Chapter 7143 Path Dependency

Chapter 7143 Path Dependency
Chen Xi shook his head and rejected Chen Deng's suggestion. Times have changed, and there's no need to be so harsh. Besides, this approach can't solve the problem or change the overall environment. It might be possible to forcefully distort things with the power of a powerful person for a while, but in the end, the person will die and the policy will collapse. When Chen Xi was around, he could indeed do that with his power, but Chen Xi is not eternal.

“Yuanlong, this plan is unacceptable.” Chen Xi formally rejected Chen Deng’s proposal. Moreover, this serious way of issuing the notice clearly told Chen Deng that this was a line, a line that Chen Xi would not allow anyone to cross. You should come up with another plan. No matter how good this plan is, it will not be approved by me.

"No room for maneuver?" Chen Deng's expression changed upon hearing this. He hadn't expected Chen Xi's final answer to be a complete rejection of his proposal. Although he felt that he was nothing more than a nobody in Chen Xi's eyes, his plan was flawless and highly feasible. However, Chen Xi rejected it so easily, without even leaving him any room for maneuver, which surprised Chen Deng.

“No, in this era, the reason I can do this is because I am still here, I have enough power, and I can invest enough resources, so even some wrong actions can be right.” Chen Xi said to Chen Deng very formally, “Yuan Long, you should know that sometimes ideas are good, but they can’t be put into reality, while sometimes the methods may not be right, but because we have enough resources and solid capital, we can still achieve results.”

Chen Deng instantly understood what Chen Xi meant. He was a smart man, but he valued his family too much. After coming to Yizhou and leaving that environment, his talent, which was no less than that of a top strategist, was brought into play, and naturally his perspective on problems also changed.

“The former is a matter of ability, the latter is a matter of strategy.” Chen Xi had a half-smile on his face, but it made Chen Deng immediately raise his guard to the maximum, because the strategy is always the biggest problem. If the ability is not enough, it can be trained, but if the strategy is wrong, then let alone training, it will be a matter of life and death!
Chen Deng absolutely did not want to have any disagreements with Chen Xi on the route. In Chen Deng's view, if such a situation occurred, it would definitely be his own mistake, and he would have to correct it quickly.

To be fair, this is Chen Deng's advantage. Confined within his family and with his vision suppressed, he can easily choose to submit to Chen Xi's power. Faced with a strong person of this level, he can disregard all his obsessions and need no morals; he only needs to choose to follow.

Conversely, for Chen Xi, a civil official like Chen Deng was the best administrative officer, allowing him to successfully deploy his power to where it was needed. As for hoping that Chen Deng could find any unreasonable aspects in his system, don't count on it. Chen Deng wouldn't even look for them. The problem was definitely not with Chen Xi; Marquis Chen was the supreme law, a god!

Therefore, from a certain perspective, a civil official like Chen Deng could hardly have a positive impact on Chen Xi. However, he was very suitable and excellent at using his wisdom to develop the local area as an administrative official. As for other things, there was no need to expect anything.

Chen Xi glanced at Chen Deng's rapidly wary expression and knew that the other party was ready to admit his mistake and decisively change course to continue following his ideas.

Seeing this, Chen Xi sighed inwardly. Such aristocratic families and their scions are actually the most difficult to deal with, or even impossible to deal with. They have enough wisdom, enough ability, and enough vision to follow the strongest one. When necessary, they can completely put aside their own pride.

It can be said that the Chen family of Xiapi, during Chen Xi's era, did not develop particularly well, but they certainly had a smooth and successful life. For such a large and prestigious family in the region, smooth and successful development was enough. As for a better future, they could strive for it later.

“There’s no need for that, Yuanlong.” Chen Xi chuckled twice, suppressing all the extra thoughts in his mind, and then said in a calm tone, “If your suggestion were before the unification, there would be no problem. You could say it was a necessary sacrifice. But now that we’re unified, and they are indeed citizens, we can’t do that. A great power must have its bottom line. Moreover, even if we forcibly relocate those people, as long as the places where they used to live still exist, new mountain people will still emerge.”

