Sword of Dawn

"...Yes, Your Majesty, and after hearing your theory about the currency trap, I confirm that the hidden danger is real and extremely dangerous," Patrick nodded immediately, "From a long-term and practical point of view, I think the 'credit currency' you mentioned is a better option."

"...Credit currency..." Gao Wen frowned again, "Padrik, you should know that issuing credit currency requires a much higher foundation than issuing substitute currency—because in essence, we are To define paper without any use value as 'money', and the biggest premise for people to use these 'paper' to buy goods and make settlements is that they believe that the empire can accept the value represented by all 'paper money', this 'trust ’, must be as reliable as real money.”

Padraic met Gawain's gaze, and his slightly bloated body sat firmly. He nodded and replied briefly and forcefully: "Yes, I understand."

Before coming here, he had thought a lot about it.

If Cecil wants to enter a higher social stage, he must complete the currency reform as soon as possible, and even without considering the long-term future, from the current point of view, the messy currency system left over from the old Ansu era has come to an end. limit--

The private minting of coins by various nobles during the enfeoffment era, coupled with the frequent recasting of currencies caused by the political turmoil in the kingdom itself, made the old currency system chaotic. There are dozens of metal coins, such as silver coins, short silver coins, gold shields, royal twill gold coins, round copper coins, and small round copper coins, and the quality is uneven, and the exchange relationship is chaotic.

The intricate currency and exchange ratios not only make merchants feel overwhelmed, but also make it difficult for ordinary people to conduct large-scale transactions, and even give birth to a special profession of "exchanger", and these exchangers with local aristocratic backgrounds have become a group of people. A kind of "extra tax collector" in disguise, depriving civilians and small businessmen of their meager money.

The chaotic currency also hinders business exchanges across the country. Due to the inconvenience of exchange and the huge risk of settlement, trade between regions can only be monopolized by specific groups. Even in regions with the most chaotic currency and serious saturation of bad currency, business activities It has reached the point where it is almost impossible to expand...

Even with trains and new economic policies, as long as this quagmire-like "currency dump" remains, the reconstruction and development of Cecil will inevitably struggle.

Therefore, when Gawain took back the power of the nobles, the most important thing was to ban all the nobles' minting rights, and unified them into the Imperial Mint (formerly the Cecil Mint), and made the private coins circulating in various places illegal. And within a certain cycle period, the Government Affairs Department will gradually recycle, recast, and exchange.

Since the old coins are all precious metal currencies, as long as the fineness meets the standard, their value will not be reduced due to recycling and recasting (if the loss is not counted), the policy of currency unification in this step has been implemented relatively smoothly.

Under the premise of currency unification, the promotion of banknotes is also a must.

In the era of magic industry, the growth rate and abundance of commodities far exceeded anyone’s imagination in the old era. The unit value was limited, transportation was inconvenient, and complex precious metal currencies would soon be behind the times. The Typhon Empire next door had already begun to implement new coins. Cecil, too, must move immediately to the next stage of currency reform.

It was a drastic change, and Padrik believed that since such a drastic move was going to be made, it needed to be in place once.

The world is not perfect, and credit currency also has its fixed shortcomings, but at least in the long run, it can avoid the biggest hidden danger of substitute currency, and he has also thought about the prerequisite for issuing credit currency - a highly centralized and unique authority is required. The core regime requires the people's trust in the national system, the strong executive capability of the Supreme Government Office, and effective means and early warning measures to control the unlimited over-issuance of currency. However, no matter how difficult these difficulties are, Cecil must issue credit currency .

He has his own considerations, and he believes that His Majesty the Emperor in front of him will support him after hearing those considerations.

Gao Wen maintained his frowning posture.

Of course he knows the advantages and disadvantages of credit currency, and also knows the fatality of substitute currency, but he also knows that if you take too big a step, you will get hurt.

Worried that the direct issuance of credit currency will cause all kinds of confusion is the biggest reason why he has been unable to make up his mind.

He looked at Patrick in front of him.

This Kant scholar with extremely high talent in the field of economics is not a person who likes to talk nonsense.

"Tell me your reasons, Patrick."

Chapter 0726 Open the door, free trade

"Tell me your reasons, Patrick," Gawain looked at the business and financial director of the empire in front of him with a serious and serious expression, "You should know that the introduction of credit currency is a relatively radical move, and the pace of change is too large. It means that the difficulty and risk of change will rise sharply."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Padraic pressed the collar of his short black dress, took a deep breath and said slowly, "The main reason why I make such a suggestion is... Typhon."

"Typhon..." Gao Wen pondered for a while, "Go on."

