The substitute currency was paper gold and silver, which was equivalent to real gold and silver. People's trust in them stemmed from their trust in real gold and silver.
However, the credit currency could not be used to exchange for gold and silver. Its value was not linked to precious metals, and its purchasing power was entirely derived from the "promise" of the state.
In this era, the biggest problem was whether the state's promise was enough to make people believe that a pile of paper could replace money, and even let international trading partners recognize this point.
"Your Majesty, perhaps you don't have to worry about this," Padrick knew what Gwen was thinking. "We have data and samples. And in my opinion, if we want to issue a credit currency, now may be the best opportunity. "
Gwen looked at Padrick. "… You mean …"
"You have taught us the concept of the main body of the country, 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 that is not linked to precious metals, because most of our people do not even have a clear concept of the country, and lack enough trust in the Government Office, let alone respect the power of the Empire. But … you can."
Gwen was stunned for a moment, and suddenly he could not help but want to laugh. "You mean, with my personal prestige as the founding emperor, it is enough …"
He did not finish the second half of the sentence.
Perhaps … it was enough.
Because those who had just gotten rid of the Ansu's royal power were still kneeling. Even if the Government Office forced their bodies to stand up through the law, their knees were still nailed to the ground in their hearts.
They may not understand what the "motherland" was, they may not understand the concept of the Government Office, they may not understand the power of the country, but they still unconditionally respected the "monarch" from the bottom of their hearts, accompanied by unconditional obedience.
This blind and backward status quo had always been regarded by Gwen as the biggest obstacle to building a new order. But if he looked at it differently, it was actually a situation worth leveraging.
"Your Majesty, your prestige and appeal are more powerful than you think. This is not only because you established the empire, obtained the oaths of all the nobles, and are now the common lord of all the citizens of Cecil, but also because of the almost deified propaganda of the first generation of pioneers in the past 700 years," Padrick further said. "In order to maintain the stability of their own position, and to strengthen the legal basis of the nobility's noble lineage, for the past 700 years, any Ansu king and nobles have spared no effort to strengthen the glorious image of the first generation of pioneers, and this has a particularly great impact on the ordinary people. Even some of the more superstitious and ignorant people regard your resurrection as a 'miracle.' Among this group of people, you have a very special and irreplicable appeal.
"Your Majesty, I know that you have been working hard to change this ignorant and backward situation. You hope to replace the old monarch and the feudal system with the Government Office and the concept of a country, so that the people will change from blind 'untouchables' to honorable and dignified 'citizens.' But this can't be done overnight. Since it can't be done overnight, we might as well take advantage of this situation before the final goal is achieved, under the premise that it does not affect the construction process."
Gwen looked at Padrick's burning eyes, and after a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice, "It makes sense, but we still have to respect the laws of nature. Maybe my prestige and appeal are enough to promote the new currency, but there is still a risk of chaos in the whole country. What do you plan to do? "
"Gradually," Padrick said immediately. Obviously, he had thought about this answer for a long time. "First, we will promote it in the Southern Territory, the Eastern Territory of the Holy Spirit Plains, and the Eastern Territory of the Holy Spirit Plains. Among these three areas, the Southern Territory is the most stable, and the transformation is also the most successful. The people recognize the Government Office, and with the demonstration of the pilot program, there is no problem in promoting the new currency. The Eastern Territory of the Holy Spirit Plains is undergoing post-disaster reconstruction, which is equivalent to building a new order on the ruins. There is almost no problem with the old forces. Moreover, all the commercial activities in the Eastern Territory of the Holy Spirit Plains are carried out around the Joint Reconstruction Team, which is completely under the control of the Government Office. The various development teams can use the new currency as the foundation to build a complete and new economic structure. Finally, the Eastern Territory … The Eastern Territory is the riskiest of the three areas because there are still a considerable number of old nobles, and the old currency system is still very stable. But no matter what, the Eastern Territory has to be broken. "
Gawain nodded slightly. Although Pardrick did not continue, Gawain knew the reason.
