I, Altria, only want to rule China.

Then there is the issue of people entering China. This must be controlled well because outsiders have no identity. Once too many people enter Huawu Country, it may cause trouble.

Therefore, this must be regulated, just like the passports in later generations. When coming to Wu State, one must have a residence permit and a stay permit, which specifies how many days one can stay and how long one must renew the permit when the time is up.

Then there is the issue of tariffs. Perhaps it is because the tariffs reported by the minister on Leah's side are too high, and the other party hopes that each type of commodity will be priced according to its differences, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

These commodities are taxed according to their categories, ranging from a minimum of 5 percent to percent.

Leah looked at them one by one, and then made decisions one by one, and finally got them done.

"Your Majesty, I wonder if you could sell me some of the firearms from your Wu country?" After signing a series of treaties that Pinov could barely accept, Pinov suddenly said.

Pinov has also witnessed the changes in Wu State in recent years. He has been to Wu State several times. The changes in Wu State can only be described as rapid.

Every time he went back and forth, he would see something new, especially the firearms in the hands of the Wu State officers, which made him secretly shocked.

If the Roman soldiers had such weapons, then defeating the Hun Empire and the Sassanid Persian Empire would be a piece of cake, right?

"Oh." Leah said softly, but did not answer immediately.

"Your Majesty, you can't do that." Upon hearing that these foreigners wanted to buy firearms from their Wu country, the minister on the side immediately spoke up.

Today, the Wu State is able to unify China and re-present Han culture on this land, and this is largely due to the role of firearms. If these foreigners also master this weapon, it will have a serious impact on the new Wu State.

What if these foreigners use the firearms they bought from Wu to attack Wu? Wouldn't that be like shooting oneself in the foot?

So these weapons must never be sold to foreigners.

Seeing the other party's uneasy mood, Liya thought for a while and said, "It's not impossible for me to sell the firearms to you, but what price do you plan to offer?"

"Your Majesty!" Seeing that Leah was really planning to sell, the ministers came out again to stop her.

"I know what you are worried about, my dear ministers, but don't worry, I know what I am doing." Seeing that the ministers were about to stop her again, Liya waved her hand and told them not to speak for the time being.

"I wonder what price you plan to sell it for, Your Majesty?" Seeing this, Pinov asked cautiously.

"A flintlock rifle costs one hundred taels of silver, and each bullet costs one tael. A cannon costs three thousand taels, and each shell costs one hundred taels. Grenades, landmines, etc. cost fifty taels. What do you think, Mr. Pinov?" Leah said with a smile.

Although once firearms are released to the outside world, various imitations may appear in the future.

But Leah was not worried that these foreigners would be able to produce firearms more powerful than those of the Wu Kingdom, because their current technology was not up to par.

For example, gunpowder had already appeared in the Song Dynasty, but why did it take until the Industrial Revolution for gunpowder to really become effective?

Because the technological level has reached a certain level, these gunpowder firearms can be strengthened to a certain extent.

Even if Leah sold these firearms to them, they would not be better than the firearms sold to them by the Wu Kingdom. Even if they were made, they would basically be inferior products.

Chapter 139 I'll Kill You Openly

After all, once these countries find out that the things they have spent a lot of money and time to produce are not as good as the firearms they bought from Wu State, will they still research them? It would be better for them to buy them from Wu State.

Once such an idea comes into being, they might give up developing their own weapons and instead go to Wu State to buy them. In this way, Leah can sell Wu State's unused and obsolete weapons to other countries.

This will not only allow the Wu State to obtain a large amount of resources in a very short period of time, but also allow it to continue to develop better weapons.

"Isn't this a bit too expensive? Your Majesty, can you reduce the price a little bit?" When Pinov heard this, he felt that Leah was asking for too much.

"If Mr. Pinov thinks it's too expensive, then forget it." Seeing this, Leah didn't say anything.

If you don't buy it, someone else will.

