My name is Wei Qing, and I want to fight the Xiongnu.

If she had a choice, she would definitely want to leave this place immediately, as far away as possible!

Zhong Huan gestured for Tiya to sit at the table, then pointed to the coin on the table and said, "This coin is nothing special, just an ordinary coin."

He casually flicked the coin, which spun a few times in the air before landing on the tablecloth, revealing heads.

Zhong Huan explained, "You just guess heads or tails. If you guess right, you win; if you guess wrong, you lose. There's no commission, no cheating, and the odds are practically 50/50. This kind of gambling, which is purely based on luck, should be considered fair, right?"

There was no fraud or cheating; the expected value is between 50 and 50.

Tia thought and thought, but couldn't think of any other way to cheat.

She nodded and said, "This kind of gambling does seem very fair."

Zhong Huan gestured for Tiya to experience this fairest form of gambling.

Tia didn't quite understand what Zhong Huan meant, but she was smart enough to know one thing: if she didn't understand, she would experience it for herself.

So Tia picked up the coin and started tossing it.

Front, front, back, front...

She tossed it ten times, six heads and four tails.

Then she borrowed a few more coins and started tossing multiple coins at once. After counting, she found that the number of heads and tails was indeed about the same.

"So does that mean that if you gamble in this way, the final result is often neither winning nor losing?"

Tia stated her conclusion: if you gamble enough times, then you can't be wrong no matter how you look at your conclusion, right?

However, upon hearing Tia's words, the little panda couldn't help but laugh and rolled around on Zhong Huan's shoulder.

The noble boys and girls standing nearby looked at Tia as she made this conclusion, their expressions revealing a mixture of mockery and sympathy.

Isn't that right?

Tia reflected on it again, but she couldn't find any flaws in her conclusion.

Zhong Huan brushed aside the other coins, leaving only one, and said, "There's another rule for this game: each bet must not be less than 20% of your current chips, nor more than 20% of the maximum chips you've ever held."

In other words, if you currently have 20,000 chips, but have won as much as 50,000 chips at one time, then you should bet at least 4,000 chips and at most 10,000 chips.

When I initially designed this betting scheme, Wilbert reached a similar conclusion to yours, so I had him experience it for himself. He understood the trap after playing for less than ten minutes. Now you can try it.”

After Tia learned all the rules, she started tossing a coin.

The moment she tossed the coin, the chips in her hand kept changing.

Eight thousand, nine thousand seven, eleven thousand five, eight thousand three...

While tossing a coin with her left hand, Tia also picked up a pen with her right hand and began to record how many chips she had left after each coin toss.

Time and time again...

As the coin landed again, Tia quickly lost all her chips.

However, during the coin toss, she won a maximum of 23,500 chips, which was almost three times her initial stake of less than 8,000 chips.

When Tia lost all her chips, she felt something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Looking down at my records after each coin toss, the probability of guessing correctly and incorrectly was almost the same, just as expected, very close to fifty percent.

In other words, there's nothing wrong with my luck.

Moreover, there are no problems with the rules. You bet 500 chips, and if you lose, you lose everything. If you win, you get double the money back. There is no commission, and the odds are 1 to 1.

There was absolutely no cheating involved, but why do I still feel like something's not quite right?

After thinking for a long time, Tia finally figured out where the problem lay.

She stopped considering the so-called rules and placed her bet of 10,000 directly, then started flipping a coin.

He won, the bet became 20,000, then he put all his bets in, flipped a coin again, and won again... the bet quickly became 40,000...

Then Tia placed her lucky 40,000 chips on the table, discarded the coin again, and won again!

Winning four times in a row is already quite lucky.

But when Tia learned about the traps in the game's rules, she realized that winning like this was meaningless because...

When Tia tossed the coin again, and the result was the opposite of her prediction, she lost all 80,000 chips.

This is a fair gambling mechanism with only a 50% chance of winning or losing. There is no commission, and the odds are completely normal.

However, when the two sides are not on equal footing, the so-called fairness disappears.

If Tia keeps gambling, she might win 100,000, 200,000, or even 1 million chips, but she could also lose.

The problem is that there's no limit to how much money you can win, but once you've lost everything and don't have a single penny left, the game is over, and there's no chance to turn things around.

So here's the question: is the other party's money really unlimited?

Of course, as long as you keep gambling, just as there's no limit to the amount of money you can win, there will be one opponent after another. Unless you win against all the gamblers in the world, you'll eventually lose everything...

The Finale: The Faith That Was Protected

"To appoint the virtuous and capable" was Wei Qing's last piece of advice to Zhou Yafu, and also his final contribution to the Han Dynasty.

However, this approach also presents many problems, such as seriously impacting the interests of maternal relatives.

Most of the emperor's relatives who rose to power did not rely on their abilities. Throughout history, there have been countless emperor's relatives, but very few have truly become famous for their abilities. Most of them were just sycophants and treacherous officials.

This is actually quite normal. After all, the reason why maternal relatives are maternal relatives is mostly because a phoenix has emerged from their family.

