The Fourth Financial Crisis

At the same time, the highest peak of Tianshu City was soared to the top.

Several high-level officials of the Mountain Eagle Sect who have not retreated are currently meeting together to discuss the Mountain Eagle Sect's financial budget for this year.

Due to the severe consequences of the beast disaster in Tianshu City, the population of monsters in the Tianshu Mountains Nature Reserve has been greatly reduced.

Based on the results of the recently concluded 2022 Monster Density Census in Tianshu Nature Reserve, the Monster Management Department of the Mountain Eagle Sect, combined with the current monster population density and natural growth rate in the reserve, believes that this year’s hunting licenses must be significantly reduced. Only by issuing a certain number can the sustainable reproduction of the monster beast population be maintained, and the scale of reduction is expected to reach more than 60% of what it was before the beast disaster.

The reduction in the number of hunting licenses issued will not only directly affect the income of the monster hunting industry, but also the income of the cultivator accommodation industry, hunting guide industry, and monster product industry in the Tianshu Mountains area will be severely impacted.

Not only that, as Haiya City, the neighbor to the east of the Tianshu Mountains, and Yaoguang City, the neighbor to the west, are both in turmoil because of the reform pilot, Tianshu City, which is sandwiched between the two cities, is also suffering from the large number of passengers on the official road. decrease, leading to a sharp decline in toll revenue.

This year, the total annual financial revenue of the Mountain Eagle Sect has dropped to less than 12 million spirit stone coins. Ever since Chen Ming took over as the leader of the Mountain Eagle Sect, there has never been such a difficult year.

The financial person in charge of the Shanying Sect who was responsible for the reporting work was originally a mature and intellectual female foundation-building elder. However, faced with the tragic situation where a good woman could not make a living without rice, she could only express her bitterness to Chen Ming without any image: " Leader Chen, two of the three financial pillars of our Mountain Eagle Sect have suffered heavy losses. In addition, the entire Zhongzhou economy is in recession. Mortals would rather go to the charity hall and lie down than work. The prices of various cultivation resources continue to soar. The sect’s finances have really reached the end of their rope!”

Although the other elders did not speak, they all had expressions of deep understanding on their faces, obviously they had known about this situation for a long time.

Compared to the gloomy elders of the Mountain Eagle Sect, Chen Ming acted much calmer. He just held the Mountain Eagle Sword and said calmly: "Elder Xin, don't we still have a papermaking industry? Now that the Wuliang Sword Sect is in power, this gang This guy doesn’t understand the business and will only double down on the work of leaving traces and pursuing accountability. Along with this, the demand for paper in Zhongzhou has skyrocketed. There should be no industry more prosperous than papermaking right now!"

Elder Xin bowed his hands to Chen Ming and Fang Jiancai respectively, and said: "Thanks to the wise leadership of Master Chen and the blessing of Elder Cheng Shuying, the profits of the papermaking industry have also reached a record high this year. , If this were not the case, I, as the chief steward of the Mountain Eagle Sect, might not be able to continue to be the great steward, but even so——"

Elder Xin still wanted to complain, but Chen Ming raised his hand and interrupted her: "Stop complaining about these! Our Shanying sect is not the only sect with financial problems in Zhongzhou. We have the paper industry to support us, and we are already better than other vassal sects. It’s much stronger. Even if our Mountain Eagle sect really can’t survive, other sects with bigger problems will definitely have problems first. As long as we don’t be the first sect to fall, we’ll wait for those who are even worse than us. The sect is in trouble, and the Wuliang Sword Sect and the Spiritual Stone Reserve will definitely find a way to save it!"

"So how are we going to spend this year?"

"How about following the example of the Haiya Sect and reducing the salary of all disciples by 20%?"

"This is absolutely impossible!" The person who answered Chen Ming this time was not Elder Xin, but Huan An, the new law enforcement elder of the Shanying Sect who had just replaced Fei Fan. "Headmaster Chen doesn't know something. Today's mortals are simply unbearable." Driven by this, many low-level disciples have even been forced to give up their cultivation time and take up the humble karma of mortals. If the benefits of cultivators are cut again this year, there will be no one to work at all!"

