Immortal Cultivation and Life-Saving Guide

Chapter 67 Official Silver
"These two ingots of silver have words on them," Qin Feng turned the silver over so that Wei Xi and Lian Gou could see clearly that there were words printed on the bottom of the silver. "This is the official silver of the Ju State."

"Just words? That's easy to impersonate!" Lian Gouqie took a look.

Wei Xi was speechless. What kind of good person's first reaction was to pretend to be official silver.

"These characters are mainly for convenience," Qin Feng put the two silver ingots on the table. "Official silver will have the specifications printed on the bottom of the silver, such as one tael, five taels, and ten taels."

"But these only facilitated the minting of coins. Apart from copper coins, ordinary people had no use for this type of silver in taels. Therefore, in the early days of the Ju Kingdom, it became a common practice for the people to divide up the official silver."

"Besides being convenient, we can also split and recast it to exploit any gaps in weight."

"The Ju State initially occupied the northern border and expanded towards the Dongyi. Trade with Nanjiang was frequent, and a large amount of silver from Nanjiang flowed into the Ju State. Ju State and the Nanjiang tribes attempted to reach an agreement on official silver transactions, but the Nanjiang tribes were leaderless, and Nanjiang had numerous silver mines, so a large amount of silver continued to flow into the Ju State without Ju City's control."

"Although both Beijiang and Nanjiang have large silver mines, the silver produced in Nanjiang is of relatively low quality. The people then use inferior Nanjiang silver to exchange for official silver from the Ju State in Beijiang, and inferior currency drives out good."

"Finally, sixty years ago, the late emperor expended great effort to conquer the two largest tribes in Nanjiang, forcing them to become vassals of the Ju State and gaining control of the largest silver-producing area in southern Xinjiang."

"Then, with the help of the Wanjian Sect, Ju State collaborated with the old leader of the Tiandi Sect, Xia Tian of the Guifu Sect, and Elder Xianhua of the Qingcheng Sect to develop anti-counterfeiting technology for official silver."

Wei Xi took the two silver ingots on the table, and even Gou Xie came over to take a look.

The two silver ingots Qin Feng took out, one weighing five taels and the other ten taels, fully demonstrated her wealth.

The official silver of Ju State was beautifully made. It was neatly shaped, with the weight printed on the back and two vertical characters engraved on the front: the reign title on the left and "Peace Under Heaven" on the right.

Wei Xi had never seen much silver, so he couldn't tell the difference, so he waited obediently for Qin Feng to explain.

"Basically, they put silver and spirit stones in a furnace built by several immortal masters according to the correct ratio. The resulting official silver is difficult to separate and has a dazzling luster. When you place the official silver under the sun, a halo will form around it, making it easy to tell whether it is real or fake."

"When this policy was first implemented, some officials in the imperial court pretended to comply but actually disobeyed. When collecting private silver from the people, they lied to some aristocratic families about the amount of private silver and the amount of fire consumption."

"The late emperor was determined to rectify the chaos in the circulation of silver, uprooting five or six immortal cultivation families. Not to mention the court, the ground in the vegetable market has been red for two years."

"What does this have to do with the immortal cultivation families?" Wei Xi asked.

"It's a big deal," Qin Feng replied. "There are two ways to ascend to higher status: either become an official or enter the realm of immortality."

"Just considering the two matters of embarking on the immortal path and the leak of Yin and Yang, the emperor must maintain good relations with the immortal cultivation world, and the immortal cultivation clans that control the channels for advancement are naturally the real power."

"You don't know because the Qingcheng Sect doesn't have such a thing. Sects like the Huaixin Sect, the Wanfa Sect, the Zhengxin Sect, and even the Wanjian Sect all have immortal cultivation clans, but the size of their power varies."

Lian Gouqie laughed, "Good fellow, you are the descendant of an official, but even in Huaixin Sect you are still no match for the second generation of immortal cultivators. It seems that the choice of track is very important!"

