Chapter 285 Currency Circulation
If a territory wants to achieve great development, it must not only have hard power, but also soft power.
The so-called soft power is propaganda and people's hearts.
Since Richard became the earl, the Harland territory has begun to build soft power, not only building museums, but also building arenas and grand theaters. Invest part of the funds to enrich the spiritual life of the people.
If a country or a territory wants to be stable, it must grasp material civilization with one hand and spiritual civilization with the other. Both hands must be strong.
Today there is only material civilization, but spiritually it is a cultural desert, and it is also easy to be penetrated by the enemy's culture and invaded by ideas.
In the past two or three years, the development of the Haaland Territory in the cultural field has also been amazing.
Today in Fort William, musicians, dancers, theater actors, and minstrels often perform at the Grand Theater on weekends. The Earl's Mansion also hired painters to paint portraits and court paintings for members of the Harland family, which were displayed in the museum. Ordinary freedmen already had some entertainment.
The warehouse is well aware of etiquette and has rich cultural and artistic activities, which is enough to prove that the development of Harland territory has reached a relatively high level.
After more than ten years of development, the territory has finally become a bit like a city, especially in areas such as Fort William, where the economic level is the highest and there are a large number of high-income people. The living standards of the freedmen far exceed that of the Nolan middle class, and the territory also has A heartfelt supporter. People's hearts have stabilized, and the rule of the Haaland family has a basic foundation, which is relatively stable.
After the breakthrough in the manufacturing of steam engines, Richard spent most of the next period of time at the Institute of Botany, working with the institute's staff.
The transplantation and domestication of red gum grass are very important. If this plant is successfully planted on a large scale, Harland will be able to produce a large amount of red gum, and will soon enter the steam engine era, and productivity will increase tenfold and a hundredfold.
At this critical moment, Richard did not dare to relax at all. Even Sophia was dragged to the Institute of Botany by Richard, because Sophia has made many achievements in the research of life magic and is very proficient in magic in this direction. .
"It has been two months since the discovery of red gum grass. We have basically studied the characteristics of this plant, but the transplantation and domestication work is the top priority. Next, I will send mages who are good at life magic to participate in the transplantation and domestication work. Only when the large-scale planting of red gum grass is successful can the work of the Botany Research Institute be successfully completed.”
Richard called Cartman to his office, gave some special instructions, and then continued: "The domestication and planting of red rubber grass is already the most important project in the territory, and all resources will be tilted towards this project. The glass greenhouse you need Greenhouses, fertilizers, and magicians will all be provided. Your task is to eliminate all interference, clarify the scientific issues that arise during the research, and try to ensure the success of the project.”
Richard knew in his heart that any scientific research could never guarantee success.
The discovery of red gumweed was filled with a few coincidences. This plant is also relatively rare in the western part of the Eagle Mountains. The distribution range of the plant is less than 300 square kilometers, scattered on three mountain ridges.
In just two months after the discovery of red rubber grass, from early July to early September, the Institute of Botany organized 16 field expeditions into the jungles in the western part of the Eagle Mountains. Seven of them encountered food. More than forty plant researchers, terrain surveyors, and soldiers responsible for security missions died on the job.
Their footprints were all over the western part of the Eagle Mountains, and the combined investigation data and inspection reports they wrote exceeded one million words, but they still could not find red rubber grass anywhere else.
This is enough to show that there is something special about the place where red rubber grass grows. This plant is difficult to propagate.
After two months of research, Cartman and others discovered that red gum grass is a phototactic plant and has very high requirements for light. It needs more than ten hours of light a day to survive normally.
In addition, the root system of red rubber grass is relatively fragile and it is difficult for it to compete with shrubs and weeds for nutrients. Its seeds are hidden in the fruit. The fruit is relatively heavy and difficult to be blown by the wind, which is not conducive to the spread of plant genes.
The western part of the Eagle Mountains is full of dense, towering forests. Due to special biological characteristics, it is difficult for red rubber grass to survive in this environment. However, this plant was born in the special climate environment in the western part of the Eagle Mountains. Without a long period of artificial domestication, it cannot adapt to the climate environment in other areas.
