Xuan's eyes were as deep as abyss, silently staring at the secret volume handed over by Chiyo, the air seemed to solidify due to this silence.
On the secret scroll, scarlet lines snake like poisonous snakes, starting from the richest town in Fire Country, passing through many passes, and finally merging into the desert of Land of Wind, which symbolizes rebellion and turmoil.
Each line is marked with an astonishing amount, and their common disguise is so high-sounding-"refugee relief."
"Ha." A very light sneer escaped from Xuan's throat, but it was more chilling to the bone marrow than the coldest wind in winter.
He raised his eyes, and there was no anger in those Eternal Mangekyo Sharingans, only a coldness and ridicule, "They use the hard-earned money collected from my subjects to raise a group of hyenas who want to kill me?"
His voice was not loud, but it made Chiyo and Baba beside him feel a shiver from their souls at the same time.
This is not a question, but a verdict.
"Pass my command," Xuan's fingers lightly traced across the secret scroll, as if touching the enemy's neck, "Activate 'Refeeding Plan'."
Baba was startled when he heard this, and subconsciously said, "Master Xuan, cutting off the capital chain at this time is the only way to draw out salary from the bottom of the cauldron! Why..."
"Cut it off?" The curve of Xuan's mouth became colder, "Why cut it off? Since this money flows from Fire Country, it should be used by me. Inform everyone we have placed in the underground bank that there is no need to intercept it."
Ma <h3 field</h3 was shocked. "Allowing the outflow of funds, isn't this encouraging the enemy?!"
Xuan did not answer directly. He took out a silver coin from his arms that was completely silver and engraved with the Hidden Leaf Village fire emblem, and placed it between his two fingers.
That silver coin is Fire Country Mint's highest masterpiece, extremely hard.
However, under Xuan's fingertips, it seemed to turn into a fragile biscuit.
"Click."
With a soft sound, the silver coin shattered into pieces and turned into a handful of fine silver powder, slipping from between his fingers.
"Look at this coin," Xuan's eyes swept over Baba's astonished face, "It contains one ten thousandth of the chakra conductive metal. This is a unique secret recipe added by Fire Country Mint to prevent counterfeiting. As long as we master its precise refining ratio, we can create a 'genuine coin' that cannot be distinguished even by the most sophisticated gold assay."
Baba understood something instantly and his breathing stopped.
This is no longer a simple forgery, but a dimensionality reduction attack on a country's currency and credit from the source!
"Chiyo," Xuan's eyes turned to the capable female subordinate, "Order the puppet production line of the 'workshop' to be turned on overnight. I want to see one hundred thousand 'Crimson Heart Silver Coin' within three months. Remember, each one must be more real than real gold and silver."
"Yes!" Chiyo took the order, with fanatical admiration flashing in his eyes.
She knew that a war without gunpowder was about to be detonated by their own hands.
In the days that followed, all underground banks controlled by the New Hall seemed to have become "loyal allies" of the Fire Country Chamber of Commerce.
Every fund that flows to Land of Wind is transferred silently, with 30% of it being shaved off as a "hidden tax", which continuously enriches Xuan's treasury.
However, the chamber of commerce and the Land of Wind rebels were completely unaware of this, and instead were complacent about the "unprecedented" smoothness of the smuggling channels.
Two months later, the disaster broke out without warning at the border market between Fire Country and Land of Wind.
"Counterfeit coins! These are fucking counterfeit coins!" A stout grain merchant grabbed a handful of silver coins and screamed with a pale face.
When his silver coins were scratched on the test stone, the traces left behind were completely different from those of standard silver, with a dull color and a slightly astringent texture.
Panic spread like a plague.
At first it was just an exception, but soon, more and more people found that there was something wrong with the silver coins in their hands.
These coins are the same as real coins in terms of weight, texture and feel, but once they pass the most primitive chemical test, their true colors will be revealed.
Folks began to reject Fire Country silver coins on a large scale. Merchants were like frightened birds and frantically sold their inventory, and border trade was instantly paralyzed.
Fire Country's senior management initially thought that there had been a major negligence within the Mint, and immediately dispatched an investigation team.
However, when a knowledgeable historian carefully compared the flame patterns of those "bad coins" under a magnifying glass, he came to a conclusion that made everyone shudder.
"This... this is the coining method of Warring States Era, Uchiha Clan'Naka River Secret Furnace'!"
Rumors spread like wildfire across the entire Shinobi World overnight: "Uchiha Xuan has mastered the legendary secret key to wealth!" "He can print money out of thin air!"
