[周瑜字公瑾，庐江舒人也。
...性度恢廓，大率为得人，惟与程普不睦。普颇以年长，数陵侮瑜。瑜折节容下，终不与校。普后自敬服而亲重之，乃告人曰：“与周公瑾交，若饮醇醪，不觉自醉。”
时人以其谦让服人如此。]
[鲁肃字子敬，临淮东城人也。
...肃体貌魁奇，少有壮节，好为奇计。天下将乱，乃学击剑骑射，招聚少年，给其衣食，往来南山中射猎，阴相部勒，讲武习兵。父老咸曰：“鲁氏世衰，乃生此狂儿！”]
[评曰：曹公乘汉相之资，挟天子而扫群桀，新荡荆城，仗威东夏，于时议者莫不疑贰。周瑜、鲁肃建独断之明出众人之表，实奇才也。]
Note: It seemed that every talented guy in Jiangdong must reject Yuan Shu in the same way every talented guy under Cao Cao's banner must reject Yuan Shao.
[术欲以瑜为将，瑜观术终无所成，故求为居巢长，欲假涂东归，术听之。遂自居巢还吴。]
This was Gongjin.
[袁术闻其名，就署东城长。肃见术无纲纪，不足与立事，乃携老弱将轻侠少年百馀人，南到居巢就瑜。]
This was Zijing.
#WhyAlwaysYuan
The conclusion to this series
In this post, I'll be covering Kuok Kah's relevance in Cao Cao's cabinet. After all, Cao Cao was truly a stable genius (albeit he did have his unstable moments). If your boss is a stable genius, it should say a lot about how he picks his employees. For Cao Cao, he got people like Xun Yu, Cui Yan, and Mao Jie taking charge of the backyard. If you have Xun Yu and Cui Yan in your Senate, it means they're your best bet in picking the best person for the Supreme Court job, Brett the Hitman or no Brett the Hitman. As for Mao Jie, he's the guy able to make every nation either great or great again.
Against his foes, Cao Cao had people like Jia Xu, Cheng Yu, and Dong Zhao. Not to mention Kuok Kah as well. Imagine what they can do to your political and/or military opponents. Jia Xu was a master of controlling the fear of others, that's how he orchestrated the sacking of Chang'an (apparently, Guo Si and Li Jue were reacting like a pair of jittery Trumpets because Wang Yun swore to bump off every follower of Dong Zhuo without considering what the likes of Amnesty International had to say). Cheng Yu was a master of reverse psychology (which might explain why he enjoyed insulting other people, his own people included). As for Dong Zhao, I need to double confirm whether he's a trolling god. Maybe he was, maybe he's not.
So what about Kuok Kah's ability as an adviser? Although there was no way for us to know how good he could be when it came to domestic administration, it's interesting to see Cao Cao's intention to make him a senior figure once the whole of China was unified. For a genius of war, intending to make him either an ESM Goh or MM Lee had to be the best compliment Cao Cao could give to any of his advisers. This was despite Kuok Kah currying Cao Cao's favour in the most awesome way possible.
And speaking of currying favour in the most awesome way possible, it must be stated that Kuok Kah did it in a manner no one could ever imagine. This was no Palin or Gingrich moment. The Thesis of Ten Victories and Defeats was the outcome of Kuok Kah's greatest/only weapon. Namely, the ability to analyse things beyond what a normal human being can do, white American or no white American.
