As the supreme ruler of the clan, Shi Rui certainly knew that the official currency had a very low silver content.

There's no way around it.

Monetary reform is not just lip service. This requires two requirements, one is to have an adequate supply of goods from the market, and the other is to have an adequate amount of money.

The goods themselves are not much of a problem. The Leon Tribe, with two high-yielding crops, potatoes and corn, had gained the upper hand when trading with other tribes. Although the cloth of the deer tribe is also an important strategic material, it must be ranked behind the grain. The reason is simple———— people can go without clothes, but they can't go without eating.

Shi Rui spent many years of hard work to finally create a relatively wealthy class within the lion clan. As the number of people doing business grew, he began to worry about another issue: money.

The source of gold and silver is very simple, except for the search for ore veins within the territory, or the discovery of large quantities of "ancient gold" in a particular place, which can only be exchanged from other tribes in the form of commercial trade.

Many years ago, Shi Rui calculated: with the amount of gold and silver reserves of the lion clan at that time, it would not be possible to create enough currency to maintain a huge market.

Luckily, he found a solution from the clay stencils of the Royal Archives.

That is the issuance of tokens.

Shi Rui's understanding of economics can only be regarded as average. But he is well aware of the huge role that tokens can play in the business climate of the entire community. To put it bluntly, it is actually a question of the trust of the middle and lower classes of civilians in the high-level rulers of the ethnic group. As long as they feel that tokens have the same status as gold and silver, recognize and accept them, even if the tokens are a piece of, people will scramble to put them in their pockets like treasures.

Shi Rui was very cautious, and he tried to issue some tokens. Considering the quantity and cost of possible future issuances, he had the royal mint reduce the silver content to a minimum, mix large amounts of lead, mix with other metals, cast them in stencils, cool them, and polish them to the market.

This kind of token is fashionable, with the head of the lion king carved on the front and back, which is very popular with merchants, and has gradually entered other tribes with various business activities, becoming an important value basis for goods transactions.

Previously, it has also been suggested that the absence of gold and silver in the token could lead to market chaos. Shi Rui didn't care about this. From its initial cautious use to the present, the Leo currency has accumulated enough credit. It has the characteristics of stability and formalization, and may depreciate or appreciate in response to changes in the market economy, but it will never collapse.

The cruel reality is like an invisible strange hand, "popping" and slapping Shi Rui's face.

Merchants poured into the official offices and the city lord's mansion, demanding that their tokens be exchanged for gold and silver.

The chaos soon spread to the common people, who were more panicked than the merchants, fearing that the money in their pockets would become scrap metal, so they desperately searched the market for goods to buy. Even if it is an item that you don't usually need, you have to grit your teeth and force it to buy.

The lion king and the national teacher fell into a long silence.

They are the supreme rulers of the community, and this cannot be done to anyone else...... Looking at the entire lion clan, there are few smart people who understand the value relationship between tokens and gold and silver. Letting them handle it will only make the situation worse.

After a long time, the national teacher Wu Guo made a stereotypical and hoarse voice: "This is a conspiracy against us. In fact, many people know that tokens do not contain silver, and we have mentioned this more or less on various occasions before. Getting the public to accept the token is a long-term behavior, and it can't be explained in two or three sentences. In fact, even if we make everything public, not many people will care about the connection. Civilian...... As long as the tokens can be spent and food and cloth can be bought, they will not dispute this. ”

Shi Rui, who is fifty-six years old this year, swallowed his throat dryly: "It should be done by the dragon clan." The so-called "water detection method" has been used before, and I heard that it seems to be the lord of Rock City, the current regent of the Dragon Clan. ”

Wu Jing, who was the same age as the Lion King, frowned deeply: "It's pointless to talk about this now. The timing they chose was too good. Unbiasedly, it happened to be around the autumn harvest. According to the practice of previous years, the autumn grain should be collected and stored in the walled cities in various places. Now that it is being troubled by Liuyun City, civilians everywhere are unwilling to take out food to pay taxes, but use tokens instead. ”

Shi Rui stared at the silver coin on the coffee table and did not speak.

