fifth form

Chapter 3009 Trade Swap
After some discussion between Zhang Xuezhou and the new emperor, the first victim, Sima Xiangru, appeared.

While they were chatting in the back garden, the new emperor even had Sima Xiangru summoned into the palace.

"Lord Sima has excellent eyesight!"

Seeing Sima Xiangru's resentful expression, Zhang Xuezhou could only laugh it off, realizing that the latter clearly did not want to get involved in the conflict between the Empress Dowager and the new emperor.

If Sima Xiangru hadn't gone to the Bashu region to meet with Tang Meng, Zhang Xuezhou would have been forced to do manual labor, something he certainly wouldn't have wanted to do at the moment.

"I can't see people clearly now. For example, if you were with His Majesty, I wouldn't be able to tell people apart if I didn't look at their clothes," Sima Xiangru said with difficulty. "If Tang Meng were wearing full armor, how would I recognize him, let alone do anything good!"

“In that case, you need to go to Sichuan even more,” Zhang Xuezhou said.

"Oh?"

“The Prefect of Wenweng County in Bashu has the skill of freezing water into ice. You can ask him to help you make two ice mirrors,” Zhang Xuezhou said. “As long as the ice crystals are concave, they can alleviate your nearsightedness and astigmatism, allowing you to see people clearly. If you can find some kind of crystal gemstone, it’s not impossible for your vision to be restored to its original state!”

Since Zhu Shiyin is already wearing prosthetic eyes, it wouldn't be a problem for Sima Xiangru to have Prefect Wen Weng make a temporary pair of glasses.

Finding the perfect match would be quite difficult, but it wouldn't be a big problem for Sima Xiangru to see things clearly.

Zhang Xuezhou took out a brush and ink and drew a simple pair of glasses. Sima Xiangru stared at it for dozens of seconds before he understood the meaning.

"What is the working principle behind this? How can it enable Sima Xiangru to see clearly?"

"This is optical refractive correction, which adjusts the angle of light refraction through a mirror, so that the light forms a more stable image after passing through the eyeball!"

The new emperor was puzzled. Zhang Xuezhou explained it to him, but the emperor still didn't understand. However, Sima Xiangru's problem with his eyesight was temporarily relieved. Judging from Sima Xiangru's expression, the emperor was quite satisfied.

"This ice mirror is essentially repairing the damage to my eyes," Sima Xiangru said. "Unfortunately, ice melts easily when heated, making it very difficult to maintain stability. It also makes my head feel cold and uncomfortable. If I can get the transparent crystal that Master Dongfang mentioned to polish my eyes in the future, my eyes will hopefully return to normal!"

Sima Xiangru looked delighted.

His brief explanation was enough for the new emperor to understand.

Sima Xiangru, having received benefits, worked very diligently.

Although the other party went to Sichuan more to treat their eyes than to restrain Tang Meng from committing massacres, it was good enough as long as they could go there to get things done.

The new emperor is not afraid of his ministers having selfish motives and doing personal things; he is afraid of those who lack loyalty and the ability to carry out their tasks properly.

In particular, Zhang Xuezhou and Sima Xiangru were discussing this directly without any attempt to avoid the new emperor, who was well aware of the situation and didn't care.

"Changqing, do your best, see you in a year!"

When Sima Xiangru left Weiyang Palace with the new emperor's secret documents, Zhang Xuezhou waved to him, signaling that Sima Xiangru should return quickly within a year.

"He's not as efficient as you at work!"

Only after Sima Xiangru had gone far away did the new emperor add a sentence.

Sima Xiangru not only had an eye problem that made him inefficient, but he also had a procrastinating personality.

Zhang Xuezhou estimated that it would take Sima Xiangru a year to travel back and forth, and the new emperor thought it would be good if the other party could return to Chang'an in three years.

"It's good enough that I can get things done!" Zhang Xuezhou replied.

"That's true!"

The new emperor nodded, then looked at Zhang Xuezhou, who hadn't made any arrangements since returning to Chang'an.

"To be honest, I have something very important to report to Your Majesty!"

