Chapter 90: Qingyang's Two Strategies

Liu Zheng felt like crying.

What was this all about?

Qingyang Shuo was also speechless; even with his heart as still as stagnant water, how could he withstand such ridicule?

Hu Xi'er was also amused.

Does having a beautiful father always make one feel so invisible?

No!

These people thought Liu Zheng had brought back a bride, and what kind of presence was she trying to find for herself! Thinking of this, she glared fiercely at Liu Zheng again and said indignantly, "What kind of looks are those? This is my father, the one your Young Master Liu invited out of seclusion to serve as Chief Clerk!"

The crowd was in an uproar, and discussions broke out instantly.

A few days ago, when the Chief Clerk Shen Xing went to Yangzhou to take up his post, people were still discussing and guessing who the next Chief Clerk would be. Those Powerful Clans had also been constantly making recommendations, breaking their heads trying to arrange their own family members into this Chief Clerk position.

Who would have thought that Liu Zheng would invite such a disabled person?

The crowd couldn't help but jeer, all with suspicious looks in their eyes.

Liu Dahao, dressed in his bright red attire, also felt he had dressed in vain, and asked skeptically, "Zheng, Chief Clerk?"

Liu Zheng nodded with a smile.

Liu Dahao's mouth twitched, feeling a bit doubtful about life; he couldn't help but wonder if his son truly had a penchant for Longyang. So, the look he gave Qingyang Shuo changed, and he snorted coldly, "Zheng, I am the Yinyang Marquis here, right? The Chief Clerk holds an important position; it cannot be managed by looks alone!"

"You..."

Hu Xi'er was furious. Qingyang Shuo was also left between laughter and tears.

Liu Zheng broke into a cold sweat: "Father, Qingyang Xiansheng, he..."

At this moment, the several Powerful Clans watching the spectacle nearby also burst into loud laughter.

"Young Master Liu, can such a bewitchingly beautiful creature also be called Xiansheng?"

"That's right, Young Master Liu, the ones our families recommended are the truly talented Xiansheng!"

They were all somewhat indignant.

Liu Dahao also felt this was deeply true, nodding and sneering, "My son, if it were a relative, that would be one thing, but this isn't even a relative; it's hard to convince people!"

The crowd roared with laughter.

Liu Zheng was even more between laughter and tears.

Qingyang Shuo said calmly, "State Marquis, do you wish to test Qingyang? Please, State Marquis, set the questions!"

His calm and detached manner might have been nothing in a small tavern, but under the gaze of so many, it immediately made many men unable to bear it, feeling restless. It was evident that Qingyang Shuo's "looks" were indeed outstanding.

The crowd jeered again.

Liu Dahao gave a cold laugh; in order to correct his son's sexual orientation, he was going all out, saying, "Qingyang Xiansheng, I have been slightly unwell lately, and government affairs have been delayed. Since you feel you can handle the position of Chief Clerk, can you help me?"

The crowd echoed their agreement.

Qingyang Shuo smiled faintly and made a gesture of invitation.

The crowd followed curiously behind him.

Liu Dahao deliberately gave the Writing Counselor a look, and the latter understood immediately. After Hu Xi'er pushed Qingyang Shuo in, he ran to fetch a pile of bamboo slips and papers, placing them with ill intent on the table in front of Qingyang Shuo.

Everyone was gloating.

Hu Xi'er also had an angry look on her face, thinking, "My father is such a great talent, coming here to be your Chief Clerk, and you treat him like this?" In her anger, she wanted to push Qingyang Shuo away.

Qingyang Shuo shook his head faintly.

He knew better than Hu Xi'er how difficult it was to find a soulmate in one's life. Young Master Liu had driven the carriage himself and treated him like a teacher; since he possessed great talent, he should also have a great capacity for tolerance. If he couldn't even handle such questioning, how could he talk about great talent? Since he had already accepted this task, he had to restore Young Master Liu's reputation.

