Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 349: Chapter 26 Gold Bars and the Draft Lottery

Among the currencies circulated in the republics, the most popular are the Ducat Gold Coins minted by the central minting house of Sea Blue.

[Note: The term “Ducat” originally meant “money coined by the Duke,” used by many regimes to refer to their own issued currency. However, with the popularity of the Venetian Ducats, the term now specifically refers to Venetian Gold Coins.]

The Venetian Ducats were almost pure gold, with a stable quality, so their value was the most robust. Large volume transactions were all priced in Ducats, making gold coins minted by other Alliance nations seem inferior by comparison.

For example, consider the gold coin with a larger circulation volume—the Gold Coin of The Federated Provinces, usually ten of these coins were only worth seven Ducats, and if used for payment, compensation for the seller’s melting loss had to be provided.

The value of Gold Coins minted in different years also varied slightly, generally, the newer the Gold Coins, the lower their value—the Federated Provinces’ mint increased the admixture of base metals in Gold Coins as time went on, and everyone was well aware of this.

Therefore, using Gold Coins was quite inconvenient, even less capable of challenging the position of Ducats.

Not only within the borders of the Senas Alliance but even merchants in the Empire and the Near East were very willing to trade in Ducats. As a result, the large annual outflow of gold coins also caused some trouble for the Republic of Vineta.

Thus, merchants and craftsmen who traveled among the republics directly called Ducats “Gold [gold]”, while other types of gold coins had different names.

For most people in the Alliance, Ducats were equivalent to pure gold and represented one of the primary forms of coming into contact with gold.

But the gold that Kexia and Anna brought was an entirely different kind—gold bars weighing close to 200 grams each, so valuable that Winters had no way of using them.

Each 3.56 gram Ducat rarely circulated in the market due to their high value, let alone these gold bars, one of which was worth 56 Ducats.

Kexia said that Winters would understand her intentions upon seeing the gold bars, but the only use Winters could think of was for bribery.

Yet Winters, a stranger in the lands, didn’t even have the means to bribe anyone, nor could he afford to leave his fellow comrades and head out alone.

Having supported each other during the arduous siege warfare, shared tents and hot meals in the bone-chilling winter of the archipelago, and survived the campaign in Tanilia together, the bonds between this group of Venetian military academy graduates were far stronger than those of their predecessors.

Though there was currently no place to spend money, making the gold bars as good as lead weights. Suddenly having a large amount of disposable precious metals alleviated Winters’ anxiety and pressure unconsciously by a great deal,

Money just has that kind of magic.

…

Xial got his wish and stayed by Winters’ side, while Gold didn’t stay in Wolf Town for too long.

The day after, the pirate leader set off, and Winters saw him off all the way to the Blackwater River ferry.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Captain Gold,” Winters said gravely, saluting Gold.

“No big deal,” Gold laughed heartily, “You’re not afraid I’ll take the money and run.”

“That I’m not worried about,” Winters also said with a smile, “Just don’t tell Miss Navarre I gave the gold notes away.”

Gold carried not only Winters’ reply but also the promissory note from Kingsfort’s goldsmith, Albert.

The goldsmith’s promissory note, brought by Anna through Xial, essentially serves as a receipt that can be exchanged for predeposited gold at the goldsmith’s.

With various purities, money circulated on the market before, so people needed to take gold and silver to the goldsmith to mint into coins of uniform specifications.

Goldsmiths had not only safes but also armed guards. Gradually, people realized that gold was safer in the hands of a goldsmith than in their possession.

Goldsmiths honor the note, not the person, and give gold upon presentation of the note. As a result, gold notes have also evolved into a form of currency, widely used and traded by merchants for being convenient and discreet to carry.

According to Winters’ request, Gold would first go to Kingsfort to exchange the promissory note for gold coins, then deliver the map and gold coins to Venetian lieutenants scattered throughout the Newly Reclaimed Land.

The Venetians probably weren’t having the best of times. Now that Winters was no longer short of money, he hoped to provide as much help to others as he could.

It was a difficult assignment since Winters neither knew how many of his peers had been assigned to the Newly Reclaimed Land nor the specific locations of the others.

For Andre and Bard, Winters had Xial deliver four gold bars to each of them. The remaining Venetians would have to be located by Gold, searching one town at a time.

“Mr. Gold, I really don’t know how to thank you… truly, thank you,” Winters sincerely thanked the former enemy from the bottom of his heart.

“Don’t mention it, what’s there to thank?” Gold showed a gold tooth with a grin, “It’s not like I’m doing this for free, I’m getting paid.”@@novelbin@@

After saying that, Gold laughed heartily, spurred his horse in the ribs, and took off at a gallop.

As Winters watched his old acquaintance leave, he suddenly understood the feelings of Lieutenant Mason.

…

Just as Colonel Castor and Lieutenant Mason said, a week after Xial and Gold arrived in Wolf Town, in mid-September, a military courier brought three items to Lieutenant Montaigne.

The newspaper, next quarter’s salary, and a conscription order from the New Reclamation Legion.

The content of the order was brief and vague about the specific plan, with only a few words explaining the requirements and timing.

Quoting part of the original text:

“Issued under the honorable and inviolable ‘Treaty of Torde’ by Major General of the Republic of Palatu, Legion Commander of the New Reclamation Legion, and recipient of the Violet Medal, Kevin J. Adams.”

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