Chapter 7077 Misalignment of cognition

Chapter 7077 Misalignment of cognition

Chen Xi and Zhou Yu have a certain misalignment in their understanding. In Chen Xi's view, his proposal to include the livestock output of Jiangdong in the national grain reserve for unified management is a suppression of Jiangdong as a whole, since it is a matter of pricing power!
The power to set prices represents the absolute control that the owner has over the defined entity. To avoid future problems, Chen Xi needs Zhou Yu to include this in the future official documents.

In Zhou Yu's mind, if I could produce so many cattle, sheep and pigs from the northern frontier, who would I sell them to if not the Central Plains? I can't possibly eat them all myself, can I? Even if I did, I couldn't possibly consume them all. Moreover, although Zhou Yu was somewhat unruly and often appeared arrogant, he subconsciously identified with Chen Xi, and consequently, with the Han Dynasty.

In other words, Zhou Yu could act wildly on a whim, but he never thought of rebelling against the Han Dynasty. What Zhou Yu thought about most was to do something big one day, to open Chen Xi's eyes and show him how powerful he was. This is also why he ran back immediately after killing Serian.

Because subconsciously, Zhou Yu had already realized that Chen Xi was indeed the undisputed number one in the world, a solitary moon in the sky, and the strongest and most morally upright sage of his time.

The education Zhou Yu received instilled in him the ability to accept defeat, which is why he was often extremely magnanimous. However, Zhou Yu was indeed born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he was handsome and talented, making him one of the most outstanding talents in the land.

Therefore, from childhood to adulthood, Zhou Yu had never been convinced by anyone. He trusted Sun Ce because they were good friends and brothers. As for anyone who could surpass him in ability, Zhou Yu said that he had never met anyone before he turned twenty.

Until one day, Zhou Yu met Chen Xi. At that time, Zhou Yu could barely understand Chen Xi's strength, but after the Yuanfeng era, Zhou Yu could no longer understand Chen Xi's power.

Large ranches, state-run workshops, super-large farms, state-run factories and mines, plantations, roads leading in all directions, villages and hamlets, one link after another, until Zhou Yu, even while still gritting his teeth and insisting that he was absolutely the strongest, had already realized that Chen Xi was not on the same level as him.

That was pure, overwhelming power.

Just as Chen Xi said back then: "The limit you see is actually the limit of the times, and the current limit of the Han Dynasty, not my limit. The height of the universe, the peak of this era, is determined by me, Chen Xi. I am the one who is raising all of this up!"

At first, Zhou Yu might not have believed it, but later Chen Xi's actions became so outrageous that the more knowledgeable people were, the more they could understand how terrifying Chen Xi was.

Zhou Yu was clearly a top-tier expert who knew a great deal and even had the intention to emulate Chen Xi, so he understood Chen Xi's strength better than others.

The saying that the closer one gets to God, the more one can understand the greatness of the deity is also completely true for Chen Xi—the closer one gets to Chen Xi, the more one can understand the vastness of such an astronomical span!
So later on, Zhou Yu subconsciously thought, "I have to do something big for Chen Xi, so that he will look up to me and see how powerful I am."

With this in mind, Zhou Yu did indeed accomplish many great things, and he did achieve feats that forced Chen Xi to reluctantly reveal his hand.

Even so, every time Zhou Yu returned to the Central Plains and every time he saw Chen Xi, he could clearly feel that Chen Xi had become stronger, and the Han Dynasty had once again experienced a surge in growth!

That's right. In Chen Xi's view, it was already a slowdown in improvement. In the eyes of most normal people in this era, it was still an improvement speed that was completely incomprehensible!

Zhou Yu couldn't understand at all. As a nobleman from a family of three dukes, the food he ate in his youth was about the same level as that of ordinary people in Mount Tai now. Perhaps it was slightly better or more refined, but in terms of ingredients and proportions, there was no difference in quality.