Seeing the documents before him, he just smiled faintly and instructed Hu Xi'er to help him grind the ink.

The crowd gathered around to watch, most thinking this beautiful man was just putting on a show.

Who would have thought that Qingyang Shuo would pick up a brush, scan the documents with his eyes, and without much thought, begin to write with the fluidity of a dragon or snake, issuing his directives.

Liu Dahao sneered incessantly.

These documents were all official business that he found annoying at a glance, requiring various calculations and deliberations. He found it bothersome, so he threw them aside and let the Counselors struggle with them slowly.

You can handle it just by looking at it once?

However, as he stood by, his expression went from disdainful to shocked, and then his eyes began to glow.

"This, this, this..."

Liu Dahao was astonished, thinking him a man of god-like talent.

Several Counselors also crowded over, and following that, they were also dumbfounded.

This Qingyang Shuo, whether it was agricultural affairs, construction, military matters, or trivial street affairs, didn't even need to look closely; he handled them with ease and precision. Whose sow had how many piglets, how much tax needed to be paid, how many died, how much subsidy should be given... Whose family had a baby, how much subsidy Yinzhou provided—there were policies in the Yinyang territory to encourage childbirth. Then, how much tuition and miscellaneous fees those children needed to pay for Public School, how much logistics equipment was needed, and how the expenditures were to be incorporated...

He was able to handle it all without a moment's hesitation.

"This..."

"Impossible!"

"He must be writing nonsense!"

The Counselors quickly gathered around, picked up the documents Qingyang Shuo had finished calculating, and used their abacuses. To their shock, after calculating back and forth, there was not the slightest discrepancy!

For a moment, everyone looked at Qingyang Shuo in disbelief.

Was this a monster of talent?

For a full hour, Qingyang Shuo sipped tea while methodically clearing away all the government affairs that Liu Dahao had accumulated over two months!

One person, one hour, completed the workload of the entire Yinzhou Prefecture for a month!

What kind of genius, what kind of monster was this?

The scene was deathly silent.

Those Powerful Clans and commoners, seeing this scene, were also completely stunned.

Qingyang Shuo looked at Liu Dahao calmly: "Liu Prefecture Marquis, is there anything else?"

"Ah!"

Liu Dahao was so startled he jumped up, immediately piling a smile onto his face: "It's gone, it's gone—no, no, there's still more, there's still more! Hurry up, what are you standing there for? Quickly, bring the official robes for Chief Clerk Qing!"

The whole room burst into laughter, and the Counselors were also amazed, thinking him a man of extraordinary talent.

Liu Zheng was even more satisfied and said with a smile: "Father, don't worry about the official robes for now. I'll take Qingyang Xiansheng to see Yintan City first."

"As you should, as you should!"

Liu Dahao naturally had no objections; he personally picked up a tape measure to take measurements for Qingyang Shuo, then ordered the official robes to be made immediately. Regarding his eccentric father, Liu Zheng could only let him do as he pleased.

Qingyang Shuo was actually quite interested in Liu Zheng's Yintan City as well.

Three days ago, after the two had exchanged three questions, he knew that this Young Master Liu certainly held many trump cards. Establishing a foothold in the world through military might—it sounded easy, but how could things be that simple? Being able to mass-produce weapons with quality comparable to the Zang Family was not something an ordinary person could achieve.

Therefore, although he had often heard passersby talk about this Yintan City, when he saw this grand and magnificent project from afar, he still gasped: "The Young Master's ambitions are truly vast!"

Liu Zheng did not hide it and said: "It is all salt."

"What?"

Qingyang Shuo raised his eyebrows, stunned for a long moment, before he burst into hearty laughter.

Only at this moment did he truly laugh with ease! The final barrier between him and this Young Master Liu was now completely gone. Qingyang Shuo himself was a "remnant" of the Qingyang Clan, and the people of the world would likely want to execute him; if the imperial family were to find out that Liu Zheng was hiding Qingyang Shuo, then Yinyang would likely be razed to the ground by the imperial iron cavalry.

