Chapter 2041: Chapter 1818: Using the World to Write (Part 2)
However, these two guys are doomed to never be able to cooperate, mainly because between the two of them there is a problem of who is master and who is subordinate, and also because they’ve never been driven to a situation where those two had to join hands. That said, Zhuge Liang’s Spiritual Talent could actually run both of them at once, it’s just that Zhuge Liang hasn’t delved deeply into that aspect yet.
"What do you think that guy Zhou Yu will be able to come up with when the time comes?" Jia Xu sent a Voice Transmission to Liu Ye. Up to now, they were indeed the only two who had noticed this point. Recently, Guo Jia really had been drinking himself half to death; after all, there was truly no war at the moment, and once he recovered from the heavy burden of government affairs, Guo Jia started treating wine as if it were water.
This kind of utterly deranged behavior was simply inhuman; naturally, with Guo Jia drunk and lost in dissipation every day, there was no way in hell he had the ability to observe other people. If it weren’t that there really was nothing going on lately, and there wasn’t a good enough reason to stop Guo Jia, Guan Yu would probably have already banned Guo Jia from drinking.
"Anyway, I don’t have any good ideas right now. Even if Zhou Yu is better than me, he won’t be that much better. That guy is well-versed in commanding troops in battle, he’s a born commander; when it comes to intrigue, he won’t necessarily be able to outperform me." Liu Ye said with a smile via Voice Transmission.
"Then why aren’t you quickly thinking of a solution? If Zhou Yu can’t resolve the situation he’s been turning over in his mind, it won’t be long after we reach Chang’an before the whole truth comes out, and then we’ll be put on the back foot." Jia Xu sent a Voice Transmission to Liu Ye.
"That really is a problem, but right now I basically have no way to stop the other members of the Imperial Clan. If this keeps up, sooner or later we’ll set foot on that not‑so‑good path. Even though for us personally there’s no need to care about this kind of thing, it’s a matter of face." Liu Ye transmitted back to Jia Xu in distress. The Imperial Clan wanted to fiddle with the Emperor and push Liu Bei up to the throne—but the problem is, this is not the time!
"Then hurry up and think of a way. In just over a day we’ll be entering Sili; the time left to us is running out." Jia Xu calmly sent a Voice Transmission to Liu Ye.
"Right now I can only hope Zhou Yu churns up the waters in Chang’an. Otherwise, no matter what means we use, we can’t avoid arousing dislike in the Emperor toward us, and even the good reputation our Lord has worked so long to build will get smeared by the Emperor." Liu Ye was helpless. He truly had no good move left; this was entirely the Liu Clan of the Imperial Clan holding them hostage, for heaven’s sake.
"I intend to tell Zichuan about the situation. Even though he almost never concerns himself with intelligence work, something this big, he ought to be informed." Jia Xu said blandly via Voice Transmission to Liu Ye.
"Zichuan’s way of handling conflicts is entirely to turn the other side into his own people, relying on a combination of emotion and interest to gradually convert all his opponents into his own men. But the problem this time is that whether they are ’our own people’ or not is already no longer important. There’s no need to drag Zichuan into the water." Liu Ye’s eyes were filled with helplessness as he looked at Jia Xu and sent a Voice Transmission.
"We can’t let Zichuan get dragged into this. Even though I’ve butted heads with Zichuan several times, my brain works just fine. The two of us, even if we take the blame this time, will still have ways to shake it off later. But if it’s Zichuan, it might create a hidden danger between Zichuan and our Lord." Liu Ye explained to Jia Xu with a solemn expression via Voice Transmission.
"As much as I don’t want to admit it, to be honest, the bunch of us tied together may not mean as much to our Lord as Zichuan does. He is the one who can truly let the Han Dynasty cross beyond its former peak. And my surname is Liu; I fell out with him at the time because I thought what he was doing was harmful, not out of personal selfishness. Telling him now, my brain is still working." Liu Ye transmitted irritably to Jia Xu.
"Heh, didn’t expect your head to be this clear. Since you’ve got no way, then stay out of this. I’ll handle it. As for what I can make of it, you just watch from the side, and whatever happens, act like you never saw a thing." Jia Xu smiled knowingly, indicating he would take care of the matter.
