Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7127 Decision-Making Power

It wasn't just wild speculation that Liu Tong was thinking. Rather, the events of the past few years had given him a certain understanding of the extent of the Han family's mental instability. If they could scheme against Lu Su like that, was it possible that they would go so far as to scheme against him?

To be honest, Liu Tong previously thought it was unlikely, but considering the Lu Su incident and the still unresolved issue of Wu Yuan's son, Liu Tong felt that those lunatics might actually be plotting against him.

To be honest, there was some subtle criticism regarding Liu Shan and Chen Qian's lack of spiritual talent. Although Chen Xi had also said that having spiritual talent was merely a threshold for self-discovery, and not having it did not mean being useless, many things should be viewed from two perspectives.

However, given the current situation, the Han aristocratic families are indeed superstitious about those who possess spiritual talents.

Of course, it's understandable for Liu Tong, who also possesses the same spiritual talent, or even a suspected monarchical talent. Having spiritual talent at least provides a safety net, representing stability.

Given the current situation, with the expansion of the various states and the consolidation and outward spread of the Han cultural sphere, the Han aristocratic families do indeed need a capable and far-sighted monarch. Compared to Liu Shan, whose various stats are not visible and whose true abilities are unknown, those with spiritual talents at least have their stats revealed. Therefore, even if it's just for the sake of stability, this group might really take a gamble.

Furthermore, Liu Tong has realized that his operations over the past seven years have revealed some of his secrets, and the shrewd people in the Han family should have realized that Liu Tong actually cares about certain things. As the saying goes, as long as you have an obsession, there will definitely be loopholes.

When Liu Tong first ascended the throne, he was in a state of inaction, and no one could see his problems. At that time, Liu Tong was completely indifferent, thinking, "Whatever, if it doesn't work out, just depose me. Anyway, I'm just a figurehead, and I'll fall sooner or later."

However, as Chen Xi took control of Chang'an, Liu Tong gradually realized the changes of the times and gained some power, enabling him to overturn the verdicts of what happened back then, or to put it more bluntly, not to overturn the verdicts, but to smear each other. Liu Tong gradually developed his own ideas about this position and began to officially take action.

It was from this point on that Liu Tong gradually began to resemble an emperor, rather than the lazy bum he had been before. But it was also from this point that Liu Tong began to reveal his true colors—other things didn't matter, but everyone had to share the blame for the past mistakes. The emperor couldn't be a useless man, and all the ministers had to be capable!
Liu Tong's bottom line is laid bare: everyone must agree that "a ruler who brings about the downfall of a country appears wise, and a minister who brings about the downfall of a country appears loyal." In other words, if you people think my father is useless, then you must admit that you yourselves are useless, or to put it more bluntly, that you don't take the world seriously either.

What about the eight dragons of the Xun family, or even the three rulers of the Chen family, or the four generations of three dukes of the Yuan and Yang families? Under this logic of national subjugation, none of you can be loyal ministers or virtuous officials. You cannot pin the blame on my father alone. You absolutely cannot be more than 99% of my father's worth; you are infinitely close to zero!
So Liu Tong has been entangled in this matter. Now, it's practically a public issue. The major families and former court officials have already acknowledged it, though they've only admitted to 30% of the blame. The remaining 70% still rests on Liu Hong's shoulders.

To be honest, if the major families had recognized this level of understanding and discussed it openly when Liu Tong first started to entangle himself with this matter after ascending the throne, Liu Tong would have had little to refute and would have simply accepted it. However, Liu Tong spent seven years, entangled himself with this matter for a full seven years, and only then did he achieve this result. His anger was rising, so of course he would continue to entangle himself with it.

But if things get any more complicated, it's not something Liu Tong can do on his own. Even if Liu Tong has a strong sense of righteousness, sits on the throne, has intellectual talent, and has enough power, it's not so easy to sort out the grudges and affections of the previous generation and to assign blame for past events.