In the past, there has also been a practice of civilians replacing food taxes with tokens. But that's built on the strength of the token's credit. Now, almost everyone in the entire lion clan has lost faith in the token, which is just a beautifully minted piece of scrap metal that cannot be eaten or worn.

The chaos has spread to Roaring City. Many merchants refuse to accept tokens, existing transactions in the market are using gold and silver, and many even go back to decades ago to barter.

Wu Guo raised his head and looked at Shi Rui with tentative eyes: "Your Majesty, why don't we release some of the gold and silver reserves first, meet the merchants' requirements, and redeem the tokens in their hands?" ”

Shi Rui sat there motionless, his dull voice mixed with sarcasm: "You can say such things." Once the payment of gold and silver was announced, they would squeeze through the palace gates. Too many tokens have been issued over the years, at least seven times more than the existing gold and silver reserves. In addition, even if the merchants' demands are met, what about the civilians? They are more numerous and hold much more tokens than merchants. ”

"Civilians are easy to do." Wu Guo had already thought about this problem, and he smiled slightly: "We have sufficient food reserves, no matter how chaotic it is, it will not affect the base of the race. Replace gold and silver with grain! In this way, you can also redeem the old grain from previous years. As long as we recognize the circulation of tokens, civilians will not complain. ”

"It's not as simple as you think." Shi Rui sneered: "I thought about this method you said before. To be honest, it doesn't necessarily work, and it has a big loophole. ”

Wu Guo was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly asked, "Why?" ”

Shi Rui sighed: "We can collect a sufficient amount of grain taxes every year, and that's because of corn and potatoes. You should know that the price of food is different for internal and external food, and the price we collect from the common people is very cheap, but the price we sell to other tribes is very high. Winter in particular is the best time of year to trade. ”

After all, Wu Guo is a national teacher, and he suddenly understood: "Your Majesty, do you mean that civilians only recognize the price at which they usually buy grain?" ”

Shi Rui nodded heavily: "We are the only tribe on the Northern Continent that is not affected by food. The deer tribe buys a large amount of grain from us every year. King Deer is an old slippery man who insists on trading cotton and linen and refuses to accept our token-based bargaining. Since he is unwilling, and I can't help it, then raise the price of grain for sale, and it must be sold by the government. In short, the deer tribe did not take advantage of this business, and we were able to digest the surplus food and exchange it for the cloth needed every year. ”

"And the pig clan. It's a good deal to hire them with grain to help them fight the war! Although these guys are a little ugly, they are really good at fighting. The ox is tall and big, and the brain is simple, dare to fight, and dare to face the arrow formation of the Eagle Clan head-on with a wooden shield...... Seriously, if it weren't for the feelings of the rest of the clan, and as a buffer between the Ox Clan, the Tiger Clan, the Deer Clan, and the Eagle Clan, I would have pulled the Pig Clan in and become a part of our Leon Clan. ”

Wu Guan pursed his lips and did not speak.

He and Shi Rui are old friends who were born in the same year, which is also the standard ruling model of "patriarch plus national teacher" common in many tribes. Only by being familiar with each other can we reach consensus on many issues. However, what Shi Rui said just now could only make Wu Qian secretly laugh———— the population of the Pig Clan is sparse, only a few hundred thousand people. Such small tribes have no advantage in the chaotic inter-ethnic wars. The reason why the pig tribe has been sandwiched among various tribes for a long time and remains relatively stable is that on the one hand, tribal wars need cannon fodder, and on the other hand, it is because of the pig people themselves.

They are very edible. All pigs are big eaters, whether they are old or children, women or sick, and the huge amount of food is amazing. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you would never have imagined that so much food would disappear in just a few minutes between some kind of open and closed lips, and be tightly packed into it by something called "belly".

They have a violent temperament and start fighting if they don't agree with each other. Even within the pig clan, it is common to gather crowds to fight. There's an old proverb that says it so clearly———— even I'm scared when I get mad. Pig people are like this, they only recognize fists, and only those who can fight are worthy of respect.