Due to the destruction of the Eastern Territory Army and the disappearance of the Lorren Family, the pressure on Longwind Stronghold increased, and the Eastern Territory … was actually under the full military control of the Cecil Army. The strong control and the full submission of the old nobles made the Eastern Territory, compared to the Northern Territory and the Western Territory, the difficulty of breaking the Eastern Territory was the lowest.
Now was the best time to completely transform the Eastern Territory, further disintegrate the influence of the old nobles in the Eastern Territory, and promote the new currency.
After the Eastern Territory was broken, it would become the best "sample" for the Northern Territory and the Western Territory, and it would also become the best "anchor point" to further promote the new currency.
"After this step is completed, we will gradually reform the currency system in the Western Territory and the Northern Territory," Padrick continued. "The people will get a buffer period, and the nobles will also have time to recognize the reality. Coupled with the demonstration of the three areas, the resistance that the currency system reform may encounter will be minimized. At the same time, due to the reference experience, the possibility of chaos in the two areas will be greatly reduced.
"While the Empire is carrying out the currency system reform, we will still use gold and silver to settle business with the Augulay Tribal Nation and the northern countries. Considering the special nature of the credit currency, it will be more difficult for our international business partners to accept the new currency, so for a long time, we will maintain this gold and silver method of settlement, and will even continue for a long time after the Empire fully popularizes the credit currency. After that, we will use the Empire's strong industrial strength and trade scale to gradually establish the credit of the new currency … "
"You can put it more bluntly," Gwen looked into Padrick's eyes. "Let the surrounding countries form a dependence on our industrial products, let the entire settlement area uniformly implement the Cecil Standard, let our alchemy potions, rune boards, and basic industrial facilities become the basis of the entire settlement area's social operation. Then, we will start to use the new currency. And during this process, we will also maintain the strongest military strength in the settlement area to ensure that everything is' controlled '. "
"If it were the Typhon, they would definitely take advantage of this process to seize the wealth of half of the continent. This is their usual style …" Padrick could not help but sigh. "How crazy it is to exchange paper for money."
"But this will also concentrate all the risks and payment pressure on themselves, and turn all the countries that are 'sheep-shorn' into their enemies. Once those 'traps' break out, every piece of gold and silver you seize will become a 'bomb' like Rebecca's crystal." Gwen shook his head. "We have to make the whole world strong, not stand alone in the ruins. We must always remember this."
Padrick lowered his head solemnly. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Then there is another question." Gwen took a long breath. "What do we use to mark the purchasing power of the currency?"
The purchasing power of the substitute currency came from the actual gold and silver. Gold and silver had a price, so the purchasing power of the substitute currency was easy to measure. But the credit currency needed an artificial 'anchor point', and this anchor point was very important.
In short, it was to find a commodity with a relatively stable value, indispensable and widely used in social activities, and then the state would come forward to regulate how many of such commodities could be purchased with a basic unit of currency.
In the initial stage of issuing the credit currency, an anchor point had to be used to regulate its purchasing power.
"Use food," Padrick said.
"Food?" Gwen frowned slightly. "It's not very suitable as an anchor point …"
"But we couldn't find a more suitable one," Padrick said. "At first, I considered using the Magic Net as an anchor point, but magic power is an energy that is everywhere in nature. There are even Transcendents who can gather magic power with their own power. The Magic Net is an energy-gathering device, and the energy it generates doesn't have the qualifications to be an anchor point. Various forms of magical materials can't be considered as' necessary goods. 'In many areas, especially the more isolated areas, people can even not come into contact with magic for their entire lives. But only food … is a necessity in any era and any place, and what we need to do is to maintain the stability of its price."
"… In the end, food is the key." Gwen pondered for a long time and sighed as if he was talking to himself. "Then let's make this tentative plan. You'll be in charge of the specific statistical calculation."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After a deep breath, Gwen felt that his high-speed brain had finally cooled down.
