Chapter 39 Do I Want To Go?

  Liu Zhang smiled and said, "You are all from a scholarly background and are not familiar with the rules of business operations. For commerce to thrive in the long term, it is impossible to just give benefits to the wealthy families. That would only foster their privileged mentality and create family financial cliques. We must have a good market environment that encourages the wealthy families to participate voluntarily. The establishment of banks is precisely for creating such a good market environment.

  The pricing mechanism prevents merchants from hoarding and raising prices, and deceiving small traders. As long as the market environment is good, civilian commerce will inevitably rise, and the bank's loan mechanism can cultivate a large number of small businesses. Once there is a business atmosphere, those wealthy families will see the benefits and participate in it.

  Fa Zheng nodded slightly and said: "Chengdu has its own commercial foundation, as long as the Mu government induces it, it will surely prosper. Master, what is the second measure?"

  "Secondly, Yi State implemented the public field system, taking land as public property and renting it out to poor farmers who had no land..."

  Liu Zhang had not finished speaking, when several people widened their eyes, and even Zhang Ren and Yan Yan, two military generals, raised their heads. Fa Zheng immediately said: "Your Excellency, this move is absolutely impermissible. Once this order is given, the aristocratic families of Yi Province will rebel even if they don't want to. Those lands have been occupied by the aristocratic families for dozens or hundreds of years, how can it be possible to say that they will be returned to the government just because they are ordered to? Your Excellency's move is no different from turning things upside down and going against the current, please reconsider, Your Excellency."

  Huang Quan and others bowed together: "Please, milord, think thrice."

  "Three considerations, three considerations, can't you wait for me to finish speaking?" Liu Zhang glared at several people and said to Fa Zheng: "Do you think I don't know that those powerful clans regard their land as their life? If we want to take their land, it's better to capture them directly and kill them. Some small landlords have accumulated their family business through a lifetime of hard work. If I go and seize their land by clever means, won't I be afraid of being struck by thunder?"

  The recovery of land to public ownership is a process, we can offer a relatively high price to buy out the land that the common people are forced to sell, and then rent it to the poor farmers who have no land at a low price. This way, we will not infringe upon the interests of the wealthy families, nor will we allow them to monopolize the land, while also alleviating the land crisis faced by the poor farmers. Why not do it?

  Let me explain to you, the high-priced acquisition of poor farmers' land has two purposes. First, it stabilizes public security. Think about it, what kind of people are those who sell their land? Who among them isn't struggling to make ends meet, with weddings and funerals, and unexpected illnesses? We buy their land at a high price, so they have some money to alleviate their crisis. Then we rent it back to them at a low price, so they still have land to farm. This way, they won't be forced into desperation and crime.

  The second is to resist the Hào family's land annexation, the Hào family can't buy land, and their money will naturally be saved. What to do with the saved money? Except for being a miser, what else can they use it for except for doing business? This is to cut off their retreat, buying land requires spending a lot of money, but commerce can provide returns, this depends on whether our official shops can take the lead or not, Wáng Fǔ, are you confident?"

  "Your Excellency, forgive me. I, Wang Fu, do not have much confidence, but I will definitely exert my utmost effort to complete the tasks entrusted by Your Excellency."

  Liu Zhang smiled and said, "This is not your fault, you have never been involved in business before. I'll give you a solution. Go and hire the owners of those civilian shops at high prices to guide them. As for the manual assembly line workshop, explore it slowly. All I can tell you is that the so-called assembly line is to divide the production process of a product into many single steps, each person is responsible for one step, and then work together to complete it."

  "Oh." Wang Fu slightly understood, "Repetitive actions will necessarily make the action faster and also easier to master."

  "You're not bad, if you still don't have confidence, apart from Shu brocade, I'll give you some more products tomorrow." Liu Zhang said with a pat on Wang Fu's shoulder, softly saying: "Guaranteed to make money."

  Wang Fu bitterly smiled.

  "Alright." Liu Zhang summarized: "Zhang Ren and Yan Yan are in charge of expanding the army, Wang Fu's most important task is to establish the four departments' examination and official business, as well as the assembly line. Huang Quan also learns from experience, which will be promoted throughout the entire Western Sichuan region later on. Additionally, after the land purchase price is fixed, notices can be posted, especially for the lands left behind by the Jiangzhou aristocracy. Orders are given to Dong He, and the selling price of the land must be more than five times the market price, while the rent for poor farmers cannot exceed one-third of the market price. Alright, dismissed."

