A/N: Due to the possible consequences resulting from this post, let me first state that nobody enjoy seeing bloodshed. Period.
Cannot kick ass=still badass
后十年，陈涉等起兵，良亦聚少年百余人。景驹自立为楚假王，在留。良欲往从之，道还沛公。沛公将数千人，略地下邳西，遂属焉。沛公拜良为厩将。良数以太公兵法说沛公，沛公善之，常用其策。良为他人者，皆不省。良曰：“沛公殆天授。”
故遂从之，不去见景驹。
《史记; 留侯世家》
司马迁著
Trans
Ten years later, the likes of Chen She raised the call to arms. Liang, on the other hand, also gathered a hundred plus youths in preparation. Jing Ju made himself as the Regent King of Chu, his base situated at Liu. Liang desired to follow suit, but ended up meeting the Duke of Pei along the way. The Duke of Pei led a force of few thousand men and managed to obtain the lands west of Xiapi. There, the Duke of Pei made Liang the commander of stables. Liang discussed several times strategy and tactics with the Duke of Pei via Taigong's Art of of War. The Duke of Pei was impressed, hence heeding Liang's counsel more oft than not. As a result, Liang chose to ignore the rest. Indeed he had said: "The Duke of Pei truly has the mandate of heaven."
Thus, he chose not to follow Jing Ju.
《Annals of History; Marquis of Liu》
Written by Sima Qian
Analysis
As predicted accurately by that unknown ah-kong, it really took Zhang Liang ten years to attempt doing something 200% constructive. Funnily enough, ten years was also all it took for various Indian chiefs to declare war on the incumbent regime. Ofc by then, the Qin Emperor had alrdy gone tits up like your stereotypical English football team winning Team of the Month award for December.
Needless to say, Liu Bang (i.e. the Duke of Pei) was also one of those ppl. Interestingly enough, it seems that the faction of Chu (i.e. Jing Ju's side) was implied to be the strongest amigo out of the rest. Was it any surprising to see Zhang Liang wanting to join Jing Ju? After all, this was to be his best bet in fulfilling his dream.
Can you imagine having an IQ of 200 in terms of all things football? If you have this super imba gift and you have to choose between Barcelona and Middlesbrough, which one should be your pick? In Zhang Liang's speak, it should be Blaugrana. However, in my own speak, Zhang Liang ended up choosing Middlesbrough. So why?
Because Liu Bang knew a talent when he saw one. If you're Aitor "Amigo del Noreste" Karanka, would you take in some unknown lobo from Singapore who apparently doesn't know a shit abt football? What if this local lobo actually has some kind of imba gift capable of bypassing the limits of watching 'live' football? Like some instinctive knack for visualising matches just based on match reports and team sheets?
Liu Bang made Zhang Liang a commander of stables for a good reason. Firstly, cavalry units were extremely prized. Not only were blokes mounted on horses faster than those running on foot, the mobility offered by horses could easily go a long way in shaping the battlefield or delivering a decisive assault when and where it matters most. The only catch? Training cavalry=pain in the arse.
In short, Zhang Liang's job title was nothing to shout abt since he's quintessentially only in charge of managing the cavalry. [1] So what truly made Zhang Liang Liu Bang's man? Because Liu Bang was willing to listen and understand the sense within whatever spoken. Imagine Zhang Liang's joy upon knowing somebody great was willing to listen and defer to advise! While it's correct for us to say Liu Bang was correct in his decision making, it must be said that history is actually a subject easily understood from the hindsight. In short, try imagining this from the POV of someone living in that era. If you're Fan Kuai, Zhou Bo, Guan Ying or Xiahou Ying, how would you feel? I mean your big boss has just chosen some unknown fella who looked like a girl to be El Estratega Numero Uno! This reminds me of an interesting parallel during Liu Bei's lifetime where...