"Your Majesty, you once said that there must be a war between us and Typhon, and in my opinion, this war has already begun--I think you think so too. We just avoided a real war A war of guns, but economically, we are just beginning the contest, and at this stage, the essence of the contest ... is a gold-settled contest."

Gawain looked into Patrick's eyes, he didn't hide the approval in his eyes, and motioned him to continue talking.

"Typhon's substitute currency is based on gold, and their bank issues banknotes that can be exchanged for gold. However, when it comes to the order with Cecil, since the two parties have not yet established a new currency interface, we It is still settled directly in gold. We purchase a large amount of textiles and other primary industrial products from Typhon, and at the same time export magic parts and trains and railways. Flowing toward Cecil in slow, unobtrusive steps.

"Your Majesty, you should know that Typhon's aristocratic reforms are far more 'moderate' than ours. They have retained a large number of old aristocrats, and besides losing their privileges, these old aristocrats also retain a large amount of personal property.

"To put it simply, Typhon has a large number of noble treasuries that are not controlled by the royal family. The gold paid to us... In fact, many of the nobles in Typhon, large and small, used private investment, fundraising, and financing Only less than half of the money collected by the Typhon Imperial Bank came directly from the vaults of the Typhon Imperial Bank. Therefore, for a long time, the Typhon people would not find that their gold was flowing out-not only did this involve a very large and long-term Statistical work, and a large number of nobles are trying their best to hide those trivial but large-scale gold flows in order to bypass the railway investment restrictions set by Rosetta Augustus..."

Listening to Patrick's words, Gawain couldn't help but think of what Daniel reported to him:

In order to compete for a share of the interests of the railway system, the small and medium nobles of Typhon are trying their best to intervene in those projects, and in order to bypass a series of obstacles set by Rosetta Augustus, their most common The method is to borrow from the bank in the form of family guarantee and joint guarantee, and then "cooperate" with the bank (after all, half of Typhon's banking system is also in the hands of the noble group), and transfer the creditor's rights to the Cecil Railway Investment Company , Then they used their family treasury to repay Cecil's debts in batches in the form of repaying debts, so as to obtain shares in various casings and share the profits of railway operations...

This complex and "wonderful" operation bypassed their regulatory system.

Rosetta Augustus may be a talented and iron-fisted emperor. He used court struggles to successfully control the powerful upper-class nobles of the Typhon Empire, and overwhelmed and overwhelmed the small and medium-sized nobles across the country. However, in those small noble groups who are gradually transforming from old nobles to capitalists, the "creativity" and "fighting spirit" displayed by people in the face of interests is obviously beyond the imagination of Emperor Typhon.

Typhon's gold flowed out in such a secret and trivial way.

"If we want to maintain this trend, the most important thing is to maintain the status quo of gold settlement," Gao Wen said slowly following Padrik's train of thought, "and if we establish an alternative currency system, from the law of economic development Starting out, it will be a matter of time before the two countries establish a new currency interface, guarantee each other and settle in new currency, and once the currency used for settlement becomes a new currency that is completely controlled by the bank, Rosetta Augustus will be able to Effectively control the trend of gold outflow - he may even discover the traps in the domestic industrial and economic development process in time, and discover the things we have painstakingly arranged. With his wisdom, he may be able to solve these hidden dangers soon. "

Issuing credit currency and creating new currency settlement barriers between Typhon and Cecil is a means to maintain the gold settlement between the two countries and delay Rosetta Augustus's reaction time.

"Yes—we want to 'help' the investors of Typhon keep this 'gold shortcut'," Padraic nodded, "Of course, even if we choose an alternative currency, we can continue to ask for settlement in gold ——I support credit currency for another reason.

"Typhon people will not only do business with us - they know that the goods produced by the factory need to be sold to generate value, and Cecil, as a country that also develops the magic industry, will certainly not accept their offer honestly. output, so they're bound to find new markets..."

Just as Padraic said this, Amber, who stood aside and seemed to be in awe, suddenly said: "Typhon may be in contact with the Gaoling Kingdom, and may be negotiating over the disputes in the Blue Rock area. If it is true, then Negotiations should be close."

"...they are planning to start trade with the Gaoling Kingdom, and they may even be eyeing the market of the Silver Empire," Gao Wen thought of the answer in an instant, but then looked at Amber with some doubts, "This is information from the southern part of the mainland, the Military Intelligence Bureau It shouldn't have penetrated there yet, right?"

