Ravages of Time - an in-depth analysis
"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. That we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we’re the imagination of ourselves.” -Bill Hicks (to be honest, I am not really familiar with his works)
INTRODUCTION
Things written here will be a mix of what Ravages of Time offers directly, as well as my (on top of the feedback of the people I have been discussing them with) thought-process, interpretations, what I got from consuming it and what I realized meanwhile writing this giant text wall of an analysis, that I want to dedicate to my all-time favourite piece of art - so I won’t be surprised if anyone could find something to disagree with. I will also be giving titles and numbers before starting some paragraphs, while also typing next to them whether they will have spoilers or not - for it to be easy to operate by the ones who have read and who have yet to read Ravage’, alike.
Ravages of Time is almost fully focused around the grand scheme of things - It is about just how farsighted, the ones that make the crucial decisions towards saving the country, can be, compromising to each other and finding common ground with the several other factions, while all of them having the plans that they did not reveal amidst the arrangements with others. Of course, they all will be forced to sacrifice things that are highly important to them or to others, to do so and eat the consequences in one way or another.
Keep up with convoluted combos of schemes that mobilize various things under the sun, featuring decently competent minor players and illuminati level geniuses that make other masterminds look like beginners
Dive down into profound reflections covering many topics and engaging with multiple ideological tendencies and schools of thought, as participants and bystanders muse about their situations alongside the bigger picture
Hang on through incisive instances of social commentary, in which both composer and characters grapple with different issues that resonate and remain relevant, as if obliquely speaking about contemporary affairs
Look out for extensive fancy quotes and idioms from assorted ancient sources, echoed in narrative voices and spoken by witty actors who enjoy playing with words frequently lost in translation
Are the lessons of history one-sided, or do they convey unfathomable depth?
Should one continue to protect the old ways, or shall one propagate by treading new paths?
Does heaven side with benevolence and righteousness, or is it constantly watching in silence?
When things fall apart, must we place more blame on incompetent rulers, or ambitious vassals?
Would it be more heroic to stay loyal and defiant until death and be immortalized for it, or to wisely choose another branch and endure the infamy to survive for a comeback?
Will it be better to set a good example by cultivating virtue and slowly winning hearts and minds, or to expediently take over and quickly impose order by any means to secure future generations?
Will our heroes or opportunists alike be able to make life and death decisions between the loved ones and the world peace?
Are people capable of distinguishing the real and the fake identities of not only so-called saviours, but their own as well?
How are we defined by the false rumors that we spread by ourselves or the lies we tell to oneself and by the legends that were cultivated without our consent?
When chaos arises, on which path does the one get placed as a result of being raised in either poverty or comfort?
From where does one find the source of passion to move forward on each of said paths?
In the world of deception, controlled by selfish and selfless romantics - where on the surface everyone is presented as either god of war, genius or both - who should be let to guide the people?
Can we by any means consider someone who contradicts himself as a liar? Should we really consider contradiction as a flaw, despite the fact that everything we do could be a contradiction?
What are the means of preserving a peaceful order, despite the inherent longing towards chaos in human nature and vice versa?
A win achieved through the hardships that dooms the whole path towards the goal or a loss of a war and a life that accomplishes the goal - who is the actual winner amidst the chaos?
Does this world of clashing ambitions offer anything else than the never-ending struggle of satisfying said ambitions that, in the end, transforms into the longing for relief?
What about the shared knowledge of sages about saving the world that ironically spawns an even fiery phoenix scorching the plains?
Are dreams inherently selfish or selfless? While waiting for a country to prosper, do not you wish for yourself to live a comfortable life? Is not that a basis behind the creation of civilization, to live and let live?
SUBTLETIES
What is the biggest advantage of the Ravages of Time? Well I would say that it is the cryptic and (may be even overly) subtle nature of its narrative. On the surface, it's just a war-drama with a lot pathos, throwing you into warfare for more than 500 chapters, while characters throwing all sorts of flamboyant action for no personal reason at all and throw some sentences to both look and sound smart, that which may or may not hype you up, you may just end up annoyed. But if you decide to dive deeper, you will notice that Ravages have a lot of connected layers and offer you a possibility to discuss a lot of topics from a lot of angles. So it does not matter whether you will like it or not, whether you want to dive deeper or not, the long ride will most likely pay-off to you, in one way or another. I would say that the presentation of the scenes is quite theatrical, on top of that - POV cuts around quite often on the scenes and skips the transitional movement. For example, an assassin stopping in front of a warlord and in the next scene, having that warlord abducted to another place. It is up to interpretation how that happened, but from the available information we for sure know that such a thing to happen was within the possibility. Now some events and action scenes may be off-screened - for example, family stuff at the end of the Guandu arc - but I think skipping them tends to be excused and even the family stuff is justified, considering the author wanted to explored that specific themes later on anyways, so right now giving it more focus would render the future arc redundant, but now, by skipping, the arc was allowed to add another layer to that theme and I will explain that later on. Oh, and there are a lot of time-skips, considering the work is supposed to cover more than 20 years of history - some may think that it would disrupt the flow, but considering the length of the plot, I think time skips happen with enough in-between scenes to fit in and sometimes they may even go unnoticeable, so I would say the job is done quite well.
Taking the actions and movements aside, direct dialogues of the characters may as well be indirect and contain double meaning, talking about several other characters, hidden in a plain sight. The example are quite many, so I will take the ones that will come to mind - when Zhang Fei and Liu Bei are talking about the paintings, the meaning behind that dialogue is, that Liu bei is aware of how Fei was manipulating him and he is asking about that; Guo Jia and Cao Cao talking about Cao Cao’s children, in that one Guo Jia’s words can be applied to several pair of brothers in that arc, be it the geniuses themselves, Cao Cao’s children, the unnamed brother that he commanded to kill and so on; Sima Yi, Pang Tong and Zhao Yun meeting and throwing un-addressed sentences, because these sentences could be applied to all three of them at the same time.
One thing that should be taken into account while talking about the dialogue is the translation - Ravages of Time has a lot of word-plays in each chapter and not only it is too hard to translate, but many sayings are untranslatable and easily get lost in translation. Also, because of the high amount of references, it is also a separate work to determine which one exactly are the sentences that belong to other authors. That may be connected to my only flaw regarding the dialogue writing - one of the sayings, for parallelism purposes or some other reason, are repeated too many times to be subtle.
when it comes to assessing merc's overall translation effort, I suppose one can distinguish 4 cases
I would presume that the parts in Ravages that make use of standard written chinese are translated well enough
when it comes to the parts in Ravages that consist of various idioms and aphorisms, perhaps other chinese speakers might find some of the wording in english awkward (but I can't say much since I'm not fluent anyway)
the parts in Ravages that consist of - passages from ancient texts but which aren't popularized as idioms - present another challenge (and in this case merc for the most port relies on available translations - and whatever awkwardness that ensues can partly be attributed to the other translators - or otherwise tries to translate matters in a readable fashion)
what's particularly tricky are the parts in Ravages - where Chen Mou waxes poetic and loads stuff with wordplay or tries to imitate classical registers without directly quoting some passage (or alternatively, those parts involving - phrases or particles featured in cantonese but not so much in mandarin)
if there's anything english speakers would want to nitpick on, it would be the occasional grammatical errors or stylistic glitches (and I can't be bothered to point them all out and propose adjustments, haha)
ARTWORK
Now when it comes to artwork, it is quite a tricky situation - it offers a lot in terms of photo-realism and most of the time everything feels organic, so it is hard to notice just how narrow it is in certain aspects, that may or may not hinder the experience of the readers. I personally do not even mind its shortcomings as it capitalizes on impact and manages to depict moments memorable and climactic enough to be iconic to me, but would be fair for others to not hold it in high regard.
One thing that the artstyle is prioritizing and incorporating in it, is to draw inspiration from the chinese larger-than-life action cinema - character designs are close to being photo-realistic at some point (with over five hundred distinct faces, including the no-name and background soldiers, with their own distinct attires - that connects well with the realism of said era, as the many were not dressed in uniforms and were supposed to make their own armor) and frequently offers all-new kind of situations that may sometime serve as symbolic imagery that will fit subject matter of characters’ internal thought and won’t be put down-out-throats.
battle choreography is almost always more than mere slashes, people use different sort of weapons, ride horses around while fighting and use both environment and varied number of participants in said fight scenes, so they are not really just mere duels, but the strategies on their own. And in general, body language is suitable and presents the type of characters they are in a subtle manner, with no over-the-top presentation of their personality traits. What makes these fight scenes even better is the momentum, that is not being hindered by the convoluted explanation of power systems and in general, characters are not limited by said power system to alter the course of the history.
Paneling itself won’t really offer anything extraordinary, but it will be just fine to flow smoothly, it won’t start placing you awkward to read perspectives by changing in a bizarre manner and confusing your focus. Environment in itself does not have much depth of field and characters won’t interact with decorations much, because of its more theatrical approach to depiction, so the decoration tends to be drawn in separate panels, which is a simple/cheap but effective way to liven up the flow by swapping the point of view panel-by-panel.
Few flaws that can be found in this department include the repetitiveness - twice or thrice you may notice some panels copy-pasted, ‘skeleton’ of some stances and angles to said stances used as a template, as well as facial expressions are not really unique lately and generally in the second half said expressions are not really expressive (although it fits the tone change and how hardened are the people to express anything), but paneling serves well enough to lie to eyes in the heat of the moment for said flaws to remain mostly unnoticed and not affect the read experience much, but in hindsight I started missing the type of drawing that the first half had.
What makes it worse is the fact that the quality of RAW scans have drastically declined and if you are reading the english scanlation, you may think that the artstyle declined more than it actually did. But surely, it declined in quality and it may be noticed in inconsistency (noticed - because how perfectly consistent the first half is in terms of it - everything looks panel-by-panel to the point that you can take any panel from there and expand as a double page spread, with stand-out pages that resemble classic painting for a bit, with their dynamic usage of body language of several characters), as the backgrounds are not as detailed anymore, sometimes characters on background lack the faces, line-work is also rough, shading is not used as much and it's hard to find good assistants in china good enough assistants as the industry is not really as advanced as the one in Japan. At least the ever changing style highlights the journey of the author to fit his personal growth in the span of 20 years.
PREMISE
I hope no one will mind me citing the premise from someone else’s LotGH analysis (as I do not think I will be able to define the term in a better manner), because of how similar the subject matter of these series is (and I will repeatedly mention that anime for comparison’s sake as well.
Analysis in question -
‘What defines a legend? Well, if we pop open the nearest thesaurus or dictionary, we're certain to get a slew of similar answers. It most commonly refers to a hodgepodge of cultural myths, or extravagant stories of select events, time periods, or people. Though ultimately, a legend is something elusory. While it may be birthed from some stray fact, the subject becomes so fantastic through each reiteration that, after a few rounds of tall tale telephone, something pedestrian may become extraordinary.
But, when this organic evolution is supercharged by direct manipulation and mass hysteria, a legend becomes more than just a story – it becomes a weapon. It goes on to perpetuate the agendas of those who use it; shifting each re-telling away from the truth by varying degrees. And for us, this seems to be an ever more present danger, as our contemporary era is becoming increasingly more defined by the idea that “objectivity is a myth”. And while we, as a global civilization, have created and consumed metric tons of propaganda since the dawn of the written word, it doesn't stop the idea of a legend from being an attractive tool to enact massive change, whether altruistic or apocalyptic.
For example, remember those 300 Spartans, standing stoic and solitary against the millions of invading Persian soldiers, at the Battle of Thermopylae? Yeah… they had a lot of help.
Over 6,000 soldiers combined from 31 Greek Cities were present at Thermopylae, and while the Persian army was absolutely massive (around 300,000 soldiers by the largest estimates), it was hardly equal to the rumors which swirled around immediately following the battle. And the battle itself wasn't some hail-Mary-moment either; it was a stalling action so that the Athenian Navy could defeat the Persian Navy at the Battle of Artemision. If the Persians could just sail on by them, no number of impressive phalanxes would do the Spartans any good. And the Greeks primarily held out because of their specific placement on the battlefield, and that the Persian army hadn't modernized in decades, not just because they were badasses.
And when the Persians did rip the Greeks at Thermopylae apart, with the essential victory at sea secured, this loss didn't sap Greece's morale, but instead galvanized the city-states against the Persian advance. Even though the Athenians were the real brains behind the defense of the peninsula for most of the war, the Spartans are the ones who've consistently gotten the credit within popular culture. And that isn't accidental.
Whether legends are built rapidly, or gradually over ages, they affect humans on political, social, and cultural levels. And when someone is able to directly control the central moral of the story to suit their own ends, the effects are clearly reflected in the zeitgeist. And when you've applied this methodology to, say, an intergalactic culture overwhelmed by proxy wars, corruption, and constant revolution; legends are bound to emerge’
Let me also copy several things from wikipedia, for better understanding.
‘In philosophy, becoming is the possibility of change in a thing that has being, that exists.
In the philosophical study of ontology, the concept of becoming originated in ancient Greece with the philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who in the sixth century BC, said that nothing in this world is constant except change and becoming (i.e., everything is impermanent). This point was made by Heraclitus with the famous quote "No man ever steps in the same river twice." His theory stands in direct contrast to the philosophic idea of being, first argued by Parmenides, a Greek philosopher from the italic Magna Grecia, who believed that the change or "becoming" we perceive with our senses is deceptive, and that there is a pure perfect and eternal being behind nature, which is the ultimate truth of being. This point was made by Parmenides with the famous quote "what is-is". Becoming, along with its antithesis of being, are two of the foundation concepts in ontology. Scholars have generally believed that either Parmenides was responding to Heraclitus, or Heraclitus to Parmenides, though opinion on who was responding to whom changed over the course of the 20th century.’
‘German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that Heraclitus "will remain eternally right with his assertion that being is an empty fiction". Nietzsche developed the vision of a chaotic world in perpetual change and becoming. The state of becoming does not produce fixed entities, such as being, subject, object, substance, thing. These false concepts are the necessary mistakes which consciousness and language employ in order to interpret the chaos of the state of becoming. The mistake of Greek philosophers was to falsify the testimony of the senses and negate the evidence of the state of becoming. By postulating being as the underlying reality of the world, they constructed a comfortable and reassuring "after-world" where the horror of the process of becoming was forgotten, and the empty abstractions of reason appeared as eternal entities.’
‘Impermanence, also known as the philosophical problem of change, is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of religions and philosophies. In Eastern philosophy it is best known[by whom?] for its role in the Buddhist three marks of existence. It is also an element of Hinduism. In Western philosophy it is most famously known through its first appearance in Greek philosophy in the writings of Heraclitus and in his doctrine of panta rhei (everything flows). In Western philosophy the concept is also called[by whom?] becoming.’
‘Buddhism and Hinduism share the doctrine of Anicca or Anitya, that is "nothing lasts, everything is in constant state of change"; however, they disagree on the Anatta doctrine, that is whether soul exists or not. Even in the details of their respective impermanence theories, state Frank Hoffman and Deegalle Mahinda, Buddhist and Hindu traditions differ. Change associated with Anicca and associated attachments produces sorrow or Dukkha asserts Buddhism and therefore need to be discarded for liberation (nibbana), while Hinduism asserts that not all change and attachments lead to Dukkha and some change – mental or physical or self-knowledge – leads to happiness and therefore need to be sought for liberation (moksha). The Nicca (permanent) in Buddhism is anatta (non-soul), the Nitya in Hinduism is atman (soul).’
RANDOM GIBBERISH
Life is like a dream. People tend to look at the reality through the subjectively made-up lenses that more or less shapes the universe as a collection of fairy tales, in a sense of literally every single human being having a clouded perspective in one way or another and, to put an emphasis, that does not refer to idealists alone, but also pessimists, so-called realists and every shade of it that may come to mind - no matter how you try to be realistic, you are merely trying. People’s views are created by their own eyes, the information that they merely believe in and are combining them through their imagination. So even if you were to try to see others’ perspectives, it would merely be your own imagination again, no matter how open minded you would try to be, your mind won’t be able to fathom the whole world. Not to say that this is a bad thing or a good thing, just an ‘objectivity’ that even I will contradict and contradict as the write-up goes on. Having a certain fixed relationship to someone and reducing him/her as a certain identity shackles the freedom of expanding the relationship and enriching it with no end. Unfortunate part of such ordeals are, of course, the acceptance of things as they are and finding a comfort zone (“a well’ if I may say) unintentionally, not even thinking about going further simply because you do not considering that the identity of someone else may as well be full of contradictions and still well-constructed, naturally. Everyone has had such moments in their lives when they wanted to talk to someone they either do not know or know for about, so they could not find words, topics, anything to talk to and get even closer, as their view about a certain person is set in a small framework, not perceiving that the person could talk about with him about anything. Say, you get used to socializing on the internet to the point of forgetting that real life interactions exists and they function drastically different when compared to internet, you come back to earth and have hard time accepting it, adapting in it - this is a minuscule of an example, as The Ravages of Time takes such understanding and nails around the grand narrative, in which frameworks of millions of dreamers are about to clash each other to DEATH to SAVE the country, comprehending in the process that the core problem is not the fact that in the world are dreamers with opposite ideas of reshaping the world, but they themselves are the problem for living the life like a dream.
People also like to talk about how everything is irrelevant, how everything is objective, how everything is predetermined - but is this really relevant? We won’t ever be able to predict everything at the same time because taking literally everything into account is impossible for anyone and anything, so this can only mean that TO US nothing is predetermined, so why would anyone care about the predeterminism? Are not our views shaped by our perspective and the consensus of our own narrow circles? Like how old egypt thought that they were the epitome of culture when they were comparing themselves to other cultures that they had their eyes on, while other cultures were shaping their own path of evolution and overridden Egypt’s ‘imagination’ by conquering them by unimaginable (for Egyptians) capabilities for warfare. Their perspective was narrowed only on the level of the cultures they were aware that existed could not have imagined that somebody greater than them was out there in the world.
Comparative method is basically a fundamental type of research in the field of Ethnology. “Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology).” In short, understanding the culture by deeply comparing cultures that are similar or not to each other. Point being that it is trying to reconstruct history, using all sorts of records and reports as a source to do so. Ravages of Time is doing something similar - it puts the records, legends, reports, novels, video games and whatnot together and examines just how are they being interpreted through the lenses of someone viewing them from the 21th century, in other words we are comparing the contrasting normalcy of the ancient historic cultures and the modern ones, so as to let as notice how unreliable it is to rely on them, considering how contradictory, paranoiac and supernatural history suddenly becomes. You could hear from people that these ‘200 IQ’ strategies are too unrealistic and characters are not relatable to us, but they fail to connect the dots, that message of this work is to let us know exactly THAT. One of the layers, at least.
By pointing this out, I wanted to highlight several things - life is not a closed room or a single book (for instance, a history), there are always certain details about literally everything that make it impossible for us to have a correct, fully rational judgement, so it is inherently unwise to rely your whole life dedicating to one thing or/and judging by the comparison of things, that severely limits the world-view, the unlimited skies, and your ‘dream’ is just ending up as just another well. Things should not be rationalized to the point of remaining alone, in a sense that things do not exist in a vacuum, like how love and hate, love and hate may not be separate things, on the contrary, they may be complementing each other. If one is doing something specific, it is not necessary for him/her to have one motive, you can get many different things by doing one thing.
Now sure, it was probably always meant to be centered around the Three Kingdom era, but there is also another way to look at setting - from a perspective of RoT being a commentary on general history and not being exclusively addressed towards this concrete period. The period, which is the bloodiest and the most chaotic civil war in the history of mankind, so much that it rivals the World War with its death count. Everyone and everything is full of corruption and there are as many misinterpreted stories (intentionally or not), regarding themselves and things that they observe, as many the population is. The world has never been harder for idealists to fix it - would there really be any other era that would perfectly illustrate, through the subtle ‘allegorical’ environment, the unreliability of information and how said information shapes the world.
THE RAVAGED WORLD
Intel is crucial. So-called geniuses here are not the type of smart characters that make some unrealistic strategies out of thin air, without really revealing how they come up with said conclusions, and completely benefit from it with a smug smile and no real loss, while spouting some philosophical monologues. Geniuses here know the world that they inhabit, know each other and the world is also getting familiar with them, the chaotic world with their own agendas and ideals and personal feuds, so coming out clean from the ordeals have never been on the menu, the tides and the sides are both perpetually changing and despite the smug faces that are supposed to serve as a distraction, everyone is trying to improvise, adapt and overcome them, most of the time compromising and changing the priorities according to the consequences of ever-eventful plot-line. Do not get me wrong, the world of Ravages is not so robotic to be so robotic at calculations - characters do have personal grudges here and do not solely rely on ideologies, there are also several conveniences that even the serie itself admits to and people are fail to grasp the nature of some others, thus paying the price by getting backstabbed and etc.
Henceforth we have a clear and an ironic contrast - the world is as chaotic as ever and the characters are all as smart and calculating as it gets. This contrast in itself has several layers to it. One, both of them result in an unreliability of information - if there is a chaos and that breed overly pragmatic warlords, then, intentionally or unintentionally, the correct information won’t be able to be spread, as it could be misinterpreted or completely made up or completely concealed and lost from everyone. Second, one breeds another, order comes when people are fed up with the chaos as it endangers the lives of people that said people cherish, Chaos come from people trying to act smart and thus their different views and agendas of order overlapping with one another, just like the topic about how hard times create the hard people, then said hard people create the soft times, that on its own create soft people, that then result in weak time, that which are responsible for hard times. We can get this contrast by comparing the world of Ravages to our present world, but then there is a layer of people not being able to break out from the identity that they have manufactured on their own to be viewed as something they really are not - take Lu Bu of Ravages, he is way smarter than his counterparts from other sources and that is not merely for an edgy show of ‘man with such a reputation could not have been dumb’, but it also shows that no matter how smart he may have been, there still are a lot of people smarter than him even in Ravages, which still makes him dumber in comparison, so he can’t really escape the meaninglessness of people’s struggles (no matter how great they think they are) when they are confronted with the inevitability of history.
"can one recite poems and read books without knowing who the author is as a person"
The power of the word is immense, it is a fundamental part of communication, which is a fundament of connection in itself. But the humans are deceptive by nature, so can we really believe in words? What happens if it's revealed that everything you have ever known is just subjective, made up by someone else to be perceived as objective? What can we believe in, if everyone lies and both everyone and everything could have been fabricated and weaponized by everyone else? Chaos.
Three Kingdoms era reeks of chaos and thus serves as a perfectly fitting period to portray the paranoia of mankind. What's so great and scary about the available information is the fact that it is accessible to everyone and everyone also encourages the brainwash for it to be perceived as truth. The access, of course, is given by the people from above, by those who were chosen by people - for people - but who knows what they really think about? They have their own sources and they absorb everything, while asserting them as they please, from their perspective. The problem? The fact that there are a limitless number of 'factions' in our world, all of them getting the information, but spread in a different manner.
For instance, take all of the critics - none of them have identical scores, to say the least. And all of them have their own made up rules that by which they declare their judgment as objective, of course blindly believing in it and deem it necessary for the pieces of fictions to meet their own requirements, or else they are failures: "B-but I could not relate to the people from the second century, basically completely opposite environment of mine, it is poorly written, how can I hold my interest". Of course I can compare critics to the ones above all, they tend to sit on their high horses, after all.
Now what Japanese stories forget, while having a high emphasis on individuals and sometimes to their psychology (even while trying to explore philosophy), is, the fact that individuals and their internal conflicts are not supposed to convey the exploration of grander ideas. That type of story-telling on its own shapes the view as if that's the way of how every animanga should be written and philosophical stories get judged by such narrow-minded views. They think that characters themselves should individually bring ideas and represent them, as if they only view character as plot devices/narrative tools, when in reality it is the other way around - it is the narrating world that is supposed to represent all of these ideas and force all of the characters to carry all of these ideas. For instance, how every single side in RoT uses "greater good", in some cases its just an excuse, in some cases it is hypocritical, in some cases they actually practice it and in some cases the whole concept of it is being questioned, in empathetic or apathetic manners.
Power of the word may be immense, but it is not omnipotent. You may spread one gospel, but someone will spread another. You mat spread propaganda, but someone else will spread propaganda about you. Warlords view Art of War in one way and achieve greatness that which will be spread around in different words, that will be re-defined and re-told as the time goes. Then won't we view said warlords in another way, further complicated by the fact that our culture is drastically different from theirs', so the saying from back then will most definitely had something else in mind when compared to our own interpretation.
and that's, ladies and gentlemen, The Ravages of Time - as the black texts at the end of chapters and characters talking about future suggests, it is not only a collection of historical records by a single person, but it also incorporates legends, video games, novels, conspiracy theories, modern ethnology and basically presents what kind of story would we have if we collected any kind of interpretation of said events from the second-third century of China to serve as a socio-political commentary on not only the Three Kingdoms era, but the past in general.
Now of course in Ravages these smug characters are also citing some philosophical stuff, but difference is what these sayings are reinforcing into the narrative. The first and foremost, they are pointing out the idea that the spreading of information is how random talents may arise onto the battlefield (although won't be as farsighted as the one that were trained by the actual masters) and scorch the plains of the country even more, so whenever characters are being introduced, it is not really required to give them some flashbacks for it to make sense - just why do they stand out? Simply because they do not really stand out. And if you dig deeper, a message that could be derived from is, that openly, and not to specific people you are nurturing and can directly observe the influence, giving the whole country the philosophical life-lessons that are supposed to enlighten them in idea, actually does the opposite, as they do not really know the author - should you be really citing the text, while not knowing the author? On its own the characters are also asserting their own understandings to the texts that they have cherry picked. Meaning, that the ones that usually cite are the people who are using these words with their own interpretation and understanding, attaching their own context to them, so, for example, one philosophical sentence may influence two people in different manner and put them on the drastically different paths of their lives, according to their own observation, without anyone to blame. I myself usually see in real life how people cite the cool stuff some CHARACTERS said, while attaching the name of the author next to it, as if the authors agree to every single word their characters say. Ravages of Time goes even beyond that and showcases how this very concept could be weaponized, as someone may purposely release either an unknowingly to masses dumbed-down version of military teachings to counter the ones that learned from them with their original military ways - or straight up write a propaganda to hinder the reputation of someone else, just after you baited out their corruption, for the fiction (propaganda piece) to become a reality.
THE HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY THE WINNERS
… or is it?
Many longtime readers of The Ravages of Time would tend to remember the ‘morale theory’, but also buried in the earlier chapters (but oft-forgotten) is a parallel ‘myth-making theory’.
This lecture will discuss the two theories, how they are dialectically related (despite the apparent divergences), and the insights that both offer regarding warfare and statecraft.
The theory of morale (attributed in-universe to Sima Hui, first articulated by Wen Chou in chapter 31) states: “There are three ways to boost yourself and diminish your enemy. If the enemy commander wins the first encounter, blame your own commander for being reckless; if the enemy commander wins often, blame your own tacticians for poor use of terrain or weather; or if the enemy commander always wins, dismiss them as brave yet brainless.”
Meanwhile, the theory of rumors (articulated by Li Deng in chapter 7) states: “The commanding officers take the credit for a battle of hundreds. After the thousandth retelling, the credit will all go to one man.”
ow it would seem at first glance that the two theories convey opposite messages, in that whereas the first assumes that there are outstanding ‘heroes’ (and that to maintain morale they must be downplayed and explained away), the second assumes that ‘hero tales’ are mere fabrications (to motivate allies or intimidate enemies). Now in order to better see how they are connected, it is important to note that each theory can be interpreted in at least two ways.
For the theory of morale, the practical (and more superficial) reading is to see it as a technique to manage morale by undermining the enemy image and not making it look like one is up against a peerless talent. However, the recursive (and sneakier) reading is to see it as a warning sign in case someone happens to have a suspiciously downplayed reputation.
For the theory of rumors, the simple reading is to see it as a guide to psychological warfare by means of weaving tall tales. The more profound reading is to see it as a comment on disproportionate individual recognition built on the inequitable appropriation of collective labor, and a warning sign in case much of the credit and glory is attributed to a lone figure.
Interestingly enough, the alternate readings of the two theories can be integrated as follows: Renowned leaders tend to benefit from (and symbolize in simplified narratives) the heroic work of their colleagues and subordinates, and in turn the illusion allows the talents below to continue operating effectively (either they remain unrecognized and underestimated at their enemies’ peril, or they are seen as lesser lights enhancing the prestige of the main figure). Combined, they present a nuanced account of how warfare involves an underlying element of real collaborative effort (out of which certain heroes and geniuses emerge and distinguish themselves by various means, if they are lucky) as well as a theatrical (and rhetorical, and ideological) component calibrated for morale management and psychological operations.
Ravages has a few other things to say about rumors and morale that would further highlight the entanglement of these two aspects.
The three-step consolation mechanism seems to be the more iconic portion of the discourse, but the more basic claim of the morale theory (also articulated by Wen Chou in chapter 31) goes as follows: The three-step consolation mechanism seems to be the more iconic portion of the discourse, but the more basic claim of the morale theory (also articulated by Wen Chou in chapter 31) goes as follows: “Officers may be brave, but soldiers do the real fighting. Wars are fought on the morale of soldiers.”
Meanwhile, a poignant remark about the utility of rumors not directly connected to the earlier insight (first articulated by Sima Yi in chapter 74) goes as follows: Meanwhile, a poignant remark about the utility of rumors not directly connected to the earlier insight (first articulated by Sima Yi in chapter 74) goes as follows: “Rumor is the most effective weapon before the start of a war.”
At the core of this is a fascinating contradiction, in that on the hand it is the masses (not the schemers, not the rulers) who ultimately power and enable the collective enterprises we call warfare and statecraft (and more generally, the arenas of political struggle and social order), but on the other hand the masses tend to not be in full control of the process and often end up managed and manipulated and exploited (by the schemers and the rulers) to keep the machinery of domination going and tilt the outcomes of the conflicts.
Thus we see that while morale (and the passion and labor of the moralized and energized) is a testament to people power, rumors (and the discourses and ideological props derived from them) function as control tactics and the means of governance. And yet the propagation of rumors still depends on the morale of people who spread and receive them, and therein lies the possibility for emancipation (or at least, mass defections from one hegemonic narrative to another, preventing winners of one round from forever foreclosing the histories of struggle).
On a side note, it must be emphasized that the demarcation between the rulers (who wield the rumors) and the ruled (whose morale needs to be constantly managed) is not absolute, for even advisers (who are supposed to be above the fray and are trained to calmly assess enemy forces, unlike the rank and file who have to be assuaged by heroic tales and the morale theory) are also swayed by the morale game (since the prospect of entering the prestigious world of the eight geniuses also functions as a motivator for them to keep scheming).
Warfare may be hellish and statecraft may be slavish, but somehow people can be swayed into thinking and laboring as if warfare is heavenly and statecraft is liberating. The elaborate scheming game in Ravages is very much rooted on this more fundamental confidence trick (aptly expressed and exposed by Sun Ce’s discourse on loyalty as method in chapter 174).
note that in all fairness one doesn't have to refer to Ravages just to discuss issues about history and politics, but such an exercise would prove helpful in two ways (for the intellectually-inclined, this shows how Ravages resonates with and echoes certain notions and questions and theories, while for those already reading Ravages this shows what sorts of intellectual openings Ravages presents or suggests for further reflection)
now, many who read Ravages would remember how the series talks about history as propaganda by the winners (and the series (not to mention the composer himself) has a habit of saying this in crude ways), but it's important to note that this is just the surface aspect of how Ravages deals with its roots (and the ways we deal with our complicated lineages)
hopefully the following discussion would help readers be more attuned to the various ideas teased throughout the series (and perhaps, learn by example how one can approach Ravages as a treasury of topics and a site of interrogation)
perhaps the very first instance of historical reflection in the series (not particularly profound, but it paves the way for the rest) appears in the floating narrative text at the end of the dream scene in chapter 1, where speculations abound about how the grand tutor Sima died
note that Sima Yi doesn't die this way in either the historical accounts or the novel but who knows if there's a folk adaptation somewhere talking about Sima Yi meeting a violent end
interestingly, this bit of discussion connects well with the very first black text in the series (our journeys pass into death at some point, but we never really know how we end up in that stage)
the soldiers end up agreeing about the omen (the fire in the shape of the phoenix) but not the actual cause of death also says something about how we tend to overlay/underwrite lives and deaths with symbolism (and narrative)
Ravages as readers know also re-characterizes figures in 3K lore (with some getting more attention than others), and while this is already at play since chapter 1 (starting with Sima Yi being old enough to scheme during Dong Zhuo's takeover of Luoyang), perhaps the first explicit reflection about how people in a given period are perceived by later generations can be found in the black text of chapter 5 (note also the quirky portrayal of Liu Bei early on, even Dong Zhuo still fit the typical depictions (minus him being fat) in his first appearances prior to chapter 8)
“Many years later, there were all kinds of criticism levied against this man named ‘Liu Bei’. They said he stole major cities of Xuzhou and Jingzhou to use as his military base. But the strange thing is… People of all social status in those cities appreciated him and had no complaint about what he did. Was he a bandit? Or a king? Only the future generations have a say in the matter…”
on a side note, among 3K fans, those who like Liu Bei's portrayal in the novel emphasize his idealism, those who like Liu Bei's portrayal in the historical accounts emphasize his charisma and status as a cunning political survivor, and those who dislike Liu Bei deride him as a glorified bandit turned pretender
one other thing the black text suggests is that at the end of the day (regardless of how winners of ages past spin their tales) it is the subsequent generations who come up with their own assessments (and engage in their own struggles for hegemony)
this line of thinking is echoed in chapter 71, as Lu Bu makes his point that people in a given historical juncture (with their own sets of values and principles, interests and desires) don't get to control how they will be perceived by others in the future, though they can try to leave good impressions with their deeds (and stories)
in a way, this illustrates how winners (of a given contest) are never really able to permanently spin things their way (since they die too and loyalty to a given story is not guaranteed)
amusingly, in that instance, even as Lu Bu is gloating about how his treacherous scheme to take over (not necessarily to usurp the emperor, just to be the next hegemon 'under Han') is going well, he's also teasing how as part of the plan he will also play up the image of a hero overthrowing a tyrant and going on to rule with benevolence (which is what many historical accounts try to spin at least in the founding moments of a new regime before the scandals emerge)
now one issue that arises from a simplistic reading of the 'history is written by the winners' slogan is that it seems to assume that people (except the manipulators and the enlightened few) are dupes, but in Ravages the commoners (and the audience) aren't treated as if they were idiots, as we can see in many snippets of commoner discussion
the tension then is that on the one hand those who spin tales do so to manipulate the masses, but on the other hand it's not as if people never notice the games of manipulation that are being played (only that some don't care as much since they're preoccupied with survival or are too disempowered to change things)
it's important to stress that ultimately it is the people with their real longings (even if they haven't examined the emergence of their desires) and real awareness of what affects them (even if they aren't cognizant of the bigger picture and the many tiny details) who end up accepting or acquiescing to the stories, rumors, accounts that they receive (and in turn, circulate and reproduce and appropriate)
and yet, while there are certain things that propagandists and spin doctors can never quite control, there are also certain things that remain at their disposal
even if it were the case that people love the benevolent (or those who serve the people) and hate the corrupt (or those who oppress the people) as a matter of course, the manipulation happens in the filling of the blanks with regard to who gets recognized for what (especially in the context of past accounts that are harder to corroborate by virtue of distance), or which deeds count as righteous and virtuous
having belabored the point about how historical transmission depends upon the very peoples that are supposed to be manipulated in order for the winners to keep perpetuating their spin (and they are not really able to do so completely), I suppose the next issue would be, how are they able to at least manipulate some of the people some of the time long enough for certain stories to take lives of their own and outlast their proponents
this is where an appreciation of the broader circumstances and situations (and systems) that condition what people accept or put up with would come in... certain audiences 'fall for' certain tales, even the most jaded observers (who suspect many things) nonetheless 'go along with' particular accounts (and thus be complicit in their perpetuation) due to various factors, and a big part of it would be that many are in positions where they can hardly afford to openly defy or critically examine
note the remark ‘people are most gullible at a time’ like this which suggests that the quality of alleged gullibility (for who knows what people are really thinking so long as they don't rock the boat) is contingent upon a certain season (and in the context of chapter 147, that's why Liu Bei is being marked as a target because his influence could potentially rock the boat and undermine the narrative for Yuan Shu's breakaway regime)
anyway, those who still bother to follow may be wondering why I meandered about the topic of 'the people' when I planned to discuss 'history' (to be clear, this is just a warmup and a prologue to the discussions to follow)
for one thing, certain theories and approaches regarding the historical experience emphasize a more bottom-up and structural view of things (and although Ravages doesn't go out of its way to prioritize it, this aspect still shows up amidst the subversive heroic tales)
more importantly, this is a demo of what it means to read Ravages from the margins, to treat the text like the scripture puzzle (I mean, one could have discussed people's history as a counterpoint to 'great man' narratives without recourse to Ravages in a separate topic, but instead I tried to showcase how snippets in Ravages suggest this direction, haha)
to recap a bit, it would be very simplistic to say that all Ravages has to say is that winners write history (and if I may add, even taking that conventional edgy line can be treacherous when it comes to historical understanding because many who use that excuse seek not to understand better but to enshrine their own revisions as the new winning stories)
instead, it's important to note that even as the 'victors' (of a given round, and they can lose in the next) try to propagate their narratives and control the discourse, there always already persist undercurrents of resistance among people having their own views and circulating things their own way
note that even though in chapter 509 it's discussed that Zhuge Liang had been manufacturing the heroic tales of Liu Bei for years, none of that would have benefited Liu Bei if the people themselves did not entertain them (or alternatively, if the people weren't entertained and captivated enough by them)
this complication of course goes to show that notions of collective memory and people's history are not so much silver linings that somehow recover the perfect truth (and silver bullets that destroy the lies of the official accounts), but rather that they represent real limits to the extent in which winners get to have their say
especially considering that Shu didn't manage to restore Han and thus lost out in the power struggle, various factors (whether it's elite interests of subsequent periods to derive legitimacy from Liu Bei's example, or simply the popularity of the stories) contributed to the perpetuation of the view favoring Liu Bei, culminating in the Romance
o explore these complex dynamics further, consider for instance Wen Ping's claim that the 'heroic tales' have 'taken root' (even to the point that Liu Biao, the former governor of Jingzhou, believed in them and thus welcomed Liu Bei to the province)
this doesn't necessarily mean that the people accepted every single sentence and each bit of detail, but that they welcomed the stories (perhaps since the stories resonated with them just like how we attend to stories to this day) and would go on to transmit them (and more importantly, to 'continue' the lore in different ways)
the idea suggested in the page is that various players (with their own agenda and commitments) may try to propagate and memorialize various discourses (with the aid of ideological apparatuses and communications media), but to achieve some sort of success they also have to manipulate and negotiate with diverse populations in order for the discourses to take root (and part of it may be to craft stories that engage their audiences)
I had to stress the limits of (and resistances to) the smugly articulated angle of victors' history early on (before moving on to assorted musings on the historical experience) so that readers would be encouraged to read Ravages more attentively, taking careful note of the other nuances and niceties woven into the text (without a shallow sense of cynical elitism)
to put it briefly, just like the morale theory (and history in general), there are superficial lessons and profound insights to learn
it is said that winners (absolutely) get to write history but the irony is that history writes no (absolute) winners
YOU CHEAT, I SWINDLE… WHO KNOWS WHAT WE ARE REALLY THINKING
texts conceal, interpretations mislead, who knows what composers and readers are really thinking
this is perhaps an apt way to describe the predicament we find ourselves in as we come to terms with the precious relics handed down to us, the lost fragments we stumble upon (and the ruins we leave behind along the way)
it's not simply that the records have their spin or readers have their bias (and all we have to do is expose and isolate them, then we get to the unvarnished truth), it's that the layers and networks of partial meaning ensnare seekers and investigators into a labyrinth full of twists and turns and missing links and dead-ends... and yet amidst the disavowals and doubts and suspicions there is at least an affirmation of something, namely that history-making amidst the ravages of time involves making sense of old traces and making new threads out of them (just as Ravages is grappling with 3K lore and coming up with new interventions about it)
and perhaps, bracketing for a moment the many jaded and somber (or edgy and pretentious) voices echoed in Ravages and channeled by readers like myself, there's at least this humble plea articulated by the floating text on the lower left section of this page in chapter 192: “Truth exists. But the truth of this land will forever exist in a gray area”.
"winner takes all'' falls apart even when you just ask for the definition of "win" and the "winner". So let's take the Guandu, that quite literally subverts the term
what did you win - is important, because of not only what you lost (a lot of soldiers that LOST, from your side and, well, you were supposed to fight for them) but what you gained, because corrupted traits of someone you opposed could have transferred on you (see, Yang). On the surface, you won the meaningless land, but deep down ruined the future of your own. You really took ALL.
how did you win - well, take Zhuge Liang, but I will save him for later topics. Shortly - in the Four Commanderies arc, Zhuge did not just write the villains off as "Yuan Shu".... he first forced actions out of them and proved their corrupted nature and only after then he started to radicalize their corruption... of course he was also gradually implementing the propaganda amidst the chaos
what did that win result in - is important, because if your win did not cause the fundamental change, someone will come and undo your doings by your own acquired and established influence (like how Reinhard (from LotGH) came in power - he did not cause fundamental changes, so anyone who comes after him will have enough influence to establish "my son takes all" all over again)
Winner - well, why are YOU the winner, if you were fighting for people and now the world is in chaos, thus the loss for the masses.
What about Yuan Fang, who wanted to ruin the Yuan clan and achieved it? Wasn't he who took it all? What about that one soldier who had nothing to fight for? Did he not achieve relief?
So, yeah, the winner is definitely right... for a short amount of time... and only in his delusion. His own version of history will only raise some contradictions
now hopefully with a better appreciation of the broad strokes in how Ravages approaches the topic of 'history' and its many questions and issues (that it's not all about winners making stuff up, but more about histories of struggle, from competing factions struggling for hegemony, to competing threads of meaning and ways of accounting for the past) we can then proceed to explore the various elements and portions in more detail
if chapter 5 features the first detailed attempt at re-characterizing notable 3K figures (note that chapters 1-4 and 6 are mostly original subplots that establish the initial main faction, while chapter 5 is based on an episode in Romance and thus has more room to play around with established personalities), then chapter 7 features the first sustained reflection (and a rather playful one) about one aspect of history-making and remembrance, namely the recognition of 'heroes'
in all fairness, by dismissing the feat of the 'one-eyed assassin' (singlehandedly killing a notable adviser guarded by 15 elites) as an incredulous 'fabrication', Liu Zong is simply being prudent and circumspect as an outside listener given the absence of clear evidence about the event (note further that some time after the events in chapter 4 Xu Chu kills the surviving witness in a fit of rage), not to mention its prima facie implausibility (though even this judgment call also relies on many assumptions about how things work)
it also goes without saying that much of historical analysis and criticism also consists of such disavowals (and reinterpretations) of certain alleged occurrences, and many ancient historians and theorists of history have engaged in this
what's more significant is that Liu Zong didn't simply discard the rumor as idle talk (not worth mentioning in serious discussion) and left it at that, but that he attempted to explain its emergence and circulation (and by extension, he attempted to come up with a (mostly psychologistic and instrumentalist) theory about the origin and function of 'myths' and 'legends')
that is to say, in the context of the conflict he takes part of, he reframes the rumor as a tactic to boost allied morale and to dampen enemy morale (and assumes it to be an appropriate counter to another seemingly unsubstantiated rumor about the 'god of war' Lu Bu)
this explanation also serves to clarify (from Liu Zong's standpoint) why 'heroic legends' tend to be presented in dramatized and hyped-up fashion with various sorts of narrative gimmicks (as these characteristics are said to help in morale management)
note for instance how the Guandong alliance understands the tale of the one-eyed assassin (or rather, how the rumors are spread in the alliance): supposedly the Sima clan (conveniently the one clan who snubbed Dong Zhuo's invitation and nominally on good terms with the alliance) sent the assassin to take out one of Dong Zhuo's most important advisers (and the one reputed to be among the 'wisest' which could itself be very well a cultivated rumor)
by combining these factors it makes it seem as if the one-eyed assassin is on their side (thus morale is boosted) and writers including compilers of historical accounts do this all the time, make various sorts of associations to generate particular orientations of meaning
if the rumor was just that the Sima clan sent assassins to waylay Xu Lin, it wouldn't be as exciting, and if the rumor was just that some random assassin took out Xu Lin, the alliance could very well have been scared out of its wits (since who knows if the killer would also target Yuan Shao)
if Liu Zong's point stresses the utility of rumors and legends as the swords and shields of psychological warfare (especially if the power struggle is stuck in a stalemate), then Li Deng's brief contribution provides a sharper interrogation of how 'heroic legends' come about
it's not simply that rumors exaggerate for the sake of morale (that is to say, that the 'facts' are simply 'enhanced'), but that the rumors effectively conceal and marginalize something else (in this case, collective action is eclipsed by deeds of 'great men' or more generally, people's history is swept aside in favor of elite history)
I like it when minor characters are used to articulate profound insights, haha
note that the claim isn't that there are absolutely no notably talented people who are recognized and rise to prominence (there may very well be lots of them, but they work and shine in teams), rather it's a recognition that many of the so-called outstanding figures at best function as mere metonymic stand-ins and mnemonic representations for the collective pool of talent that allowed them to rise, and at worst unjustly soak up all the glory while those who have aided them are reduced to background tools
but what makes chapter 7 playful (and thus more complex than just a sermon on the exaggerations of heroic tales) can be seen in what Liu Zong does next (and culminating in Lu Bu's heroic feat, complimented by the black text showcasing a tale of two heroes)
so after Liu Zong delivers his lesson on rumors and heroic tales as methods of warfare, he then attempts to take the credit for the rumor (and in so doing he tries to create his own heroic legend while sidelining the other rumormongers as the mastermind who was able to counter one rumor with another)
and since he already took time to explain his views, by the time he 'reveals' the secret history (who knows if Liu Zong really talked to Yuan Shao about weaponizing the rumor, all we can see is that Liu Zong is weaponizing this rumor about himself weaponizing the rumor about the one-eyed assassin, to boost the morale of his subordinates and make himself look like a cunning schemer which is in and of itself a cunning scheme) the soldiers find it believable and would thus be inclined to spread the meta-rumor (and even as late as chapter 17 people still believed in Liu Zong's spin long after his death)
therein lies the twist: 'heroic legends' (regardless of how true or accurate they are) appear to be painted targets for interrogation and criticism from various angles, but what's trickier and more treacherous (and thus more deserving of scrutiny) are the seemingly reasonable explanations and stories (that in turn conceal their own biases and agenda)
we see this in how Yuan Fang tricked the Guandong alliance in the Hulao pass mini-arc, and we see this in the convincing fictionalizations that occur in historical texts (for example, when so-and-so is said to have quoted something, can we really ascertain they said it? and yet we take those for granted)
it's important to take these complications in mind because such layers can also be found in historical accounts (and retellings of historical accounts, and commentaries on historical accounts)
I don't call some stories propaganda for nothing, haha. read simplistically, Ravages will look like (pro-Lu Bu) propaganda to dismiss historical investigation too
before proceeding to the next phase, I should note a few more things
Liu Zong has fair enough reason to cast doubt on the rumor of the one-eyed assassin (and the rumor of Lu Bu singlehandedly taking out one-eyed generals), but that's also partly due to how the stories have been simplified upon circulation (not to mention that some details such as Liaoyuan Huo not being one-eyed and infiltrating the Zhao clan to get close to Xu Lin are left hidden from those who aren't part of the conspiracy)
in addition, Lu Bu's raid in chapter 7 (along with Zhang Liao's elaboration of it in chapter 31) would serve as a reminder that sometimes, certain people get to do certain amazing feats, but that their execution may very well be due to a combination of factors (perhaps Liu Zong's camp was simply too lax, perhaps there was the sky was really dark that night) some of which aren't accounted for or remain unrecognized in the retellings (depending on the agenda and biases of those who report the story)
people forget this when they start reading historical events as primarily about amazing biographies
and thus in line with the morale theory and the theory of rumors, the clever commando mission of targeting certain generals and tricking enemy soldiers into fighting one another at night gets garbled into a story of how a brave but reckless commander lost many soldiers just to take out one general
much of Ravages has been about speculative and conjectural extrapolation of and commentary on bygone events (using certain (at times anachronistic) assumptions and conventions to elicit certain portrayals)
some think Ravages is just dealing with certain discrete and quirky what-ifs (change the portrayal of this episode, alter the characterization of that figure) and to be fair it does engage in a lot of that, but upon closer and more systematic inspection one can say that more than just doing counterfactuals, Ravages is also invested in simulating how alterations and complications in the currently accepted trajectory can nonetheless replicate similar results (thus the consistent approach of adding convoluted rounds and layers of scheming)
now, the discursive threads articulated by the likes of Liu Zong and Li Deng did not disappear with their deaths
for instance, in chapter 65 Liaoyuan Huo comes to a realization that those who acquire reputations of 'invincibility' could not simply have brute forced their way into fame (either the simplified rumor is a spiked compliment that serves as a coping device in line with the morale theory, or it is propaganda meant to conceal the hidden schemes and structural factors that enabled the dominance... in any case the general lesson is that there's more to the rumors than what's being alleged)
and then there's this reflection in chapter 136 about how renown is very much a social function (that depends on media machinery on the one hand, and popular recognition on the other hand)
going back to Li Deng's point about how collective efforts end up recast as individual deeds, perhaps the way it works is that some people happen to have established status or social position (like when generals take the credit for what their soldiers have accomplished or when entrepreneurs are glorified for exploiting labor and making a profit), or perhaps some happen to be more charismatic and outspoken and thus end up becoming the face of a group, or it could be that some end up making rumors about themselves and thus took the opportunity to become famous (like what Liu Zong did)
the point being that one doesn't just become famous for doing something, there are conditions and competing opportunities to get noticed and 'earn a place in history' (and thus acknowledging this also means conceding that attempts at historical remembrance are partial even if not partisan)
of course, we also have to acknowledge that rumors and heroic legends just like memes can outlive their original contexts and bloom in new situations, that even if certain rumors were concocted and proliferated as part of some tactic, they can continue to spread (in garbled and altered forms) far and wide beyond the circumstances that spawned them, depending on how others receive and communicate said rumors
this reiterates once more that there remain alternate channels that resist attempts by elites and 'winners' to fully control the narrative and perfectly rewrite things as it suits them which is not to say that the rumors are always true, but that a monopoly on allegations and credibility is prevented (thus when rumors become inconvenient, authorities try to suppress them, either by information embargos or by coming up with counter rumors and official rebuttals)
notable in this scene is how the tale of the Handicapped Warriors has pretty much lost its mystique and power (among officers in the south, years after the heyday of the assassin group which was based in the north and center) whereas previously stories about the one-eyed assassin (and the Handicapped Warriors as a whole) were spread to strike fear into the hearts of many... and yet the rumor persists, even without the reverence (and almost as a joke), and so the story lives for another day whether or not it is included in official accounts
a reminder that oral histories are very important sources of information (if not necessarily about past events, then at least how those events have been handed down and appreciated) especially for certain communities that do not keep lasting records
and then there's the reminder that even if rumors can be garbled, the assumptions we use to accept or reject them also need to be examined (note how the officers are assuming that if so and so rumors of heroic feats are true, then the hero should have been promoted long ago or should have moved on to greener pastures without even bothering to investigate the circumstances behind the feats or the reasons for the deliberate concealment)
there are no pure sources to rely on, and thus there is no shortcut to careful examination and study (which incidentally is what the intelligence networks of various factions presumably do, to filter out deception and come up with better counter deceptions and it is also this disinfo game that partly makes historical accounts tricky)
so far we've looked into rumors and legends and folktales as one alternative pathway of historical representation (and how Ravages explores them from different angles and what insights we can derive from the text even if these not explicitly stated in argumentative fashion)
while it has been emphasized that rumors can be inaccurate or exaggerated, the other side of the story is that despite these problematic characteristics the rumors are but attempts to speak about things that have made their mark (or alternatively, even if certain rumors are mostly fabricated, the very acts of fabrication are themselves interventions that make their mark like when we say that certain stories are historically significant regardless of whether they're purporting to represent true events)
replace 'rumor' and 'story' with 'sagely words' (theoretical musings, philosophical reflections, ideological proclamations, etc.) and the observation still holds for the most part
sagely words were spoken, but history was written
beyond the literal contrast between what sages say and what is written in history (a curious setup because Ravages also goes out of its way to interrogate the reliability of historical accounts), this can also be taken to mean a figurative contrast between mere opinionated utterances and the deeds that make their impact (and are memorialized) given the context that Liu Bei is telling Zhang Liao to forego the sagely advice on loyalty and choose to survive to carve his own path (so that Liu Bei can carve his own as well by taking credit for Zhang Liao's submission to Cao Cao)
but another way to look at it would be that a distinction is being made between 'what is said' (looking at history primarily as representation and interpretation and discourse, focusing on documented/stated allegations and their truth and meaning) and 'what is written' (looking at history mainly in terms of effects and traces, focusing on forces and trajectories regardless of the accuracy of the reports, in fact seeing reports themselves as symptoms and consequences)
with this in mind, we can view 'heroes' in another light, namely as historical agents who make their mark (who are not content to simply be written about in historical accounts or rumors, but who act in ways that help make or shape the historical trend)
like when we speak about 'history in the making' or 'moments that make history' (not in the sense of someone writing about something, but of doing deeds that get written about)
let us revisit for instance the story of the one-eyed assassin and Lu Bu's feat of taking out one-eyed generals, to clarify the distinction between the two ways of approaching history
under the first representational mode, someone does something, which gets talked and written about in different ways, and we focus on assessing the accuracy or fairness of the attributions and allegations (did the assassin do it by himself, how could he have killed 15 elite bodyguards, what allowed Lu Bu to sneak into a well-guarded camp, did Xu Lin really say what he supposedly said, are the rumors true, etc.)
under the second symptomatic mode, someone does something, and the subsequent writings and rumors are treated as acts in response to that other deed, and we focus on studying the fallout and the implications around an alleged happening (how did the rumor of the one-eyed assassin function, what response did the alliance have to the alleged night raid, how do the competing heroic tales impact various audiences, etc.)
the approaches are of course not mutually exclusive, though certain orientations favor one over the other
how going back to the point about 'heroes' (and note that they don't have to mean outstanding individuals, this can also refer to peoples and collectives), even if portrayals about them are inaccurate and unreliable, it still remains the case that their deeds have made some impact and that the marks and traces cannot be completely erased... but the upshot is that whatever it is that they do it's not up to them how they will be interpreted
to give another example, consider for instance the bombing operations that happen in situations of armed conflict
one approach would be to investigate who did the dirty deeds and assess which reports are reliable
the other approach would be to investigate the impact on the landscape and the responses of survivors and descendants
both are ways of reckoning with what has happened, but emphasize different things
and even though Ravages spends much time problematizing the reliability of heroic tales and official records, it also attends to and recognizes the traces and markings that remain in spite of the distortions (or better yet, that the distortions themselves constitute traces and markings of responses to what may have happened)
on a meta note, the very project of Ravages is itself a response to the impact of 3K lore, the stories that captivated a guy in HK who worked on the advertising industry, enough to want to reinterpret the alleged events and reframe a bunch of characters and make money out of the effort along the way…
but before that, perhaps these two followup sentences (also from chapter 243, which also explores some of the things featured in 209-210) best summarize the ambivalence Ravages has towards both official accounts (such as the Records) and folk recollections (exemplified by the Romance)
historical records recounted the war in Xuzhou, but not the suffering behind it
folklore recounted the bravery of heroes, but not the truth behind it
the consolation (and the frustration) is that the truth of the matter is indirectly, obliquely, and misleadingly conveyed by its traces amidst the distortions
imagine seeing the tree rings on a stump of a tree trunk, but not knowing all the details of its life and death
ome things pierce through the obstacles and reach the descendants (us) - Guan Yu's sacredness, Lu Bu's prowess
it's not as simple as that though
story-wise, we see Huang Da being mentally marked upon witnessing Lu Bu's prowess, and we see Liu Bei being emotionally touched by Guan Yu's sense of honor (to the point that both boldly foreshadow how their legacies would live on)
but what remains with 'us' (and that includes Chen Mou as fellow enthusiast of 3K lore) are assorted retellings, attestations, testimonies with their own complex histories (not to mention the studies and debates about them), the veracity of which we are unable to completely ascertain (because as has been noted even in Ravages rumors and heroic tales can be garbled, records can be partial and partisan, etc.)
thus on the one hand we're not really sure about the truth of certain propositional claims and arguments (who really convinced Cao Cao to have Lu Bu executed, how many times have Lu Bu and Guan Yu really faced each other, etc.), but on the other hand it is nonetheless true that we have with us these relics and fragments regardless of the truth of their claims (and we can appreciate how they affect us and spawn their own spinoffs as 'continuations' of that lineage, plus we can speculate about the various factors that allowed certain rumors and tales to persist but not others)
take for instance the deification of Guan Yu
we're not sure how honorable he was (based on the accepted rubrics and criteria during late Han), and it's likely there are other 'honorable' people in that period but didn't end up becoming models for veneration, yet a confluence of factors may have helped push the name of Guan Yu to become an important cultural-religious icon today (in other words, 'Guan Yu' the symbol functions as a trace and effect of generations of meaning-making, once again reiterating the point that it's not up to 'heroes' of one time how they will be viewed by others, especially in subsequent generations and thus winners cannot completely shape the narratives to their liking)
suppose (since this is an in-universe thing) Lu Bu is as mighty as is claimed about him (and more) and that we as readers get privileged access for the sake of the argument
and then, rumors and stories get circulated for various reasons and from different angles (for instance, downplaying Lu Bu as a reckless brute is in line with the superficial reading of the morale theory and Lu Bu himself happily plays along with that when he fights, even as he schemes in secret)
other people would believe what they will and interpret things in different ways, but what matters is that the rumors (especially when they're packaged as exciting tales) continue to spread beyond their original contexts (to the point we have officers from the south who dismiss Lu Bu's feats as mere exaggerations) and at times even end up recycled in historical accounts (for instance, Huang Da's attempt to write about Lu Bu)
but here's the thing, even if we didn't get to see Lu Bu in action (imagine reading only the parts of Ravages after volume 32) we still bear witness to the traces about him and so in a way his prowess lives on, but garbled and mediated and reflective of many other dynamics... I'd go further and say that even if Lu Bu was neither strong nor clever, the fabrications about him already constitute historical burning marks (a trace of a murky history of competing fabrications)
now, with full awareness of how rumors and heroic tales can be exaggerated (and may very well have been disseminated as psychological tricks) Chen Mou responds to the questions (echoed by Liu Zong) by further supposing that Lu Bu couldn't just have been some brave but reckless general to have risen to prominence, he must have been clever as well (and perhaps backed by clever colleagues), and the current images we have of him may have also been results and traces of clever maneuvering
now it goes without saying that Ravages stands out among 3K adaptations by going out of its way to reflect about its sources (and provide ample openings for readers to further the discussion on historical remembering), and perhaps the episode in chapters 209-210 (and the few followup chapters) would aptly illustrate that
many readers may remember chapters 209-210 for how it showcases Lu Bu's prowess (and then followed up by Liu Bei's resolve in chapter 211) along with the references to certain figures in the struggles before the founding of Han, but at the moment I'd like to zoom into Huang Da's eyewitness encounter and how this episode weaves together the various threads I've mentioned at some length
on the one hand, Huang Da (who is working as a historian for the imperial court under Cao Cao's patronage) has been instructed to frame his report in a certain way (to make Cao Cao's rivals and other inconvenient figures look bad), and thus his account would be prejudicial from the start and by design
but on the other hand, as he watches the scene of single battle, his vivid impression of the event (or perhaps, how the event forcefully impressed upon him) moves him enough to deviate (even if just a little bit) from the protocols assigned to him, since he is overcome with excitement and wishes to come to terms with his feelings about what unfolded before his eyes
yet another factor compounding this episode would be the ways in which he (and on a meta note, we) would process and express these feelings of grandeur, and one of them would be by projecting heroic fantasies (there are other ways to cope and deal with it, but as a literate court official writing embellished tales would be convenient for him)
in the historical account, Lu Bu was said to have had an affair with an unnamed servant of Dong Zhuo (which the Romance reframed as Wang Yun's scheme to drive a wedge between Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu) and that the coup was partly motivated by his fear of being discovered
interestingly, Huang Da was assigned to write about Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu, and that witnessing the battle with Yuan Shu was just a means to help him spin things about his main topic just like how novelists would draw inspiration from other stuff for their own works (and thus, from the start he wasn't even there to write about that battle per se, but to use the battle as an ingredient to come up with an interpretation for another historical moment that he hasn't witnessed or investigated)
but as a result, Lu Bu's performance in a later event scars his psyche (akin to a traumatic memory) and its effects seep retroactively into the portrayal of an earlier event (and arguably this tendency is rather common, notably in how nationalist movements retrieve and retell past stories in ways that echo ongoing political projects)
thus what ends up happening is, a bunch of players (with different motivations and plans) coalesce and clash and etch their amalgamated marks on the historical field, some of which include garbled historical accounts and exaggerated rumors (and forgotten names and lots of bloodshed and trauma)
Lu Bu does certain feats in one event, but those would be used to help influence how he would be interpreted in an earlier event (reinforcing the point that 'heroes don't last' and that one's personal legacy depends on the perception and reception of others)
Huang Da sets out writing a partisan account, but gets impacted by the deed anyway and offers literary concessions by embellishing Lu Bu's profile (reinforcing the point that 'moments of awe will stay' and that winners and elites don't have total control of the discourse)
now perhaps, after a preliminary exploration of some alternative approaches to history woven into Ravages (rumors and legends as vehicles of remembrance and resistance, the dialectic of traces and erasures), we can begin to approach the major discourse (about official memorial projects and their questionable reliability) and appreciate it from a broader perspective (one that doesn't assume that elites have all the initiative)
conveniently, since Huang Da operates as a functionary of history as propaganda, he shall serve as the initial guide for this sub-topic as well
before going into further detail, one note of caution
some may be tempted to draw rigid demarcations between 'official and authoritative accounts' (that are allegedly unglamorized) on the one hand, and 'legendary rumors' (that are supposedly fantastic) on the other hand (as if we could tell the difference in accuracy by simply noting the stylistic divergences), but the deeper issue is that both sides still involve accounts of heroic tales (the only difference is that some are accepted as 'facts' while others are enjoyed as 'fictions') and that this systematically skews how history is appreciated (in favor of the big names and notable figures)
that is to say, even if official accounts try to be impartial and minimize the glamor, they still utilize a variety of tropes and conventions in how they portray events, and in doing so they emphasize and embellish certain aspects while marginalizing others
and yet as Huang Da notes, we can't help but be drawn into stories (especially those involving heroes and beauties)
when certain 3K fans deride the Romance and cherish the Records, it's not simply that they want to strictly stick to 'history' but that many prefer the heroic antics in the Records over those in the Romance
quick note about the historical accounts (because throughout history, the styles have changed - nowadays with so many theoretical perspectives and frameworks there are many different ways to read and write history)
for instance, the Spring and Autumn Annals is terse and austere, presenting things in terms of months and years and providing only brief descriptions (thus the 3 main commentaries added details, with the Zuo Commentary being known for fleshing out the story and generally making things more readable and enjoyable while the other 2 focus on deriving moral lessons with some stories added)
the Warring States Stratagems by contrast is presented as a series of anecdotes and conversations grouped by state, and not necessarily arranged in chronological order
the Records of the Grand Historian compiled by Sima Qian basically provided the basic template for later dynastic historical documents, and the presentation is mainly in biographical format (the dynastic annals and the genealogies may be on the more austere side, but they still glorified heroic tales of certain clans... and then there are the 'exemplary accounts' of assorted prominent individuals), though a few portions are written as topical encyclopedias/atlases
thus even if official accounts tend to be less flashy and glamorous in content, there remains the shared framework of presenting the lives and deaths of heroes and role models
now it's important to note (before proceeding to the issue of cynical manipulation) that Sima Qian's template for historical writing includes a didactic component, whether it's the explicit character appraisals (on merit and morality) included in the biographical entries, or the way the life stories of certain villainous figures are packaged (to be fair, in the historical records it's not as if the virtuous always win, but the virtuous tend to be portrayed positively even when they die miserably)
thus in chapter 26 Yuan Wei expresses confidence (while foreshadowing Lu Bu's betrayal) that Dong Zhuo will eventually be condemned by future historians as a villainous usurper (with the implicit assumption that Dong Zhuo's dominance won't last anyway due to his cruel policies and that those who will memorialize him won't have an incentive to glorify him)
for the cynical counterpoints about the official authoritative accounts, these appear more frequently in Ravages (and readers remember this line of thinking the most especially considering that much of Ravages consists of scheming)
I note though that the shades come in different... shades (pun-intended, haha)
one relatively benign variation is accusing the accounts of being one-sided, that there may be more to the incident than what is memorialized (that perhaps certain interest groups and social strata had some axes to grind against some other movement, and so their recollections would be colored, which in turn would be reflected even in records that are simply interested in documenting what others say)
incidentally, this is one common accusation historians and critics lodge against one another
another variation casts the historians as tools or victims who are simply following guidelines (whether explicit directives to spin a story in this or that way, or simply the assumptions and conventions (such as the inherited narrative templates or moral theories) that historians take for granted) and do not have the benefit of seeing the full picture
it doesn't help that Zhang Fei is deliberately playing the fool at any rate as part of the scheming game... how would historians know and report the truth if the participants are all hiding secrets
a charge related to the second would be to accuse the historians of being simpleminded and narrow minded (basically, the idea is that while these historians may be good at documentation and tracing sources, they may be lacking in theoretical nuance or perspective, or they're using problematic frameworks)
many contemporary academic debates about historical analysis can take this form
this snippet in chapter 192 may perhaps be the first instance where Ravages explicitly articulates the claim that history is written by the winners (previously, there's Zhang Ji's sentiment about how people are perceived depending on their status (where winners are kings while losers are crooks), but that's not yet lodging a direct accusation against historians)
the focus though is on how historians (or more broadly, the literati and the intelligentsia) flatter hegemons to get on their good side and survive
but perhaps the most jaded variation comes from Cao Cao in chapter 441, where he not only repeats the claim of victors' history, there's gloating of how he as a winner of previous rounds directed historians to include the spin (Yuan Fang at least didn't care, and was merely pointing out what others try to impose or how historians try to flatter)
what's fascinating in this moment of admission is that it highlights the root of the problem... it's not that all historians want to write stories that favor winners, it's that winners try to enshrine their hegemony (in a given round of struggle) partly to consolidate that hegemony for the future, and they'd enlist recorders and document keepers for that effort
and this brings us to controversies surrounding monuments (as extensions of how dominant players memorialize their version of events)
the perilous thing about 'official' history is not that the records are automatically about lies (though the distortions can be used just like selected true statements), but that they play a role in memorializing power and legitimizing certain authorities
especially when it comes to dynastic histories from the past (and nationalistic histories of more modern times)
incidentally, a biography of Cao Cao (supposedly by some guy from Wu) was made that basically cast him in a negative light (and there's this other ancient text that featured humorous anecdotes about Cao Cao
it's important to stress these variations on a theme to disabuse readers of simplistic ideas that Ravages is just about bashing history as an excuse for its own spin, haha
now back to Huang Da (this time, focusing on his mission and his interactions with Chen Gong, who knows the game all too well)
one of the ways official accounts serve some partisan agenda would be in how praise is distributed and blame is attributed
in the historical account, it's recorded that Yuan Shu sent assassins to kill Liu Chong after the latter turned down a request
we treat (older) historical accounts as primary sources in their own right now, but that's mainly because don't have much access to whatever documents or rumors they base their accounts on
for instance, when talking about campaigns and battles, of greater primacy would be military documents pertaining to such engagements as well as eyewitness and participant testimonies (not to mention ruins and relics corroborating the records), and even those could have been skewed or at least feature incomplete perspectives especially when presented to the authorities for official memorialization
setting aside the issues on governance for this discussion (I briefly note that Liu Bei's speech while rightly pointing out the dangers of ambition for power also has a socially conservative flavor to it - in that if people just accept their place and respect the reigning authority even the most mediocre rulers can still rule well with the help of capable ministers) I turn my attention to the dual function of historical accounts for those in power as both justification and warning
on the one hand, the biographies and heroic tales involved help legitimize regimes that arise from and overthrow older ones (portrayed as either decadent or cruel and thus no longer having the mandate of heaven to rule benevolently)
on the other hand, the documentation of erstwhile regimes that collapse and lose the mandate of heaven provides a number of cautionary tales of what not to do (while the exemplary stories showcase role models for what to do)
that is to say, for all the problems and issues surrounding official authoritative accounts, they can still play ambivalent roles and provide some sort of resistance to those in positions of authority (whether it's the moralistic reminder for rulers to live up to certain ideals, or the documentation of some alternative accounts and allegations or on a more sneaky note the inclusion of schemes and cunning profiles for the ambitious and the rebellious to emulate)
I note that one of Sima Qian's narrative tricks involves displacing negative stories about a given figure in the biographical profiles of related figures (for example, Liu Bang may look good in his entry, but some embarrassing deeds of his would be mentioned in Xiang Yu's entry)
and Yuan Shu, being aware of the dynamics in how official accounts are written and read, worries about he would be portrayed (as a negative example and in turn as part of a scheme to undermine his clan)
taking all these layers and complications into account, the advice about not trusting history is less about dismissing and neglecting what the accounts say, but investigating and interrogating what they say (and from different angles)
otherwise what would Ravages have been about if it discarded 3K lore altogether
that being said and with various side tracks dealt with, we can now try to take a closer look at the conversation between Huang Da and Chen Gong, as it's a shining example of cynical players in the game talking about the history-making business
note that the two acquaintances are very much aware that both Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao have certain shady and ruthless deeds in common (even if certain motives and circumstances differ), and that the parallel accounts can be used to condemn Cao Cao and undermine his influence
but in order to deal with that (and basically an indirect concession that rumors and alternative stories about Cao Cao's cruelty cannot be completely suppressed and whitewashed) Huang Da plays the time-honored dishonorable game of saying your strongman is worse than mine, my hegemon is better than yours
since Dong Zhuo is dead (and his sympathizers have either surrendered or have been subjugated or marginalized) he can't speak for himself, and thus his legacy is now at the hands of those who have other plans and who have no interest in defending him (it's not even that Huang Da has anything against Dong Zhuo, and it doesn't seem like Cao Cao nursed a grudge for his early defeat in chapter 43, rather they simply found it convenient to emphasize Dong Zhuo's cruelty and combine it with some other unflattering personal descriptions)
note also that the emphasis isn't on making one's side look really virtuous, but rather on making the other side look bad in comparison (which plays into the many 'lesser evil' arguments about regimes and elites that people like to play which in turn bolsters the framework of heroic tales and 'great men' while pushing the masses to the sidelines)
and it goes without saying that the attempts to disfigure the reputation of someone would count as traces of desperation and responses to the predicament of someone else
the conversation between these two acquaintances then turns toward the conjectural approach applied to the situation in Qin (and that Ravages as a whole applies to 3K lore)
I should note that this is a double-edged sword, for on the one hand (especially in contexts of adapting texts and expanding their horizons of meaning) such suppositions help explore or construct new lines of thinking, while on the other hand (as far as investigating the truth of things is concerned) the suggestions can mislead and even devolve into vulgar revisionist approaches more concerned about replacing one hero with another than with getting a fuller picture or anachronistic projections that uncritically import contemporary concerns and circumstances into the past
‘knowing how smart the first emperor was’
the danger is in taking this too literally (since as Li Deng notes, accomplishments attributed to a single individual may very well have been the result of collective effort) and going on to assume that because he's so smart, he has therefore prepared foolproof steps to prevent his heir from becoming 'a foolish hedonist' and ruining the empire he has established (and then jumping to the conclusion that the second emperor like the first must have been this great guy but some sneaky opportunists merely ruined his reputation and that of his dad)
another, more nuanced way of looking at (and utilizing) this conjectural approach, taking into consideration the other lines of thinking explored throughout the series, would be that the second emperor may not have been as bad and incapable as the records attest, but due to various factors certain schemers won out in the power struggle after the death of the first emperor (who may have been cunning enough to lead armies to unify the central plains under heaven, but was merely one cunning player among many)
after all, Ying Zheng did try to present himself as a messianic emperor after unification, going all over the realm and memorializing how great he was and how the heavens favored him to be the one to end the history of war (not to mention his grand palace and mausoleum projects)
it's important to look back at the earlier instance (in chapter 102) where Chen Gong engaged in such conjectures, since it's more methodologically restrained in tone compared to the smug performance with Huang Da in chapter 209
here he's telling apprentice advisers that the mention of certain names into official accounts (no matter how garbled the portrayal) counts as an indirect trace of whatever notability and merit the figures may have had (which is not the same as saying that every talent is automatically recorded, but that at least certain talents lucky enough to be noticed and remembered get recorded)
and in a military context, he offers a warning not to underestimate enemy generals and commanders just because they're alleged to be 'brave but reckless' but instead to treat them as if they were potential 'war gods' just to be on the safe side (basically reverse engineering the morale theory while trying to boost the morale of his apprentices by telling them they've progressed in the scheming game)
and this is what makes things tricky and messy: just because one portrayal is partial and problematic (and may have been the result of much scheming) doesn't mean some other alternative portrayal isn't similarly partial and problematic (and beholden to schemes)
certain 'heroes' couldn't have been that incompetent, but then again aren't certain accounts of 'heroes' exaggerations (and yet who doesn't like 'heroic tales')
pushing this tension further, perhaps the reconciliation that Ravages has been hinting at is that there are many scheming 'heroes' under heaven (which is one step closer to affirming as radical theorists do that the masses are the real heroes of history)
of course it would be unfair to characterize all attempts at history-making as bereft of any measure of integrity (it's just that those who profess their loyalty to the craft more than to any of the contending factions could get themselves in trouble)
and insofar as historians are themselves participants in the historical stage (rather than immortal observers) the irony is that attempts at fair historical investigation (or more generally, attempts at non-partisan research on anything) depend on the socio-political situation on the ground (and thus their survival or flourishing is not on neutral ground)
scholars get sponsored or silenced, researchers publish at their own risk or with the tacit toleration of those around them, etc
and then there are the occasional historical ironies showing that winners and elites cannot completely shape historical discourse to their liking
Sima Qian was made a eunuch, but he gets to laugh after (until some generation discards his legacy and laughs at him)
at the end of the day, when cynical (and cynically partisan) folks say that winners write history (whether out of despair, or because they think it's all a game for them to win), what is neglected is that winners and losers are but playthings to history
Lu Bu was portrayed as a reckless brute, but who could have predicted that some guy in HK would tell things differently centuries later
if there's a good illustration of how we stand in relation to history, it would be these kids playing the role of pundits
on the one hand, their criticisms (about chained ships being easier to target in a fire attack) make sense given the limited information that they have, but on the other hand they do not have access to the fuller details (the meticulous preparations and schemes during the Chibi arc) and even to this day regimes and factions conceal many things
and yet problems or flaws don't stop narratives from spreading, and the spread of misunderstandings and disinformation is very much part of the historical process
‘you won't understand history without knowing how to lie’
the shallower lesson is: we see misrepresentations and dissimulations happening around us, so historical records must all be a misrepresentation or dissimulation written by the winners
the deeper lesson is: we see misrepresentations and dissimulations happening around us, so history must have unfolded with one misrepresentation and dissimulation after another (implicating the records)
thus far much of the discussion has been about multiple channels of remembering, or dubious representations of the past, or enigmatic marks and traces of historical unfolding
to complete the puzzle (and return our gaze to the scheming game), certain portions of Ravages also highlight how beyond the relationship with the past, historical accounts (and rumors, and heroic tales, and even the most careful of research) can also be weaponized as tools of the present to help shape and rig the future
after all, one reason why winners insist on memorializing their hegemony is not just for the sake of memory, but also to preserve influence and authority
moralists include didactic lessons in historical accounts and heroic tales not just to remember the past, but to educate and indoctrinate the next generation
this brings us back full circle... upon revisiting chapter 7, we could see that even though Liu Zong and Li Deng discussed various ways to understand rumors and heroic tales, first and foremost their concern is about utilizing them to boost allied morale and undermine enemy morale (discussions on people's history and folk remembering are beside the point to them even though we as readers may be more interested to explore such topics for our own research and advocacy)
and so over and beyond the oft-repeated phrase of history written by the winners, there's the more general point about historical texts being used as manuals and instruments of warfare and statecraft (and this ruthless instrumentalist approach animates many of the intentional manipulations and distortions and rumormongering that we see throughout the series)
in this mindset, certain lies can be just as useful as certain truths (Liu Bei's heroic tales gained him much influence, Zhang Fei playing dumb helped him advance certain schemes, Yang Xiu killed Yuan Shao with a true admission)
note that the distinction between truth and lies isn't abandoned, only that questions of truth are subordinated to matters of power and hegemony (or alternatively, that what is being pursued are ways to make certain dreams of power and hegemony true while sidelining the quests for the truth about the world, about heaven, etc.)
and in a way, this realization is scarier but also potentially more empowering than the despair about winners writing history
now, some may think that I've been needlessly meandering about assorted stuff without a common thread, so I'll summarize (also to show I could write concisely)
Ravages does not simply state that history is written by the winners since it also explores how (1) the influence of narratives and discourses still depends on the people who encounter and participate in them, (2) there remain alternative channels and currents of remembering such as rumors and heroic legends, and (3) combinations of events and actions leave traces and generate effects and that coverup and distortion attempts are themselves marks of complicated historical processes.
However, Ravages does focus on how (4) various factions especially the dominant ones attempt to memorialize things and manipulate historical records, since (5) historical representations and relics can be repurposed as tools alongside various materials in present struggles for future plans.
but really, to boil it down further into a provocative soundbite that imitates Ravages parallelisms, the common thread would be something like this
history is questionable
interrogate history
whereas the previous part mainly focused on the mixed messages in Ravages about issues of historical truth and representation, the next part of this extended reflection would revolve around certain theories about history that are touched upon or alluded to in Ravages
I think it's important to point out that while Ravages does explore various grand theories about how the world under heaven unfolds (a discussion distinct from issues and questions about the reliability of historical representation), for the most part the series does not take time to articulate the premises and arguments of the various views in detail, letting the story as it were provide material for further reflection by readers
that being said, these teases about speculative theses occur as early as the dream scene in chapter 1, where Sima Yi mocks but is also intrigued by the notion of dreams as omens or signs
in this mythic view of the historical process (one that has a long pedigree and still survives to this day), human and earthly events are entangled with cosmic correlations and codes (conveniently attached to existing traditions of meaning-making) that may help understand what's to come (or at least, provide a broad picture of how events are tied together in the larger scheme of things)
even Sima Yi's counterpoint (thinking about dreams as hidden desires rather than as heavenly decrees) still falls under this pattern of interpreting visions in relation to happenings
a related variation sees dreams as mirror worlds or shadow worlds, provoking thorny questions about what we really know about the real (though Ravages doesn't get into that aspect and I wish it did)
more figuratively though, this line of thinking stresses the ephemeral and transient character of events flowing in (the ravages of) time (we get into this when we try to gaze back at what has already passed especially that pastime of reminiscing the good old days or the days of youth, viewing things in abstraction)
on the flip side, likening dreams to life points to the vivid character of certain dreams (especially when we're caught up in them), perhaps hinting that the relation between dream and life can be boiled down to a matter of two perspectives (detachment can make things seem dreamlike, immersion can render visions lifelike)
dreams can also mean fantasies, ideological programs, abstractions and not just literal sleep states
in any case, these views are more about how we are to orient ourselves with the things around us (whether it's searching for coherent patterns, or letting go and staying chill)
one view that puts more focus on how history changes (but still retains a cosmic scope and character) is the notion that the world undergoes certain ages or epochs (this can be linear, or it can be cyclical)
Jia Xu's iteration of it (and incidentally this emphasis on fate and cosmic order distinguishes his outlook in life from that of Guo Jia) basically involves an age of darkness/chaos/war and an age of light/order/peace alternating one another (incidentally this simplifies the cosmological account from a cycle involving the 5 elements to a cycle just involving yin and yang)
a less cosmologically charged framing of things involves acknowledging that people can behave in different ways according to different situations (or perhaps, that they can undergo conversions and changes in outlook along the way)
that is to say, we can talk about historical 'eras' not so much as a dance of cosmic forces but more as configurations of how people deal with and interact in changing circumstances
another way of interpreting heavenly intent and providential direction in history has to do with the discussion on 'luck' (that is to say, with the surplus combination of factors and balance of forces that are not totally controlled by any worldly historical player)
Taking plot armor and using it as a thematic exploration, haha
now, Ravages really over-emphasizes the scheming game (but in doing so, this highlights the fortuitous character of certain outcomes which aren't determined by just the schemes)
imagine if Xiahou Dun arrived late during the showdown in Puyang (Lu Bu could probably still lose (because of the defection of the former yellow turbans) but Cao Cao could have been dead)
or if Ma Chao arrived too late to save Lu Bu, or if Guo Jia arrived too late to save Jia Xu or if Zhang Liao arrived too late to save Lu Bu vs. Dian wei
those factors cannot be sufficiently covered and controlled by sheer planning unless one has enough powers to bend material conditions more significantly and can scheme in such a fashion
So if Lu Bu and Cao Cao were saved that day, does that mean Jia Xu's favoritism was wrong? I guess that means Jia Xu chose the wrong guy (and heaven is laughing at him)
and if there is good fortune (favorable conditions plus serendipitous advantages), there's also bad fortune (unfavorable conditions plus inconvenient accidents)
I think the inverse of the Ravages approach to storytelling (which emphasizes a surplus of planning) would involve really zooming in on the blunders, accidents, happenstances that prevent people from fully accomplishing their plans (and this would make certain plans shine more because they are lucky enough to take off)
"heaven does not favor one guy, but could be trolling here and there, by helping several"
Ravages also briefly entertains the notion of a teleological direction to history (based on the purposes that players strive to fulfill)
now this can be read tendentiously as saying that certain people are predestined to certain outcomes (or that people with certain traits and deeds are bound to receive certain consequences), but another way of looking at it would be in terms of the paths people head towards based on who they are and what they stand for and how they respond
that is to say, rather than assuming that Cao Cao was fated to defeat Lu Bu no matter what (or that one necessarily dies by the sword because one lived by it), one could say that Lu Bu ended up the way he did because his actions and values steered him towards a certain direction kind of like how fire will keep burning until it is extinguished under certain conditions because that's how it is (but conversely, Cao Cao did what he did due to the directions he embraced and it just so happens that Cao Cao and Lu Bu collided)
of course, chance and luck also play a part (particularly in the interactions) even in a historical framework that assumes that things move in a certain direction... and this adds a tragic layer to the historical process under this reading in that people are just trying to fulfill their potential (but the collisions mean that some end up unfulfilled due to various conditions that themselves have their own tendencies and dispositions)
and then there's the perspective that starts from the silence of heaven (either because heaven is dead or heaven behaves regularly without care) when it comes to how the world unfolds (and thus one cannot discern in a straightforward manner what heaven intends as history plays out)
now one thing that Ravages extensively explores is the notion of a general 'mood' to history, and what Ravages posits is that it can be said to be spectacular yet gloomy ever so eventful full of ups and downs (arguably, this sets the tone for the series as a whole and explains why the narrative is so melancholic)
and then of course there's the polysemous notion of 'continuation', which may perhaps be the main thread of thinking that Ravages pursues in its engagement with history: “It is a despicable method by a lord to protect his own interest. Ignorance is not a crime, nor is it fated. Heaven knows that men are ignorant and does not expect them to learn from their follies immediately. But there is the expectation for mankind to improve over each generation.”
anyway, just a side track on the scattered reflections on aesthetics in Ravages (because this aspect also goes to show (in exaggerated and intellectualized fashion) an acknowledgment that the unfolding of history is not just about seizing power and imposing principles)
for instance, for all the hellishness that is warfare, participants can still find some touching moments (which is not to say that war is needed for aesthetic expression and appreciation, but rather that at the very least with these offhand moments (and other coping mechanisms) the brutalized and traumatized participants aren't completely dehumanized)
even the pursuit of power is overlaid with affective and artistic dimensions and we can see this in how winners like to memorialize their hegemony in style complete with heroic tales and engineering projects (the connection between aesthetics and politics has been theorized by various thinkers at this point)
in a way, the histories of struggle involve histories of players pursuing different arts and scenarios: “if one were never to be witness to this beautiful scenery, one would never understand the mind of those with ambition.”
and then of course there are the petty (but still all too mundane) passions and the scandals that arise from them
Ravages doesn't have to present this dimension in titillating detail to acknowledge it (and I'm glad that it doesn't do so)
lastly, that certain characters could wax poetic and philosophize in the middle of battle, that even nameless minions could scheme and see through schemes, portray (albeit in exaggerated fashion) the idea that even in times of mass conflict other cultural and intellectual developments are also going on (and that it's possible to think beyond partisan concerns to some extent)
now, some may wonder why I didn't discuss the notion of 'continuation' in much detail
I think one good avenue to explore its nuances is by examining certain episodes in Ravages that talk about the overall state of affairs in-universe (along with possible factors and roots) as well as musings on the more ancient past and perhaps some portions that talk as if in reference to contemporary times... that way, we can survey what it means for the historical process to be a continuation of spectacle and gloom (amidst the ravages of time)
we begin with this apocalyptic picture of the realm as a rotting carcass that people can't wait to sell (out) for their own gain
the suggestion then is that the cancerous socio-political order has festered and lingered (that is to say, what has continued is this state of decay much to the gloom of those who live with it) but it can only last so long before it collapses altogether (and thus people are seeking ways to 'continue' anew in the new world by selling out as best as they can)
basically a pessimistic and morbid theory of historical change, but one that prioritizes populations as the smart birds who choose the branch they rest on over political institutions
a similar view that articulates societal decline and decadence heading towards catastrophe and collapse is espoused by Dong Zhuo as early as chapter 8, where he denounces the corrupt system for allowing a usurper such as himself to rise to prominence
here though the emphasis is not so much on the selling (where people switch their loyalties or just abandon ship), but on the taking and the seizing (in this case, the usurpation can be seen as the culminating 'continuation' of the corruption that fostered this new breed of viciousness, bringing a spectacular phase to a gloomy trend and with a silver lining in the prospects of radical reform if the tyrant happens to be driven by certain ideals and isn't in it simply for hegemony)
the idea then is that strongmen and warlords are symptoms and continuations of the greater systemic problem, that historical change emerges from forceful power struggle
a related variation but with a more messianic and reformist twist is featured in chapter 85, where the old commoner is pleading for Cao Cao to forcefully take over so as to stop the 'continuation' of chaos similar to that of the warring states period (while Guo Jia on the side is preaching about the common desire for 'peace' that helped Qin achieve unification)
in this case, there is a greater emphasis on rupturing the old order, although the undercurrent of 'continuation' can be found in the supposition that people would go on to support the radical reformer in cleaning house (in the hope of a spectacular new beginning that pierces through the gloomy situation)
additionally, the picture of historical change takes on a more positive note, whereby people are seeking to 'continue' in a better world and so would lend their aid to those who they see as capable of delivering the goods
note also that Cao Cao goes on to criticize Qin Shihuang for failing to 'continue' properly (which led to the early collapse of Qin)
‘The discontentment of the masses has sharpened it into the pinnacle of desire. Sun Ce is but one of these sharp fingers.’
this one (from Yu Ji's sermon before his death in chapter 316) may perhaps be one of the sharpest articulations in Ravages of a people's history... here it is the masses who 'continue' to suffer gloomy lives and thus sharpen their discontent and rage, finding spectacular expression in (or being co-opted by) opportunistic figures such as Sun Ce and even Yu Ji himself
whereas the sellout scenario tends to paint a somewhat individualistic (almost market-oriented) view of historical change, this articulation highlights the people as collective agents of historical change even if they end up channeling their energy through individuals or organizations
now it goes without saying that the loyalist's preferred model of 'continuation' is the preservation of the current order, where authority gets peacefully handed down from one generation to the next according to a set rule of succession (with some improvements when needed, but firmly insisting that the social order not be upended unless really necessary)
before I continue, I'd like to note (since I forgot to add this earlier) that Ji Ling's speech also articulates a view of history in terms of ages or eras, but unlike the simpler dynamic of darkness and light, Ji Ling brings up the idea (citing the Guanzi, but also found in other taoist-inspired texts) that when one quality reaches its extreme, it shifts in polarity to the opposite (in this case, once a social order reaches its peak at some point, it declines then paves the way for a new one)
and then there's the view (similar to the dynamic between dreams and reality, but less cosmological and more literary) that the unfolding of historical events takes on narrative and rhetorical characteristics (mainly because the players behave in ways that emulate and inspire a number of story tropes and conventions)
prehistoric actions may not have been as codified and narrativized, but with the development of cultures and literary forms people perform in ways that have to do not just with the immediate events but also with the world of texts and tales that they grew up in
now we proceed to examine certain episodes in Ravages that involve sweeping and grandiose claims (that presuppose certain political orientations) about general human history from time immemorial
Lu Bu's version in chapter 123 at first talks about a gloomy history of human ignorance and animalistic servility, and he positions himself as the 'enlightened hero' who rejects the chains of loyalty and spectacularly rises from the pack (of course the paradox as is made clear is that even his rise to power was only made possible due to loyal retainers such as Zhang Liao)
but then as he continues to reflect he backtracks (a bit) from the posturing of superiority, and zooms in on the prospect that perhaps throughout history there have been some animals (like himself) who at least try to rebel in spectacular fashion against the gloomy flow of things, even if it means being crushed at the end by larger forces (this angle is revisited in chapter 237 as Lu Bu tries to hold back the flood while raging against heaven, insisting on continuing his own way)
thus as a whole rather than a pompous declaration of a 'god of war' who is beyond mortals, the reflection becomes more like a call to 'existentialist' rebellion even in the face of the absurd
next we move to Yuan Shu's approach to 'continuation' which sees usurpation and regime change as the underlying historical and political tradition that continues behind and beyond every regime
now at first, in chapter 134 his articulation takes on a somewhat progressivist tone, emphasizing how the old must be torn down from time to time to make room for the new (and how his bid to declare a separate regime is to nurture the people in a new world order and protect them from the old)
however, a more elitist slant is emphasized in chapter 174, where Yuan Shu speaks about the immemorial history of servitude and the gloomy search for a spectacular master (and that ultimately what he's trying to 'continue' is the lineage of certain people stepping up to be the new master replacing the old)
turning to Sun Ce, we see yet another instance where someone talks about a miserable history of servitude, but this time he adds another angle, namely the history of repeated (failed) attempts to come up with principles that will uplift and save all people from their condition
on the one hand, there's a concession that perhaps humans share some sense of basic equality, but on the other hand, the idea is that people are equally in a gloomy situation and share a slavish trait (and that those lucky enough to stand out get to use that slavishness to consolidate their hegemony)
according to the view Sun Ce articulates (and I've noted in another instance how he may just be repeating elitist discourses and that his more honest opinion is the one about hunting as a way to cope with trauma and complication), on the spectacular side, humans don't have to compete much with other creatures, but on the gloomy side, heaven arranged for humans to struggle against one another
there is a history of servility, coupled with a history of struggle and one-upmanship (to see which of the privileged few can rise to the top and manipulate the slavish traits of others)
incidentally, Cao Cao echoes the negative view of this approach (how elites manipulated the people for centuries, how loyalty is a method to keep people in line, how Confucius and Mencius helped perpetuate the chains that bind people)
whereas Liu Bei came up with a more positive view (that the teachings of Confucius and Mencius were well-meaning attempts to mitigate the gloomy history of servitude by tempering hegemony with virtue and righteousness, and to emphasize the path of constructive 'continuation')
Ling Tong's intervention (as he attempts to motivate and console Sun Ce in chapter 309) sadly reiterates the elitist approach, this time by insisting on a hierarchy where those who happen to understand how the game works automatically have more value (and whose lives must 'continue' at the expense of those who understand less and therefore deserve to be dominated)
note that when Sun Ce talked about continuation in 294, he merely noted that one 'continues' by struggling to get ahead (which doesn't oblige those below to sacrifice themselves to ensure that someone gets ahead as that's loyalty discourse speaking, when used by those on top to manipulate those below)
then again, in context, Ling Tong can be said to appropriate confucian logic by saying to Sun Ce, if you're a hegemon then act like a hegemon…
indirectly, Ling Tong by his performance unveils another gloomy history, namely that of servants who justify their masters and help them 'continue'
this even twists Sun Ce's discourse in 294 because Sun Ce explicitly noted that humans at least start on equal footing (but struggle to one-up one another) whereas Ling Tong now likens those who understand more to be tigers hunting other beasts
on the plus side though, setting the elitist pep-talk aside, Ling Tong also highlights the idea that continuation also involves continued improvement in understanding (the statement in chapter 406 which I featured earlier then further adds that the expectation is for improvement to happen collectively from one generation to another setting up a rather whiggish liberal view of 'continuation' as some sort of social progress)
we then come to the view of history as a process that involves the continuation of understanding (almost like the hegelian view of the dialectic of the absolute spirit coming into self-consciousness)
now I'd like to note that Taishi Ci's words about the long river exemplify 'continuation' in its most progressivist sense (about one generation succeeding and surpassing the next)
meanwhile, Sima Yi expresses the most vulgar interpretation of 'continuation' in terms of reproduction, haha
(though this opens things up to broader and anachronistic metaphors from biological scientific discourse)
Sun Quan has perhaps the most cynical iteration of 'continuation' (since he wishes to continue his hegemony)
‘I will tell you this - history merely repeats itself! Whatever discontent you feel, or your wish to change the world - all futile! Because without change to the root, it will grow the same fruit’
it's almost as if the suggestion seems to be, history is about the people 'continuing' to pursue power in spectacular and gloomy ways and that there's no way out of this. Power is everything - there really is no point in trying to compromise with others, because if the system stays the same, then eventually it will go back to the previous form, so uncompromised power is what gives someone freedom to either continue his own hegemony in a way he will be pleased, at least, but he will also have freedom to change the system fundamentally, so after he leaves, the system won’t fall back to its former form.
the suggestion also seems to be that Sun Quan can't keep up with the other games people play (with respect to Han loyalty and all that), but by insisting on prioritizing his clan power he's 'continuing' the history of power struggle and power grabs
And the example of things going back to its form is presented by Taishi Ci in this very chapter - back then, Sun Ce criticized the very concept of loyalty to recruit him… but Taishi Ci ended up being blinded by his loyalty towards Sun Ce (thus the fundament for parallelism and the exploration of Sun Quan’s character is laid out, so I will discuss that as well later on)
Jiang Qin articulates a similar cynical view (that it's all about a history of killing) without the nuances that Sun Ce adds in his discussion, though perhaps one bright spot is how this gloomy trend nonetheless includes shining spectacular moments of heroism (such as the battle in Chibi)
and then there's this floating text in chapter 150, which seems rather trivial in comparison, but this can be seen more as a meditation on the transience and vanity of human endeavors
I already mentioned and explored how 'continuation' (much like 'identity' which seems to be closely related to it) is a polysemous notion taking on different nuances and open to assorted interpretations and extrapolations
this also means that 'continuation' [繁衍] is not by itself a distinct and unique theoretical approach (a big -ism) but is more like a concept that various theories and schools share and struggle over... and thus far we've tried to survey the ways Ravages deals with the issue of what 'continues' (and must 'continue') as history moves along
one could even say that Ravages is suggesting a meta-history whereby people throughout history strive to articulate different ways of how to 'continue' (and that the struggles involving these divergent paths result in an overall historical tone that is spectacular yet gloomy and ever so eventful with ups and downs)
some wish to continue their lineage, some wish to continue their wealth and hegemony, some wish to continue pursuing the truth of things, some wish to continue fighting and scheming, some wish to continue the current order, some with to continue finding the greater good...
and yet at the very least there is the expectation (or wish) that things somehow improve in each generation or epoch
and on that note one can connect the discourses on 'continuation' to that of 'loyalty' (though I won't get into the latter too much at this point that can be saved for a later thematic discussion on how Ravages delves into matters of politics and governance)
note that while Sun Ce starts by dismissing (the discourse of) loyalty as a method used by elites to manipulate the masses, he introduces a dialectical move (sort of like the hegelian discussion about master and slave) that reveals how elites ultimately don't own loyalty (and thus aren't owed loyalty), but instead the energy of loyalty comes from the masses (who long for a good world, for some clear meaning, for a happy and stable life but whose wishes are co-opted as they are sent to their deaths)
a related note about loyalty can also be seen in Lu Bu's monologue... he may have disdain for it (perhaps he thinks himself to be not beholden or inferior to anyone) but he recognizes that societies and polities are built on networks that involve some sort of loyalty (or at least some related value and trait such as solidarity or friendship)
Traitors need to exploit loyalty (and collude with partners-in-crime who are loyal to the plan) to rise, spies and sleeper agents may be out to backstab someone but it's out of loyalty to someone or something else…
though if everyone was out against everyone else (in a literal instance of the hobbesian war or all against all) things would look messy all around (but the plus side is that the violence won't be so organized and massive in scale)
it could be said that shifting loyalties (or rather, the ambivalence about the direction of loyalty) is related to the issue of what to 'continue'
and then there's the issue of the difference between external appearance and internal essence especially when it comes to assessing loyalty... certain groups of people may have worked things out for a certain period, but who knows what they are really committed to (and what it is they wish to 'continue' at the end of the day)
thus it would seem that the history of betrayals and defections is but part of a wider history of loyalty and 'continuation' (but the terms and parameters of which are contested)
of the many portions in Ravages that deal with the topic of history, perhaps chapter 180 (as I've mentioned before in a previous discussion) reiterates many of the issues in condensed fashion
for instance, there's the question of whether to privilege a 'great man' historical narrative, or to analyze history in terms of larger forces and factors
there's also an inkling of people's history (and an indictment of how historical accounts neither access nor present the fuller picture)
the chapter even includes its own iteration of how things 'continue' (with the emphasis on struggles and projects that later generations inherit from previous ones) but within a broader cyclical context
in addition, the chapter also includes an ironic view of 'continuation' (in that while people continue to learn along the way, the lessons don't get properly transmitted and so the historical process involves people continuing to relearn the lessons in their own way over and over)
on the one hand, there's the admission of insufficient information, that our access to the past remains ever sketchy and foggy
on the other hand, it's also worth keeping in mind that rather than just the issue of incomplete and partial accounts (as if all we have to do is find or make complete and impartial ones) our predicament is more about dealing with an abundance of factors, of forces, of players, of angles, of meanings…
and yes, we also keep in mind certain things may have been unduly marginalized and never given fair recognition and appreciation (and that perhaps we might not be able to fully render them their due)
and yet there's the realization that while many things in the past remain unresolved and undeciphered, there's the future to win (or lose)
MORALITY AND GOVERNANCE
I suppose it would be good to start with this as an introductory note:
“Master once said: The greater good is a vague notion. That’s why the eight of us did not reach a consensus on the political view. We are taught by what the ancient sages teach us. We are enlightened by what reality teaches us. Sometimes principle and truth always diverge.”