What Jia Xu worried about most was Liu Ye dragging Chen Xi into the water, because Chen Xi’s grasp of political struggle was far too immature. Although Jia Xu acknowledged that Chen Xi’s capabilities were extremely strong, political struggle is not something you can get through just by being capable.
Have you not seen how many monstrously competent people in the world are ultimately killed by politics? Once this thing goes dark, you simply can’t see the bottom.
Jia Xu wasn’t worried about Li Youu, nor about Guo Jia. Among this group, the only ones he worried about were Lub Su and Liu Ye. Li Youu had basically seen through everything; Guo Jia had no intention of intervening at all, and had always just done his pure Staff Officer work.
Jia Xu knew his own situation well. He and Li Youu had a great deal of overlap with Chen Xi in terms of ideals, and while Chen Xi was poor at political struggle, he did understand how to bind people to himself in the same boat. With interest, emotion and ideal all rolled into one, Jia Xu was very clear that he, Li Youu and Chen Xi would always be on the same ship.
Besides, when they spread the map out back then, everyone actually understood that heading west was their most correct choice, and going west held extremely obvious advantages for Jia Xu and Li Youu. So for the most part, Jia Xu was happy to help Chen Xi block the troubles coming from behind.
As for Lub Su and Liu Ye, he actually skipped over them both. Lub Su was because he wanted to test Chen Xi’s depths, and as for whether Liu Ye still harbored other thoughts in his heart or, as he claimed, was very clear‑headed because his surname was Liu—Jia Xu tended to believe the former.
Only, that wasn’t important to Jia Xu. It’s not that he looked down on Liu Ye, but when it comes to playing political games, everyone here added together couldn’t beat him. As long as he didn’t give Liu Ye any opening, Chen Xi could sit forever and securely at the top as a mascot, suppressing all dissent.
To be honest, Jia Xu really did need an "invincible" Chen Xi, because the closer Chen Xi’s displayed ability was to invincible, the more fully the people under Liu Bei’s command would be able to bring out their own abilities.
Because having an invincible figure seated high in the main position is enough to make everyone with impure thoughts restrain themselves, and once people no longer think about fighting one another, the forces under his command can be knitted together far more tightly.
Of course, Jia Xu didn’t deny that there was personal interest in this as well, because he was no longer young; he was already fifty. Although he was confident he could still struggle on for another twenty years, birth, aging, sickness and death are indeed hard to resist.
Chen Xi’s grand blueprint moved Jia Xu. He truly wanted to gamble—gamble on a future, gamble on a flourishing age. He wanted, like the Various Masters, to shine across the long river of history; he wanted, like the sages of the past, to have his name recorded gloriously in history; he wanted to see myth itself born in his own hands.
Those absurd vows were gradually being realized in their hands. Liu Ye and Lub Su might still not understand what that meant, but Jia Xu, who had once idled away over ten years in the post of Chang’an Attendant accomplishing nothing, understood all too well that this meant they stood in an era of transformation.
Blood that had long since grown cold was gradually boiling again under the stimulus of this transformation. Nothing is more powerful than ideals. Everything he had once discarded because of the cruelty of reality, Jia Xu picked up once more.
Compared to Liu Ye and the others, he was already old—so old that the yellow earth had reached up to his chest—but having picked his ideals back up again, Jia Xu knew very clearly that while his body was indeed old, his heart had not aged.
Liu Ye and Lub Su and the rest of the younger generation might not yet understand why Chen Xi exhausted himself to carry out his plans, but Sages like Li Youu and Jia Xu, who had once bowed their heads to reality, now understood.
Chen Xi’s lack of greed for power and status is not because he isn’t greedy, but because what he covets is too great—so great that power and status don’t even count as an accessory to what he wants.
Now Jia Xu and Li Youu were also preparing to covet it together with Chen Xi, so the two of them would never allow anyone to shake Chen Xi’s current position. They very, very much needed an invincible figure seated high up there.
And with a leader who has phased objectives, rigorous plans, and clear timelines, and who doesn’t stifle the talents of those beneath him, Jia Xu and Li Youu both knew what choice to make. In the first half at the Imperial Palace, Chen Xi would lead them to help Liu Bei Restore the Han Dynasty; in the second half at the Imperial Palace, they would then take the Han Dynasty as their base and let the Han Dynasty help them realize their ultimate ideal!
This is greed—not greed for power and status, but greed for the world, the true world: to use the world to write their own past, to use the world to write their own surnames!
