NOVPUBWithout speaking the last sentence, Chen Zichuan knew that Sun Qian would be careful with these precious items. How could he not be cautious? However, he also understood why Chen Zichuan had said that when they actually began constructing those buildings, Sun Qian would realize how taxing it was.
Building residences wasn’t difficult, especially since Sun Qian didn’t need to do much; all he needed to do was oversee. But once those items arrived, Sun Qian would surely be unable to eat or sleep, and that would naturally leave him exhausted.
After explaining the architectural materials clearly, Chen Zichuan returned to the Political Office. Although he was reluctant to go back, there were too many matters needing his attention there. He had already explained the general approach of the tax law to Mann Chong, but its verification and implementation were much more troublesome.
In the end, Chen Zichuan simply had Mann Chong start with the transaction tax that he had discussed. As for whether it was right or wrong, and how many issues it might have, Chen Zichuan was not worried at all. If the general direction was correct, even if there were loopholes, they would be noticed over time.
The most important thing was that the law was on a trial basis. As for how long the trial would last, Chen Zichuan hadn’t decided yet. He wouldn’t mind declaring, if great problems arose, that the trial transaction tax law was being canceled because some merchant did such and such. With such a beneficial tax law for the merchants, if it were canceled because of a single merchant, Chen Zichuan was certain that even if that merchant sold coffins, it wouldn’t be enough for what was coming to them!
Moreover, Chen Zichuan was also considering letting the merchants find loopholes. It wasn’t that he wasn’t worried that the merchants would exploit any new loopholes without reporting them. Instead, he was confident that he could control these people.
After all, Liu Bei’s current power wasn’t a joke; crushing a few loophole-exploiting merchants would be stress-free. To put it accurately, with Liu Bei’s current power, as long as the reasons were justified, even crushing a couple of aristocratic families wouldn’t lead to anyone going out of their way to cause trouble!
With the assurance of such absolute power, Chen Zichuan had no fear that those merchants wouldn’t be sensible. Death or profit, only a fool would seek their own demise. At least in the current chaotic state of the world, no feudal lord would want to provoke Liu Bei.
Upon returning to the Political Office, those present all stared at Chen Zichuan as if they had seen a ghost.
"Isn’t it a bit improper to stare at me like this?" Chen Zichuan chuckled as he pulled out the Grand Preceptor’s chair and sat down at the head, staring back at the people before him.
"Zichuan, could there be a problem with how we’re building these houses?" Liu Ye said with a wry smile. Everyone present had seen the items Chen Zichuan had previously requisitioned, which couldn’t be explained by mere luxury.
"No problem, let’s build it this way. As long as we don’t go overboard, I plan to build it just like this. It has to be high-end and magnificent, so overwhelming that onlookers dare not look directly!" Chen Zichuan declared proudly, "It must make Lord Xuande’s residence the iconic architecture of Fenggao! Let all feudal lords think of Fenggao and envision Lord Xuande’s residence, let them be envious and jealous!"
"But Zichuan, don’t you think it’s a bit too ostentatious?" Jian Yong said, holding his forehead. Originally, he had thought it was just building a mansion, but this had turned out to be way beyond that. The expense seemed to be even more terrifying than building an actual mansion of the same volume with money.
"Ostentatious?" Chen Zichuan said with disdain.
"Don’t you think that having such a mansion will give Lord Xuande a lot more confidence when dealing with other provincial governors in the future? He might even scornfully comment that their residences are far inferior if necessary. Moreover, my constant thought has been, if we’re going to do something, we should do it to the best. I refuse to believe that building the best of everything won’t be enough to keep Xuande from being lured by external things!" Chen Zichuan’s expression carried a hint of unique pride.
"I think it’s better to keep a low profile," Jia Xu, rarely speaking up, said. "Keeping a low profile is the best strategy. And most importantly, Zichuan, if other temptations can’t sway Xuande, I’m worried about your Aristocratic Family Elite Training going awry?"
Jia Xu agreed with Chen Zichuan’s previous thinking; he strongly approved of sculpting Liu Bei’s mentality and vision, rinsing away the issues of narrow-mindedness and lack of vision caused by low-class birth. Therefore, Jia Xu was delighted with Chen Zichuan’s ongoing Aristocratic Elite Education. In Jia Xu’s view, if Liu Xuande remained unmoved by beauty and undisturbed by lavish living, then many of the potential future problems wouldn’t be significant issues. Jia Xu was even prepared to invest a huge amount of money in this training. But witnessing Chen Zichuan’s actions left him dumbfounded.
This wasn’t Aristocratic Education; this was a way to ruin Liu Bei. Having everything of the highest grade from the start was indeed great, but meals should be taken one bite at a time, right? Are you sure that Liu Bei wouldn’t lose his fighting spirit by indulging in this happy life all at once? How many heroes remained indomitable during tough times, but fell into decadence upon reaching the top? Without looking far, wasn’t Dong Zhuo corrupted in this way? Such a grand endeavor turned to dust – are you trying to doom Liu Bei?
