The news that Liu Hong and his ministers had decided to reform the currency in the Deyang Palace quickly spread.
Those families and merchants who were the first to obtain concrete information also turned their attention to the silver ingots that they had previously overlooked.
Many others also noticed the Kingdom of Dog Slaves that the emperor and his ministers had mentioned.
Suddenly, the four islands at sea, which had previously been relatively unknown, came into the sights of powerful families and wealthy merchants from all over the world.
Two days later, under Yang Ci's organization, the Court of State Ceremonial quickly formed a delegation of nearly 500 people, which left Luoyang and headed towards Donglai.
After some investigation, everyone confirmed that the imperial court was indeed preparing to reform the currency. As a result, various families sent people to Liu Hong to request permission to send someone to accompany the delegation to the Dog Slave Kingdom to investigate.
Liu Hong readily agreed to the request from the various families, as their involvement would make things much easier than if the imperial court acted alone.
Meanwhile, Zhao Zhong also arrived at Deyang Palace with information about his transaction with the dwarfs.
"Your Majesty, in the past few days, the Royal Trading Company has obtained a total of six thousand taels of silver through transactions with those Dog Slave Kingdom people. Each tael of silver is worth two hundred coins."
Liu Hong chuckled: "You're quite cunning. Silver ingots aren't worth that little."
Zhao Zhonggong said respectfully, "Those little dwarfs, what have they ever seen of the world? The price I set for them was considered high by them, and they were so happy they almost fainted."
Liu Hong laughed and asked, "So what kinds of goods did they mainly trade?"
Zhao Zhong: "They need a lot of things, but the most common items are writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, imperial wine, cloth, tea, and cotton clothing."
Liu Hong nodded: "In that case, the Royal Merchant Guild will form a caravan to go to the Dog Slave Kingdom with them, and the transaction will only cost silver ingots."
Furthermore, it was announced that all shops of the Royal Trading Company would begin purchasing silver ingots at a price of one thousand coins per tael of silver ingot.
Also, tell them that anything belonging to the Han Dynasty's territory belongs to whoever finds it, and how much they get depends on their abilities.
"promise!"
Zhao Zhonggong acknowledged the order and then quickly withdrew.
Soon after returning to the Royal Trading Company, Zhao Zhong summoned the heads of the member families of the Royal Trading Company together.
At this time, thanks to Zhao Zhong's management and with the emperor and court officials as its backers, the Royal Merchant Guild had developed into a huge commercial group.
The Royal Trading Company's influence can be seen in almost everything from people's clothing, food, housing, and transportation, to some entertainment options, and all goods on the market, including medical care and education.
The number of member families of the Royal Merchant Guild has grown from a dozen or so to more than thirty, including the Yuan family, Cao family, Xiahou family, Chen family, Xun family, Zhen family, Mi family, and so on. Almost all the top families north of the Yangtze River have become members of the Royal Merchant Guild.
After everyone was seated, Zhao Zhong spoke first: "I'm sure you've all heard about the court's plan to reform the currency. Our royal family should naturally do our part as well."
From this day forward, all internal transactions within the Royal Trading Company will be conducted using silver ingots as the currency.
As he spoke, Zhao Zhong took out an agreement: "Those who are willing can come and sign it; those who are not can leave immediately and withdraw from the Royal Trading Company."
"We are willing!!"
The group exchanged glances, and without hesitation, stepped forward to sign.
For their member families, all internal transactions are conducted through the Royal Trading Company, and often they don't need to touch the money themselves.
For example, the Zhen family needed a lot of refined iron to produce plows and rakes, but it was inconvenient to transport money back and forth. So he could go and buy iron through a note issued by the Royal Trading Company.
The Royal Merchant Guild could use this slip of paper to exchange for goods needed by the imperial court at any shop owned by the Zhen family or other families.
Therefore, as long as the Royal Merchant Guild can redeem the equivalent amount of goods, it will not have any impact on them regardless of the currency used.
After all the families had signed the agreement, Zhao Zhong smiled and nodded.
"Besides this matter, we have another piece of good news to tell you all."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Zhao Zhong with shining eyes.
Zhao Zhong coughed lightly, then said seriously, "His Majesty said that the Royal Merchant Guild will begin purchasing silver ingots from now on, with one tael of silver ingot being equivalent to one thousand coins of goods."
If anyone has one, bring it over to exchange; if not, go find one quickly.
His Majesty also said that anything outside the borders of the Han Dynasty belongs to whoever sees it first, and how much they can acquire depends entirely on their own abilities.
"Gulp!"
As soon as Zhao Zhong finished speaking, a series of swallowing sounds filled the hall.
They knew about Zhao Zhong's previous business dealings with those Dog Slave Kingdom merchants, where he exchanged two hundred coins for one tael of silver.
Now that the Royal Merchants has priced silver ingots at one tael and one thousand coins, doesn't that mean that they can earn at least eight hundred coins for every tael of silver ingot?
Of course, what concerned them most was Zhao Zhong's last sentence, which completely opened up a new world of wealth for them.
Soon, the more than thirty member families of the Royal Trading Company hurriedly returned home and began to organize their forces to go overseas to search for the wealth that belonged to them.
The Royal Trading Company also began organizing caravans to set sail for the Kingdom of Dog Slave.
Meanwhile, the Royal Trading Company also spread the news to the public, attracting widespread attention.
For a time, the term "going global" became another topic of great interest.
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