"Bao Bozhao is quite easy to talk to."
Inside Dai City's treasury, Jiang Wang was sifting through all manner of Daoist Arts and secret techniques, copying them wholesale onto the Dao Evolution Platform, while speaking to Chongxuan Sheng across the bookshelf, who was doing the same.
"North of Dai City, if they don't come, plenty of others will. South of Dai City, if we don't come, no one else can." Chongxuan Sheng spoke casually. "When it comes to arguing things out, anyone can come up with a couple of reasons. But what the facts are, anyone with clear eyes knows."
He smiled. "Besides, I've already been very generous. I gave them a share of a great strategic merit."
"Isn't it because you need Xie Baoshu's connections to seize the initiative in the offensive along Fengli's western route?" Jiang Wang abruptly asked.
Chongxuan Sheng paused in his search through the Daoist Arts and looked at him with some surprise.
Jiang Wang added, "And besides, our men and horses were already exhausted; we couldn't swallow too much anyway. If they really bypassed us and did it themselves, could we have gone to war with them? Better to be like this—each taking what he needs."
"Impressive, Lord Jiang!"
Chongxuan Sheng praised him, then said, "Those who do not understand war may go onto the battlefield. Those who only understand war must never go onto the battlefield. That is... what my grandfather said."
He smiled in a way that was hard to read.
Then he continued, "Being able to think of all that means you can already be a qualified general. But you missed the more important part.
War has never been merely war itself.
Yes, we painstakingly circled behind enemy lines, fought tooth and nail, and earned truly remarkable merits.
But what was