Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1309: Chapter 1263: Hebei Has Many Noted Scholars, Who Can Match Sheni Zhengnan

How could Sheni Pei be someone who is not calm? On the contrary, he is wiser and calmer than over ninety percent of the people in the world most of the time. To forcefully use his Spiritual Talent like this is more about his unwillingness, and even more about hoping he can help support the foundation of the Yuan Family.

If, at the time of Yuan Shao’s sudden demise, Sheni Pei, Xun Shen, and others considered this battle merely an accident, then after Liu Bei seized most of Jizhou, and numerous spies hidden in Jizhou sent endless intelligence to Sheni Pei’s hands before the household registration was fully corrected.

Sheni Pei immediately understood the gap between the two sides. If he had known Liu Bei’s true situation at the time, he would definitely have spared no effort to forcibly mobilize all the troops from Jizhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou, utilizing nearly a million troops in the North within three months to determine the Vitality Number in a single decisive battle!

This is also the only way Sheni Pei believed he could have turned the tide after learning the real situation. As for the rest, all Sheni Pei could say was, ”Divine Skills cannot surpass the decrees of Heaven!”

Only by using forces far exceeding those of Liu Bei, and leveraging all the strength of the North while Liu Bei’s commands were not yet complete, could they eliminate Liu Bei in one swift push, akin to how Liu Bei annihilated Yuan Shao; otherwise, no other methods would have been effective against Liu Bei.

Back then, Chen Xi had subtly laid the foundation so firmly that once it moved, it would cause the heavens to tilt, beyond the resistance of ordinary people.

There are no less than ten top sages with Spiritual Talent, and likewise no fewer than ten top masters with Inner Qi Manifestation, including several outstanding military generals with Legion Talent.

If the above can be considered terrifying, then having over two hundred thousand veteran soldiers who need not do other tasks than participate in war, along with more than six hundred thousand Tuntian Army and professional engineering troops, is simply despair-inducing.

Sheni Pei once calculated how much influence such a large force would have on a power, and the end result made him extremely bitter. Even if he had Jizhou in hand, if Yuan Shao had extracted such a force, the agriculture under his rule would have collapsed altogether.

Extracting such a large number of young and strong men would be enough to leave every household short of labor, and due to insufficient labor, the fields would be under-tended. Continuing to bear the current tax burden, almost every household would be destitute and displaced right after the summer harvest.

However, the exaggerated number of plowing oxen under Liu Bei’s reign meant that families with members serving as soldiers had no such concerns, and with some assorted rewards that were neither too many nor too few, there were no hidden worries for Liu Bei’s side.

It can be said that Sheni Pei, after piecing together a large amount of intelligence, has basically understood the current situation of Liu Bei’s Army. From what he can discern of Liu Bei’s expenditures, he can even estimate how much tax revenue Liu Bei’s side generates!

Spread out, the tax per person is even higher than in Jizhou, yet Liu Bei’s territories are peaceful and prosperous. If high taxes equate to harsh rule, then Liu Bei’s region should have the strictest policies on earth, yet Liu Bei is renowned for his benevolence!

If, to this extent, Sheni Pei still didn’t understand what was happening, he wouldn’t deserve to be called a sage. Liu Bei’s overall prosperity has vastly surpassed all other Feudal Lords in the world.

Moreover, Liu Bei now has a population of over twenty million, nearly or even more than half of the worldwide population. Coupled with ample resources, strong soldiers, and competent generals, the grand trend in the world is already determined, as Chen Xi’s words claiming ’the grand trend is with me’ are indeed true.

Sheni Pei already understands that even if the Yuan Family and the Cao Family combined all their strength, there would be no hope of luck. This kind of power is no longer on the same level; Liu Bei now has the ability to sweep across the world and launch a simultaneous war against all the Feudal Lords!

This is also why Sheni Pei cannot deem Liu Bei hypocritical; it’s simply because Liu Bei staying put is already the greatest kindness.

The longer Liu Bei waits, the slower the pace of unification, but the strength gap between all the Feudal Lords and Liu Bei will only grow, resulting in fewer casualties when Liu Bei finally unifies the world. For the common people, this is the highest benevolence, forgoing the throne while protecting millions, his own body unharmed, enough to call it goodness.

As for Cao Cao and Sunx Ce, representing Yuan Shu, though seemingly thriving, Sheni Pei knows very well that if Liu Bei makes the first move, he will inevitably break Sunx Ce. The so-called Yangtze Natural Barrier, in Sheni Pei’s view, is just a joke. Liu Bei has traversed the sea route, Gongsun Du has done so, and in this lifetime, even Yuan Shao sent troops across the sea route, yet Yangzhou has no sea ships!

Just from this single gap, Sheni Pei, looking at the Yangzhou map, knows Sunx Ce has lost, unless Sunx Ce can station enough troops densely along Yangzhou’s coastline. However, does Sunx Ce have over a million troops?

This is ridiculous. Even though he has the Land of Jingchu and has conducted population transfers under Yuan Shu’s initiative, and with the Shanyue barbarians, Sunx Ce only has around eight or nine million people, and that’s without being ravaged by a plague. Otherwise, he would only have two to three million left.

With such a small population, even if Sunx Ce’s aura of domination is powerful, he couldn’t possibly muster over a million troops, which inevitably means Sunx Ce is not a match.

As for trying to surpass Liu Bei in development while Liu Bei develops, don’t even think about it. Even if Chen Xi’s position is vacated and Lub Su takes over, no one can develop faster than Liu Bei. Just one Xia Dynasty government maintaining the pre-existing systems is already beyond anyone’s ability to handle.