I don't know when it started, but ordinary people can now cover their rice with meat sauce. No, I should ask when even ordinary people can afford to eat rice!
Do you remember what Emperor Ling of Han's favorite food was? It was sesame rolled pancakes!

This was the favorite of the notoriously incompetent and extravagant Emperor Ling, a top-tier luxury item thirty years ago. In today's terms, it would be a state banquet dish, the highest level of luxury. But now, in the fifth year of Yuanfeng, Chen Xi has made this dish available to everyone in the world! And Liu Tong's reward has added the finest meat sauce to everyone's pancakes.

It was served with shredded cucumber, shredded scallions, shredded tofu, and shredded meat, and brushed with sauce. This was the level of the rolled pancakes that Emperor Ling ate more than 20 years ago, and then everyone in the world got to eat them.

This isn't just a matter of development; it's a super-evolution! And this change isn't limited to one place; it's happening everywhere. Even in remote, impoverished areas, even in the mountainous regions of Yangzhou, which are like Fujian in later generations—a place full of hills with hardly any flat land—now those villages that have merged and consolidated in the mountains all have a paved road leading out of the village, and everyone can actually have enough to eat!
Zhou Yu suspected that Chen Xi was not human, but a deity!

This vast, chasm-like gap forced even a genius like Zhou Yu, who was so proud he was arrogant, to submit to Chen Xi in the end. Even though Zhou Yu always acted arrogantly and bluffed, he never objected when Chen Xi made a decision.

For Zhou Yu, it was a habit to ask Chen Xi for favors, but since Chen Xi had already made the decision, there was no need to say anything more.

Similarly, Zhou Yu, who has subconsciously realized that Chen Xi is not human but a god-like being, and who has recognized that the other party is destined to lead everyone to a better reality, what will be his true attitude hidden beneath his arrogance when facing Chen Xi?
Of course, we should obey!
It looks unruly, but it's a feline, so you can stroke its fur!

This explains why there were so many separatist forces in Jiangdong, with separatism constantly emerging and even occasionally giving Chen Xi a shock. However, Jiangdong never had any intention of betraying the Han Dynasty or surrendering to the enemy. Sun Ce had achieved his own goals and would not surrender, and Zhou Yu had recognized Chen Xi's true nature and would not surrender. Therefore, no matter how much trouble Jiangdong caused, they would always stand firmly on the side of the Han Dynasty.

It is precisely because of this attitude that Zhou Yu's stance, which seems to be always on the side of Jiangdong, is actually very clear on important matters: he stands with the Han Dynasty. Making trouble is a habit, but standing with the Han Dynasty is a clear political stance. The former can be done without any problems, while the latter must be determined whether there are problems or not.

Therefore, when Zhou Yu first wanted to establish a large ranch, he never thought about doing any distribution himself. He originally planned to entrust Chen Xi with the centralized purchase and sales. Moreover, after cooperating with Chen Xi for so long, Zhou Yu also realized that some things could only be sold at the most reasonable price by entrusting them to Chen Xi.

If it were Jiangdong itself selling these things, not to mention the price, the sales channels alone would be a problem.

Chen Xi's supply and marketing cooperatives have completely penetrated villages and towns across the country, distributing major supplies nationwide. Through the accumulation of small amounts, even things like spices can be fully utilized.

This is why Southeast Asia, currently the world's largest producer of spices, can still completely consume its annual spice production, even though major families are unwilling to spend money on incense.

To put it simply, Chen Xi collects spices and makes them into five-spice powder, thirteen-spice powder, and some meat braising spice packets. These things are not expensive, but with high volume and low profit, tens of millions of people across the country help process them, and the output from Southeast Asia can always be consumed.

As for the price plummeting and turning into everyday consumer goods, to be honest, going the luxury route is just so-so. If you really want to increase sales volume and make money, you still have to focus on everyday consumer goods.

Besides, selling it cheaper wouldn't be a loss for Jiangdong. It was originally taken from the island, so as long as they make a profit, selling it cheaper and getting cash is a good thing.