Anyone can share thoughts on morality, really, any story has some morality in them. you know how in a bunch of series there'd always be comments pontificating about the best course of action or the best outcome (or side rants about tangentially related pet peeves), yet in Ravages we hardly see even this
some stories abuse one-note "greater good" in a cheap manner, to the point of seeming like propaganda, even ignoring that there can be selfish people and they too can have nuances.
discourse about the greater good is always about propagating some ideal and propping it up as higher than particular interests or desires, so it goes with the territory... the question is the nuance and sensitivity in the discussion.
on the flip side, many who disdain such discourse do so not for any particular principled stance (say, a deontologist complaining about utilitarian notions of justice), but more due to broadly liberal sensibilities (or insistences on self-interest and particular desires)
the really lopsided tendency I notice in some comments (especially when talking about more political issues) is when on the one hand they disavow from the high-minded ideals and on the other hand insist on 'consequences' and 'comeuppances' based on existing power dynamics as if they were natural
but hey, people tend to pivot to what they prefer (or what they acquiesce to)
on a related note, Chen Mou himself hardly comments on contemporary issues directly as a minor public celebrity of sorts (it's the editor who tends to be a little bit more outspoken though I note that while the editor did speak about the 2014 protests he didn't say much about the 2019 protests)
there are some indirect glimpses in the afterwords though, perhaps Chen Mou is walking a tight rope, aware of the competing voices in HK (and how certain moves could affect his career)
“Remember, everyone, some things you must fight for, but it’s too late for some people.
The scariest thing is, we have already grown blind to it.
As a child I learned in history class that the ancient Chinese suffered through all kinds of foreign oppressions.
Now that I’m older I tend to read deeper into things.
And turns out those foreign people were oppressed by us so much that they had to fight back.
Invasions became expeditions; only historians would write such lies.”
people remember the first chapter for the dream scene, but within its pages we can also see how Ravages dives into matters of grave importance from the very start
even the very first black text of the series contains an ethical element: how does one face one's mortality? how ought one to live unto death?
on the issue concerning the value of life, at times some try to calculate a price tag for certain people while ruthlessly devaluing others (note that portion of chapter 4 indirectly addresses the question in chapter 1 in a cheap way by saying it's worth sacrificing a few scapegoats to preserve our wealth and prestige)
but it would be misleading to end it at that and assume Ravages endorses an utterly cynical view, for the reason such calculations are made in the first place is that swords are placed by some people over others who are then pressured to cut costs and look at things in terms of assets and liabilities
it's important to note that Ravages does not go out of its way to be simplistically edgy and say that all talk of goodness and virtue is empty and pretentious
rather, one common thread in the ethical exploration revolves around the issue of how one can live as best as one could (seeking the greater good, answering the call of duty, cultivating virtue, etc.) in a messed-up and disordered world
the re-characterization of the peach garden bros is the first sustained effort in grappling with this issue
too bad their ways are going against each other that way and they end up butchering each other. the crux of the issue is that they live in disordered times and try to impose order in an attempt to solve this, and the common result (whoever wins) tends to be the loss of lives. it's inevitable to not have a conflict, as soon as there is a connection with people - people cant just exist totally isolated from each other. I wouldn't say the confrontation is inevitable, what's inevitable is that if everyone insists and imposes (without regard), then they end up treating one another with enmity
conflict is one thing and people with divergent views and competing interests have to deal with that, resolving or perpetuating them by means of violence and deceit (and organized violence and deceit) is another
on that note, in chapter 5, even though Liu Bei isn't thinking about enriching himself and only wants to spare the people from further harm (as the Guandong alliance marches to confront Dong Zhuo), he still had to engage in some level of violence and deceit
conflict is one thing, civil war is another. the peach garden bro's problem is solving the civil war. the problem is when conflict blows up into open war (or alternatively, when other ways of resolving conflict have been undermined to the point that armed struggle is the only viable option left to address an underlying situation)
now one other interesting thing about the incident in chapter 5 is that is wasn't just about Liu Bei or his intentions, it's also about how with a few small dastardly deeds (unjustifiably beating up an administrator, further defaming Dong Zhuo for atrocities he didn't even order, traumatizing a few in the process of expropriating wealth for redistribution) he 'encouraged' the people to decide in ways that would help save them when faced with bigger forces Liu Bei can't do much about
since the worst victims of organized armed conflict tend to be unarmed commoners caught in the crossfire, Liu Bei in a way nudged them a bit to take matters into their own hands (welcoming the Guandong alliance to indirectly dissuade the new troops from looting, directing their anger against Dong Zhuo)
Liu Bei could have tried persuading the city to let the alliance in, but that wouldn't have stopped the looting…
of course, making the most out of a messed-up situation is one thing, asking about what led to the situation (and thinking about how to remedy it) is another, and here we delve more into matters of governance, statecraft, and the political arena
it's interesting to note how Ravages re-characterizes Dong Zhuo as an entry point into this larger and more systemic concern (we'll get more into the diagnoses once we revisit the debate between Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao or his body double)
it's important to emphasize, Dong Zhuo made some important points, but those don't justify his takeover attempt (that is to say, he exploited the situation too but at least wants to talk to the emperor about it, perhaps part of his ambition also involves enacting significant reforms in his name, walking the fine line between righteousness and self-interest)
another extended meditation on how messed-up warfare is unfolds as Liaoyuan Huo proceeds to kill a bunch of officers just to save one life for the sake of a mission
‘And human lives on a battlefield lose all meaning.’
note that the claim isn't that life is devoid of meaning and that's exposed in war, rather it's that when people are thrust in situations of vicious confrontation, considerations of meaning and value fade away as one hangs on to survive (of course, we've come up with many ways to glorify war and imbue it with some meaning, but that only shows that we have to be motivated or blinded by something else just to keep engaging in such senseless mass slaughter)
Yet he also has an excuse to himself that helps him cope with it, waiting for a man who is capable of changing that. ah, the paradox of waging war with the goal of putting an end to it
While he does make some justifiable arguments, at the end of the day, Dong Zhuo is just the next in a long line of people taking advantage of the chaos. Even in Ravages, he isn't using his authority to help the starving, or stabilize the country. He uses it to take. And then posits that it's okay because that's what everyone does.
"get me if you can and improve the world, I dare you" as if he purposely makes himself as a center of corruption
it's like Dong Zhuo diagnoses the problem, but him taking over isn't the (only) solution
There is an argument to be made for "Might makes Right" and how that's actually the way the world at large works. So there's perceivable validity in propping yourself up as an obstacle so that they next one who comes along has the means to see their will through. Unfortunately, the bulk of this burden falls on the people, who were already dying en masse for political machinations they probably had no idea of. That's what makes Cao Cao's introduction so endearing for me. He himself goes through those common struggles purposefully, and comes up with solutions to provide some measure of sustainability for the people during this near ceaseless war. (Soldiers farming)
now a brief note on 'might makes right' and what makes it problematic and simplistic
setting aside the more principled arguments (that it mischievously conflates what those in power do to maintain their privilege and advantage to the question of what it means for something to be right, that it either glorifies domination as right or dismisses any notion of right as mere pretense rather than engaging with the question), the more practical problem is that it's not as if some mighty figure literally dominated everyone else to gain their submission and establish legitimate authority (rather, when certain elites and regimes take the reins it's the result of complicated negotiations and coercions, using violence to suppress one group, cajoling another group to go along, etc.)
moreover, while it is the case that those in advantageous positions get to set the rules and rig the games, they do so by extracting and exploiting the labor of others who are made to go along... thus it isn't just 'might', there's also a con involved (and here we get to how Ravages constantly emphasizes how 'methods' and 'tricks' are used to enslave people)
generally, the meditations and reflections of Ravages can be grouped into 4 main concerns
living unto death (and this includes the interrogations of heroism and virtue)
relating with others (and this includes the problems of reputation and remembrance)
governing the world (and this includes the matter of acquiring legitimacy)
the greater good (and all the debates as to what this means)
the groupings themselves are not special (this is the stuff of much thinking about morality and governance, politics and ideology), but I note that Ravages does what it can to articulate various views and paths touching upon those aspects, within limited parameters
in addition I shall also try to unearth little hints and oblique gestures that may be (mis)interpreted to address certain concerns not directly confronted in the text
one early question concerns whether one should be 'thrifty' or 'extravagant' when it comes to how one devoting one's life or treading one's path: should one offer everything in earnest and live to the fullest, or should one learn to hold back and prepare for better opportunities?
note that the issue isn't just about choosing between selfishness or sacrifice (one can die in vain for wealth or justice all the same), or between sincere passion and duplicitous detachment (since Lu Bu is also risking his life and expanding his labor to help Dong Zhuo so he can backstab his master later), the question is what to do when one is faced with an imminent dead end
one governance issue early Ravages deals with concerns the complacency and complicity (especially by those in positions of authority) that resulted in much unrest and suffering
now while Dong Zhuo frames his rhetorical question as a dilemma, the underlying structural issue (not explicitly stated) is that the welfare of the realm has long been understood to coincide with the interests of elite factions and the ruling classes (and not just in some superficial sense where prominent clans get comfortable positions, but even in the way the recommendations system and the relatively decentralized governance structure are gamed to protect elite accumulation and legitimize patronage networks)
in relation to the problem of complacency and complicity (and systemic dysfunction), a follow-up question is raised: since the authorities have messed up big time, how do we save the realm and/or the people?
and the irony is that the fights to impose competing proposals end up exacerbating the situation
with regard to Liu Bei's decision to spare Dong Zhuo (so that he'd serve as the 'big evil' scapegoat that others will focus their efforts on), one may note that Liu Bei is effectively leaving the people in the hands of an ambitious tyrant although at this point Dong Zhuo only controls the northwestern portions of Han and thus lacks the power to oppress everyone
however, one can look at this in another way (considering that in the end Lu Bu still betrayed Dong Zhuo and the Guandong alliance imploded even before the coup with Liu Bei being powerless to do much on either front), in that by sparing Dong Zhuo Liu Bei is indirectly advocating for the people of Han to just do their own thing (while he wanders the realm with his straw sandal bandits as misunderstood do-gooders) while the rival blocs of warlords are supposed to just stare each other down
unfortunately he underestimated the scheming games people play…
a further complication Ravages addresses is that even if one desires to do good (or at least stay away from further trouble), certain trends and spirals prevail in a given situation, threatening to sweep everyone along (and thus in the face of actual configurations of power, one doesn't remain neutral, one either goes with the flow or does not)
this pessimistic observation (aptly expressed in the metaphor of fighting evil as akin to throwing an egg against a stone) serves as the basis for Sima Yi's musings about quick and forceful takeovers
or maybe that in chaotic times one can't stay away from trouble. I try not to speak of times of chaos and peace as if they were fixed seasons, but as results of various factors and dynamics (the challenge is how one can survive and thrive, or pursue the good and cultivate virtue amidst complex shifts and alongside the collision of many forces)
technically if one is lucky one can retire and be a hermit in some remote area during times of large-scale war, but one won't be totally immune from the fallout (not to mention that such withdrawal does not lead to peace if everyone else is still fighting)
consider the current economic system or the various geopolitical conflicts
theoretically, the value of stocks and debts and cash would disappear if everyone refused to recognize the system all at once (or alternatively, the jockeying for power could end instantly if everyone agreed to let go), but if only one or a few would try to withdraw, the games go on…
and it is in the face of multiple forces and players that people end up having to weigh costs and benefits, think about goals and consequences, account for things under control and prepare for those beyond control
to walk on a razor's edge - may perhaps be an apt metaphor for the various moral and political conundrums highlighted in the series
and it's important to note that people calculate and discern as if they're walking on tightropes not because that's always the case (and that everyone is doomed to confront difficult scenarios until they die), but rather due to unfavorable circumstances and situations - in this day and age - that people find themselves in (as a result of previous actions and current configurations)
at the moment the presentations seem to be fragmentary (as I'm first trying to lay out some generalities and showcasing a broad sample of pics mostly from the earlier chapters to make a point that Ravages already has these goodies from the start), but soon when I dive more into specific concerns hopefully the discussion would be much more sustained…
the loyalty and determination part is admirable, and there's also a hint of defiance by smiling in the face of the absurd expectations foisted upon vanguard warriors (as if the warriors know very well they're expendable and are not allowed to survive defeat or retreat with their reputations intact, so might as well die spectacularly)
Lu Bu disagrees with this path and chooses another way of rebelling, by trampling on his 'face' and acting treacherously
one thing Ravages does not do is glorify war as if it were some fun outdoor exercise (the series may recognize the voices of warriors and soldiers and even note certain aesthetic and poetic instances that emerge from the battlefield, but there's little of the jingoistic hot-blooded portrayal common in many works)
the schemes are very much glorified though
that being said, because of the dramatized and larger-than-life style the series remains caught up in some sort of performative tension where on the one hand mass violence is treated as a grave but unavoidable evil at best but on the other hand the participants perform in a glamorous fashion as if they're models and stunt actors in a feature film
amidst the high-minded concerns about virtue and the greater good, Ravages also presents a glimpse of what animates those harboring great ambition
note that while the various other pretexts and alibis are mocked as 'lies' (more like, instances of bad faith and false consciousness) the honest embrace and pursuit of the spectacular 'view from the top' is in a way also a fantasy
It's a visual medium. Why not play with it? There's also a sort of purity in conflict. Obviously plenty of factors can come into a life or death struggle, but the clashing of wills in such a way is something that no other form of competition achieves. Even through this part of the artistic endeavor, Chen Mou goes through a lot of effort to showcase famine, disease, and ignominious death all over. It's just another layer to the pervasive dichotomy of everything.
I think that in that way it's a more realistic approach of the perspectives of those who live through conflict, or even thrive in it. No matter what you go through, life still has nice moments, and we take those and hold onto them. Even inflate the importance to glory sometimes. Partly reveling in survival itself.
the slogan of the Handicapped Warriors conveys a defiant message
if one is crippled and cornered, there's no other way but to climb up and fight to survive (or else one faces defeat like a landslide)
what does it mean to obey heaven, to listen to the will of the people, to care about right and wrong? the difficulty is that even if the ideals and the broad strokes do not change, the paths are full of twists and turns (with false leads and dead ends) depending on the circumstances
to put the predicament that Ravages articulates and explores in another way, even if certain platitudes and general notions (do good and avoid evil, people embrace those who aid them and shun those who oppress them, etc.) are accepted, one is not always able to clearly discern the rectitude of particular deeds and policies (or the intentions of every agent (for who knows what they are really thinking), or the consequences of every act for who lives long enough to see the principle come into effect) especially in such a messed-up situation where many uncontrollable players with power appear to be looking out for their own interests and desires
this is why in the absence of a straight and undisputed path to virtue, one calculates, approximates, even compromises in the short term for the sake of the long term (as Xun Yu notes to Liu Xie in another chapter, even loyalists are at the mercy of the trends)
now if there are a few virtues and values Ravages unambiguously endorses, it would be those that have to do with preparation, self-reflexivity, prudence, patience (mainly because such attributes can be easily weaponized in times of conflict just as they can serve well in times of calm, just like the two-faced appraisal of Cao Cao)
I'd like to highlight Liu Bian's final shining moment (just before he is poisoned), as it offers a good glimpse of the multifaceted discourses around the figure of the son of heaven
at first glance (and probably this is what Liu Bian feels based on his limited characterization in Ravages) he just wants out not realizing he's being 'sent on his way' so that he can chill out and relax without having to be burdened by the ritual functions and the power struggle (and funnily enough this eerily parallels depictions of how Liu Shan just wanted to enjoy himself after surrendering)
viewed from another angle this echoes (in simplistic fashion) certain daoist views about sagely sovereigns who rule without commanding or enforcing, who get things done without acting or imposing (note the emphasis on enjoying the world because it already has its rhythms and attendants instead of trying to order it around)
and in a way, emperors don't really have to do much (since there's a sophisticated imperial bureaucracy doing much of the work) except perform certain rituals and produce offspring and make proclamations and enjoy the view from the top, even as their mere existence as glorified seals of the ruling order and mediators of heaven involves 'effortlessly' enacting symbolic functions (which competing factions try to leverage, with their squabbles in effect giving emperors extra headaches that drive some of them to escape and indulge)
but what's really subversive is if his motto is generalized... suppose everyone just retired from the struggle for hegemony and did their own thing (practice virtue, seek knowledge, eat local delicacies, etc.) then wouldn't the war be over with?
the mid-battle debate between Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo is notable (in the early portion) for taking up almost an entire chapter just to explore the causes and consequences of the unrest in a gimmicky fashion
more specifically, we are presented with a chicken or egg question: were things alright before the uprisings and usurpations disturbed the peace, or did uprisings and usurpations occur because things weren't alright?
Yuan Shao upholds the 'traditionalist' and 'conservative' line as he berates Dong Zhuo for stepping out of bounds (note that the reason Dong Zhuo was able to seize control of the court in the first place was that He Jin the brother in law of the previous emperor Liu Hong invited a bunch of warlords to deal with the ten attendants but was killed before the mission was accomplished, so Dong Zhuo took advantage of the vacuum and outwitted the other invited warlords which include Yuan Shao)
the confucian-inflected idea is that in theory, the son of heaven bears the mandate of heaven to rule over the realm and bestow blessings upon the people living in all under heaven (who in turn are expected to submit and play their respective roles within the grand scheme), thus if anything bad happens it can either be because the emperor lost the mandate and lacks the virtue to rule (thus the depiction of the last rulers of a given dynasty as incompetent and immoral), or the ministers and subjects aren't playing their part
the amusing thing about the debate is that both seem to agree about corrupt vassals and insubordinate subjects being implicated in the unrest, but they frame the problem differently (for Dong Zhuo who is trying to justify his reform-minded ambitions the establishment factions have failed for so long and thus the mandate granted to Han is fading, for Yuan Shao who is trying to justify elite privileges and patronages the problem is that certain rebels and tyrants don't respect the boundaries and are stirring up trouble to bring down Han)
now, the likes of Hua Xiong (retainers serving particular warlords) present a related conundrum, after all Dong Zhuo wouldn't have risen to prominence without the help of his loyal followers
did the son of heaven fail to win over the loyalty of such vassals who put their local masters first, or are these vassals corrupt subjects who don't know their place and threaten the peace?
Ravages notes in a later chapter that the authoritativeness of loyalty discourse fades due to the ambiguity
Dong Zhuo for his part leans more toward 'populist' and 'reformist' articulations about the people being fed up with the dysfunctional system that the nobles game to their advantage (but of course he isn't some principled democrat who submits to people power, rather his view is more like that ambitious bold courageous 'heroes' need to 'man up' and gain the support of the people and save the world, restoring order and implementing reforms)
if only Ravages started from the yellow turban rebellion (or even the years before that)
they do view the son of heaven as a tool. sages and elites alike view the son of heaven as a tool, but for different purposes. well geniuses view even their masters as tools. some of them even view themselves as tools. the subtext about the sages professing absolute loyalty to sagely emperors is that they recognize actual ones don't measure up to the ideal (and can be persuaded to let the ministers handle things)
and since we brought up the matter of the sages, Yuan Shao does rightly point out that Dong Zhuo (and more generally, all corrupt vassals which frankly includes Yuan Shao himself) don't quite understand (or more like, deliberately misinterpret and weaponize) the various moral teachings and maxims on governance
and now a brief note on the gaming of loyalty discourse
unlike the 'legalist' thinkers (who prioritize loyalty to the sovereign and state above all) the 'confucian' thinkers try to ground loyalty to the sovereign as an extension of more basic family values such as filial piety (that's why founding emperors of a ruling house tend to give their parents and select ancestors glorified titles for instance Cao Cao and Sima Yi are designated as 'emperors' posthumously despite not taking the throne)
however, this reasoning also allows clans and factions to subtly subvert the structures of governance (by cultivating patronage networks and establishing de facto nepotistic policies) with a veneer of moralizing
now while Dong Zhuo early on is able to present a case for reform (mainly in terms of cleaning house and dealing with corrupt elements), the discussion with Cao Cao in chapter 85 presents a more structure-oriented argument (with an architectural metaphor to drive home the point) in favor of radical reconstruction (now this can be interpreted in various ways, from merely rebuilding the palace of Han, to dismantling the ruling house and establishing a new dynastic regime, or even to the idea of revolutionary social transformation although this third option is hardly addressed in Ravages)
however, it's one thing to propose sweeping changes (and perhaps implement them on a limited scale in certain zones of control), but it's another thing to insist on imposing the changes across the realm in the name of stability
this is where unification discourse comes in (and the traumatic turmoil of the spring and autumn and warring states as the main cautionary tale that must not be allowed to repeat)
now it's important to note that the notion of some sort of unity is not in itself what drives conflict (since there's already some acknowledgment of the world as all under heaven), what drives conflict is when the unity is conceived in terms of uniform rule under a singular worldly authority (and that contenders fight over who gets to conquer all)
theoretically there was no stopping the theorists from articulating a more pluralistic notion of the mandate of heaven (since the idea is that heaven remains in control, and it's just a matter of delegating authority), but what won out in the end (and what the big players promoted) is the notion that heaven grants the mandate to one ruling figure (and ruling house) at a time... this tendency can be expressed in optimistic and nostalgic terms (imagine the entirety of the expanded central plains under the guidance of one sovereign, just like the good old days of the divine rulers) or in pessimistic and cynical terms (the only way to stop war within the expanded central plains is if all submitted to just one ruler)
also, in the context of more contemporary dynamics, I note that 'nationalists' and 'internationalists' alike are animated by iterations of unification discourse, only that they differ in the parameters and modes of unity insisted on
back then, rulers of Zhou and earlier dynasties were called 'kings' [王], but then the other feudal lords of the increasingly powerful vassal states started calling themselves kings too (that is why when Qin conquered all the other states, Ying Zheng called himself huangdi [皇帝] or 'emperor', appropriating heavenly titles and further sacralizing the role of the emperor)
perhaps the various discourses around the traits and deeds of an ideal sovereign reflect how the schools of thought imagine what a pacified world looks like
of course, certain common claims are agreed upon (rulers rule while ministers minister, the son of heaven is the head and not the tail, if the emperor is not ruling then the world is in chaos because people are asserting plural interests rather than submitting to singular rule), but expectations and interpretations differ with the circumstances (thus the tendency for rulers who aren't warmongers in turbulent times to be labeled as incompetent, for militaristic rulers in times of relative stability to be called wasteful, etc.), and various factions push for different versions that suit their interests
it's worth revisiting the image of a crumbling or decaying edifice, as it helps illustrate the divergent tracks to the issue of what to do about a broken and flawed social order
some would say that it's better to abandon it and seek greener pastures (that is to say, by paving the way for new factions and regimes to take charge)
an alternative approach to ruthless opportunism is conveyed in the image of repurposing an abandoned nest (that is to say, to milk the system dry while it lasts)
the approach advocated by Yuan Shu (and other would-be claimants of separate regimes, such as the Taiping sects) involves a variation of abandonment that is not just about leaving an old house to find a replacement, but also about making a clean symbolic break by establishing a new realm and inviting others to move in
and then there's the favored metaphor of loyalists, seeing themselves as sacrifices and bricks to be used for repairs and renovations
now both the principled 'loyalists' of the old regime and the principled 'aspirants' of a new regime agree on a few things (for instance, they recognize that there is serious crisis, and insist that all under heaven must be rescued from chaos and by that they mean pacification of the realm under a single ruler and a unified government)
as mentioned they may vary on their diagnoses of the crisis (loyalists would point to the ambition of the vassals undermining the peace, aspirants would accuse those in charge of being incapable of keeping the peace)
but more importantly, the key disagreement is in the question of whether the present order is still worth defending and salvaging, or whether someone else should get the chance to secure the mandate of heaven and clean house in another way
blaming each other for each other and hardly anyone (except the sects and the sages) is talking about radical change to the system, since many agree on the basic parameters (and they're just playing this game of who should be on top this time)
and while both camps may appeal to the notion of a 'great peace' (something that the millenarian sects also preach about), there is also an admission that this is for the most part an aspirational project (hardly anyone claims seriously that maintaining the Han or replacing the Han would automatically usher in some golden age, the dispute is a matter of which option looks more promising)
what this means of course is that whichever contender gets to rule is not expected to be capable of delivering complete harmony (whether in the sagely route of winning over everyone by sheer virtue, or the conqueror's route of subjugating all opposition), and so there is much concern about 'continuing' to rule and safeguard the realm... and therein lies the rub
because pacification remains a work in progress, the sons of heaven have to keep on ruling and asserting authority (and propagating virtue, or building up imperial wealth and prestige, or presiding over the people's welfare, etc.) with the help of loyal talented ministers and a stable bureaucracy and a reliable military and an accepted rule of succession, so when things start to fall apart beyond tolerable levels, the blame game begins to unfold
I should note that after Qin conquered the other states Ying Zheng took the pacification propaganda game seriously and went around the realm proclaiming that he has already ended history and surpassed the legacy of the sages only for the grand projects themselves to exacerbate discontent
how things play out is sort of like this
one party says the rise of the ambitious clearly means that the emperor is incapable of taking the reins (or lacking in virtue) and at some point must/will be replaced by one of the ambitious contenders
the other party says the emperor not being able to rule well clearly means that the ambitious keep spoiling things and at some point they must/will be purged by the loyal ministers doing their job and protecting the realm
Wonder if some side(s) gonna articulate the ideas concerning the new system
this is why the dispute about regime succession does not offer that much of a stark dilemma (unlike the 'which form of government is best' question throughout much of 'western' political theory in the earlier periods)
where things become more diverse is in the question of what a pacified world and an ideal ruler (assuming that the world must be under one ruler) looks like…
well, so many (cynical) warlords probably gonna die with laughter if someone proposes democracy
as mentioned, it's not as if when things are relatively stable there are no struggles and intrigues taking place (not to mention just the mundane problems of governance such as service delivery and regime enforcement and disaster relief)
but it's when things are falling apart (or rather, when the facade of singular rule is shattered and ignored) that the issues of loyalty and pacification and reform become all the more urgent for the participants
incidentally, the path of a loyal minister using power to suppress corrupt vassals takes on a different twist when applied to situations of unrest
ordinarily the son of heaven and the bureaucracy can properly delegate certain tasks to certain loyalists (and that if one loyalist starts to harbor ambitions or goes out of bounds there are other loyalists to keep things in check), but what happens when things spiral out of control, when the ambitious can afford to ignore the imperial summons without having to pretend, when the loyalists are unable to receive direct orders suited for their position... then the claim of 'fighting in the name of the emperor' becomes all the more susceptible to suspicion
now to be fair there are always opportunists and corrupt vassals even in the best of times, the difference is they are pressured to keep the masks on and moreover stand to benefit by playing along
Xun Yu presents a more straightforward approach to the issue of upholding loyalty in the face of massive unrest and corruption
the wager is that with the right moves and schemes loyalists can offer to assist certain talented would-be hegemons and turn them into stabilizing pillars for the realm (in a way, he is carrying out the lighter version of Sima Yi's musings on assisting and co-opting the most convenient big player)
Zhuge Liang's path in turn happens to be more longwinded and ideologically militant
his emphasis on loyalty is at its core not really about devotion to the son of heaven or any regime in particular, but to the notion that loyalty can be used as part of a program to prevent bloodshed (the flip side to the view that loyalty is but a trick to enslave people and push them to their deaths for the interests of their masters)
on the one hand this props up socially conservative discourses as mitigating tools (have people cherish the status quo and carry out reforms in a gradualist fashion rather than risk having people spill blood over what a new world would look like), but on the other hand there is a hint of reversal and subversion (in the sense that loyalty is ultimately about what the people devote themselves to and if people can be taught to focus on cultivating virtue and building peace with the help of useful role models it wouldn't really matter who the son of heaven is)
It's important to note here that loyalty and righteousness gets a lot of people following Liu Bei killed. Not just soldiers doing the war thing, either. Proof that even the loftiest ideals are useless without the power to wield them, and the intelligence to wield them effectively. Pushing this loyalist ideal also ignores the widespread famine, civil unrest, and even the tyranny and corruption of the eunuchs. Saying that there should have been smarter, more well meaning people around is a non-answer. I will say that while I disagree fundamentally with the idea of lords and feudalism in general, I do agree that under such a system the lord's highest responsibility is to gather up as many capable individuals as possible. Though, this is why I line up with Cao Cao more than Liu Bei. He was noted for promoting and seeking people for their ability, not their stock or loyalty. If you are someone worth following, then worthwhile people will in turn be loyal in following you.
loyalty and righteousness (and generally, ideals and ideology) can get people killed insofar as when people believe in the rightness of a message or devote themselves to realize a program they will not hesitate to stand and fight or die for the cause (but that's just one piece of the puzzle, the other component is that there are grifters and opportunists who use such messages to profit from the labor and dedication of others at best, and to pit people against one another in bloody quests for domination and self-aggrandizement at worst)
Han restoration and reunification can get people killed, but so too could calls for a new heaven or regime change or regional independence (so long as people don't care about dealing with their disagreements in other ways besides crushing the opposition)
moreover, while Cao Cao is notable for signaling that he prioritizes talents, every faction (especially in Ravages) seeks talents and uses them more or less well enough (and I note that Cao Cao and Liu Bei happen to be taking two different paths for accumulating legitimacy, both of which are tied to discourses surrounding imperial rule... on the one hand Cao Cao with the endorsement of Xun Yu operates on a more pragmatic institutional terrain by securing the emperor and building a strong war machine and generally upholding in compromised and rigged fashion the remnants of the imperial government, on the other hand Liu Bei with the support of Zhuge Liang is playing a more sagely performance by going around doing heroic deeds and letting the propaganda spread and winning over people across the realm with fine-tuned reputations of virtue)
now, there's a further complication when it comes to governance, and that has to do with the distinction between rulership (presiding over the realm and all the symbolic trappings and performances associated with sitting on the throne) and managing some particular domain (where those adept at the game are expected to rise and maintain the game and guide others in the craft)
incidentally, this is the gist of how Xunzi responds to the more daring claim propagated by Mengzi that anyone can be Yao or Shun (the argument being that the discourse of ascendancy by superior virtue, if not qualified by other considerations, will only invite the ambitious pretenders who aren't even that virtuous to destabilize the realm) and this is how loyalists justify having capable ministers serve under mediocre rulers
funnily enough in this conversation Guo Jia is speaking as if Cao Cao were already the ruler when the message can very well apply to Liu Xie staying in power with the help of other talents
considering the expectations that rulers (with the aid of the government apparatuses) have to keep ruling well enough and pacifying the realm and keeping subjects in check (because the 'great peace' has yet to be achieved and ambitions haven't been permanently quelled and that anyone could seize opportunities to rise if the rulers drop the ball badly enough), at some point voices start whispering or shouting that a dysfunctional regime has lost its mandate and that the people no longer support an incumbent ruler
but there's a problem, just saying the Han no longer has heaven's blessing does not mean that some ascendant warlord who happens to be doing well receives the singular mandate to pacify the whole realm as a matter of course (it's unification discourse that forces the connection, and leads to forceful takeovers in the name of claiming that mandate)
and because heaven is constantly silent or cryptic, ambitious aspirants get to pretend to be the chosen ones (and try to crush rival contenders in the process)
interestingly enough, Yuan Shu's example of declaring a separate regime (though the better cases would be the sects and citizen rebels and bandits and indigenous or nomadic peoples forming their own communities at the margins or in the frontiers) provides an alternative (and slightly more democratized) view of the mandate, in that the pretense of continuous succession is dropped, with the implicit suggestion that anyone who can take care of a community and keep things in order has a mandate from heaven
and I should note that discourses of 'restoring law and order' when used against protest camps and autonomous zones mirror the unifiers' hardline responses to separatist regimes
now back to Yuan Shu, while he does have longstanding fantasies of becoming emperor (and that's why he's the most 'honest' of the bunch, as he's just sincerely pursuing his childhood dreams), the other aspect of his move has to do with making a clean break and establishing a new community that stays out of the troubles around Han succession and complete pacification (though the Zhongjia regime still indulged in struggles and intrigues to expand territory and strengthen its forces, precisely those little conflicts that haunted the spring and autumn and warring states periods and paved the way for the ascendancy of unification discourse)
Xun You may be offering deceptive advice, but he at least fairly articulates what Yuan Shu had in mind
but then one is led to ask, at what point (of no return) does a regime (that has yet to achieve the 'great peace' and thus has various sorts of flaws and contradictions) lose the halo of legitimacy and become a hollowed-out edifice devoid of the heavenly mandate? the sons of heaven may have been propped up to rule and perform the rites, but who knows what the 'loyal ministers' are really thinking? if one ruthlessly applies this method of suspicion, can we even point if some ruler has truly (even if not perfectly) won over the hearts and minds of the people, or are the vassals just faking it for their own interests while the masses go about their daily concerns and navigating around other power relations without caring much?
now the notion of the mandate of heaven appears to be an easy target for social critique regarding how power operates, but the mystification is really more systemic than just some appeal to a higher realm (again, the deeper issue is not whether heaven really delegates authority (especially considering that the formulation of the mandate has an element of popular support baked into it as well) but in the ways elites and regimes trick other people into offering their devotion or acquiescence)
some say the most capable ought to rule, but are they really the most talented or did they just have the talent of getting people to go along and offer their talents?
some say the factions with the mightiest war machines get to call the shots, but aren't they just relying on the troops to follow their orders and unleash those weapons?
Ravages does not always focus on these more radical interrogations, but there are glimpses here and there (which I hope to explore later)
I suppose there's something poignant about how the best plea against war is uttered by a child (because the cheap temptation would then be to dismiss the whole thing as childish just like how the 'realists' look down upon the 'dreamers')
the whole point is that 'war' (or rather, organized mass violence) remains a grave and horrific exercise regardless of the circumstances or intentions, since it always involves forcibly mobilizing and regimenting a group of people to force something on another group of people
the problem isn't that war is sometimes good (since those who say that usually mean it in a partisan and instrumentalist sense that war is good if it serves my interests or accomplishes some beneficial agenda), but that sometimes people have little recourse but war…
children have no pretense and 'maturity' means learning how to lie and accept the so-called realism , huh
one thing to note about the general pleas against constant unrest and bloody struggle is that they don't necessarily imply committing to any unification project (especially since the desire to enforce unification upon the recalcitrant involves, well, organized mass violence)
the people could heed the words of the son of heaven while agreeing to just do their own thing and dissolve the Han
setting aside the issue of whether the sect leaders are true believers or con artists, other than the yellow turban rebellion which involved open struggle against the Han, the sects generally just gathered followers and accumulated influence (and just wanted to establish their own heavenly kingdoms)
that is to say, their approach towards the 'great peace' involves redirecting the people's devotion towards mystical cultivation practices and veneration of the immortal ones (and as a bonus, turning them into fanatical warriors ready to get rid of those who stand in the way), and so in a way the eight eccentrics are not as enthusiastic about war as the eight geniuses
Sima Hui despises the sects because they turn believers into fanatics (but also because they turn believers away from the Han and orthodox religious views)
to be fair, Chen Mou still has more room to explore the Taiping sects in the future (he promised to do so when Ravages gets to Zhang Lu), so there's more that can be said later about how Ravages plans to portray the sects (at least I'm glad they're not as caricatured as the earth church in LOGH, haha)
in the spinoff novel though it seems (based on the summary I chanced upon before) Zhang Jiao and his brothers took on the role of prophets so they could help alleviate the suffering of the people basically embracing the 'opium of the masses' metaphor
What should act as a detox for the masses then? loyalists say devotion to the confucian-legalist state and the family is enough while shills for contenders say obedience to the strongman is enough. That's not a detox that's a new type of a drug. everythings a drug. it's important to note though that when Marx used the metaphor there's an ambivalence about it (back then and even now opioids have therapeutic uses, it's just that they have addictive effects)
the tricky thing about war is that not only does it involve much harm, but people that go through the process end up having a 'twisted rationality' about it. it's as if the moment someone came up with an idea to start gathering a group of people to plunder another group of people, the specter of 'security' forces everyone into an arms race
One way is not a solution, otherwise Guo Jia himself would not have been so extreme
in a way, one reason why Ravages involves a lot of schemes (with the battles turned into performative sideshows) is that everyone knows the cost of all-out war, thus they pull their punches in battle so they can backstab later
not like Kingdom where some characters are explicit warmongers
The problem with Zhuge Liang's loyalist ideal , is that Han isn't that great of a regime to hold on to it , especially after Cao pacifying the land and restoring order to it . And shaping Liu bei to be a replacement or a continuation is really hard .
whether a regime can survive depends on the balance of forces and the acquiescence of the people (the indirect reflection of the mandate), the difficulty with Zhuge Liang's exemplar approach is whether loyalty to the Han (or Liu Bei) would count as a good enough template to inspire people to avoid war
more generally, the forceful and dirty methods are responses to the question of what to do if one is preaching virtue but hardly anyone is listening…
in the face of such a 'twisted rationality' (where fighting evil seems like hitting a rock with an egg), Sima Yi's musings take a different approach, by embracing the expedient and convenient (even if unjust and immoral) games and trying to control and manage things with more ruthlessly pragmatic flexibility
the more 'amoral' political theorists take this approach (the 'legalists' for instance eschew morality and virtue and try to deal with governance as merely a matter of setting clear and enforceable standards)
to be fair, this need not mean rejecting all talk of goodness, as the approach also reflects a mindset that valorizes 'going with the flow' as a good thing (for a more contemporary example, discourses of decriminalization and legalization of certain vices would be a close analogue)
I think it's important to clarify that 'take over' need not mean seizing the throne and claiming the mandate (this can also be taken to mean supporting a useful conqueror, and accumulating enough influence to serve as a check and balance or a power behind the throne to the new ruler)
Sima Yi's version may mean having the elite clans mitigate or even subvert the authority of the son of heaven (ironically, one of the factors that made the imperial system susceptible to corruption in the first place thus Zhuge Liang's retort about the importance of setting good examples), but as mentioned Xun Yu in effect tried to practice a lighter version of the takeover program, supporting Cao Cao's rise to prominence so that he can be turned into a loyal minister later
Guo Jia's articulation of a similar mindset comes off as even more ruthless and calculating (it's no longer simply that fighting evil with just virtue is a losing trend, it's an affirmative embrace of powerful motives such as greed and ambition, and tapping into them in a skillful manner to benefit the realm, the idea being that with the right techniques and backers a worthy ruler and hegemon would be able to wield the greedy and ambitious as useful pawns)
and then we come to the assassin's twisted version of morality as a peak expression of the expedient way
assuming that there are ambitious people all over the realm (and that some of them might be able to trick enough people to wage war), the quick way to avoid further bloodshed would be to just take out the ringleaders (plus the main collaborators) with a sneaky operation and hope the followers would be intimidated, lose their inspiration, and simply submit...
to further generalize, the dirty tricks (especially the weaponization of rumors and morale) in Ravages also embody this path (based on the reasoning that if warfare is at its core about mobilizing people, then the way to win without fighting is to demoralize the other side), so in a way everyone who takes part in the scheming game (even the ones preaching virtue) is complicit
Pang Tong did lose motivation after the assassination of his lord... Sima Yi, on the other hand, gets fired up with such stuff. it just means no one found a way to control his ambition (or rather, someone made the mistake of awakening and triggering it). Pang Tong managed to turn Yang into Reinhard. incidentally, the revenge factor is what differentiates Sima Yi's early musings from his later plans
Pang Tong forced the phoenix title onto Sima Yi , and look at them now fighting over a branch
now, a world where twisted rationality reigns is a world that involves tricks such as... victim-blaming
Cao Cao after all is the aggressor in this instance, but to be fair the incident of unjustified brutality made Tao Qian reflect that the reason he didn't simply submit was not out of some principled stance, but due to attachment to his position (again, this does not excuse the massacre, I'm only pointing out the factors involved)
to put it in another way, Tao Qian is generally a decent guy and it's not his fault Cao Cao marched into Xuzhou (adding further insult to injury is that the whole excursion was meant to bait Lu Bu and consolidate Yanzhou) but had he surrendered he could have 'spared' the lives of the innocents, only for them to be drafted in Cao Cao's war effort
and that's the twisted thing about it, the weaker players are just expected to go along if they want to prevent bloodshed...
though again, it must be noted that the 'dark art of war' for all its ruthlessness and injustice was never about gratuitous bloodshed (this is what differentiates mass murderers such as Guo Jia from the butchers in Kingdom who revel in battle and in some cases even enjoy inflicting suffering on others)
‘I wish all benevolent men would be like this.’
there's a double meaning to this desire (on the one hand, this could mean a benevolent way of taking control by winning over the people without having to inflict too much bloodshed, on the other hand and this is the darker version this could mean benevolently standing aside and letting the 'more capable' hegemons take over to spare people from fighting)
and thus in Ravages of the 4 bosses in the southern commanderies, only Liu Du was spared
I've gone on and on about how twisted the predicament is, but (and it is on this specific point that I sympathize with Guo Jia's brand of 'dark justice') there are situations where to implement some nice plan or secure a decent future or oppose an oppressive regime there is little effective recourse but to take up arms and use deception
after all, revolutions are not dinner parties (technically in the raws the phrase used means 'reform' (which is more like cleaning house) rather than 'revolution' (which is more about overturning the entire system) but the lesson similarly applies)
the cautionary note of loyalists and moderates though is to beware of opportunists using nice slogans to sacrifice people for self-serving goals..
and in a twisted situation one learns twisted lessons from the historical accounts
regardless of the veracity of what is recorded, the idea is that those who read the documents (especially if they are in positions of authority) are supposed to emulate the good examples and shun the bad examples, adopt the best practices when it comes to managing the populace, promote virtuous conduct, etc.
but what ends up happening is that people learn to fine-tune their scheming with the help of history, refine their deceptions with golden nuggets from the classics, lead others to their doom while masquerading as followers of virtue, etc.
‘One will only understand history if one understands how to lie.’
now a simplistic and pessimistic way of making sense of the twisted predicament is to simply say that people are just naturally slavish and vicious and so as a matter of course a few lucky and crafty ones can get the others to submit
a more nuanced appreciation (which need not deny the human condition but does not assume things are irrevocably hard-wired) is that people have long been conditioned and habituated to accept certain things and behave in certain ways, which those in better and more advantageous positions can game and weaponize (this is how the idealistic message about how anyone can become Yao and Shun would get weaponized to become a prop for the ambitious few to vie for supremacy)
note though that these considerations do not address the fundamental interrogation (why should someone matter more than someone else), but are instead offered as elitist alibis and sophisticated deflections by those in power (and those who shill for them)
that being said, the counter-question stands: if the older schools of thought didn't rectify matters, what makes us think newer ideological programs would be able to? (though the subtext here is that it's not just about preaching the right doctrines, one also needs to accumulate power and participate in the hunting game to upset longstanding arrangements)
in the grander scheme of things, some would speculate that twisted situations are but part of a broader cycle depending on the balance of forces and the configuration of fortunes (thus there are periods of unity and division, the waning and waxing of virtuous energy and morale, the booms and busts of social ventures, the dance of yin-yang and the five elements, etc.)
this also means that strategies and policies must change in accordance with the locales and the seasons (sometimes being benevolent is most efficacious, in other occasions ruthlessness is most expedient)
we've just talked about concerns about governance and war (the stuff about heroism and personal integrity comes later
I'd like to note how the various factions all recognize that popular support (or at least acquiescence) is an essential component for legitimacy and stable rule, which means that no one gets away with completely ignoring the people's concerns (the whole cautionary tale about the mandate of heaven is that it is never permanently bestowed upon a ruling house, another can pick up the ball when a ruler drops it badly, etc.)
but what differentiates this from a more 'democratic' view of things is that ultimately they see people not as the main engines and active movers but as reservoirs of energy that have to be tapped and managed and manipulated and guided…
even Lu Bu's daughter conveyed that even Lu Bu justified himself by popular support and killing your own boss to not affect the masses negatively
so every faction agrees that the realm is in chaos, but what then of their disagreements and divergent proposals?
the 'reformist' factions would say that the uprisings result from flaws in the system and would call for some big changes (forcefully imposed by strongmen and usurper cliques if necessary)
the 'conservative' factions would say that the uprisings are instigated by ambitious opportunists and would rally behind the police or form their own groups to quell the rebellion (but for the most part they wouldn't really implement big changes except those pertaining to security and counterinsurgency to better protect their privileged positions)
the 'institutionalist' loyalist factions would side with 'conservatives' on the need to decisively 'restore law and order' but would also call for reforms within the framework of the system (to better address the causes of mass discontent and strengthen the current order)
the 'ambitious' regime change factions would side with 'reformists' on denouncing the flawed system but insist that things will be fixed if only new people are put in charge (this can unfold forcefully, but on the electoral terrain this can mean new candidates running on law and order platforms while discrediting the incumbents)
the 'separatist' factions (which may include the movements in the uprisings themselves) would say that the uprisings mean the current regime is a failure and would seek to forge a new social order by any means
the 'idealist' loyalist factions would sympathize with the uprisings but denounce attempts at forceful and bloody change (without necessarily endorsing the current order), instead pleading that people are better off changing things gradually
the 'pragmatic' factions would sponsor whichever player is the strongest and then swiftly take over
the 'opportunist' factions would align with whichever trend best serves their parochial interests (despised by the more principled factions and accused of hiding behind every faction)
now look back at the various back and forth disputes about this or that social movement and see how the rival tendencies are mirrored in the pacification debates
all of them are (dis)honest in different ways
in another note, the schools of thought as formulated (as distinct from the careerist and opportunistic biographies of some of the sages) are less concerned about supporting this or that regime and more concerned about what a good regime ought to look like (thus the daoist texts preach wuwei and suggest a relatively non-interventionist regime that quietly governs by recognizing the flow of things (which is conveniently echoed by merchants wanting to keep their monopolies unchecked), the confucian texts talk about the rites and family values and seeing the ruler as a super-parent (which is conveniently propped up by elite clans to justify their networks of patronage and nepotism), the legalist texts talk about a pre-eminent ruler that skillfully manipulates disloyal subjects by means of strict regulations (which is conveniently advocated by bureaucrats and militarists to beef up the government apparatus))
in practice the thinkers and officials of the Han were eclectic and selective in their use of the classics (even the classics themselves are eclectic collections of sayings, and they all copy from one another on certain points while arguing with one another on other points)
one other thing, I didn't note a separate 'populist' strand since the populist style can be channeled by different factions (depending on how they construe or construct 'the people')
thus far, we've focused on what the famous names and the big players think, but Ravages does not forget about the voices of the people
given the period setting, there aren't that many commoners who assert people power, but even when they go along and acquiesce they're no obedient fools (they're just disempowered and so can do little but offer jaded quips)
refugees who flock to greener pastures may be victimized by the system, but their movements are also exercises of limited agency (in that they choose what they'd rather put up with and what they're willing to leave behind)
and it's been noted how migration flows over the long term have impacted socio-political boundaries
and at times it so happens that people are pitted against one another insofar as they fall under the influence of competing forces (that in turn also rely on other people to do their bidding)
the people can also band together in solidarity, rally around a common cause or shared interests...
regrettably, Ravages doesn't pay enough attention to these community efforts
I would still like to see a volume with no gimmicky battles and famous names, just minor figures and unnamed fashionable minions and commoners (and their schemes and reflections and comments and quotations)
while much of the discussion revolved around age-old notions such as virtue and pacification and the mandate of heaven, there are also glimpses and inklings of more... radical ideas presented in Ravages
I note that the conundrum between being filial and being loyal and (the difficulties with living up to both expectations in a world of unrest) is a characteristically 'confucian' concern (given the assumption that virtuous conduct springs from family ties and expands into larger and larger circles), whereas the 'mohist' camp preaches impartial utilitarian regard for public welfare while the 'legalist' school de-emphasizes virtue in favor of mere compliance with standards set by the ruler
thus Chen Gong's plea (and the sneaky way he 'fulfills' the requirements upon his death by pressuring Cao Cao to do something about it) can be taken to mean as an implicit critique of the ideological double bind that various factions and institutions impose upon the 'lost fledglings' of society... he tells parents that many children act in unfilial or unvirtuous ways because they've been swayed and pressured by rival forces (but the veiled portion is that he's telling the rival forces they're at fault for preventing people from cultivating virtue)
I also note how certain black texts (particularly the ones scattered throughout volumes 16-18) add to this interrogation
MEN LIVE ONLY FOR LOYALTY; IS THAT THE COMMAND OF THE COUNTRY?
WOMEN LIVE ONLY TO WED AND RAISE CHILDREN; IS THAT THE COMMAND OF THE FAMILY?
Everything’s a method.
the dao ('way') permeates all
I already mentioned in a previous discussion how Ravages also contains slivers of people's history, a faint whisper that throughout the various conflicts in history it is the masses (however duped and coerced by those that borrow power from them) that are the main engines
warlords and generals and advisers and soldiers can try to make a name for themselves, but they do so riding upon collective effort and scheming to get noticed
the combination of selflessness and selfishness is what's the driving force of a human being though. They may have some selfish desires, sure, but that's not inherently bad, it's how you handle it is what's relevant. Zhao Yun chose Liu Bei's path over his own path, but it was exactly what he wanted since childhood
combination of selfishness and selflessness means "I want to make my life better by making the whole country better". One could say that this is not a good enough motivation, but in that day and age, that was enough for people, as they were hardened and clearly was a superior option in comparison to being overrun by others.
one can argue that the participants all have mixed motives (though the proportion between ambition and principle may vary)
sometimes, the characters may simply be reflecting and entertaining some ideas, not necessarily articulating what they believe
but at any rate, my explorations are less focused about characterization and more about how the text brings up a variety of notions and views (and how readers can extend them and think about them further)
anyway, to get back on track...
some readers may be more drawn to the reaffirmation of a 'cynical' and 'edgy' message that in order to succeed one has to ruthlessly use others and push them off, but the more pertinent insight is what comes after
why should anyone be sacrificed for the desires and fantasies of another?
it's not quite affirmatively 'democratic' in the sense of advocating for people to exercise power for themselves, but it presents an emphatic people-oriented denunciation of those who seek to use people for their self-serving agenda
but it is fitting that the most affirmative case is presented by a commoner (this can be taken individually in the sense of each making one's choice, or this can be understood more collectively as people seeking their bright path even if they stumble along and be deceived from time to time)
now it can be said that aside from the continued support of a military component (which still depends on soldiers playing along), regimes survive by captivating the people with certain ideological props (the majesty of the empire, the greatness of the nation, etc.)
but what happens when people no longer recognize the aura? is it still the imperial capital if the emperor has left? how can a ruler rule if there are no subjects who obey?
speaking of ideological props and hegemonic halos, it's worth revisiting the discussion about the sects
on a more literal reading, one can see Sima Hui's criticisms as directed against religious extremism (or more generally, extremism of any sort that revolves around appeals to grand projects and heavenly powers) since the sects indoctrinate people with the help of magic tricks and drugs and turn them into fanatics for the cause, perverting the pure teachings on benevolence for worldly gain
one subtext though (given that Sima Hui is a Han loyalist while a bunch of other critics are just cynical observers) is that they fear the sects for being able to effortlessly gain loyal followers and turn their devotion against the Han or the other more worldly powers in favor of larger-than-life visions (immortality, the revolution, etc.)
that is to say, the opposition is less about religion or extremism but the idea of some movement not knowing its place (as subordinate to the empire and its functionaries) and threatening to upend the social order thus the quote from the Analects about respecting the spirits but keeping them at a distance
especially considering that the emperor is a sacralized position as the son of heaven with the special mandate from above to pacify the realm and propagate righteousness, the sects are effectively claiming that there are immortals out there who can provide shortcuts to the will of heaven, undermining the imperial prestige and the authority of the government (it doesn't matter whether the preachers are true believers, con artists, or even actually have powers, what matters are the political ramifications and how they stir people into a frenzy)
adding further insult to injury is that the emperor is expected and projected to win over the hearts and minds of the people with majesty and virtue, but with a few tricks and treats the sects are able to do a better job at it
meanwhile, Pang Tong's proposal is to try to co-opt the sects anyway, maybe with skillful manipulation they can be persuaded not to call for systemic change and instead become partners in the official scheme of pacification
another radical track aside from trying to summon a whole new world is simply by quitting from the power games altogether (this is different from the peace of surrender, rather it's a withdrawal from the struggle and returning to ordinary living)
again, this is a tricky approach since if done on an individual basis one can only run and hide and be a hermit to an extent (what if the new hegemons issue a manhunt, or what if one's hermitage or farm is threatened by other powers) not to mention that some who pose as hermits are only biding their time in comfort (Yuan Shao's insinuation about Yuan Fang)
but if everyone drops out of the game, there's no game to be played...
individually this path involves depoliticization, but collectively this may be the most political act of all
I mused about how Xiao Meng could have been a sage but instead harbored yandere tendencies (funnily enough in Not Human Diaochan ends up becoming a nun and outliving Guan Yu)
to further highlight the more humanistic (and dare I say people-oriented if not quite democratic) aspect of Ravages lurking underneath all the convoluted scheming and the larger-than-life superstars, we look into some of the moments where loyalty is interrogated
first, there's Lu Bu sneering at the expectations and norms about loyalty, only to be confronted with the realization that his treacherous ascent was always aided and abetted by loyal collaborators (and a bunch of assets whose mixed devotions to something else at least made them useful), and that if everyone acted like he did he wouldn't have stood a chance
the key here isn't simply that Lu Bu used people as stepping stones, but that the whole world runs on people devoting themselves (what city would he conquer if people didn't even maintain the infrastructure, how could he and his pals march if the supplies and the transports are not in order, etc.)
‘loyalty is a method’
readers remember the part about how the learned use loyalty to scam people out of their lives, or how the lords use loyalty to protect their interest, but what even allows them to do so in the first place?
the answer is that loyalty is not the inherent property of the lords but ultimately belongs to the people who 'dedicate their hearts' (I note that the character for 'loyalty' [忠] combines the characters for 'heart' [心] and 'center' [中]) and whose hearts are taken from them by the heartless opportunists
and so rather than people owing loyalty to someone or something as a matter of course, they offer their devotion (or are conned or pressured into selling for a cheap price)
on a similar note, we examine the morale theory and see the same sort of recognition
why would the factions bother to play the game of diminishing the reputation of enemy generals while boosting one's own? to manage morale and ensure that soldiers remain dedicated
why are rumors powerful weapons before battle or in a quagmire? because the best way to win is to win without fighting and the right disinfo can demoralize enemy troops into surrendering or retreating
why do the factions engage in such convoluted scheming? because one wants to preserve the core of one's fighting force and give the followers fanciful prospects of victory
and whether it's out of principle or ignorance, what's clear is that in either case the people devoting themselves in different ways drive events forward
and the tragedy of it all (which heaven either sneers at or watches in silence) is that some people have found ways and methods to manipulate and coerce others into providing their devotion and wasting their lives...
I think with this made clear we can start to work on how people cope and struggle (and why Ravages constantly talks about survival and the heroism of treachery)
A bustling world is made up of people seeking to benefit themselves.
A disorderly world is made up of people leaving for greener pastures.
before moving to the next phase it's important to keep in mind how the various theories of moral conduct and proper governance plus the diverse methods of morale management and population control basically involve ways of channeling and molding how people devote themselves and what they devote themselves to/for
the predicament however is that while many of these paths aim to 'set things straight' (on their terms), the results tend to be twisted and distorted by multiple factors and forces... and this leads to the question of how to do good and bring forth righteousness in an already messy world
it would be convenient to start with Liu Bei since in Ravages he initially took a path that diverges from the standard 'pragmatic' approach to pacifying the realm, until circumstances turned him into just another warlord (that just happens to have accumulated a really nice reputation)
note that early on his merry band of straw sandal bandits did engage in some deception and harmed a few people (so it's not as if he was trying to build a new world just by being kind), but the aim was always to help the people and never to take advantage of them (note this is how Guan Yu first gets Liu Bei to agree to the god of war stunt, by cajoling him that this is 'for the people')
note that from the standpoint of Han, Liu Bei is just some wandering vagabond with a rag-tag crew, claiming to help people out but not really authorized by the government to perform certain tasks (so in a way he can be accused of being a disloyal usurper with (flimsy claims to imperial kinship) who doesn't know his place), so he hardly benefits from just going around the realm
and while he's willing to be misunderstood and pick hard fights and engage in sneaky moves from time to time, the one red line concerns not taking advantage of the situation for private gain (so maybe he'd accept assistance and sustenance since he still has to eat and maintain a group, but the idea is that all the investments people entrust to him are used for the cause, not for profit or to beef up his own standing)
normally the factions would say that they wish to first accumulate influence and 'take over' (whether by replacing the regime altogether or becoming trusted ministers of the regime) in order to better serve the people (basically an instrumental reasoning), but the approach of the early Liu Bei is to 'naturally' accumulate influence as a result of serving the people (in line with the ideals about how those who do good and cultivate the way are assisted by heaven and welcomed by all)
the paradox of course is that those who are won over by an aspiring do-gooder may not be as devoted to such ideals and may even desire to enhance the status and power of their benefactor, sort of like how the people who follow a principled democrat may be less concerned about the idea of people power and more attached to the charismatic figure they support
now one can view this disavowal as a steadfast (or perhaps rigid) commitment to duty and principle with little regard for the conditions on the ground, but an alternative reading would be to see how the refusal to 'take over for the people' articulates or prefigures a political stance that wants to practice an alternative to the usual games of pacification and conquest by strongmen (note that Liu Bei is driven by fraternity (rather than lordship) as much as righteousness, and his early pursuits of just wandering around with close comrades to aid the people without having to rule over them reflect that)
but then by gathering a broad camp with a looser (or perhaps more horizontal) organizational structure, we get incidents such as Zhang Fei doing shady things behind Liu Bei's back 'for his sake'
LOGH presents the conundrum of what becomes of the liberal republican ideal if the people decide to submit to an autocrat, Ravages in turn presents a situation of what happens to benevolence if the supportive people assert themselves and push the benevolent to become more assertive and ruthless…
are Zhang Fei and his collaborators (which include the righteous Guan Yu) straying from the way of benevolence by drugging Liu Bei and pressuring him to accept the post of inspector of Xuzhou (even though as a matter of technicality only the imperial court can appoint inspectors and governors), or are they simply manifesting the support and devotion that the people would offer to the benevolent one?
just to recap, much of the earlier discussion explored various angles and views concerning pacification and governance (who has legitimate authority and on what basis, how is the mandate of heaven transmitted and continued, why loyalty discourse persists, etc.)
in this current portion the focus is on the question of how to pursue (one's interpretation of) what is right in an already messy and troubled world (and this question haunts everyone from loyalists to regime change advocates and separatists)
it certainly took less time to change Cao Cao's mind. Guo Jia brags about his persuasiveness, but how would he do that to Liu Bei? Zhang Fei could be actual master of persuasion
again it is important to make sense of the assumptions Liu Bei holds on to early on, to better appreciate the darkening process involved
it's not as if Liu Bei has absolutely nothing (he has his big ears and long arms, the support of his oath brothers and followers, his charisma and ability to appraise people, his aspirations for virtue and claims to lineage, his schemes and battle experience, etc.) but his manner of operating assumes that simply by doing the right thing and helping the people, even with minimal resources one will be received well everywhere by people who can recognize a man of virtue
not quite democratic (in the sense of the people actively taking matters into their own hands and collectively deciding together) and still rather paternalistic (in assuming that once the people see a good role model, they will naturally follow), but the 'benevolent' path puts more trust in people than the more 'pragmatic' routes to hegemony
its easier to tarnish such fellow's reputation
funnily enough, attempts to tarnish Liu Bei's reputation didn't work so well not because of his virtue, but because his supporters (especially Zhuge Liang and his decade-long effort) play a better propaganda game
note that the claims of the more 'idealistic' and 'principled' thinkers when they try to get to the heart of the matter aren't necessarily wrong-headed, only that certain assumptions are needed to make them work well (in a way they can be compared to the simpler equations and smoother functions that focus on a few variables and setting aside multiple complications)
for instance, various moral theories affirm that people are capable of pursuing the good and moreover yearn for some sort of good, so in a way goodness is already an aspect (waiting to be cultivated and fulfilled) in how people are and act (but the tricky part is in the specification and the implementation)
likewise, one can note that in principle, heaven watches over as the ultimate authority (and so no regime has intrinsic legitimacy and that anyone can be Yao or Shun) or that loyalty is at its core derived from the people devoting their lives and labor (and so all it takes for regimes to collapse is for the people to rise up and quit), but the problem is that the situation is already rough, troubled, messy, rigged, distorted, entangled...
thus the appeal in Zhang Fei's argument that one can't simply perform like a sage and expect to save and awaken people already hostage to various other powers (that have their tricks and schemes to keep people in line)
someone can try to be benevolent and receive the allegiance of many, but who knows what the supporters are really thinking about? (at this point, Zhang Fei is plotting to leave Xuzhou and teach Liu Bei a dark lesson, Cao Bao is paving the way for Lu Bu who has made a deal with Yuan Shu, certain people would settle for anyone who can provide stability and can switch sides when the situation changes, etc.)
people can recognize that someone is trying to improve the situation, but who knows what that benefactor is really thinking about?
what's foolish isn't the pursuit of virtue and righteousness or some other grand vision (the lesson isn't to stop caring and start exploiting everyone for private gain), what's foolish is adopting an approach that does not adequately take into account the conditions on the ground (the lesson is to also pay attention to results and consequences as one goes along)
fighting Yuan Shu in the name of upholding the Han isn't the issue, fighting Yuan Shu in the name of upholding the Han without paying sufficient attention to the disparities in military capability or the ulterior motives of other factions (Cao Cao and Lu Bu, to name a few) is the issue... and what hurts more isn't simply that one loses, but that many lives have been sacrificed and endangered in a misadventure that backfired on the initial intention (in this case, defending the Han to safeguard the people)
again, this isn't about forgetting righteousness (and other ideals and principles) and just stick to feeding people, this is more about recognizing that one can preach about the higher things all day but the basic needs must be addressed (or alternatively, righteousness includes feeing people, or providing welfare is a righteous thing)
but the 'twisted rationality' that pressures all to compromise one way of another kicks in and whispers the moment one asks about the details... this is how we end up from mutual concerns of safety to arms races that threaten the world
so one wants a benevolent world, but how to deal with those forces standing in the way and manipulating people to attend to other things?
note that the 'darkening' of Liu Bei is not something like an honest person telling a lie on some occasions to save lives or a pacifist cornered into using lethal force on an aggressor in self-defense (since such cases are more like situational lapses and glitches and Liu Bei early on already had those little blemishes and rough edges), it's more along the lines of postponing the intended journey and taking a long preparatory detour (in this case, he embraces the path of building a power base (and all the self-serving processes associated with it) so that someday with enhanced capabilities he can better protect the people)
one crucial departure is that this time around, Liu Bei would weaponize his reputation for benevolence (which he 'naturally' accumulated by just going around and helping people out, enhanced by propaganda efforts on the part of those supporting him)
what happened to the red line of not seeking personal gain under the name of kindness and righteousness? now in the name of future righteousness he will sacrifice his present integrity and become pretentious
whereas the earlier path involved playing the part of a a 'bandit' to oppose oppressors, the later path now includes colluding with a 'dictator' to gain influence
and late did I notice that Liu Bei's eyebrow style changed slightly over the years
and there is even a recognition of the shift in the path (no longer a principled loyalist who wins the admiration of the people by sheer virtue, but a skilled power player who's so good at the propaganda game and blessed with the right place, right time, and right people)
after all, who doesn't like heroic tales?
that being said, while the various factions generally draw from the same playbook of seizing power and manipulating people, they all differ in which moves and styles they favor more
it so happens Liu Bei lacks a powerful war machine but has his reputation mostly intact (and in fact embellished)
having gone out of my way to painstakingly contrast the more 'sagely' political approach of the early Liu Bei (thus far no other notable figure in Ravages tried to do something similar) and how he was forced to eventually abandon it in favor of the mainline 'lordly' way (with certain quirks that rely on accumulated reputation), it's important to note in the interest of fairness that there's also a noble and caring (albeit more hierarchical) side to the bloody path of a hegemon
‘taking over the world is a goal, but the reason is for the well-being of the people’
("many hegemons", especially fictional villains)
this path doesn't need much elaboration (and so I can be quicker about showcasing it, haha) since it is taken for granted throughout the series
moreover, the arts of warfare and statecraft cut across factional lines (loyalists and usurpers and separatists alike can uphold their principles by using similar methods of rule and manipulation, tinkering here and there depending on which combination best serves the cause)
in running a complex enterprise, division of labor (depending on the talents of the members) (and playing the good cop, bad cop) routine is important
so some (such as troops and generals) take on repressive and destructive functions, while others (such as farmers and teachers) perform more productive and nurturing tasks... the important thing is that all know their place and play their role well, and eventually the people would benefit (even if they cherish one side more than another)
‘in chaotic times, ruling in favor of benevolence is a fool's errand’
whereas the path of benevolence prioritizes the principle and insists that it can be cultivated across various situations (for instance, loyalty always involves the people's devotion, so in theory one can always appeal to the people to devote themselves to something better), the path of hegemony is more... sensitive to power relations and configurations of forces (since the main test is how one survives and what one accomplishes in the struggle) and thus encourages the use of different methods for different scenarios (the carrot works better on some people, the stick on others)
technically Cao Cao undermined Liu Xie's authority to rule even while effectively supporting the institutions of Han in rigged ways (though opportunists can always flip the script and say Liu Xie was not capable of winning over Cao Cao, haha) so his accusations aren't exactly fair, but the path of hegemony is hardly about fairness (even if certain hegemons promise some measure of fairness later)
that being said, the more crucial element here is the contrast to Kong Rong's example (there's this anecdote about how in his youth he offered the larger pears to his siblings with the elder ones getting the bigger share out of courtesy, while the younger ones also getting the bigger share but out of a sense of responsibility), as a hegemon will take the bigger share (of influence or authority) and justify it by saying it would better serve the people
that is to say, the difference is between cultivating righteousness and governing in the name of righteousness (and the latter already includes a self-aggrandizing component, for how can one govern without the added security, the outsized leverage)
and again, just to repeat, warlords and peacekeepers can be also be burdened with feelings of sympathy and a sense of duty (it's just that many are animated more by parochial ambitions and petty interests, and without the moral restraints a hegemon's path is simply bloody and manipulative)
to put it in another way, while some merely wish for the world to be fixed (whether by heaven, or through the people's collective effort), hegemons desire to be the ones fixing and directing the world in ways they deem fit
Note, that cultivation is when you do something good and someone likes it as an example and does exactly the same. If that does not seem enough for someone, the 'legalists' like to talk about rewards and punishments (and some of the more 'pragmatic' moralists such as Xunzi recognize that as a supplement, a fertilizer and booster pack if you will).
much of the discourse about laws and regulations and standards is framed in terms of guidance and guardianship (whether in a moral sense, or in a merely governmental disciplinary sense)
and when people are so sensitive about the 'rule of law' or 'law and order' (which is basically hegemony in an abstracted form), that's because the notions of hegemony and rulership have been internalized
anyway, to wrap up this portion, I note that just as there are many schools of thought that argue about the meaning of righteousness, so too are there many styles and sects regarding the issue of accumulating influence and manipulating people
to better highlight the difference between 'sagely' approaches of cultivation and 'lordly' methods of hegemony (and it's not because one ignores power and strategy while the other focuses on them, but rather has more to do with how they handle the issue differently), I suppose it would be useful to make use of more contemporary situations and scenarios... take for instance mass protests, electoral campaigns, or popular uprisings
the first track also recognizes the complications and the imbalances on the ground (and in practice still accommodates necessary compromises), but the program is more about tapping into the principle (in this case, empowering and educating and encouraging the masses with varying degrees of paternalism or democratization depending on the tendency represented, facilitating and coordinating various sectors and voices but never trying to steer the whole movement) and generating enough momentum from the people themselves to break through established obstacles and longstanding chains (say, beating well-funded incumbents with small-money donations, large strikes and demonstrations fending off police repression and pressuring certain governments to concede on certain demands, etc.)
the second track can also involve social movements and the like (as tools and props), but is more about factions shoring up influence and accumulating leverage and manipulating people and other factions (for example on the electoral front, this can mean anything from the usual funding shenanigans and campaign spectacles, to attempts at voter fraud and suppression), ultimately seizing control of the situation by any means and remaking things depending on their commitments and interests (again, hegemonic blocs can and do institute reforms, but the approach is clearly top-down)
given the circumstances of the period Ravages is set in, it's clear the second way predominates (plus the 'cynical' voices like to frame things mainly in terms of the second way, haha)
in principle the first track is the most potent and can bring about the biggest change (imagine if everyone no longer recognized profit and debt, the whole economic order can be remade overnight, or imagine soldiers and cops everywhere just quitting, the geopolitical balance can be upended), in practice the second track is how certain forces manipulating certain groups of people can bring about limited changes in their zones of control...
the conundrum in Ravages (and in realpolitik) is that the principle is hardly ever realized directly, and so those with various aspirations have to resort to indirect methods (the scheming game, the contests for hegemony, etc.) as preparation or compensation
the twisted rationality that is the dark art of war basically embraces the idea of making the most out of the present darkness (which means going with the dark flow, using ruthless schemes and policies) to pave the way for a brighter future
likewise, the recognition that the path of hegemony inevitably involves bloodshed also counts as a tacit admission that in a situation where principles have not fully flowered (people have the capacity to be virtuous but only some cultivate seriously, power ultimately flows from people's devotion but people are routinely fooled into thinking they owe their allegiance to certain players and factions, etc.) it may take some amount of forceful and decisive (and deceptive) prodding to move history along... thus the glorification of 'heroes' and 'strongmen' as change-makers (even though they relied on support from others to push their talents and ambitions further)
come to think of it, I spent much time outlining an alternative to the hegemonic path only to reveal that the main players have abandoned it in favor of the more expedient option (only with different excuses and agenda in mind)...
imagine if the coup in LOGH survived and the rest of the show just became about one autocracy against another
‘when one is near the wise sages, reality seems so insignificant’
‘when one is near reality, the wise sages then become not worthy of mentioning’
again it's one thing to say that the people simply withdrew their support for some given regime and withdrew to their little worlds and small circles or came together to demand change (this can be interpreted as a matter of principle, that the mandate has been lost)
it's another thing to note that what's really happening on the ground is that blocks and factions (which again are only propped up because people have been conned and cajoled with a mix of methods into dedicating their hearts to certain local nexuses) are bolstering their own standing and fighting one another for more influence
in principle, one could say that there are numerous talents all over the world and so no one talent can claim to deserve the top spot
in practice, one could lament how certain personalities and groupings (for the nth time, relying on their skillful manipulation of other people to help them) are simply jockeying for position and using various means to get ahead
I am reminded of that famous quote from Rousseau, how people are born free but everywhere they are in chains
the difficulty is that simply pointing it out and preaching it to people does not set them free, the chains have to be dealt with effectively (that's why even revolutionaries have to seize power and run people's dictatorships as a transitional measure, with all the complications and compromises that come with it)
but why are the principled well-meaning do-gooders driven into such desperation so as to wish to take over and crush the opposition just to realize certain ideals?
because they realize that certain people either don't care much about the principles (they only care to the extent that they could reap private benefits), or they stand in the way by proposing different principles
and this in turn leads to a flowering of jaded views that disavow from the pursuit of grand ideals (either dismissing all of that as pretenses for self-interest, or denouncing the sincere for being as bloody if not more so than the self-serving)
again, the issue is that there are mental, psychological, ideological chains, and mere preaching doesn't seem to be enough to dismantle them. why are coups and revolutions rare? because loyalty discourse (among other things) helps keep people in line
Some people are in check because of confucian measures, some because of legalist measures and etc
there are many ways to manipulate and influence people, the scandalous thing is that they somehow work despite all the theoretical loopholes. part of it may be that the very chains influence how people calculate their interests (think about wanting to start an uprising, but having to second-guess if there will be enough collaborators... if everyone keeps second-guessing no one will rise up)
anyway, to focus on the 'cynical' voices this time...
note that the indictment isn't necessarily that no one is trying to live up to lofty ideals (for all we know there are sages in villages, but they lack influence), but rather the accusation is directed at the nobles who swear on high-minded slogans but are self-serving in their deeds
this complaint does little to justify the ambitions of anyone (so what if Sun Ce is more 'truthful', he's killing people just like the 'pretentious' Cao Cao), but perhaps the subtext is that if people just forget about the search for moral or ideological justifications then maybe certain hegemons can win over people on the basis of their relative strength and charismatic aura...
and I note that perhaps many readers adopt similar mindsets when it comes to cheering for certain figures or factions (X is stronger, Y is more relatable, Z has so and so deeds, etc.)
If you complain about the post-Lu Bu stuff, preferences are quickly highlighted. with the way I read Ravages I've long discarded taking sides (my default stance is none are justified to rule but all make some good points every now and then, haha)
(I do side with Zhao Yun though. but then Chen Mou gave me two Zhao Yun to not side anymore)
my bigger worry has always been that if Ravages readers stick only to the parameters of characterization and narrative they will miss out on the greater intricacies of the text (maybe it's the peculiar circumstances of how I came to stumble upon Ravages that I've come to this view)
I can sympathize with characters and minions and commoners though nonetheless…
sides are temporary, goon fashion is eternal
‘It was all for just one thing in the end. That thing is more important than anything else in this day and age. It is power - my namesake.’