Unlike the plains, in the mountainous areas of Sichuan, every place that can be a village has the necessary conditions to form a village. Even if you move away and many years pass, as long as your management ability doesn't keep up, a new village will still form in that place.

Unlike plains, the necessary conditions for forming villages in the mountains are water sources, easy defense and difficult attack, relatively convenient access, and no risk of natural disasters. These are all factors that must be considered.

Any village that can naturally cluster in the mountains will meet the above conditions. Therefore, even if Chen Deng's forced relocation is successful, the vacant, relatively good locations in the mountains will eventually be occupied by another group of people.

“I’m not criticizing you, but I’m saying your plan is unacceptable. On the one hand, if you act this way now, those who come after you won’t have the same resources. What do you think you’ll do if you continue to face this problem?” Chen Xi sighed.

Chen Xi didn't doubt that Chen Deng was determined to destroy those people. He believed that with the resources Chen Deng had, he could completely incorporate them into his own ranks within a few years. But one can't just look at the present; one must also consider the future.

At this stage, Chen Deng was able to accomplish this with the resources at hand and set an example for future generations. What will people do if they encounter this situation later?
It is very likely that they will directly follow the old precedent, but Chen Xi is not stupid. Unless the Han Dynasty is pushed to the level of the Industrial Revolution, its resource advantage will probably not be stronger than it is now. After all, the current political situation is more transparent and the distribution is more reasonable. Chen Deng will likely be able to use more resources than his successors.

What happens if later generations follow the old precedent in this situation?
This could cause enormous problems and even lead to a series of completely unexpected chain reactions.

Do you remember how the Later Han dynasty's administration of the Western Regions collapsed? Although history repeatedly states that it was because the Later Han dynasty's administration of the Western Regions was too harsh that the Western Regions gradually became disaffected, and eventually the Later Han dynasty lost its ability to govern the Western Regions.

But what actually happened was that in the third year of Jianning, Meng Tuo, the governor of Liangzhou, marched about 2,700 kilometers to attack Shule, but failed to capture it after more than 40 days of fighting. From then on, the Han dynasty's administration of the Western Regions completely collapsed.

Although this matter seems absurd no matter how you look at it, what does it mean that Liangzhou Governor Meng Tuo traveled 2,700 kilometers to attack Shule, and then fought for more than 40 days without taking it? Theoretically speaking, in normal times, it would be amazing to be able to do such a thing. How could the administration of the Western Regions collapse like this?
However, that is the truth!
The Han dynasty's administration of the Western Regions was very crude, especially during the Later Han dynasty, which simply couldn't manage them all. So they relied on this simple method: when unrest occurred in the Western Regions, the Liangzhou people would travel thousands of kilometers to beat them up, and then the problem would be solved.

After all, any creature that fears power but not virtue will straighten out after being severely beaten. The kingdoms of the Western Regions also held this attitude. In fact, starting with Ban Chao, the Han Dynasty's management of the Western Regions was to kill anyone who didn't like them!

Anyway, if you dare to make a move, I'll issue a notice and the army from Liangzhou will come running over, and then they'll beat you so badly that even your own mother won't recognize you!

From the thirteen soldiers who returned to Yumen during the reign of Emperor Zhang, to Dou Xian's pursuit across thousands of miles, and then to Ban Chao leading his troops to fight the Yuezhi in the Western Regions, the Eastern Han Dynasty's management of the Western Regions was indeed very rough, but it gave those people in the Western Regions a very absurd feeling, which was that if they didn't dare to cause trouble, their army would arrive as soon as they were told.

Far away? What a joke! Even if it's thousands of miles away, you're still going to get that iron fist.

