"What is there to argue about this, the Ducat, as the most widely used currency in the world today, deserves to be the universal currency."

The face of the Venetian ruler did not change, and in the face of everyone's surprised gaze, he said as if nothing had happened.

He is not wrong in what he said, Ducats are indeed used in a wide range of applications, and the footprints of the Venetians have reached as far as Central Asia, and it is not impossible to use Ducat.

"Agreed!"

"Agreed!"

Hands were raised, and everyone agreed with the idea of Venice being in power.

However, the Venetian consul was not satisfied with this, and said tentatively,

"Since the currency is unified, then there should be a central mint, and each country should store its own gold and silver in a unified manner, and after the minting is completed, it should be distributed according to the proportion of the gold and silver stored in each country..."

Hearing the words of Venice in power, some small countries were very interested, for them, it was not safe to store gold and silver in their own country, and it was impossible for the Venetians to swallow up their property at the risk of the world's condemnation, of course, the main reason was certainly not that the Venetians had a good reputation, but that this money was not worth the loss of the Venetians' reputation.

But this was not good news for the Genoese, who were not at ease with the reserves being placed with the Venetians.

"No, what we have built is only a system, it does not mean that we are unified, and there can be no central organs."

The consuls of Genoa categorically refused, and the last time Italy was united... It seems to be still in the Roman Empire,

Genoa's refusal was expected to be in Venice's administration, and it was supposed to be a test of the past, and if it didn't work, forget it.

"However, with such a system, can the amount of gold and silver reserves be sustained?"

The Count of Mantua asked, confused.

This brings us to the key economic issue of the Middle Ages, which is the serious shortage of gold and silver in Europe.

The whole of Western Europe, on the side of the textile industry, all the dyeing materials used every year - alum are imported from the Near East, note, it is all, the whole of Europe is only available in the Near East,

The textile industry in Europe is a considerable industry, and light dyes alone consume a large amount of gold and silver for Genoese merchants every year, so that they have been in a state of trade deficit for a long time.

Coupled with the fact that people like to use gold and silver to make instruments, some luxury goods, and the amount of gold and silver circulating in the market is getting smaller and smaller, and the silver in Bohemia and the gold in Africa have been nearly exhausted, and in some places even to the point of bartering.

Historically, it was the discovery of silver from Germany and gold from the West Indies around this time that alleviated the currency crisis in the market and revitalized the European market.

For a while, the words of the Count of Mantua caused a lot of discussion, after all, trade is not locked up by themselves to do business, the nomads on the steppes will not care so much about you, they only take money and silver seriously.

"We can increase the leverage so that one pound of gold can play the role of ten pounds of gold, and that can alleviate the crisis."

This is the same as our current coins, but the face value engraved on them is different, but this requires strong credibility, that is to say, it needs to be recognized, if people do, you can also play the role of gold with a piece of straw paper, which is the added value brought by the country.

"It's useless, the Arabs don't care about this, these infidels don't trust us very much, only gold."

The Venetian consul waved his hand, and the Venetians were connoisseurs when it came to trade in the Near East.

"The Mongols in the steppes won't accept it either."

Seeing that everyone turned their eyes to him, the Genoa ruler also shook his head, as a country that almost monopolized the Black Sea trade, he had a lot of say in this regard.

Everyone was silent for a while, but this problem could not be solved, and without enough currency in circulation, then this economic system could not be established.

Seeing this scene, the envoys sent by the Papal States were relieved, and with the increasing influence of the idea of "render to God what is God's, and render to Caesar what is Caesar's" become more and more influential in the secular world, the Holy See could not help but be a little worried that things would be out of control, and France could have been asked to stop this meeting together, but it also happened that at such a time, the Holy See and Charles VII were in the period of cold war, and now they could only watch how things developed.

"I have an idea,"

A voice caught everyone's attention, and the eyes turned to the Duke of Savoy who spoke,

"Someone, bring the mold up."

With the sound of the guard's footsteps, a mold that didn't know what to do was placed in front of everyone's eyes.

"This is a mold invented by the German Johann Gutenberg, which can be printed quickly on paper, and with this thing, no matter how thick the book is, it can be printed in a short time."

"The lack of gold and silver is not only for us, but for the entire Catholic world, and we must find a replacement until we find a new source of gold."

This is not just because of the creation of the economic system, whether you build this system or not, gold will not be conjured out of thin air, as long as the mining speed cannot keep up with the consumption rate, this problem is unavoidable.

"And what do you think?"

