Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7307 Understood Before Death

When Yuan Shu and Liu Zhang received the unlimited review order signed by Chen Xi, they were filled with doubt. After all, these two were born before Yuan Feng, and many of their perceptions were still stuck in the past.

Even Yuan Shu, who called himself a sheepdog, and Liu Zhang, who was a dog guarding the land below the jade steps, could hardly understand Chen Xi's anger in this matter.

In their view, the governor of Xuzhou certainly deserved to die, and the Chen and Zhao families involved in the case were indeed no good, but the matter shouldn't be this serious. What did they mean that Chen Xi had even sent out his own secret guards? Even if the Zhao and Chen families had violated the laws of heaven, it shouldn't warrant Chen Xi doing this.

Those were Chen Xi's private soldiers, soldiers that Chen Xi had never used even once before Yuan Feng. Now, his private soldiers have been sent here, all for the sake of the Zhao and Chen families.
Even breaking the heavenly laws wouldn't reach this level!

On the contrary, Liu Yi had by this time realized where the problem lay—the targets of the harm were different, so Chen Xi's behavior was also different.

In the past, he had always taken food from Chen Xi, so Chen Xi let it go because he felt he had the right to do so, since it was his own. But this time, it wasn't about taking food from Chen Xi, but about squeezing money from the common people. Chen Xi probably felt he had no right to let it go.

"Lord Yuan, Marquis of Yangcheng, let's take control of the Zhao and Chen families first. Marquis Chen is furious about this." Liu Yi had roughly figured out why Chen Xi was so angry, so he quickly advised Yuan Shu and Liu Zhang to control the Zhao and Chen families. To be honest, Liu Yi had never seen anyone provoke Chen Xi to this extent before. He could only say that he was doomed!
"No, even a fool knows Chen Zichuan is furious right now. The question is, what's going on? Why has he even deployed his secret guards? Aren't they his private troops? I never saw him use them even when things were so serious back then. Is there something else behind this incident involving the Zhao and Chen families? Could it be related to our Yuan family as well?" Yuan Shu said with a look of panic.

When an honest man doesn't get angry, he remains emotionally stable no matter how much he's provoked. Moreover, for over twenty years, no matter how serious things get, he always seems to be thinking things through. It's always others who get furious and demand that Chen Xi deal with the matter severely, but after careful consideration, Chen Xi chooses to let it go. His expression is as if to say, "That's enough. Just punish the ringleader. There's no need to make things so serious."

If it weren't for adhering to certain major principles and universal moral systems, Chen Xi could have handled the cases in Yanzhou, Jizhou, and Situ even more leniently.

Even during the Jizhou case, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that Chen Xi was trying to handle it as lightly as possible; otherwise, Jiang Guang would be buried at least three feet tall by now.

Similarly, there's the Situ case. According to the old rules, would it be enough to just have some old fogies die and be done with it? What a joke! That was something that would really wipe out nine generations of a family; it was a struggle over policy.

As a result, Chen Xi dealt with it very lightly, so lightly that it didn't seem like a serious crime of treason at all. There was no implication of relatives or extermination of the clan; it was simply a matter of things having come to this.

The practice of exaggerating the impact of events, which was considered natural in feudal times, seemed to be non-existent in Chen Xi's case. Chen Xi never amplified the impact of events. His approach was like that of a sage in a book, purely about learning from past mistakes and curing the disease to save people, without any implication, all to prevent future generations from making the same mistakes.

However, discerning people from the previous era know that this approach cannot curb the greed in the hearts of powerful families and bureaucratic groups. They will only think that they can bear this level of punishment and can give it a try.

Of course, this refers to bureaucrats of the previous era, but many bureaucrats of this era recognize that under the current circumstances, they can work hard, not be afraid of making mistakes, and indeed rise step by step based on their merits.

What is subjective initiative? This is subjective initiative. The respect that Chen Xi gave them allowed them to do things with peace of mind and without worrying about making mistakes. As long as they didn't harbor malicious intentions, minor mistakes wouldn't defeat them, much less cut off their future.

This is very important, both for the new generation of bureaucrats and for the system Chen Xi has established. After all, Chen Xi is human. To run an entire bureaucratic system, in addition to the top-level people having a long-term strategic vision and being able to maintain integrity, the people below must also do their jobs.

In essence, everything boils down to getting things done. If there are many people doing things and few fighting amongst themselves, the team can survive and thrive.

After all, the government doesn't have a single penny; all the money comes from the hard work of the people. The government system as a whole is essentially for redistribution. Naturally, how to do things and how to redistribute are the true values ​​of this system.

If this cannot be achieved, then this system can be discarded and a completely different system can be built.

The old men who hold power, the remnants of the previous era, the surviving aristocratic families, because they grew up in a land of sin, could never understand this.

Just as those who fully accept zero-sum games cannot accept cooperation and win-win outcomes, human society must unite the majority to move forward; going it alone is meaningless.

Therefore, Chen Xi's attitude has always been clear: wait for those people to die. There is a very boring but absolutely effective solution in political games: when people die, the politics cease. No matter what those people are thinking, what happens after they die is no longer their concern.