Because all history, when modern people try to understand it, represents a certain political significance, and also represents the status of the person in charge of understanding it in the present day.

The aristocratic families admitted to 30% of the blame, not because Liu Hong was their former ruler, but because Liu Tong was now the emperor and posed a real threat to them, and because Liu Tong was Liu Hong's daughter, and the other party had been harassing them about this matter. So, they made concessions for the sake of the bigger picture.

But this is the only concession they can make; any further concessions are impossible. In the eyes of the Han aristocratic families, Liu Tong is only worth this much; a 50/50 split is impossible, and a 70/30 split is out of the question.

This infuriated Liu Tong, but the longer he sat in that position and the more he learned from Chen Xi, the more he understood why Chen Xi said that the power to determine history and the final interpretation of history are determined by the contemporary rulers.

To put it bluntly, isn't all history a reflection of the present, and isn't the process of compiling all history itself a way of exposing one's own shortcomings?

Because the process of compiling history reveals the compiler's stance and attitude, their evaluations and statements actually expose their true thoughts.

The problem is that when compiling history, we often need to take into account the current situation, and it is precisely because of this consideration that we end up writing history superficially but present reality in reality.

So after several years of struggle, Liu Tong realized that the current situation was the limit. If the final verdict were to be reached in the next stage, and Chen Xi started to have people organize the writing of official history, then the 30/70 division of the Lingdi Dynasty would be recorded on paper.

This is a result that Liu Tong cannot overturn at present, unless the next emperor sitting on the throne still has the sinful bloodline of Emperor Ling flowing through his veins. Only in this way can there be a neutral and objective evaluation.

When Liu Tong went mad, he had actually thought about it, but this idea was purely a conclusion he came to after failing to compete with the Han aristocratic family and going completely insane. It was precisely because he was a smart person that he was able to come up with the answer. And it was precisely because he was a smart person that Liu Tong quickly realized that those bastards in the Han aristocratic family had been entangled in this matter, and it was possible that they themselves had the idea of ​​pushing things in this direction.

The idea only flashed through Liu Tong's mind at the time, but everything that happened afterward, such as the Lu Su case and the rumors about Wu Yuan's son, made Liu Tong much more cautious.

After all, she wasn't stupid. Especially after sitting on the throne for ten years, she had her own views and understanding of the world, and a very accurate perspective on the unscrupulousness of aristocratic families. She even deliberately brought up Jia Xu's spiritual talent to analyze this possibility.

The final conclusion is that for the Han aristocratic families, this behavior was like throwing a coin to a pie – if it succeeded, great; if it didn't, it wouldn't be a failure. In any case, it was just a preliminary move, to be played first and see if it could be used later. Who knows, there might be an opportunity in the future, right?

This is why, after the eighth year of Yuanfeng, when Liu Tong met Chen Xi, he was no longer as casual as before, but instead brought a full group of people with him. This was to avoid him actually going crazy and saying something he shouldn't have, which would give the Han aristocratic family a handle to use against him, and if they actually carried out the plan, it would be fatal.

There are very few people in this world who can shake Liu Shan's position. Even though Wu Yuan has given birth to a son who is destined to have spiritual talent, as long as Chen Xi and Liu Bei stand behind Liu Shan, there will be no problem. But what if Chen Xi and Liu Tong have a son?

That would absolutely shake Liu Shan's position, and even if the Han aristocratic families wanted to cause trouble, they would choose this child, regardless of gender. After all, with Liu Tong as a precedent, everything else would be easier to handle.

As for the fact that, theoretically, two rational enough guys shouldn't be in this situation, but reality is sometimes illogical. Besides, Liu Tong isn't completely without thoughts. He's seen many men in the world, and Chen Xi is the one who has truly impressed him the most.

Even though Chen Xi has many strange quirks, looking at the Han Dynasty, these quirks are not quirks. Moreover, Liu Tong sees no problem with Chen Xi's appearance, demeanor, or personality.

