MDZS Volume 4 Annotations

Ever see a depiction of St. George and the Dragon? It's pretty fair to say if you've seen one, you've seen them all: Georgie on a horse stabbing a flailing dragon creature, princess piously kneeling in the background, vague landscape alluding to the homeland of the artist's patron.

The most varied part is the dragons. No one had a real definition for the thing, it seemed. For your pleasure and entertainment, I have ranked some medieval depictions based on how impressive George's feat seems once you see the dragon.

Paolo Uccello, 1456

This is a terrifying beast. The hell is that. Uccello was one of the first experimenters with perspective, so the thing also looks surreal, like it's taking place on Mars, or a Windows 95 screensaver. I would not want to fight that, I would not want to be tied to that. (Sometimes the princess is tied to the dragon for some reason.) 10/10

Horse thoughts: Maybe if I look at the ground it will be gone when I look up

Unknown artist, c. 1505

This is a rare change of form for the dragon; it's the only one I've seen actually flying (or at least falling with style). It doesn't look particularly deterred by the spear through its throat, either. Also, George looks appropriately nervous. On the other hand, it hasn't got teeth, it seems to be fuzzy rather than having scaly armor, and George is bolstered by his army of Henry VII and his children, most of whom definitely didn't actually die in infancy. Still, wouldn't want to fight it, wouldn't want my pet sheep near it. (Sometimes the princess has a pet sheep for some reason.) 9/10

Horse thoughts: I am so glad I wore my mightiest feather helmet for this

Raphael, 1505

We are coming to Dragons With Problems. This guy looks about comparable in size to George, and does have wings, but doesn't seem to be using these things to his advantage (and has he only got one wing?) And how does he deal with the neck? He does have a comically small head, but holding it up with such a twisty neck seems complicated at best. But most egregiously, he is doing the shitty superheroine pose where he is somehow simultaneously showcasing his chest and his butt, with its unnecessarily defined butthole (more on this later) (regrettably). 8/10 bc it's Raphael

Horse thoughts: AM I THE BESTEST BOI? AM I DOING SUCH A GOOD JOB? WE R DRAGON SLAYING BUDDIEZ

The Beauchamp Hours, c. 1401

We had a spirited debate about this one at work. Again, the dragon has gotten smaller, and this one hasn't got even one wing. He's basically a crocodile. So the debate became: would you want to fight a crocodile if you had a horse and a pointy stick? Would the horse trample the animal, who can't get on its hind legs, or freak out and throw its rider? Would the pointy stick be enough to pierce the croc's thick hide? In this case, George seems to be controlling his horse and putting his pointy stick in the dragon's weak spot, so we can be impressed by his skill and strategy. However, his hat is dumb. 7/10

Horse thoughts: Dehhhh

Book of Hours, c. 1480

Here we have the same kind of croco-dragon, but George's focus on his strategy has gone out the window. He's flailing around, not even looking at his target, he's about to lose his pointy stick, he hasn't got a hand on the reins, and his sword seems to only be poking the invisible dragon over his shoulder. All he's got going for him is that his hat is slightly less dumb. 6/10

Horse thoughts: Yay, new friend! Come play with me, new fr- what is happening

Final dragons put behind this Read More for your safety:

Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1432

I'm thinking this guy is at least semi-aquatic. Webbed feet, wings that seem more like fins, bipedal but top-heavy, jaws that seem more for scooping than biting. Maybe she's crawled up here from the nearby body of water to lay her eggs, and this is all a big misunderstanding. Moreover, George's dagged sleeves seem entirely impractical for the situation. 5/10

Horse thoughts: i got my hed stuk in a jar and now it is this way forever

Unknown artist, c. 15th century

I hate this. I hate everything about it. Why has it got human eyes and teeth. Why is its nose melting. Why has it got a dick on its face and balls under its chin. The fin/wings are back but they look even more useless. Also, George is shifty as hell, schlumped over in his saddle with his bowler hat thing over his eyes. The baby dragon at the bottom eating some hapless would-be rescuer is kind of metal. 4/10 at least the thing is gonna die

Horse thoughts: I Have Smoked So Much Crack

Book of Hours, c. 1450

Remember what I said about the buttholes? First, sorry. Second, yeah, we're back to that. I'll admit this one is less about the danger from the dragon itself than the very specific choices the artist has made. They didn't need to do that. It's a lizard. They don't even have. And it's like they had an orifice budget and they skipped an exit wound for the spear to focus. Elsewhere. It's so detailed. And George had an even dumber hat. 2/10 take it away

Horse thoughts: I Have Smoked So Much Weed

Book of Hours, c. 1415

This is just bullying. There isn't even a princess. That is clearly an infant. Look at that smug look on George's face as he swings his sword that's bigger than the whole little guy. This is the equivalent of when DJT Jr. hunted those sleeping endangered sheep. 1/10

Horse thoughts: ....yikes

And this is the previous one, but now the baby dragon is cute. He's chubby. He's got toe beans. He's Puff the Magic Dragon. His eyes have already gone white, implying that George is just kicking its corpse around for funsies. What's the difference between the dragon and the lamb in the background? That the dragon is dead, like our innocence. This George is truly deserving of the dumbest hat of all. 0/10 plus one more butthole for the road

Horse thoughts: Perhaps it is we who are the buttholes.

