Chapter 6584 No choice

Chapter 6584 No choice

Chen Xi was even more angry. Chen Xi had never thought that such an outrageous thing would happen. Although the Zhen family had always behaved like that, Liu Bei and Chen Xi had always believed that the Zhen family was at least normal people. As a result, what happened this time gave Chen Xi a heavy blow.

"I have sent people to collect detailed intelligence to see what happened." After sending away the people who came to deliver the intelligence, Guo Jia spoke to Chen Xi.

Chen Xi had a blank expression on his face, but a gloomy aura emanated from his body, because the Zhen family had joined Liu Bei's forces very early on, and Liu Bei married Zhang, and Chen Xi married Zhen Mi, and both of them had always been helpful to the Zhen family.

Although I felt that the Zhen family was a little bit stupid before, not trying to develop in Central Asia these days and holding democratic votes in the country, which was definitely a sign of mental problems, but considering that the Zhen family had no male head in the previous era, the new one was not the orthodox family heir.

Therefore, Chen Xi can understand that the new Zhen family has shortcomings in many aspects, but after all, it is the wife's family. As long as they are not stupid and do things normally, Chen Xi is still willing to give them a chance. Considering that the Zhen family still has some strengths, Chen Xi is also willing to give the Zhen family a chance.

The result now is that the Zhen family has got a lot of opportunities?

"I totally don't understand what's going on with the Zhen family." Chen Xi said quietly, "Media was a trading city jointly managed by the Han Dynasty and Rome. After the fall of Parthia, it was specially rebuilt and expanded on the original city walls, reaching the level of a secondary capital. At this level, even if there was a joint attack from both inside and outside, it would be impossible for it to be taken down so quickly."

"I don't know about that. Maybe he has been lurking for a long time, just waiting for an opportunity." Guo Jia tried his best to persuade him. He knew why Chen Xi was angry.

"Let Zhen Yan come over. I don't believe Zhen Yan knows nothing." Chen Xi said coldly. What exactly is going on in this matter can be known by asking.

Because the tenth year of Yuanfeng was already halfway through, some backbone members of the aristocratic families had already arrived in Chang'an. Families like the Zhen family, whose patriarch had nothing to do, were now in Chang'an, not in Jizhou or something as Chen Xi had thought. So after Chen Xi gave the order, Zhen Yan was quickly brought to the government office.

Seeing Zhen Yan's gentle face, which was no different from the previous times he met him, Chen Xi couldn't help but feel angry.

Without waiting for Zhen Yan to salute him, just seeing Zhen Yan's current attitude, Chen Xi said coldly, "Marquis Ancheng, can you still sit still now?"

Zhen Yan looked confused. What was going on? Why couldn't he sit still? What happened?
Seeing Zhen Yan's confused look, after confirming that the other party was not pretending, not to mention Chen Xi, people present such as Zhuge Liang, Li You, Fa Zheng, etc. all looked incredulous. Media exploded, you didn't even know that, that was your fiefdom!
Chen Xi suppressed the anger in his heart and looked at Zhen Yan, not knowing what to say. This was no longer a question of whether he was a waste or not. This was about the fact that he had almost no control over the family. If it were any other family, they would probably have known it clearly by now.

Families such as the Er Cui, San Wang, and Yang families, let alone the loss of their clan territories, even if they have just been attacked and the clan leader is abroad, they will quickly notify the clan leader and actively fight back. Even if the opponent is beyond their control, at least they can delay the attack for a while, and during this time the clan leader will frantically beg for help, at least to find people who can help.

There is absolutely no such situation where the clan leader is unaware of the loss of his family!

Is this kind of trash really the patriarch?

"Take a look for yourself and tell me what you think after reading it." Chen Xi looked at Zhen Yan coldly and said. He could clean up the mess for his wife's family, but at least he required that they were not hopeless. But in the current situation, Chen Xi didn't want to say anything. The performance of the Zhen family was really rubbish.

Zhen Yan was confused. He took the secret report sent by Guo Jia's intelligence organization, opened it and took a look. His face turned pale. Then he looked at Chen Xi tremblingly. Zhen Yan was not an idiot. He just lacked ability. But even if he was an ordinary person, he at least knew how serious the matter was.

Not to mention the trading materials stored by the major families and the Han Dynasty in the city of Media. Just the fast-growing rice seeds that Rome sent from the Han Dynasty because of the locust plague some time ago were enough to destroy the Zhen family.

