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Facing the noble families is something that every emperor of each era must do, but truly subduing them is a feat few have accomplished through the ages. Chen Xi did not believe that Liu Bei, whose power was not yet mature, could subdue these fellows, even with the foresight and the strategy of seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster that a transmigrator might have. After all, directly confronting the noble families at this point in time did not align with the transmigrator’s instinct to seek good fortune and avoid disaster.
With a two-pronged approach in mind, one of carrots and one of sticks, if Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping could crush the Zhen Family’s shops and make them understand the difference between feudal lords and noble families, that would be ideal. A simple apology, as long as it was face-saving and could prevent Liu Bei from continuing to fume, would suffice.
If the Zhen Family really had incomparable influence, then Chen Xi would have to take matters into his own hands. Whether it was through economic pressure or a bold strike to eliminate the Zhen Family’s upper echelon and provide them with a dignified funeral, Chen Xi could assure that regardless of whether Zhen Mi truly possessed the grace of a phoenix, she would likely end up as someone else’s plaything, and Yuan Shao would at most feel disgraced but would not go to war with Liu Bei over it.
"Zichuan, just how much money do you have? Since you entered Fenggao, you’ve been continuously pouring in money and grain without any sign of return on investment, and yet you’ve managed to hold on. Do we really have that much money?" Jian Yong, seeing Chen Xi begin to lapse into his usual daze and with the autumn harvest fast approaching, finally could not contain his curiosity and asked. Even Zhao Yun, who was beside him, looked up with interest upon hearing Jian Yong’s question, as it was something everyone in Fenggao City was curious about.
"Yes, there’s a lot of money, and it’s continuously growing. What about it?" Chen Xi said with a yawn. "Lord Xuande, no need to stand outside. If you want to listen, come inside. I suppose you’re all very interested in this."
"Hahaha." Liu Bei laughed heartily, trying his best to hide the embarrassment on his face. However, seeing that Chen Xi was listless and not paying attention to him, he did not continue to laugh.
"Indeed, many people now think of you, Chen Zichuan, as a prodigal son, possessing endless wealth." Liu Bei chucklingly teased, others might not know, but how could he not know? Chen Xi sat here every day, sipping tea, reviewing some documents, and nothing like what the rumors claimed of drawing carts of money from a certain place every day, but indeed, he had managed to make everyone live and work in peace and contentment.
"This is all the money I have." Chen Xi casually untied a brocade bag from his waist and with a clang, dropped it onto the table. This was something Chen Lan had made for him only after he came to Fenggao City. As for the sachet hanging on the left, that was something his wife Fan Jian had made for him; it was very delicate.
"What do you mean by this, Zichuan?" Liu Bei picked a seat casually and sat down, looking puzzled at the money bag Chen Xi had tossed on the table.
"It means I haven’t invested a single copper coin into Fenggao. The seemingly vast wealth of Fenggao doesn’t actually exist," Chen Xi said seriously as he sat up. "Of course, the refugees that we have gathered keep creating value; it seems like I’m continuously putting money into it, but in reality, I don’t have any money to invest."
Liu Bei did not understand, Jian Yong looked blank, and Zhao Yun scratched his head in confusion.
"Alright, to put it simply, you see I pay them a daily wage, right? Although it’s not much, over time the money that has flowed out from my hands has already exceeded ten million coins. But have you thought about it? Not just am I spending money; the common people who earned the money are also spending it. After all, once they’ve been paid, there’s no need to worry about dinner anymore," Chen Xi mumbled listlessly, looking utterly despondent.
Still not understanding, the few of them still had perplexed expressions on their faces.
"I had some steamed bun shops opened," Chen Xi said, yawning.
He was forced to research this after he couldn’t stand the tasteless bread anymore. There had been many failures, but once he succeeded for the first time, things improved significantly. Compared with tasteless bread, steamed buns were a profitable business for sure; tastier, filling, and good for digestion. No one knew that a two-liang bun didn’t even use one and a half liang of flour, and so business was booming...
Moreover, Chen Xi had the policy that the lunch provided to those working should only be filling but not delicious. Tasteless bread was enough to fill up on; scraggly millet porridge was just about acceptable. Compared with the bun shops, the number of people eating the government-provided lunch had halved. With the same choice of food, why eat tasteless bread that was as hard as rocks previously, when there was no other choice? Now, they could get the same price at a steamed bun shop, along with a small dish of pickles. As expected, Chen Xi’s bun shops did even better.
After some time, it seemed the government finally realized that fewer and fewer people were staying for lunch, so they negotiated with the bun shops. The government started issuing tickets to the refugees for work, who then could eat steamed buns at the shops. Thanks to bulk buying, it was relatively cheaper. As a result, the refugees were grateful, the government was spared the effort of making lunch, and everybody was happy.
Subsequently, Chen Xi sent all the unemployed cooks who had been making lunch to open bun shops everywhere. As expected, everyone was delighted. The government’s expenses were greatly reduced, and the new refugees didn’t have tickets, only copper coins. Those eating steamed buns found themselves spending a few dozen more coins each month than the others, were discontented, and insisted on exchanging their coins for tickets. Well, that solved the issue of insufficient money...
