(Thank you book friends for don't go home tonight, thank you!) ）

What if the token doesn't contain silver?

As long as the market recognizes the value of this thing, even if it is a piece of waste paper that has been wiped on the butt and still has shit, some people still regard it as a treasure.

Merchants will never take the initiative to debunk the secrets.

Tianhao knows this. Therefore, after demonstrating the "water detection method" in public in Rock City, he instructed Pingjun's intelligence department to increase the collection of information on the various cities of the lion clan, in order to observe the attitude of the lion merchants towards the matter of "tokens do not contain silver".

The result was exactly what he predicted: the Leon Merchant was indifferent to it, even suppressed. Occasionally, a few guys who want to make waves in this backwater are immediately suppressed by other people's groups, either bankrupt or assassinated. There have been many similar things, and no one has raised the issue of the gold and silver content of tokens.

Either way, this is a terrible seed that has taken root and sprouted among the lion merchants. As for when to break through the suppression of the soil and grow in all directions, it only depends on when Tianhao needs it, and when he sprinkles fertilizer on the surface of the seeds that are desperate for nutrients.

The biggest difference between this era and the civilized era is the acceptance and cognition of foreign information by the low-level civilians. There is no internet here, no telephone telegram. In addition to the dragon race, the major ethnic groups are not to mention basic education, and even the literacy rate of civilians is pitifully low.

Such people are the easiest to be seduced, and they are also the easiest to be led by the nose by people who seem to be knowledgeable, wealthy, and have a high social status.

The gap between rich and poor can create a sense of humbling. The blind obedience of the poor to the rich is largely due to this.

Ah Heng is just a small businessman, and it is impossible for him to set off a monstrous wave in Liuyun City with his own strength. To put it mildly, even if he stood hoarse and shouted desperately in the official office because the token did not contain silver, the final result could only be caught by the soldiers and locked up in prison and killed alive.

The Lion King will never allow those from below to offend his interests.

Big businessmen will never allow smart guys to take the initiative to jump out and expose the truth about tokens.

They firmly hold the upper floor, tacitly cover the lid without meeting each other, and stubbornly guard the common secret.

Zu Mu has worked hard all these years, and he has made great efforts to finally expand the branches of "Shengxinglong" to various walled cities of the lion clan, and there are as many as 100 of them. The overall profit is not much, the key is the impact on the local area. Peat, honeycomb coal, and salt are the necessities of life that have unwittingly entered the daily lives of the leon people, gradually replacing similar objects that they once familiarized.

The expansion of influence also affected other merchants, especially those who operated on a smaller scale and traveled from place to place in the walled cities all year round. They don't make much profit, but they are an important channel for the exchange of goods between the lion clan. After all, there were no trusts in this era, and merchants did not have the concept of monopolies. Therefore, Ah Heng made a fuss about the matter in the official bank of Liuyun City, and with the assistance of the dragon spies from the side, he coaxed the expansion of the scale, which made many lower-level merchants feel panicked, so that the scale could be formed in a short period of time, and then it evolved into a fierce trend of demanding the official payment of gold and silver.

According to Tianhao's instructions, the shops of "Shengxinglong" in various places have put up signs, indicating that all buyers must trade with gold and silver and refuse to use tokens.

The panic of the civilian population was ignited like gasoline. They don't know what economics is, and they don't know the secrets between the lion king and the big businessmen. All they know is that they can't buy necessities like they used to be, especially peat.

Throughout human history, wealth has always been concentrated in the hands of a small number of people. Historically, 20 percent of society's elites control 80 percent of society's wealth.

But wealth is more than just money. Without the other 80 percent of the population as carriers and users, the pockets of the rich are equivalent to waste paper.

Tianhao's plan is as simple as this: use the middle and lower class merchants of the lion clan as the tipping point, and then cause a mass panic among the low-level civilians, which will have a strong promotion effect from the bottom up, and make the entire lion clan fall into civil strife due to economic problems.

Big merchants certainly have stockpiled goods. However, in terms of quantity, even if all of them are taken out, they cannot meet the huge market requirements. What's more, Tianhao truncated the most important link from the first day of the implementation of the plan, that is, peat.

