Chapter 558 Anivia
In a world dominated by the gold standard, currency circulation seems to follow the principle of "purity is king":
As long as gold coins are pure and heavy enough, they can theoretically be used as equivalents no matter which country they come from.
But in reality, the “recognition” of currency still exists, and the gap is extremely large.
Gold coins minted by small principalities often find it extremely difficult to circulate in neighboring countries.
The gold coins of big countries can become "hard currency", even across the continent.
The most recognized and widely used currencies are undoubtedly the Plantagenet coins of the Plantagenet Dynasty and the throne gold of the Holy Empire.
The root causes of this gap are mainly three: circulation efficiency, credit security, and scene binding.
The first is circulation efficiency.
For businessmen, "whether the currency can circulate quickly" is more important than "whether the currency itself is pure gold."
After all, business is all about turnover speed, and no one wants to waste time verifying or exchanging a gold coin.
The big countries, especially the Plantagenet Dynasty and the Holy Empire, have vast territories and dense trade routes. Their gold coins can be directly circulated in all city-states within their territory and even in surrounding vassal states.
After merchants receive the currency of a large country, they can use it to purchase goods and complete the next round of transactions on the same day without any exchange.
On the other hand, gold coins from small countries are only circulated in the country or adjacent small areas. After merchants collect them, they have to find a gold bank to exchange them for gold coins from large countries before they can continue to be used. This is not only a waste of time.
In addition, you have to pay exchange fees and price differences, which is more costly.
Another core of liquidity efficiency is whether currency can be verified quickly.
· The currencies of large countries will also be more standardized and have lower verification costs.
Large countries usually have unified official coinage standards, and currencies are minted in batches using sophisticated alchemy machines.
The weight, size and thickness of the coins are exactly the same, with smooth surface and regular edges.
When merchants receive coins, they can quickly verify them, but small countries often cannot do so finely. Gold coins will vary in size and weight, making verification more difficult.
Credit security is also very important.
The strength and stability of the Plantagenet Dynasty and the Holy Empire make Plantagenet coins and throne gold less risky and can avoid hidden losses, making them synonymous with credit safety.
Norland Continent, or the entire Mage Plane, most countries are facing the problems of war, destruction, and regime change.
For example, the Principality of Sidian to which Aisha belongs is a typical example.
It was annexed by the neighboring Russian Voga Principality, and the silver and copper coins in its legal currency were directly abolished and became waste coins.
Even Zidian gold, because the mark on it was invalidated by the Principality of Ovoga, instantly changed from "currency" to "pure gold nugget" and needed to be re-cast before it could be used.
The losses suffered by the holders of the Zidian Gold are not only the losses that will inevitably occur due to re-casting, but also the part of the value of the currency itself that appreciates.
An ancient dynasty like the Plantagenet Dynasty has never experienced the demise of its political power or the invalidation of its currency.
The Holy Empire was at its peak, still expanding, and the country's fortunes were prosperous.
This gives the currencies of the two empires an extremely long shelf life, that is, "credit safety."
In addition to the stability of the political power, the coinage technology of the Plantagenet Dynasty and the Holy Empire was more advanced, with fine lines and extremely difficult to imitate.
This step has greatly increased the credit security of the two countries’ currencies.
If we talk about "circulation efficiency" and "credit security", let merchants "voluntarily choose" Plantagenet coins and throne gold.
Then "scene binding" means that merchants "have to choose".
The so-called scenario binding, in layman's terms, means that major countries have deeply bound their national currencies to core transaction scenarios by formulating rules, creating a situation where "it is difficult to move forward without using it".
Like the Plantagenet Dynasty, there are strict and clear regulations:
Within the dynasty, all transactions with the official and large transactions exceeding a certain amount must be conducted using Plantagenet coins. Violators will be fined 50% of the transaction amount and even have the goods confiscated.
The Holy Empire also has similar regulations, even more stringent.
For merchants, if they wanted to cooperate with the officials of the two empires, they had to accept these rules.
This kind of "official coercion" made Plantagenet coins and throne gold "a stepping stone to doing business with big countries."
In addition to mandatory rules, the two empires also used tariff preferences to guide caravans to actively use their own currencies.
· The Plantagenet Dynasty established special tariff rules at coastal ports:
· Paying tariffs in Plantagenet coins can enjoy a 10% reduction;
· Paying tariffs in other currencies must be converted at an exchange rate premium and does not enjoy any preferential treatment.
Under this rule, if the same batch of goods is converted into other currencies using Plantagenet coins, the price difference can even reach more than 10%.
This gap forced the caravan to exchange gorse coins in advance. After all, no one wanted to spend more money in vain.
