“How are the exchanges going these days?”

On the third day after the new currency was issued, Roland convened a ministerial meeting in the castle hall, the main purpose of which was to discuss feedback on the currency reform.

As someone who had been through this before, he knew very well how difficult it was to break a millennium-old tradition. Any slip-up could lead to a snowball effect. If the new currency failed, the administrative office... and even the trust he himself had built up over a long period of time, would suffer serious damage.

“Less than expected, Your Majesty.” Barov seemed relatively relaxed. “The exchange amount in the past three days has been less than a thousand gold dragons. Considering that the initial stage of the new policy is often the most turbulent, the treasury should be fully capable of meeting the demand afterwards.”

To prevent a run on the bank, the number of banknotes issued in the first batch was equal to the total monthly salary. Even if all of them were exchanged, it could last for two months. But if that situation really happened, it would essentially mean that the plan had failed.

“I think you’re overthinking it,” the old steward said with a smile, stroking his beard. “Exchanging old coins for new ones is equivalent to a loss for nothing. Most of the people won’t act rashly unless absolutely necessary.”

“But we can’t assume that the people have accepted the new currency like this,” said Seni Dali, the Minister of Agriculture, cautiously. “I’ve noticed that the sales of food in the convenience markets have been much higher recently, along with all kinds of dried goods and seasonings.”

Transactions increased instead of decreasing? Roland was stunned for a moment before realizing what was happening.

So that’s what it was. He couldn’t help but smile wryly. The people were indeed unwilling to bear the loss of handling fees when the situation was unclear, so they turned to other necessities as hedges—and in the past, grain was indeed often used as a general equivalent. As for dried goods and seasonings, wasn’t their main feature that they could be stored for a long time and would always come in handy in the future?

A familiar advertising slogan seemed to float into his mind... “Paper for grain, you won't lose out, you won't be fooled, what are you waiting for?”

But this also put Roland at ease.

It was unrealistic to expect people to change their minds in just a few days, but if the expression was only a shift to buying goods, the administrative office would hardly be under any pressure. For example, for wheat, eggs, and cheese, the output of Neverwinter City alone was enough to meet the consumption of the entire Western Territory. When the treasury received the new round of sales revenue from the Joint Chamber of Commerce three months later, it could be said that the overall situation would be settled.

“It doesn’t matter, let them buy as much as they want.” He instructed Seni, “You must keep a close eye on this these days. There must be no shortage in the market. As long as they don’t reach the prescribed individual limit, they can buy whatever they want.”

The goods in the convenience markets were all necessities of life and could also be regarded as state-controlled and operated shops. They could only be purchased with an ID card. As long as those merchants with a lot of capital were not allowed to intervene and sell out the goods, the situation would basically not happen.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“By the way, what is the reaction of other merchants?”

“Your Majesty,” Barov replied, “The merchants in Neverwinter City are vaguely divided into two factions. Traveling merchants from all over the continent are still in a wait-and-see state, and many shops have announced that they are closed. Do you want to...” He made a gesture of expulsion.

They couldn’t refuse the new currency, so they simply closed the shop? Roland shook his head. “If the law doesn’t prohibit it, then it’s allowed. The lease on the shop hasn’t expired yet, and whether or not they operate is up to them. What about the other faction?”

“The large guilds from the Fjords haven’t reacted much and are still operating as usual. However, I received a lot of letters from Fjord merchants asking if they could pay for steam engines and paddle steamers with the new currency. I gave them a positive reply according to your request.”

A burst of whispers immediately rang out in the reception hall.

Obviously, everyone was quite surprised by this situation. In their eyes, the merchants of their own country had actually lost to overseas merchants in supporting the king, which was simply a disgrace to Graycastle.

Roland didn’t care.

It seemed that the Sea Clan was indeed more active in accepting new things. When the steam engine first came out, Mag丽, a Fjord native, was the first to show great interest and provided the first pot of gold for the industrial development of Border Town.

“However... there are exceptions,” Barov coughed twice, “A clothing store called 彩虹石 not only didn't close down, but also put up a banner saying that it was launching a discount promotion to celebrate the issuance of the new currency—according to my people's reports, the residents who went to buy clothes almost filled the entire street.”

Roland blinked, then chuckled... Was that Victor Lothar, who had proactively come to his door and asked to cooperate with 叶子?

Should he say that the other party was daring, or did he really understand his vision?

“Very good,” he looked at Honey, the Minister of Propaganda, “Do a special report on this. At this time, confidence is more important than gold.”

“Understood.” Honey nodded.

“That’s right, Your Majesty... confidence is more important than gold.” Edith, who had been listening, suddenly said, “Please beware of deliberately fabricated rumors. I think they’re coming soon.”

“What do you mean by that?” Barov frowned. “Could it be that someone deliberately wants to harm the new currency?”

“This is normal. Policies have beneficiaries and victims, such as those merchants who don’t want to accept banknotes, or those who simply want to shake Your Majesty’s foundation... You don’t think that the nobles who were so noisy have really subsided after only two years, do you?”

“Uh—” The old steward was momentarily speechless.

Of course they hadn’t, Roland knew very well. They were just temporarily dormant. As long as he showed a hint of weakness, these people would still show their fangs.

Even if the demons were at the city gates.

“Don’t worry, Honey and Asha will pay attention for me.”

“And me—the mines in the Western Territory will never have too few people.” A cold voice rang out in the meeting hall out of thin air. Although only the voice was heard and no one was seen, no one would think this was a joke.

Roland looked around at everyone, “Listen carefully, this is just the beginning. After the initial months of stability, currency reform should be promoted to the whole country as soon as possible, completely replacing the circulation of gold dragons from the system. This is of great significance for winning the Battle of Divine Will. Everyone still needs to work hard!”

“As you wish!” Everyone said in unison.

“Your Majesty...” Barov replied, then hesitated, “Will there be enough time to make so many banknotes in a few months?”

“The current amount is just enough to replace salaries, which doesn’t mean its production capacity is only that much. You don’t need to worry about that,” Roland replied.

Although banknotes were just a piece of paper, their technical content was a new peak for Neverwinter City. Considering that the gold dragons and silver wolves accumulated over thousands of years were an extremely large number, he didn’t consider letting Soraya shoulder this burden alone from the beginning. In terms of paper, the new currency incorporated a certain proportion of rubber worm mucus into the pulp, which, when dried and formed, had high flexibility and was not easy to tear or break;

The anti-counterfeiting mark was a denomination number made of tin foil, which was pre-embedded during papermaking—and only Neverwinter City had the technology to make metallic tin as thin as cicada wings;

The printing used a new roller printing press, and the pigments were provided jointly by Wuyun and Broken Sword. The colors were bright and durable, which was much better than the plant and mineral dyes of this era, and the duration was enough to last until the next round of currency replacement.

It could be said that whether it was considering production efficiency or counterfeiting, the new currency did its best. The witches only supplied raw materials, and the production could be done by ordinary people, which meant that it would not encounter any barriers during mass production.

The smooth issuance of banknotes could be considered to have resolved one of Roland's concerns. Now that Neverwinter City had both people and wealth, the remaining question was how to turn these resources into productivity.

“Next, I plan to add a new batch of projects, with a number of about two to three thousand,” he said to the chief steward of the administrative office, and this number was equivalent to the total population of a main city in the past. “Barov, you and the ministers of the relevant departments will discuss and determine the specific allocation plan.”

“Yes.”

“First is the Ministry of Chemical Industry—” Roland looked at Camo Strall.

Obviously, it was time to further expand the production of various gunpowder.