Chapter 7153 Essence

Chapter 7153 Essence
Chen Xi looked at Jia Xu quietly, and only after seeing that Jia Xu seemed somewhat uncomfortable did she ask, "Wenhe, is this all you wanted to say?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu couldn't hide his nervousness. At that moment, he was like a primary school student waiting for his exam results. He didn't know if he had done his best, but he knew that if the result was different from what he expected, someone would beat him up.

Even more unfortunate is that, despite being someone who has always been meticulous in his calculations, he was powerless to do anything about it this time and could only wait for the outcome.

"Yes, that's all." Jia Xu took a deep breath and then looked at Chen Xi.

"Okay, I understand." Chen Xi nodded, neither saying yes nor no. The only change was that her mood had improved. No matter how brutal Jia Xu's words were, Jia Xu's forceful, even commanding, approach had indeed made Chen Xi feel better.

"At least give me an answer," Jia Xu said with some concern.

At this moment, all the questions returned to their essence: no one in this world can actually do anything to Chen Xi. As long as Chen Xi is unwilling, even so-called coercion is the same. Only when Chen Xi is willing will so-called coercion be effective.

"Zhongkang, go and break Jia Wenhe's legs for me." As Chen Xi turned to get onto the carriage, he heard Jia Xu's words, his eyes narrowed slightly, and then he suddenly ordered Xu Chu.

Xu Chu was stunned for a moment, but he didn't really think about it. He cleared his mind and walked towards Jia Xu. When Jia Xu saw this, he turned around and jumped onto the carriage. Damn Chen Xi, that beast!
"Mr. Wenhe, I'm sorry, but Marquis Chen said he's going to break your legs. You'll have to make a sacrifice." Xu Chu didn't quite understand what was going on, but at times like this, it was best to keep things simple and just follow Chen Xi's orders.

"Chen Zichuan, you beast! You actually tried to break my legs!" Jia Xu mounted his horse and, without even bothering to chariot, decisively fled. Xu Chu strode over, looking like he really wanted to break Jia Xu's legs. In the end, it was Chen Xi who stopped Xu Chu, allowing Jia Xu to escape.

"You wait, I'll give you a ton of work to do later, so you can work your butt off!" Jia Xu said as he ran, delivering his final announcement like a loser. Chen Xi stood by the vehicle with his arms crossed, watching the scene with a fairly happy smile.

"Never mind, let's go back." Seeing Jia Xu run away, Chen Xi's previously depressed mood improved considerably. He greeted Xu Chu a couple of times and decided not to go to Liu Bei's side anymore.

At this moment, not only Chen Xi felt relieved, but several others who had realized that something was wrong and were paying attention to the situation also felt much more at ease and expressed their deep admiration for Jia Xu.

"Jia Wenhe, where have you been in the middle of the night?" Jia Xu drove back and saw Consort Tang waiting for him in the main hall, dressed in thick fur.

"I'm going out to meet someone. Didn't Mu Zhi tell you to rest early and not wait for me?" Jia Xu entered the warm courtyard, took off his outer cloak, and greeted Consort Tang.

Consort Tang raised her hand and gave Jia Xu a mental boost, saying, "You're over sixty and still running around in the middle of the night. Aren't you afraid of catching a cold? At your age, you should be enjoying your retirement."

"I think it's alright. Sixty years old is just the right age to strive." After being impressed by Tang Fei's spiritual talent, Jia Xu was as if he had been injected with chicken blood, and said with a bit of arrogance.

Consort Tang shook her head and had someone bring over the ginger soup she had prepared. She then forced Jia Xu to drink it, saying as she did so, "At this age, you still run around in this cold weather. Aren't you afraid of the cold? Even if you fall, do you think you're still the same as when you were thirty?"

"Shouldn't I be in my best condition at twenty? Why do you always say I'm thirty?" Jia Xu said with a casual, teasing tone as he sipped his ginger soup.

"I've never seen you when you were twenty. When I saw you, you were almost forty." Consort Tang said irritably. "Drink up, warm yourself up. In the future, don't go out in the middle of the night in the dead of winter unless you have something urgent to do. Seriously, you're already a high-ranking official, what urgent business do you have?"

"This isn't an urgent matter, but it's far more troublesome than anything urgent," Jia Xu said with a smile. "Fortunately, it had a good outcome; otherwise, it would have been a real problem."

"About Chen Zichuan?" Tang Fei asked casually.

Jia Xu nodded. "It's not about the so-called rumors, nor about those messy things, but about the fact that Zichuan seems to have lost his motivation and the human heart. He should have realized this from the beginning. He said something very true: his weakening does not mean that we have become stronger. You should know that even if he has become much weaker, he can still defeat the whole world on his own."

"So you went to persuade him?" Consort Tang asked casually. Unlike other eras, the Han Dynasty did not have the concept of empresses interfering in politics. Instead, it was the old women who ruled as regents. Everyone was used to it. Consort Tang had been a concubine of the young emperor, so she did not think there was anything wrong with asking these questions.

"I'm going to break Chen Zichuan's legs," Jia Xu said with a hint of playfulness, somewhat reminiscent of the arrogance of his youth thirty years ago.

