Chapter 7163 Tradition

Chapter 7163 Tradition
It can be said that as long as Zhuge Liang doesn't go crazy and print hundreds of billions more, and then put them all into the market, even if there are some minor problems, it won't have a significant impact.

Relying on the market's own regulatory capacity, small-scale hot money will be automatically transformed and absorbed.

"Huh? I'm only now catching up with the former Zhuge Liang?" Liu Tong was stunned for a moment, then looked at Chen Xi with some disbelief, while Chen Xi nodded.

"This shouldn't be happening. I don't think Jia Wenhe, Li Wenru, Fa Xiaozhi, and their ilk understand these things either. I'm clearly ahead of them. Even if Zhuge Liang were to go too far, he wouldn't be this obviously ahead of them." Liu Tong had already gotten out of his rut ​​and started to dwell on his own level.

"There's nothing I can do about it. It's already quite an achievement to catch up with the former Zhuge Liang. Besides, my requirement for others is that they learn on their own. But Your Highness, did you learn it on your own?" Chen Xi said with a hint of helplessness. Economics is something that you can only gain a relatively complete understanding after you've learned it by experiencing some setbacks yourself. Unless you already have the relevant knowledge, learning it by others is a waste of time.

Don't be fooled by Liu Tong's apparent knowledge of everything; he's just repeating Chen Xi's words. He hasn't grasped the essentials. If Liu Tong were to actually do something, he could easily end up ruining himself and others in the process, a stark contrast to Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang gradually understood by watching Chen Xi's actions and his gradual planning, without Chen Xi providing any specific explanations.

To reiterate, there is no doubt about Zhuge Liang's talent. As for Liu Ba Niu, he was the only one in the official history of the Three Kingdoms period who could be considered an economic genius, but he died young.

After Liu Ba died, Zhuge Liang absorbed all of Liu Ba's ideas and began to harass Wei and Wu with economic means. The 100 coins in Shu could be used to purchase supplies from Wu and Wei.

This is awesome.

Regarding military matters, Chen Xi has always felt that Zhuge Liang's military skills were not innate. In his early years, Zhuge Liang probably really wanted to be like Xiao He, but after Guan Yu and Zhang Fei died and the fire at Yiling burned down, the Shu Han dynasty had no talent reserves, so Zhuge Liang had to lead the troops himself.

During his time leading the troops, Zhuge Liang gradually mastered the skills through self-study, reaching a level where he could easily defeat even excellent generals like Sima Yi and Cao Zhen in completely unfavorable terrain, rendering them utterly incapable of open-field combat. This was truly remarkable.

Considering that Zhuge Liang was well protected under Liu Bei and did not lead troops independently, it is possible that he was self-taught after Liu Bei's death. It's just that his genius was a bit too extraordinary, and he reached the level of being invincible in his time with only a little learning.

Therefore, Chen Xi had great confidence in Zhuge Liang.

"Why didn't I learn it on my own?" Liu Tong said unhappily.

"Well, I didn't give it to Professor Kongming. Kongming learned it by observing my actions and then put it into a set of effective systems." Chen Xi said very seriously. Liu Tong gasped and finally understood the difference between himself and Zhuge Liang.

“Things learned through study, well, they’re bound to have errors,” Chen Xi said with a hint of helplessness. “It’s not that the knowledge itself is flawed, but rather that the things I’ve built have developed an inherent authoritarianism due to my expanded reputation. In other words, no one can find fault with them, which is fatal. So, mistakes are inevitable, but as long as you learn from me, you won’t find any.”

This is a reality that Chen Xi cannot avoid at present. The major families have tasted the sweetness of Chen Xi's power. Chen Xi himself has also relied on one victory after another to make the major families completely believe in Chen Xi's morality and credibility. As far as they are concerned, if Chen Xi is willing to exchange his credibility and morality for the death of his entire family, they will accept it. At least he will be remembered for all time!

