Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 69: Winning without Victory

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"Throughout history, military books recount classic battles where the few have triumphed over the many, yet with our knowledge, we wouldn’t fully trust what’s written in those books," Chen Xi’s smile had a hint of ridicule, thinking about the battles recorded in military books which always explained how the few defeated the many. Rare were the occasions when both sides had roughly equal capabilities, not to mention times when one side’s military force significantly surpassed the enemy’s—it seemed as if having more people prevented one’s abilities from being showcased.

Lub Su looked at Chen Xi with surprise but also nodded, saying, "Indeed, the battles recorded in military books nearly always feature the triumph of the few over the many. But throughout history, the examples of winning with fewer numbers are probably just those mentioned in the military books."

"I’ve heard someone say that in a fight of equal degree, an invincible existence can be considered powerful, but when the opponent can elevate their level while one can only maintain their current level and barely fight, even a narrow victory is an act of helplessness. The so-called skilled warriors are unnamed—the crushing of enemies with overwhelmingly superior strength, all the ingenious strategies can’t reverse the failure on a strategic level." Chen Xi said to Lub Su with his eyes closed, thinking of many ancient battles fought in desperation, where successive victories still couldn’t prevent the ultimate defeat.

In the Han Dynasty’s battles against the Huns, both the early and later stages didn’t look very promising, basically gaining no advantage. Of course, the middle period’s casualty ratio of one to twenty was indeed against the heavens, but even after the Martial Emperor ascended, the Han Dynasty kept fighting the Huns. The Huns still appeared quite formidable on the battlefield, yet in the end, they were exterminated—a legendary case of being worn down to death...

Similarly, the Tang Dynasty had a failure rate of up to sixty percent in its foreign wars, but the Tang Dynasty still managed to subdue the Four Directions—simply because the surrounding smaller nations couldn’t afford to lose. The Tang Dynasty could fight again after a loss, but once the smaller nations lost once, they never had another chance. In short, Han and Tang fought with an attitude of playing around, being undefeated despite losing.

Likewise, the Song Dynasty had a winning rate of over seventy percent in foreign wars, but it was basically the same as Han and Tang playing around with others—the Song Dynasty would be destroyed once their winning rate fell below sixty percent. Making it clear—it’s below sixty percent, meaning the Song Dynasty was already dominating the scene when they got taken down.

Therefore, Chen Xi had no interest in the outcomes on the battlefield. Li Mu had three victories and two draws in five battles against Wang Jian, but the Zhao State no longer had the possibility to continue fighting. Even if King Zhao didn’t execute Li Mu, once Qin was free to act, Zhao was doomed to die—a foregone tragedy. Thus, Chen Xi had grown apathetic towards the battlefield situation.

Lub Su looked at Chen Xi, "Our military strategy always teaches us how to defeat the strong with the weak but never reveals that the simplest strategy is to bully the weak with strength. Zichuan is absolutely right; sometimes all the cleverness in the world can’t salvage the final outcome. Strengthening oneself and weakening the opponent is the King’s Way."

"Yes, Zijing, do you know what I initially thought?" Chen Xi said with a smile, wanting to impart his entire strategy to Lub Su but worried that Lub Su might accept it all, so he chose a different way of expressing it.

Lub Su shook his head, unable to grasp Chen Xi’s leap in thinking, yet still very interested in Chen Xi’s wisdom.

"When I discovered that Lord Xuande couldn’t recruit excellent strategists, I turned to another path—that of strengthening ourselves, to the extent where even relying on ordinary generals and a group of sped-up strategists cultivated by ourselves could defeat our enemies. Thus, from the beginning, I made plans for the most difficult scenarios," Chen Xi reflected on his original thoughts with an indescribable pleasure, finally someone to share these things with.

"How could that be possible? Zichuan holding such thoughts and still being able to govern? Impossible!" Lub Su was shocked. Chen Xi started with the idea of fighting the world alone; even assuming the worst case, it couldn’t be like that, and to work under such a mindset was unfathomable.

"Nothing is impossible. Don’t you think it’s great? If I can flatten those guys this way, won’t it be even easier when others arrive?" Chen Xi said with a smile, "Besides, according to my thinking, it’s not at all improbable. As they say, ’three heads are better than one,’ and if quantity lacks in quality, then quantity will make up for it. Perhaps a top strategist can match a dozen or so of the strategists I produce in batches, but as long as there are enough, I’m not worried. Furthermore, with enough people, I believe a few geniuses will emerge."

Lub Su felt his cold sweat dripping, having gained a certain understanding of Chen Xi in just a short time. Sometimes, this fellow was indeed outrageously arrogant, but undoubtedly his wisdom was shocking, and the crazy plan he spoke of definitely had the potential to be executed.

Taking a deep breath to calm the shock in his heart, Lub Su realized he had been overawed by Chen Xi; however, it wasn’t the time to think about these trivial matters.