With a "snap," everyone turned to the source of the sound, feeling a bit of heart palpitation—a white porcelain cup had been smashed to the floor, shattered to pieces.
"Chen Zichuan, what are you doing?" Liu Yan asked in anguish.
"Someone, go to my house and fetch another set," Chen Zichuan said calmly, completely ignoring Liu Yan who looked like he was on the verge of tears over the smashed cup, as well as the angry stares from Liu Ye and others.
The room fell silent; everyone’s eyes were on Chen Zichuan, expecting an explanation from him. However, Chen Zichuan simply sat in the seat of honor with his eyes closed to rest, until a guard brought over a whole set of white porcelain cups.
"Crash, crash, crash, crash~" Chen Zichuan nonchalantly smashed the cups along with the teapot, then turned to the guard who had brought them and said, "Have my butler bring the set with figures on them."
"Chen Zichuan, what are you doing!" Lub Su, who was always the nice guy, finally lost his temper after the guard had left, "What’s gotten into you today!"
Chen Zichuan turned to look at everyone present. Apart from Jia Xu, who appeared to be deep in thought, everyone else was livid. He couldn’t help but sigh. [Indeed, it’s as I thought. Liu Ye and Jia Xu are quite different. Jia Xu has already understood my intention, but Liu Ye and Lub Su, sigh~]
"Wen He, you explain it. I think you should know what’s going on," Chen Zichuan said as he turned his head to Jia Xu.
"The actual cost of these items shouldn’t be high, probably about the same as paper," Jia Xu said with a sigh. "Chen Zichuan can use paper worth a fortune as toilet paper, which seems like the ultimate luxury to those who don’t understand, but we, who do, know it’s not a big deal."
Jia Xu had indeed understood Chen Zichuan’s approach very clearly. To those unaware of the truth, constructing something from such materials would appear incredibly luxurious, but to those in the know, it really wasn’t anything special; all that largesse was just an illusion, a deception!
However, Jia Xu also realized one thing: as long as Chen Zichuan didn’t say otherwise, these items were indeed genuine and worth that much. Moreover, Jia Xu guessed how Chen Zichuan planned to educate the aristocratic family members in extravagance. They would let Liu Bei casually play with, discard, and destroy a piece of porcelain worth a fortune, and then repeat the process endlessly.
Once Liu Bei grew accustomed to, or numb to, treating treasures as mere toys, he would truly have become much more imposing. After all, to consider treasures so disposable... by then, Jia Xu couldn’t even imagine what kind of wealth could tempt Liu Bei.
"Sigh, Zichuan, I have to admire your approach," said Jia Xu with a wry smile, giving a formal salute. "I assume you’ve prepared for everything else too, your methods are indeed shocking. I’ll leave this matter to you to resolve."
"Leave it to me?" Chen Zichuan glanced at Jia Xu with dissatisfaction. "Don’t you know that it’s already my responsibility to handle these things? Rest assured, as soon as I find I can’t manage, I’ll seek help!"
At this point, Lub Su and the others seemed to have realized what was happening; they weren’t stupid, but they had been too dazzled by the treasures of the era to consider deeper implications, which was why they had been so indignant earlier.
"Zichuan, you should have told us about this!" Lub Su said, disgruntled. "This could be a huge source of income!"
"Go play on the side; this isn’t ready for the big stage yet," Chen Zichuan rolled his eyes and said. "When it comes to making money, I assure you I’m better at it than you. I still need to make a lot more money from this. It would truly be a tragedy to let you sell it."
Lub Su was speechless, then thought about it and realized it was true. When it came to making money, Chen Zichuan understood better than him, and how to make more money was indeed what Chen Zichuan was best at, even if most of the time he just came up with ideas and left the execution to Mi Zhu.
"Sigh, Zichuan, next time, if you can, just give us a heads-up," Liu Ye sighed. "You don’t need to go into detail, just a rough description will do, so we, as top officials, won’t be left in the dark when everything is already decided." Liu Ye seemed to have taken quite a hit, sometimes casting glances at Jia Xu, who had always been very low-key.
"I’ll keep that in mind," Chen Zichuan said with a chuckle. "Zijing, Zizhong, how far have you reached? How long before you can return? My new policies are almost ready," he said, gesturing to Mann Chong, who was still working frantically without paying any attention to the others.
"Boning is about to realize his lifelong dream; if I were him, I guess I, too, would focus on my work and ignore external affairs," Liu Ye said enviously, though his own dreams were still far off.
"His new policy is his wish? That’s really unfortunate news. I wonder how many years Boning will need to complete this arduous task." No sooner had Liu Ye spoken than Chen Zichuan shrugged his shoulders and looked pained in the direction of Mann Chong, indicating his misfortune, after all, this was just one district...
Just as Liu Ye was about to retort, a clattering noise came from outside. Then Fa Zheng came bursting in, holding a piece of intelligence, "Good news! Liu Jingzhou dispatched Wang Wei and Wen Zhongye to launch a surprise attack on Jiangxia, and he himself led Kuai Yidu and Huang Hansheng to attack Xiangyang!" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)
