage the pirates' institutional luck, what would be the purpose of our entire enterprise here? We'd be redundant." He steered the conversation firmly back on course: "Speaking of concrete resources—Fourth Master has already established solid contact with Second Master, and there's encouraging news regarding the escaped Guild-Head Gao Lingxiang and his network. We're not without viable options and human assets. Let us focus our energies on the immediate practical matter at hand."
Hao Er then drew an elegant presentation box from within his robe and placed it deliberately in the center of the rosewood table.
Everyone present understood their fundamental purpose in undertaking this dangerous journey to Guangzhou, so no one feigned curiosity about the box's contents. Liu Cheng, the junior member of the Chaotic Brush Liu household, rose with fluid grace and opened the case, extracting a sheaf of paper slips: Hao Er's best counterfeit silver-dollar notes to date. Everyone leaned forward, picking them up with practiced fingers, pinching the paper to test its qualities, examining them under various angles of light, passing them around the circle. Since only the one-yuan and half-yuan denominations had been successfully forged thus far, the circuit completed relatively quickly.
Chaotic Brush Liu spoke in a low, authoritative voice: "Bring the lamp closer!"
Liu Cheng answered immediately, lighting an Australian oil lamp positioned on the table, then adjusting the wick to produce a low, steady flame. The old lady held one of the silver-dollar notes up to the light while Liu Cheng draped both her and the lamp with a large black cloth, creating a makeshift examination chamber.
No one present found this peculiar methodology strange. Since ancient times, master forgers of paintings and calligraphy had begun their work with "micro-observation"—every minute stroke and brushmark on the original masterpiece had to be meticulously noted before it could be convincingly imitated. This painstaking process could only be achieved by viewing the work with strong backlighting to reveal the subtlest details.
Before the time required to drink a cup of tea had elapsed, the black cloth rustled. Liu Cheng swiftly removed it with practiced motion. Chaotic Brush Liu closed her eyes briefly in evident concentration, then opened them but said nothing immediately. The others exchanged uncertain glances. Finally, Tribute Paper Lin broke the expectant silence, speaking with characteristic directness:
"Since we have all accepted this weighty imperial commission and risked our lives to journey here through dangerous territory, let us dispense with excessive pleasantries and false politeness. I shall speak with brutal honesty: your paper stock, though noticeably stiffer than common paper, raw or sized xuan paper, or the various decorative papers in general circulation, still feels far less crisp to the touch than genuine Australian notes. It possesses greater weight, paradoxically, yet when shaken it feels limp and weak—any expert trained in paper qualities would identify the difference at first touch. Moreover, it conspicuously lacks the smooth, almost satiny whiteness characteristic of the originals; I fear it would disintegrate if substantially wetted."
"I strongly suspect the raw material the pirates employ differs fundamentally from anything available to us," Hao Er admitted, crestfallen. "I've systematically tested every variety of paper available on the commercial market—common papers proved utterly useless for this purpose. This particular stock was fabricated by purchasing the finest available Australian writing paper, laboriously re-pulping it, then re-forming it with various additives—and even employing this expensive approach, the result achieves only fifty or sixty percent similarity at best."
"It must be something they manufacture in absolute secrecy," Tribute Paper Lin pondered with a furrowed brow. "Is there any conceivable way to successfully bribe one of their naturalized papermaking craftsmen to reveal the process?"
"This specialized paper is undoubtedly manufactured exclusively in Lingao; the craftsmen possessing that knowledge simply won't be accessible here in Guangzhou. Setting aside entirely whether we could successfully bribe anyone—which seems extremely doubtful given their indoctrination—the round-trip journey to Lingao alone consumes more than a few days. I've heard through multiple sources that Lingao functions as the pirates' heavily fortified lair, and security scrutiny there operates at ten times the intensity we experience even in occupied Guangzhou. Strangers like ourselves attempting to infiltrate and conduct industrial espionage would merely be offering our severed heads to the Imperial Guard as merit rewards."
"So that investigative avenue is effectively blocked."
"According to Stone Elder's intelligence analysis, the pirates manufacture their paper predominantly from wood pulp—not the rice straw and tree bark we customarily employ here in China. That alternative approach might prove worth systematic experimentation."
"Easier proclaimed than accomplished! Producing usable pulp from solid wood—who can even estimate how much intensive labor and extended time such a process demands? Even xuan paper, which uses merely green sandalwood bark and rice straw as raw materials, requires the fibers to be soaked, repeatedly steamed, sun-dried for weeks, and pickled in caustic lime—an entire winter's worth of labor just to adequately prepare the basic raw materials. If we're attempting to process solid timber instead, the timeline would extend even longer, possibly to absurd lengths."
The single greatest difficulty in traditional papermaking lay in the pulping stage itself: transforming various recalcitrant plant fibers into white, cottony pulp proved immensely labor- and material-intensive in an era lacking industrial machinery or effective chemicals. Tribute Paper Lin had devoted his entire professional life to supplying specialized papers to the imperial court; he had personally observed and studied virtually every variety of paper in existence throughout the empire and could himself produce many sophisticated types through specialized techniques. Yet the Australians' paper stock remained an impenetrable enigma that defied his considerable expertise.
