Struggle in the Steam Age

As one of the most important agricultural products on Nova Sauer, so many things are at stake in this season's rice production. This is not just about the food reserves on the island, but also about the future relationship between the island and the surrounding neighbors and the future development direction of the entire region. Therefore, when Safir reported that the overall rice yield was more than expected, Lawrence let out a long sigh of relief, and at the same time showed a smile 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 was not small. At least half of the interest-free loan that Lawrence obtained from the royal family before was spent, so now he is eager to find a way to restore blood to the economy, and this time the harvest is the first. step.

"In addition to rice, the first batch of capybaras we raised can now be slaughtered. Part of the meat will be used in this banquet and the other part will be pickled and preserved." After talking about the food, Sai Phil began to report other gains. "We have also made a batch of dried fruits from the bananas, coconuts and jackfruits we found before. 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 by executive order. Rather, for most people, drinking alcoholic beverages is simply to use the alcohol in them to relax their brains. Therefore, as long as the price is similar to before, most people on the island will not care what the alcoholic beverages they drink are made of.

Not to mention that these local fruit wines are much cheaper than imported beers because of the large amount of shipping costs deducted. For most people on New Sauer Island, it is less expensive to drink the same wine Spending a few pennies 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 been independently produced on the island, and have successfully replaced those imported products with a huge cost-effective advantage. This substitution would reduce Lawrence's foreign exchange expenditures in one fell swoop.

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

This is mainly because the currency issued by most of the islands is a pure credit currency and is not allowed to be exchanged for any hard currency. It can only be used to purchase goods on the island or consume on the island. But the problem is that the economies of the islands in the Sea of ​​Stars are generally too small, and there are not many goods and services for sale. So people naturally don't trust these currencies very much, and 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, the mainstream currencies in the world are directly linked to hard currency. Therefore, this kind of credit currency, which is more advanced in Lawrence's view, is often associated with things like excessive paper money and inflation in this era, and 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, every country is actually issuing more currency now. But because those big countries have enough economic volume and enough hard currency to support them, they can also guarantee the firmness of their currency prices.

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

And the only features of the unification of the few islands that allow their currencies to be recognized internationally are their large size and good economic development. Therefore, after obtaining enough hard currency and issuing currency based on it, everyone is willing to hold these currencies, instead of exchanging 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, and now it is a last resort to issue their own credit currency. On the one hand, they are definitely unwilling to give up such a large income from seigniorage, so except for the territories directly under some big countries, the rest of the islands 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 Two economic scenarios emerged repeatedly. And neither inflation nor deflation can seriously damage the island's economy. Therefore, the island must have its own currency to avoid this situation.

Of course, the owners of these islands definitely hope that their currency can go one step further and become a formal currency recognized internationally. But in view of various congenital deficiencies, most people can only think about it in this regard. For those lords, it is already very good to be able to turn this currency into a credit currency that operates stably for a long time in the territory.

The work-point coupons 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 presence 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, which transformed work-point coupons into a formal credit currency, and the island gradually evolved from the era of rationing to a commodity economy. era.

However, because this currency has been produced for too short a time, it is only used by more than 70% of the population on New Sauer Island controlled by Lawrence. If you want to buy something from the outside world, you must use hard currency or the currency of those big countries around Xingchenhai.

Therefore, the situation he is facing now is very similar to that of his motherland in the 1980s and 1990s in his previous life. He needs to save foreign exchange as much as possible to buy a lot of things he needs from the outside world. Therefore, for him, it is best to produce these things by himself, so that he can save enough foreign exchange for external purchases.

According to Seifel, this approach to developing production also has some unexpected benefits. For example, since the small metal processing factory was built, under the auspices of the mechanic captured from the pirate group, various hardware products were produced using metal raw materials ordered from passing merchant ships. As a result, in addition to supplying the islanders with these hardware products, people from the surrounding islands came to purchase them one after another.

"At the beginning, I actually felt that the path you chose was a bit too complicated." Saifeier finally concluded, "It is different from the popular practice of growing various cash crops and then watching the sky to eat and lie down to make money. The cost of developing production capacity on the island is simply 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, it is extremely necessary to develop the ability in this area."

"You are right. After all, the times have changed. Although the traditional plantation economic model in the tropics can continue to be maintained, there is no way to make our territory rich just by developing these. Only Maintaining diversified development is the right path." Listening to Safir's final summary, Lawrence nodded and said.