Wenren Sheng was speechless.
What left him speechless wasn't that Little Illusion was wrong. On the contrary, she was exactly right.
It was just that she had only seen the surface, not the deeper things underneath.
He shook his head and said, "If we simply enter the capital and try to fool the emperor, even if the emperor is fooled, it still won't work."
"Why?"
"Because the ministers of the court are all very smart. They're extremely hard to fool."
"There are foolish emperors, but no foolish chief ministers."
"Because ministers can't inherit their positions by being born into them."
"You saw how hard it was to fool even a butler, let alone these people."
"Every last one of these people is an old fox among old foxes."
Wenren Sheng shook his head and said, "They fought their way out from among thousands upon thousands of competitors. They made it through their games against the emperor."
"An individual among them might be stupid, but as a group, they are very shrewd."
"If they're so shrewd, then why do dynasties still come to an end? Don't they know how to change the situation?" Little Illusion asked in confusion.
"Good question. That is the prisoner's dilemma. When two prisoners both pursue the maximum immediate benefit, the final result is that both of them suffer. Conversely, if both of them choose the worst immediate benefit, the outcome is actually the best."
"The setup is this: two absolutely rational prisoners are told that if both of them confess, they will each be sentenced to eight years. If one confesses and the other does not, the one who confesses is released, while the one who refuses is sentenced to twenty years."
"If neither of them confesses, both can only be released."
"Think carefully. Which would