"Alright," said Lady Gan, her face momentarily betraying a hint of panic, but she swiftly made the most correct choice.
"Hehe," Chen Xi couldn’t help but curl the corners of his mouth into a smile. This was Liu Shan’s mother, after all, and she was also considered a paragon of virtue. Although in history she died young due to illness, in this life of brocade robes and jade meals, she wasn’t going to fall so easily.
That being said, the benefits that Chen Xi provided to the Zhen Family were, to say the least, less for the Zhen Family and more like stuffing money directly into Liu Bei’s purse. He had spoken of separating the national treasury from personal funds to prevent a sovereign king from squandering the national treasury, leading to the neglect of the people’s strength and ultimately the ruin of the state. But he had no intention of making the king suffer. Liu Bei had treated him well, so why would he harm Liu Bei?
Precisely for this reason, Chen Xi had been planning for Liu Bei’s purse well in advance, to ensure that there would be ample funds should a day come when Liu Bei found himself short on cash. The private treasury might even surpass the national treasury. Given Liu Bei’s trust, Chen Xi planned to save up even more money for him!
As for Lady Gan, Chen Xi was simply considering her as a bonus. After all, no one was paying attention to her now, and by building up good relations, who knows if she might rise to prominence through her son in the future? Anyway, if the power to set commercial laws were left to the Zhang Clan and Mi Zhu, that wouldn’t be very good. It was better to have constraints from three parties!
"If that is the case, then let us begin. Zijing, write the proclamation! Ruan Yuliang, come in and command the craftsmen to rush the production of a new set of commercial law engravings overnight!" Chen Xi took out his Private Seal, the Seal Ribbon of the Governor of Qingzhou, the Seal Ribbon of the Governor of Mount Tai Commandery, and his own Marquis Chen’s seal. After playing this many times, he had established the trust in both the spirit of the people and the government’s reputation. Finally, he was able to put them to use!
Lub Su looked at the pile of seal ribbons beside Chen Xi. If all these seals were stamped, even if it was in jest, the people of Qingzhou’s Mount Tai would take it seriously. With these seals, Chen Xi had truly established both the government’s reputation and personal credibility.
It should be known that to achieve both government and personal credibility, Chen Xi had deliberately done some silly things. For instance, needing pheasant tail feathers that were one foot long for three coins; one foot one, ten coins; one foot two, thirty coins; clear pricing, with three feet ultimately costing a string of coins.
Speaking of which, pheasant tail feathers were just ornaments, utterly useless, and Chen Xi would simply discard them after collecting them, in addition to collecting ginseng and crabs. In short, Chen Xi had done many silly things.
However, considering the actual effects of these deeds, Lub Su could only sigh and say that Chen Xi was indeed Chen Xi. Now, everyone under Liu Bei’s rule had developed a habit—going to the government office or the city gate every day to check for postings, and no matter how absurd, they wouldn’t mind. The credibility these seals lent was simply incredible to Lub Su, so under normal circumstances, Chen Xi was reluctant to lend these potent seals to anyone, lest they be misused.
Now that Chen Xi had taken out all four seals, if they were stamped on any proclamation, it would mean that the proclamation was unquestionably authentic, no matter what was written on it. It was that simple!
"Shall the commercial laws also be made public?" Lub Su asked, frowning.
"Made public! And we must not miss a single city within our jurisdiction, thirty copies for every commandery and county in Great Han! I’ll stamp each one with these four seals!" Chen Xi said, swinging the strings attached to the seal ribbons.
"You..." Liu Ye opened his mouth but then refrained from continuing, ultimately letting out a sigh. Indeed, the situation was never as simple as he thought. Once Chen Xi set his mind to something, he left no room for turning back.
"If there were..." Lub Su barely began speaking before he was interrupted by Chen Xi.
"There are no ’ifs’!" Chen Xi swept a glance at Lub Su, suppressing whatever he was about to say, "These are things I’ve established, and they should now serve me. A thousand days to raise an army, for the moment it’s needed! After nurturing the people’s spirit and credibility for so long, if they cannot soar now, where would that leave me!"
Liu Ye opened his mouth but ultimately chose not to speak. He could see that Chen Xi had been preparing for all of this well in advance, with each aspect interlinked. Clearly, even without their help, Chen Xi would use these four seals to coerce his entire jurisdiction into creating a fait accompli.
[To prepare for a rainy day, indeed! Opposing Chen Xi truly is frustrating; the cards in his hand are always beyond scrutiny, while the cards in your own hand are repeatedly calculated against. The feeling of being suppressed is...] Liu Ye silently pondered, his eyes soon gleaming with a different luster as his passive talent began its vexing effect.
Chen Xi glanced at Liu Ye, his eyes shimmering with diverse light and the slightly strange spiritual power, and nearly understood Liu Ye’s situation at the moment. This seemed to be good news, at least it spared him from the possibility of another debate in the future.
"It seems everyone has agreed. Gentlemen, please assist me. I thank you all here and now!" Chen Xi rose and bowed solemnly to everyone, a rare sign of earnestness!
Whether satisfied or not, by reaching this point and accepting Chen Xi’s courtesy, everyone understood that if they didn’t follow his command, Chen Xi would not hesitate to take harsh measures. Some things must be nipped in the bud from the beginning!
Just as Chen Xi said from the start, work would begin by the latest that very afternoon, haphazardly or swiftly, it mattered not; he truly did start work that very afternoon. Proclamations were posted everywhere, to the extent that you might think paper wasn’t worth anything. Or to put it another way, what Chen Xi was doing now could be likened to purchasing horse bones before buying the horse itself—a way of demonstrating sincerity for all to see!