I handed in the sand sculpture through the book system

After hearing Xiang Liang's explanation, Mu Chen was even more shocked by the flowing and illogical development of the facts, and couldn't react for a moment:

"Fungus? Elixir?" He stammered, almost incoherently: "This--what the hell are these!"

Xiang Liang smiled wryly, and could only sigh at him.Of course, as the first victim to be impacted by this strange incident for the first time, he fully understands Mu Chen's mood, and understands what kind of galloping horses and imaginations should be in his heart at this time; but Xiang Liang paused, but he could only say that In the facts that have been confirmed by Zhang Yao and others:

First, the emperors of the Northern Dynasties were using fungi to make alchemy; second, this kind of elixir seems to use living humans as the medium, and the process of raw material preparation is quite inhumane.

Although Xiang Liang deliberately downplayed the bloodiest part, even if he only mentions a few words, he can understand the deep meaning of this "inhumanity".Mu Chen opened his mouth. On the one hand, he was shocked by the primitive and wild cruelty of the ancients, but on the other hand, he was also puzzled:

"Use, use living people to cultivate fungi." He murmured, "Why, how could I have thought of it..."

Xiang Liang was silent for a moment: Logically speaking, this kind of alchemy using humans as consumables should be the influence of ancient witchcraft and sacrifices, and it has no meaning other than creating mystery and terror psychologically; but Zhang Yao was on the phone Inform him that the expert team examined the surviving boys and girls, but found that the fungi in their bodies grew quite fast, far exceeding the speed at which they configured the fungi in petri dishes.

"—We even conducted several animal experiments overnight." Zhang Yao said: "But no matter whether it is cattle, horses, or sheep, the reproduction speed of this strange fungus is far inferior to that of the human body, and it cannot even be compared - of course, this is just a visual inspection preliminary conclusions, but in other words..."

Xiang Liang licked his lips, and finally decided to change the subject:

"Of course I don't know the source of this alchemy idea now." He said: "But judging from the known evidence, the technology probably flowed in from the Southern Dynasties, and even the technology of the Southern Dynasties should be more advanced—the one who was rescued by Zhang Yao Boys and girls were all poisoned by fungal secretions, and they were basically in a state of extreme madness and delirium; but Xiao Xuan in Jiankang seemed—"

Mu Chen blinked, and quickly remembered Xiao Xuan's symptoms: Although the medicine man was a wooden man who remained silent and motionless after being rescued, at least he didn't show signs of convulsions, confusion or even violent tendencies. , is indeed quite ideal.Even thinking about it carefully, although the psychiatrists say that this state of silence is the sequelae of long-term claustrophobia, if it is really in contact with the hallucinogenic secretion of fungi, the cause is hard to say.

So his attention was smoothly diverted:

"It does seem to be the case." Mu Chen nodded in agreement, "If that's the case, why don't you just take Xiao Xuan over—shouldn't Zhang Yao and the others also study this fungus anyway? It just happens to be treated together."

·

Just as Xiang Liang and Mu Chen finished discussing the plan to transfer Xiao Xuan over, there was a loud notification from the guards in front of the door.The two turned their heads to look, but it was a servant of Prince Qi's mansion who trotted down the threshold and bowed to them repeatedly.

The servants of King Qi’s mansion came in a hurry to report the news that the mansion just got from the eyeliner: According to An Zi, who was planted in the mansions of the ministers by King Qi, several veteran ministers with good connections in the army have already sent out privately. The confidant has secretly sneaked into the camp of the frontier army outside the city.

Mu Chen snorted, thinking that the dignitaries in Chang'an are indeed quite capable of execution in terms of conspiracy and deceit, but they didn't show anything on the surface, and just replied lightly:

"This is your matter. I'm afraid it's inconvenient for us to hear about it? Besides, didn't King Qi make a decision long ago?"

The faces of the servants of the palace froze slightly, and they understood the yin and yang strangeness behind Mu Chen's plain words in an instant - when the two parties agreed to launch a palace change, Xiang Liang and others had asked Qi Wang to block Chang'an and isolate the inside and outside, and no idlers were allowed to interact with him. The frontier army came and went, but in the end, under various concerns, it was finally implemented; it is obviously a bit embarrassing to mention this matter now.

He hesitated for a moment, but still bit the bullet and defended his master:

"Your Majesty and the generals are sincere, and treat each other with sincerity. Naturally, there is no need to be suspicious. It's just that the people in the court are treacherous, and there is fear that Father Qing will divorce..."

Xiang Liang snorted, thinking that what he said was high-sounding, but it was because King Qi didn't have a deep grasp of the frontier army, and he was afraid that his tough attitude would turn back these generals.However, he didn't intend to point it out, he just smiled and replied tactfully:

"Since you are pushing your heart into your heart, why worry about a little bit of slander? Besides, no matter what you have with your confidants, what you can bring with you is just a message. It seems that there is no need to worry about a mere message, right?"

—— King Qi is an old warlord who has been in the army for more than ten years. Could it be that he can't beat a group of clean celebrities who don't touch the spring water?

The servants of Prince Qi's Mansion hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted their teeth and spit out the truth:

"If it's just an ordinary letter, my master naturally doesn't have any worries. It's just——just, the confidant who sent the letter is extraordinary. He—she—she is a man in disguise..."

Mu Chen and Xiang Liang were greatly astonished, but they looked at each other in dismay for an instant, and realized the unimaginable and strange operation after this sentence in an instant—so Mu Chen subconsciously exclaimed:

"Fuck, isn't this the operation of Wang Situ Xian Diaochan? What does he think of us, Grand Master Dong?"