Now, only her Wu Kingdom has it in the whole world. Not to mention the price, even if she increases it several times, there will still be people who are willing to pay for it.

Seeing that Leah was not willing to give in on this matter, Pinov gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, I need 1000 flintlock rifles, 50 cannons, and 5000 grenades."

"No problem. As long as you, Mr. Pinov, pay the money to the Ministry of Revenue, someone will deliver these things to you in no time." Leah nodded.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Pinov said hurriedly.

"Well, if there is nothing else, Mr. Pinov can go down. What we are going to discuss next is the affairs of our Wu country. You know, these are not appropriate for Mr. Pinov." Leah said.

"Yes." Pinov responded, and the guards took them downstairs.

After Pinov left, all the ministers looked at Leah in confusion, wondering why the wise and powerful Queen Arthur would do something that would only end up hurting herself.

"My dear ministers, you must be confused, right? Actually, the matter is very simple. We cannot keep the secret of firearms. As long as they are willing, they can still obtain these firearms from our soldiers, right?"

"That's indeed true." The ministers thought about it. Now basically most of the soldiers in Wu State are equipped with firearms. As long as some people are willing, it will not be a problem to obtain them.

"That's right. You must be afraid that the foreigners will obtain our firearms and imitate them, right? But in fact, with the foreigners' level of craftsmanship, they can't make the firearms we have today."

"But even if the other party cannot make firearms as powerful as ours, Your Majesty, we should not sell firearms to them. If they use these firearms against us, wouldn't that be very dangerous?" said a minister.

"Who said I was going to sell them the latest firearms? Can't I sell them those second or third generation firearms?" Leah said lightly.

"This..." The other ministers were stunned when they heard this.

"Although they are second- and third-generation firearms, they have defeated cold weapons. Moreover, these older firearms still have various problems and cannot be compared with our latest generation of firearms, either in terms of range or power, so you don't have to worry." Leah smiled slightly.

"So that's how it is." After hearing this, the ministers felt relieved.

As long as Your Majesty does not make any mistakes, there will be no problem.

Of course, Leah would not make a fool of herself. She knew what she was doing. Since she had already invented the firearm, it would be impossible to ban it in the future.

The only thing we can do is to keep our strength at the forefront of the times, so that these countries will not dare to act rashly when they hear the name of Wu State. This is the real strength!

There is no future if you keep hiding things.

"Prime Minister Xiao, how are the Wu coins that I asked you to print going?" Liya mentioned another thing.

Hearing what Liya said, Xiao Ranhe immediately took out a stack of papers and a handful of coins similar to copper plates from his arms, handed them to Liya and said, "Your Majesty, these are the Wu country coins and treasure notes that have just been printed."

After Liya took the coins and looked through them, Xiao Ranhe continued, "These coins are divided into three denominations: yuan, jiao, and fen, according to your majesty's wishes. Each type has three denominations: one, two, and five."

"Among them, one cent can be directly exchanged for one coin. Both are the smallest denomination currencies. One jiao is equal to ten wen, and one yuan is equal to one hundred wen."

Leah hummed and continued to look through the banknotes and coins in her hand.

There is naturally nothing much to say about the face value of the Baochao. From the hundred-yuan Baochao to the ten-cent Baochao, it has basically covered the daily needs of ordinary people and businessmen. Even the style is similar to that of later generations.

However, the portrait on the 100-dollar bill was changed to Leah, while the portrait on the 50-dollar bill was Morgan.

The rest of the treasure notes were printed with the mountains and rivers of the Wu Kingdom.

The reason why Leah made these coins was that she felt that gold and silver were not easy to carry and were troublesome to count, which was far less convenient than the coins of later generations.

As for anti-counterfeiting, Leah has Morgan personally in charge, so there is no problem at all.

In order to make it easier for people across the country to accept, these new coins are very similar to the old copper coins, but not quite the same. The only similarities are the size and weight, while the color and style are very different from the old copper coins.

