While waiting for news from the Don and Volga valleys, Gao Gang convened a meeting of representatives of local trading stations, county governments, and state-owned banks to discuss the Ottoman Empire's currency reform.

Currency reform, in fact, is not an unfamiliar word in later generations, many countries have experienced it, such as Britain abandoned the gold standard in the first half of the 19th century, and recently such as the Zimbabwean currency reform that reduced the currency by 10 zeros, which are all major events in national economic life, and will not be implemented until the last resort.

The Ottoman Empire wanted to reform the currency system this time, but it was also out of helplessness and had to change it! Any merchant who has traded in the major cities of the Ottoman Empire will have a first-hand experience, that is, the currency problem is really too tricky! For example, you shipped a shipload of iron from England to the Ottoman port of Smyrna, and after selling it, you got a large amount of currency, most likely a Venetian-style ducat, commonly known as the "Golden Geng", minted by the Ottoman Empire. We will not discuss the problems caused by the quality and authenticity of the currency, but simply the currency itself, assuming that you receive a sufficient amount of undamaged and perfectly colored silver coins, and then you go to the famous Greek port of Thessaloniki to trade.

I'm sorry! In Thessaloniki, this currency may not be used, because the Italian city-states that pass here are mainly the currencies of Venice and Genoa, and they are minted by decent people. At this point, you'll have to find a reputable money changer and exchange your money for the main Italian currencies that are commonly used in the region before you can trade.

This is still in Thessaloniki, and the fact that when you go to other cities in the Ottoman Empire, you will find that there are all kinds of currencies in the local area, all of which are bothering you and bringing great inconvenience to commercial trade. In other words, this chaotic monetary system is actually anti-free trade, and has been criticized by businessmen in various countries and places, but it has never been able to solve it, because the interests involved are too great.

Now let's talk about the problems that arise from the quality of money. In fact, throughout the 17th century, the Ottoman Empire's finances were not so rich, which was related to their huge expenses, including war expenses, and also to their poor tax collection efficiency. Whatever the reason, the Ottoman Empire's financial constraints and the lack of money in the treasury led to the government's continued minting of low-quality currency to plunder private wealth.

This was especially evident during several wars. The silver and copper coins minted by the Ottoman government were so inferior to such an outrageous level that their merchants were disgusted with them and began to use foreign currencies to trade spontaneously, which exacerbated the chaos of the country's currency system and plunged the country's economy into a deeper crisis.

The people on the east coast have been trading in the Ottoman Empire for many years, because of the trade surplus, they once accumulated a large number of currencies from various countries and obtained them from the Ottoman government and merchants, even if they were sampled and tested for color countless times, but they still suffered a lot of losses, so that they simply melted down those rotten currencies and made them into silver bricks and brought them back to China.

In contrast to these rotten currencies, the various East Coast gold and silver coins that flowed into the Ottoman Empire through the hands of the merchants of the East Coast were very popular with all classes, because of their exquisite production, full of color, and stable shape, so they were widely collected by the merchants of the Ottoman Empire, and then it was impossible to circulate them on a small scale in some areas, because the bad money drove out the good money, so that the East Bank government also made a small amount of seigniorage money.

It was precisely because of the popularity of the East Coast currency in some towns around the Black Sea that the East Coast's plenipotentiary envoy to Europe, Gao Gang, managed to persuade the Ottoman Empire's top brass to accept the currency reform with the help of the East Coasters, and the East Coast would help them mint a new currency or simply use the East Coast currency, and the East Coast government would guarantee that there would be no credit problems.

After hesitating for a long time, the Ottoman Empire's top brass finally chose the former, asking the easterners to help them design a new set of silver Turkish dinars to exchange for the easterners. The precondition was that the East Bank Republic of China would borrow 5 million yuan from the Ottoman government, and the delivery would be for the East Bank government to ship the minted 5 million dinars directly to Istanbul, so that they could pay the salaries of the imperial officials and the salaries of the army that had been in arrears for a long time. Of course, they still owe a large amount of money to businessmen from various countries, but this is not a priority item that needs to be paid, and it can even be relied on if necessary, and at least some of it can be moved backwards, and if the salaries of civil servants and the army are not paid, I am afraid that there will be big problems!

This was the result of a whole year of consultation between Gao Gang and the Ottomans. Normally, this would not have been easy to come by, but under the weight of years of war, the Ottoman Empire, which was on the verge of financial collapse, finally had to agree to the request of the Easterners to obtain a loan from the Easterners with a preferential interest rate of 5 per year in the form of a transfer of coinage.

However, the Ottomans also made it a condition that the mint, which was tasked with minting their currency, must be under Ottoman control, preferably in Ottoman territory. Gao Gang did not agree to this condition at first, but the Ottomans were resolute, and after many back-and-forth between the two sides, they finally decided to set up the mint in the port of Haji, a leased place on the east coast very close to the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottomans could send personnel to supervise the production and check the accounts, and of course these expatriate officials were also responsible for purchasing silver dinars from this mint and shipping them back to Istanbul for a consideration of thirty grams of silver.

