Chapter 7091 The Rice-Giving Immortal

Chapter 7091 The Rice-Giving Immortal
Things given away for free are not valued, and Chen Xi understood this, which is why he manipulated the subsequent rewards. But to be honest, even with some manipulation, in reality, a worker with a stable job is indeed more comfortable than a farmer.

As society progresses, even if Chen Xi tries his best to maintain balance, workers who are closer to advanced productive forces will inevitably gradually surpass rural residents in terms of living standards.

The current situation of staying in the countryside and enjoying the social benefits will not last long. In fact, the reason why people can accept and recognize these benefits now is because they have experienced repeated turmoil. When the next generation accepts peace and prosperity in the future, they will inevitably pursue the material and cultural needs that meet their own, rather than staying in their hometown with free meals, shows to watch, and the ability to brag!
Every generation has its own youth, and every generation has its own ideals.

What the previous generation considered a stable and prosperous life may not be viewed the same way by the next generation. Many times, Chen Xi felt that probably in twenty years, many veterans with titles of seventh rank or above who were familiar with him and had received land in the country would come to find him.

After all, many veterans didn't understand command and had no ambition, so they didn't have much interest in the overseas fiefdoms. This was especially true for the veterans under Liu Bei, who were mainly located in the core area of ​​the Central Plains. Eight out of ten of them were just looking forward to staying in the country and living a carefree life.

Of course, Chen Xi wasn't saying that there was anything wrong with this idea. As people who had experienced the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Warlord Rebellion, it was only natural that they were very satisfied with their current lives. In addition, with Chen Xi in power, ordinary people might not be able to achieve so-called wealth, but for these veterans who could receive fiefdoms, it was truly affluent, even to a degree that they could not have imagined before.

Taking Jiang Guang as an example again, Liu Bei hinted to Jiang Guang at least twice that while he was still young, he should quickly obtain the fiefdom order and go to the Central and Southern regions to find a suitable place to develop his fiefdom. He suggested that since the country was in a period of rapid development, Jiang Guang could use his title and his influence with Chen Xi to take some things outside, and everyone would turn a blind eye. This was the best opportunity for him to develop his fiefdom.

After this point, even if Chen Xi still allows you to go out and establish a country, there's little hope of taking more territory, occupying more land, or freely choosing your own territory in the Indochina Peninsula like you do now.

However, Jiang Guang wouldn't listen to reason. He felt that life in China was excellent, and being the Commandant of Zhongshan County in Ji Province was incredibly joyful.

To be honest, it was indeed a happy time, since there was basically nothing to do.

History has proven that over the course of the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, the position of Commandant was gradually abolished, and by the end of the Han Dynasty, the Commandant positions in various prefectures had disappeared.

Chen Xi brought the county commandant back from history and assigned him to a position. On the one hand, this was to fill the vacancies and deal with the impact of the conscription system. On the other hand, it was also to give these people a decent life.

After all, this was a higher rank than a two-thousand-stone official, representing status and position, and was the arrangement most readily accepted by society. Ultimately, the ideology of prioritizing officialdom had been deeply ingrained since ancient times, and people who could truly view official positions with equanimity were still very rare.

In reality, if you think about it carefully, what did Jiang Guang mainly do in Zhongshan County? He just trained and received a salary. It wasn't until the demon master caused trouble that he got a very formal mission. Before that, Jiang Guang was actually transferred from a military camp that was relatively far from home to a military camp that was very close to home but was not officially called a military camp. To put it bluntly, at Chen Xi's level, these were just basic wages.

It could even be said that these were compensations from Liu Bei and Chen Xi for these people's past contributions to the country. Because you did these things, from a fair point of view, you should have these things, so after the calculations were completed, they were returned to you!
All the gratitude expressed towards Liu Bei and Chen Xi was unnecessary from Chen Xi's perspective. He believed that all he had done was to convert the soldiers' sacrifices into an equal outcome. At most, others would take a cut or lose it all, and society as a whole had become accustomed to this kind of behavior.

For Chen Xi, what he did was simply returning to the basics. On the right path, there is reward for every effort. When all the effort is combined and the reward is excessive, then there should be a reward. A pure society should be like this!
What is that reward? It's a fiefdom of your choice!
Even though Liu Bei's officers and soldiers have already received their own land in the country, and even now, under the instigation of Wang Wu and others, Chen Xi has opened up the business of leasing land theoretically owned by the country's soldiers abroad to the state. After receiving the full reward, they can still exchange their merits for fiefdoms when needed, and then choose their own fiefdoms abroad.

This is a seemingly normal but actually outrageous operation! What does it mean that Liu Bei's veterans are serving as officials in the country, receiving titles, salaries, and rewards, and then, when necessary, being allowed to go out and acquire fiefdoms? This isn't just a matter of breaking the rules; it's like being rewarded twice, but nobody's doing anything about it. However, this kind of thing won't last forever, and sooner or later this loophole will be closed.

