With trepidation and a hint of curiosity, Maggie was led by Rebecca to a large building known as the "Magic Technology Research Institute".

It is said that this is the highest research center for Cecil's magic technology.

It is said that most of the magic devices that exert incredible power and effect, and which the former members of the Royal Capital Mage Association called "the perfect rune that cannot be explained by luck", were born in this research center and its affiliated facilities.

Maggie had visited the South with Victoria, but she didn't have the opportunity to visit the temple of technology at the time, but today she was invited here to be part of a great project, which has to be said to be a wonderful arrangement of fate, driven by a strong curiosity, Maggie couldn't help but look at everything in her sight: everything here was exceptionally new to her.

The Magical Technique Research Institute wasn't as opulent and lavishly decorated as the Royal Mage Guild she was familiar with (the closest thing she could think of to the temple in nature), but the massive multi-story building had its own unique beauty and majesty, consisting of a main building and three outbuildings, the base of which was supported by neatly arranged columns, and the top of the outbuildings had three simple and powerful words:

Curious; Preciseness; Hang on.

This may explain part of the attitude of Cecil's scholars towards research.

"These three words were proposed by Master Carmel, and it is said that they were the rules that the scholars of the Gondor Empire adhered to, and the ancestors thought it made sense, so they let us hang these three words on the roof of the research institute," Rebecca said happily next to her, "Be curious about the world, and discover the unknown in curiosity; Maintain rigor in the face of the unknown, and find the direction of research in rigor; Perseverance in research and verification of results in perseverance......"

The Imperial princess spoke in a breezy tone and always had a smile on her face, and she finally had a chance to ditch the flamboyant-looking court dresses and replace them with simple dresses that were easy to move, and Maggie found that she was truly happy after leaving Silver Castle and coming to this research facility.

This "Her Royal Highness the Princess" belongs here.

With a smile on her face, Maggie followed the chattering Rebecca into the mysterious building with a group of men and women working at the institute.

The first thing that catches your eye when you enter the door is a large and bright hall, illuminated by magic crystal lamps, corridors and stairs leading to different parts of the institute, and the most striking thing in the hall is a statue in the center.

It wasn't any hero or god that Maggie knew, nor was it the current emperor of the Cecil Empire, it was just a middle-aged man in plain robes who looked unremarkable and wore plain robes, leading a skinny little girl, they stood in the center of this temple of knowledge and technology, illuminated by a special magic crystal light, the man's gaze was gentle and calm, as if watching everyone who walked here, and every magician or rune master who entered the institute would also come to the statue first, Bow deeply before leaving.

Maggie looked at the statue in amazement and couldn't help but ask, "Who are they?" ”

"It's the founder of modern magic technology and his daughter Anne." Rebecca suppressed all her laughter and said with the same serious expression that Maggie had seen for the first time, and then she also came to the statue and bowed deeply.

Maggie was a little overwhelmed, but she saluted, and then she saw the text on the pedestal beneath the statue: To the Pioneers.

"Doesn't he have a name?" Maggie asked, surprised and curious.

"No...... We only know that he is a wild mage, and he may have stayed in the Royal Mage Association," Rebecca said regretfully, "but we searched the information of the Royal Mage Association, and we couldn't find the name of this wild mage...... He may just be an assistant to some great magician, or his name may have been completely erased by the Guild. You know, in traditional mage circles, breaking away from one's own lineage is a very serious thing, names are removed from all case files, and nearly a quarter of the mages of St. Sunil died in the siege, and perhaps the last person to know his real name also died on the walls. ”

Maggie didn't know what to say for a moment, but Rebecca was already smiling again, and she smiled brightly as she faced the man in the statue: "But it doesn't matter, his creation has not been forgotten, as long as we continue to work hard, the 'magic web' will be remembered by everyone." ”

Maggie was stunned, but there was thoughtfulness in her eyes, and Rebecca had already taken a step and walked towards the stairs not far away: "Keep up, keep up, I have to introduce you to a lot of people......"

……

In the center of the city, on the square in front of the "Lord's Palace", a team of sentries guarded the avenue leading to the mansion, and several workers were busy next to the sentry post in front of the intersection of the avenue.

