Chapter 274: Managing the Economy

Chapter 274: Seizing the Economy

Digging pits, hauling earth, moving stones.

Yu Qian's first day of work ended amid these simple, repetitive tasks that drained his strength.

When he returned to Base 011 it was already eight o'clock at night, and by then he could scarcely recognize the place.

Most of the wooden houses had been erected, and the whole camp was laid out with meticulous order.

Unlike the initial “wasteland”, in just a single day this newly built “city” already pulsed with vibrant life.

Yet that “neatness and order” was not what truly astonished Yu Qian.

What left him gaping, unable even to believe he had returned to Base 011, was the blaze of light.

Lights.

Electric lights.

Electric lights everywhere.

Bright illumination bathed every corner; as he walked along the deliberately widened streets between the wooden huts, Yu Qian's shadow stretched and shrank in rhythm.

He watched his own shadow with a childlike fascination.

—

In fact, such a slightly childish behavior was not limited to him alone.

All the workers who had just come back to the camp were gazing at the lanterns hung high, as if admiring a magnificent vista.

They were certainly not strangers to electric lights.

Indeed, even in the cities ruled by the Holy Blood Cathedral, electric lights were not rare.

Most of them had at least seen their shape and understood their principle.

But no one had ever seen so many electric lights at once.

The imperial capital had none, nor did Jinling City.

Only the new Jinling City did.

A storm of emotions roiled within Yu Qian; he could not fathom whether the senior officers of the Huaxia army had undertaken such a grand gesture out of sheer indifference or merely to flaunt their power.

Yet perhaps the distinction mattered little?

With a flood of feelings that had nowhere to vent, Yu Qian followed the drone's guidance to the camp's kitchen—what the Huaxia army called the “Central Kitchen”—to collect the day's meal.

After handing his ID card to the robot for verification, Yu Qian smoothly received a pre‑portioned dinner.

At the tables beside the Central Kitchen, some workers sat down on the spot to eat.

Reluctant to eat it there, Yu Qian packed the food into his own satchel and took it home.

Before he could even push open the wooden door, a faint sense of something amiss brushed his senses.

A sliver of light seeped through the crack.

When he opened the door, he was stunned to find that even his modest dwelling had been fitted with an electric lamp!

‘This’

Yu Qian was astonished.

‘Dad! You’re back!’

His son rushed forward with excitement, while his daughter slept peacefully nearby.

To keep the light from being too bright, the son had even fashioned a makeshift curtain over the bed.

Yu Qian found the scene almost surreal.

On the wasteland, “light” had always been a luxury.

Now it could be squandered at will?

Perhaps the new Jinling City, perhaps the Huaxia army, truly lacked no shortage of light.

He opened the satchel in his hand and said:

‘Come, eat. I brought dinner back.’

‘I’ve already eaten!’

His son replied.

Yu Qian asked in surprise:

‘Already ate? Where did you eat?’

‘At the Central Kitchen!’

A smile lit his son's face.

‘The Central Canteen opens at six, and the commander already took us there to eat!’

‘He told me that the food for me and my sister counts as one adult portion, and that amount has already been deducted from your work points.’

‘He said I didn’t need to wait for you to eat; after you return he’ll send me food, so I didn’t wait!’

‘That’s good, that’s good!’

Yu Qian had been worried that his children might starve while he was away working, but now it seemed the senior officers of the Huaxia army had already accounted for that.

But how exactly were these work points calculated?

He flipped open the small card he had just used and saw that the first column bore four symbols of “bowls and chopsticks”, two of which were now crossed out with a slash.

Simple and clear.

It indicated how many work points he had earned and how many he had spent.

Yet today he had consumed more than just one meal.

So a single work point actually represented a full day's sustenance for an adult? Equivalent to a gram of gold?

That meant half a day's labor earned him four grams of gold?

It wasn’t a staggering sum, but it was certainly respectable.

After all, the labor slaves toiling in the Mechanical Cult’s workshops could earn only about five grams of gold a day.

Reasonable.

Yu Qian nodded in satisfaction and relaxed as he ate his dinner.

In his mind he silently plotted his next moves.

Undoubtedly, the daily work was already enough to sustain his family.

But it was merely sustenance.

People always look ahead; when he was in the imperial capital, his greatest daily worries were tomorrow’s food and the monsters lurking in the shadows.

Now those two concerns no longer troubled him, so naturally his gaze turned farther afield.

How could he, and his family, live even better?

Jinling New City had only just been founded, and aside from the wealthy hoarding vast amounts of gold, almost everyone stood at the same starting line.

But soon, as life grew more stable, the gaps between people began to widen.

Some would fare better, moving into finer houses, wielding finer tools, tasting finer fare.

Yet others could only remain where they were.

Yu Qian truly no longer wished to linger in place.

He wanted to earn, to become rich; even without privilege, he craved greater favor.

To achieve that aim, he must amass sufficient capital in a short span.

Indeed.

He must find a more lucrative occupation.

But now, the Hua Xia army offers only a handful of jobs, each with barely any difference in work points.

So where, then, should he begin?

With that question lingering, Yu Qian finished his dinner.

At that moment he did not know that the thought he entertained was merely one of the collective, tacit ideas of the masses. Yet soon he would discover that this simple notion, as it grew, would unleash a tremendous force.

Elsewhere, within Base 011, the operations command room.

Chen Jian studied the report compiled by Fuxi, while beside him Shen Yue delivered a social report on the newly settled residents.

“. From the current situation, all newly added residents have already entered a state of work.”

“ In today’s trial work, 95% of the residents completed their tasks with maximum efficiency.”