No one is mentioning this now because it's not a large-scale operation and only involves veterans with relatively low ranks. But what about in the future? What if a marquis does this in the future?

That's definitely not acceptable. After the Kushan Empire was destroyed, this mess must be cleaned up. It's unacceptable for someone to be both the Chancellor of the Han Dynasty and the ruler of a large vassal state at that time. If things got to that point, even if others were blind, they would probably be able to see the problem.

It's quite obvious that many of Liu Bei's veterans haven't realized this yet. Many of them clearly understood this tactic when they spoke, but they didn't take any action. For example, Jiang Guang said, "Anyway, I can't get a fiefdom. If my descendants have the ability in the future and think that I'm too content and have no ambition, they can just go and get the fiefdom order if they want it!"

This sounds reasonable at first glance, but a little thought reveals a major problem. Why would there be double rewards? Isn't the official position of two thousand shi (a unit of grain measure) a reward? Isn't the noble title representing privilege a reward? A house, land, and salary a reward?

But because of their widespread existence and Chen Xi's brilliance, these things, which are clearly a big problem, have become normal phenomena. Some people may notice them, but they can't say anything because the first person to speak up has to answer a question: Why can't it be like this?
All the irrationality of the feudal era can be attributed to feudalism, and clearly, Liu Bei, as the victor, can also attribute all of these to feudalism. The victor enjoys everything, right?

What frustrates Chen Xi is that most of the veteran soldiers under Liu Bei's command are complacent and unable to break free from their current situation, lacking any ambition whatsoever.

So much so that Chen Xi is clearly using cheat codes on him and he still doesn't realize it, acting like he'll give them to his son when he grows up, and this old man is going to enjoy himself in China right now!

What could Chen Xi say? He could only say the nice things: "The veterans who have experienced turmoil are content with what they have and are the backbone of this country."

But let's be realistic.

These veterans, who come from humble backgrounds, are enjoying a life that is worthy of their hard work and luck, but their future trajectory will certainly be worthy of their own perceptions.

Where else can we find a place like this where Chen Xi openly makes arrangements for them? Even Sun Qian managed to build a road for his little brother's fiefdom while passing through the Indochina Peninsula. Damn, did Sun Qian really have no idea what he was doing when he said that?
Yes, there are! Absolutely!
Even if you didn't think there was a problem when you thought about it earlier, when Chen Xi came to you and applauded, thinking you did a good job, you should realize that this operation was extremely incredible!

To put it bluntly, the Central Asian aristocratic families, such a large fiefdom, still haven't had their roads repaired. Moreover, most of the existing main roads were built by the Central Asian aristocratic families themselves. The small fiefdoms in the Indochina Peninsula, which are dozens or even hundreds of fiefdoms combined, are probably not as large as Cui Yang's large fiefdom. The roads for their access were built by the state!

This isn't just letting you slip something through your fingers; this is blatantly arranging things for you.

But what happened? The number of elite veterans who stayed in the homeland was the largest. They returned home in glory and honor, preferring to be militia captains in their hometowns rather than go abroad to establish fiefdoms. What could Chen Xi do? Even if he had a cheat code, he couldn't just feed them directly!

It's simply a matter of perception, and many things in this world are simply a matter of perception.

Entering the factory is definitely the best option at this stage, but due to a lack of understanding, the scale of the factory is not large enough, which prevents Chen Xi from making progress faster.

Holding an official position and acquiring a fiefdom would definitely be the best option for Liu Bei's veterans who had retired early at this stage, but due to a lack of understanding, they stubbornly refrained from taking any action.

What could Chen Xi do? Chen Xi could only choose to feed him.

That's right. Chen Xi said that she had already given them a cheat code, so why should she feed them? But when the time came, Chen Xi really did decide to feed them.

After all, they were all on the same side and none of them made any mistakes. They were just limited by their own understanding and couldn't get the best things. So, as their respected, admired, and revered leader, I had no choice but to personally step in and shoulder the responsibilities of being the leader. I just fed them!

“You…” Cookie was also dumbfounded as she listened to Chen Xi’s explanation.

"There's no other way. Although doing this might not be a good thing, as things stand, I'm better than others at grasping and judging the future. So, since the others aren't strong enough, helping them control their future is an option," Chen Xi said helplessly. He didn't want to directly intervene and guide or even manipulate them, but if he didn't, these people would really regret it!
Taking Jiang Guang as an example again, it is true that twenty years later, Liu Bei and Chen Xi were still willing to violate regulations and recognize that Jiang Guang's merits could be converted into fiefdoms. But at that time, could Jiang Guang still choose a grain-producing area like he does now? Could the state still build a ferry crossing and open a road for him to enter and exit?
Absolutely impossible. By then, the limit of what Liu Bei and Chen Xi could break the rules with would be exchanging the merits that no longer existed for fiefdom tokens; nothing else would be available.

"Although it's a bit strange, to be honest, you are indeed stronger in this respect." Cookie said with a hint of admiration. As for whether it was against the rules or not, Cookie didn't care much about it. In feudal times, if someone of Chen Xi's level said such a thing, then even if it was against the rules, it was already a matter of course.