Now it must be stated that Kuok Kah's Thesis of Ten Victories and Defeats was eerily similar to Xun Yu's Thesis of Four Victories and Defeats. Hence, Chen Shou's decision to include only the latter. At the same time, Xun Yu also advocated bumping off Lu Bu. However, it must be noted that Kuok Kah's version was more detailed. Take for example the need to get rid of Lu Bu. Xun Yu only said Lu Bu must be bumped off in order to seize control of the region of Hebei (i.e. the territories held by Yuan Shao because they're all at the north of Yellow River). This would be like someone saying the Democrats can win big two years later if a strong candidate is available. But for Kuok Kah, he further explained why attacking Lu Bu was a must. Xun Yu was speaking from a geographical point of view. Kuok Kah was speaking from the human psychology point of view. Xun Yu's view was 100% strategic. Kuok Kah's view was 50% tactical and 50% strategic. 50% tactical because he's talking about what's happening currently. Namely, Yuan Shao attacking Gongsun Zan. 50% strategic because Lu Bu would surely cause massive trouble by siding with Yuan Shao if nothing was being done. After all, Yuan Shao was the high SES guy compared to Cao Cao's low SES status.
Note of apology: In one of my posts, I mentioned Yuan Shao's unwillingness to aid Lu Bu due to his reputation. That was a catastrophic mistake on my part. The reason why Yuan Shao wouldn't attack Cao Cao while he's attacking Lu Bu was Gongsun Zan. Hence, the text, "绍方北击公孙瓒，可因其远征，东取吕布。"
Xun Yu's Thesis of Four Victories and Defeats hinged on four words:
Magnanimity (度), Understanding (谋), Military (武), Integrity (德)
Kuok Kah's Thesis of Ten Victories and Defeats hinged on the same four plus six more:
Way (道), Righteousness (义), Management (治), Benevolence (仁), Discernment (明), Reasoning (文)
Out of Xun Yu's Four, a closer look at the original text would reveal Kuok Kah and his BFF saying the same logic in terms of Understanding and Integrity. Both spoke about Cao Cao's decisiveness in formulating plans, this would be Understanding. Both spoke about the need not be led astray by bias, be it personal or political. This would be Integrity (i.e. if you're not impartial, how can you be a person of integrity?).
As for Magnanimity and Military, Xun Yu pointed out Yuan Shao's problem. Kuok Kah, on the other hand, both pointed out and proved that very problem. That'd be Magnanimity. For Military, Xun Yu pointed out the problem of discipline, something which Yuan Shao had aplenty but Cao Cao did not have. Kuok Kah didn't point this out, but rather he pointed out the traits shown in the battlefield. It's like the difference between analysing the backstage (i.e. Xun Yu) and the forestage (i.e. Kuok Kah).
The remaining six spoken by Kuok Kah referred to the political. Way refers to how relatable a person is to others. Yuan Shao was a politician behaving like one while Cao Cao was a politician behaving like a human being like you and me. You try telling the NRA to behave like Cao Cao and you see what's going to happen.
Righteousness refers to picking the battleground rather than shaping it. Yuan Shao believed too much in the latter, but an absolute zero when it came to the former. As for Cao Cao, he moved with the flow first. You try telling people cynicism is a sorry form of wisdom. Well, it's true. So how do you relay it to the citizens of Syria since they're NOT Americans?
Management refers to dealing with matters according to the severity. You don't deal with severe matters by being dismissive or using a band-aid. Nurses and doctors would tell you that'd either result in death or death by inappropriate measures used. So no, Brock Allen Turner shouldn't be jailed for six months divided by half.
Benevolence means taking care of those suffering while understanding that you can't save every person under the sun in times of peace. Let alone in times of conflict. Idealism is never the antidote to cynicism. Benevolence is. Not the unrealistic brand but Kuok Kah's realistic brand.
Discernment is understanding who is saying what. People make mistakes, people tell lies. Do I need to elaborate this beyond pointing out the need to ask questions? You don't need to be Thomas Edison to ask questions. And if the society you're in frowns at the need to ask questions, be assured that you're actually too good for such a society. So don't be depressed by assuming the opposite.
Reasoning is knowing why it's wrong to demonise others who disagree with you. They may be wrong, you may be wrong. Being reasonable doesn't mean you have to get it right. Being reasonable means being humble. And to be humble, you need to ask what kind of god you worship. If you're an atheist, you still need to ask yourself whether you regard yourself or someone else as a god. If you follow a religion, then here's a realistic demonstration of being reasonable.
