It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

"Lincoln had accumulated a lot of problems: heavy taxes, poorly maintained roads, crowded residential areas, dilapidated docks and ports, a lack of authority in the courts, corruption, and decadence... These were things I had seen before, but I was powerless to change."

“I’ve been getting familiar with the mayor’s job lately, and I will try to change things step by step. Just you wait and see.”

"I'll keep an eye on it."

Faced with this attitude that sounded like a work report and a prospective outlook, Li Cheng waved his hand and said in a friendly tone, "But don't forget that you are the mayor now. You don't need to tell me these things. Just do what you want."

Maslow proposed five basic needs: physiological needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs.

For many people, power can satisfy all five of the above needs at once, making it the most potent drug. Most people don't even abuse their power, let alone use it to seek personal gain, since the power itself feels like the best reward.

It is said that many powerful figures, after stepping down from power, live extremely leisurely and comfortable lives, and have much less workload and pressure than when they were in power, but instead they age rapidly and become very old.

Ultimately, it comes down to the loss of power. No longer do they have countless people praising and supporting them like before. Their latter three needs are not being met—more precisely, compared to before, they are not being met.

Far away.

In short, Li Cheng was a little overwhelmed by Smith's sudden burst of energy and youthful appearance, but he still seized the opportunity to put forward some of his own ideas.

"We have now truly acquired a city that belongs to merchants, which is undoubtedly a victory."

Li Cheng smiled and said, "But after gaining initial control of a city, are some tax cuts enough to satisfy us? Don't you yearn to do something more ambitious, rather than simply being a babysitter for Lincoln City?"

Smith hadn't expected him to bring up such a hot topic right away, and his heart skipped a beat: "You mean...?"

“We should take this opportunity to establish a set of fair, just, and transparent business principles that can be recognized by the vast majority of people, and write them into law in a clear manner, so that they can be deeply rooted in the hearts of everyone in Lincoln City.”

Li Cheng was certainly not talking about anything outrageous or plotting anything behind the scenes. On the contrary, he was talking about something very noble and righteous: "Low taxes, well-developed infrastructure, friendly legislation, and advanced, transparent, and groundbreaking business principles."

“By doing these three things well, we can create a good business environment and gradually attract merchants from all over Britain to set up shop here. Eventually, it will gradually become a business principle for the whole of Britain through acceptance by everyone, and even gradually spread to more distant places. There is no doubt that a good system will make people want to follow it without doing anything more.”

It sounds like...something that might work.

Upon hearing such a grand and idealistic plan, Smith, who was already full of enthusiasm, became even more excited and eager to make Lincoln a role model for the whole world.

Fortunately, Smith still had some self-awareness, and he quickly calmed down: "I'm sorry, I may not be able to make such an important decision, and I can't do it... You know where I came from as mayor. Everything else is fine, but the business principles that everyone is required to follow... well, you know."

Li Cheng knew this, of course. He reassured him, "I will talk to Principal David and the others later. You don't need to worry about it. Just remember what I told you."

His purpose in bringing up this topic was to make Smith understand and be convinced. Although he was now considered one of the behind-the-scenes manipulators in Lincoln City, the effectiveness of his words would inevitably be gradually eroded and weakened over time until Newton's territory truly developed.

Modern business principles were established after the Industrial Revolution, with the roar of the steam engine and the division of labor, but many of their excellent and advanced concepts are still applicable today.

After all, only when it is clear what can and cannot be done, and a stable and transparent business system is established, will the emerging capitalist class, which is still in its initial stage, have the courage to try and thus further achieve the initial accumulation of capital.

As for how to achieve initial capital accumulation...

This is actually a rather frustrating topic. The accumulation of capital has always been dirty and bloody. Even after excluding direct aid, the later People's Republic of China only managed to complete its primitive accumulation step by step through extreme exploitation of agriculture and some external assistance.

Li Cheng would try to stop some of the extremely excessive and dark aspects, but he could only turn a blind eye to the rest.

After all, productivity needs to be developed. Capitalism in the 17th century was the best model for developing productivity and could most efficiently promote human progress. You can't expect everyone to immediately live a communist life; that's neither possible nor realistic.