“ After stripping away the disturbances of fatigue, hunger, and random efficiency drops, our overall efficiency still exceeds 80%.”

“ That figure means that out of a hundred people, only twenty have not fully exercised their abilities.”

“ Or, more bluntly, only twenty individuals have not had their labor fully extracted.”

“ This is a rather impressive datum; it indicates that the orderliness, discipline, and obedience of this cohort far surpass our expectations, and future management will become considerably simpler.”

“ Of course, this is merely an extreme test.”

“ In the long run, the work state of those twenty unexhausted laborers is the condition we should strive for.”

“ Going forward, we will primarily use them as a benchmark, setting work targets for everyone based on their example.”

“ Simultaneously, the calculation of work points will be anchored to their efficiency level.”

“ We will need roughly three to five days to perfect this system; by then the value system of work points, and even the subsequent monetary value system, can be naturally established.”

“ Understood.”

Chen Jian gave a slight nod and set the report aside.

One must admit, the role Fuxi the artificial intelligence played far exceeded his own expectations.

With formidable computing power and image‑recognition capability, Fuxi can almost completely track each worker’s state, and effortlessly compute the work points they ought to receive.

Thus, for a few, the difficulty of personnel management fell off like a geometric curve.

More heads do not bring more burden; on the contrary, the larger the number, the more replaceable labor there is in fixed posts, and efficiency climbs.

They no longer need to expend energy devising intricate reward‑punishment schemes or internal regulations; all their effort can be poured into the singular question of how to allocate posts and labor wisely.

Systemic friction vanished entirely, for when information asymmetry is erased and managers approach omniscience, most internal frictions dissolve of their own accord.

Chen Jian was thoroughly pleased with this.

He had originally worried about organizing the workers and about being unable to complete essential defensive constructions within the limited time.

Now, however, those worries proved wholly unnecessary.

At the current pace, not even a week is needed; in three days the cannon bastions of the first defensive line can be fully completed.

Further down the line, the tasks are merely optimization and reinforcement.

The schedule has ample slack, and that gave Chen Jian’s perpetually taut nerves a brief moment of relaxation.

After a slight pause, he spoke again:

“If we wish to push efficiency further, we can only turn to ‘self‑motivation’ as our avenue, can we not?”

“The core driver of that avenue lies in the monetary system; what progress have we made there?”

“With Fuxi’s assistance, I have designed a basic monetary system that can meet Jinling New City’s needs.”

Beside him, Ji Xing raised his hand and then said:

“Let work points serve directly as currency, but issue no physical money; use work‑point cards as the medium of exchange.”

“When a transaction is required, the parties should go to a fixed exchange to transfer work points.”

“In this way we can preserve the relative liquidity of work points while also supervising residents’ trades effectively.”

“Naturally, supervision is of the highest priority.”

“Because it is evident that among the more than a thousand residents, wealth levels are far from equal.”

“Without a trade‑regulation mechanism, a segment of vested interests could perpetuate their capital advantage, becoming a new rent‑seeking class in Jinling New City.”

“With regulation in place, the frequency, type, and objects of trade are constrained; while it cannot wholly prevent a privileged class from emerging, it can at least greatly slow its advance.”

“Impressive!”

Chen Jian gave Ji Xing a thumbs‑up; the latter smiled shyly and replied:

“I’m learning on the spot and selling what I learn.”

“The scheme still has many imperfections; for instance, the basic convenience of trade is hard to guarantee.”

“But I believe a certain sacrifice in the short term is worthwhile.”

“At the very least, we must first survive the present crisis before we contemplate maximal efficiency.”

“I concur.”

Chen Jian nodded and then asked:

“So, how is the progress now?”

“Faster than I imagined.”

Ji Xing’s face bore a hint of profound meaning.

“We have not yet announced the work‑point trading system publicly, yet once work‑point balances appeared, trade began organically.”

“Of course, the current emergence of work‑point trade stems mainly from ‘distrust’ of us.”

“Some residents with sufficient work‑point balances exchanged all their points for food, then bought gold from relatively affluent residents at discounted rates.”

“It is a conservative savings strategy; in the short term we cannot reverse it.”

“But I consider that a good thing.”

“In a few more days, when they discover that gold’s purchasing power is less stable than work points, they will regret their earlier decision.”

“Indeed.”

Chen Jian exhaled softly, then said:

“People may never learn from instruction, but a single experience teaches them.”

“Let them taste a little hardship, receive a modest lesson; there is nothing wrong with that, for it forms the very foundation upon which the system can endure.”

“Regardless, we shall proceed according to the plan.”

“According to Fuxi’s calculations, once this framework is refined, our overall efficiency will rise by at least forty percent.”

“That is a remarkably substantial figure; should we sustain this efficiency edge, our snowball will grow ever larger in a very short span.”

“Understood.”

Ji Xing nodded gravely.

For the first time she felt the weight of great responsibility upon her shoulders, a sensation she had never before known.

Thus, what truly set apart her place in the Huaxia army from her time in the Sanctified Blood Hall?

Perhaps that is the greatest difference.

She now truly felt her own worth, no longer, as in the Sanctified Blood Hall, merely a.

disposable.

The brief meeting concluded with Chen Jian’s equally succinct summary, and the assembled had not even a second’s respite before another gathering seamlessly took its place.

This time, Chen Jian would discuss matters concerning the expansion of the Huaxia forces.

Ji Xing remained in the war command room.

For this expansion still bore relevance to her.

The subjects were the Sanctified Blood bearers.

Those more than two hundred Sanctified Blood individuals who had followed the imperial capital’s residents to the new city of Jinling.

(End of Chapter)