I note that 'quan' [權] in Zhongmou's name means 'power' while 'ce' [策] in Bofu's name means 'scheme' or 'policy'
the idea being that those who form factions to compete for hegemony are all after that (whether or not they have other goals or care about the people is beside the point)
what do those who seek power for self-aggrandizement and those who seek power for the sake of some ideal have in common? they seek power
and what does it mean for them to exercise outsized and superior power? it means exploiting the power and devotion of others by hook or by crook (thus the whole rant about loyalty being a method to trick people, but also with the admission of using similar teachings to do the same thing)
now going back to Sun Ce's bitter complaints about the pretentiousness of the power game, I think it's also important to note (especially given his daddy issues and other traumas) that those who end up desiring domination didn't just crave it for no reason (that is to say, the participants are all wounded and afflicted victims of the cycle)
‘who says a wicked man now... won't become a kind ruler later’
Yuan Fang (a broken romantic) presents another way of articulating the cynicism, broadly brushing appeals to ideals and virtues aside as ideological props purporting to justify the power struggle (what we call righteousness is but a pretext, what we call kindness is but damage control, what we call justice is simply the proper way to win)
that being said, there is recognition that even self-serving overlords can have a redeeming side (since they wish to stay in positions of privilege and authority) (perhaps one can hope that they eventually can see the error of their past ways and atone for the future by governing well, but even without moral conversion there can just be the idea that perhaps after winning big the hegemons can settle down and focus more on the people and how to effectively keep them in line which means addressing their needs just enough for them to acquiesce)
note the descent into cynicism
I want to cultivate righteousness
I want to take power and reshape the world to set things right
I want to take power, but I can be kind afterwards if you let me stay in charge
the sermon of the 8th is the really blunt and edgy one (oh the oxymoron)
there is no greater good, only slaves who sell a performance for the little goods that they devote themselves to
and it's not as if there's a promise of substantive freedom either, merely the choice between a pretentious performance or indulgence in the smaller interests (to slave away and dedicate one's heart to abstract notions and grand names, or to slave away and dedicate one's heart to more immediate pleasantries)
and yet even this jaded outlook can develop some sort of moral compass (no matter how twisted), mostly based on weighing tangible consequences and measurable outcomes
to be clear, Lu Bu the three-surnamed dog of war slaughtered a lot of people too (maybe the difference is between carving a quick and notorious path, and leading people to their deaths on grand crusades just to preserve honor)
the utilitarian calculus used here is less about maximizing the good for the most number of people (the affirmative case), but more about minimizing casualties to spare other people further trouble (the negative case), basically the heuristic underpinning the 'lesser of two evils' arguments
and because of the disillusionment about the situation on the ground (not seeing the principle still at work underneath (albeit in twisted ways), but instead being exposed to the dirty tricks and sneaky treats time after time), there also grows a sense of frustration and disdain about how people live (sort of like how certain advocates bitterly denounce the scam artists as well as the 'sheeple' who buy into the cons hook like and sinker)
and then we come full circle, as to how a jaded view of how things operate (people are slaving away but a certain privileged few have risen up) coupled with some earnest desire to help leads back to a paternalistic and pretentious approach, still taking on the masks of virtue but with a vengeance...
again, let's try to chart how the descent goes
I will uphold virtue and hope it will resonate among people who can recognize a good example
I will be ruthless to pave the way for a world where people can be at ease with virtue
I will take charge and take care of the people because they are slaves who need guidance
if anything, I note that the notion of 'continuation' in the series provides at least some silver lining... since heaven expects people to improve and adapt over generations, at the very least power relations and institutions can change as people wake up and rise up at their own pace (with hegemons and factions competing for the role of privileged accelerators)
aside from characters speaking in their own terms, in many cases Ravages would also judiciously use quotes from the classics to convey some moral point (for instance, there's this iconic passage from Mengzi/Mencius)
an alternate translation goes as follows: One who lacks a mind that feels pity and compassion would not be human; one who lacks a mind that feels shame and aversion would not be human; one who lacks a mind that feels modesty and compliance would not be human. (when Mencius talks about humans having natural goodness, he refers to characteristics such as empathy and fellow-feeling)
amusingly enough, Ravages also playfully made use of a portion of this when Lu Bu evaded Dian Wei's strike and quoted the line about deferring to others since he understands that being hit would cause pain and thus it would be best to sidestep a strike
the black texts also feature such moral commentary (with some instances using the classics)
TO TREAT RIGHT AS RIGHT AND WRONG AS WRONG - IS CALLED WISDOM
some of the more pointed ones are those that don't use the classics
take for instance the black text for 484 when Han Xuan was killed (not included in the scanlation)
UNFORTUNATELY WE COMMON FOLKS CAN’T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THAT SHOWING A BACKBONE IS ONLY WORTH SOMETHING FOR THREE-TENTH OF OUR LIVES; WE SPEND THE OTHER SEVENTH-TENTH OF LIFETIME COMPROMISING…
Ravages also briefly touches upon the self-reflexive complications in the cultivation and performance of virtue
Guan Yu wants to be virtuous (and not just the reputation for being virtuous), and being virtuous also means setting an upright example and performing for the world, but not for the sake of putting on a good show (that is to say, one doesn't remain kind in secret if the point is to instruct others to emulate virtue)
and thus the cultivation also has to involve an air of aloofness to what people would think, and it gets twisted around as a reputation for arrogance (but hey, a virtuous person doesn't crave adulation, it is enough to set a good example)
a related (and more personalized) topic concerns how people appreciate value in various matters (including their own lives and those of others)
‘if I can't make the right choice now, what is the value of my life?’
in a messed-up and twisted situation, this becomes all the more existential (and we can see why Ravages tends to preach the way of survival)
in addition to the issue of what it means to be human(e), Ravages also features tidbits (of toxic and problematic) performances of masculinity along the lines of 'this is what real men are about' (I suppose that's part of how people talk back then, and we're still not through with it to this day)
in many cases, such appeals and signals tend to be self-serving and glorify certain types of men in privileged positions (the lowly are derided for having base desires and not being able to control themselves, but the men at the top are celebrated for being able to appreciate loyalty and a rose at the same time)
note how Cao Feng puts together 2 passages from the Analects (while previously quoting the Book of Rites to justify his desire), on the one hand saying that the superior man doesn't fall for superficial appearances, but on the other hand also saying that the superior man can be confident in how he conducts himself and his affairs... and in the portion referring to himself as a 'real man', he used the loaded term [大丈夫] more commonly used in Japanese ('daijoubu') to signify being fine
this brings us to Sima Yi's scathing remarks regarding the twisted interweaving of masculinity and dignity (which in many cases mainly serve to justify what men in power do, whether to women or to their social inferiors)
what makes some of these ideals around gender roles 'impossible to live up to' isn't so much their loftiness but more about the competing expectations imposed upon both men and women (or to put it in another way, the teachings about loyalty and chastity are more useful as props to maintain certain hierarchies than their actual earnest fulfillment (after all, if all women were chaste where would the men of power seek their 'legitimate pleasures'))
that being said, Ravages does not particularly offer specific messages of gender empowerment (since in its bleak and twisted scenario everyone can be exploited and manipulated in multiple ways, even if women were to step out of regimes of domesticity what awaits is the same world of backstabbing already inflicted upon men)
one subtext for this is that a more radical gender liberation must involve addressing the wider hierarchies and oppressions in place
but what does Sima Yi praise instead?
the way of survival and thinking about the bigger picture (note that what's glorified isn't the idea of eliminating or dominating all competition and rising to the top as the last man standing, but rather the idea of being able to navigate and survive various situations for the chance to make a comeback and accomplish those other aspirations)
one can note that while Ravages manages to avoid the pitfalls of uncritically celebrating the discourse of 'kill or be killed', it ends up advocating for the route of 'cowards' and 'opportunists' (we see this reconfiguration of what it means to be heroic especially in Lu Bu's case)
the way of survival cuts across various tendencies (loyalists would want to survive to protect the ruling order, the ambitious would want to survive to make a name for themselves, the benevolent would want to survive to continue realizing a virtuous world, hegemons would want to survive to carry out more projects and reap the benefits of dominance, etc.)
but what's more significant is that the way of survival (specifically the one that prioritizes patience and biding one's time rather than preemptively suppressing perceived threats) while shady also offers a paradoxical pathway to some sort of peace... if everyone stopped being a bloodthirsty warmonger and opted to bide their time and plot in the meantime, an uneasy balance and carefully calibrated coexistence could last a while
on the one hand, those who stand by integrity and fidelity (to whatever ideal) unto death hope that their examples would live on and be passed around after they pass away
on the other hand, those who insist on surviving and pulling back hope that as long as they are able to they would be able to gain yet another chance to set better examples
the way of survival does not even necessarily mean a surrender of principles or complete capitulation, rather it's more about finding ways and detours to prolong one's ability to devote one's life and labor for the sake of a great aspiration or a noble cause
anyway, just to recap everything that has proceeded so far before the wrap-up
I started with some examples of how Ravages brings up a variety of matters of concern even early on, then jumped into a survey of how it deals with the matter of governance and pacification, noting some radical whispers and provocative notions (pushing back on the more orthodox views) at the margins of the text as well as the core insight of how loyalty stems from the people's devotion, before proceeding into the moral conundrum of how to do the right thing in a twisted world (with the contrast between non-hegemonic and hegemonic approaches) and then examining the more openly cynical views and revisiting the way of survival
this last part will be simpler as I'll mainly be noting how Ravages showcases the diversity of values people live and die by
there are those who lash out at the world (and seek to conquer it all) as a response to previous traumas, perhaps to cope with the pain or seek security or find a way to still the internal disquiet
there are those who carefully plan for their vindication and vendetta, investing considerably for the big payback and backstab
‘leave a good name behind in history if you succeed
or go down in infamy if you fail’
there are those who find assurance in the approval of their kin and community, and who seek to bring glory to the family name one way or another
there are those who welcome the chaotic opportunities to improve their station and make a name for themselves
‘an aging hero lamenting decades of living a meaningless life’
there are those who seek to grab whatever chances that remain and find some sort of redemption or breakthrough before it's too late
‘there's no big catch in a small hunting ground’
there are those who are waiting to move on to the big leagues, ready to jump ship when the call arrives
there are those who are not satisfied at how their lives are about to conclude, who die before the fulfillment of their aspirations (or pass away as their dreams are shattered)
there are those who seek the thrill of ever bigger challenges and trials to prove their mettle, who prefer to face a hundred champions than to deal with even a single lowly underling
there are those who constantly chase after the cravings that haunt them
there are those who would ruthlessly push everyone and everything aside for the sake of their agenda
there are those who would cast aside hierarchies and are willing to give up their lives to give others a better chance
there are those who try to dedicate their lives to helping the people and upholding higher ideals (only to be broken and forced to compromise at some point)
there are those who would give it their all to protect the country (or polity, or social order) that they live in
there are those who find some measure of fulfillment in serving some accepted lord and helping that master accomplish great things, even if it means at some point they would have to cut their lives short to help pave a way
there are those who would set aside private grudges and team up with sworn enemies for the sake of some bigger goal (though in this case, Ling Tong isn't upholding benevolence or some other grand ideal, just the power of the Sun clan)
and there are those who seek romance and companionship (but in many cases end up embittered in a twisted environment)
one thing to take note of is that for all the various motives and values and interactions and correlations that the figures and factions engage in, to an extent they are all situated in a broader matrix of circumstances and structures
and this sense of confinement can be heightened or loosened in times of great unrest, depending on one's position and determination (the warlords feel themselves empowered and liberated, the commoners feel even more victimized, etc.)
there is conflict between what one longs for and what one is confronted with, between desire or high principles on the one hand, and frustration or the ground conditions on the other hand
there is conflict between the teachings and the yearnings
and there are conflicting expectations and interpretations
that is to say, in a rough and messy world the conflicts and divergences unfold on multiple fronts and involve varying stakes
but there is some common ground, in that on every situation and variation each tries to tread some path, only that not everyone 'gets over there'
on a side note, when talking about a 'path' in the above passage Ravages did not use 'dao' [道] but instead used 'lu' [路]
(I'm not exactly sure why that is so (especially considering that 'dao' is the more philosophically loaded term), but perhaps the connotation is less about a 'method' or 'way' but more about a 'journey', which could involve many ways or methods at any rate). at least in the context of the history of ideas and philosophizing, 'dao' (or tao in wade-giles) is the more celebrated term (and it's not just the taoists who use the term)
It could also be that People may think they got to where they want but maybe their paths are just beginning, Like for Zhang Liao there were two parts of his Career one with Lu Bu and the other with Cao Cao. What is the difference between the two characters for path? as Chen Gong said, there is no difference which path would Zhang Liao would take there, but the importance comes from the heart of Liao, if you want to live, choose Cao, if you want to be loyal according to sages, then die for Lu Bu, but at the end of the day, both of the are the same, so why in the hell would you take Lu Bu's path to your grave?
I think it also fits beautifully with how Chan Mou showcases that Survival with both Lu Bu and Guan Yu and how Zhang Liao too chooses survival and devotes himself to Cao Cao's cause and finally feels "at home" and "relieved" that his work finally has meaning.
this brings back to the core of the matter, that loyalty and all such expectations are grounded in how people would devote their hearts and lives
in a way, when one finds a comfortable path to devote to, one feels at ease... and who doesn't want to get over there indeed?
even the cynical-sounding advice to sell everything and everyone out just to survive is in the larger scheme of things just a means to this end of finding a path of devotion, continuing to seek a way out... it's just that in a messed-up situation people are pitted against one another (by other forces who have managed to trick people into dedicating their hearts)
that is to say, Ravages doesn't really endorse callous opportunism and ruthless social climbing, but rather contextualizes such tendencies
edgy and simplistic social-darwinist talking-points tend to be trendy in these cutthroat times of late capitalism (to excuse the privileged positions of the ruling class), but what's more fundamental than 'kill or be killed' or 'survival of the fittest' would be 'continuity' (whether by replication or mutation) and 'adaptability' and 'resourcefulness' (thus the deliberate complications in the scheming game)... this is what Ravages would remind us time and time again
but at the end of the day, as people live facing death and survive unto the end (though we don't get to choose when), a good description at the end of the road (whether one is at peace or remains regretful) would be that- it's spectacular yet gloomy and ever so eventful - due to the ups and downs
upon closer inspection, the iconic 'spectacular yet gloomy' phrase resembles a 5-character couplet
精彩不亮麗
wonderful not brilliant
起落是無常
vicissitudes so fickle
generally this conveys an aesthetic and ethical appreciation of fragility
I feel that Ravages also shows us that behind each warlord or governor or "Leader" in broader terms there's always a mask that comes off sometime or the other, the way Zhuge refers to this when talking to Huo about Liu Bei. "Liu Bei needs no pretentious mask to talk to me". in a way Zhuge means I know the game, I know how leaders behave, how they use a cause, as a motto to gather people and make them further their own power base, how Liu Bei is using it too
but to wrap up, it would be fitting to connect the topic of history to the topic of morality and governance
people live and die devoting their hearts to various interests and ideals, but after all that how would future generations remember or reimagine their stories? the cynical view is that the lessons will all be garbled and that we'll all be regurgitating garbage from propagandists of various stripes, but there's a subversive and more liberating angle, in that as history marches on there are no permanent winners (and thus no permanent spin immune to challenge and criticism)
I felt the message I got from Ravages regarding History itself was people have a certain slavish tendency where ultimately what the victors write become passed down and people keep living as usual, like they get on with their lives and the winner rewrites history to fit his propaganda
that's one side of it, that the accounts get weaponized to further bind and dominate people
the flip side of it is that things are always ever so complicated and eventful, who's to say the propaganda won't break down or that some traces get passed on and offer some resistance (thus the performative irony of using the records to delegitimize the records)
is history one-sided, or is it of unfathomable depth? hegemony and power blocs can spin things but once they die or fall their own legacies would be at the mercy of the new waves…
now to really sum things up, we can look at two opposing trains of thought and how they clash and are interwoven in Ravages
on the more radical and critical end: since loyalty is ultimately about people offering their devotion and dedicating their hearts to some path, why should they submit to any of the factions?
on the more manipulative and cynical end: since people don't have to sacrifice themselves just to prop up certain powers, how can they be tricked and pressured and coerced to keep the games going?
notions of sagely and virtuous governance also incorporate an element of charisma (the idea being that people would be won over by the conduct and character of the righteous and benevolent), but the insight about people offering their hearts remains... in this case, the people with their innate capacity to recognize and welcome the good could notice that certain others have cultivated goodness to a high degree and so would naturally welcome those excellent ones
in the ideal cases no trickery is involved, just natural compassion and respect (the trickery is in the manufacturing of such images by pretentious pretenders)
Exaggeration of BOTH BRAIN AND BRAWN
RoT tends to get bashed for the lack of realism, in or out of the universe, really frequently. First type of realism that is being targeted is the superhuman capabilities both in the sense of wisdom and strength - now thing about the capabilities in RoT, is that it is well explained on its own, as the warriors get stronger because of experience and the attention they pay to the art of war, which is more than enough in a world where everyone is hardened anyone AND if physical strength is boosted, then what's wrong with boosting the strength of the mind as well? All in all, both of these things fit into the “LEGENDARY'' narrative as it is written as a book that collects legends would be written - back then it was easy to use hyperboles and give the credit to one person, when the deed may have been done by that guy and his unnamed squad, but for people to keep track of such information and details was virtually impossible back then and feats that may seem normal, were also considered as extraordinary, in a sense that the standards were lower back then - an RoT we can hear often lines similar to “we are at the mercy as to how future generations will perceive us” and THAT’S exactly how we perceive them. It's unrealistic. It's questionable. THAT'S THE POINT.
Also yeah, you can find one-man-army type fight scenes in here, but they are not really a deciding factor in most of the cases. Take the scene from around 380th chapter, in which Zhao Yun was fighting against the army Cao Cao - yes, Zhao Yun could fight against the hundreds of elite warriors and that may be viewed as if Cao Cao’s army is full of fodders, but he did not harm them much and needed a help from Zhang Fei to merely run away from them, tired and Cao Cao was not only establishing his power, but also took away the territory from Liu Bei by showing off alone AND was not even using his archers (One, to not cause the friendly fire and second, to try to win over a special talent for himself to use for the greater good).
Second type of realism is that the things just could not have happened just like that in that period of time - well, I can only say that Ravages of Time from the get-go makes it crystal clear that it is an anachronistic world and is not bothered by realism of world-building, as that not only would be impossible to gather from the legends and records, but also I think that fictional stories, especially when they are so openly unrealistic one way or another, should not be discussed under such mindset. It does provide some cultural details and differences, as well as having its own geography.
You would think that exaggeration of physical prowess would hint to some people that self-awareness is present in terms of brain power’s exaggeration, but I guess it is not obvious enough for some. Oh and it is not like ‘intelligence’ is what matters and the ‘strength’ is useless - no, no, no… strategic thinking on its own would be useless if there was no strength to execute said plans, after all, strategies are merely words and strength and capability is what actually influences things, because it's not caged in a framework of being ‘an observation’ - thus one complements another, as the ones that dedicate their lives to killing and attaining the strength, need to be operated by the people that dedicate their lives to attain the farsightedness (of course, they also need a co-operation, considering it is impossible for one person to stand-out in every type of battle of wits or/and combat - such as, being an assassin or being a rear guard. You need many people to succeed). Strength is not a dream, it is a reality and breaks the dreams - as the touch is the only form of confirmation of existence, by affecting things permanently, that’s the only way for someone to be completely sure about the information… but only in his own mind and in a way, that you can just be sure that something has changed forever, but how will it affect the grand scheme of things? Now THAT is again questionable. Let’s take a Dynasty Warriors-like presentation of fight scenes - it would be rather easy and lazy to accuse Ravages of cheaply using these supernatural choreography and one man vs. hundreds of trained soldiers scenarios, because it contradicts the realism it is trying to achieve otherwise, but I, naturally, disagree. Ravages of Time is not trying to be realistic in its literal sense and for a series talking about how literally everything is unreliable, it would be hypocritical to portray itself as a reliable source, hence the supernatural things to keep remind us that it is not. No legitimacy whatsoever, in and out of the work, everything is up to you. Also, it is conveying how a single man is ‘stealing’ the credit from his teammates - instead of a single man fighting dozens, just imagine if that man had his army full of no-names. Back then there was not much discipline in skirmishes and basically everyone was engaging in combat as if they were the fighters from Dynasty Warriors, but in the shoes of a regular human being. It was messy. But after a win, instead of no-names gaining fame, only their leaders are being praised to the heaven, as if they alone overpowered the enemy army and their teammates did not even exist - hence how legends are being born. And in the legends there are many hyperbolic statements about certain deeds and whatnot, hence the reason to include it within the Ravages.
The one thing out of this that can hinder the writing, could be the abuse of said capabilities in favor of the protagonists. One way is the in-verse one and another way is to make it seem as if they are glorified on a meta-level. That may be a turn off for some readers and especially the ones that are not used to animanga medium - is the plausibility of the superhuman capabilities, especially when there are no supernatural system and the rule in its own fiction world to justify it and to be honest, normally I too would deem it as a flaw, so let me excuse it by myself. The reason I dislike it the fact that some of the authors just cherry pick the characters (main characters, specifically) and let them trample on another average humans that also supposed to have similar strength and wisdom (or even higher) - as an example, there is Berserk, in which Guts stands out as a warrior for no in-verse reason whatsoever (especially when there are magical rule in that universe and even they do not justify it) and is capable to not only kill hundreds of coldblooded mercenaries all alone and not even being injured, but he is also capable to overpower the horde of gigantic demons. Now this not only nullifies any sort of tension, but the fact that all of the opposing characters are so disrespected in a unnatural and forceful manner, completely undervalues the conflict from my point-of-view. Not to mention how the main characters are mere teenagers that did not even know the taste of defeat just because they have a leader who has read few books, despite the ones that oppose them are adults, thus way more experienced than them both in terms of battle experience and researched books to improve themselves - in Ravages’ case, there are no such implausible things to be found in it, hence why nothing feels cheap in it, but the opposite, it starts reeking of effortless genius (of course, I am just applying that term to praise it and do not want to say that he transcends humanity with his sheer ‘brain-power’. These authors just have perspectives that I find correct and attainable by any human being). From here comes another problem that may rise in someones’ eye - yeah, the characters seem smart and it is justified, considering the standard of being a smart character in FICTION and not in real life, so please, it is just a fictional flavor that is being used properly, do not expect from an author of a manga (who is basically dedicating his/her whole life to drawing a manga, coming up with character interaction and plotting - which takes a lot of time and barely leaves free time - just like most of the other JOBS) to be some mysterious genius of so many fields of warfare, who will unveil the secrets and life-hacks to you just because you heard it only that this or that manga is genius. Frankly, that’s your problem.
I very much prefer all of the characters more or less being similar both in terms of wisdom and physical prowess, because this not only would get rid of all of the time wasting talks about the power-scaling and thus limit the author and force him to plan the whole plot precisely, but it would also force the author to give his characters more defining traits in various aspects to make all of them more and more distinct (normally I would have disliked pacifism (and other goody-two-shoes mentalities) because it is not only an extremely idealistic and whatever ideology, but also limits the action in an action series which is unheard of. this way every single ordeal may have high tension and weight behind it, and it would also appeal to as many readers as possible, because all of them would feel free to choose one or more favourites among the hundred and root for them - this is both very interesting, charming and very realistic as well. Oh, and talk about the realism of tension, Ravage of Time is quite merciless with its high kill count, sending half of its cast to the deathbed in its first half (of the whole manhua’s planned duration). Despite that fact, some people still do criticize Ravage’ for ‘saving’ its characters from death, in its set-up phase - I do think it is fair to take notice of these conveniences, but I do not think it is fair to give it so much value to decrease the score of Ravages’. Of course, it may seem a bit unrealistic and convenient, but they do not damage anything in the grand scheme of things - Not only these have different purposes to show off and not merely killing, but major characters are still dying and even if characters survive some ordeals, it could be acknowledged as something lucky (which serves as a positive addition to supposedly ‘robotic’ planning/calculation of RoT’s plot) and always alter the minds of the characters and shoulder the consequences, that are often negative and never again regained - so they are not convenient in a sense, that tends to be often counted as negative trait in other series, considering they are not rewarding the characters for their failures.
As an example, let’s examine a ‘little’ skirmish.
How Lü Bu seized control of Xuzhou from Liu Bei
Cao Cao has taken Liu Xie under his protection. Liu Bei receives an imperial edict to fight Yuan Shu, who proclaimed himself emperor of his own Zhongjia dynasty. Lü Bu takes shelter in Liu Bei’s domain but strikes a secret deal with Yuan Shu. Guan Yu heads out for battle along with Liu Bei, while Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun stay behind to manage the defense of Xuzhou.
*Note that the partition of the skirmish is merely hypothetical and based mainly on what was shown or mentioned. There may have been other moves done off-panel. See chapters 177-179 and 181-182 of The Ravages of Time for more details.
PLANNING
Move 1. As part of the deal with Yuan Shu, Lü Bu plots to take over Xuzhou by first seizing the city of Xiapi while Liu Bei and Guan Yu are away. Disgruntled outlaws who want to get back at Liu Bei also get involved.
Move 2. Zhang Fei feigns incompetence and drunkenness to deceive Lü Bu’s accomplices into acting rashly.
Move 3. The outlaws, paid for by Xu Dan, are set to attack on a certain date, and Lü Bu plans to come to Xiapi the night before on the pretext of offering assistance against the outlaws.
Move 4. Zhang Fei plans to hold an evening banquet and invites Cao Bao, hoping to smoke out as many collaborators of Lü Bu in the city as he can. The northern and western gates of the city are closed in order to restrict the points of entry.
Move 5. Cao Bao accepts the invitation, knowing that his guards are in charge of the eastern and southern gates, as well as the place where Zhang Fei’s banquet is held.
Move 6. Zhang Fei intends to lure Lü Bu into the city center, a key spot if one wants to seize Xiapi. He also prepares an ambush in the eastern and southern quarters of Xiapi, given that the streets there are narrower.
Move 7. Chen Gong, being the previous owner of the houses in the eastern quarter that were bought by Zhang Fei’s collaborators, anticipates the ambush. As a countermeasure, Cao Bao’s agents plan to set fire to a location in the southern quarter to distract the hidden troop.
Move 8. Zhang Fei anticipates the decoy attempt, and thus orders the ambush troops to use the fire as the signal to surround Lü Bu when he makes it inside the city. In addition, Chen Deng secretly bribes the outlaws as a countermeasure.
OPERATION
Move 9. With things being set into motion on the night of the assault, Chen Deng arranges for the commoners to be safely evacuated while agents with loud voices would cause a scene and pretend to be troubled by the fire. Zhang Fei is kept informed of the events by means of lackeys using code words in their presentation of meals.
Move 10. Zhang Liao makes his way to the city center to pave the way for Lü Bu while Xiapi appears chaotic following the fire. Lü Bu plans to take Xiapi quickly before the outlaws, whose allegiance is now in question, arrive. Cao Bao surrounds Zhang Fei.
Move 11. Zhao Yun intercepts Zhang Liao in a narrow alleyway, surrounding his troops with ambush units. Both warriors try to settle things with a one-on-one duel rather than an all-out skirmish.
Move 12. Lü Bu divides his troops to deal with the defenders in Xiapi, and heads to the city center with a smaller unit to follow up on Zhang Liao’s maneuver.
Move 13. Zhang Fei brings out a hidden troop near the banquet area, surrounding Cao Bao and his accomplices who thought they have surrounded Zhang Fei. In addition, troops meant to supply Liu Bei in his battle against Yuan Shu have been ordered to attack Lü Bu’s base in Xiaopei on their way back.
Move 14. The real Lü Bu reveals himself to have been in the vicinity of Xiapi all along, with the ambushed general being merely a body double.
Move 15. As morning approaches, Zhang Fei agrees to leave after a brief confrontation and before the arrival of the outlaws, with Liu Bei’s virtuous reputation still intact while Lü Bu gets to suffer the infamy of betraying a host.
Move 16. In another part of Xuzhou, Chen Gong surrounds Chen Gui and forces him to hand over Liu Bei’s family as hostages, in order to keep Liu Bei in check.
Extra moves. Liu Bei begins to take a darker route, as Zhang Fei and Guan Yu had planned for him while Zhao Yun is deliberately kept in the dark. The new leader of the Handicapped Warriors kills Cao Bao and rescues Liaoyuan Huo, who is then told to help convince the Chen clan to work for Cao Cao as insiders. Knowing that he has the leverage, Lü Bu ‘reconciles’ with Liu Bei.
Twist. It turns out that the outlaws have received a third payment from Cao Cao, courtesy of the Sima clan’s resources, and are ordered to act as buffer forces for Cao Cao in Xuzhou while feigning to offer their services to Lü Bu. Moreover, Zhang Fei and Lü Bu deliberately engaged in a convoluted battle in order to keep their respective casualties at a minimum, thereby thwarting Cao Cao’s expectations. Xun Yu decides not to take action and to just let Lü Bu and Liu Bei slowly waste their resources. Cao Cao makes a move against Zhang Xiu, who in turn has agreed to surrender in advance upon the counsel of his adviser and Cao Cao sympathizer Jia Xu. In the shadows, Pang Tong prepares to make his grand debut, even as Zhuge Liang appears to be stepping back after a visit to a battlefield.
It could be called a deconstruction of both of them tho (of brain and brawn). Being reliant on glorifying solely one of them is cheap and you will be ignoring fatal flaws of having such mindset and RoT even showcases to what these flaws lead in actuality
To address the criticism on the meta-level, I will start talking about the narrative in general.
I very much prefer narratives that force the characters to sacrifice/compromise actual things and act pragmatic, over the ones that abuse their own self-made (battle oriented or not) systems that narrow circle of the world despite the grandeur and using cop-outs out of it to cheapen the drama or/and being unnaturally narrowed down to few characters as the center of the world, which is nowhere near realistic when it comes to ambition
When it comes to crafting the narrative via the complex and grand schemes, it mostly comes down to how grand the whole ordeal is supposed to be. Some stories do not have much sense of grandeur and revolve around few plot points, then offer some plot twists regarding the personalities and alter the story-line according to it, not doing much in the grand scheme of things. a plot twist is more about how a composer plots and schemes the contours of the narrative, and it doesn't necessarily involve characters or factions coming up with grand plans, in a sense that it is not supposed to be jaw-dropping, especially to be considered as good and well-written… This (focusing on singular event), of course, has its own merits, as it allows said plot movements to be laid out in tiniest details and showcase the importance, as well as the psyches of the characters, but it leaves much to be desired if you seek ideas that are centered around the world, rather than few or one particular character and want its world to fully realize its potential (ex, Black Sails)... such stories are common and way more than the uncommon grander stories (that may sound redundant but I want to emphasis on just how large the difference is), which is understandable, because of how much effort it takes to craft something so grand, you not only need to be sponsored for a big part of your life and dedicate yourself to your work, but you also need to have a lot of will-power and on top of that, you also need to not change your views drastically, which is hard when, let’s say, you are drawing such a story for 20 years… 20 years are A LOT, it is the most of the life I have ever experienced, it is highly unlikely that you won’t change and if you change, that will definitely affect your work as you practically are a generator of ideas for your own work. Needless to say, it is very ambitious and risky - enough of an excuse to not attempt it, as the simpler stories are spread in this day and age, people want entertainment first and foremost, they want to escape the hardships of life, hence why they do not want to go from one bleak thing from another and waste their time on something they will not be able to enjoy, not be able to reap the benefit. (And no, stories with thousand (hyperbole) writers can’t be counted as such stories)
Now to clarify, when talking about the complex schemes, I do not mean that every story, that is oriented on world-building, should be considered by default - One Piece, Feng Shen Ji and Gunnm: Last Order would make good examples of this, as they do have world-building, but there are barely any strategies that are purposely chain-reacted within each other. They do highlight the actions that shape their worlds, but strategies themselves are barely ever focused and they mostly are focused on hand-to-hand combat primarily, as even if some of them have actual depth in them and could be used for discussion, everything still is an excuse for characters to fight and injure each other and not the other way around.
you can have really contrived plot twists just for the sake of it even if it doesn't mesh with the rest of the story (such as Nisekoi's infamous Truck-Kun) that is no way related to logical course of events
Although to be fair there's also the extreme 'I outsmarted your outsmarting' levels of scheming in some manga where the 'prediction' is in no way believable or fair - knowing/guessing things you can't possibly know.
The best series (such as Ravages) don't go overboard on any of them - we know the skills, strengths, weaknesses and mindsets of characters. It makes sense that Sima Yi lies through his teeth to everyone and has a contingency plan, because it's what he does. Things can go awry, and characters have to adapt to it rather than 'oh, that was all part of my plan all along'. Heck, we even see characters saying 'we'll give this up in order to take this, as we can't have both' - it's Jia Xu's whole schtick
so before going into the details, I'd like to note how upon reading some historical studies about the last years of Han and the struggle of the three kingdoms after Liu Xie's abdication, the Dynasty Warriors series (for all its exaggerations) got something right, and that's with how messy the situation is (with brave and charismatic individual commanders leading poorly trained troops, executing simple tactics, relying on opportunities to dampen enemy morale and inflict massive damage)
amidst the violent brawls (and even more violent pursuit and annihilation operations) the historical accounts end up attributing certain battlefield feats (and just as important, notable pieces of advice and proposed plans) to certain figures, building up a literary and cultural catalog of heroic tales (and dirty tricks) in the process
of course, this doesn't start with 3K lore, for the official records and anecdote collections about earlier periods also include a number of schemes (and similarly, military manuals and even moral and speculative treatises sometimes include tales of schemers to flesh out their teachings)
I go out of my way stating this just to highlight that Ravages builds upon this longstanding legacy in the literature of the central plains
wish I had played Drakengard 1 to compare it to Dynasty Warriors, its supposedly a subversion of DW
fast forward through folk retellings all the way to the Romance and its many adaptations (that further accentuate the stories of bravery and intelligence to epic and magical levels), many of the schemes tend to be presented as signs and wonders of individual genius (and as a result, many stories about scheming conventionally depict some adviser or trickster offering a plan for someone else to implement, in order to take advantage of a naive or less intellectually capable target)
I have to admit, this works well for storytelling and didactic purposes (just as accounts of heroes vanquishing villains prove to be entertaining to this day)
now if an episode involves rival reputable schemers (instead of a schemer victimizing someone), the stories tend to personalize the clash as a battle of wits, with one trying to trip up and outsmart another, to prove superior intellect or boost reputation
in 3K lore, we see this with the confrontations between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, or Zhou Yu's humiliations at the hands of Zhuge Liang
I bring all this up because while Ravages draws from the conventions to some extent (on a theatrical level as we see with the smug poses and playful verbal comebacks) the series also departs from it when it comes to the arrangement of the broader scheming, and this generates a bifurcation throughout the text (as if two distinct games are being played in overlapping scenarios)
now while many tales dealing with warfare and statecraft primarily focus on populating the field with brave or smart figures (varying in proportion and configuration depending on style), Ravages while also incorporating such elements is additionally driven by another consideration, related to how it approaches its sources and the historical horizon in general
suppose what happened turns out to be more complicated and sophisticated than what sources indicate (and from this point of departure, Ravages proceeds to envelop the encounters and episodes with more rounds and layers of scheming)
and on a side note, this is also why I disagree with allegations of decline that revolve around the disappearance of certain characters or character types (because Ravages is primarily about reworking and reconfiguring the lore, and characterization is ultimately subordinate to that grander project)
it's useful to quote the afterword of volume 10 (when Jia Xu outmaneuvered Lu Bu) at length
Looking through Chinese war history and you’ll find that “duels” don’t exist. One-on-one fights are only plot devices.
The real turning point of a battle depends on the strategists. Win despite bad odds – that is the essence of strategy. I’ve heard people say Ravages contains some “extreme” – even “exaggerated” – strategies. But compared to today’s military planning, diplomatic negotiations, and political maneuvers… Even if I exaggerate them by a hundred times more, Ravages will still be just a newbie against them. The world is definitely not simple. If everyone could observe carefully and think critically, you will find hundreds of “Zhuge Kong Ming” and thousands of “Sun Zi” amongst the population.
I already noted that subsequent research highlights how the factions in the last years of Han don't really control disciplined uniformed armies (and are more like rag-tag teams gaining experience and resources after every encounter they survive), but the essential point about strategies (and schemers) being decisive still stands
the comment also reveals the ultimate anachronism embedded in Ravages, in that while Chen Mou does consult the ancient texts, his horizons refer back to more contemporary instances of scheming the details of which we don't fully know but constantly speculate about (because the players continue to lie and hide their secrets)
more importantly, the last two sentences indicate the overall perspective of Ravages regarding the schemers and masterminds (there may very well be some outstanding geniuses, but what matters is that the world is full of intelligence, that one can step into the world of the geniuses by training and cultivation as if in reference to xianxia cultivation stories, haha)
related to this notion of a shared community of intelligence is the lesson provided by Pang Tong in 159... 'letting the enemy know one's move' is a fancy way of putting it, but the core point is resourcefulness (not just in the sense of accumulating more resources although material differences can make or break even the best of plans but more importantly in making a resource out of what is at hand, weaponizing any and every item to secure an advantage)
it's not that the schemers are all omniscient prediction machines, rather it's that the schemers prepare backup plans because to go all in on a single track is too risky and wasteful (more generally, factions in Ravages try to one-up one another with various stratagems and intrigues before, during, after, beside battle, pulling their punches in front so they can stab at the back, because as we all know battlefields are chaotic and cost so many lives)
On a first look, it would seem that in his character establishing scheme Pang Tong went all in on a single track. In actuality he came up with chained schemes that trick others into wasting their resources (so that Liu Chong can preserve his forces). too bad Liu Chong didn't invest in strong bodyguards. the Sima clan's backup scheme is also an instance of resourcefulness, who would have thought the immediate target for the long-term revenge plan would be Liu Chong
now one could still object, resourcefulness is a good lesson and all, but that alone doesn't explain how the factions are able to play these games that involve schemes within schemes within schemes (in chinese, it's 計中計中計中計 repeat the pattern as many times as one wants, and some describe Ravages in that pithy phrase)
the answer to that of course (not quite directly stated, but shown multiple times) is that every faction makes use of a shared tradition of dirty tricks, and draws from a shared pool of intelligence networks, with agents and operatives and insiders and opportunists all over the place
now in relation to characters and the battles of wits they partake in, the general pervasiveness of the scheming game in the series means that the 'power level' element in the confrontations is undercut (in this respect, Ravages is not simply like Death Note or any other of those shows that feature dueling masterminds)
however, this also means that in Ravages, when rival schemers personalize their clash, it's less about who's smarter and more about their contrasting principles and divergent interests and sometimes their petty anxieties…
and this is why I speak of the bifurcation, the double game being played in Ravages
on the one hand, there is the wider world of collective intelligence where processes and maneuvers unfold, and on the other hand there is the theatrical stage of star players and stunt actors and models showing off how smart and erudite they are... and I argue that many of the misplaced complaints about the series stem from not recognizing and distinguishing the elements of this fusion though to be fair I'd accept criticism directed at this very framework
(imagine Chen Mou trying to harmonize the insights and lessons distilled from research and reflection, with the indulgent fantasies from 3K lore and B-movies)
ultimately, battles between armies (and duels between fighters) are temporary (not to mention very costly) ways of asserting and maintaining hegemony, and the bigger struggle involves competing schemes, plans, arrangements, organizations, methods of rigging the playing field, tricks to manage and control people…
now one consequence of the unwavering commitment of Ravages toward meticulous planning is that the battles and duels (while relevant as entertaining segments and as venues for further characterization) play second fiddle to the stratagems and intrigues occurring before, after, beside, amidst, beyond the fights
and this characteristic leads some detractors to complain that Ravages (especially after Lu Bu) isn't that great (by which they mean engrossing and exhilarating) of a 'war story' which misses the point that while Ravages deals with warfare it's more than just about the scenes of glorious brawls, mass slaughter, or wanton pillaging
to be fair, the double game of Ravages means that even as it develops the rounds and layers of scheming plus the topical reflections, it occasionally zooms into the theatrics and the hype boosts (and regrettably, it seems many readers still focus more on this than on the core program)
of course, as a counterpoint, one can accuse Ravages of whitewashing the messier and less hinged aspects of organized violence and intense unrest (in which case perhaps a didactic element is exposed in the idealizations: suppose people were just a bit more resourceful and prudent when they backstab one another and exploit their fellows...)
and this is why it's important to always remember that the series does not purport to be 'realistic' (whatever this really means), but rather that its depictions nonetheless provide material for further reflection and intervention on the real
and since Ravages (notwithstanding the gimmicks it uses from time to time to refresh readers) remains steadfast in unfolding an ambitious creative program (saturated with schemes), certain exhausted and exasperated detractors then bring up another charge, that the series has become formulaic and stale (that it's all about deception and backstabbing, repeating the same routine over and over)
I suppose another quote from the Art of War should suffice to answer the charge: In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack - the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers. The direct and the indirect lead on to each other in turn. It is like moving in a circle - you never come to an end. Who can exhaust the possibilities of their combination?
there may be this one essence to all scheming, warfare may very well be all about deception, but the combinations and circumstances are ever-changing (and in arc after arc, we are served convoluted cocktail concoctions of strategies and tactics, challenging us to sharpen our palates and better distinguish the flavors, and to build up our tolerance so we don't black out and get wasted easily)
besides, I hardly see people complain about there being an overabundance of heroic tales and hype fests (perhaps because there's an addictive craving built around them)
again, to be fair, it's possible to complain that the Ravages approach to scheming (because the players are all boosted and smugly composed and pretty much draw from a similar playbook) isn't as colorful as other trickster tales and battles of wits (or alternatively, that the more systematic rounds and layers lack the seductive charm of stories involving the leveraging and fulfillment of petty passions)
this leads me to ironically note that perhaps Ravages may be good at presenting schemes but isn't as good at luring readers in, haha (similar to the insinuation in chapter 131 that Zhuge Liang isn't as good at appraising people despite being smarter than his classmates)
as we know in the next page the advisers plead for Pang Tong to give it a rest
this sentiment may summarize what some other detractors feel, that Ravages has 'too much' scheming (or alternatively, that they want to see smart plays unfold in limited parameters (such as battlefield maneuvers or mind games between renowned players) but not an entire world built around conspiracies)
so much for the fairer attempts at criticizing how Ravages deals with the scheming game
the more vulgar complaints (say, that Ravages has too many pretentious geniuses, or that it's all about the I know you know I know you know moments) are rooted in an insufficient grasp of the double play in the text (meticulous processes of intrigues and stratagems on the one hand, deliberate theatrical performances on the other hand)
now that we've dealt with the preliminary expositions, we can now look more closely at some cases with regard to how schemes in Ravages interact with the narrative and the character dynamics (while retaining their own parallel trajectory in the story-world)
first and foremost, Ravages likes to remind readers sometimes in amusing tidbits that also allude to aspects of 3K lore that (properly implemented) schemes and preparations are more decisive than direct showdowns in the battlefield (or to put it in another way, the battles only play their role as the messier portions to be avoided if possible, to be used as fronts and decoys if necessary of larger plans)
it's rather amusing, that when one revisits the arcs, most of the casualties can be attributed not to head-on clashes between troops, but to successful plans that displace the victims toward unfortunate situations (and that the rounds and layers of stratagems and intrigues can be seen as a tug of war among the players to shift the costs and the burdens onto one another)
in other instances Ravages hints that certain encounters (while dramatic and impactful) are, from the standpoint of the larger plans, but mere side shows nonetheless leveraged to extract some advantage
for instance, when Liaoyuan Huo was surrounded in Changban, the primary objective was to intimidate the opposition by an showing off a formidable formation (and thereby secure deployment positions for the next phase of the campaign), so it didn't really matter much for the invasion force that Liaoyuan Huo was able to break free (which does not in any way downplay the narrative significance of the realizations and the successful rescue of Liu Shan, only that there are these two distinct operations at work in the text)
on the flip side, it's also important to note that while the schemes (devised by clever minds, ultimately fueled by the labor of those implementing them) are the main engines that drive the story from one phase to the next, at times certain fortuitous contrived situations and marvelous theatrical feats leave their mark (and the effects of which are in turn taken into account for further scheming)
for instance, when Liaoyuan Huo and Zhang Liao drove off Yuan Tan's vanguard Dynasty Warriors style, those weren't part of any grand plan (but the planners adjusted accordingly)
and then there are the memorable instances where the underlying plans pave the way for (and temporarily recede out of focus in favor of) dramatic encounters
now, I've mentioned that while Ravages processes the schemes in meticulous and systemic fashion, it simultaneously indulges in theatrical gimmicks, and the result is that things look as if the masterminds are out there trying to score wins against one another (moreover, reading the chapters in linear fashion helps prop up this image, and this is done mostly for storytelling purposes)
consider the '16 moves' between Zhang Fei and Chen Gong (and that volume will be analyzed at the end of this topic)
now one would think it's all about Zhang Fei wanting to trap Lu Bu, and Lu Bu wanting to seize Xuzhou behind Liu Bei's back, and that Chen Gong won by counting one move ahead
but another way to think about it is that Zhang Fei already knows that Xuzhou is a strategic liability for Liu Bei as a Han loyalist (and suspects the outlaws would be bribed by someone else), so he's trying to find a way out (and teach Liu Bei a dark lesson in the process, and maybe punch Lu Bu in the nose as a bonus)
meanwhile, Lu Bu and Chen Gong agree to work with Yuan Shu mainly because they're looking for a nice place to start, and they seem confident about being able to hold Xuzhou against Cao Cao
arguably Zhang Fei may not have expected Wu (Hai) to sell out and lead Chen Gong's extra troop to the location of Liu Bei's family (it doesn't seem as if he's that ruthless to use his sworn brother's wives as bait, plus Chen Gui as a man of influence should have his own private guards), but other than that each player except Liaoyuan Huo, who was played for a fool got what they wanted, and that the battle was a facade to minimize losses and trick Cao Cao
‘no big deal if he fails’ (was said in the middle of the Guandu arc, foreshadowing that there is also another trick to get rid of Yuan Fang, so Sima Yi is not that important. The main character is merely a bait in the climactic war arc - we can discuss that arc as well at the end of this topic, to compare it to the little skirmish)
this is what it means for the scheming game to take on a life of its own (through the implementations and improvisations by other agents) beyond the stories of particular schemers
besides, Sima Yi only succeeded because Yuan Fang set a layered trap (that was ultimately countered by Yang Xiu's betrayal)
aside from the grand plans and the small maneuvers (that are more about the overall conflict and the balance of powers), Ravages also has its fair share of smart plays primarily driven by personal motives, and it is in these moves where the theater and the story intertwine more closely with the broader struggles
to clarify, of course the participants also have a personal stake in the outcomes of the large campaigns, the difference though is that certain machinations are unleashed with narrower and pettier agenda in mind (consider the difference between sabotaging the Yuan army supplies to force a retreat on the one hand, and killing Yuan Fang and traumatizing Yuan Shao to exact revenge for the Yang clan on the other hand)
this divergence in orientation also serves to distinguish Sima Yi's earlier musings about expediently taking control from Sima Yi's later quest for revenge
it's important to note that the processes of scheming go beyond dramatic exigencies, but since the participants (and the readers) are people with sentiments, these portions end up getting much of the attention…
and this brings us to the games of attribution and glorification and vilification that people play (and this includes not just heroic feats, but also the schemes)
on a broader level, the implementation of some plan depends on many people and factors (and even the ideas themselves are built on other ideas and could have been articulated by anyone), but at times certain people take credit but not others and commentators fight over who should be praised and blamed
among the pettier complaints about Ravages and its schemes, there are some that focus on how so-and-so character is supposed to be the originator of some plan (as attested in either the historical account or the older folk retellings), but gets sidelined in Ravages to favor another (more popular) character
I agree that Ravages still plays this game, but I argue that in the broader view it doesn't matter as much who proposed what, what's of greater importance is how the rounds and layers play out (like complains about the recent arc that the Sun clan no longer feels as a threat - Sun clan is supposed to learn a lesson TOO (as they just can’t get away with the old teachings) and polish themselves further)
on that note let me digress on Xun You (I found a Russian review that regrets how he isn't showcased as much in the series)
in the historical account Xun You formally outranks Guo Jia and moreover is said to be the one who proposed or supported many decisive plans in the Guandu campaign
for instance, the trap to bait Wen Chou with supplies at Yan ford is supposed to be his idea
now if one is mainly concerned about which schemer gets to shine, one would end up complaining that the eight geniuses (plus Sima Yi especially him since he's one of the most pivotal characters) hog much of the credit, but when one starts to think more about the layout of the processes, it wouldn't matter as much if it was Xun You, Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Man Chong, Cheng Yu, Liu Ye, or any other minor adviser who said the idea (especially considering that in Ravages, the masterminds and even many of the officers can think along similar lines and draw from the same playbook)
and if one is attentive to details, one would note that both Guo Jia and Xun You were delighted about Liu Bei accompanying Yan Liang (which means both had similar ideas of using Guan Yu to exploit Liu Bei's sense of brotherhood)
Man Chong and Sima Yi also shared similar opinions about a possible surprise attack by the Sun clan, so it's not a matter of who's smarter based on who got the credit
also Xun You managed to implement a minor plan in the Changban phase of the Chibi campaign, spreading rumors that Liu Bei used commoners as human shields in his retreat
I'd prefer it if Ravages outsources the proposal of more nice plans to unnamed minions though
and then there's the case of Yuan Fang's sudden death at the hands of the spear of Yang Xiu (technically he died after sustaining more injuries when he fall into that ravine but people remember the backstab the most)
some who focus on individual schemers rather than the scheming game would complain that it offers a cheap excuse as to why the Yuan clan would eventually lose against Cao Cao, but the decisive factor in the Guandu campaign was the burning of the rations at Yangwu basically similar to what the lore says, but with the locations changed (not to mention there were supposed to be other plans to instigate revolts in the Yuan clan territories, and besides Yuan Fang also entrusted his minions to carry out plans to undermine the factions of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang)
and after all that it still took Cao Cao 8 years (most of them off-panel) to pacify Hebei, plus Guo Yuan put up a good fight
what's regrettable is not Yuan Fang's convenient death (if Chen Mou wanted to prolong things like what he's doing to the scramble for Jingzhou, Yuan Fang could die after Guandu, after Cangting, after Liyang, after the siege of Ye, or even survive in secret with many fan theories back then rooting for him to become Cao Pi, and yet still be able to lay out how the Yuan clan would lose anyway), but the convenient marginalization of the other factions of the Yuan clan (effectively used as sacrificial pawns for the narrative to proceed more quickly, and as cautionary tales and prefigurations of what Sima Yi and Yang Xiu have in mind for the Cao clan)
and since I mentioned Chibi, the last part of this discussion will focus on how Ravages reconfigured the campaign of Chibi and how the changes exemplify the Ravages approach to scheming (less about the personalities, more about the processes)
if one isn't familiar with how the Romance (and its more faithful adaptations) tell the story, one wouldn't notice how Ravages cut out (and replaced with sneakier versions) a lot of the subplots leading up to the naval battle
notably, Ravages only spends 9 volumes covering the events in 13 chapters of the Romance (and yet for all that the Ravages account remains more sophisticated)
the historical account presents a rather straightforward and bland picture of the situation (and appropriately focuses on the Sun clan rather than Liu Bei), which the Romance heavily embellishes
one of the more iconic schemes not featured in Ravages (the one depicted in the above pic) involves Zhuge Liang borrowing arrows from Cao Cao (by sneaking a few ships filled with straw dummies during one foggy night)
there are also a bunch of espionage tales cut out in Ravages, and I'll explain in a bit how Ravages over-compensates by presenting a more meticulous scenario
now, to be fair to the Romance, many of the things in the Chibi campaign that Ravages does not include combine to form what is essentially a chain of deceptions and counterintelligence to fool Cao Cao (woven alongside the developing rivalry between Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, with the latter consistently outwitting the former)
Jiang Gan gets an extended appearance in the Romance as the diplomat tricked by Zhou Yu into feeding disinfo to Cao Cao which led to Cai Mao being executed (he also ends up bringing Pang Tong to Cao Cao which led to the poisonous advice about chaining the ships together so that they can be burned together)
(note on Cai Mao’s character - it is interesting how in his scheme his family is involved, further highlighting how natural was the deception in that age)
Cai Zhong and Cai He who don't show up in Ravages are sent by Cao Cao as false defectors with the pretext that they're upset about Cai Mao's execution only to have their cover blown when Gan Ning and Kan Ze pretended to be upset about Huang Gai's punishment (part of Zhou Yu's counterplan to send him as a false defector) and tricked into corroborating more disinfo to Cao Cao about potential defectors
Kan Ze is the one who sends the letter of Huang Gai's fake surrender to Cao Cao and takes the time to rebut Cao Cao's suspicions
Xu Shu (who in his heart is loyal to Liu Bei) managed to spread some rumors about Ma Teng and he then volunteered to verify them, thus saving himself from the defeat to come
notice how in the Romance while there are layers of scheming involved, the setup is more personalized (a handful of spies and feelers get sent, they get fooled by a handful of counter-agents, multiple persuaders work together to enhance the scam, etc.)
Ravages cuts all of that out (and the entertainment that goes with it) and presents something grander, in line with its general approach to the scheming game
instead of just 2 spies, Ravages features a bunch of nameless sellouts and opportunists (baited by Zhang Zhao, with the off-panel debate as the stage to slowly persuade them to renew their loyalty while a bunch of others are arrested later on) as well as 2 replacement agents Ma En and Cheng Chao (with the special mole Lu Yuan watching over them) specifically sent to contact Kan Ze and bring him to Cao Cao's side
the idea being that unlike in the Romance, where the forces of the Sun clan generally united to oppose Cao Cao (after Zhuge Liang swayed all dissenters and Sun Quan threatened to execute all who advocate for surrender), in Ravages the bedbugs continue to operate and have to be managed
another clever innovation concerns the killing of Cai Mao
while in the Romance, Zhou Yu saw Cai Mao as a threat (given his experience in naval battles) who had to be eliminated to ensure Cao Cao's defeat, in Ravages Zhou Yu actually saw him as a useful pawn who would be able to keep Liu Bei locked in Xiakou (and that instead of being executed, he was assassinated off-panel by Liaoyuan Huo's hit squad which turns out to be the Cao army's bait for Liu Bei to move and get crushed in the showdown)
and additionally, Cai Mao's death paves the way for Wen Ping who in the historical account managed to defeat Guan Yu in a post-Chibi engagement to enter the scene
Ravages removes the episode where a diplomat is fooled to get a key ally in trouble, and replaces that with an elaborate baiting game
at least Jiang Gan still gets a cameo appearance, helping explain the hype surrounding the Qiao sisters who only appear in 1 chapter (since there's a minor scheme involving the deliberate distortion of Cao Zhi's poem to make Cao Cao look like a pervert waging war to go after the wives of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, a subplot borrowed from the Romance but tweaked as a widely disseminated rumor rather than as Zhuge Liang's way of triggering Zhou Yu)
this time around, the chaining of the ships is no longer the result of Pang Tong's poisonous advice (since in Ravages he already mobilized a more amazing chain stratagem against Cao Cao back in the Nanyang/Wancheng arc)
instead, the chained ships are reconfigured as long bridges meant to help the Cao army quickly cross the long river and augment Zhang Liao's initial strike force (this also has the added effect of highlighting that the naval showdown is just for show the biggest subversion Ravages made to the iconic battle, while the main front is on land)
it's also worth noting that unlike in the Romance, it's not just Zhuge Liang who foresaw the southeastern wind (although only he foresaw the larger weather pattern)
in effect though Ravages sacrifices the metaphorical significance of the chained ships as part of a chain of deceptions, since in Ravages every faction is already operating a chain of deceptions
and then there's the second reconfiguration of the chained ships, with a surprise fleet featuring longer connective poles (to mitigate the spread of fire and keep attacking fire ships at a distance) and fire-proof coating and other such preparations
this helps drive home a key point: Cao Cao is a veteran of many battles, how could he lose with just a simple trick? and the answer Ravages provides is that the trick was never that simple
in reconfiguring the Chibi campaign, Ravages ditched the little tricks in favor of the big league plans (and this exemplifies the overall Ravages approach to the scheming game, even though early on the series made more use of the 'battle of wits' formula)
I also note that the move to include Taishi Ci's death in the arc (in the Romance he dies after Chibi due to Zhang Liao's ambush, in the historical account he dies before Chibi but of illness) also gives the Sun clan a more plausible pretext (given that Huang Gai failed to help Taishi Ci because of the scheme laid out in the pic) to carry out the punishment as part of a false defection scheme that the Cao army has prepared for anyway
I'd like to note one more case that illustrates what the Ravages style of scheming is about, namely the Diaochan subplot
in the Romance Wang Yun convinces Diaochan to drive a wedge between Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo in a classic seduction scenario (in the historical account Lu Bu rebelled partly out of fear that his affair with some unnamed palace servant involved with Dong Zhuo would be exposed)
in Ravages the beauty trap hardly even mattered in the power struggle since Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo planned to get rid of each other at some point from the start
Regarding the scheming game being talked about ever so often in Ravages in comparison with other series like Kingdom always reminds me of the fundamental difference between tactics and strategy. I feel like most schemes in Ravages are strategic in nature, they are long term, try to achieve multiple goals and the setup takes time to develop and mature their ripples are felt many chapters or even volumes later and hence might take away the instant awesomeness of many tactical schemes like in Kingdom. Keep in mind , I'm not saying Kingdom can't be strategic but since they are so heavily battle focussed they take a more tactical approach to schemes. Whatever their ploy is will be discovered soon because most of their ploys have one agenda, create a chance at killing the general and that will happen at the end of the arc whereas for Ravages each scheme does not have a single purpose, it is layered with feints and other schemes to gain an advantage and a strategic one at that so that when it comes to the tactical war it can be easily won. It's similar to how a basketball team tactically operates with picks, screens, cuts and flares to get the one mismatch which can be won easily and strategically operates with Cap Space, contracts, player trade clauses, coaches, and trades to get the best team possible which can then have the best chance of winning tactically. Imo it is one of the reasons people can lose interest in Ravages because there is rarely immediate effect of any move and the reason Ravages have not so clear battles because ultimately it is all a gimmick since if you strategize well enough that when it comes to he battle you either have numerical superiority or high ground advantage that can be won through tactics and the only time they show wars is when one of the participants have Superior Tactics.
While thinking about why people leave after the Xiapi arc I felt the same feeling that Xiapi was a mostly tactical operation since they had to complete it as quickly as possible and hence comparatively easier to follow but after that all arcs shifted to the long game where strategy becomes key to success. It's like a game of Go vs Chess, in Chess you can do all the brilliant manoeuvres but the ultimate aim is to kill the enemy king whereas in Go each move you make is to gain territory, some advantage that keeps piling up and gives the ultimate advantage.
To add to the point about strategy vs tactics, it's not as if other series dealing with warfare and statecraft don't deal with strategic situations and calculations, but for the most part various stories relegate this aspect into the background (perhaps reducing strategy to personal motivations achieved by means of smart moves) or simplify the bigger picture (kill enemy commander, win battle, weaken adversary, gain territory or influence) to better focus on the tactical back and forth as the main engine for strategic accomplishments
Ravages for its part revels in presenting many layers and rounds of schemes, with multiple factors (inside and outside of battle) taken into consideration (even if the series does not always go out of its way to depict them all in detail, being content as it were to convey many moves as side notes in speech bubbles)
on that note, given how the campaigns and engagements in Ravages tend to be complex and intertwined to the point that readers find it difficult to distinguish when one arc ends and another begins one could say that aside from the attention given to grand strategy and war strategy, the series also showcases a robust operational middle ground (the interface of petty strategies and larger tactics, connecting the tricks on the ground with the big picture plans) even if the small-scale tactical details tend to be lacking especially when it comes to direct battles…
this brings me to another characteristic of Ravages, in that while it still shows battles (and duels) every now and then, the decisive blows across various confrontations and arcs tend to be from indirect maneuvers and sneaky interventions rather than the result of straightforward battlefield domination
now the tricky thing about this approach is that if readers happen to be more interested in smart battlefield plays rather than complex processes across, around, beyond, besides the battlefield Ravages would appear inadequate in comparison, with its condensed fights and fuzzy battle layouts (and a conspicuous absence of diagrams and bird's eye view positional panels)
moreover, since Ravages happens to weave together meticulous and convoluted plans and narratives alongside so much theatricality (the moments and gimmicks many like to praise) one other consequence is that those reading the series can get so drawn in to how the show unfolds (either praising how cool the setup is and focusing on character dynamics, or dismissing how pretentious the setup is and complaining about the lack of battlefield detail) that they lose sight of the infrastructure of stratagems and intrigues
surely it made it more challenging and it could be argued that it is a legitimate criticism, considering that if something can be improved, has a better alternative and could have been done in a better manner - it is a flaw - and of course it could have been done better, just like how Altair is full of maps and low-scale tricks, despite it not even being as grand RoT which basically means that it is even more burdened to convey the hardships of being in a point of view of a random soldiers and how hard it is not only for them but for leaders as well to convey the message for them and yet, RoT is fuzzier in combat.
On the other hand, Altair is a simplified approach to warfare, so it makes sense to not be so centred around fuzziness and Ravages of Time itself is so grand that sometimes people have to command a million soldiers. so it makes sense for it to be fuzzy, as they actually have problems with operating such a huge army and lose as well.
it could also be said that even if it is a flaw, that does not mean that it could not be excused and justified, in a sense that you are free to forgive things like this one, because it still matches with the overall point of Ravages' - how questionable are the records, legends and whatnot, considering how RoT in itself is written to be such material and that makes sense, because if you preach about how there is no such thing as a fully correct and unalterable event (aside of physical strength, but that's different matter - even if strength was there, we still are not sure how it was achieved and whether it was exaggerated or not. On top of that, one named guy could be taking all the credit of his squad (intentionally or not) when said squad is not named, as he did not bother to build his own and was assigned with random soldiers (otherwise there are handicapped warriors) - and that is how legends are born. Which basically means that it is not about whether something happened or not, but how the story was shared to others), you can't just go and write your own story as the opposite, fully correct, unalterable and crystal clear - no, you make it questionable and cryptic as well.
with regard to setting and storytelling the approach of Shoukoku no Altair is basically to construct an alternative fantasy world (one still based on a particular historical juncture, so the composer can selectively show the fruits of her research since she studied the period then came up with a story based on it) as a means to explore alternative arrangements and play with ironic parallels, whereas Ravages is more about confronting the source texts and critically commenting on the processes of history-making (in multiple senses of the term)
but that's just a side remark, with regard to the scheming one could note that Shoukoku no Altair (like many other stories dealing with warfare and statecraft) places a premium on how the battles were conducted (positions, formations, tactics, equipment), along with some plans and tricks in the background to assist the campaigns, whereas in the case of Ravages it's really the schemes that take the front seat, with the battles serving mainly as fronts (and as spaces to show off the theatrical side of the series)
now on a side note
the thing about the historical account regarding the early periods of the central plains is that (unlike the chronicles and military manuals in ancient 'western' history) there isn't as much detail about how the battles unfold on a play by play level and what the formations could have looked like, plus there's more focus on compiling stories of trickery and deceit
what's more, fighting during the end of Han turns out to be rather disorganized with many forces going at it dynasty warriors style but without the musou attacks so heroic tales became more prominent features (the Records is full of it, and it gets embellished in subsequent folklore all the way to the Romance)
this background no doubt shapes how Ravages approaches the battles (inheriting the standard formula of heroic tales of martial might plus trickery, but with the stratagems and intrigues ramped up to new heights and depths as part of the commentary on how things need not have been as simple as what the sources say)
anyway, back to the topic (so that we don't get sidetracked, we can channel back the casual lamentations about how Ravages remains appreciated over to hangout to fill the space there) and to reiterate a previous point
'smart war stories' (those that focus on strategies and tactics in contrast to 'dramatic war stories' that highlight other things) tend to feature clever plays on the battlefield with some assistance from behind the scenes maneuvering
'battle of wits stories' tend to showcase players challenging one another intellectually and psychologically in contest/game situations with more limited parameters
the thing with Ravages is that its theatrical component indeed draws from the elements of 'smart war' (in scenes of troops and commanders going at it in battle with various tricks and techniques) as well as 'battle of wits' (in subplots that highlight the personalized clash between schemers) not to mention the occasional heroic tales of martial combat (and to be fair, many stories weave these aspects together too)
but where Ravages stands out is in how it mobilizes and organizes the schemes in a complex and meticulous fashion, how this unfolding takes on a life of its own beyond the battlefield moves or the mind games
I wanted to specifically talk about the trio of Ravages of Time, Altair and Usogui - these are the stories that no only manage to incorporate complex scheming game in their stories through the cooperation, while constantly yet naturally getting more and more convoluted at it, but they also drastically differ from each other, not only in terms of setting (RoT is about the ancient china, Altair is about the simplified versions of various cultures, Usogui is modern-day japan) but also how exactly narrative operates with said schemes, how they help to enhance the story-telling, what opportunities will be the characters given and what dilemmas will they face to dive into the rabbit hole of ubermensch schemers.
Now to make the comparison easier to comprehend, I think it will be reasonable to order them with a sliding scale of… well… scale:
-Ravages of Time is almost fully focused around the grand scheme of things - It is about just how farsighted, the ones that make the crucial decisions towards saving the country, can be, compromising to each other and finding common ground with the several other factions, while all of them having the plans that they did not reveal amidst the arrangements with others. Of course, they all will be forced to sacrifice things, that are highly important to them or to others, to do so and eat the consequences in one way or another.
Altair has both, as it has a simplified world, which allows the presence of grand ideas and strategies, as well as it allows to focus on individual characters and tactical advancement and cartoony/artistic expressiveness. Altair’s focus has an interesting ‘contradiction’ implemented within - it wants to be both individualistic and grader/co-operative, simplified and complex (as much as it will be allowed for it to be). If RoT places its priority on how all of the sides "trade for food" with each other and constantly bark to each other while doing so and if Usogui places its priority of crafting a co-operation by characters fully embracing their individualism and somehow finding the synergy through it, Altair moreso places its priority to finding a balance in-between these two as well.
Usogui almost completely discards the grander ideas and places the whole plot within one or two grand strategies that gradually unfold themselves as the story reaches its climax, instead focusing on connecting them with focused local arc, that on their own fully focus on individualism of its cast. Even the subject matter has changed from warmongership to gambling.
All in all, what I'm trying to say is that Ravages isn't quite like a 'smart war story' and that it's Altair that's more like it. Ravages would be more like a 'conspiracy thriller' in the backdrop of a war (but instead of just one shady secret society in control, it's more like an illuminati civil war) and Usogui is somewhat similar by taking the “underground” (rather than grander) approach of illuminati civil war for the opposite effect, that is action - It was rather interesting to have experienced how the main character of Usogui managed to win one of the battles of wits, when the opponent was decentralizing Baku from the tricks and solely was predicting what would happened according to what Baku SHOULD have done considering his mental state and general aura, reputation of a genius, but that in itself was a trap by the main character, so as to give a lesson about how the aura could be weaponized and you rendered as prejudicial towards people (one of my favourite examples being Oberstein, the most patriotic character in the show, who is also being feared and hated by everyone in the series, because of his lack of social skills and emotions, that gives a room for suspicion to the ones around him) - RoT basically expands on this concept, as this is basically how Ravages of Time AS A WHOLE is supposed to be approached, as the narrative and characters should be decentralized from they theatrical behaviour, cause it server it is own purpose and is weaponized. Chen Mou focusing on theatricals is the same when Sun Ce used the grave of his very loyal soldier and tarnished it to raise the morale and move forward - we are supposed to be decentralized from the scheming for us to make sense as to how the morale of the soldiers is being affected. It is not being used for romanticization.
not a lot of readers appreciate the thematic significance of Ravages making things more convoluted even if the overall outcomes remain similar
first, it plays on the motif of fate (and foreclosure based on established lore) as aptly expressed in Xu Lin's iconic line
second, it contributes to the critical interrogation of historical representation, conveying a version of how things could have been more complicated than the tales passed on to us would suggest
third (and this is the least noticed point), the complications help illustrate how there are many ways and means to manage risks and exploit loopholes, that there are many variations of moves that can yield similar results, that indeed things are contingent on a number of factors and conditions
For one I feel the author has a great grasp in methods of scheming as evident by how even nameless advisors are shown to follow a method when it comes to planning which they sometimes divulge and sometimes is shown as a form of commentary. One thing I feel certain is it treats planning as a subject more than a construct that some series follow where they say "I have a plan" and it all happens automatically.
Remember when an unnamed adviser was explaining how he advised the lord to follow through the first strategy (‘a prognosis’), while he himself would oversee the second strategy, clean-up, depending on the first one. A very crude example but the one that came to me first, but this panel illustrates the point I'm trying to make that the author offers some insights into how he himself approaches planning and he is willing to divulge it to us through these agents like the advisor in this example. If we forget what the scheme is for a moment the fact that an advisor is willing to part with his methodology in schemes might be Chan Mou preparing us as to how he creates schemes as well.
The other method is imparting knowledge with the help of commentary where he divulges not any specific strategy but principles of strategy themselves. Most mangas tend to focus on a character and even when the POV changes it shifts to another character and the author maintains a minimal interference except when maybe imparting factual information, RoT maintains a spirit of (albeit one sided) dialogue where the author explains some principle or method which he may have encountered during his study or experience which he carefully seams into the story to impart to us as a thought provoking idea. This is where discussion regarding these topics help because there is no right idea and any perspective is a unique one and that by using these as a conversation piece different ideas can come forth which can be then (possibly) refined and applied in daily life.
now, one convenient way to present in concise fashion the Ravages scheming game (and by extension how this shapes its approach to warfare) would be to cherry-pick 5 general passages from the Art of War of Sunzi (all of which Ravages also quotes) that aptly describe the overall approach of the series
[以正合，以奇勝] Confrontation is done directly, victory is gained by surprise.
thus in Ravages battles mainly function as decoys and facades (that is to say, theaters of narrative progression and character development) while the scheming lays out who gains what in which round
[兵者，詭道也] Warfare is a way of deception.
thus in Ravages the factions heavily rely on intelligence networks so that they can keep these games of disinformation and miscommunication going before the 'truth' of relative leverage and positional advantage is unveiled in a given contest
[不戰而屈人之兵] Render others’ armies helpless without fighting
thus in Ravages rumors are weaponized and the masterminds fight over (complete with poses and boasts and other gimmicks) how to shape the morale of those who do the bulk of the fighting, in the hope that things will be rigged in their favor without having to go all the way
[知彼知己，百戰不殆] If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.
thus in Ravages everyone tries to anticipate one another and prepare backup plans and countermeasures since they know very well that battles are costly and chaotic
[知可以戰與不可以戰者勝] He who knows when one can do battle and when one cannot do battle will be victorious.
thus in Ravages the various forces pull their punches on the battlefield so they can reserve their energy to backstab or negotiate later
it's only fair to point out how the realities of war (as recorded in various accounts) preclude and hinder the effective implementation of many of the loftier maxims in the Art of War (though Sunzi is far from being dreamy, since the text also contains more down-to-earth advice about particular situations)
for one thing, wars and battles still end up happening because the parties are unable to make gains and pursue interests (or alternatively, live with certain compromises and concessions) without the use of organized violence
and then of course there are the various accidents and passions and blunders and other factors that generate 'friction' not only upon contact in battle (while one can fake information and formations, it's another thing to be faced with actual configurations of forces and feelings), but even in the course of the preparations
so in a way, the maxims about winning without fighting and knowing all there is to know about oneself and others can be understood to be aspirational and cautionary remarks, to remind readers to do what they can to avoid disastrous situations and to mitigate the damage with enough resourcefulness should things come to a breaking point despite all the preemptive measures
even the use of deception has limitations as well since the various sides still have to issue truthful commands and circulate faithful reports (which can then be picked up and leaked), and the indirect approach is still tied in some way to the direct approach (and as situations shift, what was once direct can play an indirect role and vice-versa)
having articulated these disclaimers from the outset, we can now turn to Ravages
now the simplistic approach would then be to say that Ravages fails as a 'war story' because it somehow downplays these complications by constantly emphasizing how things go as planned (unfolding in convoluted rounds and layers at that)
his point of criticism would work if the series focuses mainly on what goes on in the battlefield and manages to present the bulk of the plans as smoothly implemented protocols during combat (and to be fair, Ravages has some of those gimmicky elements too, but that's not unique to the series)
however, my suggestion would be to look at things differently and note how Ravages presents a scenario where the parties are taking those maxims seriously as a matter of course (which explains why many of the schemes happen behind the scenes, how the battles mainly function as fronts, to what extent the factions rely on intelligence networks to be able to play these games by lubricating the friction and thereby introducing more openings for slip-ups, etc.)
anyway, to put it more concisely
the maxims I highlighted can seem trivial and unrealistic when directly applied to battlefield circumstances, but Ravages sidesteps the issue by emphasizing instead how the processes of scheming play out beyond, between, around, alongside the battles
(besides, when it comes to the battlefield encounters in Ravages, much of what is shown is theatrical and the series is just trying to have it both ways by being meticulous and gimmicky)
that's the first step, decentering the fights and showdowns to focus on the plans that keep things going
the next step would be to decenter this notion that the schemes can be reduced to personalized moves in a battle of wits between individual masterminds who pull the strings (better yet, cast aside those genius level rankings and focus on how the moves unfold and the conditions that ground them)
this unfortunately is easier said than done (in part due to how Ravages still indulges in theatricality), when readers still have the urge to rank who's the 'smartest' of them all, neglecting the more astute commentary by Chen Mou - that If everyone could observe carefully and think critically, you will find hundreds of “Zhuge Kong Ming” and thousands of “Sun Zi” amongst the population.
If anything, the subversive subtext of Ravages isn't so much that there's a secret history of conspiracy (and a secret lineage of hidden hands) not mentioned in the official accounts, but that the scheming process is open to anyone which prevents any one faction from ensuring a permanent win.
and one can note how the very formulation and presentation of schemes (and more generally, reiterating the point that there are plans in place even though ultimately the plans are only as effective as how they are implemented in specific circumstances by those who are on board with the game) also functions as a higher-order implementation of the morale theory (just replace 'heroes and generals' with 'masterminds and advisers')
considering that exercises and clashes of mass violence are messy affairs that involve considerable costs, coming up with various sorts of subterfuges and machinations (boosted by the boasts and appeals to the reputations of certain schemers) is not only sound policy aimed at minimizing the damage to one's side assuming that people play along and do their part but moreover is itself a confidence trick to get people to fall in line and do the dirty work
As the Ravages frequently use more than conventional warfare, one can also derive a message from that as well. Take Lu Bu’s duel against the trio, for instance. Here we can see that the author even uses parallels to other strategic facts as well in this case he derives it from Water Mirror's military strategy but in essence he may also be reminding us that observation, careful planning, and application of strategy can be used in any conflict to come out on top, even duels. Through the use of Cao Cao it has been shown that if we take a step back and become observers we can see microcosms of war in almost any scenario, be it fuelling or in modern time organizational warfare or even something simple as office politics. The purpose of these cryptic texts is to draw out the essence which can then be used in any scenario. And to conclude it all for the panel used as an example, the duel now becomes the "perfect strategy", a direct reference to a duel being a battle in strategy by two players.
Now on to subterfuges and machinations, all advisors plan to get the maximum result from minimum damage but their methods might be different, Guo Jia uses this in burning one city to make 10 others fall in line (even though it has been credited to the philosophy of Dark Art of War every advisor), even Zhuge, practices some form of it even though the scale itself may be dialled down. These are what is called as 'Dirty Work' because they might be the agents that implement that or somebody else might do it in their stead. This is all done to keep the Lord they serve "clean", whoever they might be. Even Zhuge who vehemently denounced the Dark art of was is treacherous to some extent. They have sacrificed their morality in a way to maintain the morality of their Leader.
And we can conclude the topic by side-by-side comparison of how Ravages constructed a little skirmish and a war between two factions (and plus how it examines the thought process and characterization of its characters amidst the chaos)
Let’s start with volume 22. As a bonus, I will offer comparison to Fate/Zero.
I was rewatching Fate/Zero and it left me unsatisfied, so I decided to compare it to the Ravages of Time, to note from where my disappointment was coming from. Now Fate/Zero may not be set in the historical setting, but it does tackle similar nihilistic themes, hence the comparison. That will also showcase that there are more stories that can be compared to RoT, even if at first glance that may not seems so (another example being Katanagatari). Unfortunately for F/Z, it is too ambitious for its own good, considering its number of episodes, which leads to its shallowness in terms of thematic exploration and general flaws in terms of plot/character-writing. Despite that, I still considering it to be a worthy series, as it has fairly fleshed-out and developed cast with a tragic tone.
There may be more comparable topics, but here I picked only two of them
Emiya's utilitarianism
Emiya's methods/ideology maybe is pragmatic, but they did not come from him thinking "what's the best for humanity?"... no, they came from his childhood trauma when he could not kill his childhood crush, who was begging him to kill her to not spread the virus, which resulted in spreading the zombie-like virus, thus the whole village was gone in mere hours (tbf, its pretty unrealistic for a child to suddenly gain resolve, in such a stressful situation, and kill his own father, because its for the greater good... needless to say, I disliked how forced the whole episode was)... even after that, when Emiya became a mercenary, he was constantly witnessing the evils of humanity and he still was losing his loved ones (thus the wish for the miracle, to save the humanity from its core instinct).
Thing is, because of his mental trauma, he was only fixated on the KILLING part. This was showcased in one of the latest episodes, when Grail itself proved that he was always deciding on killing the smaller part, instead of finding the actual solutions (case being the two sinking ships, one with 200 population and one with 300 population, when he needed to choose whichever to fix, but Emiya decided to help 300 strangers, by killing 200 people around him, instead of collecting 500 people on one fixed ship and so on). Our Emiya did not care about him being proven wrong, though. He continued destroying everything and did not wish for anything (with contrived reason "cost is too high"... its contrived, because he already paid the price, so in the present time, there was no cost for him - he just had to wish something else). He did not develop... up until when "lava" came from the sky, after which he changed his mind off-screen...)
Hence why its just a coping mechanism for him and also why he was being hypocritical, when he said to Saber, that people shed blood just for the sake of valor and glory (basically, both him and Saber (at least, from Emiya's Point of View) are doing it for personal reasons and he has not right to talk like that to Saber
On the other hand, in RoT's case, we do not have such personal case of utilitarianism, just for the sake of artificially proving something wrong, when it comes to character Zhuge Liang. Even more, Zhuge Liang himself talked about similar motives in 180th chapter.
to lengthen the session I plan to feature 8 pics per chapter, for a grand total of 64 pics, with discussions along the way
we begin with a recap of the premise for the events to come
Liu Bei accepts an imperial edict (which Cao Cao arranged to have the emperor promulgate) to attack Yuan Shu, who in turn seeks to collaborate with Lu Bu to take Liu Bei out of the picture (since as a Han loyalist he would be a nuisance to Yuan Shu’s Zhongjia regime)
of course at this point Yuan Shu has been weakened somewhat due to Sun Ce’s scheme as well as Liu Ye’s betrayal, and thus he cannot afford to have Liu Bei ruin things further
175 also brings up one of the recurring topics in Ravages, namely the unreliability of historical accounts (particularly the ‘official records’)
to be clear, it’s not as if Ravages is saying that since the records are biased we shouldn’t learn from the records we receive and uncover (or worse, using the premise of unreliable records as an excuse to justify supporting one’s favorite 'vilified’ factions in the past)
rather, because the records are biased we have to learn carefully (and acknowledge that records are not just representations but they are also tools)
the paradoxical position of Ravages after all is that it uses its sources to criticize them (and without the sources and the stories of scheming, what would there be to criticize about)
it's just like what Pang Tong was saying about cults. they may be false, but you can guide people with them. But is it right to guide people while brainwashing them into believing in things that otherwise do not really exist, as they cannot be confirmed by us?
back to Zhang Fei, his response isn’t just an instance of disparaging official historians (with the emphasis on 'official’, since the dynasties of the central plains actually hire such positions to come up with sanctioned narratives about the past) but there’s also a self-reflective aspect to it
how would one act not only with the thought of how one will be remembered, but also anticipating that one’s actions will be misunderstood and misinterpreted as part of schemes to come
it’s almost as if he’s daring future generations to look at him how they (or we) would, so long as he gets his job done
and we’re also reminded that Chen Deng’s privileged position in Xuzhou is partly due to how he bankrolls the security and military apparatuses in the province (that’s why he outright flaunts about not having to pay the usual taxes, since he pays in other ways)
an instance of corruption to be sure, but he’s still playing his part in the province (while seeking to benefit from the dysfunctional arrangement at the same time)
on a side note, Ravages doesn’t really do well in showcasing the official functions of the various positions in the Han government (but then again, with Han undergoing a slow collapse, this hardly matters)
Ravages can’t even be bothered to display an imperial court scene with the proper protocol
and it seems Liaoyuan Huo hanging around with Chen Deng had another purpose (after all, if he was trying to search for Xiao Meng’s whereabouts, why would he suddenly wind up in Liu Bei’s turf)
now back to the scheming, we see the 16 moves begin to take form with plans and revelations such as this
to recap, the premise is that Lu Bu and Yuan Shu are colluding to drive Liu Bei out of Xuzhou (while Cao Cao arranges for the mess in Xuzhou behind the scenes so that he can proceed with his own move elsewhere)… but since Zhang Fei is aware of that (or rather, suspects that something like that is going on), he’s making plans of his own, and here it involves luring Lu Bu into making a premature attack (this is where the deliberate rumors about Zhang Fei’s drunken recklessness come in)
we also see plans being made on the part of Yuan Shu’s forces
basically, given that there’s an imperial edict to attack Yuan Shu, the plan is to lure Liu Bei into expending resources and troops in a protracted campaign, while Lu Bu takes advantage of the situation and seizes control of Xuzhou, forcing Liu Bei to withdraw to some backwater area… and even then, the Zhongjia troops are not content to simply play the role of a decoy and have Lu Bu take all the glory, so they too prepare a trap for Liu Bei on their front (though we don’t really see much of this unfold on-panel, since the focus is more on dealing with Lu Bu)
Ji Ling and Zhang Liao also speculate that Cao Cao’s imperial edict plan isn’t simply to undermine Yuan Shu, but it’s also meant to keep Liu Bei down while he’s still weak
the chapter is also a reminder that Ravages stresses the importance of meticulous preparations for campaigns of mass conflict
I daresay Ravages is willing to cut battle scenes short in favor of preparation scenes (and yes, this includes preparations for future struggles even in the midst of battle)
before ending, the chapter also features Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong watching on the sidelines (and I find it a bit puzzling why Zhuge Liang is wearing his hat here again only to lose it again off-panel come 180)
we get hints (based on Pang Tong’s insinuations) that Zhuge Liang doesn’t like Zhou Yu that much (probably due to ideological disagreements rather than personal grudges)
and there’s also an indirect allusion to the in-joke about how Sima Yi and Zhou Yu are similar in Ravages
I suppose the disagreement is that Zhou Yu doesn’t seem to prioritize Han at all (it’s one thing to serve Sun Ce with the intent of keeping him in check, like what Xun Yu plans to do with Cao Cao, and it’s another thing to just empower another hegemon from another clan at the expense of Han)
though from 159 we see that Zhuge Liang isn’t just a Han loyalist for the sake of elevating the imperial clan (Xun Yu’s brand of loyalism is more committed to the actual institutions of Han)
rather, he sees the ideal of loyalty as a way to diminish bloodshed
to put it in another way, a typical model Han loyalist would be a social-conservative who wishes to preserve what has been inherited, with changes admitted on a gradual basis while protecting the authority of current institutions
Zhuge Liang’s way seems more to be about using the virtue and ideal of loyalty (which so happens to be directed at Han, though it could really be directed at anyone else) as a way to govern people and keep the peace (thus his suspicion about calls for regime change is not because he thinks Han is always good, but that those who seek change may have other ulterior motives in mind)
thus I’ve mentioned before that of the 8, Zhuge Liang may be the most ideologically abstract and committed (and thus the events in 180 would agonize him so much)
176 may cover the duels of a particular battle in Liu Bei’s campaign against Yuan Shu, but the narrative and textual details here cover more than just the battle
take for instance the floating text for the chapter, we can note that the Ravages 'narrative voices’ do more than just recount the story or hype certain characters (since they also take on meditative and reflective tones)
whereas the narrator in, say, something like Kingdom behaves more like a storyteller (or for example, how the narrator in LOGH is akin to a presenter of a documentary), the voices in Ravages are more like commentators performing the processes of introspection that the composer may have done and the readers are expected to do
there’s also a meta-fictive element in the chapter, as the floating voices don’t just comment on what’s going on, but also seem to comment on both the gimmicks of warfare as well as the conventions and tropes of texts about warfare (and since participants of war also make and hear tales of warfare, the conventions also bleed into the subjectivities of those who fight 'real wars’ we see this when soldiers, cops, and activists gamify their feats)
this brings us to the dual character of military campaigns involving armed people… on the one hand, there are the considerations of the balance of forces (and how to take advantage of asymmetries to deal decisive blows), and on the other hand, there are the considerations of morale (and how to manage it with gimmicks such as rumors and duels)
this also provides a good excuse for texts (Ravages included) to feature duel scenes, haha
read the comment and think back at how fight scenes in many texts involve the contenders trying to justify themselves (either in monologue form, or while openly arguing)
also note how various factions make use of propaganda to present their side in a better light while vilifying opponents
Ji Ling of course isn’t just content to make his point, he invokes the sages to make his case look wiser (just as Guan Yu dismisses arguments for regime change by noting the inscrutability of the heavenly will)
this brings me to another point, that not only can we learn from the insights of various thinkers, we can even weaponize those insights (and many regimes and societies have done just that, for instance how the Han appealed to Confucius while refining 'legalist’ mechanisms to form a Confucian-Legalist political order)
(on that note it can be said that perhaps in certain instances Ravages twists the citations in ways that scholarly researchers would frown upon, but just as with historical texts the words of the philosophers are also tools in the power struggle)
this tidbit highlights the performative and spectacular aspects of war (and war stories)
we can acknowledge that when described in terms of the processes of mass slaughter, war is at its core a boring and bloody affair… but what provides the spice in the mix are the stories embedded into the event by the agents with their different passions and interests (and to enhance the drama, what else would the architects of the power struggle do but set up a good show)
thus those in command come up with ways to manage morale and hype up the troops, with the help of stunt actors who relish in the performance (because in the first place, they too have internalized the narratives of hype and glory attached to war)
similarly, skilled storytellers manipulate their audiences into getting invested in certain angles
this isn’t to say there are no interests and goals and principles at stake and that it’s all just for the drama, but at some point things get storified to motivate masses of people into following through
incidentally, the chapter provides another way of looking at historical records with a critical lens
whereas the 'straightforward’ indictment accuses historical records of various sorts of biases and slants, the 'indirect’ meta-fictive insinuation notes at how narrative conventions and textual devices are already baked into the historical records
on a lighter note, it would be nice to have memes involving Xun Zheng and Yu Gi Oh (since he’s called the king of duel, haha)
he gonna activate his trap card and banish challengers to the shadow realm
too bad Guan Yu has a reverse trap card
now back to the zone of the duel itself (since for the most part in the re-read I’ve been highlighting the thematic elements and the social commentary) Ravages reminds readers that its approach to fighting does not shy away from underhanded tricks (for instance, Xun Zheng’s style involves taking out the horse before the rider, whereas Guan Yu’s style uses the horse mainly as a jumping pad while tricking opponents into underestimating him)
neither are interested in drawn-out jousts on horseback
I didn’t feature the pic where Liu Bei and Guan Yu talk about how one rises to fame by stepping on others, but it’s important to bring it up (especially considering that in war conquerors tend to hype up their feats by assimilating those of the vanquished and this tendency gets passed down to when we engage in power level discussions and matchups)
the floating text began its remarks on battle conventions by pointing to the speeches on morality, and it wraps up with the use of embellishments and tall tales to celebrate the glory of the winner of a given round
of course, duels on their own do not determine the outcome of a battle much less a campaign (and in Ravages the iconic duels between the big names hardly change the course of the battle, though they make for interesting dramatic subplots and moments of spectacle)
and yet in certain instances, duels and their results (and the rumors that are generated in the process) can be used as tools to manage morale or buy time before the big attack, as is the case in this chapter
thus at the end of the day it is still the soldiers who fight and win wars, albeit under the direction of the schemers and with the aid of spectacles and stunt actors
now we enter 177, the chapter that so impressed me when I first read about it in tv tropes, so much so that it led me down this path (and elevated my expectations for stories about warfare and statecraft in the process)
the chapter begins with a summary of what has been going on in Liu Bei’s front (and basically 176 is just a small part of the engagement)
recall that in 175 Zhang Liao and Ji Ling agreed on a broad strategic plan, that is to attack Liu Bei from the back (presumably this means not just Lu Bu’s backstab, but also Ji Ling luring Liu Bei to advance so far that a reserve troop can be used to cut off Liu Bei’s route back to Xuzhou)
basically at this point, even as Liu Bei brought the bulk of the troops in the campaign, Zhang Fei and Lu Bu are drafting troops and minions with the help of funds from merchants (Xu Dan on Lu Bu’s side, Chen Deng on Zhang Fei’s side)
on a side note, historical records usually label them as 'outlaws’ as if they were just a motley gang (just like how state apparatuses disparagingly call various insurgent organizations as rebels and bandits), but many such forces are more like minor warlord factions that happen to be based in the outskirts
at any rate, the plan to take over Xuzhou involves these 'outlaws’ who presumably have a grudge on Liu Bei (though of course there’s a twist to all this)
thus far
Lu Bu wants to take over Xuzhou (with the help of outlaws)
Zhang Fei wants to lure Lu Bu into a trap at the provincial seat of Xuzhou (by pretending to be reckless)
Lu Bu plans to arrive at the city under the pretext of helping fight the outlaws on their way
Zhang Fei plans a banquet to gather pro-Lu partisans into the main city
incidentally, the 'cheng xia yi ju’ motif is in play in the volume, insofar as the sides are trying to gather under the walls (in different ways)
what’s fascinating about the chapter is that it painstakingly notes the various factors being considered and mobilized for what is a rather minor showdown
the calendar is weaponized (Zhang Fei setting the date for the banquet, Cao Bao’s lackeys getting a convenient troop rotation schedule)
urban layouts are weaponized (Zhang Fei noting how the alleys can be used to ambush Lu Bu’s troops, Cao Bao planning to set fire to a particular quarter as a decoy, Chen Gong buying up houses as outposts)
rumors are weaponized (stories of Zhang Fei’s recklessness becoming a hot topic as reported by Chen Gong’s spies, mainly to gather more outlaws to the fray)
finances are weaponized (Chen Deng planning to bribe the outlaws to outbid Xu Dan, not to mention the extra spending to ensure Zhang Fei’s ambush troop becomes more mobile)
as the factions keep planning, the scenario becomes more and more complex
remember that the basic premise is that Lu Bu wants to capture the provincial seat and thereby control Xuzhou, while Zhang Fei wants to lure Lu Bu into a trap
for the sake of that both camps have gone as far as spreading exaggerated rumors, sending spies, rigging security schedules, laying an ambush in alleyways, preparing to set an area on fire as a decoy, anticipating the fire attack and repurposing it as a signal, etc.
and this is just the preparatory stage, like rehearsing the parlor games for the party, haha
essentially though, the plan hinges on which side the outlaws will take
supposing the outlaws join Zhang Fei, Lu Bu can be trapped in the city with little room for escape
supposing the outlaws join Lu Bu, Zhang Fei can be squeezed with Lu Bu holding the city center (if he gets there) and the outlaws positioned outside the city gates
and then there’s this page
it’s almost as if Ravages is talking about not so much the struggles and intrigues of the last days of Han, but the convoluted arrangements and contests of the 20th and 21st centuries
basically an indication that Ravages isn’t just some story about warfare and statecraft, but also a commentary on warfare and statecraft (and a commentary on stories about warfare and statecraft), in narrative form
and this makes Ravages far more sophisticated than many other tales dealing with similar topics, as exemplified in the
though I really wish there were more texts to rival Ravages in this respect
ultimately it’s these complex aspects (rather than the usual moments) that drew me to the series in the first place (and in this regard I may be part of a super-minority) and while it doesn’t represent a scholarly innovation (though I argue that Ravages can be a site for further research) it nonetheless raises the bar with regard to what stories can do (and how they can stimulate further thinking)
to briefly review the situation
Lu Bu (who is colluding with Yuan Shu) plans to take over Xuzhou by first taking the administrative seat (with the help of outlaws) while Liu Bei is away fighting Yuan Shu’s forces (as a result of an imperial edict arranged by Cao Cao)
Zhang Fei (who wants to pre-emptively get rid of a potential threat) plans to lure Lu Bu and his associates into a trap by organizing a banquet (and spreading disinfo about his recklessness)
Cao Bao’s henchmen are in charge of the security detail on the day of the banquet as well as preceding days
Chen Deng pours in financial resources to help Zhang Fei entrap Lu Bu
(a reminder that both Chen Deng and Cao Bao are influential in the province, having served Tao Qian previously)
the gimmick is that Lu Bu comes to the city under the pretext of sending aid when in fact he’s planning to seize the city center before the outlaws arrive
Zhang Fei for his part arranges for only the south and east gates to be open on the day of the banquet, since the streets in those quarters are narrower and good for an ambush
Cao Bao, given his influence within the city, plans to set a fire on a certain spot in a bid to distract the hidden ambush troop
Chen Deng is persuaded to spend even more resources to increase the mobility of the ambush troop, with the anticipated fire to be seen as a signal to commence the operation
as a side plan, it seems the troops supposed to supply Liu Bei are also given secret orders to attack Lu Bu’s base in Xiaopei on their way back
on the day of the party, both sides exercise extra caution, mutually anticipating one another’s plans
Cao Bao may have brought several guests and escorts with him, but the number of collaborators is too many to list (with some acting as scouts on the lookout for suspicious movements throughout the city)
in turn, the ambush troops try to keep themselves hidden so as not to attract the attention of the security forces under Cao Bao
as anticipated, while Lu Bu is also on his way, Zhang Liao proceeds to enter first to lead the vanguard (and is let in with the help of insiders at the gates)
we’ve already been told that the ambush is set in the east and south quarters due to the narrow streets there, so the closure of the north and west gates is less about keeping spies out (Cao Bao’s collaborators are already present in the city) and more about forcing Lu Bu to go through the narrow streets
of course, throughout the party, Zhang Fei is still keeping up appearances of being a carefree drunkard, to make Cao Bao lower his guard and strike prematurely
an amusing part of the chapter concerns the code words and phrases being used to convey information (basically a pretext for Chen Mou to engage in minor word play, haha)
incidentally, many stories of stratagems and intrigue in the central plains have involved puns and innuendos and veiled insinuations, so this is in keeping with the tradition
additionally, the reference to Zhurong is a deliberate one, a hint that a fire attack is about to begin anytime soon
in another note, while it’s nice to see Ravages incorporate tidbits of folklore here and there (ranging from Tengri to Chisongzi and Chiyou), aside from the Taiping sects we don’t see religious movements and practices being explored in much detail throughout the series… hopefully this lacuna is addressed in future developments
the security scheme even involves the commoners as part of an effort to feign a sense of panic and manufacture controlled chaos (basically a 'bavarian fire drill’ in the language of conspiracies, haha)
I just want to say that in terms of banquet intrigues, Ravages really raised the bar with this one
other twists and turns and traps at feasts and parties simply pale in comparison to the '16 moves’
and so with a nicely drawn fish dish as a signal (not to mention Zhang Fei offering to show guests how he fetches items), the real party is about to begin
there is a particular policy objective (which will be revealed more clearly in the chapters ahead) there is the broad strategic plan (that is to say, the overall struggle for the city and by extension the province)
there are the operational details (basically the preparation and implementation of the 16 moves)
I stress operations rather than tactics since Ravages seldom gets into the granular aspects of specific maneuvers
the nice thing about 179 (for purposes of re-reading) is that it’s relatively fast-paced, with the players beginning to take action
basically the initial battle plan of Lu Bu’s main invasion force involves splitting into 3 groups (the first to handle Zhang Fei’s troop, the second to secure the gate, the third to head to the city center following Zhang Liao’s vanguard)
to be fair, throughout this charade, Zhang Fei made sure to keep the commoners safe using appropriate evacuation protocols (and arguably, Lu Bu’s battle plan doesn’t involve causing that much mayhem and disturbance, but only inflicting enough to distract Zhang Fei and secure the city)
also, another interesting feature of Ravages is that it includes occasional snippets of commoners commenting on the situation
in many cases they are shown to be perceptive (and at times rather cynical too)
they may not control that much leverage in the power struggle, but they are not completely disempowered as they are still able to make some sense of what’s going on and articulate what they have in mind
the struggle for the city also involves its own iteration of the besiegers getting besieged, haha
also, the last Lu Bu body double to be killed on-panel
considering that 177 and 178 are 2 days apart, my speculation is that Lu Bu could have snuck in using a supply wagon perhaps on the middle day or earlier in the day of the party (knowing that Cao Bao’s henchmen handled the security detail)
And I daresay the common ground of Fei and Liao to allow Lu Bu snuck in was hinted beforehand (as we know Zhang Fei did go out, so he may as well have met Liao - unknowingly to Zhao Yun)
Just like how Liao agreed to free Meng, because it would negatively affect Lu Bu
Then 180 is perhaps one of the heaviest (if not the heaviest) chapter in Ravages when it comes to thematic and conceptual explorations
if one doesn't dive that deeply into this, the basic outline of events in the chapter is simply: Zhuge Liang watches a battle unfold and becomes depressed
(as for the battle itself, it appears Liu Bei's forces were able to capture the stronghold at Xuyi, but it seems with considerable casualties so we don't really get to see how Yuan Shu's forces were able to ambush Liu Bei at some point)
Xuyi doesn't seem to be all that important for Yuan Shu to hold at all costs, but Liu Bei is doing it just to uphold the imperial edict (which is part of Cao Cao's diminution scheme)
one other thing to add
this chapter really put a somber twist to Zhuge Liang's moniker of 'crouching dragon' [臥龍]
that is to say, rather than simply interpreting it to mean a talent who is lurking and waiting for the right opportunity, Ravages makes it seem like the dragon crouched out of sheer grief
and during his hibernation he starts scheming hard
considering that Cao Cao marched to Nanyang in 197 AD/CE (as stated in 185) and the Chibi campaign happens in 208 AD/CE, this fits into the pattern of what Kan Ze said in 434 that Zhuge Liang's 11 years were not wasted
almost as if suggesting that if he can't preach the way in a clean way given the circumstances, he'll just have to play dirty and begin spreading heroic tales of Liu Bei along the way (pun-intended)
so the chapter opens with a general reflection about the notion of the greater good (coupled with a glaring visual metaphor)
not only are the tracks divergent, it's vague where they end or are headed to (just like the notion and the discourse of the greater good)
[大義] can be translated as 'great justice', or JUSTICE (similar to the lofty ideals discussed by Plato and handed down to the traditions of political philosophizing... harmony of parts to the whole, each getting one's due, from each according to ability and to each according to need, the hierarchy of goods, etc.)
as Zhuge Liang watches the battle unfold, his thoughts continue to run in a somber direction
he points out the contrasting situation of how from the standpoint of principle the campaign is about upholding loyalty to the realm, and yet from the standpoint of the actors on the ground the campaign represents an opportunity to rise and make gains, the greater good be damned
in this journey though, Zhuge Liang doesn't just stick to the topic of morality (recall how the nameless adviser called out Sima Yi for straying off topic, haha)
he then turns his attention to those who take part in historical processes from the margins, without being recognized by official records (who privilege the dynasties and the 'great men')
on a side note, while the story of Ravages deals with renowned figures for the most part, it also tries to include vignettes of commoners (usually with sad outcomes) as it goes along
in 180 it is presented as a silent short story, of how a kid volunteers to go to war leaving his mother behind for the motherland, only to die
now the tricky thing is, one doesn't simply get written about for the record books, one has to receive recognition first (see Liaoyuan Huo's musings in 136 about talents who get buried without making a name)
so in a way, Zhuge Liang's question applies to everyone in the period, even those who we now consider the main figures (based on the accounts and tales we inherit, and the reliability of which remain forever questionable), inasmuch as in their lifetimes they are caught up in the game of standing out (often by standing over others)
one can also look into the question on the bottom right as reflecting two divergent ways of looking at historical happenings: are they about the great helmsmen sailing the seas, or are they more about the waves and currents that lift some boats and drown others? do we prioritize the players and their deeds, or do we focus on the structures and trends?
as to the conflict between loyalty/devotion [忠] and righteousness/justice [義] this is a staple topic in confucian-influenced thought (see also the remarks by the floating text in 150 concerning how the ambiguity and polyvalence of who one should be loyal to leads to the virtue being undermined amidst the conflict of interpretations and interests)
note that Confucius tried to ground the cultivation of the virtues on everyday domestic practice, basically the notion of cultivating goodness one step at a time (thus starting with the family/clan), but this leads to problems once the regime is also seen as an extended family (for instance, if one's father commits a crime, will one turn him in to the state authorities)
the 'mohist' camp tries to address the issue by proposing a notion of universal love and general state welfare (something that confucians find scandalous since this dissolves family distinctions) the 'legalist' camp dissolves the issue by centering everything on the regime and its ruler (disdained on paper by Han confucians, but nonetheless partially adopted in matters of public governance, creating a robust compromise 'confucian-legalist' model that became the imperial status quo for centuries)
and then there's the tension between what one learns from the sages (generally, other thinkers) and what one learns from witnessing and partaking of the realities on the ground
of course, it's not as if there's an unbridgeable gulf between the two realms, since realities on the ground are also influenced by the ideas of certain people (usually what is aligned with the hegemonic order), and the sages who shared their thoughts also tried to learn from the realities they experienced (which may or may not have changed in certain ways)
rather, there is the complex entanglement that instead distinguishes between realities (including dominant ideas) that prevail (due to advantageous power-relations), and ideas (reflective of possible or lost realities) that do not prevail (due to disadvantageous power-relations), which brings us to the point that sages just like historical records are available as tools and weapons too
after all, if we lump 'all sages' in one side and 'reality' on the other side, what do we make of sages whose ideas happen to currently be in fashion?
in a way, the notion of loyalty persists (since soldiers serve and follow their commanders), but not in the prescribed or ideal manner Zhuge Liang would have preferred (note that in 159 he wishes to instill loyalty discourse as a way to prevent bloodshed, not instigate it on behalf of self-serving warlords)
Ravages already questions the reliability of historical accounts (especially official sanctioned records) by pointing out how biases and interests (and not simply on the level of individual preference or prejudice, but as a matter of partisan positioning and factional enforcement) influence the contents... this is alluded to in 175 and recurs in various chapters (frequently stated in a rather crude fashion, but the more nuanced framing is provided in 484 with Ma Liang stating that historical texts are also texts about warfare)
furthermore, 176 paves the way for another line of critical interrogation, by means of examining how dramatic gimmicks and narrative conventions and rhetorical devices figure into the composition of historical records (for instance, the records either fictionalize certain events, or otherwise some events themselves are generated by the masterminds for show)
180 presents yet another case, one that doesn't necessarily involve impugning the integrity and sincerity of those who write and keep and pass down stories about the past
rather, the lamentation is that historical records as representations (which means folktales or alternate retellings Ravages included don't really fare any better at any rate) are not really able to fully articulate the suffering and struggle of the innumerable masses who shape historical events yet have their efforts erased and appropriated by particular factions and personalities
see for instance Li Deng's musings in 7:
The commanding officers take the credit for a battle of hundreds. After a thousand retellings, the credit will all go to one man.
