novelaction Chapter 214: Economic Warfare
Chapter 214: Economic Warfare
Shi Lidie opened the letter from the emperor and the empress and read it quickly.
There was nothing particularly important written in the letter. Both the emperor and the empress reminded her to put her own safety first and hoped that she would return safely.
The emperor also specifically emphasized that although unifying the Central Plains is a very beautiful wish, it should not be rushed.
Shi Lidie saw the emperor and empress's concern for her from the lines.
She put the letter away and said:
"Let's stop talking nonsense and get down to business. Take a look at this first."
After that, she showed Chen Zhao and Chen Shuting what she had brought.
What Shi Lidie prepared was a booklet filled with content and then bound together. There were four big words written on the cover: "On Economic Warfare".
The Chen siblings didn't know what Shi Lidie was up to, but out of trust in her, they took these things and looked at them carefully.
As time passed, the surprise on the faces of the Chen brothers and sisters became more and more serious.
After a cup of tea, Chen Zhao finished reading and immediately spoke:
"This is a brilliant plan, Princess Yun'an, you are truly an incredible woman! You can even come up with such an idea!"
"Brother Chen, you are too kind. This strategy was not thought up by me. I saw it in a book and I just thought it could be put to use." Shi Lidie said modestly.
The strategy praised by the Chen brothers and sisters was exactly the book "On Economic Warfare" that she showed them.
In this booklet, Shi Lidie provided a way to deal with the State of Ye, which is economic warfare.
"The wine I brew is very popular in Beijing and the south, and private customization is also valued by the upper class and wealthy people in both countries. We can definitely expand these two businesses and turn a single store into a large-scale production base."
This is what Shi Lidie mentioned in the booklet.
Shi Lidie proposed to choose her fiefdom in the Dayin Dynasty, namely Fengping County, Yongping County, and Qingping County, as bases for mass production of wine and clothing.
Building industrial chains related to these two businesses, such as breweries, weaving mills, and printing and dyeing factories, and recruiting local women to work can not only develop the economy, but also improve the family status of women.
Of course, these are just some of the benefits.
The biggest benefit is that once the industrial chain is built, these factories will need more raw materials.
Shi Lidie explained to the Chen brothers and sisters seriously:
"We can purchase these raw materials from Ye State at a high price, using twice or even three times the market price to buy these raw materials. As long as it is profitable, we will not worry about the people of Ye State not selling them to us."
"The raw materials for brewing wine, such as barley, sorghum, green oranges, peaches, apricots, plums, etc., are either grains or fruits, mostly things that can fill the stomach. They will definitely sell these things to us for the high price we offer."
"We in the Great Yin Dynasty don't use our own grain, but purchase it from Ye State at a high price. It seems that we are losing money, but in fact, the profit of wine is very high. Even if I give them three times the price, I will still make money. I sell the brewed wine at a high price in the capital of Ye State, and then use the profit to buy grain from the people of Ye State. It's like transferring money from one hand to the other. The most we spend is labor and transportation."
"Driven by profit, many grain merchants in Ye State will definitely seek cooperation with us, because they think that grain can grow every year and is inexhaustible. Even if they sell all the grain they have, they can still buy more next time."
"But if this continues, do you know what the consequences will be?"
Chen Zhao had already figured out the key point, and immediately said:
"The food supply in Ye State will become less and less, because it takes time for crops in the fields to grow."
"Merchants are profit-driven. To get high-priced grain, they will do whatever they can to get all the grain they can from all over the country and then sell it to us."
"Perhaps there are some greedy officials from Ye State involved. A large amount of grain flows to our winery and is turned into wine and shipped back to Ye State. It seems to be equal, but it is not actually."
"It's even possible that they've sold all their food but the crops in the fields are not ready for harvest yet."
"If one day, the Great Yin Dynasty and the State of Ye go to war, the soldiers of the State of Ye will not be able to get their rations replenished due to a lack of food. The soldiers will fight on an empty stomach, and the people will not have any extra food to help them."
"But on the contrary, our army is well fed and strong, so we definitely have the upper hand in a fight."
Shi Lidie nodded after hearing this:
"Yes, that's right, and the same is true for the custom clothing industry."
Chen Shuting also understood and immediately added:
"Making clothes requires cloth, and weaving requires raw materials such as cotton, linen, wool and silk. We can also purchase those cotton, linen, wool and silk at a price higher than the market price, and the price is higher than the price of grain."
"Merchants pursue profits, and so do ordinary people. When they know that the price of cotton, linen, wool and silk is higher than that of grain, they will naturally choose to grow cotton, linen, wool and silk on their own land, and then use the money from the sales to buy food."
"Over time, the people in Ye State changed their occupations and planted cash crops instead of food crops, which further reduced the grain output of Ye State."
Shi Lidie gave Chen Shuting a thumbs up.
Generally speaking, what the Chen brothers and sisters expressed was all that was written in Shi Lidie’s booklet “On Economic Warfare”.
In this way, she wanted to consume the grain reserves of Ye State and reduce the amount of land used by the people and farmers to grow grain. Everything she did was to prepare for the war that was bound to come in the future.
Although Ye State was also a country in the Central Plains, its geographical location was to the west of the Dayin Dynasty.
The arable land in its territory is not as much as that in the Dayin Dynasty. If Shi Lidie's plan succeeds, it will be basically difficult to use a small amount of food to support the consumption of the entire country.
Shi Lidie finally emphasized:
"The most important thing is that we won't lose money."
"Whether it's winemaking or custom-made, we sell them at absolutely high prices. Because the winemaking formula and the custom-made design drawings are all in my hands, I'm sure no one in the world can steal our business."
"We have a monopoly. For a jar of wine, we make up some stories and reputation for it, publicize it, and increase its brand value. The cost may only be one or two taels of silver, but if we sell it to a rich businessman and ask for one thousand taels of silver, he will definitely buy it."
"Similarly, who wouldn't want a piece of clothing that is custom-made and unique? The noble ladies who want to show off in front of their loved ones, and the girls who want to enter the palace to be selected and make a splash, are all willing to pay for it!"
"Perhaps with the money we earn from selling one bottle of wine and one piece of clothing, we can buy several warehouses of grain and brew hundreds or even thousands of bottles of wine. There are so many rich people in this world, we won't lose money anyway."
"In the end, we made the money, we got the food, and we won the war. We achieved three goals at one stroke."