Chapter 2182: Internal Strategy

The people of Golden Plain are more resilient than weeds. What they have always lacked are opportunities: the chance to avoid starvation through diligent work and honest business, and the chance to return to being industrious and law-abiding citizens.

What Emperor Jiuyou intends to do is restore these opportunities, which were once seized from them by demons, celestials, ruthless tyrants, corrupt gentry, wars, and forced displacements.

Before He Yue departed for his homeland, he happened to catch the implementation of Cangyan’s new set of regulations. As he bid farewell, he gave his elder brother a thumbs-up, saying, "Excellent, elder brother truly has lofty ambitions."

If He Lingchuan weren't his elder brother, he would have called him overly ambitious.

Not to mention Cangyan or Shen, even Beijia wouldn't dare boast like this!

Is it really that difficult to ensure people earn enough to eat their fill?

Of course, it's incredibly difficult!

Especially for Golden Plain, which started from absolute destitution. Other nations begin from zero, but Cangyan has to start from below zero.

"That's why we 'strive to guarantee' it," He Lingchuan said, never underestimating the challenges. "The people are the foundation of the nation; if they are not prosperous, Cangyan cannot be strong."

The second major policy enacted by Cangyan was the promotion of industry and commerce.

Beyond grain, Golden Plain boasts abundant above-ground and underground resources, including lake and river fisheries, forests, minerals, livestock, and agricultural by-products. The list of resources compiled by the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce already exceeds 4,700 items and continues to grow. He Lingchuan was always moved when he saw this list, reflecting that if Panlong City had possessed such vast territory and rich resources back then, it would never have been constrained by others.

This was also the generous reward he and the Dragon God Army reaped for fighting to conquer Golden Plain.

He Lingchuan, controlling the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce, understood clearly that precisely because Golden Plain's resources were so abundant, grain — with its low unit price, large volume, and difficult preservation — was not the most favored commodity. In the initial years of the nation's founding, with many still struggling to eat their fill and the Dragon God Army having fought a major war within Ya Nation, grain prices fluctuated significantly. However, with successive years of bumper harvests, grain prices were expected to decrease annually and eventually stabilize.

Merchants, driven by profit, would soon turn their attention to other goods.

What were these other goods? Mostly cash crops, various handicrafts, and luxury items, collectively known as specialty products.

Knife-Edge Port and the Yangshan Archipelago earned immense profits annually from a single specialty, palm oil. So, what about the resource-rich Golden Plain?

Furthermore, with Golden Plain's vast area and abundant labor, if one person didn't farm, there were plenty of others who would. There was no fear of crops going untended. Therefore, Cangyan was not concerned that developed industry and commerce would undermine the nation's foundation; on the contrary, it strongly encouraged them.

At this point, the historical mission of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce was complete. With the Yangshan Archipelago now belonging to Chiyan, the name "Yangshan Chamber of Commerce" was no longer appropriate. However, no one but He Lingchuan could dismantle it.

Thus, Emperor Jiuyou personally took charge, reorganizing the massive entity into over a dozen institutions. These new bodies were dedicated to the supervision and storage/transportation of various categories such as grain, casting, minerals, military supplies, and livestock. Their dual purpose was to serve as strategic reserves and to stabilize prices.

For example, during the initial period of widespread land reclamation, farm tools were scarce, and hoes were hard to come by. A hoe that once cost 100 wen even sold for as high as one tael of silver. Local county governments intervened, and the Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with local workshops, pushed the price back down to 300 wen.

After its dismantling, the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce was streamlined, with 70% of its personnel reassigned to various levels of military administration, property management, and merchant groups, serving different purposes. In any case, local government bodies were desperately short-staffed.

During He Lingchuan's early travels in Golden Plain and throughout the Dragon God War, the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce gradually monopolized many businesses, leaving local merchants of all sizes with no viable options. After Cangyan's founding, with its encouragement of private commerce, the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce could no longer monopolize profits from the mountains and seas. Profits needed to be gradually returned to the people, allowing the flow of wealth to circulate slowly among the populace.

As for the existing aristocratic families, wealthy merchants, and landlords of Golden Plain, though they had been spared during the Dragon God War, they felt uneasy after Cangyan's establishment. The war was over, Golden Plain was at peace, and the army was formidable. Was it time for the Emperor to turn his attention to them?

Everyone knew that Cangyan, newly established, was destitute and lacked official funds. Would the Emperor then target them, like fattened sheep, for their wealth?

However, Emperor Jiuyou soon summoned several prominent merchants and wealthy individuals to the capital for cordial discussions, thereby sending a crucial message across the entire territory through his actions:

Cangyan had no intention of confiscating wealth from the rich.

Some might have been disappointed, but this was one of Cangyan's key decisions to encourage commerce.

First, the Dragon God War had largely eliminated the ruthless tyrants and corrupt gentry of Golden Plain. The removal of local criminal elements was quite thorough, which was conducive to the healthy and orderly development of private commerce.

Second, the aristocratic families who had surrendered during the Dragon God War had already been forcibly relocated by the Dragon God Army from their ancestral lands. Separated from their deeply entrenched local networks, it would be difficult for them to collude with officials again. As strangers in a new place, they had few resources at their disposal beyond money and often faced local exclusivism.

Finally, having been in business for many years, He Lingchuan deeply understood that money, though inanimate, had a mind of its own. Unless it was locked away in a vault or buried underground, once it entered circulation, its destination would be beyond one's control.

It wouldn't simply stay wherever you wished to pin it down.

Even if you spread it out as evenly and thinly as possible, it would ultimately flow autonomously to the most efficient places.

What is efficiency?

It is when production, division of labor, cooperation, and circulation all proceed smoothly.

Why would Cangyan neglect established, experienced merchant associations and commercial organizations, or outright suppress them?

Commerce is the bloodstream of the economy.

Emperor Jiuyou's philosophy was to seize every moment; he would never commit such a foolish act of self-sabotage.

When these regulations were promulgated, no one raised objections.

The people of Golden Plain had only one immediate goal:

To get food and eat their fill.

Everything else was secondary.

Everyone, from top to bottom, throughout Cangyan, worked towards this goal.

Finally, there was the military reform policy.

Emperor Jiuyou, leveraging his supreme prestige, personally spearheaded the military restructuring. Within six months of the Battle of Hundred Hills Origin in Ya Nation, and specifically after the truce between Mou and Ya, the main force of the Dragon God Army was reduced by half. Most of these troops were stationed in Cangyan's central and western regions, while only scattered combat units were deployed to the east, which was bordered by the vast sea.

Cangyan publicly announced that the troop reduction was aimed at cutting military expenditure, as army salaries, horses, armor, and weapon maintenance were indeed an extremely heavy burden for a nascent nation.

However, the elite Dragon God Army troops released to rural counties would become seed instructors, helping to train the local self-defense corps and patrol forces.

In recent years, "Imperial Flow Nectar" occurrences have become frequent. Countless beings across the land, enlightened by the nectar, have transformed into mountain spirits and wild monsters. These nascent demonic creatures, unfamiliar with proper conduct and rules, often caused harm, thus threatening the safety of both urban and rural areas.

Some smaller nations were entirely unable to cope, even finding their national foundations shaken.