Chapter 47

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Chen Xi, who came from another timeline, naturally knew what things could quickly make money in this era. Of course, these industries required sufficient military power to support them; otherwise, they would only invite disaster.

Papermaking, in an era where books were as precious as life, was equivalent to making money. The same went for printing, glass, and lime. These foundational technologies were all surefire ways to make money at this time. Don't think that just because the common people in the late Eastern Han Dynasty were poor, there was no money in this era.

The accumulated wealth of the aristocratic families over hundreds of years was enough to support a warlord. Consider that Cao Song, with just one generation of accumulation, had enough wealth to support Cao Cao's uprising. The wealth accumulated by the aristocratic families over a thousand years was beyond measure.

Moreover, in this era of scarce resources, Chen Xi had many ways to extract money from these aristocratic families. To be honest, Chen Xi was quite satisfied with the aristocratic families who valued benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Although there were some corrupt individuals, it was undeniable that many of them had admirable character, especially in terms of trustworthiness, which Chen Xi could only admire.

This was why Chen Xi dared to hand over the method of salt production, which was almost equivalent to printing money, directly to the soldiers, who would then pass it on to Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping. Although there might be some errors, the trustworthiness of this era was deeply ingrained, unlike the later era where people mocked poverty but not prostitution.

Chen Xi could guarantee that Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping would thoroughly study the method of salt production and even sell their family property to eagerly join Liu Bei's ranks. Most importantly, they would still preserve Chen Xi's technology, not taking any advantage, and even being generous to the point of surprising Chen Xi.

Chen Xi felt that, apart from the poor food, this era was much better than the materialistic era he came from. For example, the five-ding cooking method was not even as good as a simple stir-fry. Spices were a headache for Chen Xi.

In short, there were many technologies in this era that could make money. Even if he couldn't develop them himself, as long as he knew the general direction, he could find craftsmen to research them. In this era, craftsmen were completely at his disposal, and as soon as he hinted at offering them official positions, a large number of craftsmen would come, especially since they didn't yet understand the importance of craftsmen.

For Liu Bei, Taishan Commandery might seem like a swamp, but to Chen Xi, it was a big pie. Even if it were a swamp, Chen Xi believed that with his existing money-making plan, he could use money to level it out.

As for the waste of money, Chen Xi was completely unaware. With a population of 500,000, the money spent could always be recovered. It was just a pity that Taishan Commandery was not by the sea, otherwise, making money would be even easier.

As for Taishan Commandery being part of Yanzhou, Chen Xi didn't care. As for the idea of being back-to-back with Cao Cao, there was no need to be wary. Cao Cao would definitely first consolidate Yanzhou and would not touch Liu Bei until he had the strength. After all, with the current situation, Liu Bei seemed to be stronger than Cao Cao.

In other words, Liu Bei not dealing with Cao Cao was already giving Cao Cao face. If Cao Cao still had designs on Liu Bei, it would be suicidal.

Moreover, if Chen Xi's estimate was correct, Cao Cao's strategy after obtaining Xi Zhicai would be to consolidate most of Yanzhou, quietly swallow Sili, and then carefully give Yuan Shu an opportunity to swallow Yuzhou. As for the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou, Cao Cao would definitely be eyeing them but not daring to touch them, as touching them would mean certain death.

To be honest, the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou were a big pit. Although it was undeniable that there was a great tonic in that pit, none of the warlords at this time had the qualifications to consume it. They would surely be overwhelmed and die. The Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou numbered at least two to three million, and no warlord could support such a large number of mouths.

Even Chen Xi planned to deal with the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou two years later, considering that he would have enough money and food by then. Otherwise, he would have to postpone it further. As for how many would starve to death in those two years, Chen Xi had no good solution, so he could only let it be.

Although two years was a long time, Chen Xi had to prepare in advance for dealing with Qingzhou. This was almost a set strategy, and regardless of the reason, Qingzhou had to be pacified.

To be frank, Chen Xi was clearer than anyone else that by absorbing the two million able-bodied men from Qingzhou and buying women, as long as he could survive the first year, he could then proceed step by step, steadily and methodically, without making fatal mistakes, and the path to unifying the world would be on track.

Of course, this scenario assumes that Yuan Shu continues to act recklessly as in history. If he works as hard as Cao Cao, given the conditions set by the Yuan family, he might already have a strong position.

The Yuan family had a deep foundation, and the commanderies of Nanyang and Runan were almost as large as a state, with a combined population of nearly five million, not counting other parts of Yuzhou. If Yuan Shu hadn't squandered this solid foundation, even if he wanted to claim the throne, it would be a headache for other warlords to deal with him.

Therefore, Chen Xi included Yuzhou in his strategic plans, though this was just a thought. Since he needed a complete Yuzhou rather than a ruined one, the timing of his actions had to be early enough. This meant that while swallowing Qingzhou, he needed to withdraw the defenses in southern Taishan to lure Yuan Shu into a trap.

Of course, these were just Chen Xi's thoughts. However, he was clear that once Liu Bei began to attack Qingzhou and Yuan Shu started to eye Taishan, Cao Cao would not miss such a good opportunity, which was Chen Xi's greatest chance.

Chen Xi understood Cao Cao's adventurous nature and Xi Zhicai's supreme vision. They would not miss such an opportunity. Therefore, even with such a long lead time, Chen Xi would be prepared. In the future, he would have time to fill in the gaps, and in three to five years, even a strategist of Jia Xu's level would be dazzled by Chen Xi's plans. Even a fool has a moment of insight, let alone Chen Xi, who knew he wasn't very stupid.

Chen Xi, sitting on his horse, pondered the major strategies for the next few years, unaware that his actions over the next few years would shock the warlords of the world. Not investigating your preparations, not considering your plans, but always focusing on your nature and designing strategies based on it. Investigating preparations might have omissions, and considering plans might have flaws, but plotting based on your nature and character, who could see through it, or even if they did, who would doubt it?

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