[D11, EE] Dinner and discussion (open to Crab)

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna had invited Yasuki Masaki, Yasuki Ryoichi, and Kuni Shiori for dinner at Dragon House, to get their insight on an economic question.

She had tea ready - fukamushicha, a green tea with a longer steeping time, that gave it a darker green color and a stronger taste. She had heard it was popular in Crab lands where strength in all its forms was much admired. The tea set was moriage ceramic, with gilded dragon designs. Dragonware.

Her chef was ready with the several course meal.

The seating area was polished and serene. The walls were decorated with calligraphy - quotes from the Tao, and a wall hanging with the calligraphy for 'Dragon' and 'Mountain' shaped into the form of a dragon. There was a bonsai plant bringing a bright pop of green.

[Yasuki Ryoichi]

"Excuse me," said a slim Yasuki from the door of Dragon House. He wore a dark blue kimono with floral designs embroidered upon the sleeves. He bowed politely. "I'm called Yasuki Ryoichi. Have I arrived too early?"

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna smiled brightly and bowed to the Yasuki.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Yasuki Ryoichi. You are right on time. I'm so glad you came. Please, come in and take a seat."

"I am Agasha Yuna, of House Ageki. A librarian and karo-in-training."

"Let me get you some tea." She poured him a cup.

"Is this your first winter court? It is for me. I've been enjoying the chance to get to know the other delegates, and to participate in the events."

"Your house is known for its silk, if I remember correctly. You had such a beautiful gift on the first day. Silk dyed a midnight blue and printed with a subtle pattern of stars. I thought of it at the picnic, looking at the bowl with the dark glaze and pattern of stars. There is such beauty in the stars, and the chance to turn our thoughts to Heaven."

[Yasuki Masaki]

A while later a second Yasuki stood at the door, in a grey kimono with a blue and burgundy red koi pattern. "Good evening", she said to the attendants at the door after a polite bow. "I am hoping to see Agasha Yuna-san, please?"

[Yasuki Ryoichi]

"Is this your first winter court? It is for me. I've been enjoying the chance to get to know the other delegates, and to participate in the events."

"It is my first Imperial winter court," Ryoichi said agreeably as he entered and took a seat at Yuna's invitation. "It's been quite enjoyable meeting new people from other clans."

"Your house is known for its silk, if I remember correctly. You had such a beautiful gift on the first day. Silk dyed a midnight blue and printed with a subtle pattern of stars. I thought of it at the picnic, looking at the bowl with the dark glaze and pattern of stars. There is such beauty in the stars, and the chance to turn our thoughts to Heaven."

"It's so kind of you to remember, Agasha-san," Ryoichi said, beaming at her words. "And I must say, I quite enjoyed the Past Lives Picnic. I hope you did too; it seemed a wonderful theme that inspired a lot of excellent storytelling."

[Kuni Shiori]

Shiori would be the next to make her appearance at the door with Yasuki Masaki. She wouldn't stray too far from her usual style, dressing up in a blue furisode with the motifs of wildflowers and her usual black hakama. There would be a small stack of parchment that jutted out from her satchel for each reach. Perhaps she had intended to take some notes down in her observation or do something useful. She would give a short bow to Masaki as she caught up to her and indicate that she was here for the same purpose.

[Agasha Yuna]

"Good evening", she said to the attendants at the door after a polite bow. "I am hoping to see Agasha Yuna-san, please?"

Yuna greeted Yasuki Masaki at the door, and gave a deep bow. "Hello, I am Agasha Yuna. I am so glad you could come. Please, come in. Have a seat."

She poured her a cup of tea.

Shiori would be the next to make her appearance at the door with Yasuki Masaki. There would be a small stack of parchment that jutted out from her satchel for each reach.

She bowed to her. "It's good to see you again, Kuni-san. Come on in! Make yourself comfortable."

She poured her a cup of tea.

"It's so kind of you to remember, Agasha-san," Ryoichi said, beaming at her words. "And I must say, I quite enjoyed the Past Lives Picnic. I hope you did too; it seemed a wonderful theme that inspired a lot of excellent storytelling."

"I enjoyed the Past Lives Picnic so much. A wonderful topic. I hope the festival for Musubi-no-Kami, to offer blessings on the marriages made here, will be as inspiring."

"Are any of you newly engaged, or perhaps may yet be before the end of court? Or perhaps you are already married and have wisdom to share?"

With all the guests arrived, attendants brought out the appetizers and also offered each guest a glass of plum wine.

The first platter had vegetables - mild okura and spicier shisito, mackerel, and glazed mochi balls.
https://ibb.co/39QmM9CQ

The second plate had a square of green tofu and shrimp, in a light broth, decorated with an edible flower.
https://ibb.co/pB4Sk7zt

[Yasuki Ryoichi]

Ryoichi accepted the plum wine, though he drank sparingly - he had overindulged a bit at the previous night's banquet and hints of dark circles could be seen beneath his eyes.

"This food looks and smells delicious," he commented, as he sampled from one of the platters.

[Kuni Shiori]

Shiori would be pleased to be greeted by Yuna when she was received, bowing politely to greet her. "Thank you for having my kinsmen and me this evening, Agasha-sama. You've really gone above and beyond hosting us tonight with a formal dinner."

