Chapter 1948: Third Category of People

War is complex and people's hearts are unfathomable; if one slackens, many bottom lines will be trampled.

He Lingchuan then waved his hand to let him sit down, and said to everyone: "You must not think I am making a fuss over nothing. The Flash Gold Plains are so vast; to take them smoothly is not as simple as capturing cities and seizing land. What does 'pacification' mean? After pacification, the key lies in the later 'stabilization'. Otherwise, all your efforts beforehand will be in vain—you'll merely be doing the work for others' benefit! Over the past eight hundred years, how many powerful factions have fought on the Flash Gold Plains? Look at which one did not end in gloom?"

The generals listened attentively, all understanding that He Lingchuan's public punishment of Peng Youfu and Tao Ran was meant to give everyone present a clear warning.

"Most of you receive my orders via flying messages. You know only that they are so, not why they are so." Coordinating the vast situation of Tiannandibei, He Lingchuan cannot possibly give ideological work to each commander in advance. "Today, the forces meet—a rare opportunity—I will now explain the strategic thinking behind the Dragon God War to you."

"Since we wish to take full control of the Flash Gold Plains, we must effectively distinguish and differently treat the 'people' of Flash Gold." He Lingchuan leaned back and asked: "I ask you, how many categories can the Flash Gold people be divided into?"

The generals looked at each other, speechless. They knew the question posed by the Nine Abysses Great Emperor was to be viewed through the lens of war.

"Weng Su?"

Called by name, Weng Su shuddered, immediately standing up: "Good people, bad people, uh…… bad people should be fought, good people should be helped……"

"And else?"

And else? Weng Su lowered his head, seeing his brother give him meaningful glances.

What does this mean? He scratched the back of his head, still not understanding.

Even between blood brothers, there is not necessarily a tacit understanding.

Weng Xing had no choice but to speak: "There are also those who are neither good nor bad."

He Lingchuan's eyes showed a faint smile: "Oh? Neither good nor bad—how would you treat them?"

Weng Xing hesitated: "In the world, the most numerous are those who are neither good nor bad; we neither fight them nor offend them."

He Lingchuan pressed his hand on Weng Su: "Sit down."

"People divide into groups. From a strategic angle, we roughly divide the Flash Gold people into three categories. One category consists of commoners and the poor, who sell their labor, either relying on heaven for food or serving others for a living. Needless to say, this is the group we must protect and win over. As long as their hearts turn toward us, even if ill-intentioned people stir up trouble, they will not blindly follow."

The generals nodded, knowing that although the poor and commoners could be further subdivided due to the diversity of human nature, in grand strategy they are merely grouped as one.

"One category is tyrants and bandits; previously, the Nine Abysses Great Emperor and the Black Armored Army aimed to eliminate them, and some were persuaded to surrender and find peace—your units have such people; however, now tyrants, corrupt officials, and cruel magistrates have been added to this target list."

"Another category, the most complex in nature, consists of local officials, gentry, wealthy merchants, and local squires. They often interconnect with each other, and their identities intertwine—officials' families produce merchants, gentry simultaneously engage in trade and officialdom, retired officials become local squires, wealthy merchants purchase official positions or enter service to become officials, and so on. I call this group local notables."

He then asked Weng Xing: "For this category of people, what did you used to do?"

Weng Xing thought nothing of it: "Rob the rich to help the poor."

They and the common people have no good feelings toward this group. When he and his brother ran out of money, they would "borrow" a bit from them, incidentally helping the poor, and he himself felt quite good about it.

"First, say they may have faults, but they are not truly great villains deserving death; otherwise, they would belong to the previous category." He Lingchuan spoke solemnly: "In the past, heroes who aspired to unify Flash Gold, no matter how well they started, ultimately fell short—one extremely important reason was mishandling this category of people!"

"As for small states like Ya State and Peng State, pushing this category aside also pushes them aside; distributing money and land to the poor immediately wins popular support and gains allegiance. After all, the state is small, so governance is easy."

"But the Flash Gold Plains are too vast; their territory even exceeds that of Bei Jia, and the complexity of region, economy, customs, faith, clans, and worldly affairs far surpasses that of Mou State." He Lingchuan exhaled: "This third category of people is a crucial mortise and tenon of the Flash Gold Plains—officials administering localities, merchants lubricating the economy, gentry supporting scholarship, local squires connecting upper and lower levels—deeply embedded in the social system for hundreds of years. If you forcibly uproot them all, leaving only a vast sea of commoners—"

He casually pointed at the roof: "——it would be like suddenly pulling out the pillars and beams of this house; nothing above or below could stand. Even if the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce managed things widely, its scale compared to Flash Gold is merely a pillar inside the house, while the other pillars and beams are gone—Yangshan would also be unable to stand alone."

The structure of Flash Gold would immediately collapse.

"At this time, while the front lines burn fiercely in battle, the rear systems and economy suffer massive collapse—how could there be no chaos?"

Even Weng Su understood, nodding slowly.

"Moreover, they are not only a strong middle force, but also a strong force of resistance." He Lingchuan continued: "If truly driven to desperation, they would not sit and wait for death. At that time, they become local magnates—with money and insight, able to organize manpower, able to raise armies. You fight to the death on the front lines, while they strangle your lifeline from behind, setting you ablaze at both ends. What was once a splendid situation might thus collapse."

"Therefore, during wartime, the strategy toward this category of people can only be 'stabilization' as the main principle—not only to pacify and maintain stability, but also to strive to win them over. After all, they are most wary of us and most prone to react; we must devise truly effective strategies to soothe them."

No mistake, no omission, no error, no excess, no lack, no flaw, no imperfection, no flaw, no flaw.

He Lingchuan lightly inhaled, "I know many of you are wandering knights by origin, and when speaking of 'right and wrong,' you have an inner scale. But this world is not merely right and wrong, nor is it black and white; to win such a vast war on the Flash Gold Plains, we must unite the majority to overthrow the extreme minority."

Means serve the purpose. Those living on the Flash Gold Plains are mostly pragmatic.

"And this third category of people, they are certainly not the extreme minority."

After speaking, He Lingchuan dipped his finger in tea and drew three circles on the table, writing inside each: "commoners", "notables", "enemies".

Then he wrote three more words beneath each circle:

Pull, stabilize, strike.

He Lingchuan said word by word: "Our war strategy toward these three categories is simply: pull one faction, stabilize one faction, strike one faction!"

For commoners, we pull them in;

For local notables, we stabilize and pacify them;

For enemies, we strike them harshly.

"Only thus can we maximally reduce the war resistance from the rear." He looked at Tao Ran: "Now you know why I punished you and Peng Youfu?"