Zhuge Liang even alludes to Sun Ce's thinking about continuity (see 174, further clarified in 406), particularly the point about the expectation that people will (continue to) learn more after each passing generation
however, Zhuge Liang puts a more morbid spin on continuation
that is to say, the cycle continues whereby those who realize depart eventually, replaced by those who haven't (and would have to repeat the realization for themselves)
he does not take for granted that progressive realization is inevitable and irreversible, though to be fair he also doesn't say that people are condemned to ignorance and lack of understanding in perpetuity
the catch though is that there is a recurring failure to pass the lessons down properly, and so what gets passed down are failed lessons... thus the result is years of war (and the constant repetition of attempts to reform things in a bid to halt wars, only to fail again and result in more war, and so on)
here he is also saying that everyone, from the bottom to the top (soldiers, politicians, etc) are participated in the world for wrong reasons. Yeah, it starts with blind rage, but that never-ending battle is just an exhausting suffering with no end and at the end, they seek relief, not the righteousness. Righteousness comes of as just a mere excuse
it is almost as if the lesson of heaven is that one yet to learn the lesson (akin to the socratic admission of knowing that one does not know)
the trauma of warfare after all isn't just the physical damage, but also the psychological scars (and the conceptual scandals and dysfunctional worlds generated)
and this brings us to the great debate between the ideas of Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi…
note that Sima Yi's thesis isn't that people are evil at their core or that the world is irredeemably doomed, but only that there is (much) evil in the world (or to put it in another way, that people don't always go the right way)
but since the world is teeming with those who stray, to defy the trend head-on (using clean and principled means, by trying to appeal and convert everyone to the way, hoping that everyone would just repent) is a fool's errand (inverting the metaphor used in Sunzi's Art of War about an army with properly used energy having the impact of 'a grindstone against an egg')
however, the other alternative to slow preaching or witnessing, raising a moral crusade or a virtuous inquisition to eradicate evil and enforce justice, is a bloody and lengthy one, the effects of which may not inspire virtuous living at all but would just bring more misery to those affected by the conflict (note that this applies no matter what sets of values and principles one would uphold as the right way, and so incidentally even the 'reformist' project of Dong Zhuo or Guo Jia's dark art are implicated in the accusation)
what then is Sima Yi's proposal? like a merchant responding to market trends, he suggests going with whatever is expedient and convenient
in troubled times with many going about their own way regardless of morality, the suggestion is that perhaps it would be advantageous to support a rising hegemon that would have enough control of a unified force that can put a stop to the fighting as soon as feasible (by suppressing the other contenders and intimidating many participants and bystanders into submission, while also appealing to the weariness of others who would be ready to submit to anyone who can pacify things)
note that the emphasis of the approach is not so much on the ruthless methods (though those aren't off the table), but on expediting the process towards relative equilibrium (that is to say, brutality isn't strictly required, but the hegemon must be pragmatic, able to use different means on different occasions, harmonizing various forces in an effective manner)
Zhuge Liang puts a premium on principle though, which is where the disagreement can be found
in 108 he stressed the matter of rulers setting a good example, and in 159 he mentions how loyalty discourse should be used simply to discourage the ambitious from fomenting unrest for their own vested interests
we'll get more into that (and how he shifted) in a bit
Sima Yi's proposal basically involves going with the flow and bending to the dominant trends, plus investing on a viable contender, helping that party co-opt more people into the fold (with force if expedient, but given the mercantile angle, this is more about selling the prospective regime using various tricks, and inducing many to sell out and join the bandwagon)... and then, when the opportunity arises, enact a takeover from within
as for the takeover bit, I see it as not necessarily advocating for an internal coup (though that is not off the table should the hegemon prove incapable of inaugurating an era of stability and moreover the suggestion foreshadows what the Sima clan will do to the Cao clan), as this could also be taken to simply mean reining in the top hegemon so that governance is prioritized over prospects of future conquest
incidentally, that happens to be Xun Yu's end game for Cao Cao to serve merely as a protector of Han rather than as a usurper
and this is where the tension comes in... how can one 'take over' or 'keep things in control' if the hegemon starts purging retainers to further consolidate control? and how would a takeover or moderation attempt be perceived by other parties and succeeding generations?
in another note, Liaoyuan Huo's suggestion in 115 seems to be, if a hegemon is skilled and benevolent enough (plus with sufficient backing), coup attempts can be discouraged and kept at bay
after all, while both Qin Shihuang (Ying Zheng, first emperor of Qin) and Han Gaozu (Liu Bang, first emperor of Han) used ruthless means to take control, the latter was more cunning when it comes to governance (not to mention that his retainers were able to resolve an internal crisis early on), thus explaining why Qin didn't last long while Han lasted centuries
to recapitulate the disagreement in a simplified fashion: to uphold one's vision of the greater good, is it better to launch a clean crusade (and using one's campaign as an example to emulate), or engage in a convenient coup (and getting things done no matter how messy the process)
at the end of the chapter, Zhuge Liang slumbers to begin scheming intensely, and it seems that his resolution to solve the problem involves using sneaky ways to uphold a crusade (with Liu Bei as the figurehead)
thus he steps up in spreading the heroic tales of Liu Bei while forming his own shadowy network of agents (even before he formally joins Liu Bei years later)
if the root irony in volume 19 (as stated in 151) is that the rightful dominion of an emperor (blessed by heaven with the mandate to rule) had to be obtained by conquest (essentially swindling and seizing control from other contenders who could have received the mandate)
then the core irony in volume 22 (as stated in 180) is that a social order conducive enough for virtuous practice and governance (dreamt of by idealists and reformers who often don't get to live to see their proposals implemented) had to be paid for by scoundrels and hegemons (who are then appropriately condemned in the historical accounts)
Zhuge Liang actually cares about the lives of people and understands the nature of people around him, which helps him to predict the "weather" of warring world. "any means necessary" for him is not a shortsighted excuse to just kill someone and hope that not every 7 billion human being will have to die by his hands, to maintain the peace. For example, he is actually trying to achieve peace by introducing the "Three Kingdoms", artificially making a saviour "Jesus figure" which will give people hopes for peace and whatnot.
essentially 181 is where the party is about to wind down, but not without revealing some surprises along the way
the nice thing about action scenes is that (unless one wishes to discuss the nuances and niceties in the choreography and the paneling) one can go through them fairly quickly
one thing to note is that while the narrow quarters restrict Zhang Liao’s effective range (and moreover can presumably lead to situations where a miscalculated swing can lead to the blade getting stuck or someone’s grip on the weapon messing up), the narrow quarters also restrict opportunities for evasion
another nice touch about Ravages is that it depicts weapons and armor as being fragile
even though Zhang Liao had the upper hand in that round when it comes to melee weapons, Liaoyuan Huo has some surprises in store (too bad we don’t really get to see this segment on-panel)
Ravages also likes to add subtle hints winking and nudging about the next steps and the upcoming revelations
in this case, Liaoyuan Huo insinuates that Zhang Liao and Zhang Fei may have secretly agreed upon something
I mentioned previously how the schemes of Lu Bu and Zhang Fei hinge on which side the outlaws would take, and it’s amusing that these outlaws (other than Cao Cao) turned out to be the biggest beneficiaries during this incident
this is the equivalent to the same set of hired guns playing with and profiting from two rival groups that seek to outbid one another in securing the mercenary services
and then Zhang Fei makes his big reveal, that it turns out the strategic goal all along was to abandon Xuzhou (since given Liu Bei’s reputation as a heroic loyalist, certain warlords elsewhere would like to welcome him, not to mention this further tarnishes Lu Bu’s reputation)
yet one has to wonder way they did not purged those outlaws
I think the outlaws were militarily powerful (they could be the same group as the Mount Tai bandits who show up on-panel in 231, defecting to Lu Bu’s side after Xun Yu’s abduction), and neither Lu Bu nor Liu Bei would want to waste effort suppressing them completely
now not to be outdone, Lu Bu unveils his own twist, the so-called sixteenth move (which involves Chen Gong taking a troop with him to a low-key city in Xuzhou, where Chen Gui is harboring and protecting Liu Bei’s wives)
more importantly, the two sides were careful not just to minimize their own casualties, but also to minimize the adverse impact on the commoners (and that is why it often takes a complex method to do something simple, since one has to consider many factors)
there’s also a side discussion touching upon how the uninvolved can see through the charade
this is not to say that outsiders are familiar with all the details the insiders have to deal with, but outsiders can surmise the wider picture (or at least the broad outlines of it) and ask the bigger questions since they are not as caught up in the moment, wrapped in the fog of war
an alternate translation of the quote from the Analects goes:
“If the Way is being realized in the world then show yourself; if it is not, then go into reclusion”
this can either refer to Pang Tong taking his step, or perhaps Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei lying low
the 'five hegemons’ may also be an indirect reference to the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period
and then there’s the foreshadowing of a realm split into three, roughly along geographical lines
there’s a minor design error in the painting though as shown in the chapter title page, since Sima Hui and Pang Tong speak of the 5 mountains arranged as a northern one, a southeastern one, and three in the south (and southwest) lumped together, but instead the painting shows two northern mountains and three southern ones… still, the painting looks nice nonetheless
essentially the prediction is about a tripartite balance whereby one faction holds the areas north of the yellow river, another holds the eastern areas by the long river, and the third holds the south-central heartland plus the southwestern mountains (for the most part the 3 kingdoms after Han adopt a similar arrangement with the notable exception being that Wu rather than Shu gets to hold the south-central area instead due to the intrigues involving Guan Yu’s downfall though story-wise the prediction does not state for instance who will control the northwest)
now even without Lu Bu’s sneaky move, we must consider that Yuan Shu has more resources than Liu Bei, and so had the campaign dragged out Liu Bei would be at a disadvantage despite having the talents of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei
of course it’s revealed a few pages later that this incident of Guan Yu threatening to execute Zhang Fei (low-key playing with Liu Bei’s sentiments about the brotherhood) was all for show - to nudge Liu Bei a little more towards the breaking point into the dark side
now, we’re not shown how the Zhongjia troops were able to defeat the Han loyalist troops (since last time we saw, Liu Bei was able to secure at least one stronghold)
however, I could speculate the following scenario: with Lu Bu’s sudden takeover of Xuzhou, Zhang Fei was forced to withdraw (while certain other troops simply surrendered to Lu Bu), which means the frontlines could no longer count on supply deliveries or fresh reinforcements… and since Yuan Shu presumably has more troops in reserve (not to mention the agreed-upon plan between Ji Ling and Zhang Liao in 175 to strike Liu Bei from behind), perhaps the surprise attack was timed just when Lu Bu was able to drive Zhang Fei out
this means at the very least that Yuan Shu’s troops are not total pushovers when they have the advantage, haha
in another note, we could see that Liu Bei deeply feels bad about the people who lost their lives (and doubly so since his efforts ended in failure, not to mention he lost his territorial foothold, and his wives are hostages)
and thus begins Liu Bei’s journey to the dark side (eventually as he gets darker he discards his dark cape and sticks to a light-colored robe green if we are to believe the game pics)
let us recall
Liu Bei in the early chapters was willing to be misunderstood and engage in some underhanded schemes, but his red line was that he refused to take advantage of others for his own gain (Guan Yu nudged him a bit by convincing him to play the part of a hero, Zhang Fei outright hijacked his plans to remain a straw sandal bandit by drugging him)
then Liu Bei slowly accepted that in troubled and messy times, some form of self-serving behavior is unavoidable, but nevertheless he remained steadfast in upholding loyalty to Han and treating a guest well (Zhang Fei’s next plan was to further cultivate Liu Bei’s ruthless side while also enhancing his reputation as an underdog, 2 birds in 1 stone)
eventually after almost being killed by Lu Bu’s second backstab Liu Bei becomes more self-interested and becomes more protective about his reputation, coming to see it as an asset and a weapon in the power struggle (arguably in the late game he remains sincere and sentimental, but less about Han and more about those he deems his bros and pals)
on Guan Yu, while it may seem that Ravages didn’t renovate his image as much (Chen Mou even admitted that his sacred image is too influential to be tweaked that much), but one can note that perhaps in Ravages Guan Yu isn’t that awesome of a paragon for virtue (Zhang Fei even hints at that in a monologue in 102), but neither is he a fraud who only pretends to be virtuous… rather, it would seem that (like many people) he’s simply trying hard to uphold the examples of the sages and would like to maintain a similar reputation (the further nuance explored in later chapters seems to be that he doesn’t simply maintain the reputation of being virtuous, but also virtuously tries to perform the persona that the virtuous do not care about being praised for appearing virtuous)
I should note though that his beard his shorter than the usual depictions, haha
here Pang Tong basically recaps Zhang Fei’s strategic goals (and while he doesn’t know Zhang Fei’s other goal about fetching a 'Liu Bang’ and remolding Liu Bei further he speculates that the departure would give Liu Bei the opportunity to swallow up the domains of Liu Biao and Liu Zhang)
incidentally, in the Romance it is Pang Tong who manages to conveniently convince Liu Bei to take an ambitious step and seize control of Yizhou from Liu Zhang, so it’s amusing to see a nod to that early on (even though Pang Tong is also misleading Sima Hui into thinking he’s backing Liu Bei, when in fact he’s paving the way for Liu Chong)
Pang Tong’s iconic line for this chapter may perhaps indicate that of the 8, he’s the one who relishes in intrigues and power struggles the most (even though he’s a Han loyalist of sorts)
also, the description given to him was mis-translated… Pang Tong is pragmatic [實用] rather than utilitarian [功利] (Guo Jia’s views may be closer to a broadly consequentialist approach to morality)
ironically he joins Liu Bei’s side later on
for those familiar with the period it’s a foregone thing (though Ravages messes with that expectation by having him help Liu Chong first)
if only Liu Chong had stronger bodyguards
other than the report that the hostage scheme allowed for a relatively bloodless takeover, what is interesting about this page is what it hints at: Lu Bu wanted to capture someone valuable
I think the reference is to Liaoyuan Huo
the discussion about old wounds and new wounds also suggests that regardless of Lu Bu’s reputation, he’s still fragile (and he’s weakening bit by bit)
but the struggle is all the more magnificent for that
and for someone who schemed and betrayed his way to power to decline and fall by way of scheming and betrayal… similarly terrifying
and then of course there’s this twist, which explains why Sima Yi was shown in the last part of 175
for those outlaws to receive three sets of bribes, materially speaking they’re the biggest winners in the engagement (though since they’re also part of the scheming game, they wouldn’t simply waste what they have received for momentary enjoyments)
this also lays out the plan to undermine Lu Bu from within, by secretly co-opting the Chen clan to cooperate with Cao Cao
Chen Deng must be unhappy about it since Cao Cao’s troops conducted the massacre in his home province years ago
and there’s still a long way to go before Liaoyuan Huo earns the full trust of Liu Bei’s core team…
anyway, that ends the special re-read of volume 22
in a nutshell the hostile takeover of Xuzhou is but a small piece in the larger geopolitical struggle, but what Ravages did was to make a minor skirmish more convoluted (and by extension, rendering the overall situation in a more complex manner)
generally for those who don’t mind reading Ravages in a non-linear fashion, I recommend checking out the one-volume mini-arcs (particularly volumes 6, 19, and 22 since 25 contains too many big narrative turns) as condensed samples of what the Ravages text has to offer
whereas volume 6 is a neat indicator of Ravages transitioning into a more cerebral approach (though I must point out that the mind games and the reflections are already there from the start, though in the first arc the action is more prominent) and while volume 19 is the initial step beyond the first 150 chapters (themselves a workable and longer snapshot of how Ravages stepped up and matured), volume 22 is perhaps that one volume that neatly packages many salient schemes and themes together in one concise bundle
now if one were to come up with a broad outline of the story covered in volume 22 it would be as follows
chapter 175: there’s gonna be a party (and it will be a fun one)
chapter 176: meanwhile, for those missing out on the upcoming party...
chapter 177: hey let’s prepare some stuff for the party
chapter 178: on the night of the party and we're counting down to the main event
chapter 179: IT’S PARTY TIME
chapter 180: in the meantime, someone who isn’t on the party is exposing what parties really mean
chapter 181: party’s almost over, time to wrap up
chapter 182: the mourning after the party
And to conclude the comparison to Fate/Zero
Saber/Rider Kingship (leadership, more like)
Saber - her kingship is exclusively centered around her ideals (that she should sacrifice everything, even herself, for her people) of how she is supposed to lead her people. Hiding her gender (idk how can you do that, when everyone in present time is aware of her gender the first time they meet her) is basically a final nail to the point, that she is detached from everything, for the sake of her kingdom.
But her worth in the story comes only from her power, Excalibur and not from her personally. She, in fact, is utterly humiliated for doing so, without actually defending herself. How can such a king be presented as a mere "little girl", who, despite all the experience, acts completely naive and fragile? No idea. Nothing is explained. Otherwise show could not shove down our throats the idea that "everyone should live to satisfy oneself, instead of suffering for others", I guess... (in the last scene, she is praised as the greatest king by the one who hated her the most, for some reason, though)
Our Alexander The "Great" on the other hand, is someone who is satisfying himself. "if you are satisfied, your people too will be satisfied"... yeah, have an image of an animal who only cares about his own satisfaction through conquests that lead everyone to death for no reason and everyone will love you wholeheartedly... why does such an animal understand human nature more than the one who is giving her own life for people's sake? Who knows, who knows...
"B-but he dies!" someone could say... yeah, he dies and that is exactly what he wished for. Not to mention, that just dying is just too subtle, when you compare it to his scenes, in which he is always presented as appealing, thus being the most praised character from the series. And even when he dies after just running and not being able to do anything else, he is not humiliated. No, never. Unfounded charisma is all that matters in life, after all... Not to mention, that, apparently, its fine to kill yourself if your ideal is killing yourself, rather than killing yourself for the sake of others.
There is also Waver (who I liked as a character), who's character dynamics with Rider glorifies him even more. Waver too, as everyone else, was cold towards Rider's attitude... but, despite being as cynical as he is (manipulating people into accepting them in their family), even he decided to sacrifice himself for the sake of Rider. So what happens when the king dies? Everyone starts carrying his legacy, with the complete lack of individuality? Even depraved Gilgamesh (who understands the evils of human nature, considering the relationship with Kirei) did not prove him wrong here.
Now Ravages of Time offers more nuance when it comes to kingship. We have an animalistic warlord with exploding charisma with a brain and ideals in favor of people, that dies a pathetic death by the hands of his own soldier. We have an inhuman warlord with excuses for his own greed and reputation that is damaged beyond repair for both internal and external affairs. We have a warlord who purposely damaged his own external reputation and still is praised by his soldiers, BUT still has selfish individuals under his wing. And even if there was a reckless warlord with influence, he would at least have a genius adviser at his side.
(if anyone is interested in an opposing ideas of inspirational leadership, that is executed better than in F/Z, I would recommend reading Golden Kamuy (Tsurumi vs. Hijikata))
Now let’s digest the Guandu arc. Note that the talk will be about the events that are primarily part of Guandu and not the prior chapters that helped to build-up the arc (such as Sun Ce’s demise).
before I begin (later), I'd first like to note why I selected the Guandu arc
I guess, the first reason is that it's the shortest arc (only 40 chapters) dealing with a big iconic campaign after Xiapi, so it's rather manageable for a chapter by chapter commentary
the more substantial reason though is that it is targeted by some detractors (especially those who say that Ravages has declined after Lu Bu's passing), and so I wish to highlight its strengths (and more importantly, to clarify what makes the Ravages approach to warfare and statecraft especially in the later phase different from the usual expectations)
to be clear, I still wish that the arc was longer and developed more factions in the Yuan clan (I don't mind how Yuan Fang bowed out of the scene), but I have no big objections to Chen Mou's overall approach to the campaign in general (basically my only nitpick is that it could have been larger and more complicated than it already is, haha)
now, one amusing tidbit about the Guandu arc proper is that what's traditionally regarded as the first big engagement (the battle in Baima/Boma against Yan Liang) isn't included in it, but is instead featured in the preceding arc (so as to emphasize the overlap between the campaigns in the south and the north)
basically Yan Liang and Wen Chou led the vanguard troops advancing into Cao Cao's position, with Yan Liang in charge of the forward unit, and Wen Chou basically serving as a follow-up of sorts (or another way to put it would be that whereas Yan Liang was rapidly charging and forcing Cao Cao to withdraw further as part of a broader strategy to lure the Yuan army deep into unfriendly territory Wen Chou led a more quiet and methodical march with the help of sympathizers and guides)
and as we have seen in previous chapters, Yan Liang was killed by Guan Yu while Xiahou Dun and Zhang Liao prevented the Wuwan army from reinforcing Yan Liang's main troop
to be fair, although Yan Liang advanced rather recklessly, Han Meng was there to back him up and prevent an encirclement but then Guo Jia played a dirty trick by exploiting Liu Bei's sense of brotherhood
Wen Chou on the other hand has a more methodical approach when it comes to maneuvers, and has anticipated that Cao Cao is banking on the Yuan army becoming overextended and separated
a poignant commentary on how high-ranking officers and officials don't necessarily get promoted purely on the basis of merit or excellence in the relevant fields (or to put it in another way, they reached the top because they merited or excelled in cultivating convenient connections, haha)
on a side note, Plato remarked somewhere about how it's one thing to be good at some craft, and it's another thing to be good at attracting wealth or selling stuff related to some craft... in this case, Wen Chou happens to be good at both commanding an army and scheming to get ahead
amusingly, this quote from the Records of the Grand Historian about how a lot of things get done behind the scenes without people knowing until it's too late can also be seen as a meta remark on the off-panel developments featured in the chapter (and occurring throughout the series in general), as well as how it's the secret schemes that are decisive rather than the showy battles
for instance, we never got to see how exactly Wen Chou was able to prevent Liu Bei's counselors from establishing contact with Liu Biao (who's supposed to be a nominal ally of Yuan Shao in the 'united front' against Cao Cao)
perhaps messages traveled quickly, and once Wen Chou received word that Guan Yu killed Yan Liang, he then instructed his troops to prevent Liu Bei (who willingly offered himself knowing that Yuan Shao won't dare harm him) and his associates (who were supposed to conduct the secret diplomatic mission) from securing a way out in the south
There is also an important reminder that just because one has set up ambushes doesn't mean that they would work (especially if the numerical disparity is too large to overcome using a few surprise attacks here and there)
key to the success of Wen Chou's methodical march is that those supposed to be on the lookout in Cao Cao's side are secretly helping out the Yuan army, and so it's Guo Jia rather than Wen Chou who ended up being ambushed at the early stage of the showdown
Ravages battle scenarios can be rather confusing given all those hazy drawings of the troops fighting one another (especially since there are no reader-friendly local maps and formation diagrams to help people visually make sense of the situation), though I think I can make sense of what's going on here just by paying attention to the speech bubbles
Wen Chou used a formation with the cavalry as the wings and the infantry at the center, and basically the 2 cavalry units (one commanded by Wen Chou, the other commanded by his deputies) converged and enveloped Guo Jia's center vanguard commanded by Yue Jin
the idea is to muddle and scatter the middle, and to let the 2 cavalry units somehow blend together in the assault without an aggressive pursuit of retreating troops... all this so that Wen Chou's position can be concealed, thereby allowing him to conduct a surprise breach amidst the chaos and head straight for Guo Jia
on a stylistic note, Ravages has a knack for inserting low-key banter and passive-aggressive exchanges in the midst of serious situations, but without having to contrive moments of relief or relaxation (that is to say, the people involved may crack jokes, but they're not performing comedic scenes)
this is related to how many characters are constantly eager to either devise schemes or reflect about issues even while resting or partying…
Liu Ye (entrusted to 'protect' members of the imperial clan and prevent them from defecting to Yuan Shao) is in a way still concerned about the fate of his kin, exemplified in his negotiation with Guo Jia (who happens to be in serious trouble after fleeing from Wen Chou) to spare the disloyal from punishment in exchange for help in an improvised trap
this is also a reminder that not everything goes as planned, but one can adapt as situations change and come up with alternative plans and contingency measures
and in this case, the scheme happens to be a very cheap one (but with very expensive materials as tools), taking advantage of common and deep-rooted desires and anxieties to undermine troop discipline, thereby showing that wise commands and smart plans are one thing, implementation by the rank-and-file is another thing
aside from the didactic point about virtue (and how easy it is for many to stumble and stray), there is also the cautionary political note about the difficulties of governing people and managing morale (and how ultimately armies are only as good as the tricks and apparatuses used to get people to go along with the program)
if we recall, during the engagement with Yan Liang, Guo Jia was with Yue Jin and Xu Huang while Zhang Liao was in a nearby front dealing with the Wuwan army
perhaps in the engagement with Wen Chou, Zhang Liao was already positioned near Guo Jia, ready to conduct the surprise attack (though I wonder how all this would have worked out had Guo Jia not been able to rendezvous with Liu Ye and prepare his underhanded trick)
although chapter 320 is for the most part action-intensive, it also makes room for some poignant reflections, courtesy of Wen Chou's descent into panic as he sees the various plans and preparations collapse in the face of overwhelming force and unfavorable conditions
on that note, one can see the whole process of making plans not just as a matter of instrumental calculation, but also as a morale-boosting technique in its own right (even in our own daily living, plans and schedules help reassure us)
now, Zhang Liao's feat of killing Wen Chou not only further cements his status as an elite warrior (a stone polishing a gem), but this also serves as one of Zhang Liao's many rites of graduation ultimately culminating in Hefei years later as Lu Bu's former protege (the gem having been polished by a stone from another hill, before shining on its own)
and considering that Zhang Liao was once one of Lu Bu's body doubles and Wen Chou happened to kill a bunch of them in the first arc, things have come full circle
it's important to emphasize though that while Zhang Liao caught Wen Chou by surprise and delivered the killing blow, the battle was lost mainly because the troops fell for the improvised trap and weren't able to properly regroup once the Cao army launched a counterattack... and Guo Jia is credited for coming up with the contingency plan (and using a well-kept trump card)
remember, what's decisive in Ravages are not so much the fights, but the schemes in action
321 mainly covers the extended fallout of Wen Chou losing the battle in Yan ford, a reminder that things don't just end with the deaths of commanders
as with the usual setup of these troops on the march, the vanguard units march ahead to clear the path, with the rations transport (and then the rest of the army) following suit... of course if the vanguard collapses this makes the supplies easy targets (or alternatively, find a way to ambush the convoy first and one can force the vanguard to withdraw)
this pretty much explains why Ravages campaigns tend to feature a lot of supply raids
basically after taking out Wen Chou, Guo Jia ordered the troops to go on the offensive, rapidly advancing into Yuan army frontline camps and seizing supplies along the way (note that at this point, the Yuan army has the advantage in both troop numbers and supplies)
in the grander scheme of things, Zhang Liao's feat, cool it may have looked, is but a bright spark in a larger process
Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan feeling the exhilaration of war, Dynasty Warriors style (because they're winning and the morale bar is high and the BGM switches to something energetic) is enabled by well-executed maneuvers under the right conditions, plus schemes implemented behind the scenes
Ravages repeatedly drills this point, to the point of merely presenting clashes in truncated form (almost as snapshots, rather than play by play accounts) while zeroing in on the plans
(Notice how Guo Jia noticed troops better than the experienced warrior, Zhang Liao - this, as usual, emphasizes the fact, that brain operates the physical strength)
the first round between Yuan Fang and Guo Jia aptly illustrates how superiority in numbers is relative to location
overall, the Yuan army still outnumbers the Cao army, but in this instance, given Guo Jia's lightning raids, Zhang He and Yuan Fang arrive at the scene having to assemble scattered and demoralized remnants against a well-oiled strike force that didn't suffer too many casualties
amusingly, Zhang He tells Chen Feng that they're going to 'fight to the death', only for Yuan Fang to say a chapter later that they're not going to fight to the death
(the context of course is different, the first being a pep talk, the second being a tactical instruction)
anyway, before I dive into the first round, I'll first skip into 324 to discuss the fallout
from a military standpoint, Yuan Fang did not need to engage in a high-risk showdown with Guo Jia (as there could have been other ways to drive back the Cao army once the Yuan army reinforcements have arrived into the scene not to mention that the scheme to induce Liu Pi to rebel in Runan did not depend on Yuan Fang beating Guo Jia)
that being said, one can argue that the showdown was partly to boost morale (to compensate for the deaths of Yan Liang and Wen Chou), and also to win over support for the internal power struggle (once again reminding us that in Ravages, there is more going on than just the battles)
with Yuan Fang retaking the momentum, the Cao army is demoralized and had to withdraw a bit, with the Yuan army beginning to assault Cao Cao's main headquarters (using siege towers and fire arrows, among other contraptions), while the imperial capital under Cao Cao's custody is threatened by a rebellion nearby (thereby limiting reinforcements and supplies from reaching the frontlines and preventing Xun Yu, Jia Xu, and Guo Jia from working together)
basically the Yuan army is playing it both ways, by enlisting the (northern) Taiping sect to stir up former yellow turban units, while rallying under the banner of restoring Han authority from Cao Cao's usurpation (this paradoxical combination is best illustrated by the meeting between Liu Bei and Liu Pi)
perhaps Liu Pi is among those who had to submit to Cao Cao but was not formally incorporated into the Qingzhou army, and basically just stayed in Runan
note also the difference in date
it was June (or the sixth month) of 200 when Yuan Fang clashed with Guo Jia shortly after Wen Chou's defeat, and it was July (or the seventh month) of 200 when Yuan Fang unleashed the multi-front assault on Cao Cao
one of the little things I like about Ravages would be its depiction of planning sessions of various shapes and sizes, highlighting on a visual level the importance of schemes in the series
time to discuss the showdown
Guo Jia's army is 3 times the size of Yuan Fang's army (prior to the arrival of Yuan army reinforcements), not to mention that Guo Jia has a greater number of senior officers whereas Yuan Fang can only rely on Zhang He and a bunch of deputies
I've mentioned before that Guo Jia would have better chances of winning (before the arrival of Yuan army reinforcements) had he gone all in and used a more aggressive approach (basically relying more on the tactical judgments of his officers since he himself lacks mobility and can't engage in combat), but instead he tried to play it cool and attempted a methodical entrapment procedure (which makes it easier for Yuan Fang to split up the Cao army, given that the troop disparity is not as overwhelming as, say, 5 to 1)
to be fair, Guo Jia's approach could still work against less insightful commanders with troops that aren't sufficiently trained in styles that can be flexibly combined to fend off numerically superior opponents... but he's up against his senior classmate, who happens to be both a good schemer and commander
In a friendly sense, he wanted to completely disrespect senior classmate, as he is rather comptetitive (we've seen this before in how he wanted to compete against Zhuge Liang in the first Xuzhou arc). To highlight "friendly" - Guo Jia may be ruthless, but he was not really planning to kill Fang. Fang, on the other hand, had a killing intent from get-go.
this segment is partly about Yuan Fang showing disdain for the methods of Sunzi (and a reminder to readers that there are other thinkers and manuals aside from Sunzi)
however, I should note that the Art of War of Sunzi says many things (some of which Yuan Fang ends up applying in essence) and is more of a handy guidebook rather than a systematic treatise (so it's not as if Yuan Fang attacks all the lessons wholesale, he just thinks the package is overrated and shouldn't be treated as canonical - similar with how Chen Mou views Three Kingdoms' historical records and novels, is not it?)
to the first troop he recommends the use of the Military Records (a manual that is lost, but the fragments of which are allegedly quoted in other ancient texts such as the Zuo Commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals)
The Military Records say: When you know yourself to be in difficulties, then withdraw.
this snippet is explicitly contrasted to the part of the Art of War that speaks about fighting to the death in desperate ground... and yet, there is another part (quoted in another chapter of Ravages) that goes as follows
Master Sun's Art of War says: Cast them into perdition and they will survive; plunge them into deadly situations, and then they will live.
if one thinks about it, Yuan Fang didn't say to his troops to retreat, instead he pushed his troops to fight on despite the odds
tactically, the message then seems to be, do not try to make a last defensive stand but fight flexibly, ceding ground when needed so as to preserve troop strength
that is to say, Yuan Fang is simply not seeing the current battlefield as fatal ground (one of the terrain classifications in the Art of War, when troops literally have no way out other than going all out) since after all he's just buying time for reinforcements.
basically the second troop (as well as the third) is trained in a style that weaponizes the teachings of Laozi (a reminder that theoretical musings and reflections can be appropriated and manipulated as apparatuses of warfare and statecraft)
there's a section in the Daodejing/Tao Te Ching that talks about reversing polarities and calls such approaches and processes 'wei ming' [微明] (diminishing/hiding the light)
The Old Master says: That which is to be condensed must first be dispersed. ... That which is to be obtained must first be yielded.
now read alongside the situation, I've come to realize that one can interpret these cryptic words in two ways (I noticed the first earlier, the second much later)
on a tactical level, Yuan Fang seems to be suggesting that rather than holding ground, the troops should instead expand the space by which they could maneuver (so that they can easily fall back when needed without feeling cornered), which explains the emphasis on seizing advantageous grounds and adopting an aggressive (but not too reckless) posture
on a more strategic level, the battle enables the Yuan army to take back the momentum that has been momentarily yielded (when Yan Liang and Wen Chou lost and died), to cut the Cao army down to size after the initial expansion
note that the emphasis of the instructions is not so much the use of specific formations (which at any rate seldom remain intact upon the actual collision of troops), but the choice of 'doctrine' or 'heuristic'
the fourth troop is also given instructions to prioritize the Military Records over the Art of War of Sunzi (though in this case I'm not quite sure which portion is being contrasted to)
The Military Records say: Anticipate your enemy, and you take away his heart.
I suppose this once again emphasizes the aggressive posture, the idea of striking first and stunning the enemy (drawing first blood rather than delivering a knockout)
and indeed when Yuan Fang ordered the troops to advance, Guo Jia and his officers were stunned at the sheer audacity
in sum Yuan Fang initially controls four main troops, with two using the Military Methods and the other two using Laozi, while Zhang He's unit serves as the vanguard using the methods of Guanzi
Master Guan says: When the weapons have been perfected and the instructions implemented, you may overtake fugitives and pursue the fleeing like a whirlwind, beat and stab like thunder and lightning.
I don't know how this is supposed to describe a particular tactical procedure since on its face the passage is more about how enforcement and victory flow from adequate preparation (maybe Zhang He is just bragging that he can quote from the classics too, haha), but perhaps the emphasis is on the metaphors of whirlwind and lightning, which suggest quick strikes and rapid movements, in line with the general approach of maintaining flexibility and mobility while remaining aggressive on the field
perhaps one can sum up what Yuan Fang wants to convey with that adage by Muhammad Ali: float like a butterfly sting like a bee
Guo Jia's main disadvantage after all is that he can't command like a field general (not to mention he can't engage in combat and thus would be a liability when placed in the middle), and thus his troops would be less flexible insofar as they have to rely on his overall instructions (his officers can command, but they may not be able to keep up with Yuan Fang when it comes to coordinating the tactics of all the troops)
...so far I've spent so much time discussing just the preparatory phase, there's still the actual (rather confusing) clash to deal with...
to sum up, the engagement lasted around half a day, with Yuan Fang's mixed methods basically trolling Guo Jia (and goading him to take to the center so that he wouldn't easily notice the Yuan army reinforcements when they arrive)
not to mention we never really got to see the Feng Hou formation (four direct units, four indirect units) in action, since the chapter is all about the process leading up to it
Guo Jia and the other officers of the Cao army may have been able to flee before the formation was able to completely encircle them, though perhaps the escape resulted in many casualties
note how Guo Jia used his troops conservatively, leaving many in reserve for further movement (and since the emphasis is on entrapment, one can assume that part of the plan is to mobilize troops in a more dispersed manner so as to be able to hem in Yuan Fang)
Guo Jia responds by instructing Xiahou Dun to launch a deceptive formation and attack from the side (though given the slower rate of communication of the Cao army, the Yuan army under Yuan Fang's guidance can quickly come up with a counter)
perhaps the function of Yuan Fang's archery unit is to annoy the Cao troops and disrupt their formations
this corroborates my tactical interpretation of the weaponized Laozi saying, in that the Yuan army is expanding its space of maneuver via aggressive advances (so that there would be room to withdraw and regroup later if needed) rather than setting up rigid lines of defense against an incoming onslaught
meanwhile, even those having to hold the line at some advantageous grounds do so in a flexible manner to minimize casualties
given the hazy troop images plus the lack of diagrams (then again, how is one supposed to diagram all this properly since the Yuan army didn't adopt a conventional formation to begin with) one doesn't get a clear idea which troops are where... all one can rely on are the speech bubbles conveying directions, but one would still be puzzled as to the distance and the size of the battlefield
key to Yuan Fang's victory is his mobile unit circulating all over the battlefield and conveying instructions to team leaders and troops
and since Guo Jia did not launch the troops in one concentrated front but instead opted to divide up the units in an attempt to envelop Yuan Fang (despite the numbers advantage not being that overwhelming), the result is that with calculated surprise strikes Yuan Fang was able to cut off the various units and deal with them one at a time
to be fair, had these reinforcements not arrived until much later, Guo Jia could have slowly overwhelmed Yuan Fang due to the numerical advantage (plus the quality of the Cao troops)
now some may complain that the battle was poorly depicted (mainly due to the lack of diagrams, haha), but I think it's important that readers consider the following counterpoints
first, diagrams of military encounters (or generally, diagrams and maps and models of any sort) are but simplifications and approximations of the dynamics at play, and to insist on a 'canonical' and 'authorized' rendering (rather than, say, have readers come up with their own versions), while making things more approachable, could risk superimposing a simplistic view of the situation on the ground
second, many accounts of ancient clashes in the central plains tend to focus on the tricks and machinations (or heroic deeds) rather than present details of formations (like what we read about in chronicles and annals about certain battles in western antiquity)
third, I think Ravages insists on cultivating some sort of 'fog of war' in the presentation of campaign developments that is at once lacking in visual crispness (that is to say, the recordings are always lo-fi and low-res except during panoramic scenes or closeups for character gimmicks) and oversaturated with verbal cues (reports, rumors, etc.)
rather than placing readers in a situation where they can easily survey what's going on (with the help of an infallible map from an all-knowing narrator), readers are thrust into the story world as listeners and decipherers picking up jammed signals with lots of interference from various sides
and I can't stress this hard enough... those who claim that Ravages is defective as a 'war series' (based on the usual conventions and expectations) miss the point of how it's more about the stratagems and intrigues crafted and mobilized in broader power struggles (that may include occasional scenes of battles and duels)
One could that that fog of war in Ravages of Time is what makes it really interesting imo
you honestly dont know the depth of the enemy in many circumstances and the fact that an entire army can appear behind you (this is china after all) and rain hundred of thousands of arrows onto you is a scary thought to behold
add in the fact that, false rumors could be at play due to an enemy ploy is also a key factor in determining strategic decisions and you have multiple high ranking generals making the most obvious military mistakes
if a complete view of the enemy could be seen, all their positions and equipment and situation, do anyone think that great mind like Cao Cao would fall into a bait like Red Cliff or even the set up by Jia Xu that cost his son
paradoxically, because everyone knows that not everything goes as planned (especially once the battles commence), they do what they can to delay the big acts and prepare for various scenarios
and the very attempts to make the playing field more predictable generate signals that make it less predictable (had they just gone all in without too much thinking, things would be over with real soon)
anyway, thus far after Yuan Fang's win against Guo Jia, the Cao army has been pushed back by the all-out assault of the Yuan army
Xun Yu has to deal with the defense of the Xu capital (as well as court intrigues), while Jia Xu has been sent to contain the uprisings in Runan (sparked by Liu Bei joining forces with Liu Pi)
thus Xun You and Sima Yi were sent to help out Guo Jia in the main battlefront
I didn't notice it that much previously, but the Guandu arc involves chunks of mini time skips, reminding us that major campaigns could span several fronts and last several months unlike the showdowns in Kingdom that get wrapped up in a matter of days or weeks
when Guo Jia clashed with Yuan Fang, it was just the sixth month...
I'd also like to note how the Guandu arc spends a considerable amount of time dealing with stuff outside the battlefield even while the campaign is going on
...imagine a war drama combined with elements of film noir (courtesy of Sima Yi's gangster misadventures as part of an elaborate decoy scheme)...
the arc (specifically, the updates in 325) provides an opportunity to look at the situation using the framework of the 'levels of war'
on the tactical level (at least in Cao Cao's military headquarters, since that's what's highlighted at this point) we see the Yuan army trying out various techniques and gimmicks to overwhelm the base, while the besieged Cao army responds with appropriate countermeasures
thus the siege towers sent to one side were repelled by catapults secretly constructed and delivered, while attempts to dig infiltration tunnels were countered by trenches... in the meantime, the Cao army was also able to launch an offensive of its own, by using Kong Kui as a decoy to distract Gao Lan, enabling Xu Huang and Shi Huan (who never gets to show up on-panel) to seize rations from Han Meng (once again I emphasize that the Yuan army happens to have an overwhelming advantage in troops and resources, so Cao Cao is doing relatively well to still be holding on)
on the operational level, Cao Cao's forces are stretched across various areas to defend against possible attacks by various hostile or suspicious factions (the rebels in Runan, Liu Biao, the Sun clan), thus the frontline bases in the north are forced to fend off the Yuan army onslaught with a serious handicap (meaning that Cao Cao has to make up for the disadvantage by means of sheer tactical resilience and diplomatic cunning as seen in the decision to award Sun Quan with a title, while waiting for the opportunity to launch a sneaky maneuver to turn the tide)
as for the Yuan clan, not only does it have a greater war chest, but it is also able to field a more cohesive invasion force (still stretched, but more coordinated, with better supply lines) given the lack of major threats on the other frontiers (so far, the advance into enemy territory has proceeded rather smoothly despite setbacks and blunders since the resource disparity helps the Yuan army absorb a few shocks here and there... the other hindrance though would come from factional intrigues from the inside)
on the strategic level, Cao Cao's game plan involves luring the Yuan army deep into hostile ground before cutting off the supplies and forcing a disastrous withdrawal, and thus insofar as the onslaught continues (to stall rather than succeed outright), the chance for victory remains
though on the surface the Yuan army seems to be relying on brute force to overcome all obstacles, the bigger plan involves inducing defections and betrayals within Cao Cao's camp (including the imperial clan), so as to render the frontline isolated while the rest surrender of their own accord
and this brings us to the heart of the matter (and why the factions have set things up to remain at a stalemate and pave the way for sneaky approaches)... Cao Cao needs to sabotage the Yuan army rations to win, but what better way for Yuan Fang to crush Cao Cao (and show to the others that the Yuan clan is supreme) than to lure the latter into a trap using the supply depot as bait
in short, the Guandu campaign in Ravages is an example of military theatrics (at the cost of so many lives) as a giant smokescreen for the underlying schemes
and speaking of costs, if soldiers have to pay with their lives, merchants (who exploit workers and swindle customers) are also roped into the mess as financiers (though unlike in contemporary times where creditors have almost all the leverage, this was a time when wealthy elites are at the mercy of warlords who borrow from them unless of course said elites have bribed everyone to take effective control)
sadly, those opposed to war (in this case, the Tian clan) tend to be seen as convenient targets to keep the war going
had the Guandu arc been longer, the Tian clan faction could have been fleshed out as its own group distinct from (but forced to ally with) Yuan Tan's faction...
on that note, Yuan Fang may have used the excuse that he's only in charge of the assault force to pin the blame on someone else (not Han Meng because he's too well-connected, haha) for the loss of the rations, but it could very well be that he had anticipated such a move but deliberately let it slide (and moreover welcomed it, so as to keep Cao Cao longer in the game for the deceptions to play out later)
here Cao Cao and Zhang Liao talk about how the character of warriors is partially reflected in the choice of weapons (Guan Yu is heavy-handed and single-minded so he uses a guandao, Lu Bu is two-faced so he uses a ji)
notable in the conversation is how Zhang Liao still refers to Lu Bu as his master (he too is bound by his own honor code, but has chosen to live on and serve Cao Cao... in that regard he is positioned as a student following in the footsteps of two different teachers, aptly illustrated in how he who has trained to use the ji is currently training to wield the guandao)
basically at the end of the day, Guo Jia's ruse failed and not even the death of Liu Bei's unnamed son was enough to pressure Guan Yu to stay (partly because Sun Qian, Liu Bei's envoy, insisted that kids are worth less than brothers)
this scene also reveals something about Liu Bei (and Guan Yu, Zhang Fei's motives for joining the brotherhood remain obscure though the spinoff novel offers a tease that may or may not be validated in the future)
so it would seem that of the peach garden bros, Liu Bei is the one most attached to the sworn brotherhood as a relationship (his benevolence may have darkened, his loyalty to Han may have weakened, but he can't let go of close comrades)
Guan Yu, while valuing the brotherhood, may be attached more to how it signifies and upholds virtue
and if the spinoff is to be believed, Zhang Fei values the brotherhood as a safe space where he could still have warm fuzzy feelings despite his sad past
in another note, Ravages omits the story of Guan Yu's return to Liu Bei (as narrated in the Romance), but inserts a brief nod to that by adding Zhou Cang in the story at this point
however, instead of being a former yellow turban rebel who submitted to Guan Yu, he is instead reinterpreted as another shady guy working for the Sima clan (although he has since joined Liaoyuan Huo)
and this is basically how shady schemes are carried out, with agents in the field, via networks of operatives collecting confidential secrets and disseminating disinformation
but to sum up the events in 326: Guan Yu plans to return to Liu Bei (and Cao Cao allows it), Jia Xu plans to ambush Guan Yu (to lure out Liu Bei), Liaoyuan Huo plans to bail out Guan Yu (by performing another hit)
all in all, pretty laid-back compared to the last chapter
oh right, volumes 41 and 42 have some of the nicest black texts that unfortunately aren't in the scanlated chapters
for 325
Some say, instead of letting one’s son inherit a bin of gold, pass on a book to him.
But there is also the saying, a head-full of books is worth less than a bag of money.
for 326
Some say, be open and candid. Yet others say, conduct in secret.
basically juxtapositions of 2 contrasting messages
in this chapter we meet Yang Qing, an honest dealer (his name 'qing' [清] even means 'clear' or 'pure')
funny how his words here provide a small hint for what's to be revealed, haha
Ravages makes it a point to remind us not just of how warfare hurts people high and low, but also of how elite clans with their own networks and associations can be found across many factions
the amusing thing is, the Yuan clan had to expend vast amounts of resources (wars are expensive after all) just to be able to signal to elites that the Yuan clan is the safer choice to place investments (which would then be used to recoup the costs and rebuild from the ashes but in such a way that doesn't really harm elite interests)
no wonder rebellions pop up every now and then especially during times of famine or disasters…
I feel bad for the Tian clan at this point
(I wonder what happened to Tian De after Cao Cao conquered the north... did Sima Yi find a way to keep his old classmate safe since Sima Yi seems to be gracious to those he considers friends)
it could be that the Tian clan's biggest political blunder is simply declaring loyalty to Yuan Shao (and not Yuan Fang), and opposing the war out of that sort of principled loyalty (even though Yuan Shao is ever so eager to hand over power to Yuan Fang)
I could imagine detractors exhausted with the Ravages scheming game to complain the way Xiahou Dun does, haha
another round, another layer, another long subplot...
meanwhile I act like Cao Cao delighted to see the contest between geniuses
Xun You doesn't get to shine as much (since he's not part of the 8), but these moments show that he is a capable schemer in his own right
too bad we don't get to witness all the tactics and techniques in their full glory, but so far in the chapter we've seen attempts to stack mud, as well as the use of siege ramps (in this case, a sky hanger variant... a sky cart variant has been shown in previous chapters)
the black text for 328 goes as follows
There is also the saying, it’s as dangerous as stacking eggs and as difficult as heading for the sky.
That moment when Yang got distracted by Sima, when it was Yang all along. Just like how he was saying, that people are distracted by the "meaning of life" and forget their own little lives
I just want to note at the outset, the Sima Yi subplot of the Guandu arc feels like stepping into a gritty hardboiled world of crime and corruption (almost as if Chen Mou is channeling those memories of watching HK police and gangster dramas or perhaps obliquely commenting on the dysfunctional political situation)
slander, bribery, blackmail, inheritance disputes, a honey trap fueling jealousy, fake arrests, espionage, all the way to abduction and assassination
some may complain that it's just to give Sima Yi (whose historical account doesn't mention him taking part in the campaign) more panel time and meddling space
but what I like about the subplot is not so much who's involved, but what actions are involved (and all this happening amidst ongoing heavy battles)
it's regrettable though that Yuan Xi's faction is underdeveloped in Ravages... all we know is that because of the marriage he sided with Yuan Fang, but after Yuan Fang's passing he sided with Yuan Shang
one small tidbit worth mentioning
sometimes even if the main figureheads of the rival factions would want to be chummy or at least remain on polite terms with another, the other problem is that those below would stir up discord for their own gain (this point is noted even in the latest chapter)
at the very least, Yuan Mai (the youngest legitimate son of Yuan Shao) dying early due to poison spared him from the infighting that is to come
to sum up the Yuan family crisis
Yuan Tan is the eldest and is favored by tradition to become head of the clan in the future (but his humiliating loss last time led to a loss in influence)
Yuan Shang is the third and is favored by certain influential factions (not to mention he didn't mess up as badly as Yuan Tan when it comes to military affairs)
Yuan Xi is the second but has given up on the power struggle after marrying Zhen Fu
Yuan Shao, while nominally the head of the clan, is letting all this happen so that Yuan Fang (his darling bastard, officially a 'nephew', and the chief controller of the campaign) will become hegemon of the north
the Xin and Guo clans of Hebei support Yuan Tan, the Shen and Feng/Pang clans of Hebei support Yuan Shang, the Xu clan of Hebei supports Yuan Fang, the Tian clan of Hebei is tactically allied with Yuan Tan but is more about opposing the war
considering that the three Yuan brothers each command portions of the army, their non-cooperation proves to be a big liability waiting to be exploited
329 also touches upon the matter of supplies, with Sima Yi not only offering to stop supplying Cao Cao, but also offering (false) information about Cao Cao's supply lines
this is meant to lure the Yuan army to continue advancing in the hopes of cutting Cao Cao's supplies (to give Cao Cao the chance to go after the Yuan army supplies)
essentially the campaign becomes something like capture the flag (but instead of flag, it's the rations depots and transport routes that count)
the black text for 329 quotes from a classic text (a collection of anecdotes of scheming set in the warring states period)
The Warring States Stratagems say:
If one associates with others because of money, the relationship will come to an end when his money runs out. If a woman satisfies a man with her beauty, the love will disappear when she is no longer pretty.
330 turns to the Runan subplot and ends with Jia Xu showing off his troll tactics
I've mentioned before how Ravages has already featured 35 of the 36 stratagems... all that's missing is a clear case of the empty fort, but it can be argued (this was stated by a former member here over a year ago) that what happened is a curious case of the empty fort in reverse (that is to say, an empty strike)
basically the empty fort stratagem is a specific case of misdirection and deception that involves an element of bluffing or psychological gamesmanship (the story in the Romance goes that Zhuge Liang is besieged and outnumbered but in response he orders the fort to appear lightly guarded while he appears calmly playing music to fool attackers into thinking that the fort has a hidden ambush given Zhuge Liang's reputation when in fact there isn't)
note that Runan commandery is close to the Xu capital, which is why Jia Xu was sent to suppress the uprising there (as the uprising continues, Gao Lan leads a portion of the Yuan army deep into Cao Cao's territory, closing in on Runan in a bid to cut off Cao Cao's supply lines based on Xu You's info provided by Sima Yi)
previously Jia Xu made his stated oath to defeat Liu Bei in 10 days (and publicized it to make Liu Bei and Liu Pi worry about the hidden ambush)
9 days after the public oath, both Liu Bei and Liu Pi are still hesitant to move, afraid that Jia Xu might get them... however, Liu Pi (who wasn't named in the oath) blinked first, suspecting (and rightly so) that the oath was a trick to allow Jia Xu to escort rations to the frontlines in Guandu
Jia Xu's reputation played a role, but the more crucial factor that allowed the trick to work is that for some reason, Liu Bei and Liu Pi did not coordinate their actions... could they be so worried that messengers would be taken out so easily, or that there are spies ready to report their every move?
it's not clearly stated how far the two rebel bases are to each other, but I suppose they're not close enough to facilitate a safe strategy meeting (not to mention it's not clear who answers to who, it seems both Liu Bei and Liu Pi are just collaborators with separate chains of command and spheres of influence)
Sun Qian made a good point that Jia Xu's trick means there won't be that many troops in the base that Jia Xu is supposed to protect (in that sense, there appears to be an indirect empty fort scenario insofar as Zhang Fei hesitates to attack, fearing there might be a trick... and there is, but for a different reason)
it's really important to stress that the major figures do not have a monopoly on good advice and decent proposals
and indeed Liu Pi was had (and Liu Bei was played for a sucker)
Liu Pi's reckless advance means that his base is exposed when Jia Xu makes his side attack, the supply convoy to Guandu (led by the reliable Li Dian) turns out to be real but is also meant to lure eager raiders into an ambush, and with Liu Pi in disarray and Liu Bei still on the defensive Jia Xu is then free to attack Gao Lan, the target of the written version of the oath
in a master stroke Jia Xu disrupted the line of communication between Liu Bei and Liu Pi, and prevented Gao Lan's troop from regrouping with the Runan rebels and planning a coordinated assault, and ensured that the rations will reach Cao Cao in Guandu
one thing that puzzles me though... why are the Runan rebels wearing Yuan army uniforms when they're supposed to be peasant militias or former yellow turban bands? (perhaps those uniforms were secretly smuggled, or Liu Bei donated them when he arrived to Runan, haha)
the black text in 330 refers to a quote from the Analects, segmented into 2 parts
Someone says, there are three friendships which are advantageous. He also says, and there are three which are injurious.
anyway, before tackling 331 and 333 (featuring the tale of two brothers) I'd first like to go over 332 and 334
much of the chapter involves shady business (Sima Yi effectively offering a bribe to Xu Yuan who is eager to embezzle military funds with Yuan Fang's tacit approval, Sima Yi spreading rumors to better blackmail Xu Yuan later, Xu You proposing a sham prosecution with Xu Yuan as the token defendant which would then be used as a pretext for Xu You to flee and fake being a defector, etc.)
on the grander side of the scheming, Sima Yi and Yuan Fang agree that the overall campaign against Cao Cao should downplay the role of imperial loyalist allies as much as possible (since empowering them would only empower the Han, and indirectly Liu Bei), with the expectation that the more opportunistic loyalists will cozy up to the Yuan clan anyway once the dust settles
on the military front, Shen Pei (Yuan Shang's adviser) rightly anticipates that Yuan Fang's arrangement facilitated Jia Xu's night raid
Yuan Fang in turn anticipates that Shen Pei would be cautious (due to ulterior motives), thus nullifying Jia Xu's plan to lure more reinforcements
Ravages emphasizes that the schemes are intertwined and operate across diverse fields and spheres (in this case, Yuan Fang plans to counter an emerging scandal by staging an event that would make the Yuan clan look impartial and benevolent, while giving his corrupt backers a good enough cover story to switch to the other team and spread disinformation and there are more twists to that which will be revealed in the next chapters)
now I'd like to think that Sima Yi sincerely cares for his old classmate and that this isn't part of a long con to control or destroy the Tian clan (after all, they could be good business partners, and the Sima clan did protect the Chen clan previously)
in another note, Sima Yi is basically advocating the elite and illuminati playbook of diversifying assets, maintaining a stake in various ventures, playing all sides in the shadows...
on a side note, Tian De (who at this point is pretending to be clueless and non-partisan) thinks he has lured Sima Yi to side with Yuan Tan, though this minor scheme doesn't matter much to Sima Yi, who I think wants to protect the Tian clan and secure a lasting business relationship
to be fair Sima Yi could have sided with Yuan Shang instead if that's who the Tian clan (or another friendly clan) is banking on for survival…
also, Sima Yi reminds readers that the Guandu campaign isn't necessarily a make or break moment for the Yuan clan (after all it would take several more years before Cao Cao consolidates his control over the north... too bad Chen Mou didn't spend much time on the post-Guandu pre-Chibi northern campaigns )
Tian De joins the exclusive list of people who have heard Sima Yi's master plan from the man himself, haha
when Sima Yi tells someone he wants revenge, it's part of a con... but when Sima Yi tells someone he wants to rise to power and earn enough trust for the long-term payback, it's part of a business proposal
one amusing thing about 334 is how much of it just happens on the streets of Ye, a colorful depiction of the shady schemes that lurk and occur in the bustling city
there's the shady intelligence officer with the straw hat, there's the shady driver of Tian De's carriage who happens to be a mysterious agent for Yuan Tan, there's the shady merchant receiving coded instructions for a special job... and then of course there's San Chuan dropping by to say HAI
before going to the tale of the two brothers, let's get the scheming details out of the way first
Guo Jia and Cao Cao discuss Sima Yi's message about infighting between 'two brothers' (the suspicion being that behind the loyal advice is a treacherous hint, that Sima Yi is making his own moves by getting close to Cao Pi)
other than Guo Jia reaffirming the need to pay attention to both big things and small things (the ethos I also endorse when it comes to reading Ravages), there's the interesting distinction made between 'ruling the world' and 'mere governance' (the amusing thing about this though is that using Guo Jia's reasoning, Cao Cao can't just usurp the imperial throne just because he's more capable, since that would stir unrest among loyalists and pretenders who claim to be even more capable)
this tidbit opens up new frontiers for further consideration
first, the tricky thing about 'meritocratic' or 'aristocratic' discourses on governance concerns the claim to excellence or talent... how are these qualities determined and identified, is there an absolute standard, is it all about people agreeing to a certain metric, who sets and interprets the parameters and criteria, and so many other questions follow
and then suppose setting the more theoretical matters aside the power players agree that merit in governance and rulership would also require passing the trials of power struggle (that is to say, those who deserve to govern/rule are those talented to both keep things in order and to seize control in times of disorder aptly expressed in the description of 'anti-hero in chaos, loyal minister in peace' ), this is basically an invitation to endless contest since those at the top just happen to be the winners of the moment (on that note, this echoes the response of Xunzi to the famous saying by Mencius that anyone can be Yao and Shun)
perhaps the problematic category is the elevated notion of rulership (and its implicit correlates or stability and pacification), and that at the end of the day it's about perpetuating hegemony and domination rather than receiving a mandate to exercise legitimate authority... but if so, why even bother to fight for a throne, or on that matter to bring all under heaven to one rule
Burden of choice would also be on the shoulders of his children.
perhaps the cautionary note here is, one cannot exercise power over many just by appealing to sheer technical dominance (since the only lesson to be learned from that is the ruler just happens to have reached the top and someone else can reach it), and that ideological finesse is needed (thus the use of loyalty discourse, lineage discourse, etc.)
to return to the topic of virtue, ultimately one's practice of virtue on paper does not depend on who claims to rule the world (the sunny side of the Xunzi quote about heaven behaving constantly is that if everyone is called to be virtuous, then the responsibility remains whether there's a sage king or a petty tyrant)
then maybe the problem is not so much talent or virtue (however construed), but trying to connect it to governance or domination not as a voice holding power to account, but as a fig leaf of excuses and alibis
of course the more cynical and amoral 'legalist' thinkers such as Han Feizi would just say that people have to be controlled and disciplined to produce items of value (and this is best done by propping up a singular authority that lays down the law), haha
anyway, moving on to another scene (those who want to ruminate and speculate more about the topics above can discuss in memorylane or better yet read more books on the matters at hand)
the siege continues after a momentary truce to bury the dead, and the Yuan army makes use of another tactic (digging holes not to create infiltration tunnels, but to collapse the foundations of walls)
Li Dian reports to Cao Cao about potential defectors and insiders, a useful reminder that the power struggles are not just about winning battles (though the dynamics of those battles are among the things to be calculated when dealing with broader schemes)
the black text for 331 features a quote from the Xunzi and the Analects
Some say, choose the right environment to settle in and look to the right people to travel with. Men of different paths cannot plan for one another.
meanwhile, the black texts for 333 and 334 form a parallel pair
A bustling world is made up of people seeking to benefit themselves.
A disorderly world is made up of people leaving for greener pastures.
oh well, as we know, family is a recurring theme in this arc and we can talk about it with Yuan Fang's help. Remember Yuan Fang just wanted a normal life, but as Yuan Shao said, its not really possible, because if not your ambitions, ambitions of others will affect your life and not let you live the life you long for.
That was proved in this few scenes, as they did not really have anything else to do, if they wanted to survive, they had only one, forced, path. Notice they do not even have faces drawn properly, they are just masked. That nail's the point, that this arc is not about concrete individuals.
you could see that his brother's death actually affected him, if he did not show the signs. he went for Dun exactly and was actually overwhelming the big guy
So even if he did not really have anything to take care of, he at least had emotions, just like Fang
Their outfit is quite similar and I dare say, their fatal blows are also similar. except Fang was stabbed from behind
Guo Jia: Two of them have opposing views. Things are already destabilizing at their base
Cao Cao: ‘Two of them’. Are you hinting at something?
Sneaky Guo Jia actually talking about THREE pair of brothers at the same time . (we may as well count him and Fang as brothers, which would make it four pair, actually).
before resuming, I'd like to note something about what Yuan Fang said at the end of 332
With the rations at Wuchao, I'll burn him alive.
note that he doesn't say that the burning of Cao Cao has to happen in Wuchao (only that Wuchao will play a role in that) and even assuming that Wuchao gets set on fire, he doesn't say that it's Cao Cao who gets burned there (only that Cao Cao will be burned somehow)
amusing how this works well in hindsight
and about the tale of the two brothers, one of the little things in Ravages that I like are scenes focusing on conversations and struggles of non-famous people (I wanted to say 'ordinary', but a few such portions involve elites)
who remembers the kid who didn't listen to his mom? or the loyal soldier about to be executed in front of his wife and mom? or what about the refugee Zhang with his wife and infant child? or the moments where commoners are chatting in dining places?
let us review the state of play in Guandu thus far
the Cao army is fending off a full-scale assault by the Yuan army, which has the overwhelming advantage in troops and resources
the Cao army plans to stall the Yuan army longer and lure enemy troops deeper into hostile ground, then force a disastrous withdrawal by going after the rations depots and launching surprise counterattacks
the Yuan army plans to besiege the Cao army further and exert pressure on nearby allies, then force a widespread defection by cutting off the supply lines and isolating the frontline bases
Sima Yi offers to collaborate regarding Cao army supplies as bait, while trying to extract information about Yuan army supplies
Yuan Fang in turn dangles information about Yuan army supplies as bait, so that when Cao Cao falls for the trap the rest of the troops can proceed smoothly with the invasion
and it must be highlighted, the reason the Cao and Yuan camps can play this game is because both make use of backchannels and shadowy networks (that is to say, even as the soldiers and commanders are fighting hard, agents and operatives are keeping in touch and deceiving one another)
one amusing tidbit: it seems the henchmen under Jia Kui's dad (perhaps those directly watching over and reporting to Sima Yi) and the minions under Jia Kui (those who received Sima Yi's coded order to conduct the abduction and the assassination) are working separately
and no story of corruption and deceit is complete without a sham arrest conducted for show, haha
I still can't get over how Cao Hong, a veteran of many wars, is so unnerved by Jia Kui's shady ways
in another note, I wonder if the deluxe volumes will give a name to the hat-wearing goon with fancy clothing
basically as part of Yuan Fang's plan, the Xu clan is officially indicted of embezzlement (with assurances that the ringleaders will get off the hook at the end of the day)
this gives Xu You the cover to flee to Cao Cao (his old classmate) and offer believable disinfo, while throwing Sima Yi under the bus (what he doesn't realize though is that Sima Yi has a backup plan, arranging the death of Xu Yuan and the abduction of Xu You's sons)
I just want to say, what makes the Ravages rendition of the Guandu campaign (and generally, the power struggles in the period) stand out among 3K adaptations is just how shady it all is (especially if one notices the sheer number of chapters devoted to the stratagems and intrigues within and beyond the battlefield, while the clashes are given abridged coverage)
no wonder those who are expecting more to witness the glory and cunning of team Cao overcoming the odds in battle are frustrated, haha
even while the betrayals and backstabs about the supplies are going on, there's also the struggle to inherit the mantle of Yuan clan head
we don't know if Yuan Shao really planned to have another clan relative adopt Yuan Tan (to preemptively take him out of consideration as heir), but the mere dissemination of the rumor may have been a minor scheme to goad Yuan Tan into action, to lure him to the fray (by dangling the opportunity to take down Cao Cao and retake the glory)
considerations such as this one help explain why Yuan Fang bothered to play a convoluted game instead of just launching a straightforward campaign (after all, the Yuan clan has the advantage in numbers and resources and could simply outlast and outgun Cao Cao in a costly showdown of attrition)
meanwhile, the campaign situation (with Cao Cao severely outnumbered, with exhausted bases having to deal with rotating troops of the Yuan clan) is set up in such a way that leaves a glaring two-way street, for Xu You to pretend to be a useful defector, and for Cao Cao to march to Wuchao
both Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang (and their respective advisers) at least have the wits to notice such a glitch (and come up with their own plans to ambush Cao Cao), but what they don't realize is that the whole setup is also meant as bait for them
I suppose one can describe this meeting between old classmates as a high-stakes negotiation (though Cao Cao actually has all the trump cards) where both sides are trying to gauge who will blink first
it's amusing how while Cao Cao keeps probing where the rations are, Xu You keeps needling when the supplies will run out (little did he know)
considering what we know as to how this all ends, let's take a step back and analyze what would have happened had Cao Cao believed his former classmate
suppose he targets Wuchao using Xu You's treacherous information, there would still be room for Cao Cao to unleash the night riders and cause a distraction that would allow the raiding party to reach the target (though in this case the Yuan army has also set up countermeasures for that and the only thing that would be ruined is the hidden plan)
but what's disturbing to note is, if Cao Cao had been informed by Guo Jia of the real game from the start, why did he even bother to torment an old classmate to maintain appearances? I'd like to think that at this point, Guo Jia (and his trusted agents) would still be concealing certain details even from Cao Cao (until days before the clash) so as to prevent leaks
surely Cao Cao isn't so heartless so as to cause someone pointless anguish...
on a side note, the chapter also brings up the topic of the three ways of scheming (I suppose in this case the Yuan brothers are using the first mode, Cao Cao is using the second, and Yuan Fang is using the third)
the black text of 336 quotes from Wang Chong
A song being beautiful, people are not all able to chime in, and a statement being true, not all believe it.
basically a hint that not everyone can see the deeper schemes
how did Yuan Shang know that Cao Cao is set to attack Gushi instead of Wuchao? spies and messengers abound
how is Yuan Shao not in the loop? hmm...
if we recall, based on the setup outlined in 336, Yuan Shang is in charge of keeping Jia Xu in check, so the deliberate withdrawal allowed Jia Xu to target Gao Lan (though it's not quite clear where Jia Xu is originally positioned or how close it was to Gao Lan's position)
it's nice to see Shen Pei see through Yuan Fang's con with regard to Xu You (after all, it's very curious to note that Xu You didn't take his sons with him when he went to Cao Cao... perhaps Yuan Fang assured their security but in the end deliberately allowed Jia Kui's goons to abduct them)
and if one thinks about it, with the Xu clan out of the picture, Yuan Fang no longer needs to uphold the bargain of restoring the wealth of the clan after the sham investigation, haha
with regard to the trap setup, clearly the Yuan army knows that neither Wuchao nor Gushi contain the supplies, so the main issue is where to lure Cao Cao
Xu You (who may not be in charge of all the supplies) could have been kept in dark about the main depot, but is duped into believing that Gushi is the real deal while instructed to lie to Cao Cao that the supplies are in Wuchao (for this to work out, perhaps some supplies may have been temporarily placed in Gushi and also Wuchao before secretly moved elsewhere, thus the false impression though there would still be issues with how to keep the transfer secret from spies)
that way, when threatened to confess, his admissions (a result of disinfo) would appear genuine
ultimately for Yuan Fang's con to work he would need to set up parallel layers of communication (notice for instance the coded messages entrusted to Xu You to be leaked to Cao Cao for the plan to fall in place), with one solely for the purpose of fooling the enemy (and fortunately the wealth and manpower of the Yuan clan is at his disposal... the benefits of being an affluent schemer, haha)
imagine if Guo Jia or Zhuge Liang had that much on their hands...
anyway, as Cao Cao prepares to raid Gushi using troops dressed as Yuan army troops (I think at this point he would have been informed of the deep scheme already and is just playing along), and as Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan prepare to ambush Cao Cao... the setup for Yuan Fang's ultimate scheme is in place
it's glaring to see how Yuan Shao doesn't even know what the next step will be (there's a reason for that, but I suppose Yuan Shao himself didn't bother to pry and just let Yuan Fang control military matters even though he's the nominal 'great general' in this campaign)
this also says something about the military structure in later Han, with controllers and chief controllers (rather than generals and chief generals) becoming more prominent in handling the operations
one would feel bad for those of the old guard who are still loyal to Yuan Shao, as they see him eagerly letting Yuan Fang control everything
now, regarding the night riders... perhaps this unit is an honor guard composed mainly of veterans from the old days (imagine those who were with Cao Cao from the days of the Guandong Alliance, which means those who have 'trained' with him the longest in those early defeats) and used to conducting, well, night missions
meanwhile, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry may be the more prestigious elite unit that is more rigorous in personnel selection (on that note, it would have been nice to see Cao Chun in action in the arc as well, but maybe he was assigned to guard the south)
these side details aside, 338 is mainly about Cao Cao tricking Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang into fighting one another (so that he and his night riders can proceed to Gushi unopposed... or so they think)
had the two brothers not been feuding, the disaster could have been averted with proper communication channels... but then again, Yuan Fang's ultimate plan hinges on these two brothers not cooperating with each other
another reminder that the power struggle isn't just about the feats on the battlefield
even as Cao Cao is on his way (with redhare cavalrymen) to raid Gushi, Yuan Fang's minions are already plotting to spread accusations about Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang in the home base
this is the moment when the masks begin to come off
notice the confident look in those three as they discuss about the plan
regardless of the outcome of this battle
... as if winning at Guandu didn't matter, as if the campaign was some sort of charade, as if the goal was something else altogether
and we approach the climax of the arc
before going through the first big twist, I first want to talk about Yuan Shao's dysfunctional family life
he blames his other sons for being 'inadequate' (Yuan Tan being capricious, Yuan Xi resting on his laurels, Yuan Shang being too trusting of a certain conniving relative I wonder who he is referring to here) but he is as much accountable for what they have become, given that he allowed all this to happen to pave the way for Yuan Fang (and what's more, he broke Yuan Fang, turned him to the dark side combining the ways of Darth Vader and Uchiha Itachi to become what he is)
they were still kids over ten years ago
we didn't see Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi on-panel at that time (perhaps Yuan Mai wasn't born yet), but we did get to see Yuan Fang and Yuan Shang
Yuan Shu's ambition to become emperor of his own regime (literally just living the childhood dream based on the flashback in 289) comes off as harmless compared to what Yuan Shao has unleashed, haha
who remembers Dong Zhuo condemning the elites for plunging the realm into unrest? who remembers Liu Bei pointing out the dangers of ambition? who remembers Cao Cao highlighting the need for loyalists to take power and suppress the corrupt? who remembers Sun Ce denouncing the hypocrisies in the power struggle?
Yuan Shao in many ways is at the apex of these structural problems (he doesn't control them at the end of the day, but he benefits from the perpetuation of the crisis), and Yuan Fang the bastard king of the north is the fruit of the poisonous tree
detour aside, time to discuss the big trick
thus far readers have been led (by the nose) to believe that Yuan Fang's master plan is focused more on the external issue (Cao Cao is dangerous to be allowed to thrive after all), with the power struggle for complete control of the Yuan clan as more of a long-term objective to be accomplished later (after all, with Yuan Shao as his chief enabler, what has he to worry)
but instead the Guandu campaign is turned on its head... the battles are but a scam (with Cao Cao losing seen as a side quest), an excuse to cleanly wipe out Yuan Shao (as well as Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang) all in one go, to fulfill a long-held vendetta and finally take the reins
I suppose in this calculation, Yuan Fang may have thought that once he's firmly in charge, Cao Cao wouldn't be able to conquer the north even if the latter ended up winning the theatrical battle of Guandu
one would still wonder how it all went so well, and so we turn our attention to the details in the burning of Gushi and Wuchao
Zhang He and Gao Lan stationed in locations that made it easier for them to set fire to Gushi without Cao Cao noticing until it's too late
Yuan Shao was made to remain in Wuchao (now converted into a support base given that Cao Cao activated the trap in Gushi), while Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang (who botched their attempts to ambush Cao Cao because of a clever trick on Cao Cao's part) head to Wuchao to blame one another in front of Yuan Shao
the key player is Yuan Xi (misguided by Duan Jian and Yang), in charge of the unit conveniently mobilized at an earlier time (and thus not informed of the fire trap at Gushi, with outdated orders to burn Wuchao to trap Cao Cao there)
meanwhile, many of the confused guards (apparently not aware that the one leading the attack is Yuan Xi) mistake the situation for another attack by Cao Cao's troops (since they've heard about the debacle with Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang)
There is also a background character next to Yuan Shao, telling him that Yuan Shao may not be as ‘evil’ as expected. When you have hopes for someone, but he is actually worse than people say, haha
‘I know he's a backstabber, but he isn't that heartless now, is he’
Much needed positivity... is it possible, though?
if Yuan Xi had been more proactive about knowing what's going on, he wouldn't have been played like a fiddle (though one suspects that even then, Yuan Fang would have agent provocateurs carry out the deed if Yuan Xi isn't willing to)
looking back, let's recall one of Yuan Fang's early con games, against the Guandong Alliance
the plan he proposed made sense (trick Lu Bu into thinking the situation isn't that desperate) and was workable (provided the generals didn't lose their lives in duels against Hua Xiong)
however, the assumption is that the Yuan clan would fully cooperate with the alliance (and not throw the other warlords under the bus) when the time came to launch the counterattack
" Even the eagle’s nest gets taken "
talk about being an Apex
similarly, the strategic and operational calculations for the Yuan army as a whole for the Guandu campaign were workable (though the glitches here and there suggest that something else is being cooked up)
but the assumption is that Yuan Fang isn't actually planning to kill off his dad and brothers, haha
the plan to lure Cao Cao into a trap using disinfo about the rations depot made sense (since Cao Cao's own plan hinges on taking out the rations depot)
the plan to put intense pressure on the frontlines while sending extra troops to cut off supply lines and force surrenders and defections made sense (since the Yuan army has the overwhelming numbers advantage, not to mention the number of insiders and opportunists at the back and in the court)
and precisely because the plans made sense that Yuan Shao, Yuan Tan, and Yuan Shang came on board, not realizing the whole show provided an excuse to kill them off(edited)***[19:14]***this also partly explains why the Guandu arc can be rather polarizing (especially for those who are in it for the epic clashes and the primacy of battlefield situations, since Ravages upends all that and resolutely reaffirms the supremacy of the scheming game while still acknowledging that in the last instance it's people power fueling the conspiracy machine, people power that must be controlled using various sorts of morale management gimmicks)
Interesting how Yuan Shao's side is all about family, yet it is the most dysfunctional one, while Cao Cao's side is more concerned about the country, yet they have the most functional families. Then comes Yang from Yuan's side and Cao gets problem in his family, haha.
