Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7225 Where is Right or Wrong?

Titles, fiefs, and even posthumous honors will all be available. The only difference is whether you receive them while you are alive or after you die, and your descendants receive them. For future generations, this may make a big difference, but in this era, there is actually no real difference.

When the war in Jiangdong reached the point where every household was dressed in mourning, they ultimately won. Not a single person cursed Sun Ce or Zhou Yu. Of course, that was before; later, a bunch of Jiangdong people cursed Zhou Yu for being inhuman.

The reason why the people of Jiangdong later criticized Zhou Yu was mainly because Zhou Yu's method of exposing others was indeed somewhat abstract. Even Chen Xi felt that Zhou Yu was inhuman and morally despicable. However, despite the criticism, when something really happened, the people of Jiangdong would naturally unite around Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. They were very clear about which side to choose.

They criticize Zhou Yu because he stripped them of their benefits, but if they don't work with Zhou Yu, they won't get any benefits at all.

It is painful to die in war, but what is even more painful is to win a war, lose countless lives, and then have your spoils stolen. The latter pain is a thousand times greater than the former!
In reality, for all soldiers of this era and even in the future, from the moment they become soldiers, they must be prepared to die in battle. This is inevitable. A mature political system should not aim to ensure that no soldier dies, but rather to resolve the affairs of officers and soldiers after their deaths as much as possible.

Sun Ce did a great job in Jiangdong. Whether it was a high-ranking family or a humble one, everyone was dressed in mourning during the naval battles. However, after Serian fell, all the survivors, after receiving their titles, felt that Sun Ce was indeed a wise ruler of Jiangdong and was truly magnanimous. He didn't even deduct a single copper coin from the rewards for the fallen soldiers!

As far as Chen Xi was concerned, if Sun Ce and Zhou Yu could do it, how could he not? It was just a matter of bestowing titles, rewards, and posthumous honors, right? No problem. From day one, I, Chen Xi, had never considered withholding anything. Whether someone lived or died, as long as they had made contributions, they would be recorded.

The only regret is that these people once followed him, and he has these people in his memories. Most importantly, among that large group of people, some people really shouldn't have died.

"You're sometimes weak, and sometimes very resolute," Liu Tong said with a hint of peculiarity after hearing Chen Xi's words.

"Well, I'm weak because I want to protect too many things, and I'm resolute because I've realized that I can't protect them. Even if I do protect them this time, do you think they'll still act this way?" Chen Xi asked very seriously.

Yes, absolutely!
Because if they hadn't been beaten, those people wouldn't have realized what they did wrong and what it means for pride to lead to defeat. Now they've seen it all. If they had been even slightly more normal, things wouldn't have turned out this way!

The answer was given, the backup plan was provided, prior notice was given, and preparations were made during the event, but the final outcome remained unchanged. What could Chen Xi do? Chen Xi was the steward of this country, not the steward of a certain group of people. If things were really done according to that group's ideas, even splitting the Han Dynasty might not be enough to satisfy them!
It's true that desire and ambition are driving forces, but you can't completely indulge them. The most important thing about being human is being able to control these things.

Chen Xi hoped that everyone could have a peaceful and stable end, and enjoy the benefits that were rightfully theirs. In fact, Chen Xi had long ago planned for everyone to sit in a row and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Chen Xi sincerely believed that the great cause he had created could provide enough resources to feed these people.

Chen Xi said with a clear conscience that he had never mistreated anyone over the years. All the civil and military officers who followed Liu Bei and Chen Xi received better things than the founding nobles recorded in history.

But what good is it? It's useless. Chen Xi doesn't even know what they suspect.

To put it bluntly, were you all blind during the process of establishing the Han dynasty? What did I, Chen Xi, do that you couldn't see? Do you have any doubts about my credibility or my character? Back then, when we only occupied Qingzhou, Taishan, and Xuzhou and had not yet established our rule, everyone was of one mind and worked together. But as soon as the battle was over, problems started to arise.

If Chen Xi hadn't prepared that ten-foot-long world map in advance, they would have already started to rank people by seniority and consider where they should sit!

What now?
The Situ case caught Chen Xi off guard. At the time, Chen Xi didn't realize it, but now that more than two or three years have passed, Chen Xi has adjusted and there are still many things he doesn't know.
Isn't it just that you want to use a different allocation method?
Isn't it just the same old stuff that everyone inevitably goes through in the first thirty years after the founding of a nation?

The only difference is that the Han Dynasty is currently the world's largest country, and Chen Xi has created everything that far exceeds the imagination of the times, to the point that he can suppress everything with seemingly reasonable rules.

But what happens after that?

