Additionally, Zhao Shuang himself is not very good at dealing with people. Fortunately, Chen Xi knows that he is a capable individual and therefore directed him to Sun Qian, recognizing that Sun Qian, being far from the Central Government, could avoid anyone causing Zhao Shuang trouble.
Upon arriving at Sun Qian’s place, Zhao Shuang was like a fish in water, as Sun Qian always believed that anyone Chen Xi sent must not be incompetent, thus using Zhao Shuang as a valuable asset.
Although Zhao Shuang isn’t skilled in interpersonal relations, his abilities are quite solid. Once at Sun Qian’s place, he quickly converted his mathematics knowledge into applied mathematics, significantly resolving the losses Sun Qian’s side incurred from estimating engineering quantities and material usage based on experience and intuition.
This unoccupied mathematician meticulously broke down each process and detail in civil engineering into mathematical problems, eventually calculating the most executable optimal solutions.
With this strategy, Zhao Shuang secured his position as Chief Registrar under Sun Qian, fulfilling multiple roles, gaining Sun Qian’s deep trust.
It couldn’t be helped; Zhao Shuang’s methods were too formidable. The optimal solutions derived from pure mathematics significantly deviated from the conclusions drawn by others under Sun Qian using intuition and experience, resulting in savings not only in engineering timelines but also in quantities and materials.
A single project could save twenty to thirty percent. Who knows how many projects Sun Qian has initiated previously? With such a talent, even if Zhao Shuang did nothing afterwards and relied solely on past accomplishments, he would stabilize his official position.
Furthermore, Zhao Shuang occasionally would make other adjustments while inspecting the projects, understanding that conditions differ from place to place, and the persuasive power of mathematics is always strong.
Whenever Zhao Shuang goes out for inspections, it’s as if he is solving math problems, and the next day he can provide a better plan for the current distribution of project personnel, leading to Zhao Shuang thriving now.
After all, Sun Qian, such a kind-hearted person, acknowledges Zhao Shuang’s unique personality and does not push him.
As long as Zhao Shuang completes the tasks assigned to him, Sun Qian always turns a blind eye to Zhao Shuang’s habit of doing math problems at work. Zhao Shuang could spend five days and nights continuously working on math problems unrelated to Sun Qian’s concerns.
Sun Qian’s escort quickly ran to find Zhao Shuang and returned with Zhao Shuang’s calculated solution, a pure mathematical method delivering only the optimal solution.
The document contained no trivial words, not even a reply to Sun Qian, just mathematical calculations. Although Sun Qian couldn’t understand most of the calculations, it didn’t matter; Sun Qian only needed the optimal solution. After so long, Sun Qian, the good-natured person, fully understood Zhao Shuang’s character: that fellow simply can’t navigate social relationships.
The answer greatly differed from Sun Qian’s previous thoughts. Zhao Shuang even calculated the construction timeline, which was shorter than Sun Qian’s estimate, although the total project duration was longer than Sun Qian’s earlier projections. Sun Qian decisively dismissed his previous ideas.
For so long, Zhao Shuang has proven that while one might ridicule him personally, one cannot disparage his mathematics; in that regard, the other party is truly a great power.
"But how has this guy become increasingly faster? Could he have prepared it beforehand?" Sun Qian muttered while reviewing Zhao Shuang’s optimal solution, frowning as he realized Zhao Shuang’s problem-solving speed was excessively swift.
[Forget it, regardless of this guy’s pace, his competence in this area is undoubtable. The reason for his accelerating speed might be simply due to practice makes perfect.] Sun Qian wasn’t overly concerned with Zhao Shuang’s issues and was indifferent to minor flaws in talented individuals.
Shortly after Sun Qian sent a message to Chen Xi’s side, Guo Jia, who had some free time, brought Fa Zheng to Yu Jin’s camp supervising prisoners for teaching.
Speaking of prejudices, Guo Jia indeed had them, although not deeply ingrained, and considering his familiarity with Fa Zheng, he paid little heed. Now, Guo Jia had reverse-engineered a heap of Legion Talents into Military Formation, though many Legion Talents couldn’t achieve the Military Formation transformation.
Actually, Guo Jia was more curious about what effect it would have if the Legion Talent possessed by a Legion originally capable of Military Formation used such a formation.
Whether it strengthens the Legion Talent or reduces the difficulty of using the formation, if either situation occurs, Guo Jia feels that in the future, military generals possessing Legion Talents will inevitably learn the corresponding Military Formations.
"Oh, Wen Ze, what are you doing here?" Guo Jia immediately noticed Yu Jin training this group of captives upon arrival, most importantly observing them being trained systematically.
"Trying them out, to see if these 400,000 captives can be converted into elite soldiers of the Han Army." Yu Jin replied casually; incidentally, Yu Jin is one of those reserved Eight Trigrams men.
"Oh, that is indeed an issue. How so?" Guo Jia asked curiously.
