Chapter 86 Liuzhou Relies on Ticket Power
"Then there's only one problem left..." Qi Chengming took a deep breath, sorted out his chaotic thoughts caused by the mission, and tapped on the table.
The entire room fell silent, and everyone looked over. Qi Chengming first set the tone for this year: "Once this official policy is issued, prices in various places will rise and become chaotic. We can't control others, but we must try our best to keep things in order within Liuzhou Prefecture."
“This…” Lu Yu was speechless for a moment, and couldn’t help but look at the people around him.
He knew he couldn't act rashly, but how could he not? He felt incredibly guilty agreeing without any prior thought.
But apart from the newly arrived Prefect Lu, who hadn't yet grasped the prince's methods, the other officials in the county government, who had already established a good relationship with Qi Chengming, responded without hesitation: "Yes, Your Highness!"
They were more accustomed to the prince providing a conclusion, and then they would work towards that goal. They knew that under the prince's leadership, they had accomplished even the most incredible things. For example, could they have imagined that the aftermath of the hurricane and flood would be handled so well? It was nothing short of a miracle.
“I think… we should start with grain and rice shops.” After a brief moment of contemplation, the county magistrate offered a breakthrough: “I need to set an official price.”
"Once you've figured it out, leave this to me," Qin Liusong said, twitching his eyebrows knowingly.
He remembered that the Bai family also owned a rice shop. Although the Bai family was not a long-established grain store in Liuzhou, its reputation was widespread, and the Bai family had also gotten on the good side of the prince. In just half a year, it had become one of the major grain stores in Liuzhou, which would be very useful in this situation.
"Let me calculate what aspects of official duties need to be controlled." The registrar also got busy, standing up to search for files on the nearby bookshelf.
Fortunately, the Liuzhou area in Lingnan was too remote and dangerous, disliked by both the previous and current dynasties, and had always been a place of exile. The locals were more self-sufficient. If it weren't for last year's sudden hurricane, even food supplies would be more plentiful than in other regions. Living here, the only concerns would be about pests, diseases, and miasma…
What they need to do now is to cut off as much of the impending external influence as possible while maintaining self-sufficiency. However, given that the prosperity of the past few months has been sustained solely by trade, figuring out how to address this remains a major challenge. The preparations they can currently make... are actually the same methods the government has used in previous years to deal with disasters; they can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.
The magistrate cast a weak, hopeful glance at the young prince: "Your Highness, are you planning to persuade the merchant...?"
He now obediently serves as Qin's puppet, no longer daring to be greedy, terrified by the fate of the former prefects and governors. The county magistrate racked his brains but couldn't figure out what to do.
The only thing he could imagine was that the prince would forcibly order passing merchants not to do business in Liuzhou at the latest chaotic high prices, but only at the stable official prices of Liuzhou... But he estimated that not many merchants would be willing to come to Liuzhou if that were the case.
The magistrate was puzzled by this.
Qi Chengming noticed his movements out of the corner of his eye, but said without looking up, "You can prepare like this for now. My family will discuss it later and send over the plan."
Before his eyes, another new mission was faintly gleaming:
[Infrastructure Sub-task: Preparations to Stabilize Prices]
[Task Description:]
Conduct a thorough review of all your owned shops and develop a feasible plan for price protection.
[Task Reward: One shi of grain, one shi of silver.]
Well, the reward is better than nothing, but it's helpful for the current situation.
Qi Chengming accepted the task immediately. A button appeared below the task, leading to the infrastructure map, which he clicked. On the vast Liuzhou topographic map, radiating blue light, patches of red shaded areas appeared. This time, they represented Qi Chengming's industrial divisions.
All the land controlled by Qi Chengming—the alcohol factory, soap factory, mirror factory, sesame oil factory, fertilizer yard, pig farm, various manors, orchards, hills, and farmland of farmers who had signed contracts with him to plant new crops—including all the shops of the Bai family who were loyal to him, were shown on the map.
At first glance, the entire city and its surroundings in Liuzhou were a dense expanse of red, with hardly any clean areas to be found, and the sparser areas were mostly located in the mountains. The influence in the other counties was less pronounced. In Rong County, which had iron ore mines, there was also a large expanse of red; Qi Chengming had previously built numerous blast furnace plants and iron ore plants around it in order to develop cement.
