Chapter 27 - Expensive gift!
-Zhong Kunyi!!!- Yu lexuan smiles.
-Your Highness!!!
Zhong Kunyi bows, but Yu Lexuan makes him rise and ends up hugging him:
-How was your trip to Anhui?
-I'll tell you about it shortly. Your Majesty requested your presence just to hear that.
-Please, Zhong Kunyi, come in. - Feng Long smiles.
He bows to Feng Long:
-Your Majesty is wise, I'll come.
Zhong Kunyi gets close to them. Feng Long allows Zhong Kunyi to seat between them, and hugs both:
-Hey, Yu Lexuan, are you fine? Please, tell me how was your trip. I'm really curious!
-Well, it was an absolute success. Zhang Yi discovered a new test, and also perfected it. This will greatly improve our tracing capability, and maybe avoid the need of closing borders and cities, by now.
-This is excellent, I was sure you would be successful!
-But we must recognize that king, Ding Qi. Yu Lexuan said he helped them a lot and is willing to communicate everything happening in his sector to us. -Feng Long smiles.
-This is also a good thing, I never thought he would be that friendly. So, why has Your Majesty asked me to get there, besides the pleasure of seeing Your Majesty and meeting Yu Lexuan again?
-Well, this journey didn't end up free for us. We will have to send them enough powdery to test almost 50 thousand people. That's a lot of powdery, and I was worried about what would you think about it, is it safe for our finances?
Zhong Kunyi lets that piece of information sink in for a moment:
-50 thousand people to be tested... how many powdery does it need to make an individual test, Yu Lexuan?
-Zhang Yi said he uses about 9 grams of coarse powder, 3 grams of fine powder, and one gram of milled orchids to make 10 tests.
-9 grams of coarse powder per 10 tests, means 45 kilos in total. 3 grams for the same number of tests, about 15 kilos, and 1 gram are 5 kilos... That's a lot of powdery, really. The powders cost on average over 500 taels per kilo to produce, and the milled orchids are much cheaper. 45 kilos will be twenty-two and a half thousand taels, 15 kilos will be seven and a half thousand taels, and 5 kilos of milled orchid, assuming the current price of 50 taels per kilo, will add 250 taels. A total of 30250 taels, a ton of money*...
-I understand this will be expensive... But Ding Qi really helped us. I think this will be paid off by keeping our empire in a more favorable situation, reducing the impact on the economy. We have recently handed off about a million taels to our people, so this is really cheap in comparison, and there will be no need for further assistance if we need to close borders again. No one will spend 500 taels so quickly, and our people are very well educated, economically. - Feng Long smiles.
-I still think this is pretty heavy on us... we will need to improve the output of our factories too, because we now have a good amount of these powders in stock, near 100 kilos of each, and the milled orchids may be hard to harvest in a few months, so we will have to get it from somewhere. And we will have to be very diligent if Zhang Yi intends to test people more than once a month. We may not have enough capacity right now. We can of course sell it to other empires and even reach a break-even point, but we will need more than that. It is a financially risky operation.
-Well, if you look closely, we already have a possible case of success in Anhui, Huangshan. If this disease is coming from somewhere else in Anhui, which it certainly does as Zhang Yi verified in the river, maybe other kings and even the emperor may want these tests available if they really care. We can produce it and sell it as a solution ready to use. Let's face it: a disease spreading uncontrollably over a city can cause a disaster not only in the lives of the people living there, including the emperor and king themselves but also in the economy as people start to die for apparently no reason and everyone panics.
-Your thinking is right, Feng Long... But it only considers your view in this regard. I think most emperors and kings do not care about losing a few thousand people. This disease will spread and infect everyone anyway, so why bother? Of course, this is not really what I defend nowadays as I did back in Lishui because this is what most economists and graduates like me were told to do. We are very pragmatic about epidemics, and we fear the results of the ruler destroying the economy to save a few lives. My mind is different now, but this was exactly what I was taught. You are making an exercise of wishful thinking, counting that they will care. But I think your idea is interesting, though.
