Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 496: Helping Others
After the core policy ministers of the Chu State reached a consensus on the "Qi Train" and "Qi Boat", Qin Mi became a lot more "attractive".
After all, behind Qin Mi is the big fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered by the Shuhou Mansion!
Without wealth, all plans are just futile...
Therefore, after staying in Jinling for more than a month, the envoy of the Marquis of Shu finally met the King of Chu after visiting all the mountains!
What made Qin Mi a little uneasy was that all the Chu officials he had visited before, either ignored him at the beginning, or recently... were hinting to him that the best way to impress the King of Chu was money!
Qin Mi also had doubts in his heart. After more than a month in Jinling, he had already truly felt the wealth of the Chu State.
Could it be that such a wealthy State of Chu was still short of money?
As expected... human greed is limitless, especially in a place like Chu that tampered with holy teachings!
Thinking of this, Qin Mi suddenly gained more confidence, which made Bai Tu feel a little surprised when he saw him - this "fish" seemed to be still standing after being left out for a month?
"Foreign minister Qin Mi pays his respects to the King of Chu." After meeting the King of Chu, Qin Mi performed the greetings with full courtesy.
"Didn't the Duke of Shu want to 'first pacify Hanzhong, then destroy Jingyang, capture the King of Chu alive, and kill all the Chu soldiers'? Why did he send you here?" Bai Tu said righteously with some anger in his words.
It was as if Liu Zhang had really said this...
"Yizhou and Chu are separated by mountains and rivers, so misunderstandings are inevitable. Mi can guarantee with his life that the Marquis of Shu and his colleagues in the Marquis' Mansion have no ill will towards Chu." Qin Mi did not dare to point out who caused the misunderstanding. After all, his main task was to complete the task... and he had some other ideas!
"Oh? Then why did the Marquis of Shu cut off ties with our Great Chu, Chunhua?" Bai Tu called Zhang Chunhua, and then Zhang Chunhua used data to clearly point out the impact of the Marquis of Shu's move to Qin Mi.
Seeing that Bai Tu not only appointed the female official, but also asked the female official to answer him, Qin Mi was dissatisfied in his heart, but he suppressed his dissatisfaction on the surface and said: "This matter was instigated by the traitor. The Shu Marquis also intended to abandon the ban on Chu, but was delayed by the Chu army's divine soldiers descending from the sky."
Upon hearing this, Bai Tu raised his eyebrows with a slight difference - it was not common to describe the enemy army in this way.
"Haha, words are not enough. If Shu Kingdom is really sincere, our Great Chu can also connect bulk goods with Yizhou Prefecture to avoid disrupting the people's livelihood." Zhang Chunhua said relentlessly.
However, Qin Mi surprisingly said to Bai Tu directly: "Your Majesty, I have a plan that can fundamentally solve the problem of insufficient money and goods in Chu State. There is no need to waste so much effort."
Bai Tu's intention just now was obviously to ask him to have a conversation with Zhang Chunhua. Qin Mi now bypassed Zhang Chunhua and directly gave advice to the King of Chu, which seemed a bit presumptuous. However... Qin Mi's words did attract Bai Tu's attention.
although……
Bai Tu felt that there should be no such method - do you know how big the gaps are in several major projects of the Chu State?
I don't believe that Qin Mi can defeat all the high-ranking officials in the Chu court. Not to mention the gap in ability, Qin Mi has never been exposed to industrialization, right?
Zhang Chunhua looked at Qin Mi with a strange look in her eyes. She always felt that...it was a little strange for Qin Mi to call her "King" .
But since Qin Mi dared to speak so arrogantly, Bai Tu was also aroused: "What's the plan?"
"The people of Chu are rich and the country is strong. How could there be a shortage of money and goods in such a prosperous era? What is lacking is a strategy to reassure people's hearts! As long as we trace back to the source, restore the teachings of the ancient sages, abandon the evil and monsters, and teach the people to have moderation, we can create a prosperous era for thousands of years!" Qin Mi said in a loud voice.
The sounds of nasal resonance, chest resonance and abdominal resonance reflect his confidence.
Unfortunately, apart from his own three tunes, his singing did not resonate with Bai Tu or Zhang Chunhua. The two even looked at him with strange eyes, causing Qin Mi's expression to gradually change from confident to somewhat angry.
If it was just a matter of diplomatic mission, he could still be as patient as possible and put official business first...
However……
Before, Qin Mi was actually very confident in his "good strategy". He thought that if the King of Chu was really willing to accept his "good strategy" and abolish the evil teachings of Wang Su, he would not have to resign from his official position and write books after returning.
Even if the King of Chu values him enough, he could consider resigning and becoming the Prime Minister of Chu, and personally create a prosperous era for the Chu State...
Well, it’s not that Qin Mi is unfaithful, it’s just that Da Chu is too charming!
The journey after entering Chu and what he saw and heard in Jinling for more than a month made Qin Mi feel the power of Chu firsthand.
Not to mention compared with Yizhou, the current Chu State is clearly in a prosperous era that is within reach!
It's a pity that this thing is within reach, but no one is trying to "touch" it. If we just spread the holy teachings and teach the people to enjoy farming and reading, wouldn't it be a peaceful and prosperous world in just a few minutes?
Is there no capable person in Chu State?
No! It must be because I am so outstanding that they seem shortsighted...
Qin Mi felt that compared to Yizhou, Chu State was more suitable for him!
Unfortunately, after Qin Mi offered his advice with full confidence, he was met with silent humiliation from Bai Tu.
Of course, humiliating other people’s suggestions, even if they are only suggestions from outsiders, does not fit in with Bai Tu’s “personality”. Bai Tu just couldn’t help himself and couldn’t control his eyes!
