Qiang Quansheng wore a short black trench coat and listened to his subordinates' reports with a smile on his face.

"After several batches of testing, the latest silver content of the Spanish silver cross coin (commonly known as the peso) with a face value of 8 riyals has dropped to less than 22 grams, and the silver content of other denominations has also decreased to varying degrees; The fineness of British coins during the Civil War has also dropped dramatically, and the silver content per shilling has dropped to 4 grams, that is, only 80 grams of silver per pound; The decline in the quality of the French Livre is even more exaggerated, and since the new prime minister came to power, France has minted a large number of low-quality coins in order to raise huge funds for the war. The silver content of coins varies greatly from one denomination to another, and it is impossible to make a valid judgment on their value; The only thing to praise is perhaps the Ducat-minted Ducats and Ducatons (shields), which are slowly declining in the value of gold and silver and other precious coins, and the value of the coins is relatively stable. Hai Dafu, a young researcher of the State Administration of Precious Metals, said.

Hai Dafu, formerly known as Haman, was a Germanized Livonian who had studied in his youth, but after years of war in Livonia, he completely despaired of his homeland and came to the New World to try his luck. After working hard for many years in the Northwest Reclamation Bank on the east coast, he has now been transferred to the newly established General Administration of Precious Metals as a full-level researcher, which can be regarded as a proud upstart.

The General Administration of Precious Metals is an agency directly under the Executive Committee, under the jurisdiction of the Dayuhe Mint and the State Treasury, which are responsible for minting coins, adjusting exchange rates, formulating financial measures, and supervising the two banks. Qiang Quansheng was the first director of the General Administration of Precious Metals and a member of the Economic Countermeasures Committee of the Government Council. He is the senior think tank and main assistant of Nie Xiaoqian, the financial commissioner. This man, who was just a small accountant before the crossing, finally got the opportunity to soar after the old man was not confused. It has become the leader of the special real power department of the State Administration of Precious Metals.

"Say so. Do you need to adjust the foreign exchange rate again? I just adjusted it once half a year ago, and these Europeans are getting more and more disagreeable, and they are so dishonest when they mint a silver coin, and they are really poor to this one? Well, we can't control these people ruining their own credibility, but the value of our main currency, 'yuan', must remain stable, with a fineness of 27 grams of silver + 3 grams of copper. There can be no shortcomings. Otherwise, those sinister guys at the Mei Agency aren't vegetarians, understand? After listening to the report, Qiang Quansheng casually told Hai Dafu. In fact, the mint is not under the control of Hai Dafu, he only adjusts the exchange rate, but after hearing Qiang Quansheng's words, he still nodded respectfully.

"The main currency exchange rate adjustment plan has come out." Hai Dafu licked his lips, and then continued to report: "After complicated calculations and discussions, the colleagues in the bureau decided to adjust the exchange rate between the yuan and the Spanish peso (8 riyals) from 1:1.2 to 1:1.4, the exchange rate between the yuan and the ducat from 1:0.5 to 1:0.55, the exchange rate between the yuan and the guilder from 1:3 to 1:3.2, and the exchange rate between the yuan and the British pound from 1:0.28 to 1:0.35. These are several major currencies, as for some other partial currencies with small settlement amounts, we are still continuing to evaluate, and will report to you in a few days. In addition, colleagues in the bureau have always believed that any French coins should be rejected. Because its fineness deteriorates quickly, and the amount of content in the same batch is also very different. It is completely impossible to draw a more reliable conclusion about the merits of its real coin. The livre, or the franc, no longer has any credibility, so we can't just test every coin from France separately, right? ”

"It's really a problem. France danced very happily in this war that has lasted for more than 20 years, at first together with Britain and the Netherlands, it spent a lot of military money every year to fund other countries, and later it went directly to the battlefield shirtless, expanding its territory and population a lot. Hmph, let's put pen to paper, drag your finances down! Now they rely on the indiscriminate means of minting bad coins to plunder the people. It's a good thing that the franc is not an international currency, otherwise they would have been able to collect seigniorage on the whole world. Qiang Quansheng gloated, "With the French government's behavior, the franc will not become an international currency in a hundred years." By the way, have you let go of the wind in advance of the new exchange rate adjustment plan? Are the merchants in the market able to accept it? ”

Whether the merchants would be able to accept the new prices adjusted by the East Coasters was a concern for Qiang Quansheng, as it would inevitably affect the interests of many people. No one will be happy if you come to trade with a bunch of shillings on you, and suddenly find that you can only buy 7,500 cotton pieces for 10,000 pieces of cotton cloth that you used to have paid for them.