Honestly, she hadn't quite expected this when they talked about it a night ago.

She would sit down at her properly arranged seating with the others. Her gaze would go out to the prepared food before answering the question. "...I'm not so sure if the ink is dried in my arrangement yet but I suppose it should be safe to share that I have been betrothed recently. I don't know if I can share anything much about marriage beyond that," she said with a faint smile.

[Agasha Yuna]

"This food looks and smells delicious," he commented, as he sampled from one of the platters.

She smiled at Yasuki-san. "Thank you. I am fortunate that my Uncle suggested bringing a chef friend of his from Otosan Uchi, the better to entertain. It is a treat to me, too, to sample these delicious things."

"...I'm not so sure if the ink is dried in my arrangement yet but I suppose it should be safe to share that I have been betrothed recently. I don't know if I can share anything much about marriage beyond that," she said with a faint smile.

Yuna smiled at the subtle happiness on Kuni-san's face. That faint smile.

"Congratulations! And to whoever the lucky person is to be your spouse. They too are most fortunate. I will look forward to learning more when you are able to share it, so I can congratulate you in greater specificity."

She turned back to the group, gaze including each of them in turn.

"I have asked you here to get your advice and hopefully - support - for an idea I am hoping to propose, once it is sufficiently refined by the input of experts like yourselves. Please know that if there is anything I can do to help you with any of your goals, you need only ask."

[Yasuki Ryoichi]

"I have asked you here to get your advice and hopefully - support - for an idea I am hoping to propose, once it is sufficiently refined by the input of experts like yourselves. Please know that if there is anything I can do to help you with any of your goals, you need only ask."

"It's kind of you to consider our opinion on such matters, Agasha-san," Ryoichi said politely. "Perhaps you could elaborate on what your proposal involves?"

[Yasuki Masaki]

"Pleased to finally meet you properly, Agasha-san. It's a shame that we've seen each other many times in court and other events so far and yet never had a proper chance to talk, ne?" She'll bow deeply again, a gentle smile on her lips before going inside and settling with the others.

She was similarly surprised - and delighted - at the reception (although the player ended up getting a bit busy with other things! sorry!).

The plum wine is received gladly, with a deep nod-bow. The platters, in turn, seem to be studied for a relatively long time before she ventures to serve some to her bowl - only from the first platter.

"Quite the luxury you have at the Dragon House, ne?", she says with a faint grin, her voice suggesting a good-natured joke. "And congratulations to Agasha-san and Kuni-san on their coming weddings - the festival is sure to be a good way to celebrate such happy tidings!"

At the mention of the economic matter at hand, the gentle smile remains on her lips, but her eyes seem a bit more serious - a bit like a broker ready to examine a piece, maybe. "As Shiozaki-san said, it's very thoughtful of you, and an honour, to consider our views.", she adds with a nod, waiting for the pledge to be placed on the table.

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna smiled at her guests, finishing their appetizers. Enough preamble. She wanted their advice. It was time to explain.

"Thank you all for being here. I really appreciate your time. I promise the entree course and dessert course will be just as lovely."

"Here is the crux of why I am looking for your advice. It is the way of Dragons to dive deep into a topic. To follow a thread to unexpected places. A scholar back in Dragon lands has made deep study of economic matters and has put together a proposal. Togashi-ue would like to see it presented but has also given us flexibility to seek input and make sure it reflects the best thinking of all here, so it might be something - hopefully - that will find broad support."

"It is a question of how taxes are paid. How they are monetized. An odd topic for the Dragon, perhaps, but I think you'll see the opportunity for compassion in it, and the spiritual pursuit of balance."

"You are familiar with the koku and the bu - coin. All are used to the idea of coin and understand its merits. It can be carried on the person and exchanged for any desired good. Coin is stable. It does not decay or rot. It is not ruined if your pouch becomes wet."

"But as an empire, we still use the rice standard for taxation. Rice is treated as a kind of coin. It is taken from fields, from hungry farmers, and paid up to lords, who pay up to their lords. On and on up the ladder. It is bulky and fragile to transport. It is vulnerable - in the field - to weather and battle. It is vulnerable in the storeroom to fire and rot. It rapidly loses its value for it does not endure. At most, rice can be stored for two years, and much can go wrong in that interim, even as hungry bellies are left unfed."

"If the empire moved to a coin standard, a gold standard, or a gold and silver standard, any good could be initially traded to become coin, rice included, but the coin itself is then stable and enduring. Those rich in rice would still find plenty of buyers. All need rice to eat. Rice would simply only be transported to be used as food. And the coin collected by taxation could be saved in flourishing times to be a resource for compassion in leaner years."

"It would cost less and take less space to transport and store, leaving more resource at every stage for more local use. Less ... the economic term is breakage. Less loss of resource to the economy that becomes unusable. More would be fed. And the arc of balance - the ability for a strong year to protect against a lean one - would extend indefinitely, rather than be bound by at most one additional year."

"The suggestion so far to make the idea more attractive to the other clans is to propose that the shift happen over the course of three years. That gives clans time to shift their stockpiles, so they are not caught back-footed."