Libationer of Military Affairs and Infrastructure or just the military?
The historical text was definitely dodgy. While Kuok Kah's post was called the Libationer of Military Affairs (军祭酒), Cao Cao actually nominated Kuok Kah for the post of Libationer of Military Affairs AND Infrastructure (司空军祭酒). Now it must be stated that ancient China during those times was different from the U.S of today. The U.S of today requires the Senate to vote whether Brett the Hitman should be the latest guy in the Supreme Court since the previous guy ownself fired ownself like Bill Haslam, Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, and Trey Gowdy. As for ancient China back then, one could say Cao Cao was the Senate and the Senate was Cao Cao. This was definitely different from a Republican majority Senate or a Democrat majority thereof.
So which was which? Was Kuok Kah the Libationer of Military Affairs or the Libationer of Military Affairs AND Infrastructure? I'd say both. Libationer of Military Affairs referred to Kuok Kah's contributions before history rolled a one for him. Libationer of Military Affairs and Infrastructure indicated what Kuok Kah could have been had history decided to roll him a twenty. The evidence could be seen in this part of Cao Cao's eulogy for Kuok Kah:
[平定天下，谋功为高。不幸短命，事业未终。]
Translate:
Pacifying the lands, hence great was his contributions as an adviser. Alas, he had a short life, thus unable to see his duty to the very end.
The word 事业 means career. But it felt too contemporary. Trying to understand archaic Chinese can be much more challenging than trying to understand Shakespearean English. Hence, I chose to rephrase it as duty. So what was Kuok Kah's duty? If Cao Cao never nominated him as the Libationer of Military Affairs and Infrastructure, if it's only about the military, then why would Cao Cao say Kuok Kah died before he could see his duty to the very end? Yes, there's still land aplenty waiting to be won. Namely, the Jing Province and the regions of Jiangdong and Ba-Shu. Which was really a big deal considering the size of China. But we must asl oask ourselves a question: How much time did Cao Cao have in developing infrastructure when he was fighting a campaign against three opponents in a row? Compare your estimation with the what-if scenario of a unified China. Then you'd know why Cao Cao lamented Kuok Kah's early demise. In ancient times, no one said you could live for 50 years and beyond. But in history, if you're a notable person and you died before 40, it means sucked to be you. Kuok Kah wasn't the first one because the military genius Huo Qubing died young as well. That was during the Western Han dynasty, an era way earlier than the current Eastern Han. Kuok Kah wouldn't be the last as well since Zhou Yu passed away before he reached 40 as well. So what if Gongjin got a super beautiful wife in the form of Xiaoqiao?
Kuok Kah's role
As proven by Kuok Kah's ability to one-up his BFF by a score of 6-4, he was a man of details. At the same time, the ability to understand the details require the ability to relay the information in the most succinct manner possible. Not too short lest important information went missing. But definitely not too long because your boss has only 24 hours per day just like everyone else in the world. You can say one minute wasted is no big deal. Add up the numbers and see how many minutes can be wasted per day. Let's be honest with ourselves here: We're born wastrels because no matter what, we'd wasted a certain portion of our 24 hours doing random/pointless stuff.
Two good examples would be yours truly.
Note: Above image is the third attempt on wasting my time.
Because Cao Cao already got two personal advisers in the form of Xun You and Zhong Yao, Kuok Kah's role was to analyse and plan. Analyse the situation, get the correct conclusion, and plan what needed to be planned. This was very likely what Xi Zhicai was doing, hence Cao Cao's desire to get an able replacement after he died young.