This special and important discussion had come to an end. But as the starting point of the currency reform, what he and Padrick discussed was still only a rough framework. The revision and specific application of this framework would probably require more people and more time. But in any case, Gwen was relieved to have successfully taken the first step.
After letting out a sigh of relief, his expression relaxed a lot. His gaze returned to the desk and swept over the few "bills".
"How's the performance of the current anti-counterfeiting technology?" he asked casually.
"The special ink formula has played a very good role." Padrick bowed slightly. "According to Master Kamel's suggestion, we mixed a small amount of special crystal dust into the ink. Under strong sunlight or near the Magic Obelisk, the notes can release a specific floating light effect. In addition, we also got the banknotes of the Tiphon people. Their anti-counterfeiting method is also worth studying. Their banknotes are made of fabric that has been specially treated. The base material is mixed with two magic threads. The threads are intricately woven and can show a specific shadow pattern under the sun. We may be able to combine the two technologies when making currency. "
"No matter how sophisticated the anti-counterfeiting measures are, there will always be people who take risks." Gwen nodded. "In addition to strict laws and punishments, it's also important to constantly update the anti-counterfeiting technology. We have to do our best to ensure one thing: the cost of most counterfeiting is much higher than the profit of counterfeiting."
"As you said," Padrick said, "in fact, if a great magician concentrates on counterfeiting, he can definitely make counterfeit notes that can fool everyone. But according to our calculations, most of the time and energy spent in the process of counterfeiting notes can let them reap more than three times the profit in the real industry. So it's unlikely that a sane Extraordinaire would do such a thankless thing. And if they build a team and secretly buy equipment and materials for mass production, it will greatly increase the risk of their criminal activities being exposed, which is also thankless. At this stage, our anti-counterfeiting idea is basically based on this logic. "
Gwen nodded and suddenly smiled. "One more thing … let's make our notes as beautiful as possible."
"Of course." Padrick also smiled. "Beautiful currency itself is a display of technical strength. Although they can no longer represent real money … at least, people can still feel happy when they get them."
Padrick left.
Gawain turned his head and glanced at Hu Po, who was standing slightly behind him.
Unsurprisingly, the half-elf (at least she looked like a half-elf) was daydreaming. Her eyes had been staring blankly for a long time.
But as soon as Gwen turned his eyes, the goose suddenly woke up and stared at Gwen. "Hey, you're finally done?"
Her ability to turn off her brain at any time and return to work at any time was truly amazing.
I don't know how she did it …
"Oh my god, it's getting harder and harder for me to understand your brain, especially yours." After Amber confirmed that Padrick had really left, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he placed his hands on his hips and started to complain loudly. "I really didn't know that there were so many tricks hidden in the 'money' … That Padrick is a genius. It's rare to see someone who can discuss so enthusiastically with you in this field …"
"Padrick is indeed a genius. His level of excellence is far beyond my imagination. I just told him some concepts before, and he could understand and apply them to this extent. I think probably not many people can do this." Gwen looked at Amber with a half-smile. "But you can see that there are 'so many tricks' … This shows that you understand a lot of parts."
"I don't understand!" Amber screamed as if she was about to jump up. "Don't lie to me …"
"Don't be nervous. This part of the job is not yours to begin with." Gwen shook his head helplessly. "I just want to say that your intelligence collection on the Kaolin Kingdom and the Silver Empire is very timely. Keep your attention in that direction because Typhon is also paying attention in the same direction."
"Oh, don't worry about that." Amber patted her chest with a smug look. "Although there's no way to send the Military Intelligence personnel so far away, intelligence collection is not as simple as espionage. As long as there's information exchange between the north and south of the continent, there will always be intelligence."
Listening to Amber's confident answer, Gwen smiled and slowly looked out of the window.
Snowflakes were falling from the lead-gray sky.
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