“Wow, I can’t even see the end of the city. How many are there?”
“I heard there are five hundred thousand people that live from here to the Belus River.”
The people fell silent at that statement as they could not believe what they were seeing.
“How is that even possible?”
The Horun Empire, which had been in power for ages, never even had a total population that exceeded two hundred thousand. However, the new Khalodian Empire exceeded that number a long time ago.
“Also, that’s after they decreased the number.”
“WHAT?”
“Yes, they relocated a quarter of the people to new lands. I think they did it to prevent the land becoming overcrowded.”
“Wow.”
“But how?”
It was already impossible to have this amount of people living on such a small piece of land.
“It’s all thanks to the coal and oil.”
As the middle-aged man said, it was all due to the finding of coal and oil. The nobles nodded in acknowledgment.
“I see.”
“Do you see that over there?”
The man pointed at a far off waterway. The water that ran through it looked very dirty and opaque.
“That’s called a sewer.”
“A sewer?”
“Yes, that’s where the dirty water from the city gets sent out.”
“All of the dirty water?”
Matz Rohen shook his head as he saw that the young men were all dumbfounded by what he said.
‘I was like that too. I must teach them… that’s the only way for us to have a future. Nothing is certain here.’
He was like these young men in the past. It was his job to lead them in the right direction and impart his knowledge.
“The Empire is trying all sorts of things to keep the city going. Among that…”
A long story began, but nobody seemed to be bored. These young men, sons of wealthy merchants, were intrigued and wanted more information. The world was now revolving around Khalodian. So Matz Rohen’s teachings were invaluable in learning about the Khalodian ways.
“Hmph. I’m sure you might have heard this, but there will be a monetary reform soon.”
“Monetary reform?”
“What’s with the money?”
“There’s nothing wrong with it.”
Some of the older men looked confused and the others seemed to agree.
‘Our countrymen are still slow and they still cannot catch up with the world… Our future is unclear.’
Matz looked at his people with concerned eyes.
Money in this world varied. The most common way to trade was to use gold or silver coins that each country made as they had the most purity. Next were the coins made by the nobles of lesser purity and those were considered not as credible.
Khalodian decided to change all that and declared that they would standardize all the money being circulated. Their preparation was now almost complete.
‘Nobody can copy their skills. There will be no counterfeit money.’
Matz had checked the new currency through a friend he knew, but it was unlike any currency he had ever seen before.
“The Empire will circulate its currency and it will replace all the money that we use in the world. The world will soon use the Empire’s money for all trades.”
“B-but that’s not possible!”
“That’s absurd. Do you realize how large this world is? Why would people trust the Empire?”
The people did not seem to realize anything even after looking at all that the Empire had achieved. Matz sighed.
*
“Be careful!”
“Safety first!”
Men busily moved about as they worked on the furnace to pour the liquid metal into a frame. As it filled the frame, men worked even harder to finish the process.
“That’s amazing.”
“Isn’t it?”
Joonbum replied to Jinpok’s statement as Jinpok nodded. He was surprised by the sheer scale of the money-making factory.
“But how are you going to deal with counterfeiting problems?”
Joonbum laughed. That was the most important part of the monetary reform he was introducing. It was also why he put all his effort into it.
“These coins we make have incredible value. It doesn’t matter if they make counterfeits.”
“Huh? So they can just counterfeit it?”
“Yes. What I mean is, they will use more money trying to counterfeit our coins as it will take too much manpower and technology. It’s pointless.”
“Huh? If that’s what you mean, are we losing money as we make it as well?”
“Yes.”
Joonbum grinned, but Jinpok frowned. He then stared at Joonbum, silently waiting for him to explain.
“Don’t worry, we’re not losing that much.”
“Really?”
“Yes, we will lose some while we make these coins, but we will get more later.”
“Oh.”
Jinpok seemed to realize something and Joonbum smiled. Jinpok was the only one who could quickly understand what Joonbum was thinking. It was the difference of having formal education.
‘Jackson was worried about that too.’
Even Jackson was worried that the negative numbers might have an impact in the later days.
‘It’s because the world is large.’
However, he still needed to do this. The advantages that he would get afterwards was something that could not be taken lightly
‘If our empire’s credibility gets rooted deep into people’s minds…’
That would allow Khalodian to unite the world without force.
‘It’s now all about economics.’
This was a must for the empire’s long-lasting legacy. He did not want to rule the world — he just didn’t want his empire to be lost after a few days or months. He wanted his legacy to remain for a long time after his death.
‘What I want is…’
He wanted a better world. That was why he wanted to reform this whole world, little by little.
“So that’s with the coins, and we will issue paper money too.”
“Paper? Will it work?”
“Yes, it will only be used for larger amounts. We will stand behind the money’s value and let larger merchants use it.”
“Oh, right! That will make things much safer.”
The world was still dangerous. Bandits mainly targeted treasures and money and that made traveling merchants their number one target. The creation of such a currency would erase all those problems.
“Merchants will love the idea.”
“Right. They won’t keep their money and treasures on themselves. It’s better that we keep them safe.”
“Haha. So, after the cultural invasion, you’re going for the economy?”
“It’s not an invasion.”
“Haha, sure. So, the alliance is going to serve the same purpose?”
“Yes.”
Jinpok scratched his beard. The Khalodian Empire’s Alliance was hot news. Khalodian had recently announced that they would unite with other countries and nobles to create an Allied Army. It was already comprised of twelve noble houses and six countries that had already signed up to join.
