Several years had passed since the meeting between the two Sages and Worthies, Laozi and Confucius. Over those years, the Academy had grown ever more flourishing. Countless sparks of thought blossomed within it, so numerous and of such high quality that even the Luo Clan could not copy them down fast enough.
Luo State had even begun purchasing blank bamboo slips from neighboring states. Luo Ci was in poor health, but when he saw scroll after scroll entering the clan head's ring, he still could not help laughing heartily.
Ji Zhao was even happier than he was. Whenever Laozi and Confucius lectured at the Academy, great streams of fortune flowed in, prompting him to marvel that Luo Xiu truly deserved to be called a son of the Mandate of Heaven. Even after his passing, the Academy he had founded continued to play an enormous role.
Inside the Luo palace.
Luo Yan clicked his tongue in wonder. "Warfare is the way of deception. What penetrating insight! Could anything in all the world sum up the Way of War better than those five words?
"You truly are a sage of the Way of War!"
Qingji and Sun Wu knelt opposite Luo Yan. They had come to borrow troops from him. Unlike intellectual giants such as Laozi and Confucius, Sun Wu was not merely a giant of thought. He was an extraordinary talent whose potential in military strategy and command both reached 99.
At Luo Yan's praise, however, Sun Wu shook his head. "Crown Prince, you flatter me far too much.
"The Way of War is vast and profound.
"The choice of commanders is naturally of the utmost importance. As the saying goes, one incompetent general can work three armies to death.
"But whether a state is powerful, whether its people give it