The simplest point is this: even if Zhao Yun were to relinquish his title and fiefdom, what about his descendants? Would Zhao Tong and Zhao Guang accept this reality? Would Zhao Yun's wife accept it? No!
Even Li Tiao had to face all of this. His generation might have had firm beliefs and had experienced life-and-death trials, so they were able to let go of worldly possessions. But they could not abandon their offspring. Li Tiao absolutely did not want his offspring to suffer like he did in his childhood and youth, struggling for a bite to eat.

What Li Tiao considers correct is reading, learning, practicing martial arts, and following the right path. In Chen Xi's view, this is correct, and even a matter of course.

After the fates of Yu Qian and Zhang Juzheng, most of the civil officials in the Ming Dynasty became complacent and tried to get by. They thought, "They were so dedicated to protecting the Ming Dynasty, yet they still ended up like this. How dare someone like me try to take advantage of those gods? Forget it, I'll just live my life as a monk and ring the bell."

What a joke! Any mature organization needs to be efficient. Once this is done, it won't be long before those elites who are lingering outside the organization and have no way to serve their country will find a suitable organization on their own and start a new cycle.

Therefore, preferential treatment is necessary. It reflects the human touch of an organization and is a realistic portrayal of the organization's continuity. Efficiency must also be considered, as it is an important support for an organization to maintain itself and not be overthrown.

Both aspects must be considered in order for a system to continue stably.

The most real problem facing Chen Xi now is that those who have followed him all the way and should have realized long ago that everything he arranged was the most stable and long-term solution, yet they insist on choosing what they believe to be the best way.

Then, because each side's perceived best approach clashes with the other, internal conflict is exposed.

"Your Highness, there are some things that your understanding is actually flawed." Chen Xi had probably been holding it in for too long. Besides being able to confide in Liu Bei, there were still some things that Liu Bei didn't understand. Now that this topic came up, Chen Xi couldn't help but complain to Liu Tong.

"What deviation?" Liu Tong asked, puzzled.

"Perhaps in your understanding, the commotion on the Ganges is because no one is speaking up for them, and the Ganges officers haven't received what they're entitled to. If everyone were like Wenru, with each strategist making their own arrangements, this wouldn't have happened at all, right?" Chen Xi said in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Liu Tong's expression became somewhat subtle, but since Chen Xi wasn't present, Liu Tong quickly composed himself. In Liu Tong's view, this was actually a very big matter, but he had simply chosen not to get involved.

Li You had been receiving money from Chen Xi to subsidize the people of Liangzhou, regardless of where they were. As long as they were nominally registered in the Yongliang military service, Li You provided subsidies to the soldiers who had not yet died. This is why Zhang Huang, Guang Yuan, and their group have been able to survive until now.

Although they were under Cao Cao's command, their military service was registered in Yongliang. After Li You obtained the gold notes from Chen Xi, he would make up for the back pay based on the length of their military service and the duration of their unpaid wages.

This is amazing. It basically solved all the problems of the veterans of Yongliang. Moreover, Li You has been continuously granting fiefdoms to the veterans of Yongliang. This is also why, to this day, Cao Cao and the Three Fools have been assassinated, but Li You has not been assassinated.

The veterans of Yongliang really didn't consider the system bug that Li You was Li Ru. Even among local elites like Bao Chu, it was difficult to associate Li You with Li Ru, because Li Ru was a scoundrel, while Li You actually paid salaries, subsidies, and provided compensation for land and fiefdoms.

For a ninth-rank noble title, as long as you find Li You through connections and have a clear household registration and background, Li You will issue you a fiefdom order on the spot after checking and finding no problems.

He's the kind of person who openly does shady things, but the matter itself is semi-public. If others have concerns, Li You has absolutely no concerns in this regard.

The Pamir Mountains and Tulan Grassland are so vast, if you want to go, we'll issue a land grant on the spot.

Although many local veterans who had been defeated by the Iron Cavalry were dissatisfied with going to the Tulan Grassland and staying with the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, Li You said that his authority only allowed him to sign contracts for this place. If they wanted to sign contracts for other places, they would have to go through the procedures, and he couldn't make the decision on their own. So many of them who didn't have a big grudge went to Tulan.

Liu Ye was very clear about this process, because theoretically, every fiefdom order had to go through Liu Ye. There were fiefdom orders that could bypass Liu Ye, but Li You definitely couldn't produce one.

Therefore, Liu Ye knew very well what Li You had been doing in the past few years, and since Liu Ye knew, Liu Tong naturally knew as well.

"It seems you are well aware of what Wenru did," Chen Xi said with a light laugh.

