The Lu family of Jiangdong, later largely exterminated by Sun Ce, is also the family that produced Lu Xun, one of the Four Great Generals. This family is famous for shipbuilding and is one of the four major families of Jiangdong. Although not as wealthy as the five great merchant families, they are stronger than major merchants like Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping.
"The Lu family, huh?" Chen Xi pondered the pros and cons. Since the four families of Jiangdong intermarried and shared a common interest, they basically advanced and retreated together. This meant that once the Lu family got involved, it would be like involving all four families, which wasn't necessarily a good thing for Liu Bei.
"Mi Zhu, are you confident that you can ensure the Lu family doesn't inform the Zhang, Gu, and Zhu families? Or allow the Lu family to share profits with the other three families without involving us? Can you manage that? Of course, the Lu family doesn't need to hide anything," Chen Xi thought for a while before speaking. His desire for Lu Xun slightly outweighed his original plan.
"This shouldn't be difficult. The existence of noble families is all about their own interests. Therefore, asking the Lu family to keep this matter confidential shouldn't be hard. If necessary, they can even put the blame on me. After all, I'm a prominent merchant among merchants," Mi Zhu responded almost immediately. What he said made sense. As a master merchant, Mi Zhu's identity was enough to confuse most people. Even if someone suspected something, it would be hard to link it back to Liu Bei.
"Alright, I'll leave this to you. Allocate Yangzhou to the Lu family as their sales area and Sichuan to yourself. Inform Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping to quickly deal with the Zhen family. Once the Zhen family is taken care of, Yongzhou, Liangzhou, and the Central Plains will be assigned to them. If they can't handle it, I'll revoke their rights to Jizhou." After passing another troublesome task to a professional, Chen Xi thought he should remind Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping once more, in case they got too focused on making money and forgot the bigger picture.
"The Zhen family?" Mi Zhu frowned. "Chen Xi, do you have a grudge against the Zhen family? If it's not a major grudge, I could mediate between you two. If it's not necessary, we should avoid provoking the Zhen family. Among merchants, whether they admit it or not, the Zhen family is definitely the strongest, even more powerful than my family."
"I don't want to, but the Zhen family has gone too far, so we need to teach them a lesson. By the way, what are the Zhen family's main businesses?" Chen Xi spread his hands helplessly, indicating that he didn't want this either.
"The Zhen family deals in grain, salt, horses, cattle, sheep, tea, iron, smelting, silk, hemp, transportation—everything really, and each business is very strong. But if you have to say, grain, salt, and livestock are their main businesses," Mi Zhu explained with a bitter smile, indicating that he had no desire to clash with the Zhen family.
"They really do have a vast empire in business. It's going to be tough to break them. Quite troublesome," Chen Xi scratched his head. If Mi Zhu acknowledged their strength, they must be formidable indeed.
"That's why I say, unless it's necessary, don't provoke the Zhen family. Their hidden strength is immense. Over the years, I haven't been able to gauge their full capabilities," Mi Zhu sighed, advising caution.
Chen Xi rolled his eyes. If the Zhen family wasn't strong, that would be surprising. Yuan Shao's son married Zhen Mi to draw the support of the Jizhou aristocrats. Later, Cao Pi did the same. A family that represents the wealthiest region at the time can't be an ordinary family.
"Let's take it slow. We'll poke them bit by bit. When the time is right, I'll handle them. The Zhen family is strong, but not to the point of making me cautious," Chen Xi said nonchalantly.
The Zhen family is indeed powerful, but their foresight is poor. The top merchant family, aligned with Yuan Shao, suffered a severe blow after his defeat. Later, they linked up with Cao Pi through Zhen Mi, but the power struggle within Cao's family almost wiped them out. When they finally saw some light with Cao Rui's accession, Zhen Mi was dead, and Cao Pi wouldn't care about the Zhen family anymore.
By the time Cao Rui came to power and Zhen Mi's son became emperor, the Zhen family had nearly collapsed.
For a family with such a history of poor decisions, Chen Xi didn't see much difficulty in dealing with them.
"Oh, Mi Zhu, I almost forgot. You have extensive connections among merchants. You can rally them together to form a team. This way, you'll have better risk resistance. The team can adjust various resources internally, reduce transportation costs, and increase profits. As the team grows, resource diversity will also increase. Proper coordination will save a lot of trouble," Chen Xi offered Mi Zhu a strategy to ease his worries about the Zhen family.
"Hmm?" Mi Zhu pondered briefly before his eyes lit up. "This is a great idea. I didn't expect Chen Xi to be so knowledgeable about commerce."
"Alright, Mi Zhu, go handle the commercial affairs. If you can spare the time, make sure the Zhen family suffers. That's all for now," Chen Xi said, picking up a roll of documents, implying that Mi Zhu should get to work and not waste time.
"I'll get right on it, and I'll make sure the Zhen family feels the pain," Mi Zhu laughed, not offended by Chen Xi's almost dismissive behavior.
"Go on, Mi Zhu. I have high hopes for you. You'll become the top merchant in the land," Chen Xi said without looking up, showing little sincerity. But Mi Zhu laughed heartily, "Thanks for the blessing!"
With Chen Xi's suggestion, Mi Zhu realized that he could use his network to make everyone rich, including himself. If he couldn't topple the Zhen family with this, it would be his own fault. Thus, he left without any resentment.
After Mi Zhu left with a radiant face, Lu Su looked up and said to Chen Xi, who was idly twirling a pen, "I have a question."
"What is it? Did someone bully the innocent, was there an unfair trial, or did bandits come down from the mountains?" Chen Xi raised an eyebrow, quickly summarizing common issues.
"No, I just feel like you know everything and are good at everything," Lu Su said curiously.
"I just talk big. When it comes to actual operations, I'm on par with Zhao Kuo, so I leave it to the professionals," Chen Xi shrugged, speaking the truth.
"Haha, I didn't expect you to be humble. Shouldn't you be bragging, 'I am a genius, born with knowledge, what's the problem?'" Lu Su laughed, mimicking Chen Xi's previous arrogance.
"No one believes the truth anymore," Chen Xi rolled his eyes. "Get to work. Finish handling the autumn harvest tasks today. When Jian He and Zilong return tomorrow, we'll need to reconcile the accounts. If there's an error, you'll have to redo everything!" With that, Chen Xi's tone shifted, and he sternly assigned a pile of work to Lu Su, while he sipped his tea and contemplated future tasks.