Rome must fall.

Chapter 374 Beer and Paper Money

Kalsipampas was not trying to comfort the other party but was speaking from his heart. The Aldei tribe had pack carts, but not many, and they were all used to transport iron ore and salt. The tribesmen often came to Snowtia to go to market, carrying things in their arms and on their backs. Snowtia was not far from the tribal territory in the south of Aldei, but it was not very close either. It was still very tiring to go back and forth.

The driver's eyes lit up. "Captain Carlos Pompas, this is a good idea. I will talk to the captain about this later. To thank you, I will try my best to send you to Ophidilla today!"

"Don't be so anxious. I'm not in a hurry. It will be fine as long as I can arrive tomorrow." Calsipopas saw the wrinkles on the other's face and was afraid that the old coachman would be tired, so he quickly advised.

"Just sit there and relax. I'll take care of what's happening next." The driver laughed and swung the whip into the air, making a crisp "snap" sound.

When the four pack horses heard the sound, they sped up again.

As the sun began to move westward in the sky, the carriage arrived at Todlido.

Three years ago, this town was a "big prison" for prisoners, and even the official members of the Nix tribe were not allowed to enter. But now it is no different from other Nix towns. Because the Segestica people who surrendered in the village have become official members of the Nix tribe from the reserve members, and many of the defeated Pannoni captives have softened their wills in the hard and long labor, and finally chose to join the Nix tribe and become reserve members. They have been allocated houses and land. The remaining stubborn captives are no longer a threat to the tribe, so Todlido was opened to the public last year.

However, passers-by are still accustomed to staying in the "Knicks House" hotel outside the village.

The coachman drove the carriage to the outside of the inn, temporarily unloaded the carriage, and asked the hotel waiter to provide hay and water for the four pack horses. He simply ate some dry food and used a homemade wooden rake to comb the horses' mane and relieve their muscle fatigue.

Calcipol and his companions went into the hotel restaurant to have dinner.

There were already quite a few customers in the restaurant. They were sitting around the table, eating and chatting, and even drinking. Everyone had a satisfied and happy smile on their face.

The waiter led Calcipoppas and others to an empty table in the corner. Calcipoppas, who had been here several times, began to order food with ease.

After he finished ordering, the waiter smiled and reminded: "Dear guest, the weather is hot, would you like a few beers to quench your thirst?"

Karsi Penpas was a little surprised: "You have beer now?!"

"Of course, they are drinking beer!" The waiter pointed at the guests at the next table and said, "But this beer has only been available since last month. You are lucky to have made it in time! I heard that last year, because the tribe had too much food, not enough granaries, and some old wheat was even starting to mold, Chief Maximus proposed to take out a proper amount of wheat from the granary to brew beer to enrich the tribesmen's diet. At that time, the Ministry of Works also issued notices in various towns to recruit tribesmen who could brew beer, but the notice was removed after only a few days, and there has been no news since then-"

"It's not that there is no news, but someone will sign up soon. The recruitment quota for the brewery is full!" A middle-aged guest at the table next to him interrupted loudly with a flushed face: "Do you know who is the director of the tribal brewery?"

"Who is it?" asked the others at the table curiously.

"Matt Garris!"

"Ah, that old man! He looks so dull, but he can actually brew beer!"

"Don't underestimate him! Let me tell you, Matt Garris was a slave of a Sarapia nobleman, responsible for brewing beer on the farm. The beer he brewed was very popular among Sarapia sailors and civilians." The middle-aged guest said with emotion: "Now he finally has a place to display his talents, the head of the brewery, not bad!"

"How do you know so much about Matt Garris's past?"

"Nonsense, I used to work with him. Later, when Captain Maximus came to Sarapias, he and I both joined the team. Because I was young and strong, I became a soldier, and he joined the baggage camp..."

"Since you can also make wine, why didn't you sign up before?"

"I'm a centurion now, and I'm still going to help others make wine. Am I stupid? Besides, staying in the tribe to make wine is not as good as leading soldiers to kill enemies outside to get rewards and promotions, don't you think?"

"Yes!" Everyone at the table responded in unison. Hearing this, Calciopomus said to the waiter, "Give us a glass of beer each!"

"Okay." The waiter wrote down the numbers on a piece of paper, calculated in his mind, and then said with a smile, "You have to pay one mark, two nicks, five orphees, and seven snows in total."

Maximus used the decimal system when designing banknotes for the Nix tribe.