Some people will be forced to make sacrifices, and exploitation is a relatively reasonable model for people living in this era.

Although it may sound a little uncomfortable and make people think things like, "Why wasn't it you who was sacrificed?", there's nothing that can be done about it.

At this point, we have to bring up Romain Rolland's famous quote once again.

Even after recognizing the harsh realities of life, one can still love it.

From childhood to adulthood, whenever Li Cheng learned too much about the unknown aspects of history and reality, and tried hard to think but could not come up with practical solutions with his intelligence, and finally fell into a pessimistic nihilism, this sentence could give him renewed strength.

Indeed, Li Cheng now stands at a crucial juncture in the development of nascent capitalism. His efforts will usher in a bloody era, where countless peasants are driven from their fields and displaced; countless lives of foreigners perish under the weight of primitive accumulation, sold by the shipload from one continent to a new world as slaves for generations; and nation after nation has its doors breached, forced to open its markets...

But similarly, through his efforts, Lincoln might become a thriving center of nascent capitalism and a free commercial capital in the near future, greatly enhancing the power of the capitalist class, and the Industrial Revolution might be brought forward—well, it certainly would be brought forward.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Chapter 241 Lincoln Business Regulations

For an aging regime that has been struggling for a long time and is on the verge of collapse, reform is the only way out. However, reform will also bring huge resistance because vested interests will do everything they can to obstruct it, including countless people in power.

Brezhnev, Wang Anshi... ideal measures, after being distorted in many ways, only exacerbated the collapse of the political system.

Streamlining staff in an attempt to save costs and increase efficiency—but those who actually get things done are all laid off, leaving only those with connections who can't be laid off, which actually reduces administrative efficiency.

Offering low-interest loans in the hope of curbing mergers and encouraging the development of small businesses—banks are unwilling to take risks, small businesses can't get loans at all, while large enterprises get large loans and have too much money to spend, so they start to acquire assets and speculate in finance.

Countless examples of failure are right before our eyes, too numerous to mention.

Reform is so difficult that even in China's thousands of years of history, only a handful of people have succeeded in reforming, and only one, Emperor Yongzheng, was able to die peacefully. This was mainly because this ruthless man was an emperor, and no one dared to hold him accountable afterward; at most, they could only smear his reputation in historical records.

In contrast, an emerging power is like a twenty-year-old youth, able to do whatever they want with ease.

Lincoln today is like that twenty-year-old: the Garcia family's power has been driven out, the previously oppressed emerging bourgeoisie is too weak, and in the end, Smith was chosen to be mayor.

As a result, even an outsider like Li Cheng, who had no connections, was able to experience being a behind-the-scenes boss in Lincoln City. As long as he didn't go too far, he could do almost anything he wanted.

However, he did not indulge in this feeling. Instead, while recalling the lessons of history, he began a rather miserable life of being forced to work overtime, spending more than ten days in a row negotiating and establishing the rules for the operation of the business.

Commercial nature, merchants, acquisitions and sales, commercial credit, financial leasing, partnerships (companies)...

The template for modern business law was already in Li Cheng's mind. All he had to do was streamline and select a part of it, and make modifications suitable for the current situation, thereby creating a set of business rules suitable for the current era.

For Li Cheng, now is the best opportunity to bring it out.

Currently, due to the previous oppressive policies of the Garcia family, the actual power of the bourgeoisie in Lincoln is not strong. However, the bourgeoisie in Lincoln will undoubtedly become stronger in the future, making it difficult to implement a set of commercial laws.

Without the implementation of appropriate public laws and the lack of constraints, the seeds of capital will grow wildly and unchecked, turning into hideous and ugly shrubs.

Although public law can still be subject to misunderstandings, written commercial law is a significant step forward compared to customary law, which is passed down orally and can be interpreted in various ways. Its significance is considerable, and this is one of the things Li Cheng can do.

And so.

The conference room at Lincoln University, March 1667.

Just like the last time, the five of them gathered here. Having already discussed the pros and cons many times, they finally finalized their first systematic business law – the Lincoln Business Ordinance.

It was six years earlier than the original Commercial Ordinance promulgated by Louis XIV in 1673, and it was more complete and sophisticated.

