NOVPUBFor Liu Bei, this was a matter related to one’s valor, but for Guan Hai, it was about life and death itself. Standing at different heights, what Guan Hai staked his life on was nothing more than a mere word for the current Liu Bei.
"However, how tragic is an era that can only be traversed by heroes!" Chen Xi muttered disdainfully. How miserable must an era, a nation, a group be to need an entity like a hero to shoulder all the responsibility? It’s truly pitiable.
After listening, Liu Bei also sighed. Initially, he thought highly of Guan Hai as a righteous person, but now he realized, if the Yellow Turbans hadn’t been pushed to such a point, there would have been no need for one man to make such a sacrifice.
"The Yellow Turbans were just trying to find food to eat," Liu Bei sighed and said, "My younger brother will take care of this matter. Now I think about it, each hero of ancient times had quite a bit of reluctance."
"Heroes are always driven by helplessness, whether it’s conscience or duty, they always bear the most. That’s why heroes are forever a tragedy," Chen Xi sighed and said.
Liu Bei fell silent, realizing now that he seemed to have also embarked on the path of a hero. Guan Hai bore the burden of the Yellow Turbans, but after this time, he could let it go. Liu Bei bore even more, but as for letting go, could he?
"A true man can only mature by shouldering enough responsibility," Liu Bei said this seemingly out of nowhere.
Chen Xi and Jia Xu also sighed. Indeed, whether a man is mature or not can be seen by the amount of responsibility he carries.
"Forget it, let’s not talk about this anymore. I have my own responsibilities, providing for a family is not easy, and ideals are even more distant. Sigh, let’s just take it one step at a time," Chen Xi said, his words pulling down the atmosphere that Liu Bei had struggled to build up by several notches, causing Liu Bei to cast a sideways glance at him.
"Zi Chuan, is the process in Qingzhou the same as when we built Mount Tai before?" Interrupted by Chen Xi, Liu Bei dropped the topic about the Yellow Turbans and switched to another one.
"It starts the same, but later it’s different. Building the city is a must. I have already ordered people to report back to Chang’an, and it should be approved once I get back. However, I plan to construct ports along the eastern coast of Qingzhou," Chen Xi said after pondering, "The salt fields previously established on the East Sea islands should also be moved back, so from now on we won’t need to be so cautious. And the middle-tier commanding officers will have a place too."
"Salt fields? Oh yes, and those fisheries and dried goods you often talked about could also be put on the agenda. There seems to be sea transportation and the navy could also train locally now. However, we don’t have the technology to build sea ships right now," Liu Bei said, feeling somewhat dismayed thinking about these troubles.
"It’s not that we don’t have the technology to build sea ships, it’s that we don’t have any technology for building ships at all, we don’t even have the craftsmen to build ships. Such craftsmen are in themselves very rare," Chen Xi sighed and said.
In the whole Three Kingdoms Era, the only ones that could be said to have an industry in shipbuilding were the Jiangdong Lu Clan, the Gongsun Family of Liaodong, and the Jingzhou Cai Family. These three families had monopolies on everything from technology to blueprints, from material selection to craftsmen. As for the Zhang Family, the Gu Family, the Kuai Family, their techniques were incomplete...
Chen Xi once sought the complete inheritance of the Mohist sect, which, after all, stood unrivaled in manufacturing and technology.
Unfortunately, though the Mohist school was prominent during the Spring and Autumn Period, it had been absorbed by various factions and ousted from the competition. After Chen Xi absorbed the Chen Family’s split-off forces, he finally managed to trace back the lineage of the Mohist inheritance, which, upon discovery, turned out to be of no value.
In the waning years of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Mohist sect split into three factions, each taking their technology to re-establish their sect elsewhere. Clearly, neither the Mohists who hid in the south nor those in the north withstood the schemes of the elite families.
From the information Chen Xi had, it appeared that the central faction of the Mohists was eventually absorbed by the nobility descended from the Qi State. Given the vague historical records, it could have been either the Lul Family or the Cai Family—both seemed to hail from the land of Qi and Lu. It wasn’t certain if there was a direct relationship between the two families, but there was definitely a significant connection.
The northern branch of the Mohist survivors got entangled in the chaos at the end of the Qin dynasty and was utterly annihilated. As for those in the south, it seemed they were dismantled...
As for the Gongsun Family of Liaodong’s shipbuilding technology, it was confirmed not to be of Mohist origin. From the elite family heritage Chen Xi inherited from the Chen Family, it seemed that the Gongsun Family’s shipbuilding techniques actually came from the Gongshu Family, specifically Gongshu Ban or Luban. This was fundamentally different from the shipbuilding techniques of the Lul and Cai families. Alright, the Mohists and the Gongshu did not get along, and the craftsmen were divided into two groups—a truly tragic story.
In short, Chen Xi’s hope of gaining the lost techniques of either the Mohist or the Gongshu through shortcuts was impossible. The technology for building ships, carts, and objects was also out of reach. It seemed that Ma Jun had learned the Mohist methods of making objects, but since he couldn’t be found, there was no way forward. The elite families had divided the cherished Mohist inheritance, leaving only meager crumbs that were tightly held in the hands of individuals—passed only from father to son, within the family, not without...
"Didn’t we establish a connection with the Lul Family?" Liu Bei asked curiously.
"That’s a completely different matter. The four families of Jiangdong have a very strong sense of regionalism. They are willing to build ships for us because our relationship is roughly equal, and we are both generous. But to make them lean completely towards us, without being driven into a corner, is unlikely," Chen Xi said with a sigh. Those four families from Jiangdong were simply invincible; they wanted to stay in Eastern Wu no matter what. They didn’t care who was in charge, as long as they could happily remain in Jiangdong...
"Lord, Zichuan is right. The Jiangdong Lul Clan is precisely the kind of family that sticks to their old ways and insists on staying in their own territory. Moreover, sea and tower shipbuilding techniques are absolutely secretive for the families that possess them. Unless they really saw potential in us, they would never sell or even design ships for us at a low price," Jia Xu also sighed.
If such behavior were to occur in the 21st century, especially to a person of Liu Bei’s stature, it would undoubtedly lead to discontent.
However, in this era, 1800 years earlier, if a family was willing to design ships for you at a low price, or even to make room in their schedule for the rapid construction of the ships you need—as long as you’re willing to pay, and without fussing over your repeated meddling—such a family was considered truly loyal, even in the eyes of someone like Jia Xu, clear signs of vision and monopoly issues.
"Their family only has four direct descendants; how can moving be so difficult! I’ve written them a long list of benefits before. I assured them that as long as their family moves here, I guarantee that either Lul Xun or Lul Ji would succeed as Xiaoo Zhi did. Moreover, I promise the next generation would produce someone just as accomplished as Xiaoo Zhi," Chen Xi sighed. If he remembered correctly, Lul Kangg and Lul Xun were among the rare father-son pairs in the Martial Temple. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)
