Chapter 639 - 461: You Don’t Understand Economics

Even though he didn’t show it, Zheng Yi knew that Zhou Kunshan was feeling quite dissatisfied now.

During this period, he has been wholeheartedly devoted to handling official duties.

This guy is naturally talented in internal affairs.

Previously limited by his origins, the most he could manage was a village.

But now, besides Zhao Tianming, he is the busiest person in the entire mine.

Zhou Kunshan quickly got up to speed with handling various political affairs and he enjoys dealing with these issues; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a fish in water.

Yet, despite his diligent work for so long, he hasn’t earned favor in front of his lord.

Naturally, this inevitably caused a bit of displeasure to rise in Zhou Kunshan’s heart.

Zheng Yi smiled and asked, "What, are you dissatisfied?"

Zhou Kunshan turned his head away, "Kunshan wouldn’t dare."

This appearance made Zheng Yi’s smile even bigger; it was truly the first time he had seen Zhou Kunshan like this.

"Oh? You don’t dare, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have it."

Zhou Kunshan hesitated for a moment, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately did not speak, only lowered his head and said, "I realize my mistake; I ask my lord for punishment."

From his silent change of tone, Zheng Yi could hear that there was indeed resentment in his heart.

"Kunshan, those merchants only focus on profit, which is not surprising. Not to mention, these people are insects that walk in grey areas; even real merchants are not much different from them."

"To merchants, the only two concerns are how much money they can make and how they can make more money."

Zhou Kunshan furiously cursed, "These damned fellows, I knew their eyes only see money."

Zheng Yi said calmly, "Kunshan, actually, if you look at it from another perspective, if these unscrupulous merchants weren’t like this, wouldn’t it be quite unfavorable to us?"

"Huh?" Zhou Kunshan was dumbfounded, completely unable to comprehend why the greed of those merchants would be beneficial to him.

Zheng Yi sighed helplessly.

This guy, though quite skilled in internal affairs, truly doesn’t understand much about economic matters.

"Think about it, if the merchants we dealt with were upright and rigid people, then they wouldn’t be operating in the black market, nor would they be buying and selling goods that aren’t allowed to be traded."

"If that were the case, then what use is our Fire Rock Ore, no matter how valuable it is?"

"Besides cultivation, this thing cannot be eaten or worn. Does it have any other use for us?"

"It is precisely these black market merchants that allow us to exchange Fire Rock Ore for our necessities."

"On the surface, we use precious cultivation resources to exchange for some worthless things, seemingly at a great loss."

"However, we’re still able to exchange the Fire Rock Ore for goods. It’s much better than leaving those ores ignored over there, isn’t it?"

Zheng Yi explained patiently, using the simplest and most straightforward words to make Zhou Kunshan understand.

Zhou Kunshan was completely puzzled, "My lord’s words indeed make sense, but..."

"There are no buts." Zheng Yi interrupted Zhou Kunshan’s words, "I have already told you what I should say, the rest you need to think through on your own."

"Now, let’s talk about how to deal with those black market merchants."

Zhou Kunshan’s mind was a fog; he felt utterly out of sync with his lord’s thoughts.

Just a moment ago, he was saying how important these merchants were, and now he’s turning around to deal with them?

Zheng Yi glanced at Zhou Kunshan, "One thing is one thing, I am just telling you, what these merchants deal in is very important to us."

"But that doesn’t mean I will turn a blind eye to their inch-by-inch demands."

"Please instruct me, my lord." Zhou Kunshan had completely given up thinking. He felt that his lord had already said all the opposing arguments.

"This is a problem you need to handle. You must teach those unscrupulous merchants a lesson so they don’t make lion’s demands, but at the same time, you can’t completely break ties with these black market merchants."

"Otherwise, we won’t be able to obtain the resources we need through this channel."

"This matter needs to be addressed quickly; the longer it drags, the more difficult it will be to handle."

Zhou Kunshan did not even know how he departed.

Clearly, he had come to consult with his lord for a way to handle this matter, yet in the end, he only heard a bunch of explanations but was still clueless about how to resolve the issue.

In desperation, Zhou Kunshan could only find Feng Haitao to complain.

Of course, another purpose was also in hopes of obtaining some advice from Feng Haitao.

After all, Feng Haitao is one of the few people in the mine who has actually read books.

Unexpectedly, after listening to his story, Feng Haitao showed a helpless expression, "Sorry, Uncle Zhou, I truly can’t help you with this matter; you’ll have to figure out how to resolve it yourself."

Zhou Kunshan angrily said, "You little ingrate, back in the day, didn’t I take care of you quite a bit? If it weren’t for me, could you have held on with your small stature until today?"

"Now that Uncle has trouble and comes to you, you’re actually standing by and doing nothing?"

"Fine, then consider that I never came today. From now on..."

Feng Haitao didn’t expect Zhou Kunshan to react so strongly, and hurriedly persuaded, "Uncle Zhou, please calm down first. I don’t want to help, but rather, I can’t help."

"Didn’t you notice? This is the lord’s test for you."

"If I intervened to help, what if the lord found out..."

Only then did Zhou Kunshan finally understand Zheng Yi’s intention.