Chapter 7063 Things also depend on the person.

Chapter 7063 Things also depend on the person.
Jia Xu raised his wine cup and chuckled twice at Chen Xi, saying nothing, but simply drank the wine in his cup. As for Chen Xi's words about his worries about the Zhong family and Jiangdong, Jia Xu would only listen to them; he would never actually believe them.

Having worked with Chen Xi for so many years, how could Jia Xu not know Chen Xi's abilities and true intentions? What Zhong family, what Jiangdong, even if all the powerful families in the world unexpectedly and impossiblely united to oppose Chen Xi, it would be useless today, in the tenth year of Yuanfeng.

No, it didn't even need to be until the tenth year of Yuanfeng. Around the seventh year of Yuanfeng, it was already no longer needed. By the seventh year of Yuanfeng, Chen Xi had already been able to completely dismantle the organizational structure built by the aristocratic families to manage the people, and at that time, Chen Xi already had a replacement.

The more Jia Xu learned about state-owned factories, mines, and workshops, the more incredible they seemed. Besides providing funds for national operations, they also created jobs. More importantly, they allowed for local management based on the employed population and the naturally constructed management system.

As for whether this kind of management is worse than that of aristocratic families, it's really not that bad. Each aristocratic family has an upper limit and a lower limit. The difference is that those who can reach the upper limit can act arrogantly in front of Chen Xi, while those who constantly act low have no right to appear in front of Chen Xi at all.

It is precisely because of this survivor law that the leaders of the major families appear to be outstanding. In reality, the major families are truly a mixed bag, but the current environment is somewhat cruel, preventing the incompetent from rising to prominence, which makes the major families seem very powerful.

In reality, the number of useless people in aristocratic families far exceeds the number of elites.

Therefore, from Jia Xu's perspective, Chen Xi now truly possesses the ability to govern the world and the power to tear apart obstacles. All constraints are useless in front of Chen Xi.

So far, what's stopping Chen Xi isn't the Zhong family's Eastern European base, nor the elite forces of Jiangdong, nor the impossible united efforts of powerful families. So far, the only thing truly hindering Chen Xi is his own morality.

What Jiangdong, what Zhong family? If it really comes down to strength, whether they can even beat Sun Qian is questionable.

Sun Qian, who is so powerful, was actually given his position by Liu Bei and Chen Xi. Liu Bei's power accounted for half of his power, and Chen Xi's power probably accounted for the other half. It goes without saying what kind of power the complete Chen Xi possessed.

Surely no one actually believes that large state-owned factories and mines shouldn't be considered political forces!
Damn it, let alone the third century, even in the twenty-first century, no one would dare say that!
Therefore, Jia Xu never worried that his own side would be unable to win. He was even speechless about Chen Xi's hesitation all along. In Jia Xu's view, Chen Xi had a weak side, but this weakness was not towards a certain power or group, but towards the common people.

Chen Xi has always been committed to making life better for all people. The Han cultural sphere is indeed real, but it is also real to make life better for everyone living within the Han cultural sphere.

Everything, whether it's starting a war, ceasing hostilities, or negotiating peace with Jiangdong, the Cao family, or the Zhong family, is essentially not about any personal gain, but about making life better for all the people of the world.

Reducing wars and forcing other powers to submit is not about demonstrating one's own strength, but about making life easier for the people who have long suffered from turmoil.

Many times, Jia Xu felt that Chen Xi's life was not for any personal desires, but only to stop the people from falling into depravity and to leave a mark for history that people could repeatedly admire, learn from, and pursue!

Over the years, the major families and forces have long understood this point and have repeatedly verified this reality. When they recognize this reality, they may find it laughable or admirable, but no matter what they think, it will not change the fact that they will naturally take advantage of Chen Xi's mentality. After all, people are easily manipulated when they have certain desires.

In this world, since ancient times, towering cliffs have stood firm because they are free from desires!
Chen Xi has desires, no matter how noble or righteous they may be. As long as they are still desires, they can be manipulated.

This was true of Jiangdong, Zhongshi, and other aristocratic families. Although they had realized their own despicable nature and recognized that Chen Xi was indeed striving for a better life for the people, it did not prevent them from taking advantage of this opportunity to seek their own interests.

Just like Yuan Da, who had seen through everything before his death, even asked Yuan Sui and Yuan Tao to pass on a message to Chen Xi, saying, "I'm sorry, Lord Chen, I died at the wrong time. Please forgive me."

To be honest, Yuan Da had truly embraced this era, recognized Chen Xi's ideal of striving for the common people, and endorsed the prosperous era created by Chen Xi. He was even willing to sacrifice his life for it without hesitation. It can be said that if he were alone, he would have been willing to give up his life for everything that Chen Xi was building.

