Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 41 Financial Industry and Industrial Upgrading
China's traditional handicrafts are very advanced, especially the printing and dyeing techniques. Traditional craftsmen can use a variety of dyes to dye clothes into various colors, so dyeing camouflage uniforms is certainly not a problem.
After Lin Fei arranged the camouflage uniforms, he asked the craftsmen of the Construction Bureau to build a road between Yanhuang City and Chiyou City to facilitate travel between the two places. Lin Fei also found the local Chinese and asked, "Apart from the Karakatu and Makaipaslo tribes, are there other tribes on this Samar Island?"
The Chinese replied: "No, there are still some people in the deep mountains. They are all uncivilized savages. There are not many of them and they rarely come out of the mountains."
Lin Fei nodded and thought to himself: "Now that I am the only ruler on Samar Island, it is time to start a major initiative."
Lin Fei asked the Chinese to go back, then took out a few pieces of paper and wrote a line on them: "Banknote Issuance Plan."
Lin Fei discovered that the Filipinos and Chinese on the island were using silver as currency, so he decided to issue paper money to replace silver currency. On the one hand, this would make it easier for people on the island to carry money, and on the other hand, they could use paper money to exchange the silver in the hands of the islanders and go abroad to buy some items needed for development.
Lin Fei was writing when suddenly a sweet voice came from the door: "Lin Fei-kun."
Lin Fei recognized Chiyomika's voice and hurried over to open the door. Chiyomika nodded gently at Lin Fei and said with a smile, "Lin Fei, long time no see."
Since arriving on Samar Island, Lin Fei has been busy with various things and has never met Chiyo Mika. When he saw her today, he felt a sense of familiarity.
Lin Fei invited Chiyo Mika into the house. Chiyo Mika opened the basket she was carrying and took out small plates with exquisite sushi and rice balls. Lin Fei was surprised and said with a smile: "Miss Mika, what are you doing?"
Chiyomika smiled and said, "Lin Fei-jun has taken good care of me, and I can't do anything, so I..." Chiyomika was talking when she suddenly saw the "Banknote Issuance Plan" written by Lin Fei. She picked up the paper full of words and asked, "Lin Fei-jun, are you going to issue banknotes?"
Lin Fei was stunned and asked, "Can you understand Chinese?"
Chiyomi nodded and said, "There are many Chinese characters in Japanese. I can probably understand what is written on this piece of paper. Lin Feijun, if you want to issue banknotes, what will you use as a reserve?"
Lin Fei asked in surprise: "What did you say? Reserve? You actually know about reserve!"
Chiyomika smiled and nodded. Lin Fei was even more surprised and asked, "Do you understand economics?"
Chiyomika blushed and said, "Aoki-kun has read a lot of books on economics. In order to have something to talk to him about, I have also read a lot of books on economics."
Lin Fei felt a little uncomfortable. He smiled and said, "The banknotes I issue do not require reserves."
Chiyomika was surprised and said: "If there is no reserve for banknotes, they are just a pile of waste paper. Who would dare to use them?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "You are right. Paper money without reserves is indeed not trustworthy. But you overlooked one point. That is, I am now on Samar Island. The people on the island are obedient to me. So even if there is no reserve for the paper money I issue, they will still use it."
"The use of money depends on the trust of the users. If the users lack trust in the money, neither precious metal nor paper money can serve as a general equivalent in commodity exchange. The thing I lack the most is the trust of the island residents!"
Chiyomika thought for a moment and said, "Most countries in the world practice the gold standard. Paper money is backed by precious metals. The only currency that is backed by credit and is not backed by precious metals such as gold and silver is probably your paper money, Lin Feijun."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "The gold standard cannot last long. In the future, all countries in the world will abandon the gold standard and choose the credit standard."
Chiyomika said, "Of course your paper money can be circulated on this island, but what about foreign trade? Your currency cannot be exchanged for gold or silver. In the eyes of foreigners, it is no different from waste paper. They will not let you trade with this currency."
Lin Fei laughed and said, "For now, we still have to use Spanish pesos when trading with foreigners, but in the future we will definitely let the whole world use our currency. When that day comes, we only need to print paper money to obtain the wealth of the world."
The two were talking when the door suddenly opened and Ling Xue walked in with a smile, saying, "City Lord, I brought you what you wanted."
Lin Fei couldn't help but feel nervous when he saw Ling Xue coming. He thought to himself that a few days ago Ling Xue was jealous because I said that the shimenawa that Chiyomika gave me had a special meaning, and she treated me coldly. Today she met Chiyomika in person, I wonder how jealous she will be?
