Wife, you didn't really drug me, did you?

The final battle, the decision of who will rule the world, Chen Jie knew this would be an absolutely tough fight, because his opponent was Zhu Chongba, the true chosen one in history, a man favored by the heavens.

This time, Chen Jie needs to wage not only a military campaign, but a full-scale war.

A major war on all fronts—military, political, and economic—determined the fate of the world. It would ultimately decide whether the world would be ruled by a fisherman named Chen or a beggar named Zhu.
World!

Chen Jie then looked at a large military map in front of him.

At this moment, Ni Wenjun, Hu Weiyong, Zhou Chu, Wu Hong, and Shen Wansan all arrived and bowed to Chen Jie, saying, "Greetings, my lord."

Chen Jie turned around, his Everlasting Spring Technique constantly activated to resist the strangulation of the Xuanyuan Sword Qi in his heart. He wanted to show his strong and healthy side as much as possible, because he now represented not only himself, but the spirit of the entire Huangzhou Prefecture regime.

He was the lord of Huangzhou Prefecture, the decision-maker of half the country. His body no longer belonged to him, but to the millions of people of Huangzhou Prefecture.

It's like the Chu-Han Contention. On the battlefield, Liu Bang was shot in the chest by an arrow from Xiang Yu. Liu Bang had to endure the pain to stand up and shout, "Old Xiang, your archery skills are terrible! This arrow hit my heel!"

Is this just showing off?
No, this is the supreme commander reassuring the troops.

If Liu Bang hadn't said that, but instead shouted, "I'm not going to make it, quickly call the army doctor!"

Why even bother fighting? The army mutinied instantly, deciding to surrender to General Xiang. Their own commander had been killed; why should they risk their lives?
This is the will of the army, and this is why the commander-in-chief is holding on.

You must never let your subordinates see your weakness. Just like you should never tell someone that your life is bad right now, because that will not only make them worry, but also make them back out of any cooperation they might have originally intended to do.

This is the human heart.

Chen Jie believed that his subordinates were all loyal, but did he dare to gamble?

He dared not gamble, he couldn't gamble.

He and Zhu Chongba have reached a point where they are evenly matched, and neither of them can back down.

Therefore, the key to victory lies in the details. Chen Jie must get himself into the best condition before betting against Zhu Chongba in this round. The stakes in this round are the world!

Chen Jie looked at the group of people in front of him and said, "This trip to Hangzhou was very fruitful, but of course, the losses were also considerable."

Chen Jie explained the gains and losses of the trip to Hangzhou to the people in front of him, and then said: "The current situation is like this. On the high-end combat side, Zhu Chongba and I have both suffered serious injuries. It can be said that we will not be able to take action for the next few months, or even half a year. Therefore, this period of time is a good opportunity for us to recuperate."

"However, we cannot rule out localized skirmishes. While high-end combat forces may not be deployed, the military will be. Therefore, all the land bordering Zhu Chongba must be on high alert, as it could become a battlefield at any moment!"

"You need to be prepared for this."

Hearing this, the others nodded, and Chen Jie continued, "In addition, since we and Zhu Chongba have now moved the capital to Jinling, which is on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, I think our final battle should be on the water. Therefore, we need to build enough warships."

"Therefore, I have decided to add ten more tower ships, fifty horse ships, and one hundred Mengchong ships!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Wansan frowned slightly and said, "My lord, this is a huge expenditure on public funds. I'm afraid our reserves are not enough."

Hu Weiyong said, "My lord, we still have many projects to benefit the people this year, as well as the construction of processing plants, all of which require funds. It's not easy to find the money right now!"

Hearing this, Chen Jie looked at the three people beneath him. Ni Wenjun said, "My lord, you can't cut military spending during a major battle, can you?"

Look at Zhou Chu: "My lord, we have dozens more prefectures this year. We need money to maintain the security of these prefectures and patrol them. Without money, we can't do anything!"

"So we may need to ask for more military spending this year, it's inevitable."

Zhou Chu looked at him with a knowing expression, "You can't just abandon your duty to maintain public order, can you?"

Chen Jie looked at Wu Hong, who said, "My lord, we will cooperate with the budget cuts. Just leave us enough to support our families."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jie waved his hand and said, "Forget it, you can't touch the money for your inspections. You're the kind of people who offend others. If the money isn't enough, who will risk their lives for you?"

As he was talking, Chen Jie thought for a moment and said, "Right? We can't skimp on the money. If we don't, things will get really serious."

Warships will definitely need to be built, and the cost can't be low.

