"I despise you smart people. Fine, I’ll be upfront with you. I intend to seize the land taxes across the realm, but these taxes will be calculated one state at a time. Then, the states will be divided into counties, the smallest units into villages—the kind of villages I’ve merged and fortified. The distribution will be in triplicate: the village head gets one copy, the Money Exchange, household registry, and government office each retain one copy," Chen Xi said slowly.

"This still can’t prevent anything," Chen Qun shook his head and said.

"No, it can be prevented. I’ll state clearly on all three copies that they are allowed to resist," Chen Xi said with a faint smile. "The villages I merged and fortified have populations in the thousands, all equipped with patrol teams, and land transactions are only permitted with the Government Treasury, without any money passing hands. The Money Exchange acts only as an intermediary and a collateral partner."

Chen Qun was silent, having understood Chen Xi’s intention. Chen Xi was making a two-pronged approach: suppress violence with violence and settle accounts for the future, directly blocking violent methods and misuse.

"Aren’t you afraid someone will first seize your promissory notes, then change your regulations, and finally use the Money Exchange to seize all the land taxes?" Chen Qun looked at Chen Xi and said.

"You’re stubborn, aren’t you? Every matter has loopholes. If someone really finds a way through them, I can only exert my utmost effort to curb these occurrences," Chen Xi first erupted in anger, then spoke with a sigh. Unable to restrain human greed, as Chen Qun said, these things are unavoidable.

"After your death, in three hundred years, at most three hundred years, everything you’re doing now will be as it was twenty years ago," Chen Qun looked at Chen Xi and said.

"You underestimate me," Chen Xi shook his head, sweeping away the previous anger, his demeanor serene and composed. "Moreover, you don’t see me completely as I am."

Though his voice was light, it was like thunder, making Chen Qun’s ears ring and his face pale.

Chen Xi smiled faintly as he pulled open the tent’s curtain and stepped forward, while Chen Qun stood dazed, watching Chen Xi’s retreating figure entering, speechless.

[Self-conceited in the past, this time is considered tit-for-tat.] Chen Qun’s mouth twitched bitterly, looking at the still shaking curtain and lightly sighed in his heart. [Who has ever truly seen him? Arguing is him, anger is him, and passing by is also him.]

Chen Qun turned sideways and stepped away. Chen Xi’s method could indeed only sustain for three hundred years after his death, that was a certainty Chen Qun could assure. But who could say that this wasn’t Chen Zichuan’s ultimate measure?

[I’m merely a frog in a well, seeing only a piece of sky. My understanding of the ultimate method is just within my knowledge, just seeing part of the whole!] Chen Qun thought ashamed as he walked away.

[Chen Qun could see to this extent, meaning many have guessed my objective. Although Chen Qun boasts that his internal administration is equal to Xun Yu’s, it’s not quite an exaggeration and indeed not far off.] Chen Xi thought while pulling back the curtain.

[This means several families among these people already know my purpose, but my grand strategy has been formed, and they can’t stop it, so these Great Aristocratic Families can only wait for the next great feast to divide the spoils, three hundred years?]

Chen Xi chuckled coldly in his heart. These guys were basically no good; neither the Xun Family nor the Chen Family could be deemed clean.

Yuan Gonglu boldly claimed the path of the Ancient Sages, but even he never truly regarded the common people in his sights. From the beginning, their goal was never for the common people. They educated, they sacrificed, they expanded territories, but it was never for the common people.

For these families, passed down through a thousand years, their path of sageship, their path of downfall, what does it matter to the common people?

Even if there eventually emerges a truly pure sage’s path that brings benefits to the common people, in essence, it’s merely incidental. To these people, when did they ever see the ants?

In this era, there’s still the saying, "Only the hero and Cao of the world," hmm, the rest can be disparaged a grade lower, not qualified to compete with the two on the same stage.

[Three hundred years, you are ruthless enough, but indeed, my methods are too gentle, mostly going with the flow. In terms of outcome, the Aristocratic Rich Family and that time with the Money Exchange truly weakened their Vital Energy.]

Chen Xi thought slowly as he walked forward, the Aristocratic Rich Family, a bit greedy, hmm, more than a bit.

Chen Xi slowly walked to the main seat, which was different from other places. Meeting these people, Chen Xi could only kneel before the low table.

However, this time, Chen Xi sat down without speaking as before, instead silently closed his eyes to rest.

The various Great Aristocratic Families seated in two rows saw this and also felt shaken, estimating that this time might be different. However, since their private soldiers were confiscated, the vitality within these Great Aristocratic Families was difficult to recover, so they also sat in place, closing their eyes without inquiring.

Chen Xi, after all, young, couldn’t maintain this position for long and eventually let out a slow sigh and opened his eyes.

The elders of the aristocratic families also slowly opened their eyes to look at Chen Xi, curious about what he would say.

"Those who already know my purpose can make requests," Chen Xi looked at the assembly and said.

The representatives of the aristocratic families heard this, some showed strange expressions, some looked around, some remained expressionless, some looked complacent, the expressions of over fifty people in the room varied.

"Heh, it seems those who truly know in attendance are less than ten, the rest come here without knowing my purpose, stirred by someone, I wonder?" Chen Xi sneered coldly, sweeping an icy gaze across everyone present.

The representatives of the aristocratic families naturally started to examine each other at this point. Though some have high talents and some are slightly inferior, how could those who come be fools?

Naturally, at this point in Chen Xi’s speech, those elders who did not know Chen Xi’s purpose could clearly understand that half of them were incited to come.

"Marquis Chen, should it not be proper to inquire after knowing your purpose?" The head of the Deng Family from Nanyang, Deng Zhen, sighed as he saw Chen Xi’s words dividing the people into several groups and spoke.

"Knowing my purpose and daring to ask me, from what perspective do you inquire? The Ancient Sages, the Aristocratic Families, or the Common People?" Chen Xi sneered, looking at Deng Zhen.

Deng Zhen was silent for a moment, and slowly spoke, "We come to inquire about the disposition of our household escorts. At one time, we aided Marquis Chen, and now Marquis Chen has quietly confiscated our escorts; isn’t that over the line?"

"That time with the Money Exchange, could you really stop it? Could you bear others profiting while you lose? When the top ten rich merchants were mostly under my control, with Wu Family’s eldest daughter appearing, you were destined incapable of resistance," Chen Xi looked coldly at Deng Zhen.

"Were you dumb when the Money Exchange initially used salt as capital, and you agreed merely because I planned to depreciate the salt price from one thousand coins per stone to ten coins per stone?" Chen Xi ridiculed, looking at the assembly.

When sea salt was first produced, Chen Xi had Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping sell it secretly to various Great Aristocratic Families at seven hundred coins per stone.

As strategic goods, salt in ancient times never feared not being able to liquidate, so when Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping sold at low prices secretly to the various Great Aristocratic Families, nearly none refused.

After all, this commodity does not spoil and always finds a way to sell, making a tidy profit on each turnaround, and the aristocratic families at that time believed missing the chance would be the last opportunity, eagerly collecting, with the rest being self-explanatory.

Chen Xi ultimately set the salt price to one hundred fifty coins per stone as a sign of compromise with the families, merging all major money exchanges into the Mount Tai Bank, converting the salt purchased previously at the original price into assets within the chamber of commerce.

At this point, the aristocratic families could only choose to compromise; the other routes were meaningless, either be toyed with by Chen Xi or join Chen Xi to earn profits.

This is why, during the alliance at Ye City, many families didn’t come, yet the Money Exchange was established wherever it needed to be set up, because at that time, the best choice for the families was this one. Any other option was wishful thinking.