Chapter 895: The Epic Project About to Begin

Liu Ye’s words made everyone roll their eyes. They were too lazy to respond to him. Every one of these strategists, renowned for their wisdom, was daring and bold. Even Jia Xu, known for his cautious nature, was not someone who lacked courage.

The reason for their eye-rolling was Liu Ye’s boredom. Everyone present knew the reality of the situation, but it was rare for anyone to state it so openly. Some things were simply taboo. As a member of the Liu imperial clan, Liu Ye’s declaration during such a chaotic time was essentially a claim to leadership, implying, "I will bear the burden; everyone else, step aside. I will be the new pillar of the empire!"

"This talk of imperial dominance... I feel we’ve been too high-profile this time. By now, everyone probably has a clear sense of our true strength, although I had hoped to keep it hidden," Chen Xi said helplessly. When it came to the ambitions of imperial dominance, he preferred to avoid drawing too much attention if possible.

"Considering our full strength, we could probably face one and a half Yuan Shaos head-on. If we use clever strategies and things go smoothly, like before, we could handle two or more Yuan Shaos. It has to be said, though, the Alliance Leader (Yuan Shao) was indeed a formidable figure," Lu Su remarked quietly. While they were stronger than Yuan Shao, they hadn’t grown so powerful as to make Yuan Shao despair. After all, they had risen in power relatively quickly.

"Exactly," Li You agreed with a nod. "Zichuan (Chen Xi) avoided direct confrontation, instead maneuvering the war towards a decisive victory. Overall, the benefits outweighed the risks. Although we’ve now exposed ourselves before the world, if Yuan Shao had managed to unleash the full potential of his forces—just considering the seven million people in Jizhou alone..."

"Had we finished the fight, we might have been finished as well. This war wasn’t about how many victories we could achieve; it all hinged on one thing: whether or not we could kill Yuan Shao before he fully realized the situation. Even if Tian Feng, Ju Shou, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and Qu Yi had all died, as long as Yuan Shao survived, our victory would have been meaningless," Guo Jia replied casually.

"Precisely," Chen Xi added, spreading his hands in resignation. "The most important aspect of this battle was killing Yuan Shao. As long as he lived, the war would have dragged on for three to five years."

Chen Xi wasn’t joking. The most crucial objective of the battle was to eliminate Yuan Shao. If Yuan Shao hadn’t been killed, the defeat might have only served to awaken him more fully. Even if Liu Bei’s forces couldn’t be beaten, Yuan Shao could drag them down into a protracted, frustrating conflict.

What mattered most to Chen Xi was the restoration of a strong Han Dynasty, not a Central Plains ravaged by war, empty of people. He sought to preserve the vitality of the region, not just a hollow victory.

That’s also why Chen Xi had promoted Hua Tuo’s cure for typhoid fever. If Hua Tuo had tried to spread it on his own, it might have only reached Taishan County by now. Only with official backing could Hua Tuo’s remedy reach the entire country.

Similarly, this was why Chen Xi had sometimes allowed Qu Qi to release farming techniques that boosted crop yields to other lords.

To be honest, Chen Xi wasn’t afraid of these other lords causing trouble. With strategists like Jia Xu, Li You, Guo Jia, Lu Su, Liu Ye, Fa Zheng, Xu Shu, and Zhuge Liang, their purpose was to ensure that every strategy could be executed smoothly, regardless of the circumstances.

In the era of cold weapons, how many people actually died in a decisive battle? Yuan Shao governed over ten million people, and this battle that decided his fate saw, at most, fifty thousand deaths. Both sides combined committed around 250,000 troops.

With a death rate of less than 0.5%, it pales in comparison to the devastation caused by plagues, which could wipe out 70-80% of a population, or famine, which had a death rate of one-third. A prolonged, stagnant war would increase casualties geometrically. Chen Xi would never allow such a situation to arise.

From the very beginning, Chen Xi’s strategy for the Yuan-Liu war was to kill Yuan Shao in one decisive strike, minimizing the damage to the Central Plains.

By eradicating the most devastating killer, typhoid, and with Jizhou spared from major famines, Chen Xi only needed to quickly crush Yuan Shao’s army and kill him to prevent population loss.

In the process of unifying the country, the last people who should suffer are the common people. Yet, they are always the ones who suffer the most. This was the most frustrating reality for Chen Xi. If he wanted to launch epic-scale infrastructure projects after unification, maintaining the population was crucial.

After all, the Han Dynasty’s population was still substantial, having avoided major disasters. According to the latest statistics from Jian Yong, the population within the Han Empire’s territory was around 50 million. However, compared to the population in 184, nearly 10 million people had "vanished."

Still, compared to later dynasties, the Han Dynasty’s population was larger than that during Yang Guang’s reign and more than double the population at the start of the Tang Dynasty. What’s more, Chen Xi had no intention of waiting until unification to begin his epic projects. As soon as Hebei was absorbed, he would start constructing the waterway network!

Construction during wartime always proceeded faster than in peacetime. When people fear for their future, they don’t think too much about potential problems. Once they have peace and leisure, however, they begin to dwell on less important matters, causing endless complications.

Back in the day, when King Fuchai of Wu invaded Qi and dug the 300-li Han Canal, it didn’t take much time. Compared to Wu’s limited resources, Liu Bei, who had already annexed Huaibei, ruled over nearly 15 million people, even though he had yet to fully consolidate the region.

Once Hebei was annexed, even if some difficulties arose, the population under Liu Bei’s control would easily surpass 20 million. At that point, developing waterways and canals would not be a huge challenge. While Chen Xi wasn’t particularly skilled in warfare, he excelled in construction.

Even the Grand Canal Chen Xi planned wasn’t meant to connect major cities like Chang’an, Luoyang, Yecheng, Guantao, Zhuo Commandery, Linzi, or Jianye, as most of these places weren’t even under Liu Bei’s control yet!

So while there was much work to be done, the most difficult sections, such as the Guangtong Canal, which connected Chang’an to the Yellow River, the Tongji Canal linking Luoyang to the Yellow River and Huai River, and the Zhedong Grand Canal, weren’t even on Liu Bei’s territory.

By the time Chen Xi completed his version of the Grand Canal, those familiar with the original might mock him. His canal would be a single, bare trunk without any branches, which was why Mi Zhu was so enthusiastic about the project.

Mi Zhu had never seen the original Grand Canal, but the money the Han Empire minted in a year likely wouldn’t compare to the funds required to complete this canal...

In any case, with Yuan Shao’s defeat, preserving the vitality of the Central Plains had become much easier for Chen Xi. Now, it was just a matter of following the plan, first consolidating Yuzhou and Hebei before proceeding further.

Previous Chapter | | Next Chapter