PFC Chapter 7033 Fishing
Chapter 7033 Fishing
Chapter 7033 Fishing
"So whatever you do, I'll just maintain my current state. I can't say anything else." Sun Qian said very seriously. He believed that a large part of the blame for this matter was on Liu Bei and Chen Xi's benevolence. He felt that a gentleman deceives others with principles.
It's safe to say that if it were anyone else, the Ganges group would have been dealt with long ago. Even though such a purge would result in many collateral damage and severely weaken their own fighting capacity, did the Han Dynasty care about that loss of fighting strength? Did they care about those few innocent deaths? No!
“Okay, I have a general understanding of the situation. Some of the permanent staff from Ganges will also be returning for the Grand Assembly this year to give a performance review.” Chen Xi suddenly said, “At that time, I will summarize everyone’s answers and conduct a systematic evaluation of this matter.”
Hearing this, Sun Qian almost laughed. He had known Chen Xi for so many years and knew very well Chen Xi's attitude in most things. She would give the other person face if she could, but in the process of giving face, she was consuming her feelings for Chen Xi. Once the feelings accumulated over the years were exhausted, it was really hard to say what kind of face she would give in the end.
After all, everyone has their own hardships, which also means that everyone has their own dignity.
“Actually, you can go and see Zhong Yuanchang first among the permanent staff,” Sun Qian said after thinking for a moment. He had a high opinion of Zhong Yao, and because Zhong Yao had also been stationed in Chang’an during the Yuan Feng era, and even spent a long time in the government office with them, if Zhong Yao hadn’t really wanted to be a slave, he might have been able to serve as a substitute for a while after Lu Su’s downfall.
This is a capable, idealistic, and somewhat lazy strongman. Most importantly, his execution ability and morality are actually quite good. He is one of the best among the people Sun Qian has met over the years. Although he is not as good as Chen Xi, he is not inferior to Zhong Yao among the people in the government.
“Zhong Yuanchang.” Chen Xi sighed upon hearing this. They were all from Yingchuan, true fellow townsmen. In addition, Zhong Yao was indeed capable and virtuous, truly one of the most elite. Moreover, he had been working in the central government since the end of Emperor Ling’s reign, and was still in Chang’an during the Yuanfeng era. When Chen Xi took control of Chang’an, he carefully cleaned up the mess and pulled Zhong Yao away from Cao Cao’s side, making him a member of his own family.
Unlike Xun Yu, who was deeply bound to Cao Cao's hometown, Zhong Yao, not only in this world but also in official history, had a somewhat distant relationship with Cao Cao, as if he had no choice but to make do with whatever he could in this garbage reality.
Therefore, in the early years of Yuanfeng, Chen Xi gave Zhong Yao a lot of responsibility, set high expectations for him, and offered him a future with a salary of 2,000 shi (a unit of grain). However, after working for a while, Zhong Yao found that being a slave was not interesting and simply ran away.
Chen Xi felt helpless about this, but still agreed. So Zhong Yao led a group of people to the Ganges and helped Guan Yu gradually build up the rear system. It can be said that the current stability of the Ganges region is partly due to Zhong Yao's efforts.
Of course, Chen Xi knew very well that this was not Zhong Yao's limit!
This person is different from others. Being an official is not his hobby. Calligraphy is his true pursuit. Doing things like domestic affairs and strategy are essentially just side jobs.
Sometimes, when Chen Xi thinks back on the civil officials under the Han Dynasty, he realizes that they are full of typical examples of people who just coast along. But these typical examples are actually very good at their jobs. For example, there is Ge Xuan who wants to become an immortal, Liu Yi who has basically become an immortal, and Zhong Yao who is constantly slacking off.
Forget it, let's not talk about this last one. After all, Zhong Yao isn't the only one who's been consistently slacking off. It's better not to investigate these kinds of things if possible; it's better for everyone.
“Yes, I saw him when I came back and chatted with him for a bit, but he didn’t seem to care much about the issue of the Ganges Legion’s fiefdoms,” Sun Qian said after thinking for a moment. Although Zhong Yao’s rank was not as high as his, Sun Qian admired such a capable and morally upright intelligent person, so he made a point of chatting with him when he met him. No matter how crazy Zhong Yao was about Cai Yong’s calligraphy, he still had some social interaction with him.