[关羽、张飞等不悦，先主解之曰：“孤之有孔明，犹鱼之有水也。愿诸君勿复言。”
羽、飞乃止。]
Above verse comes from Zhuge Liang's biography in Chen Shou's Record of the Three Kingdoms. Long story short, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were a tad pissed off over Liu Bei electing some underground intellectual as his Estratega Numero Uno where in fact Zhuge Liang's only experience lies in watching and not doing. In fact, I won't be surprised if Xiao He was to be the only bloke intelligent enough to understand what his fellow talent is capable of. [2]
Talk 1st, shoot later
及沛公之薛，见项梁。项梁立楚怀王。良乃说项梁曰：“君已立楚后，而韩诸公子横阳君成贤，可立为王，益树党。”
项梁使良求韩成，立以为韩王。以良为韩申徒，与韩王将千余人西略韩地，得数城，秦辄复取之，往来为游兵颍川。
《史记; 留侯世家》
司马迁著
Trans
When the Duke of Pei reached the land of Xue, he met Xiang Liang. Xiang Liang made the Huai King lord over Chu. Liang advised Xiang Liang, saying: "You have already named a heir to the throne of Chu. The various nobles at Han at Hengyang are wise and capable, we can made them kings to aid our future campaign."
Xiang Liang sent Zhang Liang as an envoy to Han Cheng, making him the King of Han with Zhang Liang being Han's Minister of Masses. Together with a thousand plus men of Han and his liege, the lands west of Han were taken. Several cities were taken, yet the Qin forces staged a fightback to retake the cities. As a result, the land of Yingchuan became a battleground for skirmishes and assault.
《Annals of History; Marquis of Liu》
Written by Sima Qian
Analysis
As it turned out, every nation needs friends. We call it diplomacy, politicians might have different ways to rephrase it. Fast forward to war and what is it that we're seeing? Firstly, civil conflict will always create that one thing called land grab. We clever nerds enjoy playing RTS rather than FPS, the one thing abt RTS is that you must do 2 things:
1. Maintain your lands.
2. Grab other ppl's lands.
In a twisted sense, this is no diff from schoolyard idiocracy where stabbing your classmate's elder bro is cool. In a more twisted sense, land grab is actually 100% justified+legit, no matter how peaceful of an anti-war bugger you are.
In war, there is no such thing as a stronger opposition or a weaker opponent. Schoolyard bullies enjoy showing themselves off b/c they nvr understood conflict. Jon Snow may know nothing, but at least he know how to fight a battle. [3] Warfare is NOT abt how strong you are, but rather how clever you are. I still remember a certain moment during my primary school days where I felt utterly betrayed by one of my classmates whom I happened to give a cup of water to during K2. Let's just say that in schoolyard bullying, being the sheep is much better than becoming a wolf. Having integrity means you are like shit. Period. [4] Okay, I digressed too much here. Simply put, I ended up saying that this so-and-so has to be defeated via wit, not force.
Back then, I knew nothing. At the semi-ripe age of 31 (soon to be 32 this yr fyi), I find this to be ironic. Something which I didn't know turns out to be 100 true after all! This was the case for Zhang Liang and co. They're weaker in terms of numbers, the Qin forces were stronger. In your super boliao world of playground idiocracy, confirm the Qin forces will win one. Every sikeena likes to worship the strong, Zhang Liang dashed their dream in the name of upright morals.
1K+ vs... erm how many ah?
This is a case of poor man vs rich man, Nightcrawler vs Dr Doom.* How on earth could the inferior Han forces hold the superior Qin back? In schoolyard idiocracy, the only terrain available is flat. Field is flat, playground is flat, that cute girl every boy got a crush on also flat. [5]
*To set the record straight, I had a hard time fighting that bastard in Green Terminal** due to trying out new linkup play. That plus I might have accidentally switched off my Heartseeker Guard since I only realised it when playing story mode on normal difficulty.
**To set the final record straight, I actually won that fight after spamming like around 10 med kits.
In war, only an idiot will fight you on a flat terrain unless he happened to have a superior force. According to the inverse law of practical efficiency, however, it also means this logic also applies to the opposition. By taking advantage of whatever/whichever difficult terrain available, it means that the Qin army couldn't advance effectively beyond the flat end.
Want to talk abt hills, alrdy owned by enemy.
Want to talk abt mountains, alrdy got owner.