But now, it was different...

This Young Master Liu was actually producing salt in private!

If the imperial court were to find out about this matter, it would likely be a crime punishable by the execution of one's nine generations!

With this, Qingyang Shuo felt much more relaxed; the two could now be considered grasshoppers tied to the same rope.

He looked calmly at Yintan City and said with a smile: "So that is how it is. Since the Young Master possesses such craftsmanship, then I am even more certain."

Liu Zheng pushed him into Yintan City to look at the various processes. Hu Xi'er, who was by his side, also clicked her tongue in wonder and cheered with joy, no longer feeling the same disgust toward Liu Zheng as she had before. After seeing it all, Qingyang Shuo was also amazed by Liu Zheng's talent, and his confidence in Liu Zheng grew even greater.

"However..."

Liu Zheng said with distress: "Xiansheng, the population of Yinyang is consistently insufficient. Although the manor has already encouraged childbirth and provided subsidies, that is a hundred-year plan. As for now..."

To build this Yintan City, a conservative estimate would require one hundred thousand laborers...

One hundred thousand!

Currently, the two prefectures of Yinyang had a total population of only eight hundred thousand. But almost everyone had their own labor division; wanting to find one hundred thousand people for Yintan City, how could it be that easy? Therefore, the biggest difficulty Yinyang faced had shifted from a lack of money to a lack of population. Yet in this era, population was actually the most important tool of production. Liu Zheng was not yet powerful enough to truly realize the automated production of Yintan City—if he could do that, he would probably be ascending to the heavens.

Qingyang Shuo smiled lightly: "Even if Yinyang had the people, they could not be used for Yintan City."

Liu Zheng was taken aback: "Why is that, Xiansheng?"

But as soon as this question left his lips, he suddenly realized the truth, and his expression shifted slightly.

That was right. In the Longyang Dynasty, the salt-producing factory in Yintan City was a crime even more serious than a drug-producing factory in later generations. Liu Zheng might not be afraid, but what about those commoners? Although they might come to work in Yintan City for the sake of money, but... one hundred thousand people, how could Liu Zheng guarantee their thoughts would be aligned?

If someone were to leak the news about Yintan City, wouldn't Liu Zheng be finished?

"The Western Regions have Kunlun Slaves; what does the Young Master think of them?"

Qingyang Shuo smiled faintly.

Liu Zheng was overjoyed: "Xiansheng's insight is brilliant!"

Kunlun Slaves did not actually come from the Kunlun Mountains... The word "Kunlun" in ancient times generally referred to the color black. Here, it referred to slaves from Nanyang, most of whom were black people from the Southeast Asia region, namely the Negritos. There were also a small number of black people who had come to China with the Arabs. The Kunlun Slaves Qingyang Shuo spoke of were these black people. These Kunlun Slaves were all as strong as oxen, gentle in temperament, honest and straightforward, and hardworking, so many Nobles scrambled to have them.

Because of religious beliefs, the Western Regions had long been trading with the Arabs.

Therefore, these Kunlun Slaves were a relatively active commodity in the Western Regions. But by the time they reached the Longyan Dynasty, only Nobles could afford to use them.

Liu Zheng had thought about finding those slave traders before, but the asking price was too high...

If he wanted one hundred thousand laborers, he feared he would not be able to secure them without a million taels of silver! At present, Yinzhou was still in a state where all industries were waiting to be revived, and money was needed everywhere. How could Liu Zheng bear to take out a million all at once?

But with this suggestion from Qingyang Shuo, his mind began to stir.

He certainly couldn't bear to part with the money, but what about goods?

"I will go to the Western Regions immediately!"

Liu Zheng said excitedly.

Qingyang Shuo, however, shook his head slowly: "I have two strategies that require the Young Master's consideration."

"What strategies?"

Liu Zheng's spirits lifted.