#1221 - The atmosphere is rough

Gavin had no worries about this task.

This confidence comes not only from their own products, but also from their extraordinary trading methods.

Long before their caravan set out on the trade route, their sales staff had already entered Ascatla on a large scale to carry out marketing promotions, giving the merchants in this merchant capital a refreshing marketing lesson.

In just ten days, billboards with memory projection effects filled the streets and alleys of the city, especially those hotels and city intersections where merchants often stayed.

The sales methods used on these billboards were something these businessmen had never seen before.

These special billboards are prepared for hotels. They only need to hang or stand them at the door to make their stores stand out from the crowd and become the most eye-catching on the entire street.

The most irresistible thing is that they are free and the bosses don't need to spend a lot of money on them.

Since it is free, it is natural to include some personal content in the projection advertisements.

The private goods hidden in the projected advertisement were simple and clear - on February 20th, the Church of Woking would hold a grand trade fair at the Textile Festival, and all merchants were sincerely invited to participate. Raymond, the Lord of Ritaven, would bring a large amount of precious goods to participate, and a list of the main goods would be attached.

After reading this list of goods, even those big business owners who have been doing business for a lifetime couldn't help but gasp.

Five thousand tons of dwarven steel ingots, ten thousand dwarven weapons, three thousand sets of dwarven heavy armor, one hundred thousand pieces of finished clothing, fifty thousand pieces of refined cotton cloth, five thousand ordinary livestock, three thousand war horses, one thousand super-large livestock, and so on.

Any one of these deals would be worth tens of millions of gold and would be enough to have an impact on local military affairs, let alone when they are combined together.

Therefore, Lord Raymond's caravan attracted a lot of attention while it was on the road.

This attention can be both well-intentioned and malicious.

There is never a shortage of daring and foolish people in this world who want to gain huge wealth without working for it.

The result is that these greedy and foolish people paid a heavy price for their greed and stupidity - their lives.

They didn't even have the chance to get close to the convoy before they were strangled by the joint escort team consisting of the Retaven Light Cavalry, Blood Gorge Earth Wolf Cavalry and Colossus Blackwing Gnolls.

To be more precise, many monsters and bandit forces didn't even have a chance to show up before they were found and wiped out by the joint guard team.

Their lair was as clean as if it had been licked by a dog, and all the goods of some value were packed up and taken away to become part of the caravan's cargo.

The thing that is scary is not hooligans, but hooligans with culture are scary.

The Earth Wolf Cavalry and Blackwing Gnolls, who are proficient in strategy and tactics, have maximized their advantages.

The overwhelming Black-Winged Gnolls are the best aerial scouts. Any surface gathering point of a certain size can hardly be hidden from their eyes.

The Earth Goblin Wolf Cavalry were renowned for their ability to conduct raids. Even towns with low walls were unable to defend themselves against them, not to mention the bandits.

When Lord Raymond and his men displayed their powerful military force, the road along the way became very clean.

Be it the monsters or the bandits, they all fled at the sight of the enemy and disappeared without a trace, either hiding in the woods or burrowing in the ground.

When the storm has passed, they will go back to their old ways.

After Gavin arrived in Athkatla, he did not immediately meet up with Lord Raymond who was stationed outside the city, but went straight to the city's central square, where a huge temple stood.

The temple was built on the bay, with its back facing the sea and a huge trade square in front.

After entering the city, the first thing you see is this temple. Its most notable feature is the glittering golden top, which looks like it is made of gold.

This is also the origin of the temple's nickname - the Golden Spire. On the contrary, its official name, the Golden Tower, is not often used.

This is the largest temple of the goddess of wealth Waukeen in Faerun and the headquarters of the Waukeen Church.

Unlike most of the scattered churches of the gods, the Church of the Goddess of Wealth is unified in the continent of Faerun and is led by an archbishop known as the Holy Coin.

This was the second reason why Gavin had to come to Askatra in person, to fulfill his promise to the goddess of wealth, Waukeen.

But before Gavin could get within five kilometers of Athkatla, a blue lightning appeared out of nowhere not far away, and a woman with thunder and lightning wrapped all over her body walked out of it.

She was absolutely beautiful, but her forehead and brow bones were high, which made her look arrogant and mean. She was tall but not thin, and her skin was light blue with faint traces of dragon scales. Tiny sparks of lightning kept jumping on her body.

Even from dozens of meters away, one could clearly smell the disinfectant wafting from her body, which was the unique smell of powerful lightning power.

"Ma'am, we meet again." Gavin nodded to her from a distance and was not at all surprised by her appearance.

This person was none other than the ancient blue dragon Iryklathagra, whom he had met once before.

She regarded the Kingdom of Amn as her own private territory, and Askatra, as the trade center of the entire kingdom, was of utmost importance.

It would have been fine if she hadn't woken up, but in her awake state, when Gavin, the demigod, arrived, how could she not react?