"No, there’s a very serious problem here. Though they appear methodical, they inherently lack the spirit of battle; even with excellent training, they are merely robust shells." Yu Jin said hesitantly, these Miscellaneous Hun captives had been made particularly obedient by Ji Xiang.
"That’s quite odd. These captives seem already trained to be highly compliant, right? Whether they have Battle Will is just a matter of your orders. Through participation in warfare, those who survive become elite soldiers." Guo Jia voiced his interest.
"No, they are ruined. Although I can’t explicitly pinpoint what’s wrong, based on my current observations, they have already become worthless from the core." Yu Jin said seriously, prompting Guo Jia to also restrain his smile.
"Worthless from the core, what do you mean?" Fa Zheng, having listened attentively, asked, although his primary interest lay in verifying his own Military Formation, thus not delving deeply into understanding.
Only Yu Jin’s words contained some implicit meaning, causing Fa Zheng to inquire.
"In my feeling, how to say, they seem unlike humans, more like they’ve lost their souls, acting as if they’re manipulated by someone." Yu Jin scratched his head and commented. Recently, having been constantly in the captive camp, he hadn’t noticed this issue initially, but now facing these captives, he clearly sensed discomfort—they appeared to be forcibly manipulated by some external power.
With such a realization, Yu Jin suddenly remembered when Ji Xiang neither entered the captive camp in Chang’an nor after entering the captive camp, there was a massive change among the captured Miscellaneous Huns, inexplicably prompting Yu Jin to feel Ji Xiang was somewhat sinister.
Guo Jia and Fa Zheng felt a bit awkward; what do these cryptic statements mean?
"Wen Ze, what is the situation with these captives exactly!" Li Youu walked out from the captive camp with a very solemn expression, greeted Guo Jia and Fa Zheng, and then spoke to Yu Jin.
After completing a round of household registrations, Li Youu came here to create Slave Status. Initially delegating the task to someone else, when the person assigned to Slave Status seemed terrified and fell ill, refusing to return, Li Youu, intrigued by what strange occurrence could have appeared, decided to personally visit.
This time, Li Youu finally understood why the Chief Registrar previously assigned to Slave Status nearly had a mental breakdown. Even with Li Youu’s determined will, checking them individually was harrowing—these captives gave Li Youu the impression of having their hearts forcibly changed.
"You also noticed it, huh." Yu Jin said, pulling a wry smile. It took him two days of constantly coming here to discover this; without delving deeply into these captives, this situation couldn’t be uncovered.
To delve into the captives, any normal person wouldn’t care about these captives’ fate as long as they don’t riot.
"I’m not blind, having completed a portion of the Slave Status; now my scalp feels paralyzed." Li Youu said coldly; these Miscellaneous Hun captives are entirely abnormal. Though all fervently align with the Han Dynasty, intensely believing themselves guilty and willing to repay their wrongs, their current state contravenes human nature and reason.
Simply put, based on Li Youu’s observed facts, someone’s distorted these captives’ will and hearts.
"Oh my, Gong Youu actually sent us a letter." Chen Xi laughed while receiving the letter Sun Qian sent from the escort.
Lub Su glanced at Chen Xi’s antics and opened the letter from Sun Qian addressed to him, read it briefly, then set it aside.
Chen Xi continued to grin while reading Sun Qian’s letter to him, but the more he read, the more serious his expression became, ultimately standing up with a dark face.
"Order Mann Boning to lead twenty squads of city management teams to assemble at the gate, to go arrest someone with me!" After finishing reading, Chen Xi threw the letter on the table in exasperation, screaming, Ji Xiang this madwoman caused too much trouble; she must be defined before others discover her actions.
"Ji Family Lady?" Li Youu raised a brow and asked again.
"Yes, Principal Ji came over with a disciple and had Marquis Chen’s directive, claiming to conduct research requiring many materials!" Yu Jin, recognizing the situation likely isn’t right, immediately explained everything that transpired.
"So that’s it, no wonder Zichuan mentioned she’s dangerous earlier; the danger lies here." Li Youu laughed bitterly, finally comprehending why Chen Xi wanted Ji Xiang to teach something—Ji Xiang’s school can twist human hearts!
Now, Li Youu is furious to the point of nearly wanting to bash Chen Xi, feeling this isn’t merely dangerous but akin to nurturing calamity, perceiving Ji Xiang as entirely indulged by Chen Xi.
"Well, Marquis Chen probably didn’t foresee this outcome, right." Yu Jin sensed the killing intent emanating from Li Youu for the first time, deeply understanding now how terrifying this seemingly affable secretary general is. However, given the circumstances, Yu Jin intended to finish his point.
"What transpired then?" Li Youu asked, momentarily sweeping Yu Jin with a cold gaze, causing Yu Jin to feel his hackles rise—that chilling glance, making every inch of him tremble, understanding that such an imposing aura shouldn’t belong to Li Youu, a secretary general.
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