Words Strategize for the World

The next day, after lunch, Fang Wei went to Qu Yashi's study.

"Teacher, have you eaten?" Fang Wei greeted as soon as he entered the door.

"Fang Wei, you're here. Come and sit down."

In his heart, Qu Yashi had long regarded Fang Wei as his own junior, so he was very happy to see Fang Wei arrive.

After chatting with Qu Yashi for a while, Fang Wei asked about his doubts: "Teacher once said that the Earth-level is a qualitative change, so what is the qualitative change of the Earth-level? And what do the characteristics that Yashi gains at each level mean?"

After Fang Wei finished speaking, Qu Yashi stroked his beard and smiled, then replied, "Your question is good. Let's address it one by one. There are two reasons for the qualitative change at the Earth-level. The first is the departure from handwritten characters, which you should already know. The second is that Earth-level scholars can use the power of words to assist and strengthen their armies. In other words, scholars can enhance the combat power of their armies through their own abilities."

"As you know, masters of the Law and General levels can both attack and support, but only for themselves, and cannot enhance others. For example, with the word 'attack,' masters of the Law and General levels can add the power of 'attack' to themselves, but they absolutely cannot apply it to others. This shows that the true ability of a master is not to charge into battle and kill countless enemies, but to lead an army to conquer cities, defeat enemies, and expand territory."

Qu Yashi paused for a moment, then continued: "The second question. The five characteristics of a scholar are: offense and defense with a single word, words revealing their form, every word a gem, weak words revealing their meaning, and words carrying the force of wind and thunder."

"Let's look at them one by one. One-word offense and defense, because a Law-level Scholar can only use four words, hence the one-word offense and defense. Word manifesting form means that a General-level Scholar can use their abilities to manifest weapons to attack, but only for words that have been used, and they must be weapons. For example, with the word 'sword,' a General-level Scholar can manifest a sword to attack their opponent. When a Scholar advances to the Earth-level, they can give the manifested sword to someone else to use, but the time is limited."

"Every word is precious. When a scholar reaches the Earth level, they can add and enhance the power of words to others, but only to their own allies. 'Weak words reveal meaning' means they can weaken the enemy's combat power. 'Words imbued with wind and thunder' means every word is incredibly powerful."

After listening to Qu Yashi's words, Fang Wei finally understood the two questions.

Regarding the Earthly level, Master Zhouyi said that after reaching the Earthly level, one can use attack abilities without writing text by hand.

Fang Wei had long understood that if they abandoned handwritten texts, the attacks from the scholars would be invisible and impossible to defend against.

In the Yongping Continent, there are no fantastical abilities that allow one to wipe out an entire area with a wave of their hand; there are only wits, martial prowess, and armies.

Therefore, scholars cannot rely solely on their own abilities to kill enemies; rather, they need to enhance the army's combat power through their own abilities. This is the true manifestation of a scholar's strength, which is what scholars refer to as a qualitative change.

One person's strength is truly insignificant in the face of an army of hundreds, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions.

Therefore, when facing the nation and the military, scholars cannot rely solely on their own strength, but must maximize the power of the military.

Fang Wei also completely understood the five characteristics. These five characteristics directly reflected the power of a scholar, meaning that a scholar could unlock some new abilities at each major level.

After thinking it over, Fang Wei gained some new insights into the concept of "refined scholars".

The real reason why scholars become outstanding individuals and pillars of the nation is that they inspire the army to be more powerful and combat-ready through their assistance.

Scholars are the core strength of each country on the Yongping Continent. The more scholars a country has and the higher their rank, the stronger its military power.

Of course, it's all in vain if there are only powerful scholars but a weak and incompetent army. Because the army is the essence, the root.

When Qu Yashi got to this point, he also told Fang Wei about the military promotion system and military strength levels of Yongping Continent.

Qu Yashi said, "Although Yongping Continent is divided into 5 countries, many things are still inherited from the previous dynasty. The military promotion system and the military strength ranking are among them."

"The military promotion system is as follows: Private - Infantry Commander - Captain - Commander-in-Chief - Colonel - General - Grand General. Except for Privates, who only have 1 soldier, each promotion increases the number of soldiers they can command by 10 times. For example, a Private with 1 soldier can command 10 soldiers, and so on."

"Commanders are divided into two ranks: senior and junior, followed by colonels. Colonels, generals, and grand generals also require knowledge and qualifications, and are also ranked. Although they command the same number of troops, their ranks are different. Colonels are divided into eight categories: courtesy, trustworthiness, filial piety, brotherly love, bravery, and might. Generals are divided into five categories: benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Grand generals are divided into four categories: east, south, west, and north. As for the ranking, you will gradually learn about it later."

