People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 402 Soft and Hard
The dispute between government-run and privately-run schools started with a tentative proposal by Ju Su and Xun Chen. Xu Chen then vigorously promoted a major discussion on this issue throughout Xuan Xia. Judging from the process, it seemed that there was some overreaction. After all, this trend of thought was far from becoming popular.

The Xuanxia merchant group is not yet strong enough, and they do not have the ambition to encroach on the upper levels just yet, so this debate seems a bit hasty.

But for Xu Chen, none of this matters. As long as the debate can help Xuan Xia conduct a large-scale cognitive promotion, it will be meaningful enough.

If there had not been this debate, the current group of Xuanxia officials and the group of students and businessmen below might not have thought about these things. But now that they have all participated in this debate to a greater or lesser extent, they have passively and actively absorbed a lot of relevant knowledge.

Xuan Xia was not the first to do such a thing. The Salt and Iron Debate chaired by Huo Guang was actually the first dispute between government-run and private enterprises.

Before the Salt and Iron Debate, probably not many people in the Han Dynasty had thought about these things, let alone had any profound and unique insights into them.

After this debate, the people of the Han Dynasty must have passively learned the knowledge involved, which led to their thinking and they were better able to absorb the opinions of many elite groups.

This objectively broadened the horizons of the Han people and made them understand the pros and cons of the salt and iron business run by officials and civilians. Not to mention that the Salt and Iron Theory was compiled into a book for future generations to learn from, which directly allowed future generations to learn from ready-made experiences.

Today, Xuanxia's debate is not just a debate among a small group of elites, but a large-scale, almost nationwide debate involving officials, students, and businessmen, from the court to the people. The use of paper media such as newspapers has further enhanced the effect of the debate.

Once this debate allows society to reach a preliminary consensus, both the officials of the Xuanxia court who currently control the operation of society and the students who will be the main force of society in the future will bring this social consensus into the main body of society.

In this way, even if the merchant group begins to become larger and more dangerous in the future, it will not affect the overall route.

In this way, Xu Chen also achieved some of his own goals. Perhaps after this debate, people will be more vigilant against the new interest group, the business community.

Judging from the results, Xu Chen felt that promoting this debate was very effective. When Tian Shitou, who had always focused on his job, began to express his opinions on the matter, Xu Chen knew that the debate had reached its peak.

"Master, businessmen are not trustworthy at all!" In the Prime Minister's Office, Tian Shitou hesitated for a moment when handing over some recent intelligence, but suddenly blurted out these words.

Xu Chen was obviously stunned for a moment, then looked at Tian Shitou.

In Xu Chen's impression, Tian Shitou never expressed opinions outside of work. Apart from his own intelligence and guard work, it seemed that everything else had nothing to do with him.

Such a sentence suddenly popped out, which naturally seemed very abrupt.

However, Xu Chen soon smiled meaningfully. If even someone like Tian Shitou was affected by this debate, then the effect of this debate had basically reached its limit.

"Oh, tell me why you are not trustworthy." Xu Chen put down the intelligence notebook he had just picked up, then leaned back in his chair, waiting leisurely for Tian Shitou to express his opinion.

In fact, these debates are not what Tian Shitou cares about, but he is far more vigilant about the business community than ordinary people.

It was precisely because of this vigilance that he couldn't help but start thinking along with the debate, and then became worried, so much so that he couldn't help but express his thoughts in front of Xu Chen.

Tian Shitou pointed at the intelligence booklet that Xu Chen had put down and said, "This time, I have been secretly investigating the administrative conditions of various prefectures and counties according to the order of the Prime Minister. After a year, I have finally achieved some results. However, the local conditions can only be described as shocking. This time, there are already 23 cases of corrupt officials that have been investigated, and most of these cases are the result of collusion between businessmen!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the office suddenly became quiet and Xu Chen's face darkened.

Although he was not surprised by this, he still felt helpless and heartbroken when he heard that his colleagues in the team had fallen into temptation. Their careers had already seen a promising future and they had gone through all the hardships, but why couldn't they resist the temptation of sugar coating?
Tian Shitou's emotions were different. Compared to Xu Chen's helplessness, he was more annoyed: "Many cases are exactly the same. In order to seek more profits, businessmen began to corrupt our team in order to gain privileges and protection. These people only care about money and interests. They can sell everything for the sake of profit. If you hand over the people's livelihood to them, they will only sell out the people!"

Xu Chen looked at Tian Shitou in surprise. He never expected that this stubborn guy would express his opinion from this angle.

Tian Shitou felt Xu Chen's depression, but he shook his head and smiled bitterly, looking a little lonely.

