By the time Zi Shou discovered that all of Chaoge was praising him for seeking talent by buying a tiger for a thousand gold pieces, it was already too late.
Even the operas had begun performing it.
He simply could not understand why a perfectly good tiger burial had turned into a love of talent.
Fortunately, it was no great problem. Zhang Da's gaze was deeply reassuring. With Zhang Da around, any worthy talent could be kept firmly under control. And with that stroke of genius—using Civil and Martial candidates to select each other—it would take a ghostly miracle to find anyone talented!
As for Zhao Gongming opening a bank, there was no rush to deal with that.
The bank had indeed emerged because Zi Shou had melted down vast quantities of bronze objects to mint coins, steadily increasing the copper coins in circulation.
He had rather dropped a rock on his own foot, but in truth, it was no major problem.
After all, a bank would earn him no fine reputation. On the contrary, given the economic instability of this era, the slightest fluctuation-a natural disaster or a war, for instance-could panic people into making massive withdrawals, instantly triggering a crisis of confidence.
Besides, old Zhao's bank had only one function: deposits and withdrawals. There was no need to worry too much. How long had copper coins even been in use? Did he really expect to leap straight into the age of credit money?
They did not even have paper!
Zhao Gongming might be able to cope with his magic for a while, but could he really remain an official of Great Shang for his entire life?
Still, with Zhao Gongming making trouble where there had been none, Zi Shou felt he ought to pay a little more attention