"I met Sonia this morning, and she casually mentioned that the Silver Empire recently re-measured the blue rock disputed logging area. In addition, there was a sentence mentioned in the technical exchange document between the Silver Empire and the Magic Energy Technology Department three days ago— - The magic net unit produced by Typhon can also be used in the standard operating environment. Except for the triangle area of ​​the blue rock dispute area, Typhon and the Silver Empire have no direct border and communication, and they can touch the magic net unit produced by Typhon , it is most likely that it flowed in from the Gaoling Kingdom, and that may be the "trade sample" given by Typhon to the Gaoling Kingdom. The three countries have had constant love, hatred, hatred and friction over the years, basically all surrounding the blue rock disputed area. Just now I thought about these things..."

Amber said it with a natural face, as if all this was just something she did casually in her spare time.

However, Gawain's eyes widened.

After a while, he looked back and nodded with a smile: "Very good, you did a good job."

Amber folded her arms, her ears twitching: "That's right, I'm a good choice..."

"Your Majesty, it seems that the situation is exactly as I expected," Padraic said with his head lowered, "Typhon is establishing a market to the south of the mainland, and the Gaoling Kingdom should have opened the door to them, and the Silver Empire must also to a certain extent and raise the market." Feng to establish trade relations - Although we have a good relationship with the Silver Empire and have technical cooperation, this does not prevent the elves from buying Typhon products. On this basis, the big and small city-states attached to the Silver Empire and the Gaoling Kingdom are definitely more Needless to say, they will all become markets for the Typhonians.

"Tifeng will establish a wide range of commercial activities in the western and southern parts of the mainland. In these areas, trade participants will use Typhon's currency for settlement-except that the Silver Empire has the strength to compete with Typhon. All other countries should be expected to dominate economic activity.

"I call it the 'Typhon Settlement Area.'

"And what we are doing is similar to Typhon. We are expanding the scale of trade with the Ogure Tribal State. You have planned to lay the railway to Ogure. In the north, the Grand Consul of Victoria is establishing a relationship with the Violet Kingdom. Communicate and try to contact the Holy Dragon Principality.

"Many city-states in the northern wilderness region have begun to purchase our alchemy potions. Although their city-states are small in scale, the entire city-state complex is still a huge market.

"There is no doubt that the Cecil Empire will be the 'economic leader' of these regions, which will be settled in our currency.

"Referring to the 'Tifeng Settlement Area', most of the northern and western parts of the mainland will become the 'Cecil Settlement Area'."

Padraic said so much in one breath, his face turned red at some point, his slightly fat body trembled slightly due to panting, and there was an inexplicable light in the eyes of this business and economic executive flickering.

Gawain stared into Patrick's eyes, unconsciously leaning forward slightly.

"Then... it's not just Cecil and Typhon's problem." He said quietly.

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is not just a problem of Cecil and Typhon - Typhon is building their settlement area, and we will definitely build our own. This is a contest between two settlement areas and two currency systems , and in the long run, in large-scale, high-speed flow, cross-continental and rapidly growing commercial activities, credit currency...has a higher 'capacity' than substitute currency, and is more able to withstand disasters."

Speaking of this, Padraic stopped, and Gao Wen said softly in a deep tone: "When the day of the run comes, the alternative currency will collapse faster."

Amber looked at Gawain, then at Patrick.

To be honest, although she has an outstanding talent in the field of intelligence, she has been completely confused in the field that Gao Wen and Patrick talked about.

However, she suddenly felt a chill.

"As long as the Cecil Empire does not collapse, there is no international credit collapse, as long as our industrial and economic system is still developing steadily, the magnificent wall does not collapse, and we do not engage in any stupid things of unlimited over-issuance, then the credit currency will be It is almost equivalent to having nearly unlimited solvency," Gao Wen continued, "and the gold reserves of Typhon and its business partners will eventually encounter bottlenecks, and the larger the market they create, the faster the development speed, this The sooner the bottleneck will come, the gears of the factory are wheels that are too heavy to stop, and this wheel will force them to over-issue currency, and what we have to do is before Rosetta Augustus reacts, before Rosetta Augustus reacts. Before the Typhonians plug their loopholes, do everything possible to let the gold from the Typhon settlement area flow into our side..."

"May their noble investors continue to work hard." Patrick laughed.

Gao Wen also smiled: "May the current 'peaceful situation' last for a few more years."

He stood up and came to the place where the map hung beside the bookshelf.

There used to be a map of the entire territory of Ansu hanging here, but now the old map has been taken off, and a map depicting the entire territory of the mainland has been replaced.

The wasteland of Gondor occupies a prominent position on the map. Around the wasteland, Cecil, Typhon, the Ogore Tribal Kingdom, the Kingdom of Gaoling, and the Silver Empire... countries are intertwined, occupying patches of ancient land. The land of ancestors.

