Struggle in the Steam Age

As one of the most important agricultural products on the island of New Sauer, the rice output of this season is related to many things. This is not only about the food reserves on the island, but also about the future relationship between the island and the neighbors around it, as well as the future development direction of the entire region. Therefore, when Safir reported that the overall rice output was more than expected, Lawrence breathed a sigh of relief and a smile appeared on his face.

Although the overall construction of the island can be said to be very good before, both in terms of construction speed and construction results. However, the price paid is not small. At least the interest-free loan that Lawrence obtained from the royal family before was spent more than half, so he is now anxious to find a way to restore the economy, and this time the harvest is the first. step.

"In addition to rice, the first batch of capybara we raised can now be slaughtered. Part of the meat will be used in this banquet while the other part will be marinated for preservation." After talking about food, Sai Sai Phil began to report other gains. "The bananas, coconuts and jackfruit we discovered before have also made a batch of dried fruits. At the same time, we have used these fruits to brew a batch of low-alcohol wine, which has basically replaced everyone's need for imported beer."

This change is not through an executive order. But for most people, drinking alcoholic beverages is just to use the alcohol in them to relax their brains. Therefore, as long as the price is the same as before, most people on the island will not care what they drink alcoholic beverages with.

Not to mention that these local fruit wines are much cheaper than imported beer because of the deduction of a large amount of shipping costs. For most people on the island of Neussauer, they can drink the same wine less. Spending a few minutes is more important than the so-called flavor and tradition.

In addition, a series of daily necessities such as food, salt, simple metal tools and some daily necessities have also completed independent production on the island, and successfully replaced those imported products with a huge cost-effective advantage. This substitution can reduce most of Lawrence's foreign exchange expenditures at once.

This substitution is very important for the development of the entire island, because it allows Lawrence to save a foreign currency for more important places. According to tradition, each independent or semi-independent political entity in the Star Sea can issue its own currency or token, but except for a few islands that are prosperous enough and have sufficient hard currency support, the issued currency can be used outside the island. Most of the currencies issued by the islands can only be used by their own people.

This is mainly because most of the currencies issued by the islands are pure credit currencies and are not allowed to be exchanged for any hard currency. They can only be used to purchase goods on the island or for consumption on the island. But the problem is that the general economy of the islands on the Sea of ​​Stars is too small, and there are not many goods and services for sale. Therefore, people naturally don't trust these currencies very much. Except for a few businessmen who have been doing business with these islands for a long time, they will not use these currencies as international settlements.

After all, in this era, mainstream currencies in the world are directly linked to hard currencies. Therefore, in this era, the more advanced credit currency in Lawrence's view is often associated with things such as the issuance of paper money and inflation. Naturally, everyone will try to avoid using this currency.

Of course, because the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution was accompanied by the accelerated development of productivity, now every country is actually over-issuing currency. But those big countries have enough economic volume and enough hard currency to support them, so they can still guarantee the firmness of their currency prices.

But for the small islands on the sea of ​​stars, most of the small islands have various economic problems, so if these islands want to issue currency, the only choice is those pure credit currencies. Otherwise, even if there is enough hard currency as a support, everyone will exchange the currency in their hands for hard currency.

The characteristics of the few islands that have allowed their currency to gain international recognition are their large size and good economic development. Therefore, after obtaining enough hard currency and using it as the basis for issuing currency, everyone is willing to hold these currencies instead of converting these currencies into various hard currencies as soon as they get the currency.

From the perspective of the lord or ruler of the island, this kind of real currency is what everyone wants to issue. Now issuing your own credit currency is also a last resort. On the one hand, they are definitely not willing to give up a large piece of income such as seigniorage, so the remaining islands except for the direct territories of some major countries have issued their own currencies.

On the other hand, if the currency of other places is used, it is easy to either inflation, deflation, or deflation due to changes in the prices of the products produced, given that most of these islands are plantations with a single economy. Two economic situations recurred. Both inflation and deflation will seriously damage the island’s economy. Therefore, the island must have its own currency to avoid this situation.

Of course, for the owners of these islands, they definitely hope that their currency can further become a formal currency recognized internationally. But in view of various innate deficiencies, most people can only think about it. For those lords, it is already very good to be able to turn this currency into a long-term and stable credit currency in the territory.

The work points issued by Lawrence on the island belong to this kind of self-issued tokens, which were only used for emergency use at the beginning. However, with the arrival of the Church of the Goddess of Wealth, the New Sauer Bank was established on the island with the help of the priests of the Church of Wealth, and the work points began to transform into a formal credit currency. The island also slowly evolved from the rationing era to the commodity economy. era.

But because this currency was produced for too short a time, it was temporarily used by only 70% of the population controlled by Lawrence on New Sauer Island. If you want to buy something from the outside world, you must use hard currency or the currency of the big countries around the Star Sea~www.wuxiahere.com~ Therefore, the situation he is facing now is very similar to the previous ten years of the motherland, and he needs to be as much as possible. The saved foreign exchange is used to buy a large amount of things you need from the outside world. Therefore, for him, these things that can be produced by themselves are best produced by themselves, so that enough foreign exchange can be saved for external purchases.

According to Safir, there are some unexpected gains in this way of developing production. For example, since the small metal processing plant was built, under the auspices of the mechanic captured from the pirate group, various hardware products have been made using metal raw materials ordered from merchant ships. As a result, in addition to supplying these hardware products to the people on the island, people on the surrounding islands are coming to purchase them one after another.

"In the beginning, I actually felt that the path you chose was a bit too complicated." Saifei concluded at last, "It is different from the popular way of growing all kinds of cash crops around, and then eating and lying down to make money. The cost of developing the production capacity on the island is too high, and there is not much benefit to be seen for a while."

"But judging from the recent situation, our island and the surrounding islands all have a great demand for these industrial products. So in any case, the development of this ability is extremely necessary."

"You are right. After all, the times have changed. Although this traditional plantation economic model in tropical regions can continue, but development alone will definitely not make our territory wealthy. Only Maintaining a diversified development is the right way." Listening to Syfiel's final summary, Lawrence nodded and said.