"You and I are brothers, so it's a long way to go to get money. In fact, if you are short of money, just tell me and get it directly from me." Lu Chen waved his hand and said this in a very formal manner.
Li Chixiang certainly wasn't ungrateful, so he quickly responded, "Brother, you're mistaken. It's not me who's short of money, it's our country. You know, us herders depend on the weather for our livelihoods, so there's no guarantee we'll be hit by a natural disaster."
"Summer is almost over, and I think the grass on the pasture isn't fertile enough. If the cattle and sheep don't gain weight, they'll have a hard time getting through the winter."
"We also wanted to buy some grain some time ago, but now the grain prices are still high, and we are a little bit unable to do so."
"How could that be? Didn't we formulate a plan to exchange grain for wool before? Isn't that enough grain to eat?" Lu Chen looked puzzled. In fact, he had asked people from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to calculate it before. The amount of grain given to Western Xia every year would not be too little or too much. It must be maintained at a standard that allows them to eat half full and not cause too many people to starve to death.
But now listening to what Li Chixiang said, it seems that there is a huge food shortage.
The expression on Li Chixiang's face suddenly became strange, as if there was something stuck in his body that he was too embarrassed to expel.
After a long while, he took a deep breath and spoke frankly, "Actually, I'm not sure whether the people down there can have enough to eat. Now, the people who collect the grain are all the nobles in our country..."
Got it!
Lu Chen looked at Li Chixiang in shock. He found that he still lacked understanding of the dark side of human nature.
"So, all the grain that was exchanged for wool is in the hands of the nobles, right? Now they want to buy more grain and sell it to the herdsmen in winter when the price is high, right?"
What is exploitation? This is fucking exploitation!
Don’t ask what to do if the herdsmen can’t afford to buy food, because there is always a way. If you can’t afford it, you can sell the cattle and sheep. If you can’t afford it, you can go to the nobles to borrow money. If you can’t pay back the money, you can sell your children. Isn’t this basic operation!
Compared with the life and death of the herdsmen below, most nobles care more about whether the wealth in their hands has increased!
"You beast! You animal! What am I toiling so hard for? I'm constantly being scolded by Wei Yong in the court, and accused by so many of being a spy for Xixia. Why? I just want the people of this world to live a better life, at least so they don't starve to death."
"Look at what they did. For their own selfish reasons, they actually did such a thing as hoarding goods and selling them at a high price. Don't they feel guilty? Are those herdsmen the people of my Great Qi or the people of their Western Xia? Don't they care at all?"
Lu Chen's angry roar could be heard even by those in the outer hall. Li Chixiang in front of him was so ashamed that he didn't even have the courage to look Lu Chen in the eye.
Yes, Lu Chen feels sorry for the herdsmen below, but the nobles in their country do not treat the herdsmen as human beings. The gap is really too big in comparison.
"My dear brother, you can't bring this stuff with you when you're born, and you can't take it with you when you die. No matter how much money you make, you can only afford three meals a day, and there's only a three-foot-wide place to sleep. They exploit the people below like this. Aren't they really afraid that they will rebel?"
"Originally, this is your country's internal affairs, and I shouldn't interfere. But now that our cooperation is growing closer, any disturbance there would affect our business. Furthermore, if a disturbance were to occur, it could easily affect us. We express our grave concern."
Lu Chen's words deeply touched Li Chixiang, and he couldn't help but start thinking, what on earth do those nobles want so much money for?
Even if a little bit leaks out from between their fingers, it can make the herdsmen below feel more relaxed and make these herdsmen grateful to them. Why don't the nobles do this?
"If you're borrowing money for something like this, I won't approve it. The fundamental purpose of establishing a central bank is to ensure a good life for the people, not to enrich a few nobles."
Li Chixiang felt ashamed again, and he even had an urge to escape.
Seeing the other party's expression, Lu Chen knew that his words had worked. He struck while the iron was hot and said, "By the way, you must not be familiar with the details of the loan. This time we are not giving you silver, but paper money. You can think of it as a voucher."
"These banknotes can be used to purchase certain items, such as perfume and silk, but not grain. We are also worried that some nobles will take advantage of this opportunity to drive up the value of the two families."
Li Chixiang looked at Lu Chen in shock, thinking, have you calculated all this?
"By the way, you can send a message back to your king. Our emperor, sympathetic to the hardships faced by the common people, has specially approved a sum of money. If your king wishes to build a reservoir or pave a road, he can apply for this money. It's also in paper currency, but the interest rate is quite low: 3% for five years!"
"Even if you don't have the money to exchange it after five years, you can use minerals instead, such as coal, iron ore, copper ore, etc."
"Even if you're reluctant to give up those easy-to-mine iron and copper ores, we don't want those that can be mined directly. There are always abandoned mines and mineral deposits that are difficult to mine. You can contract these areas to us."
"We provide technical support, and the minerals mined can be split 50-50 between the two of us. We will use 50% of the proceeds to repay your loan."
"Using minerals that you can't even mine in exchange for straight roads and reservoirs that can be used to store water, this should be a sure-win deal."
"I say the same thing again. If it weren't for our indignation to see the people suffer, if it weren't for the fear that you would torture the people too much and that a riot would affect us, we really wouldn't bother to care about your country's trivial affairs. Could your king and the nobles pay more attention? Why do you still need us, the Great Qi, to help you with your grassroots governance? It's outrageous!"
Li Chixiang was stunned. He also found it outrageous. How could Da Qi be so kind? They were willing to spend money to help Xixia protect the interests of the ruling class?
Is this the Fatherland? What kind of good man is this!
But Li Chixiang soon realized the problem behind Lu Chen's words. He looked at Lu Chen doubtfully and asked, "Manpower and money?"
Qian Li Chixiang understands, but what do people say?
"Of course, building roads and reservoirs requires cement and explosives. These are controlled materials here, so we can't give them to you to use. Naturally, we need to send our people over."
"You guys are also paying for these people's salaries, so there shouldn't be any problem, right?"
Meanwhile, Guo Bei, who had already reached the border, grinned at his men and said, "Our mission this time is to disguise ourselves as technicians, enter Xixia territory, map its topography, and record its climate throughout the four seasons. Do you understand?"
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