For thousands of years, these countries have developed independently in ease and peace. Although there are exchanges, there is an invisible barrier separating all the countries.

For thousands of years, the heroes of the stories have been knights, princesses, castles and fields.

Quiet, peaceful, pastoral.

But times have changed.

Open the door, free trade.

His eyes slowly swept across the map of the entire continent. This map was drawn by himself with reference to satellite images. Between the precise lines, his eyes gradually crossed the wasteland of Gondor and landed on the jungles and lands of the Silver Empire. between cities.

"It would be great if the transportation between the north and the south of the mainland can be realized..."

"Your Majesty?" Patrick didn't hear clearly and asked curiously.

"No, it's nothing." Gao Wen shook his head. What he was thinking about was not something Padraic, the business and economic director, could solve. "Let's talk about the issue of currency. No matter how necessary credit currency is, it must be issued. ...it's not that easy."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Chapter 0727 Currency Reform Plan

Alternative currencies are paper-based gold and silver, which are bills of equal value to real gold and silver. People's trust in them stems from their trust in real gold and silver.

However, credit currency cannot be exchanged for gold and silver. Its value is decoupled from precious metals, and its purchasing power is entirely derived from the "commitment" of the state.

In this day and age, whether the promise of the state is enough to convince people that a pile of paper can replace money, and even to allow international trading partners to recognize this, is the biggest question.

"Your Majesty, maybe you don't have to worry about this," Patrick knew what Gawain was thinking, "We have data and samples. And in my opinion, if we want to issue credit currency, it might be best now Opportunity."

Gawain looked at Patrick: "...you mean..."

"You once taught us the concept of a country's subject, so I also know what you are worried about-frankly speaking, the new empire does not have enough prestige and appeal to promote a new currency decoupled from precious metals throughout the country, because we Most of the people don't even have a clear concept of the country, and they don't have enough trust in the government affairs office, let alone awe of the 'imperial power', but... you can."

Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, and suddenly couldn't help but want to laugh: "You mean that my personal prestige as the founding emperor is enough..."

Before he finished speaking, he stopped after the second half of the sentence.

Maybe... that's enough.

Because those who just got rid of Ansu's royal power are still kneeling now—even though the government affairs department passed the law to force their bodies to stand up, their knees were still nailed to the ground.

They may not understand what a "motherland" is, they may not understand the concept of a government office, and they may not understand national power, but they still fear the "monarch" unconditionally from the bottom of their hearts, accompanied by unconditional obedience.

This blind and backward status quo has always been regarded by Gao Wen as the biggest obstacle to the establishment of a new order, but if we change our thinking... this is actually a situation worth taking advantage of.

"Your Majesty, your prestige and appeal are stronger than you imagined, not only because you established this empire, obtained the oath of all nobles, and are the co-owner of all the citizens of Cecil today, but also because of the past 700 years. , the almost deified propaganda of the first generation of pioneers," Padrik further said, "In order to maintain the stability of their own status, and to strengthen the 'jurisprudential basis for the nobility of noble blood', for 700 years, any Ansu king or nobleman Spare no effort to strengthen the glorious image of the first generation of pioneers, and this has a particularly great impact on ordinary people, even among some superstitious and ignorant people, your resurrection is regarded as a kind of "miracle". In , you have a very special and unrepeatable appeal.

"Your Majesty, I know that you have been working hard to change this ignorant and backward situation. You hope to replace the old monarchy and enfeoffment system with the government office and the concept of the country, so that the people will change from blindly obedient 'untouchables' to honorable and dignified people. 'citizen', but this is not something that will happen overnight, and since it will not happen overnight, we might as well take advantage of this situation a little bit before the ultimate goal is achieved, without affecting the construction process."

Gawain looked at Patrick's burning eyes, and after a little hesitation, he said in a deep voice: "There is some truth - but we must also respect the laws of nature. Maybe my prestige and appeal are enough to forcefully promote the new currency, but the national implementation There is still a risk of chaos, how do you plan on that?"

"Gradually implement," Padrik said immediately, obviously he has been thinking about this answer for a long time, "First of all, promote it in the three regions of the southern border, the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plain, and the eastern border. Among these three regions, the southern border is the most stable, and the transformation is also very important." Relatively successful, the public recognized the Office of Government Affairs, coupled with the demonstration role of the pilot, there is no problem in promoting the new currency; the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plain is undergoing post-disaster reconstruction, which is tantamount to establishing a new order on the ruins, and there will be almost no problems with the old forces, and All commercial activities in the eastern part of the plain revolve around the joint reconstruction team. Under the complete control of the government affairs department, each pioneering team can just build a complete and brand-new economic structure based on the new currency; the last is the east... The east is three The most risky place in this region, because it still has a considerable number of old nobles, and the old currency system is still very stable, but in any case, the East Territory must be broken."

