As soon as I walked into the hall of the Constantinople bank, I felt a chill. By the end of September, it was not too hot, and the hall was cooler and drier. Unlike the small and gloomy rooms where the people of Yiqi Le Ye lent money, the hall has a bright and upright feeling despite the use of windows with thick iron railings.

Sheila's heart is not very stable, she is cooperating more and more with the province of Europa, and many things cannot be put on the table. This is not to say that Sheila has done anything unreasonable, she firmly believes that everything she does can stand the test of conscience. It's just that too much money is in your pocket, and if someone else knows about it, you will definitely use it for political attacks.

Behind Sheila at this time were members of the Senate's agricultural team, and it was evident that everyone was excited to visit the important agricultural partners of the Eastern Roman Empire. The guests were led by Eastern Roman locals, and some of them were familiar. Many of the new compradors in the Europa province were assigned to Constantinople banks. Many were young children of the families of the Eastern Roman aristocracy or young people who were related to the aristocracy.

The young men looked at Sheila with a special emotion in their eyes. The aristocrats all knew how Cresius, a humble little aristocratic family, had come to where he is today. As a scholar, Maximi J. Clysius received the approval of His Excellency Tiberius and sent his son Cicelius Andrei Lysius to study under Tiberius. This used to be the most effective way for the minor aristocracy to try to rise to the top. Cicelius went one step further, and Barcellus of Eastern Rome rebuilt his legions, and Cicelius chose the path of joining the army with more opportunities for promotion. Now as a legionary judge, Cicelius was considered a very motivated representative of the minor aristocracy.

The path that the daughter of a small aristocratic family in Eastern Rome can advance is probably to hook up with a big nobleman and find a way to marry, and Sheila chooses a path that surprises everyone. In essence, this choice did not go beyond the Eastern Roman tradition, and the weak could only climb up by attaching themselves to the strong. When the other nobles were wary of the province of Europa, Sheila did not hesitate to join the province of Europa.

Europa doesn't need women who can be toyed with, they need people who can do things, and it doesn't matter if they are men or women. Step by step, Sheila showed her abilities and was eventually rewarded. Most of the minor Eastern Roman nobility, as well as some of the great Eastern Roman nobility, wanted to repeat this path. This was the first time that Sheila had stepped into the Constantinople bank, and the pioneers had to pay attention to this forerunner.

The elders looked at the hall where general business was handled, and were ushered into the rooms prepared for distinguished customers in the back. These rooms are smaller, because the clients who come here to do business are likely to carry valuable items, and although the windows are brighter and more heavily defended.

On the upper floors there are several offices for business operations, and a large part of the business of the Eastern Roman Empire was carried out here. The elders of the agricultural group were invited into an office dedicated to the purchase of grain, which, to their surprise, was not large. Two interconnecting rooms, simple furniture. It's hard to imagine that tens of millions of dollars of grain are bought and sold every year in such a large office.

Listening to the senators' inquiry, the Eastern Roman clerk who led the senators explained: "Most of the discussion is done on the Chancellor's side, and the office here is only used to deal with bills. ”

"What is a bill? Is the name change for food stamps? The patriarch asked.

The clerk had to explain further. Sheila didn't interject, she was well aware of the difference between food stamps and bills, and how the imperial court traded with Constantinople money. The imperial court used food stamps to buy grain from grain producers, who in turn used the food stamps to buy the goods they needed. Due to the timeliness of the grain harvest, a large number of grain transactions will be carried out within a fixed period of several months. The Constantinople Money House undertook the operation of food stamps, which were used as currency in various commercial activities at other times. At this time, food stamps can be used far beyond agriculture and can even be used to buy real estate.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer consulted with the Constantinople Bank on the number of food stamps to be issued each year, and the Constantinople Bank provided the food stamps to the local government through its branches in various places. The amount of food stamps allocated on the books of the local government was done through bills, and the government did not need to get the food stamps directly from the imperial court, but used the bills to withdraw money from the Constantinople bank. A thin bill can represent millions or tens of millions of dollars, and it doesn't take such a huge office to issue such a bill.

When the clerk was explaining, Sheila looked at the simple and bright decoration of the office, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart at the huge power of the existence of the money bank. Everyone in the Eastern Romans was involved in the grain trade, and there were thousands of employees at the headquarters and local branches of the Constantinople bank. Compared to a single person, these people are not many. This is insignificant compared to the population of the Eastern Roman Empire. Not only the grain trade, but also the whole of Eastern Rome suddenly became lively.

