Chapter Eighteen: The Cost of Doing Business

  What are the elements that determine the outcome of a war? Technology, human resources, and economy. Technology is the primary productive force, and the level of technology affects the quality of weapons and equipment on both sides. For example, in the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China and the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the unequal levels of technology led to an imbalance in military strength between the two sides, with the outcome already decided before the war even began. Although it is impossible to replicate 21st-century technology in the Three Kingdoms era, achieving a breakthrough beyond one's time in certain areas or specific fields is not entirely impossible.

  The second element is human resources. Familiar with the Three Kingdoms, those historical celebrities can be said to be familiar with themselves, and it's not impossible to bring them under their own account before they make a name for themselves. Although there are many heroes in the world, it's a bit like a fool's dream to pull all of them under their own banner, but if they can recruit a few more under their account, who knows how much stronger than Liu Bei at that time, and opportunities will always arise in the future.

  The third point is the economy. What is referred to as the economy mainly refers to money, and modern warfare is fought with money. The United States' war in Iraq costs $500 million per day, and without a strong national economic backing, how can one afford such a costly war? Although ancient wars did not cost as much (five billion US dollars would be an astronomical figure during the Eastern Han dynasty), having no money is absolutely unacceptable. Recruiting soldiers, purchasing horses and equipment, and providing food and salaries for soldiers all require spending money. Liu Bei lost his father at a young age and grew up in poverty, relying on his uncle's support to study. When he started his uprising, he relied on the financial assistance of several horse merchants to gather a few hundred people. If he had had enough money at the time, he could have assembled tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and would not have worried about conquering the world. However, having money is more difficult than the first two conditions. After all, Liu Bei's family was a declining imperial clan (the descendants of Han Gaozu were scattered throughout the land after several generations), neither powerful nor wealthy landlords or merchants. The capital for his uprising was weak, and this seems to be the key factor that affected Liu Bei's life.

  After bidding farewell to Gong Sun and Liu Bei, Liu Ze secretly thought about what project to make money from. Salt and iron were state monopolies, and grain was even more unified in purchase and sale, far from the developed commodity economy of the Han Dynasty. Suddenly, a bright light flashed in his mind, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Jin merchants were rich and prosperous, with goods circulating all over the world, and their business projects were tea and silk, why not start from this aspect?

  The main tea-producing areas during the Han Dynasty were in Jiangnan. The rebellion of Lujiang and Shanyue affected several counties in Jiangnan, cutting off most transportation to the south. Silk production was widespread, but the best quality silk, known as Shu brocade, came from Chengdu. However, due to the difficulty of traveling on the Shu Road, only a limited amount of Shu brocade was transported out of Chengdu. It is said that in the capital city of Luoyang, Shu brocade was in short supply and highly priced. Additionally, merchants from Parthia would buy it up at high prices, making it even harder to obtain.

  Liu Ze made up his mind to start with the silk business, but then he was worried again. He had a project, but where would the startup capital come from? Although his family had enough food and clothing, they were only barely making ends meet, and the amount of money needed to do business was far beyond what they had. Borrowing money? From whom? He was just a teenager with no property to mortgage, who would lend him money?

  He was also at a loss. After being depressed for a while, he could only go out to clear his mind. On the way, he happened to meet Jian Yong. It turned out that Jian Yong had also dropped out of school and had nothing to do at home, so he was strolling on the street. Liu Ze told him about his idea, which he had been thinking about for a long time. Jian Yong listened with some interest and immediately asked Liu Ze to count him in.

  Jian Yong was quick-witted and skilled in arithmetic, so Liu Ze was overjoyed to have him as a helper. However, Jian's family background was ordinary, and the problem of funding could not be solved. Liu Ze didn't mention this issue to him, but instead invited him to set out on that day, watching him leave with excitement, his heart became even more anxious and worried, walking aimlessly, unaware that he had already left the North Gate.

