Chapter 692 Mint

Old Lin Man stood in front of the counter window but did not leave, staring blankly at the gold coin in his hand.

One is that he can really take out the money, which reassures him a lot, and the other is that it is on this brand new gold coin.

This is a golden dragon that Old Linman has never seen before. Its front is still the coat of arms of the three-headed fire dragon of the Targaryen family, and on the back of this golden dragon is a silver-haired young man wearing a crown. The profile of the person is valiant.

"This is."

Old Lin Man was a little hesitant to hold this golden dragon. With his years of experience in business, he didn't need to touch it. Just by looking at it, he knew that the golden coin was real.

However, he has done business in King's Landing for so many years, but he has never seen this golden dragon.

But the lady at the Imperial Bank counter immediately solved his doubts.

"This is new money that the Empire is ready to issue."

"You should be able to tell if this is true or false."

Old Lin Man hesitated for a moment and touched it with his hand again, and then nodded slightly. It was indeed real money. He could confirm it, but he didn't expect His Majesty to issue a batch of new money.

After weighing the weight, it seemed to be similar, and then he couldn't find any faults. Old Linman still took the ten new coins with suspicion.

But if you think about it, it's not surprising. His Majesty has changed the country's name to Valyria, and held a resolution to rebuild Valyria. As the emperor, he naturally has to make a series of changes.

Although old Linman doesn't know what economics is, it is not uncommon for the ruler of the Iron Throne to issue some new money. Daemon Blackfire, Aerys I, Daeron II, Aegon IV, etc. have all issued own coins.

Coupled with the various coins used by the seven countries before the war of conquest three hundred years ago, and the pencils carried by the customers of the free trade city-states, the money circulating in the entire seven countries is very mixed, and there are all kinds of money.

Golden dragon, silver moon, silver deer, copper star, copper wheat, half copper wheat, copper cent coins and copper plates, etc., there are too many.

When making a transaction, the merchant will also flexibly adjust the price according to the type of coin paid by the customer. Some gold coins are not high in gold content, while some are of great value, and the comprehensive exchange rate needs to be considered, which is too troublesome.

Therefore, unifying the currency market and regulating the circulation of coins is also one of the tasks that Viserys handed over to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Since Illyrio came to King's Landing from Pentos, he has not had a day of leisure. Every day he is busy with the construction of the bank, the three mints of King's Landing, and the port of Blackwater Bay, the customs department, the taxation department. department, etc.

Therefore, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Illyrio, does not often attend the Royal Council, and his work is often vacant, including the Minister of War Kargo, who is now far across the Narrow Sea.

Kago's military literacy is not very high in fact, and he is indeed rich in combat experience, but his knowledge is very lacking, and he can only command cavalry.

Viserys originally gave Kago the title of War Minister just to better accommodate the loyalty of the Dothraki, and it is not really necessary to refer to Kago's wise advice to be a 'True Dragon Kaor's Whip', otherwise the Iron Throne will now be Wars have been declared everywhere and plundered everywhere.

"Brother Velas, you are finally here."

There are three royal mints in King's Landing. Minting coins is the exclusive power of a few kings, and other nobles of the Seven Kingdoms do not have such power.

As the chief economic advisor of His Majesty the Emperor, the Minister of Finance is in charge of a large number of government officials, including the income and expenditure of the royal family and the treasury, the payment of taxes and duties, and external loans, including these three local mints.

There is a lot of oil and water in the mint. The three mint directors from Robert Baratheon’s time are also blowing cold winds on the Great Wall, and the newly replaced directors naturally dare not make mistakes in a short period of time. And as the royal family's industry, it is also guarded by the Unsullied Legion of the royal family's exclusive guard.

The corruption and chaos of the mint in the time of King Robert was rife, but the desire of the Unsullied Legion to abandon it made it more difficult to persuade them to participate, so the mint of the new dynasty is relatively clean.

And they have recently taken on a new task, which is to recycle a large number of coins of the old system, and then recast them into new coins. Now they are very busy.

And now Vilas Tyrell settled the old Linman's affairs, and then set off to the Royal Mint in King's Landing. At this moment, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Illyrio has been waiting for a long time.

"Lord Illyrio."

Vilas walked into the hot furnace room with a cane, and then saw the fat Pantos man with blond hair and a bifurcated beard. He politely nodded in greeting, but the other party laughed.

"Come on, brother."

"Come with me, I'll show you here."

Although Illyrio made a lot of money from the business of spices, gems, and keel, and eventually became a rich merchant governor of Pantos, he was essentially a mercenary and a thief. There are many uncommon deals.

He was very respectful when he saw Viserys, but he was also a bold personality in private, but no one knew how many smiles were hidden in this smile. People who believed in Illyrio might be miserable. .

Although Jon Clinton was relying on others at the beginning, he couldn't talk about how much he liked and trusted Illyrio.

If it weren't for the fact that the other party really played a vital role in the establishment of His Majesty, Jon Clinton would have long wanted to take the other party down.

Although Vilas is young, he really understands the rules between nobles. Illyrio seems to be close to him, but Vilas is not dazed, and still maintains a suitable distance, not too close. Do not refuse people thousands of miles.

Illyrio's family business is in Pantos, and he is close to Velas mainly because he wants to use the relationship and connections of the Tyrell family to benefit himself. After all, he is not in his hometown now.

People like them have no unreasonable closeness, nor unexplained disgust, and everything is in the most fundamental interests.

"Brother, come and see."

"Do you know how this new coin was minted?"

The fat Pantos walked into the workshop, and the sound of hammers rang all around, and the craftsmen swayed their hammers with sweat and rain in the hot and depressing environment.

Before there were no machines such as roller presses and rocker presses, coins were knocked out by hammer after hammer.

At this moment, Illyrio held a brand new golden dragon in his hand, then turned his head and laughed twice, and continued to ask.

"Do you know how much profit there is to make this golden dragon?"

Vilas thought for a moment, then shook his head and said the truth.

"do not know."

"Also ask the adults to clarify."

Although he is well-read, he did not take a single soldier before Highgarden was besieged by the Dornishmen.

Similarly, before Velas came to King's Landing, he didn't know the life of the people at the bottom, including many seemingly basic common sense.

He knew countless coins from ancient and modern times including trading city-states, knew their origin, knew their history, but he didn't know how they were made.