Chapter 431

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

On television, Acting Mayor Zhang Ang puffed out his chest and lifted his chin, striving to project the authority of a vice-ministerial-level senior official. He was a bit slimmer than the retired Mayor He Fuhan; the weight he had lost was precisely the weight of a deputy versus a leader.

City high official Sun Maoxin sat in the lower seat, smiling very politely as he yielded the camera position; if he dared not yield it, he would have to yield the chair under his buttocks. Next down were two Deputy Secretaries, as well as the newly appointed Executive Deputy Mayor Fang Zhennan — Zhang Ang's promotion was thanks to Fang Zhennan's still-shallow qualifications, meant to vacate a position for him; the former Executive Deputy Mayor thereby gained a chance to converse with Elder Fo and successfully joined the Chen Clan. If he didn't stir up trouble, next year the "Acting" prefix could be dropped.

The Chen family members attending the "Democratic Life Meeting" together spoke in low voices beneath the television; two rows of younger generation totaling over thirty people was a rare large gathering for the Chen family in recent years, and today's normalcy instead highlighted the family's flourishing momentum.

Han Jie took off her shoes, half-reclining on a sofa, playing with Chen Yi's hair as she said: "Fang Zhennan's son, is that the one with the frog glasses up front?"

Chen Yi smiled faintly, counting as an explanation.

Han Jie paid great attention to appearance and immediately expressed dissatisfaction: "The indoor lighting at night is dim, is there a need to act cool like that? Doesn't look like a Standing Committee member's son at all."

Chen Yi smiled and said: "He got beaten up."

"Who dares beat a Deputy Mayor's son?" Han Jie instantly grew interested, sitting up straight, but revealing a section of pale, lotus-root-like calf.

Chen Yi said embarrassedly: "Former lovers, mistresses, and uncertain girlfriends."

"Why?"

"He's going to work at the gold mine in Wuxin County." Chen Yi revealed half of it.

This actually had no small relation to him. To prevent Fang Yu from again ending up in an entangled mess with the likes of Ming An Tu, Chen Yi planned to assign him to the soon-to-reopen Wuxin County gold mine — his father Fang Zhennan then raised a further requirement: going outside Jiangning was fine, but all previous women must be cut off completely, at most keeping one... He feared Fang Yu's expenses would grow too large, leading to embezzlement. Supporting people is the most expensive thing, with never an end.

Wuxin County's industries all depended on the mine; controlling the county's mineral resources was equivalent to being a local lord. Fang Yu went for an inspection once and enjoyed respect unattainable in Jiangning, leading to various breakup dramas, ultimately leaving him with two black eyes and a body full of bruises.

Han Jie, unaware of the inside story, said disdainfully: "Just knew people wearing frog glasses are no good."

She immediately followed up: "The Wuxin County gold mine is yours, right? How's the situation? Is there really gold being dug out?"

Han Jie's curiosity stemmed largely from boredom. With her attending the Democratic Life Meeting, other young people wouldn't dare crowd around and speak nonsense, so she could only chat with Chen Yi.

The latter nodded, not describing in detail. The Wuxin County gold mine was a typical privately operated small gold mine; waste and pollution were severe, workers had no protections whatsoever, drivers and local hoodlums ran rampant; although there was output from the start of mining, it fundamentally wasn't something Chen Yi — who now had the West Continent platinum deposits — looked favorably upon. His reason for handing it to Fang Yu was precisely this: not seeking to make much banknote money, only to obtain a batch of precious metals reasonably and legally.

At this moment Uncle Chen Rongjie came down from upstairs, knocked on the door and said: "Chen Yi, come with me."

His expression and tone were serious, his movements relaxed. The third-generation descendants concealed their envious expressions — because of the family, they could all easily gain society's recognition; the difficulty was often gaining the family's recognition.

Among so many third-generation descendants, Chen Zhongguo could name at most half; many distant relatives had never even been upstairs to the second floor; someone like Chen Yi joining the meeting mid-session was even rarer.

