Returning from the Front Line, What I Need to Do Can Be Summed Up in One Thing

Chu Guang could understand Old Charlie's complaints. The more thrilling things got for his little players on the front line, the tighter things became in the rear. Without exaggeration, over the past several months, virtually every financial body in the entire Alliance—from the Central Bank to the Ministry of Finance to the Merchant Guild—had been busy wiping the army's ass. That production and the economy had not run into major problems so far was inseparable from the close cooperation among all departments. Of course, the most critical factor was that he had honored the promise he made at the very beginning: ending the war before the end of the year. "Let's address the first issue first." With that, Chu Guang looked toward Minister Sun Ruicai, who sat at the other end of the conference table looking nervous, and continued in a gentle tone. "Do you still remember the last question on that exam?" Sun Ruicai froze for a moment, quickly realized which test paper Chu Guang meant, and spoke up immediately. "I remember! The question was... if we borrow money from marauders, do we have to pay it back?" Chu Guang asked, "And your answer was?" "What I wrote back then was yes..." Sun Ruicai said nervously. "I felt that even if we paid the money back first and then robbed it back later, it would still be better than simply welshing on the debt. Otherwise, other people would worry that borrowing money from us might get them labeled as marauders instead." Chu Guang nodded approvingly, then turned to Old Charlie. "Regrettably, he was the only one whose answer somewhat satisfied me. Some candidates just split hairs, claiming the Alliance would never trade with marauders in the first place, so the premise didn't hold. Another group thought we could just keep the money for ourselves, since no one would sympathize with marauders anyway. Yet if things were truly that simple, there would be no need for us to establish a Ministry of Finance at all; we could just hire a 'steward' to handle everything." Marauders were different from mutants; they weren't something identifiable at a glance. Looked at another way, the label could become a bag that held whatever one wanted to stuff into it. Confiscating a marauder's property had consequences entirely different from declaring one's creditor to be a marauder. Of course, the reason Chu Guang had said he was only half satisfied was because an even better approach existed. Compared to seizing the IOU from the creditor's hand by force, making that IOU worthless through appropriate financial means was a far more ingenious method. Old Charlie coughed lightly. "I didn't say you would welsh on the debt... That was just an exaggeration. My original intention was simply to help you understand how severe our current financial situation is." Chu Guang smiled and nodded. "I understand how you feel. We definitely have to pay back the money; welshing on debts is something we cannot do. So that brings us to the second question... how to repay it." With that, he looked at Sun Ruicai. "How much is due at the end of the year again?" Sun Ruicai answered immediately. "The total debt stands at 510 million chips, with terms ranging from twenty to fifty years. The principal and interest due together total 10.17 million chips!" Chu Guang nodded, then suddenly sighed. "Too little." Both the scale of the debt and the principal and interest due were far too small! If what was due at year's end were 100 million, Melvin, the president of Boulder City Bank, would have been waiting at the base of the airship before Chu Guang even stepped off. How could it possibly have been just Avni and Boss Xia waiting after he stood there for so long? Sun Ruicai blinked in bewilderment, and Old Charlie froze for half a second as well. "Too... little?" "Yeah," Chu Guang nodded, looking at the two of them with an expression of sympathy. "While I was away at the front line, you two suffered too much hardship. Minister Sun Ruicai just said that the deficit contributed by military spending accounted for 76.9% of the Alliance's total deficit. Even though our current total industrial output leans heavily toward the defense industry, this financial report is still quite unhealthy." *So you do know it's unhealthy!