Whether it continues or not is no longer up to them to decide.

Chen Xi is young, and he has plenty of time to mold the new generation into the kind of person he needs. Even if those old guys are still alive and exert influence, Chen Xi will still be the one to win in the end.

Therefore, Chen Xi didn't care that people were fighting over scraps in his hands. Just like Chen Gong was late and came begging for food, the things Chen Xi gave were still very good, still things that many people wanted but couldn't get. But in Chen Xi's eyes, these were just scraps.

This world is vast, vast enough for all the people of the Central Plains to share, vast enough to feed them until they can't eat anymore.

Some people are stuck in their old ways of thinking, always believing that what they snatch is more appealing. Chen Xi didn't bother to remind them; if they wanted to take advantage of him, so be it, and let him see what they were capable of.

Surely no one really thinks Chen Xi cares about the few resources that were stolen from him by the major families and Zhou Yu? To be honest, he really doesn't care.

On the surface, it might seem heartbreaking, but honestly, it's just that. Even if Zhou Yu realized that plucking Chen Xi's fur was the best solution, did Zhou Yu ever consider that foxes shed their fur every year they live?

This is reality, but many people trapped by their perceptions are unable to realize this. Just like the Qingqiang and Faqiang people who were ridiculed by the aristocratic families, they believed that it was their brave and fearless battles in the Tibetan region that earned them the appreciation of the Han court, which led to their current lives.

In reality, Chen Xi simply needed a group of suitable people from his own side to occupy the area and prevent the emergence of the Tibetan Empire. According to paleoclimatology, in the next era, the Tibetan region would develop to the point where it could support an army of over 100,000. Combined with the terrain and such a force, such a presence would be enough to wear down an empire. Therefore, he planned to establish a presence there early on, and anyone from his own side who went would be rewarded.

We don't need to do anything. Just being there, proving that it's our place, a place where Han government decrees can be enforced, is enough.

The Qiang and Qing Qiang could not understand this reality. They desperately used their youth and blood to treat themselves as soldiers guarding the border. In the end, they defeated Fuwode and Xiangxiong, proving their position and their value with their blood.

Afterwards, they naturally gave more rewards, but in Chen Xi's opinion, it was not necessary. However, since the other party had gone to such lengths, he really shouldn't have mentioned his previous assessment of them. Value can indeed be determined by force.

Conversely, this misalignment of perception has also led to significant problems. Even though those top families have realized to some extent that the world Chen Xi sees is quite different from the world they see, and there may be significant differences, they still cannot be certain of the specific differences.

Therefore, those aristocratic families with spiritual talent and those family heads with true strategic vision all chose to lie low after the Situ case, that is, to do nothing and operate according to the rules that have been tested so far, and not to test any other ambiguous areas.

Let's keep operating like this for now; eventually, some people will get restless and try to test the waters.

That's right, that's what they really thought. They wanted to slow down and see if others would court disaster. After all, things hadn't reached the point where they had no way to survive without challenging Chen Xi, nor had they reached the point where they couldn't develop without testing new rules. Chen Xi had already given them a lot of resources and benefits, more than in any previous era. It's just that Chen Xi left behind even more, which made their greed somewhat uncontrollable.

This is the crux of the matter. It's not that they didn't realize the difference in how the two sides perceived the world, nor that they didn't realize Chen Xi's power; they were simply greedy.

Of course, before actually doing so, the families who actually did it all presumptuously simulated Chen Xi's thinking to ensure that their subsequent probing would not really anger Chen Xi.

It was quite obvious that this probing had gone awry. Chen Xi's secret guards had arrived. This secret guard force, which was formed before the Jian'an era, had never made a move in public, and which everyone with a brain knew was an entire Imperial Guard team, had come from Chang'an with their seals and the Yuanfeng Sword.

This is clearly not an investigation, but a murder. There is no investigation in this world that requires Chen Xi's secret guards to conduct. This group has only two purposes: to protect Chen Xi and to deal with anything that Chen Xi dislikes.

So when the Xuanjia secret guards split into two groups, one heading to Xuzhou and the other to Central Asia, all the families who knew what the secret guards were were dumbfounded. Even Jia Xu, Fa Zheng, Zhuge Liang, and others who stayed in Chang'an were confused.

For twenty years, since the elders like Jia Xu and Fa Zheng joined Mount Tai, this group of people had never seen Chen Xi's secret guards mobilize. But this time, the secret guards have been mobilized. Whose entire family is this going to be targeted?

"Are the Zhao and Chen families of a certain rank enough for the Secret Guard to handle?" Wang Dian of the Langya Wang Clan only received the news that Chen Xi had transferred the Secret Guard from Chang'an to Xuzhou when the Secret Guard arrived in Xuzhou.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the Langya Wang clan's intelligence network is bad. On the contrary, the Langya Wang clan's intelligence network is among the best in the Central Plains. At the very least, they received the news as soon as the secret guards arrived in Xuzhou, unlike the Zhao and Chen families, who only found out the secret guards had arrived when they knocked on their doors.

