CHAPTER 997: CHAPTER 954 A LONG-TERM VISION

The essence of a title is nothing more than privileges plus fief and population, isn’t it? It’s merely a matter of how many households to allot.

Li Youu’s approach is to break down the title, first granting you privileges or land, then bestowing other things afterward. This at least can delay the era where there’s nothing left to bestow, as someone like Chen Xi, who is just about twenty years old, has already become the Marquis of the Township and entered the ranks of the Nine Ministers, is basically destined to have nothing left to receive.

The greatest worry for a nation is such a situation where there’s nothing left to bestow, not because your merits aren’t enough, but because they are too many, so much so that the emperor doesn’t have enough to exchange for your contributions, which is essentially the root of turmoil.

However, Li Youu believes he is quite accurate in judging people; as for someone like Dong Zhuo, it’s naturally an exception. The most obvious point about Chen Xi is that he completely refrains from vying for power and profit, or rather, he is indifferent to the power of the world today.

Moreover, Liu Bei’s character is indeed worthy of being called benevolent and generous. Basically, even if there comes a time when there’s nothing left to bestow, having Liu Bei and Chen Xi at the top will prevent any major problems from erupting. Of course, whether Liu Xie is still around at that time is uncertain.

But given Liu Xie’s indifferent personality, it’s likely that even if Liu Bei and Chen Xi get to that point, they cannot avoid conflict with him. One might even say, if Liu Xie cannot experience the vicissitudes of life and see through worldly matters, ultimately, even if Liu Bei and Chen Xi continually let things slide, someone secretly intervening would be inevitable.

Setting aside Li Youu’s worries, let’s first address Chen Xi’s vexations. Mount Tai of Qing Xu appears wealthy and prosperous, but in reality, only Chen Xi knows that they don’t have much money at all.

The reason it appears wealthy is entirely because Chen Xi can withdraw money from the Money Exchange at any time. Moreover, when the Money Exchange needs to use this portion of the money, there are already completed constructions providing more funds, making it seem like Chen Xi’s funds are never depleted.

In actuality, Chen Xi is acutely aware that this approach is akin to secretly using others’ money for development, merely borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.

Of course, once the basic infrastructure is in place, it automatically generates funds. As long as the deficit is covered before others use that portion of money, in essence, Chen Xi has conjured up an infrastructure out of thin air. As for using someone else’s money, who knows!

This is also why the Money Exchange kept growing and the infrastructure kept improving, which emboldened Chen Xi to withdraw more money. It is also the reason why Chen Xi started using credit currency; he wanted to withdraw more money from the Money Exchange!

This is the principle, but the principle doesn’t mean Chen Xi will have unlimited money. It only means that he is spending future money. If any link in this chain fails, the country’s credit will collapse instantly, and it will trigger a series of economic issues far more destructive than the current aristocratic family’s antics.

Fortunately, no one can see through this right now. Chen Xi remains quite calm, and with the ability to rob Peter to pay Paul, the entire chain has not encountered any issues thus far, making Chen Xi appear like a God of Wealth, with the ability to conjure something out of nothing.

It’s not that no one suspected Chen Xi of playing tricks, but as long as no one can expose them, it falls under the means of immortals. Like now, many people are very curious about Chen Xi’s methods, but as long as Chen Xi doesn’t speak, they can only remain curious.

Would Chen Xi speak? Definitely not. Before the country’s economic foundation becomes self-sufficient, Chen Xi absolutely won’t reveal it. In this world, there are no walls that don’t leak air. Every additional person who knows increases the risk. The economic risk brought by this preemptive spending method is certainly not something Chen Xi is willing to bear.

"There’s really not much money." Chen Xi pouted and said, "I still have a lot of basic infrastructure to build. First of all, paving roads and building bridges must be done, and the investment needed is considerable."

"It obviously doesn’t need money." Jia Xu said sinisterly, "The cement and stones are our own, and the manpower can be recruited from the army. Just slightly raising wages will be enough."

"Stop joking, really thinking of only repairing the main roads? The roads connecting each county in Fenggao aren’t even completed. My goal is to allow every town and even every village to have access!" Chen Xi sneered as he spoke, implying that Jia Xu sometimes had limited foresight.

"..." The entire room fell silent; nobody spoke. After a long pause, Lub Su finally said, "Let’s put this issue aside first. Repairing to every village will definitely take more than fifty years, especially since this plan is sure to encompass the entire Great Han Dynasty. Completing it in a hundred years would be fortunate."

"Sooner or later, I will make this public. For now, just having us build is too slow. The formula for these things should be distributed to the civilians so that each town can resolve it themselves." Chen Xi pouted and said, implying that it was clearly a simple matter, yet they insisted on making it seem complex.

"In that case, having outsiders take it away will eventually be a hassle." Liu Ye said with a frown.

"You all need to look further ahead." Chen Xi’s words made everyone roll their eyes. They were already looking far ahead, but with this freak alongside them, it made their foresight seem exceedingly short-sighted.

"We’ll talk about it later. Such matters involve too many issues and it’s hard to give an answer immediately." Lub Su pondered for a moment and then responded. After all, he was the executor, and many of the terrifying constructions by Chen Xi were realized by his efforts.

"Since that’s the case, let’s go with it. To what extent has the soil and water survey in Zhuo County progressed?" Chen Xi tilted his head and inquired, immediately switching the topic.

"Zizhong has already led people there; it probably won’t take long before there are results. As for initial excavation, we will still have to wait until next year. We still have ample time to manage Jizhou’s hydrology and waterworks, as engineering issues should not be left as burdens for future generations." Lub Su solemnly replied, realizing the significance of that inland river as their control expanded.

Although sea transport has now reached a certain standard, once Chang’an is conquered, the distance to the East Sea is incredibly far, and a large army would take at least a month to reach.

If Chen Xi’s sketch-like inland river network is completed, except for the short-term unresolved rebellion in Yizhou, every other place can essentially be reached within a month!

The higher one stands, the more abstract the problems they contemplate become. Seeing the essence of things through some trivial matters has become a necessary skill for those in high positions. Similarly, some things that may be detrimental in the present but will profit in a thousand years, if they can be borne, should be undertaken!

"How many people on our side truly understand water conservancy?" Chen Xi asked Lub Su with a wry smile. Water conservancy is not child’s play, especially when Lub Su wanted to combine the water conservancy network with the Grand Canal; the difficulty implied Chen Xi could only silently watch Lub Su court trouble. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)