White Deer Fortress, Pande Bank.
Lesley has been working overtime at the bank headquarters these days to calculate the financing amount.
The amount is relatively large, and Li Ang requires the use of silver coins as much as possible, which makes the number of coins even more terrifying.
Some Noldo maidens rangers who live in White Deer Fortress have become part-time apprentices, leading a wonderful life counting money until their hands cramp.
"The total amount of bank investments currently involved has exceeded 300,000 dinars, a total of more than 3,000 dinars... This amount is too large, sir, I have been worried these days..."
Lesley looks a little dazed, probably because he hasn't slept for a long time.
"It's not a big amount... What are you worried about? Are you worried about being robbed?"
Li Ang actually felt that the amount was smaller than he imagined.
As long as a one-time deposit of more than ten dinars is considered an investment, you will be able to receive dividends in the future, and this is a confidential storage that will not reveal the depositor's information - and it is just in time for tax collection...
Under such conditions, only 300,000 dinars were raised, which obviously means that the eastern region is indeed relatively poor, and not many people have more than ten dinars in cash.
"No, sir... I'm worried that I won't be able to cope. I'm worried that no one will get a loan, and I'm worried that there are too many people taking loans; I'm worried that no one will make deposits, and I'm also worried that there will be too many people making deposits... Sigh... It'll be great now that Miss Amy is back. I'm timid and really not suitable for this..."
Lesley murmured, as if she had been entangled in a conflict.
"It's also a embarrassment for you... Thanks for your hard work, Lesley, you can escape from the sea of suffering and return to Long River Express."
Li Ang handed Lesley a can of fruit liqueur.
"Li Ang... Why don't you move the bank headquarters to Long River Town to wait for me to come back?"
Amy looked at the various coins neatly arranged in rows, and his eyes seemed to light up.
"Of course, Miss Amy, your Excellency specially set the opening date of the bank on October 1st just to wait for you to come back."
Lesley took a sip of wine, let out a breath, and seemed to be much more relaxed. "You guys talk, I'm going to take a nap..."
After saying that, she staggered away, looking very tired.
"Then... what... are you... going to do?"
Amy looked at Li Ang, his eyes watery with a different kind of emotion, and his voice became much softer than before.
"You should know that the tax amount this year is very high... Amy, we have negotiated trade agreements with many noble estates before, and now we have to make them cash them. Do you still remember when you asked me to buy food at a high price..."
The lord didn't notice it at all and just kept talking about old things.
"Hmm... I didn't understand anything at that time..."
Amy glanced at Li Ang, and this time his voice was gentler.
"Amy Are you sick? Why don't you go rest for a while... drink some hot water?"
The Lord Lord looked at Amy with some worry, but what he saw was that Amy rolled his eyes.
"I... forget it... you plan to use the money in the bank to first collect all the grain and materials including the stocks that have just been harvested from those noble manors, and then create a little panic after a while and let them buy it back from us for armaments, right... It's the same as when I asked you to buy grain at a high price."
Amy covered his face, and while talking, he casually rolled up his long hair and tied it into a ponytail, and rolled up his sleeves.
The lace on the sleeves of her long white dress was messed up by her.
"Amy You are getting smarter and smarter now. Only you know what I am thinking..."
Li Ang looked at Amy and complimented him with a smile on his face.
"No, you are getting stupider and stupider now! I have no idea what you are thinking..."
Amy was expressionless and sulking.
She spent a whole hour dressing up today, not only wearing a skirt, but also putting on light makeup, but Li Ang didn't notice it at all!
On October 1st, Pande Bank had its grand opening.
In fact, the opening ceremony was very simple. It was nothing more than the newly promoted Earl Lord Li Ang cutting the ribbon and letting a group of Noldo maidens rangers show their faces, announcing that these beautiful elves would soon serve as employees of the bank.
But there were probably thousands of people watching in White Deer Fortress alone.
There was a large group of people outside the castle, making it look like a siege.
The entire castle was packed inside and out, and most of the people actually came from Long River Town.
In fact, this is one of the reasons not to move the headquarters to Long River Town - White Deer Fortress is a small place and can easily create a sense of congestion. Long River Town is too big...
Regardless of whether these people come to see Miss Nodo in uniform or to do business, anyway, it is enough to make people feel the huge heat.
Fortunately, the girl rangers were employed as employees. The moment the bank opened for business, hundreds of people poured into the lobby. If a few Noldo Ranger hadn't stood at the door with bows, there would have been a stampede...
Pande Bank will begin to officially accept deposits, and promises never to disclose any information about depositors to anyone. As long as you hold the deposit slip, you can withdraw money at any bank outlet.
And there is 10% interest every year. Of course, the interest must be settled after one year.
At the same time, the loan business can be handled not only at banks, but also at Wheat Fragrance International and Long River Express. It not only supports mortgage loans with assets such as land, but also supports loans with grain, tax, metals, minerals such as nitrate and sulfur, or other designated commodities as collateral.
In other words, as long as the list of supplies listed 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. If the weight does not meet the standard, they will not be accepted. You can exchange them for silver coins elsewhere and then deposit them.