For a time, people were panicked.
For the first time, those old nobles who had scorned Xuan's New Deal felt the fear that penetrated their bones.
Force can be resisted, but this kind of attack launched from the economic foundation is invisible and irresistible.
However, this is not the most deadly.
What is truly terrifying is the ultimate weapon hidden in these "Crimson Heart Silver Coin".
Every counterfeit coin is mixed with extremely fine Divine Tree spores that have been specially cultured and cannot be seen by the naked eye.
People who have been in contact with or hold these coins for a long time will unknowingly become dependent on the trace amounts of Natural Energy contained in them. Their thinking will subconsciously tend to identify with "power" and "order", and deep in their hearts they will long for a ruler who can bring absolute stability.
At the secret financial meeting, Chiyo presented the plan for the next stage. "Master Xuan, the currency and credit on the border have collapsed. My subordinates suggested that we take the opportunity to launch 'Scarlet Eye Silver Note'."
She unfolded a beautifully designed voucher with Scarlet Eye as the background and the grain and clean water reserves of the New Hall as credit endorsement, and announced in a high-profile manner, "One voucher can be exchanged for ten bad coins."
As soon as the news was released, those desperate villages and caravans holding large amounts of "scrap iron" seemed to have grasped life-saving straws and sent people to the control area of the New Hall to ask for exchange.
However, Xuan was not in a hurry to promote it. Instead, he ordered that only a very small amount be issued every day and given priority to those forces that had been most resistant to the New Hall.
"Let them rob." Xuan stood on a high place, overlooking the crowd below who were fighting for a piece of paper. He said calmly to Baba beside him, "Let greed replace fear to drive them. When they are willing to turn against their companions in order to rob our money, they will no longer dare to pick up the enemy's knife against us."
Late that night, a dark shadow sneaked into the core bank of the New Hall like a ghost, aiming directly at the legendary set of coin templates.
However, as soon as he touched the target, the entire room's floor and walls instantly lit up with dense runes, and dozens of puppets holding sharp blades emerged from the darkness, trapping him in the center.
Baba looked at the captured secret agent Fire Country with cold eyes. "Master Xuan, how should I deal with it?"
"Execution is too easy for him." Xuan slowly walked out, Eternal Mangekyō flashing a strange red light in the darkness, "Cut off his hands and let him go back alive."
Amid the secret agent's pitiful howl, Xuan took the pen and paper handed over by his subordinate, wrote a letter, and packaged it together with the severed hands and sent them back to Hidden Leaf Village.
There is only one sentence in the letter. "This hand was taken from a thief who stole my finances. If your village can't manage its own wallet, the next time I cut it, it will be the veins of the national treasury."
This move was like a bombshell, exploding in Konoha High Command.
The advisory group of the third generation Hokage urgently held a closed-door meeting that lasted all night.
Some people advocate a tough counterattack, some suggest emergency currency contraction, and some think that negotiations with Xuan should be carried out.
Differences in opinions and internal strife have led to delays in the introduction of policies, completely missing the last opportunity to curb inflation and stabilize credit.
Under the same night sky, Xuan sat alone in the secret room.
In front of him, there was no map, no sandbox, only a dynamic light and shadow map woven in real time from massive financial data.
Countless bright red thin lines represent the flow of funds, and patches of dark blue light spots mark areas where currency has completely collapsed.
What is even more eye-catching are the red patches that are spreading at an alarming rate, which symbolizes the penetration territory of "Scarlet Eye Silver Note".
His fingertips lightly touched a node that was about to turn from blue to red, which was an important border fortress in Fire Country.
"The war hasn't even started yet," he whispered to himself, with a hint of indifference in his voice overlooking all sentient beings, "Your money has already been surrendered."
Outside the window, the dark clouds gathered due to the fluctuation of chakra gathered again.
At that moment, the shadow of an ancient coin slowly appeared in the center of the Eternal Mangekyō pattern reflected on the window pane.
Turning the light Shadow Flow, four small ancient seal characters were clearly engraved on the edge of the coin -
Coins are war.
Xuan's eyes moved away from the light and shadow diagram and turned to another scroll.
What is recorded on it is not money, but people.
An unpredictable smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
The victory in the financial war was just a prelude; another seed he planted with his own hands was about to sprout.
Scarlet Eye Academy, the first batch of eighty-seven children who he selected from the flames of war and ruins and carefully nurtured for three years are about to usher in their graduation examination.
It's time to test the quality of these "works".