Substitute currency is paper-based gold and silver, and is equal bills of real money and silver. People's trust in them comes from trust in real money and silver.

However, credit currency cannot be used to exchange gold and silver. Its value is decoupled from precious metals, and its purchasing ability comes entirely from the state's "commitment".

In this era, whether the country's commitment is enough to make people believe that a pile of paper can replace money, and even international trading partners recognize this is the biggest question.

"Maybe you don't have to worry about this," Padric knew what Gowen was thinking, "we have data and samples. And in my opinion, if we want to issue credit currency, then maybe now is the best opportunity."

Govin looked at Padric: "…you mean…"

"You have taught us the concept of the subject of the country, so I know what you are concerned about - to be honest, the new empire does not have enough prestige and appeal to promote a new currency decoupled from precious metals throughout the country, because most of our people do not even have a clear concept of state, and lack sufficient trust in the Department of Government Affairs, and will not be afraid of the 'imperial power', but... you can."

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

Before he could finish his sentence, he stopped the second half.

Maybe...it's really enough.

Because those who had just escaped from the Ansu king's power were still kneeling now - even though the Government Affairs Department forced their bodies to stand up through the law, their knees were still nailed to the ground.

They may not understand what the "motherland" is, they may not understand the concept of the Government Affairs Department, they may not understand the power of the state, but they are still unconditionally respecting the "monarch" from the bottom of their hearts, accompanied by unconditional obedience.

This blind and backward situation has always been regarded by Gao Wen as the biggest obstacle to building a new order, but if you change your thinking... this is actually a situation worth leveraging.

"Your Majesty, your prestige and appeal are stronger than you think. This is not only because you established this empire and received the oath of all the nobles, but also because of the nearly deified propaganda of the first generation of pioneers in the past seven hundred years," Padrick further said, "In order to maintain the stability of his own status and to strengthen the 'legal basis for noble bloodlines', for seven hundred years, any king and nobleman of Ansu have spared no effort to strengthen the glorious image of the first generation of pioneers, and this has had a particularly huge impact on ordinary people. Even among some of the more superstitious and ignorant people, your resurrection is regarded as a "miracle". Among this group of people, you have a very special and irrepeated 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 feudal system with the concept of the Government Affairs Office and the State, so that the people will go from blindly obedient 'unbears' to glorious and dignified 'citizens', but this is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Since it cannot be accomplished overnight, we might as well make a little use of this situation without affecting the construction process before the final goal is achieved."

Gao Wen looked at Padric's eyes with burning eyes, and after a little pondering, he said in a deep voice: "There is some truth - but we must respect the laws of nature. Perhaps my prestige and appeal are enough to force the promotion of the new currency, but there is still a risk of chaos in the implementation nationwide. What are you planning for this?"

"Preparation," Padric said immediately. Obviously, he had thought about the answer for a long time. "First, it is promoted in the three areas of the Southern Territory and the Eastern Territory, and the Eastern Territory. Among these three areas, the Southern Territory is the most stable and the transformation is relatively successful. The people recognize the Government Affairs Department, and 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 equivalent to establishing a new order on a ruin, with almost no problems with old forces. Moreover, all commercial activities in the eastern Plain are carried out around the Joint Reconstruction Team, and under the full control of the Government Affairs Department, each pioneering team can build a complete and new economic structure based on the New Currency; finally, the Eastern Territory... The Eastern Territory is the highest risk among the three regions, because it still has a considerable number of old nobles, and the old monetary system is still very stable, but in any case, the Eastern Territory must break the deadlock."

Gao Wen nodded slightly. Although Padric did not continue, he knew the reason in his heart:

Due to the destruction of the Eastern Legion, the Luolun family disappeared, the pressure on Changfeng Fortress increased, and the Eastern Legion... has been essentially fully managed by the Cecil Legion, strong control, and the full surrender of the old nobles, which has reduced the difficulty of breaking the situation to the lowest level compared with the Eastern Legion and the Western Legion.

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

After the eastern border breaks, it will become the best "sample" for reference in the northern border and the western border, and will also become the best "anchor" for further promoting the new currency.

"After completing this step, we will gradually carry out currency reforms in the Western and Northern borders," Padric continued. "The people will get a buffer period, and the nobles will also have time to recognize the reality. In addition, the demonstration role played by the three regions will minimize the resistance to currency reform. At the same time, due to reference experience, the possibility of chaos in these two regions will be greatly reduced.

"While the empire was carrying out currency reform, our commercial settlement with the Augure tribe and the northern countries would still be carried out with gold and silver. Considering the particularity of credit currency, it would be more difficult for our international business partners to accept new coins. Therefore, for a long time, we will maintain this method of gold and silver settlement, and it will even last for a long time after the empire fully popularized credit currency. After that, we will gradually establish the credit of new coins with the empire's strong industrial strength and trade scale..."

"You can say it more bluntly," Gao Wen looked at Padric's eyes. "Let neighboring countries rely on our industrial products, let the entire settlement area implement the Cecil standard uniformly, let our alchemy potions, rune substrates and basic industrial facilities become the basis for the social operation of the entire settlement area. Then, we began to settle in new coins. In this process, we will also maintain the strongest military strength within the settlement area to ensure that everything is 'controllable'."

"If it were Tifeng, they would definitely take advantage of this process to seize the wealth of half of the continent. This is their usual style..." Padric couldn't help but sigh, "How crazy it is to exchange paper for money."