Determined to crack this industrial secret, he had personally processed Australian writing paper back into its constituent pulp to create experimental recycled paper. His primary observation: the extraordinary fineness of the pulp fibers—far superior in quality to any domestically produced paper he had ever encountered. Second, there appeared to be some kind of mineral powder or chemical additive blended uniformly into the pulp matrix, though he could not successfully identify its precise composition.
As he sat pondering these frustrating technical mysteries, Chaotic Brush Liu spoke up with quiet authority: "One can conclusively distinguish authentic from counterfeit merely by touching the paper stock—that much is inescapable reality. Yet even viewed from a distance, this attempted copy achieves only approximately thirty percent visual similarity; examined up close, it proves far too crude to deceive even casual scrutiny. In my professional assessment, your current notes might conceivably pass the most cursory glance under poor lighting, but they absolutely cannot withstand any form of close inspection. First critical flaw: the color variations. The pirates' genuine notes display subtly varying shades and tones throughout—yours remain monotonously uniform. Even where you've attempted some variation, the boundaries between different tones appear stark and distinct, utterly unlike the gradual, organic deepening characteristic of the authentic notes. Second major problem: the pirates' notes contain numerous cunningly embedded secret marks and anti-counterfeiting features; in your versions, these are blurred beyond any hope of recognition. We'll need Block-Carving King to examine them with extreme care and identify each one."
She produced an expensive magnifying glass from the renowned Zizhen Studio and, positioning it to catch the Australian oil lamp's bright illumination at an optimal angle, began methodically identifying each hidden security feature with the precision of a forensic investigator: "Observe here—beneath the engraved ship in the border illustration, the stylized waves cunningly conceal half of a fish head, visible only under magnification. Here, embedded in the decorative seam of the ship's ornamental railing, lies hidden a string of Arabic numerals: the year 1628. On the obverse side of the one-yuan denomination note, careful examination of the elaborate border pattern reveals the concealed characters 'Yuan Lao Yuan' (Elder Yuan), ingeniously woven into the seemingly random decorative elements..."
Some of these subtle security marks Hao Er had already painstakingly discovered through his own investigations; others he had completely failed to detect despite weeks of careful study. Listening to Chaotic Brush Liu systematically enumerate them with practiced ease, he thought with grudging admiration: Truly, old ginger possesses the spiciest flavor! He found himself wondering precisely how much silver Master Wang had expended to successfully summon these legendary masters from their comfortable retirements.
Block-Carving Wang continued the technical assessment: "Whether employing traditional woodblock printing or attempting lithographic reproduction, I genuinely fear we cannot adequately reproduce patterns of such microscopic intricacy and precision. Stone Elder also wisely consulted several experienced Shanxi provincial bank managers and certain disciples of Grand Secretary Xu Guangqi who possess mathematical and technical expertise. In their collective urgency to find solutions, they actually identified a potentially viable alternative method—but explaining this requires recounting an instructive story from a famous old counterfeiting case in our field."
"Please, do enlighten us." Hao Er's spirits lifted noticeably at the tantalizing mention of a novel blockmaking technique that might actually prove practical.
"Shortly after the Ming Treasure Notes were first officially issued by imperial decree—with each note possessing nominal values of hundreds or even thousands of strings of copper cash, yet costing the imperial treasury merely some mulberry-hemp paper and printing ink to physically produce—a common peasant from Jurong County named Yang Mantou, who dabbled in various questionable enterprises much as you do, Hao Er, organized and recruited skilled silversmiths from throughout his village. He commissioned them to painstakingly carve elaborate tin plates bearing extraordinarily fine, intricate patterns replicating the Treasure Notes. He retained specialists experienced in printing traditional spirit-money and funerary goods to handle the actual printing operations. The resulting counterfeit Treasure Notes proved virtually indistinguishable from genuine imperial currency—absolutely remarkable fidelity! When the conspiracy was inevitably discovered and brutally suppressed, the case implicated and resulted in the execution of more than ten thousand people across multiple provinces. Historical records grimly note: 'From Nanjing to Jurong, a distance of ninety-odd li, the gibbeted corpses of the condemned could be observed one after another in an unbroken line'..."
The very instant the critical words "tin plate" were uttered, comprehension flooded Hao Er's consciousness like a lightning strike. He slapped his thigh emphatically: "How is it possible I never conceived of this elementary solution!"
"What revelation has struck you?"
"A single word has awakened this dreamer from his stupor!" Hao Er launched into an animated explanation of how Master Craftsman Qian had laboriously carved experimental woodblocks that ultimately failed due to the fundamental material limitations. He himself had desperately attempted to conceive of viable alternative materials without success.