  All the shops around him were closed, and Liu Ze was puzzled. The pork shop, fabric shop, pawnshop, and jewelry store outside the north gate were all owned by Zhang Fei's family. It was a normal day, not a holiday or festival, so why were they all closed? Thinking of Zhang Fei, since he entered the Lu School, they had fewer opportunities to meet. Counting on his fingers, it had been almost half a year since they last met, and Liu Ze wondered how much taller this little black kid had grown. Liu Ze decided to go see Zhang Fei first.

  From a distance, Liu Ze saw that the Zhang residence was hanging black mourning streamers and white lanterns, clearly indicating that they had just held a funeral. He was taken aback and didn't know who in the Zhang family had passed away. Hurriedly going forward to ask, he found out that it was Zhang Fei's father, Zhang Old Gentleman, who had died. Therefore, he requested an audience with Zhang Fei.

  Before long, Zhang Fei rushed out like a black smoke, shouting loudly: "Big brother, you've finally arrived! You're going to kill me, little brother!" His voice was as loud as a bell, attracting the attention of people from all around.

  Liu Ze knew he was still in mourning and that such loud noise was unseemly, so he hastily pulled him into the mansion.

  "Big brother, since you entered that whatever school, you haven't come to see your brothers. Are you going to forget about us?!" Zhang Fei shouted loudly as if no one was around.

  Liu Ze looked at Zhang Fei, who had grown a lot taller in the past half year. He was originally about the same height as Liu Ze, but now he was almost half a head taller, with broad shoulders and a sturdy body, like a tiger's arm and a bear's waist.

  "How could I forget? No one can make me forget you, my virtuous younger brother. It's just that I didn't know about the passing of your respected father and haven't paid my respects yet."

  Zhang Fei chuckled and said, "The old man is always nagging, it's better for him to die and be at peace." Liu Ze knew that Zhang was usually careless and didn't take it seriously.

  Just then a servant brought in tea, and Zhang Fei asked: "Isn't Second Brother studying at the Lu family's residence? What brings him here?"

  Liu Ze then appointed Lu Zhi as the governor of Lujiang to lead the southern expedition against the mountainous Yue tribes. He told him about the dissolution of the Xuetang Academy and also shared his own idea of doing silk business, saying that he was in a predicament due to lack of capital.

  Hearing this, Zhang Fei slapped his thigh and shouted: "No capital? This is easy! You've come to the right place, brother! Steward!"

  A thin and small-looking butler-like person walked in with a quivering face, "Go, bring all the cash over here!"

  Liu Ze hastily blocked him and said: "It can't be done, your respected father has just passed away. I've already disturbed you today, let's discuss the matter of borrowing money another day."

  "Whatever it is you want to borrow, brother, every single copper coin of mine is yours for the taking. If you're going to be like that, then you're looking down on your own brother."

  Look at that steward still standing there, and glared: "Go quickly!" The steward was frightened, nodded and replied, and went down.

  With a creaking sound, the housekeeper came in with two servants, one holding a wooden tray with some scattered gold and silver on it, and another with dozens of strings of copper coins. The housekeeper's waist was almost bent to the ground. "Young master, all the cash is here."

  Zhang Fei took a look, and his seven orifices smoked with rage. He let out a loud roar, kicked the two plates to the ground with a clang, and grabbed the steward's front lapel, shouting: "Damn it! Is this all the cash you have? Did you embezzle Grandfather's money?"

  The housekeeper was so frightened that his three souls went and two spirits fled, "Small, small, dare not, young master spare your life..."

  Liu Ze finally managed to persuade Zhang Fei back to his seat with great difficulty, but Zhang Fei continued to drink and scold without stopping.

  "Speak up! Where did all the money go? Is this all there is? If you tell even half a lie, I'll skin you alive today!"

  The steward was so frightened that he almost collapsed, and stammered in reply: "There wasn't much cash in the house to begin with. When the master was alive, all his money was invested in shops and real estate. This year's rent hasn't been collected yet, and the master's funeral expenses used up more than half of the ready cash. Moreover, since the shops have been closed for many days, even after collecting from seven or eight shops, there is only this little cash."