Guandu can also be summerised as - deconstruction of familial love vs. deconstruction of country's love (by being anti-heroes, rather than heroes)
with the burning of Wuchao and Gushi, Yuan Fang is in the process of dealing with both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao
meanwhile the rest of the Yuan army proceeds with the all-out assault, while counting on potential defectors and opportunists to make their move and ensure the collapse of the Cao army
before going over the clash in Gushi, I'd first like to attend to what's going on in the other fronts, beginning with Cao Cao's main headquarters at Guandu under heavy siege
I must emphasize here how great the advantage of the Yuan army is, even if pound for pound the troops and officers of the Cao army are superior overall
and it's not as if the Yuan army is blindly throwing troops without a plan simply because the commanders can afford to waste lives
note that there are moles within the Cao army main camp, aiding the infiltration unit composed of Taiping sect members... this would serve to weaken the defenses at the interior and keep the reserve units preoccupied so that those assaulting the defense barriers would have an easier time
aside from the covert collaborators, there are also resentful mutineers openly switching sides and attacking key points
and with the rations targeted, even if Cao Cao somehow escapes Yuan Fang's grasp, there wouldn't be much to salvage, unless something happens that forces the Yuan army to stop and fall back...
and I suppose Guo Jia was able to grandstand a bit because the enemies have yet to reach the portion of the wall he's standing on, haha
some readers may have been eager to see several consecutive chapters showcasing the sheer determination and martial ingenuity of team Cao defending the main camp, but this is Ravages where schemes take precedence over showdowns, which brings us to the next subplot..
even as the frontline bases of the Cao army are already enduring tremendous pressure, the Yuan army has enough troops to open another more crucial area of operation, in line with the plan to cut off Cao Cao's supply lines, isolate the frontlines, and force a surrender in the imperial capital and other nearby areas
and this is where the opportunistic court officials come in, the bugs that have remained because they kept a low profile during previous purges (since they weren't closely associated with Lu Bu or Dong Cheng)...
in another note, how I wish Liu Xie (and the people in the imperial court) show up more often in Ravages, since they can come up with schemes of their own
anyway, Liu Xie engages in a bit of banter with the opportunists (particularly Cao De, who tried to disassociate himself from 'Xiahou Cao' and was told that the Cao clan which is associated with the eunuchs due to Cao Cao's adoptive granddad wouldn't be as prestigious were it not for Cao Cao's deeds)
one notable thing about scenes involving Liu Xie is the utter lack of decorum befitting the son of heaven (which goes to show how much the Han has declined) - feel free to compare it to how Yuan Shu was into decorations.
instead of a formal audience (where people in attendance have to wear certain uniforms and follow protocols, where the emperor sits on the throne in a large hall), all we get are these informal (dare I say casual) side sessions where a few select people talk to him for a while, then another batch comes in at another time (of course emperors have the privilege to engage in these meetings, but it seems that in Ravages, that's all Liu Xie is shown to do)
and to add insult to injury, Cao Ren just barges in with troops to prevent the sellouts from escaping (I suspect though that with Xun Yu's grand entry, this whole event may have been a charade and that Xun Yu and Liu Xie discussed matters beforehand to fully expose the opportunists)
just to show what I mean when I say that Ravages lacks court hearings (though this example I'm showing involves Cao Cao ignoring protocol at his own pleasure too)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rduLDVCBZ4k
Liu Xie showing up depends on Cao weakness or the high losing possiblity he knows when to pick a time to stir things up
Cao Cao's insult aside, the video showcases how ministers in attendance have to dress and behave in a certain way (not sure how anachronistic the details are, but the point is the contrast between that and what we see in Ravages)
even Kingdom has more court sessions in those awards ceremonies (though the details are blatantly anachronistic, haha)
amusingly enough, the one who got to hold a nice audience (but still without the elaborate rites) is Yuan Shu, when Xun You visited him to prevent the collaboration with Lu Bu
before reassuring Liu Xie, Xun Yu also berates the other ministers for lacking principle as loyalists and being merely opportunistic in their counsel (since they get to benefit the most when Yuan Shao is recognized as hegemon and protector of the realm)
the more notable tidbit though is how Xun Yu acknowledges that even loyalists are at the mercy of the times and would have to make pragmatic choices on which faction to support to uphold the rule of Han... in that sense, he too is like the other ministers, being swept by the circumstances beyond their control (the only difference being that he stuck to his principles even while helping Cao Cao instead of just following the short-term trends)
ultimately, key to Liu Xie's current alignment (suboptimal it may be though I wonder how he would have responded if Pang Tong the master persuader had been able to reach out to him before Liu Chong's assassination) are two factors
first, he trusts Xun Yu who in turn has chosen to give Cao Cao a chance
second, he trusts Yuan Shao less than Cao Cao (perhaps he remembers a few lessons from Dong Zhuo)
and considering that the Yuan army relies on these networks of insiders and collaborators to advance deep into Cao Cao's territory, Xun Yu plans to counter that by asking Cao De to craft a poisoned letter that will lead the invading force into a trap
now I think the disinfo would have merely resulted in longer travel time along disadvantageous routes, plus a few ambushes here and there (and considering that Guo Yuan is in charge of the advance, it's likely he'd be able to manage things somewhat)
perhaps if the situation continued without a breakthrough, this would end up becoming a race between Cao Cao finding the real rations depot and the Yuan army capturing the Xu capital or breaking through the headquarters at Guandu
but at the very least, Xun Yu's intervention prevented Cao Cao's forces from suffering a massive internal collapse, and thus helped keep the fight going (the important thing for the Cao army is still to force the Yuan army to withdraw by targeting the rations, and since Wuchao and Gushi turned out to be fire traps, something else needed to happen)
the black text of 343 quotes from a classical text
Song Yu says:
Classical music is too lofty, and too difficult of comprehension, for the masses.
a hint that there's a deeper scheme that few could see coming, that there are more surprises to turn the tide
fortunately 341 kicks off with something relatively simple, with Cao Cao and his riders breaking free from the fire trap, and accepting Yuan Fang's challenge to engage in another round
now some may laugh at how gimmicky the sword formation is, but this visual cue (plus the chosen quotes) would help frame the current situation and provide hints about what's to come
Yuan Fang compares his welcoming array to that of a bow (and it helps that in 339 Cao Cao's riders were confronted with battle-ready archers the moment they first stepped out of the burning camp), while Cao Cao arranges his troops in a sword-like formation (gimmick aside, the idea is to form a narrow column and break out in an orderly fashion, with a thin outer layer of troops bearing the brunt of the flame)
take note of the imagery: in a previous black text Yuan Fang was indirectly likened to someone who shoots eagles (coveting all under heaven)
meanwhile, we've seen the sword formation before, and it's when Zhang Liao (who as we know repeatedly boasts of how no one can survive the reach of his sword) used it to block the advance of the Sun clan in the later part of the surprise attack on Cao Cao... this clues us in that Zhang Liao is part of the raiding party
now for the quotes
there's the passage from the Han Feizi that talks about how the aggressiveness of fire acts as a repellent (the chapter doesn't quote the follow-up passage about how water ends up harming more people in cases of flood because it doesn't sting as much, though I think one can extract the message about Cao Cao being more wary of Yuan Shao as the glaring threat but failing to adequately prepare against the deluge of schemes down the long river)
there's also the passage from the Qianfu Lun that talks about how we don't really know the sharpness of a sword that hasn't been used (and note again the imagery of a sword passing through fire, as if it has just been freshly constructed and has yet to meet the trials of real battle)
this then brings us to the deliberate mention of Puyang (the campaign where Cao Cao 'trained' his troops for the eventual showdown against the Yuan clan), and thus in a way the match against the first of the eight geniuses can be seen as a graduation exam for Cao Cao and the geniuses under him, the last hurdle after years of painstaking efforts (in another note, just as the win in Puyang involved some sneaky schemes, we're clued in (especially those of us familiar with the source texts) that team Cao is about to unveil a surprising move to turn the tide)
for this clash Yuan Fang has the numerical advantage from the start (not to mention his troops didn't have to deal with the fire trap)
however, Cao Cao is better at commanding troops in battle than Guo Jia is, so the Cao army no longer has mobility issues
I'd also like to note that in the Guandu arc we never really get to see the full details of the Feng Hou formation (round 1 focuses on Yuan Fang buying time so it can be unleashed with the action happening off-panel, round 2 focuses on Cao Cao preventing the formation from being unleashed or at least delaying things long enough)
how could Cao Cao do that? this isn't Dynasty Warriors… ah, so it was Zhang Liao disguised as Cao Cao all along
in a way the battle is also a test for Zhang Liao (to see how good he is at the guandao, to see how far he can go in Cao Cao's service) .
before I dive into the details, I'd like to offer some general remarks about the clash of formations
Zhang Liao posed as Cao Cao to distract and take out the commanders in charge of implementing the Feng Hou formation, though with Gao Lan and Zhang He nearby they are able to rally the troops and attempt to finish the formation setup
admittedly, the whole thing seems really hazy even though we get to see some tactical maneuvers here and there (and key to understanding what's going on would be the quotes used in the chapter)
time to contrast Yuan Fang's approach in round 1 with Cao Cao's approach in round 2
it seems that while Yuan Fang's aggressive and flexible style in round 1 is meant to confuse the numerically superior but less mobile enemy, Cao Cao in round 2 appears to be favoring a more cautious style that emphasizes the use of surgical strikes on key enemy units in a bid to disrupt the attempted formation
I suppose as a visual metaphor, imagine an offensive 'drunken master' martial arts stance vis-a-vis a defensive boxing stance, haha
the chapter does include these little tricks (archers concealed directly behind shields to act as a surprise sniping force, launching flank attacks on enemy cavalry encircling a defensive position, etc.), but overall the clash is less about static formations and positions, and more about the skillful use of troop energy/momentum (this is where the Art of War comes in)
I'd like to note that Cao Cao's commentary on the Art of War of Sunzi is not so much a systematic theoretical treatise, but are more like study notes one scribbles while listening to a lecture or reading a book... nonetheless, they can be useful to officers on the field trying to extract workable interpretations and heuristics (applicable to the later Han) from an ancient text written generations ago
Yuan Fang's monologue praising Cao Cao's methods involves this quote from the Art of War:
Managing masses of troops is similar to managing a small group of soldiers; it is a question of division and enumeration.
(that is to say, the way to effectively channel the energy of a large mass is by coming up with clusters and circuits of subdivided small masses, unleashing necessary portions and holding others in reserve for follow-up movements... while this is a basic principle in all military organizations, I suppose Yuan Fang highlights how Cao Cao excels in organizing his troops into deadly teams)
the monologue brings up another quote:
Confrontation is done directly, victory is gained by surprise.
(this is one of the core tenets of Sunzi, the relationship between 'direct' and 'indirect' approaches similar to yin and yang though this is not to say that some moves are intrinsically direct while others are inherently indirect but rather, what counts as direct or indirect depends on how the situation is configured... as for why Yuan Fang would specifically bring this up, I guess it has to do with the tricks that Cao Cao has been using to prevent the Yuan army troops from unleashing the Feng Hou formation)
Yuan Fang also echoes a passage from Cao Cao's commentary:
Attack complete emptiness with complete fullness.
I note that this is a comment on the portion of the Art of War that brings up the metaphor of a stone being dashed against an egg as an illustration of what it means to effectively channel troop energy (so basically Cao Cao is saying, a powerful maneuver that dashes a rock against an egg means attacking the gaps of the enemy in full force and the surgical strikes by Zhang Liao and the other troops are doing just that)
for their part, Cao Cao's forces also refer to portions of the commentary
Zhang Liao brings up this tidbit as he withdraws to lure Yuan army troops into a trap:
Opponents are moved by the prospect of an advantage.
this comments on the portion of the Art of War that talks about sacrificial baits for enemies to take (amusingly enough, the lesson is similar to what Laozi said about first giving what is to be taken, though the emphasis there is more about polarity shifts rather than deceptive methods)
some other troops invoke this passage:
Direct confrontation is facing opponents head on, surprise forces attack unexpectedly from the sides.
this is quite a simplistic comment (for practical use) on the passage about confronting directly and winning by surprise (and the illustration in Ravages is rather literal, with Cao troops stabbing on the side the Yuan cavalry engaged in an encirclement maneuver)
some portions of the commentary are not translated professionally (by the source I'm using), so I'll just quote merc's translation
utilize the energy of a fighting force
this seems to be Cao Cao's comment on the title of chapter 5 of the Art of War, perhaps his way of summarizing what the lessons on troop energy or momentum are all about
make well-timed attacks
this comments on the portion of the Art of War that likens momentum to a raging torrent that can carry boulders, and characterizes precision in terms of a raptor swooping down on its prey (note that at the time of its utterance in the chapter, Zhang Liao is ordering the Cao cavalry to strike against the Yuan cavalry disoriented by the surprise flank attack which incidentally makes the flank attack the 'direct' correlate to the 'indirect' surprise of the cavalry charge after playing the 'indirect' role to the 'direct' defensive posture)
promptness means close range
this comments on the portion of the Art of War that talks about instantaneous timing (and its application in the chapter seems to be rather literal as well, with the deceptive shield formation hemming in the Yuan cavalry so that the archers inside can launch a surprise hit at close range)
use the natural and inherent power
this comments on the portion of the Art of War that talks about the nature of things (for instance, rocks and logs) and how energy is unleashed given the appropriate configurations (rounded rocks and logs on steep ground)... it's not clear how this applies in the chapter, though perhaps the comment alludes to the passage which aptly describes the momentum of the Cao army as it manages to thwart the Yuan army
after all this, perhaps readers might still be feeling confused (it doesn't help after all that the chapter lacks diagrams and depicts things in a rather hazy fashion), so I'll try once more to differentiate what Yuan Fang did in round 1 from what Cao Cao did in round 2 (and also, how Cao Cao's methods try to counter Yuan Fang's methods)
recall that in 322 and 323 Yuan Fang placed a premium on securing advantageous grounds and expanding the room for maneuvers and movements (that is to say, the main factor is the use of space and how this configures troop momentum)
meanwhile, in 342 and 345 Cao Cao stressed the use of targeted feints and attacks, dangling baits (thus generating illusory grounds of advantage) to distract enemy troops and lure them into dead ends that cancel mobility and force situations of deadly standoffs (that is to say, the main factor is the use of troop momentum to manipulate space)
ultimately, Cao Cao is able to pull this off because unlike Guo Jia, he can fight in battle and command troops in the frontlines
note that without the room for expansion and enhanced maneuverability, there is no room to shrink into for repositioning (and thus one is forced to tread on deadly ground and fight to the death, cancelling Yuan Fang's advice)
345 also includes a quote from Cao Cao's commentary, this time on chapter 6 of the Art of War of Sunzi
Hit where they are not expecting it.
the portion being commented on deals with surprise maneuvers out of nowhere, building upon the use of deception and surprise to effectively unleash one's troop momentum on the startled enemy (as discussed in chapter 5)
the nagging question on my mind though is: how was Xu Chu able to join the night raid in the first place?
or perhaps: could a redhare carry Xu Chu while still maintaining its speed?
of course Ravages maintains its gimmicky portions, haha
(but it must be emphasized that they are sideshows or enhancements to the scheming game)
once again we never get to see the Feng Hou formation in its full glory (we're only told that the formation has launched and that the Cao army is struggling against it, implying a time skip of a few hours or so especially since it looks like it's daytime already)
then again in Ravages the formation visuals are not as important as the principles conveyed
also interesting to note that Yuan Fang was able to sneak in 'sting operatives' with the mission of taking out Cao Cao in the middle of battle (a reminder that Ravages battle situations feature sneaky schemes too, and that the masterminds don't care about winning the showdowns in an honorable manner)
I think Yuan Fang's numerical advantage early on helped secure this win (Cao Cao was also prepared enough to have bring body doubles other than Zhang Liao, thus foiling the sting operation)
and then the big twist is revealed, one that reverses the trajectory of the campaign in Cao Cao's favor...
first we're told that the campaign is a long con to allow Yuan Fang to complete his internal takeover of the clan
now we're told that the epic battle is a fancy charade to allow Cao Cao's insider to burn the real rations depot at Yangwu, haha
the 'farce' continues, with the primacy of schemes over battles reaffirmed for the nth time
let's recall the setup so far
Cao Cao planned to use the supply lines to his base (as well as routes to the heartland) as bait for the Yuan army to advance further and overextend, giving him the opportunity to attack the rations depot
Yuan Fang planned to use disinfo about the rations depot as bait for Cao Cao to conduct his raid and fall into the fire trap, allowing the rest of the army to proceed as planned and push further into the supply lines and the heartland
but lo and behold, it turns out Cao Cao used himself as bait to distract Yuan Fang (and Zhang He and Gao Lan) long enough for the insider to finish the deed... too bad Yang wasn't able to guard Yangwu properly
the first portion of 347 features an illuminating flashback (the things Yuan Shao dreams of while he's being rescued)
this shows that Yuan Shao and Zuo Ci have been partners in crime for quite some time, and that both wish to put an end to Han
to be fair, while they are both ambitious in their own way (Yuan Shao wants his clan to rule the world, Zuo Ci wants to usher in a new heavenly order with his sect as the dominant players) they are merely responding to (and taking advantage of) a regime that has long become dysfunctional (on that note, I recommend the book Fire Over Luoyang for a good overview of the Later Han and how it declined)
perhaps they see the groups they represent as the ones capable of pacifying the unrest and restoring stability (once they succeed in seizing control after stirring and exacerbating existing unrest), so their motives are not purely self-serving (even if they end up construing the notion of 'saving the country' on their own partisan terms)
Yuan Shao using his own brother as some kind of a lab rat, to see how the world would react to him.
so while Yuan Shao and Zuo Ci want to collude, their backgrounds prevent them from openly joining forces
That guy (Yuan Shao) just does not care about "given" families, as I see. He had a loved one, so cherished Yuan Fang
Just how Yuan Fang despises political marriages
I'll get to the part about Yuan Fang in a bit, but first I'd like to note Zuo Ci's mention of Liu Xiu (the first emperor of Later Han)
the reason the Han is divided into two periods is that sometime in between, someone managed to seize control and declare a new dynasty, the Xin
long story short the project did not last, uprisings broke out, and eventually the Liu clan managed to take back control (and suppressed rival rebel groups along the way)(edited)***[19:02]***amusingly enough, both Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are trying to learn from Liu Xiu, but whereas Yuan Shu wanted to superficially replicate the path to legitimacy by means of securing the imperial seal (Jia Xu says in 140 that Liu Xiu used this trick, but that in the current age it won't work), Yuan Shao understood that loyalty discourse (as vested in the Liu clan) is the more effective virtual seal of approval (and that the previous peasant rebellions showed that this seal remains firmly in place notwithstanding institutional decay)
as an alternative, Zuo Ci proposes a sneaky scheme (an alternative take on the notion of 'continuation') whereby he offers to groom one of Yuan Shao's bastards into a future hegemon that will swallow the Yuan clan and ultimately take over the world (sometimes I wonder if Zuo Ci may have advised Yuan Shao to have Kong Cha killed, the same young woman whose adult name he suggests for the dad to give)
such an arrangement will allow Yuan Shao to still play the part of a loyalist maintaining the ancestral traditions (and this partially protects the reputation of the clan by having the secret bastard do the dirty work), while taking pride in the fact that the new hegemon descends from him... talk about having one's cake and eating it too, haha
thus in a way Zuo Ci (whose courtesy name is Yuanfang) can be seen as the second father to Yuan Fang (who inherits the crane motif from his shadow mentor) even as Yuan Shao officially poses as an 'uncle'
too bad we never get to see Yuan Fang's mom on-panel
I should note, even though the Yuan army suffered a major loss due to the burning of the rations at Yangwu, Yuan Fang's ultimate plan for the clan could still have succeeded, were it not for the meddling of Jiang Yiqu... which goes to show that more schemes are in play that would lead to the slow-motion collapse of the Yuan clan
Sima Yi may have been operating as a red herring during the campaign (so that the main insider can work unimpeded), but that doesn't mean he can't pull off tricks of his own
(probably, given his extensive business networks, he could have pressured or persuaded some merchants in Hebei to work with the Sima clan so that they'll be safe when Cao Cao wins)
it's also mentioned that Jiang Yiqu belongs to an 'opposition' faction (it's not clear if he sided with Yuan Tan or Yuan Shang or the Tian clan), and since he has been deliberately sidelined in the mobilizations, some secret message may have swayed him to come to rescue Yuan Shao, Yuan Tan, and Yuan Shang (inadvertently ruining Yuan Fang's secret plans)
the other trick Sima Yi pulls off is framing Zhang He and Gao Lan as the insiders (since their presence at Yuan Fang's side meant that they couldn't prevent the fire at Yangwu), and having Duan Jian escape so that he can spread the accusations back in Hebei (this is meant to pressure the two to defect to the Cao camp instead)
this also means that even if Yuan Fang were to successfully retreat and reconsolidate his forces in the north, the clan would lose two valuable commanders (and he'd lose two retainers who are loyal to him)
it must be highlighted that even in the event of a disastrous defeat, Yuan Fang has backup plans (and given that the Yuan army still has the overwhelming advantage in troops and resources, he could still lead a strong army against Cao Cao next time had the fire trap in Wuchao eliminated his internal obstacles)
the glaring gap in Yuan Fang's setup though is that for all that meticulous and long-term planning, he doesn't have anyone to succeed his plans
a fitting ironic note I suppose, considering that he was groomed as a bastard to devour the Yuan clan (so too would he not be able to pass on his legacy)
That battle matched Fang's desires and what his father did to his lover.
He was talking about how big ambitions are useless distractions (similarly to how scholars seek for the meaning in life, when thats hardly relevant in ones life) and lost everything in a battle, that was supposed to be merely a facade for something greater. He lost everything (great ambition) in this "little" (as his life was supposed to be) battle. And he lost because of backstabbing, exactly how Shao ended Fang's desired life/lover.
Well, if you asked Shao, Fang's love was a facade, just like this battle, haha
I'll get more to that when I cover 351
suffice it to say that Yuan Fang's lack of foresight with regard to what happens after he succeeds in his vengeance may very well be the whole point... perhaps deep down he doesn't really care about world conquest as the new son of heaven, maybe after he wins he'll simply walk away and tend to his garden (and mourn his losses)
well, that's exactly how scholars do not exactly know the meaning of life
this allows us to see his remarks in 192 in another light
Fate is unpredictable. Anyone would die if Heaven demands it; and Heaven sparing one’s life definitely has its meaning. Who says a wicked man now... won’t become a kind ruler later?
his motivation was revenge, so after the conquest, he does not really have any motivation, so ...
to recap the broader campaign developments
the showdown in Gushi was a charade in response to the long con that led to the fire trap in Wuchao
Cao Cao accomplishes his strategic goal thanks to the insider Yang burning the Yuan army rations at Yangwu
Xun Yu thwarts the opportunists and insiders in the Xu capital and averts internal collapse and defection (in addition, Liu Xie agrees to give Cao Cao a chance)
the main assault in Cao Cao's frontline bases plus the advance deep into Cao Cao's turf are still ongoing, although with the rations gone, emergency withdrawal from the overextended front will be difficult (and once news or rumors about the fire in Yangwu circulate, morale will plummet)
Yuan Fang orders a withdrawal and prepares to regroup in the north but is backstabbed by Yang
Then there are hints at Han Hao's infiltration tactic revealed later in the chapter
the amusing thing is, given the fog of war, it's reasonable for these officers to think that reports about the fire in Yangwu could be some sort of psy-op to disturb morale (this sort of reasoning in turn explains why coverups and information blackouts (like what Guo Yuan does in the next chapter) happen, as part of morale management)
and a reminder that tunnels go both ways, and that the tunnels that Yue Yi used in the assault on Cao Cao's main camp can in turn be used by Xiahou Dun for his counterattack
it's important to highlight though that these retaliatory tactics by the Cao army (Han Hao's infiltrators, Xiahou Dun's tunnel strikers) by themselves would not be able to overcome and repel the Yuan army onslaught without the critical fire at Yangwu... conversely, the destruction of the rations would force the Yuan army to withdraw, but it's the coordinated follow-up counterattacks that inflict massive damage on a demoralized force in retreat
the lesson is, mass casualties in Ravages result more from combinations of schemes (which may feature lopsided engagements here and there) than from decisive head-on battles
Guo Yuan was on a winning streak and seemed poised to capture the areas surrounding the Xu capital, until the fire at Yangwu reversed the situation (instead of paving the way for the internal collapse of Cao Cao's territory, now it's the Yuan army that has to worry about surviving the ambushes and returning home safely)
he's fortunate to have received the news early enough, since a worse scenario would have been that the troops get stuck in some sort of stalemate, rations begin to run low, and the supplies have yet to arrive without explanation
and since Guo Yuan's deputy found the alibi to be sketchy, I wonder if there are other officers and soldiers who have silently noticed too amid the cheers (what if they all get it, but are acting like they believe it so that they are able to stabilize their own morale, haha)
after all, since the Yuan army has enough troops to open a new front, if the other front has resulted in total victory, why would there be a need to recall troops from one front to 'mop up' the survivors in another…
Jia Xu once again using harassment tactics that can be basically considered to be trolling on a military level
meanwhile, as the campaign rages on, Sima Yi sneakily profits from the outcome by consolidating his business conglomerate (once again reminding us that in Ravages, battles form just one part of the broader scheming game and power struggle)
recall that in the campaign, various merchant groups working under/with the warlords have been pressured or persuaded to make use of their amassed wealth and properties to fund or support the war machinery (for instance, via rations procurements and deliveries)
I suppose what Sima Yi did was coordinate the allocation of burdens to protect other clans from financial collapse, as well as offer guaranteed bailouts and perks (in exchange for the beneficiaries joining the cartel)
I note that Yuan Fang has remained a romantic at heart (however embittered he may have been as a result of Yuan Shao's machinations) and that his 'modern' outlook is tied closely to his romanticism
he could have agreed to the arranged marriage with Sun Shu while still keeping Kong Cha as a secondary wife or a concubine (a common arrangement at the time), but he says no to all that
he could have joined the power struggle and 'make something of himself' at an early age and posed as a flower-watcher to hide his ambitions (something Yuan Shao wished were the case), but he says no to all that
he grew up in a privileged background and was able to learn many sorts of things (from the art of war to the musings of the sages), but at the end of the day he just wants to be left alone and tend to his garden and be with his loved one
note the context in which Yuan Fang brings up the matter of 'emptiness' or 'nothingness' [虛無] (in a similar vein, one can also talk about being or absolute reality and other such grand speculative notions)
First as an aside I'd like to mention that the phrase is used in certain ancient texts, and one notable instance is from a passage in the Zhuangzi:
It is said that peacefulness, solitude, emptiness, and wu wei are the foundation of heaven and earth and the supremacy of virtue, upon which sainted men rest their minds.
(this shows that the notion is of some concern to various thinkers especially the taoists, who for all their complex paradoxical formulations designed to stimulate thinking outside the box, are at the root of it concerned with living simply in accordance with the tao, without rigid impositions)
now, Yuan Fang appears to be mocking the speculative efforts of the sages (I suppose as an expression of youthful arrogance and confidence in his ways), but he mainly brings them up in response to Yuan Shao asking the meaning of Yuan Fang's life (in this case, he's not really seeking theoretical clarification about the significance and value of human life, but it's more like he's prodding Yuan Fang to seek 'greater' but still worldly things to make his life 'mean something')
basically Yuan Fang rejects the idea that for his life to be meaningful he has to play absurd games in pursuit of some big ambition (couched in terms of some high-minded ideal or grand narrative), and so in spirit he is channeling the lessons of some of those sages he just mocked
Yuan Shao's retort of course is that Yuan Fang can't just extricate himself from the circumstances he is in just because he wants to (have nothing to do with them)
after all, unlike the sages, Yuan Fang has not really renounced all the worldly games, he's chilling in a private courtyard rather than abandoning the clan and cultivating as a hermit in some mountain elsewhere
and since Yuan Shao has big plans for his bastard son he would do what he can to turn Yuan Fang to the dark side…
ultimately, both Fang and Guo Jia represent the things that each other's ideologies despised. Guo Jia was the one who cared little about himself (considering that Zhuge Liang so easily managed to get rid of him), in contrast to his love to country - similar to scholars who were researching the meaning of life.
at the end of the day, both of them, technically, achieved whatever their goals were (Yuan clan collapsed, after all. Even if Fang did not see it), even if it was for nothing (as Cao Cao failed later on and Fang could not revive her love and could not "come back after a drop like this" into the darkness. At least, both of them died content - Fang died in his own little well, all alone, while Guo Jia died surrounded by people who wanted good for the country
Guo Jia is one of the more selfless (and ideologically driven) of the Eight, after all
the eighth might be closer in disposition to Yuan Fang, though perhaps the more hard-boiled of the two
the Eighth cares more about individuals (as they make the country after all), rather than country IN GENERAL. And here comes another contradiction - he personally does not care about any individual, haha. (I will analyze his character later)
the image of the well also figures in how Yuan Fang died, how while close to reaching the stars he was pulled back into the well (with the cliff as the visual cue)
now I turn my attention to the reference to king Zhou, the last ruler of Shang
traditionally his downfall is due to how he neglected to govern justly and indulged in capricious pleasures with his consort Daji (basically a typical example of how a bad ruler can lose the mandate of heaven to someone else with greater virtue)
by comparing Yuan Fang's carefree lifestyle to that of the bad king, Yuan Shao is insinuating that Yuan Fang should make better use of his life by joining the power struggle (in this, Yuan Shao given his ambition to take over implicitly compares his clan to that of the house that would go on to found the Zhou, the regime that succeeded the Shang and that he sees himself as the duke that started the rebellion and wishes for Yuan Fang to be the king of the new regime)
Yuan Fang's stunning retort (and in keeping with the Ravages approach to traditional historical accounts) is that who knows what king Zhou may have felt as he gazed at the star-picking tower (can we really say that his downfall was simply the result of mismanagement, did he really do the dirty deeds attributed to him, etc.)
looking at the sky from the bottom of a well
(a chengyu)
Look at stars from inside a well, only a few stars will be visible.
(a passage from the Shizi) throughout the chapter the image of a well figures in contrasting ways
on the one hand, the well signifies epistemological blinders, constrained vantage-points that can be remedied if one opens one's mind to other possibilities (this is the sunny-side lesson of leaving one's garden of delights to explore the wider world)
on the other hand, the well can also represent the crowded world under heaven, where multiple ambitions and petty interests clash and collide with no safe place for one to cultivate in peace (this is the dark-side lesson of abandoning foreclosed paths beyond one's reach and just getting down into the dirty business of playing the power games)
perhaps Yuan Fang's deathbed thought (about there being an indefinite series of wells within/around wells) is an attempt to bring together the two visions... yes, there is room to expand one's vision, but along the way there are constraints to deal with and struggles to overcome (that is to say, one never gets to behold and enjoy the entirety of absolute reality so in a sense there is a degree of incompleteness to what the sages have been doing, but one is nonetheless already entangled in the real and its various layers)
in a way I am also reminded of Plato's allegory of the cave, but instead of there being a cave (the realm of illusions) and a single outside world (the realm of ideas) there is instead a series of nested caves...
at any rate, Yuan Fang's vision allows us to think of various possibilities of interaction within the interface (perhaps forces in an upper well layer push certain people down a few notches, maybe some descend into a certain comfortable niche and stay there, etc.)
in another note, Ravages should take more time to indulge in speculative visions alongside the usual social commentary and moral reflection and scheming
Yuan Fang as he dies reveals in poetic fashion what he wanted all his life... a safe corner to live freely in quietude, accompanied by his beloved
in his dying breath he repudiates the verse about the crane that Yuan Shao (and Zuo Ci) would invoke when talking about Yuan Fang's promising career:
The crane cries out in deepest marsh, / its voice is heard in the skies.
the black text (not included in the scanlation) neatly provides an alternative and gentler image of the crane:
The lone crane loves the solitude. It flew here and remained.
that particular poem from the Classic of Poetry is basically about ambition and rising above others and being recognized (the line that Zhang Liao quoted in 320 about stones polishing gems is from that same poem as well)
https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry/he-ming
to briefly revisit the point about king Zhou
the last king of Shang is blamed for putting a woman over governance, but Yuan Shao's act of having Kong Cha killed, rather than saving the realm, instead unleashed a more ferocious demon...
meanwhile, just because Yuan Fang is dead doesn't mean the schemes stop
as part of the contingency plan if ever the Yuan army loses in the Guandu campaign (and somehow the main targets manage to survive), opposition factions will not only be framed for the blunder, but their retreat will be sabotaged
it's also important to reiterate that killing Yuan Fang was not part of Guo Jia's plan (that was Yang Xiu's own initiative, since he has schemes of his own as well)
though I wonder, how would Guo Jia and Cao Cao have wanted to resolve things in the long run if Yang Xiu didn't carry out the deed
the plan was to bog Yuan Fang down with internal revolts throughout Hebei (and perhaps Guo Jia might even ask for the aid of Gongsun Kang)
this also highlights that Zhang He and Gao Lan are opportunistic social climbers (who also happen to be skilled commanders and decent schemers), something hinted as early as 248 when Gao Lan flattered Yuan Fang
sure, Sima Yi may have framed them, but given their high positions Yuan Fang might have disbelieved the accusations (had he survived)
it's regrettable that Ravages didn't flesh out the anti-war faction in the Yuan clan led by Tian Feng, though his brief appearance at least shows him to be good at noticing people
meanwhile, we get to see a glimpse of what Sima Hui thinks about his students fighting one another as they serve rival warlords who may not be interested in revitalizing imperial Han
and given that when Yuan Fang made his debut he has already graduated from the School of Water Mirror, we have yet to see how the first of the Eight Geniuses interacted with his master (similarly, we also haven't really seen scenes of Zuo Ci mentoring Yuan Fang)
come to think of it, perhaps Yuan Fang didn't even live with the others as often, since he's from a privileged clan and could do as he wishes (with Yuan Shao's blessing)
anti-war themes are centered around Zhuge Liang, so I guess that is the reason
but Zhuge Liang articulated a more principled stance, I think Tian Feng opposed specifically the war with Cao Cao for pragmatic reasons (he may very well have been onboard with the campaign against Gongsun Zan)
there is a hint in chapter 17 though that Tian Feng also didn't like the campaign against Dong Zhuo, perhaps since it further destabilizes the realm...
now, unpacking Yang Xiu's goals is a tricky matter... one could say his methodical undermining of the Yuan clan is a matter of clan vendetta (though it's not clear if the loyalist Yang Biao would have approved of such dirty methods for family benefit)
now as for his grand plan to do something similar to the Cao clan, on the one hand he's saying it's for the sake of his dad (3 chapters later he also appeals to the duty of loyalists based on what his dad said), but on the other hand he also agreed that it's hard to pull back from addiction to power (so I sometimes wonder if he's also doing it to boost his standing)
if only we'll ever get to see Yang Biao on-panel…
meanwhile, on the military front, while the Yuan army is in constant retreat, Yuan Fang prepares a poisoned trap in the form of secret correspondence letters implicating many in the Cao camp (some of whom are merely framed up to sow chaos)
Cao Cao, not wanting to miss a chance to troll Xiahou Dun, does his trick, haha
setting aside the technical question of how Yuan Fang's corpse was secretly retrieved and preserved (given that what we see of the face didn't seem to be rotting), it's nice to note that Yuan Fang's three classmates dared to hold this private ceremony (even if certain others whom they invited (perhaps minor alumni of the School of Water Mirror who happen to be serving under Cao Cao as well) declined to join)
One flame burned away a crisis. But how much brotherhood was destroyed by a fire?
and their collective response is:
One flame... will also burn away the enmity.
though just as imperial Han continues to decline, so too would Sima Hui's star apprentices (who were supposed to serve Han) slowly dwindle as they suffer the ravages of time...
the black text for the chapter goes as follows
“pa pa pa…” The crane flapped its wings and flew away.
interesting how the two sendoffs managed to use two contrasting figurative terms for death... on the one hand, resting (in 351), and on the other hand, departing (in 354)
Yuan Fang was at peace with himself when he died alone, and during his funeral that's when his former peers acknowledged his flight and belatedly sent him off on a friendly note.
Floating text says: The superior man dislikes the thought of his name not being mentioned after his death…
Both of them, Guo Jia and Yuan Fang, had farsighted plans that were being carried out even after their death, but Guo Jia is the only one whose name was recorded in history.
Ravages tends to feature the thoughts of commoners every now and then, but this episode is one of the longer scenes, taking up around 1/4 or 1/3 of the chapter
we can see that even bystanders (and victims) of the conflict can contribute fair insights and observations in their own right, even if they are disempowered
I'll discuss the ploy in a bit, but at any rate the commoners have their own limited agency too as they discuss current affairs and plan for the future
even the corpse of Fang can't rest. Still dragged in schemes.
considering that the setting of the chapter is in Jingzhou (way to the south of where the action is), looks like reports and rumors have spread quickly, allowing commoners in restaurants to talk intelligently about what happens to them next
Zhuge Liang's whispers and correspondences with Liaoyuan Huo (who has agents of his own to track down the seventh and receive tips) highlight the importance of intelligence networks in the overall conflict
this also sheds light on how Zhuge Liang has been trying to rig the playing field behind the scenes for years just by conveying the right tidbits to the right people in the right place at the right time (and of course later chapters would reveal that he has also been busy spinning the heroic tales of Liu Bei even before Liu Bei was ready, haha)
unlike the usual spy thrillers though (which are for the most part heroic adventures focusing on sneaky wily characters that show off their tradecraft), Ravages stresses how mundane and pervasive spies and informants are... they're creeping and crawling all over the realm
in an ironic reinterpretation of Zhuge Liang's names ('liang' and 'ming' are associated with brightness and light, while 'crouching dragon' signifies a talent waiting for the right moment in the spotlight) we get to see that while his reputation shines brightly (that is to say, at this point many people in positions of power know he's the most famous of the eight) he does his schemes in the shadows while pretending to be a recluse... like the oxymoronic formulation of the shadowy illuminati
we can say Zhuge Liang operates in a manner similar to Sima Yi (who are said to be able to think within a similar wavelength), but instead of shady business deals and gangster moves, it's more like he's building his own deep state apparatus and cultivating various point persons
in this case, Zhuge Liang doesn't offer much, but the info Liaoyuan Huo receives would be enough to encourage Liu Bei to make his next move and finally make contact with Liu Biao (at a time when Cao Cao would be preoccupied with the weakened Yuan clan in the north)
the interaction between Liaoyuan Huo and Zhuge Liang at this point can seem rather... awkward
Zhuge Liang knows about Liaoyuan Huo's background as a former assassin of the Sima clan, Liaoyuan Huo knows that Zhuge Liang is deeply rooting for Liu Bei, but they keep playing this charade, haha
Zhuge Liang playing the tsundere game, Liaoyuan Huo playing the stalker (if not yandere) game
and remember that it would take 8 years before Zhuge Liang formally joins Liu Bei, haha
which means they've been at it with these correspondences behind the scenes for quite a while
interestingly, with Zhuge Liang having a number of hideouts, this is also an indirect invitation to have Liaoyuan Huo station minions in the right places, ready to collaborate with Zhuge Liang's own minions at any time…
I suppose this is an indirect indicator that Sima Yi still took care of (or took control over) Tian De and the remnants of the Tian clan after Tian Feng was poisoned
meanwhile, I wonder how Yang Xiu got close to Yuan Shang while Yuan Fang's other collaborator Duan Jian was still alive... the interactions must have been really awkward at the start (or perhaps Yang Xiu was able to dupe Duan Jian into thinking this is still part of Yuan Fang's plan)
it's questionable to what extent Yang Xiu is a Han loyalist, it seems he just wants to avenge his clan (and maybe rise to power)
on that note, at this point even Sima Yi's long-term plan strays from his earlier musings (in that the takeover scheme is preferably done out of opportunism and profiteering, rather than fueled by vengeance)
Sun Jian was the loyalist who preferred to stay in the frontier
Ma Teng was the loyalist who also had a base in the frontier, but would rather serve in court if given the chance
Liu Chong was the loyalist (assuming he is) who preferred to maintain his own fiefdom and govern it well as an example
Yang Biao (and to some extent Wang Yun and Dong Cheng) was the loyalist in court who would work with a tyrant and usurper to protect the throne, while plotting to restore order at some point
the way he finished off Yuan Shao was particularly mean and vindictive
(it's almost as if we get a glimpse of what Sima Yi would like to do in the distant future)
And Yuan Shao died, while still taking care of Yuan Fang's "world"...
and I'd like to note that Ravages basically rendered off-panel another big clash with the Yuan clan over at Cangting
what the floating recap text (along with the conversations between Sima Yi and Jia Kui's dad) would tell us is that the Yuan brothers refused to cooperate, and thus paved the way for rout after rout even though the Yuan army still outnumbered the Cao army
and of course with regard to the infighting, Yuan Fang still had some agents that delayed the reconsolidation of the factions of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang
Yuan Shao would have just wasted away tending Yuan Fang's garden... strictly speaking, Yang Xiu didn't have to do what he did
he gets to stab Yuan Fang, poison Tian Feng, drive Yuan Shao to the deep end... his boss kill count is perhaps the highest in the arc, haha
if one didn't pay much attention while reading the arc, one might just get the impression of hazy battles, much grandstanding with smug faces and poses, a strange detour to gangster land that takes people away from the excitement of battle and conveniently inserts a central figure into the story, plot twist after plot twist that rendered the battles insignificant, and an unforeseen backstab to conveniently take out the dominant player...
and this is why it's important to pay close attention to the various aspects of the chapters when reading Ravages
NARRATIVE
This type of story-telling that Ravages’ wields is great for those who like grander plot advancements that also have a great perspective of showcasing the march of time - as the farsight plans involve the plans that cover several years, it is also supposed to include the several “levels” of generations swap their places, young ones are supposed to become old themselves as well and become the mentors, role models for the newer generation that should take reins of the era. This notion also allows the author to showcase the pretense of ever-changing ideas, one replacing the other and improving upon it, how the new “system”, that the old generation shaped, leads to the different type of predicament of upbringing for children and hence how it affects their world-view, meaning that asserted world-view of “fathers” births the other type of perspectives that will repeat the change. Which is, on one hand, is a representation of dual human nature, craving for change to progress from the things you lack in the current predicament - in short, there is a great room to excel in the exploration of human conditioning and Ravages of Time goes even further by adding just how all of these things in the second century will be viewed in the 21th century, all around opposite environment; Or rather, how are they being viewed right now, by reading Ravages of Time. So in the play comes the concept of history and its branches: What was written as official records, what was actually done, what was the goal to begin with, how people perceived and distributed as facts, what was romanticized as novels and how they affect the masses’ perspective and so on. As a cherry on top, the author gathered all of these (including Dynasty Warriors video games and how they shaped the stereotypes) as a package to convey - how all of these things get mixed within each other unintentionally and how the drastic cultural change affects how the end result is viewed and judged (so it is quite fitting for the story to have the feeling as if the conspiracy theorist wrote it and everything being chained, usually through deception, to the point of paranoia). In conclusion, Ravages of Time how people try to fabricate the history and how it backfires to not only them but the whole civilization, that they want to save so much but ultimately further putting it chaos, which also hurts the selfishness that motivated them.
Now to enjoy this type of a tale, you, the first and the foremost, should realize that the point of RoT is barely ever (if at all) to “outsmart” an opponent and merely make them feel bad, no, it is about how to advance towards the peace. So I think it is weird to expect RoT to be about it and the fact that it is being blamed to have too perfectly chained stratagems, when in reality the characters are just good at adaptability and compromise and most of the characters even die in the process anyway. Some people, used to the stories that heavily rely on the psychology of the characters to convey the message, will come out and declare how shallow the characters of RoT are as it is so easy to operate characters to do anything when they lack mental illnesses and then go and praise things like Fate/Zero they fully bank on the psychology of its character (whether realistically executed or not. Some people just want some good old-fashioned psychology and delude themselves when the contradictions arise to their character traits and define it as an extra layer) even while exploring the philosophy and not the psychology, meanwhile characters are superficially and hypocritically discuss/present the ideologies by mostly talking about them - unfortunately missing how you can derive more depth by looking the grand scheme of things, how the character arcs are being escalated according to fixed ideologies and how the schemes and approaches to things characterize the warlords (like how Dong Zhou childishly likes and wants to control all of the valuable toys and how this reflects to him being childishly brutal, how he owns the childish “survival of the fittest” idea, how he dares and fails to control the valuable toy(talent) Lu Bu, then how the history depicts him as incompetent and fat instead of his ‘actual’ reputation among his family that he crafted by being an incarnation of sheer charisma).
Such type of a story, naturally, alienate the potential audience for very simple and unfortunate reason - these days people are not used to stories in which narrative and the world is not centered around the protagonist and hence starts the first level of how unconventional the writing of RoT is in "today's standards" and why the readers are so troubled with it. People are used to having the story focused on one guy being in one faction and gradually meeting others, while also serving as a moral compass and a point of interest, in a sense to have someone to care about and feel empathy - On one hand, it is bizarre to ask from a completely opposite of a setting to have someone that you would morally relate, as the morality is subjective and people had drastically different perspective back then, on top of having drastically different upbringing that resulted in them being primarily hardened and on the other hand, it is ridiculous to proclaim that you can only relate to paragon of virtue, considering it it quite impossible for someone to uphold such unrealistic standards in real life, so anyone who is demanding so much from the main characters must be dishonest or/and self-unaware. there is no moral compass in a sense, that it takes a lot of time for a moral compass to be shaped in a chaotic world, so for a long time there won't be a highlighted moral compass, but several different ones next to each other. As a ‘friendly’ advice (too much communism?), I would say to be content with how Ravages of Time is not demanding from the readers to care about the characters for several volumes, but instead makes them charismatic and non-chalant in both in conflict or outside the conflict half of the time, alongside depicting their world-views - basically, enough to get attached to the main characters. It also should be taken into account that it is a historical narrative and in historical records or legends and etc, in which mundane interactions are never conveyed. Of course, they are present in Ravage, from time to time, but dose is always enough to not detract from the intrigues, as in they portray something like “what gossip would have been spread about few famous people meeting each other”. Sure, only the main characters may seem treated this way, but to be fair, there are a higher number of main characters in Ravages than in most of other ones.
And the number of characters is pretty high, hence how the author can’t allow himself to give a lot of time to depict their mundane lives at once, but gradually over the course of the whole story throws bits here and there. But even for the ones that do not mind the things about the attachment that I have mentioned, RoT’s story-telling comes hard to digest, considering how the grander goals force the author to frequently cut from one scene to another drastically different scene without enough room to get used to the situation and without being familiar to the names your brain might not accept the information you have read about the context and make it seem rushed, on top of having a lot of hard to remember and recall names in these scenes. Well, at least in the first arc, so it basically serves as a filter. On the other hand, it fits the chaotic nature of the environment and the mentioned names are not the focus of the scene, so they would detract from the point. I would say that not being able to pay attention to it adds a lot of re-read value and I like re-reading and re-watching things - after all, if scenes won’t give you enjoyment on the re-read, are they even worth it on the first read? So I also want to say that from being so large of a scale, author is forced to bring all of these characters you see in other stories as mere background characters (for example, people walking in the streets) as named characters and just because they are named, it feels unfair to judge negatively its narrative, the way you would not judge small scale stories that they do not characterize and give focus on background characters. It is a high-scale chaotic world with a lot of people trying to do things and rot away in their passive state that they can’t or won’t break. They are necessary because if background characters are merely walking in the stories of the present century, then they are not supposed to be like that in an opposite setting, meaning that they are equivalent.Talk about the re-read value - you will start noticing the names of characters that may have been mentioned 100 chapters before their face is revealed, which serves as a fine foreshadowing. The hard part with the historical narrative that I have mentioned above, alongside the importance of unimportant character that somehow must be remembered (at least, their roles) to grasp the whole context of the situation, collecting stories from the various sources, is the fact that it also forces the author to be cryptic, in a sense just how things may be hidden from the plain sight while reading a history book and you may find the connection or a detail that would recontextualize the whole context, but I have to admit, when it is so hard to pay attention to so many details, then it is even harder to not get confused by such cryptic details - but on the bright side, you will be heavily rewarded and your kills and capabilities of comprehension in terms of narrative will sky-rocket to the top, even if you won’t like Ravages of Time. Although it is quite ironic that we have so many barely important named characters and yet, you could find characters that are actually quite important, but… are unnamed or lack an identity of their own. It all fits the narrative in terms of the exploration of its thematic facets, but it does not change the fact that the most of the people just seek the simple entertainment from the media and deem all of this as a waste of time or just find it way above their own capabilities and give up early on. And on the grander scale itself, the lack of maps and formations may be a problem - First, operating the characters on a huge scale for them to timely interact with other characters and do not ruin the flow, so to conveniently move the characters around, in my opinion, is a forgivable flaw, considering it would turn into never-ending cycle of loosely connected sub-plots otherwise and that is the last thing I want in my exploration of grander ideas. Second, some readers’ who seek the battles full of formations may be disappointed (not me, though)... simply because of how lacking the history is in that department - not only there are not enough records to warrant the pretense of advanced formations in the manga, but it is also hardly even believable that people in that era were capable of being good at the concept of formations, at all. Lastly, the maps can’t be offered so openly, considering forging of sketchy diagrams and maps is also part of the deception here. Basically, Ravages of Time shackles itself since day one, but remains respectable.
We may as well talk a bit about the foreshadowing as well… or rather how planned out the story is and what details make it plausible to arrive at such conclusions. Details about the characters mentioned above may give idea to people that the story of Ravages’ is quite rushed, not giving much time to breath and perpetually catching you amidst the action and deception, always something important happening, but I digress - characters have their own introduction, that flesh out the characters enough by spawning them in fitting situations and giving us understanding of what the may doing in daily lives (well, not much to do in chaos and in the second century, but still) and how their minds towards the warfare are built, for the hook and weight to their presence, so their allegiances are not in ‘mysterious’ cloak, but their actions and wavering self-awareness may stand in question. When it comes to events, the plot is quite rich, because something important is almost always happening and the ever-eventfulness makes it hard to notice which of these are not so important, but the truth is, that all of these events are very much planned out years ago and connected to each other to the point of actions in the first arc may have consequences after 200 chapters and forever affect the reputation and the world, thus adding a layer to every next arc. So the war manga is always giving you what you would expect while starting a war manga - conflict in every single corner. That’s what makes foreshadowing actually valuable from me. You see, whenever I see people talking and praising the foreshadowing of certain stories, it is usually simple and uneventful plot-lines, which gives a lot of room to foreshadow things… or its the stories that ‘foreshadow’ the supernatural capabilities that are very flexible and convenient and are basically the core narrative device, ignoring the characters, so in such cases it is hard to see the value in foreshadowing.
It is full of tiny details, like Sun Ce being introduced as someone else but hint being that he was still getting special treatment, Zhao Yun saying that his hearing is special (on a first look, it would seem as if some brat needed to be yelled from up close to get stuff in his ears but he actually overheard the whispers of third rate characters talking about Xu Lin’s ‘clone’, so it can be counted as a foreshadowing), as well as separate vague scenes hinting towards the aim where the plot will go and hints that get connected to the historical record or/and novel. All in all, there are being used all sorts of foreshadowing.
Sure, being a re-telling is definitely helping matters for the author in terms of planning the things out, but that does not change the fact that we should judge the work on its own merits. Said merits do come in different types. One of the types of its appreciation is the fact that they are hidden in the story itself and they are never really explain, so you never feel like story telling you ‘oh look, I have hidden a hint here, but I am sure you have not noticed it, so let me bring the event back with the flashback or the re-arrangement of the events, while ruining the chronology’, so you as well won’t have fans who will ‘oh look, adaptation included the foreshadowing in the opening and the ending’.
VALUE OF THE EIGHTH GENIUS
The other literary tool that comes to mind is the use of character foils, so I will talk about how Ravages' acknowledges the contradictions within humanity with the help of said tool. As an example, we can take the eighth genius. I will also add two more layers to this section, namely - how are the character introductions handled in general and what does Ravages’ say about crafting the narratives of other stories.
The first things first, let’s start with the definition of the terms that will be a subject matter in this text.
By nature, contradictions are the details that by themselves prove the wrong of a system that they inhabit, thus efforts are made to avoid them like a plague, as it is strongly believed that any combination of statements, ideas or features will crumble if it consists the inconsistent details – it is considered as an antonym of “confirmation” for a reason. They also tend to make perfect counter-arguments.
Ravages of Time argues that not only everything is consistent, but also from the point of view of the ones that are trying to assert the ideas, said ideas can be built on contradictions, can consist of contradictions, and said contradictions could be used to secure the system. It is still better to hide that fact from the masses to avoid the confusion
(Strangely enough, inconsistencies within the writing of RoT actually enhance its consistency)
A foil of a character, on the other hand, is a tool of the story-telling. It is certainly similar to the “contrast” in artworks, as it is supposed to highlight character trait by placing it near the opposite character train – common usage is the calm and pragmatic sidekick next to the hotheaded protagonist.
In idea, every character can foil any character in the story, so the key part of foiling is the interactions of the concrete personalities. In this analysis, I will explain as to how Ravages’ manages to connect the threads indirectly, through the organic mirroring of the circumstances and affiliations.
Let’s get started.
From the perspective of the governorship or leadership in general, “contradiction” and it’s acknowledgment was always one of the fundamental parts of The Ravages of Time – be it either Cao Cao’s campaign with the image of corruption, which was motivated by greed, for the greater good or selfless selfishness of Sun clan that was aimed at the fundament of the corruption that is the Han dynasty (ironically, against their contradictions) or Liu Bei’s fake image of a saint or even assassin Liu Da who seeks the comforting life through the court by going against himself to the point of forgetting it – everything is chained to the rulership, because that’s exactly what affects everything else.
Full embracement of this exact idea – considering how coherent and varied it is with many sides, even when it comes to religion and politicians *cough* LOGH *cough* – is what allowed RoT to stand out among any other war and political drama. And despite the dense story-telling that spans more than 500 chapters, its brilliance is still being polished by not only showcasing the usefulness of this theme, but also the criticism through its shortcoming, which results in the cycle of never-endlessness (and, arguably, the placement of RoT above any competitor, but that’s but a mere meta-talk):
there’s the floating text in 372 that appears to praise the down-to-earth approach (associated with Guo Jia) of seeing humans as being more crow-like (with its positive and negative connotations, both nurturing toward their own and vicious toward targets) rather than dragon-like (with associated images of nobility and grandeur), offering the suggestion that perhaps the thing about humans is that they aspire so much (and as it’s insinuated, cause so much trouble in the process) without realizing their station and limits and how such ambition and greed are nonetheless part of how they are in the world
now it’s not made completely clear how this monologue is connected to Guo Jia’s stances, but perhaps one way to establish the link would be to assume that if Guo Jia doesn’t have a lofty view of humans, he could embrace the path of ruthlessly carrying out the reforms one insists on (never mind if others accept them or see them as virtuous), hoping for the best that perhaps at the end of the day things could work out (and someone could pick up the pieces the morning after once he’s gone and this is where Xun Yu is supposed to come in, the comfort after the chaos)
what Zhuge Liang takes exception to is the notion that the comparison of humans to crows (even if it’s a useful corrective to the boastful comparison of humans to dragons) somehow justifies the brutality of the process of pacification… thus the counter retort that people are people, crows are crows (of course this too assumes that Zhuge Liang knows better about what it means to be human)
and this brings us to the ‘immovable and twisted rationality’ that Zhuge Liang decries (even if he concedes that some sort of peace that is to say the peace of a pacified population desperate for anyone to impose clear order and guarantee safety can be founded on ruthless subjugation as historically attested in the rise of empires and regimes)
Guo Jia (and by extension, Jia Xu and Sima Yi and others like them) wouldn’t mind exploiting and perpetuating that rationality so long as there is a convenient path to quelling the unrest (which they see partly as a result of greed and ambition that form part of the human condition) and putting in place some sort of reform to help manage the chaos
on the other hand, Zhuge Liang still believes that humans can be guided and governed by virtue, that loyalty discourse can be used not simply as a cynical method to prop up the ruling order, but as a moral principle that prevents needless bloodshed (yet he finds himself in the compromised position of having to wage bloody crusades but under a righteous banner)
Now it may seem as if the Dark Art of War is too extreme and warmonger-like, so we need a reminder, that Guo Jia is perfectly aware that it is required for some guides to arrive after him, otherwise the realm won’t be saved as you can’t achieve the world-peace by being one-note (meaning, that it is a “cooperation” of different ideologies and images, not necessarily a “war” against each other) and on top of that, he does try to affect the morale of the “enemies” to the point of them surrendering as soon as possible, which means that his people also won’t die (as a cherry on top, he will also fake the number of opposing body count to spark the fear in others as well) - of course, this is not supposed to be a justification of his “art” and he won’t deny it.
This basically serves as a set-up to what will RoT shift into and who will be the main actor of the following arc. So, in the same way as Zhuge serving as a foil to Guo Jia, the Eighth Genius is being introduced in his arc and the Eighth will even get focused in the following arc. In the Red Cliff arc Eighth did exactly what Zhuge was doing prior to active participation – judging the conflict and “reporting the weather” – and yet he fails to predict the seventh (well, at least, he waited longer). This dynamic will be further established at the end of the Four Commanderies arc and as of now, we need to completely dissect 8th’s introduction, to have a deeper understanding of what will their discord stand for. All in all, each and every sentence uttered by his mouth is quite worth the attention.
at this point, Zhuge Liang outweighs the 8th in terms of reputation and narrative placement (not to mention that throughout the series, Zhuge Liang has been the one guy most in touch with the rest of his classmates on the sidelines and the one guy the other classmates either admire or dread or want to compete against), though the 8th’s status as a shadow counterpart to Liaoyuan Huo (because of the Zhao Yun angle) makes him parallel Zhuge Liang (who in turn serves as the mirror collaborator/nemesis to Sima Yi) in one respect in that both have strange ties to the eponymous duo of Ravages
in addition, the 8th parallels Sima Min (in being the last and shadiest on the list of 8 illustrious names) and possibly the 8th eccentric (assuming this member shows up and fits the pattern), and in terms of outlook he can be compared to Yuan Fang
Another thing that we need to pay attention to in the Red Cliff arc, though, is Eighth’s interest in mind control (as we know, character introductions In RoT reveal a lot about the characters) – as Water Mirror says, to subdue the enemy without a fight is the strongest method of war, but the eighth insists that the method, that the evil cultists are so infamous for, is actually the most productive one (probably because avoiding the war merely keeps the people safe, but is not satisfying – it is not doing anything to enhance the condition of them, as it won’t save people from themselves), but even if one won’t give in to the temptation and derail from the bright path, these techniques are leaving everlasting negative effects on person’s mind.
So, if we were to speculate, the most likely theory is that the Eighth learned said methods, which ties to another theory of him being the renowned scholar named Zhang Song (that being said, I’d rather see Zhang Song as another character altogether (whether the 8th takes that alias later on or just cooperates with him/them since I’d rather see duplicated names than merged characters)), but let’s talk about later on.
But… why and when did he betray the expectations of his teacher? The first one is rather easy to guess. It is about his ideology of individualism – instead of waging meaningless wars with tons of unrecorded blood being spilled, which would also limit everyone else’s desires and freedom (represented by Fang-er), that comes from the natural craving to the anarchy of human nature, whenever it is caged in order, why not exploit and weaponized and control vices and viciousness of a person? Instead of forming a collective mindset, why not try to understand the mind of every single individual? Instead of relying on brainwashing through moral propaganda, why not have faith in inherent human selfishness?
Him being an assassin resonates to this idea very well, because he is doing everything on his own and is not commanding a mere group, collection of people. He is doing things alongside them, understands them, and is, in fact, closer to reality than other classmates. Sure, Zhuge, too, understands the nature of his surroundings, but he is still a man of principles and his viewpoint is stuck on that – growing colder to actually personal human interactions and yet he is the one who values a human life the most (this mirror’s to 8th’s apathy, despite him acknowledging the personal desires in an individual)
To be fair, he is more of an assassin than any other character with the same profession in this story, because he actually lacks identity as nobody knows who he is if he won’t reveal everything by himself and, funnily enough, he is free to hide his identity even if he were to choose a warlord (also, he does not really HAVE TO be devoted to any of them and choose as many he wants to choose for the sake of his plans, which would mirror 7th’s “devotion until death”) and he could attach to himself whichever identity he wishes. Lack of identity was fatal in the hands of Sun clan and lethal in the hands of Sima Yi, whereas they still had some kind of connections, so now imagine how peculiarly promising is 8th’s potential, who does not seem to have any attachments.
I may as well rightfully declare that his lack of identity has a gargantuan perk to counter the cynicism of history – Whatever he does will be judged by future generation’s own assessments, yes, but if 8th’s real identity remains unknown, no one will know to whom they are supposed to connect all of his actions that he committed with the identity of others, hence the perpetual inaccuracy of historical records. Akin to Yuan Fang, who is an original character of Ravages of Time (the difference being, that if Yuan Fang has an original identity, 8th can “grab” identities of actual historical figures and get away with it)
As the last student, of course, the similarity with the first student Yuan Fang (well, his “lord” was chosen instead of him, by being a son of Yuan Shao – that selfish romantic really had no chance to CHOOSE to live for himself with his loved one, huh?) is apparent. Aside of the fact that Fang was connected to the cultist, he was also trying to practice the art of survival, (which he did not manage to perfect, thanks to his daddy) and even being able to kill people by his own hands (as much of a prodigy as he is). But ironically, (which can also be considered as a contradiction) the simplest desires are the root for the grandest ambitions and at the end of the day, Fang proves this point of 8th that self-serving desires may even seduce someone to achieve grand visions, he is delving into the corruption, rather than taking care of “his” people individually. And, after all, 8th does not really resemble to romantics.
Well, it won’t be fair if I do not mention that Zhuge (by torturing people) and Zhou Yu (by being a sparring partner of Sun Ce)… and even Xun Yu (by slapping a wolfneck)… are more than capable of doing some things by their own hands.
So far we can feel free to say, that 8th is not being seduced by desires (take a shot every time the eighth contradicts himself and yet never stops making sense) and he is a quite unemotional human being, considering that after the death of his oath brother he did not really look affected, remained perfectly calm and rational – basically took a duel out of respect and Yun’s lack of stamina. You could argue that he had his mask on, so it would have been hard to notice his emotions, but he instantly gave orders of retreat after the death of “the lord” and it was also implied that he does not really connect well with others.
He wears the mask of a caring person, while Yun wears a mask of an uncaring person.
(Honorable mention of his ability to rapidly adapt to the situation – which should be coming naturally to a person who is a good judge of double meanings (pointed out by his hand signal first and then by “he discovered the secret of various books in the world”)
It is quite fascinating to see such a person to be aware of everything and be appealing. In some mediocre stories, he would have been extremely childish and overdramatized at it, lacking any kind of human decency. On the contrary, 8th respects his enemies, is quite affable, acknowledges the contradictions within the human nature and acts according to it, and does good deeds for others (“repair your shed”), even if not unconditionally – as he is a morally grey character, and not ham-fisted at that.
This brings us to another philosophical part of his views – the value. “Feel helpless all you want, it won’t do anything for you”, every individual has their own, but to attain said value they first need to realize what their defining uniqueness is by themselves, instead of relying on either someone else or heavens and then act on it, make use of it. They must make a choice whether they will be “childbearing” tools or… weapons. To me his reaction (or lack of thereof) to this line of his oath brother “undertake its duties when called to the office; retire otherwise” felt like he (oath brother) completely lost the value in his (8th) eyes, by not only being enslaved to the whore for naught all these years, but also clinging to the brother (when he could have just let the woman infiltrate Shu). This page here can also be easily interpreted as if someone should trade their own valuable people, but it can also mean that people should see the value in whatever they have, whether they be items or loved ones, and cherish them.
So, in short, you do not need to imagine yourself (self-delusion) as a god-emperor to give yourself the value and be content to live.
Above we discussed how 8th is encouraging and guiding others towards seeking the value in themselves, but that is not quite all, is it now. Sure, you find value in yourself and the people around you, but the said value needs to be defined by something. To apply 8th’s standards, the more benefit is from someone, the more is his or her value. And even if she was merely being traded for a lovesick man, she still had some value in her.
He is acting as if he does not view people as objects, Yun is acting as if he does not view her as a loved one (material value against the emotional value)
Infiltration of Shu is quite obvious with all of these details and that freely be interpreted as if 8th is focused on Shu, but we could also take it as a hint that he has tried and may still be trying to plant some moles in other factions as well.
In addition, he usually talks whatever is necessary without much care to his actual intent, which not only results in an interest rabbit hole but is also a very intriguing character trait and a means of manipulation. Reason for that being the fact, that most of what he is saying is actually… true. Yes, his words are self-serving. Yes, his words do not reveal what his actual motives are. Yes, he is purposely aiming at your most vulnerable topic. But he is the only one telling you the truth about yourself and he is the only one giving you the freedom of choice towards what you crave.
Give it a bit of attention and it will seem as if he represents the PAINFUL part in “truth is painful” and Liu Bei could be representing the COMFORTING part in “lie is comforting”
The beauty of the 8th Genius’ dialogue with Zhao Yun to me is that, despite all of his words being self-serving, they were probably the most honest words Zhao Yun had ever heard. Even Liu Bei or Sima Yi never mention the fact that Zhao Yun has essentially been a slave all these years, who has given up on his happiness to fulfill the wishes of others. And yet here comes this unknown man who manages to get to the very depth of Zhao Yun’s character in a mere couple words. And to make it even more beautiful, Zhao Yun faces these words that cut him to the core head-on, and not only acknowledges them but in the face of these truths and in the face of a final chance at his own happiness, he chooses again to remain a slave for the sake of someone else’s desires. And that’s what makes the 8th Genius so enticing to me. If he can get to the bottom of such an enigmatic character like Zhao Yun in his very first appearance, I can only imagine what he’ll do later on.
Though I have to note that the 8th isn’t the only one to have confronted Liaoyuan Huo with a dilemma… Zhang Lei sort of did that in 293, Liu Da offered something similar in 384 (the difference I suppose is that whereas they challenged Huo to choose between 2 masters, the offer of the 8th, even though less genuine, is for Huo to choose between serving a master or walking away)
in another note, it’s important to stress that if warmongering is the problem (especially if we consider that what usually happens when regimes wage war as a distinct form of mass conflict unlike popular uprisings and insurgencies is that pacified populations are coerced or cajoled into expending their labor and lives to feed machines of organized violence that mainly benefit a select few) it’s not a matter of who wins or loses since the game itself is rotten regardless of goals and intentions
Alas, one other issue is that many cut ambitious conquerors (especially if they exhibit charisma and are on the winning side) some slack, while those motivated by ideology or principle (especially if they’re losing) are selectively denounced as zealots for trying to push a program
And yet who doesn’t like heroic tales…
That’s how the 8th stands out among his classmates mainly in terms of how his rhetoric focuses not so much on principles and ambitions (even Zhou Yu’s attachment to the Sun clan involves sticking by some notion of continuity), but simple and personal desires and choices – which fits the narrative of the Four Commanderies and analogically makes it stand out among the other arcs. It is an arc, which highlights the how empty is the shell of people, who are getting defiled by their own egos or thorny roses, beneath the surface of their facade and how some of them stop, start listening to the voice of reason and thus develop into respectable men while maintaining their individuality. The unconventional part that elevates this arc into being a masterpiece is the fact that even protagonists may have a facade and in overall, not every facade is shallow or/and they do not serve solely the corruption.
Sure, I talk a lot about the comparison with Zhuge, but these details were brought from this exact arc that is not even focused Zhuge, but aside of masterfully crafted indirect hints, Four Commanderies put on a table way more than just that. The obvious one being the personal conflict with Zhao Yun, which I already mentioned:
There 8th “asked” Yun to choose what’s his actual happiness, his own life or someone else’s path (that is burdened with failure) – little did 8th know that from Yun’s perspective it did not really matter what he would have chosen, because of how both of these choices are important for Yun as a person, how both of them are what he is craving for and how both of them are going to enslave. And he can’t even choose to not choose, because he would be going against himself in ANY case. As cold-blooded as he is, Zhao Yun got numb by making the best possible choice – “Three days. More than enough”. Truly, 8th failed at psychological warfare (and even if had an upper-hand in a duel, it did not really matter), but admitted that Yun made a right choice, without explaining himself – I think the existence of Zhao Tong made the choice correct. When a father and a son met, both of them found their “pieces of jade ornament that can be traded for cities” (note how Yun compared his son to Sun Ce – that was rather delightful for Tong, considering that no one was taking him seriously whenever he was comparing himself to Sun Ce). That was quite well symbolized by the lively tree near Yun. Usually, whenever a life-changing event happens in his life, he is near a dead tree.
After all, Zhao Yun is already used to selling (selling buns being the symbol of him selling himself).
So many lives that he cared about are no more, what’s one more. So many lives has he taken, what’s one more 8th genius.
(And if I were to fanboy over him more – “Huo” did not really return after the warrior’s duel (named as “a path of no return”))
Briefly to come back to Zhuge, the one who basically pulls some strings behind Yun – when 8th mentioned the facade of the “greater good”, I was suddenly reminded of a saying by melancholy 7th about “benevolent realists” when he was talking about how people like to shield themselves with “FOR THE GREATER GOOD”, while in actuality they are masked egomaniacs. But if Zhuge says that people use “greater good” as a mere excuse (as he always dislikes the certain type of people), 8th remarks that these self-proclaimed paragons of virtue (such as 7th) are merely deluding themselves and the concept of “greater good” does not even exist.
In short, lying to others that you are a savior vs. lying to yourself that you are a savior
If you think that the introduction of this character is already great enough, you need to get prepared, because the revelation, that completely recontextualizes these events into something even more meaningful and profound, is yet to come.
When Yun remembered the bits of 8th’s backstory from his memory, 8th pointed his finger to the sky, a call-back to that scene when Huo was named as Zhao Yun and that, as far as we know, cemented him as the perfect foil to Zhao Yun and now demands from us to re-analyze this precious arc of his as the mirrored life of Liaoyuan Huo from two respective points of view - meaning, that 8th genius’ name might actually be ‘Zhao Yun’ (less likely chance is for him to be named Zhao Tian - Tianb, as in the ‘sky’). Considering the fact that Ravages of Time is exploring the history and human condition as a theme, then it won’t really be a surprise if I would define “mirrored life” as if they were the alternative versions of how would Huo’s life continue if he were to choose different paths of life.
1) Let’s first start with the woman. Women, naturally, represent femininity and romanticization (that usually is being born from being closeted and they are the ones hung on empathy and emotions usually), thus killing her is obviously an indicator for both, 8th and Huo, getting numb and hardened, completely devoid of said softness and cravity to selfish hopefulness them. It's also interesting to note that in the chapter of Zhao Yun's internal thoughts about how she has occupied his memory for long, the chapter starts with Zhao Yun first thinking about the Sun lady (another female, also highlighting emotions and empathy, but in a more vocal manner) - as a hint of their foil (Sun lady even became a blade on Liu Bei's throat as if she were an assassin and was also waiting for Zhao Yun as much as Lady Fan did), it was quite easy to confuse as to whom Zhao Yun was referring to, as the narration swiftly transfers from one target to another. Of course the difference is that Zhao Yun cares only about one of them, but has to treat both of them in a similar manner.
Her relationship to Zhao Yun practically originated from childish playfulness and desires, through a random and superficial gamble kick-starting their deep and long-lasting fate. Not only that, but they got immediately wed, even before meeting each other - basically wedding being used as an excuse to forcefully start drinking, completely cheapens the value of women in general, hence her contemplating about her own value. This throws us back to the flashback of Huo back to his childhood and meeting with Liu Da, when he himself exchanged his self for a mere bun, so as to highlighter his problems with self-worth, originating from him having literally nothing at that point of his life and being severely scorned for trying to survive, with no altruistic being at sight.
Tiger, of course, is implying the ambition. And what is the ‘weakness’ of these with ambition and problems with self-worth? Correct, the wish to have control over others and the higher is the value of the ones they are supposed to control, the better they gonna feel - considering the fact that nothing really affects Huo, we can deduce that he purposely arranged the stage of him seeing as drunk to seem for the lady as if she is above him and potentially have the full control over him. Now for it to not seem as if the relationship is one-sidedly unhealthy and as if women were not manipulative by using their own ‘pure’ presences for their own good, as there are no good families in a war torn country, it must be highlight that woman also took her part in constructing the stage - she purposefully went out of her room and stood exactly in front of Huo, exactly after he won and was asked to make a wish, then went back as if she was shy, as if inviting him by playing hard to get, but actually readied a knife, or rather have always had a knife to her, as a thorn.
And as they saying was mentioned, “the kid wants to roast me like a goat or something” in which it is not clearly indicated to he meant exactly as a kid, we can view this ordeal as the subversion of the sheep-wolf dynamic - who is the sheep and who is the wolf, between them and between their ‘parents’?
What we can take from the ambition is ‘but what would happen if Huo instead went on a path of having an ambition of control?’, of course, in this case Huo himself would just have been a tool of the ones that would perpetually have a higher ground than him, he would have been controlled instead of he himself controlling anything and would not have had any meaningful relations. Again, a crooked path destined to loneliness and suffering.
Her and Huo are surprisingly similar, to enforce my point of her representing the path of Huo, if he could have been a woman and we most definitely are aware of the fact that he also had feelings for Xiao Meng. The similarities start with their names, that which they were born with, being unknown and both of them being in a family, that which they do not relate to and have no attachments (implied that her mother was using herself as a beauty trap for her father, as well). Her mother was also a named, implying her inheriting the problem of not being able to find her place in the world, the lack of identity and how she is awaiting for her saviour (Huo) to come to her, just like how Huo has always been waiting for someone else to come and save the world (Selfishness against the selflessness, yet again). Both of them are also assassins, used to infiltration as of now.
And of course, when both of them are getting what they want from each other, they also relate to each other and are full of nostalgy out of it once they get separated (considering how Huo labeled their time as the happiest one in his life, naturally as he has never experienced human warmth up so close before), it is no surprise that both of them have each other deeply rooted in mind and are longing to be reunited, considering how they were satisfied with their relationship and are unsatisfied with their current predicaments, wanting more and more out of each other.
Everyone died with a stab from the back in this arc, the ones who could not find their place in the world died from a place they could not observe to symbolize that as well, but at least she died content, as her mind was cleared from the overthinking that clouding her views and expecting the worst, which is naturally from a human being who does not think good about herself and does bad things, she seeks answer from her perspective, asserting as to what she would have done in his place to herself - but now she is free.
Readers do tend to have problems with the lack of foreshadowing of their relationship, but I disagree with it. Earrings were directly established as a foreshadowing and it is not really something that Chan Mou made up in that very chapter, but it is a part of culture. Huo’s lack of interest in other women should also be taken into account. On top of that, it was traditionally used by women, so Huo getting them implied two things - first, Huo being sure of his feelings and the girl not being sure of her feelings, as she also has malice in mind and gets confused. Second, my point of Huo’s femininity is once again enhanced.
Also, interesting to note, that we never really see her literally selling her body - whenever she is going with someone, we only know for sure that she kills people as an assassin, but there really are no hints of sexual intercourses, just sexual sentences used as word-plays to explain the killing. So we only have the opinions of others, namely that of Zhao Yun himself, him being a victim of his quick thinking and not really being able to read a woman, so it also adds to the whole theme of unreliable information.
2) Zhao Fan’s case is rather easy to elaborate on. He represents the “pretentiousness” (by compensating his lack of masculinity and love from his loved one, through the pretense of just babbling hollow words (merely citing others - not to imply that what he says is not matching to what is happening, but he is jut describing things, instead of affecting anything), as he is not capable of doing anything else) against the “reality” of Zhao Yun (less talk, more action attitude of his and the creditless deeds he has committed that empower someone else’s name, while he does not care even if he is a laughing-stock (on top of being an assassin - purposely hiding his own identity). plus the playfulness that is hiding the coldblooded nature beneath the surface). So both of Fans have the problems with self-worth (in the case of man it is originated from the fact that he is so fabulous and used to richness and grander image over himself, but can't win over the heart of a mere woman living in poverty - but the origination of woman's issues with her self-worth is the polar opposite, as he has nothing both in terms material items and upbringing, so her only chance to be unconditionally recognized and have the control of the greatest weapon in the world is Huo. Again, problems with grander (above-the-surface) and deep (below-the-surface) desires, with both of them having the blurred line - instead of being grounded) and what is also amusing is the fact that their relationship is somewhat a repetition of Fan's mother's relationship with the one who lost the to Huo - the fate never changes.
That pretentiousness would define Zhao Yun as well if he was not so hardened by the high amount of struggle he lived through and later be polished by Liu Bei. Huo would have been in his place if he were to come to his loved one instead of Xiao Meng. But that would come with its own negative consequence, as he would not have been loved. It is amusing how he was letting the woman to use her beauty trap on others, for him to be able to delude himself that he was not the one the most deeply trapped in said trap. He is, indeed, a lecherous man trying to put up a facade of the opposite.
3) 8th’s case is a bit complicated. They do share the path, but with the polar opposite approach. “Sharing the path” is amusing on its own right, though. Huo took the name “Zhao Yun” and will get recorded in history with someone else’s name, but the guy who was born with the name “Zhao Yun” won’t be recorded in history with his own name as well. Still, his name will exist in history, but it is going to be a guy, who’s completely different from the original Zhao Yun. Talk about an identity crisis.
“observing the passing of time and waiting for its coming, cannot compare to dealing with time and making use of it” – This throws us back in time, as far as the early chapters go, when Yun had an internal monologue about waiting for someone who would change and save the world. Around that time, 8th was persuading Huo’s loved one about how meaningless it is to just wait for something. Perhaps Huo would have undergone 8th’s path if he were to study as a genius to save the world instead of waiting for someone else to do it, but at the end of the day, he managed to understand where he belongs to.
Huo was waiting because he did not see himself as someone who could really make a difference in the world (“if martial arts would have made a difference, then the key positions in the world would already be dominated by various schools”). Meaning, that only “grander” things affect the world (such as Jesus and Dragon). but 8th begs to differ, with an argument that the delusions of grandeur should be broken for people and that even “books”, as tiny as they are, can affect the masses (for example, how Sun clan was hiding the true Art of War for themselves)
“what we need to learn now is observation and patience” – still paid off in Huo’s case and so it did for another Yun as well, as he was busy all these years, observing not only the human nature but the hidden meanings and uses of certain things, such as the literature as a tool of lying (“you won’t understand history without knowing how to lie”). This also foils how Zhuge was “waiting” and cultivating the illusions about Liu Bei for all these eleven years.
It is quite ironic and contradictory when 8th is talking about how important it is to know “where one stands” and yet he lacks identity and that helps him to stand (“infiltrate”) in any faction, at the same time. But us not knowing the identity of 8th further empowers my approach. Matches well with Huo trying to suppress his emotions and forget himself, thus becoming numb and losing his identity, as he won’t even get credit for his heroic deeds.
Basically Zhao brothers can be seen as the Yun’s identity crisis, a conflict between his duality of nature (Fan – wanting a normal life with his loved one. 8th – wanting to go with Liu Bei). And Huo killed Fan by his own hand, so killing the “longing for a personal happiness” also took a life of his loved one at the same time, by 8th mirroring his hand.
(8th casually hinted that both of them are named Zhao Yun when he was talking about how people appreciate things in similar ways, so they may think and feel the same as well. This may also add to how he is centered around selfishness while discussing the human nature - but it is ironic, because Zhao Yun does not really feel the same way as others and for this we can take example of him not being able to differentiate the taste - basically proving 8th wrong on another layer as well)
The point of mirrored life is that he was always suffering, is currently suffering, will continue suffering even if he can’t feel the pain inflicted on his body - there are other ways to hurt an ubermensch… even if he can’t feel the pain, he will be pained to not feel anything anymore - , and would have suffered even if he were to make different life-changing choices in the past. So, whether he serves for the greater good or for the oneself, his destiny is fixed - As you can see, people in this story suffer regardless of their circumstances, just as people in real life do. But Zhao Yun will continue to live and will carry all the weight, as he already accepted it. It is as realistic as it gets – no matter what you are going to choose, the history is going to fix itself.
As to how similar 8th is to Liu Bei, we can talk about that right now. Meanwhile, 8th was judging the character of an assassin, Liu Bei was also being busy by judging the character of another Zhao and that, you guessed it, allows US to judge 8th as the mirror of our Chinese Jesus as well. To begin with, it is implied that both of them have two oath brothers so that comparison is not really far-fetched.
On the surface, both of them are good at judging the characters and while they are at that, none of them are using their real identities, but the substantial difference between them is that – Liu Bei is using the identity of being the cult of a personality, while 8th is not using any identity at all; Liu Bei is giving away a sincere brotherly love, thus gaining help from them on their own accord and that is something 8th is alien(ated) to (Zhao Fan was enslaved to his desire, rather than the aspiration of his brotherhood).
Now it should be noted that even if Liu Bei is getting a warm love and help from his oath brothers is a good thing, of course, Chen Mou has not forgotten that even such kind and heartfelt intent/actions can be harmful to the lofty aspirations. I also daresay that there is a great potential of showing the enormous flaws behind saving the world as a cult of a personality.
The first is directly connected to the relationship between the “savior” and the masses – there will be a part of people, who will have an urge to completely become reliant to the “shelter” that was provided to them and not only lose the sense of individuality in the process, but also get so soft in the process that they won’t be able to stand on their own again so easily.
The second problem comes exactly from that and both of these could be depicted in RoT through Liu Shan’s character arc – for the world to be shaped as in the eyes’ of Liu Bei, he has to alienate himself from the garden of earthly delights and the human beings themselves, thus he himself will become a tool, who will only be able to care about his comrades-in-arm. After all, he values them more than his own son. So as to say that both ,going above for grander ideas and going down, for deeper meanings, results in an alienation from the center, the earth, the world.
Right in the queue is standing a dragon (aka, not human) Zhuge Liang, who will also drag Liu Bei’s son to the moon. Moon of course represents the principles of Zhuge Liang and he is going to nail them in Liu Shan’s mind so much, that there will be no one to take the child on earthly adventures to gain necessary experience about the reality and human interactions - he will merely be an incarnation of a dream. After all, Liu Shan is neglected to the point of being used in schemes even as a child. Although the role of Sun Shu in this ordeal is still a mystery.
One thing is clear – without Sun Shu, Liu Shan is going to become an anti-thesis of 8th’s ideology.
To have a clear idea and understanding of what I am talking about, you could always watch that Ghibli movie named “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya”. The Emperor there is so out of touch, he is not even aware that he should not touch women without their consent and his inhuman behavior results in a girl wanting to escape from the reality and may as well kill herself.
8th’s ideology won’t result in such degradation, but Liu Bei has his own arguments against that world-view. If 8th blames people for having the delusions of their own grandeur, Liu Bei says that people have delusions not about their own selves, but about the world itself, as to how it is “structured”. So, people are not defiled, they are just following the wrong path and guidance could fix that. Zhao Tong depicted as someone who is not being as educated and well-read as Liu Bei further nails the point.
(Thanks to the translator Merc, who told us that this idea was conveyed through the wordplay that was lost in translation)
Surely, they won’t settle about the definition of the right path so easily. If 8th thinks that people should start valuing whatever they have and whatever they are able to do. Basically, the idea of saving the world won’t ever be fulfilled, because the world will only be saved after people save themselves – Liu Bei answers that one does not have to choose necessarily a mediocrity (in 8th’s case, broken people that he chose, such as Xiao Fan) and give it a value, just because the world in their eyes is ruined. Basically, gems still can be found in every corner, but they won’t polish themselves, so the world is still worth saving and could be saved if only we showcase what they can value.
In short, 8th thinks that everyone could have their own things to find value in, but Liu Bei wants to create one general “shelter” that everyone will find value and solution in (and our boy Huo got both)
What makes the feud between 8th and the Shu compelling could be summarized in two features
1) When Cao camp is full of elite soldiers who were trained for what they are doing and Sun clan is fully family oriented and thus chains the family members, Liu camp is full of opportunistic individuals that choose their path on their own. On face value, 8th should be quite fond of them, but divergence comes when the said individuals view someone else’s path as something grand and enslave themselves, forgetting to why even they want a better world and are sacrificing themselves just for someone else. Despite that, they still remain as somewhat respectable in the 8th’s eyes.
2) The inherent duality of men, as both of these approaches find their justification within the human nature and, at the same time, it also serves as a counter-argument to each other – in times of order, people are going to seek disorder and in times of disorder, people are going to seek disorder, hence comes the pivotal point in the dynamic between 8th and 7th – If one wants to make use of human’s longing for peace through crafting the fake cult of personality, which will achieve stalemate and turn into status quo, another one wants to make use of human’s craving for desire through the dispersion of their delusions of grandeur first, by which people would lose interest in waging meaningless wars over meaningless lands and reputations.
After all, “winner takes all” is but a surface level aspect of how Ravages of Time deals with its roots - Poetic tragedies, with proper emotional baggage to convey the horrors of war and an exploration of the inevitability of history and the meaninglessness of our struggles when confronted with it.
Of course, we are not finished here, because aside from Shu, 8th has enough potential to foil Sima clan as well.
Let us start with Sima Yi himself. I’d argue both are exceptional men from powerful clans destroyed by forces beyond their control. Sima Yi being set up by Pang Tong and Sima’s destruction changing him irreparably into a darker man. Like Hamlet the main driving force of the story is his revenge and just like Hamlet his actions unknowingly cause a similar tragedy to his own occurring. Sima Yis actions destroyed the Zhao Clam just like Pang Tong eventually destroyed the Sima as a scapegoat. Both attempt to gain revenge and return their clan to greatness. Yet while Sima Yi joins a future kingdom the eight opposes one and fails with his oath brother being forfeit. The irony being that Sima Yis entire life changed by one tragedy yet he doomed another man like him to the same fate unwittingly at the very start of the series.
One was Zhao Yuns best friend while the other is arguably his most dangerous enemy now.
I think there’s a surprising amount of similarities and parallels between the two even this early.
Oh, and both killed a woman Zhao Yun loved. Sima Yi by inaction and the eight in a moment of direct revenge.
I’m perhaps not articulating this the best but the aptest dramatic comparison I can think of is he’s the Leartes to Sima Yis Hamlet. Whether they will end up having the same conclusion as those two characters is up in the air though.
And meanwhile, 8th was concluding his not-so-grand spectacle, another member of Sima clan was introduced in the story – Sima Min, who is also an eighth member, rather polite and even was detached from other seven for quite a while and are considering as some kind of anomalies. After a line “seven out of the eighth aim high. One sticks to the low road”, even comes a hat of the 8th, whom we, in fact, described as someone who stands out by sticking to the low road. If I were to speculate, Min is going to be the one defending his own brothers, but 8th is going to be the one attacking his own brothers.
Both of them also serve as the premises for the next arc, even if they are not participated much in it, as of now: “Breaking the tradition” and the lies behind the books about warfare.
Now let’s come back to the long-postponed theory-crafting of mine - point of this being, that even when character introductions in Ravages’ subtly reveal so many things about the characters that bring more layers to the plot, they also give a room to speculations and its not really clear just how will the character arc end, but we can deduce the path that it may take.
-In the 468th chapter was revealed a dungeon that was used for torturing people. It belonged to the 8th who was gathering information about the routes of Shu. Then in 483 was revealed that Zhuge Liang had the exact same dungeon.
-In the 480th chapter on the other hand was revealed that Zhang Song was brought a fake map and thus Zhuge, who thought that Song was aiding Cao Cao, set a trap for him. There was someone special near Liu Zhang who was manipulating the information as if Liu Zhang was incompetent. That was a trap for Shu.
-Now in 483th Zhuge started a discussion about Zhang Song and 8th at the same time. After all, in the 468th chapter was also found a map, which was most likely made by the 8th. Key point was, that both of them were made in the same style, thus were made by the same person. The difference was, that the map made for Shu was fake, and the map made for 8th – was legitimate.
-At the start of the 483 chapter, Zhuge mentions how hard it is to track 8th and unless he announces his name, no one will know and yet, as a result of what was mentioned above, Zhuge deduced that 8th indeed graduated. Meaning, he has actively participated in the ravages of time already.
-In 483 Zhuge also did deduce that this man was merely “named” as Zhang Song. Meaning, his actual name is different. Now, how did 8th managed to convince him to not reveal that even after the torture session is a mystery. I can only think of “eccentric magic” (which I think is exactly what 8th needs for his plans, but it is also something that he wants the least) or heavy psychological pressure (considering that one guy with the damaged psyche in his chamber, chapter 468)
-Even more interesting came into the play after several chapters. It was revealed that there is another Zhang Song, who was aiding Ma Chao (who was also getting help from the Sun clan) and whose face was not revealed suspiciously. Why would there be several people with the same name? That’s rather CLOUDED (excuse the pun). One thing is certain, 8th is behind Song tricks, whether he is the one using that name, is actually named that or is cooperating with original Zhang Song – is another mystery. Zhuge did ruin his plans AGAIN (was it the third time?), but he still is cultivating his influence.
To conclude the analysis, let’s get back to the titular topic with a little hierarchy, as I also like to view Ravages of Time as a criticism of crafting a narrative of stories in general.
On the first level, there are stories with a black and white morality. Usually, black side is cartoony cynical, with no redeeming qualities and white side is cartoony idealistic, with irrelevant flaws (being hot-blooded and etc) – and the Ravages of Time even features such “stories” in deceptive schemes and labels them as “propaganda” (social commentary)
These “black” sides sometimes tend to be “justified” as if they were realistic (for example, for some reason, it is ok to have such characters if the setting is in the middle ages). Such explanations completely ignore the fact that no fiction is realistic and that every “realistic” being has redeeming qualities.
On the second level, there are stories with seemingly grey morality, through the presentation we do not actually see this moral ambiguity, so the presentation falls apart just because the characters’ words (what is talked) and actions (what is shown) contradict each other so much, that story does not seem self-aware anymore – a prime example would be a good guy, who wants to achieve a stalemate, but his actions tell otherwise and no one is actually calling him out on that hypocrisy. Also, everyone he faces is clearly inferior to him from a moral stand-point.
In such stories “black” sides may even have characters that were abused and victimized in childhood and now they are apparently pointing out the flaws in the system by blatantly indulging themselves in atrocities (for some reason). This is not only a cheap emotional manipulation but completely superficial and immature, as they are whining about the system by being worse than it and do not offer any solution to fix the system or a better alternative – they are merely amazed by the fact, that the world is imperfect and cannot accept it.
On the third level, there are stories with seemingly grey morality, but now they are doing the opposite. Characters constantly talk about the loss of humanity for the greater good, but they never commit to it and even if they were to do some questionable things (that most likely are glorified), they would still whine how bad the “greater good” is, despite not finding (or even trying to find) any better alternative. Here lies a huge contradiction in the presentation – It is preachy propaganda of “necessary evil” and, at the same time, does not want to acknowledge it, thus the story has a hypocritical point.
In such stories, “black” sides tend to be THE flaws of the system, with no redeeming qualities. They will be one-dimensionally incompetent and just abuse their power just for the main characters to have an excuse to commit “necessary evil”. In such cases, people tend to close their eyes on them being one-dimensional “as soon as they fir the narrative”. Such readers/watchers forget why it’s relevant for characters to not be one-dimensional – it is not realistic, considering you can be a flaw in a system and still have positive dynamics to something/someone else. It also lacks artistry, considering how crystal clear will the stance of the author is going to be by implementing such cartoony characters in his story. So… if the writing is so implausible… how are we supposed to trust the author on his beliefs and preferences, if he can’t implement said beliefs and preferences in an organic way even in his own world?
On the fourth level, there are stories with actual grey morality, where every character AND organization has its pros and cons properly presented. Without further complications, focuses on two sides of the conflicting ideas and naturally tells a realistic story, full of plausibility
On the fifth level, there is the Ravages of Time, conceptually exploring said contradictions. It not only has more than two sides with full of characters with their own agendas, but they all are making use of various “contradictions” and that is something I wanted to highlight through the Eighth Genius, who is full of contradictions externally, but fully self-aware internally.
Now it is not outright said that contradictions are bad. Quite the opposite – even if they are full of shortcomings, they are also full of benefits and if everything can be used your and someone else’s good, why would contradictions prove the exception? After all, if any effort is futile and doomed, what it all meant to you and how content you were at your death’s bed is all that matters. Which is another contradiction, because on face value, there is no objective reason to do anything if everything is meaningless, but at the end of the day, you at least accumulated the experience for the future generation, who will also have to postpone the passive decay of the world (but the said shared experience will lead to even more bloodfest, which is unfortunately inevitable in any case)
Failure of self-loathing stories is not seeing beyond the fixed framework. Ravages’ point, on the other hand, is that – contradiction, like anything else (for instance, loyalty), is simply a method and it was set as a framework to fit someone else’s agenda. Of course, merely trying to step out of a framework is not enough, as you are going to meet others who already did that. That’s exactly what’s so alluring about this piece of art – it not only examines a single contradiction with a hopeful solution (Self-loathing Zhuge not raising Liu Shan as a hypocrite), but offers plenty of other alternatives.
