Riding and Slashing

Chapter 217 Pande Bank
White Hart Keep, Pendor Bank.

Leslie has been working overtime at the bank headquarters these days to calculate the amount of financing.

The amount was relatively large, and Li Ang asked to use silver coins as much as possible, which made the amount of coins even more terrifying.

Some of the Noldo girl rangers who lived in White Hart Castle became part-time apprentices, and lived a good life ahead of time, counting money until their hands cramp.

"Currently, the total amount of investment in the bank has exceeded 30 dinars, a total of more than 3000 sums... This amount is too large, my lord, I have been worried these days..."

Leslie looked a little dazed, probably because she hadn't slept for a long time.

"It's not a large number... What are you worried about? Are you worried about being robbed?"

On the contrary, Li Ang felt that the amount was smaller than he imagined.

As long as you deposit more than ten dinars at one time, it is considered an investment, and you can get dividends in the future, and this is a confidential storage that will not reveal the depositor's information-just before the tax collection time...

Under such conditions, only 30 dinars were raised, which obviously means that the eastern region is indeed relatively poor, and there are not many people with more than ten dinars in cash.

"No, my lord... I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it. I'm afraid no one will take out loans, and I'm afraid there are too many people taking loans; I'm afraid that no one will save, and I'm afraid that there will be too many deposits... Well... Now Miss Amy is back It's fine, I'm timid, and it's really not suitable for this..."

Leslie murmured, she seemed to be entangled in contradictions.

"It's also difficult for you... Thanks for your hard work, Leslie, you can escape from the sea of ​​suffering and return to Changhe Express."

Li Ang handed Leslie a can of fruit liqueur.

"Li Ang... You didn't move the bank's headquarters to Changhe Town because you waited for me to come back?"

Amy's eyes seemed to light up as she looked at the various coins stacked neatly in a row.

"Of course, Miss Amy, my lord specially set the opening time of the bank on October [-]st just to wait for you to come back."

Leslie took a sip of the wine, let out a breath, and seemed to have relaxed a lot: "You guys talk, I'm going to sleep..."

After speaking, she staggered away, looking exhausted.

"Then... what are you... going to do?"

Amy looked at Li Ang, her eyes were watery with a different emotion, and her voice became much softer than before.

"You should know that this year's tax is very high... Amy, we have negotiated transaction agreements with many noble manors before, and now we have to let them honor them. Do you remember the time when you asked me to buy food at a high price..."

The lord didn't notice at all, he just brought up the past on his own.

"Hmm... At that time, I didn't understand anything..."

Amy glanced at Li Ang, and her voice was softer this time.

"Amy, are you sick? Why don't you go to rest for a while... drink some hot water?"

The lord looked at Amy worriedly, but Amy rolled his eyes.

"I...forget it...you plan to use the money in the bank to collect all the food and materials that have just been harvested from the noble manors, including the inventory, and then create a little panic after a while, and let them take it from us again for the sake of armaments. Buy it back here, right...it's the same as I asked you to buy food at a high price before."

Amy covered her face, and while talking, casually rolled up her loose long hair and tied it into a ponytail, and rolled up her sleeves.

The lace on the sleeves of the white dress was messed up by her.

"Amy, you're getting smarter now, only you know what I'm thinking..."

Li Ang looked at Amy and complimented her with a smile on his face.

"No, you are getting more and more stupid now! I have no idea what you are thinking..."

Amy sulked expressionlessly.

She spent an entire hour dressing herself up today, not only wearing a skirt, but also putting on light makeup, but Li Ang didn't notice it at all!

……

On October [-]st, Pande Bank had its grand opening.

In fact, the opening ceremony was very simple. It was nothing more than the newly promoted Earl Leon cut the ribbon, and let a group of Noldor girl rangers show their faces, announcing that these elf beauties would soon be employees of the bank.

But there are estimated to be thousands of people watching in White Hart Castle alone.

There is also a large group of people outside the castle, making it like a siege.