Because of this approach, they have no objections to what Chen Xi proposes. They directly accept that it is correct. If they have any ideas, they can try to "improve" it themselves. Even if they cannot reach the perfect level, at least they will not lose out.

Therefore, expecting these Han aristocratic families, who have already developed a path dependency, to offer any valuable or meaningful suggestions is pure nonsense. In their minds, even if the route Chen Xi has taken is wrong, it is still more beneficial than their correct route.

Do you remember what Jia Xu said?

I don't care if you believe in yourself or not, or if you waver or not. I just want to tell you that you must continue to be the prime minister, fight hard for this era, and continue to lead everyone forward. It is obvious that even a figure like Jia Xu, who is at the pinnacle of the era, has already submitted to Chen Xi. Even if Chen Xi's stuff has problems, it is still better than ours!
So, finding fault? Why find fault? Just do it first. As for problems that might arise later, we'll deal with that when they do. The priority right now is to get Chen Xi to manifest all the power he can in reality!
It is precisely because of this line of thinking that people like Jia Xu would not care about Chen Xi's so-called mistakes at all—no matter how wrong they were, this prosperous era proved that the flaws did not overshadow the merits, and that it was the greatest correctness!

"Hahaha." Liu Tong laughed heartily upon hearing this. To be honest, it was rare to see Liu Tong so happy.

"Are you that happy?" Chen Xi said with a hint of helplessness.

"Yeah, it's really laughable to hear you say you're wrong. What exactly is wrong?" Liu Tong's smile faded, and she asked with a hint of mockery. Before Chen Xi could speak, she continued, "Is a mistake that others can't detect and that you don't even know about?"

"Those are real errors, they just can't be detected," Chen Xi said with a hint of weariness. He knew best whether there were any mistakes in the things he had created. After all, no matter how much he optimized the system by combining it with the productivity of the Han Dynasty, it could not be completely suitable for this era. Chen Xi's understanding of the current situation was based on his own perception.

The problem is that Chen Xi is well aware that his understanding of this era is flawed. What's worse, since he was born into this era, he has been constantly changing the environment, so even if he excludes his own true situation, he is not entirely sure what it is like.

In other words, there are bound to be errors and omissions, but Chen Xi himself cannot check them. Others who want to check them will engage in deep thinking in the face of Chen Xi's success, and thus arrive at an explosive conclusion, namely, "I am also worthy to check the achievements left by Marquis Chen."
This is very uncomfortable; it directly puts you in a state of stepping on your right foot with your left and spiraling upwards.

"If there are no errors or omissions that can be detected and have no impact, then they don't exist." Liu Tong waved his hand, feeling that Chen Xi was too careless and always thinking about these trivial matters. He really needed to be given more responsibilities.

"Actually, it's not that it doesn't exist. How should I put it? I remember telling you a story. There was a wicked son in the Xiangli family who built a machine that would stop working every day at noon. When people asked the Xiangli family how to solve this, the Xiangli family said, 'Give the machine an offering, kowtow twice, and then eat the offering.' That will fix it." Chen Xi told this story with his eyes slanted.

"And after doing that, the machine actually worked again." Chen Xi said speechlessly. "So the people who used this thing afterward, although they didn't understand why they had to do it that way, all did it the same way, and things were peaceful until one day, Xiang Liyuan passed by, discovered the situation, replaced a screw, and sealed the breach in the core area of ​​the machine that could be seen at noon. After that, there was no need to do it like that anymore."

Liu Tong seemed to be deep in thought upon hearing this.

“Well, there are many ways to solve a problem. Knowing how but not why is actually very dangerous. Although it works, what if new problems arise later? My current framework definitely has problems, but because it exists, these problems are not problems. They will think it's just a given.” Chen Xi spread his hands, indicating that he was in the same situation. Although those people didn't understand why, they also felt that they didn't need to understand. As long as it worked, that was enough. But what about later?