The Holy Empire even implemented rules at certain checkpoints:
Paying customs duties with throne gold will give you priority (no need to queue);
Paying in other currencies requires waiting for at least 3 days, and an additional cargo mortgage is required.
For caravans that pursue timeliness, this time cost is more difficult to bear than the money cost, so they will naturally give priority to Emperor's Gold.
This dual restraint of trade route monopoly + tariff guidance has made Plantagenet coins and throne gold necessities for cross-border trade.
Even with the above, even if it is difficult to implement a national currency, it will face many troubles such as low recognition and blocked circulation. Any country with an independent political power, even a small country with a territory of only a few hundred miles, must mint its own currency when it is founded, and there is absolutely no possibility of directly using the currency of a big country.
Although the rhetoric of "cultural imprint" and "symbol of sovereignty" is reasonable, it is not the fundamental reason.
There is actually only one essential reason that makes the rulers of various countries make up their minds: seigniorage.
What is seigniorage?
That is the difference between the face value of the currency and the cost of casting.
When the country mints a currency with a face value of 1 gold coin, if the total cost of gold, labor, equipment, etc. to mint the currency is only 0.8 gold coins, then the difference of 0.2 gold coins is the seigniorage received by the country.
For any country, seigniorage is by no means a dispensable income, but an important source of a country's finances.
If a country gives up minting its own currency and instead uses the currency of a major country, it means handing over huge profits to others.
No country can accept this kind of thing.
Including the northern territory.
More importantly, although Gaode did not have an in-depth study of economics, he still understood that the significance of coinage rights was not limited to fiscal revenue.
Signage power also means monetary policy autonomy, which is an important means to regulate market stability.
For example, when food prices fall, more money can be invested to stimulate consumption. When metals are in short supply, minting can be reduced to stabilize the currency value.
And Gaode not only wants to mint coins to obtain seigniorage, but also does not want the currency of the northern border to become the currency of a small country that "encloses its own territory".
It is not said that it will be able to compete with Plantagenet coins and Imperial throne gold in the future, but it must at least become a currency that can circulate in most areas.
This will definitely require a lot of effort, and the most important thing is that the northern border must be strong enough.
Of course, this will happen later.
The first thing to do now is to make the currency in the north have the "high standard" characteristics of a major country's currency during the coinage stage.
"The three-level grading of gold, silver and bronze is the basis. This is a universal system and cannot be changed."
Neither Sunaifa nor Aisha objected to Gaode's clear request. They even thought so in their hearts. Aisha took the lead in setting the tone.
"But we can work on the uniformity of specifications, purity, anti-counterfeiting technology, cultural identification, etc., so that the northern currency will be closer to the standards of large countries from the beginning than the currencies of other small countries."
"In addition, we can start with silver coins and copper coins first." Sunaifa nodded slightly and said.
Aisha agreed: "These two levels of currency, because of their low currency value and low raw material prices, even for big countries like the Plantagenet Dynasty and the Holy Empire, their circulation scope is mainly within the territory."
"So, I Let’s practice with them first. Even if we make adjustments to the final design, the impact will be relatively small and can be used to polish the coinage process.”
This is a consensus.
Just like the copper coins of the Plantagenet Dynasty, the front side is engraved with the stone statue of the Zhenguo: the glorious colossus, so it is named copper and stone coins.
Silver coins are engraved with busts of Wang Mian family ancestors and silver dragon birds, the dynasty's national treasure, so they are named Silver Dragon coins.
The gold coin is a bust of Liszt I and the national emblem of the Plantagenet dynasty, so it is named Plantagenet coin.
Because it is closely related to the national culture, the implementation of this three-tier currency was relatively smooth at the beginning.
In turn, as the Plantagenet coins spread widely in the mage plane, everyone also learned about the culture of the Plantagenet Dynasty.
"Zhenbing, [North Wind], [Blizzard], and Ice Jade Wutong." Based on this idea, Gothe quickly proposed the four iconic elements of the North, or Phoenix.
"And you, War Mother and Lady Flora." Elsa suddenly spoke, her eyes flowing between Gothe and Sunaifa.
If the country is really founded, Goude and Sunaifa will be the so-called "first generation" and the founders of the country.
According to tradition, the busts of the two people must be engraved on the currency.
This is not only an honor, but also a symbol of the legitimacy of the regime.
The only controversy may be over whose bust should be placed on future gold coins.
"There are also Yugathira and Anivia." Sunaifa, who was still listening, also spoke at this time, his voice was calm but with a power that could not be ignored.
