Fierce Consort

Chapter 149

With Xie Mao's participation, things developed a little easier than expected.

The three parties carried things out individually. Yan Zhi was responsible for sourcing copper and asking people to purchase large amounts. Xie Mao had a little more to do. Not only did he have to send subordinates to help Yan Zhi, he also had to find skilled craftsmen and prepare workshops and the other materials needed for making copper coins. Luo Huai Yuan's tasks were relatively easier. He just had to instruct his subordinates to gather copper coins and send them to the Yun Province. He also ordered those below to use only copper coins instead of silver or banknotes when sending up the dividends. This increased the burden on his subordinates. Just the transportation was extremely troublesome.

Time feels like it goes by quickly when it's busy. Luo Huai Yuan had arrived at the Fu Province prior to June, and it was now entering winter. Even in winter, the Fu Province was extremely warm. It couldn't compare to the Yun Province at all. There, they already had to wear large fur coats while in the Fu Province a single layer was enough.

The ships exporting the first batch of copper coins had already returned. The results made Xie Mao extremely pleasantly surprised. Just a simple exchange had netted them almost three times the value in silver. Then, he ordered the people to distribute the silver in exchange for more copper coins and gathered them in the Fu Province again.

Because transporation wasn't too developed in this era and the process of gathering copper coins was also extremely troublesome, the entire process took around two or three months. This was to say they could only do this sort of exchange four or five times a year.

However, just this frequency was already enough for a pleasant surprise. This explosive profit was easy money.

On the other side, the craftsmen and workshops were already set up and had long since started producing coins. They experimented with all sorts of different proportions in the formula for copper coins, trying to find the best quality product that most closely resembled what was on the market.

Actually there were quite a few people who cast their own copper coins in the past. However, the ones made by the court had more accurate proportions. Having a little higher copper content than necessary meant operating at a loss, and having a little less meant the coin would have inferior quality. The commoners were able to tell if the coins were privately made and didn't really accept them as currency. Therefore, the amount of people doing this in the Grand Xi dwindled and there were now extremely few. The profits weren't high and there was the risk of the goods being confiscated and losing their lives.

Having seen the explosive profits in exchanging copper coins for silver, Xie Mao wondered why Luo Huai Yuan was putting so much effort into sourcing copper from overseas to craft into coins here.

Luo Huai Yuan didn't know how to explain the concept of deflation, and could only use a simple analogy. There were still a lot of impoverished citiens in the Grand Xi. If they took all the copper coins on the market, which was the standard currency, there would be nothing for commoners to use. If it were more serious, they would have to use silver to exchange. At this time, the purchase power of "coins" would decrease significantly and it would become worthless. What would be the use of having a lot of silver? It would have been wasted effort. Therefore, it was best to keep a sort of equilibrium.

Xiao Mao understood this reasoning. He knew that they shouldn't overdo this sort of exchange. It would be most suitable if they found a steady source of copper overseas. It was best to take from those who had excess. Therefore, he started paying close attention to places with copper mines.

Soon, the end of the year approached and Luo Huai Yuan needed to return to the Yun Province.

He handed over the matters to Yan Zhi and Shen Xuan, as well as his own aides. After saying farewell, Luo Huai Yuan hurried back to the Yun Province, trying to get there before the New Year.