Stars of Chaos 杀破狼

Vol 2, Notes 8/8, pages 370 - end

The story is progressing!!!

“muttered into... ear" in Chinese here is 咬耳朵道, "bite ear said." Totally lets you know where Gu Yun is when he's talking to Tan Hongfei, yah?

Chinese for the entire 长庚 quote: 可惜没有长花容月貌，掷果盈车的大帅不肯要。

花容月貌 - flower appearance moon appearance (it sounds good in Chinese, trust me)

掷果盈车 - throw fruit fill carriage. There was this famously beautiful man name 潘安 Pan An (247-300 AD) who was so famously beautiful that when women saw his carriage coming, they would link hands and slow it down just to get a peak at him, and then they would throw flowers and fruit at him in appreciation, so that by the time he got home, his carriage was full of fruit and flowers. Famous Chinese Beauties <3

启明 Qiming -- Pleco: "Classical Chinese name for planet Venus in the east before dawn"

混账. Pleco: Noun. Vulgar. "scoundrel; bastard; son of a bitch"

But you can't say the latter two to Chang Geng, and I don't want to talk about body parts like that between Gu Yun and Chang Geng, so I think we should all read this as "Unreasonable Impudent Scoundrel."

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed learning about heel ropes and pills of immortality and historically significant hotness with me. I learn huge amounts of (Chinese and) Chinese culture every time I pick up a Priest book, and I hope you all can enjoy it as much as I do.

My DanMei Literary Adventure Masterpost

Stars of Chaos - All Notes Links

The tiniest WangXian doodle.

As a former student of biology and an eternal fan of Ghibli, and this hits really deeply. 😁

biologists will be like this is a very simplified diagram of a mammalian cell

chemists will be like this is a molecule

I love Priest's supporting characters. I love how she started Stars of Chaos from supporting characters' POV, and then she keeps dropping in on them and making us love them more and more.

My one complaint is: why doesn't she write more (even more) Extras featuring her supporting characters? We care!

Brief Character Analyses and Spoilers for Stars of Chaos below...

Cao Chunhua 曹春花 / 曹娘子 Cao Niangzi:

曹春花， I love you! How did you get so good at languages and disguise and acting? Did you ever get to catch a nice young man? Or are you constantly catching nice young men in a serial fashion? Ahhh, our little 娘子 <3 I definitely want to read more about you and your adventures.

Li Feng 李丰, "Long An" Emperor, Chang Geng's unfortunate half-brother:

You tried so hard. I don't actually want to read more about you, but I want you to know that I appreciate that you did your best, and validate that you really were a lot better than your dad -- you were just unlucky, and, sadly, you had to die for it. Life is hard. And short, for you.

Fang Qin 方钦

Yah, life is unfair. I don't want to read more about you, either -- I just want to ruminate on how you were a fancy rich popular kid, but all you really wanted was to hang out with the nerds. The nerds were smart and fun and honest and doing cool things, but your fancy rich popular old-money family held you back. Too bad you didn't have any backbone.

Chen QingXu 陈轻絮 and Shen Yi 沈易

What an amazing couple. I feel like Chen QingXu is barely in the book at all, but every time she is mentioned it is with reverence and awe. My favorite scene with Chen QingXu is when she's chaining together Pipa melodies while a battle is literally going on in front of her, then elegantly floats away when her part of the battle is concluded...

And! And! When she figures out that the Spirit Mannequin is actually a "book" and clutches it "like she's never seen wood before," I swooned -- Chen QingXu is a scientist, through and through <3

Every time Shen Yi is mentioned, I know I'm going to have a good time, too. It is through his near-constant consternation at Gu Yun that we see how terribly fun (emphasis on the "terrible") Gu Yun is.

Poor Shen Yi, putting up with his crazy best friend. Accidentally rising to one of the highest positions in the land just because he doesn't want to go home and instead follows his best friend out to the far remote edges of the empire; and is totally willing to give it all up to be a house-husband for the girl he likes, once he gets up the courage to tell her he likes her. What a sweet guy <3

Yah, I want more Chen QingXu and more Shen Yi and more ChenYi.

