As Xu You had predicted, the actual situation was as he guessed. However, contrary to what he imagined, Chen Xi didn’t station troops at Chiping to guard the crossing. Instead, Chen Xi had prepared three supply routes from the very beginning.

Chen Xi knew all too well how many battles had been lost due to issues with supplies, and he wasn’t about to let himself fall victim to such a basic blunder. So when it came to setting up supply lines, his arrangements were so thorough that anyone who knew about them wouldn’t even bother trying to cut off his supplies—it would be a trap.

After Zhuge Liang asked some more questions to ensure there were no major oversights and confirmed that Chen Xi had indeed prepared everything, they didn’t discuss anything further. The next step was figuring out how to respond.

In this situation, there was no need to specifically consult Chen Xi. Zhuge Liang and Fazheng would handle things on their own, knowing full well that whoever was coming from behind was likely the same Xu You who had mysteriously vanished earlier.

“Xu Ziyuan, how did that guy manage to get behind me?” After Zhuge Liang left, Chen Xi’s previously casual demeanor shifted to one of caution.

Chen Xi had put on an air of nonchalance in front of Zhuge Liang to instill a sense of confidence, making it seem as if everything was under control. After all, he had anticipated this.

With Chen Xi appearing so calm, Zhuge Liang and Fazheng would naturally feel confident enough to deal with Xu You on their own. After all, it was Zhuge Liang and Fazheng’s intelligence that was the real source of Chen Xi’s confidence.

[Inwardly, however, Chen Xi was cursing the situation.]

[“What the heck is happening behind my lines? How could they get cut off so easily? And while Xu You managed to sneak around, why do I have no intel on it? Did Jia Wenhe’s intelligence network just fail completely?”]

Once Zhuge Liang was gone, Chen Xi inwardly began to curse, constantly blaming Jia Xu for the oversight.

It was understandable for Chen Xi to be upset; after all, the intelligence network he had established was something he rarely interfered with, but it didn’t mean he had relinquished control. Critical information related to his own safety, like this, should have been delivered promptly. The fact that it hadn’t made Chen Xi question whether Jia Xu had made a serious mistake. Had he not been well-prepared in advance, his rear lines might have been completely exposed.

In reality, Chen Xi had overlooked the fact that Xu You had taken a direct route, with a fast-moving cavalry unit on double-horses. They hadn’t bothered to hide their approach. For any intelligence report to reach Chen Xi faster than Xu You’s troops would have required someone to move in a straight line just as quickly. But without someone like Lu Bu, that was impossible. Xu You’s method was specifically designed to exploit this kind of logical loophole.

"Ah-choo!" Jia Xu suddenly sneezed, then slumped over the desk. Even so, Lu Su, who was sitting at the head of the table, didn’t lift a hand to help him. Realizing this, Jia Xu silently lifted his head, pretending nothing had happened as he continued with his work.

"Report...!" The sound of an urgent report being drawn out from outside the administrative hall suddenly interrupted them.

Before the messenger could deliver the report, Jia Xu rose immediately. "Read it. What urgent news do we have from the front?"

Lu Su glanced disapprovingly at Jia Xu’s sudden enthusiasm. He knew that Jia Xu had grown weary of handling matters related to military affairs and education. The problem with this type of administrative work wasn’t setting up frameworks but constantly revising them in practice. Having to make three changes to the plan every ten days was beginning to wear down Jia Xu’s patience; it was, in his words, an insult to his intelligence.

"An urgent report from Fan County. Feicheng has been attacked by an unknown force. The report is from the sixth day of the third month," the messenger quickly scanned the report before summarizing.

"Feicheng has been captured by an unknown force?" Lu Su immediately jumped up. "Do we have any news from Zichuan?"

“No,” Jia Xu replied before the messenger could. He frowned, then glanced across the table at Li You. “Wenruo, it seems they didn’t fully trust you.”

“As long as they believe the bait, full trust isn’t necessary. The fish has taken the hook,” Li You said with a smug expression, setting down his brush. “They didn’t make the first move, but if we had acted first, it would have seemed less justified.”

“Since when did you, Li Wenruo, start caring about justifications?” Jia Xu laughed heartily.

“To silence the idle talk of the noble families,” Li You replied indifferently. He was no longer the same Li Wenyou who once roamed free in the western frontier. Back then, he didn’t care about anyone’s opinion, but now that he had left that environment, he had to be more mindful of his actions.

“So they’re going to take the fall for this. Finally, we’ve waited long enough. Once this issue is resolved, we won’t need to devote the majority of our energy to these noble families anymore. What’s the plan?” Lu Su had also pieced together the situation by this point. He rubbed his forehead, a smile spreading across his face.

Realizing what was happening, Lu Su felt a great sense of relief. He had recently been focusing on the final strategic preparations for the northern campaign and had almost forgotten what the three of them had been staying in Taishan for all this time.

“We’ve waited long enough. The final attempt by the noble families in Qingzhou and Xuzhou to resist is finally about to unfold,” Jia Xu said, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction.

“Qingzhou and Taishan will be in your hands then,” Lu Su said with a smile.

Once the internal issues were resolved, there would be no further obstacles for Liu Bei. They could still incorporate noble families, but those families would have to follow Liu Bei’s laws. Privileges could exist, but they would be limited.

This legal framework was stringent for most noble families, but to Jia Xu and the others, the fact that they weren’t stripping the families of all their private soldiers was already a significant concession.

What’s more, not taking away the noble families’ private soldiers didn’t mean they were abolishing the families’ privileges. Even now, noble families in Liu Bei’s territory still maintained private troops, albeit in much smaller numbers than under other warlords.

Chen Xi had once considered completely eradicating the private armies that noble families maintained, but he realized that without those troops, the families would become easy targets. Given the current legal system, a noble family without private soldiers could be wiped out.

The class that holds wealth and wisdom must also possess commensurate power. Without it, they would inevitably be overthrown. In the grand scheme of things, while the existence of noble families posed many problems, they still had a role to play.

That’s why Chen Xi had always advocated for limiting or dismantling these families, or gradually easing them out of history. He never suggested outright eliminating them because such an act would cause too much turmoil. Simply wiping out an entire class would create a vacuum that would need to be filled by another class—an exceedingly complex task!

Rather than directly destroying the noble families and setting off a chain of events that could spiral out of control, it would be better to implement policies gradually, over time, that would slowly erode their power. This would avoid the catastrophic social upheaval that a sudden eradication would cause and allow this class to fade out over a century or more.

To achieve this, however, there was one unavoidable truth: all the noble families had to understand who the true master of the realm was. Only then could they be dealt with gradually.

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