Chapter 544: Chapter 430: Currency War
At this moment, in the Black Dragon Empire.
A report submitted by an official at the weekly Imperial meeting ignited a fierce discussion.
Recently, the rate of price increase in the Black Dragon Empire has been extremely fast, even reaching absurd levels. The price of basic food has tripled compared to the stable prices of the past and is still rising; some scarce goods have seen price increases of fivefold or even tenfold.
The soaring prices indicate one thing: the Black Dragon coin is starting to lose its value. Countries around the world are increasingly ditching the Black Dragon coin, switching to the more stable White Dragon coin as the currency for commodity trading. Even within the Black Dragon Empire itself, the White Dragon coin is increasingly appearing in the hands of merchants.
The chain reaction caused by this is that the Black Dragon coin is becoming more and more worthless and less used, entering a vicious cycle. Before, the Emperor could easily purchase anything with Black Dragon coins in hand, but now, to buy those things, more Black Dragon coins must be paid.
"The prices are soaring! How could this happen! Who can give me an answer!" Yake furiously demanded.
All the officials looked at each other, none daring to speak. Some had guesses in their hearts, yet also dared not voice them. Everyone knew that this Emperor could be capricious, and carelessly cross words might lead to losing one’s head.
Seeing that everyone below remained silent, Yake truly wished to slaughter them all, but glancing at Tilian, he ultimately held back.
"Waste!"
Yake cursed, turned, and directly left the conference room, leaving only Tilian behind.
Slam!
The heavy door closed, and all the ministers finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, now you can speak your minds." Tilian spoke.
At this point, an official stepped forth.
"Lord Tilian, please take a look at these."
With that, the official handed over two gold coins. Tilian reached out to receive them.
"If you want to bribe me, these gold coins might be a bit short."
"No, no! Lord, you misunderstood... (in a low voice) Well, some things we can talk about later. Lord, would you please take a look at these two gold coins, can you distinguish any difference between them?"
A difference?
Tilian looked closely, both gold coins had seen some use, with minor wear and tear on the outside, and they felt about the same in his hand. If he had to point out something, might the one on the right be a bit duller?
"Actually, the Black Dragon coin in your right hand is a counterfeit."
Tilian’s brows immediately furrowed.
"What, haven’t all those people making counterfeit coins been exterminated yet?"
"Lord, you don’t know. Recently, a large number of counterfeit coins that are almost identical to the genuine coins have flooded into our Black Dragon Empire. Merchants have started to fear accepting Black Dragon coins, even switching to use White Dragon coins as a substitute. Rumors are rife around us that our Black Dragon Emperor has learned of this and is hoarding the real coins to hoard gold to satisfy his own selfish desires!"
The official said.
"Is that so!"
"Yes! It’s because of this that the prices in our country have soared so dramatically. We have tracked a series of sources of money, and in the end, almost all the sources point to the White Dragon Empire. Suffice to say, these counterfeit coins are primarily from the White Dragon Empire!"
The official said.
If it’s so, things are starting to clear up.
"Yes, I understand." Tilian, who had been looking down at the coins, looked up and said, "I will report this to His Majesty and I will not forget your contribution."
"Thank you, Lord Tilian! Thank you, Lord Tilian!" The official gratefully retreated.
Tilian returned to his study room, where Yake was waiting for him. Tilian handed the two gold coins to Yake.
"The gold coin in your left hand is fake. Long Yi and the others, they are flooding our economy with a large amount of counterfeit coins!" Tilian said.
"Those goddamned bastards!" Yake was irate. He had gained a great advantage on the battlefield against the Dragon Knights, only to find that he was being played economically—how could he not be angry?
"What should we do?" Yake asked.
"I have consulted with several officials, who unanimously believe that we should immediately mint a batch of completely different genuine coins and exchange them with all citizens to rebuild their confidence in Black Dragon coins. However, there are two proposals."
"Which two?"
"First, we distinguish between genuine coins and counterfeit coins. Confiscate fake ones, only exchange real ones."
"Second, whether they are genuine or fake, we exchange them."
"Who but a fool could come up with the second proposal?" Yake yelled scornfully.
"But with the first proposal, if we don’t exchange counterfeit coins, people will inevitably suffer huge losses. After all, many people don’t know whether they hold a real or fake coin. If we don’t exchange them, some people might be reduced to poverty."
"What does that have to do with me! That’s their own stupidity If they’re stupid, then it’s good they die stupid!"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The Emperor’s orders had priority for execution in the Black Dragon Empire, and soon enough, new Black Dragon coins were minted. Panic over the currency exchange gripped the entire Black Dragon Empire, even leading to moments of chaos.