This is considered a reasonable request. Everyone knows that Pende's gold coins are not of sufficient value now... and Wheat Fragrance International has been consciously rejecting gold coins a few months ago, and the people will naturally follow suit.
Except for those nobles and wealthy businessmen, most people are actually not happy to receive gold coins now. Most of the gold coins now are in the hands of the big nobles, and most of the people use silver coins.
On the first day of business, most of the people who poured into the bank were businessmen.
They are here to save money.
The reason for being so enthusiastic is actually because Li Ang swore in public that the bank would not disclose depositor information to anyone.
Li Ang's credit is maintained very well, especially for businessmen. Businessmen originally believed that the lord would not swallow up their deposits.
Now that the lord has sworn not to disclose depositors' information and that so many Noldo Ranger are working in the bank, this has given the businessmen greater confidence.
This means safety, safety of funds.
Especially before winter arrives.
Pande's Winter Solstice Festival, which is Goddess Eunomia festival, is in October, the day after the full moon.
After Goddess Festival, it will be winter until January of the following year.
This is a very dangerous time.
During this period, merchants not only had to face dangers such as robbers and bandits, but also faced low-level tax officials in each village.
To be precise, they are the people who 'assist' the tax collectors in collecting taxes, such as the followers of each Knight's Territory.
In fact, what businessmen are afraid of is not paying taxes, what they are afraid of is the followers who "help collect taxes".
Yes, they are the retinues who usually do chores for the knights.
Although these knight retinues are members of the villagers on weekdays, during tax collection period, they may be more terrifying than bandits.
Because they know the general situation of each household, and they are likely to have feelings of hatred against the rich - this is normal and ordinary people will have it.
It may be okay in normal times, but if they are burdened with a relatively heavy tax task, then most of them will think... that so-and-so is doing business, and is said to be richer. If they get a sum from him, I guess the task can be solved at once.
This is all human nature, and we can't say 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 carry out various "enforcement" things in an extremely uncomfortable way.
For example, when facing ordinary businessmen with no aristocratic background, these followers will often directly grab money and goods - and put some in their own pockets at the same time.
Helping to collect taxes is a very useful title.
Therefore, most businessmen dare not keep their money in their hands during this period. They are not afraid of paying taxes, but they are afraid that all the money will be taken away without any explanation.
In fact, this can be said to be the main reason why Pande Continent's business is underdeveloped.
Small businessmen without background are always in fear, while big businessmen with background will be subject to national and regional restrictions brought by background.
In the past, those small businessmen with no background would find a place to hide their dinars before the arrival of Winter Solstice Festival, and then wait until next year to continue working.
Now, businessmen can deposit all their cash in the bank before taxes are due in October. This is obviously much safer than hiding money in the wild, and it also earns interest.
Since Li Ang promised not to disclose depositor information to anyone, all businessmen, manor owners, and wealthy civilians with some spare money can realize without any knowledge that their money is most secure when deposited in a bank.
At least the bank that Li Ang asked Noldo Ranger to guard is probably one that no one would dare to rob.
Anyway, you can take out the money at any time when you need it.
You may not even need to withdraw all the money. Since you can withdraw money by just using the deposit slip and checking the ciphertext, in the future, many merchants can directly use the deposit slip to conduct cashless transactions at banks.
Just a little more parchment...
The deposit slip designed by Li Ang is actually not in the nature of a passbook, but more like a check, made of parchment, half a piece of parchment to be precise.
But this is not a banknote, because it is not yet appropriate for banknotes to appear in public.
This is just a certificate.
In order to prevent counterfeiting, the lord also specially designed a combination and text password.
Matching refers to the seam seal and pressed texture on the deposit slip, which must match the other half stored in the bank. Parchment paper these days has natural texture, and it is basically impossible to find two identical parchment papers.
The text password is a cipher text designated by the depositor himself. It will be engraved on both sides of the registration area, half on one side. Only the depositor himself knows what half of the cipher text is retained by the bank.
Unless the bank does some internal manipulation, these two items have been able to prevent counterfeiting for many years.
Amy did not appear at the bank opening, she was doing another important thing.
Spend money.
This is something Lesley feels unsure about.
It is indeed easier for Amy to do this. After all, Amy is already very familiar with buying food.
Of course, besides food, there are many things to purchase...
The plan of the Lord Lord and Amy is to use massive dinars to receive all the strategic materials that can be received in the eastern region.
So Amy took her female soldiers and went out separately to find the nobles' estates.
At the same time, Amy also directly announced that White Deer Fortress would carry out large-scale purchases. The materials that needed to be purchased included food, cloth, weapons and equipment, masonry, wood, etc., and a large number of soldiers were recruited.
At the same time, Long River Town, Brave Shield Fortress, Eagle Claw Fortress and other places also announced almost the same large purchases.
They are all newly acquired territories, and it is normal to actively increase their material reserves during the harvest season.
Many merchants used to get rid of their inventory and close down for the winter at this time.
However, these merchants may not close their businesses this winter...