After all, if contradictions were inherently wrong, is not living also a contradiction, as everything is objectively meaningless? But we do keep living, as it is full of meaning in the context of our mind, hence how we acknowledge the contradictions with subjectivity as well.
Concluding thoughts - 8th genius is a jack of all trades, but only stands out in the field of astronomy. Now if we take that at face value, that is quite useless, as it can't really be used in warfare, but if we take it as a symbolic trait, meaningful interpretations may arise. As the numerical ranking of the geniuses go, 7th genius is the highest of the bunch, excluding the 8th. Meaning, that he is the one who has his head in the clouds, with heaven and prioritizes it above all else… but the 8th genius goes higher, in the space, in the emptiness and looks from above to everything, as he is trying to understand everything. Another meaning that can be derived are the zodiac and other superstitions, naturally, that which 'brainwash' the people. And as astronomy is useless in warfare, in the same manner the 8th is not really close to warfare by himself and is trying to achieve his goals without it. Interestingly enough, in reality as well, there are circulating theories about Sun Tzu’s Art of War being ‘fabricated’ and not even written by Sun Tzu himself in reality as well - one of the reasons why Sun Tzu's Art of War is most likely not written by Sun Tzu, being that it features a lot of anachronisms. One of them being the usage of crossbows, another one being them not featuring much references to chariots (a common method of warfare during Spring and Autumn). Indeed, Sun Tzu puts emphasis on swiftness of the formation, which only makes sense if one thinks of an army dominated by infantry (which is developed sometime between the Warring State Period and early Han. Now to bring this back to ravages, my theory is that, the ancestors of Sun clan intentionally create the Art of War sometime during early-mid Han period, distributing it and claiming it is written by (most likely invented) ancestor Sun Tzu, so that their clan will always be the one thinking outside the box. I doubt Chen Mou thinks about this detail when he wrote ravages, I just think it is a nice historical tidbit that can be connected to ravages
Discontentment is the root of sharpening people towards the pinnacle of desire (as the Eccentric mentioned even before the Guandu arc). Commanderies can be seen as the cities corrupted by a witch in a fantasy world or by an unhinged scientist in a sci-fi world, for the population to act according to their vicious desires, basically stripping the people of their pretenses and leaving them to their natural freedom. Contradiction that lies within the city in itself is saying, that the humans are not dictated by the straight feelings of either nurture or chaos, but by them both, as the action is a result of either indifference or the combination of both of the opposite ends of spectrums - love and hate, selfishness and selflessness. Admitting to the opposite - by believing that human nature is not made such - is also made into a contradiction, considering how by following some cherry-picked desires, people further delude themselves and become self-unaware in an opposite manner, dressing in another type of pretentiousness. Thus by being forced to face themselves and come in terms with their inner-selves, we can judge the reasoning of both 8th and Liu Bei (and other pairs of foiling) as correct and very much needed, as they complement each other.
Excusing their cleverness, insane willpower and speech-making abilities, both 8th and Liu Bei are extremely good at bringing allies over to their side by understanding the things that make them tick. The difference is that Liu Bei does this through simple listening, by allowing himself to be relied on and (even if pretentiously) helping people move past their pain and insecurity and instead towards a hope-filled path. By contrast, 8th exploits that emotional vulnerability and then psychologically manipulates his victims into becoming someone willing (or even eager) to commit evil. Subversion being that in case of failure, not the eighth, but Liu Bei has forceful and invasive forms of making his ‘victims’ comply. Hence their status of (Dark) Messiah.
And considering how the foiling parallels of the eight are going at the same time, we may as well mention the concept of Yin and Yang - ‘In Ancient Chinese philosophy, yin and yang is a concept of dualism, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy (Ravages of Time also starts in the media res of the chaos), organized into the cycles of Yin and Yang and formed into objects and lives. Yin is the receptive and Yang the active principle, seen in all forms of change and difference such as the annual cycle (winter and summer), the landscape (north-facing shade and south-facing brightness), sexual coupling (female and male), the formation of both men and women as characters and sociopolitical history (disorder and order).
The notion of duality can be found in many areas, such as Communities of Practice. The term "dualistic-monism" or dialectical monism has been coined in an attempt to express this fruitful paradox of simultaneous unity and duality. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary (rather than opposing) forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts. According to this philosophy, everything has both yin and yang aspects (for instance, shadow cannot exist without light). Either of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation. The yin yang (i.e. taijitu symbol) shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section.
In Taoist metaphysics, distinctions between good and bad, along with other dichotomous moral judgments, are perceptual, not real; so, the duality of yin and yang is an indivisible whole. In the ethics of Confucianism on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu (c. 2nd century BC), a moral dimension is attached to the idea of yin and yang
In Daoist philosophy, dark and light, yin and yang, arrive in the Tao Te Ching at chapter 42. It becomes sensible from an initial quiescence or emptiness (wuji, sometimes symbolized by an empty circle), and continues moving until quiescence is reached again (For example, in Ravages of Time, how Zhao Yun discards his Huo persona and yet, indulges in it again in this arc, for it to die out once again). For instance, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will simultaneously raise waves and lower troughs between them, and this alternation of high and low points in the water will radiate outward until the movement dissipates and the pool is calm once more. Yin and yang thus are always opposite and equal qualities. Further, whenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into the opposite quality: for example, grain that reaches its full height in summer (fully yang) will produce seeds and die back in winter (fully yin) in an endless cycle.
It is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some reference to the opposite, since yin and yang are bound together as parts of a mutual whole (for example, there cannot be the bottom of the foot without the top). A way to illustrate this idea is to postulate the notion of a race with only women or only men; this race would disappear in a single generation. Yet, women and men together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive. The interaction of the two gives birth to things, like manhood. Yin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall. Thus, a seed will sprout from the earth and grow upwards towards the sky—an intrinsically yang movement. Then, when it reaches its full potential height, it will fall. Also, the growth of the top seeks light, while roots grow in darkness.
Certain catchphrases have been used to express yin and yang complementarity
-The bigger the front, the bigger the back.
-Illness is the doorway to health.
-Tragedy turns to comedy.
-Disasters turn out to be blessings.’
Of course, we have examples of this in this arc - the rumor becoming the reality, the reality becoming a cartoony history, Zhao Yun losing the loved one but meeting a son, oldman archer getting ill , the one with expecting the least backbone showing the most backbone, the deadliest duel with no point of return having a way of backtracking (metaphorically resembling the martial art Tai chi, sometimes colloquially known as "Shadowboxing")
Oh and another bit from wikipedia.
In Buddhism, the three marks of existence are three characteristics of all existence and beings, namely impermanence (aniccā), non-self (anattā) and unsatisfactoriness or suffering (duḥkha). That humans are subject to delusion about the three marks, that this delusion results in suffering, and that removal of that delusion results in the end of suffering, is a central theme in the Buddhist Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path.
According to Thich Nhat Hanh, the three seals are impermanence, non-self and nirvana. He says in "The heart of the Buddha's Teaching" that "In several sutras the Buddha taught that nirvana, the joy of completely extinguishing our ideas and concepts, rather than suffering, is one of the Three Dharma Seals."
Anicca
Impermanence means that all conditioned things (saṅkhāra) are in a constant state of flux. Buddhism states that all physical and mental events come into being and dissolve. Human life embodies this flux in the aging process and the cycle of repeated birth and death (Samsara); nothing lasts, and everything decays. This is applicable to all beings and their environs, including beings who are reborn in deva (god) and naraka (hell) realms.This is in contrast to nirvana, the reality that is nicca, or knows no change, decay or death.
Dukkha
Dukkha (Sanskrit duhkha) means "unsatisfactoriness, suffering, pain". The dukkha includes the physical and mental sufferings that follows each rebirth, aging, illness, dying; dissatisfaction from getting what a being wishes to avoid or not getting the desired, and no satisfaction from Sankhara dukkha, in which everything is conditioned and conditioning, or because all things are not experienced as impermanent and without any essence.
Anatta
Anatta (Sanskrit anatman) refers to the doctrine of "non-self", that there is no unchanging, permanent Self or soul in living beings and no abiding essence in anything or phenomena
In Buddhism, ignorance of (avidyā, or moha; i.e. a failure to grasp directly) the three marks of existence is regarded as the first link in the overall process of saṃsāra whereby a being is subject to repeated existences in an endless cycle of suffering. As a consequence, dissolving that ignorance through direct insight into the three marks is said to bring an end to saṃsāra and, as a result, to that suffering
Now let’s discuss how said introduction builds-up the anticipation for the future arc, giving as to speculate about more than one path that the story-line can go take on.
In recent years, Ravages of Time has been using call-backs more and more often and gradually became frequent with it and it peaked around 540th chapter suspiciously, almost directly reminding us of the plot-threads that may have been suspected as forgotten, so let’s talk about them.
544 starts with the clash between 'official pronouncements' (propagandistic accounts by regimes that nonetheless involve some level of plausibility so that they're accepted or taken for granted more easily) and 'unofficial speculations' (basically unproven opinions and rumors, but some of which may happen to be in line with events as we have seen them unfold in the past chapters) compounded with the divergence between what the series portrays and what the source texts attest
the apologist has a fair point regarding the necessity to station more troops in the south even if things are going well (in the historical account Cao Cao is said to have sent some forces to reinforce the southeastern frontier and defend against the Sun clan, and Ravages alludes to it in discussions about the fallout of Liu Bei handing over Jiangxia to the Sun clan) only that the pronouncements happen to cover up the actual situation of stalemate (not to mention the casualties in the secret battle)
the detractor on the other hand is reasonably alleging that the reports may very well be part of some conspiracy to conceal what really happened (the significant loss in that secret battle) in the scramble for Jingzhou in the process insinuating that the cover ups help explain counterfactually why the historical account as we receive it makes no mention of the secret battle
even as the debate turned to the matter of morality and governance, both sides ended up appealing to the authority of received historical texts to bolster their point (the apologist compares Cao Cao to a hero pacifying all under heaven like the 'good models' of history, the detractor compares Cao Cao to a tyrant oppressing the people like the 'bad models' of history) in effect essentially re-enacting the favorite pastime of the 3K fandom and indirectly conveying the point that what is received is still subject to litigation by those who receive them
whereas the first part grapples with issues around representations of events and outcomes, the second part deals more with the interplay between 'heroic legends' and eyewitness testimony and subsequent biographical reports (packaged alongside iconic callbacks for theatrical effect to delight readers)
ostensibly Xiahou Dun tells 'scary stories' about Lu Bu to new officers, who reasonably (from their position) scoff at the tales since they have no way of corroborating them anyway although the irony here is that their manner of dismissal is grounded more upon received accounts and tropes about 'righteous heroes' and 'brainless brutes'
now upon seeing the exchange the simplistic track would be for readers (with privileged access) to simply revert back to the authoritative revelation of past chapters and enjoy basking in the glory of the callbacks, but there's more to the conversation than just a bunch of newbies being schooled
we can also compare how they treat Lu Bu's legend to how Sun clan treated Zhao Yun' legends while standing in front of him - Sun has cocky attitude of disbelief, while Cao squad is looking at it as unapproachable legends, in a sense that its far away from their reality. Chen Mou teases readers that way, but the trick is to go beyond the nostalgia and maintain critical distance the way Chen Mou approaches the sources, haha
for one thing, there's something curious about how many of the disseminated Lu Bu stories (milked for callbacks) still emphasize his marital might to the point of exaggeration and in effect downplaying his multifaceted portrayal in the series as a top-notch schemer and thus even with the cautionary notes about distorted depictions the very format of the heroic tales still encourages listeners to focus on the power levels
furthermore, Xiahou Dun's own retrospective account of Lu Bu's execution may very well be mixed with subsequent re-imaginings and emotional associations that may not have been present in the actual event (he even gives the game away by admitting that he considered the feelings of the listeners with the way he retold the story with latent horror elements) although these complex feelings and distortions in the testimonies can also be viewed as indirect and hard to articulate 'traces' of how Lu Bu may have impacted and traumatized the witnesses
in addition, Xiahou Dun reiterates how historical accounts also have to accommodate considerations of morale management (the added nuance this time though is not simply that historians are mere functionaries of hegemonic factions or that the texts are tools of warfare and statecraft, but that those compiling or redacting the accounts are themselves schemers in their own right in a similar way that composers of stories plot and scheme to manipulate readers into going along and passing the story on to others)
and even after the chapter, Chen Mou's own remark has to do with how Ravages resembles or refracts contemporary struggles (a wink and a nudge that Ravages can function as social commentary)
Here we see how the reputation of merchants were drained and thus painted by them repeating the same thing, as if they were patriotic and as if Cao Cao is a helper of talents, while instead he is just draining everyone around him, forcefully or not. This guy right here is openly criticizing Cao faction, which basically warrants a death sentence, but he is probably enough into melancholy and alcohol to ignore that fact. He is unfortunately to him on Cao's territory or else he would enlist in Liu's army but oh well, he lost the family already. On the other hand we also see how Cao's internal propaganda works but its barely standing and he has to change the war, for which Xun Yu is against and will have to face the consequences
I also like how that guy who is criticizing the Caos is right and presented as such, while in LotGH he would have been presented as a rapist instead (now you could say that him being a rapist presents that the Empire is giving a bad example to their people, but you can’t deny that him being a rapist completely undermines his credibility, especially when the Empire is not really taking responsibility for their actions and even killed these rapists right away, in front of people, to instead make them as bad example and not claim their own responsibility)
There was also another character introduced from the novels, who was sold out and it was a pretty cheap scheme, but here we see him already decoding the family problems and deceptive schemes that are being played out right now. And the war that was kick-started in the next chapter was probably a lead by that/him.
In another scene, we have soldiers talking to commanders, which basically showcases for how hard it is for commanders to not let the overconfidence be cultivated in faction, so as to say that, like, whenever in generic stories geniuses are being blamed for being overconfident - while not really everything is up to them and it's all just part of a propaganda that the commanders can't fight against, when your soldiers are just some battle hardened people
That's why Liu's squad stand outs for being full of opportunists and actual people who fight for their country on their own (given the fact that they were hardened individually already - rather than being trained as a soldier, just like everyone else who enlisted with each other), which for some reason should have been more presented in Lotgh's democratic side but was not there
The last thing are the callbacks that are not just mere repetition of older frames, because its more grander, as the whole structure is being repeated in mirror fashion - in the previous arc it was the case of Sima clan massacre which was immediately followed by Lu Bu's Xiapi arc, with in between Liu Bei's development of finding his own "waters" as a fish - Now, as they mentioned what happened in Xiapi, Ma Chao appeared, whos body shape is purposely drawn as Lu Bu's body shape and according to history, its supposed to be a bloody arc, in which Cao Cao will butcher a family, about that he was already called out as a hypocrite in Xiapi... Here is also Lu Bu's right hand man and another legacy looking at "himself", as a mirror, with a stance with which he was introduced at first as " Lu Bu's clone". Him standing on Lu Bu’s horse may as well be a nod to him standing on Lu Bu’s era/fame.
It was also speculated by the characters that this whole situation was arranged by Zhuge Liang. So, the previously elaborated introduction of 8th is giving us a room for speculation for ourselves - first thing’s first, his similarities with Zhuge and possible connections with Ma Chao (and even Cao camp) and then there is this mirroring callbacks, as an ‘alternate reality’, which is very similar to what happened in the four commanderies arc.
PARALLELS
And now that we finished about the character foils, let’s talk a bit about parallelism in general.
Definition from TV Tropes: ‘Essentially, the A-plot is repeated in miniature in the B-plot. By looking at the results of one, the main character or audience gains a greater understanding of the other. This is a fairly common variation on Two Lines, No Waiting, as it gives the story layers and depth while remaining concise. It allows you to more fully explore each story — they prop one another up.
For example, suppose the A-plot has the heroine trying to get a pair of rare birds to mate. The subplot is the heroine is in denial about being in love with her best friend. By getting the birds together, she realizes she is in love with her friend. Another example: A lawyer defends a client who is accused of incompetence because of his age. The B-plot shows the lawyer worried that he's too old for the job. In defending his client, the lawyer realizes he's not ready to retire yet.
Often results in a Double Aesop, but not always; not all examples have characters learning a lesson. For example, the main plot of King Lear (Lear banishing faithful Cordelia and being betrayed by his other daughters) is mirrored in the Gloucester subplot, where Gloucester disowns faithful Edgar and is betrayed by his illegitimate son Edmund. The two stories are obvious parallels, but nobody learns anything from them (except the audience, who learn to be horribly depressed).’
As a core example of indirect usage, I will take the 406th chapter, continue to continue - it was already examined in detail, thus we can get straight to the point.
This scene is a parallel to that scene when Taishi Ci was recruited by Sun Ce, so it is basically a two-sided mirroring of both, the one who got recruited and the one who recruited.
including Taishi CI's death also was a decision that helped to elevate the arc, as it allowed an extra weight to be felt from the battle. The clash of Chibi/red Cliff is a major event but it lacks much loss among the primary cast we follow. Moving his death gives a sense of sacrifice to the Sun clan coupled with Zhou Yu's soon after without having to make up a character like in John Woo's Red Cliff. We've seen Taishi CI and Zhang Liao develop in their respective arcs as protagonists in their own rights and now they are locked in a fight where only one can live. Similarly the battle if Red Cliff is the exact same thing only on a larger scale for each respective cast.
So let us first focus on Taishi Ci. when Sun Ce was talking about loyalty with umbrella and recruiting Taishi Ci, he was covering sage's blindness (symbolized by the bright sun - another layer being that it is hard to look at the sun, in a sense that it is hard to determine the truth behind the loyalty on your own, as it is as hard to question the loyalty as hard it is to look at the sun) with his umbrella. So if in that scene Taishi Ci was recruited, here it was his departure. Only this time, he was not getting enlightened as there was sagely sun to blind him, instead it was a night, amidst the rain - and yet he still was seeing the sun, meaning he knew from Sun Ce that loyalty was a method, but he still choose to be blinded by it, because Sun Ce was a man he respected and saw as a brother. A man worth being blinded for. People should remember that it is up to them towards who and what they are loyal to.
Taishi Ci's role here is swapped, now not his soldiers (by his command), but he is the one suffering because of the misjudgement of the commander and that commander is now getting persuaded by the enemy to question his loyalty. This time ordeal is not only complex because the strategy regarding the subject matter got even more solid, as him being persuaded by Cao is part of the plan, but also because of how Taishi Ci's deeds are mirrored and subverted (because they did not defect because of lack of loyalty and yet it still was presented as flawed and the oldman refused to not be punished (just as the kid wanted to bathe in sun to feel whatever the enemy felt)), as he was the young wave criticizing the old age back then, yet now it was reversed and he is about to reap whatever he sow. Basically, the old and the new generations exchanged places. in that both 'defected' due to (an alternate understanding of) loyalty.
In case of Sun Quan, it is a difference of weather - if it was a sunny day in Sun Ce’s case, as he was dealing with external factor, the soldiers, in terms of alluring loyalty with an umbrella in his hands, in Sun Quan’s case it was but a rainy day, as he was dealing with internal factor, including advisers and everyone else on top of soldiers, in terms of alluring corruption with an umbrella, that he discarded as a symbol of breaking the hierarchical status within the faction. After all, if they were to give in to Cao Cao, their whole war would be in vain, as everything else would go to the corrupted state again and as Cao Cao had ever expanding power, he could undermine the Sun clan exactly in the same manner as the others were doing it.
About this scene I also greatly appreciate the fact that Cao Cao tried to resolve the situation without waging the war first and foremost, even if in vain.
Well of course, there can also be found several other parallels even within Sun Quan’s character alone so let’s use the opportunity. We can take 526th chapter as an example (and few scenes from chapters around - to give more examples of subtextual action that were made there, that may as well have served as a foreshadowing and ‘show-don’t-tell’)
As a preface, let’s establish one thing. Parallel between Zhao Yun and Sun Ce is made by Zhao Yun few times saying the ‘catchphrases’ about lumping everyone together to save the same and weapon slipping (we do know that Zhao Yun has heard of these sentences, because they have met each other long ago) of his in front of Sun Quan. And of course a mere passive-aggression was not the point of throwing some cool lines - Zhao Yun may as well represent the inner dwelling grief of Sun Quan that he has a hard time to overcome as he is forced by tradition to care more about the general picture rather than his own family. Considering that Zhao Yun is also dealing with loss and coping with it by getting his emotions number (and getting one with the numbness of his senses), the parallel gets more likely as they are foiling each other.
This similarity helps to entic the emotions within Sun Quan, towards Zhao Yun. the 526th chapter opens with him describing Zhao Yun and foreseeing his omen - “you once changed the world, but it was only to pave the way for someone” and “there is no one coming to rescue you…” indicates that he noticed the parallel between Sun clan leadership and Zhao Yun and said words could also describe both Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. He now believes that leadership of Liu Bei is similar to what he is expected to be doing and talks as if he has a high ground, but in reality he is just projecting as he is contemplating just who has left to remember and care about him - “will your master care about you when you return? Be they the current or the former? How many of your old comrades remain?”... Also note how Zhao Yun mentioned that his lord has returned, considering he has great hearing capabilities and Sun Quan, who does not have such capability, thought it was just a wishful thinking of his… and yet he cares as much about Sun Quan life, as much he cares about his sister’s life - he does not give a damn.
Talk about Lady Sun… she is exactly who Sun Quan remembers next as his existential crisis has kicked in - if even his (Quan’s) sister is going after Yun, rather than to him (Quan again)... how can he discard all of these things and sacrifice himself for the greater good? - and exactly the parallel is what made him realize that you should just do some things without really haggling over certain unanswerable things. If it was a dream, there would have been flowers scattered around… but all he sees is just a chaotic dust on a hard ground, a metaphor on its own, as Sun Quan’s expectations have begun to crumble on its own, to the point that Sun Quan even shouldered Yun’s burden in hopes to connect to his sister as well and the final nail to that coffin was Liu Bei’s arrival, when he showed brotherly love and how he cares about Yun at least as much as the general picture… So if he (Quan) can’t live in a dream, then how come Yun is living Quan’s (at least from his perspective) dream? Even Zhao Yun did not need Sun Quan anymore.
He witnessed what he himself always lacked and very much needed to see - True brotherly love. And now was the time when he wanted to have experienced the same, the most. (Un)fortunately, in this exact time our protagonist, epitome of human empathy (sarcasm btw), who even dared to look identical to Quan's brother who just died, arrived with the salt to drop all over Quan’s earth - He just slapped Quan's hand coldly, with no love/care whatsoever… Not only his dear sister, but even Yi favors Yun..
The destruction of the expectation and as well as Sima Yi and Zhou Yu having identical faces are thematic parallels(call-back) on their own.
The expectations of family could be connected to the Lu Bu’s expectations of loyalty, from the 123th chapter.
-Lu Bu was talking about ignorant people being ignorant, Sun Quan - idiots being idiots.
-Both in the middle of their beliefs being shattered.
-Both are facing the characters that are basically mirroring each-other, Yun and Wei.
-Similar sentences about crying, laughing.
-Lu Bu even talked about dust, while we had dust drawn here.
( I find the deliberately tilted panels in 526 somewhat amusing, almost like a visual metaphor of shattered expectations )
This parallel helps to emphasize that Sun Quan’s reputation is in shambles (in the next chapters) because of his attitude.
And in case of identical faces, it was a deliberate move from the author from a long long ago. it was mostly for the perspective of Sun Quan - Both of them raised Sun Quan and he was in-between their clans and both of them, on the surface (the face) loved him as a family member and both of them, on the inside, prioritized their clans (Zhou Yu's "clan" representing the cooperation, while Sima Yi's "clan" representing the individualism) and, as a result, Sun Quan lacked love, thus had to make INDIVIDUAL choices for the sake of his SUN clan (basically, combining the two), while still maintaining the conflicting emotions towards both of them (as the faces are the same, he mixes them while drunk, I would guess - as he is trying to not ‘haggle over certain things’, he is drinking alcohol to cope with it and keep his mind distracted)
At least, now he understood the very essence of Art of War. thinking outside the framework was not only to use the Art of War as another tool of warfare on its own, but there was another layer - to learn how to live a life. But he still has to learn the final lesson and the next few chapters will take care of that.
In their next chapter, we see Sima Yi ‘encouraging’ Sun Quan and patting him on the shoulder, this takes us back to the very first chapter when Sim Yi patted on Xiao Meng’s shoulder and we all are aware how Sima Yi exchanged Xiao Meng for his own agenda, which he is planning to do with Sun Quan as well right now. Businessman (harmingman) relying on you? What could go wrong? Should we ask Meng? No, Quan rather not.
Now to see it from the perspective of Sun Quan - Sima Yi is trying to cover up Sun Quan’s identity and take it away from the Sun clan, while telling the other soldier that he is supposed to remember the real job, to harm the Sun clan… this could be directed to Sun Quan as well, considering Sima Yi here called Sun Quan his own spy, in other words, a tool. Sun Quan refused Sima Yi’s hand and got rid of Sima Yi’s hand (just like Yi, who coldly slapped his hand), in other words, shackles. As he has had enough. He coldly gave Sima Yi an agreement, but that agreement holds different meaning for Sun Quan… and calls Sima Yi the master of calculation that has finally entered the scene, to culminate his passive-aggressiveness, that Sima Yi is unaware of, right now.
Other examples could be derived from the 532th chapter, like when the Sima lady placed a hand on her forehead without uttering a word and that doctor needed to see this new guy off. Implying that he is a headache and the assassin needs to get rid of it as soon as possible. So, would you kindly ‘decipher other codes’?
on the issue of repetitiveness and routine, indeed throughout the various campaigns certain scenarios and moves would resemble one another (ambush here and there, deception one after another, the same old trick of negotiated settlements dressed up as epic theatrical confrontations, etc.), but this is unavoidable insofar as mass conflicts do have common elements (people dying, people being killed, one party on the winning end while another on the losing end, etc.) and moreover that the factions make use of a similar playbook, though incidentally since they all know the tricks of the trade they can only level up by complicating the rounds and layers
the difference though seems to be that many other shows have managed to skillfully manipulate readers into craving for certain repetitions and patterns (usually on the 'action' side of things or the usual 'fan service' gimmicks) whereas Ravages hasn't been as successful in getting people hyped for the scheming game (as can be seen in the utter lack of responses here)
consider how repetitious the Kingdom battle routine can be and yet many readers look forward to the variations of heads rolling and people being sliced cleanly (not to mention the duels prefaced with some tactical maneuvers here and there)...
And as an example of more or less direct parallelism, we could use the 311th chapter. Usually in fictional works, when an antagonist and a protagonist want to achieve the same thing, the question is being bred - why do not they just talk it out and cooperate towards that goal? I daresay Cao Cao’s presence explains that well here - he definitely is trying his very best to collect the talents that have the same goal and that is why he also has in his team maybe with different ideas, but agreeable on a fundamental level and do deem each others’ stances very much needed (take Guo Jia and Xun Yu and their ‘anti-hero at war times and an able minister at peaceful times’ - even if we are in the middle of showcasing said mentality’s shortcomings as we speak). Although, on one hand, he can’t really recruit people as selfish as Lu Bu and that’s why he agreed to get the world rid of him, by Liu Bei’s advice, even. On the other hand we have Liu Bei, who is not really similar to Lu Bu, but his fundamental ideas can’t coexist not only with the ones Cao Cao is shouldering, but also the atrocities that he committed contradicts to that of Liu Bei - even if they can be worded similarly.
basically, here in 311th chapter Guan Yu is paraphrasing a passage from the Liezi talking about how sheep get lost because of the many side paths (a comment on how guiding people to the way involves a clear message rather than getting lost in the weeds)
Cao Cao's retort is quoting a passage from the Zhan Guo Ce saying that if one notices lost sheep, one responds by repairing the fences.
the difference is that Guan Yu is rebuking Cao Cao for his lack of virtue, Cao Cao responds with a pragmatic appeal
Guan Yu is getting the impression that what Cao Cao is doing (a scorched earth tactic to prevent Yuan Shao from acquiring resources, with an optional evacuation option) is similar to what Liu Bei did in chapter 5, in the sense that one city is targeted to save two (or more)
the crucial difference (going back to the contrasting passages about the sheep, the virtuous vs the pragmatic) is that whereas Liu Bei did it because he cared for the people in the cities, Cao Cao is doing it to mitigate casualties on his side
funnily enough, Liu Bei's deed turns out to be sneakier (it framed Dong Zhuo, it set up the Guandong alliance as saviors while delaying the march), though Cao Cao's policy happens to be more thought-out (those who want to evacuate can go with Cao Cao, those who don't only get looted so as to spare them from future extortion by an occupying force that would want to preserve its image and thus wouldn't harm the remaining commoners... meanwhile, Liu Bei's redistribution program doesn't prevent future bandits from just looting the city a second time)
and from Cao Cao's point of view (expressed by that commoner in chapter 85), he's forcefully evicting people so he could construct a new edifice for them, while Liu Bei's 'shortsighted humanitarianism' is merely trying to fix the roof when the foundation is already rotten
one amusing tidbit: both Liu Bei and Cao Cao deprived Yuan Shao of future loot
on the other hand, Cao Cao's version of looting a city to save many is implemented more out of tactical and operational considerations, whereas Liu Bei's version of looting a city to save many is a sneaky attempt to rescue people caught up in the campaign
oh, and Ravages actually quotes from the 'legalist' thinker Han Feizi (whereas Kingdom doesn't)
on a slightly related note, the historical accounts frequently use a cunning euphemism for certain deaths, by saying that someone 'died of grief'
Not to diminish mental trauma of course, since it's those mental traumas that would push them to commit suicide or lose the will to live
it's amusing when Cao Cao diminishes himself to make a prudential point (remember when he said he isn't as heroic as Lu Bu)
and this subtle smirk that can be missed easily, when Guo Jia said exactly what Cao Cao wanted to hear, just like Cao Cao was telling Guan what he "wanted" to hear: ‘hegemons always resent heaven anyway.’ (let’s not forget that Guo Jia is, in some manner, manipulating Cao Cao, ever since they met for the first time)
Of course Cao Cao himself has more parallels, even with Yuan Fang. One of the notable ones is the meeting with an emperor - just like how an Emperor questioned Dong Zhou for being late, he got slapped by an Emperor with the exact same line as an excuse. This parallel foils how Dong Zhou and Cao Cao are the same, just with different facades (that get embraced or discarded by Cao Cao, as he progresses)
ALLUSION
I also enjoy all the references to the Chinese culture in “The Ravages of Time” (like quotes from Cao Cao’s poetry or the song performed in the manhua by Xiao Meng/Dioachan), but sometimes Chan Mou surprises me.
For the first appearance of Cao Cao he used the famous “Bronze Horseman” statue of the first Russian emperor Peter the Great as a reference.
I don’t believe it’s a pure coincidence: after all, Chan Mou similarly used the famous Christ statue in Rio as a reference for drawing Xun Yu, the embodiment of “Light” among the Eight Geniuses, with the intention to emphasize his noble and merciful personality:
Like Cao Cao, Peter I was a skillful politician and a charismatic ruler (though not a renowned poet or a talented military commander).
But the main similarity is that these words attributed to Cao Cao could have been said by Peter I as well: “In peaceful times we may esteem moral conduct, but when there is trouble it is achievement and ability that is rewarded” (治平尚德行，有事賞功能。).
Peter I didn’t discern between high and low born - an unthinkable idea in that age, especially among the rigid Moscovian society! He introduced a new legal mechanism, the Table of Ranks, that provided a chance for talented commoners to make it into nobility by serving the state. Among his closest friends and followers were both peasants and scions of the highest-ranking boyar families, adventurous European immigrants and even a black African slave (who was raised as Peter’s godson, and whose great-grandson later became the greatest Russian poet). What mattered most were abilities. Under Peter’s guidance and leadership these talents flourished: they worked and struggled together, fought in wars and built industry - and thus the Russian Empire was born.
Peter I’s progressive reforms (often enforced by rather cruel and tyrannical means) turned Russia from a weak backwater into a powerful state, equal to the most prominent European countries of that time. They also made him a controversial figure in Russian history. He was (and sometimes still is) hated for breaking age-old norms and traditions. Just as Cao Cao, he didn’t escape bad publicity, having even been called the Antichrist by the Russian Orthodox church.
I wonder are there any other monuments references in the manhua that I missed?
THE IRONY
Now let’s transfer from contradictions to something similar to contradictions - ironies of the world. The Emperor rescue arc from the 19th volume will serve as a fine example. I will write with capitals the words that were taken from the black texts, the texts that are placed at the end of the chapters.
in particular I'll be highlighting the ironies discussed and how it indicates that basically Ravages has an ironic appreciation of its sources and thus an ironic approach to its storytelling
note that irony (for those used to using the term 'ironic' loosely) has something to do with the modes of distance and incongruity and alienation between one thing and another
AN EMPEROR’S WORLD HAD TO BE CONQUERED, AND THAT IS THE ROOT OF THE IRONY
Volume starts with Sima Yi adapting to the loss of Huo and he also does not want children to learn about what happened to Xiao Meng - that is to highlight the irony, that these children were making the most fun of Xiao Meng, and yet they still care about him.
Now to Liu Xie... it's regrettable how Ravages doesn't give that much attention to the emperor (and the imperial court in general)
but that aside, in this arc at least we see glimpses of Liu Xie as a reflective thinker in his own right in the series (the historical accounts and the novel don't really flesh him out that much since he's seen more as a background prop of a dying regime)
note the situational irony Liu Xie finds himself in, he's supposed to be the son of heaven, and yet he's tagging along with a retinue that he does not fully control, fleeing from warlords he is unable to control
this then leads him to ponder about the kings of old (in particular the kings of Zhou who saw their prestige and authority decline throughout the spring and autumn and warring states periods - though back during the old days the ruling order in the central plains was not really as centralized)
amusingly enough, 'wang' [王] ('king') used to be the preeminent term for the son of heaven (but then the lords of the rival states started appropriating that title and so after Qin conquered the other states Ying Zheng called himself 'huangdi' [皇帝], practically deifying himself, and by the time of Han 'kings' or 'princes' are just reduced to being titular nominal bosses of a glorified commandery)
and so there is something poignant about how Liu Xie is comparing himself to 'the kings', as if he were reduced to a mere titleholder in comparison to imperial prestige and power
whether you are into conquest or governing, whether you are a liar or virtuous, whether you are a proud son of heaven or a treacherous vassal ("the high ranks want power, the low ranks want power... never-ending") - you should be proactive, rather than reactive, if you want to accomplish things. Power is not only used in brutality, after all. See, even these flatterers had to take action. Only decline and eventual death comes from being passive, everything else requires effort
now things get trickier when we consider the various theories of rulership and governance in the central plains, and this ties in to the perennial tension between the civility (wen [文]) represented by 'men of letters' and the martiality (wu [武]) represented by 'men of action'
there's the confucian notion of 'rectification of names' whereby for things to be in order people just have to learn and stay in their place (thus rulers rule, ministers minister, parents act parentally, children act filially), and for the emperor what's needed is to live virtuously, follow the rituals, set an upright example, sponsor virtuous teachings, and leave much of the specifics to the ministers
and then there's also the taoist notion of 'wu wei' where the best form of governance is one that is effortless and not forceful
note that the counsel is not about being inactive, but rather that the ruler as the son of heaven must behave and act in subtle and elevated ways (with the expectation almost being, all the emperor has to do is exude moral authority like a super-parent and the ministers will get to it and implement the righteous decrees)
the irony being that from the standpoint of those below, it looks as if the emperor is merely spectating
in contrast to the ideal of sagely rulers, there are the teachings about what a good general is supposed to do, and the qualities tend to emphasize boldness and decisiveness and even the prudence to disregard orders from rulers
and this is where the irony kicks in... those who found regimes are not sages but generals who conquered their way into hegemony
To foil the emperor, now he have a focus on a crook (soldiers look above him and his "system") who is also passive and has ruined reputation, but their paths diverge later on, when crook will remain a crook and eventually death will come to him, but, on the other hand, emperor will stand up and will make use of his clout. (irony being, that diving into darkness allows one to appreciate the light)
to be fair, the related theories about the mandate of heaven emphasize what rulers are supposed to do in order to maintain the favor of heaven (and thus serve as a warning that rulers do not have an absolute right to do as they please)
what's not stated (much less defended) in the moral appeals is how exactly the mandate is transferred from one representative to another (and that's where the chronicles and annals and heroic folktales and military treatises come in, recounting and at times celebrating the blood and guts and trickery in the process of transition)
an emperor's world had to be conquered
now this can mean either that a new conqueror emerges and establishes hegemony, or a successor manages to tame residual unrest and prove worthiness to continue hegemony (incidentally this is why Yuan Shu can speak of usurpation as a tradition to be 'continued')
what's ironic about the situation is that the ruler, the son of heaven (and remember that this position is different from being a mere boss or superior), must rule with a clean hand on the one hand but must also rely on a dirty hand on the other hand
that is to say, that the ruler is neither sage nor general but must somehow bridge aspects of both (or make use of both)
note that the irony is not in the messy power struggle or in the call to virtue, but in the messy power struggle so that one secures the position of a sponsor of virtue (in other words, the irony is due to the pretentiousness and prestige of the imperial figure... imagine the incongruity in the wish for a better world but also insisting that one be placed in charge of it for the perks)
if everyone practiced virtue there wouldn't be a need for a superior pacifier, and if everyone just wanted domination there wouldn't be a need for the ceremonial role
I should also add that the 'legalist' solution (to eschew all talk of virtue and replace it with law enforcement) merely mechanizes the irony and gives the ruler a pass (by presuming the ruler to be above the law), the ironic situation remains where the lawgiver must first act without law to found and impose a legal order
before moving on to the first (derivative) irony in 152, I note how Zhang Ji offers another expression of irony, and that is by way of ironic detachment (with a dose of cynicism) to the shenanigans going on
an amusing irony here is how a ruled subject finds it easier to walk away (to some extent, by exile or escape) from the fallout of the chaos under heaven whereas the emperor, the son of heaven, is tied to it (and whose reputation and legacy depend on how things are pacified)
one other ironic thing revealed in his musings
the son of heaven requires authority and force to compel others into submission (so that the pretense of ruling by virtue can be upheld), but when the power dynamics change and unrest develops, the (disempowered if not ousted) son of heaven gets blamed as someone lacking in virtue (or bearing the responsibility for the predecessors' moral failings), haha
152 opens with the floating text that it is ironic when those with 'aspirations' (I suppose this can mean either grand ideals or bold ambitions) are born in the 'wrong time' (I surmise this means that the world seems unwelcome and alienating to people with such principles and desires, that they're seen as either 'ahead of their time' or 'behind the times')
consider for instance new rulers who had to face and overcome opposition, or sages and prophets laughed at and mocked in their lifetime (only to be revered generations later)
he black text flips the view and notes that the irony (in hindsight) is in how the very lopsided and desperate situations facilitated and enabled the emergence and struggle of iconic and notable heroes (and villains too), and this can be taken in different senses
first, what place would there be for heroes if all is right with the world? would someone be called a trailblazer if the innovations associated with that figure are already seen as common sense?
second, the frictions and tensions in a given social order shake things up and provide opportunities for those voices previously at the margins to gain a following and rise to prominence
third, when times are desperate, people could resort to manufacturing heroes (and heroic tales) as a way to cope (or alternatively, regimes and factions manufacture competing tales for their own gain)
THOUGH THE IRONY IS… THE HEROES ARE CREATED IN DESPERATE TIMES!
Its an interesting aspect on why the three kingdoms era is so highly revered, as part of how various warlords are responsible of sabotaging their current regime, also makes the most drastic measures of changes.
our fascination with times of unrest in general (and the people who ended up standing out even if in the larger scheme of things the heroes are not the only or even the main actors)
to put it simply, the performances worked by satisfying some particular demand from some niche (and the power struggles shape which voices and stories end up dominating)
fortunately, power struggles never end, otherwise the victors get to permanently game things in their favor
unfortunately, power struggles never end, which means the gaming continues but under different regimes
on a side note, revisiting Lu Buwei's coup in Kingdom and Ying Zheng's 'light' discourse, ironically it can be read as the 'legalist' program of solving all war by ending all struggle and setting up a rigidly defined order with the emperor on top and the subjects following all the laws under harsh penalties in the name of progress, haha
(that is what history written by victors aspires to be, but because power struggles never end, it was possible for Qin and Han to collapse... and that is the irony that Ravages is working on in its approach)
the somewhat humorous conversation between Duan Wei and Wu Xi offers a glimpse of how the majesty and management of imperial Han have degraded
the question about what makes an imperial palace can be read as an ironic echo of the supposed centrality of the emperor in the cosmic and world order (on paper it's the emperor who decides where the imperial residence will be in accordance with ritual and strategic considerations, it's the emperor who decides how all under heaven is to be organized into provinces and commanderies), and that if the emperor doesn't even plan to stay in the city anymore (as he's fleeing from the infighting) why bother protecting it
note too that Chang'an (incidentally, built close to where the Qin capital Xianyang which Xiang Yu burnt was located) was the capital of former Han before the relocation to Luoyang (and as we know in the series, Dong Zhuo forced the move back to Chang'an)
the punchier quip though would be the joke about Chang'an becoming the most 'peasant friendly' palace in history due to the food raids (made more amusing when contrasted with the stories of either victorious emperors bringing wealth to the realm, or virtuous emperors sharing stuff to the populace)
almost as if the sarcastic praise is that the emperor is so good he left the palace for the starving peasants to claim
people who read Ravages more widely remember its rough (and rather simplistic when seen at face value) remarks about history being written by the victors
but I daresay that Ravages has a more nuanced and ironic appreciation of its sources (in a characteristically 'postmodern' fashion), and volume 19 in particular highlights that
Yang Feng denounces Li Jue and Guo Si for having the audacity to slaughter Liu Xie's retinue (we can safely presume until proven otherwise that the consorts who show up in 151 named only in a special character list and according to the historical accounts died on Cao Cao's orders later on are prematurely killed off and spared the later intrigues), and what's amusing is how Guo Si's alibis would also be the same excuses that 'loyalist' ministers say when they get rid of certain factions
note the situational irony (Guo Si acting as if he were some loyalist while committing treachery in broad daylight) and the dramatic irony (those familiar with 3K lore know that indeed Li Jue and Guo Si will be branded as disloyal and incompetent warlords, but to an extent so will Yang Feng)
and then Guo Si has the audacity to lecture Liu Xie on appropriate behavior for the emperor (that the ruler should rule in the ruler's palace, that it does not befit the ruler to be wandering in some wilderness and not attending to court matters)
ironically, this disregards the idea that it's the emperor who decides where the capital is, as the emperor gets to rule all under heaven by receiving the heavenly mandate to propagate virtue and care for the people
again, I note that the irony is generated in part due to the privileged position of imperial discourse (if we're just talking about realpolitik, we see a figurehead being threatened to stay in place)
with Liu Xie's reflections we see how this arc (when Cao Cao acquires the emperor) relates to the previous one (when Yuan Shu acquired the imperial seal)
in the larger scheme of things, the position of the son of heaven after all functions as an ideological stamp of approval to a given hegemonic order (sure, in theory it's the rulers who rule in the name of heaven, but in their ruling they effectively validate whatever policies formulated by ministers that get implemented and whichever factions emerging from power struggles and social developments that rise to prominence)
Xu Huang's lesson (or rather, Xun Yu's lesson as delivered by Xu Huang) is that rulers have to assert their authority and virtue (the idea being that the performance exudes an aura that virtuous subjects recognize and worship)
the tricky thing though is that the notion of ruling makes sense only alongside the notion of following (rulers rule if followers follow, but if there are no followers how could there be rulers)
in other words, how does one who aspires to rule get others to follow as a consequence
the ideal sage kings (as represented by Yao and Shun) embody the notion that among the virtuous, the one with greater virtue and merit gets recognized as superior and the incumbent steps down in favor of a new superior
the dynastic founders invoke the narrative of forcefully replacing an incumbent unjust regime (or in the case of Qin, forcefully reconsolidating all under heaven) and receiving the mandate to deliver justice
perhaps one key insight Liu Xie learned is that at the very least, even if he never succeeds in revitalizing imperial Han, the practice of ruling (even if the policy details depend more on the ministers and the bureaucracy) involves an active theatrical and morale component, using various techniques to inspire a following and propagate virtue
incidentally, one can even come up with a version of the morale theory for rulers: if there is occasional unrest, blame it on the troublemakers (and enforce the law); if there is frequent disorder, blame it on the dysfunctional ministers (and reform the government); if there is pervasive chaos in all under heaven, condemn the warring factions as bold but ambitious and self-serving (and either admonish or punish them)
the tricky thing about the mandate of heaven though is that the stipulation concerns the conditions for keeping it (it doesn't matter that Liu Bang was a scoundrel, what matters is that he could govern with benevolence) and how one ends up losing it (Ying Zheng vanquished the other states but did not really pacify the people with virtue), but heaven is silent on whoever ends up getting it (and what's not stated is that the absence of rules means the scramble for the mandate is basically lawless, the transition could be as peaceful as Yao and Shun, or as bloody as the warring states)
and indeed this is all 'fate' insofar as the broader conditions and consequences (including the ambitions of others) are beyond the effective control of any ruler no matter how virtuous (at best a regime can simply respond to developments accordingly, and plan for potential calamities)
and only now do we begin to address the second (derivative) irony
one of the stock arguments in favor of monarchical rule (with clear succession rules) is that future rulers get to have the benefit of learning how to govern at an early age (the consolation for those who prioritize virtue and merit would be that they at least can still rise as advisers and ministers to help the ruler remain good)
of course, in many cases designated heirs become complacent in their privilege (setting aside the messy succession disputes) and end up not learning, although there are a few who take benevolent governance seriously as part of the inherited mantle
what's amusing is, in relation to the first (derivative) irony, Dong Cheng wouldn't praise Liu Xie as an exemplary late learner if his predecessors didn't mess up to begin with (or to put it in another way, Liu Xie would not be able to experience this harsh learning moment if Han did not degrade so much in his time)
153 starts with the floating text that says
it is ironic when one finally learns the way when it is too late
I suppose this refers to the situation where one takes something for granted until the regret comes much later on
in the context of Han, Liu Xie's awakening is not just a personal lesson for him, but also a lesson by association for the imperial line (his predecessors failed, but he awakens at a most awkward time)
admittedly it's hard to figure out what is ironic about the statement... on the level of imagery the suggestion seems to be that the ones who learn at dusk (incidentally I'm reminded of an iconic line from Hegel about the owl of Minerva flying at dusk a remark about the belatedness of philosophical insight relative to what's unfolding in the world) don't end up basking in the dawn of a new era
extrapolating from it, perhaps the irony is that someone else ends up benefiting from what others had to learn the hard way
when it comes to rulership, someone learns (by being disempowered) that the mandate can be lost, but someone else ends up seizing or swindling the mandate as a result
THOUGH THE IRONY IS… THE GOLDEN SUNLIGHT WILL SHINE ON THE CONQUEROR
this raises an intriguing question: the golden light shines on conquerors, but have they learned before dusk?
on that note, Sun Ce's notion of continuation contends that learning does happen one generation at a time, that the lessons get passed on to new waves (that is to say, the new waves are the conquerors who seize the day until they grow old and pass on more lessons to the next batch)
but the cyclical pattern of dawn and dusk seems to suggest that lessons get repeated over and over...
Dong Cheng expresses a relatively straightforward ironic situation (he doesn't have the luxury of choosing to sacrifice or flee like Zhang Ji has)
the conundrum facing loyalists like Dong Cheng is that on the one hand ministers must minister to the ruling ruler, but on the other hand ministers must not usurp power from the ruler
this brings us to the complicated relationship between minister and ruler
under ideal circumstances where sage kings rule, all ministers have to do is implement the wise judgments and just decrees (perhaps making adjustments and filling in the details when appropriate)
under suboptimal circumstances the compromise solution (perhaps with a tinge of self-interest as the theorists see people like themselves as the ones to help the ruler) is to have rulers delegate areas of concern to talented ministers and letting the capable govern the spheres assigned to them... however, this arrangement also provides opportunities for usurpation of authority in the name of promoting talent, and in effect Dong Cheng is accusing Cao Cao of taking that track
the ambivalence of Cao Cao's response is that he's not outright denying the ulterior motives, but he's not confirming them either
instead he pivots toward the discourse of seizing opportunities, blaming Dong Cheng for not using his authority to keep corrupt subjects in check (note that the ruler does not do everything alone, the ministers are there to minister and help in the governance) for fear of being (seen as) disloyal
the subtext seems to be that although rulers are expected to be paragons of virtue (even though in practice they hardly live up to the ideals), ministers can't avoid the issue of dirty (and sometimes bloody) hands
thus the other ironic situation Dong Cheng finds himself in is that his concern about loyalty (or the appearance thereof) prevented him from fully exercising his loyal duties, whereas an alleged usurper such as Cao Cao ends up becoming a pillar for Han (even if he's doing it for his own longer-term regime change plan, something that loyalists could have kept in check had they used their authority more forcefully)
on a side note, if I recall some 'legalist' text proposed censoring all talk of virtue and governance among commoners because the duty of commoners is not to philosophize about the greater good but to fulfill the tasks demanded of them by the ruler
now as for the third (derivative) irony, it may take a bit more extrapolation to elucidate what is ironic about the juxtaposition of 'loyalist' and 'flatterer'
suppose we take flatterers to mean those who pander to those in dominant positions (out of self-interest), while loyalists are those who care about protecting and enhancing what they have sworn to serve
perhaps the irony is that the flatterers like to call themselves loyalists and so the latter get mistaken for the former
or maybe that loyalists don't prioritize recognition and stay in the background (or even accrue misleading reputations), even as flatterers end up being misrecognized as loyalists
another way to look at it could be that loyalists (especially those loyal to a longstanding tradition or institution rather than just to some charismatic personality) either tend to posthumously flatter venerated founding figures for their own institutional gain (after all, it's not as if the sages and conquerors of old benefit from praises and rituals about them long after they have passed), or they end up flattering rulers with favorable examples (from the good old classics) to get them to conform to established ways
and then the twist kicks in with the revelation of the black text
being recognized as a loyalist in troubled periods (especially when the ruler is not distinguished) turns out to be a high level of praise (and flattery)
note how in good times when rulers appear strong much of the credit goes to them for ruling well, for appointing talented ministers, and so on... but in bad times when rulers fade into the background as absentees or figureheads, lo and behold much of the attention turns to certain loyalists as heroic pillars trying to keep things together
now when we consider that the demand is for everyone to be loyal and filial (and thus mere loyalty shouldn't be a mark of excellence but a general value for all subjects), when certain people are singled out for being a rare loyal exemplar it becomes a telltale sign of something dysfunctional (it's akin to praising a government official for not taking bribes)
THOUGH THE IRONY IS… LOYAL VASSALS ARE MORE DISTINGUISHED UNDER AN INCOMPETENT LORD
a brief note on the tragic irony of Zhang Ji's situation and decisions
on the one hand, he urges his stubborn comrades to quit while they can (rightly pointing out they can't even manage a single city) though in the process he was at least able convince his subordinates to return to farming... but on the other hand, he finds himself unable to run away from the fighting (despite his ironic detachment from the pretensions of the power struggle) due to some sense of obligation toward those he failed to convince, and all this despite him having the best chances to walk away from it all (Jia Xu even offered a way out)
he could have had his own farmland saga back in Xiliang (or in Nanyang with his nephew) but instead was killed off in a symbolic last stand (and Xiahou Dun didn't even need to do the deed except to highlight the futility of it all)
setting aside the question of classifying particular acts or situations as right or wrong, what is clear is the notion that right is not wrong and wrong is not right
what is unclear is how to transform a world full of wrong into a world full of right (the dispute between Sima Yi's theory and Zhuge Liang's theory is an illustration of the transformation problem), and heaven is silent on the matter
a hegemon can forcefully make others submit and effectively pacify the realm and yet still set a wrong example, while a reformer can advocate improvements in vain and yet still be recognized as a role model
the fourth (derivative) irony is perhaps the most straightforward of them, namely the idea that people ignore even the best of advice if it bothers them
now the black text for 155 has a deceptive punch to it, when viewed in light of the previous ironies
who doesn't like flattery
when one of the best flatteries (for long-term moral remembrance) happens to be calling someone a principled loyalist who doesn't care about flattery, an earnest tragic student who cares more about learning at dusk than basking in the glory of dawn...
the tricky thing about the pursuit of virtue is that on the one hand a good example/witness/story (compared to, say, abstract arguments) is an effective way to propagate virtue and make others recognize it (didactic tales and parables and fables last long for a reason), but on the other hand stories of virtue can become exercises in self-aggrandizement
and so, who's to say that the stories we have of able ministers are not propagandistic distortions that simultaneously offer a good example for others to emulate while also covering up certain inadequacies and making the ministers' reputations better than the reality
this reminds me of the early Liu Bei, who didn't want to glorify himself but was convinced by his bros that a heroic tale (even if exaggerated) will benefit the people, haha
now that we've cleared the main ironic points, the last 3 chapters of volume 19 should be easier to deal with
come to think of it, the rise of Qin (and more generally, the dominance of ruthless hegemons some of whom may become good enough rulers later on) offers an ironic twist to what the mandate of heaven conveys
what if 'the will of the people' is not so much that they unanimously want someone they deem superior in virtue and talent to rule over them, but merely that they just want the bloody wars to stop and will settle for anyone (even a scoundrel) who can quickly rise to the top and quell other contenders (basically the 'twisted rationality' of a battered hostage populace that Zhuge Liang denounces)
this darkens the mandate of heaven from a call to govern benevolently and propagate virtue, to a call to keep people sufficiently pacified and satisfied (perhaps the divergence of Xunzi from Mengzi is reflective of this more pragmatic turn)
to be fair Liue Xie,despite channeling the energy of successful persuasion friendship speeches in shounen series, has a point - if one insists on the confucian model of people knowing and staying in their place (and what's more, he's basically performing the moral authoritativeness expected of rulers, though the irony is that this happens at a time when the prestige of Han is at its low point)
to reiterate, it's ironic that Liu Xie gets his one chance to use his awesome imperial virtue to directly sway a cunning warlord and his troops, at a point when Liu Xie is at his most vulnerable on a physical and military level
and we never get to see him like this again even as his prestige is somewhat restored with Cao Cao's help (he's still disempowered, but that's just a return to the days with Dong Zhuo)
to add to the incongruence, if Liu Xie lived in a more sheltered and secure time (if his father had acted more authoritatively), he wouldn't have had the chance to flex those moral muscles and inspire a fleeting sense of nostalgia (because subjects like Cao Cao would have to worry more about the coercive force of regular imperial troops if he dared to rebel and disobey)
in another note, Cao Cao's 'balanced' response to puzzles of governance is notably pragmatic in orientation, seeing the tensions between martiality and civility, virtue and violence, light and darkness as a matter of using the right mix at the right situation
he sidesteps many of the ironies mainly because he isn't aiming to become emperor and be caught up in the entanglements that come packaged with the prestigious role
and then the volume ends with a preparation chapter that continues the ironic explorations, but this time without much of the drama that accompanied Liu Xie's adventures
here the focus is no longer on the tension between lofty expectations on imperial rule and the material messiness in the accumulation of power, but shifts to the classic theme of the inscrutability of human intentions (and desires), one of those engines that keep irony and deception going
note how some of the characters in the chapter play around with the reputations they've acquired (or better yet, the reputations they'll come to acquire once they become immmortalized in 3K lore) and emphasize the point, that for all that's said about them, who knows what they are really thinking about (basically flipping the setup of dramatic irony by anticipating what audiences allegedly know about them but insisting on a secret)
and beyond the usual refrain in Ravages about historical accounts being distorted by winning factions (which also involves its own irony considering that winners don't last forever and the victors of one round have no say in how their image and those of the previous losers will be manipulated by victors of the next), the more basic factor that continues to cast shadows of doubt on all attempts at re-membering what has passed would be the distance, the gap, the degrees and modes of separation and alienation between the discourse and what is allegedly discussed about...
composers of stories and records may be under the influence of regimes in their time, but who knows what they are thinking about and what they have in store for readers
however, it needs to be emphasized that for all the critiques and disavowals, Ravages does not say to throw away the sources (if anything, if the documents are treacherous, then all the more reason to keep them closer like frenemies to better conduct closer scrutiny and perform one's own interpretative betrayals)
and here I'd like to once again address the issue of prior familiarity with 3K lore
strictly speaking, one can grasp the main threads of the story without having encountered the lore before (if one is fluent in the source language or the translated languages, one can read Ravages in some way)
and yet, the ironic and critical approach Ravages takes means that the sources continue to haunt it (and the more one is exposed to them, the more hidden connections and phantom allusions and asides and inside jokes one gets to notice).
BLACK TEXTS
Now why don’t we expand on the concept of black texts? (Oh and kindly check the blog of the translator Merc for the black texts that unfortunately were not included in scanlations (as the black texts are added in volume releases)
now, Chen Mou first made use of such black texts (which sort of function as narrative/cinematic pauses, to get readers thinking about what they've read before moving on to the next section) in Not Human (his previous work)
Also, Chen Mou mentions in an interview that - Sometimes I already know the poem or mood to express on the black page(s) before starting a chapter. Sometimes for (relatively) less important segments I’ll add the words after they’re done. (this explains the varying style and quality of the black texts, but the point is that they are to be read in relation to the chapters they are attached to even if at times the connection isn't clear at first)
I LIKE TO WATCH SOME PEOPLE WHO, AFTER THEY MAKE A MISTAKE, WOULD DENY IT, USING ALL KINDS OF EXCUSES TO RID THEMSELVES OF THE BLAME. THEY WOULD ATTACH DIFFERENT THEORIES, OR PUT ON A PRETENSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND MORALITY. AND IN THE END, THEY BECOME THE ONES WITH REASON, WHILE YOU TURN INTO THE UNREASONABLE ONE. I KNOW MANY PEOPLE LIKE THAT, BUT I ADMIRE THEM - says the black text from Not Human.
because Ravages does not have a clearly delineated narrative voice, the implied speakers of these post-chapter parting words tend to vary as well (sometimes the words appear to continue what's stated in the last page of a given chapter, at times it takes on a third-person view almost as if it's Chen Mou commenting, though he already does that in volume afterwords and, as of late, serialized chapter afterwords)
the very first black text in Ravages (the one about humans living unto death with the relevant question being what one does in the middle) showcases how these additions amplify the topics touched upon in the relevant chapters (in this case, Sima Yi dreaming about his death at the hands of a monster, the question about whether to prioritize fame or money), and facilitate further thinking on the matter
this is the sort of black text I appreciate the most (but regrettably, not all black texts share the same flavor)
certain other black texts (such as the one in chapter 5) also foreshadow the forthcoming achievements of certain characters or 'spoil' the outcomes of certain events
what's nice about the way chapter 5 handled it is that the foreshadowing wasn't simply about ruining the surprise (that Liu Bei would hold Xuzhou for a while and then move on to take over Jingzhou) but is more concerned with thinking about Liu Bei's reputation (and the broader issue of historical remembering)
I AM DIAOCHAN?
as mentioned, certain black texts highlight extra monologues of characters, either to amplify the dramatic twist presented in the chapter (how could one of the most renowned literary beauties of the central plains be... a persona for a eunuch?) or simply to explore what else the characters could have been thinking
in addition, the deluxe volumes actually add more stuff in the black texts (for instance, the words in this pic are not in the regular volumes, which stop at Xiao Meng's question) perhaps to incentivize fans to spend more just to read a few extra tidbits
one fascinating style involves the construction of parallel passages to compare and contrast two figures or situations (here in chapter 7, we see the divergent thoughts of Liaoyuan Huo who as an assassin prioritizes efficiency and Lu Bu who as a warrior on the field revels in exhilaration)
in other cases, the parallelisms are established in consecutive chapters
for instance, the black text (not included in the scanlated version) for chapter 333 the last part in the mini-story of the two brothers states: A bustling world is made up of people seeking to benefit themselves.
this in turn is correlated with the black text for chapter 334 when Sima Yi covertly coordinated with the hitmen who would target Xu Yuan: A disorderly world is made up of people leaving for greener pastures.
certain black texts are made up of quotations from classical texts and famous poems (for instance, the ones in chapter 12 are from poems in chapter 8 of the Romance when Wang Yun introduces Diaochan to Dong Zhuo)
I did mention that there are certain styles for black texts that I am not that fond of (mainly because they aren't witty enough, or do not add much to the reflection even though they're still relevant in relation to characters)
take for instance this bit in chapter 16, where it's revealed that the performance of Yuan Dang who is Lu Bu in disguise reminds Xiao Meng of Liaoyuan Huo's recklessness and charm (this is basically the first indication that Xiao Meng has... complicated feelings of affection)
a similar not-so-outstanding black text can be found in chapter 18, where Sima Yi notes that he's scared of people like Zhuge Liang (the quiet mysterious sort)
it's also important to note that early on, black texts were not consistently inserted after every chapter (it's only later on that they become more frequent, and by volume 41 or so every volume chapter has them)
unfortunately the deluxe volumes don't necessarily add black texts for every chapter
one notable case of addition though occurs in chapter 73 when Sima Yi negotiated with Lu Bu:
LU BU SMILED ALL OF A SUDDEN
BECAUSE HE UNDERSTANDS HUMAN NATURE
for certain chapters with black texts, the contents get expanded
certain other character-establishing black texts nonetheless shine (of particular note is the one in chapter 23)
DONG ZHOU ASKS: ‘INTELLECTUALS CAN NOT FIGHT; WARRIORS CAN NOT WRITE. A PERSON CAN HARDLY FIGHT AT ONCE. DO YOU THINK THAT LU BU WILL BE SUCH A PERSON?’
another outstanding (and wry) example of a black text that focuses on character introspection is the one by Xu Chu in chapter 91, where it's implied that Lu Bu kept poisoning him
again, just to emphasize that black texts are presented in various points of view and thus cannot be attributed to a singular narrative voice
an erratum: late did I notice anew that Ravages skipped a black text as late as chapter 393, so I suppose the regularity really starts from volume 50 onward…
now of the various black texts, there's a certain type that I don't place in high regard: the hype posts
in some instances, they serve to foreshadow how someone will shine even greater at some point in the future (the case of Zhang Liao at Hefei is notorious for being repeated multiple times in the series just like his catchphrase about excelling at a certain range, haha)
to be fair, such black texts comport well with the action-oriented chapters they are associated with
the black text in chapter 391 presents another blatant case of hype-boosting, but aside from that it also connects well with the reflections and parallelisms in the chapter (Liaoyuan Huo being placed in a similar situation of encirclement as Lu Bu, and being called a three-surnamed slave for his shifting allegiances), so it's sort of like the fusion of both worlds, haha
taken in isolation, the hype posts look exciting but convey superficial content, but embedded with the chapter they can be magical in their own way...
for the most part, the hype posts don't add much by way of reflection (they do fuel enthusiasm for certain characters)
in that sense they function mainly to echo the wham and wow effects in the chapter, a reminder that Chen Mou can indulge in superficiality too
MA CHAO.
of course, the hype game is not exclusive to warriors
this one in chapter 77 is a little special, as it is introduced by Li Ru's monologue about him feeling small, followed up by name-dropping 3 famous advisers with grand titles: imperial chancellor Zhuge (Liang) of Shu Han, grand tutor Sima (Yi) of Wei, and grand commandant Jia (Xu) of Wei
almost as if what's conveyed is that Li Ru (even with his decent schemes) is just a player, wait until you see the big leagues, haha
lore exposition black texts about forthcoming situations can be a hit or miss, this case in chapter 124 of blatantly 'spoiling' the outcome of the Guandu campaign (with one tiny plot hole given that Yue Jin was not shown participating in the Wuchao raid) basically acts to reinforce how team Cao would evolve (and hyping up the generals in the process)
other than that it doesn't do much
certain black texts are simple in wording but work to punctuate the drama presented in the chapter (technically merc tweaked the translation a bit to better convey the meaning by using an idiom with similar meaning in english)
MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER
and then there are these simple echoes of short phrases
taken on its own, cut me seems so mundane and trite (if a bit cryptic), but read alongside the events of chapter 240 (and 239 before it)...
KILL ME.
the black texts are too polyphonic to have been composed by a single person in-universe (unlike Kingdom and LOGH, there's no stable narrator in Ravages)
but it would be fun if in the very last chapter it would be shown that either one of the eponymous duo left behind a series of cryptic notes (that would serve as a very long and fancy epilogue)
some of the more amusing black texts are those that involve witty and acerbic side comments about the situation in the chapter, showing Chen Mou's wry sense of humor
A DOG AND HIS BITCH
such remarks provide some ironic form of comedy especially if they're placed alongside particularly dramatic moments (consider for instance chapter 260, when Liu Bei broke Zhang Liao emotionally so that he could get close to Cao Cao)
on a side note, the black text in the previous chapter is translated as you are more deceitful; I am more mendacious although the passage [我無爾詐，爾無我虞] from the Zuo Commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals is more literally translated as We shall not deceive you, and you shall not defraud us (the reason for the inverted connotation is that in the source text, the oath turned out to be deceptive, and this gave rise to the idiom [爾虞我詐], the one used in 260)
YOU CHEAT, I SWINDLE
in some cases (such as that in chapter 146) the black texts focus on evocative words about vivid scenes to help convey the mood of the chapter
black texts with a similar style include the crane passages in 351 and 354 (unfortunately not included in the scanlated version)
The lone crane loves the solitude. It flew here and remained.
The crane flapped its wings and flew away.
AFTER THAT… THE CAMELLIAS BEGIN TO SHRIVEL AWAY, NO LONGER BEAUTIFUL
a related variation involves describing the aftermath of a scene in poetic terms
AND THEN ONLY CORPSES AND ENEMIES LIVE IN THAT HOUSE
fog of war settles - revealing none of the heroes
yet another style for the black texts involves posing rhetorical questions that appear to mock characters caught up in the events of the chapters concerned (to heighten the drama)
aside from the series focusing on Lu Bu throughout volume 30, there is also the black text in chapter 173 as Taishi Ci gathers a bunch of holdouts for a final showdown with Sun Ce: what is loyalty? and what is lineage?
REMINISCING HIS PAST?
on the flip side, there are black texts that offer counterpoints or rejoinders to discussions and appraisals presented in a given chapter (thus in chapter 160, to follow up on the charge that Yuan Shu does not seem to know how to limit his ambitions/delusions, the black text at least says that no one was as honest as Yuan Shu)
there can be found some sense of playfulness in how Ravages narrates and composes the drama (even if the series doesn't bother to deliberately lighten the mood with obvious cues of comic relief)
and then of course there are the more provocative social commentaries (with the fig leaf that the remarks mainly apply to the period or that they do not explicitly target some contemporary item and yet they remain broad enough to be appropriated for current events and present-day concerns)
MEN LIVE ONLY FOR LOYALTY; IS THAT THE COMMAND OF THE COUNTRY?
and for certain volumes, some of the black texts can be grouped into thematically related clusters (such as the irony series in volume 19, or the waiting series in volume 29)
as for the black text in 124, an alternative would have been to render in more poetic fashion how the training would pay off later on, rather than directly outline the achievements that remain consistent with how the arc itself was portrayed, except for that little bit about Yue Jin in Wuchao
it's not that I dislike expositions, but I like expositions done in a more... flowery or witty fashion
I've already mentioned how certain black texts wax lyrical, some would even try to imbibe a certain aesthetic outlook and an appreciation for beauty
take for instance the young grass passage... Lu Bu's world is collapsing all around him (and the text suggests that he is on the verge of tears as he fails to break out and deliver his daughter elsewhere), but amidst all the wind and rain and chaos and bloodshed, grass flutters still
another way the black texts function is by providing glimpses and reinterpretations of certain (lore-enshrined) aspects of characters that are not shown on-panel (in this case, Guan Yu in chapter 46 appears to talk about how his face easily turns red, just like his codified appearance in cultural iconography, when he drinks)
IT’S AS IF HISTORY IS SAYING, ‘FEAR NOT, YOU ARE ONLY A SELLOUT IF YOU FAIL. BUT YOU WILL BE A SAVIOR IF YOU SUCCEED’.
ONE WILL ONLY UNDERSTAND HISTORY IF ONE UNDERSTANDS HOW TO LIE.
certain black texts take passages mentioned earlier and give them new twists (in the case of chapter 264, Liu Da sees Sun Quan all grown up and hands over control of the rest of the defeated officers to him)
not all instances of foreshadowing are about hype boosts however, some are cryptic teases of tragic fates (chapter 450 being an example)
a similar style is also used in chapter 528 (which didn't make it in the scanlated version): With Jing as bait, years later the most god-like warrior also chooses loyalty over life…
One particular weaving of narration that is of interest to me is the way that, during the night of the sima clan's massacre, two overarching dreamy commentaries are joined. First is the dream that huo makes while recovering from killing dian wei, second is the "night of the new year" that both sima lang and zhang lei recall as they are under attack, and in the end we discover that, just like huo and sima yi shared a dream, huo and zhang lei shared one too. The Night of the New Year memories that weirdly surface as the massacre is taking place is odd, but adequate : the sima clan is at a (forced) turning point, and the new year is typically a moment where one considers thoughtfully what they will do with their lives in the year to come. It is a moment of joy, although here it was dimmed by Huo's absence for both Zhang Lei and Sima Lang. Who knew the night of the new year is also the night where dreams are joined, and that those dreams later join reality, as zhang lei, being rescued by the man that he scolded in his dream, thinks "Sometimes dreams and reality look the same. It seems I have already seen this coming." The night of the new year memories are concluded by huo's as he too walked in the streets, "thinking about everything", as he kills xu ding's men in darkness. It all ends with sima yi and huo's, having found their life's goal, one of remembering and vengeance. If you do not really see what I'm talking about, take the time to re-read from ch.195 to 204. The narration of that entire block of chapters is astounding and far more subtle than given credit most of the time.
incidentally, Zhang Xiu's surrender (leading up to the battle in Wan) is said to take place around the time of the spring festival (the chinese new year celebrations)
Chen Mou scrounges every detail from the sources
it's implied that the new year took place some time before those events. So it fits.
so many themes in this, including some of the ones ravages started with : the nature of dreams and its rapport with reality
now, because Ravages is not able to portray every episode mentioned in the source texts, sometimes the black texts serve as a convenient space to allude to some of them (and give them some twists in relation to the chapter)
there are also a few examples where the black texts help clarify the strategic situation in a given campaign (for example, the one in chapter 403 notes, in accordance with historical research, that Cao Cao is more worried about the plague and the winter than the risk of a fire attack which he has prepared for to an extent)
the black text can even be a bit spooky and irreverent
at the end of chapter 439 (appropriately titled 'fallen into hell' [營落地獄] ) the rumbling of Guan Yu's assault caused the box containing the severed head of Zuo Ci (who died wide-eyed after being sold out by Sima Yi) to tip over, exposing Zuo Ci's head... then Sima Yi facetiously wonders aloud, what level of man could make an immortal look on in disbelief (even though his schemes did that in the first place)
the added layer to all this is that Guan Yu would be immortalized and deified by subsequent generations (and that the story about him letting go of Cao Cao in Huarong out of benevolence and honor would be memorialized in the Romance)
WHAT DID HE ACTUALLY SEE?
lo and behold, black texts can even have their own callbacks to other black texts
(in the black text for chapter 18 when the two first met up and collaborated, Zhuge Liang let out a laugh after Sima Yi boldly predicts that the former would become the crouching dragon)
there's also the case with the black text for chapter 491 when Chen Dao finishes off Cao Chun harking back to the black text for chapter 254 when Cao Chun kills Gao Shun but the callback is part of the broader reference to the chapter... the one about Zhuge Liang appears to be a reference limited to the confines of the black text (as if this is a secret history of the crouching dragon laughing when everything goes as planned)
ALL WAS QUIET IN THE TENT. ONLY ZHUGE LIANG WAS LAUGHING TO HIS HEART’S CONTENT
There is also black text at the time when San Chuan, ready to assassinate, comes to Pang Tong and black text implies as if Pang Tong was about to big his farewell to the world and die, but that was only a misdirection.
as mentioned previously, some of them consist of quotes from classical texts (ranging from poems to treatises), showcasing how Chen Mou could draw from literary treasures or show off that he could skim from them and connect a well-picked passage to the topics and moods of a given chapter
in certain instances, the black texts are composed of parallel passages, as if Chen Mou is trying to imitate or emulate the older poets and sages
(in the case of chapter 337, the first passage someone who hunts deer is after the central plains ,which indirectly alludes to the passage from the Huainanzi cited in chapter 309, is paired up with the followup about the one hunting eagles)
certain black texts, rather than presenting in first-person mode what certain characters are thinking, instead offer cryptic and quirky descriptions about the characters involved (this one from chapter 446 a little special because someone is speaking, but about someone else)
while some such short blurbs are closely related to 3K lore, this particular buildup teases a subplot exclusive to Ravages (note that at the end of volume 55, there's already a teaser for volume 56 showing the lady Fan and telling readers that the ever-victorious general Zhao Yun will face his biggest challenge in the form of a beauty trap, a subplot from the Romance that didn't work because Zhao Yun is above temptation, but the black text adds something else, perhaps hinting that the lady may very well have a past history with Zhao Yun)
OUR LEADER LOVED TO KILL, ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH THE SURNAME ‘ZHAO’
I suppose I can wrap up this short survey of black texts with the one from chapter 263, harking back to the monologues in chapter 1
ALL PEOPLE BELIEVE IN DREAMS. WHAT ABOUT ME?
so yes it's a call back to the chapter 1 monologue. but why ? well, because we just finished witnessing the series of events that lead to Huo's motivations for killing his former master, that's why. Expertly tied in with Lu Bu's end, as if he inherited the fate/nature of Lu Bu to kill his own master. we still need the culmination and the true moment of change for Huo (that we get in changban) but otherwise, all is there. the deciding elements of the fate unravelling as prophesied
looks like the black text for 434 when Zhuge Liang unveils the results of his weather-watching goes as follows
After years of preparation, some succeed in one shot.
While others prepare again and again, determined to make the “impossible” “possible”.
the latter point pretty much encapsulates what the crouching dragon is all about in Ravages... constantly rigging the playing field behind the scenes (almost as if to generate the scenario of 'winning without fighting', one has to tirelessly struggle to get every moment of preparation right, a very exhausting method)
FLOATING TEXT
I'll be talking about the less noticed counterpart to the black texts, namely the 'floating texts' (specifically I'll focus on those portions that aren't character monologues, but I'll also touch upon the latter for clarifications)
floating texts are so-called because they're not contained in speech bubbles or thought bubbles (also, this seems to be common in chinese comics that the words aren't enclosed in boxes unless they're special, and Ravages hardly deals with boxes altogether except for a few rare cases)
the use of floating texts isn't special in itself (maybe aside of how chapter opening floating texts may be subverted by the events of said chapters), but I'll get into how Ravages uses them in a bit
it goes without saying that the first chapter of Ravages begins with a floating text (in this case, it's the dreamer's monologue)
early on, Ravages chapters did not differentiate on the level of font style between floating text thoughts and floating text expositions (although at certain times the floating texts would be bolded for emphasis)
technically the onomatopoeic big characters (with the stylized font) in Ravages would also count as floating texts, but I won't deal with them that much
there is however a difference in font between the words inside speech bubbles and the words floating outside (I'm dealing with raw scans at the moment for illustrative purposes, but once we get through the preliminaries I'll proceed to shift to the scanlations)
a special case of floating texts would be the character names, enclosed in brackets (because Ravages couldn't be bothered to enclose them in special boxes, haha)
now one rare case where Ravages did make use of boxes to enclose words occurs in chapter 479, when talking about what the Changshan style involves
and it is in the later chapters where we see that floating text monologues are written in a font style similar to the words in speech bubbles, whereas the floating text expositions (and floating text comments) retain the old distinct style
now let's start talking about how these floating texts operate in Ravages
I suppose the most useful function would be that of story expositions, where the text summarizes the broader situation in the playing field where the plots and schemes would unfold
especially considering that Ravages does not have localized maps and reader-friendly diagrams, these expositions (along with the speech bubbles of those discussing) become all the more crucial for a synoptic view of the setup
the ones with calendar dates given (whether in common era or imperial era) prove to be especially significant, especially for those already familiar with the lore and seeking to keep track of which phase Ravages is covering in a given portion
considering that Ravages kicked off in medias res with respect to the conventional starting point of 3K lore (the yellow turban rebellion which began in 184, the floating text contained a typo that was never corrected), a special exposition with an outline of events leading up to the initial situation covered at the start of the series is provided early on (in chapter 2 instead of chapter 1, which began with the dream and proceeded to immerse readers to the immediate plot point without much prior context)
people who say they're confused even early on either did not pay attention to this bit or found the crammed summary too dense for a starting explanation
the expositions are also used to summarize things that Ravages skips and glosses over, for one reason or another
imagine if the fight in Cangting (and more generally, Cao Cao's northern campaigns after Guandu) was fleshed out even more
the expositions also serve to state the salient points of the overall scheming (in case readers are confused with the rounds and layers and the smug boasts and anticipations), as well as mention certain details that Ravages doesn't depict in full (Lu Fan for instance has yet to appear on panel, but thanks to this exposition we can acknowledge that he's there in the background and can thus be added to the list of characters)
note that this particular panel is also another rare case where an explanatory box is used, but this is a soft box placed out of necessity (it would be hard to see the words in that panel with the houses)
at times the exposition can seem superfluous (for instance, in chapter 445, we're told that Cao Cao was defeated in Chibi, but readers already know that since chapter 425), but even so it helps set the tone and highlight the fallout of the situation
with this case, we can start to refocus the discussion from the pure expositions to the more literary and reflective functions of the floating texts (and this is partly why I say that Ravages has no unified singular narrator function in the sense of a presumed storyteller, because the floating texts just like the black texts can take on a variety of moods and styles)
certain expositions are less concerned about the broader events and are more focused on what particular characters are about to do (and this variation has more leeway to be poetic and evocative in its language, compared to the bland style of the event expositions)
certain floating texts appear in the very first page of the chapters and generally help set the tone and share some connection with the topics presented in the chapter
for instance, in chapter 186 the floating text suggests what ends up happening in pleasure houses (and in the next pages it's revealed that the women working in them are part of Liaoyuan Huo's informal intelligence network, synced in with Pang Tong's broader network)
some floating texts try to describe the scene and the situation in a more flowery fashion, behaving more like a storyteller than a reporter
the trickier cases involve the deliberate use of the first or second person in the floating texts... we don't really know for sure who it is that is speaking
we can reasonably infer that the sentence of the floating text in chapter 197 can apply to Sima Yi (especially since at the end of the chapter we see Pang Tong confront Sima Yi directly) and it could very well apply to someone else, but this is not a direct monologue but merely a suggestive floating text written in the first person
part of the power of the floating texts and black texts is that they are for the most part disembodied, like ghosts whispering and echoing from who knows where
some floating texts begin with a short exposition of the situation (for instance, that an earthquake happened) and would then go on to offer a sympathetic comment (after an earthquake, expect the other crises such as famine and disease to affect the people)
the floating texts even work well with speech bubbles that share space in the same pages
of course, some floating texts also play the superficial role of generating hype around certain characters
just like black texts, floating texts can also be composed of quotes from ancient texts (in the case of chapter 498, the passage is from the Zhan Guo Ce)
incidentally, the Zhan Guo Ce quotes used in the chapter (which happens to explore the prospects of the horizontal alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan against Cao Cao) are attributed to Su Qin, the diplomat who came up with the policy for the other states to ally vertically against Qin
and then there are the topic-based floating texts, bringing up points of inquiry and reflection that would be fleshed out in the chapter (or alternatively, amplifying ideas questions explored by the characters in the chapter)
those who have paid attention to the previous conceptual discussions would have noticed that some of them highlight floating texts
thus far, many of the floating texts I've showcased tend to be on the front page, but they also lurk in the middle and sometimes near the end
and what's more, certain floating texts also focus on the scheming game
of special note are those floating texts that have some metafictive aspects, speaking as if with awareness of the story as a story (or at least pointing out how events can be construed and performed in terms of tropes and conventions)
the floating text in 391 is another example of them being the deep thoughts of a protagonist, the existential stuff that moves them
floating texts can even participate in the dramatic buildup too
I suppose I could wrap up this brief survey on floating texts with a page from chapter 177 (still my overall favorite chapter, in my overall favorite volume and mini-arc), a reminder that these disembodied passages from unknown spooky voices can also offer some bit of veiled and oblique commentary about contemporary situations
in this day and age may very well apply to the conflicts and confrontations (between multiple factions and coalitions, with some players having really sophisticated intelligence networks and surveillance capabilities) that are happening all around us, that the ultimate anachronism in Ravages isn't so much the armor and the appearance, but in the way it projects CIA and illuminati levels of planning onto the messy chaotic period that is the end of Han
in my short survey of the floating texts I didn't put much focus on the monologues because, well, that's a common technique to convey the thoughts of characters
that being said, setting aside miscellaneous floating texts such as onomatopoeic characters and character names and place labels, the main floating texts can be roughly grouped into 3
the first would be those floating texts clearly identifiable with a different font style in the raw pages (and thus shouldn't be confused for monologues)
the second would be character monologues (identifiable in context, and having a font style closer to that of the words in speech bubbles)
the third ambiguous case would be floating texts that look like monologues, but are not easily correlated with particular characters
let's take a look at chapter 174, I'll be using the raw scans for the images while adding the translation of the relevant floating texts as a comment
the sun is up high, but the fighting spirit is not burning
this would be an example of the non-monologue floating text (and one can see that the font of the text on the upper right is different)
On that day, I suddenly felt the need to survive.
The moral teachings suddenly became insignificant.
based on the situation presented in the relevant pages, we could reasonably suppose that these words express Taishi Ci's thoughts during that anticlimactic confrontation (note also how the font style differs from the one in the pic above, and more closely resembles the words in the speech bubbles)
A disappointing beast.
An inharmonic era.
Everyone lives without a purpose.
Though occasionally some do make a decision.
in this case, it's not clear if this is just Taishi Ci thinking about the situation, but the font of the words is the same as that of the more clear-cut monologue cases
Others, ever eventful.
Some are idealists.
Some are realists.
Some are spectators.
when we come to chapter 406, there's this long sequence of floating texts from the time Sun Quan ends his seditious speech all the way to Taishi Ci dying at the end where the last sentence shifts from third person to first person (I suppose the final words apply to Taishi Ci, but that doesn't mean the whole sequence could be attributed to him)
the thing about floating texts (and black texts) is that they elude clear attributions of authorship apart from the composer himself
on a more basic level, the textual composition of comic works (among other relevant media formats) involves the juxtaposition and combination of words and images (by convention, speech bubbles and other such devices signify privileged links between particular passages and specific speakers, but as mentioned floating texts are so-called because they float away, as it were, from such methods of tethering and tracing)
in any case, perhaps when it comes to floating texts (especially the ambiguous fuzzy cases, the ones that float par excellence) and black texts it would be more appropriate to speak about associations and allusions rather than attribution (the game of who said what)
MATURITY
Another thing that I appreciate about the narrative is how mature it gets gradually, as if changing alongside the author (he did admit that he was inspired but Metallica and similar songs, but now got into calmer one) and his artwork and, at the same time, never feels like it is betraying its younger self and the maturity always feels planned out. It is an usual thing for an author that work tens of years on a single work to change the tone of the series as they themselves mature, so their works may start to focus on different things and get softer - Ravages’ is different, because that flow of current is always going forward and it is not about drastic changes, as the war barely ever changes drastically, to the point of it feeling a bit repetitive once you start seeing the grand scheme of things and notice some bits of patterns, but that is inevitable - what makes the gradual evolution is the fact, that if the present arc is using something, then the next arcs will both criticize what makes these things flawed, but it will also present why such things were inevitable and served their purpose for the sake of advancement, ultimately getting more and more complex. Characters themselves also represent these stages, so when they die, their era, the era that they made by their own hands, is dying alongside them. But the reputation they have cultivated will live on and will come in to fruit in one way or another and still affect the world, although merely serving as an examples and not spawning clones.
It’s been said many times in different ways that The Ravages of Time is a complex and intricate work, but such appraisals would ring hollow if its readers aren’t taking the advice to heart by broadening their horizons and deepening their engagement with what the series has to offer (beyond the casual gimmicks and the heroic tales). Without grasping the overall scheme of things, it would seem as if the Ravages of Time is throwing you in at the full potential of the warfare from the get-go, but that’s actually not the point.
Mind games are actually getting gradually better and better, it's just the fact that we are not really familiar with great strategies, so it seems to be the peak right away just because of that. Like, notice how Ravages’ actually starts with local warfare, so local that geniuses are introduced to decipher a mere scripture. The Scripture Puzzle as Allegory/Analogy (chapters 17-18): Many may remember this episode for the introduction of a convoluted riddle (with exaggerated hidden messages) ostentatiously ‘decoded’ by Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang, only for the next few chapters to reveal that the solution is part of an elaborate trap. Now consider seeing that scripture puzzle (and the many attempts to make better sense of it) as something of a microcosm to Ravages (and more generally, any text as a tapestry of meanings). One could get by and hang on with relatively plain readings that focus on individual characters (the words on the script, the profiles of the cast), but that only scratches the surface. With the aid of various tools and techniques (applying the acid of theoretical findings, folding the paper to tease out more imaginative connections, reading against the grain by highlighting traces at the margins) one can notice more treasures (or stumble upon interpretive traps and decoys) and thus better appreciate the text and its connections. Taking things one step further, just as the scripture puzzle inherits meanings from a robust tradition, so too can Ravages be explored (with extra research) as one section of (or as a distinct site in) a larger constellation. So in conclusion - the scale gradually raises, but the potential of each phase is fully realized.
DERIVATIVE
But the aspect that the readers tend to be interested before starting is - whether are they supposed to be acknowledged in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, at the very least? Answer is no. Ravages of Time is applicable to history in general, after all and it gives connection and context to its events, so you will be aware of everything that you will need to know. On the other hand, knowing stuff beforehand will most definitely enhance the experience - depending how tolerant you are to the artistic liberties and how interested you are in what was altered and for what reason.