Han Jie also let go of him, leaning against the sofa reading a novel, looking even more leisurely and at ease than the Chen family members.

Chen Yi went upstairs and saw a circle of 9 people: Grandfather and three aides, Father, Uncle, and Maternal Uncle, plus a not-so-familiar Great-Uncle and Cousin-Uncle — counted as the Chen family's power representatives in Jiangning. He greeted the elders in turn; Chen Zhongguo impatiently stopped him and asked: "How much precious metal inventory have you prepared?"

"You've decided to participate?" Chen Yi's eyeballs rolled; he didn't answer immediately. Currency is a crucial power; even for the smallest city, as long as there is government-participated currency issuance, it will inevitably bring enormous influence.

Chen Congyu glared at his son, grumbling: "You brat still want to haggle?"

Chen Yi bared his teeth at his old man: "Since you put it that way, I won't be polite. Right now it's 120 tons of precious metals, 90 tons platinum, 30 tons gold."

All 9 people present gasped in unison.

3 billion yuan sounded nowhere near as crisp as 120 tons.

The not-so-familiar Great-Uncle and Cousin-Uncle looked at Chen Yi with complex expressions; such a huge sum of money truly qualified as extravagant, dissipated capitalist capital, falling into the hands of a 20-year-old young man...

"Worth 30 billion RMB." Chen Yi mischievously wrinkled his brow: "If I don't haggle a bit, I'm not willing to take it out."

The West Continent's Shenqi Mountain mining area mainly produced platinum; if gold weren't so overly precious, its ultimate fate would roughly be the same as those cadmium and lead — flushed into rivers as impurities — even in metal-scarce city-states, the value of lead and cadmium was extremely low, because they themselves are soft; alloy products improve only slightly while technical requirements rise higher, so at most they let organizations like iron workshops make money, unable to satisfy the miners.

Old Master Chen Zhongguo fiercely slapped his thigh and shouted: "Good! We'll pool another 30 tons, first issue 20 billion; if the situation is good, issue another 20 billion in the second month."

"The Central attitude is unclear, still a bit dangerous..." The speaker was Chen Yi's Great-Uncle Xu Chengchu; he had specially rushed from the north to attend the meeting. The Xu family was only a recently risen official-bureaucrat family; as the leading figure, Xu Chengchu was 10 years younger than Chen Zhongguo yet had to thoroughly withdraw from the political circle. This was also his last time participating in confidential matters.

In terms of boldness, no one present could compare to Chen Zhongguo; he clearly had long since made his decision, jabbing his finger ruthlessly upward, saying: "Crossing the river by feeling the stones is a kind of wisdom; in my view, this political wisdom is far from its termination time; now is precisely the time to let it play its role. Jiangning is the vanguard of economic development; we take one step forward first; if it doesn't work, we just step back."

When stepping back, the Central would obviously have to pay benefits. This is the difference between officials with family backing and officials without.

Everyone understood tacitly and immediately unified their thinking.

A leader's final word often saves vast amounts of time; everyone digested slightly, then began discussing bond denominations and issuance methods.

The proposal to directly issue currency was only pleasant-sounding but impossible to implement; after all, it's prohibited by law, and involves the boring sovereignty issue. In fact, from currency's birth until the 1970s, it could all be understood as a kind of bond; even in modern society, US currency is issued in the form of long-term treasury bonds — due to stopping precious metal redemption, inflation naturally arose, thereby naturally repudiating a portion of the debt.

Bonds collateralized by precious metals and redeemable at any time can be called a return-to-origin currency. But like most things in this world, the more beautiful the ideal, the harder to realize — world peace, Chinese football's rise, or officials' integrity. Returning to bonds: denominations, anti-counterfeiting, production, and issuance are the troublesome first step; next is how to promote circulation.