After years of business and harvest time, the understanding and concept of fuel among the tribes, including the lion tribe, has changed from the original firewood to peat and honeycomb coal. The "woodcutter" industry has long since shrunk to the location, especially in the major cities, where both officials and civilians are accustomed to using peat.

Tianhao has always asked foreign merchants to buy peat in gold and silver. This provision also has a related auxiliary interpretation———— if you cannot get enough gold and silver, you can use other goods of the same value to offset it.

For example, grain.

It is not surprising that such an ancillary clause has appeared. In the past, the cattle clan was short of food, and Tianhao had not yet become the regent at that time. He needed a large amount of food to communicate with other branches and get support.

The current dragon clan has long since solved the food problem. Especially potatoes from the southern part of the continent are produced so much that newly built warehouses are full. As a last resort, Tianhao had to order the cities to process the potatoes harvested that year, and consume them in the form of slicing and drying, milling, and winemaking.

When the news came from Liuyun City, the dragons immediately reacted: they canceled the auxiliary clauses on the sale of peat to the outside world, and refused to accept any offsetting items, including grain and cloth, as long as gold and silver.

This time, along with the big businessmen who are allies of the Lion King, they are also driven to a dead end. In line with the strong principle of survival of the dead and the poor, the big businessmen were forced to join the run and ask the lion king to take out real money and exchange it for the tokens he held.

The merchants all gave in, and the nobles were forced to make a choice.

It is no exaggeration to say that except for a very small number of high-level rulers such as the Lion King and the National Teacher, who racked their brains desperately to maintain the existing monetary system, the others did not eat this set at all. Even if there were cruel orders from above for suppression in various places, and people hung their heads on high poles to show the public, they still could not suppress the opposition and panic from the people.

Negotiations with the merchants ended in failure. They knelt down one after another, weeping bitterly, and all kinds of chaotic voices converged with only one central idea: "Lord of the city, you asked us to open a store to buy goods, but let the civilians pay with tokens, this is to kill us!" ”

The attitude of the merchants was so clear.

The attitude of civilians is also clear.

Military personnel certainly have their own options.

Silence, indifferent looks, and never back down when it comes to self-interest.

Do you want us to go into battle and kill the enemy?

No problem, as long as you are paid enough.

Going around and around is still the same problem———— the soldiers refused to accept the tokens. They need food, cloth, peat, and simply put, all kinds of daily necessities. And the source of all this is still real money.

As the lord of the city, Shi is quite wealthy. But even if he was bankrupt, he couldn't pay as many as tens of thousands of soldiers. As was previously practiced, the money was allocated by the Leo treasury, depending on the duration of the war, and was usually one to three silver tokens.

The office of the City Lord's Mansion was warm, looking at Lijun who was standing in front of him without saying a word, and Shi really didn't know what to say.

Lijun is his confidant.

If it's a henchman in the ordinary sense, it's just that, but he is an officer who he has placed in the city guard, as the eyes and ears, he has quite prestige among the low-level soldiers, and he responds to every call.

There are more than a dozen cronies like Lijun in total. Their loyalty to the teacher is extremely high, and the implementation of the things they have explained is not compromised in the slightest.

Even so, there were only five hundred and sixty-three soldiers gathered through Lijun and others, far from the number required by His Majesty the Lion King.

With the size of the population of Clearmane City, the number of troops sent this time could not be less than 30,000.

The young Lijun's face was flushed, this was because he couldn't complete the orders of the division, and he was sorry for the shame of the trust of the city lord.

"My lord, I've done my best." Lijun knelt down on one knee and said helplessly: "They want cloth, grain, peat, gold and silver, but they don't want tokens." ”

Shi, who had been silent for a long time, had a trace of anger on his face: "Do they want to rebel if they dare to disobey the order?" ”

Lijun raised his head and said seriously: "My subordinates have checked in the barracks, and no one has instigated it, and no outsiders have spread rumors. Everyone is just panicking because they can't buy anything with the tokens in their hands. ”

After a pause, Lijun hesitated and said, "Actually...... I myself have similar thoughts. ”

As he spoke, he took out a dozen tokens from his pocket and spread them out in his palm.