Therefore, once a potential hazard is discovered, it should be eliminated as soon as possible to avoid being ultimately harmed!

Of course, Liu Tong wouldn't tell Si Niang these things, since she really liked Si Niang. The Liu family might have a genetic predisposition to having both sexes, and the Han family knew this. They had no doubt that Liu Tong liked women, but they wouldn't assume that Liu Tong didn't like men just because he liked women, which was quite interesting.

While Liu Tong was having the Imperial Academy begin drafting the imperial edict, Qu Qi had already led a large group of people to the greenhouse in Shanglin Garden. Qu Qi had planted a lot of things there, but most of them were experimental, and there weren't many truly mature crops.

"Oh, this is some kind of yellow mushroom, right?" Cui Lin followed into the greenhouse and asked with some curiosity about the mushrooms in a small greenhouse.

"Yes, this is a yellow mushroom. It's an edible fungus with a very high yield and a relatively short growth cycle. It tastes pretty good and is suitable for frying, stir-frying, and deep-frying. But the only problem is that it doesn't keep you full at all," Cookie said, glancing at it and nodding.

He got this stuff from his apprentice. When Annaus sent a letter to Cookie, he also sent Cookie some Roman crops, and even gave Cookie some of his own high-yield crops. Cookie improved them after getting them, but as I said before, mushrooms are not really suitable for human consumption.

Mushrooms are indeed delicious, but humans can absorb very little nutrition from them, so for humans, mushrooms are just another food.

"High yield, good taste, short growth cycle, that's good. We'll study it later and give some to the garden." Wei Kai replied with a smile. He didn't really care whether this stuff could keep him full or not. The Caucasus region where his family lived was basically free from disasters. It was an intermontane basin and an alluvial plain. Apart from the difficulty of development and expansion, everything else was very good.

"It's up to you. If you need any of these mature products, I'll provide you with seeds and teach you how to grow them," Cookie said calmly. Cookie would never keep her creations to herself if they could be helpful to others.

"This is the latest rice variety. After breeding, from transplanting to harvest, it should be completed in about seventy days if there aren't too many problems with water, fertilizer, and sunlight. However, its traits are not very stable yet and further research is needed." Cookie pointed to the seedlings in the greenhouse next to her and explained that this was the latest version of the rice variety used to save lives.

"Damn, this is good, this is good." Yang Xin's eyes lit up. His family had been nearly killed by locusts. Although they managed to survive by replanting rice, they hadn't built a greenhouse for the 102 rice before, so they had to start from scratch with breeding. It took about three and a half months in total. By the time they finally harvested, it was almost winter, which was terrible.

Of course, after this ordeal, all the major families built breeding greenhouses for 102 rice this year. After all, with this, when it is really necessary to replant 102 rice, they only need to transplant it and it can be harvested in 88 days. And time is life, especially when there is a shortage of food.

But now that more than seventy days have passed, of course we need to release a new version, it's a lifesaver!
"So, they also breed in greenhouses and then move them out?" Yuan Huan asked with some curiosity. "How long does greenhouse breeding take? What's the yield like?"

Look at this group of people, they're all focused on the length of time and the yield, not a single one of them asked about the taste. After all, everyone knows that if it's a high-yield, short-cycle crop, don't expect it to taste good.

“The greenhouse breeding also takes more than ten days, and the total cycle is ninety days, which is shorter than before, but the yield is lower than the previous 102 rice. Of course, these still need to be optimized later.” Qu Qi explained, and everyone nodded in agreement. Although the yield was lower, considering that the cycle was shortened so much, everyone present felt that it was still necessary to make some preparations.

"This is the radish I grew." Cookie led a group of people into another greenhouse. Seeing the radish with big leaves, everyone present smiled. Radish leaves are edible. As for whether they taste bad, there are things that taste worse than tree bark, grass roots, and clay.

