Chapter 71

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone~ Speaking of traditional festivals, I will add more updates...

With this powerful weapon, Chen Xi was already prepared to lure those famous officials from Yingchuan who were planning to return home from Mount Tai after leaving Yuan Shao. His goal was to catch them all in one net!

Lu Su and Chen Xi talked all night, and the next day, with dark circles under his eyes, Lu Su went to the government office. Liu Bei, with a pleased expression, handed the seal of the Governor of Mount Tai to Chen Xi, and then handed the seal of the Vice Governor of Mount Tai, which Chen Xi had just relinquished, to Lu Su. The transfer of power was finally complete, and it seemed that Chen Xi had reached the peak of his career.

As the leaders of the Mount Tai bandits were persuaded to surrender one by one by Zang Ba, the remaining stubborn and ignorant fools were thoroughly dealt with by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei leading the new army. Mount Tai was now stable, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had each returned to Fenggao with their captives.

"Zi Jing, here are the numbers for this year's cultivated land. The tax rate is with Zilong, and the grain to be supplied to the central government. You calculate it and give me a rough number," Chen Xi planned out what needed to be done in the autumn and winter, and began to handle the current government affairs. As before, Chen Xi only assigned personnel and set general goals, and the detailed plans would be worked out by others.

For example, Lu Su was the one who actually did the work, while Chen Xi basically just gave orders. He was very clear about his strengths: he had the vision and experience, but he wasn't good at hands-on work. It was only natural to leave professional matters to professionals. Besides, didn't you see that Lu Su was very satisfied with being trusted and eager to show his capabilities? So Chen Xi gave him more tasks, and the burden on the four great generals of Eastern Wu should be increased.

"How can you give a rough number? One is one, two is two. How can politics be vague? Isn't this giving subordinates a chance to embezzle?" Lu Su sternly refused Chen Xi's offer.

"Oh, I mean you just need to report the whole number. The rest can be used as assistance for the elders and widows in the counties during the New Year. They have it tough and should be taken care of," Chen Xi casually came up with an excuse.

"After distributing it, the remaining part can be used as a subsidy for our outstanding students next year. Once those young people start studying, they become one less laborer at home. Although the people would grit their teeth and support a student even if we didn't, I think we should be more humane," Chen Xi said, yawning, and then thought of a series of good ideas to boost his reputation.

"This method is excellent, but why doesn't Zichuan write a detailed plan?" Lu Su nodded, seeing the benefits of these two moves, and asked curiously.

"It's too simple. Don't waste paper on something that can be conveyed verbally," Chen Xi came up with another reasonable excuse.

Chen Xi was right. Since paper began to be used in the government office, Mi Zhu had been eyeing it. After getting Chen Xi's promise to allow sales, and the exclusive right to sell in the south, Mi Zhu had become much more content, but he still occasionally came to the government office to ask for favors.

Fortunately, a few days ago, Chen Xi, unable to bear the mysterious disappearance of the paper he had prepared, gave him the exclusive right to sell refined salt in the four states of Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yuzhou, and Xuzhou. He was to take the document to Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping to collect the salt. After three months of preparation, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping had produced enough sea salt to crush the other major salt merchants.

Chen Xi, of course, didn't know that Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping, in their pursuit of speed, had only done preliminary purification and completely ignored the detailed secondary purification Chen Xi had written. The salt they produced, though not as pure as it could be, was still far superior to the black and yellow chunks of well salt from Shu, and had no impurities. So they skipped the final step.

If this were to happen now, they would definitely be taken out to eat peanuts, but at that time, even if Chen Xi had seen Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping do this, he wouldn't have said anything. After all, when the common people were still using certain salty stones, what Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping were doing was truly a boon to society. And since they sold it so cheaply, by the moral standards of the time, they were as benevolent as Fan Li in the Spring and Autumn period...

Since Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping ate the salt they sold themselves, what more could you say? If the salt producers were confident in their own salt, what could the salt consumers say?

So Chen Xi had no idea how much salt Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping had produced. After this opening, even if they sold it throughout the entire Han state, it would probably last until March of the following year. Without the final step of sun-drying, the production was truly fast, and even Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping were now struggling with how to transport it all.

"Report, Advisor Mi Zizhong has important matters to report." Just as Chen Xi was continuing to assign tasks to Lu Su, a messenger ran over.

"Please have Zizhong come in." Chen Xi raised his head and frowned slightly.

"I wonder what Zizhong is back for this time." Lu Su smiled. "Zichuan must be quite worried about Zizhong's return."

"That's not it. I'm just worried that something has gone wrong in Qingzhou. That's the foundation for my plans next year," Chen Xi shook his head.

"Wait, we have plans in Qingzhou?" Lu Su looked at Chen Xi in surprise, amazed that he didn't know about such a big matter.

"Yes, it's part of my business plan. I showed it to you." Chen Xi pointed to the stack of documents Lu Su had read, indicating that he had seen it before.

"Salt industry?" Lu Su thought for a moment and remembered that Chen Xi had written about going to Qingzhou to develop the salt industry in the documents, which was so simple that anyone could understand.

"Yes, I think Zizhong is back because of this. I haven't been in contact with Su Shuang for the past few months," Chen Xi said, indicating that he was also in the dark.

"Seen the Governor and Vice Governor." Mi Zhu, looking travel-worn, hurried in. It was clear that the matter was serious, as even the gentlemanly Mi Zhu had not taken the time to wash or comb his hair before rushing to see Chen Xi and Lu Su.

"Zizhong, no need for formalities. You look rushed. Has something major happened in Qingzhou?" Chen Xi's expression turned serious. It was he who had chosen Qingzhou, and if something went wrong now, it would be a big problem.

Mi Zhu quickly explained the situation, and Chen Xi immediately felt much more at ease. Lu Su, on the other hand, was already shocked. The salt was so abundant that it couldn't be transported, and he hoped to attract the Lu family of Jiangdong, a shipbuilding family, to transport it. This was all money, the foundation for Liu Bei's rise next year. What a grand plan!

It turned out that after Mi Zhu took Chen Xi's note to Qingzhou, Su Shuang and his partner, who were already worried about transportation, were overjoyed. If they couldn't transport the salt, how could Mi Zhu, the head of one of the five major wealthy families, not be able to? So Su Shuang confidently assured Mi Zhu that the salt was not a problem.

Mi Zhu was stunned when he saw the ten thousand dan of refined salt allocated to him by Su Shuang. Su Shuang even offered to let him take the salt first and pay later, since they were all working for Lord Xuande and would see each other often. Besides, they were all so wealthy that they didn't need to pay a deposit, and they could settle accounts after making a profit, with Su Shuang only taking a labor fee.

Although Mi Zhu was a businessman, he was very gentlemanly. Seeing Su Shuang and his partner worried about how to transport the salt, Mi Zhu offered to take on the transportation. However, when he saw all the salt in Su Shuang's warehouse, he was dumbfounded. It seemed impossible to transport so much salt without attracting attention using conventional methods.

After much thought, Mi Zhu decided that it could only be transported by sea, which would avoid drawing attention from others. The only family with such experience was the Lu family of Jiangdong, and the Gongsun family of Youzhou. Of these two, Mi Zhu had only communicated with the Lu family of Jiangdong, but the question was whether Chen Xi would allow the Lu family of Jiangdong to join!

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