According to the edict issued by the lion king, the purchasing power of the lion currency is very strong, especially this "silver token", two coins are equivalent to a month's living expenses for a family of five. Because Lijun has been by Shi Ze's side all the year round, all kinds of rewards are quite rich, and these dozen or so silver tokens are just a part of all his savings.

Property is one of the driving forces that motivates people to forge ahead. If all your money is gone up in the dark overnight...... Lijun couldn't imagine what a horrific scene it was.

Divisions look at problems from a different angle than Lijun. He sat down in his chair with a gloomy expression and muttered, "It seems that the same as against civilians and merchants should be applied to the army." Kill a few people, cut off a few heads, and let them know that this is the end of refusing to obey His Majesty's conscription order. ”

"No, you can't do that." Lijun's face turned white with fright, and he repeatedly dissuaded: "My lord, this will only bring more trouble, and maybe it will also cause a mutiny." ”

Shi Ze's heart was shocked, he looked at Lijun in surprise, and subconsciously frowned and said, "I let you serve as officers just to control those people below." Why, can't you even do this little thing? ”

Lijun opened his mouth, but he couldn't say a word about the words behind him. He was silent for a long time, lowered his head, and said with difficulty: "...... My lord, I've done my best. ”

Shi was completely stunned.

A feeling of powerlessness rose inside the body that I had never felt before. I know that there are things that must be done, and I know the specific methods and steps, but I can't do it anyway.

What's going on here?

I am a city lord, with tens of thousands of troops under my command and more than 100,000 civilians under my command, but I can only muster more than 500 soldiers who are willing to obey orders.

What's worse is that those who refuse to carry out orders cannot be acted upon, let alone suppressed.

The word "mutiny" is so terrible that no sober-minded ruler would want to see such a thing happen.

Divisions are no exception.

He smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Forget it, first send the gathered soldiers to Roaring City, as many as you want!" ”

Lijun raised his head and hesitated: "My lord, if you do this, will Your Majesty be angry with you?" ”

"I don't know." Shi Ze said frankly: "But everyone's situation is similar, and there will be no exception only to Qingmane City." Anyway, wait for the news from Roaring City to come over. I guess Your Majesty is also very difficult, and should make further arrangements for the issue of tokens. ”

……

Two days later, the lion territory, the capital of Roaring City.

In the side hall of the palace, the lion king and the national teacher are separated by a coffee table, and the two people are sitting facing each other, their faces are ugly.

"Today is the third day since I issued the edict." Shi Rui struggled to control his emotions, but his facial muscles still looked distorted: "The army that has arrived from the main cities of various places is less than eight thousand. What can this little force do? Not even a fraction of what I expected! ”

Taking a deep breath, Shi Rui's trembling hands and ten fingers were spread, and with indescribable anger and hatred, he slowly clenched into fists: "Those people below...... What exactly do they want to do? Do you want to rebel? ”

The national teacher Wu looked serious: "As far as I know, there is nothing they can do about it. The impact of the incident in Flowing Cloud City is very large, and now the civilians are panicking, they just want to exchange tokens for gold and silver, or something that can be eaten and used. However, the merchants refused to accept the tokens, the shops were closed, and the civilians could not buy the goods, which in turn affected the army, and even if the tokens were given as military salaries, the soldiers were unwilling to ask for them. ”

Shi Rui pursed his lips tightly and stretched them into a straight line. He said coldly: "It seems that there are fewer people killed, and it can't achieve the effect of deterring those people with ill intentions." One more edict must be passed on, and the killing will continue until everyone obeys! ”

Wu Guo's eyelids twitched, and he hurriedly stopped: "Your Majesty, you can't do this, killing people can't fundamentally solve the problem." The last crackdown has already caused a backlash in many places, with a number of people fleeing the border posts. If it continues like this, it will cause a big mess. ”

Shi Rui stared at him with a fierce gaze: "Then what do you say?" The Eagle Clan's pleas cannot sit idly by. Once Eagle City falls, the Dragons will be able to pose a threat to us from the east. The young regent was not a good man, and he had regarded us lions as enemies from the beginning. ”

Looking at the lion king's face dominated by anger, Wu Guan suddenly felt a dry throat, and it was difficult to say the words that had reached his mouth.