"I underestimated you last time and let you take advantage of me." The ancient blue dragon transformed into a human form, staring at Gavin with sharp eyes.

She was talking about the dragon tax agreement reached between the two parties last time, and she obviously felt that she had collected too little.

Even she was tempted by the huge amount of goods brought by Lord Raymond, but due to the agreement signed by both parties, she could only watch.

This is the difference between blue dragons and red dragons. Although the former are just as greedy and evil as the latter, they will keep their promises.

This was also the reason why Gavin was willing to sign the Dragon Tax Contract with him before.

If it is a red dragon, there is no need to waste time. The best way is to kill it. A dead red dragon is a good red dragon.

"Ma'am, you are wronged." Gavin responded with a smile, "Ma'am, I have been honest with you from the beginning to the end. One million gold coins is just a guarantee. If we pay taxes proportionally, the more we earn, the more taxes you will get.

If the transaction is done in Askatra, the tax that falls into the hands of the lady is probably not just one, but two."

The blue dragons keep their promises only if they can also benefit from the process, even if it is a little bit.

At that time, it will not only be them who need to pay dragon tax to the ancient blue dragon in front of them, but the merchants of the Kingdom of Amn will also have to pay their share.

"That's how cunning you are." Sharp Teeth snorted coldly, "If you had just used one million gold coins to fool me, your caravan wouldn't have reached Askatra today."

"If you treat others as fools, you will find that you are the one fooling yourself in the end, especially those supreme strong ones." Gavin shared his experience, "I have always advocated win-win cooperation. We can make money together. Anyway, the world is big enough and there is enough wealth. There is no need to fight for a little profit."

"You are a good person." The ancient blue dragon said, "You don't have a fleet to develop the new continent, so you can get a share of the pie by selling military supplies and let those merchants work for you."

Gavin responded righteously: "We are just conducting normal business transactions. Weapons and equipment are neither good nor bad. It depends on the person who uses them."

Some things can be done but cannot be acknowledged, especially when it comes to the development of the Maztec continent.

When these businessmen were developing the New World, they did not care about win-win cooperation. Instead, they used the most cruel and bloody means of plunder. Massacres of cities and villages were child's play.

In many places, genocide is being directly promoted.

Since it is a war, the gap in military supplies is naturally huge.

"Hypocrisy." The ancient blue dragon sneered, not bothering to expose Gavin, and went straight to the core topic, "If it's just to conduct business, the agent you sent is enough. Why do you have to go there in person?"

"He came for me." A golden light flashed, and the goddess of wealth, Waukeen, walked out of Gavin's body. "I need the power of the church to cancel the devil's contract, return to the kingdom of God, and take over the priesthood again."

"It's Ms. Fortune," the ancient blue dragon nodded, "I don't want any trouble to happen to Athkatra."

These dragons respect the gods, but do not believe in them, including the dragon gods.

Because in the eyes of these arrogant creatures, they believe that they can be on an equal footing with them. Even if they can't do it now, they can do it in the future.

This is especially true for ancient dragons like Sharptooth that have mastered some of the power of the gods.

"Of course." Gavin promised, "Disrupting this city will not bring us any benefits. On the contrary, prosperity and stability will bring us countless wealth."

"I hope so." After the ancient blue dragon confirmed Gavin and his group's purpose, it stopped trying to stop them and took the initiative to make way.

Gavin, on the other hand, was in no hurry to leave, and asked, "What do you think about the masked councillor, Madam?"

"As long as your trade fair can be held smoothly, someone will send an invitation to City Lord Raymond afterwards." This time Ruichi gave a positive answer.

Business ability and wealth are the most important criteria for selection into the Masked Council of the Kingdom of Amn.

Even if Gavin hadn't asked, the goods brought by Lord Raymond were enough to be selected.

"Thank you for your support, ma'am." Gai Wenming knew this, but still attributed it to the ancient blue dragon. "Besides that, I have another deal I want to do with you, ma'am."

"What business?" Ruichi became excited when he heard the word business.

"I would like to ask Madam to only accept this kind of Gods Coin when collecting dragon tax in the future." Gavin threw a heavy Gods Coin directly at Sharp Tooth.

The ancient blue dragon took it with one hand, and the coins of the gods spun rapidly in her hand. The dragon's pupils flashed involuntarily, and she said calmly, "Is this the masterpiece of the Mint of the Gods that you built in Serenager?

The gods jointly created a currency. Your plot is really big. You actually want to unify the currency of Faerun in this way and take all the coinage rights into your own hands."

Never underestimate the wisdom of dragons, especially those ancient dragons that have lived for thousands of years. The ups and downs they have experienced are longer than a person's entire life.

"Nothing can be hidden from the lady." Gavin had no intention of covering it up. This matter needed to be done with great fanfare, the bigger the better.

Because currency is meant to be circulated, the more people who recognize it, the stronger its liquidity, and the faster the new currency will replace the old one.

