Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 222 Arrogance and Conservatism

Even after the conference ended, the military sand table remained on the conference table.

Xuan Chong kept Wu Lu, Wu Rui, and Wu Juwang behind for a short meeting. These three were the core members of his future group. Xuan Chong told Wu Leng to go to the cafeteria next door and get four servings of barbecue.

"Sit down, everyone. This is an internal meeting." Xuan Chong gestured for the three of them not to be reserved, but that was impossible.

At this time, Xuan Chong was in his prime, his mental sharpness had not yet declined from its peak, but his experience in doing things was the highest in the entire system. He had a clear understanding of the abilities and personality traits of everyone inside and outside the system.

It was precisely because Xuan Chong possessed this "clear-headedness of a superior" that officials and businesspeople of all ranks within the Wu family army, and even in various prefectures such as Zhen, Lingnan, and Longyou, were intimidated by Xuan Chong's power and followed the rules.

Even if Wu Juwang now possesses the talent of a prime minister, when facing Xuan Chong, he is just like a petty thief caught red-handed back then.

As for Wu Lu, after being kicked during military training a few days ago, he's become like a son who doesn't dare to utter a sound when facing his father.

On the contrary, Wu Rui, having followed Xuan Chong in the southern campaigns over the past few years, had come to understand his lord's character and knew that Xuan Chong rarely held people accountable outside of military law. Therefore, he was the first to sit down.

Xuan Chong looked at the three of them, knowing he wouldn't say anything like the nonsense about "the three of them must cooperate sincerely in the future."

Because the more "sincere" one appears in politics, the more hypocritical one actually is. True "sincere cooperation" is based on mutual understanding of each other's personalities; only when both sides are certain that they cannot hide anything from each other will they try their best to align their interests and bring them into the greater good.

Xuan Chong pointed to the map and said to Wu Lu, "If you were to take over my position now, what would you do when facing an enemy like Zhao Cheng?"

Wu Lu paused slightly, while Wu Juwang, standing beside him, seemed lost in thought. —As a native of Yaodu, Wu Juwang, after deeply considering the affairs of Yaodu, knew that the relationship between the successor and the current leader was fraught with complex contradictions. He was now being very cautious.

Wu Lu opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Xuan Chong looked at him and said, "You'll take on this task in two ways. One is arrogance—use your most arrogant and reckless attitude to make decisions!"

Wu Lu pondered for a moment, then took the military token and headed towards the water and Zhuzhou. He planned to first break through Jizhou, and then use the token to take Yongzhou from the north. The army would advance from both the south and the north.

Xuan Chong glanced at his troop token and saw that he had left a full half of his troops at home as reserves, indicating that Wu Lu had not yet shown enough arrogance.

Xuan Chong encouraged, "Now that we've decided on the direction of our attack, let's just go all out."

Xuan Chong pointed to the "legion" that he had clearly intended to pull towards the front line during the simulation, but which he had ultimately left to wait on the way. He told him not to hide it anymore, to treat all the legions as his own, and to be bold and reckless.

Narrator: It's only thanks to the fact that the wooden ox and flowing horse train line can support the logistics line, otherwise, Wu Lu's act of just piling up troops at the nodes and wasting food and fodder would have already caused those second-rate warlords to collapse without a fight.

Wu Lu gritted his teeth, then readjusted his deployment and advanced his troops. His performance quickly resembled that of a Paradox Interactive player in Xuan Chong's previous life: internal production efficiency was maximized, and tension was raised to its highest level. Within the occupied territories, resources were squeezed to the limit; those who couldn't meet their targets were "slaved." More than twenty Zhan Kui were deployed, increasing the army by 150,000.

Wu Lu gritted his teeth and finished doing all this. He looked at Xuan Chong with a nervous gaze and said weakly, "You're the one who made me arrogant."

Xuan Chong watched his plan with great interest. He nodded with satisfaction, then led Zhao Cheng to break down the martial furnace's moves one by one.

Wu Lu watched as his troops were lured into a prolonged battle line, only to be cut off and disappear. At first, he could hold back, but later he became indignant and protested in a low voice, "How could this happen?"

Of course, Xuan Chong was not angry, nor did he scold him. Instead, he calmly told him about Zhao Cheng's experiences on the battlefield.

Finally, Wu Lu lost his temper, and Xuan Chong patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't be discouraged. I made you arrogant; arrogance to the extreme will lead to mistakes, and these mistakes you made were all forced upon you by me."

