The Fierce Teacher of Zhenguan: Starting with Teaching the Crown Prince to Make a Comeback

Chapter 81 Is this... possible?

"Your Highness, the so-called Mandate of Heaven is an ethereal and intangible concept, so how can it be believed in?"

"Because the Mandate of Heaven needs to be manifested and anchored! Your Majesty's diligence in governing and love for the people have enabled them to live in peace and prosperity, and the whole country is at peace. These great achievements anchor the Mandate of Heaven on virtuous governance and meritorious deeds! Only when officials and the people see this peaceful and prosperous era will they truly believe that Your Majesty is the true Son of Heaven and be willing to submit to his rule. Conversely, if the ruler is tyrannical, the people suffer, and war breaks out everywhere, then the claim of the Mandate of Heaven will be shaken, because the foundation anchoring it on virtuous governance and meritorious deeds will crumble!"

Li Chengqian felt a pang of heart palpitation.

He had never thought so clearly about the origin and maintenance of imperial power.

It turns out that the Emperor's authority did not come from blood ties and violence, but from the seemingly illusory Mandate of Heaven that needed to be constantly filled and anchored by political achievements!
“Let’s look at the history books,” Li Yichen said, giving more specific examples.

"At the end of the Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and warlords rose up everywhere. Why did Cao Cao 'use the emperor to command the princes'? Because he knew that although the Han Dynasty had been in decline for four hundred years, its title of 'legitimacy' still carried enormous weight in the hearts of the people, serving as an extremely solid anchor! By anchoring his hegemony to Emperor Xian of Han, this symbol of legitimacy, he could leverage this momentum to rise up, legitimately suppress rebellions, and recruit talent. His decrees, issued under the emperor's banner, naturally carried a layer of legitimacy. This saved him a great deal of trouble in establishing his own title and rebuilding a system of credibility!"

Li Chengqian listened intently and nodded subconsciously.

"Those who opposed Cao Cao, such as Sun Quan and Liu Bei, often attacked Cao Cao precisely because of his 'holding the emperor hostage to command the princes,' calling him a traitor to the Han dynasty in name only."

Li Yichen sneered, "Why are they doing this? It's because they understand that once Cao Cao successfully binds his power to the anchor of the Han dynasty's legitimacy, his position will be unshakeable. They must desperately try to detach Cao Cao from this anchor, expose his disloyalty, and weaken his political credibility to create space for themselves. The core of all this struggle is, to a large extent, the struggle for and control over the anchor of power—that is, the legitimacy of the Han dynasty!"

Li Chengqian suddenly felt enlightened!
In the past, when I read the history books of the Three Kingdoms, I only felt that it was a warlord war with many heroes. But now, after Li Yichen analyzed it from the perspective of anchoring, I suddenly felt that there was such a clear logical line behind those complicated political struggles!

The exercise of power actually requires finding and relying on a sturdy anchor!
He asked impatiently, "So, Yichen, you mean that if I want to use this 'potential credit' to exchange for money and provisions, I must find a sufficiently strong 'anchor' to anchor my credit?"

"Your Highness has understood!" Li Yichen's face showed a look of relief.

"That's right! And this anchor must meet several conditions."

"Tell me quickly! What are the conditions?"

Li Chengqian was intrigued by the unresolved answer.

He vaguely sensed that what Li Yichen described was not just a method for raising money and supplies, but a completely new discipline that was enough to shake up the existing economic structure and even affect the foundation of the country.

This set of knowledge is cold and precise, pointing directly to the core of human nature's tendency to seek advantage and avoid harm. Its power is no less than that of thousands of troops on the battlefield or the power struggles in the imperial court.

He recalled Li Yichen's previous teachings on game theory and the art of trade-offs, and now on credit and anchoring. This set of unheard-of knowledge seemed to peel away the fog surrounding power and wealth, allowing him to see the more fundamental laws that operated behind the scenes.

Li Yichen counted on his fingers.

"First, the item must have a stable and widely recognized value. It cannot be valuable today and worthless tomorrow."

"Second, this item must have a certain degree of scarcity, or be difficult to replicate easily. If it is just soil and rocks that can be seen everywhere, it cannot be anchored to a high value of credit."

"Third, this item should ideally be closely related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and its value should be recognized by both the court and the people in a long-term manner."

"Fourth, this item should ideally be easy to measure, store and trade, and be able to serve as a universally accepted measure of value."

"Fifth, and most importantly," Li Yichen looked intently at Li Chengqian, "the Crown Prince must have considerable control and influence over this item, or at least a unique channel for acquiring it. Otherwise, if the item changes hands or its price spirals out of control, your credit system will collapse."

Upon hearing these five conditions, Li Chengqian's initial excitement cooled considerably.

He frowned, searching his mind rapidly.

"It has intrinsic value...it's scarce...it's related to the national economy and people's livelihood...it's easy to trade...and the Crown Prince can still control it..."

He kept thinking about these conditions, and the more he thought about it, the harder it seemed to be to find a suitable candidate.

"Land? The Crown Prince's estates are limited, and land is difficult to move or divide, so it's unsuitable. Minerals? Gold, silver, copper, and iron are all controlled by the Imperial Household Department and various metallurgical bureaus, and the Crown Prince has no right to interfere. Silk? The quantity is too large to store, and the price fluctuates... I really can't think of anything that can satisfy all five conditions at the same time?"

Seeing Li Chengqian's worried expression, Li Yichen knew that the time was almost right.

He couldn't directly state the anchor he was planning, but he needed to further deepen the concept of "anchoring" so that the crown prince could fully understand its power, thus laying the groundwork for the subsequent rollout of specific plans.

"Your Highness, please calm down."

Li Yichen reassured him, "Finding a suitable anchor takes time and opportunity. Before that, I must make you fully understand the immense power that the proper use of anchoring can generate. This is even related to the rise and fall of the nation, and is by no means as simple as raising a few hundred thousand strings of cash."

He took a deep breath.

"Your Highness, have you ever considered why some dynasties, despite their empty treasuries, struggled to survive even with heavy taxation, while others, seemingly with light taxes and levies, had full treasuries and were even able to launch large-scale wars without harming the foundation of the nation?"

Li Chengqian immediately replied, "It is naturally due to the clean governance of officials, the peaceful lives of the people, and the prosperity of commerce."

"A clean and efficient government and a peaceful life for the people are the result, not the fundamental means," Li Yichen shook his head.

"One of the underlying reasons lies in whether or not an efficient and stable 'credit anchoring system' has been established! A system that can transform national credit into enormous mobilization and wealth creation capabilities through appropriate 'anchors'!"

Li Yichen recalled the modern financial knowledge that even after the US dollar was decoupled from gold, it still relied on commodities such as oil and military hegemony to maintain its global currency status. However, he had to translate this into a historical deduction that Li Chengqian could understand.

"I will now make a bold deduction."

Li Yichen's voice was calm.

"Suppose there is a powerful empire that discovers an extremely special 'anchor' that perfectly matches the five conditions I just mentioned. This anchor is unique in the world, has stable value, is necessary for everyone, and is easy to divide and store. Therefore, this empire declares that all its issued currency or loan certificates can be exchanged for this anchor at any time at a fixed ratio."

Li Chengqian's eyes widened.

"is it possible?"

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(End of this chapter)