Anyway, if you harvest it this year, there will be more next year. Only some truly precious spices with names and origins are several years old. It doesn't matter, these can be sold to Rome, and the Romans like them!
However, the bulk of the meat still needs to go through Chenxi Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Similarly, if the meat from the large ranch wants to be sold, even with the help of the cold chain brought by the cold winter, it still needs to go through the supply and marketing cooperative, because at present, the only sales channel that can reach all parts of the Han Dynasty is the supply and marketing cooperative.

The others are all scattered across different regions. If Zhou Yu had the ability to integrate these distributors from various regions and then create a new sales channel…

Okay, let's not count on it. You know Zhen Yan, right? He's Chen Xi's brother-in-law. He's the guy who completely let himself go, rose again with the help of Liu Zhang and Yuan Shu, and started selling liquor all over the place. He relied on the Zhen family's old network of connections, his own reputation, the advantage of being backed by Liu Zhang and Yuan Shu, and most importantly, his sensitivity to business network layout.

So far, they have only established a dealer network in Bingzhou, Jizhou, western Liaoning, and the areas surrounding Chang'an and Hanzhong.

Of course, to be fair, the fact that such a thing could be produced was already quite outrageous in Chen Xi's opinion. To be fair, his brother-in-law was not good at being the patriarch of the Marquis family, but he was indeed very capable in business.

Currently, this channel is mainly used to sell rice wine, but it has also started to sell some candies, preserved fruits, and dried beef and mutton.

At this rate, once Zhen Yan has broken through the upstream and downstream of the sugar factory again, and merged the distribution channels in various regions, he will have roughly built a distribution channel covering the main areas of the Han Dynasty. Then, the Zhen family, one of the five great merchants that had disappeared, will reappear from the ground.

Moreover, compared to the last time, the Zhen family that has survived this time has deeper roots and is less likely to make mistakes.

Chen Xi was speechless at this. So what Zhen Yan had told him back then—that he was being trained as the head butler of the Zhen family, that is, the foreign affairs and business manager—was not a joke.
Even so, it's still quite exaggerated. This development speed is simply outrageous. Chen Xi might really witness something like a second startup, where he single-handedly recreates the five major merchant groups in just five years.

This thing sounds like a joke, but as things stand, there is indeed a considerable possibility that it can be achieved. Chen Xi doesn't have much time to pay attention to Zhen Yan, so he can only have someone send him some information every now and then, and then he can compare and analyze it to get a general understanding of the situation.

As a result, they just watched helplessly as Zhen Yan quickly revitalized the business.

However, in Chen Xi's view, even a business prodigy like Zhen Yan would need to expend a considerable amount of effort to completely establish a distributor network throughout the Han Dynasty. Moreover, the difficulty would increase as the network gradually expanded, because as the network grew, other people would inevitably try to profit from it.

Despite Zhen Yan's status as Chen Xi's brother-in-law, at that point, it would be inevitable that they would team up to plunder. If necessary, they could create some obstacles, such as getting Zhen Yan to meet them, and then share the spoils. After all, Chen Xi's supply and marketing cooperative had already proven to everyone how much profit this thing could generate.

Therefore, when a second similar product is created, people who want to profit from it will naturally emerge, and the methods they use are absolutely legal and compliant.

Given that even Zhen Yan found it difficult, Zhou Yu's idea of ​​expanding the territory on his own was basically considered nonsense, leaving him with no choice but to select Chen Xi.

In other words, Zhou Yu had no opinion on the matter of unified purchase and sales. From the beginning, he believed that if their large ranch in Jiangdong was successfully established, the sales had to be entrusted to Chen Xi. This was not a question of whether Chen Xi would make money or not, but rather a question of having no other choice but to entrust the sales to Chen Xi.

In other words, Zhou Yu did not realize that this matter was actually an important point of negotiation, but instead habitually considered the issue from the perspective of his own status as a marquis of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, the conclusion is that this is only natural, and it is actually a good thing!
However, there are many details to discuss with Chen Xi. Considering the crazy and reckless behavior of the separatist forces in Jiangdong, it is necessary to reach an agreement with them from the beginning. Moreover, every point must be written in detail in the official document to ensure that if these bastards dare to resist, they can be dealt a heavy blow and put to peace.