This condition is the most acceptable for both parties. The Ottomans received much-needed funds to bail out, while a new, well-coloured currency could restore its crumbling credit, quickly reviving the country's already decaying industry and commerce, so that the government could collect enough taxes.

There is no doubt about the huge role of the unification of the domestic currency and the market in promoting the economy! In this era, the first countries to do this, such as the United Provinces, England are the most developed in Europe, a unified currency, a unified market can greatly stimulate the potential of the economy, so that money flows quickly, thereby increasing government taxes, to achieve a virtuous circle.

To be honest, the Ottomans did not understand these truths, or that the people in Taiwan did not understand and understood that people could not be in Taiwan, in short, they were persuaded by the people on the east coast to passively accept the reform proposals, intending to sweep the national market with a new currency, the dinar, to expel the Italian merchants and the Dutch who had eaten the seigniorage in it, to remove all kinds of obstacles to domestic trade, and to prepare for the eventual establishment of a unified national market. Although the right to mint money may be lost in this process, there are many countries that do not have the right to mint in this era, and the Ottoman market is flooded with currencies from all over the world, but the Ducats minted by their own government are actually imitating the Venetian currency minted because of their poor quality and are not very popular with people, so it is a drizzle without coinage rights or anything, which is a small meaning.

What's more, who decreed that every dinar in the Ottoman Empire had to be bought from the Haji Mint? Hehe, you're so naïve! When this limelight passes, they can secretly mint a small amount of dinars and put them in the market for circulation. Of course, they will control the quantity, and they will also control the silver content of the fineness, as long as the East Coast people are a little lower, so as not to be exposed in the market soon, in short, there are still many ways. Moreover, when the economic situation really improves, you can also get back the coinage rights by negotiating with the East Coasters, I believe that the East Coast people have already made a lot of money at that time, so they shouldn't mind too much, right?

It can be seen from here that the Ottomans have made a good calculation, and now they urgently need the Dinar cast by the East Coast to save their lives. Of course, the people on the east coast are not fools, otherwise the previous two plenipotentiary envoys, including Gao Gang, would not have thought of obtaining the power of the Ottoman Empire's currency reform. In fact, the Ottoman Empire was so large, and the size of more than 30 million people had a great demand for currency, especially after the expulsion of all kinds of miscellaneous foreign gold and silver coins and the unification of the national commercial market, the demand for this currency in the first few years was very staggering.

Basically, everyone is now in a state of using each other, which can also be said to be a win-win situation, and this even includes the loans promised by the East Coasters: most of the loans of five million dinars are guaranteed by the East Coast government, and the annual interest rate can be controlled at about 3-4 years by the Italian bankers, and then lend to the Ottomans at the interest rate of 5, and they can also make a small profit, what a good business!

This time, Gao Gang convened a meeting of relevant personnel from state-owned banks and commercial stations in Haji County to discuss this matter. The Haji county government was very excited that their county would mint silver dinars for the Ottoman Empire, as it would represent a huge tax revenue. The people at the bank were also in a good mood because they had made another loan business, and the amount was huge. They had reason to be proud that the Italians had a lot of money but did not dare to lend it to the Ottoman government, and as a result, they cheapened the East coasters, although they would certainly have to compensate the Italian bankers with a little favor elsewhere.

After the meeting with these people, Gao Gang, who was refreshed, returned to the office and wrote a report to the locals. The report focuses on the latest results of the Ottoman Empire's monetary reform negotiations, as well as an application for the purchase of a complete set of coinage equipment from the country, including testing, smelting equipment and steam stamping equipment, which are controlled export commodities that cannot be produced without a license.

Time passed quickly. On September 30, a returning Ottoman galleys docked at the port of Kaffa, and the two cavalry officers on the east coast approached the port of Haji, bringing to Gao the latest news about the Don River valley: at the beginning of September of this month, the 800 elite horsemen led by Mao Junxiao occupied a small town abandoned by the Russian army almost without a fight, and then they met the Oirat Mongol herdsmen who had come to spy on the raiders. According to the interpreter's inquiry, they were nomadic Mongols from the Dulbert tribe on the right bank of the Volga River, and they were one of the Mongol tribes that migrated westward with the Turghut tribe in those years.

Mao Jun asked the herdsman to take them to the location of Ayu Khan's Golden Horde. At first, these herdsmen resolutely refused, because they saw that Mao Jun's 800 heavily armed cavalry did not look like good people, and each of them had a bulging backpack, and obviously plundered many Russian villages and towns along the way, so they were very suspicious.

Seeing this, Mao Jun immediately ordered his subordinates to release all their belongings, bribe these herdsmen of the Durbot Department, and ask them for introduction. The herdsmen looked at the gold in front of them with some emotion, and finally agreed to take them to the nomadic lands of their tribe, and as for their nobles not allowing them to go to the golden horde of Ayu Khan, it was beyond their control.

The messenger's message was relayed here, because the two of them did not go to the Dulbert Ministry, but returned to deliver the news, which made Gao Gang a little regretful, like a book chasing came to an abrupt end here, and there was no ending.

"Wait, it's a good start. The Dulbert Ministry has 10,000 accounts, so it's really okay to kidnap them first. Gao Gang thought.