Yugatsheela can understand that although it is a new thing in the North, its importance to the North today is unmatched by anything else.
But another term "Anivia" made Gothe raise his eyebrows in surprise and look at Sunaifa.
This noun is both familiar and unfamiliar.
The familiarity lies in the fact that when Gaode advanced to the second level and awakened his specialty [Zhenbing Bloodline], he knew that the blood of Anivia was flowing in his body.
It was the blood of Anivia that gave him the Ice Bloodline.
But who exactly Anivia is, Gothe has no idea.
He once asked Sunaifa, and Sunaifa couldn't explain the reason at that time, thinking that the records related to Anivia should be lost in history.
Why are you suddenly mentioning TA again now?
Sunaifa met Gaode’s probing gaze.
She naturally knows what Gao De is concerned about and has doubts about.
"I have indeed never heard of Anivia before and know nothing about her."
"But after killing that void creature last time, for some reason, the solidified Iceborn bloodline power in my body was inexplicably loosened."
"Under this loosening, a few days ago, during Winter's Hammer, the bloodline power actually exploded, not only allowing me to awaken several Perfect Ice spells, There was also a fragmented knowledge inheritance with an ancient atmosphere. "
"It was in this small piece of knowledge inheritance that I first learned about the name Anivia."
Gothe looked at Sunaifa with piercing eyes, leaning forward slightly, motioning for the other party to continue.
Sunaifa took a deep breath, and there was a little more awe in his voice: "Anivia is the ancient guardian of the north, and controls the powerful power and great existence of life, death and resurrection."
"She brought the song of the first snow to the North. The snow was not a biting cold, but a gift of vitality. It fell on the barren ice sheet, allowing cold-resistant plants to sprout from the ground, and letting fish and shrimps emerge from the frozen rivers."
"She helped the people of the North survive the most dangerous first few hundred years. Years ago, it was followed and believed by the people of the Northern Territory in ancient times, and was regarded as the mother of the North. "More importantly, Anivia brought the greatest and most precious gift to the Northern Territory." Speaking of this, Sunefa paused, rarely giving up.
"Zhen Bing, Anivia created Zhen Bing!" Finally, she revealed the answer.
This answer made Gothe's heart skip a beat.
Zhenbing, such a powerful thing, is also a symbol of the North.
It was actually created by Anivia?
What kind of terrifying strength does Anivia possess?
"Then what exactly is she, where is she now, and why has she disappeared from the history of the North?"
"This small piece of knowledge inheritance did not tell me what Anivia's identity is."
Sunaifa shook his head and regretted: "This inheritance is too fragmented. It only vaguely mentions that her power is connected to the land of the North. Perhaps it is the spirit of the elements, or it may be an older existence."
"More specific details may not be clear until I advance to the fifth ring and obtain more memory inheritance."
"As for why she disappeared from the history of the Northern Territory."
Sunaifa said softly: "In the fragmented knowledge inheritance, the reason given is that in ancient times, the Northern Territory suffered an extremely horrific catastrophe." Gradually forgetting her name."
"Originally, she existed in the knowledge inheritance of the Iceborn bloodline, which allowed her name to be passed down forever, but the inexplicable weakening of the Iceborn bloodline's power made it difficult to reach the memory inheritance of Anivia."
"Even a pure-blooded Iceborn like Sunaifa only received some knowledge inheritance related to Anivia at the peak of the fourth ring.
“You mean, Anivia died in ancient times to protect the North?” Gothe couldn’t help but frowned.
"There is no sacrifice," Sunaifa shook his head and said with great certainty: "Anivia possesses the powerful power of resurrection. As long as the North still exists, her soul will be immortal."
"Therefore. Although she fell, she did not die. Instead, she turned into a flower, waiting for the opportunity to revive for thousands or even tens of thousands of years." After saying this, Sunaifa lightly snapped his fingers, and a light blue light shimmered on his fingertips.
· Tiny ice crystals instantly condensed in the air. These ice crystals seemed to have autonomous consciousness, rotating and colliding in the air, and gradually formed a palm-sized flower.
The petals are a dreamy lavender, and from the edge to the center, the color gradually changes to a deeper indigo.
Each petal has a smooth arc, with slightly rolled edges, resembling the stretched tail feathers of some kind of creature. The texture is so delicate that it seems to have been carefully carved, but it is also covered with a translucent ice film, and tiny light spots can be vaguely seen flowing under the ice film.
There is no pollen of ordinary flowers in the stamens, only a dancing golden shimmer.
The period of light and death reminds people of flames.
"This is the flower that Anivia turned into after she fell, called the purple viburnum."
(End of this chapter)