  Zhang Fei slammed his fist on the table and shouted "Get out!"

  The housekeeper and the servants were overjoyed as if they had been granted a great amnesty, and quickly retreated.

  Zhang Fei's face turned red with sweat and he said: "Big brother, this..."

  Liu Zei waved his hand and said, "Younger brother's intention has been understood by older brother. Please don't worry about it anymore, older brother will take care of the money matters. It's getting late, I'll take my leave."

  Zhang Fei reluctantly escorted Liu Ze out of the mansion and bid him farewell with a bow.

  Liu Ze saw Zhang Fei's embarrassment, but in fact he was even more embarrassed. However, at the moment he walked into Zhang's mansion, he had a glimmer of hope that Zhang Fei could help him. But this result made him somewhat disappointed and cut off his hope, leaving him feeling hopeless. In the early days of the Three Kingdoms, was it really so difficult?

  For several days in a row, Liu Ze was really depressed to the extreme, he didn't think about tea and rice, and his body had also become much thinner. His mother asked him anxiously what was wrong with him, but he could only make excuses saying that he had a headache and didn't want to eat. He didn't want his parents to share his worries, let alone help him in any way.

  Liu Zesi thought about it, and among his friends, only Gong Sunzhan was a rich young master who might be able to help him. However, Liu Zesi got a headache thinking about it - he had just rejected Gong Sunzhan's enthusiastic invitation, and now he would have to go ask for help again, which made Liu Zesi feel like he had no dignity left. Moreover, although Gong Sunzhan was the son of a noble family, he was an illegitimate child, so even if he wanted to lend money, it was still uncertain whether he could get a large sum.

  Liu Ze told himself in his heart that he had to try everything to know. He made up his mind, tomorrow morning he would go to Youzhou, no matter how difficult it was, and borrow money back.

  He didn't sleep all night, and early the next morning, he hadn't gotten out of bed yet when he heard a lot of noise outside, horses neighing, and hurriedly got up to look. He saw a long line of horses and vehicles at the door, and at the head of them was a tall and sturdy black man shouting loudly - if it wasn't Zhang Fei, who could it be?

  Zhang Fei burst out laughing as soon as he saw Liu Ze, and took the initiative to greet him. Liu Ze was confused and didn't know what Zhang Fei was up to, so he walked forward and said: "Younger brother, what's going on here..."

  Zhang Fei chuckled and patted the two heavy bags on the horse's back, saying: "Big brother, aren't you looking for money? These are all of it, and those in the back are all of it too, pure gold and silver, haha!"

  Liu Ze was taken aback: "Where did you get so much cash?"

  Zhang Fei smiled foolishly and said, "I've sold all the shops, mansions, and fields, except for these few dozen strong house slaves. I've also sold all the other servants, and exchanged them all for cash. Now you have enough to make a big purchase."

  Good heavens, Liu Ze was completely stunned. He hadn't expected Zhang Fei to do such a thing, sacrificing his entire family's property just to support him. Looking at the honest and simple-minded black giant, he felt an inexplicable emotion welling up inside him, and his eyes reddened as he choked out: "Younger brother, you shouldn't have..."

  "Big brother, you and I are brothers, what's the difference between us? From now on, I'll be a lone wanderer, with only big brother to look up to."

  "Why sell it? It's better to mortgage it and redeem it back when you've made money."

  "What a hassle! Besides, even if I pawn it, I won't get much money for it. Selling it is the best option!"

  "These industries are the result of your father's hard work for many years, and they are the only thing left to remember him by. You've sold them all off; can you still face your father's spirit in heaven?"

  "It doesn't matter, big brother you're a man who does great things, brothers won't misjudge, a real man can build a career and make a name for himself, it's not in vain to come to this world."

  Liu Ze grasped Zhang Fei's hand tightly and said: "Well said, brother! I, the elder brother, hereby solemnly swear that the future world will be ours!"