Even before, in order to eradicate corruption and promote integrity throughout Liuzhou Prefecture, Qi Chengming allowed the yamen runners to pocket extra money from the fertilizer factory while managing public facilities. Now, the county yamens on the map are all red, completely transformed into the shape of Qi Chengming.
However, why is there such a large dark area outside the map, and two red shadows in the direction of the capital?
Qi Chengming had never zoomed out on the map this far before, and he had just discovered their existence: one was... the Second Prince's residence in the Imperial Palace? The other was outside the palace, could it be the Marquis of Weiyong's residence? Was it automatically determined that it belonged to his home?
Qi Chengming was bewildered; he didn't understand.
In short, let's get back to the important things.
The young prince frowned as he scrutinized everything: "..."
Currently, it seems he has indeed gained deep control over his fiefdom, and he has also roughly figured out the last unstable piece of the puzzle—the new prefect's temperament. His cooperation with the Bai family and the major powers in the city has already forged a strong bond of mutual benefit, and these interests are all newly created by him. As long as the locals happily follow the prince, they will reap the rewards, and most of the time, it will not squeeze out the existing industries.
At this time, it would be much easier for the government to stabilize prices. It wouldn't be difficult for them to find a way, a new currency, to fundamentally stabilize Liuzhou's future.
Qi Chengming already had a preliminary idea in his mind.
When he returned to the palace after an incense stick had burned, Abu, whom he had sent to fetch people, was already running fast, having informed everyone inside and outside the palace.
Bai Xuan, Wen Er, Huang Dong, Song Gu, Bi Shu, and my cousin all came.
Inside the main hall sat a group of familiar-looking stewards and managers, all of them respectable senior stewards. These stewards, acting as representatives, oversaw dozens, even hundreds, of factories, shops, and estates, silently dominating the entire city of Liuzhou. They were the foundation upon which the Prince Rui's mansion was sustained, and also the hope that connected the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Liuzhou residents.
"...That's how it is." Qi Chengming glanced at his most trusted confidants and explained without further concealment.
"Your Highness, whatever your thoughts are, I'll have them do as you say!" Bai Xuan sensed that the prince had a plan. He immediately took the lead in expressing his opinion, confidently and unhesitatingly staking the entire powerful Bai family on the matter.
“I remember your Bai family has its own bank in Wuling…” Qi Chengming pondered, “We also need to set up a bank in Liuzhou, not an official one, but one like the one run by the Prince’s Mansion. I’ll leave this to you, Bishu. If you don’t understand anything, ask Bai Xuan.”
"Yes." Bishu responded calmly. She now had the demeanor of a head aunt, especially when it came to things like reconciling accounts and making calculations, which she didn't find difficult at all.
Bai Xuan was somewhat puzzled and confused, but after a moment's thought, he understood.
The prince probably didn't entrust the Liuzhou money shop to him to manage because he wanted to distinguish it from their Bai family money shop. At times like this, he should just listen obediently.
Then Qi Chengming uttered a shocking statement:
"The vouchers issued by Liuzhou Money Shop can be used in all our factories and shops in the future, and will be issued along with wages. Moreover, you can use the vouchers to buy things at a discount... For example, employees of the fertilizer factory can use the vouchers to buy things at the mirror factory, which is not yet open to the public. The vouchers have this qualification."
Qi Chengming's mood was quite subtle as he spoke.
He thought of the supermarket shopping cards issued by modern workplaces, and the jokes about "working in the factory and spending money in the factory, not being able to take a penny home."
Regardless of how he phrases it, the Liuzhou vouchers are essentially just a new kind of "government silver notes." Moreover, they're something that must coexist with external copper coins and silver, with the ratio to be adjusted gradually later. Essentially, Qi Chengming plans to first transform Liuzhou into a large "factory," striving for self-production and self-sufficiency to reduce the outflow of funds.
Of course, there is a crucial issue here: if this problem cannot be solved, there will be no way to cope with the impact of a collapsing and chaotic economic system outside.
These are Liuzhou vouchers made from paper money... Qi Chengming plans to anchor them to the silver standard, waiting for them to be replaced by silver. His infrastructure project has already revealed his intentions—who wouldn't try to dream of a super-large silver mine on an eastern island after traveling to ancient times?
