108: Chapter 108 Arguing is good, arguing is good!

Time flies like an arrow, and another year is almost over.

The fifteen days before the New Year each year are the days for settling the previous year's accounts and setting the budget for the coming year.

Note that it is the previous year, not this year; that is to say, at the end of the ninth year of the Empire, the full-year accounts for the eighth year of the Empire are being settled.

The scale of space is just that vast, and being able to achieve this level of administrative efficiency is already surprisingly fast.

After multiple currency reforms and inflation, the official currency of the Empire has now been unified as the Imperial Legal Tender, with the smallest unit being "Qian".

A latest-model dark phone has a tax-inclusive price of 17,800 Qian.

A bowl of luxurious Gross beef vermicelli noodles has a tax-inclusive price of 28 Qian.

A regular contract worker at a Mid-Hive sewage station has a monthly take-home income of about 8,000 Qian, with a one-month bonus at the end of the year.

Although the residents of the Cheng Yu Empire do not live poorly, they are tight with their money; apart from those who have picked up bad habits, most people prefer saving over investing or indulgence.

This has also caused the demand deposit interest rate of the Hive City Bank to drop again and again, having already fallen below the one-percent annual rate mark, entering the era of zero interest rates; however, this still cannot stop the surging tide of savings.

A massive amount of funds is backlogged in the Imperial banks, unable to be lent out at all.

This year, at the year-end final accounts meeting, the avatar representing the bank spoke up, saying that this industry is a vulnerable group and hoping that His Majesty could grant preferential policies.

Main Body couldn't help but laugh; fortunately, he was shielded by his imperial crown and curtains.

"My dear officials, please set your minds at ease. The strong willingness of residents to save shows that everyone has confidence in the Empire and in Me. This is a good thing, not a bad thing; as for the problem of funds being unable to be lent out, do you have any suggestions you can teach Me?"

Ivankov, the Cabinet Minister, Military Secretary, and Grand Scholar of the East Warmth Pavilion, stepped out to speak: "I have a strategy. Since the residents and enterprises of our country have surplus money and are unwilling to borrow from banks, why not extend loans to the entire Tempestus Sector? With the military and economic strength of the Empire as a guarantee, we need not fear that they will not borrow, nor that they will not repay."

Freya, the Cabinet Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Information, stepped out to speak: "I agree with the opinion of Grand Scholar Ivankov."

"I second that."

"I also second that."

One minister after another became a yes-man. Main Body asked with great interest, "Does no one object?"

"This concubine objects!" Imperial Concubine Isabella stepped out to speak.

Yes, Cheng Yu's harem also attends court, and they receive the same salary as the officials of the previous court during their working hours.

Isabella was the woman who had previously voluntarily signed up to join the harem from a feudal planet.

"Let's hear it."

"If you want to do lending business, the interest cannot be low; if it is low, it is charity. Often, it ends up needing a 'nine out, thirteen back' return or even higher. With such high interest, who would borrow? It would be nothing more than gambling or even worse crimes. What do these people have to guarantee repayment? If the Hive City Bank targets these people as customers, it is selling the image of the Empire at a low price and dumping all the investment risks onto the general public."

"Furthermore, using the military strength of the Empire to guarantee the collection of debts is even more likely to breed corruption and darkness. Rather than engaging in such complicated twists and turns, it would be better to just send troops to plunder directly; the money comes faster, and it is cleaner."

"The Noble Lady is mistaken." Grand Scholar Ivankov continued to express his opinion, the gist of which was that the Hive City Bank could fully lend to those vassal regimes that have submitted to the Empire, becoming perpetual interest loans—that is, only paying interest on schedule and never repaying the principal. This would save the Empire's tax department collection costs, and the vassals would also be happy with it; it is a cut either way, so just letting us know how much to collect at the end of the year is fine.

Ivankov also believed that the Empire could lend to those interstellar free ports. These trading centers floating in space often have complex sources of investment, and defeating or occupying their bases is useless; they will just change to another spaceport to continue doing business.

Only by making them extensively connected with the Empire economically is it possible to bring them under our own use.

There were not a few ministers who supported Ivankov, and there were also some who supported Isabella. The two sides clashed with sharp words, neither giving way, and gradually began to move towards personal attacks.

...

"Clang!" Main Body tapped the bronze chime lightly with a golden mallet, and everyone quieted down.

"Arguing is good, arguing is good indeed. The truth always becomes clearer the more it is debated. Has Cassius arrived?"

"This criminal minister is here." The white-haired Grand Scholar of the Wenyuan Pavilion, Cassius, stepped out. He now only had the actual duty of compiling the Eight Classics and the empty title of Grand Scholar, and he also wore electronic shackles, belonging to the most special scenery in the imperial court.

"When spring comes next year, you will preside over an extra imperial examination. Just tell the candidates of the world clearly that the topic of the palace examination will be this. I want to hear the opinions of the people of the world."

"I obey your command."

After leaving court, Main Body rushed back to Vera's sleeping quarters as soon as possible.

His most urgent task now was to protect the birth of this child; other things could temporarily be pushed to the back.

Since Slaanesh had already said that this was a son, he had already thought of a name. He would continue to copy the homework of old Zhu and call him "Cheng Biao". The eldest imperial son, Cheng Biao, would be enfeoffed as the Prince of Wu after birth, leading three guard armies, each with ten million people. The fief would be in that Paradise World that had just been conquered, which was also close to home.

To prevent Slaanesh from harming this child, he played a risky move: he let this child acknowledge Nurgle as a godfather. The Merciful Father had already agreed to this, on the condition that from now on, the sewers of every Hive City in the Empire would be the territory of the Merciful Father, and the Empire must not interfere with the behavior of various creatures in the sewers.

At the same time, the Merciful Father also guaranteed that there would be no major plagues in the Hive City in the future, and there were some more specific treaty terms that the frontier outposts in Warp were currently negotiating and implementing.

It is not to say how powerful Cheng Yu's empire is; it is mainly that he expressed his attitude of wanting to cooperate with the gods of Warp, not calling them evil gods from the very beginning. This relatively peaceful attitude made things negotiable.

The evil gods do not think they are evil gods; they certainly consider themselves righteous gods. How could anyone say upon birth, "I want to be a thief, a great thief who steals the country, a disaster to the country and the people, and leave a bad reputation for ten thousand years"? That person could only be said to be mentally ill and an idiot. The four gods are obviously not idiots; they are just a bit extreme, but that is also because the reality of the universe walked to the extreme first. If it were not for the Eldar doing evil, the original body of Slaanesh would still be acting as her goddess of love and hope.

Of course, what schemes and tricks there are later is a matter for later.