The entire castle was packed inside and out, and most of the people actually came from Changhe Town.

In fact, this is also one of the reasons for not moving the headquarters to Changhe Town—White Deer Castle is small, and it is easy to create a sense of congestion.Changhe Town is too big...

No matter whether these people came to see Miss Nuo Duo in uniform, or to do business, it is enough to make people feel the great heat.

Fortunately, the girl rangers were employed as employees. The moment the bank opened for business, hundreds of people poured into the hall. If it weren't for a few Noldor rangers standing at the door with bows, a stampede might have occurred...

Pande Bank will start accepting deposits formally, and promises never to disclose any information of depositors to anyone. As long as they hold deposit slips, they can withdraw money at any bank branch.

And there is 10% interest every year. Of course, the interest must be settled within one year.

At the same time, the loan business can be handled not only in banks, but also in Maixiang International and Changhe Express. It not only supports the use of assets such as land as collateral for loans, but also supports the use of grain, taxation, metals, nitrate and other minerals or other Some designated commodities are used as collateral for loans.

In other words, as long as the material list on the wall of the bank lobby can be used for mortgage loans.

However, the bank has set a requirement - the gold coins deposited must be weighed, and those whose weight does not meet the standard will not be accepted, and can be exchanged for silver coins in other places before depositing.

This is also a reasonable request. Everyone knows that Pan De's gold coins are not enough now... and Maixiang International has consciously refused to accept gold coins a few months ago, and the people will naturally follow suit.

Except for those nobles and wealthy merchants, most people are actually not very happy to receive gold coins now. Most of the gold coins are in the hands of those big nobles, and most of the people use silver coins.

On the first day of opening, most of the people who poured into the bank were businessmen.

They are for saving money.

The reason why they were so enthusiastic was actually because Li Ang swore in public that the bank would not disclose depositor information to anyone.

Li Ang's credit was maintained very well, especially for the merchants, who believed that the lord would not swallow their deposits.

Seeing the lord swear not to disclose the depositor's information now, and seeing so many Donodo rangers working in the bank, this gave the merchants more confidence.

It means safety, money is safe.

Especially before winter arrives.

Pendor's Winterfell, also known as the Eunomia Festival, is in October, the day after the full moon.

After the Goddess Festival, it is winter until January of the following year.

This is a dangerous time.

During this period of time, the merchants not only had to face dangers such as robbers and bandits, but also faced the grassroots tax officials in various villages.

To be precise, those who 'assist' the tax collectors in collecting taxes, such as the retinues of the various knight leaders.

In fact, what the merchants are afraid of is not paying taxes, what they are afraid of is those followers who "assist in tax collection".

Yes, those subordinates who usually do chores for the knights.

Although these knight retinues are also members of the villagers on weekdays, they may be more terrifying than bandits when it comes to tax collection.

Because they know the general situation of each household, and they are likely to have hatred for the rich-this is normal, and ordinary people will have it.

Maybe it’s okay at ordinary times, but if they are burdened with relatively heavy taxation tasks, most of them will think about...that so-and-so is in business, it is said that they are relatively rich, and if they get a sum from him, it is estimated that this task can be solved at once .

This is all human nature, and it cannot be said that they are bad, they also want to complete the task.

But in fact, these little people often cause the greatest evil after temporarily gaining a little bit of power.

Because they will use the name of the country and the lord, through policies and legal principles, to make various "enforcement" things in an extremely uncomfortable way.

For example, when faced with ordinary businessmen without aristocratic background, these subordinates would often directly grab money and goods—by the way, put a little in their pockets.

Assisting in tax collection, this title is quite useful.

Therefore, most of the businessmen dare not keep the money in their hands during this period. They are not afraid of paying taxes, but because they are afraid that all the money will be robbed, and there is no way to reason.

In fact, this can be said to be the main reason for the underdevelopment of business in Pendor Continent.

Small businessmen without background are always in fear, while big businessmen with background will be restricted by the country and region brought by their background.

