Chapter 868: Plan (I)

“It’s not that the Lius are bold, but that they really don’t dare supply anything to you right now. None of the other ministries will agree to it and will pen them in for it. Their lack of support isn’t a great loss for the Skystar Commander Office, but continued expansion is impossible if this goes on.”

There wasn’t much of an issue in the short run since Li Hao had ample cultivation resources, but expansion of operations would be difficult. Trading mysterious power stones and energy for money was an option, but such a massive outflow of cultivation resources would quickly cause a collapse of the mundane economic system.

Trading small sums was fine, but large scale transactions would crash the economy. Deputy Zhou understood the implications, so he quickly piped up, “I understand that the commander may wish to utilize mysterious power stones for money and resources. The problem with that is that star coins are worth so much less than cultivation resources.

"A single mysterious power stone can cause a minor disturbance in the economy. Insufficient money in circulation will cause the government to print more money. When there is too much in the money supply, inflation will quickly follow. There are only so many goods and materials out there. Having too much money will make all star coins worthless!

“If that happens, the rich and superhuman will be fine, but it will be an unmitigated disaster for the poor! Half a kilogram of rice may go for one hundred coins now, but after inflation and increased salaries... A monthly salary of one thousand coins that could’ve fetched one hundred kilograms of rice will only result in five kilograms after. A great swathe of civilians will die in the end.”

Li Hao didn’t understand the particulars of economic activity that well, but he immediately grasped the severity with the deputy’s explanation.

“So you mean to say that once a large sum of cultivation resources flows out, that will result in enormous trouble?”

“That’s right!” continued Deputy Zhou. “This is a very difficult issue to tackle! If you lower the prices of cultivation resources, that will cause a shortage in them instead. Regular people won’t sell what they have, but you’ll be selling hundreds of millions of them in star coins with any given transaction. Superhumans usually sell them to accumulate necessary supplies, so that will cause inflation again.

“That this hasn’t happened in recent years is mostly due to the plant spirits. They need large sums of cultivation resources, so the various factions haven’t sold theirs to the outside world. Regular cultivators don’t have enough for personal use, much less sell any of it.

“Although the Skystar Commander Office has an abundance of resources, we cannot start this trend even with our lack of money. It will set off a disastrous chain reaction!”

Li Hao’s head ached and he stared at the deputy. How should he handle this? Based on his previous thoughts, a lack of money shouldn’t be what he worried about. Any one of his mysterious power stones could be sold for a high price.

“We can hold on for a bit,” Deputy Zhou responded upon seeing the young man look at him. “But financial reforms are very necessary. The key lines in the publishing and circulation of star coins. That needs to come under our control to prevent greater trouble from developing. For example, the Ministry of Finance might lose their minds and print star coins with wild abandon.

“Sometimes, issues that don’t seem to be a problem can bring down the entire dynasty! Once trouble rocks the financial system and our money is worthless, that will herald extreme chaos through the land! I wanted to talk to you about this before, but so much has been happening lately...

“The greatest threat to us at present isn’t the Ministries of Administration or Armed Forces, but the Ministry of Finance!” Deputy Zhou looked at Li Hao and spoke rapidly, “When they decide they have nothing to lose, they can cause untold damage since they control the coin factories. They can create endless star coins and impact the entire dynasty that way. The collapse of our society will be imminent!”

Li Hao froze with complete stillness. He’d never thought much of the Ministry of Finance. But now that the deputy spoke of it, he understood the troubles within. Once everyone’s money was worthless pieces of paper and not even soft enough to use as toilet paper, then the dynasty would truly experience trouble for the first time!

The collapse of the financial system would spell the end of the road for the poor. The rich could survive as they had a sufficient stockpile of resources, but it would immediately be the doomsday of the poor!

“So you mean... that we should... eliminate the Ministry of Finance?” Li Hao took a deep breath, his head throbbing. That would mean outright hostility with the nine ministries right this very second!

“No, on the contrary,” Deputy Zhou shook his head. “We can’t hound them too closely for the moment, not unless we’re confident of taking down all of the nine ministries. We need to keep a low profile otherwise. It will be troublesome if they feel that there is no road ahead for them.

“They are also keeping themselves in check because they haven’t suffered much in terms of losses yet. But I suspect that the ministry may have accumulated enough money to instantly flood the market if anything happens to them. They also have jurisdiction over the banks of the dynasty. Countless people have their savings stored in the banks, once banks start failing...”

It would cause another cascade of tremendous trouble.

Li Hao’s jaw had dropped a long time ago. This was another unexpected shock to his plans, one that gave him a migraine.

“There’s no need to be so nervous, Commander Li,” Chen Zhongtian spoke at this time. “Currently speaking, neither the Ministry of Armed Forces, Administration, nor the royal family think they will be defeated. They won’t let Finance do so. Plunging the dynasty into chaos is the last possible option...”

