Longzang

Chapter 911 Human Nature is Greedy

"I would like to hear the details." Li Zhi sat up straight and listened attentively.

Zhang Sheng said, "The issuance of Zhenshan Yuan can be the same as that of Qing Yuan. Credit is the most important factor in the early stages, so I will take out 20 million Qing Yuan to exchange for the newly issued Zhenshan Yuan. You can use the Zhenshan Yuan you get to purchase the products in your territory."

Li Zhi had already studied the Qingyuan mechanism, so Zhang Sheng didn't need to say much. As long as Qingyuan provided crucial support at the beginning, he could handle the subsequent matters himself. Zhenshan Territory bordered the mountain people, and the territory was all seized from them. It had a large number of special products and precious minerals, and the population had now grown to over 700,000, laying the foundation for the production of Zhenshan Yuan.

Li Zhi understood the key point and immediately rose to bow, saying, "If we can obtain Qingming's support, Zhenshan Yuan will surely succeed. Li Zhi thanks Master Zhang in advance. If Master Zhang has any instructions, I will do my best to accomplish them!"

Zhang Sheng pondered for a moment before saying, "Judging from the situation in Zhao, I'm afraid they won't be able to tolerate you in the future. If your Zhenshan Territory is just struggling to survive and barely clinging to life, that's fine. But if the Zhenshan Yuan is launched, its strength will surely increase rapidly in a short period of time, and then I'm afraid it will cause trouble."

Li Zhi's expression turned serious, and he said, "I was prepared. This is how I intend to deal with it, but to make it work, I will need Zhang Shi's help."

Li Zhi governed Zhenshan Territory with great skill and talent, thus gaining not only the strong support of the Four Saints Academy but also the approval of the King of Southern Qi. The Zhao Kingdom initially placed Li Zhi in the western frontier as the first line of defense against the mountain people. However, Li Zhi unexpectedly won a series of victories, routing the mountain people in several major battles, expanding his territory by thousands of miles, and amassing an army of over 100,000.

If Zhenshan Territory continues to develop in this way, it may completely block the westward expansion of the Zhao Kingdom. King Zhao agreed to Li Zhi's request to establish the boundary stone to protect him from disaster, not to allow him to develop. Therefore, once Li Zhi's army exceeded 100,000, the Zhao Kingdom began to restrict the flow of goods to Zhenshan Territory under various pretexts, and also prevented displaced people from leaving the territory.

As a result, Qingming rose to prominence unexpectedly, and its resources were even more formidable. Most of the needs of Zhenshan Territory could be met directly from Qingming, and it no longer relied much on Zhao State for supplies.

Li Zhi's current plan is to recruit soldiers from Southern Qi, then transport them via Western Jin, and finally have Qingming transport them to Zhenshan Territory. Although this is a roundabout route, Western Jin is unwilling to offend Southern Qi, and Qingming will not obstruct the process. For some time now, Li Zhi has been using a piecemeal approach, transporting only two or three thousand people at a time, gradually recruiting fifty thousand elite soldiers and ten thousand skilled craftsmen from Southern Qi.

Li Zhi planned to recruit another 100,000 soldiers from Southern Qi and then replenish most of the supplies and equipment in Qingming. Even if the King of Zhao turned against them, the strength of Zhenshan Territory would be sufficient to protect itself. The reason Li Zhi was able to establish the boundary stone here was because he had exchanged benefits with the State of Zhao. If the King of Zhao went back on his word, the King of Qi would certainly not let it go easily.

However, in this way, of the 20 million Qingyuan that Zhang Sheng exchanged, 10 million would likely flow back directly. In a way, this could be considered Li Zhi's return.

After listening to Li Zhi's plan, Zhang Sheng said, "The longer we wait, the more things may go wrong. Now is the perfect time, while Jin and Zhao are still at war. Why not secretly accomplish the things that will take place in the next two months?"

Li Zhi's heart fluttered once again.

The Western Jin dynasty had already opened all the channels for communication. No one would mind if the airships used for transporting troops and people were a little larger. With a little more crowding in the cabins, the number of people could easily increase from a little over a thousand to four thousand. If they were even more determined, they could simply leave the ships without any supplies, let the people go hungry for a few days, and then land in Qingming to buy supplies and eat a meal on the spot. It wouldn't be impossible for one ship to hold ten thousand people.