"These officials were once my brothers who fought side by side with me. I still remember many of them clearly. They were so pure and firm in their commitment to the cause of my natural religion. I thought they would always stick to this belief."

At this time, Tian Shitou sat dejectedly on the chair, with his right hand buried deep in his hair. His discomfort and depression were visible to the naked eye.

When he spoke again, his words even had a hint of tears in them.

"They are all heroes who stand tall and proud. They would not frown even if they had to face danger. If I had not found out the truth myself, I would not believe that they would become like that even if I were beaten to death." At this time, Tian Shitou raised his head and looked at Xu Chen, his eyes reddened. "Master, you tell me, such brave men who are not afraid of swords and knives, how come their bones become soft when they smell the smell of money!"

After hearing this, Xu Chen was speechless for a moment. Of course he knew why, he just couldn't bear to answer.

After silently picking up the intelligence notebook and reading it for a while, Xu Chen indeed found a few familiar names in it. After all, most of the current officials came from the Yellow Turbans.

These people were once the ones who fought alongside me, and the emotions of common beliefs and aspirations were forged in the flames of war.

Xu Chen could understand Tian Shitou's current feelings. It was the pain of hating him for not fighting for his country, and the anger for betraying his beliefs.

Yes, why do these upright men who would not even blink an eye at death become unable to move their legs when looking at beauty, and become weak when seeing money? They can obviously be so noble.
Human nature really cannot stand the test.

Xu Chen sighed, came to Tian Shitou, and patted him on the shoulder: "This is just the beginning. Even if a thousand or ten thousand years pass, as long as humans have not entered the final stage of the ideal society, this kind of thing will always exist. All we can do is keep cleaning them up."

Tian Shitou seemed to have not yet recovered from the heartache and resentment, and still stood there in a daze without reacting.

He couldn't accept that his brother, with whom he had fought side by side, had become so ugly.

Xu Chen said again: "The weapons of the reform cause should be aimed at others and at oneself. I established the Supervisory Guard in the first place because I wanted to use it as a weapon against myself."

Aim your weapon!
Tian Shitou's body shook violently, then he came to his senses and looked at Xu Chen.

Xu Chen nodded: "Our team needs to self-criticize and self-purify, and this is your mission. Now that you have found out something, you should file all these cases and put them into the process. It is the best way to account for their past crimes."

At this time, Tian Shitou's emotions finally calmed down, and his eyes became more determined: "I will handle these cases well. Although they are all my former brothers, I will never show any mercy!"

Xu Chen smiled and nodded: "I will be assured if you handle the case, and I will wait for your result."

Tian Shitou stood up and nodded heavily, but was not in a hurry to leave.

After hesitating for a while, Tian Shitou spoke again: "It is certainly the fault of our Xuanxia officials for not being upright and keeping their hearts, but these businessmen are also extremely evil. They are greedy for profit and madly scheme for profit. They are the dirtiest group in the world. The lifeblood of our Xuanxia country must not be handed over to them. The dispute between private and official, the leader must be cautious!"

Xu Chen clearly saw the deep worry in Tian Shitou's eyes, and he could imagine how anxious he was at the moment.

He could only smile bitterly. His sudden promotion of this issue was too confusing to outsiders. People who didn't know could easily think that he was planning to change the policy.

Judging from Tian Shitou’s current hostile attitude towards businessmen, this guy must be very worried that Xuan Xia will go astray.

"Don't worry, I understand the nature of businessmen better than you. I won't trust them at all. Xuanxia's situation will not change." Xu Chen turned around and sat back at his desk, giving Tian Shitou a reassurance.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Tian Shitou's expression relaxed visibly: "Then I feel relieved."

Xu Chen smiled and nodded, but after a while, he looked at Tian Shitou in confusion: "Since there are no more questions, why don't you go?"

Tian Shitou was silent for a moment, and finally said: "I have one last question. Now that we have purged the powerful people in this world, the business community has come again. The new interest group has replaced the old interest group. What is the meaning of our cause?"

Xu Chen was stunned for a moment, then leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling with a trace of fatigue: "Shi Tou, we are walking on a relay road. We cannot see the end ourselves. All we can do is to promote the progress of the times. Only then can future generations make further progress based on our foundation. Only by repeating this cycle can we hope to reach the end."

Tian Shitou seemed to understand something and said, "So, we should trust the wisdom of future generations."

Xu Chen nodded: "We just need to fulfill the mission of our generation, that's enough."

"I understand." Tian Shitou took a deep breath, nodded heavily, then turned and left.

(End of this chapter)