"May I ask Zichuan, what is this ’batch production of strategists’?" Lub Su pointed out the most crucial part of these matters. All of Chen Xi’s plans centered around this batch production of strategists—quantity begetting quality was a notion Lub Su agreed with. Just like one Guan Yu couldn’t beat Lyu Bu, but ten of them would not be a problem. It was straightforward logic.

"That is my secret technique, not to be imparted lightly," Chen Xi said with a proud toss of his head, indicating he couldn’t tell Lub Su.

Speaking of Chen Xi’s so-called mass production of Strategists and Civil Officials, in reality, it was just about scouring for those historical figures who hadn’t yet matured, whilst stuffing suitable young kids with a cramming style of education.

Anyway, for Chen Xi, all he wanted was talent; geniuses weren’t something a school education could produce, as it mostly relied on self-study. Teachers were merely leaders, just like Zhuge Liang, who would likely have been the same with a different teacher. Generally, teachers became famous because they encountered good students, not because they could actually teach geniuses.

The maxim that Chen Xi most recognized was, "You can never become the best by relying on what others give you, because there will always be someone above you, and they can even mass-produce you."

Education was regimented, and Chen Xi didn’t intend to do any one-on-one personalized teaching, simply because there weren’t enough teaching resources, and it wasn’t necessary anyway.

Chen Xi had already designed his educational method, and like his cunning, it was simple and brute-force; the results would likely not be too bad. He started by handing out a book to each youth between ten and fifteen, telling them to read it themselves. Geniuses would naturally excel, and after half a year, he would collect the books and select the outstanding ones to be directly nurtured by Civil Officials, imparting experience and involving them in simple administrative duties. This half laissez-faire, half mentorship education would naturally lead geniuses to their own paths.

In any case, Chen Xi couldn’t be bothered to prune them; who knew what shape geniuses would take? He couldn’t guarantee that those he pruned would retain their essence. In fact, they might all end up cast from the same mold, which would be tragic.

As for those interested in book knowledge, three years of cramming would do. Chen Xi had experience with this, ample experience in fact. If he couldn’t produce geniuses, could he not produce fodder? What a joke, Greater China’s technology for manufacturing fodder was unrivaled anywhere in the world.

As for the drawbacks of cramming education, Chen Xi had no fear. In an era where books were treasures, this insane method of education would not be criticized by others but would rather earn the teachers a place among the sages. So there was absolutely no need to worry; this was actually about racking up good reviews...

And as for becoming a bookworm, take a look at which third-grader became one? Even with Saturday and Sunday tutorials, holiday tutorials, summer and winter break tutorials, and so-called after-school homework coaching. Starting kindergarten at the age of two, taking extra lessons at four, but by sixth grade, the struggle would still be real, and no amount of primary school education and continuous tutoring could kill a kid’s nature.

It was precisely because of this that, if Chen Xi implemented this kind of super-crazy educational system at this time, everyone would praise him for being conscientious and responsible. The students were lucky, with no one criticizing him for being inhumane. At this time, the ’teacher’ in ’heaven, earth, sovereign, kin, teacher’ was not to be taken lightly—let alone if you were a commoner, even the emperor would have to pay respects to their teacher...

In summary, Chen Xi had thought it through. In this era, such a teacher was definitely a good teacher. Whether from universal morality or societal norms, such a teacher was assuredly a sage.

Chen Xi’s words made Lub Su startle, and then he caught on. Indeed, such matters were absolutely confidential, so he spoke up, "It was my oversight, Zichuan. Please forgive me."

"It’s nothing," Chen Xi shook his head indicating it didn’t matter, and naturally leaned back, turning his head to shout out the door, "Jian’er, help bring over those books from the shelf."

"Okay." Fan Jian’s clear voice came through. Speaking of which, she was quite happy these days. Even though Chen Xi was often not at home, because there were no elders, Fan Jian, as the mistress of the house, often forgot many of the etiquettes she was supposed to learn. For instance, Fan Jian strongly demanded to read books, so Chen Xi let people casually print a book for primary school students and gave it to Fan Jian. Then, figuring that the printing craft was not easy, they printed quite a lot of those primary school materials, planning to use them for selections. Of course, now was not the time.

"You must find it funny, Zijing. At home, there’s just one housekeeper, one Singer, and one is my wife." Chen Xi shrugged his shoulders and said. With his official cap gone, there was no pretense left, everyone had their struggles.

Chen Xi once thought about having a group of Singers, eight on the left, eight on the right, greeted by "Welcome, master" the moment he walked in. But upon arriving at Mount Tai, he found that he had no time to look, and didn’t even know how to begin searching. So now, Chen Xi could only wait eagerly for Liu Bei to bestow him with a group of Singers, which would save both money and trouble, and ensure quality.

Fan Jian ran over with the thread-bound books in hand, remembering also to carry a few stuffed buns.

"Just compare them, and you’ll understand," Chen Xi handed over the books to Lub Su, expecting that with Lub Su’s intelligence, he would instantly grasp Chen Xi’s thinking.