Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7334 Meeting the Cloud Dream

Chapter 7334 Meeting the Cloud Dream

Chen Xi didn't offer any special explanation. Initially, he was deeply worried about the Roman Empire spiraling out of control, and coupled with his own misjudgment, he was somewhat flustered by Rome's move.

However, after calmly considering the situation for a while, Chen Xi put that feeling of losing control aside. What Chen Xi wanted to see more was how Cyprian, as one of the stars of humanity, would fight against the encroachment of crony capitalism on the entire Roman Empire.

Whether this matter succeeds or fails, it is of great reference value to Chen Xi. From the perspective of the human community, Chen Xi hopes that Cyprian will succeed in this matter, or at the very least, stop the out-of-control human heart.

As for failure, to be honest, there's nothing to see in it. It's just another grand fireworks display, nothing special.

Chen Xi's current perspective is no longer simply about hoping other countries will fail so he can easily achieve victory. Rather, if possible, Chen Xi hopes that humanity as a whole can move towards positive development and move away from a competition of who is worse.

Therefore, after calming down, Chen Xi put the matter of Cyprian aside, since, in truth, it wasn't such a bad thing.

As for criticizing the Yuan family for being more trouble than they're worth, that's pointless. Instead, we should pay more attention to Rome, see what amazing things the Roman Empire can do, and gather relevant intelligence. The lessons learned from this far outweigh the prospect of being swallowed up by powerful capitalists.

After all, we've seen too many empires swallowed up by crony capitalism in history, and there's no need for another one. But frankly, the number of countries that have successfully resisted crony capitalism, taken a different path, and even achieved some degree of success in history is very small.

It's important to understand that even Britain, with its many flaws and shortcomings, essentially succeeded in resisting external forces when it successfully implemented the Industrial Revolution. Even if it seems outrageous, from a global perspective, the wheels of progress were still turning.

As for those unfortunate kids from even earlier, their failures were so great that they don't need to be recorded.

"Gongjin, you don't need to worry about this." Seeing that Zhou Yu was still deep in thought, Chen Xi clapped his hands to bring his attention back. "Rome has already stepped into the future, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. You should hurry up and finish your own business. I'm a little worried about the Ganges. How are your preparations going?"

"The basic framework of Xuanxiang is complete, and the warships in the river are all ready. It's a bit difficult for seventh-generation ships to enter the Yangtze River, but sixth-generation ships and some near-seventh-generation ships are no problem." Zhou Yu didn't intend to get entangled in the Rome matter. He just heard something amusing and came over to share it with Chen Xi. He still knew what the important matter was.

“The ships have been mobilized, that’s good.” Chen Xi nodded. “When the time comes, according to the mission assignment, you will personally lead the fleet to annihilate the remaining demon gods, and then General Guan will lead the infantry to surround and kill the demon god remains. We can’t delay here any longer. We must resolve this before the Dragon Boat Festival. I’m a little worried that something might happen on the Ganges River.”

"The Ganges?" Zhou Yu seemed thoughtful upon hearing this. After all, he had heard the story of Oswin commanding an army of 600,000. It was only thanks to the current unfavorable situation of the Kushan Empire that they could not reveal the existence of 600,000 troops to Oswin, otherwise, it would have been a real disaster.

“Yes, I am somewhat worried about the situation at the front. Even though I notified the front immediately after receiving the secret report, and the overall situation of the Kushan Empire means that it is impossible to really build such a large army, I am still a little worried after that data came out.” Chen Xi said with a hint of helplessness, “So after I harvested the Yunmeng Demon God before the Dragon Boat Festival, I plan to go there to see what the situation is like.”

“I think it’s better to forget it. There’s no point in you going. Prince Jin has already gone. Even if there are some problems with the main force on the Ganges, the core members led by Prince Jin are fine. Besides, even if the army has other ideas, it can still easily take down some weaklings,” Zhou Yu said with a tone of considerable experience.

Upon hearing this, Chen Xi fell silent for a moment. Indeed, the army and the navy are different. In the navy, the crew and fleet are far inferior to the enemy, so there is a possibility of total annihilation. But the army is different. In the army, you are ten times worse off than the enemy. As long as your legion commander is not insane, you have a good chance of escaping. A complete annihilation like Bai Qi mowing grass is extremely rare.

"The officers and soldiers of the Ganges, while not necessarily outstanding, are at least seasoned veterans and capable of being considered mature and prudent. Even if problems arise, as long as they don't send reinforcements themselves, it shouldn't cause too much trouble," Zhou Yu said calmly. "To put it bluntly, no matter how big the problems are with the officers and soldiers of the Ganges, can they be as big as the problems with the Jiangdong army?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xi glared fiercely at Zhou Yu. He was being compared to the Jiangdong army; how could there not be a big problem?

