"...The Qingyuan sweeps across the world. Within Qingming, there is True Monarch Chuhe, who reopened the path to attaining sainthood through merit; there are numerous figures ranked among the Twelve Celestial Idols; and there are core scions of the Bao, Xiao, Cui, and Xu clans occupying high offices. All of these people possess a path to immortality! Yet never once has it been heard that a second kind of private scrip exists in Qingming—never!" Paying no heed to the darkening expression of the King of Qi or the meaningful glances cast repeatedly by his colleagues, the veteran minister spoke on with impassioned confidence.
A censor stepped forward and declared, "What does issuing private scrip have to do with the Qingyuan? You are merely twisting logic and arguing semantics!"
The veteran minister sneered. "Those who understand the principle already know, and to those who don't, I have nothing to say! If you want to lick Chancellor Lu's boots, you should at least have a scrap of learning in your belly. If you can't even kiss up properly, what use is a good-for-nothing like you?"
Berated into mortified embarrassment, the censor's face flushed crimson, and he slunk back into line.
At this point, Chancellor Lu stepped forward and spoke: "Lord Wang makes a valid point. However, private scrip is already rampant today. If we were to ban it all outright, the blow to the common populace would be too severe and cruel; such a move is impractical. Therefore, your subject believes we must proceed along two tracks at once—issuing the Qi Yuan while gradually reclaiming the private scrip. By planning slowly, we can accomplish both."
The King of Qi's expression softened, and he nodded. "This is indeed the counsel of an experienced statesman managing the realm."
The veteran minister wanted to say more, but swallowed his words, realizing this was the king's bottom line. He could only say, "This old minister merely possesses some modest insights regarding the Qingyuan, but remains a layman in all other matters. Chancellor Lu surely has higher wisdom to offer; this subject washes his ears to listen."
Chancellor Lu said in a deep voice, "Qingming's dominance lies in the Qingyuan, yet it does not lie in the Qingyuan alone. First, Qingming's armies swept across Jin and Zhao; then their grain, iron, armor, silk brocades, and pills swept through the various states, crushing their neighbors' industries. Only after all that did the Qingyuan come to be. The Qingyuan is a sharp weapon, while industry and iron cavalries are the hands that wield the blade. With a sharp weapon in hand, one's lethality naturally multiplies tenfold. But having a weapon without hands makes it a rootless tree, nothing more than an inanimate object.
"Therefore, your subject believes that while the Qi Yuan must be issued, what is even more crucial is establishing our own corresponding industries in Great Qi. If Qingming can do it, why can't we? Furthermore, we must do it better than Qingming, and produce even more!
"Many years ago, your subject dispatched a large cohort of spies to infiltrate Qingming. Quite a few of them have achieved modest positions by now and have transmitted back a wealth of intelligence. Based on this information and grounded in the realities of Great Qi, your subject has designed an industrial system comprising four major categories: military affairs, mining, manufacturing workshops, and civilian livelihoods, encompassing hundreds of subcategories.
"We can start first with civilian livelihoods and military affairs. We now possess the majority of Qingming's various loom designs. Moreover, your subject gathered skilled artisans and craftsmen who, after many days of dedicated study, have improved upon most of them, achieving even greater efficiency.
"As for military affairs, forging armor is not truly difficult. In the initial stage, your subject plans to construct one hundred armor workshops, yielding an annual output of a hundred thousand suits of high-grade armor."
A tall, imposing general remarked, "Forging armor is a fine thing, but a hundred thousand suits is a bit modest. Why bother building all those looms and fabrics? Wouldn't it be better to spend that money on building more armor workshops? In my eyes, we ought to raise three hundred armor workshops—an annual output of three hundred thousand suits is barely enough to get by."
Chancellor Lu said, "The Duke ought to know the principle of living within one's means. Military armor represents expenditure. One must have revenue before one can expend; the greater the revenue, the larger the expenditure can be. And these weaving workshops are the very source of annual revenue for the state treasury. Back then, Qingming relied on precisely this to amass wealth and soar to the heavens. I trust that the Duke's own household has made no small use of Qing brocade, yes?