* Old Charlie couldn't help but say, "And that's already the result of the logistics departments being as frugal as possible..." Chu Guang looked at the old man and continued, "The problem lies right there. The deficit contributed by military spending reached 900 million. If our investment in infrastructure also reached 900 million, wouldn't that proportion drop from 76.9% to 50%?" Hearing Chu Guang's words, Old Charlie was completely dumbfounded. Sun Ruicai, sitting beside him, wore an equally stunned expression. What kind of logical genius was this? Besides, weren't they discussing how to repay the debt? How did this turn into complaining that they hadn't spent enough? "Just a joke to lighten the mood, but the underlying logic still stands." Seeing Old Charlie and Minister Sun struck dumb, Chu Guang wiped away his playful expression and looked at the two seriously. "I went through all that trouble out there to borrow money for you so that the residents of the Alliance could live good lives, not so you could tighten your belts to pay off debts. So when you tell me that over the next three years we should adopt a more conservative economic strategy, make everyone suffer through hard times together, and reduce the debt before expanding our operations, my heart aches... If that's the end result, why did I fight this war in the first place?" "An individual can cut back on food and clothing to reduce their debt, but a collective must never do that. Debt is a rope; once we are bound by it, we become the creditor's slaves. Do you know what resolving the problem by shrinking the balance sheet would mean? It would mean the entire Alliance would have to work as Boulder City's wage slaves for the next three to five years! Is that what a victorious nation ought to do? We are the ones who owe money—we are their masters!" Old Charlie stared blankly at Chu Guang, completely bewildered by this roundabout logic. One second he said debt was a rope to bind slaves, and the next second the debtor became the creditor's master? Minister Sun Ruicai was equally flabbergasted, though in another sense, he had grasped a sliver of the Administrator's thinking. "...You mean debt is a rope that the creditor can use to bind us, but in turn, we can also use that same rope to drag... them?" Chu Guang picked up his cup, took a sip of water to moisten his throat, and softened his tone slightly. "Precisely." "So before discussing how to repay the debt, I must first change your mindset. I have to tell you that shrinking the balance sheet to pay down debt is a dead end—at least for us. If we want to repay the debt and maintain the Alliance government's credit, not only can we not shrink the balance sheet, but we must also continue to increase expenditures and spend even more money!" "However, how to spend money is an art. We cannot copy the nobles of Boulder City, nor can we blindly imitate Ideal City's experience. I have to use our own model." Pausing for a moment, Chu Guang continued. "Returning from the front line this time, what I need to do can be summed up in one thing." Old Charlie swallowed nervously. "...What is it?" Chu Guang smiled faintly. "Share the spoils of war with the citizens of the Alliance!" Sun Ruicai blinked, not quite following. "Share... the spoils?" "That's right," Chu Guang nodded. "The Alliance's victory was inseparable from the support of all our citizens. Our army couldn't have defeated that pack of jackals with bare fists alone. We have gained two vassal states and two trading partners. Our residents can clearly feel that food has become cheaper—previously, working for an hour bought less than a jin of corn, but now it buys a whole kilo... Yet that is still not enough! Far from enough for the victors!" With that, he raised his voice. "The dining tables of Alliance residents shouldn't hold only corn and potatoes. Only pigs, cattle, and sheep eat corn cobs paired with nutrient paste for every single meal. Their tables should also have meat, eggs, and milk! We need to make these affordable and readily available, and let them eat whatever they want, indulging to their hearts' content!" "Not just food, but clothing too! Last winter, we stuffed pre-war waste banknotes into quilts to serve as batting. I promised that would be the last time, and now I will honor that promise. This winter, everyone will have real cotton quilts, wear clean, warm padded coats and leather boots, and live in houses that don't leak wind—" "And that is far from all!" His resolute voice echoed through the conference room. Hearing those words, Sun Ruicai felt a surge of warmth in his chest and couldn't resist clapping his hands softly under the table. Come to think of it, hadn't he ended his wandering life and chosen to stay here in the first place precisely because the man before him had promised to let everyone live a good life? He felt ashamed that for a brief moment, he had entertained the thought of making everyone tighten their belts to pay back the debt. Paying back what one owed was natural and right. Yet he was the Alliance's Minister of Finance; he had a duty to devise a better way forward for the Alliance! Unlike the excited Sun Ruicai, Old Charlie showed little overt reaction, merely watching Chu Guang with an unblinking gaze. He had to admit. This man's rhetoric possessed a bewitching magic. If this had been a public speech rather than an internal discussion, the applause would probably have blown the ceiling off. People would stand and cheer for him, shouting his name in reverence, even regarding him as a living deity and willing to lay down their lives for him... In fact, many were already doing so; becoming a member of the Guards Corps was the dream of nearly every young man in the