"I am sure there is more to be said and considered. What do you all think?"

[Yasuki Ryoichi]

"It's an interesting idea," Ryoichi allowed, looking thoughtful. "But as you mentioned, we already have koku, bu, and zeni coins, with all the advantages you describe - portability, stability, and so on. Rice, gold, silver, iron - all these can be bought and sold in koku already. Rice will need to be stored and transported regardless of whether a coin is named after them - people need to eat, after all."

"So, please elaborate - what part of this system do you envision your proposal changing?"

[Agasha Yuna]

"It's an interesting idea," Ryoichi allowed, looking thoughtful. "But as you mentioned, we already have koku, bu, and zeni coins, with all the advantages you describe - portability, stability, and so on. Rice, gold, silver, iron - all these can be bought and sold in koku already. What part of this system do you envision your proposal changing?"

"Presently taxes must be paid up - at least from clan to the imperial level - specifically as rice. The rice standard. And I believe that is the common practice for most clans, from house to Lord."

"The proposal would change from the rice standard to the gold standard, specifically for taxation. All other trades and uses of coin or rice would be unchanged."

[Kuni Shiori]

Shiori would bow at the thanks and well-wishes given by Yuna and Masaki. When the meeting delved into business, she would take a moment to enjoy the arrangements. They had been sitting long enough that she had been able to feast with her eyes and now she would indulge with tasting the appetizers.

Later when the topic was presented by Yuna, she followed her words and nodded. "I suppose you're talking about that perhaps more attention should be put on balancing the books throughout the Empire, instead of moving stock for the purposes of solely trade? Am I getting that right? I think while we all have coinage, it's not a unified coinage? To the best of my recollection. A Crab koku is different than how much a Dragon koku is forged, made, and valued. Although, a heimen merchant will accept any all the same and as equal value, most of the time."

[Agasha Yuna]

"That's a good question, Kuni-san. It's definitely something we can clarify. There is a standard weight of rice presently used to determine the rice tax owed."

"The proposal could be that each clan's taxes owed will be confirmed ahead and may be paid in the coin that they want to use i.e., this many Crab koku or this many Dragon koku or a certain unit-weight of gold not yet coin-forged. Or unit-weight of silver. That's the easiest, I think. It still de-monetizes rice, so rice is used and transported always for food."

"Or, and this would add a bit of complexity, but you could help me assess if it's good for the economy and, frankly, good for the Crab ... that there be an imperial coin introduced that is an option also. So folks could exchange local coins for imperials coins, at an established exchange rate."

[Yasuki Ryoichi]

"It's a very interesting idea," Ryoichi said again, though nodding a bit more enthusiastically now. "Tying money to a hard metal could have a lot of benefits. But I wonder if gold is too scarce to use as a basis for money; there aren't that many provinces that mine gold, and many commoners may never touch gold in a whole year. We might not have enough money if it was tied to gold."

"What if we adopted your currency idea, but backed it with iron instead?" the Yasuki suggested. "Iron is much more commonly available and is useful for a multitude of things - weapons, tools, and so on."

[Yasuki Masaki]

Masaki was following the whole discussion with great interest - but mostly in silence.

A gold standard... she felt that just wouldn't do. In part for the reasons Ryoichi said. How *little* would have to go in a coin if it was tied to that? She tried some mental calculations.

...they weren't working.

Silver... maybe? Was it *that* much more common? But still... how would that work? Peasants still produced rice - would they be paid in silver coins then? How would those be distributed? Would having more people handling coins instead of rice help?

The point about reducing 'breakage' was a good one, she had to grant that.

But... handling coins to heimin all the time? Or... would their work *count* as coins of sorts? Would their *rice* count as coins? But that was just going full circle...

Her head hurt. She would have to sit down and put this down to paper.

And she looked *really, really* strange, brows furrowed deep, eyes squinting, as if she was making a lot of effort to look at something in the distance maybe - and failing.

"Um..." was all she could produce.

-----------------
OOC:
D11 EE - Commerce/Intelligence to discuss Monetary Systems (yeah I know XD) TN 20, FR from Yasuki Courtier 1, 1 CR | 7k4 ⇒ 18 (TN: 25)


There we go, a 2% lowest roll in the one thing Yasuki Courtiers do well XD
I did aim a bit higher than full safe... but would have failed even if going safe XD

[Agasha Yuna]

"What if we adopted your currency idea, but backed it with iron instead?" the Yasuki suggested. "Iron is much more commonly available and is useful for a multitude of things - weapons, tools, and so on."

"A gold and iron standard rather than a rice standard is definitely a possibility. I can run that by Togashi-ue. I think that would provide a broader base. Iron is equally safe from breakage. It can be accumulated for lean years."

"And, again, this would only impact a very small proportion of transactions. Clans would still barter unit for unit."

"Coins are already used widely in merchant transactions. No change at all there. Time has proven that merchants find it easier to store and transport than rice, or they'd be asking to be paid in rice units."

"It is only Heirs and Lords who pay taxes up. It is only Heirs and Lords who would convert to paying via a metal standard, rather than a rice standard."