Mythical Three Kingdoms

In Xun Yu’s view, such matters seem unreliable in every way. If not for Chen Xi’s arguments being quite sound, he would have already dismissed Chen Xi’s proposal by now.

"The assessment can be postponed; directly inform the local officials: the five-year plan, with the first year’s plan as the assessment content. The first year’s plan should be assessed at twice the usual rate." Chen Xi looked calmly at Xun Yu and said, "For me, how they performed before is not important; what’s important is how they will perform in the future!"

"In this way, it might be somewhat unfair to the local officials who performed well this year." Xun Yu slightly moved his lips before speaking.

"Come on, if they don’t want to work, they should step down quickly, making way for someone else to take the position." Chen Xi replied irritably, leaving Xun Yu speechless.

"If you haven’t even got the upper-tier official positions sorted out, wouldn’t it be worse if another batch of local officials becomes vacant?" Xun Yu looked at Chen Xi with exasperation and said.

"I haven’t sorted out the upper-tier official positions, not because I lack candidates, but because I need to consider maintaining operation even if some people are withdrawn. To put it bluntly, taking the list of civil and military officials of the three of us, we can line them up from the Nine Ministers downwards, and who among them cannot be qualified?" Chen Xi rolled his eyes and said.

Although Xun Yu found Chen Xi’s words somewhat unreasonable, he had to admit that Chen Xi made a valid point. Even if they are not entirely suitable, maintaining the normal operation of the country can still be achieved.

"You’re quite considerate." After a while, Xun Yu said.

"It’s not about being considerate; it’s for a longer-term future. A man without care for the future must have immediate worries. Moreover, this matter must be done sooner or later, and the common people have just had two good years; we can’t let them suffer due to our turmoil." Chen Xi shrugged and said.

"As for the lower-level officials, talking to me about fairness, let’s not mention how many would talk about it. Even if they do, it’s no big deal to remove them. The Chen Family and the Xun Family can easily bring out fifty to sixty individuals capable of governing counties and counties. Could all of them possibly run away?" Chen Xi scoffed and said.

Leaving alone one or two can be said to be personal acts, even one or two dozen could be argued as personal acts, but if one or two hundred run away, then the Great Han Dynasty’s aristocratic families are just not willing to blend in anymore. If they dare to act so recklessly at this time, is it because they’ve noticed that Chen Xi hasn’t gotten angry these two years?

Therefore, even if someone is dissatisfied with this, it’s impossible for that many people to actually run away. Just a moment ago, they agreed with Chen Xi, united under Chen Xi’s banner, and now they dare to act like this; that would really be a sign of a falling-out.

Who doesn’t know that current Han Dynasty officials are largely intertwined with aristocratic families; doing such things now, wouldn’t the aristocratic families who are still moving suffer?

"Alright, alright, you have a point, you have a point." Xun Yu hurriedly stopped Chen Xi from continuing, as the Xun Family and Chen Family indeed have this many people capable of managing a county or county, and even some who can fill the positions of a Two Thousand Bushels official, but actually doing this would offend too many people.

"Let’s leave it at that." Chen Xi knew he was exaggerating; if he really did that, it would be insane to think the other aristocratic families would tolerate it.

In Chen Xi’s view, even if local officials are unhappy with this assessment’s outcome, they would remember to recommend other people to take up the position before resigning, unlikely to leave as Guan Yu did in history.

"Whatever you want; just draft the official list as soon as possible. Ye City has already responded. Lub Zijing has already sent Jia Wenhe’s eldest son over." Xun Yu reported information that Chen Xi was unaware of.

"I didn’t even know our side’s situation; it seems I’ve been too busy lately. Wen Ru and Zijing probably won’t come over; Suzhi might be here for craftsman grading, likely already done with the plan. Who else is coming?" Chen Xi first expressed a sigh, then guessed the situation.

"There is also Minister Lu’s son, Lu Zijia." Xun Yu replied, with Chen Xi raising an eyebrow, puzzled as to what role Lu Yu was here to play.

"Is it just these two?" Chen Xi asked, beginning to understand what Lub Su and the others implied.

Xun Yu nodded. "If the grading doesn’t have much of an impact, organizing now would be feasible. Once things are settled, the evaluation can take place. As for Lu Zijia, he’s currently connecting with various great aristocratic families, coordinating the efforts."

Hearing this, Chen Xi raised an eyebrow, surprised that Li Youu entrusted such a significant task to Lu Yu. However, knowing Li Youu’s character, his choice of Lu Yu probably indicates Lu Yu’s performance isn’t bad—without experiencing some turbulence, how can one truly grow strong.

"Gather those younger ones to get some exposure; Boyan dealing with the accumulated governmental work with Kongming every day doesn’t have much meaning." Chen Xi thought for a moment and said, "What’s your son’s condition now?"

"Much better, but Physician Hua said there’s a chronic ailment. If he wishes to awaken Spiritual Talent, he might not live past forty." Xun Yu sighed and replied, but without much sorrow—living to forty isn’t considered an early death. He used to worry whether Xun Yun could even make it to twenty.

"What about Gong Da’s son?" Chen Xi inquired.

"He’s already showing improvements, much lighter than my son’s. Dr. Zhang mentioned that with about half a year’s to a year’s nourishment, he should be like a normal person, and awakening Spiritual Talent won’t harm him." Xun Yu sighed and responded.

"Alright, then your son should avoid awakening Spiritual Talent; your family doesn’t lack that one." Chen Xi responded irritably, "Counting these, your family currently has seven Spiritual Talents, right?"

"It will still awaken—a helpless reality for a big family." Xun Yu sighed and said.

In a family like the Xun’s, Xun Yu found it inevitable. In the previous generation, Xun Shuang overthrew seven barrier-breaking brothers to become the family head, and in his generation, Xun Yu overthrew four. His son would likely face a similar fate; their descendants’ pressures all came from within the family.

Chen Xi just shook his head, not engaging further. He understood the Xun Family’s situation; Xun Yu’s son must awaken Spiritual Talent to securely take over the family head position from Xun Yu.

"Let’s not talk about these matters anymore." Xun Yu shook his head and said, "Gong Da and the others are handling the Grand Assembly arrangements; do you have any suggestions?" Xun Yu asked, reviewing Chen Xi’s list of officials.

"I’m not too familiar with this set; Xun Gongda has participated so many times, I don’t think there should be an issue. You guys should handle the plan, but let’s meet once more; we need to detail the first-year parts of the five-year plan to facilitate execution by local officials." Chen Xi shook his head, redirecting the topic to his area of expertise.

"That’s not much of a problem. Hmm, there’s one unclear issue." Xun Yu hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Our side has seen the Marquis of Meiyang."