In the past, small businessmen with no background would find a place to hide their dinars before Winterfell, and then wait until next year to resume work.

But now, businessmen can deposit all their cash in the bank before paying taxes in October. This is obviously much safer than hiding money in the wild, and there is interest.

Since Li Ang promised not to disclose the depositor's information to anyone, all businessmen, manor owners, and wealthy civilians with some spare money can realize without a teacher that depositing their money in the bank is the most secure.

At least the bank that Li Ang let the Noldor rangers guard, probably no one would dare to rob it.

Anyway, when you need money, you can withdraw money at any time.

It may not even be necessary to withdraw all of them. Since the money can be withdrawn only by checking the ciphertext with the deposit slip, many merchants can directly use the deposit slip to conduct cashless transactions at the bank in the future.

Just need some extra parchment...

The deposit slip designed by Li Ang is not actually a passbook, but more like a check. It is made of parchment paper, half a parchment paper to be precise.

But it's not banknotes, because it's not yet a good time for banknotes to appear in public.

It's just a credential.

In order to prevent counterfeiting, the lord also specially designed a survey and text code.

Kanhe refers to the seam seal and pressed texture on the deposit receipt. It must match the other half of the bank's memory. The parchment of this year has a natural texture. It is basically impossible to find two parchments that are exactly the same. above is impossible.

The text password is the ciphertext designated by the depositor himself, which will be engraved on both sides of the reconciliation office, half of one side, and only the depositor himself knows what the half of the ciphertext retained by the bank is.

These two items have been able to prevent counterfeiting for many years, unless the bank does its own internal manipulation.

Amy wasn't at the bank opening; she was on to something else important.

Spend money.

That's what Leslie felt unsure about.

It is indeed easier for Amy to do this. After all, Amy is already familiar with buying food.

Of course, there are many other things to purchase besides food...

The plan of the lord and Amy is to use a large amount of dinars to receive all the strategic materials that can be received in the eastern region.

So Amy took her female soldiers and went out to find the manors of the nobles.

At the same time, Amy also directly announced that White Hart Castle will conduct a large-scale procurement. The materials to be purchased include food, cloth, weapons and equipment, masonry, wood, etc., and a large number of soldiers will be recruited.

At the same time, Changhe Town, Yongdun Fort, Eagle Claw Fort and other places also announced almost the same big purchases.

They are all newly acquired territories, and it is normal to actively increase material reserves during the harvest season.

Many businessmen used to get rid of their inventory and shut down for the winter at this time.

However, this winter, these merchants may not go out of business...

For the lord once again began to organize caravans into the Noldor Forest.

This time, Li Ang personally led the team.

Considering that many businessmen are not willing to stay at home during this tax collection season, Li Ang took the opportunity to organize them into a huge caravan, intending to let them spend the tax collection time in the forest...

With the joint efforts of both parties, a road was opened between the Noldor Forest and White Hart Castle, which could barely pass the wagons.

The road hadn't been repaired in time, and it looked like a isolation zone in the forest, but no matter what, the carriage could go in.

The trading market in the Noldor Forest has also officially reopened.

The scene this time is completely different from the first test run.

Hundreds of carriages drove into this Noldor territory, which was only eighty miles away from White Hart Castle, but seemed extremely far away.

And just three days after the convoy arrived, the entire market had already become a sea of ​​elves.

The number of Noldor elves participating in this transaction has skyrocketed from more than a hundred at the beginning to more than a thousand, and the number is still increasing.

The center of the trading market is a tall stone building with the signboard of Pendor Bank hanging on it. At least a hundred Noldor warriors are currently guarding the surrounding area.

The Noldor and Men's merchants kept coming and going in the halls of the bank.

All kinds of supplies were constantly removed by the Noldor and disappeared into the forest; a large number of Noldor carrying supplies appeared from the forest and gathered in the market.

With the existence of banks, the problem of no cash in the hands of the Noldor is no longer a problem.