Want to talk abt forest, come inside first then only can talk.
One interesting point abt skirmishers is this: The Greeks and Romans were known to be fearsome warriors, but it would always be the skirmishers being the unsung heroes worthy of accolades. Sadly skirmishers were deemed to be lowly soldiers recruited from lowly folks, hence not many of us knowing the cold hard truth unless we happen to be history buffs. Case in point: we know who were the Spartans [6], but do we even know there's such a word called Ekdromoi?
Therein we witness a glimpse of Zhang Liang's tactical/strategical finesse. He knew there's no way his brethren could win this fight. Even with the cover offered by the terrain, there's no guarantee that you'll get out of jail for free. That is unless...
1. You're a phenom in man deployment.
2. You're a phenom in shaping the battle, hence you're able to choose your own battle.
Former case is like imagining Black Panther commanding the forces of Wakanda against the White Gorilla (an individual deemed endangered due to Deadpool being environmental-friendly).
Latter case is quintessentially Nightcrawler trolling the shit out of bosses+mob via hit+run (if you dunno what is a guerrilla, don't worry. Just try running around in circles if you got too much free time to burn).
Which now comes to the World Cup 2014 sans political infrastructure
What can every decent human being not guilty of excessive gambling learn from this post thus far? Numero uno is this: http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2014/07/always-trust-your-laopeh.html
Secondly, Louis "van Goal" van Gaal and Felipe "Big Fillet" Scolari are gonna have a go or two at each other. Sounds simple? Not if we're talking abt whatever trauma coming from 7even-gate.
Simply put, this may be much more open than otherwise thought. Ofc no one is asking Seleção Brasileira to put seven past the Dutch or van Goal doing a Jogi. That will be too damn sadistic and kru(e)l. Yet, who are we to say that there will be only stifling action across the middle 3rd? It's not as if we're talking abt them capitalistic Koreans and I'm not referring to that most famous debate over K-dramas and K-pop.
Make no doubt abt it, Felipão would have made important notes on van Goal's tactical weakness. No Robin "Bruce Wayne's kahkia" van Persie, confirm still can perform. No Arjen "MCP [7]" Robben, maybe still can perform. No Wesley "not Snipes" Sneijder sniping from behind? Like that how to perform? Remember that this current Oranje is more of a grinder, a team capable of grinding results sans more than 2 moments of brilliance. [8] Hoping van Goal will produce plenty of goals=hoping Daina Zagata will be your gf. Period.
So what about DFB-Elf vs La Albiceleste? Firstly, it's Lionel "I can't perform w/o *insert teammate's name here*" Messi vs die vier von zwei. Secondly, no Ángel "El Ángel Blanco" di María=no Campeones numero tres. [9] Thirdly, it's gonna be argentum width vs white hot counterattacking.
Wait, I don't get you...
No worries, mon ami. You see, a tactical impasse means there has to be a point where said impasse takes place. For the Han and Qin, we're talking abt buffer zones otherwise called difficult terrain. Both matches will also have that common difficult territory, namely the middle. Tonight's showdown will be focused on the efficiency behind the flat Dutch middle while the Grande Finale is all about open space either at dead centre, out wide or both.
[1]: Pretty much like me saying some local lobo only tasked w/drafting formations and starting 11 for the sake of reference.
[2]: And to set the record straight, the Three Talents of Han are namely Zhang Liang, Xiao He and Han Xin.
[3]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvsZ0keZ1Y0&feature=kp
[4]: Case in point below.
[3]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvsZ0keZ1Y0&feature=kp
[4]: Case in point below.
[5]: Okay, that's gross stereotyping. I actually remembered two girls during my Gan Eng Seng years, one them a year my senior and the other a year my junior. Both defied the Asian stereotype, the latter was actually wildly popular in terms of BGR rumours.
[7]: MCP=/=Male Chauvinistic Pig; MCP=Most Controversial Player
[8]: Which was why La Furia Roja became La Furia Rojak.
[9]: Yes I know Javier "not masochistic" Mascherano kenna bontot koyak, but confirm he man enough to start.
No comments:
Post a Comment