Chapter 357 The pros and cons of paper money

"This is absolutely not possible!" Cornelius immediately objected loudly: "There are not many gold and silver coins stored in the tribe. After distributing them, how can we buy iron ore from the Ardei tribe!"

"Cornelius, as far as I know, the Ardi people are very fond of the pottery, furniture and wooden statues made by our tribe. One kiln of pottery can be exchanged for several cartloads of iron ore. We no longer stopped three months ago. We need to use gold and silver coins to buy the iron ore from the Ardei tribe. This is what Pigris said at the previous political hall meeting. "

Pigris interjected and reminded: "We don't need to use gold and silver coins to buy iron ore from the Aldi people now, we can barter. But next we have to buy iron ore from the Noriki people, not yet You still have to pay gold and silver coins. But if you distribute all the coins as you said, there will be no money to buy iron ore from the Noriki people."

"How can there be no money? Isn't it possible that the market managed by the Ministry of Commerce can get the money back by selling goods?" Capito smiled scornfully.

Pigris retorted: "Capito, our tribe has no gold and silver mines and does not produce gold and silver. The gold and silver coins originally obtained from plundering the Romans have continued to decrease in the process of purchasing iron ore again and again, and ours The tribe continues to expand, the population continues to increase, the number of officials continues to increase, and the goods produced by each workshop continue to increase. Do you think these gold and silver coins in the tribe can be used? "

Capit was stunned for a moment, and then said coldly: "Pigeris, you said that using wheat instead of gold and silver coins for trade has caused a lot of trouble to your Ministry of Commerce, so I made this suggestion. Since you think it is feasible, If it doesn’t work, then you can figure it out yourself.”

"Stop talking, be quiet and let me think carefully." As soon as Maximus spoke, the hall immediately became quiet, and everyone focused on him again.

At the beginning, the Nix tribe was just established and wanted to build a market, but the tribesmen had no money, so how could they conduct trade? After discussion, the political hall finally decided to use wheat instead of gold and silver coins to trade goods in the tribal market and pay as salary. This was because the tribesmen had obtained a large amount of land, and after the annual harvest, they would have a large amount of wheat and have the ability to do so. Buy the goods you want, and food is precious to everyone in the tribe. It can be accepted by everyone and circulate quickly.

Maximus, who came from his previous life, knew very well that this was actually a primitive variation of barter, a stopgap measure to solve the problem of lack of gold and silver when the tribe was just established, but also wanted to promote the development of trade.

It’s just that he didn’t expect that just over a year later, the method of using wheat as currency would expose many problems. This was because the tribe was developing too fast. It was no longer the same tribe with only 40,000 people and a vast majority two years ago. The embarrassing scene of the majority of ethnic minorities' homes with bare walls.

Nowadays, the tribe has expanded from the banks of the Kupa River to the Sava River Plain, and the population has increased three or four times. The old people have a surplus of food at home. Various workshops have been improved one after another, and the output is increasing day by day. Some products manufactured Not only popular with the ethnic people, but also loved by foreigners (Ardi people), markets were established one after another in the territory, and commercial activities flourished. There will be more prosperity after September, because the old and new ethnic groups will be more able to participate in trade activities after the harvest, so currency becomes an urgent problem to be solved.

what to do?

Maximus originally had a rough idea, but he didn't expect to implement it so soon, so he hesitated a little. He stood up and paced back and forth beside his seat to think.

After a moment, he stopped and said calmly: "We have been here for almost two years. Everyone should know that except for us Nyx, the Ardei people, Pannoni people, and even the Boi people here, these tribes Internal trade was by barter.

I have heard that many ethnic groups ridiculed them for being ignorant and backward. But you have to know that thousands of years ago, the entire Mediterranean and even the entire human race were engaged in barter and trade activities. However, with the development of time, the population has become larger and larger. As time goes by, there are more and more commercial activities, and bartering becomes more and more inconvenient. We humans have invented the use of currency to replace barter, become a medium of exchange in commercial activities, and more accurately measure the value of goods. , making it easier to buy and sell, thus making the Mediterranean trade more prosperous.

In the past, shells, iron, copper, lead, tin... were all used as the currency of a certain city-state or a certain kingdom, but eventually gold and silver became the currency used by people in most areas of the Mediterranean..."

Everyone in the hall listened very carefully. They have been influenced by the surrounding environment since they were born. They feel that using gold and silver to buy things is as natural as drinking water. At this moment, listening to Maximus briefly telling the history of currency, they suddenly opened up. It broadens their horizons and lets them know that gold and silver as currency did not exist from the beginning, so they can think more.

