Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1788: Chapter 1667: No Turning Back

”Hey, hey, hey, if you want to listen, just go over there and listen. Sneaking around like this is just suspicious.” Fan Qin slapped Liu Ba on the back, startling him as he was intently listening to Chen Xi’s explanation.

”Huber, what are you doing?” Liu Ba said, a bit annoyed.

Currently, Liu Ba was doing quite well under Cao Cao’s command. With Liu Ba supporting the economy, even though he hadn’t done any less of what needed to be done, Cao Cao inexplicably found that his resources weren’t as tight as before, and money and grain circulated more smoothly than prior.

Moreover, after Liu Ba actively applied some theories he learned from Chen Xi, Cao Cao discovered that he even had surplus money, which was simply miraculous.

Therefore, Cao Cao was quite fond of Liu Ba, and others also respected him highly. A person who can consistently bring in money is liked by everyone, especially someone like Cao Hong, who loves money to the point of reverence, nearly treating Liu Ba as a lord. Thus, Liu Ba was doing well.

Many times, if there was any major event on Cao Cao’s side, even if it had nothing to do with Liu Ba, Cao Cao would invite him to sit in as a sign of respect. However, Liu Ba mostly remained silent, just listening.

Whenever Cao Cao sought his opinion, Liu Ba would simply share his thoughts, then add that he specialized in finance and was not familiar with political strategies, asking his lord to consult others for those matters, and would suggest suitable people to Cao Cao.

This kind of person, who didn’t covet praise and liked to guide others, naturally found it easy to mingle in Cao Cao’s camp, and there were hardly any complaints from the higher-ups about Liu Ba.

However, Liu Ba felt bitterness in his heart, knowing better than anyone how powerful Liu Bei was. If even Xun Yu admired his financial abilities, then Chen Xi’s skills in this area were something Liu Ba could only marvel at. Consequently, Liu Ba never boasted about his financial management prowess, remaining humble and low-key, which further satisfied the people in Cao’s camp.

Now given the chance to hear Chen Xi’s chatter, Liu Ba was naturally willing to eavesdrop. Unfortunately, being caught like this by Fan Qin was embarrassing, so he glared at Fan Qin with an unhappy expression.

”Brother-in-law, you don’t mind if we join and listen, do you? I find what you’re talking about quite interesting.” Fan Qin said with a smile, in Chen Xi’s direction.

Chen Xi smiled back at Fan Qin. Liu Ba and Fan Qin rode their horses over, bowing ceremoniously to Xun Yu, and a glance between Fan Qin and Xun Yu was enough for Xun Yu to understand the meaning.

[I’ve also been swept along by Chen Xi’s rhythm, not even considering such simple matters. Though these things are intricate, they’re mostly related to money and grain. If Zichu listens, the depth might be greater than I imagined.] Xun Yu silently thought, acknowledging Fan Qin’s wisdom. In Cao’s camp, including Xun Yu, they all had to admit Liu Ba’s prowess in money management.

”Oh, Zichu, it’s been a long time.” Chen Xi, although it had been a while since he last saw Liu Ba, still recognized him.

”Yes, it has been a long time, Marquis Chen.” Liu Ba said, with emotion, ”Earlier, I overheard from a distance, missing much of the content. May I ask Marquis Chen to repeat it again?”

”Sure.” Chen Xi began his rambling once more. When speaking about the same topic twice, Chen Xi’s focus always shifted a bit, and though the general direction was the same, there were inevitably some differences.

Xun Yu listened attentively, with his good memory, quickly spotting the differences between the two. Unfortunately, Xun Yu’s economic understanding wasn’t deep, so he found it hard to decipher Chen Xi’s focus.

Liu Ba, on the other hand, relished it, slowly absorbing what Chen Xi said like a sponge. Although some parts seemed like rogue theories to Liu Ba, thinking carefully, reality was indeed as rogue as described.

”Actually, much of what I say exists in an ideal state. The current situation hasn’t reached that point yet, and Zichu, you can probably feel that the social environment actually limits many of your methods.” Chen Xi sighed.

”Without the Money Exchange, even the current methods wouldn’t be usable. To put it bluntly, without relying on the Money Exchange, I’d at most be considered a competent official.” Liu Ba chuckled.

Then Xun Yu said, ”Zichu, don’t undervalue yourself. Even without the Money Exchange, your knowledge of financial economics is enough to navigate the world.”

”But without the Money Exchange, I’d lose my greatest means of attack and defense. There wouldn’t even be a suitable target for credit. Although the current usage is based on Marquis Chen’s credit, essentially it’s about releasing some of the Han Dynasty’s economic potential. It makes it seem like the whole country suddenly has money, but this money already existed.” Liu Ba sighed.

Xun Yu expressed his dislike for speaking with people like Liu Ba, talking about economics in such a bewildering way that they couldn’t understand what was being said.

”Well, the country’s been experiencing a coin shortage, and I didn’t have any alternatives, so I could only rely on my credit to sustain it. Now the biggest issue is that there’s nothing else to cover, and even if I wanted to retract it, I couldn’t.” Chen Xi shrugged.

The ancient coin shortage in China couldn’t be resolved mainly because copper coins, as a medium of exchange, inherently had value, and China itself lacked copper mines.

Previously, due to a lack of money, Chen Xi discreetly used his own credit to release part of the nation’s economic potential, in a way supporting Liu Bei by leveraging the entire country’s strength. Naturally, Liu Bei quickly flourished as if on steroids.

Originally, after Liu Bei flourished, Chen Xi should have ceased his actions. However, a particularly unfortunate point was that Chen Xi was already trapped by then, unable to retract the over-issued credit currency. Of course, this wasn’t because there wasn’t enough money.

Those using this currency had already discovered its convenience, greatly benefiting large-scale material flow. Those people didn’t want to let Chen Xi recover the recklessly issued credit currency, and abolishing it by force would be unnecessary. Chen Xi thought it wasn’t worth trading his credit for tens of billions of money.

Therefore, Chen Xi continued issuing it, curious to see how high his credit rating could go. As a result, there is now credit currency circulating in the market, valued at around over a hundred billion, guaranteed by Chen Xi’s credit. Issuing twice as much could roughly solve the money shortage.

Unfortunately, Chen Xi didn’t dare to play that way, stuck at over 120 billion money, refusing to issue more. To put it logically, based on what Chen Xi learned, his calculations showed that a vast market of over 44 million people needed about 200 billion currency for circulation, but Chen Xi didn’t dare to issue that much. Yet, even so, it still largely unleashed the Han Dynasty’s economic potential.

This is currently Chen Xi’s biggest headache. The entire Han Dynasty’s economy is effectively bound to Chen Xi’s credit. Chen Xi fills out a number on a piece of paper, stamps it with three official seals and his private seal, then it enters the market, becoming real money!

This is almost like a fantasy novel, but the reality is just that. Because of the prosperity driven by releasing economic potential, these credit currencies have gained increasing acceptance, with circulation steadily climbing. Up to now, even Chen Xi can’t stop it.

Previously, Chen Xi could have shamelessly abolished the credit currency, but now this thing has gone beyond Chen Xi’s control. To destroy this system, Chen Xi would have to over-issue currency massively, but he truly didn’t have the guts. If he over-issues, prices would soar, putting the common people in dire straits.

As for Chen Xi himself saying to abolish the credit currency, that’s barely effective. Nowadays, Chen Xi is essentially like the central bank, with functions of issuing and recovering money. To abolish the currency, would need approval from a whole bunch of people. It’s not something you can quit just by saying you quit.