This video is only for those who understand Chinese
As Cao Cao's personal planner, Kuok Kah had two jobs. The first was to analyse and plan. The other was to analyse and advise. This was why Cao Cao stated in his eulogy for Kuok Kah that whenever Cao Cao called for a conference, Kuok Kah was the one advising him what should be done and his counsel would always result in the battle turning to his favour [每有大议，临敌制变。]. At the same time, whenever Cao Cao hesitated or yet to come up with a solution, Kuok Kah would always pop up with the correct answer [臣策未决，嘉辄成之。].
Now it must be stated that finding a solution and making it work are two different things altogether. The former relies on analysis, the latter relies on planning and adapting to circumstances. It's very likely that Kuok Kah was in charge of analysis and planning while the likes of Xun You and Zhong Yao were most likely in charge of coming up with counter-measures if things went awry. At least that'd be Xun You's job considering his contributions during the Battle of Guandu.
So you can see things this way: Kuok Kah was in charge of initiating the preemptive while Xun You and those like him were in charge of manipulating the process.
Kuok Kah's ability
So far, I've covered two strategists apart from Kuok Kah. Now it must be stated that the role of any strategist was to analyse and act upon the conclusion made. In this sense, there's no difference between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi.
If we're to go according to the historical text, Zhuge Liang's ability as a strategist lies in organising and the ability to discern the nature of any situation at a single glance. This was proven via his political accomplishment and the fact that he was bossing the military post-Liu Bei. However, the latter part of his ability might have exposed an over-reliance on analysing things before the process, hence resulting in a lack of improvisation when things got tough. Hence, Chen Shou stating that Zhuge Liang's inability to be tactically flexible unlike Liu Bei's other numero uno adviser Fa Zheng.
For Sima Yi, he lacked the wisdom in dealing with people due to his cynicism and the fact that Obama was right in saying this is a sorry form of wisdom. As the result, he was guilty of unnecessary retaliation as what we've seen in his treatment towards Cao Shuang's clan (i.e. he went back on his word and ordered a mass execution). However, he was a military genius when it came to utilising the forces at his disposal. Not to mention the ability to see things from the enemy's perspective. Hence, he truly lived up to Sun Zi's number one logic: Know yourself and your enemy. By this way, you will not face dangers in a hundred battles [知己知彼，百战不殆].
As for Kuok Kah, I doubt he had the ability to boss an army like Zhuge Liang or the ability to utilise resources and manpower like Sima Yi. However, it seemed that he could easily see the beginning and end of every situation. If Zhuge Liang's ability was to discern the situation from A to point Z while Sima Yi's capability was all about using any aspect from A to Z, then Kuok Kah's talent would be knowing where was Z and why after looking at A.
It's like trying to explain why Biden would stand a great chance of defeating Trump come 2020 or why Sanders would have a greater chance of doing so while at the same time creating a setback for the GOP. The presence of Biden and Sanders represents A. The likelihood of a Biden or Sanders victory represents the where when it comes to Z. As for the why, that's because of Biden representing the need for stability while Sanders has the ability to initiate a swing tsunami in the Democrats' favour, hence potentially redefining the current liberalism in America due to his moderate ideology.
In the historical text, Kuok Kah was noted to have two super-human traits: Gift of foresight and capacity since young [嘉少有远量。] and the ability to analyse and articulate [嘉深通有算略，达于事情。].
Let's use three examples to prove this.
Sun Ce's death:
The former was proven by his correct call that Sun Ce would eventually die at the hands of violent men [以吾观之，必死于匹夫之手。]. As for the latter, it was what he said, that Sun Ce was a reckless person and his polarising "either you're for us or against us" treatment of capable people [策新并江东，所诛皆英豪雄杰，能得人死力者也。然策轻而无备，虽有百万之众，无异于独行中原也。].