Are you kidding me? Radish leaves are vegetables too. If you really find them unpalatable, with salt prices so low right now, you can simply wash the radish leaves and make them into pickles!

Cookie casually plucked one out. The bulbous root underneath wasn't very big, not even the size of a fist. But considering that this thing only needed twenty-five days to grow to this size, everyone present was quite satisfied. It only took twenty-odd days to grow to this size, what more could you ask for?

"This is the experimental field for supplemental sunlight. It will grow to this size in about fifteen days." Cookie led a group of people to another experimental field with supplemental lighting. "The other side is the control group. You can clearly see that the ones here are growing much better than the ones there. The only drawback is that these supplemental lights are really expensive. I had someone remove them from Weiyang Palace."

Chen Xi, who was stealing vegetables in a relatively secluded spot, was somewhat speechless upon hearing this. No wonder the Shaofu (Ministerial Office) spent a large sum of money on etching lamps for Weiyang Palace a while ago; it turns out that you took away the original lamps.

However, this thought only crossed Chen Xi's mind briefly before she dismissed it and continued searching for the vegetables she needed in Cookie's garden. In the dead of winter, fresh vegetables were hard to find, even with greenhouses. In reality, supply was not easy.

Did you notice that there weren't many vegetables at the banquets held by the Huangfu and Kou families today? Well, these days, greenhouses aren't common.

"It seems that the thing I cobbled together before is still somewhat useful." Wan Zhen said with a smile to the men around him. The men around him all cupped their hands in congratulations. Some of those who were familiar with Wan Zhen, such as Geng Ji, had already invited Wan Zhen to build a few thunderclap platforms for his family's fields when he had time.

Upon hearing this, Wan Zhen cursed and said that he would bring people to repair it when spring came. After all, they were all from the lineage of the founding marquises, and with Emperor Guangwu's miraculous actions, there were not many founding marquises left who had survived to this day. So, as one of his own, Wan Zhen felt that he should help them.

Incidentally, Geng Ji and Kou Feng are actually cousins, because Kou Feng's grandmother and Geng Ji's grandmother were sisters. In other words, Geng Ji should call the Grand Princess of Yiyang his great-aunt. This is also why Geng Ji brought such a generous gift to Kou Feng's wedding.

However, both families now have only one son per line, so there's not much to say. Geng Ji is even planning to go to the Kou family to freeload. Kou Feng said he would accept anyone who came, as long as the Geng family could bring people over, his family would never object. Incidentally, this is also the reason why the Grand Princess of Yiyang was able to get that secret treasure from the Geng family.

From a certain perspective, the two companies are now considered one family.

As for what Geng Ji and Wan Zhen said about this, they actually had the idea of ​​bringing a part of the Wan family to Kunwu Kingdom, since everyone knew what a desolate and harsh place the Pamir Mountains were.

The area where the Kou family lived was truly excellent. As the foundation of the later Zhu Luo Empire, Kunwu Kingdom had quite good indicators in all aspects. In addition, all three families were descendants of the founding marquises and were in a state of population decline, so they should stick together.

With this in mind, Geng Ji thought that they could try to bring Wan Zhen to their Kou family. Even if they couldn't bring the entire Wan family over, bringing Wan Zhen would be fine, right? After all, there are two people in the Wan family this generation, unlike their Kou and Geng families, who have no one to help them even if they want to split up.

As for whether it will work out or not, it doesn't matter. It would be best if it worked out, but it wouldn't be a loss if it didn't. It's just a matter of a few words anyway. Besides, Wan Zhen is a person with spiritual talent, and he is very clear-headed. If he really doesn't want to, can he be persuaded by them?
Essentially, Geng Ji believed that his and Kou Feng's actions merely provided Wan Zhen with a new option; the decision was not theirs to make!

If someone has an idea and sees the potential benefits, they might be motivated to push things forward.