The Harland Territory is located in the middle of the Eagle Mountains, less than 200 kilometers away from the western region. It is on the same dimension, but it is wetter than the western part of the Eagle Mountains.
The climate difference between the two places is not too big. According to common sense, transplantation and domestication should be successful. But scientific research, as long as the results are not released, everything is still uncertain.
After more than ten years of development, glass greenhouses have blossomed everywhere in Harland territory, and even spread among the people.
Some wealthy freedmen began to build glass greenhouses in their courtyards to grow off-season vegetables to improve their lives.
When building a greenhouse, the largest cost is the cost of glass materials, followed by the fuel supply in winter.
Coal mines were discovered in the Harland territory. A ton of coal cost about three to six silver coins, and the cost of fuel supply was not high for the wealthy.
After more than ten years of development, the glass kiln has continuously summarized experience and improved its technical level. Today, large flat glass is widely used in house construction. Although the cost is still very high, building an acre of glass greenhouse requires investing more than a dozen gold coins, which is no longer a problem for the wealthy people in the territory.
Having accumulated experience for more than ten years, Harland Territory has accumulated a lot of experience in temperature control and water control greenhouse cultivation. Driven by Cartman's disregard for cost, the biological characteristics of red gum grass were quickly understood by Harland Territory.
By mid-September, all red gum grasses were successfully planted in glass greenhouses.
With the good news, Richard immediately allocated 3,000 gold coins to the Botanical Research Institute to reward those who discovered and planted red gum grass. The families of the expedition members who died in the forest also received a generous condolence payment.
After receiving the reward funds, the Botanical Research Institute held an award ceremony, and Richard personally appeared at the venue to present medals and bonuses to the sacrificed and meritorious personnel.
After the meeting, Richard also held a banquet at the Earl's Mansion to entertain the meritorious officials.
At the banquet, Cartman took the time to report the results of this stage to Richard.
"The cultivation of red gum grass in glass greenhouses has been successful. It should not be difficult to produce red gum grass on a small scale next. However, there are still few glass greenhouses in the territory, and the construction cost is relatively high. Our next task is to plant red gum grass in ordinary farmland.
Because of the different climate and environment, the domestication work may take a long time, and red gum grass also needs to constantly adapt to the environment. I hope that the Earl can set aside a special territory for the Botanical Research Institute as an experimental field, give us a few years, and don't push the task too hard."
After listening to Cartman's request, Richard nodded and said, "Your request is not high, I can agree. Although I will not set a time to complete the task, you can't slack off in your work. If the project has not made progress for a long time, I will change people."
The planting and domestication of red gum grass came to an end, and Richard went to Tongshan Town next.
The construction of Tongshan Town has lasted for five years. The first three years were infrastructure construction and terrain exploration. Last year, copper mining and ore smelting began. This spring, a mint was established in Tongshan Town to start minting copper coins.
Although the value of gold coins is very high, they are less circulated in the market. In daily life, the most circulated coins are silver coins and copper coins, especially copper coins, which are used most widely and have the largest circulation in the market.
Before the construction of the mint, the Haland Territory had been in a state of money shortage. Gold coins were better, mainly used for foreign trade, and were relatively rare in the market. The foreign trade income of the Haland Territory was basically converted into gold coins and transported back to the territory.
The shortage of silver coins is more serious. In recent years, the Haland Territory has been looking for coin merchants to exchange gold coins for silver coins to pay salaries to soldiers and officials. The annual handling fee is two to three thousand gold coins. In the past two years, the transportation situation has improved, and the caravans will also transport back a large number of silver coins. The current situation of money shortage has improved slightly.
The shortage of copper coins is the most serious. Because of the serious shortage of currency, the Haland Territory has experienced a serious deflation, and many times private transactions even have to be bartered.
The normal exchange rate of the Grant Kingdom is one gold coin for three hundred and sixty copper coins. But in the Haland Territory, the value of copper coins has skyrocketed by 30 to 50 percent.
If there had not been a ban on migration, it is estimated that a large number of private merchants would have brought copper coins into the Harland Territory.