He looked back subconsciously, but saw that King Qi's confidant was at a loss, and then he remembered that Wang Yun, Wang Situ, and Dong Zhuo used Diao Chan to divorce Dong Zhuo and Lv Bu. .But judging from the current reaction, it should be said that the heroes see the same thing. Since ancient times, when playing political struggles, they seem to like to go the next three ways...

So Mu Chen coughed, and quite implicitly signaled to King Qi's cronies to continue.

Fortunately, after getting along with each other for many days, the people in Prince Qi's mansion are probably used to their allies' nagging, and after a little bit of astonishment, they quickly opened their mouths and explained King Qi's worries: In short, if we really want to talk about the prestige and influence in the army Well, the king of Qi will never be afraid of those famous celebrities who can talk about the louse; but if they all play three ways to compete for alcohol and wealth, then with the financial resources of King Qi, it is really impossible to compare with the old famous celebrities (Even to be honest, even if the royal treasury is used, I am afraid that these aristocrats who have been intertwined for hundreds of years cannot be suppressed).

Mu Chen and Xiang Liang looked at each other, and immediately realized the predicament. The so-called money bomb tactics have been used time and again by conspirators throughout the ages. For a frontier warrior, spending money is obviously an effective way.And if you want to compete with this method, you basically have to throw money at it.Then the king of Qi sent people to complain, and the purpose was ready to come out—it was nothing more than feeling that the so-called "people in Taoyuan" had great powers, and wanted to ask for a little financial help...

But they didn't take offense—or even, in other words, it was right in their arms.Mu Chen and Xiang Liang made eye contact for a while, and then they made a decision:

"At present, Wu and Yue are in the same boat, so Hengyang Palace naturally has a duty to do so." Xiang Liang said with a smile: "But now the guests are living away, and the money and goods cannot be collected for a while. I have an idea, and I would like your envoy to pass it on to King Qi..."

·

Only a few hours after the dignitaries in the city sent their secret envoys, King Qi sent a personal letter to the generals of the frontier army stationed outside the capital.

This move is not surprising, but what is surprising is the content of the book - King Qi complained greatly in the letter, only saying that the emperor's profligacy had used up all the treasury, and he had no choice but to ask the soldiers His old brother reached out and temporarily borrowed some money and food for the upper and lower expenses of the court.

Of course, King Qi will never let you brothers suffer.He ordered people to send tens of loads of high-quality silk as collateral, and he also made a guarantee to the generals, saying that within ten days after receiving the money and food, the interest would be two and a half cents. The monthly principal can be doubled.

The generals of the frontier army don't know a few big characters, but they still know the basics of money and goods.A few people made rough calculations, and immediately knew that what King Qi said was true, and then saw that the silk sent was of excellent quality and high value, and it was indeed an excellent collateral, so they immediately agreed.There are a few who are a little smarter, and even specially asked someone to give away a little more principal.

——With such a high interest rate, it would be foolish not to earn it!

In their view, King Qi's so-called "borrowing" is just sending money under the guise.Now that he holds a heavy army in his hands and is self-satisfied, how can there be no reason not to take this money? !

...However, a rough man is a rough man after all, and an illiterate is an illiterate after all.When these frontier generals were happily gesticulating their fingers to calculate the income, because they had no knowledge of common sense of mathematics since they were young, they ignored a small problem——

If it is really paid according to this ratio, then in less than two years, the interest will exceed the treasury of the entire Northern Dynasty...

·

However, although the mathematics of the Middle Ages was extremely backward, there are still people who can almost grasp the power of exponential growth.When Mu Chen and others explained this plan to King Qi, King Qi himself had no objections, but the counselors who served him quietly approached him to ask questions: I don’t know what methods Hengyang Palace has to make money so that it can afford such interest ?

Faced with such doubts, Xiang Liang smiled slightly, not in a hurry or panic, just saying that there is no need to worry about this.They don't have to do anything, they just need to store the property handed over by them in the treasury, and then send it out directly as interest.

The counselor was taken aback:

"Yes, yes, but the principal is only so small, how can it stand up to the interest of two and a half cents for ten days?"

Xiang Liang smiled and reminded him gently:

"Sir, you're joking. It's not like we won't borrow this time. If the principal is almost exhausted, if you ask the generals to borrow again, won't you have another loan? The interest of His Royal Highness Qi Wang is set like this Gao, is there anyone who is not willing to borrow it?"

The counselor opened his mouth, as if he was a little confused by this new method of borrowing money that opened up new ideas.But anyway, he was quick in thinking, and after a moment of hesitation, he still reacted:

"But, but, although the generals have a lot of money, they still have a lot of money after all, so they can't keep borrowing forever..."

"That's easier." Xiang Liang smiled more and more cordially: "Don't the generals have many relatives? They have such a good income, so they can naturally ask relatives and friends to borrow; My friends have finished borrowing, and there are relatives and friends of relatives and friends—just take a step back, if all the nobles have borrowed money, so what? Didn’t we return the interest? We will expand it at that time The scale, let the nobles borrow the interest in their hands again, wouldn't it be enough?"

The counselor's eyes popped out.

·

In the Middle Ages, there may be a little spontaneous understanding of finance and economy, but under the exquisite financial traps constructed by human beings exhausting their intelligence for thousands of years, it is really insignificant to have any wisdom of counselors first.He stared blankly at the spot for half a minute, his mind was full of principal and interest flying around and regenerating infinitely.But no matter how hard he racked his brains, he still couldn't imagine the flaw in this weird cycle—money seemed to be born out of nothing, and flowed out continuously for no reason, and it could be supplied indefinitely...

Finally, he crossed his hands and said goodbye blankly.But when he turned around, he couldn't help but say:

"Excuse me, may I ask which great sage created this—this wonderful method?"

"It's not a magical method." Xiang Liang smiled: "This is a Mr. Pang's - eh - financial innovation."