THE BET

*The Dream Bet

(A story rewritten with a new message: 

  " What should be sent before the three armies other than the provisions ?")

    三軍未發，甚麼先行？

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The rich man told the poor giant, "I will take all your children."

The poor giant didn't believe him. 

The rich man said, let us bet: "If I can take all your children, you give me your country. If I cannot take your children, I will give you my country." 

The poor giant said, "You are going to lose. Because my children will not trust anyone except me."

The rich man said, "Before I take your country, first I need to make your poor country rich, do you agree?"

The poor giant said, "If you are going to make me rich, I have no objection." 

The rich man said, "I will send a genius to help you get rich quickly. Because there are some technological problems you need to learn before you get rich. Will you like to meet him and learn how to get rich?"

The poor giant said, "I will never reject learning. But who is this genius?" 

The rich man said, "He is the king of the rich island near your country. Will you like to visit his rich island and learn some of the know-hows in getting rich?"

The poor giant said, "I agree." 

When the plane of the poor giant touched down in the rich island of the genius, he was amazed to see, it was a rich island indeed. All the highways were straight and wide and bright like golden, and the houses were as clean as diamond. Rich people in the island welcomed the poor giant, they rolled out a red carpet to receive him, they treated him with highest quality food and drink for a king. 

The genius greeted the poor giant and they embraced.

Next day, there was a hot news in the media around the globe: 

"Small Island rolled out red carpet for a Most Honored Guess."

The poor giant said to the genius, "I am amazed to see your country is running very well." 

The genius replied humbly, "Oh no, your country is. Your country can be far better than us. You have so many scholars and learned young men, we have only an island with poor resources."

The poor giant said, "You are really a genius to get rich without resources. We need to learn from you."

The genius said, "To be rich is easy and there is no secret, you only need to……."

The poor giant was suffering from poverty for a long time. He wished to know how to get rich for his children. And he has got the patience to let the genius say more. He only smiled and waited. 

The genius said, "Yes, you need to control everything. That is the first priority."

The poor giant was puzzled, "Control everything?"

The genius said more humbly, "Sir, you are my senior and you know it all. We have a special way to control my children here."

The genius waited a second and said: "We separate them into two groups, one is for me, and the other is against me. Both of them are under my direct control. "

The poor giant was interested: "Well?"

"Take media as an example, I have a team of media people who are against me, and the other team for me."

"What? Those who wrote against you are actually your friend? I thought you were in trouble when so many of them wrote to attack you? Were they not your real enemy?"

"Oh never," The genius laughed: "It's only a show. I control everything. I have my secret army like your secret party members."

"Well, "The poor giant felt a bit uneasy, as the genius had mentioned something he didn't like to talk about, "It seems you know everything."

"They are my network of secret members, I let them control everything and push my orders to carry out properly. I depend on them more then my open army."

The poor giant didn't reply. He was reluctant to get into such topics. However, they have a happy evening together. They remained good friends from then on. The poor giant was happy to know secrets from the genius. He felt happy as he knew the genius had trusted him and let him know secrets to run the country. It seemed easy; you just divide your secret army into two opposing groups.

No one on the planet had ever told him, that this secret, was a lie. It must be carried out without the knowledge of his own children. And worse thing would happen in a lying situation. A liar is easily to be cheated. And the poor giant was too excited, he couldn't find out the real nature of the secret. It was a plot to make him become a liar. Any strong person, whenever they had determined to lie, would become weak. That was why the poor giant was cheated in many ways, and he had never realized it. 

And he was confident about himself as usual. He thought it was a good idea, to create a false enemy, was just as easy as presenting a daily drama. It was fun to see them fight each other. He believed it could work. 

The genius had told him many methods in getting rich, which is not important at all. They included economy and finance ideas as well as political ideas. The poor giant showed himself a true learner. 

And he had ordered his people to come to the island to study the method of governing, as well as the art of lying. Groups and groups of people had flown to the island. Planes kept coming and going. The genius treated them like his own secret members. 

And the poor giant never doubted about their loyalty. He knew they will never betray him. He thought everyone was sharing the same ideal with him. All were for the people, even though lying was necessary for the people. 