Shipbuilding technology already existed in Lingnan.
At the very least, Qi Chengming's "Friends of Dual-Use Military and Civilian Talents" teaches everything, from observing celestial phenomena to determine maritime location, weather, compasses, and various weather-related basics; to shipbuilding techniques such as timber selection, drying methods, anti-deformation methods, and gluing; and even records of shipbuilding and navigation...
This is enough for him to secretly build ships. The next step is to see if he can successfully reach that island and find a silver mine.
If all else fails, Qi Chengming has another unconventional tactic he can try—
He only accessed the infrastructure map of Liuzhou after being officially appointed to the capital by the palace, revealing the various mineral deposits. However, it turns out there are two areas within Qi Chengming's sphere of influence in the capital as well. Does this mean…?
If Qi Chengming were to have the people landing on the island carry a royal decree declaring the island under Prince Rui's control, thus truly gaining control of the territory, would Qi Chengming be able to unlock his infrastructure development map? At that point, the silver mine would be a piece of cake.
At this point—
The response plan is now clear.
In recent months and years, the focus has been on using ration coupons to help stabilize prices and develop the potential of a new currency, while secretly building ships and searching for silver mines. Once things spiral out of control... that's when he'll finally emerge.
If Emperor Hongren truly intends to destroy the credibility of all private currencies, creating a chaotic market before introducing new official currency, Qi Chengming needs to teach him a lesson: acting so boldly can easily backfire.
The two causes of this disaster—
Firstly, the people didn't trust the credibility of official currency? No problem, because Liuzhou's ration coupons were linked to local industries, so they were indispensable and had great purchasing power. The products produced were all new things that couldn't be found outside of Liuzhou, and even outside of Liuzhou, many merchants would flock to buy things with the coupons.
Secondly, the root cause of the frequent blunders in the court was the lack of silver in circulation and the excessive issuance of silver notes. However, Qi Chengming's greatest guarantee was that silver mine. He represented a solid silver standard, and he also had some economic knowledge, so he wouldn't issue Liuzhou vouchers indiscriminately. This provided him with the necessary capital.
At this point, Qi Chengming felt that once all these measures were implemented, he should hire a group of accountants and consider the exchange rate issue between Liuzhou and the outside world...
This short meeting lasted for nearly three hours.
A group of people meticulously discussed every detail, their conversation lively and enthusiastic. Qi Chengming, whose back ached from sitting in the county government office, now felt aches all over from sitting in his own palace. He watched with satisfaction as everyone confirmed each step, the thick stack of paper growing ever thicker. Finally, a complete copy was made and sent to the county government office.
All the steps so far have had to be implemented in cooperation with the county government.
Five days later, a money exchange in Liuzhou quietly changed its signboard, and the new name was the ordinary "Wang's Money Exchange".
On the same day, the major factories and shops in Liuzhou quietly replaced some of the money exchange vouchers and announced that they would grant priority access to purchase goods at the factories using these vouchers.
"What?" Niuwa was stunned when he heard the news. His first reaction was not to complain, but to be overjoyed.
After he finished building his house after the hurricane, the steward took a liking to him and arranged for him to work at a newly opened pastry shop—that's right, because he had the strength of an ox, and there was a pastry in that shop that required some kind of 'cream', which was selling extremely well, so every day he had the little ox-boy working like crazy stirring it.
Niuwa's wages also skyrocketed, and no amount of eating seemed like a big deal anymore.
But Niuwa always wanted to buy Zhang Ge some "alcohol".
Ever since recovering from his last illness, Brother Zhang's legs have been plagued with chronic pain. He was fortunate enough to hear the doctor mention that alcohol could provide some relief.
From then on, Niuwa kept thinking about it... He had already saved enough money, but unfortunately the alcohol factory had just been established and wasn't selling to the public yet; even internally, the supply was always insufficient. Niuwa had no connections, so he could only watch longingly.
Now look what's happened!
He didn't even bother to examine the new vouchers in his hand. Clutching the papers tightly, he turned and darted away like a rabbit, a wide grin spreading across his face...
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Author's Note: Nearly four thousand words... I'm exhausted. I'm not a finance major, so this chapter might have some flaws, but I tried my best! hhhhh
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