Alliance. On the wasteland, what was more enticing than having enough to eat and warm clothes to wear? And he was promising not only food and warmth for the Alliance's residents, but also that they would live with dignity... Letting everyone live with dignity was a boast that even the City Lord of Boulder City wouldn't dare utter. Rather, across the entire wasteland, those who could truly achieve that were probably only the folks from Ideal City. Yet Old Charlie thought it over and felt relieved. This actually wasn't the biggest pie the Administrator had ever promised. Compared to 'rebuilding a new Ideal City atop the ruins' and 'returning to the Prosperity Era,' this boast was actually rather modest. Chu Guang smiled at Sun Ruicai. Seeing that he looked eager to speak, Chu Guang raised a hand slightly, indicating that he wasn't finished yet. After a brief pause, Chu Guang resumed in a gentler tone. "I occasionally task my assistant with observing how our residents live... Of course, that doesn't infringe on their personal privacy." "For example, a young woman working at the trading post works six days a week, busy from seven in the morning until seven in the evening, with only a one-hour lunch break. Only on Saturday evening can she return to her village by Ling Lake to reunite with her family, staying until early Monday morning before heading back to work." "In the past, we were short on manpower and had no choice but to ask our workers to endure longer hours. But now we have passed that hardest period, and I believe we should return to them the time that rightfully belongs to them." "So while I was still at the front line, I cabled the person in charge of the trading post, instructing him to increase staff by 50%, adjust the average daily working hours per person from 12 hours to 8 hours, and adopt more flexible shift scheduling." "This system has already been running for half a month, and facts have proven that it works completely!" "The trading post employees throw themselves into their work with greater enthusiasm and treat every customer with more patience. Not only do traveling merchants from all over carry away a wonderful impression of our people, but our employees can also enjoy better lives. After getting off work, they don't have to lie dazed in their dorms like their energy has been entirely drained. They can get out more—whether visiting the library to study and improve themselves, strolling along the snack street, or socializing with friends and doing what young people ought to do." "Of course, what we need to solve is not just one person's problem, but everyone's. The trading post is merely a pilot. From now on, every factory, institution, and facility in the Alliance—whether collective or private—must do the same! I intend to write this into law, and I'm already prepared for our budget to double once again for it." Pausing, Chu Guang looked at Old Charlie and Minister Sun Ruicai and laid out his thoughts. "Not only will we give the Alliance's residents time, but we will also make them prosperous. Currently, our minimum hourly wage is 1 silver coin, a figure that can no longer keep up with the Alliance's economic growth. Early next year, I intend to raise the Alliance's minimum hourly wage to 3 silver coins, and gradually push the median to 5 silver coins." "When Alliance residents have both money and time, they will possess purchasing power and greater demand. As long as we keep inflation within a reasonable range, this place will form an astonishingly fast-growing market brimming with business opportunities." "And to earn more interest, the nobles of Boulder City will not only refrain from pressing us to pay our debts, but they will also scramble desperately to put their saved-up chips into our hands. After all, we'll soon take those chips to buy their goods, letting them earn their chips right back. Back and forth like that, even if Boulder City Bank doesn't print a single cent, the chips in their pockets could double—or even more!" Sun Ruicai held his breath. Old Charlie looked at Chu Guang in astonishment as well. By now, he basically understood Chu Guang's plan completely. Not only did this guy have no intention of reducing the debt, but he actually planned to borrow even more money. Use borrowed money to develop the economy, invest in infrastructure, and improve residents' lives, thereby further expanding the Alliance's economic scale and attracting more hot money in. Except there was still a loophole in this... Old Charlie said cautiously, "But in the end, we still have to repay Boulder City's debt with chips earned from them. We can't very well pay them back in silver coins." Hearing that, Sun Ruicai cooled down as well. "...Indeed. Their residents used to have some purchasing power, but now they even have to ration their nutrient paste." Seeing the two of them looking worried, Chu Guang nodded approvingly. "The fact that you noticed this shows you've been paying close attention, and it also proves our plan has successfully entered its second