Knowing the ‘source material’ does not necessarily guarantee that you will understand everything in Ravages right away and will love it blindly. Quite the opposite, such people as well tend to get lost in the story and traditionalists even go as far as to despite Ravages because of the artistic liberties that it took - leaving it as a mere ‘subversion for the sake of subversion’. Some of them did like the first half of the story because of obvious drastic changes, but then started to dislike the story in the second half, as the alterations were not as obvious and drastic, so they deemed the plot as predictable, not really planned out anymore and so on. There are also examples of people not liking just how little focus some of the characters get when compared to their counterparts - such as Gan Ning. Now that may be understandable, but does not change the fact that Gan Ning, for example, positively contributes to RoT’s narrative and is a good side-character on his own right. Downplaying his rowdier side and ex-pirate image (as attested in the historical account and embellished in the Romance) and instead latching on to this one bit in the historical account where he was said to have been inspired by the classics to change course and stop being a pirate even though the records say he didn't quite really behave like a gentleman after that
But the readers also should be careful about picking the correctly translated RoTK as well. For example, in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Diaochan promised that "if I fail to kill Dong Zhuo, let me die under spears" - one of the English translations render it as "swords"... so the connecting between the RoTK and RoT may be lost for the readers who picked this very exact version - in Ravages of Time, Diaochan died under spears by Cao Cao's force.
to clarify a few things
the Romance already has a number of english translations (there are 3 complete versions if I recall setting aside the other abridged translations, the one in ctext uses the old Brewitt-Taylor translation (though for some reason ctext doesn't include all of it), there's Moss Roberts' improved translation favored by much of the 3K fandom, and then there's the newer one by Yu Sumei)
about Diaochan's oath in chapter 8 of the Romance [妾若不報大義，死於萬刃之下], Moss Roberts translates it as follows: If I cannot live up to my duty, may I die by ten thousand cuts. (刃 doesn't exactly mean 'spear' but can refer to any blade)
Yu Sumei's translation goes as follows: If I do not show gratitude, may I perish beneath myriad swords! (this is similar to the old translation, so it seems she didn't try to reword things too much in certain portions)
when it comes to character reconfigurations, it's a hit or miss and depends on previous preferences and commitments (and thus not as reliable as focusing on how the plans and tricks unfold vis-a-vis the sources)
Ravages fleshed out certain figures, downplayed or marginalized others, included new characters, omitted a bunch of other names, etc.
but one thing that's constant from the very start is that Ravages made things more convoluted and meticulous than what the source texts suggest
now when it comes to reconfigurations and subversions, those revolving around characters and their iconic tales tend to be the cases most easily noticed by those who have prior familiarity with the source texts
but upon closer inspection, the more fascinating cases are those involving the rearrangement and complication of strategic and operational situations (and this is where the schemes really come in to play)
consider for instance the events leading to Sun Ce's demise in Ravages
the initial assassination attempt turns out to be a reference to how his death was recorded in the historical account (taken out by remnant retainers of Xu Gong before the planned attack on Cao Cao's home base), but this was countered by having a body double in place, in turn leading to the swift undoing of Yu Ji's faction in preparation for the surprise attack on Cao Cao (covered up by fake death reports, not to mention conveniently making use of Liu Xun's attested surrender to sneak in a surprise troop pretending to be among those surrendering)
and as the surprise attack ended in failure (because Cao Cao is fated to survive and go on to fight in Guandu), in comes Zuo Ci to order the successful hit on Sun Ce, leading to the 'hundred days of pain' sequence celebrated in the Romance
this sort of alteration that adds further nuances to the bigger picture while cleverly remixing what the source texts say becomes very elaborate in the scramble for Jingzhou (which will be elaborated a bit later on in this analysis), but such details tend to be overlooked by those who focus mainly on the theatrical aspects and gimmicks
Ravages being one more adaptation of longstanding (and regionally renowned) lore is a double-edged sword of sorts, for on the one hand it gets to draw from (and piggyback on) a rich tradition of storytelling and commemoration, but on the other hand (due to the sheer number of derivative media, not to mention the trends and debates among the broader fandom) it gets dismissed as just another marketing attempt to profit off of the classics (or worse, accused of various things by devoted students of the sources who have divergent priorities and preferences)
sadly, some of the charges betray not just a superficial reading of Ravages, but also a superficial appreciation of broader 3K lore (I have yet to see a hardcore stickler for established accounts who would impartially nitpick on the tiny details or the broader thematic and schematic points, usually what tends to happen is that the complaints zero in on 'versions of heroic tales', after all who doesn't like heroic tales and the matter of whose favorites got glorified and vilified in which ways)
To be fair, much of historical appreciation as a broader (historical) phenomenon (not just the scholarly and critical investigations and interventions) consists of canonizing certain stories and celebrating certain life-accounts, so in a sense the frictions are unavoidable...
to illustrate the ways Ravages remixes its source texts, I'll try to highlight a few cases (to go over this in much detail would require extensive preparation and intensive study, so I can only hope that these tidbits would inspire others to provide further feedback and to undertake the collective research for better understanding)
first let's take note of how Sun Ce in 171 foreshadows the 'hundred days of pain' (made famous in the Romance) after being confronted by Ling Tong
the black text for the chapter then juxtaposes it with a description from the historical account regarding how those who served Sun Ce were all too willing to die for him (in connection to Ling Cao in Ravages happily serving as a body double until death)
while Sun Ce's final moments in Ravages (see 310 and 316) are based on the Romance, the failed assassination attempt in 301 puts a spin on a tidbit in the historical account stating that Xu Gong's servants assassinated Sun Ce some time after their master was executed
another curious blending of sources concerns the death of Taishi Ci in Ravages (in the Romance this happens after the naval showdown in Chibi with Zhang Liao involved, in the historical account he dies of illness before the naval showdown, so what Ravages did was to borrow from the drama of the Romance but place the event before the naval showdown)
there's also the matter of the handover of Xuzhou as a fine example of how Ravages appropriates and reconfigures its sources
so in the historical account (which turned out to feature an even messier faction calculus of the Xuzhou and Yanzhou struggles but less convoluted in terms of the scheming) Tao Qian dies and certain elite factions in Xuzhou (seconded by the likes of Kong Rong) favored Liu Bei to take over the province
the Romance for its part featured the drama of a dying Tao Qian pleading the benevolent Liu Bei multiple times to take over, with the latter agreeing at the last moment
so what Ravages does is to have Zhang Fei prepare a forged will purportedly from Tao Qian (to cover the Romance angle and reconstruct how the tale proliferated) while negotiating with certain elite factions in Xuzhou (represented by Mi Zhu in this conversation) to welcome Liu Bei as the new boss once Tao Qian dies
on a side note, when others speak about how Ravages demands prior familiarity with the source texts, the usual exaggerated claim is that one wouldn't grasp the narrative threads and subplots of the series without the preparatory exposure
however, the added immersion to broader 3K lore (which one can dip into while in the process of reading Ravages (since at this point the 3K fandom has done much propagation work plus bits and pieces of 3K scholarship have been made more accessible)) does become crucial when it comes to noticing the allusions and inspirations in the little details (and it's not just about knowing the outcomes of battles or the deadlines of characters (or who gets what moments), these are just the superficial parts)
consider this instance in 365
those familiar with the Romance (or at least, adaptations that lean into the Romance) would notice how Pang De is foreshadowing his confrontation with Guan Yu (by advancing a variation of his famous line in the leadup to the event)
meanwhile, this unfolds in the midst of a scene adapted from the historical account (where Ma Teng sides with Cao Cao and goes against the remnants of the Yuan clan, leading to Pang De killing Guo Yuan)
Han Xuan presents another interesting case of how Ravages weaves threads from various sources
in the historical account he was appointed administrator of Changsha and ended up surrendering to Liu Bei in the scramble for Jingzhou after Chibi (unlike in the Romance, the takeover of the 4 southern commanderies was said to have happened without much incident)
in the Romance Han Xuan is cast as a minor villainous figure, and when he wanted to have Huang Zhong (who failed to defeat Guan Yu) executed this triggered Wei Yan to revolt and he was killed in the process (Wei Yan and Huang Zhong then surrender to Liu Bei afterwards)
but apparently folk memory of Han Xuan in Changsha remained fond (contrary to his image in the Romance) and he was regarded as a notable local figure
so what does Ravages do? present Han Xuan as a popular administrator who is cunning in his own right (in line with folk memory and also to make him a foil to Liu Bei), have his reputation slowly eroded (as a scheme by Liu Bei's camp and to explain the slander in the Romance), show his willingness to surrender (in line with the historical account), but then have him killed (just like in the Romance but this time it's not Wei Yan who does the deed but Ma Su)
also, for some reason Han Xuan and Han Hao are made to be related in the Romance (which may partly explain how the two have somewhat similar hairstyles in Ravages, haha)
now for some of the subtler points (this sort of reconfiguration seems to be more common in later parts of Ravages)
the more obvious detail is Ravages taking its cue from (and putting a spin on) the Romance when it comes to fleshing out the takeover of the 4 southern commanderies during the post-Chibi scramble for Jingzhou (Huang Zhong vs Guan Yu, the dramatized encounter with lady Fan)
but what may be easily overlooked by those focused on the moments and heroic tales is that Ravages implemented a sequence of events that's more in line with the historical account (note that in the Romance, Liu Bei quickly takes Nan and one-ups Zhou Yu before heading to consolidate the south side of Jingzhou, whereas in the historical account Liu Bei turned his attention southward while Zhou Yu continued advancing into Nan)
even more intriguing is when Ravages adopts the route of one continuity for a given subplot but also includes elements from the other continuity to spice things up
take for instance Ma Chao's uprising (in the Romance, this happens after Ma Teng is invited to the Xu capital and executed when his scheme with Huang Kui was ruined by a snitch, but in the historical account Ma Teng already stationed in the Xu capital as a de facto hostage with an official title is executed after Ma Chao's uprising is quashed)
Ravages already chose the historical track by having Ma Teng proceed into the Xu capital after some persuasion from Zhang Ji (Sima Yi's ally in Luoyang, not Zhang Xiu's uncle or the other famous physician aligned with the Sun clan), but lo and behold Huang Kui from the Romance appears all of a sudden, this time to get involved in an altogether different (and more sophisticated) scheme
again, these are tidbits that one gets to appreciate not simply by recalling which heroes got which moments in which version of the lore (many of the more superficial debates among the broader 3K fan scene revolve around comparisons of this sort), but by savoring the nooks and crannies and appreciating the twists and turns of the source texts, and then delighting in how these get stitched together in Ravages…
the series of events following Dian Wei's death in Ravages (from Xiahou Dun's plunder to Yu Jin's rescue) is yet another example of the complex weaving of various threads at work
so apparently according to the historical account the Qingzhou troop did pillage some areas here and there in the aftermath of Cao Cao's disastrous defeat and narrow escape, and it's said that Yu Jin led a punitive action against the pillagers (not to mention that when the Qingzhou troops told Cao Cao that Yu Jin was rebelling, Yu Jin thought of the bigger picture first and fortified the camp defenses to fend off Zhang Xiu before explaining himself)
and then there's also an episode in the Romance shortly after the battle, where Cao Cao told his troops not to trample upon some wheat fields (or risk being executed), but due to some circumstances Cao Cao's horse went ahead and trampled the fields (at the end Cao Cao demonstrated his willingness to be executed but was persuaded not to kill himself, so he cut off part of his hair as a demo)
arguably the scene involving Xiahou Dun presenting himself to be punished (only for Cao Cao to perform symbolic disciplinary action) is a nod to the Romance
meanwhile, Yu Jin's punitive action is reinterpreted as him taking out infiltrators disguised as Cao Cao's troops (basically the purging maneuver is deflected to other targets while the misdeeds by the Cao army are not denied and even slightly whitewashed)
one amusing tidbit that I may have mentioned before is how the flashback of Yuan Shu's childhood suspiciously harks back to descriptions of Liu Bei's childhood in the historical account (playing under a mulberry tree, pretending to sit on an imperial chariot) subtly reinforcing how Liu Bei and Yuan Shu are foils of one another in Ravages
I should also reiterate the point about Zuo Ci's crane imagery in the Romance passed on to Yuan Fang in Ravages (so that in Zuo Ci's final disappearance he gets to use the goat imagery as recorded in another folk account and since 'goat' is pronounced as 'yang' there's the subtle jab at Yang Xiu thrown into the mix too)
and I suppose I should reiterate that one obstacle to a more nuanced appreciation of how Ravages recomposes its sources is the excess focus (but understandable since who doesn't like heroic tales) on who gets glorified for which deed in what incident
for instance, in the Guandu arc there may be quite a few detractors pointing out how Guo Jia and Sima Yi get to harvest brownie points that should have been allocated to the likes of Xun You and Cao Cao... all the while missing out on the more intriguing details
take for instance Guo Yuan's advance toward the Xu capital (apparently in both the historical account and the Romance Yuan Shao rejected Xu You's proposal to send a troop for a surprise attack while the bulk of Cao Cao's forces is in Guandu, but it seems Ravages implements this what-if scenario conveniently thwarted as a result of Yang Xiu's treachery)
we can thus conclude that Chen Mou is truly a super-fan of 3K lore at large (even while staunchly critical and cynical about the truths of historical representation), haha. he's like a purist in a sense when it comes to writing a fictional narrative, but which begs the question that why do we have disgruntled historical crowd that, while being fans of 3k lore, are dismissive of Chan Mou's efforts. I think much of it boils down to how we canonize received accounts (not to mention the excess and unfair backlash against the Romance)
the case of Ravages though is an example (a non-scholarly one at that) of how one can genuinely celebrate and take seriously what has been received without necessarily taking their word for granted
when it comes to Romance I feel that even though the backlash is unfair mainly because it is just a personal account and hence impartiality is a luxury nobody can afford but I do agree with their rant on the roles of some of the characters where they mainly serve as foils for other character Zhou Yu , they just made Zhuge Liang into Alphago
it is the case that adaptations deviate from their sources (some more egregiously than others though most of the complaints revolve around the heroic tales and betray parasocial attachments and other ideological conceits)
differences in emphasis and preference also play a part in the complaints (those who would rather stick to the 'most authoritative' accounts tend to miss out that distortions aren't simply departures from history but also continuations of history that is to say cultural and literary and political history)
now to wrap up my portion of the discussion assuming there are others who would answer the call on a lighter note
So Cao Cao reflects about how his life story will be incorporated into a 'joke book', well…
Rafe de Crespigny notes at the last chapter of Imperial Warlord how some counternarratives about Cao Cao (painting him in a particularly negative but somewhat humorous light) appeared in anecdotal tales relatively early on (even before the codification of Liu Bei as tragic hero)
and this is why Ravages cannot simply be described and dismissed as a fanfic about Sima Yi controlling the events at the end of Han, haha
Since the source story itself is almost 1800 years old, I think basically most straightforward, less-straightforward, and less-less straightforward variations of Ravages have been done sometime before. Just to quote things that I have seen in the last 30 years, we already have Cao Cao as traditional antagonist (ROTK), Cao Cao as magnetic good guy (Souten Kouro), Sun Ce as the good .. girl (Ikki Tousen), Liu Bei as Japanese (Lord), and all three sides work together to fight legions of hell (dynasty warrior).
We can also talk about what happened in the Post-Chibi arc. the twist though is that I'll try to highlight how Ravages reassembled portions of the historical accounts and the novel (I can't comment much on other folk accounts though) to construct a richer and more complicated world (while providing commentary on its own sources)
now, longtime readers may be very well aware of how Ravages recharacterizes specific figures and discrete events in 3K lore, but here I'll stress how these particular changes combine to rework the wider situation (specifically in the scramble for Jingzhou for the purposes of this discussion), and I note that this sort of wider view is enabled by familiarity and engagement with the lore which then leads to the exaggeration that one needs to know the period thoroughly to even get into Ravages
I refer interested readers to chapters 6-7 of Rafe de Crespigny's book Imperial Warlord (for the historical background) and chapters 51-57 of the Romance (for the novel retelling) if they want to explore more details about the source texts (and better appreciate the reinterpretations in Ravages)
what matters for this discussion is helping readers appreciate the big picture (and the relation of Ravages to its sources)
I guess before starting we first address Chibi
it has been glorified and celebrated as this epic naval battle (with a mix of clever plans and heroic moments, involving the 3 factions that would go on to found the 3 kingdoms) in 3K popular culture, although some historical researchers (such as de Crespigny) would note that the battle itself need not have unfolded as a grand clash (the encounter is nonetheless significant in that it frustrated any prospect of reconsolidating the territories of Han in the short term)
now what Ravages did overall is that it retained some aspects of the novel (Zhuge Liang predicting the wind, Guan Yu blockading Cao Cao), acknowledged the broader factors that contributed to Cao Cao's loss and withdrawal (the plague, the unfamiliar terrain, the southward migrations), and most importantly ramped up the schemes (the number of fire attacks, Zuo Ci and his drugs)
some disgruntled detractors may complain that the arc was more convoluted than it was exhilarating (given all the preconceived notions and built-up expectations), but I think the complications help make the Ravages remix stand out. It was a climax of the first half, of course it would be convoluted and full of "action"
Chibi (along with Guandu) is generally treated as a high point in the battles before the end of Han, so I could understand that readers would have expectations as to the portrayal. readers (naively or stubbornly) must have thought Chen Mou would just give in to pure indulgence given all the weight of tradition, haha
so the Romance has all this drama and embellishment about how the fire attack unfolded and destroyed the bulk of Cao Cao's force, while the historical account provides a more deflated picture where the fire attack destroyed many ships, Cao Cao decided it's not worth it to continue (with his troops suffering from illness), had the rest of his ships destroyed, and ordered a withdrawal (which may have been more disastrous than the battle itself due to the weather and terrain)
now what Ravages does is it takes those various factors into account and repackages them as layers and rounds of scheming (Cao Pi burning empty camps to lure the Sun army, the wall of fire ships as deliberate sacrifices, Hua Tuo being detained to deprive Cao Cao of a good physician, Zhuge Liang's weather calculations, etc.)
in the end, whatever the differences in details, there is common agreement about the outcome: Cao Cao withdraws north, Cao Ren is initially assigned to defend Jiangling in Nan commandery (and that's where much of the scramble focuses on, not counting the adventures in the 4 southern commanderies)
as for the overall framing of the Chibi showdown
in the Romance the emphasis is on Cao Cao's arrogance, Zhuge Liang's brilliance, Liu Bei's determination, Guan Yu's honor, and some help from the Sun clan in the historical account (note that the presentation is in the form of biographical entries and annals, so relevant figures can be framed as heroes in their respective chapters) perhaps the dominant narrative is that of the bravery and cunning of the Sun clan for daring to face and beat Cao Cao with some help from Liu Bei in Ravages the emphasis is on the multiple factions scheming against one another with occasional bouts of heroism, haha
the contrasting dynamics in the scramble for Jingzhou would be roughly similar, but with Cao Cao taking a backseat until his surprise return for the secret battle in Ravages before Zhou Yu's death
I note in passing that the tidbit about the surrender of Xi Su (erroneously translated as Gong Su in the page before this) is attested to in the historical account
one interesting detail revealed in the page concerns Zhou Yu's long-term plans to wage a campaign to seize Yizhou and the Chuan region
in the Romance Zhou Yu's insincere attempt (but really a plan to take over Jingzhou) is brought up later on (after the scramble for Jingzhou is settled in Liu Bei's favor), in the historical account it is alleged that Sun Quan offered to team up with Liu Bei (after the latter took over the 4 southern commanderies) to take Yizhou but Liu Bei protested against attacking a clan relative (even if he would take the province for himself years later, haha), whereas in Ravages it's shown that both Liu Bei and the Sun clan have set their sights on the west early on
with these situational shifts in the background, Ravages has basically rendered the whole scramble a whole lot messier
but what's even more amusing and astounding would be the divergences and rearrangements in the order of events regarding the scramble for Jingzhou
so in the historical account, Liu Bei proceeds to take the 4 southern commanderies (without much of a fight, as the 4 administrators surrendered) while Zhou Yu is trying to take Jiangling from Cao Ren
in the Romance (see chapter 51, which I'll post in a bit) the struggle for Nan commandery (and Jiangling, which is the main stronghold for the commandery) ends in Liu Bei's favor before he proceeds to go south to consolidate his control over the province
Ravages basically follows the historical order, but adds the fights for the southern commanderies from the Romance
now, the Romance wrapped up the Nan commandery front quickly in just 1 chapter (and made Zhou Yu and the Sun clan appear weak in the process) so that it could spend the next few chapters detailing the heroic tales of Liu Bei's team pacifying the south (although there's also a side story about Taishi Ci's death at the hands of Zhang Liao), and then moving on to the marriage subplot (while showing every step of the way how Zhuge Liang is always a few steps ahead of Zhou Yu, who dies frustrated)
to be fair, the stories are amusing (especially if one is rooting for Liu Bei from the start which means those favoring other factions tend to be upset about these fabrications)
by contrast, in the historical account it's the fight for Nan that took long, Liu Bei's team suffered some setbacks in the northern front after taking the south, Cao Ren is forced to retreat north near Xiangyang since his position in Jiangling is untenable, the marriage happens as some sort of convenient arrangement to confirm an alliance
essentially, how Ravages negotiated with the 2 main sources is that it followed the historical account with regard to the broader scramble (that is why in volumes 56-60 we are shown glimpses of what the Sun clan has been up to), inserted elements from the Romance with regard to the southern commanderies, returned to the northern front (to deal with some unfinished business) after the pacification of the south, reconfigured the marriage subplot to connect it to the unresolved scramble (because in the Romance the marriage was supposed to be a trap to one-up Liu Bei after he gains the province), and then made up original subplots in the leadup to Zhou Yu's death (and Sima Yi's reentry into the scene)
in addition, Ravages displaced Taishi Ci's fight with Zhang Liao (at the first Hefei showdown after Chibi in the Romance) into the Chibi arc (before the naval battle since in the historical account he dies of illness before Chibi)
not counting the various alternate character interpretations (most notably in the case of Fan Furen/Xiao Fan), with regard to the overall setup of the 4 southern commanderies phase, Ravages introduced a few key departures from the Romance (which made things a whole lot more complicated)
first, rather than have Liu Bei's team take 4 non-allied commanderies in episodic sequence, in Ravages the 4 commanderies have decided to join forces (in an alliance of convenience) and it's implied that this arrangement had been in the works during the Chibi campaign
second (and this is even more stunning), in Ravages the 4 commanderies are in cahoots with Zhou Yu
note that in the historical account, Liu Bei took the 4 commanderies to quickly consolidate his influence (and thereby be in a better position to negotiate with Sun Quan when it comes to Jingzhou)
in the Romance, Liu Bei (who quickly gained Nan commandery due to Zhuge Liang's scheme) takes the 4 commanderies to strengthen his grip on Jingzhou and to ensure he doesn't lose control of Nan (thus far in chapter 52 his only excuse to exercise control is that he's doing it on behalf of Liu Qi, the elder son of the deceased governor Liu Biao)
in Ravages, the dynamic follows the historical account (since Nan commandery is still held by Cao Ren, and Zhou Yu is leading the attack on it) but lo and behold Zhou Yu prepared a diplomatic trap to bog down Liu Bei and prevent him from consolidating before the Sun clan takes Nan (at this point, Zhou Yu has even wrested control of Jiangling, so he's ahead in the race early on)
but just to sum up the tale of 3 narratives
in the historical account, the Sun clan strikes north, Liu Bei strikes south, they negotiate afterwards (and Liu Bei gains Jingzhou while the Sun clan takes bits of Jiangxia commandery)
in the Romance, Liu Bei takes north, Liu Bei takes south, Liu Bei takes lady Sun as his wife, and he gets Jingzhou
in Ravages, the Sun clan strikes north, Liu Bei strikes south, they try to trip each other up along the way (while other factions join in the scramble)
the historical account takes note of rebellions and unrest in the north, which may be why Cao Cao hastened his withdrawal and left Cao Ren with only a small force as the rear guard
the Romance delays addressing this matter until after Zhou Yu's death, perhaps to keep the story focused (instead, there's the subplot about Cao Cao feasting in the bronze bird tower with his officers)
Ravages establishes a further connection between the northern unrest and the southern scramble, with Sima Yi's team using the chance to take control of certain key areas (and facilitate Liu Bei's westward expansion as part of the secret deal between Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang)
another amusing twist concerns the role of Lei Xu
in the historical account Cao Cao's veteran forces were able to foil his attempted mutiny and he joined Liu Bei afterwards, but in Ravages the incident is reconfigured as a surrender deal already in the works, and designed to prevent Liu Bei from being captured during the events in Huarong
Han Xuan's segment in chapter 447 basically provides a decent overview of the overall situation of the scramble for Jing in Ravages (Cao Cao withdrawing and eventually letting go of Jingzhou except Nanyang, Zhou Yu seizing the opportunity to expand west by attacking Nan, Liu Bei using the chance to consolidate by taking the 4 southern commanderies), and we see that his plan is not just to keep Liu Bei at bay and retain his own holdings, but instead to replace Liu Bei as the third player in the tripartite balance of factions
in addition, whereas in the Romance Liu Bei took the 4 southern commanderies in sequence (with the generals taking their turn to lead an operation), in Ravages Liu Bei splits his forces to launch an operation on multiple fronts (Zhang Fei and Liaoyuan Huo in Guiyang but in different areas, Guan Yu in Lingling plus Changsha)
interestingly, in the Romance Zhao Fan and the lady Fan aren't killed off
to counter the false surrenders (and Zhou Yu's diminution trap), Liu Bei's team has a few tricks on its sleeve as well (getting the local gangs to act as distractions, flooding the area with agents disguised as vagrants/vagabonds, establishing contact with opportunists to serve as insiders and help with the takeover)
now in the Romance, Jin Xuan did not surrender and was killed by Gong Zhi, who advised surrender and defected mid-battle
but in Ravages, Jin Xuan falsely surrendered but was purged by Gong Zhi, who had been collaborating with Zhuge Liang behind the scenes (and then there's the matter of Liu Feng also serving as a mole along with Ma Liang and Ma Su in Changsha and luring Han Xuan's generals into a trap)
what's notable in the southern commanderies section of the scramble for Jingzhou is that we get to see Liu Bei's team play really dirty with Liu Bei enthusiastically going along with it, haha
a stark contrast to the Xuzhou rescue campaign in volumes 11-13
Wei Yan didn't get to have his own skirmish in the Romance version of events (though he got to kill Han Xuan when he rebelled to help Huang Zhong), but in Ravages he gets a bit of spotlight by facing off against Zhang Fei (however, this is at the expense of Jin Xuan, who was dealt with off-panel instead of being the one to confront Zhang Fei but at least he played a part in the scheming behind the scenes)
another point of divergence concerns Pang Tong
funnily enough, both the historical account and the Romance agree that Pang Tong joins Liu Bei (initially as a low-ranking official, but gets promoted with the help of Zhuge Liang's recommendations) after Liu Bei consolidated his grip on Jingzhou, although the Romance also includes an amusing episode to show off Pang Tong's brilliance (he acts lazy and finishes the backlog of tasks in a short while)
however, in Ravages, Pang Tong already plays some shady role in the scramble for Jingzhou (first in some off-panel operation in Lingling, then moving on to connect the south front with the north front by interfering with Zhou Yu's plans)
note that as early as chapter 464, we are already provided with a general outline as to how Liu Bei plans to claim the northern commanderies of Jingzhou (amusingly, Nan means 'south', but in this context it's to the north of the 4 commanderies)
the additional bonus is Chen Dao, who is omitted altogether in the Romance (so that some of the things attributed to him can be lumped in with Zhao Yun)
the idea to sneak up and take over empty cities after the contending forces exhausted themselves in the fighting is a nod to how it went about in the Romance (in just 1 chapter, where Liu Bei takes Nan after Zhou Yu and Cao Ren fought it out), but as we've seen so far, in Ravages things didn't go so smoothly…
in the meantime, we are reminded that even as Zhou Yu is busy dealing with Cao Ren in Nan, he's also keeping tabs on Zhuge Liang in Jiangxia (to prevent any surprise backstabs except Zhuge Liang anticipated that and got Pang Tong to join to deliver the backstab)
note that Liu Bei's base during the Chibi campaign is pretty much that one commandery, Jiangxia (and at the border with the Sun clan's zone of control in Yangzhou and one of the subplots in the Chibi arc involved Zhou Yu basically letting Liu Bei be stuck on the defense, although that was countered with the assassination of Cai Mao), thus Liu Bei needed to go south to reinforce his holdings
and then there's the birthday gimmick, a reminder that Ravages would make use of any and every element for a scheme, haha
even as the scramble for Jingzhou continues (basically a race between Liu Bei and the Sun clan as to who can finish their part first so that they can intervene in the other), the birthday gimmick (the merchants signaling their discontent after being 'forced' to fund Cao Cao's celebration, but really a ruse to bait the northern rebels into attacking in haste) relaxes the situation in the north, and thus allows Cao Cao to send in reinforcements to help Cao Ren
in the historical account, Cao Cao was able to deal with the discontent in the north and rally troops to deal with the front in Hefei (rendered off-panel in Ravages, and at any rate not a major confrontation)
and in the middle of the contest for the 4 southern commanderies, there's already a preview of the Cao army's operational plan on how to deal with Zhou Yu (and as we've seen, things unfolded in one complication after another)
I suppose this is also a slight reference to how things unfolded in the Romance (in chapter 51, Zhou Yu was gaining ground, then got ambushed, allowing Liu Bei to take Nan)
now, to once again sum up the bigger picture
in the historical account, Liu Bei's trip south was rather smooth sailing (since the commanderies didn't put up a fight), which allowed him to take some part in the northern phase shortly after (with a few bumps and bruises to his troops) and consolidate his position in Jingzhou
in the Romance, Liu Bei first outwitted both the Cao army and the Sun clan and thus secured Nan, before taking a leisurely pace pacifying one southern commandery after another in short heroic encounters, thus consolidating his position in Jingzhou
in Ravages on the other hand, it's all scheming and backstabbing from the start... (and the scramble for Jingzhou has yet to be resolved as of the latest chapter, because every side has been good at the game, thus delaying the resolution)
the interactions between Zhuge Liang and Lu Su in Ravages are based on their interactions in the Romance (where the two talk a lot, with Lu Su basically acting as the calmer intermediary for Zhou Yu), but the substance of their discussions is altered
Lu Su is no longer the interlocutor overawed by Kongming's brilliance and forced in awkward situations to maintain the peace between Sun and Liu
Zhuge Liang gives an excuse that they are too weak right now, so they need to rely on trickery. the excuse every faction gives, in a nutshell (but especially fitting for Liu Bei's team)
I've repeatedly emphasized how the Ravages rendition of Liu Bei's capture of the 4 southern commanderies offers a startling contrast from both the historical account (where things happened smoothly) and the Romance (where there were short struggles in sequence against a disunited group)
aside from all the maneuvering in the battlefield, Liu Bei's team also made use of insiders and infiltrators and rumormongers
one startling twist though concerns the way Ravages connects the events in the 4 commanderies to the future invasion of Yizhou/Chuan
so in the historical account Liu Bei secures the south and with his newfound clout was able to effectively veto Sun Quan's plans for a (joint) westward campaign (even though years later Liu Bei would launch the campaign for himself)
in the Romance Zhuge Liang invokes the plan to take the west as yet another con to prevent the Sun clan from claiming Jingzhou (the initial promise is, Liu Bei agrees to let the Sun clan control Jingzhou once Liu Qi dies but Liu Bei uses the time to consolidate his gains by taking the 4 commanderies)
it turns out that in Ravages, the 4 commanderies also have their own plans to expand westward (and the 8th is involved in the preparations), and Liu Bei acquires some of the info and disinfo for later use
to recap, in Ravages Liu Bei heads south to boost his forces, but it turns out Zhou Yu arranged for the 4 southern commanderies to bog down Liu Bei (even dangling promises of a partnership if Liu Bei is taken out of the picture altogether)
so the overall plan to counter it involves using various sorts of schemes to prevent the commanderies from consolidating their troops (Guan Yu takes on the main troop in Lingling, Zhang Fei and Liaoyuan Huo keep Guiyang troops occupied, Liu Feng softens up the troop in Changsha, Pang Tong outflanks reserve troops in Lingling, Liu Bei arrives with the backup force for mop-up operations)
on a larger view of things, one of the claims de Crespigny argues for is that the southward migrations over the decades (connected to the unrest in the northern frontiers, exacerbated by the breakdown of governance during Dong Zhuo's takeover) enabled enterprising warlords in the south to put up stronger resistance against reconsolidation efforts from the north (by tapping into the new 'human resources')
Ravages somewhat alludes to that dynamic by having Zhuge Liang make use of the migrants for his purposes (the Sun clan also benefited highly from these migration waves, as shown in certain portions of its campaigns when the troops prioritized seizing people rather than territory)
even the local gangs are caught up in the larger scheming (we don't really know what's going on, if Liu Bei's team instigated one gang to act aggressively and provoke the other to hit back, or if Liu Bei managed to get the gangs to work together and stage a mock battle though I prefer the latter option)
in any case, the gang wars served to distract troops guarding the locality
and part of the divide and conquer plan involves alienating Huang Zhong from Han Xuan (though to the credit of the latter, he isn't falling for the rumors unlike how it happened in the Romance although Liu Bei's agents are also busy at work redirecting mass frustration to Huang Zhong)
as Liu Bei's team sweeps across the 4 southern commanderies, Changsha (amusingly, also the closest to Liu Bei's base in Jiangxia as well as the eastern territories controlled by the Sun clan) is the last one to fall, in large part due to Han Xuan having popular support (I think this is attested to in the historical account, something the Romance changes)
now whereas in the Romance Han Xuan's attempt to have Huang Zhong executed induces Wei Yan to revolt and hand over the commandery to Liu Bei, in Ravages the preparations to take Changsha are meticulous and dirty (with Ma Liang and Ma Su planning to ruin Han Xuan's reputation, perhaps by a combination of stoking mass enthusiasm and persuading Han Xuan to send the masses to their deaths against Guan Yu, then pinning the blame on him)
on a side note, it's amusing that Zhao Tong even bothered to try this alienation tactic (since even if he had succeeded to get Cai Jian to side with him, at this point Guiyang is lost)
that being said, Liu Bei's heroic tales have influenced him and his troops, that they'd be willing to submit to Liu Bei (it seems he and the rest have entertained the rumors that Huang Zhong has already submitted although it would take Wei Yan's persuasion before Huang Zhong finally submits in chapter 484)
now a note about Liu Qi
if we recall, Liu Biao the governor of Jingzhou ended up favoring his younger son Liu Cong in the succession dispute (even though technically the position of governor is not hereditary but must be approved by the imperial court)
in Ravages (as in the Romance, but not in the historical account) Liu Cong is killed off on Cao Cao's orders (with the added twist in Ravages that rumors would be spread that it's Liu Bei's scheme since he backs the other brother)
with Liu Qi as the surviving son (and the presumptive candidate to succeed Liu Biao's office) both the Sun clan and Liu Bei somewhat hold off the issue of which among them would get to control Jingzhou... but then Liu Qi dies
in the historical account, by the time of Liu Qi's death Liu Bei already controlled the southern commanderies (and it seems Liu Bei given his clout and newfound territory may have persuaded Sun Quan to nominate him as governor of Jingzhou, thus postponing the payback until years later)
in the Romance, there's an amusing series of tricky assurances used by Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang to prevent the Sun clan from (diplomatically) acquiring Jingzhou... first, Liu Bei promises to let the Sun clan take the province once Liu Qi dies, then after Liu Qi dies (and by then Liu Bei has already seized the 4 southern commanderies) Zhuge Liang guilt-trips Lu Su into agreeing to let Liu Bei first take Yizhou as his new base before the issue of Jingzhou is revisited (and this trick triggers the marriage subplot as part of Zhou Yu's attempt to one-up Zhuge Liang)
in Ravages by contrast, the Sun clan has already stationed forces in Jiangxia (ostensibly to maintain order and help against an attack by the Cao army, but really to be in a position to take control once Liu Qi dies), and part of Zhuge Liang's scheme is to cover up the illness and death of Liu Qi until the naval fleet withdraws (we're not told why the fleets were ordered to withdraw, perhaps they are rerouted to assist in Sun Quan's off-panel assault in Hefei)
the connection to the marriage subplot is instead established by a deal: Lu Su will be handed back to the Sun clan once Sun Shu is delivered to Liu Bei
some 3K fans give the Romance too little credit (partly because of the backlash against its embellishments and changes to the historical account), but it does feature a bunch of schemes in its own right
its style though emphasizes the dramatic impact of clever people providing clever ideas (rather than the cleverness of the entire process, which is better conveyed in Ravages), so a lot of the plans are told in the context of someone giving someone else some advice
it's a fun (and lighter) read, provided one isn't too invested in the faction game to get mad at how team Cao and Sun are diminished in favor of team Liu
aside from being a red herring chapter (to troll readers waiting for the 8th genius), the episode involving Sima Min serves as a reminder that even as the scramble for Jingzhou continues, there are also the factional and court disputes in Cao Cao's domain (and as we'll see later on, these connect to the scramble as well)
Ravages even manages to drag the intrigues in Yizhou early in the game, further complicating matters and reinterpreting the significance of Zhang Song and his map
in the historical account, Zhang Song betrays Liu Zhang sometime after Liu Bei (who already has plans to take over) is invited to assist Yizhou, providing a detailed map of the province in the process
in chapter 60 of the Romance (the midway point of the novel), Zhang Song first approaches Cao Cao after the latter's campaign against Ma Chao, but is rejected, before ending up offering the map to Liu Bei
in Ravages, the map incident happens much earlier (even before the Jingzhou scramble has been concluded), and it is reconfigured as part of an elaborate disinfo campaign
and what's more, there's an acknowledgment that Liu Zhang may not have been that incompetent (which only leads to the manufacturing of rumors that he is)
I've already mentioned that in Ravages, Han Xuan was ultimately set up to fail by treacherous advisers already working for someone else
and what's worse, he wasn't allowed to surrender unlike in the historical account (however, it's Ma Su who kills him after his attempt to surrender was rejected, unlike in the Romance where Wei Yan kills him in an uprising to rescue Huang Zhong)
at the end of the adventure in the 4 southern commanderies, the divergent outcomes are as follows
the 4 administrators surrender without a fight according to the historical account Zhao Fan (and the lady Fan) and Liu Du survive in the Romance only Liu Du survives in Ravages
incidentally, in chapter 473 when Liaoyuan Huo said in front of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang that he had no time for love affairs and that the goal of Han restoration is more important, it's a mild reference to the portion in the Romance where Zhao Yun explains why he rejected the offer to marry the lady Fan (but in Ravages it's repurposed in a conversation about Sun Shu)
as I've reiterated, even with the capture of the 4 southern commanderies, the scramble for Jingzhou continues (and this time, things just become more and more complicated)
in chapter 51 of the Romance it's mentioned that Cao Chun fought alongside Cao Ren in the battles for Nan, so his involvement in this portion may be a reference to that
the big surprise for this warmup phase (as the struggles transition in focus from south to north Jingzhou) is the matchup between two elite units, Chen Dao's White Feathers versus Cao Chun's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry
not to mention the emergence of the new handicapped warriors to deal with Zhou Yu (as a throwback to the early chapters)
in the historical account Cao Chun dies of illness, while in the Romance Chen Dao is omitted
Ravages manages to put both on the spotlight by pitting them against each other,
Haha
now, recall that Pang Tong's game plan for the northern phase of the scramble was explained as early as chapter 464, so around 30 chapters later we see it in full effect
in chapter 51 of the Romance, Zhuge Liang manages to outwit Zhou Yu and have Liu Bei seize Nan amidst the fighting... Pang Tong's game plan is somewhat modeled after it, but with an added twist (only a few elite troops could be sent to capture certain empty cities, to be backed up by militia forces loyal to Liu Bei, the 'ghost army')
unlike in the Romance, however, this will drag on rather than end in a single chapter (because realistically, Liu Bei doesn't have enough troops to stop the Sun clan at this point)
note that the people of Jingzhou, no matter what they did, have been weaponized one way or another
those who fled to Jiangxia with Liu Bei were used as bargaining chips (with Zhou Yu allowing the Cao navy to control the long river in the initial phase of the Chibi campaign, in exchange for being allowed to take refugees as human resources for the developmental regions)
in addition Cao Cao embedded infiltration troops in the crowd
those who fled to the southern commanderies would end up becoming human resources for Liu Bei's regime (not to mention Zhuge Liang also embedded infiltration agents in the crowd)
those who remained in the northern commanderies of Jingzhou (particularly the ones with training) were agitated by Liao Hua to help Liu Bei consolidate control and one-up Zhou Yu
the bright path is up to ourselves to find - but for some reason the many paths end with the benevolent embrace of the imperial uncle
alright, before proceeding to the events that would lead to Cao Ren's defeat and withdrawal (in turn opening up new frontiers of scheming, haha) it may be useful to recap how the fight over Nan unfolded in chapter 51 of the Romance (in the historical account there were a bunch of confrontations and Guan Yu lost in some of them and things sort of dragged out, Zhou Yu eventually succumbs to his wounds and Cao Cao has Cao Ren withdraw)
after allowing Liu Bei the chance to 'assist' in the battle for Nan (in case the Sun clan fails to seize it), Zhou Yu initially has the advantage against Cao Ren, who rallies back and implements a plan left by Cao Cao, which turned the tide and injured Zhou Yu with a poisoned arrow, who then decides to fake his death to trick Cao Ren into an ambush... and while all this is happening, Liu Bei takes the opportunity to seize Nan (with the help of military tallies seized from the Cao army)
Ravages builds on a previous plot point (about Sun Ce faking his death to lead a surprise attack) to complicate the scenario in the Nan campaign, since unlike in the Romance Cao Ren has some reason to suspect that the sudden withdrawal of the Sun army (after Zhou Yu was poisoned) could be a trap
on that note, the improvised scheme by the new handicapped warriors (not to mention Zhou Yu's willingness to come to the aid of Zu Lang) messed up Jia Xu's battle plan
and yet a withdrawal by the Sun army is still very much a plausible outcome given the overall situation, even if Zhou Yu wasn't poisoned
thus the question is one of judgment: does that particular withdrawal indicate a substantial retreat, or a trap?
aside from the claim that the new handicapped warriors made the hit on Zhou Yu (with a poisoned blade, plus a fake antidote given during the negotiations), what convinced Cao Ren is the report that the Sun army is hastily retreating in a plague-stricken zone
little did he know that the Sun army has a physician who could rival Hua Tuo
what's more relevant though is that the Sun clan had appointed 2 chief controllers for the campaign (and so even if something were to happen to Zhou Yu, there's still the other high commander, Cheng Pu)
note that Jia Xu's plan was for the Cao army to feign retreat and stay on the defensive and let the Sun army overextend before ambushing, but Zhou Yu faking his death (or rather, sending disinfo about his illness while secretly recovering thanks to Zhang Zhongji) and ordering an abrupt withdrawal misled Cao Ren into launching a hasty counterattack, allowing Cheng Pu to conduct the ambush
regrettably, Ravages rendered the front in Hefei off-panel (note that this isn't yet the battle where Zhang Liao shines the most, that happens a few years later)
in the Romance that's where Zhang Liao kills Taishi Ci
in the historical account a minor scheme was proposed that tricked Sun Quan into withdrawing
as a consolation though, Ravages reinterprets the Hefei front as a decoy that prevented the Cao army from sending reinforcements to Cao Ren, rather than as a second line of attack that Sun Quan bungled
one other interesting tidbit: in both the historical account and the Romance, Cao Ren's feat of rescuing Niu Jin and some other subordinates happens before Zhou Yu's injury, while in Ravages it happens after (and this rearrangement makes Cao Ren's feat all the more impactful, considering he just messed up by falling for Zhou Yu's trap)
anyway, to recap the situation in the scramble for Jingzhou
in the historical account, it just became a stalemate and Cao Ren was ordered to withdraw near Xiangyang (meanwhile, Liu Bei and Sun Quan hashed out their alliance of convenience, sealing the deal with a political marriage between Liu Bei and Sun Quan's sister)
in the Romance, as previously mentioned, the fight for Nan was quickly settled in Liu Bei's favor, and he goes on to take the 4 commanderies (this then leads to the marriage subplot as one more attempt by Zhou Yu to one-up Liu Bei, but this is foiled by Zhuge Liang's 3 secret strategies)
in Ravages on the other hand... one aspect of the battle may have been cleared up resulting in Cao Ren's withdrawal, but it only opens the door to further complicated scheming and maneuvering (culminating in Cao Cao making a secret comeback, and Sima Yi reentering the scene)
thus far I've tried to explore the outlines and some of the details with regard to how Ravages portrays (in drawn-out and convoluted fashion) the scramble for Jingzhou after Chibi, in this round I'll try to cover the marriage and edict subplots and how they connect to wider developments (and pave the way for the secret battles exclusive to Ravages)
note that in the historical account, Liu Bei's political marriage to Sun Quan's sister was mainly about securing the alliance of convenience (and considering that by the time Cao Ren withdrew to Xiangyang Liu Bei managed to seize control of the bulk of Jingzhou, perhaps for the Sun clan the wedding is a consolation prize, allowing Sun Quan to claim that he's related to the guy who controls much of Jingzhou which is preferable to open rivalry given that Cao Cao remains a threat in the north)
in the Romance the marriage subplot is expanded upon and given a twist (in this version Liu Bei was able to secure Nan and Jiangxia as well as the 4 southern commanderies, and the marriage is Zhou Yu's gamble to entrap Liu Bei and take Jingzhou for the Sun clan after being humiliated by Zhuge Liang's ruse but of course Zhuge Liang counters the trap and Liu Bei manages to secure a brief romance with the lady Sun)
in Ravages it's revealed that the Sun clan has long planned to entrap and co-opt Liu Bei (independent of the issue about who gets to control Jingzhou) even during the Chibi campaign, and we all know that Sun Shu has this connection to Liaoyuan Huo…
also remarkable in Ravages is that it's Sun Quan (rather than Zhou Yu) who comes up with the plan, perhaps in connection to his previous 'matchmaker' role (when he threatened and cajoled the elder Qiao into marrying his daughters who are never seen on-panel again after 268 to Sun Ce and Zhou Yu)
amusingly enough, when Zhang Fei facilitated the deal he thought he's doing this to help Liaoyuan Huo get out of a complicated bind, haha
I think in history, it is similar to what Ravages proposed. Both Cao Cao and Sun Quan have ideas of putting Liu Bei under house arrest and using Guan Yu and Zhang Fei for their own purpose. I recall that Zhou Yu proposed the entrapment plan, but Sun Quan disagreed (perhaps because it might not work out) - in the Romance he gets his way and Liu Bei is lured to Jiangdong but Zhuge Liang counters with the 3 secret strategies
basically in Ravages, the realpolitik of the historical account is pretty much retained (it helps that Sun Shu has feelings for Liaoyuan Huo and that Chen Mou didn't come up with another sister for Sun Quan), but the entrapment scenario in the Romance is included (but under different circumstances)
I would like to know how Chen Mou came out with these new alternate retellings. Hard to come up with new ideas when the narratives are fixed.that's what makes the Ravages version of the scramble for Jingzhou so... amazing. more generally, that's what Ravages has been doing all this time, only that this reconfiguration was really heightened after Chibi (combined with the callbacks and foreshadowing and allusions)
anyway, back to the marriage subplot
for a rather minor incident Ravages incorporated some twists and turns around it (at first, we were led to think that Liu Bei won't have to go to the Sun clan's home base because Lu Su was detained and the condition for his release was that Sun Shu be brought to Liu Bei instead of the other way around)
the marriage was even supposed to be set in neutral territory so that no side would feel slighted (of course, Sun Shu brings with her a special unit of female bodyguards, and in Ravages they also serve as intelligence agents)
it turns out although the marriage venue was originally neutral between Sun and Liu, the grand and ostentatious wedding banquet arranged by Zhuge Liang served to project strength and win over hearts and minds (to the point that the city insisted on submitting to Liu Bei)
and then the next twist is revealed... even after all those precautionary measures to undermine the Sun clan's entrapment scheme, Liu Bei announces that he'll be going to meet Sun Quan in the Sun clan's home base
so the marriage happens elsewhere (off-panel), Sun Shu doesn't need to escape with Liu Bei (since she's now on Liu Bei's turf ready to undermine his influence), and yet Liu Bei would still expose himself to entrapment as part of a high-stakes diplomatic move to solidify the alliance (and make himself look even more sincere)
in Ravages at least, the gamble is that since Zhou Yu is still preoccupied in the campaign to seize Nan (unlike in the Romance where Liu Bei gets Nan in 1 chapter), Liu Bei could use his charisma and wits to make Sun Quan an offer he cannot refuse
I noted previously that Sun Quan was leading another operation in Hefei, but in Ravages this was rendered off-panel (and unlike in the historical account where Sun Quan was tricked into withdrawing, in Ravages Sun Quan's front served as a feint to ensure that Cao Ren won't get reinforcements to help him against Zhou Yu)
so it would seem that upon Zhuge Liang's advice, Liu Bei decides to pay Sun Quan a surprise visit, just when the latter arrives from Hefei
at this point, the marriage subplot transitions into the edict subplot, as Liu Bei claims he can get Sun Quan legitimized with a title from the imperial court (and in exchange, Sun Quan would agree to a stable working relationship with the proviso that Liu Bei should be allowed to control Jingzhou since he can handle it better)
in addition, it would seem that Lu Su's stay in Liu Bei's camp allowed Zhuge Liang to work his magic, persuading Lu Su that stability is more important than territorial gain (as we'll see in a bit, Ravages explores various iterations of the tripartite balance of powers, and it so happens that Zhuge Liang and Lu Su are in agreement about which version is preferable)
Lu Su's argument is also a reminder that even though the Sun and Liu alliance defeated Cao Cao in Chibi, in the larger scheme of things Cao Cao remains the strongest warlord in the realm (and it helps that he has custody over the Han imperial court)
now, I reiterate that the way Ravages reconfigured the marriage and edict subplots is jaw-dropping, especially if one notices the contrast to the source texts
in the historical account, the political marriage was held to confirm the alliance of convenience, and it would seem Liu Bei went to Sun Quan to seek the latter's endorsement for the former to become governor of Jingzhou (and that moreover it was Lu Su who persuaded Sun Quan to let Liu Bei 'borrow' Jingzhou for the sake of stability)
in chapter 56 of the Romance, after the debacle in the marriage subplot (where Liu Bei and the lady Sun manage to escape back to Jingzhou, and Zhuge Liang riles up Zhou Yu a second time), Sun Quan was advised by a subordinate official to nominate Liu Bei as governor of Jingzhou to smooth over tensions and to prevent Liu Bei and Cao Cao from teaming up (although Cao Cao had his own plan to undermine Liu and Sun, by nominating Zhou Yu administrator of Nan, which then leads to Zhou Yu's last scheme decisively foiled by Zhuge Liang)
in Ravages, Liu Bei does come to meet Sun Quan to negotiate a settlement (as indicated in the historical account, and with Lu Su playing pretty much a similar role), but the twist is that Liu Bei arrives offering to have Sun Quan legitimized, rather than asking for Sun Quan's endorsement... and that's just the opening move in the complicated diplomatic intrigues to come
also, a note about Lu Su
in the Romance he ends up going back and forth many times as a diplomat for the Sun clan (and effectively a go-between for both Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang), Ravages reduces the travel by having Zhuge Liang detain Lu Su for a while before sending back to the Sun clan (as part of the negotiations about Liu Bei's marriage to Sun Shu)
we now turn to the part where things start to get even more complicated
the Romance does suggest some amount of scheming with regard to the bestowal of titles by the imperial court, but the maneuvers were rather contained to the issue of Jingzhou (although this of course sets up the resentments for later payback)
Ravages makes a subtle deviation by having Xun Yu carry out the release of the (first) edict behind Cao Cao's back through a trusted agent planted in the office of the imperial chancellor, and then makes a big leap by connecting the issue of Liu Bei's petitions to the struggles in the imperial court
apparently it was Zhuge Liang who handled the correspondence with Xun Yu with regard to the proposal (after all, Liu Bei had to travel to meet Sun Quan), and it was timed just when the imperial court is divided about the Cao clan's further consolidation of power
this little diplomatic gesture hinges on one factor, namely that Cao Cao would want to keep up appearances of being a loyal vassal and so would tolerate the release of the edict (so that he won't appear petty) though I note that in Ravages it's kept ambiguous as to whether Cao Cao himself intends his clan to usurp Han
there's also a shift in Xun Yu's grand strategy, in that whereas before he supported the unipolar policy of using Cao Cao to safeguard the Han, now he supports the tripartite plan to have Liu Bei and Sun Quan (as powerful regional players, but still vassals of Han) keep Cao Cao in check
and then there's the foreshadowing of the plan to elevate Cao Cao into a duke (and make him a feudal lord of his own private regime within Han)
the formal proposal doesn't happen until a couple of years later (and Xun Yu predictably opposed it), but in Ravages at least the rumors are brought up early in the game, to further establish the connection between the court struggles and the diplomatic moves to elevate Liu Bei and Sun Quan (basically weaving together the scramble for Jingzhou and the moves to set up Wei among other developments in a continuous intricate process of scheming)
at first I struggled to make sense of how this could come to be considering that the middle section of the long river is being fought over by Liu, Sun, and Cao forces, but upon reading about coastal trade routes during Han it would seem that in Ravages, the sneaky merchants of Chuan/Yi may have traveled south into Jiao (which would mean that the Nanman and other frontier peoples allowed them passage) and then made use of coastal trade ships to loop all the way to Jiangdong…
on a side note, in the Romance the first secret strategy in the marriage subplot involved Liu Bei's bodyguards buying stuff and spreading word about the future wedding, and Jian Yong's shopping spree seems to be a reference to that (only this time it's reconfigured as a diversion so that he could communicate with his agents)
it was already explained in the previous chapter that certain people in the imperial court (notably Xun Yu) would be interested to legitimize both Liu Bei and Sun Quan to keep Cao Cao in check, though what's amusing is that Sun Quan was granted (aside from the ceremonial title of general of chariots and cavalry) the governorship of Xuzhou, a province he doesn't even control
while in the historical account Liu Bei and Sun Quan get their titles, and agree not to fight over Jingzhou for the time being, in Ravages the consensus between Lu Su and Zhuge Liang turns out to be part of a scheme to lure Liu Bei to Jiangdong (and procure a title for Sun Quan), before trapping him there so that the third third party can step up (in the process Lu Su's diplomatic efforts are subverted, because Zhou Yu has another partner in mind for the tripartite setup)
little did Han Xuan know that even if the 4 southern commanderies were able to stop Liu Bei, they'd be replaced by the other partner anyway
and with Ma Chao conversing with Zhang Song about Zhou Yu's offer, the situation further expands and escalates... the factions in Yizhou and Liangzhou are entering the fray even as the scramble for Jingzhou has yet to be resolved
in the historical account, the Sun clan had plans to march west into Yizhou, but that never really materialized
in the Romance, Zhou Yu's last scheme involved gathering an army, passing through Jingzhou, and offering to aid Liu Bei in the westward campaign (really a ruse to take down Liu Bei by surprise and seize Jingzhou but this was countered by Zhuge Liang and it led to Zhou Yu's death by frustration)
in Ravages, the entrapment scheme appeared to succeed, and as planned Zhou Yu would send a troop west (with supplies and assistance from Ma Chao and the opportunists in Chuan)
meanwhile, we see Ma Teng play some role in the court intrigues as well, perhaps to rally the remnant loyalists for one last showdown (although it seems he's mainly buying time for the Sun and Ma alliance between Sun Quan and Ma Chao to consolidate and expand)
in the midst of all the scheming in relation to the protracted scramble for Jingzhou, the biggest loser of that scramble (Cao Cao) prepares to make a comeback, and part of it involves pacifying the zones under his control and winning over hearts and minds, while allowing and fanning unrest in the south between 'loyalist' factions (to make Han and its loyal vassals look bad in comparison to the stability assured under the Cao banner)
basically the Cao clan's counter to Xun Yu's check and balance scheme would be to let Xun Yu empower other vassals, then setting them up to further instability (a less stable form of the tripartite arrangement with one big power pitting the two smaller powers against one another rather than having the two smaller powers team up against the big power)
aside from the diplomatic moves, the Cao army is also planning another surprise attack, with the overall plan similar to that advocated by Jia Xu in chapter 465 (but I suppose this time it's supposed to be more believable as Cao Ren was handed a heavy defeat and had to withdraw to Xiangyang once more)
but with Ma Chao's planned entry into the fray, the further complication is that as the Cao army once again moves troops to the south, that gives Ma Chao free rein to make his move (not towards Cao Cao's base, but to target Yizhou as part of the arrangement with Zhou Yu)
now, unlike in the Romance, Liu Bei's entrapment would not end with him breaking out and taking Sun Shu with him, because the marriage happened earlier in an area that submitted to Liu Bei, and Liu Bei went to Sun Quan with only a small escort (including Liaoyuan Huo as the special agent, just like how it was with Zhao Yun in the Romance)
this also means that Sun Shu and her bodyguards can make their own moves to undermine Liu Bei (and this seems to set things up for the Liu Shan rescue subplot later on)
in addition, Zhou Yu further weaponizes the entrapment by spreading rumors that Liu Bei has submitted to the Sun clan, while providing supplies to trick Liu Bei's force into becoming decoys against Liu Zhang
and then the next twist is revealed... it turns out that there are now 2 imperial edicts related to the scramble for Jingzhou, and Zhuge Liang is about to strike back using the second (the first one is what Xun Yu managed to manufacture behind Cao Cao's back, the second one seems to be part of the Cao clan's countermeasures, but with some surface level concessions for Liu Bei and thus undermine the entrapment scheme)
just to review, the first edict gave a title to Sun Quan (this was part of Liu Bei's plan to 'show his sincerity' and secure the alliance of convenience, but it turns out Sun Quan set Liu Bei up to go the extra mile only to have him trapped so that Ma Chao can step in as the third third party, even as the entrapment would be used to pressure Liu Bei's team to eventually submit to the Sun clan)
the second edict, enacted with Cao Cao's approval to spite the Sun clan, bestowed upon Liu Bei the position of governor of Jingzhou (but underneath the surface there are also appointments for members of the Cao clan, which meant that Xun Yu had to make some compromises to secure a diplomatic gesture that would benefit Zhuge Liang)
it's amusing how Ravages reconfigured the edict that would legitimize Liu Bei's hold on Jingzhou
in the historical account Liu Bei asks for Sun Quan's nomination (and with Lu Su's persuasion gains it, since the alliance is more convenient), in the Romance it's the Sun clan who offers this nomination to make up for the tensions resulting from the marriage subplot, but in Ravages it's Cao Cao and Xun Yu who come up with the appointment to exacerbate tensions between Sun Quan and Liu Bei, haha
an even more startling twist for the long-term is the revelation that Liu Bei's appointment as governor of Jingzhou (plus the Sun clan's enactment of the entrapment scheme) effectively brought Liu Zhang himself into the fray even though we have yet to see him on-panel
basically, while Zhou Yu thought he could trick Liu Bei and Liu Zhang into prematurely fighting one another, what happens instead is that Liu Zhang opportunistically reaches out to 'protect' Liu Bei's claim to the province (and this also means that Liu Bei would be able to establish relations with Liu Zhang to better facilitate plans for the future takeover of Yizhou)
to sum up the twists and turns of the marriage and edict subplots
in the historical account there are hardly any surprises, Sun Quan and Liu Bei solidify their alliance of convenience via a political marriage, and Liu Bei gets the nomination for governorship of Jingzhou because he already holds much of the province
in the Romance the marriage subplot began as Zhou Yu's attempt to one-up Zhuge Liang (after Liu Bei gains Nan and the 4 commanderies), and the edict subplot began as an attempt to ease tensions after the marriage subplot was foiled (but thanks to Cao Cao's meddling and Zhou Yu's jealousy, it led to another flareup and Zhou Yu dies frustrated)
in Ravages... suffice it to say that the marriage was a trap from the start, Liu Bei defuses the early attempts at entrapment but walks into another one in an attempt to solidify the alliance via the edict, and a bunch of other third parties make their moves in the meantime
But the edict dilemma feels like Zhuge kinda forced it on them with some political maneuvers and knowing how his older brother thinks. in a way, Zhuge Liang got the upper hand in the edicts game by anticipating what Zhou Yu and Xun Yu and Liu Zhang would do next after the first edict was proposed (that's why he was confident about Liu Bei stepping into the trap)
the trick seems to be that the moment Liu Bei is trapped (while getting legitimized in the process), a bunch of players would react in certain ways
no wonder it's said in 501 (presumably about Liu Bei) that no one was braver than him in that era - its amusing when you recall, how in the first arc Liu Bei had Dong Zhou ‘trapped’ and let him go, knowing that otherwise the world would go down the drain of more chaos, so he was basically swapping the roles.
it's important to keep in mind how Ravages stretched and rearranged the endgame phases of the scramble for Jingzhou
in the historical account, the campaigns in Nan sort of devolved into a stalemate (especially upon Zhou Yu's demise), Cao Ren was ordered to withdraw north, Liu Bei becomes governor of Jingzhou, Sun Quan temporarily withdraws his claims to the province and agrees to a political marriage (this reminder has become repetitive by now, but it's worth noting this bland point over and over)
in the Romance, the scramble was pretty much wrapped up in Liu Bei's favor after the marriage and edict subplots (and Zhou Yu's death by frustration)
in Ravages however, the twist is that the scramble continues even after the marriage and edict subplots (as it's revealed that the edict schemes open the door to further action, considering that Ma Chao, Liu Zhang, and the struggles in the imperial court are entangled in all this)
in a way, one main reason for the protraction is that Zhou Yu's death, acknowledged to be a turning point in the scramble, is delayed (relative to the marriage and edict subplots)
the Romance arranges Zhou Yu's death at the conclusion of the 2 subplots, the historical account sets Zhou Yu's death in relation to the dragged out campaigns without being tied to either subplot, Ravages acknowledges the historical point but makes one more innovation by having Zhou Yu's last act leap out of the established framework and unfold after the 2 subplots as its own subplot
meanwhile, as the scramble continues, the new handicapped warriors make their next move (after 'messing up' the last time technically they succeeded in the hit, but Zhou Yu managed to recover and lure Cao Ren into defeat)
it's important to note, according to the historical account the Cao army did send some additional forces south during the scramble, but much of it was about reinforcing the front in Hefei
but since in Ravages Sun Quan withdrew from Hefei quickly (since it was just a feint back then to ensure Cao Ren remains isolated to force his retreat) this means the reinforcements could then be redirected for one more showdown in Nan
it's also mentioned (based on the historical account) that an earthquake struck Jingzhou around that time, and of course that led to famines and other sorts of humanitarian crises even as the fighting raged on (in addition, the pro-Wei faction plans to weaponize this situation and make imperial Han look bad)
this provides the Cao army a chance to win over hearts and minds by conducting relief efforts, but unfortunately that didn't work out so well because Zhuge Liang's 10-year plan (to make Liu Bei a hero in Jingzhou) is in full effect, and so the people of Jingzhou were uplifted more by Liu Bei becoming governor than the food aid from the north (that being said, whether the people praise Cao Cao or Liu Bei, the point is that they're not praising the Sun clan)
and it turns out that aside from providing relief to those affected by the disasters, the Cao army also left food (and arms) supplies for the resentful Jingzhou militia forces to use against the Sun clan
considering that Jia Xu (who first came up with the withdrawal and ambush plan for the Cao army) confronted Pang Tong (who came up with the sneaky takeover plan for Liu Bei with the help of the ghost army) back in chapter 498, they must have harmonized their plans to inflict damage on Zhou Yu's forces, with the idea being that Liu Bei's agents would rile up the masses to fight against the Sun clan while Jia Xu would take care of the supplies
while Jia Xu did treat the people of Jingzhou as sacrificial pawns (even as Liu Bei benefits from the human resources and the martyrs), it remains to be the case that the Sun clan (much like the Cao army when it first invaded Jingzhou) acted as ruthless occupiers and enforcers against a defiant population
it's important to stress this point (to defuse the simplistic and self-serving idea that it's all about shady powers manipulating the people who should have kept quiet) especially considering the current protest waves
take note that because Cao Cao is sending troops to Jingzhou, this means that there would not be enough to stop Ma Chao from making his move (whether against Cao Cao for short-term advantage, or against Liu Zhang as part of the deal with Zhou Yu in the hopes of acquiring long-term gain)
Xun Yu's next move of snitching on Ma Teng is intended to counter that (and its purpose would be revealed a few chapters later)
it would seem that part of the Cao army's operational plan would be to send a small elite 800-member vanguard led by Zhang Liao and Zhang He to disrupt the movements of the Sun clan (and buy time for the bigger assault force commanded by Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu)
in the early stages of the counteroffensive (which the Sun clan also anticipated and prepared for), there were attempts to raid rations transports and prepare ambushes using decoy wagons (and lure ambushers into another ambush using news about supply units trying to sneak in)
it must be noted that while the overall scramble has been rather convoluted, the situation between Sun and Cao has remained relatively constant throughout the conflict... and one way to describe this is that the two are in a tango, haha
ever since 465, the game plan of the Cao army has been to enact some sort of withdrawal and let the Sun clan overextend and expose itself to ambush (even the Guandu campaign had that similar setup, with the Yuan clan as the aggressor to be lured and ambushed)
things have gone back and forth in this scramble though (not to mention the added complication of Liu Bei lurking to take Jingzhou for himself), but with each passing round the tricks become more complicated
note that Cao Ren was on the defensive in Jiangling and Yiling since Cao Cao's withdrawal (after his defeat in Chibi), and that by the time Liu Bei set out to pacify the 4 southern commanderies Cao Ren had been driven back to the environs of Xiangyang in the northern portion of Nan
Jia Xu's original plan seemed to be for Cao Ren to continue giving ground to the Sun clan (while maintaining the defense on key grounds), so that Jia Xu could take a troop and strike the Sun clan from behind (a relatively simple setup) and in turn Pang Tong planned to use the chance to take certain empty sites with the help of the ghost army so that Liu Bei would have a foothold in the northern front
Zhou Yu in turn used his injury (inflicted by the new handicapped warriors) to spread rumors of his death while ordering his army to appear to withdraw, so that Cao Ren would be lured back into taking an offensive stance falling for an ambush (a similar one that was planned for the Sun clan)
this explains why Cao Ren had to defend and lose Jiangling twice, since Zhou Yu's ruse lured him south again and he got stuck defending and being besieged in Jiangling a second time
now, the second attempt by the Cao army to lure an overextended army of the Sun clan into an ambush occurs amidst all the intrigue about the edicts, with these various other factions lured into the fray and further complicating matters (now the planned ambush doesn't seem like a simple tactical backstab like what Jia Xu planned, but more of a larger-scale strategic flanking maneuver and that's why Zhang Liao and Zhang He were sent to cause disruptions to prepare for this larger force)
with regard to the art of war, I suppose the larger lesson here is that certain doctrines and maxims and interpretations have become codified that everyone seems to be behaving in accordance with them (and thus the way to achieve surprising gains would be at times to defy the expectations and the manuals)
and then we see Xun Yu's next diplomatic move that would ruin the setup of the Sun clan... it appears that Xun Yu's version of the tripartite arrangement hinges on Liu Bei as the main 'loyalist' opposition to Cao Cao, augmented by some other third player (this means he would agree with Zhuge Liang's version and disagree with Zhou Yu's version, which replaces Liu Bei with Ma Chao)
the idea is that since Liu Bei not only performs as a loyalist but is also charismatic and moreover claims to be of the imperial clan (not to mention he can't easily be captured or co-opted), his role as the counterpart to Cao Cao is indispensable, whereas the tripartite arrangement with Ma Chao and the Sun clan would only appear as though two 'loyal vassals' are accumulating power for themselves (and thus would make imperial Han look bad)
Cao Cao having the true emperor would keep Liu Bei in check, Liu Bei being an influential loyalist on the outside would keep Cao Cao in check, and thus Han would survive (or so that's what Xun Yu had in mind)
Xun Yu was able to persuade Ma Teng to stand down (and take the blame for now) so that the forces in Xiliang (under the command of Ma Chao, since Ma Teng and the other clan members in the Xu capital may end up becoming sacrifices) can act as a strategic reserve or buffer that would allow Liu Bei to rise in influence and remain a thorn within the frontiers of Cao Cao's zone of control, instead of being wasted by participating in a premature campaign to help an ally with ulterior motives
this of course means that Zhou Yu's arrangement has been countered, and he can no longer resume plans to attack Yizhou
one side effect to the way Ravages handled the marriage subplot is that rather than Liu Bei escaping back to Jingzhou with his new wife, what happens instead is that Sun Shu has free rein to implement a few schemes while Liu Bei is still trapped in Jiangdong
it's amusing they even thought about using Liu Shan to prop up a puppet Han regime if ever the Cao clan deposes Liu Xie (funnily enough, the Jin court does relocate to the domain formerly held by Wu after the revolts in the north)
of course, it turns out that Zhuge Liang came up with the plan to hand over Liu Shan to Sun Shu (who plans to return to Jiangdong soon, ostensibly to let father and son reunite under the watchful gaze of the Sun clan) so that Liu Bei's team would have a good excuse to rise against the Sun clan
this basically sets up the Liu Shan rescue subplot in advance (and I'm still waiting to see if the rescue will happen within the events of the scramble for Jingzhou, or whether it would be postponed for the next arc or so)
one general note as we head to Zhou Yu's final act
thus far the marriage and edict subplots have been unleashed, but those only served to introduce further complications in the scramble for Jingzhou rather than temporarily settle matters (as what happened according to the historical account and the Romance)
the endgame (or the end phase of the middle game) introduces a few peculiar and significant deviations from the source texts
first, Ravages supposes that the Sun clan is still holding on to portions of Nan even after Liu Bei has been appointed governor of Jingzhou (this borrows an element from the Romance about Zhou Yu proposing a march to Yizhou but really intending to take Jingzhou, but the twist is that Zhuge Liang doesn't preemptively foil the entry because in Ravages the Sun clan hasn't been driven out from the province to begin with)
second, Ravages proposes that the Cao army is still able to muster enough reinforcements for a surprise counterattack (in a way, the Cao army takes the place of Liu Bei's army in the Romance outmaneuvering the Sun clan every step of the way but this time around Zhou Yu isn't handed a humiliating loss)
third, Ravages exposes Liu Bei to entrapment without the benefit of allies and useful tools within the Sun clan (and what's more, he's 'escorted' by a full army to prevent easy escape which means the escape subplot unfolds under significantly different circumstances)
so it turns out that Zhou Yu's deal with Ma Chao is a bit deceptive, in that it by encouraging Ma Chao to seize Yizhou it exposes the Xiliang faction to charges of rebellion from the Cao Cao-controlled imperial court (the idea then would be to entangle Cao Cao into multiple fronts at once, or at least to force him to focus on the northwest, thus allowing Zhou Yu to continue his campaigns)
Zhuge Liang's collusion with Xun Yu effectively blocked that prospect, by having Xun Yu persuade Ma Teng to stand down and support the court quietly (and let Liu Bei take the stage), and this development allows Cao Cao to renew his focus on Jingzhou
that being said, Sun Quan happens to have one more trump card to undermine Liu Bei, by offering to 'help' Liu Bei 'retake' Jingzhou (but the condition being that Liu Bei has to 'accompany' the 'liberation force', turning him into a glorified hostage as the reinforcements of the Sun clan march into Jingzhou and effectively seize control)
one interesting side goal of this scheme is to pressure Zhuge Liang to waste troops to confront Cao Cao, in the name of 'upholding the alliance' (note that part of Zhuge Liang's overall plan is to secure Jingzhou and enter Yizhou without wasting troops and early on Zhou Yu tried to goad Liu Bei into prematurely attacking Liu Zhang, but the second edict thwarted that)
in the meantime, the main force of the Cao army is proceeding with its counterattack with the aid of the south-pointing chariots (while the elite vanguard led by Zhang Liao and Zhang He continues to wreak havoc behind enemy lines, killing Zu Lang in the process)
and it turns out that the Sun clan was prepared for the extra incursions by planting decoy troops (I suspect when Lu Meng 'took a break', he let the minions become sacrifices)
too bad only Pang Tong and Chen Dao got to 'see' how the fog battle turned out (for us readers, it's all shrouded in fog off-panel, haha)
in exchange, we're treated to the spectacle Liaoyuan Huo made (as part of the plan to help Liu Bei escape)
in the Romance (the historical account makes no mention of the escape drama) when Liu Bei escaped back into Jingzhou it was with the help of his wife, and the escape party managed to secure an early lead before the chase begins
in Ravages, Liu Bei's entourage is surrounded and is marching alongside a large army, so a few tricks had to be carried out (with the aid of Zhao Tong and Huang Zhong) to be able to lead Liu Bei to safety
one consolation though is that at this point Liu Bei has already entered Jingzhou, and the issue was simply to let him slip past the Sun clan escort
finally, we can talk about Zhou Yu's final scheme, but first we have to deal with Guo Huai's scheme
now based on the speech bubbles, Guo Huai (who along with Wang Shuang have climbed the ranks in Zhou Yu's army) came up with an overall plan to ambush the Cao army and stop the counterattack
the idea is that while the frontlines of the Cao army are focused on retaking the areas around Jiangling (on the south side of Nan, on the banks of the long river), this special force would take mountainous routes and bypass the sentries around the Han river (also called Mian river) and isolate Xiangyang, attacking additional reinforcements still flowing from the north and ensuring that Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Cao Zhen, and Cao Xiu would be isolated and eventually forced to withdraw
on its face (just like Yuan Fang's proposal to the Guandong alliance back then) the plan is sound, assuming there are no surprise betrayals (but wait, the deployment isolates Zhou Yu's unit from his other troops thus providing Guo Huai and Wang Shuang the chance to carry out the assassination)
Zhou Yu of course has countermeasures (besides, even if the isolation did work, that doesn't mean Zhou Yu doesn't have bodyguards he's not as careless as Liu Chong)
the big twist though is that it turns out there's another section of the Cao army counterattack that isn't focused on taking Jiangling, but is more interested in taking Zhou Yu's life (the surprise is made even bigger when we learn that this unit features the Cao and Xiahou veterans and Cao Cao himself, even as Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu and Zhang Liao and Zhang He are continuing their assault elsewhere)
basically, Guo Huai's plan involved a misleading premise (supposing that the bulk of the Cao army would march all the way south) to conceal the hidden plan that Cao Cao assembled an elite team to surround Zhou Yu... but since Zhou Yu foiled Guo Huai's scheme and revealed he had spies infiltrate the Cao spies, that means he is also aware of Cao Cao's secret plan
and then Zhou Yu reveals that his real plan (now that Zhuge Liang and Xun Yu foiled the attempt to bait Ma Chao) involves using himself as bait (and feeding the Cao army spies various sorts of clues and disinfo) so that he could damage Cao Cao's force in yet another fire attack (at the cost of his own life)
Sun Yu is first mentioned as the one leading the troop to Hanzhong in chapter 504 (and he is mentioned in the Romance as having a part in Zhou Yu's failed final scheme), and since the westward campaign is scrapped, he regroups to implement the backup plan (perhaps what Guo Huai didn't realize is that the separated units may have also been given secret instructions to regroup and help out with the fire attack)
Zhuge Liang may have foiled Zhou Yu's various entrapment schemes throughout the course of the scramble for Jingzhou (in keeping with the Romance, but in less embarrassing fashion), but in the end Zhou Yu manages to secure a military victory (against Cao Cao, who comes back to be defeated again) in a secret battle that rivals Huarong
in the historical account, after Cao Cao's defeat in Chibi he had to deal with unrest in the north and thus could not commit enough troops to maintain control over Nan commandery (not to mention that the front in Hefei also had to be secured)
in the Romance Cao Cao's defeat in Chibi is portrayed as very decisive, plus Liu Bei managed to secure Nan in 1 chapter, and so Cao Cao would just be content celebrating in the bronze bird tower and find a way to undermine the Sun and Liu alliance
in Ravages while Cao Cao was dealt a blow in Chibi it would be the secret battle that definitively cripples his military capability, delaying his next attempt to cross the long river
while it makes Cao Cao look bad for losing twice (to be fair it's not as if the bigger schemes have been severely undermined, only that in battle Zhou Yu managed to get the upper hand), it's actually a testament to the strength of the Cao army that it could afford to lose twice in the south and still fend off uprisings in the north (and this is why it's important to look beyond how individual characters are glorified, and focus more on the bigger picture)
but because this big defeat can impact troop morale and citizen confidence it is kept secret (and this then becomes the excuse as to why subsequent historical accounts make no mention of it, haha)
it's not really clear how Zhou Yu managed to diminish Liu Bei with his final plan (from what we've seen Liu Bei's force comes out relatively unscathed), but perhaps indirectly by weakening Cao Cao in a single blow, Liu Bei's position in Jingzhou remains precarious since the Sun clan can still hold on to large portions of Nan (and this awkward situation is what keeps the scramble going, unlike in the historical account where the Sun clan temporarily relents after Zhou Yu's death and Liu Bei's appointment, or in the Romance where Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are ahead every step of the way)
the other secret battle that occurs is the humiliation of Sun Quan, as Liaoyuan Huo manages to briefly hold him hostage to facilitate Liu Bei's safe return to Jingzhou
Cao Cao's retreat means that at least now his team could step back and play Liu Bei and Sun Quan against one another (not that the extra push is needed, since in Ravages the issue of Jingzhou is treated as a sticking point that no edict or marriage could paper over considering that those measures only served to lead to more scheming)
a note about Li Tong
in the historical account he dies of illness but before that he breaks through an abatis blockade maintained by Guan Yu (in addition, Guan Yu loses to Wen Ping and Yue Jin in one engagement during the scramble for Jingzhou)
in the Romance Ma Chao kills him (so he gets to live longer only to be killed off in such fashion)
in Ravages the abatis angle is retained, but Guan Yu is removed from the picture (not to mention that Li Tong is being made to parallel Dian Wei which seems rather abrupt, but I think the broader thematic point is that some loyalists are content to die as discarded pawns even without becoming famous)
if Jia Xu's entourage was able to regroup with Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu (as well as Xiahou Yuan and Cao Hong), then either the distances of their respective fronts were not that large, or there was a mini time skip of at least several days in between 525 and 527 (to take into account the delays due to the traps and ambushes and the fire)
I thus conclude this survey (sweeping through 85 chapters, covering volumes 56-67 and leaving readers to continue with the most recent 10 chapters and counting where the scramble for Jingzhou continues with a new twist)
by the end of volume 67, Cao Cao's surviving force retreats to the north with Xiangyang as the main defense zone in the south (basically a similar situation as chapter 465, where Jia Xu and Cao Ren are holding on to Xiangyang against Zhou Yu's onslaught)
the scramble continues as the Sun clan continues its march on Liu Bei's official turf (even after the marriage and edict subplots, perhaps the one crucial alteration in Ravages that explains why this isn't over yet), and Sima Yi reappears after lurking off-panel for so long...
now, a general comment about how the scramble for Jingzhou turned out in Ravages vis-a-vis the versions in the source texts
in the historical account, the scramble just sort of dragged on for over a year or so, but Liu Bei's capture of the 4 southern commanderies, Zhou Yu's death, and Cao Ren's withdrawal meant that Liu Bei became the de facto hegemon in Jingzhou (and this made the Sun clan relent for the time being, agreeing to nominate Liu Bei for governor and settling on a political marriage to focus on the bigger picture)
in the Romance, Zhuge Liang's brilliance destroyed Zhou Yu at each turn and allowed Liu Bei to take Nan, then the 4 southern commanderies, and then his new wife (and the Sun clan had little choice but to nominate Liu Bei for governor to smooth over the tensions)
in Ravages, the various factions schemed hard every step of the way, and neither the marriage nor the edict (not even Cao Ren's withdrawal or Zhou Yu's death or Sima Yi's diplomatic proposal) were enough to settle things... and that's why the scramble still isn't over as of the latest chapter (and who knows if this mess that started in volume 56 will be over in volume 70)
now, there are various angles to appraise how Ravages treated Li Tong (that one guy who saved Cao Cao from Zhou Yu’s suicidal trap), and I'll try to go through some of them. Note, that he DID appear once before this ordeal and few chapters before it was also mentioned that he was already moving to the other position, so him saving Cao Cao was not really out-of-nowhere, but I agree that it is a bit too jarring and who ordeal about Cao Cao going to Zhou Yu should have had a bit more screen-time for atmospheric purposes.
one charge would be that Li Tong arrived too late and departed too soon (I think this is a fair comment from a narrative standpoint and indeed more generally a bunch of characters could have been introduced much earlier and fleshed out some more, though as a counterpoint Li Tong's ephemeral but bright presence reinforces a point explored in Ravages that fate can be unkind, drowning many talents under the waves of chaotic times juxtaposed with another point about true loyalty involving a disregard for reputation and silent sacrifice to become a brick on the great road)
another more peculiar accusation is that Li Tong didn't end on his own note but instead borrowed someone else's playbook (this presumes that Dian Wei really ended on his own note as if all that didn't indirectly draw upon earlier heroic tales or action and horror stories and conveniently neglects that textual composition already involves various threads of influence and reference, but even granting that at least Dian Wei's case had more buildup within the story and happened earlier and can be construed as a relatively autonomous track, I think Li Tong's distinct combo precisely involves the deliberate echoing of Dian Wei mixed with the reference to the historical account plus the conceptual explorations mentioned above not to mention the word play in his nickname)
the more superficial and problematic track (based mainly on character favoritism and the idea that only major characters get to have their unique spots) would be to complain that a minor bit player doesn't deserve to be Dian Wei 2.0 out of nowhere
that being said, it would have been nice if Ravages introduced more people earlier (and didn't cut out anyone mentioned in either the historical account or the novel or the other folk retellings even if it meant doubling the character list)...
CHARACTERS
“Spring and Autumn… How many have there been. Distinguished, living the dream…”
At long last we can specifically talk about the characterization.
So let us note what characters need to have to be considered as well-characterized? Obviously a contribution to the narrative, but let’s save that for a bit later. What they need next are dimensions, daily lives, different dynamics/relationships with other characters, emotional investment, dilemmas and the subtlety of these all together, for it to be concluded as compelling character arcs.
Before explaining these cases individually, I can talk about dimensions as a whole. I think, when a character has an established role in the narrative and is altering the plot-line according to it, while having a personality with distinct traits, like having preferences (being ok to genocide, but being social and not cross that line if the victim is someone he cares about, like a friend) and is coming up with unique decisions that are more rich than a mere “do it or do not do it”, making his own third choice by his own hands - then that character is three-dimensional. Not to mention how they keep swapping the roles.
“Not relatable” - in other stories there is made a distinction between who commits immoral acts and who is trying to be as moral as possible and regretting things that they have done and yet succeeded at their goals and so on, but in RoT there are no main characters and everyone is the other side of the same coin. It's not trying to show you who is correct by making certain characters clearly relatable, because no one is correct and you should make distinctions by yourself. Oh and its also literally opposite environment from ours so its retarded to demand from it to be relatable. Ohhh and all of the characters are war criminals, because that's what war is, so characters are not supposed to be relatable, as we are not supposed to care about war criminals.
people that are too centered on getting close to the characters and staying with them need to realize that not every story is supposed to have identical narrative. 'daily lives' of characters are showcased in Ravages, for as to differentiate how do people act inside and outside the conflict, it's just that in such an environment they do not have much freedom to be outside the conflict must of the time and that point would be ruined if the focus on daily lives was frequent. Also, they need to realize that individual characters are not the only ones that get characterized, but factions gain it as well when they are full of not-identical characters and serve as an addition of dimensions, so as to say that if Ravages is not focused on daily lives, it is focused on factions and gives reasons to either side with them or not.
Cao camp is mainly oriented on duty and how selfishness conflicts with it - Sun camp combining and polishing both - Liu camp prioritizing on familial ties and how the selflessness conflicts with it. But another layer and conflict is between "for self-interest" and "for the greater good." The two main characters stand on the two extremes of this conflict. The ending is Zhao Yun, for the greater good, coming to assassinate Sima Yi at the peak of his ambition. And Sima Yi knew this was going to happen.
Chen Mou spent so much screen time to portray Zhao Yun's transition, starting his absolute obedience to Sima Yi, to being intrigued by Liu Bei and company at Luoyang, to his secret admiration for Zhuge Liang at Xuzhou. Zhang Lei said as much, that at his core, Zhao Yun is straightforward, upright, and full of talent. He should not have been an assassin, but by some cosmic joke he became the best assassin and suppressed his true nature. The chaos of that era turned him against himself and led to hesitation. These two leads had premonitions of many of the tragic outcomes they faced, yet because young people tend to deny such possibilities... until it is too late.
Sima Yi is the same way. He started out merely trying to protect his clan, but his insidious ambition gradually killed his goal. Objectively-speaking, did he assassinate Xu Lin out of desperation or because he wanted to show off his power? Did he think he would not be found when he kept using the same tricks? What did his three uncles really mean to him? I suspect it would haunt Sima Yi whenever he thinks back to these events.
So, the tragedy happened. All of that struggling and second-guessing, wheel of fortune, none of that mattered. After the night of the massacre, both of them faced up to their true selves. Since then, the only goal in life for Sima Yi is to climb to the top and win. As for Zhao Yun, his only goal in life is to help Sima Yi succeed, then end him.
The entire story dances along these threads. Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are the power behind Zhao Yun. Like he says, they are the long-awaited light that follows the darkness. He does not regret being insignificant under Liu Bei's command, and this was expressed at Changban. Since then, Zhao Yun has finally found his goal in life and where he stands.
Ambitious men are the power behind Sima Yi. They are all self-serving, goal-oriented, and seek shortcuts to end the war no matter the method or cost. His ambition is motivated by people like Xu Lin, Cao Cao, Guo Jia, Jia Xu and the likes. Once they put him in that position, he then continued down that path. He might be good to his subordinates, but subconsciously he's only playing them. Maybe he felt compelled to save Xiao Meng (he just said not to send subordinates to their death), but he just could not do it.
And whoever does not play the rules of ‘heaven’, will be fated to be swallowed in one way or another.
To sum up, Ravages is its own world. How each person ends might feel coincidental, but in actuality many things are tied to their subconscious beliefs. Oftentimes they were really not of their own volition.
Zhang Liao, for example, started out emulating Lu Bu as his way of brainwashing himself. He thought he had internalized Lu Bu's values, but whenever he's faced with death, he would realize how impossible it is to lie to himself forever. And it's extremely painful whenever he has to dismiss such self-hypnosis. Of course that is not all there is to his character - he too, is an assassin, which correlates to not having an identity of his own in our beloved series. The first we see him in the series is when he is brought up as a clone of someone else, not having an identity of his own, which likely stemmed from the sages and their understanding of the concept of loyalty and what it is to be a soldier and having comrades in arms, which resulted in a nurishment (a ‘brainwash’ on its own, that negates the individualism), but we still had glimpses of his individuality here and there, when he was good enough at judging the character to know that Xiao Meng’s presence would not affect the Lu Bu camp positively and got rid of ‘her’ on his own accord, for instance. As well as the scene to pay Guan Yu back by saving him.
His character arc peaks at Xiapi, when all of this comes together, for him to choose life over death and polish himself, but the actual beauty comes in later on - scenes of him casually, openly and yet reasonably being insubordinate to value and take care of his fallen comrade of ‘previous era’ and still being fond of his attachment to Lu Bu, even after realizing his actual nature… how lonely he has become in another camp. We also notice how rash he is - he may start reflecting on such topics mid-battle, but as that seems unlikely in actual realistic events, he is easy to bait out in the middle of the fight and then his mind starts focusing again. My personal favourite scene being one, when he respectfully convinced Guan Yu (oh how the tables have turned) to give up his pride for the sake of his own family and life. About how he is polishing himself… well, I would also take note of how much I like how his character arc is structured - in other stories, we see the flaws of the characters, then they develop out of their flaws and resolution comes just before the series ends, ignoring the fact that the hardest part comes after. Now in RoT’s case, we even see the road and aftermath of the resolution as well - so… If Zhao Yun acts all sorts of identities that he made out of himself and gets attached to them… 8th is making up identities from other people (irony is that it was the other way around between the two Zhao Yun) and does not get attached to them… Liao, on the other hand, "learns" from others, so basically he is constructing his own identity out of others, attaches to himself and basically he still has one identity that he can call his own, just a collection of others at the same time.
So Chen Mou's historical view is quite orthodox: "Righteous and just make lasting peace; illegitimate rule leads to a nasty end.' Through that lens, it's not difficult to understand how each character will end. What's praiseworthy about Ravages is how it depicts the growing pain of these legendary heroes - how they struggle, make mistakes, lie to themselves, and have their epiphanies... then either go to their graves with the lie or the truth.
Zhao Yun agreed to Sun Shu's marriage proposal at first because he felt it was his duty to his lord. But then he realized he did not put the Sima clan as his top priority. Xiao Meng, the honor coed, and his shining ideals were much more important than the interest of the Sima clan. That was the key to his big mistake. Fate arranged to have Zhao Yun help Liu Bei for the benefit of Sima Yi. He lucked out, actually, since he did not suffer a personality split. A person's environment, their friends, relationships, these influences all have the potential to clash with their true nature. Some people lived their whole life suppressing their true nature. Unlike Zhao Yun, Liu Bei, Zhang Liao, Sima Yi, most people would not be able to survive a heart-rending experience where they severe from their past selves and start over from scratch.
However, I have more appreciation for Chen Mou's outlook on life than his outlook on history. If it is in your destiny to become someone who you were afraid to become, who you held in contempt, but subconsciously suits you, then you must march forward courageously. Everyone has something that they would never betray. That something is not easy to discover. Do not lie to yourself. Definitely do not use general principles, obligations to others like parents, mentors, and people who helped you to lie to yourself - even if it hurts.
on that not I like how Sun clan characterized in a way that they would have been the main characters if it were to be some other story (especially shounen ones), because of their nature and how they tend to be presented in light, but in Ravages they are the opposite - take the line 'trade for food'. Cao Cao, the most villainous faction is merely joking about trading their relatives for material benefit, but Sima Yi and Sun Quan (maybe not literal family, but Sima Yi and his wife did raise Sun Quan) are literally trading each other.
I also really like how the religion is treated. In other series the only shade of theirs is to act as extremous fanatic and would otherwise be rendered as useless outsiders that are only good at clinging to things that do not exist and just observe and pray meanwhile being amidst the danger. Now sure, they too do not engage in warfare in Ravages as well, but that’s because it is more effective to affect the masses within the cities. What makes them good is how they and the Sun clan are the different sides of the same coin - both of them straying away from the path of light and both of them using each other to potently backstab each other at any given chance; Both of them realizing their wrongdoings and trying to redeem as much as they can, as well as having the follower that are genuinely trying to cherish their ‘leaders’. On top of that, they are a group and members have their own dynamic with other characters and are trying to avenge them - you can’t really get rid of just by killing the ‘final boss’ representing the religion, as they are scattered around the country and do, in fact, do make others better - like that one doctor from Cao camp, who is kind and what he learned was the knowledge from the religious faction, the eccentrics. Zhuge Liang himself also provides examples of how it's the extremist mentality that is wrong, as he himself was using their tricks for good. Once again, method is not what's right or wrong, as everything is a method, but it's the path that people are on may be destructive.
