Chapter 1019: Chapter 975: Cannot Afford to Provoke

Under the circumstances where the grand historical situation has been shattered, Chen Xi’s grasp of strategy is no longer the foremost as it once was, at best he can be considered a relatively outstanding sage. But Chen Xi’s value has never been in his strategic prowess, his existence is always about being the helmsman.

Chen Xi is the driving force behind Mount Tai’s increasing strength in battle. His political strategy may be somewhat ahead of its time, but after the fine-tuning by Lub Su and Li Youu, it perfectly fits the era, achieving effects beyond centuries, even millennia of history.

This is the most challenging aspect for Cao Cao and Sun Ce when trying to emulate it. Many of Chen Xi’s political strategies were things that Li Youu and Lub Su understood the ‘what’ of but not the ‘why.’ The process of patching things up was the true process through which they comprehended.

Xun Yu, Zhang Zhao, and others, no matter how astonishingly talented, cannot govern personally. Ultimately, it’s like seeing flowers through fog, lacking by more than just a little.

This is the crucial reason why Liu Bei’s faction continuously expands, widening the gap with other Feudal Lords. The superiority of the system is the most terrifying aspect.

Since the inception of education, whether in civil studies or martial arts, it is only until now that the first wave of students has been formally educated. After the emergence of this group, hundreds more are officially trained each year.

To be honest, it’s not that Chen Xi is unwilling to expand the scope of education; it’s just that things like military strategy and scheming are taught only by those capable of teaching. Even if Chen Xi enforced a mandate, their selectiveness in accepting pupils prevents them from indiscriminately passing down these skills.

This leads to the situation where, from this year onwards, a batch of students ends their free education annually, yet most of them have merely learned to read and write, and if they have extra energy, they pick up a skill that makes living easier.

Of course, in this era centered around having enough to eat, many underprivileged children complete their two years of learning basic literacy while studying how to increase grain production.

This is the biggest difference between Qu Qi and Zhao Yun. Qu Qi, born into an aristocratic family, although has many ideas for the benefit of the people, is not keen on mingling with the masses. Part of being noble is standing aloof from the others.

In contrast, Zhao Yun, born from a humble family and a naturally sunny military general, engages deeply with the population in promoting superior crop varieties and intensive cultivation.

After Zhao Yun was taken away, Qu Qi had to dive deeply into community activities but after some time, unable to continue, he recalled his original ideals. He couldn’t help but twitch his lips, but being smart enough, he quickly came up with a solution.

Qu Qi developed the agricultural science classes, where he taught groups of people how to increase crop yield, and then these groups taught their students, spreading layer by layer, resulting in agricultural science classes appearing in various regions quickly.

Indeed, people live on food, learning literacy takes time, but learning scientific farming happens quickly. Any potential increase in yield, even an additional liter of grain, is worth investing time to research for these people.

Because, for the populace of this era, time isn’t valuable, but food is the foundation of everything.

Besides agricultural science, there are classes in construction, carpentry, and medicine, among others. Well, the last involves primarily emergency care. Truly learning to distinguish blood types, perform surgery, and transfuse blood is beyond the capabilities of even the Liu Bei governance, with fewer than five individuals achieving this level.

On the battlefield, emergency care suffices; knowing left from right is beyond many new recruits. Without talent, even after years, some can’t master bandaging.

Previously, soldiers trained in Mount Tai were despised due to needing to hide behind others for safety, but over time, everyone laughed. Elite soldiers know that protecting a medic is more reliable than protecting oneself. Being stabbed yet having a medic means high chances of survival, but without a medic, you’re left to fate.

Now, there’s a distinct emergence of a soldier type independent from Sword and Shield Soldiers, gunners, cavalry, and archers. Overall, stockpiling veterans greatly aids Chen Xi. Veterans seasoned in battle, using new recruits is truly discomforting as they know nothing of war!

As for higher requirements, Chen Xi estimates it’s close to the cold weapon era’s pinnacle. At least, Liu Bei’s army can sustain around fifty percent casualties and keep fighting. Though not to the exaggeration of fighting to the last man, it’s nonetheless bad fortune to do so through total annihilation.

To this point, Chen Xi has essentially laid the foundation for a military command system. Though many aspects are still lacking, ensuring soldiers’ interests and honors is followed by structuring their roles. The most challenging issues are guaranteed by legislation.

What’s left is to let time foster the seeds sown by Chen Xi blossom and bear fruit. The middle class forming between commoners and aristocratic families, consisting of soldiers and their families, is near-certain. The two-class system is perilous, and true safety lies in tripartite balance or multifaceted prominence.

However, how long this will take, Chen Xi cannot guarantee. Until literacy spreads among the soldiers, Chen Xi can only dream. Transitioning out of the four occupations of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants entailed too much.

“Zichuan, you’ve spaced out again,” Guo Jia knocked on the table as he looked at Chen Xi, noting that since parting with Zhen Mi, Chen Xi’s mind often wandered. Although everyone thought Chen Xi overdid it a bit, none dared to utter it before him.

“Just thinking of some matters, when will Gongsun Shengji’s people arrive?” Chen Xi slowly recaptured his drifting thoughts and turned to ask Guo Jia.

“We can go listen to the music later; seeing you’re not in great spirits recently, I’ll treat you,” Guo Jia teased, feeling confident in understanding Chen Xi’s nature, though perplexed over his breakup with Zhen Mi.

“Not going. I’ve just been reading at home lately,” Chen Xi shook his head, saying he wasn’t in the mood for music, despite how rare Guo Jia’s invitations were.

Exiling Zhen Mi dealt a significant blow not only to her but had considerable effects on Chen Xi. It’s one reason why Chen Xi’s recent actions have been relatively muted. Shortly after taking Ye City, Chen Xi requested the aristocratic families of the Five Prefectures to discuss Money Exchange matters.

Of course, it wasn’t only the Five Prefectures’ aristocratic families that came; others from various provinces and counties also attended, but given Chen Xi’s current foul mood, although invited, he hasn’t convened them yet, leaving a group of aristocrats loitering in Ye City.

But none dared criticize Chen Xi, all patiently awaited formal notice from him. If the matter was diplomatically blown off, the aristocratic family heads could only claim their visit to congratulate Liu Bei as they couldn’t afford to offend him now! (To be continued. If you enjoyed this work, feel free to vote for it at Qidian (wuxiaworld.site), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.wuxiaworld.site to read.)