stage. A large volume of chips has concentrated into the pockets of Boulder City's nobles, indirectly driving up inflation there. If you were a Boulder City noble watching everyone around you get richer, with more and more chips in your pocket that bought less and less, what would you do?" Sun Ruicai pondered for a moment, then suddenly showed an expression of realization and said excitedly, "Preserve value! Before the chips depreciate, I'd have to buy things or industries that appreciate!" Chu Guang smiled and nodded. "Correct, though not entirely comprehensive." Blind investment was one of the complications of an overheating economy. People would lose their senses amidst the frenzy, investing blindly just to beat inflation. Because the money came too easily. It was as if they could make a profit with their eyes closed. Gradually, rather than losing money, people became more terrified of missing the boat. "...In the entire southern River Valley Province, there won't be a market more worth investing in than the Alliance. In any case, they probably have no interest in wasting money on poor wretches who can't even afford nutrient paste, and I never expected to earn money from those people to repay our debt anyway." "Beyond investing, the inner city nobles will also become far more lavish in their spending habits than before. We only need to give them a little opportunity and encourage them to broaden their horizons, and they'll deliver their money themselves. For instance... developing tourism and entertainment industries, letting them compete with the folks from Ideal City to see who can squander money better. Or issuing more bonds to absorb the hot money in their hands that can't find investment avenues." "As for the residents of Boulder City... while their plight is pitiable, that's Boulder City's problem to worry about. If they can't even afford nutrient paste, those people will naturally come to the Alliance to eat corn." Chu Guang sympathized with their predicament. Those survivors were also suffering on the wasteland. Yet he had also said that he would prioritize the Alliance's interests; he couldn't sacrifice his own people's interests for the sake of others. And if they were willing to come over, he wouldn't mind sharing a portion of the harvest reaped from the inner city nobles with them, helping them start new lives. After all, it had originally been the fruit of their labor in the first place. "...To manage the Alliance's foreign debt uniformly, and to allow our creditors to exercise their claims more conveniently and efficiently, I intend to have the Alliance Central Bank team up with Boulder City Bank to issue 'bonds' denominated in chips." "They can substitute for chips to a certain degree. Regardless of whether Boulder City Bank recognizes their monetary status, we will redeem them at the coupon rate upon maturity. If the Boulder City nobles don't mind, they can even spend these IOUs as cash." Old Charlie hesitated. "Will Boulder City Bank agree to that?" This was plainly a massive trap... Chu Guang chuckled. "Trust me, even if I don't bring it up, they will take the initiative to ask me for a similar solution so their debt holdings can circulate just like banknotes." Old Charlie fell silent for a while, then suddenly let out a soft sigh and remarked with deep feeling, "It seems I really am getting old." Chu Guang shook his head. "Not at all. All I can offer is macro-level strategy; the fine details will still require you two to study, discuss, and refine." "I will do my best to keep up with your pace." Old Charlie glanced at Sun Ruicai, then continued, "Today's meeting... I suggest it be kept confidential." In a sense, they weren't discussing how to repay debts at all, but how to fleece their neighbor even harder. If word got out, rather than boosting the creditors' confidence, it would probably drive them to jump off buildings. Sun Ruicai nodded earnestly, tightening his grip on the meeting notes on the table. "Understood!" Chu Guang said nothing, tacitly agreeing to Old Charlie's suggestion to keep the meeting's contents secret, even though he felt keeping it secret hardly mattered. Many things were already in plain sight. Someone was bound to notice that Boulder City's asset bubble was expanding continuously, along with the risks lurking within it. For instance, the president of Boulder City Bank. As long as that gentleman spent a little time balancing the ledgers, he would discover that the chips circulating in Boulder City actually exceeded the total volume Boulder City had ever issued. Yet anyone who noticed the problem would never actively pop the bubble, because doing so offered zero benefit and would only invite a world of trouble. Making one last fortune before the bubble burst was what 'smart people' did. If the final stop was a cliff, then one simply needed to get off before the penultimate stop... The closed-door meeting lasted just a short hour before concluding. Though many had heard that the Administrator had called such a meeting