Seeing this scene, Maximus asked in a serious tone: "Gold and silver can neither be eaten nor worn, nor can they be made into tools for plowing or fighting. They seem to be useless things. Why can they be used by people all over the Mediterranean today?" Major coins recognized? Can anyone tell me why?"

Everyone was lost in thought.

"Is it because gold and silver are beautiful and rare?" Karina rarely spoke, but she seemed very unconfident.

"Gold and silver are not rare in the Mediterranean. There are gold and silver mines in many places, and the output is large." Pigris retorted: "I think it is precisely because it is not rare that it can be found in many areas of the Mediterranean." It is circulated, and gold and silver are soft, easy to be cast and cut, and not easy to perish, so people are more willing to use it to buy things.”

"I wonder... maybe it is because gold and silver have no other uses and those who own it will not use it for other things, so it can be recognized and used as currency by many city-states."

Cornelius said with deep emotion: "Our tribe uses wheat as currency, but during last year's war with the Pannoni, in order to fully guarantee the army's rations, our Ministry of Property suspended payments to officials and craftsmen for more than a month. The markets in the two towns have also suspended transactions... If gold and silver were used as currency, there would be no problem in this regard. "

Maximus spoke again and said seriously: "Your answer is very good, and you basically told the reasons why most city-states in the Mediterranean use gold and silver as currency.

However, there are still some problems with using gold and silver as currency. For example, when purchasing large quantities of goods, a large amount of gold and silver is required, which must be transported by pack trucks or multiple people; when trading, the weight of gold and silver not only needs to be accurately weighed , it is also necessary to distinguish the inner quality and prevent adulteration...

However, although gold and silver have these shortcomings, it is much better than other things that were once used as coins, which is why it is widely used in trade among city-states in the Mediterranean. But is there anything better than it? Is gold and silver more suitable for making coins and more conducive to commercial activities? "

Maximus looked at the people who were starting to think again, and without waiting for their response, he said in a deep and firm tone: "Of course there is, and it is something unique to our tribe! That is - paper!"

"Paper has been widely used in our tribe. I heard that its manufacturing process is not complicated and the raw materials are easy to obtain. How can it be used as currency?"

Kephisuofeng was the first to ask the question. As the chief officer of the Ministry of Etiquette and a teacher at the school, he dealt with paper the most. Paper was still a rarity at the beginning of last year, but now the Ministry of Property is distributing paper in large quantities to all tribes. School gave him the feeling that paper was cheap.

Maximus smiled: "It is precisely because paper is easy to make, so there is no shortage, and it can be used in large quantities for trading. You think paper is cheap, that's because the paper-making workshop belongs to the tribe and makes it. Paper is free for all departments to use, but you have to know that only our tribe in the entire Mediterranean can make paper. It is more convenient for writing records than papyrus. Do you think if the paper is sold outside, will it be valuable? "

"But we can't sell the paper now." Pigris said regretfully.

"It cannot be sold, but this shows that the paper itself is valuable, and the papermaking workshop is directly controlled by the tribe, so there is no possibility that other people will use paper to forge coins and disrupt the tribe's market. You see, the tribe uses paper to make coins. Unique conditions.”

Maximus smiled confidently: "Then how do you use paper to make money to buy goods? Is it like gold and silver to rely on the weight of paper to exchange different goods? Of course not!

We need to take advantage of the writing characteristics of paper and mark a certain face value on each piece of paper. For example, if one piece of paper is marked with a Seth, then this piece of paper can only be used as a copper coin; another piece of paper is marked with a certain face value. For a tinar, then it can be used as a silver coin——"

"Chief, if a piece of paper is marked as a thousand Oris, can this piece of paper really be used as 1,000 gold coins?" Pigris asked.

Maximus nodded: "Theoretically it's possible -"

There was a commotion in the hall, and everyone was confused and surprised.

"Everyone, since gold and silver are useless, why can one gold coin buy a cow and one silver coin buy a clay pot?" Maximus patiently explained: "Because this is the long-term commercial activity of the people of the Mediterranean. A consensus gradually reached among the people jointly gave gold and silver coins such value.

Our tribe has just been established and there is no time for the tribesmen to slowly reach such a consensus. Then it is up to our tribe and the political hall to set the currency value for banknotes. However, this is not a right that can be abused! We must be responsible for the entire tribal people and ensure that every banknote we make can buy goods corresponding to the currency value written on the paper, that is, make the banknote valuable!

This requires the tribe to ensure the credit of the banknotes, just like our oath to the goddess Danu, which must not be violated! If you randomly print large numerical currency values ​​on paper and issue them indiscriminately, as you said, you will be robbing the wealth of the people and destroying the credibility of the banknotes. Then no one will be willing to use the banknotes! "