  "Huh, Lord... " Zhang Song suddenly spoke up, looking at Liu Zhang and hesitating before carefully saying: "Lord, is there something you've forgotten?"

  Several others looked at Zhang Song's expression and burst out laughing. Zhang Song glared at a few people, Liu Zhang patted his forehead and said: "Oh, I almost forgot, your appointment is very important, you are the first president of the Central Bank of Chengdu, overseeing the establishment and operation of the bank. The bank's opening is a bit troublesome, so let's start with a trial in Chengdu and surrounding counties for three months."

  "What's a bank president?" After others had dispersed, Zhang Song stood there in a daze, still not having turned the corner, and even though he was smarter than most people, he didn't know what this "bank president" meant.

  It was late at night, and the lights in Huang Quan's house were still shining brightly. Huang Yue walked out with a cup of tea in her hand and said with concern: "Brother, you should rest for a while. You just returned from a long expedition yesterday and stayed up all night today. Your body won't be able to take it."

  Huang Quan smiled and glanced at his sister, writing something while saying: "Nothing, now Yi state is in a critical period of development, I was entrusted with important tasks, how can I betray the kindness of my lord? My lord has handed over the task of gathering refugees, vigorously promoting agriculture and land acquisition to me, I must do it well."

  Huang Yue placed the steaming tea on the tea table, squatted down and said to Huang Quan with some embarrassment: "Brother, this Governor seems different from what we heard in Langzhong."

  "Huang Quan said casually, 'That's natural, the lord is a wise and just ruler who cares about the suffering of the people and has great ambitions. Alas, his personality is too straightforward and doesn't know how to compromise. As his subordinates, we need to consider more. These are my plans for land acquisition, which must be presented to the lord early tomorrow morning...'"

  "Tomorrow morning?" Huang Yue exclaimed in surprise, "This Governor is also too inconsiderate to his subordinates, having just returned to the city yesterday, staying up all night writing plans, and now wanting them presented at dawn tomorrow?"

  "How to speak?" Huang Quan scolded Huang Yue, and then sighed: "Land acquisition violates the interests of the Hao family, it must be done with caution. However, I know the master's mind. Half a month later, on the Ghost Festival, the masters will gather together, they must want to implement these policies before that, and see how the Hao family reacts. Time is pressing..."

  At this point, Huang Quan suddenly frowned and looked at Huang Yue: "Sister, why are you suddenly concerned about the state shepherd's affairs?"

  Huang Yue's face turned slightly red, fortunately the dim light concealed her inner unease. Huang Quan shook his head and said: "If there's nothing else, go to sleep, girls who stay up late will become ugly, let's see how you'll get married in the future."

  "Then you should go to bed early too." Huang Yue also felt a bit awkward and returned to her room.

  The moon had set and the rooster was crowing, Huang Yue came out of her room and saw that Huang Quan was still in the study, asleep with his head on the desk, his pen having fallen to the ground. Huang Yue couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache as she walked over to pick up the pen. At this time, she saw the draft on the desk, which had been mostly completed, except for the last few words, which were written somewhat sloppily. It seemed that her brother's physical strength was indeed failing him.

  Huang Yue suddenly remembered what Huang Quan said, these books should be presented to the governor today, but Huang Quan is in this state, and Huang Yue really can't bear to wake him up. The brother and sister had just arrived in Chengdu when Huang Quan was sent to reorganize the troops of Dongzhou, and then he led the army into battle, with no time to set up a household, let alone servants, even the house is rented, what to do?

  Why don't you go deliver it yourself?

  Huang Yue suddenly had this idea, and for some reason, her face turned red and her heart skipped a beat. She felt an inexplicable tension inside, yet somehow also a little excitement. Clutching the bamboo scroll tightly in her hand, she asked herself, "Should I go? Is it okay to do so?"

  At first, the scene of meeting Liu Zhang on the street appeared in his mind, Huang Yue finally gathered up the courage, put away the bamboo slips, covered his brother with a quilt, and took out the bamboo slips.

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