"To be honest, I don't really want to see Zhong Yuanchang. I even suspect that he didn't come back to participate because the grand court assembly in the eleventh year of Yuanfeng was very important," Chen Xi said with a hint of regret.
If someone else said it was because the grand court assembly at the beginning of the eleventh year of Yuanfeng was the culmination of the Second Five-Year Plan and the beginning of the Third Five-Year Plan, then they should come and listen carefully to something like that, it would be a miracle if Zhong Yao came to Chang'an for such a reason.
After heading to the Ganges, Zhong Yao seemed to have sunk to the bottom of the river, never once showing his face in Chang'an. Chen Xi could easily understand his mentality.
In fact, a look at official history shows that Zhong Yao's abilities are beyond doubt, but he didn't really like staying in the central government. Of course, it's also possible that he spent too much time in the central government when he was young, and he really didn't like a place where you could throw a brick and get a high-ranking official position.
After Chen Xi took over the reins, the situation improved a lot, but Zhong Yao didn't really like being with Chen Xi. This was because Zhong Yao was older and younger than Chen Xi, at least compared to Chen Xi. Well, that's a joke, but generally speaking, Zhong Yao didn't like interacting with Chen Xi.
Although he helped Chen Xi solve many problems, even some very difficult ones, such as during the Battle of Guandu in official history, Zhong Yao brought some grain and two thousand warhorses from Chang'an to Cao Cao and successfully delivered them to the local area, which directly solidified Zhong Yao's position.
From then on, even though Zhong Yao's status was not as high as Xun Yu's, he would always be included whenever there was a benefit. After all, he had helped Cao Cao a lot during the Battle of Guandu, and he was rarely in Cao Cao's presence afterward. When he occasionally appeared to make a brief appearance, he was highly regarded and Cao Cao remembered him for a lifetime!
The only problem is that Zhong Yao's old habits are really absurd. His fangirling is such an outrageous thing that it's hard to believe. Chen Xi seriously suspects that Zhong Yao spends more energy on calligraphy practice books than on his real business, which is extremely frustrating.
"What's wrong? What's wrong with you two?" Sun Qian asked, somewhat surprised.
“You might think that Zhong Yuanchang has come to report something important or to participate in this very important court assembly, but in my opinion, Zhong Yuanchang has most likely heard that the head of the Wei family of Jingzhao has passed away and has come to attend the funeral,” Chen Xi said with a hint of speechlessness.
Sun Qian was completely bewildered, looking rather dumbfounded. What was this all about? Were the Zhong family and the Wei family of Jingzhao so close? Were they direct relatives? He'd never heard of such a thing.
“It’s nothing. Zhong Yuanchang just has a good relationship with the eldest son of the Wei family head,” Chen Xi said with a hint of reminiscence. “Yes, it is indeed a good relationship.”
It's true that when Wei Dan refused to lend him the book, Zhong Yao was so angry he vomited blood. He then worked hard to improve his physical condition so that he would die later than Wei Dan. After Wei Dan passed away, he sent people to dig up Wei Dan's grave and unearth the book. Although this story sounds like a joke, many people believed it at the time, which shows how crazy Zhong Yao was in this regard.
In this life, Chen Xi remembered that when the Three Idiots confiscated Cai Yong's calligraphy copybook, they must have emptied Wei Dan's house. After all, Chen Xi didn't want Zhong Yao to do something like digging up someone's grave, so he helped Zhong Yao collect the calligraphy copybook later.
Theoretically, Wei Dan shouldn't have any more, but as the joke goes, Wei Dan was able to take the calligraphy copybook with him to his grave when he died, which shows how much he loved Cai Yong's calligraphy copybook. So even after the Three Idiots and later Chen Xi, after Zhong Yao went to the Ganges, Wei Dan somehow got another copybook.
Chen Xi's opinion on this matter can only be described as "good advice is useless against a damned devil."
To be honest, Chen Xi felt that he was indeed helping Wei Dan. But when all the Cai Yong calligraphy scrolls in the world had been collected, Wei Dan was still able to get his hands on an extremely rare item. So this item was the one you hid back then, right?
