Mythical Three Kingdoms

”By the way, where are you experimenting? Take me with you next time. I also have many things to experiment with, but unfortunately, I don’t have enough military strength.” Fa Zheng said to Guo Jia with a laugh. Relying on past achievements is not a good habit; he needs to become stronger. Only by becoming stronger can he traverse the world!

Fa Zheng is not the strongest among this group of people, but Fa Zheng can be said to have the strongest motivation to become stronger, and is among the very few sages who are continuously getting stronger.

Others are either constrained by old age and past experiences or by their current status. Although they understand the vastness of the world, their motivation to become stronger is insufficient. Fa Zheng is among the very few who not only want to become stronger but are actually getting stronger.

On one hand, it’s because he is young and not constrained by experience. On the other hand, Fa Zheng has an obsessive personality. Although he grew crooked in his previous life, after being straightened out in this life, becoming strong and even stronger has become Fa Zheng’s greatest joy.

”Alright, I’ll take you along next time.” Guo Jia said indifferently. After all, their drills require cooperation; just by themselves, they can’t verify anything.

”Speaking of which, I really don’t know of any corps near Ye City that could allow us to practice such large-scale military formations.” Fa Zheng said with slight curiosity. Clearly, what Guo Jia was playing with couldn’t be verified with just twenty thousand people.

”Find Yu Wenze, and he will take you to the prisoners. He is indeed a rare master of drilling soldiers in our time. He even managed to drill the prisoners into shape. Those people are very obedient under his command, making it easy for you to research whatever you want.” Guo Jia said casually. He only discovered this after the group of Hu people’s prisoners returned to Ye City not long ago.

Honestly, this scene was quite intimidating: having trained the Miscellaneous Hun to such an obedient degree. Guo Jia looked at Yu Jin with a peculiar gaze, but it was also a testament to Yu Jin’s capabilities.

On the other side, Sunx Qian looked oddly at the twenty thousand prisoners borrowed from Yu Jin’s prison camp. These were the most obedient prisoners he had ever seen; they never shirked from heavy labor and had no hostility towards the Han Dynasty at all—they truly were willing to work without complaint.

However, Sunx Qian didn’t understand what this meant. He just felt that Liu Bei’s subordinates were becoming increasingly capable, to the point where they could even train prisoners to this level, making it easier to build bridges and pave roads in the future.

As for the feverish, slightly dazed look in their eyes, Sunx Qian didn’t care much. As long as they worked diligently and didn’t run away, they were good prisoners. As for everything else, it was none of his business.

Sunx Qian had originally prepared for the possibility that the new prisoners would be difficult to manage. He even drafted a set of rules, organized a team of supervisors, and then cautiously brought out twenty thousand prisoners from Yu Jin’s camp to test the difficulty of managing them.

If all forty thousand prisoners were willing to work without complaint and didn’t try to slack off, they might be more efficient than the civilians from the Central Plains who were paid to work for themselves.

However, according to previous experiences, prisoners lacked subjective initiative. Although they could be whipped into working, the efficiency was truly mediocre. If forty thousand prisoners could provide the output of at least twenty thousand locals, it would be a blessing. Nonetheless, Sunx Qian preferred slow progress to complete stagnation.

Therefore, even if the prisoners were less efficient, Sunx Qian was still very willing to use them for dirty, heavy, and dangerous work. However, training this batch of prisoners to this level was extremely beneficial.

”Zichuan somehow dealt with the prisoner issue. Never mind, forget about it. Go, bring me paper, ink, brush, and an inkstone.” With a large hat shading him from the sun, Sunx Qian instructed an escort to fetch his writing materials, preparing to write a letter of thanks.

Although Sunx Qian didn’t know who had done such an excellent job, he planned to send a letter to Chen Xi, who would certainly know who managed this under his jurisdiction. As an Elder, Sunx Qian wrote a letter personally concerning this matter. Essentially, it was to credit the unknown person for their contribution.

Sunx Qian, who essentially couldn’t participate in political struggles and worked diligently on infrastructure planning for three hundred days out of the year, would receive a lot of respect from everyone.

Sunx Qian quickly wrote a letter. Of course, he didn’t mention this matter at the beginning; he just asked about recent situations. Only at the end did he mention how willing to work and unconcerned with complaining the prisoners under their control were, casually hinting at the person who solved the prisoner problem. The letter didn’t explicitly suggest promotion, but its implications were unmistakable.

Subsequently, Sunx Qian wrote an order to be sent to Ye City. However, this one was for Lub Su, to be kept on file, and ordered another movement of about fifty thousand prisoners from Yu Jin’s camp.

Sunx Qian was preparing to open two hundred engineering teams to work on the major artery linking Ye City and the Northeast, passing through major cities. Although the distance would slightly increase, it would only be a mere two thousand kilometers of road in total. With two hundred engineering teams working simultaneously, each team could manage ten kilometers, and with practice, excavation, and paving, it would be completed in a month.

In any case, with a large number of excellent laborers, Sunx Qian’s previously insane road construction plans could finally be realized. This time, he intended to train all of the engineering teams at once, not expecting them to understand all aspects of construction, just road building.

If all forty thousand prisoners who couldn’t serve as soldiers were as willing and compliant as those Sunx Qian currently encountered, then Sunx Qian planned to open two thousand engineering teams to start work everywhere.

Thinking back, in Sunx Qian’s impression, his official position was supposedly under the Minor Treasurer, overseeing Tu Mu construction. Perhaps he only managed a portion before, but since the Northern Frontier War, he has been in charge of all Tu Mu construction projects across the land.

This explains the current talk of holding two thousand engineering teams in his control. When it came to resource command, among Liu Bei’s senior officials, the unassuming Sunx Qian definitely ranked at the top. Besides anything else, in terms of manpower alone, Sunx Qian was managing in tens of thousands.

This level of investment far exceeded that of any previous dynasty.

”As for the two hundred engineering teams, initially have someone calculate the material investment. Fetch Zhao Junqing for me, and have him pause his mathematics problem-solving to calculate the material investment for me.” Sunx Qian dispatched an escort to find Zhao Shuang.

To be fair, Zhao Shuang is indeed a strong mathematician, but in this era, mathematicians have minimal combat power. Moreover, during the imperial examination, Zhao Shuang was the only man to pass numerology, resulting in the male examinees collectively ostracizing him.