"We maintain access to supremely expert ivory carvers here in Guangzhou, and renowned jade-workers as well, all demonstrably capable of engraving minuscule characters and extraordinarily fine patterns with remarkable precision. But neither ivory nor jade can be obtained in pieces sufficiently large for printing blocks of the required dimensions, and both materials prove far too smooth and non-porous to adequately hold printing ink for transfer. I exhausted my mental faculties but could never successfully resolve this fundamental conundrum... How utterly blind I was to the obvious solution! Copper and tin movable type have existed in China for centuries!"
Both copper and tin movable type had indeed been employed during the Ming dynasty for certain specialized printing applications, though Chinese movable-type technology generally still possessed significant practical drawbacks compared to traditional woodblock methods. Cost factors in particular meant that metal type never achieved widespread adoption for ordinary commercial printing. That Hao Er had failed to extrapolate from movable type to engraved plates was quite understandable given his focus on traditional methods. As for the specialized technique of engraving elaborate copper or tin plates for printing—this remained predominantly a European specialty until well into the Qing dynasty, when even the Qianlong Emperor himself was compelled to commission copper plate engravings from France through Jesuit missionaries to adequately commemorate his celebrated "Ten Complete Military Victories."
"For successfully counterfeiting these Song treasury notes, systematic tracing and meticulous hand-drawing may yet fall within the outer boundaries of human capacity and patience. But engraving copper plates or carving tin—I confess I've never attempted such specialized work in my entire career. I can only pledge I shall try my utmost with maximum effort. My engraving skills, when augmented with a quality magnifying glass for precision work, should prove passable for this purpose. However, the actual plates themselves must be expertly cast from either copper or tin using proper metallurgical technique; that specialized aspect will necessarily fall to Pattern Li's proven expertise."
Pattern Li demonstrated no hesitation whatsoever: "You already mentioned these technical requirements during our earlier discussions. Throughout our journey here from the capital, I consulted extensively with Fourth Master regarding the practical specifications. All necessary supplies, specialized tools, and raw materials have already been systematically procured and will arrive at the workshop location very shortly. My two most skilled apprentices have accompanied me on this dangerous mission specifically to provide essential technical assistance, and Living-Bug Zhao can contribute his considerable metalworking expertise to support you as well in the engraving work."
Living-Bug Zhao appeared slightly embarrassed by this assignment: "Before departing the capital, I understood only that I'd be handling sophisticated silver currency work—my specialized area. I genuinely didn't anticipate being drafted for block-carving operations as well. It's not that I'm unwilling to contribute maximally—my professional craft focuses predominantly on decorative silverware and functional items. Lead and tin objects in my experience are typically crude household implements like basic cups, plates, and utilitarian vessels; I'm truly unfamiliar with precision engraving on such base metals at this microscopic scale."
Block-Carving Wang responded reassuringly: "No matter—we shall manage somehow. In the historical Yang Mantou counterfeiting case I mentioned, ordinary silversmiths successfully performed the engraving work without specialized training. I'm equally unfamiliar with these particular techniques. We two craftsmen brothers shall work shoulder to shoulder in collaborative experimentation—it should ultimately prove somewhat easier than the extraordinarily challenging silver coin replication work, I expect."
Meng Guolu interjected with an additional technical concern: "Earlier, Chaotic Brush Liu astutely mentioned that the counterfeit notes' color transitions appear far too abrupt and unnatural. If we stubbornly persist in following the conventional methodological path, I see absolutely no viable solution to this fundamental problem. The ink employed on genuine Australian notes clearly differs dramatically from ordinary traditional water-based ink formulations—that constitutes problem one. The sophisticated color gradations we observe are unmistakably distinct yet somehow organically blended, seemingly requiring eight or nine separate intermediate shades in smooth transition, each of which must be individually formulated with precision—that's problem two. Furthermore, there are multicolored cotton threads visibly mixed directly into the paper matrix itself during manufacture, apparently not dyed afterward..."
Tribute Paper Lin responded thoughtfully: "My family workshop once systematically pulped genuine Song notes for detailed analysis. These embedded threads are indeed colored cotton fibers, seemingly cultivated or processed in their original vivid colors—thoroughly washed yet absolutely colorfast and fade-resistant. Where precisely they source such materials, I genuinely don't know. We attempted experimentally crushing brilliantly colored bird feathers and blending them into the paper pulp as a substitute, but the resulting fibers detach and fall out far too easily to prove serviceable..."
Hao Er interjected with hard-won pragmatism: "As long as the embedded fibers don't visibly detach and fall out during our actual operational use of the notes, the long-term durability frankly doesn't matter significantly. We're manufacturing effective counterfeits for immediate circulation, not engineering genuine treasury notes intended for extended service life; excessive perfectionism serves no practical purpose here."
Tribute Paper Lin, who had been intellectually puzzling over sophisticated technical problems from a craftsman's perfectionist perspective, suddenly realized he'd inadvertently wandered down an unnecessary blind alley and laughed at himself good-naturedly.
Next update: Volume Seven—The Liangguang Campaign, Section 181
(End of Chapter)