Mythical Three Kingdoms

”Then we won’t repair it. The common people of the world are the unbreakable city walls. If the people’s hearts turn away, even the strongest walls are meaningless,” Liu Bei said with a face full of emotion. In any case, Ye City was not important in his view—if a section of the wall crumbled, so be it. It could serve as a monument to his second brother’s great achievements.

Chen Xi and Li Youu exchanged a glance, seeing something unusual in each other’s eyes. They turned to look at Lub Su, who remained unaware with an oblivious expression. Inwardly, both raised their thumbs in admiration. Ye City was their first choice for relocating the administrative center. For Lub Su not to know that would indeed be strange.

One must understand that the major battlefields to come would mostly be in the North. Whether dealing with Yuan Tan, battling Cao Cao to rescue the Emperor, or opening up the Northeastern Plain—all primarily involved the northern regions.

After all, establishing a northern-first, southern-later strategy was Chen Xi and the others’ defined national policy. Securing North Huai River was merely to prevent Sun Ce from stirring up trouble. Occupying the entire North first and then dealing with the South was a pattern nearly every dynasty followed for unifying the empire. Naturally, Chen Xi and his peers were no exception. By doing so, many issues would become much easier to handle.

The capture of Ye City took just one hour. With a strike akin to a Celestial God’s, Guan Yu shattered everyone’s morale. As for Zhang He and Gao Lan, they fled faster than rabbits, and Chen Xi paid them little attention. The fact that they had even managed to reach Ye City was strange enough to begin with.

As for Cui Jun, after witnessing Guan Yu’s single blow shatter Ye City, his resolve to follow Liu Bei was further solidified. He retreated alongside the defeated soldiers in a frantic escape toward Zhao County. Naturally, no one hindered them along the way. Liu Bei’s Army needed a high-ranking spy, and Cui Jun’s performance in this battle would undoubtedly secure his position within Yuan Tan’s inner circle.

After proving their combat power, Chen Xi planned future wars to be as simple and efficient as possible. Cui Jun’s presence would resolve countless issues.

”We’ve entered the city,” Liu Bei said with a long sigh, then looked at Chen Xi with some wistfulness. ”As you said, conquering the world isn’t difficult. Ye City, which consumed countless manpower under the Alliance Hierarch’s orders to construct, has been broken by us just like that. I simply wonder how many within the city are willing to die for the Alliance Hierarch.”

”Yan and Zhao are full of righteous heroes who often sing elegies; we must still tread cautiously. But it’s no big deal. Under Yuan Shao’s rule, there remain far too many aristocratic families. Though the people live better now than they did under Hann Jizhou, they are still far from our standard,” Chen Xi nodded as he spoke, believing there would definitely be no shortage of those willing to die for Yuan Shao.

”I fear there will still be many scholars standing on moral high ground to criticize us. Scholars who neglect the Six Arts and immerse themselves only in idle philosophical debates are always a nuisance,” Li Youu muttered disdainfully.

Li Youu had always loathed armchair Confucian scholars. Some were even untouchable, stirring up issues without offering solutions. If it were up to him, Li Youu would eagerly execute every single one.

”Don’t worry,” Jian Yong smiled. ”Within two months at most, we will rise to the peak of these idle scholars. They won’t dare act so obliviously.”

”Just remember, in the future, when we call you the Literary Patriarch, you’d better acknowledge us,” Chen Xi laughed heartily, feeling that Jian Yong’s success was well-deserved.

Jian Yong had ultimately unearthed oracle bones and directly linked them to the legend of Cangjie creating characters, completing the entire etymological system. As for whether Cangjie truly invented the characters, Jian Yong personally denied it, while others went with the flow and affirmed it. This showed just how tantalizing fame was to noted scholars. Helplessly, Jian Yong had to shelve the matter.

”I won’t accept such a title. Half of the credit belongs to you. Without your guidance, I wouldn’t have even thought about language,” Jian Yong said with calmness and magnanimity, shaking his head.

”I don’t deserve it. All I did was say one sentence; everything else was done by you,” Chen Xi replied, also shaking his head.

”But that single sentence pointed me in the right direction and made me realize this area of importance. That weighs far more than all I’ve done afterward. The tasks I completed could easily have been done by others, but your one suggestion might have gone unnoticed for ages,” Jian Yong said, his serene expression exuding a noble air.

”I don’t want it. The halos over my head are already too many. Let me catch my breath,” Chen Xi muttered, declining Jian Yong’s goodwill.

”If the title of Literary Patriarch comes to me, I won’t accept it either. Let it remain vacant. Perhaps one day, when I feel worthy, I might reconsider,” Jian Yong said with a smile.

The so-called Literary Patriarch was a figure so influential that even the Emperor would metaphorically serve as their whip. They stood at the pinnacle of all Pure Stream Scholars, capable of invalidating an entire body of Confucian thought with a single word—a supreme position among noted scholars.

Essentially, this stature was akin to that of a living Sage of the Wen Dao. Within their domain, not even divine intellectuals like Confucius and Mencius could necessarily prevail. Take Zhu Xi, for example—an imperfect illustration, but a relevant one. A figure like Zhu Xi, in his own era, could dominate the intellectual arena even if Confucius himself descended.

Chen Xi’s intention in shaping Jian Yong into such a figure was to occupy the highest stage of public opinion and morality. With a powerhouse like this backing future policies, it would become significantly easier to withstand criticisms.

This was likewise why Chen Xi avoided the mantle of Literary Patriarch himself. He had no time to bicker with intellectuals endlessly. He merely needed the might of this position to trample his opposition; everything else was trivial.

As for whether Jian Yong could achieve the title of Literary Patriarch, given his contributions—completing the dictionary, etymological system, punctuation marks, and cultural synthesis—it would be near impossible for him not to claim the title. These accomplishments required such an immense collective effort that even a multitude of scholars working together over decades likely couldn’t have achieved them!

The so-called cultural synthesis was essentially a historical unification. Chen Xi’s vision of unification wasn’t limited to a single dynasty but spanned all of history and culture, creating a continuum that declared ”since ancient times.”

Chen Xi refused to dabble in small-scale goals. If he acted, it would be with the largest ambitions. If the Hundred Schools of Thought clashed, ideological unity was impossible. If the nation desired peace and stability, then unchecked intellectual chaos was not an option. Faced with this irreconcilable conflict, Chen Xi devised a solution!

That solution was synthesis—tracing everything back to its historical and mythical roots. By positing an era in which all ideologies sprouted and framing them as seeds from which countless schools of thought bloomed, he redefined the debate.

It didn’t matter how those flowers evolved—whether vibrant, plain, or extravagant. The only significant point was that they all stemmed from a single seed, a single family.

All in all, they existed on the same great tree, and no matter how fiercely they fought, it was this tree that nourished them. And this tree that nourished them was the unified empire!

(To be continued. If you enjoyed this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is the greatest motivation for the author. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)