When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1202 Holy Alliance Purchasing Power Challenge

"Great! I won!"

"Don't be so smug. 'Hello' only has five letters. You only get an extra 100 gold pounds if you guess the last five letters correctly."

“那我这也有1+10+100+1000+10000第纳尔等于，呃，等于……”

“After deducting personal income tax, it’s about 70 gold pounds,” the hat merchant couldn’t help but remind him when he couldn’t calculate it for a while.

"Oh yes, thank you, buddy. 70 gold pounds, do you know how much money that is...?"

Seeing the gambler's slightly frenzied appearance, the hat merchant lowered his hat and withdrew from the crowd.

But as he sat in the carriage and returned to the city of Jiliu, he couldn't help but think of the lottery player's words.

70 gold pounds, equivalent to 8400 dinars.

In his hometown of Leia, 70 gold pounds can currently be exchanged for 9240 dinars.

Yes, the current exchange rate between the gold pound and the dinar is 1:132.

"Sigh." The hat merchant took off his hat, revealing a young face.

His name was Solene, and he came from a wealthy commercial family in the city of Leia.

The so-called commercial aristocracy is simply a group that controls a large number of procurement channels, enjoys franchises, and has branch sales networks in various places.

However, for Soleni, their system was completely destroyed.

Because one of the main businesses of the Calaccado family, to which Soleni belongs, is currency exchange.

Or, to put it another way, they profit by hoarding currency.

Therefore, Soleni has a deep understanding of the gold and silver currency exchange rates in the market, such as the current exchange rate of 132.

This number briefly climbed to 155 some time ago, but has recently dropped to around 132 and is still declining.

As for the reason, that's easy to explain.

If there are more silver dinars, they become less valuable; a single gold pound can be exchanged for more dinars.

The exchange rate then dropped further, so it couldn't have been the Leia national team buying up silver coins; rather, it was because the gold pound had increased!
The royal court's invasion of the border knights' territories and bear fortresses had consequences beyond just politics; economic problems immediately emerged.

Fran had previously controlled the coastal areas of Leia, and with his own power, he was able to implement a blockade policy against the royal court.

Whether it's used to reduce the dumping of grain and precious metals by the royal court or to prevent the loss of key resources, it's all within easy reach.

However, with the loss of the important stronghold of the Zealand Islands and the fall of the Border Knights Territory, the shipping routes immediately changed.

Merchant ships from the Royal Court could simply dock at the Zealand Islands now and then disembark at the mouth of the Kush River (near the Golden Horn).

Then, by land, the relevant supplies were transported into the empire through the black market along the border.

Norn goes without saying; their border control, while not flawless, is barely adequate.

Leia used to have strict border controls, but with the rise of the weak regent Duke Omes and several major defeats, Leia has basically lost control of the border region.

The massive sums of money that black market merchants obtain through the sale of iron ore, artisans, and people will certainly be spent quickly.

As a result, these black market merchants transported large amounts of gold and silver currency into the empire.

The influx of precious metals caused the price of silver in the former Thorn Garden to plummet, and the nobles of Thorn Garden cried out for permission to move into the city.

Although the exchange rate between the gold pound and the dinar has gradually normalized, a look at prices reveals that the price of bread has surged by 15%.

Furthermore, it continues to grow at a rate of almost 3-5% per month.

In addition, there has been an increase in prices over the past two decades.

Previously, 1 dinar could buy 12 pounds of grain, but now 1 dinar can only buy 8 pounds or even less of grain.

Not to mention the price increases of other daily necessities, prices are soaring throughout the empire.

The chaos has left the Kingdom of Fran with no time to deal with the vampires; they're all busy with internal affairs.

As for Duke Omes, he's already done with it. Let prices skyrocket, I'm tired, let it all be destroyed.

Thinking of this, Soleni sighed and suddenly knocked on the side of the carriage.

"What's wrong, Mr. Solani?"

Soleni pointed to the notice posted at the entrance of the vegetable market outside the window and said to his personal servant, "Go and copy a price list for me, and also buy me half a dinar's worth of bread."

Apparently thinking Solei was hungry, the servant bought him bread first before taking paper and pen to copy down the prices.

