Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1049: Chapter 1005: The Reason

”I can agree to your batch exchanges and even compensate you with truly fertile land, and I will make other compensations as well. However, you need to undertake the development of those areas and resolutely execute our policy when it arrives!” Chen Xi swept his gaze over a group of aristocratic family heads and said.

”A resolute execution of policy?” Wei Ji furrowed his brow.

”Rest assured, I won’t strike against your actions within the rules, or even those skirting the edges of rules. Generally, our policies are universal and not custom-made,” Chen Xi slowly explained, understanding what this group of aristocratic families worried about.

”Certain universally accepted policies could substantially harm our interests, which is a mere play on words,” Xun Shuang argued on the basis of reason. Clearly, it was time to discuss some substantial issues.

”Alright then, since we have plenty of time, you can select a group of people to draft the next charter and set regulations with us. Once we’ve discussed it, we’ll carve it out, with a five-year deadline. As for the reasons...” Chen Xi nodded slowly upon hearing Xun Shuang’s words.

It’s impossible for the aristocratic families to immediately walk down the road Chen Xi desired. What he has to do now is drive the aristocratic families into place, whether with enticing carrots or punitive sticks, as long as it works.

After all, whether Chen Xi admits it or not, in this era, the aristocratic families are indeed the elite level; at least most talents are cultivated by aristocratic families.

As for the imperial examination, Chen Xi did indeed consider it, but it requires a leash. A pure imperial examination eventually morphs into rigid formulas, into an unmentionable stench like Ming Confucianism or Qing Confucianism.

Everything needs restraint; once exceeded a certain limit, no good thing will exist in this world. Now that the aristocratic families haven’t developed to the level of a ruling clan yet, there is still worth in saving them, which is Chen Xi’s thought.

After the Three Kingdoms, without the restraint of the Humble Family, aristocratic families became completely invincible. However, once papermaking techniques were popularized, with emperors wanting to suppress the aristocratic families, the ordinary people, relying on sheer numbers, completely buried the aristocratic families.

However, that overwhelming scholar group, once free from restraint, caused even greater damage than aristocratic families. That enormous number always leaves people speechless; since none are good things anyway, should they all be destroyed?

Chen Xi was not that foolish, not to mention what he would use to destroy the aristocratic family. Honestly, as of now, sixty percent of officials under Liu Bei are from aristocratic families. Although Chen Xi hopes to reduce this figure to fifty percent, whether acknowledged or not, the advantage of aristocratic families in governance is remarkably evident.

Chen Xi even estimates that without one generation’s stability, most of the populace’s quality cannot meet his requirements.

The ancient saying goes, ”Once the granary is full, etiquette is known; when clothing and food are sufficient, honor and disgrace are understood.” This is the most realistic portrayal; common folks who’ve been poor for too long, just like Mi Fang as a quartermaster, it’s obvious who has a greater likelihood of embezzling military supplies.

Just as Chen Xi once saw, the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou fought fiercely to defend their stable lives on the battlefield without even flinching, yet petty thievery existed all around them.

One cannot simply regard Yellow Turbans as pure good people for sharing half of their steamed bun with their comrades in the darkest times. Their private appropriation of certain seized supplies is a completely normal situation.

To the extent that Chen Xi specifically advised Yu Jin to enforce military discipline, but in reality, the Qingzhou Army’s discipline wasn’t considered too good. Although it wasn’t exaggerated like ”soldiers pass like comb,” any war would cause them to damage things more severely.

These seemingly small matters require nearly a generation’s worth of quality education to resolve, which is where Chen Xi feels most helpless. Despite having the most complete experience, there’s no way to utilize it.

Of course, this isn’t too bad; at least it only requires one generation to solve. The issue isn’t overly challenging; for an empire, the time and investment of one generation is tolerable as long as it achieves the goal.

The most difficult are certain matters that even Chen Xi, with nearly two thousand years of wisdom, experience, and knowledge, has no way to solve.

The aristocratic families are a pitfall, everyone knows, but in the Three Kingdoms era, eradicating the aristocratic families is simply impossible. Even Chen Xi’s present power cannot achieve this; a force is not operated by the top ten individuals but by a large number of lower-level personnel, who might be more important than those top few.

Removing almost all the upper, middle, and lower levels stabilizing a country’s regions would likely collapse any empire. Even changing blood is not done this way, which is why Chen Xi had to plan gradually.

It’s just like how Soviet people cursed the Soviet government, but the Soviet government collapsed; everything the Soviet people wanted was not achieved, and life became worse than before, so much so that it took over twenty years without recovery.

And yet, they were an industrial country, richer and more powerful than China before 1840 in any era, in short, a strong empire; to mention alongside, the Soviet Union didn’t exaggerate by removing ninety percent of the ruling class. According to circumstances at the time, it was actually only more than thirty percent...

Of course, removing ninety percent was a joke; it’s impossible to do. Once you haven’t reached that level, all the rules are in chaos, and to completely eradicate aristocratic families from their roots, apart from gradually transitioning and allowing them to naturally vanish, unless you have a complete alternative official system outside the aristocratic families!

Unfortunately, in the Three Kingdoms era, no country was luxurious to this extent. If there were two Zhuge Liangs, two Pang Tongs, two Fa Zhengs, two Jiangh Wans...

This simply is not realistic, so Chen Xi directly cut off the idea of using martial force to wipe out aristocratic families and turned to consider other methods.

Like historically pushing aristocratic families into the abyss, this truly isn’t difficult. As long as papermaking techniques and education are popularized, supporting the populace for several generations, within a hundred to a hundred and fifty years, most aristocratic families should be extinct.

Of course, if aristocratic families produce geniuses every generation, then there’s nothing that can be done. So-called geniuses, with equal effort, are fundamentally unyielding. If the Zhuge Family produces Zhuge Liang every generation, alright then, producing Zhuge Jin every generation is sufficient for despair. With such a scenario, it essentially becomes unsolvable.

Using the same historical method to give the aristocratic families currently sliding into the abyss a final push, for Chen Xi, this couldn’t be easier, but is this method genuinely good?

When standing at a high enough position, what should be considered should not be the immediate interests; this is the principle Chen Xi understood during his initial study. Looking as far ahead as possible, this is what these people should be doing. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote on Qidian.com with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)