Before Qin Feng and Lian Gouyue started arguing, Wei Xi quickly asked, "The emperor wants to eradicate the immortal cultivators, but will the immortal cultivators just sit there and wait for death?"

Qin Feng sneered, "I don't need their consent. You know that cultivators need to eat, drink, defecate and urinate, and most of these resources are controlled by the court."

"For example, the mine with the highest output of spiritual stones is the private property of the royal family of Ju State."

"As for food, most monks don't engage in production. Apart from the Qingcheng Sect, which has terraced fields on the mountainside, most sects still rely on the people for food."

"I don't know about other places, but the land held by the two immortal cultivation families in Jucheng, the Wu and Cui families, has been bought out in various ways." "Also, immortal cultivators are suppressed by the laws of heaven and cannot attack innocent people. The immortal cultivation families also have to live under the emperor's rule."

"Damn it," Lian Gouyue said in shock, "I thought cultivating immortals would be worry-free."

"If you continue to be so incompetent, you can indeed live a carefree life." Qin Feng saw that Lian Gouqie had come back to life and started to argue with him again.

"I thought the Wanjian Sect was the leader among all the sects now." Wei Xi's tone was very light, but Qin Feng understood.

"The Ten Thousand Swords Sect views things from the perspective of the people of the world. Although these sword cultivators know that the emperor might not be a good thing for the people, they also know that stability is good for the people of the world."

"So the Wanjian Sect still sides with the Ju Kingdom court on major issues. Furthermore, as immortal cultivators, it's best for them to stay out of these matters. The Wanjian Sect should be concerned with leaks of yin and yang, sect disputes, and development plans for the immortal world."

"Besides, most of the people in those immortal cultivation families are not cultivators. There may be one or two in each generation. The emperor has thoroughly investigated the matter of official silver, and the Wanjian Sect must also follow the rules."

"This incident has had such a huge impact that even officials in Jucheng are secretly using it as an example to educate their children."

Thinking of the serious faces of the elders of Wanjian Sect, Wei Xi had no doubt that they would do such a thing.

Lian Gouyu was amazed. Now that his strength had recovered a little, his mind began to work. "So what does this have to do with the gold in Tangkou Town?"

Qin Feng took a sip of cold tea and said, "This brings us to the issue of spiritual gold exchange."

"Spirit stones are actually condensed spiritual energy. Cultivators use them as currency, and they have a wide range of uses, such as refining and activating magical instruments, refining medicine, and feeding spiritual beasts."

"For example, Wei Xi's cowhide scroll is powered by spirit stones. Once the spirit stones are used up, it will disappear."

"You can think of the spirit stone mine as the earth's Qi Palace, where these spirit stones can grow."

"About half of the currently known spiritual stone veins are controlled by the Ju State. The Wanfa Sect is so wealthy because it relied on one of their spiritual stone veins to make its fortune."

"But spirit stones are mainly used by immortal cultivators, and by trading with immortal cultivators, spirit stones will flow into the world."

"The exchange of spiritual gold is also managed by the Mint. Compared to the official silver of Ju State, gold does not have a complicated management mechanism. At the same time, gold is also suitable for large-scale trade between the imperial court and the immortal cultivation world."

"So the ratio between spirit stones and gold is fixed. The official exchange rate in Ju State is 500 low-grade spirit stones for one ounce of gold. This way, Ju State can control most of the spirit stones in the country, and the gold can then be converted into silver and flow into the market."

"In other words, gold is a place where we can make a difference in the entire monetary system of Ju State?" Wei Xi looked at Qin Feng.

　The content of this chapter is purely fabricated by the author.

　　I paid too much attention to the international server today and almost missed the update.

　　Thanks to: Yeyu Qinglin, Jugeng joj, Jihanxiao V, Ah Chao, Yes Ah Chao, Lonely Xiu Mo Ren, Robin Hong, and JUCK0 for their recommendation votes!

(End of this chapter)