Feng Long thinks:
-I'll take this risk, Zhong Kunyi. I put the lives of our people and the stability of our empire as our priorities now. We have a long way to go, but I'll count on you, Zhang Yi, and Yu Lexuan to help me make better decisions, as you have been doing in the last decade. I recognize the donation to Ding Qi will be expensive, I recognize that making tests for us is also gonna cost money, but we have to do it before it is too late. I hope I am correct, sometimes I use my heart too much when making decisions, and this time, I'll disagree with you in this regard.
Zhong Kunyi bows to Feng Long:
-I kindly disagree, but I respect Your Majesty's viewpoint. I'll try to keep our losses as low as possible and ensure our financial security.
Feng Long smiles:
-You served me so well in all matters... I apologize for any mistakes, but this time, my heart is really calling on me to do it instead.
-I'll take my leave, Your Majesty. I have a lot of work to do to keep this process as streamlined as possible.
-You may go.
Feng Long takes Zhong Kunyi's right hand and kisses it before he leaves. He smiles and moves away. Feng Long looks at Yu Lexuan:
-Let's see what Ding Qi has sent to me?
-Sure, Your Majesty.
They go hand in hand to another room, where the gifts were unpacked:
-Your Majesty, I can't recommend you enough one thing among all these gifts.
-Which one?
Yu Lexuan takes the tea box:
-This will be one of the best teas you will ever drink in your life. It is only found in Anhui, and Ding Qi served it to me when I was there.
-Interesting... I love some new infusions.
Among the gifts, Feng Long finds a small orchid branch in full bloom. He looks at Yu Lexuan and kisses him:
-I'm 100% certain you told Ding Qi what I like.
-You are my ever-blooming orchid, Your Majesty.- Yu Lexuan smiles.
-I need you to keep me in full bloom.- Feng Long kisses Yu Lexuan again.
They look at each other for a few moments, smiling:
-I'll definitely prepare this tea later for us, Yu Lexuan.
-You will enjoy it, Your Majesty.
Ding Qi has sent even a full garment like his own:
-I think I'll pass it. - Feng Long giggles
-Maybe I should help your Majesty to try it later - Yu Lexuan blushes.
-You can do it, definitely...
-At least Zhang Yi looked better using this garment...
-Everyone looks better in a tight fit. - Feng Long smiles.
-Not as handsome as you, Your Majesty.
Meanwhile, Zhong Kunyi looks for Zhang Yi. He finds him in his lab:
-Hey, Zhang Yi, may I enter?
-Yes, you can.
He moves closer to him:
-How were your talks with His Majesty about the powder donation we will make to Ding Qi? I think this will cost a lot of money.
-Yes, it will... My calculations show an expenditure of almost 32 thousand taels...
-That's a lot of money...
Zhong Kunyi gets closer to Zhang Yi:
-Zhang Yi, is it possible to reduce the amount of powder needed for the tests?
-I'm sorry, but I am already using the minimum amount... I can't guarantee the test will work using less powder, it probably will render it less sensitive, therefore, fewer cases will be reported.
-We may face problems producing the raw materials. We do not have the installed capacity to do it yet, we have a good stock, but Ding Qi alone will receive almost half of it... We will have to be very picky about who will get tested.
-I thought it beforehand. We will target the borders, but we also need to test a fair amount here in the capital and along the trading routes.
-Will you ask His Majesty to close the borders?
-I do not want to do that, but if we keep our case count over 20 new cases per day, I'll suggest it. More new cases than that and we will run out of space to isolate and treat the infected in about a month.
-This is concerning... We will face a big hurdle because we will spend so much on testing alone. Our economy still thriving, and Feng Long gave away almost a million taels. We may survive it, but the probability of not having problems is very narrow.
-I understand your fear. His Majesty is very compassionate about us and really wants to put all the money we have to keep ourselves safe. But this is a trade-off. We can't keep our borders closed forever. And that's why I'll use all my time from now to study a possible cure for it.
-Fine... I wish you luck fighting it. We both have big hurdles to overcome in the following weeks.
-We must keep in mind that, as long as the spread rate is kept low, we can manage it. Allowing the disease to spread will be the worst-case scenario, and kill many thousands.
-I'll take my leave.
Zhong Kunyi leaves the room. He feels strained as he thinks the disease may not even reach Zhejiang, and any effort on his part may not be worth the potential economic damage.
...
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments are encouraged, but, please, be respectful