Duke Huan asked，“What does‘the reason for all their successes or failures lies in whether or not they could organize and make good use of these resources correctly’mean?”Guanzi replied．“Jie used to control the whole world．Nevertheless，his regime was always short of money．Conversely，Tang used to have a territory of only seventy square li，but there was always some surplus cash．It was not that beans and millet rained down from the sky exclusively for him out of the will of Heaven．Nor did the Earth produce goods for him exclusively．The reason was that Yi Yin was clever at regulating the distribution，prices of things and was also accomplished in making decisions on expanding and deflating the market at the right time，so suitable economic policies of either greater or lesser urgency were taken to regulate the prices of commodities to gain considerable profits．During the ancient time，the Yellow King once asked Bo Gao：‘I am thinking of unifying the whole world and making all people live harmoniously like members of one family．Do you think there is a way to do that?’Bo Gao said．‘Please remove all the weeds from these mountains and erect landmarks to indicate that these areas are possessions of the state．Then carefully remove all accomplices of the antagonists．Thus，you can manage to unify the whole world and make people live harmoniously like members of one family．’The Yellow King said，‘Would you please explain that a bit further?’Bo Gao replied，‘When cinnabar appears on the surface of a mountain，there must be gold inside．When Ci Shi (it might be the name of a kind of stone) appears on the surface of a mountain，there must be a copper mine inside．When Ling Shi (it might be the name of a kind of stone) appears on the surface of a mountain，there must be vanadium，stannary and cuprite inside the mountain．When reddle appears on the surface of a mountain．there must be iron ore inside．These are all signs of mines．If there are some signs appearing in the mountain areas，the sovereign should scrupulously close the paths to these areas and hold ceremonies there．Build up a platform ten li in front of the barrier and make it clear that people traveling by horse or carriage must get off to pass by the platform and pedestrians should walk quickly by．Whoever dares to break this rule will be sentenced to death without mercy．Thus，people will keep away from the mining areas and dare not exploit them privately．’Ten years later after the Yellow King had taken these measures，torrents gushed out of Mount Ge Lu and afterwards，some metal mines were uncovered in that area．Chi You took them over and started making weapons such as swords，corselets，spears and halberds．During that same year，wars were launched against nine states and some areas were annexed．After that，torrents flowed out of the Mount of Yong Hu and then some metals were discovered themselves in that area．Chi You took them over and started making weapons such as halberds and daggers produced in Yong Hu．During that same year，wars were launched against twelve states and some areas were annexed．Hence，if the sovereign of the world gestures angrily with the halberd，corpses will be spread everywhere．Therefore，not taking firm control over these natural resources is the root for war．”
Duke Huan asked Guanzi，“Would you please tell me something about the natural resources provided by Heaven and benefits provided by Earth?”Guanzi replied．“If there is reddle on the surface of a mountain，there is iron ore beneath it．If there is vanadium on the surface of a mountain，there is silver beneath it．There is also another parlance as follows：If there is vanadium on the surface of a mountain，there is a silver mine beneath it．If there is cinnabar on the surface of a mountain，there is a gold mine beneath it．If there is Ci Shi on the surface of a mountain，there is cuprite beneath it．These are all signs of mines．If there are some signs appearing in mountain areas，the sovereign should scrupulously close up the paths to these areas and forbid anyone to traverse these barriers．Whoever dares to exploit the mines of these forbidden mountainous areas will be sentenced to death without mercy．Those people who breach this injunction，if a person steps in areas within the barrier with the left foot，the left foot will be cut off．If a person steps in with the right foot，the right foot will be cut off．Thus，people will keep away from these areas and not dare to breach the injunction．These are the natural resources provided by Heaven and benefits provided by the Earth．”
Duke Huan asked Guanzi，“Who has accomplished great achievements and become famous all over the world by making good use of the natural resources provided by Heaven and benefits provided by the Earth?”Guanzi replied，“King Wen and King Wu are paragons of this kind．” Duke Huan asked，“What did you mean?” Guanzi replied．“Jade is buried in Mountain Bian of Niu Shi，gold is produced in the low-lying areas on the right side along the Ru River and the Han River，and pearls are generated from a place called Wei Guan in Chi Ye．All these areas are seven thousand eight hundred li away from the capital of the Zhou Dynasty，and it is very difficult to transport these things while they are produced in such remote areas．Hence，ancient kings used to vary their currencies．They ordered pearls and jade to be first-rate currency，gold to be second-rate currency and coins to be third-rate currency．At times when edicts of great urgency are issued，the price of gold will go up．At times when orders of less urgency are issued，the price of gold will come down．Ancient kings used to take into serious consideration the extent of urgency of orders they were about to issue to regulate the price of gold and therefore to control the prices of jade，pearls and coins．King Wen and King Wu were paragons of this kind．”