In the past, copper plates were mostly made of brass mixed with a small amount of other metals, and their colors tended to be similar to the color of brass itself. Most of them were round on the outside and square on the inside. On the one hand, they reflected the idea of ​​"the sky is round and the earth is square", and on the other hand, they were convenient to string together with ropes.

The coins in Liya's hand had denominations of one cent, two cents, five cents, and ten cents printed on the front, with the six tiny characters "Wuguo Royal Bank" printed on the side. There were different patterns printed on the back, and the words "Year 9 of the Yellow Emperor's Era" were printed below the patterns.

Apart from the degree of exquisiteness, text, face value and metal used, there is not much difference between them and later coins.

After playing with it for a while, Liya said, "Since it's almost done, let's get started. It's almost time to reform the currency of our Wu Kingdom."

"Your Majesty, will the common people accept this new money?"

Silver and copper coins are precious metals and have monetary value. What about paper money?

Xiao Ranhe felt that this matter should not be too arbitrary. This is money. Ordinary people have long been accustomed to copper coins and silver coins. The coins are still okay, but isn't paper money too deceptive?

You know, the highest price of a paper note is 100 yuan. How can it be compared with real gold and silver?

Chapter 140 Currency Revision

Is anti-counterfeiting technology considered here? Is it considered that someone might forge it? Is it considered the degree of recognition of the issued banknotes?

Once unscrupulous merchants take the opportunity to produce a large number of counterfeit currencies and then release them in large quantities, these newly issued banknotes may be ruined immediately.

"Of course there is no problem. Before issuing it, you should first publish it in the newspaper to let the people know about it, then collect the old money and let those copper coins withdraw from the market. In this way, people will gradually get used to using this new currency." Leah said.

You know, the credibility of the Wu State is very good now. Once the Wu State introduces new paper currency, although the people may not understand it for a while, they will definitely accept it slowly.

Seeing that Leah was so insistent, the ministers stopped talking.

***

In 9 AD, the 9th year of Leah's reign as emperor, people habitually call it "the 9th year of the Holy Emperor."

Leah also didn't know how the reign title "Holy Emperor" came about.

Not to mention that the Wu Kingdom had completely switched to the Yellow Emperor's era, the key point was that it was impossible for Leah to directly use the two words "Holy Emperor" as the era name.

How shameless does one have to be to use such a self-aggrandizing title?

The key is that the people of Wu State recognize this era name. After seeing the Yellow Emperor Era, many people often habitually ask, "What year is this in the Holy Emperor's reign?"

Later, when local officials posted official documents, they would habitually explain "this year is the Holy Emperor's year".

Of course, the reign title had nothing to do with merchants, but the first people affected by fiscal and monetary reforms were merchants, especially the existence of banks.

Because the autumn tax of the "9th year of the Holy Emperor" would be collected in a few months, the merchants of Wu State had already prepared their account books and silver. In Wu State, tax evasion was definitely a serious crime. There was even a joke among the people that tax evasion was a pleasure for a while, but the whole family would end up in the crematorium.

Therefore, every time when it was time to collect taxes, the merchants in Wu State would treat it as a serious enemy and check their account books and tax silver over and over again to avoid being discovered by the government.

However, when it came time to collect the autumn tax of the 9th year of the Holy Emperor, these merchants in Wu State were dumbfounded.

The government no longer collected autumn taxes directly, but instead required merchants to deposit taxes in newly established banks.

When these merchants found the newly established bank, they were told that the bank did not accept silver and copper coins, but only the newly issued Wu State Treasure Banknotes.

No Wu Kingdom Treasure Banknotes?

Then go to the window next to you to exchange it. One tael of silver can be exchanged for a ten-yuan note. After exchanging the treasure notes, come back to pay the tax.

The merchants in Wu State were very confused. They first exchanged silver for treasure notes and then used the treasure notes to pay taxes. What's the difference between this and farting in a warehouse?