Before his death, Yuan Da understood and accepted everything. But in his final moments, looking at his family mansion and recalling the teachings of his ancestors, even just looking at the carved beams and painted rafters of the Yuan family mansion, Yuan Da, who had already finished writing the letter urging him to ascend the throne, sighed and put the letter away.

No matter how much he understands or agrees with it, he is no longer an individual, but the leader of a group. Even if he has realized his reactionary nature, he still has to find a way to survive for his followers. He can't just die and completely abandon these people!

Impossible. No matter what, a person cannot escape their origin or their ecosystem. Humans are social beings, and the sum total of social relationships constitutes this living individual.

So even if they understand, realize, and wholeheartedly admire Chen Xi, who is willing to dedicate his life and struggle to the people in order to seize a better life, they will still seize the fruits that they claim belong to them, but which should actually belong to the people, when the time comes.

For the sake of the greater good and the overall improvement of the living standards of the Han people, Chen Xi would inevitably give up the pursuit. After all, if a real war broke out, those who had stolen the fruits of the labor would certainly die, but the people would also suffer heavy losses!

I'll say it again: I can't beat Chen Zichuan, but I can't beat you ordinary folks. I can't handle Chen Xi, but I can skin you alive!

Such a vicious political mindset cannot be completely ignored as long as Chen Xi stands on the side of the people.

Similarly, this kind of thinking is why Chen Xi tends to be conservative, willing to compromise with those people and give up some interests. Over time, those people will naturally take this concession for granted, and then become more and more demanding!
To be fair, Jia Xu didn't think this was wrong. If he were in the position of the Han aristocratic family, he would have done the same. After all, it was the easiest way to make money, the simplest way to obtain profits, the easiest way to strengthen oneself, and more importantly, it wouldn't get one's hands dirty.

Even with such methods, the Han family could proudly say that these were benefits obtained through their own abilities. After all, these benefits were not exploited from the weak or the common people, but obtained from the strong and from Chen Xi. No matter how they obtained them, even if they had to kneel and kowtow to beg Chen Xi, it didn't matter, because others didn't have this connection, so their abilities were naturally considered to be real!

However, as time went on, some people really couldn't distinguish between the king and the queen.

"Wenhe, you've done a great job." Liu Bei raised his wine cup towards Jia Xu. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were brought in by their action, and they were even brought in with a letter urging them to ascend the throne. How could Liu Bei not understand the reason behind this?

But some things are different when you know them yourself and when others do them. For example, Liu Bei is very satisfied with Sun Ce and Zhou Yu appearing here now, just like Liu Bang when he first experienced the majesty of the emperor!

"It is not due to my ability, but to the power of my lord and the accumulation of knowledge by Zichuan. I am merely a strategist. Everyone else is aware of this, but they simply did not speak out at that time," Jia Xu replied softly, appearing unperturbed by praise or criticism.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei laughed heartily and then had a palace maid serve Jia Xu a cup of wine. It wasn't that there were no other rewards, but by now, those were useless. This cup of wine that he had poured himself was the most appropriate. Jia Xu was truly a capable minister!

"My lord, the situation was already like this eight years ago. It's just that Zichuan pitied the people of the world and didn't want the Central Plains to fall into war again. Others also saw through Zichuan's true nature, which is why they took those actions later. Zichuan is kind-hearted. He finally managed to lift the people out of poverty, so how could he be willing to let them fall into displacement again?" Jia Xu said with some emotion.

"I know they're just taking advantage of Zichuan's kind heart. If Zichuan had been serious, or even just acted like he'd smashed the world and was ready to make a comeback, these people would have knelt down and admitted their mistakes long ago. But it's not Zichuan's fault; it's their greed," Liu Bei said with a light laugh.

If Liu Bei had some doubts before, and was worried that these people might have some hidden cards or something, when he stepped onto the jade steps and Jia Xu spread the word, and the most arrogant Sun Ce and Zhou Yu quickly rushed over and knelt down to present their memorials, Liu Bei already understood the reality.

"Zichuan, the effect is even more exaggerated than I expected." Liu Bei said to Chen Xi with a faint smile. "At first, I thought it would at most intimidate those people and make them stop being so presumptuous. I didn't expect their reaction to be so exaggerated after they actually stepped on the jade steps. Tell me, did we overestimate them or underestimate ourselves?"

“We underestimated ourselves,” Chen Xi said after a moment of silence.

Chen Xi had never really thought highly of the Zhong family, Jiangdong family, Cao family, and other powerful forces. As for aristocratic families, they were insignificant in his eyes. Only when all the aristocratic families banded together could they be considered rivals to Chen Xi. Individual aristocratic families were nothing to him.