"When Qing brocade is sold even into our Great Qi, one can imagine just how much immortal silver Qingming has amassed! This immortal silver forms the bedrock of the Qingyuan and the very root of why people hold the Qingyuan with confidence.
"Thus, this time we must not only build weaving workshops, but build them vigorously. Ninety percent of the initially allocated funds must go into constructing weaving workshops. Once the first batch of cloth and brocade is sold, we can use the profits to open armor workshops. Such a steady, unending stream is the only viable long-term plan."
The King of Qi had long reviewed the intelligence on Qingming submitted by Chancellor Lu. Nodding, he said, "Weaving brocades and cloth is the fastest to produce, meets the urgent needs of the common people, and yields the quickest returns. Within a few months, the first batch of loom-woven brocade can be produced. We believe Chancellor Lu's strategy is thoroughly conceived and serves as the foundation for strengthening the state. It shall be executed accordingly!"
With the King of Qi's decree settled, the ministers raised no further objections. Dividing their responsibilities, they embarked from that moment on the path of replicating Qingming.
***
One month later, in the State of Zhao.
The King of Zhao gathered several senior ministers and cabinet elders in the Imperial Study for deliberation. This was his long-standing habit: discussing major matters first with a few trusted confidants to form a clear picture before bringing them before the court.
The figures in the study were all familiar faces; only one had been replaced over the past ten years. The reason, when spoken aloud, was somewhat ironic. Ever since Zhao implemented a comprehensive welfare system, human destiny had surged, pleasing the Immortal Ancestor immensely. From the King of Zhao on down, none dared rashly change the system. Moreover, given where the hearts of the people lay, welfare could only ever be increased, never reduced; the slightest cut immediately showed signs of popular revolt.
Furthermore, having grown prosperous, the entire State of Zhao visibly yearned for stability, unwilling to return to living with their heads on the line on the battlefield. Many ministers could only embrace the spirit of governing through non-action, their daily labor consisting of chanting praises and singing eulogies.
In any case, bolstered by massive supplies from Qingming, even natural disasters were no longer an issue, leaving only man-made disasters. And so long as people did not deliberately stir up trouble, there would be no man-made disasters either.
Even under the burden of lavish welfare, Zhao's state treasury maintained a bizarre equilibrium. Yet from the King of Zhao down, all the ministers were well aware that this balance existed solely thanks to the support of Qingming's vast sea of low-priced goods.
Over the past decade and more, Zhao's population had grown by a billion. In former times, grain prices would have skyrocketed into the heavens, forcing the King of Zhao to wage foreign wars lest the state face total ruin.
Now, however, grain prices within Zhao were even lower than those in Ji and Song, only slightly higher than in Western Jin, which Qingming had already taken over entirely. All of this was owed to Qingming. Consequently, Zhao found itself in a delicate predicament, its dependency on Qingming having reached a pathological degree.
The King of Zhao and his ministers knew this in their hearts, yet were powerless to change it.
Over the course of more than ten years like this, even the King of Zhao had grown somewhat complacent. He had not waged a military campaign in three years, not even bothering to fight the Mountain Folk. Across the entire State of Zhao, only Li Zhi was still desperately campaigning east and west.
Yet today, the court grandees suddenly noticed a glint in the King of Zhao's eyes.
"My dear ministers, the other day Southern Qi announced reforms. That old fellow King Xiang of Qi actually plans to emulate Qingming across the board and establish a Qingming industrial system. We looked over the contents of their reforms—they really have something there!
"Hmph! If that old fellow can steal blueprints from Qingming, could it be that We cannot obtain them? Look at this: what is this?"
An extremely intricate set of blueprints immediately appeared before the ministers. The diagrams contained not only several advanced looms of varying sizes, but also a dedicated formation designed to power them. This formation was extraordinarily detailed, featuring not just array diagrams, but also detailed explanations of component pairings and devices to stabilize spiritual power output.
Previously, the King of Zhao had acquired several looms and iron-forging machines, but because the supporting formations were flawed and the spiritual power output was insufficiently stable, the machines' lifespans were drastically shortened. Now that the king had obtained a complete power-supply formation, it was no wonder he was so thrilled.
