Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chen Xi harbors the ambition of one day kicking Great Qin into the abyss of history and making the Great Han Dynasty dominate the Eurasian plate with grandeur as he undertakes these tasks.

Even though Chen Xi knows that, purely in theory, the Han Dynasty could indeed reach such heights, the instances where theory directly equates to reality are really not many. The most likely scenario for a war between the Great Han Dynasty and Great Qin is a low-intensity battle stretching over several centuries.

However, one shouldn't dismiss the possibility of sweeping Great Qin into the dustbin of history just because the chance is slim. Opportunity always belongs to those who are prepared.

Since it's destined to build such a road, then push the strategy to the extreme in one go. Although wiping out Great Qin seems somewhat far-fetched because of the distance, as the saying goes, without dreams, one is merely a salted fish; with dreams, who knows it may come true someday!

In the unlikely of scenarios that within one's lifetime there's a chance to extend the official road to Parthia, then deploy hundreds of thousands of troops to conquer the Mesopotamia, and push straight to the east side of the Mediterranean Sea, creating a breach in the Romans' bath basin — that would truly make this life worthwhile.

"Alright, it seems everyone agrees. This is my plan document, please pass it around." After ensuring there were no objections from those present, Chen Xi handed a somewhat yellowed and coarse paper scroll to Li Youu next to him.

The plan document wasn't long, merely a rough framework, yet even so, those who saw it were taken aback. Those who didn't pay attention to the paper's texture might not have felt it, but when Jia Xu, Guo Jia, and others touched that coarse paper scroll, their expressions involuntarily darkened.

"Zichuan, when did you make this plan? If I recall correctly, receiving that letter was something that happened today, and you've been busy all day," Fa Zheng asked curiously before the plan document reached him.

"I made it a long time ago," Chen Xi thought for a moment and said.

"This is from the earliest batch of straw paper, you anticipated this day long ago?" Lub Su's face slightly darkened. He's long known about Chen Xi's unparalleled planning, but seeing it always left him deeply astonished.

"Yes, back then I conveniently filled in a framework," Chen Xi thought for a moment and said. He could say that at the time he pretended to be designing a political strategy framework to avoid being caught by Lub Su to do governmental affairs, and in the end, he inadvertently ended up doing it for foreign affairs.

Everyone silently cursed under their breath and then looked at the crude framework on Chen Xi's plan document, but the character "aristocratic family" on it was extremely jarring to many present.

"What do you all think?" After the plan document made a round and returned to Chen Xi's hands, without even looking at it, he put it away and turned to inquire from the others.

"Deploying someone capable of governing a prefecture and also skilled in commerce and military strategy is not difficult. None of the seats present would find it challenging," Li Youu slowly began, commerce indeed might not be expertise, but with the army's protection, it's fundamentally not an issue.

"Taking a country as a base, and adapting to local conditions outside the Han Court, this..." Zhuge Liang slightly furrowed his brows. In other words, isn't this just establishing offices and not considering the Han Court, making oneself a king somewhere?

"Without that, many things simply can't be done," Chen Xi rolled his eyes and said, "Don't argue with me on this point, without official roads, it would take you half a year to make just one trip."

Zhuge Liang didn't say more; he wasn't foolish, sometimes he was very attentive to the Han Dynasty's rites and tried to avoid overstepping them.

"Why must it be aristocratic families?" Jia Xu looked at Chen Xi and asked.

"There's no need to train the aristocratic family members to become officials or clerks; a great aristocratic family can directly support a framework, and after roughly operating it, they can absorb local people, ensuring that the upper echelons and the military are controlled, making it our sphere of influence," Chen Xi smiled and said.

"I think you understand I don't mean it that way," Jia Xu squinted his eyes and said, this point is crucial, a political framework built by a single or multiple aristocratic families, the end result Chen Xi surely knows it well.

"That is precisely the result I desire," Chen Xi looked at Jia Xu with no hint of backing down, "The aristocratic families must go out; at the empire's borders, they are allowed to do as they please. Even if they are tyrannical, it's none of our concern; there, they can be granted all the power they desire."

Xun Yue had a wry smile on his face, not knowing what to say. As the standard bearer for aristocratic families, it's uncertain whether Chen Xi is leading the aristocratic families into a pit or restoring their former glory and power.

"Let me think..." Liu Ye and Guo Jia almost spoke simultaneously.

The two glanced at each other, both wearing troubled expressions. Even with their intelligence, it was hard to discern what exactly Chen Xi intended, although one thing was certain — this approach would basically have the political power there controlled by aristocratic families, but that was the empire's border.

"Let me first talk about my thoughts; the aristocratic thing must migrate externally. If not, it will eventually backfire, and of course, the aristocratic families I speak of include my own family," Chen Xi tapped the table, gathering everyone's attention once more.

On this point, everyone agreed, even Xun Yue silently nodded. Although aristocratic families are at least presently having a positive impact on the empire, it may not be so in the future.

Just like butterflies pollinating plants, the significance of pollination is immense for plants, but butterflies are ultimately caterpillars, living off the plant's juices — having fewer caterpillars is fine, but too many will truly ruin everything.

The aristocratic families are akin to butterflies, fundamentally caterpillars draining the state's resources, no matter how much it's beautified, it's unmistakably an exploitative class, yet other than exploitation, aristocratic families still hold tremendous positive significance for the state in other matters.

Nonetheless, this doesn't mean the empire will benefit from having many aristocratic families, on the contrary, too many aristocratic families might symbolize the empire's prosperity fading before it even blossoms.

"The Central Plains, namely the Thirteen Provinces of Great Han, will serve as our fundamental domain." Chen Xi's pointer slid from north of Youzhou to south of Nanyue, and then from east of Qingzhou to west of the Western Regions in Central Asia, "These regions will serve as the Han Dynasty's fundamental domain, beyond this scope..."

"A combination of prefecture-county system and enfeoffment system?" Mann Chong was highly sensitive to such concepts.

"It doesn't count as enfeoffment; we're just capturing those fertile lands and migrating the aristocratic families there, establishing a complete military and political system there," Chen Xi smiled and said; he didn't mention enfeoffment, simply eventual independence.

"What if an aristocratic family revolts?" Xun Yue directly approached the core issue.

"If revolting gains them more, not revolting would be foolish," Chen Xi smiled and said, "Zhongyu, you don't understand what kind of place this is." Chen Xi's pointing stick passed through Central Asia, extending to the vast fertile plains of India.

"I don't trust the loyalty of aristocratic families, they need interests," Chen Xi stated, centuries have long since laid everything bare in humanity's collective vision. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)