By the middle of March, Li Zhi was confident he could bring in 150,000 elite troops from Southern Qi, plus 50,000 artisans. At that time, the garrison would exceed one million men, including 300,000 elite troops, 300,000 civilians, and over 100,000 skilled artisans, with less than 200,000 ordinary farmers. The proportions would be extremely unbalanced.

According to the customs of the Southern Qi Dynasty, it would take about ten farmers to support one elite infantryman and fifty farmers to support one heavily armored cavalryman. However, Li Zhi had the backing of Qingming, and most of his military supplies were purchased from Qingming. This ratio was not problematic, directly thwarting the Prince of Zhao's plan to control him. Whether Qingming would then control him was a matter for later.

Li Zhi made a quick decision, saying, "Then please ask Commander Zhang to prepare enough food supplies for 200,000 men. My father will present the silver in the next batch of flying ships."

Zhang Sheng smiled slightly and said, "Once the Zhenshan Yuan is issued, we won't need to go through all this trouble."

After Li Zhi left, only Feng Chutang and Master Fenhai remained in the chariot. Feng Chutang gave Master Fenhai several meaningful glances, and Fenhai, helpless, could only ask, "Disciple, why did you have Li Chengfeng and Li Zhi each issue so many Yuan?"

Zhang Sheng said, "Senior Brother Feng must have guessed pretty much by now, so why don't we let him explain?"

Feng Chutang smiled wryly and said, "I can only guess the first few levels, but you must have a backup plan, which I can't guess."

The Burning Sea Immortal, relying on his seniority, said, "Then tell me the levels you've guessed."

Feng Chutang said, “First of all, both Bishui and Zhenshan have limited strength and resources. If they want to issue paper money stably, they need to borrow a large amount of green yuan as support, especially at the beginning. Moreover, they need to peg the exchange rate to green yuan and have enough green yuan to pay out at any time. Only in this way can the issuance be successful. This is actually equivalent to expanding the status and circulation of green yuan. The more forces that issue paper money, the wider the use of green yuan will be. If this is the case, green yuan will naturally become the basis of all currencies.”

Master Fenhai nodded slowly, looking as if he deeply agreed.

"Secondly, if various regions want to maintain a stable currency value for a long time, they will inevitably accumulate a large amount of Qingyuan. These Qingyuan will circulate through their hands. For example, now, the natural boundary of Qingyuan is no longer the Qingming Realm, but the boundary between Bishui and Zhenshan. With a large amount of Qingyuan in their hands, they will eventually come back to buy our goods, so we don't need to worry about having too many goods and not being able to sell them."

“That makes a lot of sense.” Master Fenhai pondered earnestly.

"Thirdly, there's a less obvious benefit. Those who have used Qingyuan, or those who possess Qingyuan, will naturally tend to side with us. Even if they don't say it, they'll still have a bias in their hearts. The stronger Qingyuan is, the more of these people there will be. These little things accumulate and become a raging torrent. This is pretty much what is meant by the will of the people."

Master Fenhai began to ponder deeply, and subconsciously said, "Is there such a thing?"

Feng Chutang said, "There are a dozen or so minor follow-up items, but none of them are very important, so I won't go into them one by one."

Fen Hai could no longer maintain his superior demeanor; his face showed shock, and he could only think of, "How come there are more than a dozen items? I... how come I can't think of a single one?"

Feng Chutang sighed, looked at Zhang Sheng, and said, "I know you've gone to such great lengths, even going so far as to fight a battle with Zhao as a prelude, so you must have a backup plan. Unfortunately, I can't figure it out at all." Fenhai Zhenren was an impatient and curious man, and couldn't help but say, "Disciple, stop keeping me in suspense, tell me your backup plan! I will never tell anyone."

Zhang Sheng didn't even lift his eyelids, and said, "You old man, you probably don't even believe what you're saying yourself, do you?"

Master Fenhai blushed and said, "Well... nothing major has happened in the past, so I might occasionally let something slip. But don't worry this time, everything will stop with me."

Zhang Sheng remained unmoved and picked up a history book. Even the mighty Burning Sea Immortal's glaring and bluster were to no avail.

Seeing that Master Fenhai had moved to a corner of the carriage and started sulking against the wall, Zhang Sheng sighed helplessly, "This matter is of great importance and must not be leaked in the slightest. Master, you are not good at keeping your mouth shut, so it's better if you don't know."