"To be honest, no matter what kind of mentality the Ganges Army may have, or what kind of extra thoughts they may have, they are still a cut above the Jiangdong Army. I have also fought against the Kushan Army. Even if the Jiangdong Army has so many problems, under my leadership, they can at least fight the Kushan Army head-on." When Zhou Yu said this, it was unclear whether his mindset was complicated or relaxed, but he genuinely didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

"At worst, we'll lose and suffer losses of thousands or tens of thousands of men," Zhou Yu said. "If we can't win and just run away, with the team you've deployed to the Ganges, it won't be so easy for Oswin to annihilate them. Shield Guards are the kind of thing that, even if they're scattered on the battlefield, will regroup on their own."

Chen Xi nodded upon hearing this. Zhou Yu's words were harsh, but upon closer reflection, they were indeed true. With the Ganges River stockpiled to this extent, even if Oswin seized the opportunity to achieve amazing results, it would be nothing special. Could he really go on a killing spree?

What a joke! War is not only about the command ability of the highest level, but also about the core troops at the bottom. The former determines the upper limit, and the latter determines the lower limit. The shield and guard structure of the Han Dynasty ensured the lower limit of the legion.

“So there’s no need to worry,” Zhou Yu said calmly. “At worst, we’ll just have to retreat some territory. We came all this way for nothing, so losing it won’t be a big loss.”

"That's the crux of the matter. My original idea was to save the people but lose the territory. If necessary, we could just abandon the Prayaga area in advance." Chen Xi said this with some anger.

Before the Han dynasty conquered the area, Chen Xi had discussed the terrain of Prayaga with Lord Wu'an and Marquis Huaiyin. Their conclusion was that the area was easy to defend and difficult to attack for the Kushans, but easy to blockade and difficult to hold for the Han dynasty.

Therefore, in his earlier plans, Chen Xi did not intend to take down Prayaga. For Chen Xi, obtaining Prayaga was enough. But plans can change.

"On some matters, your thinking differs from that of the soldiers on the front lines. You must accept this difference in order to command them more accurately and effectively. You must understand some of their thoughts and their sense of shame," Zhou Yu said earnestly. "For the soldiers on the front lines, life and death are not necessarily as important as honor and disgrace. They will abandon occupied territory without even fighting a single battle..."

To be honest, only Chen Xi could say something like that. If anyone else said they were giving up their own territory, even if it was for the so-called greater good at the time, they would be condemned by future generations.

“Frontline soldiers may not value life and death as much, but most people value honor and disgrace very much.” Zhou Yu said this with an extremely serious expression. “So Zichuan, you can’t look at this matter simply. You have to put yourself in the shoes of frontline officers. They really have the courage to take on this danger. Do you think they don’t know the danger? I don’t think so!”

Zhou Yu had actually spent many years on the battlefield. Although he was often criticized for things like "Zhou Yu was assassinated, won by using underhanded tactics, and always breathing on people," his abilities were undeniable. Therefore, Chen Xi was willing to listen to Zhou Yu's assessment.

“Those officers and generals in Ganges, at least they are truly aware of their own situation. They know what they are doing and what kind of danger they are taking. I’ll even tell you clearly that they just want more. But have you considered their core thinking?” Zhou Yu raised his index finger. In his opinion, Chen Xi’s current way of thinking was somewhat difficult for him to comprehend.

Guan Yu and others did not have Zhou Yu's ability to summarize. Although Jia Xu and Li You had the ability to summarize and analyze, they were different from Zhou Yu, who was in charge of a large army on the front line. It was difficult for them to fully understand the situation of the front-line officers. Even if they claimed to be able to stand in those people's position, there was still a gap.

Just like Shi Nai'an, the author of the classic novel Water Margin, his descriptions of the common people, the lower classes, and the dark side of society are very detailed and extremely realistic. However, his understanding of high-level political struggles and the overall framework of the country is not much different.

Wu Cheng'en, the author of Journey to the West, had a complete understanding of political struggles, the structure of the superstructure, and the handling of various events. He had actually worked his way up to the top of the bureaucratic system and had seen how those ruthless people manipulated the world. However, his shortcoming was that his understanding of the lower levels of the country was still limited to farming, reading, fishing, and woodcutting.

That's just outrageous!

Even though they are all masterpieces, written by top authors, and indeed contain all the things they wanted to say and say, individual interpretations still emerge.

As for Guan Yu and the top civil officials in Chang'an's views on the Ganges, they all represented their own positions and understandings to some extent, but as can be seen from the above, they all had flaws.

Compared to the other two, Zhou Yu was an outsider in some respects. On the other hand, while Zhou Yu's intelligence was no less than that of Jia Xu and Guo Jia, he had actually commanded the Jiangdong army, which had made the same mistakes.

Therefore, Zhou Yu saw things more clearly or more directly, and his stance on this matter was more neutral.

"I think I understand what you mean." After thinking for a while, Chen Xi understood what Zhou Yu wanted to say.

"The Ganges Army may indeed have many problems, but to be honest, at least they still maintain the awareness that they are willing to earn what they deserve through merit. There may be some among them who want to harm their own people, and some who have the idea of ​​betraying their teammates, but as a whole, they still hold the belief that 'merit equals the future.'" Zhou Yu said this very seriously. "The voices of the bad guys are loud, but most of the time they are not the majority."