"Half a dinar can actually buy 10 half-pound baguettes..."

The bread was so plentiful that it made Solini's thighs ache.

He couldn't help but marvel at the strength of the Holy Union's currency.

The influx of royal gold coins would inevitably have an impact on the Holy Alliance. However, unfortunately, with the development of several four-year plans, rural town industries have flourished.

They almost succeeded; each 100-household district had one or two mills or agricultural and sideline food processing workshops.

The implementation and promotion of agricultural technologies such as sloping ponds, sluice gates, and intercropping of rice and wheat have resulted in a remarkable increase in land productivity.

The food industry in Saint Lian was already in surplus; now it's simply a matter of canceling some exports to meet domestic demand first.

It's not that prices in Saint Union haven't gone up; in fact, they have.

With the medium of paper money, the Sant'coupling managed to keep inflation to 5-10% per year.

Whenever he thinks of this, Soleni can't help but marvel at the brilliance of the banknote design.

Everyone says that Horn is the top-notch chief engineer of the Holy Alliance, but in his opinion, the top-notch banker is.

What if the extra silver coins go into the Holy Alliance? The Holy Alliance now generally uses paper money for transactions exceeding 5 dinars.

If you want to use silver coins, especially large sums of silver coins, you must go to the border currency center to exchange them for paper money.

A large amount of precious metals are actually controlled by the Saint Mary's Bank.

If prices rise and money becomes less valuable, then print less money.

Conversely, print more.

It's like having control over the valves of a water tank; you can add water whenever you want, drain water whenever you want, and even drain it little by little.

In many border areas where the Empire and the Holy Alliance meet, the Holy Alliance's pious banknotes are a more valuable hard currency than the dinars.

Today, one dinar might buy three pounds of meat, but tomorrow it might only buy two pounds.

And the pious banknotes, today and tomorrow, are worth one dinar for two pounds of meat.

Although Horn collected a lot of silver coins at the border, he didn't actually print that many corresponding paper coins.

As a result, the price fluctuations in the Holy Alliance are the smallest.

"What a brilliant design!" Soleni shook his head as he sat in the carriage.

Unlike silver coins, paper money cannot be printed in any quantity as desired.

If you want to bring paper money back, issue government bonds or encourage wealth management, and the paper money will return to the banks.

Even a waiter at a tavern in the Holy Alliance now prefers paper money.

Only those stubborn rural villages, or a few city dwellers, would refuse to use paper money.

Soleni's interest suddenly shifted to the waiters.

The lowest-ranking job in the Holy Alliance is probably that of a tavern waiter.

The Holy Preservation Authority has set the minimum daily wage at 0.75 dinars, but most taverns offer daily wages between 1 and 1.25 dinars.

Assuming a six-day work week and 52 weeks a year, that's roughly 400 dinars in income.

In the Sant'Arc district of Rapids, a very basic room would cost around 45 to 50 dinars per year.

The daily cost of two pounds of bread, along with cheese, vegetables, and other food items, is roughly half a dinar.

Over a year, it's estimated to cost 200 dinars.

After covering expenses for clothes, social obligations, and other purchases, I estimate I'll still have forty or fifty dinars left by the end of the year.

If it were Leia's current prices, the annual food expenses alone would easily exceed 300 dinars.

Not to mention clothes!
Saint Union's clothes are cheap because they are located near the Shattered Stone Plains ranch, where sheep are raised and sheared in large numbers.

Furthermore, they have standardized garment workshops, and the prices of ready-made garments are much cheaper than those in tailor shops.

No wonder everyone in the Empire wants to join the Holy Alliance.

"Sir, your order has arrived." The servant handed the copied price list to Soleni in the carriage.

"Wow, the agricultural products from the Holy Alliance are really cheap... Have they always been this cheap?"

"It was expensive for a while, but it became cheaper again this spring."

Needless to say, Soleni knew this because grain exports had decreased in the spring.

Looking at the price list in his hand, he suddenly became interested.

Suppose an unskilled worker, representing the majority of Saint Union workers, earns a week's salary. After deducting living expenses, how much can they buy with the money left over?

Soleni thought for a moment, then instructed the coachman, "Go to Grace Department Store."

(End of this chapter)