Then there's the terrible hygiene and the rudeness and stupidity that can't be described in words. The village is probably the dirtiest place in the world, with sewage flowing everywhere and feces everywhere. Coupled with their rough nature, it feels like a bunch of uncivilized savages.

"What a surprise! Dragons...... At that time, he was still a member of the Niu tribe, and he was only a city lord, so he had the audacity to buy the traitors in the pig people with grain, and then launched an all-out war against the entire pig tribe. To be honest, I didn't understand it at first, and it wasn't until Fangfang City was in an emergency that I finally understood the importance of the Pig Clan. But by that time it was too late, he killed the pig king, and fought a beautiful ambush battle, and captured a large number of prisoners. ”

Wu Guo knew that Shi Rui was talking about the regent of the Dragon Clan, and he also knew that Shi Rui's emotion was not over, and there was still something to follow.

"The reason why I didn't send a large army to attack the Niu Clan's territory at that time was due to several considerations. One is the relationship with the cattle clan, which is not worth turning over for the sake of the pigs. We need their armor and weapons, and they need our food. Secondly...... I think that the pig people are an unstable factor, and it must be difficult for the cattle to swallow so much at one time, and it is very problematic to just feed them, let alone convert to the same clan. ”

Wu Guo was deeply touched by this, and also strongly agreed: "The pig people eat a lot and have a rough temperament, if it weren't for this, they would have been wiped out by other tribes a long time ago, and it would not have existed for that long." ”

"Yes......" Shi Rui dragged a long sigh, his expression was a little regretful, and there was also a little envy: "After that, the reaction of the Niu people was similar to what I thought, they bought a large amount of grain and transported it back to Rock City to feed those pig people. We've made a lot of money through this kind of business. Rock City does have a lot of good things: cider, cheese, salt, dried fish, cured venison...... In addition, it is peat. ”

The witch situation suddenly became serious. As a national teacher of the lion clan, he knows very well the meaning of the word "peat".

In the past few years, peat from the cattle has poured into the lion villages. Even the witches were surprised by the change from the initial rejection of peat by the general public to the fact that every household was using peat and had to spend money to buy it every month.

The original business name was only "Shengxinglong". However, the owner of the trading house was very sensible, he did not have a unique piece of fat, but pulled more people in with him, helped to contact the source of goods from Rock City, and even brought in many lion magnates in the process, including several cousins of Wu Guo, and two uncles of the lion king.

"I'm not saying peat is bad." Shi Rui said seriously: "This thing is indeed very useful, more resistant to burning than firewood." Although "Shengxinglong" is the industry of the dragon people, it abides by the law, and the taxes that should be paid are not less. I always thought that the Lord of Rock City ...... Well, even the current regent of the Dragon Clan, thinking that his thoughts are the same as mine, and he wants to fully implement the monetary system, so he sent someone to form "Shengxinglong" and exchange peat for our food. ”

There was a hint of doubt in Wu Jing's eyes: "Your Majesty, you just talked about the pig people, and now you are talking about peat. Is it ......?"

Shi Rui nodded slowly: "You guessed right, there is an inevitable connection between the pig people and peat. In our opinion, the pigs are full of shortcomings, and only the young dragon regent would treat them as treasures. It was only later that I found out that he did have a point. He left only a small part of the pigs to cultivate the fields, and most of them were sent to work in the mountains. Either digging for stones or peat, and building roads...... As a result, the time it takes to transport peat from Rock City is shortened, the commodities are traded faster, and the pigs are managed in the most efficient way. ”

Wu Guan took a deep breath and said with emotion: "From the mental and physical aspects of the double pressure on the pigs, through heavy physical labor to make them tired, there is no heart to do anything else. Anyway, peat is not to be sold, and the cattle people only need grain when they trade with us. In this way, it is equivalent to feeding the entire pig tribe for them with our food. ”

Shi Rui turned sideways, covered his chin with his left hand, and stroked back and forth on both sides of his rough stubble cheeks, his face revealing deep thought: "In the past, my focus was only on the currency itself. The Dragon Regent taught me a lesson, if we could change our minds and look at the Pig Clan from a different perspective, we would now have the advantage and get the best heavy infantry in the world. ”