Therefore, although the Han dynasty's management of the Western Regions during the Eastern Han dynasty was very crude, there was generally no chaos or reversal in the Western Regions.

Until Meng Tuo attacked Shule but failed to capture it, the Western Regions kingdoms simply pretended to be dead—damn, the Han Dynasty couldn't even capture Shule. It's not the Han Empire of the past that would rush over and tear apart a country for a horse, a dozen people, or a group of envoys!

Do you understand what the collapse of royal power means? This is it.

When you travel thousands of miles to fight, it's only natural to lose. But once you develop a path dependency, you won't find it difficult. You'll just think, "Everyone before me did it, so I'll just keep doing it." And if every generation does it this way, no one will think it's outrageous.

Just as the Later Han dynasty did not think that it was troublesome to send troops to fight the Xiongnu when they appeared in the Tianshan Mountains, nor did they think that there was anything wrong with sending troops when their own emperor died.

In fact, upon closer examination, these military expeditions violated almost all the major taboos of military strategy, but so what? Anyway, we won by doing this before, so there must be some reasonable reason. I just need to follow the steps of my predecessors and there will be no problem.

As for research, research my ass, just copy it directly.

Don't bother trying to understand; do you even know what I mean?

And so it was passed down from generation to generation without much understanding; they just did it that way.

In fact, even setting aside political path dependence, this phenomenon exists in technology as well. Once people become accustomed to a certain operation and determine that it is the correct path, they rarely explore other paths unless absolutely necessary. This is why trial and error is also very important in technology.

It shouldn't even be called trial and error, but rather a process of filtering out plans that are not suitable for this particular goal, rather than saying that this validation is meaningless for the future.

Therefore, Chen Xi can guarantee that as long as Chen Deng does this, when the system collapses again and mountain people grow up in those places again, the governor of Yizhou will definitely continue Chen Deng's operation today until one day he completely fails and then disaster strikes in the southwest.

“Path dependence?” Chen Deng pondered, because in the past few years, as the governor of Yizhou, he had met some of Liu Zhang’s men, and naturally he had met Meng Da and knew about Meng Da’s father.

To reiterate, buying official positions was not a problem in the past, nor was bribing Zhang Rang during elections. Many people did this, and some of the officials in charge of the three public offices had such elements. However, the most serious aspect of Meng Tuo's slander was that he failed to capture Shule.

Although Meng Tuo explained that he had traveled thousands of miles and that Shule was prepared, it still comes down to this: your predecessors, your predecessors' predecessors, your predecessors from the previous hundred years, all conquered it, but you failed to conquer it, you good-for-nothing!
This is just ridiculous.

“Yes, path dependence. The precedent you're setting will definitely be followed by others. Do you think future generations will have the same favorable conditions as you do now?” Chen Xi looked at Chen Deng very seriously and said.

"Then I'll just fix the road," Chen Deng said after thinking for a moment. As for whether he had really come to a decision, Chen Xi wasn't sure, but Chen Deng changed his mind very quickly.

"Alright." Chen Xi was silent for a moment after hearing this, then nodded and said, "Make a map and give it to Gongyou. You two have known each other for many years, and Gongyou also served in Xuzhou. Give Gongyou all the relevant materials, and he will give you a report. Then you can build according to the report."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Shuang, who was standing next to Sun Qian, began to wonder if she could leave the area, as it sounded like he was adding more work to her schedule.

"Okay." Chen Deng nodded, indicating that he would handle the rest.

After giving instructions to Chen Deng, Chen Xi looked around and glanced at the sun, which was already slightly setting in the west. Although there should be a blizzard in Chang'an at the beginning of the year due to abnormal weather, Chen Xi felt it was necessary to expend some effort to stop the snow in Chang'an and the surrounding areas during the Grand Court Assembly.