Ling Xue walked straight up to Lin Fei, stretched out her hand and handed him a few pieces of paper covered with words, then smiled and said, "According to your request, I have written down the craftsmanship that every craftsman in the Construction Bureau is good at."
Lin Fei agreed with a smile. Ling Xue turned around and saw Chiyoko Mika. She was stunned for a moment, then walked up to Chiyoko Mika and said with a smile, "You are Chiyoko Mika's sister, right?"
Chiyomika had been with Lin Fei and the others for a long time, and could speak some Chinese. She also understood Ling Xue's words. She said in stiff Chinese: "How do you know my name? Who are you?"
Ling Xue smiled and said, "My name is Ling Xue. I'm the general manager of Lingji Construction Bureau and the city lord's right-hand man. Sister, just call me Xue'er."
Chiyomika said "Oh", and Lin Fei saw that Ling Xue didn't seem jealous at all. He was secretly worried, wondering what Ling Xue was planning.
At this time, Ling Xue took a glance at the exquisite rice balls and sushi on the table and asked with a smile: "Are these made by Sister Meixiang?"
Chiyomika smiled and nodded, saying, "Xue'er, come and try it."
Ling Xue smiled and said, "No, I came here for something more important." Then she turned to Lin Fei and said, "City Lord, I have written down the craftsmanship that the craftsmen in the Construction Bureau are good at. What should we do next?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "That's right. We now have a preliminary metallurgical industry and mechanical processing industry, but these industries can only produce the simplest and most basic industrial products. What I want to do next is to upgrade the industry and manufacture more complex industrial products."
"In an industrialized society, the classification of jobs is very clear. Let me give you an example. In your Construction Bureau, Master Zhang Zibin is good at both ironwork and grinding. In an industrialized society, ironwork is a forging job, while grinding workpieces is a fitter job. The two are completely different."
"Industrialized society requires a large number of skilled workers, so I will let the craftsmen of the Construction Bureau take apprentices to train these skilled workers. What you need to do now is to select some young talents in Yanhuang City and Chiyou City and let them follow your craftsmen to learn these technologies. I will arrange the various types of work and let the craftsmen teach them."
Ling Xue nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, I'll go now."
After Ling Xue finished speaking, she smiled at Chiyomika and said softly, "Goodbye, Sister Mika." Then she ran out. Lin Fei felt a little relieved when he saw that Ling Xue didn't seem jealous. But at this moment, he saw Chiyomika frowning with an angry look on her face.
Lin Fei hurriedly asked: "Mei Xiang, what's wrong with you?"
Chiyomika said bitterly: "I don't like this woman named Ling Xue at all!"
Lin Fei was puzzled and asked, " Why don't you like her? She calls you sister all the time and is very close to you."
Chiyomika snorted and said, "Listen to what she said. She clearly looks down on me!"
Lin Fei was even more confused and asked, "How could she look down on you?"
Chiyomika said indignantly: "I asked her to try my sushi, but she said she had more important things to do. This is clearly saying that I can only do small things like cooking, while she can do many big things! This is looking down on me!"
Lin Fei was so amused by the intrigues among these girls that he was about to persuade them to stop. Then he heard Chiyomika say, "Mr. Lin Fei, you must need a central bank to issue banknotes. Let me be the president of the bank."
Lin Fei was shocked and asked, "Can you be the president?"
Chiyomika raised her head and said, "Why not? My uncle is the vault manager of Yokohama Specie Bank, and I know a little about the bank's business."
Lin Fei had no choice but to agree. There was not even a money house on this island, which meant that there was no talent in the financial industry. Since Chiyomika understood these things, he let her do it.
Chiyomika also said goodbye and left. Lin Fei first finished writing the banknote issuance plan, and then began to classify the craftsmen and prepare for the large-scale training of workers. These workers should have been given some basic education, namely mathematics, physics, chemistry and other subjects, but now the island lacks teaching staff. Apart from the history education carried out by assimilating Filipinos, there is no ability to carry out other education, and they can only carry out skills education first.
Lin Fei looked at the skills of those craftsmen, and his brows furrowed more and more. He thought to himself, "How can this be possible?"
At this moment, he heard footsteps at the door. Lin Fei looked up and saw Yu Xier walking in. He walked a few steps closer to Lin Fei and saw that Lin Fei looked sad, so he smiled and said, "Captain, I really don't understand why you are unhappy."
Lin Fei smiled bitterly and asked, "Then tell me what I have to be happy about."
Yu Xier smiled and said, "Look at our Yanhuang City and Chiyou City. We have transportation industry, mining industry, metallurgy industry, mechanical processing industry, and light industry. Our development is thriving. Isn't it worth your happiness?"
