Shen Jin stood dumbfounded. After a moment's hesitation, he said earnestly, "Yulong, if you need money, I still have some silk at home..."
At least he stopped short of saying, "This is against the law."
"What would I want your silk for? I want Shenlang Coins, freshly minted Shenlang Coins, an endless supply of Shenlang Coins," Liu Cheng said helplessly.
"But aren't you minting coins to make money?" This time, Shen Jin truly could not wrap his mind around it.
During their earlier political discussion, he had still been able to keep finding explanations for himself. However many twists and turns there were, he could always find some line of reasoning. But now that Liu Cheng was talking about minting coins, surely it could only be for the money itself. After all, his father had minted coins back then precisely to raise military funds.
Surely they could not hand out copper ore to soldiers and military slaves?
Besides, the Shenlang Coins had been so thin and small that even the soldiers brought out from their own Wuxing had been full of complaints.
"Of course it's to make money," Liu Cheng answered patiently. "Minting coins without aiming to make or save money? That's nonsense."
"Yulong, hear me out. You mustn't unsettle the troops for this momentary profit, paying their wages with these..." Shen Jin stopped himself halfway through.
It was not just the way Liu Cheng tilted his head and looked at him like an idiot. He himself had realized that, given the methods and generosity Liu Cheng had shown in dealing with the Way of the Celestial Masters, how could he possibly suck the soldiers' blood by substituting these small coins for Five-Zhu Coins?
"Stop talking for now. Let me speak first, and when I ask you something, listen and