"But this will also focus all risks and pressures on ourselves, and turn all countries that have been 'shewn' into their enemies. Once those 'traps' break out, every piece of gold and silver you grab will become a 'bomb' like Rebecca'," Gowen shook his head. "We want to make the whole world stronger, instead of standing alone on a ruin, we must always remember this."

Padric lowered his head with a serious expression: "Yes, your majesty."

"Then there is another question next," Gao Wen exclaimed, "What do we use to determine the purchasing power of currency?"

The purchasing power of alternative currency comes from the exact gold and silver. Gold and silver are valuable, so the purchasing power of alternative currency is also easy to measure, while credit currency requires an artificially specified "anchor point", which is very critical.

In short, it is to find a commodity with relatively stable value, which is indispensable and widely used in social activities, and then the state will stipulate how many such commodities can be purchased in a basic unit of currency.

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

"Use food," Padric said.

"Food?" Gao Wen frowned slightly, "It is not very suitable as an anchor..."

"But we can't find a more suitable one," Padric said. "I initially considered using the 'magic net energy value' as an anchor, but magic is an energy that is everywhere in nature. There are extraordinary people who can gather magic power with their own strength. As an energy gathering device, the energy generated by magic net does not have the qualifications to become an anchor, and various forms of magic materials cannot be regarded as 'necessary commodities'. In many areas, especially in relatively closed areas, people can even not contact magic creations for their lives, but only food... in any era and any region is a necessity, and all we have to do is maintain its price stability."

"...In the final analysis, grain is the main point," Gao Wen pondered for a long time, as if he sighed to himself, "Then let's set this plan for tentatively, and you will do the specific statistical calculation."

"Yes, your Majesty."

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

Even if this special and crucial discussion is initially over, as the starting point of currency reform, what he and Padric discussed is still a superficial framework. The refining and specific application of this framework may require more people and longer time to improve it. However, no matter what, successfully taking this first step still made Gao Wen feel relieved.

After breathing a sigh of relief, his expression relaxed a lot, and his eyes returned to the desk and swept past those "bills".

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

"The special ink formula has a good effect," Padric bowed slightly. "According to Master Carmier's advice, we mixed a trace and special mixed crystal dust into the ink. Under strong sunlight, or near the magical obelisk, the banknotes can release a specific floating light effect. In addition, we also got the paper money of Tifeng people, and their anti-counterfeiting method is also worth referring to - their banknotes are made of specially treated fabrics, and the base material is mixed with two magic silk threads. The silk threads are complexly woven to present a specific shadow pattern in the sun. We may be able to combine the two technologies when making coins."

"No matter how smart the anti-counterfeiting measures are, there will always be people taking risks," Gao Wen nodded. "In addition to strict laws and punishments, it is also important to update anti-counterfeiting technology at any time. We must ensure one thing as much as possible: the cost of most forgery is far higher than the benefits of their forgery."

"As you said," Padric said, "In fact, if a great magician devotes himself to counterfeiting currency, he can create counterfeit coins that he hides from everyone. However, according to our calculations, most magicians of this level consume more than three times the energy they spend in counterfeiting money can gain more than three times the profit in the legitimate industry - so normal extraordinary people are unlikely to do such thankless things. And if they set up teams and secretly purchase equipment and materials for mass production on a large scale, it will greatly increase the risk of exposure of criminal behavior, which is also thankless. At this stage, our anti-counterfeiting ideas are basically based on this logic."

Gao Wen nodded, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face: "There is another little...make our banknotes as beautiful as possible."

"Of course," Padric smiled, "the exquisite currency itself is a manifestation of technical strength. Although they can no longer represent real money... but at least, people can still feel happy when they get them."

Padric left.

Gao Wen turned around and glanced at Amber who was standing behind him.

Without any surprise, Miss Half-Elf (at least looks like a half-Elf) was wandering around the sky, her eyes were stunned for a long time.

But as soon as Gao Wen turned his gaze, the goose woke up suddenly and stared at Gao Wen with her eyes: "Hey, are you finally finished?"

Her ability to turn off her brain at any time and end her slap in the workplace is really amazing.

I don't know how I practiced it...

"Oh my god, I'm increasingly unable to understand your brains, especially yours," Amber said, "After confirming that Padric really left, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then blew his waist and shouted loudly. "I really don't know that there are so many tricks hidden in these 'bills'... That Padric is a talent, and it's rare to see someone who can discuss with you in this field..."

"Padric is indeed a talent, and his outstandingness is far beyond my imagination. I just told him some concepts before, and he could understand and apply it to this level. I think few people can do this," Gao Wen looked at Amber with a smile, "but you can actually see that there are 'so many tricks'... This means that you understand a lot."

"I don't understand!!" Amber screamed almost as if he was about to jump up, "Don't lie to me to add..."

"Don't be nervous, this part of the work is not yours," Gao Wen shook his head helplessly, "I just want to say that you collect information about the Gaoling Kingdom and the Silver Empire in a timely manner, and keep your attention to that direction - because the Tifeng people are also paying attention to the same direction."

"Oh, don't leave this to me," Amber patted her chest, showing a proud look. "Although I can't send military intelligence officers that far away, intelligence collection is not just about espionage. As long as there is information exchange between the north and the south of the mainland, there will always be intelligence."

Listening to Amber's confident answer, Gao Wen smiled slightly and his eyes slowly turned out the window.
Chapter completed!