Being called 'ancestor, ancestor' all the time, his mentality seemed to have been brought into some kind of subtle elder mode.
But thinking about it from another angle … it seemed to be fun to make Heti, who had always been calm and elegant, show such a dull expression.
Looking at Heti's dumbfounded and helpless expression, Gwen felt his mood inexplicably better. The pressure caused by seeing a large number of documents dissipated instantly. Then, before his granddaughter's expression continued to collapse, he waved his hand and said, "It's okay, I was just saying. What are these documents?"
Although Heti did not know what had happened, she felt that she had dodged a bullet. So, she secretly sighed in relief and placed the documents on the old ancestor's desk. "It's an early report on the construction of the Imperial College and the new school in the Saint Spirit Plains. There are also documents related to the railway project in the western region. The government office has processed them according to the procedures, but the key parts still need you to see them personally."
Gwen thought about it and suddenly had the urge to ask about Heti's marriage …
Two seconds later, he collected his thoughts, reached out for the thick documents, and casually asked, "Have the mages and scholars who moved from Saint Sunil settled down? What do you think of them? "
"They've all been settled down." Heti nodded and said, "As for my evaluation … from personal knowledge and ability, those who are loyal to the royal family or enter the Captical Scholars Association are the best masters. Their ability is unquestionable, but to integrate into Cecil's new order, each of them still has a long way to go, and many of them will face elimination."
"… It's an inevitable process," Gwen said as he flipped through the papers in his hand. "But we still have to try our best to transform and fight for it. As long as it's something that can be transformed, we have to transform it as much as possible. We still lack intellectuals now. However, you have to pay attention to the standards of all the people in the education department. The standards of the two examinations and two examinations cannot be changed. Those old-school intellectuals who passed the initial transformation but did not pass the two examinations and two examinations can be allowed to do research or be technicians in factories, but they must not enter the school. This cannot be forgotten. "
Heti bowed her head and said, "Yes."
The empire had been established, and the land ruled by Cecil had turned from a cramped and barren land into a vast country. An unprecedented amount of resources and manpower flowed on the desks of Heti and the various departments in the government office. However, after the initial excitement, Heti realized that under the appearance of abundant resources, there were still all kinds of shortages. The ancestor wanted to build a brand new country, not just a decadent kingdom but also a decadent one. The legacy of the Ansu had to be transformed and selected to be used again.
A large number of intellectuals from the north would solve the critical talent shortage problem in the development of magical technology. But before that, these intellectuals had to undergo ideological transformation in addition to the establishment of a new knowledge system. The so-called two examinations and two examinations were the rigid standards that Gwen set for the education department to recruit talents: major blemishes, personal information, academic ability test, ideological transformation test. Only after passing all these tests would they be allowed to enter the various new academies established by the empire.
The strict examination system was also one of the factors that led to the severe shortage of teachers in the new schools. However, the ancestor's standards in this regard were not allowed to be relaxed. Fortunately, the graduates of the first batch of Cecil's General Academy and some of the earliest intellectuals who followed the construction of the southern border had grown up in the past few years. The talents who nurtured them were gradually alleviating the gap in the various schools. While the gap was still huge, at least it was no longer hopeless.
Heti understood why the ancestor valued this aspect so much.
Because in the early days, when the system was still flawed and the implementation was not in place, she had seen with her own eyes how a teacher from a collateral noble family taught children to kneel and kiss the ground. That was just a minor noble from a collateral noble family. He had no right of inheritance, no title, and no fief. The only connection he had with the "noble society" was his thin bloodline. But for this thin connection, for the "right and only law" in his heart and the "glory" of his family, he was willing to risk imprisonment to remind the children of the kneeling rule again.
From that day, she knew that some rotten things would not be completely eradicated by the bombardment of Gravel Ridge and a signing ceremony. They would not purify themselves either. The residue that could not be swept clean would lurk in all kinds of corners. As long as there was a one in a million chance, they would desperately surge out like mud in the cracks.
Perhaps, even if the strict access system was implemented, some of the mud would still seep in. This was almost certain. After all, the new government office system was still seriously inadequate in the remote areas of the empire. They could only rely on the other two grand governors and their vassals to temporarily control the situation. But there was no perfect thing in the world. As the ancestor once said, this would be a long-term undertaking, and perhaps it would take more than one or two generations.
Heti was lost in thought for a moment. Gwen had already hurriedly skimmed the end of the document and then put it on his right hand. "I've roughly looked through it. There's no problem. I'll take a good look at it tomorrow morning. I'll give you a reply then. Is Padrick in the government office now? "
Heti snapped out of her thoughts and nodded. "Yes, he just returned from Calore yesterday. He has returned to the government office this morning."
"Let him see me. I want to hear about the currency experiment."
"Yes, Ancestor."
…
In front of Gwen were several temporary currencies of different denominations (tokens), as well as several types of coins minted by the Royal Cecil Mint.
The coins were the basic standard copper, silver, and gold coins. The paper currency was' silver notes' in denominations of one and five Fenems, and 'gold notes' in denominations of one and five Fenems. Fenem was a word in the common language, which meant 'thin silver foil'. The gold pound was also different from the currency of the same name that appeared on Earth. Here, it was equivalent to the smallest thin gold coin that had ever been circulated in Ansu. It was almost equivalent to the upper limit of the currency that civilians could come into contact with in the past.
The banknotes were beautifully printed with textured patterns. The patterns glowed wonderfully under the sun.
Just from the denominations of these banknotes and the meaning in their names, it could be seen that this was just a shallow attempt to reform the precious metal currency into paper money.