What's worse is that Zhen Yan really didn't receive any intelligence, which means that the Media Trading City was most likely captured in one fell swoop, with no resistance at all.

"I..." Zhen Yan looked at Chen Xi palely, while Chen Xi looked at Zhen Yan quietly. In the end, there was no explanation. Zhen Yan slowly lowered his head.

"You know nothing. You actually know nothing. It's really a joke!" Chen Xi looked at Zhen Yan with a kind of sigh of anger. Seeing the other party like this, Chen Xi didn't want to say anything anymore.

"Marquis Ancheng, there is still a chance to save the situation." Zhuge Liang spoke from the side. He had already realized that Chen Xi was a little bit intolerable, but Zhuge Liang felt that he should be saved if possible.

Upon hearing this, Zhen Yan turned around and looked at Zhuge Liang. At this point, Zhen Yan knew that the situation was so serious that even filling him in couldn't solve it, so hearing this was like he had grasped the last ray of hope.

"How many people from the Zhen family are still in Media?" Zhuge Liang asked Zhen Yan. He knew that Chen Xi was now trapped in self-blame and didn't want to care about the Zhen family at all, but Zhuge Liang felt that some things should be done and should be done. The Zhen family could at least still struggle.

Zhen Yan fell silent, and Zhuge Liang sighed in his heart when he saw this.

"Marquis Ancheng, are you really the head of the Zhen family?" Fa Zheng asked with a sneer.

Before Zhen Yan could answer, Fa Zheng gave his answer first, "You are indeed the head of the family in name, but you are clueless. Do you know why the heads of other families could calmly accept their own death after things got out of control? It is true that there was indeed the push of the family elders, but more importantly, it was because he was the one who caused the things to get out of control."

The patriarchs of other families have the power to make decisions for the family. They are basically clear about all the affairs of the family. The really big things have to be executed through them. It is impossible to walk alone in such a top wealthy family. Without the consent of the patriarch, some things will be curbed at the source.

Therefore, when something serious happens, the clan leader commits suicide, which is actually an explanation. But for a guy like Zhen Yan who knows nothing, Fa Zheng can only sigh and ask, "What did you do? How can you make a decision when you know nothing? What do you do according to the suggestions of your subordinates? What nonsense!"
No matter it is dictatorship, democracy, or any other method, even pure insanity, as long as you sit in the position of the patriarch, all matters that truly determine the life and death of the family must come from your hands. If you cannot do this, then you are nothing more than a puppet.

The heads of the major families may not be very powerful at certain times, but when they are in real danger, they will definitely not be like Zhen Yan, who is clueless. At the very least, they will know what their family is doing and what they should do.

"Marquis Ancheng, why don't you go back and wait for death." Zhuge Liang said very directly. He wanted to help, but since Zhen Yan knew nothing about anything, there was nothing Zhuge Liang could do to help.

The last bit of blood on Zhen Yan's face completely faded, and his entire body turned pale.

The loss of the Media trading city by the Zhen family is not enough to destroy the Zhen family. Even if they are held responsible for the loss of territory, which will lead to Roman accusations, etc., it will not destroy the Zhen family, but it will make Zhen Yan look decent.

After all, in the Han Dynasty, suicide of a family head was a kind of explanation, a big deal, but there was still a glimmer of decency while still being alive. However, those family heads who committed suicide knew what they had done and what had happened. They were clear that their downfall was not due to being framed by others, but the result of a wrong step on their own. They were completely different from a fool like Zhen Yan.

"Lord Chen!" After Zhen Yan finally realized his fate, he turned to look at Chen Xi. He didn't want to die. He had just inherited the title of marquis, became the head of a wealthy family for generations, and inherited a nominal position worth more than two thousand stones. He was still young and had not enjoyed it yet. He didn't want to die.

"I don't know what's going on with your Zhen family. I have no objection to you wanting to be a merchant family. I'm not afraid to tell you that the Media Trading City is indeed the amulet that the general and I gave you after much deliberation. But your performance..." Chen Xi was extremely calm, looking at Zhen Yan, "You still have 28 days. This secret report was only received the next day. If you can solve the problem within 28 days, you don't have to die. The Zhen family only needs to pay the compensation that should be paid."

