Chapter 1019: The Cause of Internal Conflict

Guo Jia smiled but didn’t bother explaining to Fa Zheng. He knew that Fa Zheng must have had some guesses, but chose to suppress them. Sometimes, a long-lasting friendship leads people to overlook correct yet emotionally uncomfortable judgments. This is the so-called emotional bias.

However, Fa Zheng indeed had the privilege of being sentimental. Having not experienced twenty-some years of frustration, he valued friendship more than power.

Because success came so easily to him, he didn’t care for it as much. For Fa Zheng, power was something his intelligence could easily attain, but was it more important than the warmth of a friend's care?

Lu Su and Liu Ye remained relatively quiet. Liu Ye’s recent actions weren’t exactly well-received, while Lu Su was known as a peacekeeper. It’s common that before any faction reaches its final step, an internal conflict arises. The difference lies only in the extent of the infighting.

Some forces collapse due to internal strife at the last moment, while others achieve a balance and compromise through constant conflict. They no longer rely on lofty ideals as their bond but are instead united by the mundane realities of interests.

This is an inevitable step for any successful power, as ruling is vastly different from conquering. The teams formed during the struggle to seize power often become obstacles once that power is achieved.

In truth, this is a form of evolution in thinking. As time passes, the ideals of those who fought together change. Ordinary people can only see what’s in front of them, while the wise can foresee the future. Naturally, not everyone’s vision aligns.

By the time a faction nears the summit, most people’s ideals have already been realized. What follows is the world of mundane realities—an inescapable burden for ordinary mortals. However, those with grander visions still haven’t reached their goals.

This is when the clash between ideals and reality occurs, often sparking intense conflict. Internal strife begins, whether it’s for ideals or to protect the existing structure. A confrontation becomes inevitable, with one side having to fall. And when it comes to dealing with former comrades, no matter which side wins—whether it’s the idealists or the pragmatists—there will be fatigue and disillusionment.

If the pragmatists win, it naturally evolves into an alliance bound by interests. But if the idealists win, their ideals will inevitably be tainted by reality, falling from their high pedestal into the mundane. This often leads to further reflection within the idealist camp, resulting in more defections to the side of reality.

By this point, the remaining idealists are unlikely to fight their now-pragmatic former comrades. Having already taken down some of their old allies, most will have no appetite for further conflict, except for a few die-hards.

Ultimately, the idealist camp collapses, returning to a more grounded reality, and becomes just another interest-driven faction. This is the natural progression for any successful force. If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s likely because the leadership is still young, and what others consider success is just the beginning in their eyes.

This was one of the reasons Chen Xi revealed the "truth"—to avoid future disputes and maintain internal purity.

Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that everyone, including Li You and Jia Xu, was still relatively young and healthy, Chen Xi’s world map wouldn’t have stopped the inevitable conflict that would have arisen.

Because they were young, their passions hadn’t yet faded, and their ambitions were still unfulfilled. If they were in their seventies or eighties, even showing them the world map wouldn’t have mattered. They would have continued their internal power struggles without restraint.

As for Jia Xu and Li You, who could be considered "older," these two had great confidence in their longevity, fully expecting to fight on for another thirty years!

It all came down to mindset. Neither Jia Xu nor Li You thought of themselves as old. They believed they still had decades left, which kept them mentally young and in sync with Chen Xi's group. On the other hand, some people age prematurely, even in their thirties.

"In such a vast world, I always thought two or three of us in a generation would be enough to take responsibility. But we’ve been limiting ourselves all along," Liu Ye thought silently. "With such a large world, how could just two or three be enough?"

"How do we conquer it all? We don’t even have enough people, and transportation issues are too hard to solve. Although Parthia and Kushan are far away, they’re still within the reach of a unified empire. Anything farther would be constrained by logistical limitations," Lu Su mused practically.

For the Han Dynasty, ruling wasn’t limited by its conquests, but by the time it took to mobilize the army. If an army couldn’t reach a rebellious region within fifty days, it would be nearly impossible to quell the rebellion effectively.

Moreover, the difficulty of transporting supplies meant that the logistical burden of a fifty-day march might outweigh the benefits of conquering distant lands. This was the painful truth for classical empires. It wasn’t that they couldn’t fight—they were simply limited by the challenges of troop movement and supply lines, forcing them to abandon conquered lands and retreat.

Building highways was key to solving this issue. Now that Lu Su had grasped the idea of a unified "world," he began considering constructing two national highways aimed at Parthia and Kushan. While Parthia was relatively straightforward, Kushan presented a far more complicated challenge.

"Jia Wenhe’s horse policy is starting to show some results, but it’ll still take two or three years to fully develop. But now that we’ve taken Jizhou, the situation has improved. Once we also take Youzhou, the problem of horses will be solved," Lu Su continued to think about future plans.

Chen Xi’s strategy was to provide the overall framework, leaving others, like Lu Su, to fill in the details. With enough horses, cavalry units could march much faster than infantry, greatly expanding the empire’s influence.

If there were enough horses, the empire’s radius of control could double, which was of great significance to Lu Su. Having seen the vastness of the world, his focus had shifted from simply leaving a mark on China’s history to making a significant impact on the larger global stage. And like most Chinese, a deep-rooted instinct to acquire land ran in his veins, regardless of social standing. The desire for land ownership was a passion that flowed through the blood of every person of the Central Plains.

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