The Basis of Dialogue

Everyone at the current table has been through it. They’re waiting to see whether you can pull off what they themselves once did. Until then, everyone will just watch—see if you can shake up the 5,000 with your 800.

In *The Promise of War*, Pang Yunqing borrows 1,500 reinforcements from the three bosses to attack Shucheng. His brother Erhu asks him, “When are they coming in—the 1,500?”

Pang Yunqing smiles. “They won’t.”

You can only rely on your 800 brothers to fight, to clash against the enemy’s 5,000. To what extent? Only until you’re all wiped out will the 1,500 retreat. But if, before you’re all killed, you manage to shake the enemy’s formation, giving the 1,500 the impression that there’s an opening—they’ll step in to pick up the spoils.

That’s what war is.

If you can’t shake the enemy’s 5,000 with your 800, it means you’ll never grow into a renowned general.

If you haven’t built a project to prove yourself, what does that mean?

People are different.

Some people jump straight to asking, “What’s promising?” Others just start doing—and ask to what level they can push it. They do it until they pry open the door, until they open the door to opportunity.