A stout worker, with the help of a hoist, went to the top of the metal lamppost where the street sign was hung, and with the assistance of the magic guide terminal, he removed a few rivets that fixed the sign, and after some shaking, he took off the metal sign that read "The Mansion of Lord Cecil" and handed it to his colleague next to him.

A new sign was brought over and mounted on a steel skeleton on the side of the lamppost, with brand new words on it: Cecil Palace.

Next to the lamppost where the street sign was hung, a magician looked up at the words on the sign, and couldn't help but shake his head and say, "That's really a simple name......

"Your Majesty has always liked to be concise and clear when he came up with names, the car propelled by the power of the magic guide is called the magic car, the energy track paved with steel is called the railway, and the tower that can broadcast signals is called the radio tower," another fellow magus laughed, "I'm used to it anyway. ”

"Then explain what electricity in 'magic capacitor' means......"

"That's what's wrong with you!!"

……

"Ancestor, the new signposts and map changes have been completed," Hetty reported to Gawain from the study, "and the news of the renaming of the Cecil Palace's palace to 'Cecil Palace' will soon appear in the newspapers and radio programs in the near future. ”

"That's good," Gawain exhaled, then shook his head with a smile, "It's a bit embarrassing to say, I almost forgot this detail before...... When I saw the sign for the 'Lord's Palace', I remembered that the name of this mansion had to be changed, but fortunately, the preparatory committee of the Government Office still remembered this. ”

"Considering all the details is the basic work of the Preparatory Committee, and your precious energy is to be focused on the bigger things," Hetty said earnestly, "but then again...... the name 'Cecil Palace' is really quite unremarkable. ”

Gawain glanced at Hetty with a smile.

This "archon" has always been a calm and serious person, but in the absence of outsiders, she occasionally becomes a younger generation who opens her heart to her ancestors and teases boring people, in addition to using various schemes to cheat the holiday, finding opportunities to complain about some new terms created by Gawain and stalks that no one can understand is also one of her few hobbies, which Gawain is quite familiar with, but sometimes it is quite helpless.

"I can't think of any other name—I can't just put a layer of silver foil on the outside of our house and give it a name 'New Silver Castle,'" he smiled and shook his head, "The name is just a code name, so people can understand what it means at once, even if it doesn't sound distinctive at first glance, after a few years everyone will be familiar with it, and it will be taken for granted." ”

"Actually, there's nothing wrong with Cecil Palace," the corners of Hetty's mouth curled slightly, "but Gordon mentioned one thing at the meeting the day before yesterday - does this 'palace' need to be expanded, or simply rebuilt?" It's still adequate, but as a palace, it's a bit out of proportion......"

Gao Wen shook his head: "No need, you also said that this mansion is still enough, and there is no need to expand it." It seems to me to be huge, no less than a small castle in terms of footprint, and it's so new that it would be a waste of precious money and manpower to rebuild it just for the sake of grandeur - so many cities and roads in the plains of the Whitsunday have not yet been rebuilt. ”

"You really say that," said Hetty reluctantly, "but as far as an empire is concerned, the royal palace is not only a place to live, but also a functional facility used for the office of the royal family, for the operation of some government functions, and a symbol of the strength and majesty of the country, which you should also consider." ”

This time, Gao Wen thought about it seriously for a while, and said slowly while thinking: "What you said also makes sense, with the expansion of the scale of the Supreme Government Affairs Department and the reorganization of the institutions that manage the operation of the empire, some offices are going to be transferred here...... But this is not something that will be executed immediately, and even if it does, it will not immediately exceed the capacity of this mansion. The expansion can be planned in advance, but the implementation will have to wait a little longer, at least until we don't have to worry about feeding so many people on the plain of the Holy Spirit. ”

Hetty lowered her head: "Yes, I see, Ancestor. ”

Gawain snorted and continued, "How's the Padrak-led 'new coin promotion' going?" ”

"In several pilot places, it has been relatively smooth, relying on the call of the government affairs department, coupled with the sufficient prestige you have brought to the public, the public can accept the appropriate use of 'paper money' as a certificate of daily transactions, but most people have not completely abandoned the traditional metal currency, but only regard paper money as a convenient supplement, and according to the results of the survey, some small businessmen regard 'paper money' as a special kind of 'contract certificate'......"

