K‘ung-ming waited till he had closed his oration, then laughed and said, “How can the common birds understand the long flight of the roc? Let me use an illustration. A man has fallen into a terrible malady. First the physician must administer hashish, then soothing drugs until his viscera shall be calmed into harmonious action. When the sick man’s body shall have been reduced to quietude, then may he be given strong meats to strengthen him and powerful drugs to correct the disorder. Thus the disease will be quite expelled and the man restored to health. If the physician does not wait till the humours and pulse are in harmony, but throws in his strong drugs too early, it will be difficult to restore the patient. My master suffered defeat at Junan and went to Liu Piao. He had then less than one company of soldiers and only three captains. That was indeed a time of extreme weakness. Hsinyeh was a secluded, rustic town with few inhabitants and scanty supplies, and my master only retired there as a temporary refuge. How could he even think of occupying and holding it? Yet, with insufficient force, in a weak city, with untrained men and inadequate supplies, a camp was burned, two leaders and their army were nearly drowned and were frightened into running away. I doubt whether your two ancient heroes would have done any better. As to the surrender of Liu Ts‘ung, Liu Pei knew nothing of it. And he was too noble and to righteous to take advantage of a kinsman’s straits to seize his inheritance. As for the defeat at Tangyang it must be remembered that Liu Pei was hampered with a huge voluntary following of common people, with their aged relatives and their children, whom he was too humane to abandon. He never thought of taking Chiangling, but willingly suffered with his people. This is a striking instance of his magnanimity. Small forces are no match for large armies. Victory and defeat are common episodes in every campaign. The great Founder of the Hans suffered many defeats at the hands of Hsiang Yü, but he finally conquered at Haihsia and that battle was decisive. Was not this due to the strategy of Han Hsin who, though he had long served his master, had never won a victory. Indeed real statesmanship, the restoration of stable government is a master plan far removed from the vapid discourses and debates of a lot of bragging babblers and specious and deceitful talkers, who, as they themselves say, are immeasureably superior to the rest of mankind but who, when it comes to deeds and decisions to meet the infinite and constant vicissitudes of affairs, fail to throw up a single capable man. Truly such people are the laughing stock of all the world.”
Brewitt-Taylor · 1925 · public domain