Chapter 86 The Grand Way Mi Zhu's sister, named Mi Zhen, was the wife of Liu Bei in history. After careful comparison, Tian Ze found that this world not only contains parts of the late Han Dynasty in history, but is more inclined to "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". If so, Mrs. Mi was the virtuous wife who died for her loyalty in the midst of chaos and who resolutely jumped into a well to protect A Dou and not to cause trouble for Zhao Yun. Tian Ze thought it was not bad to have such a wife with high moral character. In any case, Tian Ze's reputation among the aristocratic families had long been infamous. On the surface, the Wuzhong Tian family resolutely drew a line with him and completely expelled Tian Ze from the family. Given Tian Ze's current situation, there are almost no noble families willing to marry their daughters to him. The Mi family sacrificed a lot for the development of Liaodong. Not only Mi Zhu, but Mi Fang also spared no effort. Although Tian Ze was motivated by profit, they were willing to bet most of their fortunes on the development of Liaodong and Tian Ze's promise. Tian Ze always remembered this deep friendship. In addition to returning the full amount of money and grain with interest, Tian Ze also planned to leave Mi Fang a relatively leisurely position that was neither too big nor too small. What he will achieve in the future will depend on his own abilities and luck.
After all, Zhang Zhao, who was in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, would not tolerate even a grain of sand in his eyes. It was nothing but a foolish dream for him to rely on Mi Zhu's relationship to advance rapidly in his official career. Making Mi Zhen the principal wife is indeed the wisest choice for Tian Ze at the moment. …… To the northeast of Xiangping City, a little way away from the military camp, a magnificent Jingling Hall stands in an open area. The all-white Jingling Hall has a simple and solemn outline, which forms a sharp contrast with the dense woods around it. It appears particularly majestic and solemn under the sunlight, exuding a solemn atmosphere. There are many rooms in the Hall of Heroes. In addition to tombstones recording the names of the fallen soldiers, there are also detailed records of some heroic deeds and the course of the war. Tian Ze led the generals to this quiet and peaceful place. On weekdays, they would regularly organize their soldiers to come and pay their respects, and there would often be some martyrs' relatives who came with grief and longing, as well as ordinary people who came with admiration. Here, everything is so quiet that even the violent Ma Teng and Qu Yi could not help but lower their voices consciously for fear of breaking this sacred tranquility. Everyone gently picked up a stick of incense, looked solemn, and bowed respectfully. The dead are the greatest. The heroic sacrifices of these brave and fearless people brought peace, prosperity and development to Liaodong, and they deserve such high respect. Tian Ze has always been committed to improving the overall quality of his generals. On the basis of retaining their original distinctive personalities, he has implemented the wisdom, trustworthiness, benevolence, courage and strictness in "The Art of War" among them. Not only them, the Liaodong Army today is becoming more and more like the army he remembered in later generations in all aspects. In addition to the annual memorial service, if time permits, Tian Ze would lead them to pay tribute before every battle to boost morale and commemorate the martyrs. Looking at the stone tablets engraved with names, Tian Ze couldn't help but sigh softly, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. "Your sacrifice will not be in vain. I will do my best to make your efforts worthwhile!" After all the generals had left, Tian Ze brought Zhang Niu slowly to a room that was closely guarded by soldiers. Walking into the room, I found it was not big, and was dark yellow in color, with only three simple tablets on display. Zhang Jiao! Zhang Bao! Zhang Liang!