"Elder, what should we do?" Wang Xiong asked his elder with a heavy expression. As a young man of the same generation as Wang Xiang, Wang Xiong's abilities were truly at the level of a prefect. In the official history, he seized an opportunity and wiped out the Xianbei in one fell swoop, making him a very outstanding talent.

Even such elites turned cold upon hearing that Chen Xi had dispatched the Secret Guard to Xuzhou, and some even couldn't suppress their fear. In their view, forcing Marquis Chen to mobilize the Secret Guard to solve a problem meant it had to be a major event of treason. What the Zhao and Chen families were doing was insignificant and not worth sending the Secret Guard.

“We haven’t done anything these past few years. Even if we suspect that the Zhao and Chen families might be harboring malicious intentions, we lack direct evidence. The only potentially problematic thing is planting rice, but…” Wang Dian stood up with his cane, “Before the rice was planted, no one could be sure that it was rice made from the essence of heaven and earth, and we couldn’t possibly waste our friendship to ask Marquis Cang for confirmation.”

In Xuzhou, some far-sighted families, such as the Wang family of Langya, the Zhang family of Pengcheng, the Bu family of Huaiyin, and the Xiao family of Lanling, were actually paying attention to the actions of the Zhao and Chen families. They did not think that the actions of these two families over the past three years were anything beneficial to the country and the people. However, some things, you can't be sure of the other party's true thoughts until the very last moment, so you can only watch.

As for when the other party gets the rice seeds made from the essence of heaven and earth, it's still the same point: it's not easy for normal people to verify the authenticity of such things, especially after being sealed by Cookie's secret medicine, it's very difficult to detect the essence of heaven and earth.

After all, if it were so easy to detect, the bugs would have eaten it long ago.

Therefore, these families had doubts about the product when they heard the rumors, but to think that they would go to great lengths to find out from Cookie was wishful thinking.

Therefore, this group made other contingency plans, of course, to prepare for both possibilities, but they did not expect the Zhao and Chen families to play such a big game.

"By the time the crops are planted and pests and diseases appear, it will already be too late." Wang Xiong sighed. It was a dead end!

If you can't detect the essence of heaven and earth, you can't be sure. By the time you can detect it, it's already been ravaged by insects. What's the point of talking about it then?

"You personally lead a group to meet with Marquis Yangcheng and his men. If they have any questions, just say so. Don't hide how we viewed this matter back then," Wang Dian said solemnly after pondering for a while.

“But right now we have no idea what prompted Marquis Chen to send down the secret guards. If we say something wrong…” Wang Xiong’s expression was extremely heavy. The secret guards of Chang’an had come, which was already a sign of violating the heavenly law. Under such circumstances, they didn’t even know which link had gone wrong, so how should they avoid it when answering?

"It's hard to say." A complicated expression appeared on Wang Dian's aged face. He had actually vaguely guessed the answer, but for old folks like Wang Dian who came from aristocratic families, this answer was equivalent to breaking a taboo, because it meant that all their previous guesses were wrong, and their understanding of Chen Xi was almost zero!

“Elder!” Wang Xiong said to Wang Dian in a deep voice. He was a smart man, and seeing Wang Dian’s expression, he realized that Wang Dian might have deduced something. After all, they came from the same family and their methods were similar. Even if Wang Dian was intentionally hiding something, Wang Xiong would not be completely unaware of it.

"I'm just having some self-doubt," Wang Dian said after a moment of silence.

"No matter what self-doubt it may be, things have come to this point, and the secret guards have arrived. Even if we die, we should die knowing the truth!" Wang Xiong said sternly. He also had a decisive side, especially when the situation was out of control. He might be the calmest person among the younger generation of the Wang family.

“Lord Chen may not care if others challenge him, whether it’s for money, to cause trouble, or to gain some power, it doesn’t matter,” Wang Dian shook his head and said. “Because essentially, these actions are all challenges to Lord Chen himself. Therefore, regardless of victory or defeat, Lord Chen will give you a dignified treatment. The dignified treatment for defeat is to not be implicated, while the dignified treatment for victory is that you can rightfully take what you want.”

"The so-called victory is merely a reward from Marquis Chen for the challenger's courage in finding a loophole and using the rules to launch the challenge. Similarly, the defeat is simply a punishment from Marquis Chen for the family that acted rashly without careful planning. Because it is only a punishment, there will be no repercussions," Wang Dian said with a sigh.

Wang Xiong trembled upon hearing this. According to Wang Dian's meaning, Wang Xiong already knew why the secret guards had come—Marquis Chen didn't care if you used the rules or challenged him, as long as you still acknowledged that you were one of the people.

“The Chen and Zhao families have betrayed His most basic principles.” At the same time, Zhang Zhao, who happened to be in Pengcheng Zhang Clan, sighed and said, “Challenging Hisself and the rules He established is more like a process of checking for omissions and filling gaps in His eyes. But trampling on the common people is not included. It may even be a death sentence, because in His eyes, all of us are no different from those common people who are now being trampled on by the Chen and Zhao families.”

I'm so frustrated! My five-day holiday just vanished like that. I'm so desperate.