"After about half a year of trial, the pilot area has successfully replaced more than 70% of the precious metal circulation with temporary currencies, maintaining the normal operation of commerce and the normal settlement of local financial affairs," Padrick reported meticulously, wiping his forehead that had gradually widened in the past two years. "At first, people did not understand and did not trust paper money. Later, they found that it can indeed be used to buy goods. Now, they have gradually become accustomed to its existence. From the perspective of purely promoting paper money and forming a habit, the pilot is successful.
"But the shortcomings of the pilot are also obvious. As you can see, we still fundamentally haven't gotten rid of the essence of gold and silver settlement. The currency circulating in the pilot area is essentially still circulating gold and silver. And because of this, the coexistence of 'gold notes' and 'silver notes' means that the denomination exchange between notes is still affected by the price of precious metal. There will be a phenomenon of bad money expelling good money. However, we've recently successfully cut the silver banknotes from the silver banknotes so that they can only be exchanged for gold banknotes and not silver banknotes directly. It's equivalent to turning them into a 'lower unit' of gold banknotes, which can be considered as solving the problem caused by the replica system … "
Gwen frowned as he looked at the several currencies on the table. He flipped through the detailed report brought by Padrick and could not help but whisper, "What a mess."
Padrick immediately wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and said, "Your Majesty, I'm very sorry."
"No, I'm not scolding you," Gwen quickly waved his hand and said, "You've done well. You have carried out all the tests and samples according to my requirements. This mess is just a situation that will inevitably occur when new things are introduced. It's the law of nature, not your fault."
Padrick breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."
"There is no obvious deviation in the Empire's gold and silver reserves. It is feasible to issue currency based on silver or gold, but the biggest problem is whether to continue to issue currency based on precious metals," Gwen said slowly as he pondered. "Padrick, you must have realized the hidden danger of directly linking gold or silver to paper notes."
"Yes, Your Majesty. And after hearing your theory about the currency trap, I am sure that the hidden danger is real and extremely dangerous." Padrick immediately nodded and said, "From a long-term point of view, and also from a practical point of view, I think the 'credit currency' you have mentioned is a better choice."
"Credit currency …" Gwen frowned again. "Padrick, you should know that the basis for issuing credit currency is much higher than that for issuing substitute currency. Because in essence, we have to define paper without any use value as' money, 'and the biggest premise for people to use this' paper 'to buy goods and settle accounts is that they believe that the Empire can accept the value of all the' paper notes. 'This' trust 'must be as reliable as real gold and silver."
Padrick met Gwen's gaze. His slightly plump body sat very steadily. He nodded and answered briefly and firmly, "Yes, I understand."
Long before he came here, he had thought about many things.
If Cecil wanted to enter a higher stage of society, he had to complete the currency reform as soon as possible. Even if he did not consider the long-term future, judging from the current situation, the mess of the currency system left behind from the old Ansu era had reached its limit.
The private coinage of the nobles in the feudal era, coupled with the frequent currency recasting caused by the political turmoil of the kingdom itself, made the old currency system chaotic. Only in the Holy Spirit Plain and parts of the Western Region, the official currency in circulation included silver shields, long silver coins, short silver coins, gold shields, royal diagonal gold coins, round copper coins, small round copper coins, and dozens of other metal coins. The quality of the coins varied, and the exchange relationship was chaotic.
The intricate currency and exchange rate not only troubled the merchants, but also made it difficult for ordinary people to carry out large-scale transactions. It even gave rise to the profession of "exchanger". These exchangers, who had the background of the local nobles, became a disguised form of "extra tax officers", exploiting the limited wealth of the civilians and small merchants.
The chaotic currency also hindered the commercial exchanges across the country. Due to the inconvenience of exchange and the huge settlement risk, the trade between regions was often monopolized by specific groups. In the most chaotic and seriously saturated areas where the currency was bad, commercial activities had reached the point where it was almost impossible to carry out.
Even with the train and new economic policies, as long as the quagmire of "currency dump" was still there, Cecil's reconstruction and development was bound to be difficult.
Therefore, when Gwen took back the power of the nobles, the most important thing was to abolish the nobles' right to mint coins and unify them under the Imperial Mint (formerly the Cecil Mint). The private coins circulating everywhere were made illegal, and within a certain cycle, the government office would gradually recover, recast, and exchange them.
Because the old coins were all precious metal coins, as long as the quality was up to standard, their value would not be reduced by recasting (if the wear and tear was disregarded). Therefore, the policy of currency unification was carried out relatively smoothly.
And under the premise of currency unification, the promotion of paper money was also something that had to be done.
In the age of the magical technology industry, the rate and abundance of goods were far beyond anyone's imagination. With the limited unit value and inconvenient transportation, the complicated precious metal coins would soon be unable to keep up with the times. The Typhon Empire next door had already begun to implement the new currency, and Cecil had to immediately enter the next phase of currency reform.
This was a bold and decisive reform, and Padrick believed that since this bold and decisive action was already carried out, it was necessary to put a reform in place.
Nothing in the world was perfect, and the credit currency also had its fixed shortcomings, but at least in the long run, it could avoid the biggest hidden danger of the alternative currency. He had also thought about the prerequisites for the issuance of the credit currency. It required a highly centralized and only authoritative core regime, the people's trust in the national system, the powerful executive ability of the highest government office, and effective measures to control the unlimited amount of money and early warning measures. But no matter how difficult these difficulties were, Cecil had to issue the credit currency.
He had his own considerations, and he believed that the emperor in front of him would support him after hearing his considerations.
Gawain, on the other hand, maintained his frown.
Of course, he knew the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative currency, but he also knew that if he took too big a step, he would pull the egg.
He was worried that directly issuing the credit currency would cause all kinds of chaos, which was the biggest reason why he could not make up his mind.
He looked at Padrick in front of him.
This Kant scholar, who was extremely talented in the field of economics, was not a person who liked to talk nonsense.
"Tell me your reasons, Padrick."
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