Zhang Xuezhou could tell what the new emperor meant just by looking at his eyes. If the new emperor were the company's boss, he would definitely keep every employee very busy, ensuring no one was idle.

Zhang Xuezhou had no choice but to take the initiative to find something to do, so he quickly brought up his visit to Weiyang Palace to borrow the Qi and Blood Creation Pill, and also mentioned their cooperation in refining pills.

"The Xiongnu provide the materials, and we provide the manufacturing process?"

The new emperor pondered for a few seconds, clearly considering the balance involved.

He could only be thankful that Zhang Xuezhou, though incompetent, at least notified him; otherwise, the widespread circulation and trade of high-grade pills would have caused many problems.

The new emperor didn't mind this kind of deal.

In fact, Sang Hongyang was already engaged in reselling, using trade to continuously instill ideas into the Xiong Kingdom.

The new emperor was unaware of all the details of Sang Hongyang's operations. He only knew that Sang Hongyang would continuously send valuable goods to the Xiong Kingdom and return items such as cattle, sheep, and horses to the Han Dynasty, thus making the Xiong Kingdom pay an economic price.

Zhang Xuezhou's method of exchanging elixirs for raw materials is similar in principle.

If it can operate normally, it can greatly replenish the materials such as demon cores that the Han Dynasty lacks, thereby gaining more practical benefits.

The initial batch of three hundred Creation Pills may seem like a small quantity, but the total output of the entire Shanglin Garden secret realm was only a few thousand high-grade pills, which was actually quite a large deal.

If the initial launch is a success, this trade swap will inevitably continue and may even expand in scale.

“Sang Hongyang once said that economics is about learning from others’ strengths and making up for our weaknesses. Only by using others’ resources to supplement our deficiencies can we continue to grow stronger,” the new emperor said after careful consideration. “But the danger of such an exchange is extremely high. Once those cultivators in the Ye Die River Holy Land obtain the pills, they will likely be even more powerful!”

"Therefore, we can give them the Qi and Blood Creation Pill!"

Zhang Xuezhou replied with a smile.

The Qi and Blood Creation Pill is of higher practical value than the Magic Power Creation Pill, but no mage or venerable in the Yexi River Holy Land can use it. Instead, it is more suitable for the great demons of the Xieluoschuan Holy Land and the Jiuling Holy Land.

This two-way supplementation may have an advantage in terms of materials, but the key is how both parties can make more effective use of these elixirs.

Zhang Xuezhou currently has no need for the Creation Pill, but he is happy to accumulate high-grade pill materials so that he won't have to search for them when he needs them.

Moreover, Yi Shuo has also begun to need Creation Pills, and currently has a need for Creation Pills to stabilize her cultivation at the Divine Power Realm.

Although it was a deal between Zhang Xuezhou and Hong Ku, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't have sustained it for long without the support of the new emperor.

It took Hongku more than a year to barely gather all the materials for the first batch. It would be difficult to gather and match all the materials for the Creation Pill in the future. Only with the coordination of the new emperor could the pills be produced continuously, and Zhang Xuezhou could continue to take a cut.

Feiyu Live's introduction of a sequence committee is also due to this factor. Trying to monopolize something like this is easy to fail at. To be legal in the long term, it must find support so that it can do things openly and legitimately.

"Would the Venerable One you mentioned agree?" the new emperor asked doubtfully.

"He has no other choice but to agree to this arrangement!"

Zhang Xuezhou shook his head.

Hongku served as a venerable one for too short a time; even if he squeezed the people in his jurisdiction to death, he could not accumulate enough to meet the needs in that short time.

Unlike Zhang Xuezhou's cultivation, Hongku had a high demand for elixirs and also involved other cultivation resources.

The reason why everyone joined forces to refine the Creation Pill was simply because this kind of pill has a wide range of applications and can be traded as a hard currency; in reality, everyone's needs were different.

As long as trade can be conducted, Hongku wouldn't care whether he received a Mana Creation Pill or a Blood and Qi Creation Pill, and he would likely accept other circulating pills as well.

This is also the space that the new emperor can operate in, and he will surely be able to combine the advantages of both sides to reasonably match the needs of his close cultivators, thereby avoiding being constrained by high-grade pills.