However, it is not possible to do this without adjusting the exchange rate, and now that the Thirty Years' War has come to an end, the countries of Europe are basically exhausted, both psychologically and financially. As a result, a large number of shoddy and low-quality coins that plundered the people's wealth began to be minted in large quantities to replenish the finances of various countries, which were close to exhaustion. According to Gresham's 1558 rule, 'bad money, if its quantity is not limited, will drive out good money', so that the market is mostly filled with money of poor quality, and of course some of this money will be circulated in the New World for trading.

Of course, the holders of these coins know that there is a problem with the quality of the currency they have in hand, but everyone has a fluke mentality, and if these inferior coins in their hands are accepted by the East Coasters at the relatively high exchange rate of the past, will they not make money? If you exchange these inferior coins at a relatively low price for the high-quality chintz cloth or high-quality dyed leather goods of the East Coast, then you will make two rounds of money on this trip.

But things don't often go as well as people expect. In fact, the East Coast people have adjusted the exchange ratio between the East Coast dollar and the major European currencies many times in recent years, and the general trend is that the European currency is relatively depreciating and the East Coast currency is relatively appreciating. The Old World currencies they have in their hands will inevitably be traded at some discount, or the East Coasters will refuse to trade, and the owners of these inferior currencies will often eventually compromise. One is because the exchange price given by the people on the east coast is indeed fair, and the other is that if you don't buy here, where can you buy these high-quality goods?

So, now, unless it's a first-time trader on the East Coast, they all store a lot of East Coast coins in the hold. The East Coast Yuan was beautifully crafted and in good condition, and its value had been strong for many years, and it was heavily reserved by these merchants. By taking in other people's coins of less fineness at a reasonable, and even slightly profitable discount, and then smelting them into new East Coast coins, and then taking them away at a slightly higher exchange price (in terms of silver content), the East Coasters have been collecting seigniorage from others in disguise, and the annual revenue generated by the treasury is still considerable.

"It has been implemented several times before, and our latest foreign exchange rate will be published on the big blackboard of the Luoqia Bulk Trade Center every day, and those merchants from the old continent naturally have some complaints, but they all express their understanding and acceptance. After all, they also know that many of the coins they have on hand are not in good condition, and they are happy to stock up on coins of various denominations issued by our bureau. At present, in some departments and regions in the southwest of France, such as Gascogne, Provence, Languedoc, etc.; Siena, Livorno, Parma in Italy; Riga, Königsberg, Livonia; As well as the Smyrna, Suez and Burgas regions of the Ottoman Empire, coins minted by our bureau have begun to circulate in the market to varying degrees. And considering the law of bad money driving out good money, judging from the circulation of these currencies in the market, there must be a considerable amount of currency stored at home by the locals, so China's currency is still very popular in foreign countries. Hai Dafu was very proud when he said this, and the coins minted by his own house were stored in large quantities by foreign merchants, which was always a very encouraging thing.

"The Dayuhe Mint has been working 24 hours a day and night, producing coins of various denominations without interruption, and the total amount of coins produced over the years has reached seven or eight million yuan, but there is very little money in the country, which shows how many 'yuan' are scattered in foreign countries. But it's a good thing, who doesn't like a seigniorage that can be levied all over the world? The total amount of coinage of seven or eight million yuan, the seigniorage tax levied is close to one million yuan, and even if it is evenly apportioned, it will earn about 100,000 yuan of revenue for the treasury every year. Ha Luha, good, very good, sitting at home can collect 100,000 yuan a year, this money is good. Hearing this, Qiang Quansheng was also a little overjoyed, and only listened to him continue: "This is the result of our more than ten years of insisting on minting high-quality currency, of course, it is also very related to our superior trade products, in short, this is the result of the joint efforts of our financial and industrial departments across the country." In the future, we have to continue to maintain it, look at those countries in Europe, because of short-sighted fiscal policies, they have ruined the credibility of their own national currency, and in the long run, the losses are huge and not worth it. ”

"Yes, you're right, Director." Hai Dafu patted his ass, and then said: "Recently, the mint applied to update the equipment and use a new coinage process to make it more difficult for others to copy our currency. Now that 'yuan' is so popular, there will be many unscrupulous elements who secretly mint some counterfeit coins with insufficient fineness. These people are often abroad, and it is difficult for us to effectively combat them, so the mint decided to innovate the process to increase the difficulty and cost of these counterfeits. ”

"It's a good thing." Qiang Quansheng immediately nodded and said, "You ask them to submit a detailed plan, and if I think it is feasible, I will approve it immediately." ”

"Okay, I'll let them continue to turn it in as soon as possible." Hai Dafu immediately agreed. (To be continued......)