There's nothing more to say. Just wait for Zhong Yao to deal with you.
Several years later, Zhong Yao from Ganges finally received news that the Wei family of Jingzhao possessed Cai Yong's calligraphy copybook. After hearing that the head of the Wei family was about to die, Zhong Yao excitedly rushed back, ready to loot the copybook.
As for the fact that it was Wei Duan who was critically ill, not Wei Dan who had the calligraphy scroll, that's not important. What's important is that upon receiving this news, I happened to have nothing to do recently, so I'll go back to Chang'an first. I, Zhong Yao, have plenty of ability to get my hands on Cai Yong's calligraphy scroll. I have plenty of ability!
Anyway, they returned in high spirits, only to find that Wei Duan, who was supposed to be on the verge of death, had actually survived the coldest days of winter. Zhong Yao was furious. Was he not planning to die? It seemed he would have to think of another way.
This is why Zhong Yao hasn't gone to Man Chong and Li You to report on his work since returning from the Ganges. Although these two could only offer comments and not necessarily evaluate Zhong Yao, the fact that he hasn't done so yet speaks volumes.
Chen Xi wasn't sure if Man Chong would hold a grudge, but Li You definitely would.
"Oh, I see." Sun Qian didn't catch the teasing in Chen Xi's eyes and simply nodded to indicate that he understood, genuinely believing that Zhong Yao had gone to attend a funeral.
“However, I’ll send him an audit report later and have him come to my place to review it. That way, we can ask him one-on-one and get more accurate answers to some things,” Chen Xi said after thinking for a moment. “After all, as you said, he is ultimately in Ganges, and he knows some things more accurately and thoroughly than we do.”
“Hmm…” Sun Qian pondered for a moment, then looked around and found that Man Chong was not there. “Zi Chuan, if you are going to investigate Zhong Yuanchang, bring Bo Ning with you. There are some things that you really need Bo Ning to help you with your judgment. The degree of this is indeed a problem.”
"Did Zhong Yuanchang do something?" Chen Xi asked curiously.
“No, it wasn’t Zhong Yuanchang who did anything, it was the Governor of Yanzhou, Yijibo, who did something that might have gone a bit too far, but in my opinion, it was still within reason.” After thinking for a moment, Sun Qian revealed his attitude.
Sun Qian also realized that he was no match for those powerful figures in the Executive Yuan when it came to political struggles. However, he had his advantages, namely that he was not causing trouble and was just working hard. Therefore, his teammates could completely forgive his some outrageous words and actions.
After all, a person who is actually doing the work deserves to be forgiven even if they say or do something wrong, especially if they specifically asked about it when they realized they might have made a mistake. As long as this person still has enough value, others will naturally be willing to explain things to them.
"Is Yanzhou a poisonous place?" Chen Xi was somewhat speechless upon hearing this. Zhao Yu had previously been embroiled in a scandal in Yanzhou. The agricultural and grain case was arguably the biggest corruption case in Yuanfeng. Although the money was eventually recovered, the people who died in the case were all incredibly aggrieved.
Yi Ji has only been the governor of Yanzhou for less than five years, and it has already escalated to the point where Man Chong has to investigate. Man Chong is the Minister of Justice. For the Minister of Justice to lead an investigation, what level of matter is that? It requires investigators from Chang'an to go to the site to verify the situation.
"It's not that it's poisonous. You know Yanzhou Agricultural and Food, right?" Sun Qian said with a hint of embarrassment. It's the largest food and non-staple food processing center in the Central Plains. Chen Xi carried out large-scale integration there for industrialization. To put it bluntly, the previous Lingdi Dynasty couldn't beat the current Yanzhou Agricultural and Food in terms of financial resources. That's how incredible it is.
There are so many people who rely on Yanzhou's agricultural products for their livelihood. To this day, Yanzhou is not only the largest grain-producing area, but also the largest grain-consuming area. All kinds of non-staple foods come from here, and now they are all produced on a large scale.
“Okay, I’ll look into it then.” Chen Xi nodded. In fact, even if Sun Qian hadn’t said anything, Chen Xi would have looked at the files and met with Yi Ji, a high-ranking official, even if he hadn’t mentioned it. “And I’m also curious about what you mean by ‘difficult to grasp’.”
