Chapter 98

The author has an exam today and is unsure if they can return, so they are updating early. If they can return, there will be a second update; if not, it will depend on when the exam ends tomorrow...

Of course, this plan is not absolutely smooth. If Emperor Xie had the courage and decisiveness to act alone, he would have a high chance of coming to Mount Tai. Unfortunately, although Emperor Xie is intelligent, he lacks the courage. If he had the courage and wisdom, Chen Xi wouldn't mind Emperor Xie restoring the Han dynasty.

An Emperor Xie with both courage and intelligence would have little difficulty subduing Liu Bei, who is not yet overly ambitious, in Mount Tai. Of course, if Liu Bei had already conquered several provinces, it would be almost impossible to make him submit. At present, apart from the Yuan family and Dong Zhuo, few of the powerful clans genuinely oppose the Han dynasty.

The Cao, Liu, and Sun families are not heavily inclined to oppose the Han dynasty. Of course, Sun Ce, due to his youthful arrogance, can be ignored for his occasional remarks. Overall, these three families' ambitions gradually awaken as their territories expand. It's inevitable that loyalty wanes as imperial power declines. After all, as long as loyalty remains, it means the benefits are not significant enough. When the benefits are substantial, loyalty will wane.

For Chen Xi, it doesn't matter much whether Liu Bei ascends to the throne or not. What he wants is the grandeur of the Han dynasty ruling the world, the invincibility, and the awe-inspiring power that can still command respect even when the world is divided into three.

Therefore, it doesn't matter who becomes emperor. Even if Cao Mengde ascends, it wouldn't affect Chen Xi much. As long as you can make the world bow down, as long as you can make the Han people walk with their heads held high and the barbarians look up to them, as long as you can execute a foreign king in front of their courtiers and send them back to their country without a word, Chen Xi wouldn't mind you becoming emperor, because his goal is exactly that!

Beauty and power don't occupy much of Chen Xi's thoughts, as his goals are too grand. In his previous life, he could only look back on the past. Perhaps for five thousand years, the Han civilization stood at the pinnacle of history for over four thousand years, but now it is looking up to others.

Claiming that modern people surpass the ancients, yet the ancients stood at the peak of the world, while modern people can only recall the past from the mountain's waist. What does it mean to surpass? Every time he thinks about this, Chen Xi can only laugh bitterly.

Having the chance to return to this era, Chen Xi is determined. If he couldn't create history in the past, he will definitely change the course of history in this era.

Nomadic civilizations are equivalent to bandit civilizations, basically scum.

Chen Xi is already thinking of ways to root out nomadic civilizations from the source. As for the problems of agrarian civilizations, Chen Xi can only look to the Hundred Schools of Thought during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. After all, only such an era could sustain a civilization that has lasted for thousands of years and created a profound cultural foundation.

However, considering the dangers of that era, Chen Xi immediately wants to abandon this idea. After evaluating various situations, he realizes that with his intelligence, it's impossible to solve such problems.

When there is no choice, the only path is the best. Regardless of the dangers, if the Chinese history experiences two periods of the Hundred Schools of Thought, who knows how many years it would take for other civilizations to catch up. If it fails, it's the misfortune of future generations; if it succeeds, it will be remembered for eternity.

Thinking that if something goes wrong, it's the misfortune of future generations, and if it goes well, he might be remembered like a prime minister with an eternal legacy, Chen Xi decides to go for it. After all, in his view, it can't be worse than the future history. Trying is worth it for the grand dream. The thought of possibly creating a prosperous civilization makes his soul tremble, and his thinking speed increases dramatically. With a goal, he naturally has the drive!

Chen Xi has already made up his mind. Rather than suffer again in the future, he might as well try to eliminate those threats. After all, he has some knowledge of those things, and at worst, he might lose the opportunity to be stimulated by other civilizations, but he is not worried about this.

These thoughts have been deeply buried in Chen Xi's heart. The idea of unifying the world and the allure of beauty and power are not as attractive to him. There might be beautiful women who can move him, but it's unlikely that he will be deeply moved again.

When he calmly accepted the arranged marriage with Fan Jian, Chen Xi realized he had lost a lot. When he calmly accepted Chen Lan's love, he noticed his temperament had become much more indifferent. Or rather, it's not that he became indifferent, but that he had become more detached, just wanting to spend his life with one or two people. Who they are is no longer important.

Sometimes Chen Xi wonders if he thinks about all these messy things just to avoid thinking about what he really wants to think about.

"Zichuan!" Chen Xi straightened up, and the helplessness on his face turned into a calm smile. He raised his cup and toasted to everyone, both as a toast and to hide his expression.

"Zichuan, were you thinking about something? I saw you deep in thought just now." Liu Bei finished his drink and said to himself, "You must be thinking of your wife at home. I've heard that Zichuan is very doting on his wife." Liu Bei laughed heartily.

"Just thinking about some old things, including matters of my wife and concubines." Chen Xi smiled and didn't argue, directly admitting it. After all, no one would mock him. He never used to visit brothels, but now he goes frequently with Guo Jia.

"Zichuan, you haven't formally married the Fan family girl yet, right?" Liu Bei seemed to remember something, "Do you want me to act as a matchmaker?"

Chen Xi thought for a moment and said, "Let's wait another year. We'll formally marry when Jian is sixteen. There's no need to rush."

After the New Year, Fan Jian will be sixteen. In Liu Bei's view, Chen Xi just doesn't want to get married in winter. Since Chen Xi doesn't want to, Liu Bei doesn't insist, but he smiles and says, "Then I'll act as a matchmaker when the Fan family girl is sixteen. However, with Zichuan's current position, you can take a concubine first. How about it? I think Chen Lan has been through hardships with you and is quite beautiful. Making her a secondary wife wouldn't be bad. What do you think, Zichuan?"

Chen Xi was speechless. Liu Bei seemed overly excited and started matchmaking for him. Speaking of which, Liu Bei doesn't have a wife either. He's heard that Guan Yu has a wife, but he's never seen her. As for Zhang Fei, his wife, Xiahou, is only four or five years old. Thinking about it, it seems Zhang Fei's mother-in-law is younger than Zhang Fei. How terrifying...

Just as he was about to decline the idea of taking a concubine, Chen Xi's mind flashed with Chen Lan's image. Considering Liu Bei's good intentions, he nodded and said, "Alright, since it's almost the New Year, marrying Chen Lan will save her from always living in the back courtyard. Living in the inner courtyard with me will give me peace of mind."

Everyone was initially stunned, then congratulatory voices rose one after another. Chen Xi scanned the crowd and felt like he was robbing the rich. It seems getting married can bring in quite a few gifts, especially since he is a 2,000-dan governor. He can probably take advantage of many people.

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