"But what good will this do for me?" The ancient blue dragon stared at Gavin with sparkling eyes. "As long as the currencies are equivalent, whether it is the God Coin or the Dena Gold Coin, it makes no difference to me!"

She is also someone who can squeeze oil out of cracks in rocks. If you want her to cooperate in promoting the Coin of the Gods, you must pay substantial benefits.

If the dragon tax submitted to her can only be paid with the coins of the gods, then those kingdoms and territories that need to pay the dragon tax to her must find ways to exchange them for the coins of the gods. There is room for maneuver here, and it can even be treated as a transaction.

For example, one million Denar gold coins can be exchanged for 900,000 equivalent God Coins, which means there is a gross profit of 100,000.

Gavin obviously guessed what the ancient dragon was thinking, and told him the truth: "We don't plan to make money from the coinage price difference. We will start a gold coin exchange business in the Church of Waukeen. All old currencies will be exchanged for Gods Coins at an equivalent price. Only when gold is exchanged for Gods Coins will a small coinage fee be charged."

They launched the Coin of the Gods not simply to make money, but to gather faith and facilitate the prosperity of trade across the continent. In other words, making money is not done through the currency itself, but indirectly by stimulating trade.

The promotion of a new type of currency is inherently difficult, even with the help of the Church of Waukeen, because the right to mint coins is part of the ruling power. Once this right is given up, it will have a significant impact on a country.

If there is still an exchange rate difference, it will increase the difficulty of promotion out of thin air. No matter whether it is a country or an individual, no one wants to see their wealth depreciate.

After all, they do not have a complete and powerful state machinery to help advance this matter, and they rely more on their own interests.

Fortunately, they used an ultra-modern coin minting method, and the Mint of the Gods reduced the coin minting cost to the extreme - at least less than one-tenth of the current coin minting model.

Gold smelting, refining and casting all require fuel.

During the casting process, there may be adhesion, defective, worn, and defective coins that need to be melted down and remade.

The construction, maintenance and labor costs of casting equipment during the casting process are also a considerable expense.

This series of consumption, combined together, forms a professional term called fire consumption.

All in all, coinage is a very expensive business, and the fire consumption of gold, silver and copper coins is different.

Among them, the gold coin is the smallest, and the fire consumption can be controlled at 2%. Even if it is qualified, one hundred kilograms of gold can only be minted into gold coins equivalent to ninety-eight kilograms.

Silver coins are second, followed by copper coins. The latter's fire consumption can be controlled at 20% of the total weight, which is considered qualified. Because their monetary value is small and the casting quantity required is large, the costs in all aspects will rise sharply.

This does not mean that coinage is a losing business.

No one says that gold coins are pure gold, silver coins are pure silver, and copper coins are pure copper.

Putting aside other things, the purer the gold coin is, the lower the hardness is and the easier it is to deform. In order to increase the hardness, other metals are usually mixed in to form an alloy. The fire consumption comes from this. As long as the forging technology is not too bad and can be controlled within the acceptable range, there is usually a small profit.

Since it is an alloy, it is easy for water to appear in it. After all, the more other metals are mixed in, the more gold coins can be minted. One hundred kilograms of gold can produce one hundred and twenty kilograms of gold coins. What a profitable business!

Especially those unscrupulous private mints, the gold content of the gold coins they mint is less than 80%.

However, such private currencies have very low recognition in the market and are basically not popular. Most of them are imitations of a certain currency, which are commonly known as counterfeit money. In order to maintain the value of their own currency, the government usually cracks down on counterfeit money, and anyone caught will be sentenced to beheading.

However, the huge profits involved will still make many people take risks, forcing the coin minters to improve their minting technology and raise the threshold for counterfeiting.

The Coin of the Gods promoted by Gavin and his team is a typical example of the latter. The outer layer is coated with air glass, which is intended to reduce wear and tear, improve the appearance, and also to raise the threshold for imitation. After all, the opponents they will face in the future will not only be private foundries, but also official foundries in various countries that are affected by them.

Just a layer of air glass coating technology is enough to keep out most counterfeiters, as they have neither the material nor the technology.

However, there is no standardized currency minting regulations in the entire continent of Faerun, resulting in different countries, regions and even cities adopting different minting standards and purities. This leads to the inequality between different currencies and also causes chaos in the currency market.

It is difficult to distinguish the authenticity of currency, difficult to measure its value, and so on.

This series of problems will become stumbling blocks to trade, adding many difficulties out of thin air and allowing commercial fraud and deception to run rampant.

Those scammers and villains often become the ultimate beneficiaries, while those serious and diligent businessmen become the biggest victims.

This is also an important reason why the church of the goddess of wealth Waukeen is so popular among merchants. Her exclusive priests are all currency experts, and what these priests need is faith rather than simply making their wealth, so they naturally will not cheat.

The currency exchange of the Church of Waukeen is the most honest and trustworthy, but the price is relatively high. After all, it takes money to maintain a huge church, and the priests are also human beings and need to eat. (End of this chapter)