After Wu Lu realized that Xuan Chong had taken the initiative to absolve him of responsibility for his "mistakes," he quickly recovered from his depression! —As a son, Wu Lu's greatest fear was that his father would blame him for everything. That's how his third aunt raised her child—a real pushover.

Wu Lu immediately felt his father's reliability and understood why so many people were convinced by his father.

Xuan Chong raised his head to Wu Lu, Wu Juwang, and Wu Rui, and said at the same time, "When people do things, there will inevitably be others urging them; and after being urged, you, as novices, will be anxious to do some things. And being anxious will lead to mistakes. When I am here, no one dares to force you, they will only flatter you, and flattering you is so that it will be easier to force you after I leave."

Note: Xuan Chong was constantly summarizing the lessons learned from the succession between Emperor Shu and King Zhou. Xuan Chong's understanding was that under Emperor Shu's high-pressure oppression, King Zhou never had the opportunity to expose his shortcomings and could only present himself as a wise king who met Emperor Shu's aesthetic standards and provided the best sensory comfort. In the end, it was like a crystal bottle filled with corrosive liquid; it appeared smooth and jewel-like on the outside, but after Emperor Shu left, the slightest bump would break it.

Therefore, Xuan Chong's training requirements for Wu Lu are to be able to withstand pressure, have the opportunity to show their personality, and have more opportunities to understand the advantages and disadvantages of showing their personality in doing things.

After Xuan Chong finished speaking, he said to Wu Lu, "Next, use a conservative approach to describe your strategy."

Wu Lu was stunned. He had just been in a cheerful, arrogant and domineering state, but suddenly he became conservative and hadn't changed.

He looked at Xuan Chong and said, "I don't know how." Xuan Chong then put on a stern face and said, "If you don't do it right, I'll hit you." Wu Lu immediately sat up straight, got into the zone, and carefully arranged his troops.

In a conservative state, Wu Lu brought in not Zhao Cheng, but the people, soldiers, and merchants of Zhendi, playing multiple roles. He displayed various elements such as "unwillingness to pay taxes," "weak fighting spirit," and "merchants engaging in speculation."

Feeling constrained, Wu Lu was furious and wanted to suppress the situation, but after glancing at Xuan Chong, he ultimately dared not issue the order to suppress the situation to his father.

Wu Juwang and Wu Rui, standing to the side, were very serious during this deduction. It was clear that Xuan Chong was deducing the extreme situation that would occur if their future lord made a decision that was not correct.

Note: In the 21st century, the focus of on-the-job training for maintenance departments is not on routine maintenance, but on responding to potential accidents with a one percent probability. Leaving aside the "deification of leaders," leaders are essentially machines that require constant supervision from all sides to correct any potential errors.

In the old days, because superiors wanted to maintain their authority, they rarely exposed their performance in extreme situations, emphasizing that they were always right. Subordinates who mistakenly believed that "their superiors were always right" found it too late to realize that "the course had been seriously wrong."

The people King Zhou wanted to use were far less knowledgeable about him than his personal attendants, which led to communication problems.

Now, Xuan Chong uses the "I command you" approach to make Wu Lu "role-play" the two versions of himself that he imagined: "careless" and "losing his edge in adversity."

When Wu Lu "played" how to make mistakes, Wu Juwang and Wu Rui were bystanders. When Xuan Chong explained "the predicament Wu Lu faced in his position of power," these two disciples roughly understood how to act as Wu Lu's lord in the future, and how to promptly warn him when certain signs appeared, rather than trying to forcibly reverse the situation when it came to a head, thus causing conflict between the ruler and his subjects. —After giving them the function of preventing problems before they arose, Xuan Chong foreshadowed that they would become important ministers in the future.

…A bottle of sparkling water was opened and poured into four glasses…

After Wu Lu finished outlining his many strategies, Xuan Chong finally presented his own strategic plan.

Xuan Chong mobilized fourteen army corps (each corps ranging from three to six thousand men) on the front lines, piling them up on the upper, middle, and lower fronts. Behind each front, the total number of reserve laborers would reach six hundred thousand; and in the first game, he placed his pieces in the north.

Then, on the sand table, Zhao Cheng's side began to seek the initiative for a decisive battle.

Xuan Chong: In the eyes of the powerful families of the world today, Wu Hengyu's "Bo Kingdom" and Zhao Cheng's "Hao Kingdom" are the two powers that divide the world. However, the two of them are now facing different situations. One is being forced into a corner, while the other is complacent and conservative, unaware of the crisis in the hearts of his subordinates.