"And then?" Tang Fei asked excitedly. This was a big deal. She was the kind of person who loved to make things worse.

"I almost got my leg broken by Chen Zichuan," Jia Xu said irritably. "But overall the result is okay. They'll still set things up, but they should still be able to do some work. There would be big problems in this era without Chen Zichuan. After this big Buddha statue is removed, many problems will erupt rapidly."

Although Consort Tang did not have the foresight of Jia Xu, as someone who had experienced the chaos of war, she knew very well who had enabled the current era to develop to this point. Therefore, she couldn't help but nod when Jia Xu mentioned Chen Xi.

"It would be good for everyone if we could persuade him to stay. If he really leaves, I'm afraid you'll all start fighting." Tang Fei said with a touch of emotion. Having seen it all, she knew very well that the Twelve Elders were actually quite eccentric in many matters. Moreover, as things have developed to this point, everyone is very powerful, and their authority overlaps. If Chen Xi were gone, it would only be a matter of time before a fight broke out.

“Yes, without Zichuan, many problems can only be solved by killing people.” Jia Xu said realistically. “Of course, it’s not that they shouldn’t have died, but that without Chen Xi’s methods, this is the only way to break the deadlock.”

"Speaking of which, when you went out, Sima Lang sent someone to deliver a visiting card, saying that he hoped to meet with you. Would you like to meet him?" Consort Tang took out a visiting card and waved it in front of Jia Xu.

"Has this guy finally realized he can't solve this problem?" Jia Xu sighed and said, "Keep it, it'll be good to meet him later."

Jia Xu wasn't very clear about what Sima Lang had done in Xinzhou before, only knowing the general outline. In the past, Jia Xu thought Li You was right, and Sima Lang deserved to be punished. It wasn't until Liu Yan went to Xinzhou that, although he was assassinated once, he learned the true situation in Xinzhou.

As a result, Sima Lang also had a frank talk with Liu Yan, and afterwards Liu Yan returned with accurate information from his investigation and told Jia Xu about it. Only then did Jia Xu know what Sima Lang had done and why Chen Xi had not dealt with Sima Lang.

Because of the situation in New South Wales, the problems have evolved beyond what they used to be; now, geopolitical and ethnic conflicts have compounded the contradictions between the central and local governments.

Moreover, considering the issue of Xinzhou from Sima Lang's perspective, when Sima Lang arrived in Xinzhou, he used deception and trickery to exchange the local people of Xinzhou with powerful families or with other local prefectures. His approach was entirely correct, and even a three-to-one exchange would not have been a problem.

From the very beginning, Sima Lang realized that the biggest problem in Xinzhou at that time was that the Thirty-Six Kingdoms were thirty-six different tribes separated by geography. Because of the Silk Road of the Han Dynasty, they had different cultures and customs and could not be regarded as a whole. As the governor of Xinzhou, if he wanted to view Xinzhou as a whole, he had to eliminate the differences in customs caused by geography.

This is what is known as changing customs and traditions, making the people of the thirty-six kingdoms a unified whole.

However, the fact that thirty-six kingdoms could form in that area shows that the geographical divisions were indeed very severe, making it very difficult to change customs and traditions.

Therefore, conventional policies could not achieve the results Sima Lang wanted, so Sima Lang used another method, namely the so-called immigration to the border regions, plus the relocation of the population of the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions.

Whether it was exchanging manpower with Han aristocratic families passing through the Western Regions, or exchanging with internal prefectures and counties, the essence was to achieve the goal of settling people on the border.

Although this behavior would result in a relatively large loss of population, Sima Lang could simply replace 90% of the local population with native Han Chinese people, and all the problems would naturally be solved. As for how to restore the population after the decline, that would depend on encouraging childbirth.

Moreover, Sima Lang himself could also gain some benefits in this exchange with the aristocratic families, making it a win-win situation. After all, the fact that Xinzhou could not manage the people of the thirty-six Western Regions did not mean that the major aristocratic families could not manage them well. With this exchange and the transfer of power, the Han aristocratic families obtained a much larger number of people who had already undergone a certain degree of Sinicization than before, while Sima Lang resolved the internal conflicts.

Therefore, if we truly consider Sima Lang's perspective, reducing the population of the entire Xinzhou to around one million, and then developing it for fifty years, the problems of Xinzhou could be completely resolved. Moreover, the vast thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions could be completely incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty. Furthermore, because of the fundamental transformation and relocation of people to strengthen the border regions, these places and their customs would be exactly the same as those of the Han Dynasty's homeland. In other words, even if dynasties changed, this region would still be part of China.

Therefore, Sima Lang was actually quite proud of what he did. Although he did have the idea of ​​seeking benefits for the Sima family, he also had some practical thoughts and the desire to realize his ideals. It was a win-win situation after all.

At the time, Sima Lang thought that a thousand years later, this place would probably erect a monument for him, since he was the first person to cultivate this place deeply and completely integrate it into the Chinese system, and he would definitely be famous for all time.