"Lord Chen, what do you think of what that person did?" Liu Tong asked seriously. She didn't have a good impression of Li You, but for the sake of the overall situation, she couldn't attack Li You first. In addition, Li You was Chen Xi's black glove and not so easy to deal with. Therefore, Liu Tong's attitude towards Li You was always to keep her distance. This time, she took the initiative to ask.

"In my opinion, Wenru's actions were within the scope of his authority," Chen Xi said calmly. "Others also wanted to do the same, but they just weren't as open about it."

"Is this also within the scope of authority?" Liu Tong asked after a moment of silence.

“Because the Tulan Grassland is meant to be divided up, as long as the necessary key points are in the right hands, the rest—whose land it is or not—is not important. To me, it doesn’t matter who eats it as long as the meat is in the pot. Wenru has issued quite a few fiefdom decrees; in fact, it should be said that the number he issued is second only to Duke Xuande. But no matter how many Wenru issued, he did not violate a single rule,” Chen Xi said with a touch of solemnity.

“Ninth-rank nobility.” Liu Tong instantly grasped the crux of the problem.

“Yes, as long as you don’t cross that line, the number of contracts you sign or the number you sign actually doesn’t matter.” Chen Xi squinted, quite satisfied with Liu Tong’s current judgment.

“Merit is merit. Once you have the merit, everything else is just trivial.” Chen Xi added, “The biggest loophole that Wen Ru really exploited was not this, but that he took a portion of the subsidies that should have been given to the veterans of Yongliang from me and used it for other things.”

"This problem isn't that serious for Imperial Censor Li," Liu Tong said in a muffled voice, clearly dissatisfied. Right and wrong are not worth discussing at this level; only crimes are worth discussing. And what Li You did doesn't qualify as a crime, so there's nothing that can be done about it.

“It’s not serious, but this is actually a pretext, a pretext similar to what’s happening on the Ganges right now.” Chen Xi’s voice boomed in Liu Tong’s ears like thunder. She had thought of all sorts of answers, but she had never considered this one.

"Has Li Wenru gone mad?" Liu Tong asked with difficulty.

“He’s not crazy. On the contrary, he’s very rational. If the probing on the Ganges side was mostly unconscious behavior, then Wenru’s side was a very clear and proactive probing.” Chen Xi said with his eyes half closed, “Whenever I make a move to stop Wenru, then Wenru can use a clear line to strangle the person he wants to kill.”

“What Wenru is doing is essentially making his power tangible and real, or in other words, monetizing his power. Wenru is just trying to use this behavior to determine where the deadline is so that he can use that deadline to deal with the people he needs to deal with. After all, the people in this world who are best at this kind of operation are not those people on the front lines right now,” Chen Xi said with a hint of weariness.

"Wait a minute, I'm going to the National Academy right now. I need to see you explain it to me." Liu Tong stood up abruptly, feeling that this kind of thing couldn't be explained by Chen Xi remotely; he had to be in front of Chen Xi to understand it.

"Okay, then come over. I also have some things to explain, and the people who are supposed to come will be here soon." After hearing Liu Tong's words, Chen Xi thought for a moment and then asked Liu Tong to come to the government office. He was not in the mood to work at the moment, so it would be good for Liu Tong to come over and chat.

"Does Kongming know?" Liu Tong asked as he had a female official drape his outer robe over his shoulders.

"I know," Chen Xi said succinctly.

"What is Kongming's opinion?" Liu Tong asked while having ceremonial regalia prepared.

"Kongming believes this method of transmission is wrong, but he can't find a fair solution either," Chen Xi said with a light laugh.

"You still have the mind to laugh? This is already shaking the core of the national system. I didn't understand what you were talking about before, but now you've put the two things together. Isn't this just the middle class wanting to get more and pass it on to their descendants? And then some people get more and some people get less." Liu Tong said in a deep voice. Liu Bang had also faced this situation back then.

"Does Your Highness have a solution?" Chen Xi asked with a smile.

"Of course, it should be given to the one with the biggest problem, the one who is theoretically the least likely to get it..." Liu Tong said, then fell silent.

“The Yuan family has already taken it,” Chen Xi replied softly. “It’s completely different from the situation back then. They’ve also taken the soldiers equivalent to the middle-ranking officers in Jiangdong. Theoretically speaking, they’ve taken the ones with the biggest problems and the least likely to be obtained.”

"What did you originally arrange for them?!" Liu Tong no longer wanted to put on a show of ceremonial procession. He had someone drag Si Niang, who was being used as a hamster in the side hall, over and teleported her to the government office. Then, in front of Zhuge Liang, Jia Xu, and Fa Zheng, he loudly asked.

"It's something that can truly be passed down." Chen Xi asked loudly when he saw Liu Tong appear, then smiled and leaned back, saying, "Believe me, Wenru's legacy will be gone in one generation!"

Sleep Sleep