In the past, some people wanted to buy a house, some people wanted to sell a house, but they couldn't trade effectively because of lack of money. It's not that you don't have anything of value in your hands, it's that you just can't get gold, silver and copper coins. Buyers can get their hands on things that are often things that the seller doesn't need or don't know their value for. With food stamps, this problem is solved, and everyone does not need to think about the value of each other's things, just care about how much food stamps their goods are worth.

If you don't use up all the food stamps in your hand immediately, you can still deposit them in the nearest head office and branches in Constantinople, and you don't have to worry about the food stamps being damaged or lost, and you can get interest. It's so convenient that it can't work.

I was thinking about it, and the clerk's explanation was over. The senators didn't know if they really understood it, and just when Sheila thought the senators were about to finish their questioning, one of the senators said, "We want to see the place where the food stamps are kept, and that place seems to be called the vault." Can you take us to see it? ”

Sheila was shocked, did this brother drink too much when he came? Look at his face, he didn't drink! I didn't drink where did I get so much courage to make such a request. Sheila was working in the office and knew what would happen if she inquired about the Treasury safe.

The clerk was also frightened, and his clear words about food stamps and bills were already a little stuttered at this point, "This ...... The...... Your Excellency the Senator. I...... I'm not responsible for that. ”

The patriarch still asked, "Who is in charge of this?" ”

The other elders didn't have this Qingqi's idea, and someone hurriedly came out to play the round, "Forget it, today's time is already tight." We still have a lot of places to visit. ”

"It's just that a lot of time has been delayed here, hurry up and go to the next one."

By the time the visit was over, Sheila felt a great relief. Can some people have a little common sense, if someone asks to see his family's vault where gold coins are hidden, I am afraid that this person will immediately take action to knock out the person who suggested it. But when he proposed to visit someone else's vault, he looked like he was going smoothly. What is this?

When I got home, I saw Yi Sifan and two other eastern nobles sitting in the living room. Sheila knew that this was another troublesome matter, but Yi Sifan and the eastern nobles were Sheila's voters, and they had to listen to them even from the perspective of duty.

Yi Sifan went straight to the point, "Your Excellency, the people of Europa Province say that if we grow pumpkins, potatoes and sweet potatoes, we have to use what kind of rotation cultivation system. Talking about what nutrients are in the ground, the reason why pumpkins, potatoes and sweet potatoes grow so much is because of the absorption of nutrients from the geography. Therefore, you can't plant every year, and you have to use what kind of rotation cultivation system to nourish the land. We've had a discussion and we'd like to hear from Her Excellency Sheila. ”

You don't want to hear me, you want to hear my opposition to Europa. Sheila thought to herself. Come to think of it, Sheila doesn't say anything. Su Lun has made a lot of money this year, which of the eastern nobles is not hot. Next year, these eastern aristocrats will definitely grow the same crop in large quantities. When everyone is full of hope to make money, they will not be happy to hear such a basin of cold water poured on the province of Europa.

Sheila looked at Yi Sifan and the two nobles who came with her, and memorized their names. These guys are okay, at least take what they don't listen to. The other nobles probably threw these words out of the clouds long ago.

Seeing that Sheila was silent, Yi Sifan asked again: "I don't know what Your Excellency thinks?" ”

Sheila replied, "I don't know how to farm, so I should listen to what the farmer has to say." ”

This answer was impeccable, of course Yi Sifan knew that Sheila didn't know how to farm, and at this time he also understood that there was no way to ask again. After a pause, he said, "Your Excellency, I still want to ask something. I wonder if you can get the Legion to buy sweet potatoes from me. ”

Sheila chuckled inwardly. This Yi Sifan is also shrewd enough, he probably calculated the problem of sweet potato yield. Sulun planted 12,000 acres of sweet potatoes and harvested 24 million catties. Excluding losses such as peeling, the yield of caramel is not particularly high. But next year's sweet potato yield is not ten, dozens or even hundreds of times. You can eat a little bit of it every day, but you can't eat it every day. Acquisitions are a problem then.

But Sheila didn't make any promises, she smiled, "I know." It's too early to talk about it, let's wait until next summer. I would like to say one thing, the ship carrying sepiolite is coming, are you ready to start work? ”

Finally sent Yi Sifan away, Sheila thought back to what they were talking about, and admired the neatness of the office. The office had already talked to Sheila about the rotation before. Now that the office is in action, the next thing is Sheila's business.

Early the next morning, Sheila packed up and went to the Senate. When the chair asked who had a proposal, Sheila immediately stood up and said, "I have a proposal." ”