The Grand General said, "A formation like this should be a core secret of Qingming. In the past, who knows how many spies and scouts from the Nine States and great clans were liquidated over it? From our Great Zhao alone, over a hundred people vanished into thin air. How did Your Majesty acquire it?"
The King of Zhao laughed heartily. "Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed."
Yet the ministers saw through it with absolute clarity, knowing this was mostly tied to the two princesses residing in Qingming. Ever since Consort Yuan's death, the two princesses' treatment in Qingming had visibly improved, and the treasures they sent back had grown ever more plentiful. Of course, the price paid was surely not small either.
High-spirited and ambitious, the King of Zhao said, "With this spiritual power-supply formation, we can establish a complete brocade-weaving industry! Moreover, two of these looms are specialized models capable of producing high-grade loom-woven brocade. That old fellow in Southern Qi has no such marvelous goods; their brocade industry can just wait to be thrashed by us!
"Hmph, if Northern Qi can undertake reforms, can our Great Zhao not do the same? We shall do it even better than them!"
An elder minister said, "This subject has heard that Northern Qi also plans to simultaneously issue the Qi Yuan and then decree the outlawing of all private scrip in their borders, giving it six months to vanish on its own. Only by proceeding with such a two-pronged approach can one follow the proper path."
The King of Zhao immediately gave a few dry coughs and said, "...Those words, well, are quite reasonable. However, we are a stone's throw from Qingming. If we rashly abolish private scrip, wouldn't we merely be leaving even more room for the Qingyuan?"
The elder minister had already considered this issue and replied at once, "By following Southern Qi's example and issuing Zhao Shenwu currency, this problem can be resolved with ease."
The King of Zhao hesitated for a moment, but gritted his teeth and nodded. He understood what the ministers meant, but issuing private scrip was simply far too lucrative, to the point where he found it difficult to tear himself away. At present, eight or nine out of ten private scrips in the State of Zhao were backed by the king himself.
Yet the King of Zhao felt this could hardly be blamed on him. He was clearly gifted with extraordinary talent, yet could not cultivate immortality and had no choice but to ascend the throne. Having become king, he now had nowhere to wage war and no room to become an enlightened sovereign across the ages; if he didn't make money, what else could he do?
Once the king nodded, the atmosphere in the study grew much more cheerful. The ministers eagerly offered ideas and proposals, even discovering the principle that greater scale led to lower unit costs. And because the King of Zhao had repeatedly issued scrip, while the state treasury was empty, his private coffers bulged to bursting.
And so he gritted his teeth, brought out a vast sum from his private silver, and pooled it with the treasury, preparing to construct two hundred weaving workshops in the initial phase, each housing ten looms. This scale was double that of Southern Qi, proving that the King of Zhao's ambition had finally begun to revive, revealing the foxy tail of his desire to break free from Qingming.
In those earlier years, the ministers had also possessed high spirits and soaring pride. It was only after being battered head-on in war by Wei Yuan that the military commanders no longer dared speak of valor before him, which amounted to having one knee broken. Later, when the welfare system was implemented and even their food and daily necessities came to rely on Qingming, their other knee was shattered as well.
With no arena to exercise their talents, the ministers could only play the part of flatterers singing praises. Yet how could such men ever be truly resigned? They had merely been biding their time.
Now, the changes in Southern Qi instantly enlightened them. If Qingming could do it, why couldn't they?
Thus, monarch and ministers united in purpose, swiftly settling on the reform strategy. The King of Zhao, however, chose not to announce it openly in court. Instead, he broke the plan down and assigned it department by department.
Yet a movement of such magnitude could never be concealed. Soon enough, news spread that Zhao had also begun mass construction of weaving workshops. As a result, before even the shadow of a loom had appeared, the price of raw silk doubled outright, earning many nobles and ministers another tidy sum.
Hearing the news from Zhao, Southern Qi visibly picked up its pace and increased its investments. The two states began brawling over craftsmen and raw silk, and relations plummeted. Had they shared a border, armed conflict might well have broken out.
During this period, Wei Yuan emerged from seclusion once, and the first piece of news he laid eyes upon was this. The cultivator delivering the message was deeply anxious, but Wei Yuan gave it little thought. If he didn't let them try, how would they ever give up hope?
Chapter 1191