Chen Xi nodded upon hearing this, his previously worried expression calming down slightly. Indeed, after all, he had maintained a minimum standard for so many years, so even if the Ganges Legion had problems, they wouldn't perform too poorly. Besides, even without a commander, the Shield Guards would still cooperate with each other.

Compared to other legions, lower-ranking officers like squad leaders and platoon leaders dared not wear any special insignia for fear of being spotted and killed by enemy snipers. The Shield Guards, on the other hand, openly displayed the insignia representing their rank on their armor.

The disadvantages of this are well known: they are easily targeted by enemy snipers and then picked off. However, the shield guards are large in number and have extremely impressive defensive capabilities. Ordinary archers are useless against them. Top archers who can easily defeat shield guards don't have time to deal with them. They usually target more valuable targets. Therefore, the armor of the shield guards has clear rank markings.

The advantage of this is that even if the shield guards are scattered by the opponent's elite, they will automatically gather around the shield guards with different markings and then reassemble into a new shield guard structure. This is why, after being scattered by top teams, the shield guards will regroup in other teams after a while. To put it bluntly, it's because they have strong enough defense, high enough survivability, and enough leeway to play like this.

As for why other legions don't play this way, it's because when other legions collapse, the enemy's rangers will roam around with bows and arrows. When they see enemies grouped together, they'll rush up and fire a few arrows, killing those grouped together on the spot and causing the enemy to scatter immediately.

But shield guards are different. Rangers' arrows are generally hard to kill shield guards. In fact, when shield guards are regrouping, taking a few arrows from rangers is nothing to them. The clear markings allow shield guards to regroup according to the markings. If they see a corporal, they follow the corporal; if they see a sergeant, they follow the sergeant. Anyway, they are definitely better than me, a lowly soldier!

“So there’s no problem. So what if Oswin can command 600,000 troops? Even if we take a step back, does the Kushan Empire have that many elite soldiers?” Zhou Yu said with a hint of arrogance. “Let alone the Kushan Empire, in this world, only you can assemble 600,000 troops in a very short time. No other country can do this.”

"Oh, thank you for your comforting words," Chen Xi nodded and said.

"Anyway, it's no big deal. So what if we lose?" Zhou Yu said nonchalantly. Ever since the mass production line of the God-Slaying Spear came out, Zhou Yu has looked at the Kushan Empire like trash. Chen Zichuan hasn't gone all out for so many years, but the Kushan Empire is now putting in every ounce of effort.

“That’s true.” Chen Xi nodded and said, “You go and organize the navy to conduct drills. Then send the navy to Yunmeng and join forces by land and sea to wipe out the Yunmeng Demon God.”

"Aren't you worried that the power might be too great and awaken the demons underwater as well?" Zhou Yu asked with some doubt.

"In a couple of days, Her Highness will organize a sacrificial ceremony to suppress the licentious worship in Chu. The demons that haven't awakened yet are most likely to remain so, so ignore them and wipe them all out in one fell swoop," Chen Xi said in a deep voice. "As for those that have already awakened, kill them all!"

As time passed, the Yunmeng Demon Gods gradually regained their true selves. Although a few of them did not have the mentality of destroying humanity and devouring the world after regaining their true selves, unfortunately, these demon gods were all from the Chu region. They did not recognize the Qin Dynasty, much less the Han Dynasty.

Even after learning that it was the Qin state that destroyed the Chu state, they were even more dissatisfied with this era. Only a very few demon gods realized that the Han dynasty had destroyed the Qin dynasty, which was considered revenge for the Chu state, and were willing to join the Han dynasty team to annihilate their former comrades.

But there are so few such Yunmeng Demon Gods, so few that there is no hope, only one or two here and there.

After all, most of the zombie demons have lived for hundreds of years, and their sense of self has been worn away. Even if they have a new consciousness, it is the will of the demon god, not the human self.

Demon gods who can survive hundreds of years and maintain their own identity are extremely rare. Among these rare demon gods, those who can accept the fact that the State of Chu was destroyed by the State of Qin and that their ancestral temples were destroyed, accept the concept of humanity as a whole, and fight for the Han Dynasty...

To be honest, it's quite difficult, so now that Chen Xi has confirmed that these demons have basically developed self-awareness and are no longer as chaotic as before, he's too lazy to spend any more time on it.

After all, after such a long period of attrition, Zhao Ying and his group had killed more than half of the demon gods through one-on-one battles, leaving only more than two thousand demon gods. Originally, if these were all mindless demon gods, Chen Xi would have ordered Guan Yu to go up and wipe them out directly. But these demon gods had all regained their own selves. Even if their newly regained selves were rather strange, they still had their own selves and knew how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, resulting in a huge increase in their combat power.

So much so that even after most of them were destroyed, the remaining demon gods were still able to release their power to suppress the surrounding clouds. After all, once the demon gods regained their senses, each of them was a formidable opponent capable of taking on Jiang Guang one-on-one. In response, Chen Xi had no choice but to unleash his ultimate move.

Oh, and those of you with tickets at the beginning of the month, please cast your votes!