However, when some people discovered that their hard-earned annual income was not allowed to be exchanged, their dissatisfaction exploded. Incidents of rioting and violence occurred everywhere, leading to the dispatch of troops. This in turn sparked even more resentment. Yake didn’t pay any attention to this; all he wanted was to have his gold returned.
The intense dissatisfaction stirred up turmoil across the entire Black Dragon Empire. People were uneasy and unsettled.
In some places, mutiny was even triggered by the soldiers’ inability to exchange their wages.
Although these unforeseen circumstances were suppressed, the aftermath was difficult to predict.
Amidst all these changes, two people were the most satisfied.
Long Yi.
Kirei.
This entire situation was planned and manufactured by them. The outcome was so effective, they hadn’t even predicted it.
"Now, Yake is in trouble!" Kirei cheerfully said.
"I always thought that the Black Dragon Empire was untouchable without any loopholes. Now it seems that it was just because people’s interests weren’t directly affected."
"So, what do we do next? Continue the JIA coin offensive?" Korey asked.
"No need. Currently, the Black Dragon Empire is already in chaos. It’s not right for us to put salt on its wounds!" Long Yi said.
"Your words sound hypocritical. Don’t tell me you actually play nice?" Korey didn’t believe Long Yi had good intentions.
"Ha, the Master of Jokes understands me so well. Actually, it’s straightforward. First of all, they’re already on guard, so continuing on won’t be effective. Additionally, the effects of this wave are enough to shake the economy of the Black Dragon Empire at its roots. We’ve achieved our goal. There’s no point in continuing. However, we should be careful whether they might use the same tactic against us." Long Yi said.
"Yes, I’ve already taken measures to protect all the workers from the mint factories. Following your instructions, I’ve distributed kidnapper patriots’ handbooks to each worker, teaching them how to guarantee the safety of the nation’s gold under self-protection." Korey replied.
"Well, that’s good enough. At least for now, it seems like I won’t be involved in any trouble!" Long Yi said, laughing.
Long Yi had his own matters to deal with.
For instance, helping Ruosha manufacture her new weapon.
Originally, Long Yi planned to take Ruosha to the Dwarves’ Empire. But after hearing that Long Yi was a fantastic blacksmith too, she insisted that he personally forge her new weapon no matter what.
A new weapon?
When Long Yi asked Ruosha what she wanted, she replied without hesitation: "A giant anchor".
This was Ruosha’s weapon of choice, and all her fighting skills were executed using an anchor.
Ruosha had three requirements for the weapon.
Big.
Heavy.
Hard.
Long Yi originally thought that casting was the only option for such a large weapon, as forging wasn’t feasible for objects exceeding a certain size. He had seen Ruosha smash a massive anchor, which proved that regular cast iron wouldn’t work.
In the end, the dwarf blacksmith in the imperial city came up with a solution.
The dwarf empire’s warehouse was home to a strange black meteorite made up of metal. No one knew exactly what material it was. The spherical object was roughly one meter in diameter, but its weight was over ten times that of regular steel!
The dwarves had tried to melt it, but the underground magma’s heat wasn’t capable of melting this metal. A regular blacksmith’s hammer would only leave marks on it!
Without any means to deal with it, the dwarves left it in a corner of the warehouse. Except for occasionally challenging some dwarves, it had no other use.
Upon hearing about this, Long Yi immediately expressed his desire to test it. This news excited the dwarf and was immediately shared with the Dwarf Empire. The next evening, the black meteorite was transported along with the next batch of battle armors.
To accommodate this meteorite, the transporting airship had to give up space for four armors, which was quite a burden.
The moment Long Yi shouldered the seemingly unremarkable black sphere, the airship automatically floated upward a bit. The mass of the thing was enormous!
Would it be okay? It seemed that this thing was even heavier than Ruosha’s previous giant anchor!
"Let me try!" The authentic Lolita Ruosha, watching Long Yi’s movements, was eager to try.
Long Yi did not dare to put the ball down on the ground but handed it to Ruosha. A cracking sound was heard as Ruosha’s small shoes crushed the stone floor under her feet, causing her to stumble.
"Wow! I love this weight!"
Ruosha regained balance with her natural skill and lightly jumped up.
The surrounding White Dragon Empire soldiers were left dumbfounded. (To be continued. If you like this work, please go to qidian.com to vote, donate or subscribe. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