"I swear by blood, is that enough?" Master Fenhai roared.

To everyone's surprise, Zhang Sheng said, "Then go ahead and send it. Oh, and don't forget to include that Gao Xiu from your current workplace in the oath as well."

The old master of the Burning Sea's face instantly turned bright red, and he stammered, "This, what does this have to do with her... Besides, why are you bringing this up? Your teacher has fallen to this state because of your good disciple back then!"

Zhang Sheng read quietly, unmoved.

Left with no other choice, Master Fenhai had to truly swear a blood oath. However, when mentioning that person's name, he spoke very softly and very quickly, just glossing over it. But Feng Chutang, seemingly sitting still, had his ears perked up. With his current cultivation level, no matter how fast Master Fenhai spoke, he easily caught the name, and immediately felt a surge of excitement: Ah, it's that person! So these two had already…

After Fen Hai swore a complete blood oath, Zhang Shengfang said, "The essence of issuing currency is exchanging paper for goods. No matter how the initial regulations are designed, or how perfect the regulations are, those in power will eventually discover this. When they realize that they can exchange a lot of wealth with just some worthless paper money, do you think they won't want to print more paper, and then print more and more, until they print on a massive scale?"
Whether it's Li Chengfeng or the King of Zhao, the moment they lose control and start printing excessive amounts of paper money will mark the beginning of internal strife. And such is human nature; even if they can restrain themselves for a time, they cannot restrain themselves forever, and there will always be a time when they begin printing money recklessly.

After Zhang Sheng finished speaking, Feng Chutang pondered the matter carefully, becoming increasingly alarmed.

Fen Hai looked completely bewildered, finding it even more difficult than when he listened to the Immortal Lord's sermons back then. He finally managed to find a point to ask, saying, "But if they randomly imprint the seals and then have to exchange one for one with Qing Yuan, wouldn't we be at a loss?"

Zhang Sheng explained, "Apart from the first exchange, the rest of the exchanges are based on market conditions. If they print indiscriminately and someone is still willing to exchange at a 1:1 ratio, it is naturally beyond our control, but it is also none of our business."

Feng Chutang said, "Then we'll probably have to spend the Biyue Yuan and Zhenshan Yuan we got back as soon as possible. In the early stages of issuance, they will probably try their best to maintain their credibility."

Zhang Sheng replied, "I'll just exchange a few hundred or a thousand as a token. I don't plan to exchange the rest."

Fen Hai was taken aback and said, "How can we not exchange? Wouldn't that be a real loss?"

Zhang Sheng calmly said, "Let them make a fortune so they can develop a habit of extravagance. Otherwise, printing money might be delayed for a long time."

Finally, the army returned to Qingming. When they got off the carriage, Feng Chutang walked side by side with Zhang Sheng. Every now and then, he would turn his head to look at Zhang Sheng's stunning face. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

It took Feng Chutang a lot of effort to muster up her courage and say, "Actually, I..."

Zhang Sheng said calmly, "So you finally want to admit you're no match for me?"

Feng Chutang looked surprised and said, "How did you know?!"

Zhang Sheng said calmly, "You can't beat me in magic, and now you're no match for me in political strategy either. So I knew you would say this one day. Just like the King of Zhao printing money, it was only a matter of time."

……

In the desolate realm, at the fortress of Sharp Edge, Wei Yuan sat high above, addressing the dozens of carefully selected power sorcerers below: "To do a good job, one must first have the right tools! A natural flesh and blood body, with its skin, fur, scales, and claws, can never compare to meticulously forged magical artifacts and armor. Although none of you came here intending to leave alive, only by living can you continuously kill enemies and build your achievements. And what if you do survive until the day you can leave?"

Now, you don't need to think. Just do as I say obediently, and you can get rid of the "what if" in that last sentence!

The shamans listened with some skepticism, but without needing to think, they immediately took the words to heart.

Wei Yuan was quite satisfied with the sporadic streams of fortune that were arriving. He now felt that choosing to be at the forefront was indeed the right thing to do. There was a top-tier Desolate Witch here, and he had already grasped the Desolate Witch's weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Wei Yuan was determined to obtain this fortune.

　P.S.: Updates may not be available tonight, but I will try my best.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)