Fierce Consort

Chapter 147

He stood up restlessly and paced back and forth. After a while, he finally sat down across from Luo Huai Yuan. Seemingly realizing that he had lost his composure, he lifted his glass to cover it up and said: "This matter definitely isn't as simple as Bro Chen is making it out to be. Is it possible to speak about it in detail?"

Luo Huai Yuan spoke about his thoughts in further detail.

Actually, this insight from Luo Huai Yuan had come from his modern knowledge of a piece of the Ming Dynasty's history. In the later part of the Ming Dynasty, because of the flourishing trade on the waters, many merchants had discovered a sort of business opportunity. It was something known in the modern world as speculating on foreign currency.

At this time, the Grand Xi's circumstances were similar to the Ming Dynasty's. However, due to the diverging of history, there were many things that were different. It was similar in that the Grand Xi's position in the world was very significant. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the center of the world. The Grand Xi's silk, tea leaves, porcelain and cloth, along with many crafted objects, were extremely popular everywhere. Even something common like its currency was valuable.

Many of the small nations weren't proficient in smelting copper. However, due to the sea trade, they needed a universally trusted currency to use in their deals. Minting their own currency would first of all require their own copper mines or a steady source of copper. They would also need sufficient skill and the proportion to other materials was also important. If the proportions weren't appropriate, the resulting coins wouldn't last long. Of course, the most important thing was whether this coin could be circulated, and whether its value would be recognized when doing business.

These were all problems that needed to be overcome. The simplest way was to import currency from a trusted nation to use as their own.

Because the Grand Xi was a strong and prosperous nation, its economy was ranked amongst the best. The quality of its copper coins were first class and it could be stored for a long time. With its power and wealth, its coin was very secure. To some of the smaller nations, it was better to import some of the Grand Xi's copper coins to use as their own currency.

With such large influence, there were many opportunities.

For example, they could import some copper from overseas and export copper coins from Grand Xi. As people at the peak of the Grand Xi, it wasn't difficult for Luo Huai Yuan, Xie Mao and the Zhenguo Duke to do what those smaller nations couldn't. The Grand Xi also circulated silver, not just copper coins.

It was only due to the scarcity of gold and silver that copper became the standard circulated coin within the Grand Xi. However, what was lacking in the Grand Xi wasn't necessary lacking in other nations. They could absolutely send over copper coins in exchange for silver from the outside. This was essentially making money without any work, and could also be called speculation.

Luo Huai Yuan had heard about the exchange rate of copper and silver in some of the countries. A tael of silver could be exchanged for around nine hundred copper coins in the Grand Xi. In other countries, the same tael of silver only needed three hundred copper coins. The purchase power of copper coins exceeded that of silver.

These were all business opportunities that made one shiver all over when thinking about it.

Therefore, Luo Huai Yuan wasn't too surprised that Xie Mao lost his composure. Was there anything more exciting than making money without doing any work?

Of course, there were bound to be problems when doing this. For example, the large influx of silver and the outflow of copper coins woud result in inflation and deflation.