to resolve the debt issue right after returning, nobody outside the three attendees knew what had been discussed, let alone what instructions the Alliance's Administrator had handed down to the Merchant Guild and the Ministry of Finance. Just as merchants from Boulder City were speculating whether the Alliance had run out of money to pay its debts, an announcement released by Dawn City Hall on the day following the meeting slapped everyone right across the face. The entire announcement was tens of thousands of words long, but it could be summed up in two words— Public bidding! And it was a simultaneous invitation to bid across multiple fields! First was transportation. Dawn City Hall would tender five million silver coins to procure fifty electric buses to deploy across the existing six public transit lines as well as four newly added ones, replacing the trucks originally used to haul cargo and troops. The goal was to lower residents' commuting costs below 1 silver coin and allow them to 'sit' decently inside vehicles without dirtying their trousers. Not just buses, but supporting infrastructure as well. Dawn City Hall's bidding plan also included fifty kilometers of concrete roads and four new charging stations. And that wasn't even the most eye-catching part! The announcement that drew the most eyeballs had already become that day's headline in the *Survivor Daily*... Early morning. In a detached cottage within the Ling Lake Wetland Park. Looking at the fresh copy of the *Survivor Daily* in his hands, Fang Chang, sitting at the dining table, wore an expression full of surprise. "Holy crap... that's going to cost a hell of a lot of silver coins." Dawn City Lord Luka had announced that to accommodate the continuous influx of survivors into Dawn City and improve the living conditions of residents, City Hall planned to solicit bids for constructing 1,000 new apartment buildings on the wasteland northeast of Qingquan City. Each unit had to be over 40 square meters, and each building had to accommodate at least 48 households, up to a maximum of 60. According to past custom, players could also participate in design and bidding. He would bet anything. Given the life-profession players' passion for making money, this matter would definitely replace 'Floor B6' in the trending searches and become the hottest topic dominating the forum's front page today! The newspaper also featured a map diagram that practically encircled the open wasteland east of Dawn City's Embassy Street, with two of the newly planned bus routes running right through it. Then again, with all this road building and house construction... Where was the money coming from? They had promised an almost completely realistic economic system, so why did it feel like none of these NPCs played by the book... Wait, no. Fang Chang reconsidered and realized he had fallen into the trap of applying real-world thinking out of habit. In reality, conditions on the wasteland were entirely different from the real world. What was most precious here? Black boxes? Technology? Neither! It was people! People did the research, people did the design, people tightened screws and farmed fields, and people explored ruins and mined underground. Only with people did one have the capacity to excavate ruins and salvage the treasures of pre-war civilization. Without sufficient manpower, forget fleecing one's neighbors—you'd even get ripped off trying to sell hyena meat. As long as the Alliance could continuously siphon manpower and wealth from surrounding survivor settlements, this quantitative easing operation was entirely viable. If one wanted to find a real-world reference, one shouldn't look in the twenty-first century, but rather back before the nineteenth century... While Fang Chang was staring intently at the newspaper and mulling it over, Dolly walked quietly up beside him, leaned down to peck him on the cheek, and set a plate of freshly bought, piping-hot buns on the table. "Someone outside is looking for you." Closing the newspaper in his hands, Fang Chang looked up with a faint smile and asked, "Who?" Dolly wrinkled her nose. "His name is Jixiu. He also claims to be the son of the president of Boulder City Bank... but I don't think he seems like a good person. He gives off a rather strange vibe." She strongly disliked the fellow's frivolous gaze, though she had still politely asked him to wait a moment at the door. Jixiu? Hearing that name, Fang Chang's eyes instantly lit up. He pushed his chair back with a smile and stood up. "You're right, darling. That guy really isn't good news, but... that doesn't stop him from doing good deeds." "Doing good deeds?" Dolly tilted her head, looking utterly bewildered. She certainly didn't think someone who looked down his nose at everyone seemed like the type to do good deeds. "That's right. A person has to do one or two good deeds in their lifetime, or else they'd be too pathetic. It just so happens I can help with that..." Fang Chang smiled, gently stroking her hair. "I'll go meet him."