The concept of "bad money drives out good money" is known even to those who don't understand it. Currency that can redeem precious metals, however you look at it, is worth more than national credit.

The three aides had previously discussed among themselves; Elder Zhou now proposed: "We suggest using 50, 100, 200, and 1000 yuan bond denominations, striving to first circulate in Jiangning's commercial market, then consider further circulation based on feedback; this also eases bond printing pressure. For redemption, if Chen Yi can provide 20 tons of precious metals monthly, we'll purchase another 10 tons monthly; after three months we can issue the third tranche, at which point we open redemption — how about that?"

This counts as a trial.

Chen Zhongguo looked inquiringly at Chen Yi.

"I have no objection. However, how do you plan to manage this batch of bonds?"

"The usual practice is to affiliate under the Finance Bureau, establish a Bond Committee..."

Elder Fo's voice hadn't fallen when Chen Yi shook his head: "That won't do; then we'd have to wrangle with the state."

"Affiliation doesn't count as giving it to the state." Elder Fo explained a sentence; seeing Chen Yi's attitude firm, he continued: "Then it's establishing a company, in the name of Jiangning Bank, collateralizing precious metals to issue bonds. All precious metals must be placed in Jiangning Bank's vault."

Chen Yi crisply said: "Deal."

He actually wanted to found his own bank, even a foreign bank. However, China's financial controls would only loosen 10 years later; a substitute company does have a similar effect to institutions like the Federal Reserve.

As for pledging precious metals in Jiangning Bank, he didn't care at all; his martial arts hall had over 10,000 members, core members over 1,000; in the whole city, even the military couldn't silently spirit away 150 tons of gold and platinum. The bank vault was as safe as his own home safe.

His easy agreement caused his Great-Uncle's misunderstanding, who actually asked: "You say you have 20 tons of precious metal supply monthly — is it from domestic or overseas?"

Elder Fo and Elder Zhou coughed violently simultaneously.

What meaning is there in asking such a question.

Chen Yi also pretended not to hear: "I want into the Bond Committee, and must have a unique one-vote veto. Additionally, the investment must count as shares."

This is a legitimate demand, but the power seems excessive; Elder Fo turned and smiled: "The specific form we haven't finalized yet, no rush."

"I can agree to a personal representative voting system, just like the Standing Committee, everyone's familiar with it." Chen Yi was determined to have control; he turned his head and asked: "Grandfather, what do you think?"

If the old man agrees, then it's settled.

Li Lao hesitated, and Uncle Jiu said nothing; Uncle and Eldest Uncle had no intention of participating in this matter.

Not distributing power according to equity was already a concession, and from others' perspectives, the political resources and political risks they invested should receive corresponding benefit guarantees; whether issuing bonds or issuing currency, neither was merely an economic issue.

Chen Zhongguo thought for a moment, then said: "It's time for Chen Yi to become familiar with it. Do as he said."

Everyone lowered their heads. Judging by the current situation, Chen Ye, who had entered the Political Circle, should be the first choice among the Direct Grandsons to inherit the old man's political resources, while Chen Yi was most likely to inherit economics and connections. But bond assets worth hundreds of billions seemed to have a trend of breaking boundaries. Of course, the old man's body seemed to be getting better and better, with no trend of relinquishing power yet, but his age was there, making it easy for people to indulge in wild speculation.

As an Aide, Li Lao worried about the sole veto power, which in the power structure was already trending toward the Standing Committee's secretary authority. Li Lao had to worry whether Chen Yi, while obtaining this power, could bear the enormous pressure and additional temptation.

"Tomorrow morning, I will deliver the Precious Metal to Jiangning Bank; all preparations must be accelerated." Chen Yi's voice broke the silence, and his gaze turned toward Fo Lao.

No matter how many people enter the Bond Committee, it will be a major distribution of interests within the Chen Family, and an extremely important resource distribution; whether Fo Lao can assist the old man in "smoothing things over" is also a major test.

……(Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to vote for Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)