Gawain raised his eyebrows: "Contract certificate?" ”

"Yes, like a certificate of borrowing money or a certificate of exchange for gold and silver, they think that paper money is evidence of wealth issued by a 'bank', and that each note is an IOU, which can be used to buy things, because the IOU can eventually be used to exchange gold and silver from the bank......"

Listening to Hetty's words, Gawain couldn't help but sigh slightly: "...... Eventually, we were at this stage. ”

"Does 'this stage' refer to the substitute currency?" Hetty asked curiously, "Is there anything wrong with it?" ”

"That's right, it's a proxy currency, the solution Padraic is trying. Each banknote corresponds to the verified gold and silver, and the total amount of currency in circulation depends on the amount of precious metals in the bank's reserves...... Simple and straightforward rules of money have the disadvantages of being simple and straightforward," Gawain earnestly explained to the curious Hetty, "and its greatest danger is that factories will multiply the total wealth of society, but the rate of extractive production of gold and silver is limited, the amount of money that can be used for circulation will be limited, and the scale of investment and trade will be limited by the amount of money that banks can issue...... And eventually form a contradiction.

"When the contradiction between the total amount of social wealth and the amount of money issued intensifies to a certain extent, there may be two consequences: either development stagnates, industry enters a cold winter, and the economy begins to shrink - because social development is 'not advancing or retreating', or banks are forced to over-issue debt-based tokens, regardless of the form of these debts - whether they are special currencies or bonds, they will cause the value of money in circulation in society to far exceed the value of precious metals in reserve.

"Once this situation starts, it will not stop, and after it gets worse to a certain extent, as long as there is a little unrest in society, and people want to exchange their substitute currency for gold and silver, our economy will face a catastrophe...... Because the gold and silver reserves of the entire banking system have long been unable to keep up with the total value of wealth produced by industry, let alone the amount of money in the hands of the people, and cannot be exchanged for modern currency, no matter how powerful the empire is, it will collapse only overnight. ”

Gawain's explanation was as simple as possible, and Hetty was not stupid, and after being exposed to the New Policies for so long, she understood the whole process almost immediately, and her face was instantly difficult to see: she realized that this was a trap that was almost unsolvable.

As long as the population is increasing and people's survival needs are improving, society must continue to develop, and as long as factories are operating, the development rate of society will far exceed the increase rate of precious metals such as gold and silver, and the "paper money" that can directly exchange a fixed amount of gold and silver will definitely not be able to keep up with the pace of increasing social wealth.

As long as this contradiction emerges and accumulates to a certain stage, development stagnation-regression and over-issuance of money must be chosen.

Whichever one you choose, it means disaster.

However, if there is no monetary reform at all...... There will also be a trap of stagnation, which is also a disaster in a world that is not peaceful.

"Padraic looked frown when he reported these things to me," Hetty said slowly, frowning, "and he said that he had a vague sense of a fatal problem in deducing the circulation of money, but he couldn't find it...... Could it be that this is the trap he perceived? ”

"He actually noticed it?" Gawain's eyes widened in shock, but he quickly regained his composure, "Yes...... These laws are the ...... that people have summed up."

"This 'trap' is terrible," said Hettie, with trepidation, "is there no way to solve it?" ”

"There is also a form of money...... But it's hard to say which is worse," Gawain said with a frown, shaking his head slowly, "but there are very few things in the world that are perfect, and even more so man-made things. In short, we are still in the stage of collecting data and social validation, so let's let Padraic complete this phase of the pilot acceptance first, and at the same time wait for Daniel to gather further information on Typhon's monetary reform, and wait until all the information is summarized, and then we will discuss the follow-up. ”

After the battle of the Changfeng defense line, Gawain now has no psychological burden on crossing the river by touching Typhon, it is said that it has entered the application stage of paper money, and the valuable social experiment data cannot be missed.