Three Kingdoms, Myth

It was good enough that they admitted their mistakes. Chen Xi had long been dissatisfied with these guys, especially with Li You. Wasn't it a bit much to have been slacking off more than Chen Xi himself? When they were fighting in Peiguo, Jia Xu and Zhang Fei were holding the front, while Liu Bei had sneaked off to Pei County to visit the birthplace of the Liu family, and Li You had gone along for the fun. They acted as if Zhang Xun wasn't even worth considering!

When Chen Xi found out about this, he was stunned. He had deliberately assigned Li You and Jia Xu to Liu Bei's route for Liu Bei's safety. With these two, plus Zhang Fei and Xu Chu, even if the enemy were of the caliber of dragons or phoenixes, they could hold their own. But instead, they went off to play! They even went to Pei County and didn't take me along!

What's worse, after going off to have fun, Liu Bei ended up in this current situation. Chen Xi didn't bring Li You in to keep Liu Bei company; that was what entertainers were for. You're a guy with an IQ of 180 doing this kind of thing—isn't that beneath you?

Chen Xi stared at Li You, who remained unfazed. Indeed, those who had held high positions and experienced much were not easily swayed by Chen Xi's words, showing neither guilt nor shame.

"Fine, I'll let it go this time. Help Zijing handle the household registration issue. Wenru, you're experienced in top-down management and seem to be good at it. I'll work on the new laws." Chen Xi sighed, realizing that someone like Li You wasn't easily reprimanded.

"Alright," Li You nodded, accepting the task as a way to make up for his previous lapse.

"Wenru, I'll rely on you to take care of it. You seem to be good at this kind of thing," Lu Su, the ever-amiable person, had no objections to Li You stepping in, as he didn't see it as a threat to his authority.

"Ziyang, by this time next month, if you haven't distributed the governance templates, don't blame me if I start causing you trouble," Chen Xi said coldly, glaring at Liu Ye. This guy needed some pressure, otherwise, he'd forget things. "You're allowed to recruit people to help. There are about 30,000 literate students in Taishan. If you have the ability, you can recruit them. I'm giving you the authority to do so."

"Understood. I'll get it done," Liu Ye said, his sense of urgency spiking under Chen Xi's icy gaze.

"Fengxiao, Xiaozhi, you two keep an eye on Sun Bofu, Zhou Gongjin, Yuan Gonglu, Cao Mengde, and Lu Fengxian. Monitor the southern battlefield, and if the situation turns against us, you're allowed to intervene," Chen Xi said, eyeing the drunken Guo Jia and the snack-stealing Fa Zheng. He sighed internally—truly, when the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams become askew too. Fa Zheng had once been proud and aloof, but now, under Guo Jia's influence, he had become somewhat of a rascal.

"Understood, I will," Fa Zheng said excitedly.

"I'm counting on you, Xiaozhi. I have high hopes for you," Chen Xi said, handing over his plate of fruit to Fa Zheng. Typically, if Guo Jia was too drunk to function, Fa Zheng could make decisions in his stead. Fa Zheng had already succumbed to Guo Jia's influence, forcibly molded into a junior disciple. Although the identity of the master remained unclear, it was a small consolation that Fa Zheng wasn't actually an apprentice.

"Hold the northern front and make things difficult for those in Chang'an. Help ensure that Cao Mengde doesn't have an easy time either. If Yuan Gonglu can defeat Cao Mengde, who has newly trained soldiers defending fortified cities, then it would be quite surprising. I believe Cao Mengde's plan is to pin down Yuan Gonglu and train his troops..." Chen Xi turned to Jia Xu, explaining things only partially. He knew Jia Xu would understand how to proceed.

"Hehehe..." The eerie laugh sent shivers down everyone's spine, and all eyes, except Li You's, glared at Jia Xu.

"Just drink your tea," Liu Ye said grumpily, pushing a cup towards Jia Xu, who seemed ready to let out another chuckle.

"Jianchang, you continue hosting gatherings and banquets. Recently, try to find some high-level mystics to evaluate Fenggao and write something about it. We've spent ten billion coins, so we need to get some return on that investment! You can claim it's a land of dragon's prosperity or something!" Chen Xi said, having already made significant investments. He was subtly giving everyone a hint about their future strategy.

Sure enough, Liu Yan's eyes sparkled at this suggestion. Recently, boasting about the Central Plains overlord had become a bit dull, especially since just two months ago, they had been aggressively promoting Yuan Shu as the number one warlord in the world. It had been so excessive that it was almost unbearable to watch. With their current strength, there was no need to keep hyping the Central Plains overlord...

The others had similar reactions, with subtle, unspoken thoughts crossing their minds. Fa Zheng, however, was already so excited he could barely contain himself, once again proving his temperament needed more refinement.

"But don't overdo it. We need to keep things within reason. I trust you can manage that, right, Weishuo?" Chen Xi added, after some thought, deciding to be cautious. Liu Yan's propaganda skills were too powerful—if taken too far, it could backfire.

"Leave it to me!" Liu Yan nearly thumped his chest in assurance. "I'll invite Xu Lingxiu, Zhou Konghe, and Xu Lingxiu to Taishan in a few days."

Chen Xi almost wanted to slam his head against the table. Before arriving in this world, he might have only known about one of them, but by now, he was well aware of how powerful the other two were.

Liu Yan casually mentioned inviting the three biggest names. Xu Lingxiu's divination, Zhou Xuan's dream interpretation, and Xu Liang's physiognomy—if these three came and spoke, whatever they said would become reality.

"Find someone a bit less influential. If these three come, it'll be hard to manage," Chen Xi quickly advised. If they came and exaggerated Liu Bei's qualities to an absurd degree, it would be difficult to backtrack.

"Huh?" Liu Yan was puzzled. These three were easy to find. He had just been chatting with Xu Lingxiu on Taishan recently—they had a connection, a bond. When it comes to metaphysics, you want to bring in the best, right? Otherwise, who would take it seriously?

"Just go find someone," Chen Xi said, resigned.

But with Liu Yan's earlier comment, everyone present who could think straight understood the caliber of people he was talking about. Maybe those people weren't great strategists, but in their fields, a single word from them could lock you in place, rendering you powerless to argue for over a decade.

Chen Xi waved his hand, signaling Liu Yan to proceed, before turning to Jian Yong. "Xianhe, you take over the work Zijing was doing with the incoming population. Try to disperse the literate ones as much as possible."

"Understood!" Jian Yong replied with a smile. "So that means Zijing will be working with you on Qingzhou matters?"

"Yes, after training here in Taishan for so long, Zijing should be ready to handle Qingzhou. It'll save me some trouble. We can't afford any more incidents this year. Anything that can be resolved quickly must be resolved quickly!" Chen Xi nodded, his demeanor not overly stern, but everyone could feel his determination.

"Gongyou, the ongoing construction projects in Fenggao are all yours now, along with the city's planning. Also, recruit some female officials to help with the adjustments. Women often see things from a different perspective, and they might catch issues we've missed. This is all on you, but when the materials come in, don't hesitate to use them!" Chen Xi said with a smile. Sun Qian's workload seemed light, but when the materials arrived, Chen Xi was certain Sun Qian wouldn't have it easy.

"Understood," Sun Qian replied, bowing.