Chapter 1305: Year-End Meeting (Part 2)

However, in the end, Yulong also brought up some problems that have manifested.

"As things stand, the number of Residents willing to store their own grain in the National Treasury is increasing, and currently, it is still within the capacity of our warehouses.

But if it continues to develop according to this current trend, next year there will only be more, perhaps even exponentially more people with this idea. Although this reflects that our vouchers are shocking and very effective, and everyone's recognition is very high, this brings about a very obvious problem.

The storage pressure on our warehouses is too great, the National Treasury warehouse circulation cannot keep up, and there are not that many spare warehouses, unless we continue to carry out construction.

Another thing is that when grain enters the warehouse, we cannot check the quality of the grain too carefully because we calculate it based on the weight of the grain. If someone mixes in dirt or chaff, it is very difficult to discover.

We haven't discovered such situations yet, but if there are more such people later, there will definitely be people who do this kind of thing for profit, or even hand in wet grain. Once such grain is sent to our warehouse, it will affect more grain after it gets moldy.

But when they want to take back the grain, they will only want clean, plump grain; they won't want the poor quality ones. Swapping inferior for superior, along with some of our storage losses and moisture evaporation, will all lead to a decrease in the weight of the grain in the warehouse.

Constructing and maintaining warehouses also requires consuming a large amount of manpower and material resources, so I believe that for this one matter, we need to propose a relatively standardized and strict set of rules.

We must let the Residents feel that they have gained convenience, but we also cannot have too many losses; grain cannot be wasted in this kind of place. Families that have enough grain to exchange for Grain Coupons certainly won't be too short of grain."

Everyone expressed concern regarding this new problem raised by Yulong. This is indeed a place that requires strict attention. Although the Huaxia people are generally quite simple and honest and have not shown any devious intentions, this is, after all, a long-term matter. As long as one person gains benefits from this, there will definitely be more people following suit. We must solve this problem smoothly while it is still in its early stages.

Baifeng also began to pay attention to this problem. He had not considered this matter before, and he did not expect that everyone's recognition of Grain Coupons would be so high. He had thought that Meat Tickets would be more stable and that everyone would recognize them the most, and that for something related to livelihood like Grain Coupons, there might be some worries and they would not be accepted so easily.

Since that is the case, Baifeng naturally has a solution. He immediately wrote a "1" in his meeting notebook and wrote the two characters "Bank" after it.

But he also felt that everyone might not understand a bank very well, because currently, not even silver has been seen; even for elemental silver, Baifeng has not seen it.

In ancient times, silver could circulate as currency; it was difficult to refine and was also a precious metal. Furthermore, currency was initially copper-based, and only later became silver-based. The era of the gold standard ruling the world is not yet far enough in the past.

Due to the advancement of refining technology, the value of copper and silver dropped significantly, almost losing their ability to serve as currency. Silver even became a byproduct of smelting copper, leading to a pitifully low price for silver, which could only be used for jewelry. As for currency, coins only used alloys; for a one-dollar coin, the metal used to make the coin is worth one dollar, which is equivalent to the face value.

Only a vast nation can produce such currency; it is impossible for private individuals to make fakes. If you were to make one, it could actually be used as real currency, but your cost would definitely exceed the face value of the currency produced. It seems that in the history of the new century, there was one fool who did that.

Baifeng thought about it and felt it would be better to change it to Gold Bank or Grain Firm. Gold can currently be used as a general equivalent; whether it is real gold or Auspicious Metal (Bronze), everyone's recognition is okay, and Auspicious Metal is even higher because it has more uses.

However, thinking about what he would use the bank for in the future, Baifeng felt it would be better to change it directly to Gold Bank. Vouchers are just a prelude to promoting currency. After letting everyone gradually understand the operating mechanism of currency, currency can then be promoted. Currency must be made of copper, iron, and gold, but paper money is also necessary, otherwise, a large amount of metal will be wasted on currency.

Even large-denomination currency must be paper money; it is convenient to carry and has low production costs. Most importantly, it is anti-counterfeiting. Currently, the anti-counterfeiting of Huaxia's paper money can be said to be completely impossible to imitate, but metal is different; it is still easy to be counterfeited.

Small denominations are not a concern because the production cost is basically the same as the real currency, but if you make it into a large denomination, once it is counterfeited, the loss will be too great, especially now, when the value of gold has not yet truly reached a certain level.

If the nation is large enough, the value of precious metals will naturally be recognized, but now, in such a tiny place, it is difficult for precious metals to be recognized. The recognition of iron and copper, which can be used to make Weapons, is what is truly high.

Although paper has a lower value and requires the entire Huaxia to use the nation's credit as a guarantee, the anti-counterfeiting level of paper money is high and it cannot be imitated, making it even safer.

Baifeng did not expect that something he planned to try to establish in a few years should appear now. The Gold Bank should now manage the purchase and exchange of grain, separating private wealth from national wealth for operation, which would be safer.

But Baifeng is wondering what kind of operating model this bank should have. To be specific, who should manage it? Should it be managed by the Ministry of Revenue, or should it be independent?

Baifeng feels that he shouldn't think too deeply for now. Everyone can discuss it together next, and perhaps they will be able to discuss a better method.

The Ministry of Revenue later raised some other problems, but they did not receive Baifeng's attention because they were all problems that the Ministry of Revenue could solve on its own, and the influence and involvement were not that far-reaching.

After Yulong finished his report, it was time for another important department, the Agriculture Department, to report. These two departments are almost related to the survival of the entire Huaxia; without grain to eat, everything else is empty talk.

Geng's position is very stable. Now he is even very healthy and very energetic, with no signs of aging at all. This is related to his regular schedule and labor.

He labors, but there is no high-intensity labor; it is basically equivalent to exercising for himself. He won't sit in the office all day, and instead, he is even healthier.