“Is that so?” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. “I seem to remember that all of you want the dynasty to be engulfed by mayhem and become the new king among the disorder. Once you receive the worship of the citizens, you will become the so-called Human King. This is shaping up to be perfect timing, are you sure they don’t think that way?”

Chen Zhongtian fell silent. He couldn’t easily promise that those thoughts weren’t running through their minds.

The young man tamped down budding irritation in his heart. He didn’t fully understand some of these matters, so there was no need to speak of it in great detail for now. “Let’s set this aside. None of this is an issue so long as we move fast enough! I have two matters to announce!

“First, we march against the Wind and Cloud Pavilion! Second, we attack the City of Supernaturals!”

Li Hao quickly described his dealings with the City of Supernaturals; his listeners were stupefied. A local tyrant such as Lin Hongyu had surrendered after one fight? And she was voluntarily calling for a meeting of the twelve families to create an opportunity for the young man?

“Is this a trap?”

“Very possibly. Lin Hongyu is only thirty, but she’s completed her dominion over the City of Supernaturals. It’s plain to see that she possesses methods, ambition, and strength in conjunction. Would she surrender after just one setback?”

“......” A hubbub of discussion arose. Meanwhile, Hou Xiaochen cleared his throat.

“Regardless of whether or not this is a trap, do you plan to go for the Wind and Cloud Pavilion first, then the City of Supernaturals?” he asked slowly.

Li Hao nodded, to which the man immediately shook his head.

“Not good, that’s an inappropriate course of action! At the very least, the City of Supernaturals is a known factor and the Wind and Cloud Pavilion in the shadows. The latter’s strength is uncertain and hard to determine, whereas we can hazard an educated guess for the former’s.

“We are also too pressed for time as the operation at the City of Supernaturals will commence in three days. Are you certain that you can finish at the Wind and Cloud Pavilion during this time? It would be maddening if we missed the chance to eliminate the City of Supernaturals because we were tied down there.

“On the flip side, the City of Supernaturals is certain. Once we conquer and swiftly consolidate our position there, we can enhance our battle strength by adding Lin Hongyu and the others to our ranks. We’ll have their strength to deploy against the unknown Wind and Cloud Pavilion!

“We take what is known first, then the unknown!” rumbled Hou Xiaochen. “This order cannot be reversed. We’d only be creating trouble for ourselves if it is. Additionally, it’s best to not move against their ordinary supernaturals yet when we attack the City of Supernaturals. Our operation must remain a secret!

“We should capture their senior executives in one go. With Lin Hongyu’s coordination, we can absolutely change their rulers without making a single sound! And don’t be in a rush to publicize our victory. We did so before because we wanted to find our footing, but now, we need to proceed at a slow and steady pace. We can’t continue to deepen the sense of danger for the nine ministries!

“Therefore, we shouldn’t send too many people. At the very least, we need to keep someone behind for defense. We also need to finish our business at the City of Supernaturals as soon as possible and keep the disturbance to a minimum.”

These ideas were the complete opposite of what Li Hao had in mind before, but the young man sank into deep thought and found that they made sense. “I’d thought to summon everyone and attack together. With our strength and numbers, we won’t fear any scheme. But Director Hou’s suggestion is that... we should keep ourselves in check?”

“Correct!” Hou Xiaochen exhaled. “We just need to take out their leadership team. As for the one million supernaturals, we can do that one step at a time. You haven’t finished consolidating the Night Watchers yet as some of the central region provinces have yet to fully commit their branches to you. We need a bit of time!”

Had his dream of sending one million supernaturals to the fields just shattered? Li Hao was a bit glum, but there truly was wisdom in Hou Xiaochen’s words.

“Accepting so many factions and supernaturals at once easily leads to complete disorganization,” Chen Zhongtian concurred. “Not to mention, you haven’t finished consolidating the Inspectorate either. Being in such a rush to take down the City of Supernaturals right now... might lead to some indigestion.”

“......” Everyone stared blankly at him. What did Chen Zhongtian mean by that? Since when had they started consolidating the Inspectorate?

“Didn’t my son come by last time and say that the Inspectorate would join the Skystar Commander Office if you killed the Hu plant spirit?” Chen Zhongtian asked with surprise. “What... do you guys think... that my son was joking?”

The City of Supernaturals is coming for our business!

he cursed to himself. He hadn’t thought that this faction would join Li Hao’s side at the drop of a hat. Li Hao’s current troubles were that he’d spontaneously expanded too much; he didn’t lack people.

It was just as the man had said, Li Hao needed to spend a bit of time digesting his conquests to come. If he focused on the City of Supernaturals next, then the Inspectorate’s addition would appear a bit superfluous. That was unacceptable to Chen Zhongtian! What the heck was Lin Hongyu thinking??

Chen Zhongtian never thought that this would be a possibility, so he had to raise this concern as soon as possible. The Inspectorate’s defection would be completely meaningless if this situation developed.