After modern MBA Shen Yi died suddenly, he transmigrated into the shopkeeper of a failing general store in Chang’an’s Western Market, in the Great Sheng dynasty.
Faced with rotten accounts, mountains of unsold porcelain, and creditors at his door, he didn’t beg for mercy. Instead, he used a “debt restructuring plan” to turn his creditors into business partners. He leveraged unsold Jizhou ware to break into the Western Regions’ spice trade, then hung a new sign at a prime spot in the Western Market: “East-West Exchange.”
Shen Qingyi, the legitimate daughter of a Jiangnan silk dynasty, traveled a thousand miles to the capital just to ask him one question: “Will you take on the trade route from Jiangnan to the Western Regions?”
From building his fortune through maritime trade to establishing a foothold in the salt and iron industries, from money transfers by flying cash to issuing government bonds, he used modern business strategies to make his moves across the empire’s economic landscape. The court feared him, and the emperor tested him, but the financial network he had woven was already embedded in the empire’s lifeblood. Kill him, and the whole system would spiral out of control.
“I have no intention of becoming the richest man in the land,” he said calmly, standing in the Golden Hall. “I only want merchants everywhere to stop having to kneel to do business.”
