Xiao Che's question, like a heavy mountain, weighed down on the already stagnant air in the Imperial Study, making the atmosphere even more oppressive.
The forced revocation of the salt and iron monopoly led to turmoil in the court and even a military coup.
This is not alarmist talk, but a bloody reality. Regent Xiao Yuan has cultivated his influence for many years, and his cronies have long since infiltrated both the court and the provinces, especially in the military and local areas, where they have deep roots. Once their core interests are threatened, these hungry wolves will not hesitate to bare their fangs and tear the empire to pieces.
In Xiao Che's view, this seemed to be an unsolvable dead end. Either he could continue to endure the exploitation of these bloodsuckers and watch helplessly as the empire was gradually hollowed out; or he could risk plunging the world into chaos and engage in a fierce battle with them of uncertain outcome.
Either option leads to the abyss.
The anger in his eyes gradually subsided, replaced by a deep weariness and helplessness. He looked at Lin Wanwan, his gaze seeking a glimmer of hope, yet daring not to hold too much expectation. After all, this was a political problem concerning the very foundation of the nation, not a palace intrigue. Even if she were incredibly intelligent, what could she possibly do?
However, Lin Wanwan's reaction once again exceeded his expectations.
Faced with this binary dilemma of "either accept it all or do nothing," she showed no sign of distress; instead, her eyes shone with an even brighter and more confident light.
"Your Majesty, why do you feel that we only have two choices: 'accept' or 'not accept'?"
She walked to the imperial desk, ignoring the mountain of account books, and instead took out a brand new wolf-hair brush from the pen holder, and then took a piece of spotless white Xuan paper, which she laid flat on the table.
Xiao Che looked at her actions with confusion.
Lin Wanwan dipped her brush in thick ink, raised her wrist slightly, and instead of writing any words, drew an extremely simple shape in the very center of the rice paper—a balance scale.
A perfect balance scale consisting of a beam and a fulcrum, with the two pans at the same level.
“This is…” Xiao Che’s gaze was drawn to the simple graphic.
“Your Majesty, you can regard the salt and iron market of this Great Liang as this scale.” Lin Wanwan’s voice was clear and powerful, carrying a peculiar magic that instantly dispelled the gloom in Xiao Che’s heart.
She tapped the left pan of the scale with the tip of her pen and said, "On this side are the businesses controlled by the Regent and his protégés and former officials. They are numerous, powerful, and wealthy, so their weight is very heavy."
As she spoke, she drew several heavy weights on the left tray, and the beam of the balance scale immediately appeared on the paper as an exaggerated, severely tilted posture to the left. The right tray, on the other hand, was tilted high up, looking so isolated and helpless.
“And on this side,” her pen moved to the raised right tray, “there were only a handful of small merchants who didn’t belong to their faction, or even… practically nothing at all. So the whole market was out of balance and firmly under their control.”
Looking at the vivid picture, Xiao Che nodded knowingly and said in a deep voice, "That's right, exactly. So if I want to restore balance to the scales, the only way is to remove all those weights!" His tone was ruthless, but behind that ruthlessness lay a deep fear.
“No.” Lin Wanwan gently shook her head and smiled sweetly, “Your Majesty, who said that restoring balance necessarily requires removing their weights?”
Her pen tip landed steadily on the empty, raised right tray.
“Our real approach isn’t to directly seize their leverage, which would only provoke them to fight us to the death,” she said, her voice carrying a hint of cunning and wisdom. “Instead, we’ll place our own leverage on the other side of the scales!”
Should we... add our own weight?
This simple sentence was like a lightning bolt piercing the night sky, instantly illuminating Xiao Che's chaotic thoughts!
His pupils suddenly contracted, and he stared intently at the paper, his breathing becoming rapid and involuntary.
Lin Wanwan knew that he had grasped the key. She continued to explain this timeless concept of governance to him in the simplest language.
“Your Majesty, you are the Son of Heaven, the supreme ruler of this land. What you should do is not personally go down into the marketplace to compete with the merchants for goods; that would be beneath your dignity and would easily provoke fierce resistance. What you should do is act as a ‘referee’!”
"Referee?" Xiao Che pondered this novel word.