"So Kongming is very important. Kongming is the successor who can point out exactly where I went wrong and explain to me why I was wrong. No one else can do this." Chen Xi said helplessly, "So the future Kongming will definitely be the prime minister. There is no other candidate."

“Alright, I’ll let A Dou go over and get to know Kongming better.” Liu Tong waved his hand, feeling that Chen Xi’s words made sense. After all, if Zhuge Liang could understand these things, then there was really nothing to see in the next era; they could just follow Zhuge Liang.

"Alright, let A Dou and Kong Ming get to know each other better. They might get along quite well." Chen Xi nodded in agreement, and then Liu Tong started giving A Dou orders right in front of Chen Xi.

After all, A Dou is now the Crown Prince, on par with the Prince of Jin. He's no longer the Prince of Jin's heir apparent. Haha, only the Emperor can give such arbitrary orders.

"Speaking of which, who is that Roman next to Zhuge Liang?" Liu Tong didn't pay much attention to Cyprian, so he asked curiously when he saw Zhuge Liang and Cyprian together.

“Old Yuan’s future domineering father, Cyprian.” Chen Xi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and then gave his answer. Liu Tong almost burst out laughing when he heard this. He could only pick up his teacup and pretend to drink tea. What did Chen Xi mean by “Old Yuan’s domineering father”?

"Don't you believe me? That's definitely the Yuan family's adopted father." Chen Xi saw Liu Tong's expression and knew that Liu Tong didn't believe him. But to be fair, Cyprian being the Yuan family's adopted father was really saving the Yuan family. It ensured that the Yuan family wouldn't be usurped by the Deng family, and it also ensured that Rome definitely couldn't erode the Yuan family.

If Cyprian were truly willing to lend the Yuan family a hand, he might be able to gradually gain the acceptance of the Yuan family's legitimacy among the European barbarians.

After all, this was Cyprian. He might not be good at other things, but when it came to operational structures, the Roman Empire's people proved Cyprian's correctness with their own lives, and Christianity, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and so on, with their own prosperity. So there's not much to say.

"Are you kidding me?" Liu Tong looked at Chen Xi with a somewhat strange expression.

"What a joke. Right now, if you remove me from the entire court and put everyone else together to develop, under the same conditions, the only one who can really compete with Kongming is probably Cyprian. The others will basically be crushed." Chen Xi glanced in Cyprian's direction. "But it's all about development and organizational structure. If it really comes down to a fight, he'll just be a nobody."

Yang Hu was a man without hands, but at least he recognized this reality. He then focused all his efforts on strategy, maximizing his strengths and creating a strategic manual that could be repeatedly copied and used to unify the country from north to south. With this skill, Yang Hu was steadily enshrined in the Temple of Martial Arts. He can be considered a typical example of playing to one's strengths and avoiding one's weaknesses.

Cyprian, on the other hand, also lacks hands, but he is completely unaware of this reality; he's a complete idiot with a huge addiction to hand-hands.

To put it simply, any one of these people in the court could easily defeat Cyprian in a fight. Of course, if we're talking about eloquence or things like war games, not many could beat Cyprian, since he's a true master of organization.

But once on the battlefield, Cyprian's micro-management skills are phenomenal. With a combat power of 10,000, he can take down 9900 on his own, which is beyond words.

"Wow, that's impressive." Liu Tong glanced at Cyprian, trying to remember his face. After all, one should be wary of such a remarkable person.

“Yes, he’s that powerful. The Yuan family will definitely have to kowtow to him a couple of times in the future.” Chen Xi nodded. “But if we adopt his system, we will have to inherit his lineage. The Yuan family’s imperial system will probably never be possible in this lifetime.”

Liu Tong tilted her head, puzzled. But the abolition of the imperial system was just right for her Liu family, so she wanted to find out more. However, Chen Xi stopped her, and she could only watch Cyprian and Zhuge Liang's conversation.