The Venetian consul looked at the Duke of Savoy suspiciously.

"We can use it to print money, print the corresponding amount of gold or silver on paper, which can be exchanged in any of our countries, for internal circulation, and external trade can also be promoted, which can slow down the outflow of gold."

"Then, we will speed up the exploration of gold and silver mines in various countries to find new sources of gold and silver, so that we can get through a period of time."

Having said all this, the Duke of Savoy did not think of replacing metal currency with paper money, but only delayed time and played a transitional role, which was equivalent to the Jiaozi of the Song Dynasty, or food stamps and the like, but it was directly linked to gold and silver, which was a typical gold and silver double standard system, and the purchasing power of silver was still very strong when the price of silver had not plummeted.

"It's also... It is feasible, and you can use it for the time being. ”

The Venetian consul reluctantly nodded.

A series of issues such as where to print and how to prevent counterfeiting were discussed, and this agenda item was over.

"Okay, let's now move on to the second item, the marking of merchant ships, the flag, and the question of mutual coordination..."

Rome was not built in a day, the conference lasted a long time, and it was highly regarded by later generations, and scholars believe that it was the germ of capitalism and played a great role in the development of capitalism.

After a month of discussions, thirteen countries and territories including the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Cyprus and Italy except the Pope issued a statement announcing the establishment of an economic system in the Eastern Mediterranean, which was limited to economic and trade activities, without any political, military and cultural restrictions, and ostensibly a purely trade union.

For a time, under the influence of the establishment of the economic system, the industry and commerce on the two peninsulas of the Balkans and the Apennines began to develop rapidly, and the handicraft industry, especially the main force of growth, trade transshipment, ship repair, cloth dyeing, raw material transshipment, insurance, banking, processing industry, etc., for a time showed an incomparably prosperous scene.

The taxes in medieval Europe were really heavy, and any monarch who made a debuff in terms of taxes would be sung, and there was an emperor in the Roman Empire who reduced part of the country's taxes, and for a time the citizens of various places even set up flowing water seats, celebrated in the streets, and even called him the Great, which can be seen.

However, after the joy, there was trouble again,

"Your Majesty, I propose to increase the number of officials, and the current cabinet is almost overwhelmed."

Calvo smiled wryly, these days have kept them busy.

"The same goes for the Ministry of Finance, the Earl of St. Treasury, the Count of Royal Private Property and the Governor of Internal Affairs have all come to the Ministry of Finance to help, and the original manpower is no longer enough."

Chavez was the original Count of St. Treasury, in charge of the imperial treasury, the royal private earl controlled the royal estate, handicraft workshops, etc., and the chief of internal affairs was in charge of the affairs of the palace.

As for the lack of manpower, the original Palaiolog dynasty was ridiculed as the "mayor of Constantinople", where there was a need for too many manpower, even if it was urgently expanded, the number of officials was somewhat insufficient.

"There's no one left, let's recruit it, and completing the task I sent out as soon as possible is the most important thing."

Constantine didn't care, there was a solution to everything, and if there was no one, he would recruit him, and this was not the first time he had recruited people.

"It's... Dare to ask Your Majesty, there are more people to be recruited this time, how to judge the criteria for recruitment? ”

A significant and prominent feature of the Roman Empire, which attaches great importance to education, due to the invasion of barbarians in Western Europe, many cultures have been broken, but the East has been passed down, and the typical Hellenistic has been, Plato and Aristotle, Epicurus, Thucydides and other ancient Greek characters are very sought after,

The reason why it is different from Western Europe, one of the most important reasons, the role of monasteries and churches, Western Europe due to the barbarian invasion, the barbarians in the early stage did not believe in Christianity, and later Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope as the Roman Emperor, and threw the crown of Western Rome on the head of the current Holy Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire and Byzantium do not recognize each other, both sides believe that they are orthodox, even if they are forced by the situation, they only recognize the Holy Roman Emperor as the Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, and the whole European world, There are only two recognized thrones, and the rest are just kingdoms, which belong to these two levels, although they do not necessarily agree with them.

But this is what happens, the Christian church in the East is developing faster than in the West, and its denominations are also diverse, and the church-monastic structure in the East is very well preserved, and there are many people with basic education, but not many people with higher education, because higher education requires money and time.

But this is a question, will the talents who come out of the monastery work wholeheartedly for the emperor? After so many challenges, the imperial power of Byzantium has fallen to a new level, is it possible for the church to submit to Constantine XI in the same way that it submitted to Constantine the Great? This was Constantine XI's concern.