Chapter 2024: Chapter 1808: Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Pang Tong
"I always feel your gaze on me is a bit strange." Chen Xi swayed left and right, somewhat dodging Jia Xu’s gaze, while Jia Xu shook his head helplessly upon hearing this.
"Then let’s go with the second option, the second one then, anyway there’s no big difference. Extend the education period to five years, and then inform the Great Aristocratic Family to donate people, telling them if they don’t, I’ll set up common education myself." Chen Xi shouted messily, and the others shook their heads repeatedly upon hearing this.
"You’ve completely lost your Marquis Chen demeanor." Sima Lang sighed and said.
"It’s not like I can eat it." Chen Xi said shamelessly, "By the way, how is Zhongda now? I heard his teacher abandoned him."
"..." Sima Lang looked at Chen Xi speechlessly.
"Just kidding." Chen Xi said, somewhat embarrassed.
"He’s fine, just a bit unconvinced." Sima Lang shook his head repeatedly, fortunate that this was Chen Xi, and everyone knew Chen Xi’s character; otherwise, it would definitely lead to a confrontation.
"Kongming, come here for a moment." Chen Xi turned his head and called out to Zhuge Liang, who at this time was chatting with Jia Kui about the future survival model of the Northern Aristocratic Family, though obviously Zhuge Liang spoke more, and Jia Kui listened more.
"Sorry, I need to step away for a bit, we can chat later." Zhuge Liang clasped his fist to Jia Kui in a salute before going over to Chen Xi.
"Phew, Zhuge Kongming’s knowledge reserve is truly terrifying." Jia Kui sighed deeply as he watched Zhuge Liang leave. He’s quite capable, and has always prided himself on being not inferior to others; yet this time in the Northern Frontier, he really met various outstanding individuals.
Pang Tong, who was flipping through a book nearby, paused, then slowly turned the page. He needed more supplementation, as there was such a huge gap now between the two who used to be comparable. He was only slightly better at military strategy and ingenious tactics, which Pang Tong could not tolerate.
"Are you reading about military strategy?" Lu Xun asked curiously as he passed by, seeing the book in Pang Tong’s hand, "In my teacher’s opinion, your military strategy and ingenious tactics are outstanding, even The Art of War by Sun Tzu could hardly improve your level as you’re already very high."
Pang Tong glanced at Lu Xun and silently put away The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Lu Xun’s teacher is Chen Xi, and although he was pleased with the praise, he knew that compared to Zhuge Liang now, he was falling very short. However, besides military strategy, nothing else could give him more peace of mind.
Because Pang Tong clearly felt that apart from military strategy and tactics, everything else he had was negligible to Zhuge Liang.
"My teacher told me that at your level, the significance of reading military strategy books is less than reading other books, the potential for cross-referencing far exceeds the effect of reading military strategy." Lu Xun said solemnly to Pang Tong.
"I wonder what kind of books Marquis Chen mentioned would be suitable for me to read?" Pang Tong’s mind was sharp, so he instantly realized this was Chen Xi hinting to him.
"My teacher said you should ideally read some books related to applied psychology and personnel management. Just get a general understanding, and combined with your previous experiences, you will understand many things." Lu Xun said calmly.
"Where are the books?" Pang Tong raised an eyebrow, his originally unattractive face became somewhat fierce. Lu Xun rummaged on his horse’s back and took out two very thin books from his pocket, content manually written by Chen Xi himself in condensed form, missing quite a bit, of course.
However, Chen Xi believed that Pang Tong, at his level, just by reading the main points, relying on personal wisdom, and the experiences accumulated from everything he’s gone through, was enough to make sense of everything for himself.
The path Pang Tong chose was much easier than Zhuge Liang’s; historically, those who succeeded with a broad and expert approach have been few and far between. Pang Tong’s singular focus on military strategy and ingenious tactics actually surpassing Zhuge Liang’s is not difficult, but Pang Tong wants to compete with Zhuge Liang in all aspects.
"Personnel management and applied psychology..." Pang Tong frowned at the words on the book cover, he understood each word, but couldn’t make sense of them all together.
Nonetheless, for Chen Xi’s sake, Pang Tong still opened these two thin books, estimating that combined, they had only around a few tens of thousands of words.
On the other side, after Chen Xi had Zhuge Liang moved, Lu Xun saw Pang Tong focusing intently on his book again, and he rode over.
"Kongming, I have a distant cousin, as you know." Chen Xi said cheerfully to Zhuge Liang, who nodded gently.
"Sima Zhongda, you’ve met him, that’s the guy; he certainly needs some disciplining. When you run into him, remember to be tough on him, much tougher than usual. That guy is different from Shiyuan; even though Shiyuan has a wide range of interests, his real core strength is only in military strategy and ingenious tactics." Chen Xi didn’t even bother avoiding Sima Lang, speaking openly with Zhuge Liang.
"Sima Zhongda is also on a broad and expert path?" Zhuge Liang asked with slight curiosity, but then recalled meeting Sima Zhongda on Mount Tai once before, deeply feeling that with his somewhat arrogant nature, the broad and expert route seemed very likely for him.
"His talent is excellent, and following the broad and expert path is feasible. Originally, Shiyuan could have taken this path too, but Shiyuan’s temperament and interests aren’t in all-round capabilities, hence his military strategy and ingenious tactics are hard to beat, but you don’t need to focus your thoughts on this area." Chen Xi cautioned, though Zhuge Liang’s nature was innate, Chen Xi didn’t have much else to say.
