King's Landing in France

Chapter 14 The chaotic monetary system

The decoration of the VIP room gave people the feeling that it was originally a baroque room, but it was forcibly changed into a rococo style.

This is especially evident in the desk: in a rococo environment, there is such an ornate desk full of gold and ivory carvings, which is a bit abrupt.

An Ning couldn't help but commented: "This desk is simply incompatible with the decoration of the entire VIP room. You can move a desk from a coffee shop on the street to be more suitable than this one."

The bank clerk looked apologetic: "When we bought this room as the bank's office, this desk was here, and the supervisor thought it was not good to throw it away."

At this time, the door opened, and a gentleman dressed as an aristocrat entered the room, and saluted An Ning: "Hello, Mr. Frost, I am the banker who is unwilling to throw away this table. You can call me Croix .May I ask if we can start handling your business?"

An Ning nodded: "Mr. Croix, let's start."

Croix came to the table and took out a document from a stack of documents: "We have received a money order for you. According to this money order, we have to pay you 550 crowns. Do you want us to pay directly or convert Pay you in gold? 550 silver coins are very heavy."

The currency of France in this era was very chaotic. There were many different currency units, such as the gold louis, the gold egus, the livre, the sou, the daniel, and the crown.

The main reason for this is that metal currency circulates throughout France. Before the French finance minister made banknotes, the banknotes quickly became waste paper due to problems such as excessive issuance. As a result, the people generally did not trust banknotes.

Because metal coins themselves contain precious metals such as gold and silver, they are valuable in themselves. The exchange between them must be converted according to the content of gold and silver, so it is very complicated, unlike the official currency endorsed by the central bank, which can be forcibly stipulated Conversion ratios for different units.

For example, the British stipulate that one pound is equal to 20 shillings, and one shilling is equal to 1 pence.Regardless of how much gold and silver is contained in the coin, it is exchanged in this way.

A unified monetary system is of great benefit to economic development.

This is not the case in France. Not only is the currency in a mess, but the feudal nobles also retain a certain degree of autonomy in tariffs, which seriously affects the development of commerce.

For this reason, Louis XV's Minister of Finance once planned to carry out reforms, so he stipulated that one mark of gold could be exchanged for 740 livres and 9 sols, trying to unify the currency system, but it was of no use.

Because of this, An Ning now has a headache as to how to withdraw her reward.

He thought for a while and said to Croix, "I'll open an account with your bank..."

Croix: "Account? Uh... you mean deposit the money in our bank? Shall we make you a deposit check?"

An Ning opened his mouth wide - he just remembered that the current bank does not have an account system. When you deposit money in the bank, you will get a deposit check as a voucher, and anyone who brings this deposit check can exchange it.

A deposit ticket is equivalent to a voucher that can be dealt with, and can even be traded freely.

An Ning finally came to his senses, and he nodded: "Yes, I want to convert 550 crowns into gold louis and store it with you. After all, you don't usually use gold louis in daily life. Please help me convert the part that cannot be rounded up to Su, I want to use it as change."

Mr. Croix nodded: "Understood, I will do it now."

After that, he clapped his hands, and several bank employees brought in a large bag of silver coins, and then Mr. Croix sat behind his desk, put on his glasses and began to weigh the silver coins with a scale.

An Ning stared dumbfounded at Mr. Croix fiddling with weights and scales.

The last time he saw a similar scene was in the Harry Potter movie. When Harry entered Gringotts for the first time, he saw a bunch of goblins weighing gold coins.

Looking at this scene, An Ning deeply realized the backwardness of this era.

How troublesome it is to weigh and calculate the currency value for every transaction...

Thinking about it this way, after the Great Revolution, the "finger coupons" issued by revolutionary France were actually a kind of progress, but it was a pity that at that time, because no one was coordinating, the reform authorities tried their best to print the "finger coupons", and the value of the currency collapsed.

An Ning silently remembered this point, maybe he could do something about it after the Great Revolution broke out in the future.

Croix and the others worked for a long time, and finally completed the exchange entrusted by An Ning, and then said to An Ning: "We can give you a deposit ticket of 20 gold louis, and 10 livres in change. We will give you 10 livres It can be paid to you in any way you wish."

An Ning nodded: "Yes, you can give me five livres of silver coins, and exchange the rest for sous."

"Understood, wait a moment."

Soon An Ning got his first deposit ticket after crossing, and a small bag of coins.

He put the deposit ticket in the inner pocket of his coat, tied the coin on the waistband of his trousers, and said goodbye to Mr. Croix: "Then, I will leave first."

"Go slowly." Croix stood up and sent An Ning out of the VIP room.

Outside the VIP room, Fanny was standing on the left side of the door, waiting quietly, looking like a loyal dog waiting outside the toilet door for its owner to go to the toilet.

At this time, An Ning suddenly discovered that Fanny's maid dress was not a long skirt, but showed her calves in white stockings.

This is the design of the maid outfits of later generations. Theoretically, the maid outfits of this era should be long skirts that always cover the ankles!
An Ning hurriedly asked, "Fanny, why does your maid outfit have such a long skirt?"

Only then did Fanny notice that An Ning had come out from inside. She rolled her eyes and asked, "If the skirt is too long, wouldn't it be stained with dirt on the ground? I am the maid of the Duke's house, so I won't work like an ordinary worker." Women wear long skirts. That's the same as you don't wear trousers, Mr. Frost."

An Ning was speechless.

It seems that the logic of this time and space is this: nobles and rich people wear chaps and white stockings because they dislike the dirty ground, so naturally women from noble families will not wear too long skirts.

Trousers and long skirts are only worn by laborers without money.

Also... quite reasonable, at least its own logic is closed loop.

wait a minute!An Ning suddenly realized something!So in this time and space, I can often see beautiful girls with white silk?

He glanced at Fanny's white silk again.

The moment she saw the white silk, An Ning suddenly felt that the world was not only inconvenient.

Fanny: "Have you finished your work?"

An Ning patted her purse: "It's done, take out some change."

"You are the Duke's guest, theoretically speaking, you should not need change." Fanny said, "Then, I will follow the order of the head maid and take you to the tailor. If you need anything, we will Let’s do some shopping.”

An Ning was about to answer when he saw Mr. Croix from the bank come out of the VIP room.

His eyes fell on Croix's wig, and he thought about whether to buy a wig for himself...

Fanny: "The nobles in Paris will not treat you as their own just because you wear a wig. In fact, news should have spread by now that the lady's benefactor is the son of a cobbler."

An Ning: "Can you read minds?"

"How is it possible! As a servant, I'm just better at observing words and expressions. Besides, you just stared straight at the banker's wig, which is very obvious."

An Ning: "So your suggestion is that I don't need to get a wig?"

"No need at all. People who should respect you will not disrespect you just because you don't have a wig. On the contrary, people who look down on you, seeing your wig is just another excuse to laugh at you."

An Ning raised his eyebrows, and then he suddenly thought of something, so he asked Fanny: "What about you? Are you the one who looks down on me, or the one who respects me?"

Fanny: "I'm someone who doesn't know you yet. I'll decide my attitude towards you when I get to know you. Let's not talk about this, let's go."

　I didn't find the details of the exchange of Krona and Louis d'Or, so I set it up casually, and everyone will treat it as a different world.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)