Just like how on the surface, Ravages of Time may as well seem as a propaganda piece advocating for the greater good, as everyone is repeating and repeating that they are doing things for the greater good and that the end justifies the means. Such scenes with added pathos flavor do make it understandable why would people think that characters here are quite similar to each other. But as you dig deeper, you notice that it is quite the opposite.
Respectable point goes to how the armies full of background characters are being treated. From the very start we dig in their mindset and notice how they too are frail human beings capable of vulnerability (albeit a bit over-the-top) and having their own families that they so much care about and ready to go against the world to build a safe space for them, but that road is what makes them forget the families that they are missing. After all, the theme of the family and filial piety is ever so present here. What is crucial in warfare? Of course the morale of the army… the morale of the people… it is a job of a warlord to raise said morale, but… what if they decide to get this task done not only by charismatic speeches, but manipulative deeds, such as digging the tomb of your own loyal vassal, tarnishing his grave, handing it to the opposing faction and blaming them for your deeds… just to reel your army to overwhelm them?
I must say that the concept of death in itself is weaponized in Ravages of Time. So-called plot-armor is barely present here (few instances of the opposite events notwithstanding, as they are too few and far in-between to be relevant in such dense story-telling that spans 550 chapters as of now) and the half of the cast is quite dead, not planning come back… well, at least alive… because even if certain someone die, the fact that he existed remains and not only the mark that he had left while existing will keep on living, by affecting things, but some people may as well use their corpse for further deception, as well as the ones dying may use their own death as a gambit and pave the way for others.
Were you content with your life and death? - is probably the question asked to every main character whenever they are at their death’s door, starting to reflect on their lives before permanently going out from the story. Then they start reflecting on the path that they have been walking, mixing the dreams and the reality… unfortunately or not, none of them were allowed to play out their goals and aspirations at their heart’s content, but they are all allowed for their bittersweet closures by still finding things to be content with. Which results in gaining the awareness of self or/and surroundings, a fitting theme for a story full of deception, which on its own is fitting for a theatrical presentation, full of actors with an identity crisis.
Regarding the characterization in terms of how it subverts historical figures, one could say that they are not completely made-up and opposite of what they have been in real life. The vindication of certain people, like Lu Bu - he definitely could not have been a boorish fellow, since he was Ding Yuan's record-keeper. A man of letters who can read. Dong Zhuo did not start out with an ambition for the throne. He supported the wiser Emperor Xian of Han instead of continuing to back the useless Emperor Shao of Han. He employed many officials who were sacked during the "misfortune of proscribed party" incident. He redressed the corrupt military, and appointed Yuan Shao as the Grand Administrator of Bohai. He wanted to use people like Cao Cao too, and things were starting to look peaceful. But in the end he found out he was hoodwinked by these officials, and that's when he quit playing the game. Etc.
I like how it is mentioned that your life flashes before your eyes, just before you die (when Xiao Meng was about to die), because it is quite an interesting way to view the very start of the manga given the perspective from that scene:
the line to understand - whether we are living in the that very process of “the life flashing before your eyes, before you die” (Point of View belonging to Sima Yi) or is it just presented in a reversed manner, “death flashing before Sima Yi’s eyes, just before he starts his life” (sorry, I have no idea what is the short term to use for this phenomenon) through the dream-like lenses - is practically blurred, but we may have a hint as a title of the chapter “The AWAKENING of a KING” - Sima Yi awoke in his life that was supposed to be flashed in his eyes and at the same time was influenced by it and the connection between the past and the future thus clouds his point-of-view, not being able to distinguish between the reality and the dream.
Surely this dream hides secrets to Sima Yi’s life.
First, it presents just how corrupt his nature (making sense, since he was raised in a merchant family and on the works similar to Art of War by his talented teachers) truly is beneath the surface of his friendly mannerism and genuinely family loving demeanor (again, the line is blurred whether it is a facade or not, as he does not act up only to his own dog and hides his deceptive plans and killing machines even from his family, making it seem as if he is coming up with the plans on a whim).
Second, it plants the call-forwards to his and his children’s relationship with the Cao clan by referring to one of the Cao’s (according to the information that it outside the manhua, Cao Cao himself was that person) “superstitious” dream about his horses, parallel to Cao Cao being anxious about the fate of his children that he will bring to them - as they will be influenced by the advisers (so he gives the ‘lecture’ to these advisers, as he knows that it is inevitable and he may as well take the part in and contribute by himself as well)
Third, the very first panel and basically the opener of the whole story is from Zhao Yun’s point-of-view (so the ‘awakening’ part of the title also is for him) - implying that both of them are dreaming the same thing (lately confirmed by Zhao Yun himself to Sima Yi) and this virtually chains their destinies, the fate that both of them are anxious about. To refer back to the topic of flashing in the eyes, Zhao Yun may as well have a similar case, who has his views clouded by (longing towards) idealism instead. Especially highlighted by the black texts from the first chapter - while Zhao Yun is craving towards idealism and the life, Sima Yi on the other hand is craving towards nihilism/cynicism and the death - the scary line between the life and the death, that is called a dream (irony being, that Zhao Yun would be the one ready to face death as a heroic sacrifice, not Sima Yi).
Lastly, no matter how much Sima Yi may try to deny that he is afraid of the dream, seeing the same dream for the hundred times proves otherwise and tells us that he lacks self-awareness in terms of his anxiousness, but on the other hand, he does wish the dream to come true as his nature craves for it and motivates him to affect the world, despite it contradicting his very words of him not believing in the dream. Thus the line is once again being blurred, this time between the reality and the dream.
Another layer to their dynamic that I find amusing is their upbringing and in what kind of human being they shaped both of them, completely opposite and yet full of respect and attachment - Zhao Yun was raised in poverty, homeless and had to risk his own life everyday to eat, and only was for him was to steal the food… he also had only one family member, which he also had to take care of (and father figure also had to take care of him by working, so both of them were holding the bond - So this is an epitome of father-son relationships: One sacrifices himself for the others as both depends on each other to survive during a chaotic era.), because as he was shunned from the people around him for stealing (that which handicapped him in the end), he only had one father figure and no one else would care about him. Then he learned how to be an assassin (at that time, his father was probably long dead) and got sheltered by Sima Yi, who lived in comfort all of his life, had tons of relatives around him to never worry about a single thing and a single human being and also had tons of teachers to cater his interests and talents towards commandership, giving orders and being detached from the reality, instead of fighting and being familiar with the reality like Zhao Yun was - paradox being, that from the lowest of the low of societal hierarchy, Zhao Yun started to aim higher and turned into a mix of pragmatism and idealism (he is nihilistic, yes, but he won’t miss an opportunity to improve the world, if he had it), while Sima Yi, from the highest of high societal hierarchy, started to aim lower and turned into a mix of pragmatism and cynicism (that was given, considering how he kept contacting with the greedy representatives of his own family). Naturally, Zhao Yun values everything that Sima Yi has done for him and will never forget it, even after what he did to Xiao Meng, but… he also won’t ever forgive him for doing so, despite understanding Sima Yi’s reasoning. Will try as much as possible to not betray his loyalty towards - at least, will force his own self to believe in that.
Interestingly enough, that is a backstory that connects him to his second lord as well, Liu Bei. And as he has been hardened since the very young age and got used to the cruelty of the world, it became normal to him and only thing that he could have wished for in his life was someone who would care about him and if that someone would fix this cruel world that tired him, especially by losing everyone he has ever cared for. He had no education and killing people in cold-blooded manner (as he long has suppressed the feelings that he may have gotten from these brutalities) was his sole worth as a human being, thus he himself could not really aim to change the world… even if he admits that he has had such thoughts, to become a ruler and other corrupted desires, by asking rhetorically that - who did not have such thoughts in their lives. Zhao Yun did not simply want to be morally right. Rather, he wanted to love a familial figure, and wanted others to respect his love. But when one has to do a wrong (steal a bun) to do a right (save his father), what he got from life is hatred and contemplation. To our protagonist, being loved by his family is not enough. His family should be something he can be
proud of as that’s a very natural thing. He is ready to dirty his own hands and shoulder all of the hatred towards himself, he won’t be proud of himself, but at least he will be able to look forward to his family. And this is why Zhao Yun was naturally drawn closer to a morally right father - Liu Bei. Let’s return to a very old scene in chapter 32 - Facing the Heavens. The lives of the commoners are discardable just like Zhao Yun’s and his father’s. A daughter could not save her dad or even herself. People killing each other in order to survive. Generals and soldiers are not really different from assassins. The Yellow Turban, the Dong Zhuo’s faction, everyone is just the same. Here, Zhang Fei stood amidst the corpses of the commoners during the Hulao Gate campaign, pondering himself about the meaning of Heaven. And Liu Bei is the one guiding him to light. But Fei is not the only one facing the heavens… Zhao Yun was there, unknowingly to the three brother, which meant that Liu Bei had no reason to lie about anything and his monologue was completely genuine - so our boy found a guy who he has been seeking for a while, but has forgotten it, hence why he offered to Liu Bei that ‘he can take him up there’. Only by a second look, we saw what Zhao Yun did to the girl’s corpse. In Chinese culture, it’s
mandatory to make sure the dead go into the afterlife with their eyes shut. Dying with open eyes is an ill omen. Zhao Yun had killed many and saw even more death, but he respected the girl because she did what a daughter should do - saving her father. And Zhao Yun stood up and looked upon the daylight as he unconsciously found his life goal in Liu Bei’s righteous path. Judging by the environment and how Zhao Yun placed his trust in him, Liu Bei quickly noticed how him and Zhao Yun were similar, so he too can freely trust him. This mutual trust is what defines familial relationships. And Liu Bei, and only Liu Bei, answered Yun’s call. Our Zhao Yun believed in Liu Bei, although they just met for the first time, and despite Yun’s life as a
hitman - you can trust no one, not even your master.
Speaking of Yun’s master, let’s go back to chapter 263.2 - What Zhao Yun received from Liu Da was just a bun, but he had to give his life. But Liu Bei did not ask anyone for anything; he simply protected them because that’s the right thing to do. First, Bei sacrificed his dignity for his brother’s sake in chapter 44 - Deception in War by bowing, despite talking about having the royal blood. Then, the second clear contrast in chapter 55 - The Way of Employing Men. Liu Bei was going into danger for Zhao Yun - an anonymous guy he just met once. This is very important because Liu Bei saved anyone - not just people in his inner circle. He saved them all because damned if he didn’t.
On a partial side-note, Yun and Liu Da do foil each other as well, as every assassin does - both of them are forgetting themselves, but when Zhao Yun is forgetting himself for the greater goals, Liu Da, on the other hand, is forgetting himself just because of himself, to find a comfortable life all alone, as he has no one else left to love him, that which is a focal fear of the protagonist. I also value his character design a lot, just how many hyper-realistic variations does he have to display the passage of time. His side-story also contributed to the narrative, by showing how hard it is for the mere soldiers to cope with the pain inflicted on the battlefield or/and how they are using it as another cheap trick - so we indirectly understand why he values comfort life and how much he wants to go away from the battlefield… but he fails, because the battlefield is everywhere, hence how Zhao Yun too does not have anywhere to run away.
We get the clear picture in Zhao Yun and Liu Bei’s second encounter during the Hulao Gate’s
campaign (chapter 56 - Imperial Uncle takes the battlefield). Quan Yu was very practical - he thought of the team’s uncertain future. But what Liu Bei cares for at first is Zhao Yun’s life. Although Liu Bei appeared very savvy during chapter 44, he was the most idealist among his team and even the whold world. An anti-hero often had to choose between saving the few versus the many. Liu Bei is the classical hero who takes the third option of saving them all.
Zhao Yun thanked Liu Bei with a cart full of gold in chapter 57 - Truth and Deceit. From now on, Liu Bei became someone Yun can depend on. Liu Bei answered Yun’s call for help in chapter 86 - Right Timing, Right Place, and Right People, and saved him for the second time in chapter 93 - A Fight for Survival.
During the Xuzhou campaign, it’s also the first time Zhao Yun met Zhuge Liang. And the Seventh challenged Yun for what is a correct moral standpoint. Yun, with a Machivellian perspective inherited from Sima Y, could not win Liang’s argument. Our assassin was avoiding looking directly at Liang’s eyes... until Xiao Meng appeared. Just like how Zhao Yun was avoiding to look at the eyes of Sima Yi after several hundreds of chapters, when he declared someone else as his young master. It’s still very early in the story but we already got a glimpse of Zhao Yun’s dissatisfaction with Sima Yi’s ideal (and of Sima Yi himself by extension). The only thing keeping Zhao Yun in the Handicapped organization was Xiao Meng, his romantic pursuit. This delicate balance would be broken when Xiao Meng was killed later in chapter 256. Zhao Yun and Sima Yi came across the other soon later in chapter 263 - To Dreamland Once Again. This time, Zhao Yun could no longer look at Sima Yi’s eyes either.
This marked the departure of Zhao Yun from Sima Yi. It also highlighted the difference between Sima Yi’s Machivellian pragmatism (“the situation is beyond my control”) versus Liu Bei’s idealistic humanism. Liu Bei never hesitated to save his comrades, even though that meant his life was at stake (chapter 526 - Between Heaven and Earth). So when Xiao Meng was no longer alive, Zhao Yun naturally switched to Liu Bei’s faction. His loyalty was already shown in chapter 221 - In Small Steps, when he declared that Zhang Fei should not be doubting his loyalty towards Liu Bei. For people not paying attention to the context that was provided for so long, it would have been easier to believe that Zhao Yun was faking his loyalty towards Liu Bei, considering how even Zhang Fei was genuinely afraid that Liu bei was most likely dead, so it would take an acting skill to be a determined as Zi Long was here.
However, Zhao Yun’s loyalty to Liu Bei was not yet absolute as he might believe. It wavered during his reunion with his old master - Liu Da (chapter 384 - Bright Path of the Foolish). He was swayed into believing in his master’s plan about helping Sima Yi. Zhao Yun was clearly torn between the two decisions. Trying to rationalize his potential betrayal against Liu Bei, he asked the refugee family, why would they take the path of Liu Bei, when all is futile anyway? It will be futile no matter which path you will take, Cao Cao’s or Liu Bei’s… but the background character proclaimed, that suffering commoners know - it is better to take a path of someone who is not putting his effort towards the decay, because trying to fix the world bit by bit is what prolongs the world that everyone love, not Cao Cao’s path that is an amalgamation of chaos and order, that which will allowed the visceral chaos to be the main inhabitant of the civilization, after all, civilization was made to prevent the chaos, so his path nullifies the purpose.
And the background character, of all things, affected Zhao Yun’s development, as the words spoke to his nature, and not a facade and proving that the so-called background characters in other series, are ever so important in Ravages of Time - ‘in this era, who does not wish for a truly selfless and benevolent ruler to appear?’ was the commoner's line, that was mirrored after a few chapters, ‘in this day and age, who… does not want to take the right path?’ To come
up with the determination in chapter 395, Zhao Yun had to believe in his heart, as encouraged by the refugee - ‘the bright path is up to ourselves to find’ even if you want your world to be saved by someone else, that does not mean that you will get to not do anything by yourself. Liu Da might be the one teaching Zhao Yun the way of killing, but it was a random commoner who
taught our protagonist the way of living. The mercy kill was all he could have done.
By ‘killing’ (meaning, cutting the ties) his former fatherly figure (Liu Da) to save Liu Shan, Zhao Yun truly became the new son of another father - Liu Bei. Men of the same belief are sworn brothers. And only by sacrificing himself for the “younger Liu”, Zhao Yun could make himself another Liu in the family (or so he believed). The old Liaoyuan Hua has died along with the skull emblem; long live Zhao Yun.
We finally return to chapter 395 - A Gain and A Loss. Zhao Yun woke up from his reminiscence to see Liu Bei looking at him tenderly. And Zhao Yun called Liu Bei his dad for the first time. The sky was full of light. Zhao Yun sacrificed himself to bring “a little bun” for Liu Bei. He looked upon Bei with anticipation, and yet… Liu Bei discards his own son, of all things? The child that almost cost Zhao Yun his own life, was not even as valuable as a bun to Liu Bei? Was Zhao Yun not worthy, despite all his efforts to save Liu Bei’s princeling son? It’s Liu Bei’s selflessness that drew Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang and the rest toward him. His love transcended his blood family boundary. Sworn brothers can be worth just as, or even more than his own offsprings. And thus, our Zhao Yun knew he had finally found his family.
And this packed ‘mini-arc’ also culminates the parallel between Zhao Yun and Lu Bu. Now that foil is established in the very first volume - by how one feels superior while justifying his inhumanity, while another feels inferior; by how one feels pain but does not mind it even slightly, while another does not feel pain at all; by how one fights openly to gain reputation, while another kills behind the scenes with no recognition to him as a human being and so on . But the culmination comes with their understanding of changing the masters and carrying the children - that was the fight that made the most inhumane character into the most internally humane one, the one who was only trying to survive, now was seeking his own death. Both of them zoning out of the fight, facing Cao camp… difference being that the immoral Lu Bu was seeing them as if he was being haunted by them like hunters, with no order in sight, but in Zhao Yun’s case, he was seeing the ones that were asked by the heaven to kill him in the name of order. Once again, dream and reality intertwined. Zhao Yun denied that he was just like Lu bu just because of repeating what he did, because there is more to actions taken by us, then the deed itself, but… he did betray Sima Yi’s promise. BUT Zhao Yun does not want to die, his path just has began, differently to Lu Bu’s case, symbolized by the children, considering how children do tend to be symbols of the future and as the daughter of Lu Bu died, Zhao Yun managed to save his future by saving Liu Bei’s son. He succeeded in what Lu Bu failed - ‘even if I suffer… to have learned the way in the morning, I can die content in the evening’ he could have died there, but that was not an option.
Identity crisis of Zhao Yun runs so deep, that ever since he was a child, he was considered as a foreig beggar, not someone born in this country and we do not even know if he has a name. He also has several names (Zhao Yun, Liaoyuan Huo, Zhao Huo, Zi Long and whatnot), as everything we see about him is but an act - he has forgotten at least part of him already, as he is used to justifying his own actions to himself and keeps deluding oneself to cope; One of the reasons he is so numb, that with this he does not want to be hurt internally and such a think psychologically prevents for you to get pleasure as well. After all, he is used to selling himself for mere buns, as in, for things that one would consider as cheap as it is possible for a human being - while doing the world-altering deeds.
And there is also Dian Wei, who basically represents the ideal self Zhao Yun and he knows it. Zhao Yun despising him is but a result of his inferiority complex, it turns into a superiority complex as he wants to inflict pain upon it. Are the oceans formed by the streams of the small rivers or are these rivers swallowed by the ocean? When Zhao Yun battles Dian Wei it certainly is reminiscent of the "dream monster" and a nightmare, as he is fighting his mirror, perfection that he could have been, but is not. The perfection, that which he killed by his own hands. He damaged the Sima clan’s future by his own hands. And that mirror is broken, just like the one Xiao Meng held.
-Liaoyuan Huo the head of the handicapped warriors is more of a kunai guy
-Zhao Huo the adopted son of Zhao Xian is more of a sword guy (with the Changshan style and all)
-Zhao Yun Zilong the loyal general of Liu Bei is indeed a spear guy
But he does use several types of weapons in the battles at the same time, so as to convey the conflicting identities.
Well, depth is not the only thing that defines the quality of the character, is it now? On the surface, Zhao Yun is pretty amazing as well. His introduction from the get-go conveys his character pretty well - we notice straight away that biologically he is a bit built different, also starts the journey by acting and has a quite playful demeanor (to contrast his development of being number, when he stops being so playful), all of which is being used by him in top-tier warfare planning, which is especially valuable considering how he keeps coming up with all-new tricks, without even a need for them to be explicitly told to the readers to make sense. This is very important, because the ideas should not start with the examination from the get-go, but first we should get interested in the concepts to care about them genuinely and not being forced to do so (by starting with moping from get-go, for instance), so that is well managed by his introduction as well.
Zhao Yun’s role as a main character is subverted. We can tell he is the main character, considering the name of the series literally contains both his firstname and surname, but he is merely a henchman with not much of a focus. at first, we may be deceived that Sima Yi is the main character, but in actuality, Liaoyuan Huo is - not only he is named after the series, but the 'protagonistic' organizations are considered the ones he is residing in, first it is Sima clan, but then he switches to Liu Bei and focus shifts on that 'organization'.
Zhao Yun name, meaning cloud, clouds are between heaven and earth, they may as well symbolize “looking above”, holding your head high and being optimistic/idealistic/romantic… in comparison, Sima Yi is looking around himself, and Xiao Meng is pessimistic, always looking down. Of course, Huo is a subversion (in a sense, that there are not only pros highlighted of idealism, but also the negative and destructive ‘flavor’ (tendencies) it brings with itself) of it - the sun lady that fell in love with him easily, as if Huo was her prince charming, got neglected completely; her lover ended up dying and etc.
In Sima Yi’s case, I love just how self-unaware the guy is. He may be talking nihilistic things and seem like a realist who is trying to survive, but he is one of the most dreamer personalities in the series. He keeps seeking an disillusioned easy/light way out of everythingRemember the first arc that focused on Cao Cao? So above all, what distinguishes this arc from the others in my opinion is its atmosphere of strangeness. It's the arc where Guo Jia is first introduced and he is immediately depicted as a guy almost unbeatable. There's the first half of the arc where he uses all of his tricks, and then it's time for the riposte, given by both Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang. The whole Chizongsi costume thing is also masterful to me. When it has become clear that Guo Jia would end up winning, we quit the reality for a more blurred battlefield where magic suddenly becomes believable. Rationality and ordinary strategy does not work against the murderous crow, the power of the gods is needed, and that very power echoes with the monster of the dream. And all of that just gives to this arc so much charm in my opinion. It's an arc where the initial dream of sima yi dangerously mixes itself with the reality of the battlefield. So those are the reasons I really like this arc over many others. He also keeps rationalizing his desires and attaches them to excuses such as family and friendship, but later on realization comes to him gradually and we all know that we would not address Sima Yi for friendly advices.
He is also good at justifying things that he believes in - in contrast to Yun, who is internally deluding himself, Sima Yi externalizes it and thinks that his desires are one and the same with how the world is constructed, so his opinions will seem rebellious or/and revolutionary to the traditionalists of his era - ‘morality? A man can have many wives, you call that moral? If a man can be unfaithful, why can’t a woman? It’s all idealistic thinking, impossible to live up to. Because in this male-centric society, men just impose their will upon women. What is a man’s morality? What is a man’s dignity? Only jokes’ he is not saying to make a women oriented society now is he? But that is also what connects him to his lover and I really like that a selfish merchant can have a somewhat healthy relationship with a competently deceptive woman (hence how they relate to each other, so as to understand each other, which is important for people who do not click with others, hence the value - after all, even their own people would value dignity over themselves), as opposed to Zhao Yun’s relationships.
As a partial side not, let us talk about the women of Ravages of Time (and maybe on stand-out unnamed characters as well). Of course, in times of chaos and hardened people, there is no feminism in the world - from the perspective of the environment itself and not the men, because the environment is what would affect the minds of men. Not only hardened men would not be tricked by the novelties of the women, but physically they would not be overwhelmed by them as well, so the women physically would not have been allowed to be oriented on their own selfishness - ‘in this day and age, more than half of the population die on the battlefield. Only three men out of every ten may live past the age of forty. But… upon seeing this man so unwilling to accept his end, I really feel that it’s an unfortunate thing to die… now I understand why men are valued over women, for it may just be heaven’s ‘logical compensation’ to men. Staying alive is hard enough, yet death can happen so casually…’
In contrast to her placement as a pragmatic woman surviving in the chaotic world, we have Lady Sun, a romantic girl coming in terms to reality. Not only is she romantic in a feminine sense, but also rebellious, wanting to be sort of a jack-of-all-trades. Of course, in itself that character arc does not really sound unique enough, as we can have similar stuff in many other stories, as a protagonist, even. Difference is, that in other stories she would have been perpetually suffering - in Ravages of Time, ‘there will come a day when my heart succumbs to temptation and betrays my own promise,’ - her perspective changes alongside the passage of time. Her romantic feelings are not used to inflict wounds (mentally or physically) on her, but take advantage of it… after all, he tried to kill Zhao Yun, why would he return her feelings if he was a sane human being? But what makes her a brilliant addition to the story is how she reflects on all of these things - she is not losing her identity to the world, but as she matures, stars reflecting on everything, instead of being as hot-headed as she previously was and polishes herself, by understanding her value as a woman of Sun clan and uses it for good - she is not a wife, but a weapon - profoundly culminating the idea of the four commanderies arc. Now sure, she is a weapon and may sound like she just became like everyone around her, but the difference comes from how she is capitalizing on empathy before anything else - in comparison to men, who are growing cold and detached from the earthly emotions, she starts observing the son of Liu Bei and notices… peach garden brothers and Zhuge Liang would hand over their young master? Well, she is not smart enough to think that as another ploy, so the realization came in naturally, but even then, a child can’t walk properly and is still being used as part of a scheme. How could a child's relatives turn a blind eye to him? Wasn't it similar to what happened to her? Thus, she starts taking care of a child. Fortunately or not, her arc has yet to end, so let us stop here.
And just like woman are not allowed to shine in that era, there are also men who not only could not die in a satisfying manner, but their names were not even recorded in the history, despite their unwavering loyalties, the selflessness of operating behind the scenes, that also foils Sima Yi, considering how up until joining the fray and even in the time period of the recent chapters nobody really is aware of who he is and in historical records, we do not really know that he is a businessman, so much of his deeds remains unknown to the history, thus the mystery, how can you know completely someone else’s identity, when even history is unaware of it?
Sima Yi is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, for a purposeful disguise (opposite of Zhao Yun, in whom nature of both sheep and a wolf is united) - he is basically a mafia godfather, while not being a head of the family, but having the ace of spades. Normally an younger child character would get mad at not being the one who would inherit the wealth and all, but Sima Yi’s character is also a businessman, thus oriented at gaining the most benefit from the present predicament, instead moping around (hence his chronic backstabbing disorder)- his brother is just used as a leader figure for outside eyes, which serves Sima Yi very well, as his brother is kindhearted, but Sima Yi is the one pulling strings behind the scenes and he is doing that so well, that without throughout examination, no one really is able to point a finger towards his family, to blame for anything. Of course that is not to say that he does not cherish his family, as we can see it from the first chapters, he has genuine and playful interaction with the brothers and will even go against the tyran to save the family member, but he prioritizes his own self and demeanor too may be a facade of his. As we know, he also has direct facades, either by disguising as a servant or just not revealing his true capabilities to his classmates. He also tends to be lazy, so facade is excused, as he is not using it for evil deeds or something. You could also say that he commits good deeds, for the wrong reasons - like how he is helping Cao camp to get on good terms with it, to make use that benefit for himself. incidentally, Sima Yi's 'quick-fix' proposal would roughly be a negative utilitarian policy (rather than achieving the most happiness/pleasure, the emphasis is inflicting the least pain)
Sima Yi - me > family > the world
Zhao Yun - me < family < the world
He can also be seen as some sort of ‘evil’ counterpart of Zhuge Liang. They're both geniuses gifted with the most extraordinary degree of foresights and are initially unwilling to participate in the war for similar reasons - Sima Yi sees the world as too infested with evil to care about anything except the financial interest of his family, and though he arrives at this conclusion much later on Zhuge Liang also loses hope for the country's redemption during Liu Bei's campaign against Yuan Shu - but their personalities and philosophies are fundamentally different: Yi is money-driven and lacks any particular regard for ethics while Liang is one of the most morally upright characters in the story, so Yi would rather serve a morally ambiguous and powerful lord to swiftly end the war while Liang pledges loyalty only to another as righteous as himself. Liaoyuan Huo/Zhao Yun is a loyal follower of both (his switching allegiance marks a major character development) and their masters (Cao Cao and Liu Bei) interestingly enough turn out to be Evil/Good Counterparts of each other as well.
He also has an interesting dynamic to Guo Jia, who also has a friendly demeanor to contrast his wicked ways and keeps threatening Sima Yi, but that is his facade on its own, as it's hard to understand in what way exactly is Guo Jia being friendly? After all, he never planned to kill his own classmates (in comparison to other geniuses), was paving the way for Sima Yi to serve as a replacement to Cao Cao in any case and he very much cares about his world and is also unashamed of himself, despite being fully aware of his monstrous deeds, not trying to justify them. He did not really want to engage in warfare, because he thought he did not have enough time for it, considering his illness, so he was basically forced into that role by Jia Xu. And yeah, he may be committing evil deeds, but someone has to start things and that is the only way, it is absolutely important, thu he may not have time to save the world, but he has enough time to at least pave the way for others, as sitting idle on the slope and acting the nice guy while the country is collapsing around him might earn him a good reputation but will not save the people (the idea that is chain-reacted to Cao Cao as well (who then becomes the china’s terrorizing hero). Of course, there are no cop-out traits in Ravages, so his illness paid off, as it was taken advantage of and he was killed off sooner than he could have lived by the mutual understanding (without forming a deal) of Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi. The part I love the most is how his ways were at least pragmatically acknowledged by people somewhat close to him, on his deathbed, to get content with his death at the very last second and shed tears.
Much as Handicapped Warriors admire his intelligence and respect what he's done for the clan, Huo, Lei and Meng almost unanimously acknowledge his unethical motives and self-serving nature, to the point they do not feel particularly inhibited to hold back their opinions in his presence. Not that he cares.
Ace of spades is portrayed through his capabilities of warfare as well. At first, it would seem as if he is as smart or smarter than geniuses, but if you dig deeper, you notice how he is just great at utilizing advantages to perform better than them, but on a fairground, he would be run over quite easily, considering any of the warlords can simply storm his house and massacre the whole family - but he knows how to survive. Not only does he have connections to various other clans to take advantage of them, but he prepares technicalities such as hidden tunnels and other passages in advance, that no one knows about, so he can freely do whatever he wants, as not only no one will be able to anticipate such ‘revolutionary’ means, but even after the events occur, they won’t be able to guess whoever decided to ruin their plans.
Even then, he is not a god, and will be forced to engage in war and politics to survive - although his whole family will pay the price instead of him.
Essentially he starts ‘waiting’, to the point that it may get repetitive for the readers to experience how he ‘joins the fray’ several times and Cao Cao keeps backtracking the attempt to get rid of him. I do think that his appearances well subvert the expectations of his status, but yeah, the pattern is there nonetheless.
here's the thing to keep in mind about Sima Yi's appearances since submitting to Cao Cao after the Sima clan massacre
his position may have been precarious, but unless he messed up badly he was never in danger of being prematurely and preemptively purged (until the latest incident when Yang Xiu intervened to have reinforcements abandon Sima Yi), so the repetitive feature is not so much that Cao Cao is threatening Sima Yi to serve or die, the repetitive feature is - Guo Jia testing or messing with Sima Yi as part of the theatrics while in reality coddling and enabling him
Sima Yi was being tested in the Xiapi arc, and when he passed with flying colors (and helped out a bit during the leadup to Guandu) he was promoted as decoy agent in the Guandu arc (and then was groomed as a more direct agent but still playing the false defector role in the Hebei pacification arc)
his appearances in the Chibi arc (where he didn't do much except sell out Zuo Ci and leak information) and the final part of the scramble for Jingzhou (where he found himself in a life-threatening situation and was grievously wounded for the first time) are mainly for narrative purposes (reinforcing the secret relationship with Zhuge Liang on the one hand, and partially patching things up with Pang Tong and Liaoyuan Huo (and maybe paving a way for San Chuan to exit the scene - which served as a criticism of his ‘waiting’ mentality and reignited him) on the other hand)
that is to say, Sima Yi was but a bit player that had some tricks at play (and was moreover slowly consolidating influence for his long-term revenge plan), it just so happens he gets special attention as a pivotal character in the narrative... but it must be emphasized that this over-exposure hardly compromises the underlying processes of scheming at work (if one learns to decenter the theatrics and prioritize the bigger picture)
So I do not consider Sima Yi character arc’s repetitiveness as a flaw that is worth mentioning and giving relevance, considering it is far from the culmination of him as a character and we can freely focus on other characters’ arcs.
I have always been laughing how Sima Yi was talking about the friendship to Lu Bu, who did not believe in such things, when they first met, but when they met for the last time, it was Lu Bu who, in almost friendly manner, started emphasizing to Sima Yi’s loss, thinking that he would most definitely want to get rid of Cao Cao as soon as possible (because Lu Bu himself likes shortcuts) and Sima Yi was the one backstabbing him.
The author did mention that Lu Bu is his favourite character, if I remember correctly and that you can say from how much focus he has gotten over the course of 260 chapters, but I think the irony to give the most humanizing scenes to the character who strives the most to be inhuman, could have also been derived from the focus. And to focus first and foremost on him is a correct way, considering the stages of maturity the story should be underground. To start with a character who can not comprehend the rules of the world and acts like an animal is a right path, because the story is starting as an inhuman animal and gradually being shaped as the most humane one, by level by level learning from the mistakes of the characters. That remind me of the manga named The World Is Mine, which also starts in a chaotic manner and has a protagonist who was raised outside the civilization, and then he gradually starts evolving as the story goes and he gets familiar with the humanity, of the world and of himself, who is the ‘owner’ of the world.
he (the author) picked Lu Bu because he combines the great take on the inherent human nature - he is the one who rationalizes on short sight everything, to the point of not believing in loyalty and its power, meanwhile he is the most irrational one among all of them, as he is the one who resembles a best the most - to humans, he is not fit into civilization, to gods, he is too rational to believe in them - so that also gives him the god complex to toy with anyone beneath him - at the end of the day, all of his beliefs are being crushed one by one and not only he starts talking to god in his last seconds, but deeply he no longer wanted to be even alive at that point, but still did not dare to contradict his words of grasping at every chance to be alive, as its part of the heroic image, an image of higher being, he was just desperately clinging to it, to find the shelter, but all was for naught, because not only everyone was aware of his nature (which proved his belief of not having a pride being good, for one) but also he exhausted his advantage that made him deluded into what he was - physical strength, that cannot be faked - exhausted to the point of never regaining it back on time (and as we know, physical strength is also an expression of reputation through being legendary, it has its own substance, he was not strong just for the show - as the concept of "show" is what's being explored in The Ravages of Time, if we were to describe it in an unconventional manner)
And that day, the most heroic and powerful died with the most shameful death… at the same time, a deceptive advisor died the most heroic death. So there was an interesting triangle between the Lu Bu camp:
-Lu Bu was brainwashing himself with the idea of survival and his heroic image, and yet died in an opposite manner and even was craving for death
-Chen Gong was a deceptive advisor, who would make the most suitable plan, meaning to not given to the pride and how the war should be waged in a fair manner, and yet he got the respect from his enemies at the end of his life
-Zhang Liao, who was brainwashed to die for his comrades and not change the loyalties, deep down was craving to live and lived.
Chen Gong favored Lu Bu because of superficial/petty reasons, there really is not a pretense of him having a deep reason, as he thinks every warlord is bad anyone so there is no need to dig deeper and just indulges in his own desires. Lu Bu just fits his agenda, cause none of the geniuses are with him so he can freely go against the geniuses, symbolically meaning that Chen Gong (as and old man) wants to go against the flow of time and teach a lesson to young waves, he just does not want to accept that time has come for him to step down, so in front of the newer generation, he was the one acting the most childishly. At the end of the day, he still gave an important lesson to Cao Cao, that he should try harder to hide his hypocrisy, try to actually do good for filial piety instead of merely using it as a chant.
Another conclusion of a character arc was that of Xiao Meng. Yet another fascinating ‘victim’ of perspective and confusion. Nevertheless, he is playful and has enough empathy to not ignore the stranger who defended him, as well as being great at his job - his dance alone is so alluring, that he can raise the morale of the wild animals and remind them of their humanity and generally being seductive enough to deceive any average human being, as he was ‘blessed’ to be the exact opposite of what he wanted to be - a perfect woman. But it is not like that he was literally blessed, as it also warrants unwanted attention, that nearly got him raped and driven to suicide
As a someone who was born in a family of eunuchs, he (or she) has always been treated and used as a female, that which he despised and even tried to compromise with that fact, because of people he valued (not really unconditionally, but it is still there). What would confuse him even more, was her romantic feelings towards a boy… did he love him because he was raised as a girl or on her own accord, as a homosexual man? Because of jokes that these people were nonchalantly aiming towards him, no care in the world for repercussions, he could not think anything else - he has no identity of his own, everyone views him as a female. But seeing (as Xiao Meng was not able to do) these characters interact with each other in a room with a serious mood, we see how they view him as he wants to be viewed - as a male. Zhang Lei talking to Zhao Yun in the first arc can serve as an example, as well as Sima children, missing the male named Xiao Meng. But alas, the only thing clear from Meng’s perspective is the fact that they have not even come to save him and his teacher also dies - which then leads to the beauty of his character, as he starts losing the shred of identity he owns by his own hands, by not only serving the other camp willingly, that opposes his beloved one, but also willingly moving as a female being. Now he too was at fault of betrayal.
His character displayed how futile it is for dreams to be handed over people, because without striving for it, one never starts seeing value in things, in comparison to Zhao Yun - and in contrast to Sima Yi, he was no ‘royalty’ (in a sense that he had no family to lead) and his blood started to be hated by people shortly after, so the ambition was never implemented in him. Neither could he serve royalties, so could not aim for something that he was raised to do, for what he meant to do. He could not even be emotionally encouraged by the vengefulness, as somebody else avenged his clan. So he only had the talent of learning everything with ease, that which also undervalued everything he could learn, because it did not require investment. Not only that, but he also saw her existence as a nuisance, considering how he only ever had urges that would ruin the plans of people he had valued. Be it Zhao Yun’s love life, arranged marriage or Sima Yi’s ambition. But he could not really leave the camp, because one must not forget how he came to be and after committing the first assassination, he knew that he has already been strayed away. Way to cope with all that was to literally drug her senses and make it numb manually (another foil to Zhao Yun - the number Zhao Yun gets, the more his hair resembles that of Xiao Meng’s hair). Needless to say, he was completely nihilistic - ‘gradually I realized that I live in an empty world. Everything I learned was nothing but lies and cheap tricks’ - and could not see value in life, but only in death - the death was the only way for Sima Yi to benefit by his existence, hence him being content with how his life got concluded.
So let us shift the focus to Cao Cao now. He as a character tends to be discredited, just because some of his deeds from other adaptations were ‘stolen’ by other characters of Ravages, but I digress, as he still is a very well-characterized and able one. So… he can be considered as jack-of-all-trades, but master of none as well, which would connect his character with Xiao Meng, as well as with the whole eunuch ordeal, as he too is from eunuch family, that which not only gives his actions towards eunuchs more weight (because people would be free to assume that he has bias, in case he takes the decision if favor for them or going against eunuchs will give him extra weight in a sense that he was supposed to have the most connection to them and even he went against them), but only gives to us an important detail of his background, from what kind of life he has been coming, full of scorn… thus he does have his moments of spotlight here and there, but he also has defining traits, such as the leadership - he may not be as charismatic as Dong was, but he knows how to nurture the most capable camp, after all he was the only one who managed to collect such massive team of talented people and not only it is respectable to also keep such selfish people in check, but it is also quite an achievement to not hold on grudges towards people he is waging wars, considering how he never gets blinded by the victory and emotions and tends to start thinking, whether it is worth to kill talented people in the enemy camp or not, even if they killed so many of our brothers.
He's actually a Xiahou by blood - the same Xiahou family which produced Xiahou Ying (a famous general in the time of Han's founding) and his two cousins Dun and Yuan - and his father was adopted into the Cao clan. So even if he is Cao, he was a black sheep even at his own family, the adoption is invoked against him by other clansmen at one point when his military situation at Guandu isn't looking good - to ensure the clan's survival, they use it as an excuse to draw a line between them and "Xiahou Cao", as the Emperor mockingly puts it. The same Emperor then quickly calls them out on this, pointing out that had it not been for Cao Cao, the Cao clan wouldn't have made it to the top of the political world.
He does want to save the world and also does atrocious deeds in the name of good and even tries his very best to get on the level of commoners, to the point of harvesting things alongside them, as well as starve with them in times of poverty and disciplining his heritage to do so as well with the help from Dun (of which existence is an additional layer to Cao Cao, considering how friendly they are to each other, almost talking with slangs, almost exclusively), to not get carried away by the high status, BUT we should also not forget that he is not a good man - he was introduced in the story talking about the ambition first and foremost, and later on, it did not take much for Guo Jia to sway him away towards the corruption. We even had Xiahou Dun who at least called out Guo Jia on his corruption and took a single warfare alongside Guo Jia to prove his farsightedness, but Cao Cao did not need even that to change his mind (although, the Freudian excuse provided). He also was visibly afraid to stand in front of bloodlusted Lu Bu, needed help from the Sima Yi clan to get into war and got somewhat indebted as a result and even got carried away by whoring out, like a regular man he is and required a reality check in the face of his little child dying to wake him up.
Interestingly enough, characters here are suffering to what they were destined to suffer, no matter how they will try to change the circumstances, like I already explained in Zhao Yun’s case. In case of Cao Cao, we see him being scorned because of his connections with eunuchs, but even after acquiring the million soldier worth army and a huge influence, he still is a laughing-stock, from even little children. And funnily enough, everyone for a good amount of time were saying that he was born lucky and that heaven was on his side… but what did that bring to him? Endless conflicts, externally or internally.
And despite the royal blood, Liu Bei also has not started his life in grocery, but selling straw sandals. But Liu Bei is not scorned right now, because he shaped his own image into reality.
Peach Garden brothers do stand out by how they enable and improve each other, despite their differences in nature:
Guan Yu is prideful and sacred (like a right hand of the god) and his qualities come from how he refuses and refuses to compromise even in the face of chaotic era that is seemingly proving his views that stems from the sage wrong, but he still sees good things - like how he noticed Zhang Liao’s comradeship, that only good natured people would have been capable of. That in itself would be enough for him to not give up on his ideals. So he can compromise with such people, believing that it will fruit into something profound, but he himself would never give up. Only would give up his pride, as that is the lesson that he has to learn as well - name can come without it too. At the same time, he is not really great at strategies and tends to get manipulated, as the honor comes first, then reason.
Zhang Fei on the other hand is a left hand of the god and even paints himself as a dark cat to fully indulge in his own brute figure. He is also quite fierce and pessimistic, manipulate and selfish (as he wants a shelter in brotherhood and wants to make Liu Bei into some kind of a hegemon on his own accord), so it is not like he is making a facade out of himself everytime he transforms into a cat, but he is just capitalizing on his darker traits - he likes to drink, so he may as well announce that he loves to drink senselessly and is not even good at it, and see what happens. But he is weaponizing his own image for his brother’s sake and also has other good qualities, like being a renowned painter, who is also quite attractive, appreciates talent and gives them an opportunity to chase after more significant and relevant goals.
About Liu Bei we already talked enough, but what's definitive to his character is the path that he is preaching to others, because he himself underwent it all and each of the steps of his life denied the stagnation of his arc, either by descending or ascension. What I find fascinating in his presentation is the fact that we do not really see on-screen whenever he is doing ‘wrongdoings’ - like, how Lu Bu noticed it himself that Liu Bei’s advice to Cao Cao was to kill Lu Bu. Lu Bu’s point of view is our only source and we too can’t really prove it, as it is not directly confirmed.
On whether Liu Bei is loyal to the emperor, it is complicated, as at that time Han emperors existed in name only.
After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the central government effectively collapsed, and the regional military power rose up. The armies now owed their loyalty not to the emperor, but to their 主公 (leader). This factoid is subtly inserted into Ravages by Chen Mou in the chapter of Chen Gong's death, where an unnamed soldier of Lu Bu sneered at his friends who surrendered to Cao Cao as "people who have forgotten who their 主公 is ". This demonstrates that, for soldiers of the time, loyalty to 主公 is of the paramount importance, not loyalty to the state or the emperor
(This might also be the reason why Luo Guanzong started SGYY from Yellow Turban Rebellion, as that marks the practical end of Han central government
So, to go back to the question of whether Liu Bei is loyal to the emperor, the best answer I can come up with is that the question is irrelevant, as by that time the concept itself has already been ignored by all but a small amount of literati
This is less pronounced in SGYY, as the novel was written during Ming Dynasty, and during the era when the emperor's authority was at its peak.
hat is why in SGYY we kept seeing Liu Bei was described as being loyal to the emperor sincerely, while in reality people of Three Kingdoms would have immediately realized that this guy is just spouting rhetorical remarks (not that they will calling him out, keeping the appearances are important)
Cao Cao effectively usurped Han while not taking the power himself. I completely agree with that observation, which I think is as close as it can be to the real history
In fact, once Cao Cao was urged by his followers to become emperor, and instead his answer is "Then let me be King Wen of Zhou". Historical note, King Wen of Zhou was never a king during his life, but he paved the way for his son to eventually overthrow Shang Dynasty and become King Wu of Zhou
Here what Cao Cao meant is that "look, I don't want to become a criminal by ending Han emperor on my hand. However, I will pave the way for my son to do the same"
the reason is because, from the Confucian's point of view, loyalty is the most important virtue. No matter how you cut it, Cao Cao is still a vassal of Han, so it will be break the decorum for him to end Han dynasty. However, his sons are vassals of Wei and not Han, which is why it is just proper for them to end Han dynasty. That is why Cao Cao declaring himself King of Wei is so significant, as it absolves his descendants from the sin of ending Han dynasty, with Wei now being a political entity that is independent of Han
In conclusion, yes, Cao Cao did usurp power from practical standpoints, there is no way to argue against that. However, it is also true that, by that point, Han is dead.
On whether people of that era is happy with such a change: it is to be noted that there are no major rebellions and uprisings in Wei when Emperor Xian got deposed, so people of that time either do not mind or already accepted it as a fait accompli
Finally, both in theory and in practise Wei is a continuation of Han, just with different clans being eligible to the seat of the emperor. Technically, Han emperor was not disposed, he simply abdicated (禅让）to Cao Pi, leaving all the administrative components of the empire intact. Some common people probably won't even notice any changes beyond changing the name of the emperor.
And we also have an iconic organization of Water Mirror, the Eight Geniuses, prodigies cherry-picked since childhood to serve the country, practically abandoning their mundane lives and thus representing the aspects for the world to be viewed (like in Jia Xu’s case, the wordplays). Abandonment can be seen by examining Zhuge Liang, as he has already cried so much about people that his tears were dried up and even when his relative deceased, he has not abandoned his study, as he is that dedicated to save the ones that are alive (he even had approval to rest, but he did not)
Now of course they too are human being and can chill around, sit, drink and to other earthly stuff, haha, but Ravages is not really focusing on these parts unless necessary (example being the Xiao Meng flashback, where we saw Zhao Yun and Sun Shu interacting to each other outside the conflict), instead it is focused on letting them creating interesting scenarios and throwing people under heavy dilemmas.
They are students of Sima Hui, Water Mirror, but they also have other teachers in the organization itself and some geniuses may even ‘hire’ tutors unknowingly to Sima Hui. The main tutor at first seems as if he is making some organization to save the world with no bias whatsoever, but we can judge his character as imperfect and thus his organization a failure, when they start killing each other. He may have in mind to save the world, but he too is flawed - quite biased and prejudicial (first example being how quickly he refused to take Sima Yi as one of his students)… the very concept of world savior geniuses’ came to him as a method to suppress Yuan Fang. He also was likely aware of Yang’s true identity, but hid it from Yuan Fang… well, him being blind and an old boomer is enough of a ‘metaphor’, I guess.
And even if the students are constantly learning things from him, over the course of the whole series, we still can rightfully say that each one of them has long surpassed the master. They all can be considered as different types of anti-heroic tendencies. They teach us how despite being nurtured by the same masters, how all of them have different methods and views over the world, as their own observation and ‘realities’ are also their own teachers.
They all do have character establishing introductions, so let us now take Pang Tong as an example. Well, I already analyzed the introduction of the 8th genius, but it was a special case on its own, so let us have another one.
Pang Tong's debut arc is one of the most heart wrenching ones for a number of reasons and they all contribute to how he's portrayed as a genius in coordinate strategy and masterful skills in persuasion. Even though in actual history Pang Tong debuted much later but in RoT he is part of the most pivotal arc of it all that cemented a lot of things for different characters, but that can come later since I want to discuss Pang Tong's goal, his methods and the strategies he used to achieve them. None of the strategies fall in any one single pattern or stratagem but takes core principles from various individual maxims and creates it into a brilliant mixed bag of strategy, which also highlights my own personal opinion on strategy. Strategy shouldn't be restricted to a school of thought like Sun Tzu or Clausewitz, Strategy involves applying ALL Resources at our disposal to achieve a goal, which is also why all strategies incorporate the method of increasing resources like making use of Spies, businesses and favors as a strategic tool so that they can be used later. For a strategist, the chess game they play starts with gathering the required pieces and then playing against the opponent's pieces. Enough about my ramblings on foray into strategy let's dissect the Pang Tong Art of War.
Objective: 1. Kill Cao Cao to obtain a stable base for Imperial Han and as an extension his lord Liu Chong.
Method: Extreme Utilitarianism and persuasion skills.
The initial step involves the basic strategy: Gather Resources. With Cao Cao established as he is, to kill him and destroy his influence is no easy task plus he commands a much greater army so Pang Tong stayed behind at Water Mirror's school as a Teacher so that he could gather many different Warlords and then form an alliance so that he could have soldiers and money at the same time.
Step 1: The initial step of the plan is to gather the Assassin to kill Cao Cao and he chosses the Handicapped Warriors because of their connection to Sima Yi which he can use later. He is preparing for multiple targets here, by using the HW he can then force the Sima Clan into obedience by blackmailing them of their plot to assassinate Cao Cao.
Step 2: Gather the beauty which will distract Cao Cao when they make their move to kill him. He uses Xiao Meng another HW for that as well so that there is no turning away for the Sima Clan when it comes to their "involvement" in the scheme. This beauty also serves another purpose as she is masquerading as Zhang Ji's aunt so get Zhang Ji in the fray as well.
Step 2a: Thin the numbers in Luyang Encampment(where Cao Cao is) by using insider to draw away Xiahou Dun so that Zhang Ji's attack is met with less resistance.
Step 2b: Inform Zhang Ji that his aunt has been taken away by Cao Cao ending their alliance and marking Cao Cao as a lusty debauchee.
Step 2c: Get Jia Xu away from Zhang Ji so that he doesn't realize that this is all a setup.
Step 3: Blackmail the Sima clan of their involvement in the Cao assassination and then delay the rations that they provide essentially removing Cao armys supply line without lifting a finger.
Steps 1-3 are all part of one aspect of the plan ,i.e, to assassinate Cao Cao and deny rations to Xiahou Dun's army essentially separates the Luyang Encampment into 2, Deals with Cao Cao using Assassination and deals with Xiahou Dun by depleting their supply lines. Luyang Camp is essentially finished with this 2 pronged attack.
Step 4: Wait for Xiahou Dun's supply to diminish and then attack him meanwhile get Cao Camp uniforms from Zhang Ji to infiltrate the Wuyin Camp ( important strategically) and then draw their forces out, once that is done station men on the hills and then deplete their numbers by using arrows. Keep in mind they haven't lost a single soldier yet
Step 4: With Wuyin in trouble it's obvious that Cao clan would want to send reinforcements but by involving Luu Bu and keeping the constant threat that Luu Bu will capture Xuxian (main base for Cao Cao) and thus they would not be able to send reinforcements.
In Conclusion: Xuxian can't support Wuyin and Wuyin can't support Luyang and thus all three armies are now isolated, now if Sima Clan refuses to send send rations the three separate armies will wither and thus be easy pickings for the combined alliance and Cao clan would have lost. Even though there were multiple divergences which ultimately lead to the failure of this campaign but the Setup was brilliant nevertheless. He maintained all principles of strategy and warfare at the same time.
A quote from Sun Tzu's translation goes as follows "Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities." in the passage of Attack by Stratagem in Sun Tzu's Art of War which accurately describes the main strategy of attack, 1.Prevent Zhang Ji from joining up with Cao Cao thus balking their plan, then he stopped three different places from giving reinforcement to each other and then attacked the Wuyin army which is on the field and avoided confronting the walled settlement of Xuxian. Failed Stratagem or not when Pang Tong makes plans nobody is going anywhere.
He failed because he is not farsighted. he looks at the present general picture, but underestimates the chaotic human nature which will always warrant a karmic counter-attack, thus the contrast with Zhuge Liang, that observes the present to predict and master the future. he is missing everything Guo Jia has, the ability to account for all aberrations in his strategy, they both do chain strategy but Guo Jia is so much better at it than he is. He didn't expect Xu Chu to actually save Cao Cao, Yu Jin to hold his ground, Luu Bu to back out, and finally his lord getting assassinated. He essentially did not expect any counter attack at all. Well, he did take some measures, but still heavily underestimated.
for a similarly pedantic response, 'utilitarian' is a mistranslation
the description Sima Hui used is [實用派] which translates more as 'pragmatic' or 'pragmatist' ('utilitarian' would be [功利])
I was thinking he is kind of reverse Utilitarian. His schemes end up harming all those involved since he is basically ruthless when it comes to allies and enemies alike. The only reason I maintained the Utilitarian aspect is because his approach to use anything and everything is at least utilitarian
incidentally, Sima Yi's 'quick-fix' proposal would roughly be a negative utilitarian policy (rather than achieving the most happiness/pleasure, the emphasis is inflicting the least pain)
Pang Tong is a ruthless pragmatist (among those in the Han loyalty banner) in that he would utilize whatever means to bring about certain outcomes (we see that in the chain of schemes he came up with when he stepped out)
so he's not a utilitarian (in the sense of the philosophical position), but he mobilizes tools in utilitarian fashion (see how words can trip people up with overlapping meanings)
Oh and gets Zhao Yun special treat, dimensions regarding the weight of his actions/dilemmas when he gets confronted and it turns into ‘kill or get killed’ once both of them will fulfil their usefulness and start hunting on each other. We can also see him get annoyed by how Jia Xu was zoning out while looking at burning Zhou Yu and so on. He is quite show-off and bloodlusted, while also having his own students.
Let’s not rank the ‘Enigmatic Eight’ and instead focus on their relative strengths and weaknesses from tinted/tainted perspectives.
Now one problem I have with ‘power level’ discourse is that on the theoretical level the fandom articulations about ‘power’ and ‘potential’ – among other related onto-cosmo-theo-phenomeno-axio-logical notions – are not even sophisticated enough to begin with, and that on the practical level this creates needlessly bitter squabbles among fans to an extent that is perhaps surpassed only by shipping wars and character evaluations. Of particular difficulty is the matter of ‘measuring’ not merely ‘physical’ or ‘magical’ strength, but ‘mental’ or ‘spiritual’ ability and their less tangible manifestations. The context of uneven warfare makes matters even harder, insofar as the various factions with their ‘genius’ advisers are not equitably situated in terms of territory, climate, funding, and various other factors (not to mention that in times of chaos, certain intellectual ways and paths tend to be more privileged than others). Add into the mix the stretched timeline (some schemers die earlier, others blossom late) as well as literary devices (skips, off-screen moments, fallible points of view from characters with imperfect information, etc.), and the prospect of precise comparison and ordering becomes a pipe dream leading into the rabbit hole of partisan promotions at the end of the rainbow (mixed metaphors intended).
Nonetheless, a more modest procedure of appraisal is still workable, whereby the cases for comparison are examined on an individual basis, on what others say about them, and what they say about their colleagues and rivals (unfortunately I am not studious and industrious enough to cite every instance, complete with links to the relevant pages). In this post I shall be talking about the Eight Geniuses who studied in the School of Water Mirror (after all, which Ravages fan has not yet attempted, even once and in a sloppy manner, to make sense of what the enigmas are capable of doing)…
Yuan Fang, the ‘First of the Eight‘ – skilled in both planning (especially the long-term sort that betrays even allies and kin) and combat, well-rounded in various fields and skills, a student of both Sima Hui and Zuo Ci [he plans to swallow his clan as an act of vengeance, and then aims to conquer the entire central plains]
‘Zhang Liang‘ Xun Yu – exceptionally talented in diplomacy, task delegation, and the crafting of well-hidden, long-prepared, single-use schemes [he wishes to help maintain Imperial Han by using Cao Cao as a capable warlord and minister]
Jia Xu, the ‘King of Formations‘ – exceptionally talented in troop mobilization and the ‘dark arts’ (deception, assassination, sacrificial gambits), uses his ‘oath reputation’ to mislead enemies [he sees Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao as decisive leaders fit for the times of darkness and brutality that precede the reemergence of peace]
Guo Jia, the ‘King of Strategic Decisions‘ – exceptionally talented in the ‘dark arts’, intelligence-gathering, and the crafting of plans with numerous steps and backups [he believes in the necessity of violence to achieve thorough reform/reconstruction relatively quickly, and deems Cao Cao to be the one capable of carrying it out]
‘Gentleman‘ Zhou Yu – also skilled in both planning and combat (especially naval battles), exceptionally talented in external counter-intelligence [he holds on to a principle of ‘continuity’ and wants the Sun clan to continue and succeed]
‘Fledgling Phoenix‘ Pang Tong – exceptionally talented in calculations, persuasion skills, and the crafting of stratagems involving chains of smaller schemes [he is a ‘utilitarian’ upholder of Imperial Han who supports Liu Chong, but is also willing to work with various parties to bring down Cao Cao whom he sees as a traitor]
‘Crouching Dragon‘ Zhuge Liang – well-rounded in various fields and skills, exceptionally talented in debates, internal management, predictions, strength concealment, secret collusion via planted agents, small tricks with long-term impact, and seizing opportunities [he seems to care most about the common good and sticks to the imperial ‘ideal’ as a convenient means to prevent needless bloodshed and unrest, with Liu Bei as the worthy standard-bearer]
Zhao ____ – exceptionally talented in the study of geography and weather, capable of fighting in a duel and may possibly be an expert in the Changshan style of martial arts [not much is known about this student… apart from him being a younger oath brother of Zhao Fan and growing up in the place said to be Zhao Yun’s hometown, his relatively welcoming albeit still instrumental attitude towards ambitious and conniving women, the way he discerns and cherishes the usefulness of whatever item presented to him, and his persuasion style that appeals to a target’s personal feelings]
As for the various opinions about them:
Sima Hui sees Yuan Fang as a special prodigy, and as a result gathered the other seven to learn with him (and counter his ambitions in the future). He also believes Cao Cao to be a better teacher than he is, insofar as it is Cao Cao’s leadership who made Xun Yu, Jia Xu, and Guo Jia flourish more brightly. He gave the special titles to Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang in recognition of their shining capabilities. He tries not to undervalue Zhou Yu, and has said little about the Eighth Genius.
Sima Yi mentions that the titles of ‘Crouching Dragon’ and ‘Fledgling Phoenix’ aren’t really that relevant, since any of the eight are capable of taking over the central plains (the title-holders themselves partly agree as they discuss the talents of Zhou Yu). Chen Gong in turn believes that diligence on the part of the other advisers can help them step into the thinking realm of the Eight Geniuses. Jia Xu for his part interprets the titles to indicate mere potential rather than developed ability. Yuan Fang sees his classmates as threats to be won over, or eliminated when the right place and time arrives.
Yuan Shao praises Yuan Fang, his illegitimate son, much more than his other children. Zuo Ci also sees the great potential in Yuan Fang to seize the world. Sun Jian acknowledges Yuan Fang as being good enough to overcome the methods of Sunzi in a chess-like game. Guo Jia looks up to Yuan Fang as one of the ‘best’ schemers to consult with and test one’s acumen against. Zhou Yu is wary of Yuan Fang’s treacherous schemes, Pang Tong could care less, and Zhuge Liang begrudgingly recognizes Yuan Fang’s penchant for big plans.
Cao Cao sees Xun Yu as a genius capable of surpassing the likes of Jia Xu and Guo Jia, who constantly resort to underhanded machinations to get the job done. Zhuge Liang indirectly acknowledges Xun Yu’s talent for judging people by sending the latter a letter about Sima Yi. Guo Jia and Jia Xu concede that their dark methods serve only to pave the way for Xun Yu’s effective administration come peacetime. Chen Gong also recognizes Xun Yu’s diplomatic talents.
Sima Yi mentions the superiority of Jia Xu’s mobilization skills compared to his own. Zhang Liao and Zhang Fei acknowledge the psychological effects of Jia Xu’s oaths and boasts. Guo Jia trusts Jia Xu enough to let the latter handle difficult missions. Pang Tong sees Jia Xu as a big threat to his own plans and a potential supporter of Cao Cao, that he had the latter temporarily detained.
Guo Jia is talented and ruthless enough that Zhuge Liang was forced to make a premature move in the Xuzhou campaign. Zhuge Liang also concealed his movements and motives carefully to avoid attracting Guo Jia’s special attention. Xun Yu respects Guo Jia enough to work alongside him, and eventually acknowledges the necessity of Guo Jia’s cruel methods as a means to minimize casualties and anguish. Jia Xu sees Guo Jia as, at one point, the ‘strongest’ among the Eight Geniuses in terms of actual ability rather than mere potential. Jia Xu was also the one who recommended Guo Jia to Cao Cao in the first place. Yuan Fang acknowledges Guo Jia’s planning ability and his way of paying back in kind. Numerous officers speak of Guo Jia as being capable of devising multiple backups and making hard decisions. Hua Tuo in turn is moved by Guo Jia’s abilities and commitment that he does what he can to prolong Guo Jia’s sickly life. Sima Yi expresses relief that Jia Xu would not be able to discipline him as much as Guo Jia. The Eighth Genius and Sima Yi opine, on different occasions, that Guo Jia still has posthumous plans in store. Yang Xiu notes that Guo Jia’s method of planning and anticipation involves the use of a main scheme alongside at least one contingency measure, with each phase having its own details.
Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang acknowledge Zhou Yu’s world-class talents for conquest. Guo Jia is wary enough of Zhou Yu’s naval prowess that he spent his dying moments preparing Cao Cao’s southern invasion plans. Sun Ce praises Zhou Yu as the ‘heaven’ guiding his conquests on the external front and giving him the right arguments. Hua Tuo worries that Zhou Yu may not be as good in handling internal affairs. Sima Hui also consoles Kan Ze by saying that Zhou Yu’s ‘tolerance’ is second to none.
Guo Jia and Xun Yu recognize Pang Tong’s handiwork in the sudden collaboration of previously squabbling warlords. The Sun clan acknowledges Pang Tong’s negotiation skills enough to assign him the task of convincing Gan Ning to defect. Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang see Pang Tong as a capable colleague, that they each attempted to convince him to join Sun Quan (in the case of Zhou Yu) or Liu Bei (in the case of Zhuge Liang). Jia Xu and Sima Yi, on distinct occasions, remark on the scariness of Pang Tong’s forthrightness. Sima Yi also remembers his feats of rapid calculation. At one point, Cao Cao even muses at having Pang Tong as an adviser and imagining how powerful he would become as a result. The various minor advisers have even come to appreciate Pang Tong as a great teacher and guide. Zhuge Liang further attests to the uncontrollable character of Pang Tong’s schemes, something that Zhou Yu is also wary of.
Zhuge Liang is introduced early in the series as the one who (along with Sima Yi, his future rival) gave the most incredible decoding of the scripture puzzle. He also keeps on appearing in various scenes, still masked, as if to build anticipation for the unveiling that happens hundreds of chapters after his first appearance. As for the appraisals about him: Liu Bei and his brothers note that Zhuge Liang (even without stepping out and with his colleagues already heaping achievements in battle) has become the ‘most renowned’ among the eight; Cao Ren and Cao Hong dread the prospect of having to face Zhuge Liang if the latter’s subordinate (Xu Shu) is already giving them a hard time; Yuan Fang early on considers Zhuge Liang to be his only rival for the title of ‘Crouching Dragon’, although later on Yuan Fang muses about how Zhuge Liang might become a ‘fatigued dragon’ someday – Sima Yi somehow concurs with the latter assessment, saying to Zhuge Liang that his being ‘chronically troubled’ would make him an easy adversary for Zhou Yu; in the first Xuzhou campaign Guo Jia is eager to test his mobilization against Zhuge Liang’s moves, and feels disappointed that Zhuge Liang is ‘better’ than he is when it comes to predicting the weather; Sima Hui is surprised at Zhuge Liang’s ability to correctly anticipate sixteen consecutive outcomes in a developing skirmish, though he also notes in other occasions that Zhuge Liang is rather obstinate, and may not be as good at judging people as Xun Yu or Guo Jia; Jia Xu is wary about Zhuge Liang entering the scene that he contemplates having the latter assassinated; Zhou Yu constantly tries to set traps and scams for Zhuge Liang (perhaps as an insurance measure to prevent Liu Bei from becoming stronger); Pang Tong sees his support for Liu Chong as a way to compete with Zhuge Liang’s favorable opinion of Liu Bei; Zhang Zhao, a good manager, hints at Zhuge Liang’s skills in management – Lu Su attests to this in a later chapter when he witnessed how Zhuge Liang was able to maintain order in Jiangxia; Kan Ze is shocked upon realizing that Zhuge Liang’s apparent inactivity for over a decade was all in anticipation for a big event; in a later development, Guo Jia notes that Zhuge Liang would not participate in a battle unless he is absolutely certain of the favorable outcome – this is corroborated by Sima Hui when he mentions that back in the school Zhuge Liang could win any contest he joins, but would not participate if victory was uncertain; finally, Sima Yi’s promotion as Guo Jia’s successor is mainly because Sima Yi is deemed capable of thinking on the same page as Zhuge Liang.
And then we also have characters from the newer generation, to nail the point about the generational shift even further, the kids who are willing to be swallowed by the old times - take Sun Quan, he does not like letting his own things go easily, but the march of time has gotten into him the continuation of his clan has crawled in his body, forcing him to let things go, but subconsciously he can’t really do that. And then there are the new handicapped warriors - on the first look, they are quite similar to the previous generation, but that’s just because of how they treat the legacy as idols and want to be like them, despite not having the suitable nature (notice how they do not joke around the eunuch being a girl, this time they are not joking about it), they have to realize that they should not repeat the same mistakes of old, but we do not really have enough chapters to judge further their path.
So as we can see, the identity crisis is a major thematic conflict in Ravages of Time and is being explored from various angles and everyone is deluded about the world and themselves, that is merely a refuge that they sought in the comforting world of dreams
ARCS
transition between the arcs are handled according to momentum and narrative choices are made according to it. Like how the war between the Cao and Yuan peaks at the end of the climax of Guandu and then decay starts after the main player, to whom everything was placed on the should dies. Then the slow decay fits the not so important things occurring in the aftermath, that is just used as a set-up for future arcs and does not involve much action in it, to the point of even skipping some things that may be deemed as interesting and worth giving attention to by some readers. In the recent arc as well, the previous arc ended with Sima Yi being fired up, so the very next arc practically starts the action with just a one or two in-between chapters. This accurate placement of events is one of the reasons how Ravages’ manages to take away the investment/engagement of the readers, despite not really being too focused on characters’ personal live (even if you think Ravages’ has many plot devices, each centres around few characters that are depicted on personal level and with turning points in their lives, to add the weight to these arcs) and how successful it is in terms of time management, when you notice how short were the number of chapters in a dramatic arcs that you have witnessed, but felt like a lot of happened.
So as to evaluate the arcs, let us start from the very beginning. I will leave out things that I have talked about and keep them short, what I have left to write about.
Ravages of Time starts with a bold move from the get-go and I daresay the first arc is the best prologue arc that I have ever experienced, with its dysfunctional (but sneakier) Coalition arc. So we may as well compare it to that arc.
Now of course this arc is rough around the edges, but the content heavily compensates for its shortcoming, to the point that I would not decrease even a 0.5 point from its rating. That roughness includes a bit cartoony presentation with its over-the-top reactions, like warriors spitting blood out of adrenaline that was catalyzed by the charismatic speech and some jokes here and there - that is very much needed to contrast the mature, hardened future to highlight the descent into realism.
What makes the arc great is how it combines and introduces several sides opposing each other with a facade of one heroic side going against the big bad faction - in actuality, all of these ‘heroic’ warlords are corrupted and dishonest, while the big bad is the most honest among them and killing him would plunge the world into chaos. Our protagonists are not even siding with anyone, they just want to save themselves.
So the subversion of the historical figures aside, we also have a subversion of expectation in terms of conventional narrative routes. Let us take Lu Bu as an example - at first, he does seem just another strong villain, whose face is not even relevant enough for the readers to be shown, giving as an idea, that it will be just another story, which tunnel visions on glorifying the main characters and demonizing everyone else - it even goes with extra steps to seem immaturely centrist, in a manner, that every other side would seem demonizing with no further elaboration - but then drops a random heroic figure(seemingly innocent, who may as well have been that kind of a main character, deuteragonist, who tend to be placed in stories to change the system internally), to save Xiao Meng, who then turns out to be Lu Bu and he is using that stereotypical understand for his own good, so as to give us an idea ‘not only the stereotypical understanding will be perpetually weaponized in the series’
Ravages tends to get compared to Kingdom nowadays (though the former is much more sophisticated yet much less popular than the latter), and so to add a different twist to this idle pastime, here's a provocative study in contrast.
The 100-chapter coalition arc is widely considered by Kingdom fans to be among the peak points of the series thus far. Meanwhile, not a lot of Ravages readers have a fondness for its first arc covering volumes 1-5 about the burning of Luoyang (and quite a number of new readers drop out before even finishing the arc). On the face of it, putting these two side by side (when it would have been more appropriate to invoke the Guandu or the Chibi arcs of Ravages) seems like a gross mismatch setting one up for a total massacre against the other. Besides, the coalition arc already features Hara Yasuhisa maturing in his work, whereas the Ravages first arc is basically Chen Mou taking his baby steps and struggling to keep Ravages going.
So maybe to even the odds a bit, let's bring in volume 6 of Ravages, the second (standalone) arc about the incident at Hulao pass, that way the confrontation would be between 100 peak chapters of Kingdom vis-a-vis the first 50 chapters of Ravages. Considering that longtime Kingdom readers who have yet to survive Ravages already implicitly criticize early Ravages using late Kingdom anyway (and use this criticism as an excuse not to push further), might as well go along with this unfair stipulation (keeping in mind that the essence of strategy is to let the other side know one's steps, as it were).
It is important to lay some groundwork for this comparison to be in some way feasible, so here goes. Both arcs basically involve a bunch of factions joining forces (the anti-Qin coalition in the case of Kingdom, the Guandong alliance in the case of Ravages) in a bid to capture a key site (the Qin capital Xianyang and the Han capital Luoyang respectively) and eliminate a mutually recognized threat (the Qin state on the one hand, the Xiliang army holding the Han court hostage on the other hand). Interestingly enough, both series feature the coalitions as situated on the east side pushing westward, although the crucial narrative difference is that in Kingdom, Qin is the protagonist faction having to overcome a united opposition while in Ravages, the main characters are (nominally) siding with the alliance against Dong Zhuo.
To be clear, the coalition arc features twice as many chapters as the first 2 arcs of Ravages, and thus Kingdom has more leeway to flesh out the battle scenarios and tactics, which it does fairly well. Moreover, one may concede that Hara generally makes use of more techniques that help sustain reader morale, thus making the coalition arc (and the series in general) the hyped-up phenomenon that it is. However, setting those aspects aside (and early Ravages has its fair share of gimmicks as well) and just focusing on the schemes and intrigues at play, one can argue that the first portions of Ravages (even if they don't look as exciting) actually feature a more complex setup than one of the high points of Kingdom.
The bold claim (that Ravages in its infancy already features more sophistication than Kingdom at its peak) can be made more manifest when we look closely into the differences regarding how the 2 campaigns are framed and how they unfold. The coalition arc (both the battles in the vicinity of Hangu Pass and the surprise city siege close to Xianyang) basically involves Qin having to hold the line across multiple fronts while the invading force attempts to breach the main defenses, thus making things look more grandiose. Meanwhile, the march to Luoyang is bogged down by various sorts of complications, and ultimately the Xiliang army intended to abandon the capital and move the court (along with many residents) to the former capital Chang'an (incidentally, built close to where Xianyang once stood), but not without leaving an elaborate ambush scheme and inflict some damage to the alliance. This discrepancy with regard to frontier rigidity means that Ravages players in the first two arcs can afford to make more use of insiders and intelligence leaks. Another key divergence concerns group cohesion: while there are disagreements and frictions in the anti-Qin coalition, the various state armies that participated in the invasion generally worked together (or at least, did not significantly interfere with one another's moves, even if botches by specific generals have their impact); by contrast, the Guandong alliance is plagued with competing factional interests, such that the maneuvers involved are aimed not only at the external threat but also internal rivals and obstacles (made more explicit in the skirmish at Hulao Pass). Thus it can be said that Ravages features a very dysfunctional coalition, but in the process makes the whole joint exercise a lot sneakier. A consequence of this is that while in Kingdom the coalition can field huge armies at a time, in Ravages the alliance commits fewer troops to the frontlines and mostly stays put in the many occupied zones.
With regard to scale, the coalition arc takes around a month, and occurs in a fairly limited location. Of course, this also means that Kingdom is able to make use of 100 chapters to depict and narrate the days of war (or rather, selected portions thereof) in much detail, captivating many readers in the process. Now to be fair, therein lies the comparative advantage of the series: telling heroic tales of engrossing (albeit simplified) battles in their gore and glory, with tactics and tragedies thrown into the mix. By contrast, the first two arcs of Ravages involve weeks and months of standoffs across the capital region and the outskirts of nearby provinces, featuring intermittent clashes (some of which, lasting from several hours to a few days, are highlighted in the arcs) and continuous intrigue (the aspect that gets more attention throughout the series). The upshot is that early Ravages ultimately involves a wider playing field and timetable, yet the showdown portions are comparatively shorter (and involve less troops) than those in Kingdom at its height. Lastly, it goes without saying that although the coalition arc has more battlefield tactics on display, the first 50 chapters of Ravages involve more ruses and stratagems in and out of battle.
Some may ask what is the point of this long-winded sophisticated (or sophistic) exercise. On the surface, it is to show detractors that even the greatest hits from another more famous series (with its own merits) do not match up to Ravages in its baby steps as far as the scheming game is concerned (insinuating that if Ravages is already this complex early on, wait until the later parts). More importantly, it serves as a reminder to Ravages readers not to neglect the pioneer portions just because they happen to be less polished, and an invitation to appreciate early Ravages in light of the insights gleaned from late Ravages.
one can ironically read Kingdom as the propaganda piece that Qin would have wanted had it survived long enough. in another note, perhaps the way the translators handled Kingdom (the use of colloquialisms with a dash of online speak to enhance and smoothen reader experiences though perhaps the original language may have been informal as well for all we know) is also a manifestation (and repetition) of a gamified approach to 'fictional wars', and it's understandable that the nekketsu style persists because it sells well (just like propagandistic pieces).
All of this gets effortlessly subverted when the conventional humanization of antagonism gets distorted as the one a bit humanized turns on his lord and the ‘final boss’ of character gets cut down in the very next to criticize the glorification of the idea ‘survival of the fittest’ and how combining the people who do not play by the rules of heaven in your team and encouraging their beastly nature will lead to the swift downfall. Perhaps this arc has the most ‘local’ scope, despite the high stakes (as the world will plunge into the chaos, as it was noticed in the previous arc) and so one may find it the weakest in terms of ‘I knew that you knew that I knew… that you knew’ twists.
The mindset that was standing atop the others right now, got subverted in the very next one as well, when on the horizon came the dormant family of the lion king, so despite all, even he had a family and they cared about him so much that they were ready to sacrifice themselves, just to avenge the lord - something that Lu Bu can’t really relate to, as he discards his fathers, so there will be no one to avenge him once he gets put down and yet, his legacy as well will live on, even if not blood-related. One thing is clear, this arc forever doomed Lu Bu’s reputation and it was put on an unrepairable level and ever since he has been participating merely on cat and mouse-like ordeals.
Next we have the establishment of Cao Cao as a warlord. He was already introduced before. Cao Cao too was supposed to be the improved version of Dong, more humane and someone who had similar excuses and motivation, but different methods and images. But as his character arc goes on and on, we take more and more hints as to how he is getting closer and closer to being similar to Dong. As well as the introduction of the Sun clan, who are already strayed away as the results of the first arc and as a contrast to Cao’s path, they are to get back on track in the future.
After the guandu, the most selfish people have died, the selfish were the first to fall off and so now there are no more gang-ups to the obvious, low hanging fruits, that are lonely warlords after that arc, so it's always been between the rich, solidified family ties ever since. Hopefully Yang will be characterized further, considering how crucial is his placement in the narrative - he is a virus, a corruption that the Cao clan inherited from the family crumbling brotherhood of the Yuan clan. from a moral standpoint, well, Yang's existence is a must, as a keeps Cao camp on the edge and questions their actions by his mere presence and he made a great addition in a thematic exploration of RoT… aside of what we have already mentioned, he has no pretense of patriotism and the greater good and such people exist, so stories need characters like him as well - well, he does have a pretense in that he claims to be taking his father's lesson to heart. needs some sort of superficial facades to survive in the world.
And in the arc after the four commanderies, we have the final breath of Sun clan’s Zhou Yu.
to better appreciate the poetic character of that chapter, I shall turn to the passage from the Zhuangzi quoted in the chapter (and examine how Chen Mou played with it) 萬川歸之 Countless tributaries flow into it (the sea) without ever stopping in context, that section of the text discusses how rivers and streams however large they are miniscule when compared to the sea where they all find their place (and how the sea in its vastness reaches the 'drainage point' [尾閭] without being emptied, basically conveying how the dao is so much beyond whatever current or flow of thinking one has learned)
now that particular section of the Zhuangzi does not really talk about fish, and here Zhou Yu in his follow-up phrase [尾閭迎魚] inserts himself (due to the homonym between fish and his given name) and low-key brags a bit by claiming how in that point where all waters drain, the fish are welcomed (and that he himself is heading there, basically conveying how the schemes of all the other factions are limited in their framework, while he's attained a view beyond all that) however, when we turn our attention to the chapter title [尾閭無魚] it turns out, at that deep end, there are no fish to be found, not only conveniently reminding us that Zhou Yu's end is nigh, but also highlighting what his plan is really about (that is to say, in the larger scheme of things, a fish is but one other entity passing into and swimming across the great sea, and that it can continue without the fish)(edited)this also ties in to the notion of continuation the Sun clan has been harping about for so long... if it becomes as capacious and tolerant (given its acceptance of defectors such as Taishi Ci and Gan Ning) as the sea (with a bonus nod to its faction being a naval power) without relying on a single fish or being stuck on narrow currents and paradigms, it can last long.
-Poem: https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=42145&remap=gb
There are two things in addition.
Cao Cao's appearance also served a purpose. It was similar case with Guo Jia and it showcases how dependent he was on Guo, to contrast Sun clan. ( or in general, how Cao Cao's army, despite being a well-trained war machine, still features a great deal of involvement from the leader and his inner circle (making it possible for Zhou Yu to catch Cao Cao himself by surprise)
His pose (Head tilt, hands and etc) in a metaphorical sense may mean that he is swimming. Then comes the "camerawork" - on his background, there basically is a battlefield, which implies that he is swimming there and eventually goes up, in Heaven.
Now how this scene also represents the facet of its arc's main theme - going against the tradition
Fishes are supposed to swim in a sea, full of water and below the earth, as Zhou Yu was unbeatable at naval battles and similar stuff, but here we have a fish swimming on a mountain, full of fire. Also, Zhou Yu who was scolding Sun Ce all this time to not rush things, he himself was rushing for the whole arc. And in terms of plot development, death of an adviser/general means the annihilation of the morale, but instead his death raised the morale, because he faked his death so many times that the idea of him dying is already an ancient joke.
There are also other examples of breaking the traditions, like how Cao charges turned to a more pragmatic path and so on. I do have gripes with this arc’s pacing, with how it treats Cao Cao, but oh well. At least the arc manages the most, in comparison to previous arcs, in terms of cast’s humanization and gave importance to the whole package of characters.
How many character dynamics did we have in this arc alone?
-Sima Yi and Sun Quan (from where Quan even developed)
-New handicapped warriors (several at the same time)
-Handicapped strategist and Zhao Yu (forcing the strategist to cut the ties from other handicappedones)
-Cao Cao and unnamed talent (taking advantage of the old man0
-Old Cao Cao, missing children and Guo Jia (the clan taking a hit because of Guo Jia’s lack)
-Old Cao Cao and alive children (allowing his children to pave their own paths)
-Dun and children (not letting them to be detached from the reality)
-Cao Ren and shame (I even understand now why he was not so emotional when Cao army was burning... he's just tired of it... he regained a bit of name, but suffered even worse damage, so exhausting...)
-Cao children and Cao commanders
-Ma clan (also several)
-Dun and Xun
-Xun and Cao's child
-Quan and Zhao Yun
-Quan and Sun Shu
-Sun Shu and Liu Bei's child
-Quan and dead brothers
-Guan and Zhuge Liang
I won’t talk about the current arc, as it is still far from culmination, but it also seems extremely promising so far.
SHORTCOMINGS
So now let’s turn to the criticism of Ravages. Well, we have already discussed most of its cons above, so revisit will be short - for its novelties, unfortunately, Ravages has to pay the price… cultural details? Gets lost in translation, with foreign honorifics on top of iffy word choices… cool designs? Mere childish fantasies, what are monsters and prophecies doing in a series based on history… Extensive cast? Names confuse and distract the readers… Layered stratagems? Good luck keeping up with them with substandards scans… References? Story turns into a mess and comes off as pretentious… Refreshing insights? Yeah, while letting us look at those silly horses to not take it seriously… Quotable lines? They are done by identical faces… Smart war? Battles are incoherent as a result, absurd twists are conveyed in poorly drawn formations and excessive verbal cannons… Rich setting with a high scope? Maps are vague, not to mention the lack of reader-friendly diagrams and stat figures and info boxes, with barely fleshed-out culture for each side…
some features that I find a bit problematic about (the already-published chapters of the still-ongoing and yet-to-be-finished run of) The Ravages of Time. Now while it may sound like I’m here to dissuade people from trying to read the series (contrary to the orientation of the blog as a whole), it would be fairer to construe what I’m about to do as an exercise in sober critique and conscientious self-criticism. After all, I wouldn’t want to naively say that Ravages is PERFECTION… and besides, critical discussion still counts as propaganda of some sort, to say the least. Moreover, it’s not as if my own presuppositions and predispositions are necessarily shared by everyone, so it may very well be that what seems to me to be a shortcoming might turn out to be an incentive for some other potential reader. And so without further ado, here goes…
For one thing, while Ravages features numerous references to a variety of texts (such as the Analects of Confucius, Sunzi’s Art of War, Cao Cao’s poetry, and even a number of verses from much later periods, to name but a few), methinks there are a bunch of interesting texts (like the logical quibbles of Gongsun Long) that the series has yet to incorporate. A related complaint is how some of these citations are insufficiently elaborated and interpreted. Also, regarding the historical examples used as comparisons throughout the series, a similar remark can be made that Ravages could have incorporated more anecdotes (particularly the less renowned ones), or perhaps it could have used what it has cited in some other ways.
Another relatively minor issue that I have concerns the depiction of religious movements in Ravages. While indeed the portrayal of the Way of Taiping as a sophisticated racket run by crafty masterminds with medical skills makes sense in a cynical and corrupt setting (the Han is about to collapse, after all), there is the risk of an over-simplified stereotyping of religious folks merely as either fanatics/dupes or hypocrites/deceivers in an otherwise well-crafted series (unless of course the future chapters would remedy this by featuring other, still intelligent but less malevolent and perhaps more ‘mystical’ scenes of piety). In another note, although the series also hints at other traditions (the worship of Tengri, folk deities such as Chisongzi and Zhurong, and the early entry of Buddhism into the central plains), the effort to showcase the diversity of spiritual practices and doctrines in the setting has been inadequate.
A third group of concerns would be the somewhat insufficient attention given in Ravages to grassroots resistances (and popular rebellions). Sure, some of the main characters are said and shown to have risen from the ranks, and indeed there are ‘atmospheric’ scenes in certain chapters where nameless people are depicted going about their daily business or surviving the horrors of war, but those instances that highlight the agency and initiative of everyday people – notwithstanding the manipulations of elite factions – are rather few and far between. In connection with this topic, there is also the under-representation of various sectors such as women, ‘queer’ folk, non-Han peoples, and ordinary religious adherents. Interestingly enough, Ravages manages to avoid the pitfall of excessively exoticizing ‘barbarian’ tribes at the frontiers and unpacified areas, but at the cost of their relative invisibility (both in the sense of their rare appearance, and how their cultural differences are sidelined to portray them as just another scheming faction). Now this is not a matter of me demanding ‘political correctness’ (though I indeed swing ‘leftward’ and have sympathies for revolutionary projects), and I can understand that Ravages is a ‘manly’, martial series that highlights (albeit somewhat critically and ironically) the exploits of brilliant and powerful ‘heroes’, but methinks it would have been nicer if the awesome scenes of clever inter-factional intra-elite conflict would be accompanied by numerous smaller-scale intrigues among diverse classes and social strata.
With regard to the anachronisms found in Ravages, I am somewhat ambivalent: on the one hand, I would have wanted to see a language style that is more appropriate to the period (in other words, reduced use of colloquial Hong Kong Cantonese or modern Putonghua), or at the very least follows the grammatical and literary patterns in Romance of the Three Kingdoms (as if I am fluent in Chinese, which I’m not – and moreover, period simulation at the level of language makes translation into English more difficult); but on the other hand, I also wish to encounter a larger number of allusions to – or ‘restatements’ (via creative use of classical sources) of – selected notions (such as ‘class struggle’ or ‘democracy’) not yet introduced or commonly recognized in the region during the Late Han and Three Kingdoms period. Related to this point would be the potential of Ravages to provide insightful and satirical commentary on present-day (or long-standing) socio-political and ideological-discursive issues flaring up in China and the rest of the world, and methinks that while certain components and motifs can easily lend themselves to the task of reading the signs of the times, much more could have been done.
Moving on to my small quibbles with the story proper, let me just present a condensed list: more characters (whether drawn from the historical domain, the source novel, folk mythologies, other popular adaptations, or Chen Mou’s own creative imagination) could have been introduced; other merchant clans and intellectual schools could have been given more spotlight; more campaigns could have been covered and more stratagems could have been included per encounter; horses could have been drawn in a better way; the scale of the battles could have been rendered in a more precise manner, with more detailed formations and hierarchies; etc…
Now of course I am not condemning Chen Mou just because his creative vision differs in certain respects from mine, and especially considering his hectic schedule as well as the fact that he’s getting older, with a family to take care of. Rather, through these remarks I also get to express my gratitude for the opportunity to read and engage with a piece that, for all my reservations, I still regard very highly (to the point that I have been motivated to start this promotional project in the first place, to get other people to notice and appreciate the series).
What then of the ‘self-critical’ part of this piece? I suppose that my sustained interest in (and reservations about) The Ravages of Time partly stems from a sense of intellectual elitism, that in a way I was lured and hooked into following this commodity of the pop-culture-industry by the promise of being able to read an epic comic that respects and challenges (my) intelligence to a comfortable extent. The flip-side to this would perhaps be a sense of frustration on my part about the more glaring problems of other series that purport to be about conflict and scheming. This is not to say that Ravages is ‘realistic’ (though I hasten to add that ‘realism’ and ‘verisimilitude’ and ‘plausibility’ in cultural representations are not just beset with several philosophical hurdles, but are also subject to stylistic conventions), but that it presents a sufficiently rich tapestry to capture my attention in its web of intrigues. It also helps that I already have some fascination for certain relevant categories: warfare and statecraft (and their strategies and tactics); the rich ‘philosophy’ and ‘history’ and ‘folklore’ of the central plains; the Three Kingdoms story in general and its famous literary adaptation; social and political critique.
Finally, as an added bonus, I laud Ravages for not being overloaded with titillating cues pandering to male gazes (what we would call ‘fan service’) – though queerer and more easily aroused readers might beg to differ with this assessment considering the way some of the main characters are drawn – and for having the restraint (partly enforced by demographic considerations as well as publication standards in its country of origin) to not include scenes of sexual or libidinal activity. On that last point perhaps some will complain that this diminishes the grittiness of Ravages (after all, rapes and licentious affairs occurred in that period as well, and with less compunction too), but I would argue in turn that these things can be implied or mentioned without having to be displayed in their lewd detail (and besides, those who ask for such lascivious scenes are not necessarily motivated by lofty artistic principles).
When I first wrote this rather critical piece back in 2016, my familiarity with The Ravages of Time was not as deep as it is in 2018. Many of the reservations I indicated remain valid, but now I have come to observe more nuances and niceties about the series – such as the goon fashion, haha – that I barely even noticed before, thus necessitating a few edits here and there. That being said, I urge more students of Ravages to share the findings of their own investigations, considering that even to this day there are still so few discussions about this masterpiece.
Thanks for your attention.
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