------

High-end hotel.

Li Cheng leaned back weakly on the sofa and let out a long sigh: "Phew—"

It's finally over.

I've been forced to work overtime for almost a month straight, revising commercial law, running around arguing with those old fogies, and occasionally having to keep an eye on the business in my territory. I'm absolutely exhausted.

Are you tired?

Seeing his posture, Lavoisier quietly walked behind the sofa and asked in a low voice, "Would you like me to massage your shoulders?"

She had been watching Li Cheng's busy schedule all this time. The initial version of the "Commercial Ordinance" contradicted many people's customary laws and also infringed on some existing interests. Li Cheng had to revise it repeatedly, and David and the other two had been trying to shirk their responsibilities and refuse to cooperate.

After all, they are already big shots, who would want to be bound by commercial law again?

However, Lincoln's independence can be said to be inseparable from Li Cheng and Veronica. The scene of the Garcia family being driven out of Lincoln is still vivid in their minds, and their influence is still there. They had no choice but to give up resistance in the end.

But since we can't resist it, we have to fight for ourselves.

So they spent the next few days discussing it. Fortunately, there weren't many participants, and the content of the commercial law wasn't too complicated, so there wasn't an extreme situation like the four-month wrangling over the US Constitution—if that had happened, Li Cheng might have been tempted to bring a shotgun to talk to them.

stop!

In short, everything is over now, and I don't need to think about work anymore.

Li Cheng closed his eyes, quietly enjoying the massage from his girlfriend, feeling incredibly peaceful.

But this tranquility did not last long. Suddenly, a thought that had been dormant in his mind for a long time arose and began to stir.

"..."

Li Cheng slowly opened his eyes again and muttered to himself, "Right, today should be considered a memorable day, right?"

"What do you mean?"

Lavoisier stopped what he was doing, somewhat puzzled.

Seeing this, Li Cheng's eyes lit up, and he chuckled, "Sit down next to me first, and then I'll tell you what I mean."

"it is good."

The girl obediently went around to the front of the sofa and sat down next to Li Cheng.

Seeing that his plan had succeeded, Li Cheng reached out and pulled the beautiful, fragrant body into his arms, while whispering into her delicate earlobe, "What I meant was—I think today is a good day for us to take things a step further..."

Her normally sensitive earlobes became slightly itchy from the hot air, and after understanding what was being said, Lavoisier's entire body trembled slightly.

Previously, the two hadn't taken things to the next level, partly because Li Cheng didn't want to rush things, and partly because it wasn't convenient to be caught in bed together while they were in the castle. But now, they were staying at a luxury hotel in Lincoln, and Li Cheng had just accomplished something important, so he was quite sexually aroused...

Lavoisier himself didn't object, and in fact, having heard many stories of beds in the castle, he was secretly eager to try it out... However, out of politeness or perhaps a sense of restraint, he still asked a question.

"Today?"

"Isn't today the day the first commercial law is finalized? Isn't that significant enough?"

"I don't think this has anything to do with me..."

"No problem, no problem—just tell me if you're willing or not."

Is that even a question?

Judging from Lavoisier's coy and hesitant gestures, it was clearly a consensual relationship.

Although she discovered many of Li Cheng's shortcomings during this time, writing them down in her mental notebook, those shortcomings did not diminish Li Cheng's original strengths in the slightest. In fact, Lavoisier even found a few new shining points in him.

For example, Li Cheng's focused work ethic over the past two weeks has been quite admirable in Lavoisier's eyes...

For example, Li Cheng is very cool when he insists on his own opinion during a meeting argument...

For example, Li Cheng, who is knowledgeable and has a humanistic spirit, is also very handsome when discussing various historical events with her late at night...

In conclusion, despite his many shortcomings, Lavoisier found that he had not come to dislike Li Cheng. Instead, over time he became more certain of his own ideas, and they were no longer purely impulsive.

We've gone off on a tangent...

In short, both parties were in love, and the two began to gaze at each other tenderly, just as they were about to kiss.

Knock knock knock—

A light, hesitant knock sounded on the door: "Mr. Banana, are you in your room?"

Chapter 242 The Brat Who Kicked the Door

Who's the third wheel this time?