Mythical Three Kingdoms

"That’s not my concern." Chen Xi said indifferently. "If it weren’t that you happened to get your hands on this thing, and that the Marquis of Yangcheng’s plan happened to be similar to mine, you wouldn’t have gotten this chance at all. As it is, you’ve only just managed to. So, will you consider it?"

"We’ll do our best, but whether we can persuade them or not isn’t up to us." Zhen Mi calmed the dissatisfaction in her heart, shot Chen Xi a sideways look, and said, "But under these terms, I’m afraid half the people will probably withdraw."

"If they withdraw, they withdraw; it’s not important." Chen Xi didn’t much care. Some things were more appropriate kept in the hands of the state.

If not for the fact that this era wasn’t very suited to comprehensive state control, Chen Xi would probably have taken all industries that had any impact on the state and folded them back into state ownership. As for "competing with the people for profit," what a joke. Anyone who has the qualifications to compete with the state for profit—do you still have the face to call yourself "the people"? You should have been a dead man long ago!

Mi Zhen and the other two left in anger. Obviously, if the three of them were to handle this matter, there would be quite a bit of pressure. After all, the Chamber of Commerce was only a loose organization; though it had official backing, its function was not to suppress these merchants, but to ensure that nothing illegal or outrageous was happening among them.

Thus, although these three were the visible Persons in Charge of the Chamber, in practice, without clearly defined benefit, it was impossible for them to mobilize everyone.

"That’s the situation now. By building this road, we can only receive thirty percent of the profits, and all construction costs must be borne by us." Zhen Mi looked calmly at the rows of Persons in Charge sitting below and spoke without the slightest attempt to conceal anything, repeating Chen Xi’s original words verbatim.

"We can only get thirty percent, and we still have to put up all the capital? Marquis Chen is going a bit too far." Zhao Zun, the Person in Charge of the Xuzhou Zhao Family, frowned as he spoke, though he showed no real anger.

After Zhao Zun spoke, the twenty-odd, thirty-odd great merchants present all wore troubled expressions. When had Chen Zichuan become this black-hearted?

"Vice Chairs, what are your intentions?" Liuu Luo’s plump body leaned back slightly, the allure in her eyes not concealed in the slightest. Quite a few men present couldn’t help but avert their gaze; this woman was really too much to handle.

"We intend to invest." Zhen Mi exchanged a glance with the other two, then looked at Liuu Luo with faint displeasure. The three of them didn’t much like this woman with the air of the dust on her; even though she had gone legitimate for several years now, at root the two sides were fundamentally incompatible.

"Since that’s the case, I’ll invest as well." Liuu Luo said with a light laugh. In just four years, she had opened her theaters in every corner of the Central Plains and successfully turned her business into a monopoly. After paying off the loan she had taken from Chen Xi’s Money Exchange, she had directly broken into the top thirty of the Central Plains’ great merchants.

"Since the Liuu Clan is putting in money, what else is there for us brothers to say? We’ll invest." Zhang Shiping exchanged a look with Su Shuang and spoke.

As long-time big shots squatting firmly among the Top Ten Rich Merchants, with their own small chambers of commerce, and with a deep relationship with Liu Bei—just as Mi Zhu often said, money is for spending; if it’s gone, you just earn more. Whatever the Lord wants to do, follow along. Even if they lose on this venture, with Liu Xuande’s benevolence, there will be compensation elsewhere.

In that case, what is there to be afraid of? Just put the money in. The two old fellows no longer needed to struggle in the marketplace, while their sons, by virtue of their relationship with Liu Bei, had long entered officialdom. Though their ability was rather lacking, with solid character, it was only a matter of time before they rose.

Back when Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang had hoped Liu Bei would take their two sons as retainers, he refused, but gave them a guarantee: I will not interfere in the entire competitive process your sons go through in officialdom, but I will guarantee the fairness of that competition.

At first, Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang didn’t understand what he meant. Only later did they realize this was basically a rogue’s promise: their sons could act with full freedom in officialdom, without worrying about overt or covert attacks. Whatever level they achieved on their own, that was the level they would be promoted to.

This was essentially the greatest promise Liu Bei could offer. Any conflict one or two levels beneath Liu Bei’s own tier could be resolved with a single word from him, so naturally he could ensure those two sons never had any trouble. But once things reached someone like Jia Xu’s level, there was nothing he could do.

At that level of political maneuvering, even Liu Bei would find it hard to guarantee anything. But to be honest, Liu Bei’s eye for people was excellent; if Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang’s sons could climb to that height under his protection, then in reality Liu Bei’s protection would no longer be meaningful.

So Liu Bei’s guarantee was already the greatest he could give, based on the abilities of the two sons. As for those two, one could only say they were neither accomplished in letters nor in arms; they were even somewhat inferior to Mi Fang.

Of course, the main point was that Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping didn’t want their sons to become soldiers. Liu Bei felt that their sons would be pretty good at managing Logistics like Mi Fang—after all, their families were filthy rich and absolutely uncorrupt, which made Logistics work much easier. As long as they maintained good relations with the Chief General, no one would bully them; when the army won, the Logistics officer would always have a share of the merit.

Under such circumstances, as the years went by, even without any particular strengths, by relying on caution and impartial honesty, they could grind away for a few decades and end up as a Marquis within the Pass without much difficulty.

Unfortunately, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping were not the ruthless sort. Thinking of how they themselves had suffered half their lives, they decided their sons and grandsons must not suffer hardship, and so they declined Liu Bei’s goodwill.

Incidentally, the incident in which the Marines were wiped out only further strengthened their resolve never to let their sons or grandsons have any entanglement with the army. Didn’t you see how Mi Zhu’s face went deathly pale when he received the news? If such a thing happened to their own sons, even if they came through unscathed, the two old men would probably be frightened into losing years off their lives.

And thinking this way, they were not alone under Liu Bei’s banner. This was completely different from the aristocratic families’ mentality of "what’s there to fear in death; even if this branch dies, there are other branches."

"There aren’t many people left in the Main Family, and we don’t need money anyway. The ancestral home has been moved; whether this succeeds or not doesn’t matter. Just think of it as repaying Marquis Chen for his help back then." The steward of a Branch Lineage of the Wang Family of Taiyuan spoke with an impassive face.

The Wang Family of Taiyuan had now become a bizarre existence among Central Plains families. Their main line truly had only a single person left; all the branch lines had become distant branches. So when they migrated north, the Wang Family simply migrated themselves out of existence, packing up the entire family and moving it, leaving nothing behind but money.

As a result, the steward of the Wang Family branch now remaining in the Central Plains was particularly carefree. Wang Ling had already instructed them: fully support Liu Xuande, no matter good or bad. Spend every last coin on the Money Exchange’s books. Whatever Liu Xuande does, support it with all your strength. The Wang Family of Taiyuan would never again return to the Central Plains.

These few people made their decision very casually. After all, all four of them belonged to the sort who didn’t treat money as money, whereas the others were feeling rather miserable about it.

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