“People can become confined to what they have learned and experienced, which is called their comfort zone. This is not wrong, but these things may cause them to miss opportunities, especially when they have enough room for error. Expanding their knowledge base becomes very important,” Chen Xi said with a hint of lament.

“That’s true. When you can afford to lose, trying a few more times is definitely not a bad thing. After all, no one always loses; some people just can’t afford to lose,” Cookie nodded and said.

“Yes, no one always loses, it’s just that many people can’t afford to lose.” Chen Xi repeated, agreeing with Cookie’s words. Even in gambling, if you have unlimited capital, you will eventually win it back. The problem is that you don’t have that much capital.

"In the eleventh year of Yuanfeng, you were conducting verification in the north?" Qu Qi changed the subject. He had already learned enough about what he wanted to know, so he switched to the last topic that interested him.

"Hmm, let's coordinate the five northern states and try a mobilization of a million units." Chen Xi sighed and said. Judging from the current situation, even though he has made many patches to the five northern states, this test will probably still have many twists and turns. Just looking at the fact that some ingredients from Youzhou have not yet arrived at Weiyang Palace today, Chen Xi knows that some logistics bottlenecks have not yet been cleared.

“With such a large scale, Rome and Kushan cannot possibly ignore it,” Cookie said, frowning. “We can cover up some small disturbances with our sheer size, but this deployment of a million troops, including logistics and other support, involves nearly one-tenth of the country’s population. Even if you can hide the relevant information, you won’t be able to keep it from Rome and Kushan.”

Both Rome and the Kushan Empire had spies within the Han court. The Romans, in particular, were no longer spies; they were ordinary people mixed in with the Han, whose motives were unclear.

But these people collect all sorts of publicly available information, and if there's enough publicly available information, a professional organization team in Rome can sort out a lot of things.

As for the Kushans, they also had quite a few spies within the Han court. Even though the Han court was trying to clean them up, many still remained. These spies were more professional than those in Rome, and their intelligence gathering was more targeted. However, from the perspective of the system framework, they might not actually have an advantage over the free merchants in the Roman Empire who collected all kinds of information.

Regardless of the type, a deployment of that scale, as Chen Xi described, could not possibly escape the attention of Rome and the Kushan Empire.

“Sometimes, some things, even if you pay attention, you can’t change anything. Conspiracy is something that you can find a way to crack once you discover it, and you can even use it in reverse. Open schemes, on the other hand, are something that you can’t do anything about even if you discover them. And productivity is there, whether you know it or not.” Chen Xi said very calmly.

“What I mean is, the commotion you’ve created could easily make Rome feel threatened. Our relationship with the Roman Empire seems very good; in terms of trade and diplomacy, we should even be considered the best allies. But you should know very well that if a country similar to China weren’t far enough away from us, the one we should be dealing with most is Rome,” Cookie said, her eyes lowered and a hint of coldness in her voice.

"At this point, are you still worried about these things?" Chen Xi asked with a smile. "Now that things have come to this, of course we'll use whatever tricks we have. What can Rome do if it feels threatened? Can it really just give up? On the contrary, at this point, we need to deal with the Kushans as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if Rome really gets involved, it will be very difficult."

The conclusion that the Han dynasty's defeat of the Kushan Empire would certainly create a sense of crisis for the Roman Empire was discussed by Jia Xu and others when they were helping Chen Xi develop a strategy to defeat the Kushan Empire.

But as I said before, the rise of any great power will affect the interests of other great powers. But can we give up our own interests for the sake of others? If we back down when we are weak and back down when we are strong, what's the point of having that power?

“What I’m worried about is that after you finish your verification next year, Rome will increase the scale of its troop deployment to Kushan.” Cookie said to Chen Xi very seriously. After all, the Roman Empire still has tens of thousands of mercenaries in Kushan, and their strength is quite good. Together with the three Emperor Maru, they are the main force on the imperial battlefield.

"We've already done the first thing, so how can we not let Rome do the fifteenth? We anticipated this kind of thing long ago. It's inevitable that a large-scale test would attract the Roman Empire to mobilize troops. But the question is, how many people can the Roman Empire mobilize in its current state?" Chen Xi asked with a smile. "They can't mobilize many. The locust plague is only one aspect, and the internal strife is not so easy to suppress."

The locust plague and the resulting food shortages plunged Rome into turmoil. In addition, some knights who held the Roman Empire in high esteem discovered that they had been tricked by Claudius and, in a fit of anger, led the locals in a rebellion, which made the scale of the unrest grow larger and larger.

In addition, the Mediterranean climate has mild and rainy winters, which are suitable for farming. However, Rome is currently in internal strife and has missed the best time for farming. Rome's food shortage problem may not be solved until next year. Under these circumstances, why would Rome send troops to help the Kushans?

“No, I mean the Kushans provided grain to relocate Roman bandits,” Cookie said.

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