The poor giant was happy to find out he was getting rich. He decided to try out the control method in one of his small provinces.

The poor giant failed to notice, his secret network of control, had changed hands gradually. Little by little, his secret network was not his secret network anymore. Extra branches were built without his consent. They were under leadership of the rich man. He was not the boss of his own country, but the rich man was. 

Now, he would try the genius method in his selected province. 

The first move of the poor giant, was to buy medias in the province. He knew the importance of medias, he wanted to buy them all. And it was not difficult for him. As he can pay good money. He preferred to save in other places. He wanted to spend important resources in the media. He had brought TVs, Radios, and Newspapers. And he had them divided. Some were for him, some against him. All were under his secret control. He had got secret network members everywhere, like the genius.

However, he never knew, what he had spent big money to brought in, were only useless shells. The inner network of secret people was tightly on the hands of the rich man. 

The situation was getting worse and worse. And the worst of all was his health. He was old and weak now. 

One day, when the poor giant was in his sick bed, the rich man came to visit him.

The poor giant opened his eyes to greet the rich man. 

The rich man said, "You are becoming rich, do you?"

The poor giant said, "We are only picking up a little."

The rich man said, "Do you still want to honor your promise in our bet?"

The poor giant said, "Why not? I am still alive. I still have plenty of time."

"Ha," The rich man laughed, "I must advice you, I have taken lots of your children. You have not much time left."

The poor giant said, "I don't believe it."

The rich man showed him an article from the papers, it was about some of his children. Lots of the schools, universities, churches, even the Government were not necessarily his supporters. They had turned against him. 

The poor giant felt a little pain in his chest. He told the rich man, "Oh, thanks for your advice. I need some time to think about all this. Shall I talk with you later?"

The poor giant was still reading that article long after the rich man had left. He was shocked. He knew the writer whom was once his most loyal pupil. He was stunned to see his own good pupil had changed completely. 

The poor giant visited the writer. He wanted to know the truth. 

He asked the writer: "Aren't you the writer whom once a loyal pupil to your country?"

"Oh yes I was, " the writer received the frail giant with some pleasure. He wanted to tell him the reality. "But sorry I must confess to you that I believe your doctrine no more. "

"Why?"

"It's all about the aim of everything. You wanted your people suffer, you choose to remain poor, but I want happiness."

"Why do you say so?"

"I have learned everything here in this place. People did not think the same as you. Your aim is to serve the people, our aim is to seek happiness. My dream is to enjoy luxury life while you promoted only hardship."

The poor giant knew at once it is not easy to win him back in a short debate. He just wanted to know in what way had the writer changed. 

"How come you had come to such a thought? Did you have a teacher to tell you so?"

"Ah ha, you need not a teacher, but I do have friends. We would talk over night from time to time. You know, mouth to ear talking is very effective. It is more than the media.  I guess you were too busy to read the newspapers here in the province. You are simply living in your old dream. You have never promoted your ideas here, how can you win their minds?"

"Do I need to win minds? "  

Something emerged in the poor giant's mind.

 

The words from the writer were strange to him, but it was like a sharp dagger, had just stabbed into the poor giant's body. He thought, "Am I defeated in the mind battle?"  

He didn't like reading; however, he had noticed a theory that before actual war starts, you have to win first the mind battle. Now He felt he had long been a loser in the mind. And the worse was that he had got no secret network soldier to fight the mind war. They had switched masters without his notice. They were soldiers of the rich man, not him. Though he knew that mouth to ear talking was more powerful then a gun.  

The writer continued to question him:

"Sure you had lost the battle of ideologies. You were totally defeated. You have lost almost all your supporters in the small province. Did you see the recent voting result? Why do young people here are voting against you? And I am sorry to ask you a question, did you have paid any effort to fight the mind battle? You are an expert in the Art of War, do you know what should be sent before the Three Armies?"

"Before the three armies?" The poor giant is an expert in the Art of War, of course he knew at once what should be send before the three armies. But the writer made him feel like a fool. 

" I would humbly tell you it is not the provisions, but the ideologies! You need to win the mind battle before you win the war! And you are hiding your thoughts and you do not like to share your thoughts with the world!"