"What about suppressing bandits?" Chen Jie looked at Ni Wenjun, who replied, "Suppressing bandits is feasible, but bandits haven't had much surplus food in recent years, so we can't make much profit from them."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jie thought for a moment, then looked at Hu Weiyong and said, "Can you think of a solution?"

Hu Weiyong said, "Those large projects can be halted and resumed after the war. This should save us several million taels of silver!"

Shen Wansan said, "Several million taels is enough to build warships, but it's not enough for the supplies, equipment, and other miscellaneous items for the sailors."

Chen Jiedao: "What about commerce?"

Shen Wansan said, "Our main business is in Jiangnan now. Zhu Chongba has taken over Jiangnan, and he will definitely block trade next. We can't count on him this year."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jie thought for a moment, and the others also frowned. This was a matter of a penny that had brought even heroes to their knees.
Thinking this, Shen Wansan said, "My lord, money is really hard to come by right now, and a large-scale military conflict is just around the corner. Even if we don't build warships, we don't have enough money!"

Ni Wenjun said, "Hey, money can't possibly be a problem. I'll sell my mansion and all the shops the lord gave me, and donate all the money. They can pay me back after we win the war!"

Zhou Chu said, "I can also donate. I have received your kindness over the years, so I can contribute several hundred thousand taels."

Wu Hongdao said, "I don't have much, ten thousand taels."

Shen Wansan then said, "Then I have the most money, I'll pay five million?"

Hu Weiyong then said, "My lord, this money is fixed. It's just a drop in the ocean for us, and we have to be very careful with our money. If there's any more trouble, we won't have any money left."

Chen Jie said, "Huangzhou Prefecture should be quite well-off these years, right? The people should be quite wealthy, right?"

Hu Weiyong said, "What you say is true, my lord. Your policies over the years have greatly benefited the people, allowing them to recuperate and prosper, and allowing wealth to accumulate among the people."

"Actually, the people's wealth has increased significantly in recent years. It's just that with war approaching, people are hiding their money and are afraid to spend it easily. So, the economy of our Huangzhou Prefecture is in a very bad state recently."

"If we can pool the wealth of the people, we can still cover the expenses of this meager warship."

"But I haven't figured out a way to get this money from the people yet!"

After hearing Hu Weiyong's words, Chen Jie tapped his fingers lightly on the ground a few times, then said to Chen Chun, "Chen Chun."

"Lord!"

Chen Chun came over and bowed. Chen Jie paused for a moment and then said, "Go to the third shelf of my bookcase and bring me a piece of paper."

Upon hearing this, Chen Chun immediately went to the bookshelf and found the paper that Chen Jie had explained. Soon, the paper was handed to Chen Jie.

He glanced at it, then handed the paper to Hu Weiyong and said, "Take a look, see if this can help you solve this problem."

Seeing this, Hu Weiyong took the paper and glanced at it. He saw the word "bank" written on it. Hu Weiyong was taken aback and looked at Chen Jie, who gestured for him to continue reading.

Hu Weiyong immediately looked down, feeling incredulous as he read. "This works? This is possible? This is acceptable!"

The more Hu Weiyong looked, the brighter and more radiant his eyes became.

At this moment, he handed the plan to Ni Wenjun, who was craning his neck to look over.

"Ni Shuai, take a look."

He handed the papers in his hand to Ni Wenjun, who took them and gave them directly to Zhou Chu, saying, "I won't look at them, I don't understand them, but the policies that our lord has researched are all correct, and I will definitely support them."

Chen Jie smiled without saying a word, while Zhou Chu, who was standing to the side, took the bank's business plan and looked at it. His eyes lit up instantly, and he looked at Chen Jie and said, "My lord, this plan is excellent."

He handed it to Wu Hong, but Wu Hong blocked it with his hand, saying, "I don't understand economics."

Zhou Chu handed the paper directly to Shen Wansan and said, "If you don't understand it, then let Brother Shen see it. Brother Shen is the God of Wealth of Huangzhou Prefecture. He must know everything about money!"

Shen Wansan said, "I dare not accept such praise, I dare not accept such praise."

As he said this, he picked up the piece of paper and looked at it. He saw that the word "bank" was written on the paper.

A bank? What is a bank?
Shen Wansan looked at Chen Jie with puzzlement, but soon looked down at the plan. As he looked, he couldn't help but gently tap the table. "Brilliant! Brilliant! This is simply the greatest business plan I have ever seen."

After reading it all, Shen Wansan looked at Chen Jie in amazement and said, "My lord, if you were a merchant, I wouldn't even be worthy to carry your shoes!"

