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Fa Zheng was overjoyed when he heard this; such a matter was indeed difficult to accomplish, but once done well, it would serve as the best recognition of his abilities. Thus, he no longer hesitated and accepted the task on the spot.
"Zichuan, you will continue to take on some extra responsibilities as before," Liu Bei said, not giving Chen Xi any political duties but leaving him with that sentence, which meant that Chen Xi still had the authority to control all civil officials.
"Understood," Chen Xi nodded and said.
Once everything was settled, Liu Bei didn’t say much more, only hosting a banquet to entertain everyone as usual, and Fa Zheng once again enjoyed boiled mutton in plain water, his sense of loss from the previous criticisms completely disappearing.
[Hmph, I don’t care what you think, I must do this in my own home! Chen Zichuan himself said to do our own thing and let others babble as they please, why should I care about them?] As Fa Zheng ate the boiled mutton, he reaffirmed his determination, seeing it as a lofty ideal. Why couldn’t those commoners understand?
By the time the banquet ended, night had nearly fallen. As winter solstice approached, the days grew shorter, leaving less time for daytime work. It became more about drinking some tea, eating some pastries, and making some plans before the day was over.
After everyone had left, Chen Xi felt drowsy after drinking some soup and sat wobbling in the living room, waiting for Liu Bei, who would undoubtedly come.
"Zichuan seems to be somewhat overwhelmed by the alcohol," Liu Bei said as he arrived, bringing a maid to prepare a sobering soup for Chen Xi.
"I drank too much and became groggy," Chen Xi said, downing the sobering soup in one gulp and shaking his head to clear his mind.
"Zichuan, are you sure Xiaozhi can handle that task? If he doesn’t do well, Xiaozhi will offend too many people. After all, many are involved in this matter. According to what you said before, it’s a matter of great importance for the next hundred years. I’m truly worried about entrusting it solely to Xiaozhi. If only Fengxiao were here, he would be the best choice for this," Liu Bei said with some concern, as he felt Fa Zheng was, after all, somewhat young and impetuous and needed more tempering.
"There shouldn’t be any major issues. Lord Xuande, you should have confidence in Xiaozhi," Chen Xi said with a smile. "He might run into some obstacles initially, but he will soon adjust."
"I hope so," Liu Bei said somewhat helplessly, still thinking Fa Zheng was a bit too young.
"Let’s not talk about Xiaozhi anymore. With you overseeing, things won’t get to that point. Let’s discuss other matters. I really don’t understand why you want to transfer the soldiers over thirty-two. You know that with our current living conditions, the veteran soldiers who meet your criteria should all possess inner qi, and they all have rich combat experience. For these men, even at the age of forty, they would still have significant combat power," Liu Bei said, shifting the conversation to a matter of his interest when he saw Chen Xi didn’t want to continue on the previous topic.
"We need an elite force that serves as a visible deterrent. In fact, as long as we maintain such living conditions, in about two more years, roughly thirty percent of our soldiers should possess inner qi. If the current conditions are sustained, within a maximum of three generations, inner qi should be universally accessible to the populace," Chen Xi slightly shook his head to perk up and explained to Liu Bei.
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"Indeed, as our grain production increases and the people under our rule are well-fed, maybe the older generation still can’t cultivate Inner Qi due to the past deficiencies in their bodies, but the younger generation shouldn’t have any problems," Liu Bei nodded and said. In this era of extremely active energy, as long as one can eat their fill and the body isn’t deficient, even if one can’t cultivate to a very high level, cultivating a bit of Inner Qi shouldn’t be too difficult.
"That is to say, the standard of our soldiers will keep getting higher!" Chen Xi nodded and said, "Hence, prosperity under our rule is extremely important for us." 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝘤𝘰𝑚
"Indeed, an army composed purely of soldiers with Inner Qi, even if their military qualities are the same as a force without Inner Qi, wouldn’t find it difficult to annihilate the opponent completely. Every individual being a bit stronger, but that’s enough to form an overwhelming force," Liu Bei thought of such a scenario and his expression became serious.
In the entire Great Han Dynasty’s four hundred years, probably only during the later period of Emperor Jing and the early period of the Martial Emperor, was the universal cultivation of Inner Breath achieved, that ephemeral prosperity, yet so powerful that it terrified all enemies! And this time, Liu Bei might be able to recreate such an era again.
"Hmm, while prospering, our rule will also encounter management chaos. Lord Xuande has seen the current state of Fenggao City with his own eyes. There are many places where chaos has emerged. I don’t have much time to control all these trivial details, so I plan to implement stringent management, and at the same time, display a sufficiently strong force aboveboard," Chen Zichuan shared his thoughts.
"Stringent management, deterrence?" Liu Bei might not have much political experience, but he had a clear understanding when it came to military matters. It was evident that Chen Zichuan was talking about deterrence.
"Yes, those Veteran Soldiers who have retired to urban management could actually return to battle for several years without any issues, and they are all battle-hardened. This kind of force will be a deterrence against the Feudal Lords who will seize the chance to come to Fenggao soon. When they evaluate our real strength, they will add an item for the Establishment of an elite force," Chen Zichuan nodded and said. Although this force is only for managing the city internally, it could significantly influence many people’s perception of Fenggao.
"With the inevitable mix of good and bad coming soon, that’s going to be tough on you," Liu Bei thought about the situation that would arise in the following period and knew how necessary such a force was.
"It’s nothing, these aren’t too troublesome," Chen Zichuan shrugged and said, "I will re-equip these people with weapons and armor. It’s been a year and a half since we started gathering craftsmen, and we’ve just managed to produce the armor and weapons, along with the iron-smiths we brought back from Yuzhou, we can finally rush the work to completion."
"Next year is when you talked about standardizing the army’s attire and unifying the lower ranks’ weapons and equipment, right?" Mentioning craftsmen reminded Liu Bei of what Chen Zichuan had said about them long ago.
"Yes, by next year, we should barely have enough apprentices. Plate Armor is just too wasteful of iron, and can only be provided to elite teams. Other units will have to wait. I’ve already ordered a recalculation of the weights and measures. This time, we’ll standardize everything, so they can be reused after the battles," Chen Zichuan sighed. There were too many things lacking in this era.
"Sigh, I’ll leave these matters to you, Zichuan. I can barely make heads or tails of this. Just give me the precise data when it’s time," Liu Bei helplessly waved his hand. He was actually very satisfied with iron smelting; plate armor was already being equipped to the army units. What more could he ask for? In the past, only commanders had the right to such equipment.
"What’s left is ending the war and renegotiating the alliance," Chen Zichuan breathed a sigh of relief. With Liu Bei’s strong military threat, if all goes well, they should have enough time to prepare for the next year. (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to vote for it at qidian.com by casting recommendation votes or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