No matter how beautiful or pampered a daughter is, it cannot change the fact that her brothers and sisters are of average appearance.

As for those who forcibly transform their own daughters into phoenixes, they are a minority.

Moreover, such powerful ministers often end up either being purged and having their entire families executed, or successfully rebelling, ensuring that the working class will never be enslaved.

Therefore, if we were to select the virtuous and capable through assessments and tests, and even put these people in high positions, the maternal relatives would definitely be the first to oppose it, and the other important officials would be the second to oppose it.

Of course, there are also those who agree: if you can't make your own people virtuous and capable, then just make virtuous and capable people your own people; it's no big deal.

In short, Wei Qing had provided a solution, but as for whether Zhou Yafu would agree, he didn't want to get involved anymore.

On the one hand, Wei Qing was indeed tired and didn't want to get involved in these kinds of troubles anymore. On the other hand, sometimes it's not good to get involved yourself; being a detached observer often puts some people at ease.

After all, his reputation is now too high, especially in the military, where even Zhou Yafu cannot match it.

The only one qualified to rival him was his nephew.

If Wei Qing has any improper thoughts, whose side will his nephew take?

Even though Wei Qing repeatedly emphasized that he had no interest in power, as the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Who can guarantee that Wei Qing won't suddenly have a new idea, or feel that the next generation of successors doesn't meet his standards, and do something that the authorities find unacceptable?

Therefore, once external conflicts are resolved, internal conflicts will soon be put on the agenda.

Internal strife is a common trait among all Homo sapiens, and it has nothing to do with the culture they inherit.

As long as there is a distribution of benefits, and as long as there is any expectation of such a distribution, internal strife will inevitably be unavoidable.

Wei Qing was too lazy to fight, and more importantly, what good would it do even if he won?

To rectify the court?

To form factions and suppress dissent?

Change the emperor?

A change of dynasty?

That's all there is to it, but right now, Wei Qing just wants to take his family on a spontaneous trip to the far north to see the so-called red moon in the sky.

Go westward to see the legendary civilizations, then brave the waves to see where the ends of the world are. Go around and have your fill before coming back. By then, your reputation won't be enough to arouse the fear of those in power, right?

As for danger...

Wei Qing had never imagined that with the best money in the "village," along with the best boat in the "village," and accompanied by the little white dog and the five hundred personal guards who had followed him since Death Valley, this setup should have brought danger wherever he went.

When Wei Qing began preparing for his travel plans, his best friend Cao Ying arrived.

Cao Ying, who is in his thirties, has already risen to the position of one of the Nine Ministers in the imperial court. It is estimated that he will be able to take over the position of one of the Three Dukes in another two years.

It's not that he was particularly capable or had outstanding achievements. The Han Dynasty was a dynasty that considered birth and seniority, and Cao Ying happened to be neither lacking in birth nor seniority. Because of the Han army, he also had many supporters, so it was only natural that he could rise so quickly.

Cao Ying came to persuade Wei Qing to cancel his travel plans; he was sent by Liu Heng.

This time, Wei Qing believed that Liu Heng genuinely wanted him to stay, because Liu Heng's life was nearing its end.

When Liu Heng ascended the throne, he knew he didn't have many years left to live; the limit of his lifespan was there, and it couldn't be reversed at will.

Liu Heng was worried that the court would be unstable after his death, so he hoped that Wei Qing would stay behind to deter those who wanted to harm him.

What he was worried about was not whether anyone would oppose Liu Qi after he ascended the throne. After all, Liu Qi was quite capable, and as the crown prince, there was no need to worry about opposition.

The problem lies in who Liu Qi should choose as his successor.

Liu Qi's life is also nearing its end; he will certainly leave this era in another ten or twenty years. Therefore, the struggle for succession will inevitably be turbulent, and it is not impossible that various conflicts will break out.

If Wei Qing had stayed, at least the internal strife wouldn't have been too intense, and the foundation of the state wouldn't have been shaken.

But this time, Wei Qing firmly refused.

He has compromised too much for the sake of humanity and the Han Dynasty. This time, he wants to be willful for himself, for his family, and for the future development of his clan.

I've fought wars my whole life, can't I enjoy myself a little?

At the end of the year, after packing their belongings, gathering enough manpower, and inspecting each warship, Wei Qing finally led his family on a journey through countless worlds.

As the warship slowly ascended into the air, the children, under the watchful eyes of the ladies, curiously gazed at the village on the ground, which appeared to be the size of ants.

At this moment, all of Wei Qing's emotions vanished. All these years of struggle, wasn't it all for the sake of protecting one family after another?

Wei Qing once again stood before the railing of the warship, gazing at Chang'an and the human world.

This land, which he once protected, is now experiencing a prosperous future.

That period of history will inevitably be written about in great detail, becoming the glorious Han Dynasty that later generations will praise and yearn for.

Wei Qing, the pioneer of this golden age, may be forgotten, misinterpreted, or ultimately reduced in the historians' writings to a sycophant who only knew how to rise to power through nepotism and repeatedly achieved military merits purely by divine favor.

No, it will definitely be recorded this way, right?