Chapter 1021: Securing the Deposit

Chen Xi had witnessed far too many insane events since arriving in this era, so he decided not to list them all. It must be said, life in ancient times was incredibly difficult, and Chen Xi had always been working hard to improve the standard of living.

Even Hua Tuo had no reservations when it came to consuming poultry under these conditions. Especially after learning the principles of sterilization, he calmly declared that strong liquor, saltwater, or high heat could make any kind of meat edible.

Chen Xi had no comment on this. If the people eating it didn’t mind, then there was no point in making a fuss about it. Besides, some people hadn’t seen meat for over a decade—when there’s meat to eat, who cares about anything else?

As these kinds of events increased, Chen Xi could only silently observe. This was a time of extreme material scarcity, and all he could do was work hard to make the world less impoverished. Overall, things had already started moving in the right direction.

What remained was to keep this path steady and make it wider. That’s why Chen Xi hesitated over whether to show Liu Bei the world map. Although he had great confidence in Liu Bei, the implications of the matter were too vast. Chen Xi didn’t want to act recklessly, fearing that something might go wrong.

Ever since the unexpected appearance of the Xuanyuan Cauldron during the campaign against Yuan Shao, which nearly caused everything to spiral out of control, Chen Xi had become wary of surprises. He felt more secure holding these critical decisions in his own hands.

While Chen Xi was deliberating on whether to show Liu Bei the map, the major aristocratic families were preoccupied with what news Chen Xi might announce tomorrow. They needed to prepare accordingly. Today's information had already been shocking, but no one knew what tomorrow would bring, leaving them anxious.

Of course, one person could be excluded from this anxiety: Yuan Shu. Calmly eating and drinking, he enjoyed a good meal and then went to rest as if nothing was wrong, showing no concern that he was deep in enemy territory, where he might easily be assassinated.

Yuan Shu, after eating his fill, slept soundly and without a care. But it was tough on Ji Ling, Yuan Shu’s loyal follower. He was deeply worried about Yuan Shu's safety if his identity were exposed. Although it seemed Chen Xi and Yuan Shu’s ambitions overlapped somewhat, that overlap didn’t mean there wouldn’t be conflict. Both Chen Xi and Yuan Shu understood this.

“Phew, finally made it back. If I’d been any later, it would’ve been hard to explain to Lord Chen,” Gan Ning sighed in relief as he sat on his horse, looking at the large breach in the city wall of Ye. He had successfully transported the copper ingots needed for minting coins. Behind him, a massive convoy carried enough copper to mint billions of coins.

“Who goes there?” A soldier on the left side of the breach in the wall called out. Gan Ning clearly saw the glint of arrows behind the soldier. Even though Liu Bei’s army had taken control of Ye, there was no sign of complacency—sentinels, lookouts, and patrols all remained diligent in their duties.

“I am Navy Commander Gan Xingba, returning to Ye as ordered,” Gan Ning calmly said as he backed his horse up three steps to indicate that he posed no threat, then tossed his identity token to the soldiers.

Soon, a large bronze mirror was raised on the wall, with several torches lit in front of it. After a few adjustments, the soldiers confirmed Gan Ning’s identity by reflecting the light onto him. Once verified, the soldiers stepped aside, allowing Gan Ning to enter the city.

“General, you may enter,” a centurion dressed as an officer said with a gesture of welcome, before resuming his post without leaving his position.

“Go find Zifang. Tell him to secure these copper ingots properly and wait for my return to proceed with the next steps,” Gan Ning instructed his guard. He trusted Mi Fang more than anyone when it came to managing money and logistics, as Mi Fang had no inclination for corruption.

“Yes, sir!” The guard saluted and immediately ran along the convoy to find Mi Fang. Gan Ning left Xu Sheng in charge of overseeing the convoy, while he himself hurried to report to Liu Bei.

“Xingba, I didn’t expect you back so soon,” Liu Bei said as he emerged from his quarters, fully dressed after hearing of Gan Ning’s arrival.

“I deeply regret disturbing you at this late hour, my lord,” Gan Ning replied apologetically.

“No need to be so formal. I’m just surprised at how quickly you returned. According to Zichuan’s estimates, you weren’t expected back for another two months, just before the Yellow River froze over. How did you return so soon?” Liu Bei asked, puzzled. Even if the copper mine was easy to extract and refine, it shouldn’t have been possible to meet Chen Xi’s goal so quickly.

“The truth is, the copper was already smelted when I arrived,” Gan Ning explained with a smile. He recounted the efforts of Guan Hai and the soldiers, giving full credit to their hard work. “So, I only had to handle the transport, not the actual mining and smelting.”

“I see, that certainly made things much easier. With all that copper, we should be able to mint tens of billions of coins, which is a huge relief,” Liu Bei said, clearly pleased with Guan Hai’s efficiency.

However, Liu Bei immediately realized a significant issue. When copper coins are counted in the billions, large-scale transactions become exceedingly difficult. In fact, even wealthy families like the Zhen and Mi clans, whose transactions often exceeded a billion coins, faced several such deals each year, which was extremely burdensome.

【No wonder Chen Xi advocates using promissory notes. Only by intermediating transactions can such logistical difficulties be overcome. Without this, commerce will forever remain a small-scale operation, unable to support national taxation.】

Having read many books that Chen Xi had specifically compiled, Liu Bei fully understood the value of commerce. He harbored no disdain for it but recognized that in this era, large-scale trade was hampered not only by state suppression but also by the sheer difficulty of conducting transactions.

The later introduction of silver notes drastically reduced the difficulty and danger of trade. Without this, even if the state encouraged commerce, using carts to transport money for transactions would greatly limit the scale of trade. And if commerce couldn’t reach a certain level, it wouldn’t be able to sustain national tax revenue.

With this realization, Liu Bei's confidence in Chen Xi's plan to support the national economy through commercial circulation grew even stronger. Transforming the impossible into the possible had always been Chen Xi’s specialty.

“Xingba, it’s getting late. You should go report to Zichuan now. I’ll have a banquet prepared for you, so by the time you return, everything will be ready. Zichuan has important matters to handle tomorrow, so he probably won’t have time to host a feast,” Liu Bei said, urging Gan Ning to quickly report to Chen Xi after learning everything he needed to know.

Previous Chapter | | Next Chapter