Soon, Bai Tu retracted his gaze, pressed the corners of his mouth, and said in a forced serious tone: "Ahem, what Mr. Qin said makes sense...Okay, let's continue talking about trade."
Qin Mi:!!!
Qin Mi felt betrayed. In his life expectations, he had already become the Prime Minister of Chu who assisted the King of Chu and created the Chu State's prosperity for hundreds of years, on par with Zhang Liang and Xiao He.
However, Bai Tu actually talked about trade with him?
Is the prosperity of our Great Chu going to be destroyed? Qin Mi felt very wronged...
Feeling disheartened, they simply took a quick look at and talked about Zhang Chunhua's trade demands, made a few half-hearted rebuttals, and then said that they could agree to it in principle. They would then convey Chu's intentions to the Marquis of Shu and discuss the details with the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue.
In any case, in Qin Mi's view, as long as the State of Chu requested a ceasefire, Liu Zhang would definitely agree.
Not only did they agree to reopen trade, but... they also went a step further and required that Yizhou Prefecture must purchase a certain amount of Chu goods every year.
During further negotiations with the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue, Qin Mi had not given up. He used his connections and visited many Chu officials again - after all, Qin Mi was a great scholar in Shu, so he still had some favoritism.
During this period, he also promoted his views to several important officials of the Chu State...
Qin Mi had not given up yet - maybe it was just because of his status that the King of Chu could not accept it? If he could convince the important officials of Chu to accept his ideas, and then persuade the King of Chu, maybe it would work?
If I really can't be the Prime Minister of Chu, it's not impossible to be an important aide to the future Prime Minister of Chu. After all, official positions and reputation don't matter. I, Qin Mi, just want to run a prosperous era!
Unfortunately, although the important officials of the Chu State were very well behaved and did not roll their eyes, most of them just dealt with it with a smile on the surface. Behind the scenes... rumors began to circulate in Nanjing that the envoy of the Marquis of Shu was not mentally sound.
In fact, it is not that Qin Mi is so old-fashioned and ignorant. If the situations of Yizhou and Chu were swapped, and a Chu official was suddenly allowed to see the current situation of Chu in an environment similar to that of Yizhou today, a large part of them... would not be able to synchronize quickly!
The two states were originally separated by mountains and rivers, and the ban on Chu issued by the Marquis of Shu made Yizhou miss the two or three years when Chu was developing the fastest, resulting in a huge imbalance of information. Unlike Wei and the Central Plains, Yizhou was at least gradually adapting.
After Qin Mi negotiated with the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue, the final result was that while resuming private trade, Yizhou Prefecture needed to purchase at least 200 million Chu coins worth of salt and brocade products every year!
Qin Mi was indeed shocked by this number at first, but later Bu Zhi analyzed it for him...
There are nearly five million people in Yizhou Prefecture, which means one million households. On average, each person gets 40 Chu coins, which is equivalent to only one more stone of rice per household!
And they are not asking Yizhou Prefecture for nothing. Instead, they are asking Yizhou Prefecture to buy salt and brocade. Then, maybe Yizhou Prefecture can make some profit.
Qin Mi thought about it and felt that it did make some sense, so he agreed to it first - of course, he still had to report to the Duke of Shu to see whether it was finalized.
The negotiation process went relatively smoothly, but Bu Zhi always felt that Qin Mi looked at him in a strange way, as if she was agreeing with what he said but was scolding him at the same time?
Later, Bu Zhi heard from the guard of the Ministry of Revenue that when Qin Mi left, he spat at him at the door and said, "It is because there are too many such calculating and greedy ministers that the State of Chu missed out on its prosperity. Alas"... In short, Bu Zhi was full of question marks.
At the same time, he became more and more convinced in his heart that the rumor that the envoy from the Marquis of Shu was mentally ill was indeed true!
Of course, Qin Mi did not completely forget his duties. While feeling heartbroken, he also helped the Duke of Shu to obtain some favorable conditions.
For example, the price of salt and brocade purchased by the Marquis of Shu, the authorization for purchasing military equipment, and "Chu Badong County"...
Liu Zhang certainly wanted Chu to give Badong County back, but he knew that Chu would not agree, so he finally came up with a compromise - Badong County would still belong to Chu, but one division of troops would be withdrawn immediately, and within three years, another division would be withdrawn, leaving only the garrison recruited locally.
This was the result of the active guidance of the State of Chu. After all, the essence of Shennong had already entered Badong County. The people of Chu and Yizhou were all compatriots in a broad sense. There was no cultural barrier. The State of Chu was not worried about the people's hearts in Badong County at all.
If all goes well, Chu may not need to put too much effort into Yizhou!
The premise is that the Marquis of Shu really dares to accept the purchase of salt and brocade...
For this purpose, the Ministry of Revenue, with Bai Tu's instructions, even gave the Marquis of Shu a "quite conscientious" price.
Firstly, the Marquis of Shu had purchased a lot, and the money he earned came from outside of Chu, so the price was so low that even Qin Mi had nothing to say. Secondly… once the Marquis of Shu agreed, he would need to exchange other resources of Yizhou for salt and brocade every year - salt, peace, and brocade!
The most distinctive and competitive materials in Yizhou are well salt, Shu brocade, and Yizhou horses. When the Shu Marquis imports so much Chu salt and Chu brocade, he will get them at almost cost price...
How would the aristocratic families in Yizhou, whose lifeblood depends on these two things, react?
Bai Tu felt that after sending the recipe to Liu Biao, he had done another great deed to help others...
