Chapter Forty: Wisdom Accumulated Over a Thousand Years

"Lord Xuande, don't you feel that your troops are a bit too few?" Chen Xi said with a chuckle. "Everyone here surely knows what the most elite troops in the world are today. Instead of borrowing the strength of others, it is better for us to grow strong ourselves."

"We are, after all, like duckweed without roots. Being able to have this many soldiers is already a blessing from the heavens. When Zichuan speaks of the world's most elite troops, could he be referring to the Xiliang Iron Cavalry?" A sharp glint flashed across Liu Bei's eyes.

"Indeed, this is a gift I have prepared for you. Since we are leaving this place, we should simply take them along. If Zijian can display the dominance of the foremost fierce general of Xiliang, absorbing around ten thousand Xiliang Iron Cavalry this time should pose no problem at all," Chen Xi said with a smile, then gestured toward Hua Xiong. "The rest depends on you. After all, you have spent a long time in Xiliang. If you hold enough prestige, the path ahead will be much smoother."

"Before Lü Bu, I was the foremost warrior of Xiliang; after Lü Bu came, I still am. He is the God of War, the undefeated God of War," Hua Xiong said with a bitter smile, indicating that if it were merely a matter of leveraging his reputation among the Xiliang elite cavalry, there would be no problem at all. "However, is Zichuan really so confident that we can capture so many Xiliang elite cavalry? You must know, these are arguably the premier elites of the world."

"It's nothing much; we are simply going to receive them. The one leading the Xiliang elite cavalry to cover the rear will inevitably be Lü Bu. By now, Lü Bu has likely defeated Cao Cao, and he is at his most suspicious. The moment he sees us arrive, he will immediately recall what was written in my letter, turn around, and leave. The rest is up to you," Chen Xi said with an indifferent expression.

Seeing the puzzlement among the group, Chen Xi slowly explained the reasoning. "The letter I gave to Lü Bu did not attempt to recruit him. Instead, I wrote to him as a Bingzhou native who had once received his favor, offering him a few hints. I told him that Li Ru would make him excavate the imperial tombs, what harm that would bring him, and afterwards, Luoyang would be put to the torch. Then I told him to cover the rear and ambush the coalition forces."

"Uh, Zichuan, aren't you just plotting and scheming for Lü Bu?" Liu Bei asked with some confusion.

"No, I was merely gaining Lü Bu's trust while helping him better understand the situation. Originally, Li Ru would have instructed him to ambush the coalition anyway. However, I deliberately planted a hint, saying that Li Ru would only instruct him on the ambush itself, but not on the number of pursuit waves. Moreover, the first pursuit would very likely be a bait set by the coalition forces, and once he pursued too deeply, he might be counter-ambushed, to the extent that even he himself could fall into the trap," Chen Xi said very casually.

"Zichuan, by doing this, aren't you afraid that Lü Bu might deliberately execute a second ambush?" Zhao Yun asked, frowning.

"Lü Bu doesn't have the time for that, nor would he place himself in a dangerous situation. Everything I said beforehand was true, so Lü Bu will definitely take the final warning seriously. Especially with Generals Guan, Zhang, and Zhao all present, capable of delivering a fatal blow to him, he will turn around and leave without the slightest hesitation. As for his subordinate Xiliang soldiers, he won't care about them at all. As long as they aren't Bingzhou soldiers, he simply doesn't care for them. I confirmed this point with General Hua," Chen Xi smiled and explained to Zhao Yun. He played these psychological games with great proficiency.

"That part is true," Hua Xiong said with a bitter smile. "Aside from the Bingzhou lads, Lü Bu has never cared whether the Xiliang soldiers live or die. That is also why the Bingzhou Wolf Riders and the Xiliang Iron Cavalry remain utterly incompatible to this day."

"Zichuan is truly a person of great talent!" Liu Bei said, looking at Chen Xi with glowing eyes.

"I suppose I can't really be considered that," Chen Xi said, spreading his hands helplessly. "From now on, the relationship between Lü Bu, Dong Zhuo, and Li Ru will no longer be so harmonious. He will constantly suspect that Li Ru and Dong Zhuo want to get rid of him. This thorn will remain buried in his heart until one side falls. Of course, I don't hold high hopes for Dong Zhuo; he has already lost his former grand ambitions, and Li Ru probably wouldn't be willing to assist a Dong Zhuo who lacks grand ambitions."

"How ruthless!" Guan Yu and Zhang Fei said in unison.

"There's nothing ruthless about it. I didn't kill a single person, nor did I have them kill anyone. Everything I said was true, not a single word was false," Chen Xi rolled his eyes and began to quibble. "Besides, you see I didn't sow discord; as a fellow townsman, it's only right to consider things for one's fellow townsman. If Lü Bu truly trusted Li Ru, this matter wouldn't have happened."

Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun were all left speechless, yet they had to admit that what Chen Xi said was entirely correct. From beginning to end, the letter contained not the slightest bit of malice—it was pure goodwill. Yet, for Lü Bu to read it was the ultimate malice.

"Alright, enough talk. We should go receive our troops. These are the foundations of our future; unless necessary, try not to kill," Chen Xi smiled and placated the others. To him, this kind of business was all too familiar. Sometimes, goodwill appearing where it shouldn't happens to be the greatest malice of all!

Guan, Zhang, and Zhao each returned to their respective camps to lead their personal troops, preparing for a major undertaking. From Chen Xi's words, they already understood that ten or twenty thousand Xiliang Iron Cavalry were a certainty. Furthermore, Chen Xi had no intention of commanding troops himself, so the spoils would naturally be divided among the four of them. Although the lion's share would go to Liu Bei, they would divide the remainder among themselves, meaning each of the four could secure at least a thousand men!

"Lord Xuande, would you care to share your aspirations?" Chen Xi asked solemnly after shooing Hua Xiong aside, though he could not entirely conceal the smile lingering at the corners of his eyes. He did not mind whatever answer Liu Bei gave; what he needed was a dependable lord, not one who was merely ambitious and ruthless.

What Chen Xi wanted was stability. This era was a turbulent time, and any grand idea required one to stay alive in order to have a chance at realization—whether it was reviving the Han Dynasty, restoring the glory of China, or re-establishing a martial spirit. All of this required him, Chen Xi, to remain alive.

With a span of eighteen hundred years, Chen Xi possessed vastly more knowledge and a much broader perspective than anyone in this era. Intelligence might naturally have its gaps, but wisdom was the experience accumulated through time.

Chen Xi knew very well that his raw intelligence probably wouldn't match that of these legendary ministers of the ages, but his vision, his reservoir of knowledge, and his wisdom could crush them by a margin of eight streets without the slightest issue.

To put it simply, Chen Xi at least knew what the benefits would be of implementing certain policies at this time, and what the long-term drawbacks would be. He didn't even need to patch up the flaws, nor worry about the impact on centuries down the line. If he were to chat casually about what policies should replace them a few centuries later, could Zhuge Liang, even if he came here, know what the Tang Dynasty was like, or the Song Dynasty? What a joke!

To put it bluntly, as long as Chen Xi grasped the broad directions of politics and economy, had a few capable people under his command, and possessed a lord who would allow him free rein, under identical conditions, if you tied all the famous ministers of the Three Kingdoms together, Chen Xi was confident he could suppress them in the short term. This no longer relied on raw intelligence; it was purely a matter of knowledge reserves and experience.