Chapter 761: The Beginning of Transcendence
"By the way, the four major banks are open, and the new currency of Dasong should also be put on the agenda. We will use silver as the standard and create a new currency, called Songyuan. Read" Looking at the Royal Bank, Zhao Xu said after a while.
"Songyuan?" Liu Fu and Yang He were both stunned.
For thousands of years, the people have only used copper coins and silver ingots, and there has never been a unified name.
The King of Yan's statement made them feel very fresh.
Zhao Xu looked at the two confused people and said helplessly: "Like Chang Wei, it is necessary to expand your horizons and give you a broader vision."
With the arrival of external forces, the era when Dasong closed the door to solve its own problems is gone.
And as Dasong expands outward, generals such as Chang Wei need to think about military strategies from a global perspective.
Ministers such as Liu Fu need to think about trade and financial rules from a global perspective.
This Songyuan is a financial weapon like the contemporary pound, franc, and dollar, not just a currency circulating in Dasong.
Thinking of this, he briefly told the two about the significance of Song Yuan, and Liu Fu and Yang He's eyes lit up immediately.
Liu Fu said: "According to your Highness, if the whole world uses Song Yuan, we in Dasong only need to print some paper at home, and we can buy all goods from all over the world?"
"Yes, you can say that." Zhao Xu said, "In this way, the crisis generated by Dasong itself can be passed on to others by printing money, making Dasong's trade more resilient, but this is a double-edged sword. It can be used at critical moments, but it cannot be used indiscriminately."
After a pause, he emphasized, "However, the taste of financial harvest is indeed wonderful, but you must remember that industry is the foundation of a country. From now on, you must keep this in mind. During this free time, I will teach you about this knowledge."
"Yes, Your Highness." Liu Fu and Yang He were delighted.
After talking about this, the three stayed for a while before leaving.
Back in the palace, Zhao Xu went to the study to draw the main currencies of Song Yuan.
In the 19th century, all countries adopted the silver standard, which is why he also adopted the silver standard.
This time, he planned to let the Royal Bank issue nine currencies.
The first one has a face value of 500, which is equivalent to 500 yuan today. It is cast from one tael of silver into a flat round shape, about the size of a silver dollar.
The second one has a face value of 100, which is cast from two coins of silver, and is about the same size as the current one dollar.
The third one has a face value of 50, which is cast from one coin of silver, and is half the size of a fingernail.
The fourth one has a face value of 20, which is cast from a copper-silver alloy, with silver and copper accounting for half each.
The fifth one has a face value of 10, which is still a silver-copper alloy, with silver accounting for one third.
The sixth one has a face value of 5 yuan, which contains only one-sixth of silver, and the seventh one is one yuan, which is cast from pure copper and is the size of a fingernail.
There are also five cents below one yuan, and one cent is cast from a copper-lead alloy.
Of course, these coins are mainly used for people's daily life.
For large-scale transactions between merchants, these metal currencies still seem cumbersome.
Therefore, the Royal Bank will also launch special bills of exchange, which are equivalent to checks.
As for paper money, he has no plans to launch it for the time being.
First, the printing technology is not good enough and it is easy to forge.
Second, most of the currency in this era is metal currency, and the people have low trust in paper money.
It is not good to give too strong a medicine.
However, in the future, as the people's trust in the Royal Bank increases, he will slowly issue paper money to replace metal currency.
After all nine currencies are drawn, Zhao Xu has people send them to the Royal Bank, and gives them another half year. After half a year, Song Yuan will be officially launched.
When the people withdraw money, the bank will give them Song Yuan.
Of course, during this half year, he will let the newspaper spread the word and popularize the concept of Song Yuan to merchants and people.
"Newspaper?" Thinking of the newspaper, Zhao Xu suddenly remembered what he promised Liu Fu.
Stretching, he went to the Research Institute.
Liu Fu once complained that the newspapers issued by Yanzhou Newspaper took too long to reach Ningzhou.
Did he also joke that he would make a wind-hearing ear?
The promise is certain, he will make it.
Before the steam engine workshops were established everywhere, he could not achieve the ability to hear the wind.
But now, he felt that he had the conditions.
And this ability to hear the wind was the wired telegraph.
The wired telegraph was born in 1837 and was used for short distances afterwards.
In 1851, the first transatlantic cable was successfully laid, making transoceanic communication possible.
When the wired telegraph appeared, there was no power plant in the world to provide power.
That is to say, this wired telegraph technology can be realized without power engineering.
But the wired telegraph needs electricity after all, so where does this electricity come from?
This is the battery.
Before power plants became popular, humans relied on batteries to power the wired telegraph.
And the purpose of his going to the Institute was to make this primitive battery that was born around 1800 in the present, and the name of this battery was the voltaic battery.
"Your Highness." When he arrived at the Institute, Wang Chong came out.
Zhao Xu did not mention the battery, but first inspected the Institute guarded by the soldiers of the royal palace.
There are living areas and office areas inside the institute.
The remaining most important part is the experimental area.
The experimental area is divided into three parts. The first part is the physical laboratory and the second part is the chemical laboratory.
At this moment, the trainees are busy in the laboratory, either synthesizing chemical reagents, debugging machinery, or polishing parts.
Among them, Zhao Xu saw semi-finished products of steam shovels, steam tractors, harvesters, threshers and other samples.
According to Wang Chong, laboratory manufacturing is no problem, as long as the workshop is built, it can be mass-produced.
In addition, Zhao Xu also saw a three-expansion steam engine that was completed one-eighth in a huge experiment.
Obviously, Wang Chong has never slacked off.
"Well done." Zhao Xu patted Wang Chong on the shoulder.
With the efforts of Wang Chong and his students, Yanzhou realized the steam engine from scratch in a very short time, and then directly transitioned to the level of the late steam revolution.
Of course, the biggest credit among them is him. He directly provided Wang Chong with mature technical drawings, saving detours.
It is also the foundation for Yanzhou's industry to catch up.
However, he wants more than just catching up.
From now on, it is time to directly surpass the technological level of the Western Land.
This wired telegraph is the first step to surpass.
According to Fei Wen, the Western Land does not have this thing yet.
Although they could figure it out in a few years, he was ahead anyway.
So he said, "From now on, I have a more important task for you, which is to carry out all experiments related to electricity."
"Electricity!" Wang Chong's eyes lit up when he heard it.
The task King Yan gave him was now only the triple expansion steam engine.
Other machines and parts belonging to the steam engine era were basically completed under the attack of various teams.
They just had to wait for workshops to rise from the ground before they could start mass production.
Now they could spare some manpower to conduct research on electricity.
Besides, when they were in the science and technology school, they were most obsessed with the mysterious electricity.
Now, they can finally try electricity experiments.