When Chen Xi said this, she had some vague speculations, but after thinking about it, she simply followed up on Sun Qian's words and did not continue to dwell on the matter.
"Speaking of which, the Chess Saint team you arranged for your subordinate Zhao Changshi seems to have made it into the top fifteen," Chen Xi said casually, watching the battle below.
"It's also to cheer Junqing up. He's had a tough time. He spent a whole year with me in the mountains, eating dust and constantly calculating all sorts of things. It's been so hard for him. Now that things have finally calmed down, I'm trying to find him some fun." Sun Qian glanced at Zhao Shuang, who was talking to Xu Yue, and said, "Speaking of which, could Xu Yue make those kinds of magic mirrors for calculations?"
“It’s still not stable.” Chen Xi looked at Xu Yue and said, “I’m also keeping an eye on him, and his schedule is packed. It’s not easy for him.”
While Chen Xi and Sun Qian were discussing the current status of their respective mainframe computers, the two computers were discussing how to use mathematics to play Go.
"I have a bit of a headache. I feel like my Go skills are pretty good, but after talking with you, I realized that when I actually play, I'm still a level below you," Xu Yue asked with a hint of curiosity, while staring at the demonic dragon that was devouring everything in the small world.
"You'll see once you play a few games against a serious Guo Sheng. You'll find that your chess skills have improved tremendously," Zhao Shuang said with a touch of wistfulness.
"Ah, you and he have played together before?" Xu Yue asked incredulously.
"Do you think I'm that stupid?" Zhao Shuang chuckled, as if to say, "I've won once, so I've won for life. Anyway, I'm not going to play a second round with Guo Kai."
"How did you do that?" Xu Yue asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Guo Shengzhi plays chess with others, and sometimes he inevitably has to sit on the mountaintop and play chess with heaven and earth and time. I also get my hands on those layouts, and when I have nothing to do, I just use those conditions to calculate the optimal solution." Zhao Shuang said casually, directly revealing the fact that his work was not actually very busy. But that makes sense, slacking off is human nature.
Furthermore, for mathematicians, computing power is something that generally improves with development. Zhao Shuang's current situation is clearly due to this improvement; she has new computing power reserves and can open multiple threads for processing.
"What, you can't figure it out?" Xu Yue said with interest.
“I really can’t out-calculate. That guy’s ability to analyze points and lines is too strong. I really can’t catch up. I suspect that his analytical ability has a special algorithm. Otherwise, in terms of computing power alone, I have a much greater advantage than him. But I can’t catch up, I really can’t catch up.” Zhao Shuang told Xu Yue his speculation.
The Han Dynasty had three supercomputers. Zhao Shuang's was purely computational power, Xu Yue's was mathematical logic, that is, algorithms. Therefore, Xu Yue could always use the binary system of Yin and Yang to create some special secret mirrors. Guo Kai was not actually a supercomputer; he was just a software with specialized point and line analysis capabilities. However, logistics really needed this capability, so most of the time Guo Kai was also used as a supercomputer.
After all, what good is being good at chess? It's about contributing your strength to the country's development that's truly impressive!
"You mean you want me to develop a formula for calculating points and lines?" Xu Yue stroked his chin, fully understanding Zhao Shuang's meaning, and then asked with some doubt, "Are you trying to ruin Guo Shengzhi's career? Do you two have such a deep grudge?"
"What are you talking about?" Zhao Shuang said speechlessly. "What do you mean by taking away Guo Shengzhi's job? I just asked you to help me optimize the existing calculation logic. I can only solve it by brute force at present, and sometimes I even have to use exhaustive search, which is too wasteful of my computing power. I was thinking that since you are a mathematical logic expert, could you provide some new mathematical tools to make it easier for me to use?"
"Show me what you've accomplished over the past few years first," Xu Yue said bluntly. Since Zhao Shuang said he had extra computational power, he must have created new mathematical tools and simplified the calculation process; otherwise, he was trying to slack off.
I'm outta here, I'm outta here! I actually managed to save up a bunch of drafts.