Over the years, the only thing that truly surprised or out of control for Chen Xi was the fire in Chang'an. At that time, it was highly likely that everyone would push Liu Bei to the throne, which caused Chen Xi's original plan for a smooth transition and stabilizing the country to fail. He could only place his hopes on his friendship with Liu Bei.

As for other matters, they were basically all within Chen Xi's control. Even the fact that Zhou Yu killed Serian only shocked Chen Xi. Even if Zhou Yu hadn't killed Serian at that time, by the ninth year of Yuanfeng, when the seventh-generation warship and Zhou Yu directly destroyed Serian and broke into the Indian Ocean, the situation would not have changed at all.

After all, as long as Yuanfeng had contained the Kushan navy ten years ago, preventing it from strangling the Han army's supply lines in the Ganges region, the outcome of Yuanfeng's three million-strong army marching there in the thirteenth year would have been the same: the Kushans would have been doomed anyway!
Furthermore, because there were too few high-intensity, disadvantageous wars fought in the early stages of land warfare, when the Kushan Empire deployed its three million troops in sixteen routes to outflank them, they found themselves in a predicament where they could not defend their core areas and collapsed at the first touch.

Of course, this is not to say that it was bad for Zhou Yu to kill Serian in advance. It's just that for Chen Xi, whether Zhou Yu killed Serian on his own or Zhou Yu and the seventh-generation ship killed Serian, the result was exactly the same. The only difference was the reward for Jiangdong and the reward for Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

Chen Xi's plan had an excess component, which was reflected not only in domestic policies but also in foreign wars. Chen Xi said he was giving Zhou Yu three chances, which meant that Chen Xi believed that even if the Han Dynasty could not produce true seventh-generation warships after the three chances were used, it should still be able to produce about a thousand crippled seventh-generation warships.

Once we've amassed a thousand near-seventh-generation ships, we can simply overwhelm the Serian with land-based tactics!
Chen Xi didn't really care much about famous generals. His idea wasn't about generals commanding armies, but about piling up manufacturing. He aimed to increase the shipbuilding efficiency of the Han Dynasty to more than ten times that of the Kushan Empire. By then, the question of whether there were famous generals or who they were would be meaningless.

The biggest difference between naval and land warfare is that a naval battle can wipe out an empire's century-long accumulation in just fifteen minutes. Simply put, if the gap in shipbuilding widens to that extent, Serian can win countless times, while Chen Xi only needs to win once.

The question is, can Serian win countless times? Chen Xi isn't stupid; pulling Zhou Yu is just a way to hold the line, giving himself time to develop and focus on shipbuilding.

According to Chen Xi's calculations, a thousand stripped-down versions of the seventh-generation warships, operating in a coordinated manner, would be enough to directly annihilate the Serian. While naval commanders are indeed important, naval warships are also a crucial component of combat power.

Moreover, given the Serian's winning streak, Chen Xi estimated that the Kushan Empire would not replenish the Serian's ships too quickly, and would most likely replenish them at a so-called normal efficiency. However, on the Han Dynasty's side, since they could not build true seventh-generation ships, Chen Xi would definitely carry out technology diffusion.

Do you remember Liaodong Shipyard? Do you remember Bohai Shipyard? Do you remember Qingzhou Shipyard? Do you remember Xuzhou Shipyard? Do you remember the four major shipyards in Yangzhou?

In Chen Xi's original estimate, there was no true seventh-generation ship. The true seventh-generation ship was something that Lu Jun could leisurely study because Zhou Yu defeated Serian. If Serian had not died, then after Lu Jun perfected all the technologies of the watered-down version of the seventh-generation ship in the fifth year of Yuanfeng, and could fully deploy it, and could build three ships a month, Chen Xi should have carried out technology diffusion to the aforementioned shipyards.

By the ninth year of Yuanfeng, the nine major shipyards could produce more than 300 ships a year. Considering the accumulation of the previous three years, Chen Xi must have accumulated 1,000 ships by the ninth year of Yuanfeng.

Even if Serian were a god, and even if he had an amazing ability to self-circulate, he could not surpass the terrifying combat power generated by a thousand stripped-down seventh-generation ships led by Zhou Yu.

Talking about tactics and strategy? With my skill level, talking about tactics and strategy with you? I might as well just crush you. What's the point of talking? Just die!
Zhou Yu was unaware of these things. His victory over Serian had a certain element of chance, but in Chen Xi's mind, it was simply because he didn't follow Lao Tzu's plan. However, those who achieved victory deserve praise and reward. Zhou Yu didn't use the third chance or the hidden fourth chance; he won on the second try.

Then there should be human rights!

However, this overly open-minded attitude has made him seem less important than others!