Chen Jie said, "Wan San, you're too kind. With your talent, you couldn't possibly have not considered similar solutions, could you?"

Shen Wansan said, "What you say is very true, my lord. I have thought about it, but my idea at that time was not mature. I actually wanted to set up a money distribution center in my personal name to help businessmen easily obtain enough silver in various places."

“The world is too chaotic, and merchants need a lot of money to do business. It is easy for thieves to have money on their person. So I thought that since my business is spread across many prefectures, could I stockpile money in each prefecture and use the money as proof? For example, if a merchant deposits 10,000 taels of silver in Huangzhou Prefecture, he can go to other prefectures to withdraw the 10,000 taels with my proof.”

"This will save you the trouble and danger of transportation."

"Connecting the world through banking—that's one of the functions of a bank."

Chen Jie nodded slightly. Upon hearing this, Shen Wansan looked at Chen Jie and asked, "Then, my lord, does this bank serve another purpose?"

Chen Jie said, "Banks have many advantages; let me list them for you."

"The first one is what you said, it can facilitate the flow of money throughout the world and make it convenient to transport silver. That's one point."

Shen Wansan and Hu Weiyong both nodded and said, "What you say is true, my lord. Just based on this, we can attract a lot of merchants' money to our bank."

Chen explained, "That's only one reason. Secondly, by setting up banks, we can absorb the money in the hands of ordinary people and turn dead money into live money."

Upon hearing this, Shen Wansan asked, "What is the logic behind this?"

Chen Jie asked, "Wan San, about that 'Huitong Tianxia' policy you mentioned earlier, which helps people deposit money and withdraw it elsewhere, do you charge a fee?"

"I should charge for this, after all, I have expenses, such as the venue and security. And I can't work for free, I should get some money."

Hearing this, Hu Weiyong and the others nodded. You guys have done such a big favor, it's perfectly reasonable to take some money!
Chen Jie chuckled and said, "But we won't charge you."

"Oh, you don't charge?"

Hu Weiyong and the others were all shocked. At this moment, Chen Jie said, "Not only do they not accept money, but they also give money."

"Give me money?"

Everyone was even more stunned, and then looked at Chen Jie in disbelief, saying, "My lord, aren't we going to suffer a huge loss?"

Chen Jie said, "How can we compensate them? I said if we collect one thousand taels of silver from depositors and give them one thousand and one taels of silver a year later, do you think they would agree?"

"Go for it! You'd be stupid not to take an extra tael of silver a year!"

Chen Jie asked, "Do you have any spare money that you would like to deposit with me?"

"Save it! We must save it!"

Chen Jie chuckled and said, "Wouldn't that attract enough people to deposit money?"

"Wait a minute, my lord, where will we get that one or two taels of silver for the transport fee?"

Chen explained, "This involves another business of the bank: do you lend money to businesses?"

Shen Wansan looked at Chen Jie and said, "Sometimes I borrow a little."

How much interest?

"Nine out and thirteen back, some with black marks can do even better."

Chen Jiedao said, "You come to the bank to borrow money, and I can do it for you. Ten out of ten will be returned, and twelve out of ten will be returned. Are you in or not?"

"Let's do it, let's do it!"

Shen Wansan said, "How can I not do it!"

Chen Jie said, "In other words, if I borrow one thousand taels of silver, I can get back one thousand two hundred taels. And this one thousand taels of silver is deposited by someone else. We just pass it over between the two sides and make a net profit of ninety-nine taels. Do you think this is a bad deal?"

"Hey!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up, as if they had understood the secret. They stared wide-eyed and exclaimed, "Isn't this making a killing?!"

Hu Weiyong frowned and said, "My lord, this is indeed a solution, but are there enough merchants to lend us money?"

Chen Jie said, "This is only part of it; we can also raise funds to do more."

"For example, right now, I want to build a fleet, Wan San wants to develop industry, and Zhou Chu wants to build a whole patrol force. We have recently conquered four routes: Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Qinghai, and dozens of prefectures. Everything is in need of rebuilding."

“We are so short of money right now. We can use the people’s money to do big projects and solve these problems. How much will we benefit from that? We can revitalize agriculture, industry, and commerce in those four routes and dozens of prefectures. How much tax can we collect? Compared to the one-thousandth interest rate, this money is just a drop in the ocean. Don’t you think so?”

Everyone's eyes lit up upon hearing this; so that's what it is.

At this moment, Chen Jie added, "And there's another crucial step I haven't told you about!" (End of Chapter)