Chapter 1646: Making All the Arrangements

In addition to the newly established Ministry of Land and Resources, another major requirement of Baifeng was to accelerate the promotion of commercial development. Since the signs had already appeared, he would put in more effort and provide sufficient support measures to allow this industry to take shape as quickly as possible.

Furthermore, commerce was now being granted tax exemption policies, and the series of support policies promoted last year were all intended to help the development of commerce. Once commerce developed, it could promote the implementation of Huaxia's currency.

The emergence of currency was inevitable; this would be of great help to the future circulation of goods in Huaxia. Moreover, if the level of development was high enough in the future, Huaxia could conversely push the Xuanyuan Tribe and Jiuli to also produce currency, making transactions between them even more convenient.

Of course, the currency within Huaxia could be partially paper-based, but transactions between states must use metal, because the alliances of this era were not that reliable. If there were the mutual trust and ideology of the Spring and Autumn period, Baifeng would not be afraid; fighting was fighting, but between states and people, moral integrity was viewed as important enough that people could commit suicide for the sake of their reputation, and schemes like "two peaches kill three warriors" could succeed.

In the current era and the eras to follow, this scheme might not necessarily work, because the requirements for personal integrity were not as strict. Great powers could deny their own national debt, and mutual trust could only be maintained by relying on trade restrictions and military strength; this era was simply not reliable at all.

Furthermore, the tax revenue that commerce could provide was higher than that of agriculture. Agriculture was the foundation of a nation, industry was the root of a strong nation, and commerce was the path to a wealthy nation. Baifeng would not have the idea of opposing commerce or suppressing merchants. As long as commerce developed well enough, then the historical process of Huaxia would be like a horse-drawn carriage, much faster than those countries still walking on foot.

Baifeng arranged everything—no, to be precise, it should be Yulong who arranged everything, because this development plan was drafted by Baifeng but announced by Yulong, and Baifeng also stated at the end of the meeting that Yulong would continue to govern next year.

Although everyone had already acknowledged that Yulong was a qualified leader, they were also equally afraid that Baifeng would just let go like this, and they still hoped that Baifeng could continue to rule for a few more years.

Fortunately, Baifeng also gave everyone a reason, because after the beginning of spring next year, Baifeng would immediately rendezvous with Xuanyuan and then travel together to the Jiuli to conduct negotiations, hoping to successfully agree on a peaceful cooperation agreement for the three parties in the future, bringing sufficient development time and opportunities to everyone.

The journey was long and the matters were numerous, so this trip of Baifeng's would likely take a year. Such a matter could not be left to others; national affairs must be handled by Baifeng personally. Of course, Yulong was also qualified, but Baifeng could not let a qualified successor he had worked so hard to cultivate go out and take risks.

If he were unlucky and died out there, then Huaxia would at least still have Yulong as a successor, so that Huaxia would not be left without anyone to take over management. Although Changle was also qualified, after all, he had not been cultivated in this direction from the beginning, so he was still not that reliable. Besides, Baifeng could not put his own son in a dangerous place.

Now that Baifeng was older and his successor was stable, he had previously had no way to leave Huaxia to face these unknown dangers, but now Baifeng had little fear. Moreover, he could take Huaxia's most elite Soldiers to escort him. Likewise, Xuanyuan could not go alone; his team would certainly be large. With both sides combined, they would not encounter any man-made dangers along the way, and even wild beasts would not be worth mentioning.

Getting lost or being obstructed by forests did not exist on this road that had already been walked many times. Their only danger came from Nature—various natural disasters, mountain fires, floods, heavy rain, and falling rocks. Unless Heaven simply did not want such a thing to happen or be achieved, Baifeng should not be that unlucky.

Although Xuanyuan was very likely a child of destiny with the protection of great fortune, since he, Baifeng, could come to this era and was very likely the work of some Heavenly God, and he had been able to live safely in this era for so many years and build Huaxia, then he naturally also had great fortune upon him. He did not believe that he had arrived in this era for no reason, had smoothly accomplished so many things, and would end up as cannon fodder or dust in history; Baifeng did not believe that at all.

He had perfected the writing system, created the calendar, and established the Historian. Baifeng did not believe that his name could not be passed down for ten thousand generations like Xuanyuan and Chiyou. Unless Huaxia were to be completely erased from beginning to end, as long as one literate Huaxia person remained alive, then he, Baifeng, would certainly be immortal in history.

Knowing that this was Baifeng's plan, those officials were finally at ease. At least they knew that Baifeng would not just let go and ignore Huaxia. After this major event was completed, the King of Huaxia would still be Baifeng.

Baifeng would indeed not abdicate so early. While Baifeng was in power, he at least had to keep an eye on the implementation of the currency system and ensure it was running stably. As for other matters, Baifeng believed that Yulong's current abilities were enough to solve them.

As for the Capital City, it must be moved, and when Yulong succeeded to the throne, changing the capital would also be a quite good opportunity, so it would not appear so abrupt. Baifeng would be able to retire in peace in the future, whether in Huaxia City or the new capital city.

However, it would likely not be in Huaxia City, because although Baifeng had put the most effort into Huaxia City and had even laid the soil for the foundations of the city walls, with the current momentum of Huaxia's wild industrial development, the future Huaxia City would probably not be livable.

Even if the natural environment was so good now, with high forest coverage, small city scale, and a small population, the impact was small. But if one looked at it as a city, the impact would be great, and it would certainly not be that livable. To retire, one would have to go to a city with a better environment. In future new city planning, the industrial zone must be far enough away from the Urban Area.