Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1693 Souvenirs

"You want it like this? Let me confirm." Shangluo asked Fu Yuanshan for his opinion.

Making Zhu Xianxi's portrait into a souvenir is indeed not an option.

The imperial court only required that the emperor be worshipped, and that the act of worshipping the emperor must not violate the rites and laws. However, the court did not say that the emperor's portrait could not be engraved on coins.

“I’ve heard of that too.” Fu Yuanshan pondered for a moment. “I’ve privately collected a few Roman coins. I’ve seen that the Romans often printed their monarch’s image on coins, which certainly made the monarch’s image reach everyone’s consciousness. But this would cause some problems here: coins are practical items, and they pass through many different people’s hands. They’d get rubbed here and scratched there, which would damage the emperor’s image. To put it bluntly, it’s a great disrespect. But considering that it’s a very popular custom here, it’s definitely worth considering.”

After some discussion, the two concluded that this question ultimately had to be asked of Zhu Xianxi himself. It was Zhu Xianxi who authorized the exhibition of portraits of past emperors here. It was also Zhu Xianxi who permitted his own portrait to remain. How to handle his image, and whether to allow it to be printed on coins, was a question only he could answer.

If he agrees, everything will be easy.

“I agree.” Zhu Xianxi answered the phone. “This plan is good, but I think it needs to be modified slightly—my portraits are usually front-facing, and they are displayed in many places.”

This mainly applies to the State Council, as well as provincial councils and schools. While it's not that Zhu Xianxi's portrait can't be hung, there are very specific requirements regarding where it's displayed.

The Council of State, the Senate, and schools all shared a common characteristic: they were all closed or semi-closed spaces. In other words, the identity of everyone who entered was traceable. Whatever happened there, everyone's identity could be verified. Only in such places would Zhu Xianxi's portrait be displayed. Anyone who dared to disrespect the emperor's portrait could be sent to the Court of Judicial Review.

Besides frontal portraits, there are also three-quarter portraits, where the face is not directly facing the camera. These portraits are less formal and can appear in more places. The portraits of past emperors that Zhu Xianxi sent this time are mostly three-quarter perspectives.

Such portraits are generally used in news media. In other words, newspapers, television, and books would not easily publish an image of the emperor facing the audience directly. There is an unwritten rule that no printed material can print a full portrait of the emperor; only a three-quarter portrait can be printed. And any full portrait of the emperor must be hand-drawn.

“As for this,” Zhu Xianxi thought for a moment, “I’ll make an exception—after all, I know the Romans liked to print their monarchs’ portraits on coins. I can grant them special permission to use the emperor’s profile; I’ll send over the standard profile.”

That way, we didn't break the rules.

Zhu Xianxi agreed to this for two reasons: firstly, he was in a very good mood; secondly, he was quite willing to sacrifice his personal image. After all, if the image were minted on coins and handled by so many people every day, it would inevitably affect the emperor's image. However, if such a rule was necessary to make the locals realize that the emperor had changed, then it wasn't entirely unacceptable.

"But speaking of which, do people in Rome still use coins these days?"

Shangluo relayed the question to Victoria, who was standing nearby, and received a reply: "They say that the newly cast drachmas all feature the image of the monarch."

"I'm not talking about virtual currency, I'm talking about real-world currency."

"It seems...it seems to be gone, it's been shut down."

"It's alright, there's no major problem. We can just mint the coins and release them there, which will save us from the local implementation being incomplete."

Zhu Xianxi was just considering whether or not to issue new currency. Because in the capital region, small-denomination coins are always issued at a loss—in other words, the cost of minting a 50-cent coin is greater than the cost of minting 50 cents. Only in this way can the coins be crafted to a level that prevents counterfeiting, ensuring that there is no profit to be made from minting them. Now, it's simply a matter of minting another batch of coins.

The coins minted for Rome would not entirely use the denominations from the capital region—the court was willing to spare no expense for the economic stability of the region, but it needed to consider the costs of ruling the West. The court would then weigh the cost and denomination of the coins.

"So I reckon Shangluo might mint something like silver coins, with a face value of 100. These coins might be a bit larger."

[It's moving; this is a large portrait.]

"There's another small problem here—since coins are acceptable, they'd like to ask if it's possible to cast a brooch for them to wear?"

"No, that won't do." Zhu Xianxi refused the request to use his image as an accessory for the clothes. "Clothes are better when they're natural. Besides, I'm not Wang Lingguan, why would I make so many souvenir-like things in my image? I'm not used to it. Anyway, coins are enough."

There are definitely enough coins.

The high priest of Thebes was extremely grateful; his loyalty had been acknowledged by the emperor, which moved him deeply.

"This emperor, so far away, is more wise than Caesar, who is so close at hand."

“I’m really sorry,” Victoria muttered, “but it’s not my fault. It was my father’s order. I haven’t taken over the reins of government yet—in short, you’re no longer my concern after this.”

“No, no, no, you are still the pharaoh of the past,” the Theban high priest replied. “After you die, I will make you into a beautiful mummy and bury you in the Valley of the Kings.”

"Huh?! What are you saying?!"

"Ah?" the high priest exclaimed in surprise, "I am expressing my highest respect to you."

"I won't become a mummy, thank you for your concern. I have my own path to walk, and I don't need you to worry about my fate anymore."

“Ah, well.” The high priest nodded. “Actually, until recently, disposing of the body according to Egyptian funeral rites was a very popular practice. I didn’t expect you to make new progress so quickly. It seems my mission is nearing its end.”

"After this is all over, are you going to step down?" Shang Luo asked.

"I don't belong to this era."

(End of this chapter)