[About the Novel]
A salary of ten thousand taels a month, starting out in a ruined temple.
When Wu Chengyuan, a materials science PhD, opens his eyes, he has become a penniless scholar who fainted from hunger in a ruined temple. Fortunately, his "salary" arrives right on time: ten thousand taels of silver every month, and anything he doesn't spend is wiped out.
And so, everything takes a sudden turn:
He crushes grain merchants under mountains of cash and topples the government monopoly with snow-white salt conjured from thin air. When the magistrate comes with soldiers to arrest him, he grins and tosses out promissory notes worth a million taels. "This county town? I bought it."
Other people rebel with swords and armies. He does it by paying salaries. He pays people to build roads, train troops, and develop inventions. When enemy forces besiege the city, he builds a wall of silver right on the battlefield. "Pull back, and the money is yours. Refuse, and I'll use it to buy the lives of your entire army."
Years later, Wu Chengyuan, seated on the Dragon Throne, watches a spaceship launch into the starry sky. He smiles at his stunned former ministers and says:
"I told you ages ago, I'm just a salaried employee. I simply happen to be handing out bonuses to the whole era."
When your monthly allowance has no limit, spending money is the most powerful form of production.