Gawain nodded slightly. Although Padrik didn't continue, he knew the reason in his heart:

Due to the destruction of the Eastern Territory Legion, the disappearance of the Lauren family, and the increased pressure on the Changfeng Fortress, the Eastern Territory...has been essentially under full military control by the Cecil Legion, strong control, and the full surrender of the old nobles, which made the Eastern Territory and the Northern Territory Compared with the Western Territory, the difficulty of breaking the game has been reduced to the minimum.

Now is the best time to completely reform the Eastern Realm, further disintegrate the influence of the old nobles in the Eastern Realm, and promote the new currency.

After the East is broken, it will become the best "sample" for the reference of the North and West, and will also become the best "anchor" for further promotion of the new currency.

"After completing this step, we will gradually reform the currency system in the western and northern borders," Padrik continued, "The people will have a buffer period, and the nobles will have time to recognize the reality. As a demonstration, the possible resistance to currency system reform will be minimized, and at the same time, due to the reference experience, the possibility of chaos in these two regions will be greatly reduced.

"While the empire is reforming the currency system, we will still use gold and silver for commercial settlement with the Ogure tribal countries and the northern countries. Considering the special nature of credit currency, our international business partners accept the new currency It will be more difficult, so for a long period of time, we will maintain this method of gold and silver settlement, even for a long time after the empire fully popularizes credit currency. After that, we will use the powerful industrial strength of the empire and the scale of trade to gradually establish the credit of the new currency..."

"You can put it more bluntly," Gawain looked into Patrick's eyes, "let neighboring countries become dependent on our industrial products, let the entire settlement area implement the Cecil standard uniformly, let our alchemy potions, Rune substrates and basic industrial facilities became the basis for the social operation of the entire settlement area, and then we began to use new currency for settlement. In the process, we will also maintain the most powerful military strength within the settlement area to ensure everything' controllable'."

"If it's Typhon, they will definitely take advantage of this process to grab the wealth of half the continent. This is their usual style..." Padrik couldn't help but sigh, "It's crazy to exchange paper for money."

"But it will also concentrate all the risks and payment pressure on yourself, and turn all the countries that have been 'sheared' into your enemies. Once those 'traps' break out, every gold and silver you grab will be Become a 'bomb' like Rebecca's crystal," Gawain shook his head, "We want to make the whole world stronger, instead of standing alone in the ruins, we must always remember this."

Patrick bowed his head solemnly: "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Then there is another question," Gao Wen took a long breath, "What do we use to calibrate the purchasing power of currency?"

The purchasing power of the substitute currency comes from the exact gold and silver, and gold and silver are valuable, so the purchasing power of the substitute currency is also easy to measure, but the credit currency needs an artificial "anchor point", which is very critical.

In short, it is to find a commodity that has a relatively stable value, is indispensable in social activities, and is widely used, and then the country will come forward to regulate how much such a commodity can be purchased with a basic unit of currency.

In the initial stage of issuing credit currency, an anchor point must be used to specify its purchasing power.

"Use food." Patrick said.

"Food?" Gawain frowned slightly, "It's not very suitable as an anchor..."

"But we couldn't find a more suitable one," Padrik said. "I originally considered using 'Magic Web Emergy' as an anchor, but magic power is a ubiquitous energy in nature, and superhumans can rely on their own As an energy-gathering device, the magic net does not have the qualifications to be an anchor point, and various forms of magic materials cannot be regarded as "necessary commodities". In many areas, especially the relatively In a closed area, people can even stay away from magical creations for life, but only food... is a necessity in any area in any era, and what we have to do is to maintain its price stability."

"...In the final analysis, food is the key link." Gao Wen pondered for a long time, and sighed as if talking to himself, "Then let's tentatively decide on this plan. The specific statistical calculations will be done by you."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After taking a deep breath, Gao Wen felt that his high-speed mind finally gradually cooled down.

Even if this special and crucial negotiation has ended here, as the starting point of currency system reform, what he and Padrik discussed is still only a superficial framework, and the revision and specific application of this framework may It still needs more people and a longer period of time to perfect it, but in any case, Gao Wen was greatly relieved to successfully take this first step.

After he breathed a sigh of relief, his expression relaxed a lot, his eyes returned to the desk, and he glanced at the few "bills".

"How is the current anti-counterfeiting technology?" He asked casually.