There were many things that needed to be compensated, such as the supplies stockpiled by the Han Empire in Media, the supplies stockpiled by Rome in Media, the miscellaneous items sold by the major families in Media, the various supplies hung by the eastern provinces in Media, etc., and most importantly, the goodwill of the city of Media.

But these things are nothing compared to the fast-growing rice seeds that the Roman Empire needed to plant in Eastern Europe because of the locust plague.

"Twenty-eight days?" Zhen Yan was completely confused.

"If I can't do it, I can only use you as an excuse. You are Mi'er's second brother, but the national law will not be lenient in such matters. It has been like this since ancient times." Chen Xi was very calm, and even looked at Zhen Yan with some indifference, "I never care about your eating, drinking and entertainment. No matter how much you play, I don't care. After all, that is the wealth of the Zhen family. But losing land is not acceptable, and neither is losing the face of the country."

Zhen Yan lowered his head, his face turning back and forth between blue and white, but he could not find any solution.

"Is it too late for me to mobilize troops now?" Zhen Yan seemed to have finally calmed down from the fear of death. He looked at Chen Xi and asked with some doubt.

"I don't know, but I know it will take you half a year to transfer troops from Chang'an." Chen Xi said calmly, "I can only give you 28 days. If you can solve it, that's the best. If you can't, then you are the solution."

Zhen Yan couldn't help but feel his hair stand on end when he heard this. He didn't hear any threat from Chen Xi's words, only calmness and peace. That kind of calmness and peace was as if Zhen Yan's death had already been confirmed, and Zhen Yan didn't want to die, he really didn't want to die.

"I..." Zhen Yan looked at Chen Xi and made his final struggle.

"That's all I have to say. Let's solve the rest however we want." Chen Xi looked at Zhen Yan coldly, not at all as if he was looking at his uncle.

"Can you give me a 500-man guard?" Zhen Yan seemed to have figured something out. He looked at Chen Xi and said, he chose to struggle. He did nothing about this matter, but now he has to take the blame. Is it because he is the head of the family? He refused to accept it!
"Okay, Kong Ming." Chen Xi glanced at Zhen Yan, then turned to Zhuge Liang and said.

Zhuge Liang quickly wrote a dispatch document, and then asked Chen Xi to print it and give it to Zhen Yan.

"Take this dispatch document to the Weiwei, and you can mobilize 500 guards." Chen Xi said calmly, "Remember the time. I don't care about the process, I only care about the result."

Zhen Yan nodded upon hearing this. He no longer had the energy to refute. He just wanted to survive. Under the pressure of the Han Empire, he had no choice, but the Zhen family's own people...

Zhen Yan took the dispatch documents to find the Weiwei, and Chen Xi sighed as he looked at Zhen Yan's back, then looked at Zhuge Liang, "In fact, there is no need to give 28 days. A month's buffer time can't solve anything at all. At present, it seems that Zhen Yan has basically no control over the Zhen family. He is just a puppet."

"Even if he is just a puppet, he will want to survive. And as a puppet, at least he has done nothing bad. He is just incompetent and just wants to inherit the Zhen family's family business and live a life of luxury. The really stupid and bad people are probably still worried about the Zhen family." Zhuge Liang said coldly, "Besides, Zichuan would agree, probably because he thinks so."

Chen Xi did not reply after hearing this, but keeping silent at this time was equivalent to consent.

"Zhen Yan actually knows nothing about this. This head of the family is really ridiculous." Fa Zheng sneered, "Who knows, the Zhen family may have already started internal agitation, preparing to make the head of the family look decent, and then incite your concubine and the wife of the Grand Marshal to whisper in his ear."

"If you do something wrong, you must admit it. If you go too far, you must be punished." Chen Xi said coldly, "Zhen Yan is not a qualified family head, but he dared to do this, and he did it so badly, so he should be punished. Zhen Yan can die, but the guy who doesn't know his place and dares to act recklessly must die!"

Li You and others nodded when they heard this, but Jia Xu was very disdainful of it.

"Wenhe, what do you want to say?" Chen Xi glanced at Jia Xu and asked.

"I'm not sure if I can solve the problem in Media, but I think that when Zhen Yan left, the cruelty in his eyes would lead to some very terrible things." Jia Xu said with a bit of indifference, "He really dares now."

　Run

　　(End of this chapter)