In other words, the role Wu Lu just played not only depicted his own future mistakes, but also incorporated the current situations of Zhao Cheng and Wu Hengyu! Zhao Cheng was being pressured by various people around him, while Wu Hengyu was conservative and stubborn.

Legally speaking, Zhao Cheng has not yet completed the "transfer of the throne." Now, having conquered fourteen states, nearly half the country, he is highly inflated, and his subordinates are pressuring him to take a more aggressive approach.

Wu Hengyu has already gained enough prestige and leveraged his considerable power to remain an observer. However, while he enjoys the glory, he hasn't yet grasped that "glory cannot be enjoyed alone." Wu Hengyu hasn't properly managed his subordinates, and the various factions within his group will likely hinder him in the future.

Xuan Chong told his son and students, "Strategy should focus on our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, leveraging our advantages and exploiting the enemy's vulnerabilities." Pointing to the silk map, Xuan Chong continued, "Our advantage is that, currently, both Wu Hengyu and Zhao Cheng have advisors comprised of traditional elites. These scholar-officials from powerful families, with their ingrained mindsets, believe we are currently 'enjoying a corner of the world,' but now—"

Xuan Chong looked at Wu Rui, the student of military strategy whom he had the highest hopes for, and said, “I know very well that you are all quite ambitious. Your advantage is that ‘the world does not know you.’ As for Zhao Cheng, his advisors are underestimating you too much right now. You should take advantage of this underestimation and maximize the information gap.”

Wu Lu said, "Father, when you were deducing Zhao Cheng just now, you didn't seem to be 'disrespectful' at all."

It's clear that Wu Lu was just annoyed by the brilliant and powerful "Zhao Cheng" played by Xuan Chong.

Xuan Chong said, "Zhao Cheng is Zhao Cheng, but his ministers are a different group; their thoughts are different from those of their ruler." He then tapped the minister's forehead and said, "The desires of his ministers are like a flood; a ruler can guide it, but he cannot stop it!"

Wu Lu thought for a moment and understood, then slowly said: "So we need to let the fools in Zhao Cheng's place 'flood'?"
Xuan Chong nodded. — The four people next to the sand table in this room were plotting a scheme against Zhao Cheng.

This scene was just like the beginning of modern history recorded in Xuan Chong's previous life's book: Bismarck was having dinner with Chief of the General Staff Moltke and Secretary of War Ron, choosing to provoke France.

The steamed buns are ready...

So, Wu Fei looked at the table and pondered for a while, then called Wu Lu over and asked him to write down an order! This order was to "sell official titles and ranks" on a large scale.

After Wu Lu finished writing obediently, he looked up at Wu Fei in surprise. His understanding had always been that his father was the most impartial, and that blood rewards could only be earned through bloodshed. This order was blatant "selling of official titles," allowing wealthy families throughout the country to purchase ranks.

Wu Lu: "Father, isn't this breaking the rules?"

Xuan Chong: "There is no bad rule. Because there is going to be a war, large-scale wartime donations can be exchanged for titles."

Wu Lu: "Why? Hmm. I understand." Wu Lu was very curious why he didn't say it outright.

Xuan Chong made this arrangement for the sake of strategic surprise.

If Xuan Chong himself issued this order, Zhao Cheng and his subordinates would know very well that Xuan Chong was going to make a move in the west.

However, the decision to issue this order by Wu Lu remains uncertain among Zhao Cheng's subordinates! Zhao Cheng's advisors might mistakenly believe that a power struggle has arisen within Xuan Chong between the heir apparent and the current lord. They are inclined to send spies to spread rumors, engaging in such futile efforts.

In a country, if even a little bit of luck is taken in the ruling group, it will give rise to 30% of the opportunists, which in turn will prevent 70% of strategic resources from being invested in a timely manner.

But for the Xuanchong Group, issuing this order or issuing this order makes no difference; ultimately, the group will get its war bonds.

Because the order did not originate from Xuan Chong, those who harbored doubts were the meritorious faction who were completely loyal to Xuan Chong. Xuan Chong had no interest in the money from this faction that got things done; what he wanted were the neutral and opportunistic faction to lend him money.

Previously, members of the Wu family clan and other important officials in Lingnan had been actively speculating in the Wu furnace! Xuan Chong rebuked this kind of "speculation." But Xuan Chong, who was nicknamed "Ground-Scraping Sparrow," also realized that this "speculative" opportunity was something that various parties within the organization were willing to pay a price to obtain.

