Chapter 338: Meeting

A hundred-man commander of the Demon Vanquishing Department was standing beside Chu Qiguang and Yang Ling, introducing to them all of the important figures taking part in the board meeting.

The hundred-man commander's name was Liu Fang, and at this point, he was pointing at a middle-aged man as he introduced, "That is Master Fei Yi's eldest son, Fei Yixian. That's the grand abbot of the Spirit Province, Daoist Master Wang Xi. That's the Huiqin Feudal Lord..."

The Huiqin Feudal Lord was a huge fatso who stood out like a sore thumb among a bunch of martial artists, and he was chatting amicably with Wu Wei and Sun Bin.

Thanks to Liu Fang, Chu Qiguang was able to connect the faces to the names.

There were several hundred representatives present, and shortly after everyone was assembled, the meeting officially commenced.

Zhong Shan'e was occupying the main seat, and he began, saying, "As I'm sure you're all aware, the situation in the Azure Sun Trade Association and the Cloud Midst Trade Association is dire. The plummeting stock prices have led to widespread unrest in the county, and if things continue like this, a full-blown uprising will surely be imminent.

"This is a very serious matter, and I've gathered all of you today to come up with a plan to stabilize the stock market and quell the unrest. Everyone, please feel free to share your ideas."

As a provincial thousand-man commander of the Demon Vanquishing Department, the stock market really didn't fall under Zhong Shan'e's realm of jurisdiction, but he was a Dao Comprehension state martial god who had the backing of the emperor, so no one was going to raise any objections.

The representatives spoke one after another, and they all essentially said the same things, complaining about the heavy losses that they had incurred and the despair that they felt.

All of a sudden, someone stood up and said, "The stock prices are falling because some fiends disseminated the blueprints for the water-powered machines! If the imperial court bans the dissemination of the blueprints and unauthorized manufacturing of the water-powered machines, the stock price will quickly return to normal!"

All of the representatives expressed their support for this idea. This was the plan that Wu Wei had come up with after visiting all of the major shareholders.

Their objective was to form a united front. They had no real interest in stabilizing the market. Instead, they were simply trying to raise the stock price back up through any means necessary before dumping all of their shares at once.

Zhong Shan'e turned to Chu Qiguang and asked, "Yang Ling, Chu Qiguang, what do you two think?"

Yang Ling stood and introduced himself and Chu Qiguang to everyone.

Yang Ling proclaimed that he had been sent to investigate the Spirit Province's stock market by the emperor, and everyone's expressions instantly changed slightly upon hearing that.

The Yong'an Emperor was notorious for exploiting others in order to fund his own cultivation; there was even a year when he had used disaster relief funds to purchase pills.

After learning that Yang Ling was essentially representing the emperor, everyone was extremely concerned that the emperor would take advantage of the situation to fleece everyone.

As for Chu Qiguang, some people knew that he was the one who had founded the Azure Sun Trade Association, but in their eyes, his importance paled in comparison with Yang Ling.

Chu Qiguang stood up and said, "I disagree with the proposed solution."

Wu Wei and Sun Bin's expressions instantly darkened upon hearing this. In their eyes, Chu Qiguang's objection meant that he was trying to thwart their plans, and with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver on the line, that was absolutely unacceptable.

"What do you propose then, Chu Qiguang?" Wu Wei sneered. "How are we going to stabilize the stock market if we don't impose these bans?"

"Chu Qiguang, you've been away from the Azure Sun Trade Association for quite some time, so you're likely unaware of just how massive the stock market has become," the Huiqin Feudal Lord chimed in. "Out of everyone you see here, we've lost a combined total of millions of taels of silver."

"Precisely!" Sun Bin harrumphed coldly. "If we don't impose these bans, the entire Spirit Province is going to go bankrupt, and it'll all be your fault!"

"My fault?" Chu Qiguang scoffed. "Aren't we only dealing with this problem now because fiends managed to infiltrate the Azure Sun Trade Association and leak the blueprints?"

"Now's not the time to be pointing fingers and assigning blame!" Sun Bin objected. "The priority now is to save the market. If you don't have any solutions, then sit down and be quiet!"

"Who says I don't have a solution?" Chu Qiguang asked with a faint smile. "The water-powered machines are the reason why the Azure Sun Trade Association first rose to prominence, and the reason why the stock price is now falling is that those machines have been leaked.

"If we can find better machines, then the stock price will naturally go back up, and none of this will even matter anymore."

Everyone fell into an intrigued silence.

Chu Qiguang led all of the representatives into the area that housed the spinning mule, then introduced, "This machine is called a spinning mule. I'll spare you all the technical details; all you need to know is that it's a far superior version of the previous water-powered machines that we've been using so far.

"It can produce cotton yarn at a far faster rate than previous machines, and the produced yarn will also be tighter and more durable..."

Once Chu Qiguang had described the machine, all of the shareholders were instantly hooked. They had all seen just how much new technology could revolutionize the market, and they had no doubt that this spinning mule would take the market to new heights if Chu Qiguang's claims were true.

Fei Yixian immediately offered. "Young Master Chu, I'm willing to buy this spinning mule from you for ten thousand taels of silver!"

"Ten thousand for one of the most important inventions in history? Do we all look like idiots to you?" Grand Abbot Wang Xi sneered.

All of the shareholders instantly erupted into a massive commotion as they launched into a frenzied bidding war for the spinning mule.

Wu Wei and Sun Bin exchanged a dumbfounded glance with one another. Neither of them had anticipated this, and who could blame them?

After taking what felt like an eternity to quell the commotion, Chu Qiguang revealed. "To tell you all the truth, I wanted to sell this spinning mule to Young Master Wu Wei. I personally visited his residence last time, but unfortunately, he refused to see me."

All of the shareholders immediately turned to Wu Wei with furious expressions, while Wu Wei was completely dumbstruck. He had no recollection of a visit from Chu Qiguang at all!

Meanwhile, Sun Bin's complexion instantly turned deathly pale.

"I then met with Hundred Man Commander Yang here, and he advised me to start my own trade association funded by His Majesty and the Demon Vanquishing Department," Chu Qiguang added.

Everyone's hearts sank.

If Chu Qiguang opened a new trade association in conjunction with the Demon Vanquishing Department and the Yong'an Emperor with the spinning mule as its centerpiece, then the stock price would only tank further.

"However, for the sake of the prosperity and stability of the Spirit Province, I've decided to take a different approach," Chu Qiguang said. "My new trade association would like to acquire and merge the Cloud Midst Trade Association and the Azure Sun Trade Association."