“The path I’ve taken actually values ​​human rights a lot. I’ve always believed that people’s brains aren’t like leeks that can’t grow back once they’re cut off. So over time, I’ve developed a certain dependence on them.” Chen Xi said with a hint of weariness, “To be honest, Wen Ru and Wen He’s low human rights views are sometimes correct. Some people really shouldn’t be treated as human beings.”

"..." Liu Bei was somewhat speechless upon hearing this. Then, he glanced at Sun Ce and Zhou Yu out of the corner of his eye. Seeing that the two of them had already given up and accepted reality, and were acting recklessly, he couldn't help but shake his head. "Zichuan, you can't go to extremes. Wenhe and Wenru's paths are not suitable for you. The damage they can cause by going to extremes is far less than what you can do."

“I won’t go to extremes,” Chen Xi said very seriously. “My education, both in the past and present, has taught me that I must stick to my principles and follow the path I believe is right, otherwise I will inevitably fall into some kind of predicament sooner or later.”

Indeed, the education Chen Xi received, whether in the past or now, is actually just as Yan Futiao said before, which emphasizes the importance of one's true nature. Completely indulging oneself is one's true nature, and restraining oneself and moving forward along the direction of one's beliefs and ideals is also one's true nature.

Chen Xi chose the latter, but it was precisely because of the latter that the gentleman deceived him with his principles. Because Chen Xi could not be tactful in certain areas, even if he suffered some losses, he had to move forward along that difficult path.

"Creak." Just as Liu Bei and Chen Xi were talking, the doors of Zhaoyang Palace were opened again. Guided by the guards, Xun Chen and Chunyu Qiong walked into Zhaoyang Palace with quick steps. Then everyone stopped what they were doing and just stared at Xun Chen and Chunyu Qiong.

The two men felt the emotionless gazes of Liu Bei's senior officials, as well as the complicated looks from Sun Ce and Zhou Yu sitting next to Guan Yu and Chen Xi. There was no room for communication, so they could only take small steps forward, walk to the steps of the throne, slowly kneel down, and then present the petition for their ascension with both hands.

Compared to Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, who had to ask Chen Xi before taking out their items, Xun Chen had already planned it out when he arrived. Since the first spot had already been taken, the Yuan family had to maintain a loyal and submissive image and not give Liu Bei any sense of disrespect.

"Your subject Xun Chen, Chunyu Qiong..." Xun Chen knelt down directly and then raised the petition to ascend the throne. This time, he didn't pretend like Ju Shou's son, Ju Hu, saying things like "Zhong Shi Hu". Last time, he said that because the Han Dynasty seemed to be playing the Zhou Dynasty's system of enfeoffing princes. So after the Yuan family gained some strength in Eastern Europe, he came to the Princess to show off and set an example for other families.

But this time it won't work. Last time it was the etiquette for meeting the Zhou emperor, but this time it must be the etiquette for meeting Qin Shi Huang. People don't care if you are a subject of a feudal lord. To put it bluntly, even your king should kneel here and acknowledge you as his subject!

After understanding the logic behind this, Xun Chen didn't say much. He simply knelt down and declared that he was a subject of the King of Jin and that they were all under the King's command.

Chen Xi watched this scene with a wry smile. If Sun Ce and Zhou Yu still had some dignity and retained some semblance of the dignity of a feudal lord when they arrived, Xun Chen and Chunyu Qiong had completely abandoned all dignity when they came.

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu exchanged bewildered glances. They had never met Xun Chen, but Chunyu Qiong was a representative of the Yuan family, their most senior and important minister, a true backbone. When welcoming and seeing off guests, he represented Yuan Tan's reputation. Yet now, these two had completely disregarded their dignity, directly bowing down before the emperor. This bloody reality left Sun Ce and Zhou Yu speechless.

"Gongjin, now you should understand the meaning of 'dignity'," Chen Xi said with a light laugh, transmitting his voice to Zhou Yu. "I said you have the right to rest on your laurels and can exist as a meritorious person. I wasn't joking or humiliating you; I genuinely believe that. We didn't mean to insult you, but you should be well aware of all this."

Looking at Xun Chen and Chunyu Qiong kneeling before the throne, presenting their petitions and pledging allegiance with both hands, Zhou Yu felt a sense of absurdity. The Zhong clan possessed immense power; Sun Ce had personally led a delegation to Northern Europe and witnessed it firsthand. Such a distant fiefdom, yet, faced with this situation, they knelt before the throne without hesitation, directly denying everything they had ever done.

In Zhou Yu's view, this was no longer a matter of realizing the problem and coming to surrender, but a direct denial of all his efforts and the very foundation of his family's survival!
　I'll just stay home and update a few more times as needed.

　　(End of this chapter)