Chapter 757: The Beginning of Transcendence

"By the way, the Four Great Banks have opened for business, so the new currency of the Great Song should also be put on the agenda. Let us use silver as the standard to mint a new currency, and call it the Song Yuan." Looking toward the Royal Bank, Zhao Xu pondered for a moment and said.

"Song Yuan?" Liu Fu and Yang He were both startled.

For thousands of years, the common people have only used copper coins and silver ingots; there has never been a unified name.

This suggestion from Yan Wang made them feel quite novel.

Zhao Xu looked at the two men, who wore bewildered expressions, and said helplessly, "Like Chang Wei, it is necessary to broaden your knowledge and allow you to possess a wider perspective."

With the arrival of external forces, the era of the Great Song closing its doors to solve its own problems is gone forever.

Moreover, as the Great Song expands outward, generals like Chang Wei need to think about military strategy from a global perspective.

Ministers like Liu Fu need to think about commerce and financial rules from a global perspective.

This Song Yuan is a financial weapon like the contemporary pound sterling, franc, or dollar; it is not just a currency circulating within the Great Song.

Thinking of this, he briefly explained the significance of the Song Yuan to the two men, and Liu Fu and Yang He's eyes immediately lit up.

Liu Fu said, "According to Your Highness's meaning, if the whole world uses the Song Yuan, we in the Great Song only need to print some paper at home to be able to buy everything from all over the world?"

"That's right, one could say so," Zhao Xu said. "In this way, the crises generated by the Great Song itself can be shifted to others through printing money, making the Great Song's commerce more resilient, but this is a double-edged sword; it can be used at critical moments, but it cannot be used recklessly."

Pausing, he emphasized his tone, "However, while the taste of financial harvesting is indeed wonderful, you must remember one thing: industry is the foundation of a country. From now on, you must keep this in mind. Taking advantage of this free time, this Prince will teach you the knowledge in this area."

"Yes, Your Highness," Liu Fu and Yang He said with delight.

After discussing this matter, the three of them stayed for a while longer before departing separately.

Returning to the Wangfu, Zhao Xu went to the study to draw the main denominations of the Song Yuan.

In the nineteenth century, all countries adopted the silver standard, which is also the reason he adopted the silver standard.

This time, he prepared to have the Royal Bank issue nine types of currency.

The first denomination is five hundred, equivalent to five hundred yuan in contemporary times, minted from one tael of silver into a flat, round shape, roughly the size of a silver dollar.

The second denomination is one hundred, minted from two qian of silver, about the same size as a contemporary one-yuan coin.

The third denomination is fifty, minted from one qian of silver, about half the size of a fingernail.

The fourth denomination is twenty, minted from a copper-silver alloy, with half silver and half copper.

The fifth denomination is ten, still a copper-silver alloy, with one-third silver.

The sixth denomination is five yuan, containing only one-sixth silver, and the seventh is one yuan, minted from pure copper, the size of a fingernail.

Below one yuan, there are five fen and one fen, which are minted from a copper-lead alloy.

Of course, these coins are mainly used for the daily life of the common people.

For large-scale transactions between merchants, these metal currencies still appear cumbersome.

Therefore,

The Royal Bank will also introduce special bills of exchange, which are equivalent to checks.

As for paper money, he has no plans to introduce it for the time being.

For one, printing technology is not yet up to par and is prone to counterfeiting.

For another, this era mostly uses metal currency, and the common people have low trust in paper money.

If the medicine is administered too strongly, it will be counterproductive.

However, in the future, as the common people's trust in the Royal Bank increases, he will slowly issue paper money to replace metal currency.

After drawing all nine types of currency, Zhao Xu had them sent to the Royal Bank and gave them another half a year; after half a year, the Song Yuan would be officially launched.

By then, when the common people withdraw money, what the bank gives them will be the Song Yuan.

Of course, during these six months, he will have the newspaper office spread the word to popularize the concept of the Song Yuan to merchants and the common people.

"Newspaper?" Thinking of the newspaper, Zhao Xu suddenly remembered the promise he made to Liu Fu.

Stretching his back, he headed toward the Research Institute.

Liu Fu once complained that the newspapers issued by the Yan Prefecture Newspaper Office took too long to reach Ningzhou.

He even joked, asking if he could build a "clairaudient ear."

The answer was certain: he could build it.

Before the Steam Engine Workshop took root everywhere, he could not realize the "clairaudient ear."

But now, he felt the conditions were met.

And this "clairaudient ear" is the Wired Telegraph.

The Wired Telegraph was born in the contemporary year 1837 and was used for short distances thereafter.

In 1851, the first transatlantic cable was successfully laid, making transoceanic communication possible.

And when the Wired Telegraph appeared, there were no Power Plants in the world to provide power.

This means that this Wired Telegraph technology could be realized without electricity engineering.

But the Wired Telegraph ultimately requires electricity, so where does the source of this electricity lie?

This is the battery.

Before Power Plants were popularized, humanity relied on batteries to power the Wired Telegraph.

And his purpose in going to the Research Institute was to build this primitive battery born around the contemporary year 1800; the name of this battery is the Voltaic Pile.

"Your Highness." Upon arriving at the Research Institute, Wang Chong came out to greet him.

Zhao Xu did not mention the battery, first inspecting the Research Institute, which was guarded by the Wangfu Army.

Inside the Research Institute, there are residential areas and office areas.

The remaining most important part is the testing area.

Among them, the testing area is divided into three parts: the first part is the Physics Laboratory, and the second part is the Chemical Laboratory.

At this moment, the students were busy in the laboratory, either synthesizing chemical reagents or debugging machinery and polishing parts.

Among them, Zhao Xu saw semi-finished Steam Shovels as well as samples of steam tractors, Harvesters, and Threshers.

According to Wang Chong, there are no more issues with Laboratory production; once the Workshop is built, mass production can begin.

Besides this, Zhao Xu also saw a one-eighth completed triple-expansion Steam Engine in a massive laboratory.

Clearly, Wang Chong has never slacked off.

"Well done." Zhao Xu patted Wang Chong on the shoulder.

It is precisely through the efforts of Wang Chong and the students under his command that, in a very short time, Yanzhou achieved the transition of the Steam Engine from non-existence to the level of the late Steam Revolution.

Of course, the greatest credit for this belongs to him; it was he who provided Wang Chong with mature technical blueprints, saving them from taking detours.

This is also the fundamental reason why Yanzhou's industry can catch up.

However, what he wants is not just to catch up.

From now on, it is time to directly surpass the technological level of the Western Lands.

This Wired Telegraph is the first step in that surpassing.

According to Fei Wen, the Western Lands do not yet have this thing.

Although they might be able to tinker one out in a few years, no matter how you look at it, he is in the lead.

So he said, "From now on, this Yan Wang has a more important task to entrust to you, which is to launch all experiments related to Electricity."

"Electricity!" Upon hearing this, Wang Chong's eyes immediately lit up.

The tasks Yan Wang had entrusted to him now only left the triple-expansion Steam Engine.

Other machinery and parts belonging to the Steam Engine era have basically been completed through the efforts of various teams.

They are just waiting for the Workshops to rise from the ground to begin mass production.

Now, they can spare the manpower to conduct research on Electricity.

Moreover, back at the Technology Academy, what they were most obsessed with was mysterious Electricity.

Now, they are finally able to attempt experiments with Electricity.