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Facing the noble families is sothing 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 ti 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 fu, 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 soone 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 investnt, 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 sothing 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, co inside. I suppose you’re all very interested in this."
"Hahaha." Liu Bei laughed heartily, trying his best to hide the embarrassnt 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 so docunts, and nothing like what the rumors claid 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 contentnt.
"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 sothing Chen Lan had made for him only after he ca to Fenggao City. As for the sachet hanging on the left, that was sothing his wife Fan Jian had made for him; it was very delicate.
"What do you an 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 ans 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 ti 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 so stead 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 ti, things improved significantly. Compared with tasteless bread, stead 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 governnt-provided lunch had halved. With the sa 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 sa price at a stead bun shop, along with a small dish of pickles. As expected, Chen Xi’s bun shops did even better.
After so ti, it seed the governnt finally realized that fewer and fewer people were staying for lunch, so they negotiated with the bun shops. The governnt started issuing tickets to the refugees for work, who then could eat stead buns at the shops. Thanks to bulk buying, it was relatively cheaper. As a result, the refugees were grateful, the governnt 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 governnt’s expenses were greatly reduced, and the new refugees didn’t have tickets, only copper coins. Those eating stead 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 so ti passed, Chen Xi realized there seed 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 stead buns at the bun shop at night, without having to spend the sa, or even more money, to eat those hard buns at ho 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 punishnt 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 seed to make sense.
In all honesty, Chen Xi had originally planned to have soone carve a wooden stamp with the words "two stead buns
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