Because the lord has once again begun to organize caravans to enter Noldo Forest.
This time, the team was led by Li Ang himself.
Considering that many businessmen were 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 period in the forest...
With the joint efforts of personnel from both sides, a road was opened from Noldo Forest to White Deer Fortress that could barely pass trucks.
This road has not had time to be repaired, and it looks like an isolation zone in the mountains and forests, but no matter what, the carriage can go in.
The trading market in Noldo Forest has also officially reopened.
The scene this time was completely different from the first trial run.
Hundreds of carriages drove into this Noldor territory, which was only eighty miles away from White Deer Fortress but seemed extremely far away.
Only three days after the convoy arrived, the entire market had turned into a sea of elves.
The number of Noldo Elves participating in this transaction has rapidly increased from more than a hundred people 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 sign Pande Bank hanging on it. There are currently at least a hundred Noldor warriors guarding the surrounding area.
Noldo Elves and human merchants were constantly coming in and out of the bank hall.
Various supplies are constantly being moved away by Noldo Elvess and disappearing into the forest; there are also a large number of Noldo Elvess carrying supplies appearing from the forest and gathering in the market.
With the existence of banks, the problem of the Noldor having no cash is no longer a problem.
In fact, within a few days, the Noldor had a lot of dinars available - if merchants came across cheap and easy-to-sell Noldor crafts or high-quality leather and medicinal materials, they would definitely buy them.
When there is no money available, they will withdraw money directly from the bank. If the money is really not enough, they can also directly use the commodity mortgage to obtain a loan from the bank.
At the same time, the money received from the sold goods can be deposited in the nearest bank.
Even many Noldo Elves have tried to deposit money in the bank - most of the bank staff and guards are Noldo Elves, so of course they can be trusted.
Therefore, Li Ang only transferred hundreds of thousands of dinars to this branch to achieve continuous cash flow.
The entire market has finally achieved what Li Ang wanted, and is booming.
A week later, with the arrival of the second fleet of Li Ang, the market enthusiasm reached its peak.
The second batch of convoys brought a large amount of grain and cloth, and they were sold at low prices - this batch was Li Ang's own goods.
Of course, prices in the forest are still higher than outside.
But for Noldo Elves, it doesn't matter if it's a little more expensive, the most important thing is that you can buy it!
The Noldor were all poor, and they had money after selling some of their usually useless crafts and other belongings.
Who would be willing to look for wild fruits everywhere when they can have more convenient food?
Most of the fruits in this era are not tasty and cannot be stored.
Three hundred thousand pounds of grain and thousands of bolts of cloth were all sold out in a few days, without any price increase in the process;
Almost after these items were sold out, the third caravan came again, still carrying food and cloth...
Afterwards, merchants began to come and go, and a market with a continuous cycle that never stopped was established...
During the two window 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 always in full swing.
Half a month has passed, and now the market has gradually stabilized.
Li Ang has also returned to White Deer Fortress.
White Deer Fortress is currently harvesting grain in a large area, and everyone is very busy.
Long River Express's fleet has been continuously delivering supplies to White Deer Fortress.
Many new warehouses were built inside and outside the castle.
There are not so many people at the bank headquarters now, but businessmen still come in and out frequently.
The lord is now upstairs in the bank checking the latest accounts.
Just for White Deer Fortress, as of yesterday, the total deposit has exceeded 650,000 dinars. The specific amount changes at any time, and I don't know how much it is now.
There are not many loans issued at present, but there is no need to rush this matter. According to the estimation of the lord, the peak period of loans should be in January next year.
The embezzled funds have reached 280,000 dinars, and a large amount of materials have been exchanged.
"These misappropriated money are other people's savings... Aren't you anxious? What if there is a large-scale run in January?"
Amy is really the only person who can discuss these things with Li Ang, at least she can use words like 'run' correctly.
"As long as we continue to grow steadily, we don't have to worry about runs... In fact, it won't take that long. People will soon realize that there is no need to carry so many metal coins with them, especially when gold coins are not trusted. There are a lot of silver coins in the bank now, and I plan to ask the Noldor to help recast a batch..."
The Lord Lord said calmly.
"You want... you want to mint coins privately?!"
Amy was shocked, and then realized that his volume seemed a bit high, so he quickly lowered his voice.
"No, I just want to issue a large credit coin of Pande Bank. A small silver coin can be used as ten dinars..."
Li Ang twisted a silver coin and smiled, "The enchanted silver coin is easy to carry."
"Enchanted?"
Amy took the silver coin from Li Ang's hand. The silver coin was embedded with some black metal with inscriptions. It was probably that a certain Noldo Elves had used it to try the effect of enchantment.
The inscription texture of this silver coin exudes a slight shimmer, and the difference can be seen at a glance.
Fenway Family's specialty is making enchanted equipment. The texture on this silver coin is very similar to the texture on Twilight Knight's plate armor, and the texture is as hard as the plate armor.
"Actually, there is nothing special about the silver coin itself. What is special is the inscriptions. The material used to outline the inscriptions is quite special. The Noldor call it Mithril; while humans call it ebony."