Duke Huan asked Guanzi，“I am thinking of maintaining wealth of our state to make sure that it will not be plundered by other states and that we can take advantage of it instead．Do you think it is possible to do so?”Guanzi replied，“Yes，you can．Rushing waters are torrential．If orders are given to levy taxes urgently，prices of things will go up．So，ancient kings would take into consideration the extent of urgency of orders they were going to issue to maintain the wealth and resources of their own states．They could also take advantage of the other states of the world at the same time．”
Duke Huan asked Guanzi．“How did they manage to do that?’’Guanzi replied，“Once King Wu had taken measures to drive up the price of grain stored at the national granary in Ju Qiao．”Duke Huan asked，“How did he do that?”Guanzi replied，“King Wu purposefully established a kind of forced military service named‘Chong Ouan’．Then he issued an order to people all over the state as follows：‘People who have stored as much as one hundred gu of grain privately can be exempted from military service’．Then the common people did their best to accumulate as much grain as possible to avoid military service．Thus，the price of grain of the state went up twenty times. And of course，the price of grain kept in Ju Qian was driven up twenty times as well．Then with this huge profit from the store of grain kept in Ju Qiao，which had reached twenty times higher compared with the purchase price he paid before，King Wu bought clothing and as a result the state did not collect clothing from the common people for its troops for five years．He also accumulated one million jin of gold owing to the huge profit gained by the grain kept in Ju Qiao，he did not collect any money from the common people during his lifetime．That is the right method for using a suitable economic policy to regulate the finances of the state．”
Duke Huan asked Guanzi，“Can I take the same measure right now in my state?" Guanzi replied，“Yes，you can．In the state of Chu，there is gold produced in the areas along the Ru River and the Han River；in the state of Qi，we have salt produced in Qu Zhan；in the state of Yan，there is salt produced by distillation．All these three things can be used to popularize the same policy that was used by King Wu．If there are ten members in a family，there are ten people consuming salt；if there are one hundred members in a family，there are one hundred people consuming salt．Regarding the amount of salt consumed by the people，on average an adult male consumes about five sheng of salt each month，an adult female consumes about three sheng and a child consumes about two sheng．As for the price of salt，if the price of each sheng is increased by half a qian，the price of one fu will be increased by fifty qian．If the price of each sheng is increased by one qian，the price of one fu will be increased by one hundred qian．And if the price of each sheng is increased by ten qian，the price of one fu will be increased by one thousand qian．If you order people to chop firewood to cook salt and guarantee an output of thirty thousand zhong，you can gain a huge profit by selling the salt at the market price the next spring．”
Duke Huan asked，“What does gaining a huge amount of profit by selling the salt at the market price mean?”Guanzi said，“During the spring season，farm work starts．The common people are ordered not to build walls or repair any maintain tombs．High-ranking officials are ordered not to erect buildings or set up platforms or pavilions．People living near the North Sea are ordered not to hire laborers to cook salt．Thus,the price of salt will definitely go up forty times．Then you can transport salt，the price of which has reached forty times higher，through areas along the Yellow and Ji Rivers to Liang，Zhao，Song，Wei and Pu Yang in the south．If people eat coarse food without it being salted，their bodies will become swollen．So，salt plays the most important role in defending a state．If you order the people to hack firewood to cook salt，you will gain profit from the world，and you will not be weakened by any other state．”
Duke Huan asked Guanzi，“If I am going to enrich the state by focusing on producing grain exclusively，do you think it is possible to reach that goal in this way?” Guanzi replied，“No，you cannot realize it this way．If the state is wealthy with a lot of assets and you are not able to keep them，these things will be plundered by other states of the world．If the harvest of all kinds of crops is good，the price of grain will be lower here in our state but higher in others．Thus，our grain will be plundered by the world．If this is the case，our people will be enslaved by the world too．A sovereign good at governing his state is somewhat like people traveling on the sea，because he also needs to watch the direction of the winds vigilantly．When the price of grain is higher in other areas of the world compared with that of his state，he should drive up the price in his state as well．When the price of grain is lower in other areas，he should reduce the price too．When the price of grain is higher in other areas but lower in his state，the wealth and resources of his state will be plundered by other states of the world．"
Duke Huan asked Guanzi．“Are these all the kinds of things a sovereign should do?”Guanzi replied，“No，that is not the whole story．The state of Qi is a communications centre with roads going in all directions，so all travelers and merchants will transit through here．For people who come to our state，they will all eat our grain and use our currency and as a result，swift horses and gold are also brought here from all other states．Take suitable economic measures of greater or lesser urgency according to the situation to regulate the prices of goods．Thus，all wealth and treasure of the world can be controlled by our state．A sovereign good at governing his state can also use things not belonging to him and control people not under his supervision．”