When Zhang Niu saw the name that was so familiar, his eyes were instantly filled with hot tears. He was so emotional that his legs went weak and he fell to the ground, sobbing softly, with sadness surging out like a tide. Tian Ze looked solemn. He lit a stick of incense for the three people, and the smoke rose up. "Dust returns to dust, ashes returns to ashes, and it is difficult to judge right from wrong, merits from demerits." "Since I have inherited your legacy, I will do my best to fulfill your wishes." "Now, most of the real Yellow Turbans live and work in peace under my rule. You can rest assured." "The world I will create should also be what you expect in your hearts..." At this moment, Tian Ze's mind was filled with thoughts and emotions. He once thought about following Zhang Jiao's path, or cooperating with Zhang Jiao, to find a shortcut to overthrow the Han Dynasty, unify the world, and end the long and chaotic times that might follow. But after repeated and careful thinking, he quickly gave up this seemingly tempting idea. Not only because of his always cautious character, but also because he knew very well that doing so would bring great disadvantages. Although the power under his command may grow rapidly, its foundation will be difficult to stabilize. It was difficult for him to ensure that his subordinates would not cause chaos like the Yellow Turban Army, and he did not have enough capable people to manage the situation effectively. Even if they succeed by chance, what they will get is most likely just a chaotic, disorderly and unstable country. After all these years of growth and experience, and under the tempering of the times, he is no longer the inexperienced and "naive" modern man. He has a deeper awe for the complexity of human nature and the terrible power. Knowing is easy, but doing is difficult. Before, he often felt that many things were easy and simple, and that he could do them with ease, and even thought that he could do them better. Even when facing many famous celebrities and talents, he dared to point out the way forward and express his opinions without hesitation. But when I was really in that situation, I realized that the difficulty of the matter was far beyond my original imagination. Many decisions are not what leaders want to make, and many people are not what leaders want to use. In most cases, the pros and cons need to be weighed repeatedly because there are so many and deep aspects involved. Some seemingly stupid decisions have countless reasonable reasons behind them, and they are even made up of countless correct decisions. There are countless people in this world who can point out problems easily, and there are also many people who can clearly propose reasonable measures. However, there are only a few who are truly capable of actually solving the problems. The only lesson humanity can learn from history is that humanity never truly learns from history. For many things, it is not possible to be successful and everything will go smoothly just by reading a few history books. If he really quickly obtained a country that seemed powerful but was actually in chaos, Tian Ze had no confidence that he could govern it in an orderly and prosperous manner. The tragic precedents of the late Ming Dynasty and the late Song Dynasty were like conspicuous scars, reminding him all the time. Being strong can sometimes be a fatal disadvantage; being weak can sometimes contain potential advantages. Just like during the Warring States Period, the Qin State, which was the weakest and most insignificant at the beginning, became the final winner. This may seem like an unexpected coincidence, but it also has its inherent inevitability. Why did Shang Yang's reform succeed? First, it was because of the latecomer advantage, which enabled him to learn from the experience and lessons of other countries; second, it was because Qin was so poor and weak at the time that it had to fight to the death. Other countries were also carrying out reforms vigorously, and all of them flourished for a time, each had its own strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately none of them were completely successful. The success of Qin's reform was largely due to the fact that it learned from the experiences and lessons of reforms in various countries and cleverly used the failure cases of various countries to obtain valuable secrets of success.
Similarly, the reforms of various countries were not thorough enough, because they were powerful, had many vested interests, and were hesitant and indecisive about the reforms. Moreover, their original systems were already deeply rooted, and the cost of reform was too high and the resistance was too great. Only the Qin State, because it was too weak and faced the crisis of destruction, had to make a desperate effort to carry out reforms; because it had not even laid a solid foundation for governing, it could directly tear down and rebuild without any scruples. Even so, the Qin State's reforms went through many difficulties and twists and turns, but ultimately succeeded in the torrent of history. If it were other countries, there would be basically no chance of success. The best outcome would probably be like that of Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty, where the government would flourish for a short time but would cease to exist when the leader died, and it would be difficult to sustain it for a long time. What Tian Ze wanted was not the lofty throne, nor the vanity of nominally unifying the world, but the people, the people who lived a prosperous life and had faith. In order to achieve this grand goal, he has too many things to do and it cannot be done all at once. If we act too hastily, it will easily lead to a series of complicated problems, just like the Ming Dynasty's change from rice to mulberry. No matter how good the policy is, if there are not enough qualified middle and low-level officials to implement it, it will inevitably become a bad policy that harms the country and the people. If we take it slow, it will easily breed vested interests, thus hindering the advancement of subsequent reforms. Those who get rich first may not be willing to sincerely lead those who get rich later. Instead, they will increasingly hope that there will be more poor people to protect their vested interests. Whether out of basic moral conscience or the desire to maximize the collection of luck, Tian Ze hopes to build a country that is firmly under his control and has a solid foundation. Therefore, Tian Ze chose to proceed step by step, take the honorable path, and win the hearts of the people step by step. The roots of this still young sapling in Liaodong will be continuously deepened and strengthened, and the trunk will be straightened and tall, so as to wait for an opportunity to expand and develop. A small boat is easy to turn around, and when the force is weak, it is easy to correct problems when they are discovered, and it is not difficult to redistribute the cake. Even if there are vested interests, in the process of continuous reform, development and growth, Tian Ze can continue to occupy other states and counties and distribute more reasonable benefits to them. Although the proportion of benefits they receive seems to have become smaller, the overall benefits they receive have actually increased, so naturally they will not resist too much. In this way, the benefits will continue to expand while being constantly adjusted and distributed, and everyone will become a force to be reckoned with. "Haste breeds chaos. Thank you for helping me understand this truth deeply." "I have many ways to win, but I want to take the most stable and correct path." (End of this chapter)