So much so that now when you look at the sky, you can see a circle of dark clouds tightly surrounding a patch of blue sky, which looks very strange. But during the grand court assembly, what snow? Our Han Dynasty government is in charge of everything, from the sky to the earth to the air!
"Let's go, let's go in and give His Highness a gift." Liu Bei called to Chen Xi. Originally, Liu Bei should have taken Chen Xi in a quarter of an hour ago, but Chen Xi was chatting with Chen Deng, so Liu Bei was delayed. Now that they had finished chatting, Liu Bei felt that it was time to go in and give Liu Tong a gift.

On the other side, Liu Tong propped her head up and waited for the court officials to enter. Others could go out to eat elsewhere, but Weiyang Palace was Liu Tong's residence, and she ate here as well.

"Tongtong, I feel like the beef doesn't taste as good as it did before," Si Niang said casually to Liu Tong.

"Because you used to eat veal, but today is a grand assembly and everyone needs to eat the same thing, so the beef is all from oxen, and the meat isn't as tender as veal," Liu Tong explained casually. Anyway, she couldn't tell the difference, but Si Niang could.

This was because the chefs in the kitchen had played some tricks and embezzled money last time, which Chen Xi hadn't been able to detect. Well, it's hard for Chen Xi to notice this, but Si Niang managed to find the problem by focusing on the quality of the meat, the freshness of the seafood, and the taste.

Then Si Niang tore apart the kitchen and arrested a group of people.

That time, Liu Tong really couldn't taste any difference at all. He felt that they tasted almost the same and that there was no problem with the quality. But Si Niang actually tasted the difference with her own tongue.

To be honest, Liu Tong still doesn't understand how Si Niang could tell the two types of conch slices from different places after shelling them. They looked exactly the same, at least to Liu Tong, but Si Niang could tell the difference.

"And there seems to be mutton too..." Si Niang muttered softly.

"There's nothing we can do; Chen Zichuan can't produce that much royal tribute-grade mutton," Liu Tong said with a hint of sarcasm.

Liu Tong had initially been somewhat sarcastic about the royal-supply mutton that Chen Xi had created, because she genuinely couldn't distinguish between mutton from a certain region in northern Shaanxi, Tan sheep from Guanzhong, or small-tailed Han sheep, let alone the so-called top-grade mutton that Chen Xi had created. So when Chen Xi told her that this stuff cost 8,000 coins a piece, Liu Tong thought Chen Xi might be out of his mind. But Si Niang told Liu Tong that there was indeed a difference.

Although the difference isn't huge, there is definitely a difference. And just from the fact that Chen Xi said he couldn't supply so much of the royal family's special mutton, Liu Tong felt that there might indeed be a difference.

"I see," Si Niang said with some resentment.

"Never mind, I'll just order a separate banquet for you tonight," Liu Tong said with a smile. "But you really have a discerning palate. I really can't tell the difference between these things. I can tell the difference between the sheep from the Hu people and the sheep raised on the northern pastures, but I really can't tell the difference between the top-quality sheep from the northern pastures and the sheep that Zichuan brought as tribute."

"Forget it, it doesn't matter if I can't tell the difference. Let's see what big job Chen Zichuan can give me this year. I haven't seen any real money in years." Liu Tong said casually. Seeing Xin Xianying come to announce the news, he knew that the ministers had taken their seats, so he got up to go to the front hall. He also complained about Chen Xi in front of Xin Xianying, which made Xin Xianying a little embarrassed.

“Your Highness, I saw my master carrying a wooden box; it seems to be a treasure.” Xin Xianying tried her best to smile without appearing too stiff.

"Damn it, I'm not getting any money again this year. I wonder what Chen Zichuan has come up with to fool me this time. I'm going to go ask him." Liu Tong naturally used his mental talent to communicate with Chen Xi. If the distance were far, Liu Tong might need to think of other methods, but this distance...

"Lord Chen, what are you planning to use to fool me this year?" Liu Tong asked with a hint of teasing. "How about some gold notes in a wooden box?"

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