However, one copper coin could be exchanged for one new cent, and one thousand copper coins or one tael of silver could be exchanged for a ten-yuan new coin, and vice versa. The exchange rate was the same... These merchants suddenly discovered a fatal problem.

The currency gap that was originally enough to make a fortune has been eliminated.

Although the Wu State originally recognized copper coins and silver, the exchange rate between copper coins and silver was different in each place. In some places, eight hundred coins were exchanged for one tael of silver, while in some places, more than one thousand coins were exchanged for one tael of silver.

Of course, the two places may be a little far apart, such as the distance between Shandong and Guangdong, but in the face of huge amounts of money, the so-called distance is naturally not a problem.

For example, if you earned 800 coins from a place where the exchange rate between silver and copper coins was 800, you could exchange them for one tael of silver, then go to a place where the exchange rate was 1,000 to exchange them for copper coins, and then return to a place where the exchange rate was 800 to earn 200 coins more.

However, now that the court has come up with a new monetary policy, this currency gap has been forcibly eliminated.

No matter how wild the merchants' methods are, they cannot compare with the bank branches spread throughout the Wu State, and the bank's exchange rate is the same throughout the Wu State: one thousand Wen for one hundred yuan.

Immediately afterwards, these businessmen received another shocking piece of news.

All industries under the control of the Wu Dynasty court no longer accepted gold, silver and copper coins, and only recognized Baochao.

However, those merchants with cooperative relationships would have no problem settling with treasure notes or gold and silver. However, if they settled with gold and silver, a "little" handling fee would be deducted.

At this time, although the imperial court had not yet announced the complete abolition of the original silver and copper coin system, these merchants, who were smarter than monkeys, had already seen through everything.

The imperial court intended to reform the currency and replace the original monetary system with the newly produced Baochao of Wu State.

Fortunately, the Wu court was well prepared in this regard.

First of all, the Wu court did not force the immediate abolition of the original currency, but only gradually promoted it through taxation.

This made many merchants breathe a sigh of relief. Their biggest fear was that the Wu court would issue treasure notes, but the government would not allow merchants to use them to pay taxes.

Secondly, many merchants themselves rely on the industries controlled by the Wu court to make money, so even if they are unwilling to accept Wu treasure notes, at least they have to use treasure notes when doing business with these industries controlled by the court.

In addition, the overwhelming number of bank branches that directly opened exchange services made it easy for merchants in Wu State to exchange gold, silver and treasure notes, which invisibly added an extra layer of protection for the treasure notes.

With a multi-pronged approach, the value of the treasure notes was immediately reflected.

Of course, if one wants to carry out currency reform, it does not necessarily mean that it will succeed just because the Wu court endorses the treasure notes, nor does it necessarily mean that it will succeed just because the merchants of Wu accept the Wu treasure notes.

The Wu court endorsed the Baochao, which only guaranteed the value of the Wu Baochao, and the Wu merchants' acceptance of the Baochao could only speed up the circulation of the Baochao in the Wu state.

However, currency reform is not just Wu's business, because in addition to Wu merchants, there are also merchants from other countries trading with Wu, which involves exchange rates and international settlement issues.

For example, the exchange rate between RMB and BTC. If we analyze it simply from the perspective of trade surplus or deficit, then naturally the more exports, the lower the exchange rate, the better; the more imports, the higher the exchange rate, the better.

However, as long as the Wu Kingdom can guarantee that one hundred yuan of Wu Kingdom treasure notes can be exchanged for one or two taels of silver, the only trouble will be for the merchants, because they need to exchange back and forth, that's all.

But Leah would rather use currency to control the economies of other countries and fleece them from time to time.

The modern Eagle Sauce can be cut, and so can my Wu Kingdom.

However, the idea of ​​using Baochao to control the world economy and fleece the sheep also involves the issue of the issuance of Baochao.

If too few Baochao notes are issued, they will not be enough to support international settlements, and may even cause the Baochao notes to be too valuable, thus causing deflation.