With the aim of not wasting a single penny, Wu Lu should make good use of the condition that "he can be speculated on" to scrape out a sum of money for the national war!
In this way, Wu Lu can be considered to have used its resources in the right direction.

…wartime economy…

In November of the fourth year of the Tongzheng era, with the issuance of "noble bonds," the large merchants in Lingnan who had risen to prominence with Wu Fei began a meeting.

These large families have made a lot of money doing business between the north and south; however, they have no sense of security whatsoever. They have bought a lot of land, but there is a lack of people to cultivate it; in order to prevent it from being abandoned, they have to hire people from the public labor market to work, and the money spent on hiring people is far greater than the income from selling grain, so it is not worth it.

This is because a large amount of grain is being transported from southern Xinjiang, keeping grain prices low in the market. Meanwhile, the villagers gather in factories in the big city to find work; the money they earn in a year is enough to feed their whole family.

These large merchants in Lingnan have acquired vast amounts of land, only to be left holding the bag. As for the land being left uncultivated? There's a reporting mechanism within the General's Mansion.

If the land is left uncultivated, it will be reported by the locals, and then it will be forcibly bought back at a low price and redistributed to the local elders' association.

Southern merchants couldn't manage this local whistleblowing system because their money could buy land, but not servants. The inability to buy servants meant they couldn't establish a system of local tyrants.

Many prominent families in Lingnan currently have their wealth tied up in banknotes and cannot be touched. Other southern merchants with connections might still be able to speculate with other powerful figures in Da Yao. But who else can these Lingnan merchants speculate with?
After these large families finished their meeting and confirmed that the bonds were indeed linked to titles, they hurriedly returned home to burn incense.

Soon, each family held a meeting within their own clan. At the meeting, they counted the small amount of money they had earned over the years by opening up trade routes in southern Xinjiang.

Various families in Lingnan decided to temporarily endure hardship and began preparing large sums of money in preparation for a class leap through this round of "noble bonds" issuance in Nanzhen.

The clan chief addressed some of the clan's more accomplished members, saying, "Over the years, you have studied and accomplished, but you have not been able to obtain an official position. Now, the clan has prepared a path for you, and you must seize it."

…wealth should be stored among the people…

Three months later, in February of the fifth year of the Tongzheng era, Wu Lu handed over the bills in his account to Xuan Chong.

When the donations from the small Donghua County exceeded 100,000 silver leaves, he felt that selling official positions, though shameful, was worthwhile. He was quite shocked when it exceeded one million; but now, reaching nearly ten million, he felt fear. Wu Lu had also stayed in the four counties of Lingjiang and knew the purchasing power of silver leaves. He knew the amount of money consumed by ten households in purchasing them.

He had read the records: when Xuan Chong started his business in his early years, he conquered the four prefectures of Lingjiang and destroyed the Li Huo Sect, all for a total of only 1.27 million silver leaves. But now, the money he made from selling Donghua Prefecture's goods was enough to launch seven or eight more campaigns in the Southern Frontier.

Wu Lu was not overjoyed at "making money," but rather horrified by the terrifying wealth of the rich people below, which he had been unaware of while sitting above.

However, Xuan Chong glanced at the data and smiled. Seeing the panicked Wu Lu, he gave him another, even more serious, file. This file contained information about the Security Bureau's interception of various letters by their "spies" along the southern Xiangzhou line, which is Donghua County.

Based on the situation, the third group of the Security Bureau compiled detailed evidence of collusion between some people in Donghua County and outsiders.

Wu Lu immediately jumped up, but Xuan Chong pressed him down: "Look, you're in such a hurry again."

Xuan Chong: "They have remained silent for three years, and their talents have remained undeveloped for three years; these self-proclaimed great talents and young virtuous men are naturally resentful and want to seek refuge elsewhere."

Wu Lu: "Father, what about us?"

Xuan Chong: "Keep it in the books, keep it in the books."

…Xuan Chong: Let them have a good time, um, Qingming Festival…

Xuan Chong kept these letters so that he could collect a large sum of money in the future; if the powerful families of Donghua County could not pay, then all the titles they had bought for their fellow villagers would be cancelled!

As the saying goes, "A small favor is appreciated, but a large one breeds resentment."

These powerful families wanted to recruit another group of their own people as local leaders. Xuan Chong made these families aware of what would happen if they gave titles to their subordinates but couldn't keep those titles.

Xuan Chong's consistent method for dealing with local powerful families was to instigate them to fight amongst themselves.

(End of this chapter)