Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 385 379. Pros and Cons
The feud between Feng Xi and Yang Yi can be traced back to the time when Liu Bei was still alive. At that time, Liu Bei discussed with his ministers the matter of an eastern expedition to attack Wu because of Guan Yu's death.

At that time, Feng Xi was still a small general. Although he had just been appreciated by Liu Bei and promoted from general to general, he was still essentially a "young general" who was not up to the standard. Yang Yi was already a minister at that time and had a place in the court.

Yang Yi always looked down on these brawny men, whether it was Guan Yu back then, Feng Xi later, or Wei Yan in the original timeline.

The direct conflict between the two was that Zhao Yun and others urged Liu Bei to put the overall situation first, but Feng Xi, an unknown general, suddenly stepped forward and made an eloquent speech, refuting the "Three-Divided World" strategy that was then regarded as the national policy of the Han Dynasty.

Although Yang Yi looked down on these stinky warriors, he had great respect for Zhuge Liang and even regarded him as his idol. After all, Zhuge Liang's life as a civil official and strategist was indeed legendary enough.

He was invited to come out of seclusion three times by the First Lord. After coming out, he immediately faced the attack of Cao's army. He used clever shooting tactics to burn Bowangpo. Later, facing Cao Cao's southern expedition, he served as an envoy to Soochow. He used his eloquence to persuade Sun Quan, the lord of Soochow, to unite with Sun to fight against Cao, save the collapsing empire, and turn the tide in time of crisis. Finally, a three-legged tripod was formed. It is indeed not surprising that he is regarded as a role model by others.

What's more, Zhuge Liang was now in a high position among the ministers. After Liu Bei became emperor, he became the prime minister. It could be said that he had reached the pinnacle of power. How could Yang Yi not admire him?

In contrast, Feng Xi was just a warrior, and thanks to the late emperor's love, he was able to have his current status. But such a "villain" dared to question the rationality of the three-way division of the world.

At that time, Yang Yi naturally could not stand Feng Xi, so he stepped out to refute Feng Xi. Unexpectedly, Feng Xi scolded him harshly, and the feud between the two was thus formed.

Later, as time passed, Feng Xi marched eastward, recovered Jingzhou, seized Jiaozhou, defeated Yangzhou, and was promoted to General Zhengdong and Grand Commander of the Army, and was granted the title of Imperial Envoy. He was at the peak of his career.

However, Yang Yi would naturally not look up to Feng Xi, a soldier, because he even dared to act presumptuously and make decisions on the affairs of Nanzhong, which should have been managed by Sichuan. Now he even came to ask for opinions hypocritically. In Yang Yi's view, isn't this a naked provocation?

Faced with Yang Yi's sarcasm and innuendo, Zhuge Liang did not give any response, but shook his head in an undetectable manner.

Zhuge Liang thought Yang Yi was quite capable and planned to test him before deciding how to use him. At least from Zhuge Liang's observation, Yang Yi could share his worries even if he didn't completely inherit his position.

However, considering that Feng Xi had previously analyzed some famous figures and their personalities to Zhuge Liang when Liu Bei died, Yang Yi was naturally among them.

Zhuge Liang was not convinced at first, thinking that Feng Xi had never had the opportunity to meet Yang Yi, so how could he know that Yang Yi was narrow-minded? As Zhuge Liang's examination of Yang Yi became more and more in-depth, he found that what Feng Xi said was really true.

Although Yang Yi was a talented person, he had the sour air of a scholar. He was vindictive and had a sense of being a mean person.

Now that he had seen through Yang Yi's character, Zhuge Liang probably wouldn't use him in the future. So he planned to follow Feng Xi's advice and just keep him around to share some government affairs with him, and not let him get too involved in court affairs.

Zhuge Liang was quite helpless because Yang Yi was so eager to attack Feng Xi that he almost didn't take the reports and letters sent by Feng Xi to heart. Feng Xi's so-called Nanzhong Parliament in Nanzhong had many subtleties. If Yang Yi really looked at it carefully, he would definitely understand it. Unfortunately...

Zhuge Liang remained silent and let Yang Yi continue to pester him for a while. When Yang Yi saw that Zhuge Liang did not respond, he realized that he had lost his composure and quickly apologized to Zhuge Liang.

"That's all right, Lord Wei, please continue with your official duties."

Zhuge Liang smiled slightly, seemingly without any thoughts. "How can this be a policy that benefits Nanzhong?"

Facing Deng Ai's question, Feng Xi also smiled. Deng Ai had been to Jiaozhou with Feng Xi before, and knew that Feng Xi had taken advantage of the greed of the Cham people in Jiaozhou, successfully provoked conflicts among the Cham people, and transferred the hatred between the Cham people and the Han people into hatred among the Cham people.

But now Feng Xi was making such a fuss in Nanzhong that Deng Ai was confused. In Deng Ai's opinion, wouldn't a parliament where the minority obeys the majority be more popular than a dictatorial barbarian king? No matter how you look at it, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, so Deng Ai secretly came to see Feng Xi in the hope of getting an answer.

Feng Xi naturally did not hesitate to answer Deng Ai's questions. Deng Ai was still young, and his abilities were still growing steadily. His vision was not as sharp as it would be in the future. This was normal. After all, it takes time for people to grow. Potential and strength are not the same thing. Potential needs time to be transformed into strength.

"Shi Zai thinks that if we vote on a certain issue, it will always lead to a result that satisfies the majority, right?"

As a man from ancient times, Deng Ai naturally could not understand the profound meaning of this so-called "democratic voting system", but Feng Xi, as a man from the future, naturally understood it, so he did not give a direct answer, but instead raised another question first.

"That's natural. If the minority obeys the majority, then the final decision on an issue will definitely satisfy the majority."

Deng Ai nodded, thinking, is there any need to think about this? If 70% of the people agree, then that is the benefit of 70% of the people. Even if the remaining 30% suffer losses, they can't change their minds.

"Nashizai, there are four solutions to this issue. 34% chose number one, 20% chose number two, 10% chose number three, and 36% agreed with number four. According to the voting rules, which one should be passed?"

Feng Xi slowly cited a situation. Deng Ai paused for a moment and answered without hesitation: "Of course it is Plan No. 4."

"Why?"

"The minority obeys the majority. Plan No. 4 has 36% of the votes in favor, which is the highest among the four plans. Plan No. 4 should be passed."

Deng Ai understood this very quickly, and his ability in comparing sizes was also quite good.

"That's strange, isn't it? Only 36% of the people can represent the interests of 'everyone'. Shizai, have you ever thought about how many people 'disagree with Plan No. 4' are there?"

When Feng Xi said this, his smile became brighter.

"This... 64% of people oppose Plan No. 4..."

Deng Ai was pretty good at math, and he began to react when this happened.

(End of this chapter)