"Military strength is ranked according to the strength of the army's combat power, as follows: Militia - New Recruits - Ordinary - Elite - Veteran - Mighty Army. The difference in combat power between each level is at least one to three times, and the difference will be even greater if there are elegant scholars assisting."

Qu Yashi brought up this point, and Fang Wei had a question. If one elite soldier could deal with ten militiamen, could one hundred elite soldiers deal with one thousand hundred militiamen?

No one had ever asked Qu Yashi such a question before. After careful consideration, Qu Yashi patiently analyzed it for Fang Wei.

It turns out that the ranking system only applies to the army as a whole; the strength of an individual soldier is not necessarily the same. It is possible that one elite soldier can only deal with 6 or 7 militiamen, or it is possible that one elite soldier can deal with 10 militiamen. This depends on individual strength and is not related to the army's strength ranking.

After listening to the analysis, Fang Wei understood the difference between the two. At the same time, Fang Wei kept imagining the combat style of a Level 1000 Scholar, and deep down he also looked forward to the day when he would become a Level 1000 Scholar.

As for the military strength levels and promotion system, it gave Fang Wei a deeper understanding of the military power of this world. Similarly, Fang Wei was also eager to see just how powerful the army of this world would be after being aided by the elegant scholars.

Speaking of the army, Fang Wei thought of another question: whether the Ba Kingdom was still planning to attack the Chi Kingdom.

"Teacher, last time you said that the Hegemon Kingdom was going to attack the Blazing Kingdom, I wonder what the situation is now?"

After listening to Fang Wei's question, Qu Yashi's face showed deep worry. After thinking for a long time, Qu Yashi spoke, but instead of answering Fang Wei directly, he asked Fang Wei a question in return.

"The Kingdom of Chi has been weak for a long time; what should be done?"

Fang Wei thought that Qu Yashi would tell him about the situation in Ba Guo as before, but he did not expect Qu Yashi to ask him such a question.

Moreover, Fang Wei hadn't even considered this issue.

Fang Wei did not answer Qu Yashi's question immediately, but instead wondered why Qu Yashi would ask such a question when he had inquired about the situation of the Hegemon Kingdom.

Want to see what you've learned? Understand your own aspirations? Or something else...?

Fang Wei couldn't figure out the problem at first, so he could only try to relate his answer to it.

The weakness of the Chi Kingdom was not due to the inaction of its monarchs. On the contrary, because it had a powerful neighbor, each successive monarch did not become too presumptuous. Instead, they were conscientious and diligent, and their minimum requirement was not to seek merit but to avoid mistakes, and to strive to keep all systems unchanged.

However, during its nearly one hundred years of rule, no monarch of great talent and vision emerged, so no matter how diligent the ruler of Chi Kingdom was, he could not stop the continuous decline.

Fang Wei racked his brains for an answer. This was a difficult question to answer; a wrong answer could lower his legendary favorability rating, which was the most painful thing.

"Teacher, this is a matter of national importance. I don't know if what I'm saying is correct."

"It's alright, please feel free to speak."

"To ensure a tree grows tall, its roots must be firm; to ensure a river flows far, its source must be dredged; to ensure a nation's peace, its virtues and righteousness must be cultivated. Today, the nation's virtues and righteousness endure, yet, without a firm foundation, the nation cannot be strong."

"A ruler who bears the weight of the divine regalia and resides in the vast realm must always be mindful of potential dangers even in times of peace, practice frugality and restraint, and cultivate virtue. Then, he should cultivate virtuous governance internally, extend his benevolence to the world, select talented individuals, and appoint people based on merit; externally, he should form alliances with the Cold Kingdom, the Shadow Kingdom, and the Flame Kingdom, using the strength of the four kingdoms to jointly resist the Hegemonic Kingdom. In this way, given enough time, the Blazing Kingdom will surely become a powerful nation on the Yongping Continent."

After Fang Wei finished speaking, he looked at Qu Yashi, trying to tell from Qu Yashi's expression whether his answer satisfied him.

But Fang Wei was destined to be disappointed, because Qu Yashi was just staring intently at him, and his expression didn't change much.

At this moment, although Qu Yashi did not show much expression on the surface, his heart was in turmoil.

Qu Yashi's original intention in asking this question was simply to see what Fang Wei's knowledge was and to test whether Fang Wei had a certain amount of courage.

But to everyone's surprise, Fang Wei gave such an answer.

A mere 16-year-old boy possesses such foresight, understanding the importance of benevolent governance, selecting capable officials, and forging alliances with the three states. This is precisely what the Three Dukes envisioned…

Such youth and such talent—Qu Yashi had only ever met one other person. That person was Wang Yunzhi, who had persuaded the King of Yan to form an alliance with him using his silver tongue.

Qu Yashi was utterly astonished.