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After some time passed, Chen Xi realized there seemed to be an excess of refugees and not enough money. Then, one of the refugees discovered that he could actually use the white stripe to buy steamed buns at the bun shop at night, without having to spend the same, or even more money, to eat those hard buns at home that were as tough as rocks...
This secret quietly spread, and then the wages were reduced even further. Every day, Chen Xi’s job was to continuously stamp his seal ribbon on the newly developed white paper, and then have Zhao Yun neatly chop it into ten strips. Zhao Yun was incredibly efficient at this task; over a thousand pieces laid out on the table, and with a swift flash of his sword, the job was done without damaging the table’s surface.
The idea that such a revolutionary sheet of paper could be used as a general equivalent was simply absurd. But then again, it didn’t really matter, since no one could replicate it. Even if they managed to replicate the paper, they would still need Chen Xi’s stamp. Speaking of which, privately engraving an imperial seal in the Han Dynasty was like extermination of three clans? Maybe it was even punishment of nine clans. Anyway, it was easier to make small coins like Dong Zhuo did, since nobody bothered about that. At most, the people under his rule would suffer a bit, and using paper as money seemed to make sense.
In all honesty, Chen Xi had originally planned to have someone carve a wooden stamp with the words "two steamed buns", but soon realized that he would have to stamp many times on such slender wood. So, he opted for the simpler and quicker solution of using Lord Xuande’s General Anton seal, which was large enough. Based on the standard value of a thin strip being equivalent to two steamed buns, Chen Xi declared he would only need to pay a small amount of wages each month. The rest could be paid with these strips.
A small amount of money was still money, after all. With half a million people stirring up trouble, bandits and mountain bandits switched professions to refugees, and the Yellow Turbans near Mount Tai in Qingzhou turned into refugees as well. In short, the number of refugees kept increasing. Later, the refugees in Mount Tai switched jobs to become national residents, making Mount Tai seem more and more prosperous.
Thus, Chen Xi opened several stores of essential goods. After all, the entire Mount Tai Commandery was under his rule, and the bandits were his bandits from Mount Tai. He could do whatever he wanted. This way, most of the copper coins he issued returned to him, and he could issue them again. Plus, the good thing about the shops Chen Xi had people open was that they accepted the white stripe as payment...
Just like that, over ninety-nine percent of the merchants were wiped out. An equivalent commodity that couldn’t be used outside Mount Tai—who would accept that and be courting death? Perhaps keep it to exchange for steamed buns on Mount Tai, but could you eat that many?
To put it bluntly, if there really were merchants willing to accept the white stripes, Chen Xi would consider the character of that merchant. For example, he was willing to exchange grain for white stripes with compliant merchants like the Mi Family. As for the Zhen Family who angered Liu Bei, Chen Xi wouldn’t mind giving them a warehouse full of white stripes. As a human-shaped minting machine, he felt no pressure. So it was clever of the Zhen Family to run away quickly—they knew what was good for them.
Chen Xi explained in detail his every action from before, but Liu Bei and the others still were utterly confused. Witnessing Chen Xi slouching, head propped by his hand, looking listless, Liu Bei finally couldn’t resist interrupting him.
"Stop, Zichuan. Although I really don’t understand what you’re saying, judging by the actual results, you truly are amazing," interrupted Liu Bei, looking bewildered.
"As expected, nobody can understand. It seems I must find an internal affairs expert whose IQ exceeds ninety. It’s too lonely now," said Chen Xi, with a look of loneliness only an expert could exhibit as he propped his head in his hand.
"Zichuan, why do you always appear so weary, as if you are on the verge of dozing off?" Liu Bei changed the subject, feeling that continuing to listen to a heavenly book was beyond his limits. Anyway, as long as Chen Xi built up something, that was all that mattered. The specifics seemed less important.
"Spring tiredness, autumn fatigue, summer drowsiness, and in winter, lying in a quilt. Currently, I suffer from autumn fatigue," said Chen Xi with a worn-out look. "But rest assured, Lord Xuande, there won’t be major problems with the state affairs." Saying so, Chen Xi shifted slightly to make himself more comfortable, reflecting on the downside of idleness—it made one prone to falling asleep.
Liu Bei, Jian Yong, and Zhao Yun all looked at Chen Xi helplessly. Is that supposed to be a reason? All year round, you’re sleepy – what are you, a pig? Eat and sleep, sleep and eat. It’s a wonder how you learned all your skills. Could it really be something divine, as if from a dream?
"Report!" Just as a cold silence settled over the group, a messenger barged in, yelling loudly. Chen Xi instantly snapped to alertness. Zhao Yun and Liu Bei, both sharp-eyed martial artists, saw a fine sweat break out on Chen Xi, guessing he must have been startled. He had been awakened with a jolt from his drowsy state.
Chen Xi looked solemnly at the messenger seated below, lamenting the loss of comfortable drowsiness that had been scared away, leaving him startled and half dead with fright. [From now on, I can’t sleep in the Political Office anymore. It’s too terrifying.]
"Is there something to report?" asked Chen Xi calmly.
"Mi Zizhong of Xuzhou and Lu Zijing of Linhuai have come to visit together," the messenger replied loudly.
"Hm?" Chen Xi was startled, then his expression recovered, and he felt a burst of joy inside, "Lord Xuande, Great Wealth and a Great Sage are on their way."
