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Fei Qian gathered the Wuzhu coins together on the desk and let out a long sigh, an involuntary surge of guilt welling up in his heart.
In the official histories, the Three Kingdoms era ultimately concluded with the rise of Jin, which then promptly collapsed. Most people in later ages attributed this solely to the Sima clan's proclivities for nothing but drinking, whoring, gambling, and opium. Yet Fei Qian, extrapolating from the currency situation, suspected that the blame did not necessarily rest entirely on human factors. Throughout history, there had been plenty of emperors who were utterly dissolute and irresponsible, yet nothing catastrophic had occurred. Was it truly just because the Simas were a bit more debauched and dissipated that the entire state fell to ruin?
In truth, the root of the problem probably lay with this very "money."
Money, issued by the state, was naturally backed and guaranteed by the state's own credibility. But once the common people lost confidence in that money, how much confidence could they possibly retain in the state that issued it? The rapid collapse of the Jin dynasty was inextricably linked to the utterly perforated, rotting economy of the late Three Kingdoms period. To put it another way, Zhuge Liang had, in fact, achieved his wish of dragging Wei down to ruin. Three to four decades of incessant warfare had not only wiped out the population, but had also shattered the economies of both Wei and Shu. Only Wu, entrenched for so long south of the river, had fared somewhat better. Thus, in the end, Jin had been forced to relocate south.
The Sima clan's downfall lay in their skill at warfare, their cunning in strategy, their indulgence in wine and pleasure, but their utter ignorance of economics and their inability to manage state finances.
And now, an impending wave of inflation was about to sweep across the entire north. Within this, there was bound to be a component that he, Fei Qian, had helped push along.
Fei Qian sighed again, a quiet, mournful sound. The feeling was indescribable—a mix of excitement, regret, a touch of guilt, and even a faint trace of remorse. Yet he had no choice but to do it. In the Three Kingdoms era, so many remember only the emperors, kings, generals, and ministers. Who realizes that even this tiny copper coin could topple these heroes and champions into the dust?
Once inflation arrived, the goods and materials he had instructed Cui Hou to borrow would be as good as gifts, picked up for nothing. By then, only a fool would repay the debts with iron ingots. The entire economy would descend into chaos; prices would boil over. All he would need to do was repay those debts with copper coins—coins that by then would be as worthless as scrap. And those who had lent out goods and materials would become the leeks harvested by Fei Qian on the back of inflation.
And the landmines he had planted back in Luoyang—by now, they were probably already erupting.
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Chang'an. The residence of the Chief Clerk of the Chancellor.
Jia Xu had only just stepped into the hall when Li Ru fixed him with a fierce glare. Jia Xu reflexively shrank back a step and said, "I haven't come here on my own whim, I'm here on official business. I just happened to be passing by... Hey! Elder Brother, how have you ended up in this state?!"
Li Ru waved his hand with a trace of helplessness and said, "...How are things in Longxi at present?"
"Same as ever... Though the Ma clan is getting a bit restless again..." As Jia Xu spoke, he circled around Li Ru twice, shaking his head. "...Elder Brother... Ah... Perhaps I should stay and help you..."
Li Ru pointed toward a nearby mat and gestured for Jia Xu to take a seat. "The Ma clan—heh. The Ma clan being restless is hardly the first or second time... I can still hold on... Hey, stop circling. Go sit down."
Only then did Jia Xu saunter over and seat himself askew, still sighing. "...That frame of yours—how many head of cattle would it take to restore you to your former state?"
"Enough. I don't need you to remind me..." Li Ru clapped his hands, and immediately several serving maids entered from outside the hall, setting out dishes of food and vessels of wine upon the desk.
Jia Xu picked up a piece of beef, popped it into his mouth, and let the juices burst across his palate. He let out a moan of pure satisfaction. "Elder Brother's beef is still the best!"
"That's because here, you can eat your fill and it costs nothing, isn't it?"
Jia Xu swiftly changed the subject. "Dong Zhongying... doesn't seem to be in very good shape."
"You should at least address him as Chancellor Dong," Li Ru said, frowning. He fell silent for a moment, then continued, "...Indeed, there's something to that. Lately... mm... he's become rather forgetful..."
"Fine, fine," Jia Xu said, wiping the grease from his fingers onto the surface of the desk. "A pity the Chancellor's son died young, and Attendant Dong and General of the Household Niu... well, they hardly amount to anything..." Jia Xu suddenly leaned his head toward Li Ru, a sly, winking expression on his face as he lowered his voice: "...How about it... Elder Brother, you could... heh heh heh..."
"Nonsense!" Li Ru's face darkened.
Jia Xu drew his extended head back like a turtle and muttered under his breath, "...Always insisting on fulfilling some inherited wish of the ancients..."
Li Ru said nothing, merely glaring at Jia Xu.
Jia Xu covered his face with his hand and said, "Alright, alright. I'll drop it. I'll drop it. Elder Brother, when I came in just now, I saw you staring blankly at that wooden token... Don't tell me the population has suddenly swelled today and you're having trouble making arrangements?"
At the mention of this, Li Ru sighed slightly and handed a wooden token over to Jia Xu. "Arranging the people is easy enough. It's this thing that's hard to arrange..."
Jia Xu turned the wooden token over and over in his hands, examining it several times. Suddenly, he said, "This couldn't have been your idea—otherwise, you wouldn't have issued so many of them, to the point where you now can't swallow the consequences..."
"The matter arose in great haste. At the time..." Li Ru nodded and briefly recounted how, after the lower-ranking officials of Luoyang had all fled, Fei Qian had offered a stratagem. "...For a while, I didn't rein things in, and so far too many were issued."
The results had been rather effective. The common folk being relocated from Sili had gone along far more smoothly than originally anticipated, and much of the turmoil along the roads had been reduced. In this respect, the wooden tokens had indeed played a positive role. Yet now, the negative side effects were manifesting. Now that they had arrived at their destination, the common people were presenting the wooden tokens, demanding that the promises be honored.
Originally, having issued a few more than planned was still within Li Ru's ability to control. After all, they had plundered a considerable sum of money and valuables from Luoyang. However, what he had not anticipated was that upon reaching Chang'an, an economic phenomenon entirely beyond Li Ru's control would thoroughly disrupt his original plans.
A sudden, sharp wave of inflation had erupted without warning in the Chang'an region!
The rapidly increasing demand for consumer goods from the swelling population, combined with the massive influx of cash, created an enormous gap between supply and demand against the backdrop of Chang'an's fixed existing reserves of goods. The result caught Li Ru completely off guard. He could only watch helplessly as prices in Chang'an, within a short span of time, soared far beyond the funds he had originally set aside. From the high officials down to the common people, everyone was engaged in a crazed frenzy of panic buying and hoarding.
The wealth brought from Luoyang shrank in value virtually overnight. Prices in the Chang'an area, driven upward by the double forces of locals and outsiders, had soared to a truly absurd level. A single shi of grain now cost ten thousand cash—and even then, it was not guaranteed that one could actually purchase it!
Li Ru understood astronomy and geography, military strategy and tactics, and even civil administration and the people's welfare. Yet, confronted with this surging wave of malignant inflation, he found himself willing but powerless. Li Ru had once requested aid from Dong Zhuo, drawing upon the military grain reserves stored at Mei Fort to temporarily suppress prices. But it proved utterly useless. Prices stabilized for only a few days before beginning their mad climb once more. And after that, Dong Zhuo refused, no matter what, to release any more grain supplies.