Mythical Three Kingdoms

After Dian Wei reported back to Cao Cao, a smile appeared on Cao Cao’s face. Although Dian Wei was not a thinker and could not strategize, nor did he have the Legion Talent, and even struggled with commanding troops due to his lack of intellect, his strength was consistently formidable.

Back when Lyu Bu was at the peak of his power, Dian Wei dared to challenge him to single combat. Later, before Lyu Bu ascended and shattered the void, the last person to face him in single combat was Dian Wei. It could be said that after Lyu Bu’s ascension, Dian Wei had already reached the highest divine position for a Martial Artist.

”Elai, in a few days we will head north, you will accompany me,” Cao Cao said to Dian Wei with a sense of security, originally planning to leave Cao Ang and Dian Wei together in Chang’an. But now, with a change of mind, Cao Cao decided to take Dian Wei along.

”The Huns?” A fierce glint appeared on Dian Wei’s unattractive face. ”I heard from others that killing a Hun would grant you a noble title of the first rank?”

”Who said that?” Cao Cao asked curiously. The Han Dynasty had indeed acknowledged that killing Huns granted a noble title, and it was an openly accepted truth.

”Minister Chen said it. He told me to kill as many enemies as I want, don’t hold back. In the future, my son will have a title.” Dian Wei scratched his head, with no intention to hide anything. It seemed that Chen Qun told Dian Wei without fear of it reaching Cao Cao.

”Ah, I see. Has Changwen completed the registration of the noble titles?” Cao Cao stroked his chin, a smile appearing on his ugly face. ”Elai, go tell Changwen to take advantage of the Huns’ southward movement to verify and reissue the titles.”

Dian Wei grinned broadly. He wasn’t much for warfare, but he could kill. This matter of exchanging heads for merits was something Dian Wei was very willing to do.

Chen Qun quickly received Cao Cao’s order transmitted by Dian Wei and displayed a hint of joy on his face. After working so hard for so long, it was finally time to expand this scheme. The timing was just right, with the Northern Huns moving south, promoting this system was simply perfect.

”Changwen, I remember you came up with another system?” Xun Yu leaned over to look at the new noble ranking system that Chen Qun had already established with various grade rewards.

”That one is set for the future. I have a feeling that strange situations might arise in the future,” Chen Qun said with a wry smile. ”I once personally met that younger brother of mine, and from any angle, he doesn’t seem like someone who would follow a conventional path.”

”Oh, then how did you establish a system without knowing what direction he would take in the future?” Xun Yu was genuinely curious this time. Without knowing the future trajectory, how on earth did you establish this system?

”Well...” Chen Qun was a bit embarrassed. Not knowing the future, yet establishing a system; it was indeed somewhat absurd, but that’s precisely what he did.

”I was rash,” Xun Yu said gently, seeing Chen Qun’s difficulty.

Chen Qun smiled bitterly a couple of times. ”That younger brother of mine although we have branched out, he doesn’t avoid me when it comes to books. Although the distance is far from the Book Pavilion of Mount Tai, it’s tough for me to borrow them every year, but I always manage to get a few books. I mainly focus on these matters.”

Chen Qun might have a natural sensitivity to systems. As he learned more from the classic books, his understanding of systems grew more profound.

The main point here is that Cai Yan, in the guise of the ancient sage, presented Chen Xi’s core philosophies through classical texts and extensive referencing, making them almost flawless. Although Chen Qun saw certain absurd content, being under reasonable premises, he found himself unable to refute them.

A sage, even if unable to refute immediately, will ponder deeply. Chen Qun’s public duties on Cao Cao’s side weren’t too busy, leaving him with ample time to enrich himself. Consequently, through long-term study and reflection, Chen Qun conceived a stable hierarchy system.

A structure with narrow tips and a substantial middle layer. After extensive discussions and due to his sensitivity to class structures, Chen Qun discovered that the current structure, with a small upper and large lower class, was inherently unstable. If some individuals ever led the lower class, this class system might be toppled.

A societal structure with narrow tips and a broad middle. The upper part is similar to the previous structure, but the lower part is narrow, meaning the previously large lower class has ascended to the middle class.

As the largest and most substantial group in the middle, they are exploited by the upper class, but since they still have those below them to exploit, albeit with limited benefits, dignity and a sense of superiority are sufficient for those in the middle to endure the exploitation that might otherwise provoke rebellion.

As for the even lower exploited class, they naturally cannot endure this degree of exploitation and may revolt. Nevertheless, their numbers and strength won’t match the middle class conceived by Chen Qun, and suppression would be inevitable.

At this point, the uppermost and bottommost layers have no direct exploitative relationship. The uppermost layer only needs to exploit the middle class, and by pitying the lower class, without doing anything, they can enjoy stability for generations by watching the middle class struggle.

According to Chen Qun’s calculations, the class population ratio should roughly be 1:5:50:35:9. The most likely class to overturn others is actually the third hierarchy. The first and second classes, akin to the current aristocratic families, hold ninety percent of the power and seven layers of wealth. They only need to funnel resources to the fourth hierarchy since the third hierarchy is unstable.

Once Chen Qun devised this system, he realized that permanent class stability might indeed be possible. But by that time, Chen Qun had lost interest in such pursuits, so he merely did some adjustments without considering its domestic implementation.

In Chen Qun’s view, this system is most suitable for minority rule after conquering a strong country. This method is more conducive to governing a foreign clan but, even Chen Qun wouldn’t dare implement it domestically.

With Chen Qun’s vision at present, he clearly understands that implementing such a system would suppress an entire race. The upper class would lose their drive, and the middle and lower classes would be engrossed in internal conflicts, resulting in the worst possible outcome.

If the Qin and Han’s noble title system caused the upper class to stagnate and blocked the lower class’s path to advancement, which risked the lower classes rebelling and threatening the upper class, thereby ensuring some vigilance among the upper class.

If replaced with Chen Qun’s new system, the upper class wouldn’t need to do much; they would just watch the middle and lower classes’ struggles. Though the middle and lower classes might have ambitions, their internal issues would prevent them from achieving more.