"Clegane Bank notes?" Eddard frowned and looked at Gavin Westerling thoughtfully.

He had heard of the Magic Mountain opening banks in King's Landing and Baylor's Great Sanctuary.

Banks have never existed in Westeros, and Magic Mountain has set a precedent, but Ed Stark is no stranger to banks. When he was prime minister, the royal family owed a lot of debts, the largest of which was the iron vault of Braavos.

Braavos' Iron Vault is a bank that doesn't know how much gold there is, and it is also the only bank in Westeros and Essos.

Where did the money come from to open a bank?

It was clear that he had the support of the Great Church of Baylor.

The Basilica of Baylor, the highest holy place for the people of the Seven Kingdoms to believe in God, and the donation of the people of the Seven Kingdoms who believe in the Seven Gods has made the Basilica of Baylor rich and unrivaled. On the other side of the Narrow Sea, the people and princes and nobles who believed in the Seven Gods also accounted for the majority, and the belief in the Seven Gods was originally passed down from the other side of the Narrow Sea.

The nobles and people of the two continents have the habit of going to the Great Holy Church of Baylor to make a pilgrimage and worship, and every time they make a pilgrimage, a lot of wealth flows into the Great Holy Church.

Ed had privately talked to Robb about the bank of the Magic Mountain, and after the Magic Mountain received the support of the Great Sanctuary of Baylor, it actually meant that he had the support of the people of the Seven Gods.

Ed is upright and old-fashioned but not stupid, he knows that the magic mountain is on a mountain of gold, and the words of the archbishop, the trust and acceptance of the people in Baylor Bank, against the propaganda of anyone in the Seven Kingdoms, will even eclipse the glory of the royal family.

However, it was one thing for the Mountain to open a bank in King's Landing, and it was another thing for Eddard to issue paper money in place of gold, silver, and copper coins at the Clegane Bank in the West.

Whatever choice people will make between paper money and gold, silver and copper coins, it is definitely gold, silver and copper.

The free-trade city-states on the other side of the Narrow Sea, as far as the eastern giant city of Quells, who doesn't use gold and silver to mint coins? All of them!

Folding money?

How can the unheard and the unseen be accepted?

How could the Magic Mountain come up with paper money for circulation, and instead of gold, silver and copper coins?

Ed Stark was full of questions, he couldn't get it!

The Great Wall of Desperation is the northernmost line of defense in the kingdom, and the terrain is the most remote and remote, and a lot of information is not smooth.

Ed wants to be informed by Gavin. After a few days of getting along, Gavin's cultivation and insight, character and humility are what Ed truly admires.

Gavin Westerling was placed on Dragonstone by the Magic Mountain, and was unaware of the situation with the Clegane Bank banknotes in the West. Faced with the undoubted future in-laws, Count Gavin could only explain to Duke Ed with his greatest understanding, and in the few days of helping to guard the East Sea Wang, Gavin deliberately befriended Ed, leaving a good impression on the marriage of the two families in the future.

In just a few days, he and Eddard Stark naturally transitioned to calling each other by their first names, "Ed, I know that Gregor Cregan and the Archbishop of Baylor Grand Church have jointly established Baylor Bank in King's Landing, specifically lending money to King's Landing nobles and ordinary people, including the royal family. “

"Count Gavin, the bank also lends money to ordinary people?" Jon Snow didn't believe it.

This person in Moshan really already has a good heart?!

Jon Snow didn't know anything about the secret things that the Mountain had done, including some of the Mountain's secret help to the Starks.

"Commander Jon, in King's Landing, whether you are a nobleman, a royal family, a mercenary, a farmer, a fisherman, a blacksmith, a merchant, a captain, or a knight, as long as you are a member of the Seven Gods, or have a guarantee or property as collateral, you can borrow a sum of money through Baylor Bank to tide over the difficulties. “

"Are the commoners borrowing from usury?"

"No, the interest rate is calculated in the same way as the loans of the nobles. ”

It wasn't just Jon Snow who felt his heart move, Eddard Stark never thought of it.

Nobles and commoners borrow at the same rate?!

The nobles lent money to the commoners, and they were all usury. The Great Sanctuary of Baylor also did the business of lending, and Robert I owed the Great Sanctuary of Baylor a million gold dragons during his lifetime, of course, in the form of usury. In this world, usury is something that people are accustomed to. Of course, borrowers hate the bloodsucking of usury.

"Count Gavin, aren't the Magic Mountain and the Baelor Sanctuary worried that the poor civilians will not be able to return the money they borrowed?"

"I think Gregor has already figured it out before he did this, and if the civilians are really unable to return it for unfortunate reasons, the bank will choose to take it and write off the bill. Gregor said that this is business, and while you want to make money, the risks cannot be completely avoided. However, if anyone dares to borrow money and deliberately refuse to repay it, the monks of the Baylor Sanctuary and the people of Gregor will tell him to pay it back in double, and the profit will be unending. ”

Jon Snow glanced at Eddard Stark, who was looking at him, and father and son exchanged glances.