On the one hand, it is because he originally used the decimal system as the basis for teaching children arithmetic, which has continued to be used in tribal school education today, so young new members of the tribe will not feel unfamiliar when using it, and buying and selling calculations are faster and more convenient.

On the other hand, influenced by his memories from his previous life, he not only adopted the decimal system for banknotes, but also divided the face values ​​into yuan, jiao, and fen, producing four different types of banknotes.

The one-cent note with the smallest face value also has the smallest paper area. On the note is a sketch of the Snotia town and the Kupa River drawn by Maximus himself, engraved and printed on woodblock. It represents the beginning of the establishment of the Nix tribe. Its value is roughly equivalent to a Roman ses.

The second is the ten-cent note, which depicts the city of Ophidilla and the Sava River, symbolizing the growth of the Nix tribe.

Next is the one-yuan note, which features the pattern on the flag of the Knicks tribe - a dragon riding on the clouds, representing the entire Knicks tribe.

There is also the ten-yuan note, on which is drawn the portrait of Maximus, the leader of the Nix tribe and the core of the existence of the entire tribe.

In fact, Maximus also designed a hundred-dollar banknote with the goddess Danu on it. However, since the population of the Nix tribe is not large (only 200,000), the products are not very abundant, and the overall trade of the entire tribe is not prosperous, there is not much demand for large-denomination banknotes, so they have not been launched for the time being.

Banknotes of different denominations have different sizes and patterns. Even if some members of the tribe are illiterate, it is not easy to make mistakes when using them. However, most of the members of the tribe cannot pronounce the four words "yuan, jiao, fen, and dragon" fluently. Some people even think that this is the language brought by the son of God Maximus from the Kingdom of Dana. Later, according to the patterns on the banknotes, everyone agreed to give them common nicknames: one cent is Snow, ten cents is Aofei, and the dragon on the one dollar coin is called Nick because it represents the Knyx tribe, and ten yuan is called Mark.

Normally, a pound of wheat costs about six snows, and an egg costs about three snows. The paper currency of the Nix tribe is still very strong nowadays, so the price of the lunch ordered by Calsipenpas is relatively expensive. The main reason is that he has always been generous and wanted to entertain his subordinates and friends well. He also knew that they all had big appetites, so he ordered a lot of good dishes. In addition, the price of the new beer was naturally higher because of its limited production.

This lunch costs so much money, but Carlossipompus is not a member of the Nix tribe, and he doesn't even have a single banknote. However, he calmly took out two pieces of paper from his pocket and handed them to the waiter: "I am Carlossipompus, an elder of the Ardei tribe. At the invitation of Chief Maximus, I am leading my men to participate in this summer festival. Here is the invitation letter and the certificate issued by the Chief of Theopompos."

The waiter took it and saw at a glance the unique light golden seal of Chief Maximus on the invitation letter.

Calsipoppas had been to this inn many times, but the young waiter had just finished tribal school this year and had been recruited by the inn only three months ago, so he did not recognize his good friend from the Nix tribe.

But after all, there were also people of Ardei origin in the Nix tribe, and from time to time, Ardei people living on the Sava River would dine here when they went to the Mrežnica River, the Ardei territory. Therefore, even though the dress of Karsipenpas and others was different from that of the Nix people, the waiter was not surprised now that he knew their identities, because many Ardei envoys had passed by here in recent days, so he said with experience: "Elder Karsipenpas, please follow me!"

"House of Nix" is affiliated to the Ministry of Commerce, and it is responsible for receiving tribal officials on official business and envoys from other tribes.

The young waiter took Calsippampas to meet the hotel manager. Minas had been transferred a year ago, and the new manager also knew Calsippampas. He immediately expressed a warm welcome to his arrival. After reading his invitation letter and supporting documents, and learning that he would not stay overnight but just have lunch, the manager explained it on the order he had just made and asked him to put his fingerprint on it.

Karsipenpas knew that this was the proper procedure, so he did as he was told and returned to the restaurant, where his beer was served shortly afterwards.

Calsipoppas picked up the glass, but did not drink it immediately. Instead, he looked at the wine in the glass curiously. It was not the usual black and yellow color, but a light yellow color.

He gently shook the glass again, but there was no floating dregs. The foam on the surface was pure white...

This was very different from the beer he had drunk before.

He took a sip, and found it bitter with a hint of sweetness and a hint of sourness. The delicate foam gave it a silky taste. Drinking it in this hot season actually brought a unique sense of freshness...

(End of this chapter)