Chapter 242

Su Fan did not care; he had experienced several worlds, and while his understanding of Confucian classics was not very great, he knew several classics of the Military School by heart.

So when he brought out the military strategy of later generations, it indeed shocked everyone. Although *Sun Tzu's Art of War* was powerful, the military strategy summarized over a thousand years in later generations was actually not bad either.

Such as those of Zhuge Wuhou, Li Jing of the Tang Dynasty, and Yue Fei of the Song Dynasty—in terms of military talent, these people were no worse than Sun Tzu and the others.

It was just that Sun Tzu's *Art of War* was the culmination of academics, which also created this Sage of the Military School.

Su Fan's Donghai Territory had a library, in which Su Fan placed various classic books—Confucian, Daoist, Military, and Mohist.

Su Fan used this library to attract quite a few talents; for example, Zhang Zhao and Lu Su both fell under his command because of this point.

Otherwise, Zhang Zhao would probably already be under Sun Jian's tent.

It was also Su Fan's generosity that made the civil and martial officials under his command who came from clans have no second thoughts.

After all, many of the books in Su Fan's library were not even possessed by those first-class clans, and they could copy them at will and take them back to become their own family's foundation.

Just this generosity alone, it is estimated that not many people could do it. Who would not support such a lord?

So don't look at how Su Fan sometimes touched the bottom line of the clans, but these clans who followed Su Fan also chose to ignore it.

After all, Su Fan gave more, and they were embarrassed.

In the eyes of these great clans, land was important, but knowledge was even more important. If land was lost, there was still a chance to get it back; if you had an inheritance, even if you were down and out for a while, you would eventually have a chance to recover.

But without a knowledge inheritance, what would you use to recover?

The martial generals under Su Fan's command, having been exposed to more military strategy, and coupled with Su Fan and these top strategists giving lectures from time to time, had their horizons greatly broadened one by one.

Especially since they often analyzed major world events together, their insights were also rising rapidly.

So even if Su Fan did not explain his future route to them, some martial generals could find some insights.

This was terrifying. In the future, these martial generals would become famous generals and commanders one by one, so what a great improvement that would be for Su Fan's army.

So listening to these martial generals discussing one by one, Su Fan nodded with satisfaction. As for Xun You and the others, they were not surprised at all, because they had felt it long ago.

After all, these people were all taught by them, and they were also a bit proud. If they really became famous generals and commanders in the future and were famous throughout history, would they also be recorded in history?

A cultivation game—not only did their lord like it, but they were also willing.

"Looking at it this way, Yuan Shu doesn't have the advantage? Isn't Sun Jian even stronger?"

Discussing it, the martial generals suddenly discovered that Yuan Shu did not seem to be Sun Jian's opponent.

"How is that possible? Yuan Shu's foundation is stronger than Sun Jian's, and Yuan Shu has an army of three million. Even if they are not elite, as long as he consumes Sun Jian, can Sun Jian be his opponent?"

Naturally, there were different opinions, such as the oldest, Huang Zhong, who knew Yuan Shu the best.

Because before he came to his current lord, Yuan Shu had already attacked Jingzhou.

However, at that time, he was just a mid-level officer in the Jingzhou army.

If you want to talk about being low-key, he should be the most low-key martial general. His strength was comparable to Lv Bu's, but as a result, very few people knew his strength.

He understood the Yuan clan; Runan was not far from Nanyang, and he knew very well how powerful the foundation of the Runan Yuan clan was.

If it were him, knowing that the generals and commanders under his command were not Sun Jian's opponents, he would change his fighting style and use troop numbers to consume him; after all, he was the side defending the city.

The words of the old general Huang Zhong made the martial generals present who favored Sun Jian pause. They suddenly discovered that according to Huang Zhong's meaning, Sun Jian indeed did not have the advantage.

Although Sun Jian pulled out an army of five hundred thousand, this very likely had already exhausted his family's foundation.

Sun Jian only occupied two commanderies in total, and Changsha and Yuzhou Commandery were not great commanderies of the Central Plains; they had small populations, and money and grain were not abundant—they were vast, sparsely populated wildernesses of a thousand miles.

Pulling out an army of five hundred thousand was probably already Sun Jian's greatest strength.

Not everyone could compare to their lord. Donghai Commandery might be similar to Yuzhou Changsha, but now, even Nanyang and Runan absolutely could not compare to Donghai Commandery, and even Luoyang could not compare to the potential of Donghai.

Sun Jian only had these five hundred thousand troops; once they were consumed, it would probably be very difficult to recover. But Yuan Shu was different; under Yuan Shu's rule, he had the power of a province, and the population was even as high as seventy or eighty million.

Even if three million were consumed, he could pull out another three million, just like the Yellow Turbans of the past.

How could you consume him? In terms of money and grain, Yuan Shu was even more incomparable to Sun Jian.

Thinking of this, everyone suddenly did not favor Sun Jian again.

"General Huang's words are indeed correct, but Yuan Shu is a person of great ambition but little talent; he could never choose General Huang's path. In his eyes, Sun Jian is his little brother; if he dares to betray him, he should be beaten to death immediately."

"He will inevitably urge the generals and officers under his command to take Sun Jian down. Once that happens, it will give Sun Jian an opportunity."

The martial generals suddenly changed their minds, but a group of strategists shook their heads.

They had a deeper grasp of human nature, and they already understood Yuan Shu's personality, so they did not think Yuan Shu would use this strategy.

"Haha! Regardless of whether Yuan Shu has the advantage or the disadvantage, in short, what we want is for both sides to be in a stalemate."

Su Fan watched his strategists and martial generals arguing, so after coughing, he said lightly.

Once these words were spoken, the martial generals immediately fell silent, while strategists like Xi Zhicai smiled calmly. When they discussed it before, this was also what they meant.

The falling out between Sun Jian and Yuan Shu made them very happy.

In fact, they had also prepared to plot to make the two fall out; after all, if Yuan Shu and Sun Jian joined forces, their strength would indeed be very strong.

Yuan Shu's foundation and rich family assets, combined with the strength of Sun Jian and the army under his command—even for the Donghai Territory, it would not be easy to take them down.

Yuan Shu's foundation was truly too powerful.

Splitting into two actually created two great warlords.

Previously, Yuan Shu supported Sun Jian, and Yuan Shao supported Cao Cao—it was truly terrifying.

But now that Sun Jian and Yuan Shu were in opposition, they were very happy. Whoever won or lost, of course, the two sides should remain in a stalemate and constantly consume each other's strength.

Of course, everyone knew Yuan Shu's foundation; even if he was defeated by Sun Jian for a while, he still had the possibility of a counterattack.

But once Sun Jian was defeated, it would be very difficult to turn the tables.

Xi Zhicai and the others favored Sun Jian more because once Sun Jian showed signs of decline, they would choose to take action.