In the past two years, with the abolition of the ban on migration, the circulation of the commodity economy has seen a large number of such cases. Smuggling of copper coins has become very common, and border residents who specialize in smuggling copper coins have appeared in the border areas.
Even after entering the territory, the checkpoints ordered strict inspections, and smugglers can think of various ways to sneak into the country. It is annoying for the border defense and taxation departments to check batch after batch. Unless the current situation of money shortage is alleviated, there will be no such high profits.
Tongshan Town is a young castle that mainly serves the nearby copper mines. The castle is not very large. There is only one important factory, the mint, a copper ore smelter, and a weapons manufacturing factory, which are built on the outskirts of Tongshan Town, near the copper mines.
The castles in the Harland Territory are basically built with mud, bricks, and cement. Richard has personally calculated and found that it is cheaper to build castles with fired bricks. Although building castles with stones is more solid, it requires building quarries on the mountain, which requires huge human resources. The Harland Territory has mastered the wheeled brick kiln technology. The efficiency of burning bricks by the same person is a hundred times that of mining stones. Of course, they will not choose to mine stones and use them as building materials.
The architectural style of the territory is actually determined by industrial technology and production efficiency.
After entering Tongshan Town, Richard went directly to the mint.
"How is your work this year? How many copper coins have been minted? Has the problem of money shortage been alleviated?"
The director of the mint is named Colens. He has only been in the Harland Territory for a year and a half. This person is a high-level craftsman of the Mint of the Grand Duchy of Stannic. He not only knows how to smelt more than a dozen alloys, but also knows the process of coin manufacturing. After being captured by Richard in the Leah Castle, he joined the Harland Territory in order to save the lives of his family.
In fact, this kind of high-value talent is basically forced by Richard to join the Harland Territory.
Because he is a high-tech talent urgently needed in the territory, Colens was pardoned by Richard and became a free man directly. He also served as the director of the mint and became an important official in the economic system.
Colens had not been in the territory for long, and although he was appreciated by Richard, he had no idea of the earl's character. In his impression, Richard was a brave, brave, cruel and decisive noble lord who killed people without mercy.
When facing Richard, Collins felt strong pressure. His legs were a little shaky, and he stumbled and said: "The smelter sent 300 tons of copper ore this year. According to the plan, we will cast all these copper ingots into copper coins, with a total value of about 24,000 gold coins. Converted to There are only fourteen new copper coins under each person's name. The problem of money shortage cannot be solved in a short time, but can only be slightly alleviated. "
"Can the number of copper coins minted be increased in a short period of time?"
"This is subject to the output of copper mines. If the output of copper mines increases, it will not be difficult to mint copper coins. But we have to consider the economic situation of the territory. If too many coins are minted, it will cause the copper coins to depreciate and cause inflation. This problem arises Yes, it is not a good thing for a territory or a country.
How many copper coins are minted every year is a scientific question that requires rigorous calculations. I am just a senior craftsman at the Mint of the Grand Duchy of Stanek, and I am proficient in craft manufacturing issues. The question of how many copper coins need to be minted economically requires the earl to ask scholars who are proficient in economics. The mint only has executive capabilities, and decision-making issues require decision-making by the top management of the territory. "
After listening to Collins' reply, Richard knew that people have limits to their abilities and should not force themselves to do anything.
The quantity of money supply was a university subject in Richard's previous life.
There are countless messes caused by the currency liberalization. How to moderate the monetary liberalization is a great test for the ability of economic officials.
"I have already considered the issues you mentioned. A central bank will be established in a while, and the mint will be placed under the jurisdiction of the central bank. They will be responsible for decision-making."
Despite more than ten years of development, Harland Territory still faces a shortage of talents.
It has been more than ten years since Richard established education. More than 1,000 students have graduated from Harland Territory Primary School, and nearly 4,000 students are currently enrolled.
A large number of these primary school students, who are proficient in writing and proficient in arithmetic, have entered all walks of life, and the quality of the territory's grassroots managers has been greatly improved.
Although a lot of basic talents have been trained, which are barely enough in recent years, high-end talents are still in short supply. Harland's territory can only graduate a few dozen middle school students every year, and they are scattered among the major departments, which is simply not enough.