In fact, within a few days, the Noldor had a lot of dinars available-if merchants encounter cheap and easy-to-handle Noldor crafts or high-quality leather and medicinal materials, they must be To be acquired.

When there is no money available, they will withdraw money directly from the bank. If there is not enough money, they can directly use the commodity collateral to make a loan at the bank.

At the same time, the money received from the sold goods can be deposited in the nearest bank.

Even many Noldor tried to deposit money in the bank - most of the bank's staff and guards were Noldor, so of course they could be trusted.

Therefore, Li Ang only shipped 10,000+ dinars to this branch to achieve continuous cash flow.

The entire market finally achieved what Li Ang wanted, and it was booming.

A week later, with the arrival of Li Ang's second batch of convoys, the heat of the market reached its peak.

The second batch of convoys brought a large amount of food and cloth, and they were sold at a low price - this batch was Li Ang's own goods.

Of course, the price in the forest is still higher than outside.

But for the Noldor elves, it doesn't matter if it is expensive, the most important thing is to be able to buy it!
The Noldor were all poor, and they became rich after selling some handicrafts and other possessions that were usually useless.

Who wants to find wild fruits everywhere when they can eat more convenient food?
Most fruits of this age are not tasty and cannot be stored.

30 pounds of grain and thousands of bolts of cloth were all sold out within a few days, and there was no price increase in the middle;
Almost after these things were sold out, the third batch of caravans came again, still with food and cloth...

Then, merchants began to come and go, and a market was built that never stopped. . .

During the two vacant periods when the market became less popular, the lord promptly filled the gap with the food and cloth that the Noldor needed most, making the entire market in full swing.

Half a month has passed, and now the market has gradually stabilized.

Li Ang has also returned to White Hart Castle.

White Hart Castle is undergoing large-scale grain harvesting, and everyone is very busy.

The convoy of Changhe Express has been continuously delivering supplies to White Hart Castle.

Many warehouses were newly built inside and outside the castle.

There are not so many people in the bank headquarters now, but businessmen still come in and out frequently.

The lord is now checking the latest accounts upstairs in the bank.

For White Hart Castle alone, as of yesterday, the total deposits have exceeded 65 dinars. The exact amount is changing at any time, and it is not known how much it is now.

There are not many loans released at present, but this matter does not need to be so urgent. According to the estimation of the lord, the peak period of loans should be in January next year.

The embezzled funds have reached 28 dinars, and a large amount of supplies have been exchanged.

"The misappropriated money is other people's savings...Aren't you in a hurry? What if there is a large-scale run in January?"

Amy is really the only one who can discuss these things with Leon, at least she can use words like 'run' correctly.

"As long as we keep growing steadily, we don't have to worry about runs... It won't be that long, and people will soon realize that it's completely unnecessary to carry so many metal coins, especially if gold coins are not trusted. Now in banks There are a lot of silver coins, and I plan to ask the Noldor to help recast a batch..."

The lord said very calmly.

"You want...you want to mint coins privately?!"

Amy was startled, and then realized that her volume seemed a little high, so she quickly lowered her voice.

"No, I just want to issue a large amount of credit coins from Pande Bank. A small silver coin can be used as ten dinars..."

Li Ang picked up a silver coin and laughed: "The enchanted silver coin is easy to carry."

"Enchanted?"

Amy took the silver coin in Li Ang's hand. The silver coin was inlaid with some black metal with inscriptions, probably the effect of a certain Noldor elf who had tried enchanting techniques with it.

The inscription texture of this silver coin exudes a slight shimmer, and the difference can be seen at a glance.

The specialty of the Finway family is making enchanted equipment. The texture on this silver coin is very similar to the texture on the plate armor of the Twilight Knights, and the texture is as hard as the plate armor.

"In fact, there is nothing special about the silver coin itself. The special thing is that these inscriptions, the material used to outline the inscriptions is quite special. The Noldor call it Mithril; while humans call it ebony."

(End of this chapter)