Civil war between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang:
There seemed to be something in the Yuan genes. Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu had a history of civil war even though black lives were not at stake. Fast forward to the next generation. What did Kuok Kah see? Civil war again. His perception was that doing something would force a temporary alliance against a common enemy (i.e. Cao Cao) while staying put would result in an implosion [急之则相持，缓之而后争心生。]. This was proof of his first trait. The latter trait was proven by his answer why. As in Yuan Shao's indecisiveness concerning this matter while he was still alive and the fact that the advisers didn't help a single bit by stoking the fire of sibling rivalry [袁绍爱此二子，莫适立也。有郭图、逢纪为之谋臣，必交斗其间，还相离也。]. The so-called imminent invasion of the Jing Province was nothing more than a large scale ruse intended to lull the Yuan brothers into complacency, implosion, and Cao Cao reaping the reward by initiating a preemptive attack afterwards [不如南向荆州若征刘表者，以待其变；变成而后击之，可一举定也。]. This, again, was proof of his second trait.
Taking on Wuhuan in order to take them out:
This was the battle which cost Kuok Kah his life. If Kuok Kah was indeed a womaniser, history didn't say anything about a Taeser Kim whose eyes were a pair of taser guns. And besides, Kuok Kah never entered Korea just because the enemy's base was at the gateway of the Korean Peninsula. I'm pretty sure he's not in the mood to womanise if he's indeed a womaniser. When Cao Cao's men advised resting on their laurels, Kuok Kah said no. His assessment of a Yuan-Wuhuan alliance being able to destabilise northern China pointed to the first trait [...胡人一动，民夷俱应，以生蹋顿之心，成觊觎之计，恐青、冀非己之有也。]. The ability to answer why referred to the second trait, the reason being Yuan Shao's ties with the northern tribes and the people of newly conquered territories yet to pledge total allegiance [且袁绍有恩于民夷，而尚兄弟生存。今四州之民，徒以威附，德施未加...]. Interestingly, this was when Cao Cao planned to attack the Jing Province.
Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and... Guo Fengxiao?!?
When we talk about psychology, two names would come to mind: Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. When it comes to understanding the opponent's psychology, people may think about Kuok Kah. Understanding a person's psychology would give the analyser an idea of what the target is going to do next. Say for example a crazy anti-Semite white gunman pleading not guilty despite being caught guilty. Why did he plead not guilty? When it comes to pleading not guilty, there's such a thing called insanity defence. So long the defendant behaves like some anti-Semite madman who recently escaped from the Arkham Asylum before the judge and jury, it means the defence attorney can easily utilise the insanity defence as a legit courtroom tactic.
You don't need to be Freud or his BFF Jung to understand what I'm saying above. Likewise, Kuok Kah didn't need to be a Sigmund or Carl to analyse the psychology of his opponents. Yuan Shao, Lu Bu, Sun Ce, the Brothers Yuan, etc... it's scary to imagine how Kuok Kah was able to be a natural psychologist. At the same time, however, psychology is about seeing things from the other person's perspective. You don't need to be Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung to try doing that.
At the end of the day, psychology can be seen as a coin. Two sides of the same thing. Either you're the head and the other person is the tail or vice versa. You're not the other fellow, but you're no more or less a human being than him/her. To the likes of Daily Nas, it's good news. To the likes of Kuok Kah, it's a weapon waiting to be used.
In the manga Rurouni Kenshin, the villain Shishio Makoto once said that it takes a killer to understand a killer. This was how the protagonist Himura Kenshin was able to predict accurately that Shishio was intending to conflagrate Tokyo instead of Kyoto via a ship with the most dramatic name: The Japanese name for purgatory. Needless to say, Kuok Kah's ability to analyse the opponent's psychology was no different from how Kenshin was able to predict Shishio's real move.
And lastly, a song which I felt would suit Kuok Kah...
乱世弱冠奇才出，旁若无人俗世避
少有远量三尺剑，算略无遗锋芒利
袁氏无为双眸知，司徒府居待明主
十胜十败震曹公，下邳逆境破吕布
官渡之际料孙郎，北伐乌桓安四州
身在柳城英才亡，天忌王佐谥贞侯
赤壁兵败叹奉孝，哀哉痛哉惜哉者
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