Mythical Three Kingdoms

The soldiers indeed have great synergy, but they can’t see the bigger picture. If they encounter a commander like Zhou Yu, who can maneuver troops as easily as moving an arm or a finger, they can quickly separate one group here and lure another group there, dismantling the entire Kushan Army in no time.

Of course, even during the Han Dynasty, figures of this caliber were rare. Though not many can achieve such ease, many generals of the Han Dynasty can manage simpler tasks, and this advantage is enough to create opportunities for victory on international battlefields.

[Indeed, every advantage has its drawbacks. It seems unlikely for Kushan to develop a command system as orthodox as the Han Dynasty. Their soldiers have a synergy with each other, but it’s not a collective synergy; rather, it’s a synergy within certain groups and within other groups internally.] Zhang Ren shook his head at this thought.

Whenever a military corps encounters a situation where training can’t produce uniformity, unified dispatch becomes a farce. The inherent synergy within Kushan means that the cooperation between groups will never be consistent. This innate synergy dictates that uniformity is impossible.

As for giving up their greatest advantage to pursue the unified command of the Han, Zhang Ren thinks that even if he were in the position of the Kushan officers, he would not make such a foolish choice, because this inherent synergy is an extension of visualization training.

As the foundation of the Kushan Empire, even with some minor issues now, it has already established the empire’s status. Kushan would never abolish this method.

You don’t understand, and you couldn’t understand. Without understanding dispatch, the military formations you’ve learned will always be superficial. We are not afraid of you learning secretly. If what we, who learn openly from our ancestors, know is surpassed by others learning secretly, then we indeed should withdraw from the current of history,” Zhang Ren said calmly while looking at Carano.

Carano was speechless. On soul searching, does Kushan have such magnanimity? No.

In ancient times, many schools of thought had the habit of not passing on critical moves to anyone other than closed-door disciples. But honestly, most schools haven’t even handed down their secrets to these disciples when someone has already learned them secretly.

In such cases, most schools turned a blind eye. Unable to learn is rare indeed enough to be ominous; the general practice is to find a closed-door disciple to tackle the anomaly.

As Zhang Ren said, if after the complete teaching from your ancestors, you are still not as good as your opponent, then indeed you should withdraw from the current of history. However, generally speaking, the secretly learned disciples become the grindstone for the closed-door disciples.

Without these grindstones, how can the subsequent disciples innovate? In the absence of competitors, someone must create one. Haven’t you heard, competition breeds development?

Why did the Han Dynasty deteriorate later on? Apart from the internal aristocratic families overgrowing, more so because they lacked a significant adversary.

Look at the era those extravagant emperors of the Former Han lived. Didn’t the Han Dynasty begin to decline from the time Emperor Xuan dismantled the major threat of the Huns?

Recall the time when Emperor Xuan could tell his son, ”It is the Crown Prince who will cause chaos in my Han realm,” yet did not deposed him but still supported Liu Shi to ascend. It wasn’t just pure indulgence towards the Crown Prince. Mostly, it was because he knew the Han Dynasty was already unrivaled. Even if Liu Shi ascended, the Han might stir a little but not end.

If it were during the early Han dynasty, constantly on the verge of failure, would Emperor Xuan let his indulgence over the Crown Prince still allow the latter to take the throne?

Nevertheless, at that time, the Han Dynasty had solid resources, just having defeated tens of thousands of veteran soldiers from the Huns, and the nation in a prosperous state post-Zhao and Xuan. The Emperor’s private treasury and Minor Treasurer could always take out hundreds of billions of money.

This completely contrasts with the Later Han when Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling had to scrimp for even a few billion. Yet, none of this mattered because, following Emperor Yuann’s enthronement, the Han began a dead-end path, cheerfully concluding in the end.

After that incident, whether the Han Dynasty learned from the experience is unknown, but the major aristocratic families received a significant shock, becoming much more subdued, beginning to raise wolves.

Though during the transition between Former and Later Han, many families failed in raising wolves and got devoured. Nonetheless, being of the same origin, they shared bloodlines and inherited similar family teachings, thus merely changing skins in return.

The result of humans eating wolves and wolves eating humans is absorption of nutrients, then growth. For aristocratic family heritage, it doesn’t matter if it’s the reared defeating the domesticated, or the wild defeating the reared, as long it’s still from their family, there’d be no loss.

This is why, when Chen Xi almost overturned Chen Qun back then, the elders of the Chen Family remained calm because, to them, who ascends makes no real difference.

To later generations, the Chen Family of Mount Tai and the Yingchuan Chen Family might differ, but to earlier generations, it was like the palm and the back of the hand, two sides of the same coin, indifferent to who’s up or down.

In summary, by the Later Han, when the Han Dynasty and the aristocratic families were both raising wolves, it became habitual, though unlike the families where the house always wins, a state raising wolves is inherently risky.

Though this practice can ensure the state is vigilant and constant warfare sustains the combat power of the troops, it is an approach not easy to control.

This is why Chen Xi wanted another way to raise wolves, for from Chen Xi’s view, the Han Dynasty’s method indeed seemed nerve-racking and couldn’t maximize the potential of Han culture.

Of course, Zhang Ren doesn’t understand such matters; he simply sees it as a form of courage — courage from sacrificing everything to fight on equal footing and conditions with the absolute certainty of victory.

However, this perspective isn’t incorrect; at least during the reigns of Emperor Zhang and Emperor Ming of the Later Han, this mindset prevailed. Although seemingly foolish, it’s how the confidence and pride of the Han Ethnicity were established.

”So, no matter how good you say it is, or how much potential it has, it’s useless. On one hand, you cannot turn potential into ability, and on the other, even if you turn all potential into ability, do you truly have the confidence to defeat us?” Zhang Ren inquired with an air of naturalness.

”Humph, my Kushan Empire has dominated Central Asia for over a hundred years; when have we ever been afraid? Even if I am not as good as you, there are countless people in Kushan far superior to me. How could I allow you to underrate us!” Carano, apparently cornered by Zhang Ren’s words, growled with a slight touch of anger.

”You speak as if I have already reached the peak in our country. Although I’d love that, it is unfortunately not so; people like me are as plenty as you mentioned in front of me. As for your claim of having dominated Central Asia for over a hundred years...” Zhang Ren’s voice gradually lowered, abruptly pausing.

”Compared to your century-long dominance, we’ve never lost in conflicts between nations,” Zhang Ren slowly stood up, and his elongated shadow covered the squatting Carano.

”So, if you think yourselves truly invincible, I can only tell you that’s merely your delusion. Trust me, any invincibility that hasn’t faced us is but a fleeting illusion. This remark is not against those present but against all countries of this era.” Zhang Ren bent down slightly, speaking with a coldly arrogant tone.

”I suppose you have no objections.” At this moment, Zhang Su suddenly handed the prepared state documents to Hirilah with a light expression. Upon hearing these words, Hirilah’s face darkened.