Mythical Three Kingdoms

”I’ve agreed on behalf of the other aristocratic families,” Chen Shang nodded.

In Chen Shang’s view, the advantage of exchanging one book for ten was too obvious. They could exchange for ninety-three books in a year. After all, ordinary people could only borrow three books in three years. The aristocratic family’s advantage was too obvious. If they still lost, then Chen Shang felt that the aristocratic family deserved to fail.

In this era, how should one put it, in the eyes of aristocratic families, their opponents were those from Humble Families, not the Lower Class whom they regarded as insignificant.

From the perspective of aristocratic families, losing to a Humble Family was considered bad luck, but after all, those from Humble Families were once aristocratic families that had fallen from grace. As for commoners, they were completely disregarded. Therefore, the aristocratic families usually didn’t take commoners seriously.

This notion was fully displayed by the likes of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao, members of the aristocratic family. So, they never considered that hundreds of years later, it wouldn’t be the Humble Families but the commoners who would dethrone the aristocratic families.

[There will come a time when you’ll suffer the consequences. Once there are more commoners who can read, you’ll know what true terror is.] Chen Xi chuckled to himself. After all, aristocratic families were limited by their own vision and couldn’t see what their biggest threat was.

”Great uncle, I have one more thing to add,” Chen Xi continued to speak.

”Go ahead,” Chen Shang frowned but did not refuse.

”For the sake of fairness, everyone in Lord Xuande’s territory shall have this privilege,” Chen Xi said calmly.

Chen Shang was taken aback, then repeated it before finally catching the drift and said with a laugh, ”No problem. Everyone in the world can enjoy this privilege. By the way, we actually have a lot of confidence in Lord Xuande.”

[Zichuan, you are still an aristocratic family member after all. The only ones who have collections of books in this world are the aristocratic families. That one is just covered in a veil of seeming fairness.] Chen Shang thought to himself.

”Then that couldn’t be better,” Chen Xi nodded, unfazed by Chen Shang’s overture. The aristocratic families’ attitude towards Liu Bei was obviously mixed with love and hate to this day, and the reason was that while they appreciated Liu Bei, he did not rely on the aristocratic families as much as other Feudal Lords did.

”Regarding the land, we can’t give it back to you now, but as I have promised the aristocratic families before, after the chaos has been quelled, I will return the land to you. Since you don’t farm, you’re not in a rush anyway,” Chen Xi continued expressionlessly, making a promise to Chen Shang.

”Will you really give the land back to the aristocratic families?” Chen Shang said with a twisted mouth. Even holding onto Land Exchange Vouchers, they felt it was unreliable, but considering the previous clause had been so favorable, Chen Shang thought it was not unacceptable to endure this one, ”We don’t ask for much, returning thirty percent will suffice.”

”Not now, I still have use for it. After this period, I will exchange for the Land Exchange Vouchers you hold, as long as the land isn’t here,” Chen Xi shook his head firmly refusing, satisfied by the aristocratic families’ substantial concessions though he could see their level of support for Liu Bei. Nevertheless, Chen Xi had decisively no interest.

”Zichuan, tell your great uncle the truth, don’t deceive him. If your great uncle doesn’t handle it well, when the world becomes well-governed, it would be bad if he was torn apart by the people,” Chen Shang played the emotional card with a face full of sorrow.

Chen Shang felt that Chen Xi’s proposal was very unreliable. Exchange of land was something aristocratic families were all too familiar with: Upper Fields exchanged for Lower Fields would make one cry but not die, and the aristocratic families could only exchange within one region. If it was made into a national policy, Upper Fields could be exchanged for barren deserts where not a blade of grass grew.

”Don’t be like that, I can write a document for you. If the land exchanged isn’t Upper Field, you can come to me. I’ll sign and seal it, but not right now. By the way, you really don’t know anything about farming,” Chen Xi said calmly. The words of Chen Shang made him want to both laugh and cry; he wasn’t that unprincipled.

”Are you sure it’s Upper Field?” Chen Shang asked, staring at Chen Xi.

”For you, I wouldn’t bother going so far. Small acres for big acres are fine, except for exchanging Lower Field for Upper Field and dry land for paddy fields. Other than not falsifying, if you have it, you have it. Big acres or small acres, they’re all acres; Upper Field or Lower Field, they’re all fields,” Chen Xi said indifferently, articulating the words that made Chen Shang’s heart race.

Chen Shang was directly stupefied; he didn’t know what to say. His mouth opened and closed, but he had no idea what he was trying to articulate.

”Set your mind at ease. Would anyone personally go and measure whether it’s small acres or big acres? Would you deceive me about it if I backed you from above? As for exchanging Lower Field for Upper Field, who would inspect it acre by acre? I plan to consolidate the Aristocratic Families’ lands together. As for exchanging dry land for paddy fields, by the time the Land Deeds are in my hands, with a single fire, who would know,” Chen Xi’s words were like opening a door for Chen Shang.

”Gulp.” Chen Shang swallowed hard. He had seen bold people, but never someone as bold as this, and what Chen Xi said made complete sense!

”What do you think, great-uncle? Want to give it a try? With a single swoop, the Chen Family could gain tens of thousands of acres of good farmland,” Chen Xi said with a light laugh.

”You’re not joking?” Chen Shang muttered.

”No problem, I can write up the document right now. Of course, to avoid trouble later on, I’ll note that all the commoners are eligible for this benefit. However, since it’s a benefit, first come, first served,” Chen Xi said carelessly.

[The Northeastern Plain is exactly what I mentioned before, but you all don’t farm. Even if you want it, you treat it as ancestral land. Bringing together the lands of the Aristocratic Families for collective farming could save some trouble.]

”I agree,” Chen Shang said after confirming there was no trap from Chen Xi. He consented immediately. There was nothing to think over; such favorable conditions would make anyone who refused a fool. As for whether this would trick the nation, who cared?

”I’ll write the document when the time comes. You can take it back for the Head of the Aristocratic Family to sign and seal. However, let me make it clear upfront: I can exchange land for you, but if you let the farmland go to waste because there’s no one to farm it, and someone else discovers it, I will show you no mercy,” Chen Xi said without a shred of compassion.

”Understood, that goes without saying. We definitely won’t let good farmland go to waste,” Chen Shang nodded and said. ”If there aren’t enough servants, we’ll hire people to farm it; we will make sure not to create difficulties for Zichuan.”

Chen Shang also knew that if they allowed a large area of land to go uncultivated due to a lack of people, there would definitely be an investigation from above. They couldn’t cover it up in such a scenario and might even drag Chen Zichuan down, so he assured that all the Aristocratic Families would not let the land go to waste, even if it meant spending money to hire people to farm.

”That’s good to hear,” Chen Xi responded with a cool expression, but in his heart, he was already laughing uproariously.

Breaking new ground in the Northeastern Plain was not difficult for this world possessing Inner Qi and Cloud Qi. The challenge lay in the cultivation after clearing the land—there were no people there. Even if there were armies to break the ground, they couldn’t handle five million acres. Now that the Aristocratic Family Members were willingly signing documents, they would eventually have to hire laborers.

With the Aristocratic Families hiring laborers, and combined with the numerous upcoming policies, it was estimated that they could just manage to swallow up that million acres of land. As for the other four million, it would depend on how many Aristocratic Families took the bait. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian ) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)