Chapter 954: Long-Term Vision

The essence of nobility is nothing more than special privileges combined with fiefs and population, essentially the number of households one governs.

Li You's approach was to break down the concept of nobility, first granting privileges or land and only later adding other rewards. This way, he could delay the arrival of a time when there would be nothing left to reward with. Take Chen Xi, for example: despite being only in his early twenties, he had already become a County Marquis and was among the Nine Ministers, meaning he had practically no further titles to be granted.

The greatest concern for any country is when there is nothing left to grant in return for merit, not because there isn’t enough merit but because there’s too much merit. This leads to a situation where the emperor has nothing left to exchange for the merits achieved, which is often the root of turmoil.

However, Li You believed he had a good eye for people. Figures like Dong Zhuo were exceptions. The most evident trait in Chen Xi was his complete disinterest in power or personal gain—or more accurately, his indifference toward the current state of authority.

Moreover, Liu Bei’s nature was genuinely virtuous. Even when they reached a point where there were no more rewards to give, as long as Liu Bei and Chen Xi held the highest positions, there likely wouldn’t be any major issues. Of course, whether Emperor Liu Xie would still be in power by then remained uncertain.

However, with Liu Xie’s weak and indifferent personality, even if Liu Bei and Chen Xi reached that point, it was inevitable that conflict would arise. In fact, if Liu Xie couldn’t gain a deeper understanding of the world through experience, a clash would be unavoidable, even if Liu Bei and Chen Xi continued to show restraint.

Leaving Li You's concerns aside, Chen Xi was grappling with his own frustrations. Although Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and Taishan appeared to be wealthy, Chen Xi knew that they didn’t actually have much money.

The reason it appeared they had so much wealth was that Chen Xi could pull money from the banks whenever needed. Additionally, by the time the bank required those funds, other completed projects had generated more revenue, giving the illusion that Chen Xi’s funds were endless.

In reality, Chen Xi was fully aware that his method was akin to using other people's money to build infrastructure, borrowing resources to create more.

As long as infrastructure projects generated returns before others needed the funds, he could fill in any deficits. In essence, Chen Xi was conjuring infrastructure out of thin air. And as for using other people’s money—well, who would notice?

This was why, as the banks grew, and infrastructure became more complete, Chen Xi felt confident pulling more and more money from them. This was also why he had started using credit-based currency—he wanted to extract even more money from the system.

The principle worked, but it didn’t mean Chen Xi had access to unlimited funds. Rather, he was spending future money. If any part of the system failed, the nation’s credibility would collapse, and it would trigger a far more devastating economic crisis than anything the noble families could cause with their current practices.

Fortunately, nobody could see through it right now, and Chen Xi remained calm. Plus, he had the ability to rob Peter to pay Paul, so no issues had emerged so far. It made Chen Xi appear like a god of wealth, capable of conjuring money from nothing.

Some had suspected Chen Xi of playing tricks, but as long as nobody could expose him, it all seemed like divine intervention. Many were curious about Chen Xi’s methods, but since he didn’t reveal anything, their curiosity remained unsatisfied.

Would Chen Xi reveal his methods? Certainly not. Until the country’s economic foundation could sustain itself, he would keep quiet. In this world, no secret stays hidden forever, and the more people who knew about his strategy, the greater the risk. Chen Xi was absolutely unwilling to bear the economic risks that came with this kind of borrowing strategy.

“We really don’t have much money,” Chen Xi muttered with a frown. “I still have a lot of infrastructure to build. Paving roads and constructing bridges require significant investment.”

“But we don’t actually need much money,” Jia Xu said darkly. “We have our own cement and stone, and we can use the military as labor. Just raise their wages a little.”

“Don’t kid yourself. Do you really think we’re just building main roads? In Fenggao, I haven’t even finished connecting all the counties. My goal is to link every township and village,” Chen Xi scoffed, pointing out Jia Xu’s short-sightedness.

The room fell silent for a long time before Lu Su finally spoke, “Let’s set that aside for now. Extending roads to every village would take at least fifty years, and that’s assuming the entire Han Empire is included in the plan. If we manage to complete it in a hundred years, we should be thankful.”

“I’ll eventually make the plans public. It’s too slow with just us working on it. We should distribute the formula to the common people and let them handle it themselves,” Chen Xi said, clearly frustrated. The problem seemed simple to him, but the others were making it unnecessarily complicated.

“If we give this to outsiders, it’ll become a problem sooner or later,” Liu Xie said with a frown.

“You need to think long-term,” Chen Xi replied, causing everyone to roll their eyes. They already thought long-term enough—it was just that, with Chen Xi around, their vision seemed short-sighted in comparison.

“Let’s leave it at that for now. These issues are too broad to resolve quickly,” Lu Su said after some thought. As one of the key implementers of Chen Xi’s grand designs, Lu Su had overseen many of the massive infrastructure projects.

“Alright, moving on. How far along is the investigation into the water resources in Zhuo Commandery?” Chen Xi asked, changing the topic.

“Zi Zhong has already led a team there. It won’t be long before we have results. As for initial excavation, we’ll have to wait until next year. We still have plenty of time to handle the hydrology and water management in Jizhou. It’s best not to leave future generations with any problems in this kind of engineering,” Lu Su answered solemnly. As their territory expanded, he increasingly grasped the significance of the internal waterways.

Though their naval capabilities were improving, once they captured Chang’an, the distance to the eastern sea would become prohibitively long. It would take no less than a month for an army to march that far.

However, if they completed Chen Xi’s vast network of canals, they could reach nearly any part of the empire in under a month, with the exception of Shu, which might take longer due to its difficult terrain.

The higher one’s position, the more abstract their thinking became. The ability to see through small matters and grasp the essence of things had become a necessary skill for those in power. Likewise, actions that might cause short-term harm but bring long-term benefits had to be taken if the nation could bear the cost.

“How many real experts in water management do we have?” Chen Xi asked, looking at Lu Su with a wry smile. Water management was no joke, and with Lu Su’s ambition to integrate their water networks with the Grand Canal, Chen Xi could only watch as Lu Su pushed the limits of what was possible.

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