They were even more touched by the people of the Magic Mountain.

The Magic Mountain sent them obsidian ore and weapons, which were priceless treasures that could not be measured by wealth. When the news spread, the entire Night's Watch Legion, the Free Folk Legion, the Shireen Army, and the Northern Army all boosted their morale, and the morale of the army was like a flame. The name of the Magic Mountain touched the heart of every warrior. What kind of person is Magic Mountain, who will secretly spend a lot of time and financial resources to silently dig obsidian mines and make weapons for the desperate Great Wall on Dragonstone Island?!

On the other hand, the bank opened by the Magic Mountain in King's Landing did not lend usury, but was willing to lend money to the common people, so that the poor could enjoy the same rules as the nobles, which greatly touched Jon's heart!

Jon Snow is a very sensitive person!

He was born out of wedlock and was discriminated against from an early age. During his fifteen years in Winterfell, even though Eddard Stark protected him, his sister Sansa Stark and Lady Catelyn Tully all looked at him differently, and in their words and demeanors, and in their facial expressions, they naturally showed indifference, contempt, and contempt for him. Lady Caitlyn even had some kind of hostility engraved in her bones, and she once asked Duke Eddard to send Jon away, but Duke Eddard sternly refused.

In the fifteen years between her birth and Jon's departure from Winterfell, Lady Catelyn never considered Jon Snow to be Stark's family.

Jon's contempt for Jon from a young age was taught by the nobles of Winterfell and the rest of the North, who saw the world calmly and rationally from a very young age, knowing that there was a strict hierarchy of dignity between ordinary commoners and nobles. When it comes to money lending, the money lent to civilians, Jon knows is usury. However, the banks run by the Magic Mountain and the Great Sanctuary of Baylor do not even have them, and they treat nobles and ordinary people equally.

It's hard to believe Jon!

Jon has a special sensitivity and insight into the world!

"I know that Duke Gregor has opened a Baylor Bank in King's Landing and Baylor Chapel, which I thought was similar to the iron vault of the city-state of Braavos on the other side of the Narrow Sea. "The Iron Treasury lends money only to kings, princes, governors, and nobles everywhere, and also to powerful navigators and captains, and some powerful mercenary leaders, but not to ordinary people. ”

"Yes, Eddard. Earl Gavin said that the nobles had studied the history of the Iron Vault, and learning the etiquette of the nobility and the history of various countries, including the national customs of the world, was a compulsory course for the heirs of the great nobles, "The Iron Treasury was founded to lend money to the slaves who fled to Braavos, and these slaves came from the Valyrian Empire on the other side of the continent. “

Although Jon is an illegitimate child, under the care of Eddard, he has studied in the same class as Robb Stark since he was a child, and he also knows the history of the iron vault of the city-state of Braavos, and has seen those stories and historical facts.

The first Valyrian slave miners fled from the easternmost part of the continent to the westernmost part of the continent, and they secretly founded the city-state of Braavos and the Iron Vault. For thousands of years, slaves have been trying to escape from the underground mines of the Valyrian Empire. Because once you are caught as a slave miner, there are only two ways in life, the first is to escape, and the second is to be enslaved to death in the Valyrian mines.

Later, four hundred years ago, the Valyrian Empire was destroyed by the fire that broke out, and more than 500 dragons and their dragon knights, as well as everything in the empire, were burned to ashes by the fire, and the city-state of Braavos, founded by the slaves from the Valyrian Empire, dared to reveal its true identity. The Iron Treasury created by the founders of the city-state and grew with Braavos, becoming the only super-bank on both sides of the Narrow Sea with godlike glory. They no longer lend money to ordinary people, but to the kings of various countries, the chiefs and chieftains of the islands of the sea, the governors of the free trade city-states, the dukes of various places, and the commanders of various powerful mercenary regiments.

Jon and Eddard were touched by the Magic Mountain's Affordable Bank, and in their hearts, the definition of the Mountain as the worst villain in the Seven Kingdoms was shaken once again. What happened to the Demon Mountain?!

Gavin Westerling said, "Ed, Magic Mountain believes that the world's gold mining will only be depleted by the day, and our gold mines in the West have already been depleted by ninety percent, and he told me that in order to ease the tension and increasing scarcity of gold, he thought of introducing paper money instead of gold coins. This was the Clegane Bank note that Commander Jon had seen on the letter. Another advantage of paper money is that it is lightweight, and there is no need for soldiers to escort the carriage, and one person can secretly carry millions of banknotes on the road. ”

"Paper money instead of gold?" Jon's cautious expression, "I believe that normal people will only accept gold, and will never take paper money from the Clegane Bank." “

"Not necessarily. Gavin said, "Jon, look at the letter you have, if you don't have the paper money issued by the Cregan Bank, then the Wall of Desperation can no longer buy iron ore from the Iron Islands. ”

Ed said, "Gavin, how can the Wall of Desperation have the Clegane Bank's banknotes?"

