The house always wins. That saying was never wrong, no matter where it applied.
Especially when the house was someone like Xu Shi, using the experience of his predecessors to crush primitives—wasn't that exactly what he was doing? The Hualan Empire's upper ranks still hadn't seen through the true nature of the Sea God Stone trade. Their levels of thinking were worlds apart.
So everything remained under his control.
"Tell every purchasing station to raise their buying prices. Increase every grade by five to ten percent each day, and make sure our prices are as high above the royal family's and the church's as possible."
He gave his instructions unhurriedly. "You can decide the exact numbers yourself. Just don't make it look too fake... At the same time, change the standard unit of measurement for purchases. Reduce it from one hundred grams to fifty grams, then lower it to twenty after ten days."
"Also, send people to buy Sea God Stones from the royal family's and the church's outlets, then keep releasing them onto the market. Maintain liquidity and make the market look even more prosperous."
"Finally, suppress the prices of all goods other than gold, silver, and copper coins. If anyone wants to barter, make sure the price they pay is higher than everyone else's."
"Yes... but won't we need to put up a lot of gold and silver to support this?"
Pan Ling naturally had no objections to her bad master's plan. Some of it had even been designed by her herself... But after roughly running through the accounts in her head, she abruptly realized the problem.
"You don't need to worry about money. However much you need, your master will provide."
Xu Shi waved a hand indifferently. They had brought plenty of gold and silver with them.