However, all of this was shattered by Li You's actions. Li You's vision for Xinzhou was completely different from Sima Lang's. Sima Lang's approach to Xinzhou was to develop and completely absorb and control it, spending decades to fully integrate it into the country. Li You, on the other hand, saw Xinzhou as a major northwestern passage, intended to carry the Han Empire's westward expansion for the next fifty years.

These two different positioning have different population requirements. Sima Lang's positioning requires one million Han Dynasty people to take root and grow here, and eventually completely consume and destroy this place, turning it into the Han Dynasty's territory. Li You's positioning is to use this place as a transit point, requiring enough cattle and horses here to shoulder the heavy responsibility of transferring power.

The latter requires a lot of labor. Even if Chen Xi could pay for it, it would still require a huge number of people. One million people is definitely not enough, especially one million native Han Chinese. Not only would the number be insufficient, but the burden would also be too heavy, leading to a possible defection or even direct resistance. After all, they are all born of parents. While other places are enjoying the benefits of national development, they are suffering. It would be strange if they didn't rebel.

Therefore, when Li You issued the central edict, all of Sima Lang's operations were disrupted. The policy, which was originally centered on eliminating the customs and culture caused by geographical factors, exploded with this order. After all, Sima Lang's initial idea was to relocate all the people of the thirty-six kingdoms and resettle Han people in the border areas. Therefore, his methods were relatively harsh.

Once everything is done, there won't be any impact. After all, the people have been transferred to the hands of the Han aristocratic families or entered the Central Plains. They will soon be assimilated and absorbed. The major aristocratic families have enough manpower to carry out this assimilation, while the local areas, with their scale, can easily transform them completely.

The work was interrupted halfway through, to the point that New South Wales was on the verge of complete collapse. The existing geopolitical conflicts and cultural clashes were further exacerbated. The promises that Sima Lang made to the Han people back then could not be completely eliminated from the local population, which further intensified the internal conflicts.

Worse still, under such circumstances, Chang'an did not allow Sima Lang to carry out a large-scale purge, which plunged the entire Xinzhou into complete chaos. Sima Lang could only barely suppress it. In other words, from the moment Li You issued that edict, the Xinzhou problem was a double-edged sword.

But if we really have to judge whether this matter is right or wrong, to be honest, both Sima Lang and Li You's actions were correct. And often, the worst thing about many policies is when local policies and central policies are both correct and contradict each other, which is really disastrous.

To be honest, when Liu Yan told Jia Xu the true situation in Xinzhou, Jia Xu had some respect for Sima Lang, who hadn't yet self-destructed, hadn't been shot by the locals, and was still able to maintain the normal operation of Xinzhou. This guy really did have some ability. If it were anyone else, they might have exploded by now. Xinzhou was indeed a volcano.

It was also because of this understanding that when Jia Xu learned that Sima Lang had come to see him with a visiting card, he thought about it and felt that it was indeed necessary to meet him. Compared to Li You's approach, Jia Xu was more in line with Sima Lang's idea of ​​completely assimilating Xinzhou. The only problem was that this approach was relatively inefficient, but at this point, it was impossible to continue to dwell on efficiency.

Given the current conflicts between the central and local governments, Jia Xu felt that Xinzhou would eventually be destroyed.

As for whether this will have any negative impact on Li You, well, it's been so many years, Li You deserves to be punched a couple of times to calm him down.

"Sima Lang's situation in Xinzhou has such a reason? I really thought it was because he did a terrible job in Xinzhou and then made peace with the major clans. It turns out there are such complicated reasons involved." Consort Tang said with some surprise after hearing Jia Xu's explanation.

"When Zichuan hadn't dealt with this matter, I actually had some doubts. After Weishuo went there, it was completely confirmed. But what I was really wondering was why Zichuan didn't stop Wenru from issuing that edict at the time," Jia Xu said with a hint of reminiscence. He didn't quite believe that Chen Xi would make a mistake on such a long-term strategy. Chen Xi was a true genius, and it was normal for him to overlook some small details, but Jia Xu had never seen Chen Xi make a mistake on a major strategic issue.

Clearly, the positioning of New State is a major strategic issue concerning the future. After all, New State is one or two million square kilometers in size, which is no smaller than the area currently occupied by Jiangdong. It is a very important strategic location, and under such circumstances, Chen Xi should not make such a mistake under any circumstances.

Of course, Jia Xu had considered that Chen Xi might have actually overlooked this matter, but in the end he dismissed the idea. The fact that Chen Xi had not dealt with Sima Lang could actually reveal something. Although Chen Xi recommended virtuous people without regard to kinship, he was not so sure that he would completely disregard the law for the sake of his own relatives!

"Perhaps there are other considerations as well," Tang Fei said after thinking for a moment. "But it doesn't matter. It's normal that we can't understand the thoughts of a big shot like Marquis Chen. I don't like guessing what other men are thinking. Come on, come inside with me!"

As they were talking, Consort Tang pulled Jia Xu up, and Jia Xu stumbled, his face showing a hint of reluctance. But as soon as a burst of spiritual energy landed on him, Jia Xu followed Consort Tang into the inner hall with a coy expression.

The author really sent it.