Chapter 1083: Village Consolidation and Fortification

At first, the feeling was almost identical, but as Chen Xi's influence on the world grew, both sides began to walk different paths than originally expected.

Although Zhang Fei initially held disdain and dissatisfaction, after clashing with Lü Bu multiple times, he gradually came to acknowledge Lü Bu's martial prowess.

Despite his frequent complaints, when the rankings of the top 36 warriors were released, Zhang Fei only grumbled at seeing Lü Bu's name listed, but didn’t express any real defiance.

Furthermore, Lü Bu's performance in Bingzhou caused Zhang Fei's feelings toward him to grow significantly more complicated. On one hand, he saw Lü Bu as a scoundrel, but on the other hand, Lü Bu was truly guarding the nation's borders, while he himself was merely fighting internal battles.

This left Zhang Fei feeling frustrated, and after Lü Bu slew the Xianbei Chanyu and secured the borders of Bingzhou, Zhang Fei became thoroughly confused.

Looking back, it seemed that in this life, Lü Bu's only major flaw was a lack of personal virtue, while he had preserved his larger sense of duty. If one counts his role in defeating Dong Zhuo as part of the effort to restore the Han Dynasty, then Lü Bu’s only remaining stain was the private matter of killing Ding Yuan.

In the past, Zhang Fei had despised Lü Bu, seeing him as a scoundrel primarily because he had killed his adoptive father. But now, thinking back, the only significant wrongdoing Lü Bu had committed was killing Ding Yuan. And while that was certainly a problem, the people of Bingzhou had already accepted Lü Bu.

The people of Bingzhou no longer pursued the matter, and Zhang Fei suddenly felt like he was meddling unnecessarily. It even made him wonder if the rumors were true—that it was Li Su who killed Ding Yuan, and Lü Bu merely took the blame.

With this in mind, Zhang Fei began comparing himself to Lü Bu, noticing that he was lacking in terms of rank, martial skill, achievements, and charisma. This realization left Zhang Fei feeling unwilling to accept his situation.

Now that even I think you're doing a good job, I can’t criticize you anymore. But I still find you irritating, so I’ll take the high road—I’ll just do better than you!

Burning with an intense fighting spirit, Zhang Fei made up his mind. He would surpass Lü Bu. If Lü Bu could reach the Wolf's Pass, then Zhang Fei would conquer from the East Sea to the North—let’s see who’s stronger!

"Looks like I don't need to add any more fuel to the fire. Lü Bu really does push Zhang Fei to his limits," Chen Xi thought to himself, while Guo Jia and the others exchanged knowing glances.

"Since we've already decided to send troops to Youzhou early next year, we should start preparing now," Liu Ye said with a calm yet cold expression.

"Let’s leave that to Zizhong. Before the soldiers move, we need to make sure the supplies are ready. This won't be a quick battle, so we should start stockpiling grain and other essentials first. Zichuan, do we have people in Youzhou and Liaodong?" Lu Su asked, pulling his blanket tightly around him so that only his head was visible as he replied.

Lu Su had stayed silent earlier because of the cold. After all, there were plenty of others to speak on the matters discussed before, but now that Liu Ye had raised an issue within his area of responsibility, he had no choice but to respond.

"Zijing, you look really cold," Chen Xi said, wiping his brow with a sigh. "We have people in Youzhou, so transferring supplies there shouldn’t be a problem." He didn’t hide anything. After all, certain aristocratic families in Youzhou had completely shifted their allegiance to them, and everyone here was a loyal supporter of Liu Bei.

"That’s good. Then let's start by transferring grain and medical supplies to Youzhou through commercial channels. Zizhong should be able to handle this," Lu Su said, without asking for specifics on who their contacts were. After Chen Xi provided a clear answer, Lu Su was ready to begin drawing supplies.

"Don’t worry. It’s easy enough. If Zizhong has any trouble, I’ll help out," Chen Xi assured, not paying much attention to the matter. This task was really quite simple.

"That puts my mind at ease," Lu Su said, falling silent again and shrinking further into his blanket, causing Chen Xi’s eye to twitch slightly. "Zijing, why don’t you set up a fireplace or a kang bed? We’ll just pretend we didn’t see it," Chen Xi suggested.

"What’s that?" Lu Su asked, clearly not understanding what Chen Xi was referring to.

"It’s a type of building fixture," Chen Xi explained casually. If he remembered correctly, this kind of thing had existed in the Han Dynasty’s imperial palaces. Perhaps it was something that had been lost over time, or maybe certain people had deemed it a royal privilege—who knows?

Chen Xi gave a brief explanation, and since no one present was a fool, they all quickly grasped the concept.

"Zichuan, you should have mentioned this earlier," Liu Bei said with a resigned shake of his head.

"It was already used for hatching chicks, wasn’t it?" Chen Xi replied helplessly.

"We weren’t there..." Guo Jia rolled his eyes. "But it’s true—we should have paid more attention. This kind of thing should be made available to everyone. Every household in the north should have one."

In the past, during the winter in Taishan, thick blankets were used along with a fire pot in the middle of the room. And with servants keeping watch at night to ensure proper ventilation, there was never a concern about freezing. Except for Lu Su, no one really paid attention to the cold. The problem was that Lu Su avoided going out during winter, and in summer, he was too busy to leave the house.

"That’s true. Every household should have one. But the village consolidation and registration process hasn’t been completed yet. Even if I wanted to implement this now, there wouldn’t be enough structures to modify," Chen Xi sighed, rolling his eyes. Despite how nice Yecheng was, there were still many northern homes made of thatch.

"So you’re planning to build these kinds of houses?" Li You pondered the idea of the simple and efficient construction methods Chen Xi had in mind.

"Yes, that’s the plan. After all, the cost of building houses for us is very low. As we’ve done before, after consolidating the villages, those without houses can live in them first but will need to repay some of the costs with grain and money each year," Chen Xi nodded. Labor and building materials were essentially free...

After all, these were houses that would eventually belong to the common people. It made sense to have the people help build them. Collective labor would allow the soon-to-be neighbors to get to know each other, and once the village was built, there would be a sense of accomplishment in living there together.

By the way, ever since Chen Xi had permitted the construction of lower-level city walls, the larger villages formed after the consolidation process had spontaneously started building walls over a zhang (3 meters) high.

This was probably the Central Plains people’s way of increasing their sense of security. However, some went a bit overboard, and Chen Xi had to intervene.

For instance, someone had built a double-layered walled city not far from Fenggao. Although it was only slightly over a zhang tall, such behavior made it seem like they were asking for trouble.

"That’s true. We don’t need to invest much beyond food," Li You agreed, nodding. "As for how long it takes, there’s no rush."

"Exactly. I’ll have someone modify the design later," Chen Xi nodded again. This wasn’t a big deal, and he felt that in terms of providing for the common people, Liu Bei’s administration had already far surpassed the other warlords.

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