What to Do When There's No Money?

The bank run came swiftly. In fact, none of this had happened without warning.

The shift in the empire's development focus was bound to send massive amounts of cash flow toward the Amelia Region. On top of that, the Currency Purification Policy implemented by the empire in Amelia exchanged the various currencies held by ordinary people for the empire's currency, the fra, ensuring monetary uniformity.

There was nothing wrong with this policy. It could even be said that it would greatly facilitate the Gefra Empire's rule over the region. However, it also created some new problems.

The amount of currency in Gefra itself was decreasing. An entirely new territory with a population of nearly eight million had appeared out of nowhere. If each person held one hundred fra, then Gefra's domestic cash supply would decrease by eight hundred million.

That didn't seem like much, did it? Indeed, if a country could not even produce eight hundred million fra, then it was either very small or on the verge of collapse.

Gefra was neither small nor showing any signs of collapse. It was simply that the locals of Amelia Province did not have only one hundred in cash to their names.

Some people might have less, but many more had over a hundred. Combined with the influx of capital, merchants' funds, and bank funds, the mainland was like a middle-aged man who had lost his healthy color from malnutrition, an unhealthy state showing beneath his skin.

The shortage of domestic cash was reflected in all sorts of ways. For example, the Gefra government was delaying payment to foreign War Bonds holders as much as possible, and even considering defaulting on the debt.

For example, large quantities of domestic goods were being forcefully dumped around the world through negotiations, including in the