"I don't know the specifics. Gavin apologized and said, "Eddard, Jon, I've only heard some snippets of words in Dragonstone, and I don't know the specifics. Maybe Jon should let the ravens go to the West, and ask Duke Gregor himself. ”

"I'll release the ravens to the Magic Mountain. Jon Snow spoke in a respectful tone of the Mountain, and he had become a true Night's Watch man, calling the Mountain a rough spot common to the Night's Watch men, "But perhaps I should first ask the new Governor of the Iron Islands, Earl Gubber, that we are buying iron ore from him." ”

The door of the hall was pushed open, and a gust of wind and snow swept in, blowing the fire in the hall to the side.

Master Donghai pushed the door in: "Lord Eddard, there is your letter." ”

Ed stood up and took the letter, thanking the Bachelor.

The letter was written by Winterfell.

Eddard Stark crushed the wax seal and pulled out the letter paper, which was a small roll, opened, and there were three very beautiful and exquisite round flower papers rolled in the parchment roll, light texture flower paper, delicate to the touch, there are patterns on both sides, the pattern is the front and back patterns of the currencies of the seven countries that everyone is familiar with, and the patterns of the golden dragon, silver deer, and bronze stars correspond to the patterns.

The letter was written by Robb Stark, King of the North!

The letter said that the three pieces of paper sent with the letter were banknotes issued by the Bank of the Klegane, and that without such notes, it would be impossible to buy iron ore from the Iron Islands. It has been reported that iron ore from King's Landing also needs such paper money to be purchased.

King's Landing's iron ore family is the Jacelyn Baiwatt family, the commander of the garrison who once fought side by side with the Magic Mountain in the Battle of the Blackwater River, when the Magic Mountain was in charge of the national tax power, he immediately persuaded the Baivat family to cooperate with him, and the Baivat family waited for the notice of the Magic Mountain that their iron ore sales must be purchased with the paper money of the Clegane Bank. Cersei invites the Mountain to issue banknotes in King's Landing to solve the royal family's financial crisis, but the Mountain has not yet been officially implemented.

Magic Mountain used the power of taxation to control the production and living resources first, and through irreplaceable resources, slowly, point by point, infiltrated the paper money of the Klegane Bank.

After reading the letter, Eddard learned that Winterfell had received a raven letter from the Governor of the Iron Islands Gubler earlier, informing them of the new rules for the purchase of iron ore, and Robb Stark did not let his father know about it immediately, and he wrote to tell his father only after dealing with these matters.

Robb exchanged the golden dragon for a paper note of equal value at the Clegane Bank, with which he had already purchased twenty ships of iron ore from the Iron Islands. Ed said. His voice was slightly strange.

Magic Mountain's move is compulsive! But I have to say that this method is not bright, but it really works!

"If the Great Wall has to go to the Clegane Bank with the Golden Dragon to exchange it for paper money?" Jon Snow's voice raised a lot, "It will take two months to travel from the Desperate Wall to the West. ”

Ed said, "Jon, Robb got in touch with Lady Jenny in the West through the Raven, and Lady Jenny sent a boat to exchange money at a small dock in a fishing village near the sea in the North. Lady Jenny's men bring the banknotes, while the treasurer of Winterfell carries the golden dragon. Ed said.

It is indeed very convenient to take the waterway, compared with the land route, the distance by the waterway is more than twice as short, and the speed is more than doubled.

"A note of equal value, such a piece of paper in exchange for a golden dragon?" Jon picked up the golden dragon bill and held it in his hand, looking at his father.

"Yes, Jon, look at Robb's letter, it has detailed instructions. The people in the bank sent the banknotes to exchange, and they charged a certain fee. The handling fee does not seem to be much, including the cost of labor and the commission for hiring a boat. “

"If Lady Jenny can send a boat to the icy bay, we can exchange some notes first. Jon said. He didn't want to change it, the Great Wall of Desperation needed iron ore to forge weapons.

"Let the clerk give the golden dragon to Count Gubler in exchange for iron ore, and give a little hard money to Count Gubler to go to the west to exchange the gold dragon for paper money. Ed suggested.

"In this case, let the clerk take the golden dragon to buy iron ore, and at the place where the iron ore is handed over, let Madame Jeanne send someone from the bank to bring paper money, and you will exchange it for paper money first, and then buy iron ore. "Eddard, Jon, I think you'll need the banknotes of the Clegane Bank to buy the Pavilion's wine, the wheat wine of the Riverlands, and the dark beer." If you decide to exchange it, I suggest you exchange some more banknotes for later use. ”