As soon as these words came out, the elders of the Mountain Eagle Sect all echoed:

"Yes, I think no matter how difficult the sect's finances are, we must at least maintain the basic operation of the sect first!"

"Now the price of Juqi Powder has increased again. It is said that it has exceeded 5,000 spirit stone coins. If the salary and benefits are reduced, I think the disciples of the Mountain Eagle Sect will have to find bank loans to break through in the future!"

"Cultivators are the foundation of the sect. Even if mortals starve to death, cultivators must be protected first!"

"If you suffer another mortal suffering, I will bear the infamy!"

…

Hearing that the elders who had just pretended to be mute now all jumped out to oppose lowering cultivators' wages, Chen Ming, who had been the leader of the Mountain Eagle Sect for hundreds of years, didn't know what they were thinking.

However, some windows cannot be broken through, especially Chen Ming's authority, which ultimately comes from the cultivators of the Mountain Eagle Sect under his command. If these cultivators are offended to death, Chen Ming, the head of the Mountain Eagle Sect, will not be able to issue political orders. If you can't get out of Yingxiangding, you must win over groups. You must not push everyone to the opposite side.

Just like Chen Ming directly slaying Fei Fan, it seems to be wanton, but the other Mountain Eagle Sect elders have taken a step forward because of Fei Fan's downfall, and each of them has benefited. Otherwise, even if Chen Ming has a strong backer, it will be difficult for him to do so. Can suppress everyone's collective report.

The main reason why the Haiya Department can cut down the welfare of cultivators within the system is that all the senior leaders of the Haiya Department are bound to the collective interests of the Haiya Department. Even so, this behavior has still encountered strong internal resistance. If Chen Mingxiang learns The Haiya Department is cutting off the welfare of cultivators. The elders in front of him, not to mention helping to suppress their respective subordinates, would be nice if they don't take the opportunity to fan the flames and encourage everyone to cause trouble.

So Chen Ming had no choice but to turn to Fang Jiancai and said: "Deacon Fang, you have also seen the financial situation of the Mountain Eagle Sect. Now we really need the Merit Hall to give preference in performance evaluation."

According to the regulations of the Wuliang Sword Sect, sects with high performance appraisals can receive tax incentives. Fang Jiancai also knew very well that Chen Ming invited himself to attend the Shanying Sect's financial meeting just to complain to him.

However, the evaluation of Merit Hall is based on ranking. Sending Shan Ying to the premise is equivalent to pushing other sects down. Many heads of sects have already sent him private messages, threatening him not to go too far. , if he ignores the facts and forcibly improves the evaluation ranking of the Mountain Eagle Sect, he will definitely offend other sects, and no one who can be the leader of a local sect is a fuel-efficient lamp, and they are definitely not something that others can easily manipulate.

So Fang Jiancai had to smile bitterly and said: "We can help the Mountain Eagle Faction, but the intensity cannot be much greater than last year. We may not be able to help you make up for such a huge deficit with our strength alone..."

Chen Ming couldn't help but sigh: "City Lord Jin of Yaoguang City is really smart. He actually thought of plundering merchants under the banner of supporting the reform of Wuliang Sword Sect. It's a pity that we don't have such conditions!"

Speaking of plundering the merchants, Chen Ming couldn't help but think of Ye Chen.

The largest business organization in the entire southeastern part of Zhongzhou is undoubtedly the Haiya Department of Government and Business next door.

As the saying goes, the worse the economy is, the better the black industry is.

Chen Ming was very sure that even if the entire Zhongzhou economy fell into depression, the Haiya system would not be short of money. Not only that, Chen Ming even had a vague feeling that the root cause of Zhongzhou's economic crisis lay in these wealthy cultivation capitalists.

Su Yuanfeng and Jiang Hua'an, two middle-grade spiritual root monks, were able to advance to the golden elixir entirely because of their ability. If these resources were used to cultivate high-grade spiritual root monks, even seventeen or eighty would be enough. However, even so , they can actually push the realm up by force, and even Han Xinhe, a low-grade spiritual root, is said to be trying to attack the golden elixir, which can make ordinary grassroots cultivators cry.