What did Zhou Yu say?
What does it mean to say, "You've mentioned the benefits, but what are the costs?"
"Wait, let me sort this out." Chen Xi was completely stunned by Zhou Yu's resounding question. He felt it was very necessary to sort out what Zhou Yu had said, what Zhou Yu's stance was, what the "cost" was, and that he had taken the "cost" he mentioned earlier as a benefit? That didn't make sense. Where did Zhou Yu stand?
"Wait, the price you're talking about isn't what you just said—that after we complete the large ranch in Jiangdong, the livestock output will have to enter the Central Plains and be included in the national grain reserve management, right?" Zhou Yu saw Chen Xi suddenly look up to stop him from speaking and then fall into a state of reflection. He quickly realized, "Damn it, is this a price? If this is a price, then I want this kind of price!"
"Wait, wait, let me sort this out. Gongjin, don't speak yet. I need to sort this out properly. I feel like your stance is very problematic." Chen Xi was also somewhat flustered. He realized that his judgment of Zhou Yu had a serious misalignment.

"What are you fussing about? This is the price, right? I accept it. This is a great victory for Jiangdong. I'm going back now to organize the Jiangdong aristocratic families. I'm going back to tell them that I've secured immense wealth for them, and it's hereditary wealth!" Zhou Yu said, "I'll stop here for now. I've remembered everything you said. When the time comes, I'll add every single word you asked for to the official document!"

This was not an empty statement, but Zhou Yu's true understanding. More importantly, this understanding was not wrong, because once this scale of animal husbandry was truly established, the Jiangdong aristocratic families who entered this circle would basically be considered as part of the official ranks.

The ends of the universe are all about government-affiliated positions. Don't you understand that with so many government-affiliated positions, if you don't do stupid things, you can directly inherit them without any chance of succession?

"No, no, Gongjin, don't run away!" Chen Xi grabbed Zhou Yu's sleeve, causing him to stumble. Since they had confirmed that Liu Bei wasn't really going to ascend the throne, but rather to put pressure on the powerful clans, and Zhou Yu had already submitted the letter urging him to take the throne, they could at least save face by bowing to Liu Bei in gratitude before leaving early.

Since it wasn't a formal banquet, someone of Zhou Yu's rank could easily have fled beforehand.

Moreover, Zhou Yu had already realized that his letter of persuasion to ascend the throne had brought him immense wealth and power, and he was so overwhelmed with joy that he was completely disoriented. In addition, Chen Xi seemed to have gotten a little tipsy and misspoke, saying the wrong price.

Then don't blame Zhou Yu for running away with this news. Just write it like that in the official letter. With Chen Zichuan's reputation, how could he not admit it?

This man also cares about his reputation, especially since these words were truly spoken by Chen Zichuan. Therefore, when the official letter is presented, given Chen Xi's situation, he will most likely accept it.

After all, this wealth and status is indeed quite large, but it is only equivalent to the total output value of the Han Dynasty's four-hundred-year foundation, plus the families who subsequently obtained quotas, who can hold the iron rice bowl of the state, and have a semi-hereditary status.

But so what? Wasn't it because you, Chen Xi, misspoke that we wrote it in the official document?
So when Zhou Yu realized the cost, he decisively prepared to flee. Upon returning, he convened a meeting with the Jiangdong aristocratic families to explain to everyone what had happened that day, showcasing his brilliance and prowess in this situation, how he had managed to seize enormous benefits against the odds. Then, he led the Jiangdong aristocratic families to draft a state letter overnight, which they would send to Chen Xi the next day.

When Chen Xi is cornered and forced to accept the fait accompli, he will have no choice but to accept it!
Run! Run now! If you don't run, Chen Xi will sober up!

I'm stuck at home. My feelings have been really complicated lately. Sigh.