“Yes, a referee who sets the rules, supervises the competition, and ultimately decides the outcome!” Lin Wanwan’s eyes gleamed. “We don’t need to forcibly confiscate the salt and iron business of the Regent’s faction; that’s their ‘private property.’ We just need to issue a new national policy—allowing new merchants to enter the salt and iron market!”
"What?!" Xiao Che exclaimed in shock. "The salt and iron monopoly is the foundation of the nation; how can it be loosened so easily?"
“It’s not about completely opening up the market, but rather ‘introducing competition to a limited extent’,” Lin Wanwan corrected. “We can establish a new salt and iron trading company that is wholly owned by the royal family, or we can support a group of promising new merchants who are loyal to Your Majesty, give them policy support, and let them enter this market to compete with the Regent’s people for business!”
She used a pen to draw a new weight with a royal dragon emblem on the right side of the scale.
"In this way, they will no longer have a monopoly on the market. With competition, in order to protect their businesses, they will have to lower prices, improve quality, and even pay more taxes to the court in exchange for support. And every penny earned by the merchants we support will eventually flow into His Majesty's private treasury. With this shift in balance, won't we gradually turn the scales back on track?"
“We don’t directly participate in buying and selling; we only set the rules. For example, whoever pays more taxes gets a larger sales area; whoever’s product quality is better gets the Royal Warrant. We act as the ‘referee’ and ultimately control the entire market. This process is called… ‘macroeconomic control’.”
Macroeconomic control!
These four words seemed to carry immense force, striking Xiao Che's heart heavily.
He stared blankly at the simple yet infinitely wise balance diagram on the paper, his mind as if it had been injected with a clear spring, and the deadlock he had been in was suddenly cleared up!
So that's how it can be done!
Instead of confronting each other head-on or overturning the table, we will regain market dominance in a gentle yet incredibly powerful way by introducing new forces and establishing new rules!
This is absolutely a stroke of genius!
Seeing his deeply shocked expression, Lin Wanwan knew the time was right. She went a step further, showing him the deeper principles behind this concept.
She took another piece of paper, drew two intersecting straight lines, labeled "price" on one and "quantity" on the other, and then drew two curves to represent "supply" and "demand" respectively.
"Your Majesty, please look, this is the most basic law of a 'market economy'..." She explained the fundamental theories of economics to the ancient emperor in simple and easy-to-understand language. When supply exceeds demand, prices will fall; when prices rise to a certain level, profits will attract more competitors...
These concepts and unique charts, which Xiao Che had never heard of before, were like opening a door to a new world, captivating him completely. For the first time, he intuitively understood the unseen hand that drove everything behind those seemingly complex business activities.
The more he listened, the brighter his eyes became; the more he looked, the more uncontrollable his excitement became.
Lin Wanwan's voice seemed to possess a magical quality, painting a magnificent economic blueprint for him. In this blueprint, the emperor was no longer a passive tax collector, but a great helmsman holding a compass, guiding the entire empire's economic ship through the storms!
Xiao Che's gaze slowly shifted from the paper with its strange curves to Lin Wanwan's face, which was glowing with focus.
At this moment, the shock he felt was beyond words.
The area above his head filled with emojis was completely engulfed in a crazy "storm"!
First, there's a cartoon character wearing a graduation cap, looking completely bewildered [unclear but impressive.gif]; then, it switches to a little emperor frantically digging, eventually unearthing a huge diamond [he struck gold.jpg]!
The two emojis switched wildly at a speed that was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, fully demonstrating the overwhelming shock and ecstasy he felt at that moment!
The deadlock that had plagued him for years was, in her eyes, a solution that was so ingenious!
It turns out that this seemingly weak empress actually possessed extraordinary talent for governing the country!
"I understand!"
Finally, Xiao Che could no longer contain his excitement. He slammed his hand on the imperial desk and stood up abruptly!
His eyes burned with an unprecedented flame, a raging fire of ambition that had been suppressed for too long and had finally found an outlet!
He looked at Lin Wanwan, his voice rising with excitement, filled with a soaring fighting spirit:
"I understand! I will support my own merchants to compete with them for business!"
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