The poor giant was silent, he was thinking the writer might have a point. And the writer was too excited to stop, he kept on saying:

"Can you tell me why you need to serve the people when the people want to enjoy a luxury life? And can you tell me what is wrong to enjoy life?"

"Vanity, it is all vanity." The poor giant was too painful to answer, he had never been challenged like this. 

"Well you said its vanity, but please let me tell you, it is reality. People just wish to enjoy a good life; they want to eat well and sleep well and what is wrong with that?"

The poor giant did not argue with him. He knew that the writer was completely hypnotized by the rich man. He wanted only to enjoy wine and woman. His money is from the blood of the poor. He is not thinking in terms of facts, but in terms of money. He was just another money-slave in the material world. 

The poor giant was relaxed to think like this. However, he could not sleep again. He could never understand, why the rich man had so many followers and he was left a lonely old man. 

A glimpse of thought came back to him. The words from the writer swung in his head:

The writer said, "And you are hiding your thoughts and you do not like to share your thoughts with the world!"

And this was what he will not agree:

"Oh no, no, we will never export revolution. "

"Export revolution? What a strange term. To win your mind battle you need to share your thought with the young people, and I doubt that you do not know what is your thought!"

The writer was frank and he did not notice it was an insult to the poor giant, and he kept saying: " Do you know what is the ultimate aim of us human beings? Can you tell me where would you go if you are dead? And if you think there is no after life, then what is the purpose of living? And why looking forward to money is not good? You don't have to tell me the reason, but you need to let your children believe your way of life!"

"You are thinking too much, it is not practical. If you are really interested is such topics, I would advise you to see a psychologist."

"Well, well, well, it is your children who need psychologists! If you cannot educate them!"

The poor giant murmured: "It's not practical………"

"I understand you. You meant it is not practical, and I am sure what is the practical way to live, that is to make money and live a luxury life, isn't it?"

The poor giant did not reply. And the writer kept on pressing him:

"Then we are more or less the same, we are both materialists!"

It was already mid-night when the poor giant woke up from his thought. The writer had left long ago, but the stimulation was still vividly clear in his mind. And he could not tell whether it was real or only a dream in his mind. He told himself in the dream:

"Yes I have to win the mind battle and win my children back."

There was a knock at the door and the rich man was in front of his bed.

   

The rich man said:" Since your children had all voted against you, may I take your country as a reward?"

The poor giant tried to sit up and find there was no rich man in the room. It was all but a true dream. And he tried to find the newspaper and the article from the writer, it was not there. They were all dreams. There was no article, no writer, and no votes. 

However, the poor giant was sweating . 

He knew he might still have a good chance to win though he knew not the complication of mind battles. And he had no secret mind soldiers to fight for him. 

Things were actually happening as he had been dreaming about.  

One day, the rich man came to visit him. He was in his sick bed. 

And he found it not funny that the things were almost the same in his dream. He had dreamed it.

The rich man said, "You are becoming rich, do you?"

The poor giant said, "We are only picking up a little."

The rich man said, "Do you still want to honor your promise in our bet?"

The poor giant said, "Why not? I am still alive. I still have plenty of time."

"Ha," The rich man laughed, "I must advice you, I have taken lots of your children. You have not much time left."

The poor giant said, "I don't believe it."

The rich man showed him an article from the papers, it was about some of his children. Lots of the schools, universities, churches, even the Government were not necessarily his supporters. They had turned against him. 

The poor giant said, "Have you counted your harvest?"

The rich man hesitated. 

The poor giant was old and weak, but firm. He said, "If you have not counted, I have. You had controlled only 5%. "

The rich man laughed again, "Ha, you said 5% only? Do you know they were all leaders and they occupied all of your key positions in your stupid province?"

The poor giant was silent. He could hardly breathe any more. But he still managed to answer the rich man, "Let us see if your 5% can beat the rest of my good children?"

The poor giant died shortly after the visit of the rich man. 

And all his children were eager to see, whether the 95% can beat the 5% or not. 

The bet was still going on.

              (The End)