For Chen Xi, it wasn't a good idea to let Liu Tong come into contact with Cyprian, because Cyprian was not only a master of organizational operations, but also a master of studying humanities.

Liu Tong is somewhat restless, and if he were to truly believe in Cyprian's teachings, it would be a problem. Some things, once learned for the first time, are instinctively considered to be correct principles, and it would be very difficult to change them later. Therefore, Chen Xi felt that it was better to avoid letting Liu Tong come into contact with Cyprian unless absolutely necessary.

"Is he harmful to me?" Liu Tong didn't doubt Chen Xi's intentions. Instead, she realized what he meant in an instant and asked directly.

"It's not exactly harmful, but it might have some inappropriate effects on you. I'm not sure if it's good or bad, so it's better to avoid contact with him." Chen Xi thought for a moment and decided to be honest. Liu Tong's curiosity could be quite abstract at times, so it was better to be direct.

"Oh, never mind then. Just go do what you need to do." Upon hearing this, Liu Tong abandoned his idea of ​​chatting with Cyprian, glanced at Chen Xi, and sent him off to handle serious matters.

"It's nothing much. There are several branch venues, each with its own host. It wouldn't be good for me to go over there." Chen Xi shook his head and said, "The only thing that might need to be debated is that both sides are smart people, and even Zhou Bapi, who is shameless, is selective about who he's dealing with. He still has to give Gongtai face."

Upon hearing this, Liu Tong raised an eyebrow, somewhat speechless as he recalled the origin of the name "Zhou Bapi" (a notorious skinflint).

"Can I ask something that's a bit taboo?" Liu Tong asked after hesitating for a moment when Chen Xi mentioned Chen Gong, remembering something herself. He didn't shoo Chen Xi away to play elsewhere.

"What's wrong? How is Cao Sikong doing now?" Chen Xi asked, following Liu Tong's lead.

"I'm not very familiar with Cao Sikong, but speaking of which, how is Cao Sikong doing?" Liu Tong retorted naturally, but after half of the rebuttal, he still remembered to ask about Cao Sikong.

“They’re probably about to become creatures on the inner edge of the world. Even with Gongtai’s isolation of Xuanxiang, they can’t completely create a stable sanctuary on the inner edge of the world,” Chen Xi said after thinking for a moment.

Liu Tong thought for a moment and roughly understood what was going on, then got down to business, "The Bingzhou faction has merged with General Zhao, so what will happen to their original subordinates?"

"Ah, even Her Highness the Princess has realized it," Chen Xi replied with a hint of disappointment.

"So it really is what I thought," Liu Tong said with a heavy tone. "Even though life is so much better now than before, we're still more dissatisfied. Sigh."

Chen Xi did not answer. He had the answer in his heart, but he couldn't say it.

"Someone like you didn't even lend them a hand?" Liu Tong asked with a puzzled look.

"Well, friendships are precious, but sometimes, a decade or more of accumulation can be wiped out in just a few minutes." Chen Xiping's calm expression carried a hint of helplessness. "I've done all I can to help. The rest is up to them to see if they can come to their senses."

“This isn’t like you, Lord Chen.” Liu Tong glanced in Zhou Yu’s direction. “Zhou Gongjin, you’ve pulled him several times already.”

“That’s because he hasn’t crossed the line and has always been useful,” Chen Xi said frankly. “I’m willing to give everyone some face out of consideration for our past relationship, but that doesn’t mean I’ll ignore their mistakes, especially those who repeatedly fail to correct their ways and have crossed the line.”

"Is it that serious?" Liu Tong raised an eyebrow, finally confirming the severity of the situation from Chen Xi's words, which made her feel somewhat incredulous.

"More or less." Chen Xi glanced in Liu Bei's direction. Since Liu Bei went there in person, it shouldn't be too serious. At the very least, if it's recorded in history books, it should be a positive evaluation. To be honest, this is the most respectable thing that can be achieved.

　Lying in bed

　　(End of this chapter)