Chapter 1041: "Heaven Born Talent Will Surely Be of Use"

Since the world is so vast, Liu Bei had already developed some new ideas. Unifying the Central Plains and restoring the Han dynasty was no longer his ultimate goal. Occupying the world and witnessing the fertile land Chen Xi spoke of seemed far more important.

After all, up until now, Liu Bei had never had the thought of declaring himself emperor or ascending the throne. He was genuinely committed to the restoration of the Han dynasty.

Originally, he might have worried that once the world was unified, the emperor would become wary of him as a powerful minister. In such a case, retreating at the peak of his career would have been a significant blow to his subordinates.

Chen Xi's words made Liu Bei see another path: After restoring the Han dynasty, he could return power to the emperor and then lead his loyal subordinates to explore the fertile lands outside the Central Plains.

Liu Bei had considered his accomplishments. If every place could be developed to the level of Qing Province, Xu Province, and Mount Tai, the Han dynasty would surpass even its peak prosperity. At that point, it would be exceedingly easy for him to ascend the throne, backed by the support of the people.

However, Liu Bei had already extinguished any desire to become emperor. The Han dynasty had given him everything, and as long as the Han dynasty did not betray him, he would never betray the Han dynasty. As a result, his overwhelming accomplishments would inevitably overshadow the emperor.

To be precise, even without his efforts, the world would only recognize Liu Bei and not the Han emperor. In such a situation, he would choose to lead his loyal followers to open up fertile lands beyond the Central Plains, and Liu Xie would likely bestow titles upon him, no matter how high.

Liu Bei was already acknowledged as a member of the imperial clan by the ancestral temple, meaning he was not bound by the law. By then, he would likely be granted the title of "King of a Single Word," along with command over military expeditions and the ceremonial axe. Moreover, to send Liu Bei away, it was probable that even the Nine Bestowments would be conferred upon him, granting him imperial-level authority outside the Han dynasty.

Thus, for Liu Bei, he was already prepared to divide the land among his subordinates once he left the Central Plains. He would bestow titles and territories freely, without making them kings under the Han court. He was certainly not one to be stingy with rewards.

Speaking of which, Liu Bei was indeed very generous with his rewards. However, being overly generous to the point of exceeding his own limits was something only Liu Bei could pull off. His rewards had even led to financial problems in his own territories, which was truly a bit ridiculous.

Although Liu Bei did not know how vast the world was, based on Chen Xi's tone, he could already guess that the world was no small place. In that case, what did he have to worry about repaying? If worse came to worst, he could simply do as the founder of the Han dynasty did, hand the map to Chen Xi, and say, "Take whatever piece you want." Liu Bei was genuinely eager to see for himself what a land capable of producing three harvests in a year looked like.

Of course, these were just Liu Bei's thoughts. As for how things would turn out in the future, sometimes things don't always go as one hopes.

"Roughly one hundred billion coins should be invested gradually," Chen Xi estimated, given his tendency to slightly over-issue funds. According to some economic theories, under the current economic conditions, over-issuing by ten percent might even be beneficial to economic prosperity...

"Then just follow your plan and build it. However, treat it as a low-interest loan from the state," Liu Bei said with a wave of his hand, deciding on the matter right then and there.

After all, Liu Bei had no intention of becoming emperor. In the end, if his achievements overshadowed the emperor's, it would be his own doing. There would be no situation where he would have to kill Chen Xi, Guan Yu, or the others after the fact. On the contrary, protecting these individuals was of significant importance to him, precisely because he had no plans to become emperor. So, let it be.

"I should be the one to spend this money. If you were the one to spend it, you wouldn't be as frugal." After Liu Bei made his decision, Lu Su immediately brushed off his previous worries and, wrapped in his blanket, cheerfully moved closer to Chen Xi to collect the money.

"The money hasn’t even arrived yet. I'm just looking for people to spend it so that when the money does come, it won't go unused," Chen Xi said, pushing Lu Su away. He felt that Lu Su was becoming a bit too eager when it came to money.

To be fair, anyone in charge of logistics would become like this. With so many places in need of development, every coin had to be spent wisely. If someone wasn't eager when a large sum of money was coming in, that would be strange!

"Is there ever a time when money can’t be spent?" Fa Zheng sneered. "If you can’t spend it, give it to me. I'll make sure it gets spent."

"Spending money requires skill and taste. Clearly, your level of spending doesn't yet meet the standard," Guo Jia said, patting Fa Zheng on the shoulder before turning to Lu Su. "Since there will be an influx of funds in the spring, we can reallocate the remaining funds from this year."

"How about using it for labor-based relief programs to quickly build the road to the border of Youzhou? Liaodong has already acted before the Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes move south, and the evacuation of Youzhou's people to our side is now inevitable," Liu Ye suggested, with road construction being his immediate thought. As the scope of the war expanded and the roads under Liu Bei's rule became interconnected, his officials had grown enthusiastic about road building.

"That's nonsense! Gongyou is currently on the Yellow River, reworking the bridge plans for the third time. Without him, even if we all rushed to finish it together, we wouldn't be able to do it quickly. Find someone to figure out how to build a road across the five mountain valleys first," Fa Zheng retorted, rolling his eyes and dismissing Liu Ye's suggestion outright.

In reality, Liu Ye's strategy wasn't wrong; that road must indeed be built. The problem was that the infrastructure corps, numbering in the tens of thousands, were spread across the vast terrain of Jizhou, building roads, bridges, dams, and large villages everywhere.

Although building the road was an important task, the other projects weren't insignificant either. After Sun Qian had taken two battalions of the corps, there were only a few hundred people left to work on the roads. Even with civilian assistance, some mountainous sections wouldn't be easy to complete.

When it came to construction, Sun Qian was undoubtedly the most effective. Originally a debater, under Chen Xi's guidance, he had become an excellent engineer.

Without even learning how to read three-view drawings, Sun Qian could create models by intuition, and from there, he could advance to proportional models. Astonishingly, after mastering proportional models, he could move on to creating models with the same materials, proportions, and structures, eventually deriving the scaled-up data!

It must be said that Sun Qian was never meant to study politics; engineering and construction were his true talents. The kind of work he was doing wouldn't be theoretically completed until the early twentieth century.

Moreover, Sun Qian had a near-instinctive talent for framework structures. Without any measurements, he could intuitively determine the optimal load-bearing structure. When Chen Xi saw Sun Qian reach this level, he was almost blinded by his brilliance. Truly, "Heaven-born talent will surely be of use"!

"Recall Gongyou. Building a road that connects Youzhou to the border of Jizhou is indeed meaningful!" Liu Ye insisted, paying no mind to Fa Zheng's remarks. In fact, few people ever argued with Fa Zheng's words.

"I'm afraid not. From a strategic and situational perspective, the importance of the Yellow River bridge outweighs that of the current grain transport road," Lu Su said, shaking his head.

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