Old Master Shen 沈老爷子

While we’re talking about the Shen family, I’d love to read more about Shen Laoyezi. He knows everything. His bird cusses out everyone. He’s pretty awesome.

Yao Zhen 姚镇 / 姚重泽 Yao ZhongZe (Chong Ze?) (I'm not so good when a word has multiple pronunciations)

I'm not super hungry for more Yao Zhen content, but I love every bit of Yao Zhen that I get to read. Poor man -- he just wants to hang out and enjoy life, but Gu Yun keeps giving him all these empire-critical, life-and-death-of-thousands responsibilities. The man knows what he wants! But Gu Yun just railroads past those clearly delineated desires and keeps raising him up to higher and higher positions of responsibility!

Living up to your true potential is overrated; sleeping 10 hours/day is the way to go :)

Huo Dan 霍郸

Oh, the stories that Huo Dan could tell... Poor man, having to put up with Gu Yun's peculiarities and Chang Geng's idiosyncrasies and I'm sure he learned very early on to always knock before entering any space that the two of them think they're alone in.

I want more Huo Dan stories ;)

That's pretty much it for me. I love Ge PangXiao 葛胖小 / 葛晨 Ge Chen, too, but I am satisfied with his story already. He's cool, he's sweet, but he's not mysterious like Cao ChunHua and Chen QingXu, or in an entertaining state of near-permanent exasperation because of Gu Yun's shenanigans like poor Shen Yi is. You do you, Ge Chen.

Hey, I saw a post in which you said that if we had the means we should support MXTX through legal means. I'm a white American who only found out that danmei was a thing through CQL and then MDZS. How would I go about supporting MXTX? Are there places I've been missing where I can give money in exchange for my enjoyment of her world or something? I keep looking for a DVD of CQL or a print book of MDZS in English, but no dice. Have I been overlooking another way to support her?

Hi there! :D I don’t blame you, it’s pretty hard to find stuff in english, but I have a few masterposts for you (*´▽`*)

Alas for any print editions of MDZS in english, they don’t exist (yet). AFAIK, no english publisher has the rights to it, but if you’re interested in the traditional Taiwan print edition, I have a masterpost with links here

@the-social-recluse‘s pinned post (here) is a fantastic resource on different places to stream/purchase MDZS’s various forms legally as well as sources to scanlations and fansubs etc. (there’s a buying guide for the audio drama, which I highly recommend :DDDDD)

if you are interested in the audio drama, I have a masterpost here (first link is just to an outdated version of post 2) that includes a link to a tipping guide for the audio drama team and also a link to my episode guide lol

most official merch is on taobao stores, so you can either purchase directly (though i will readily admit that navigating through it can be a Whole Ordeal + you need to be cognizant of what is/isn’t possible for them to send directly to the states -- I uh, mostly learned through trial and error RIP -- but there are guides online to help you do it!) or use an agent (I use Superbuy for certain items that can’t be sent directly). Shipping direct using their consolidation function costs around ~15USD/lb, so it can get hefty, but agent shipping is definitely more expensive. ;A; still! agents are relatively painless to use and they speak english, so, you know. ANYWAYS, if you’re interested on that front:

KAZE makes beautiful MDZS stationery items! mostly washi tapes. also sometimes stuff like mousepads, enamel pins, candles, etc. :3 do note: sealing wax, candles, pens with ink are not able to be consolidated, as I have Learned haha

Official CQL Taobao store. bit of a grab bag of CQL merch lol. please note, you can’t ship any makeup, wax, liquid etc. directly, so you’d have to use an agent for that (and I’m not sure it’s guaranteed??)

Official Donghua Merch (aimon). exactly what it says on the tin lol. keychains, plushies, knicknacks etc.

another official merch store (assortment??) this collects some items from a bunch of other official stores, including KAZE and aimon, but also has listings i haven’t seen elsewhere! there’s some really pretty jewelry (not... sure if you can send that directly, i sort of doubt it rip)

this.... is maybe a lot ahaha. if the taobao stuff is too intimidating to deal with, you can also find resellers on ebay pretty often as well. there’s also always stuff like group orders (i’ve pretty much only used OnlyDream and @shandian-go, both of whom were very good!!).

anyways!! hope you found this somewhat helpful!!

The 36 Stratagems in mdzs

🔮 I describe individual scenes in MDZS where each of the 36 Stratagems plays out

🔮 Note that while this post mainly references novel canon, it may wander into CQL territory at times

🔮 I won’t include the detailed history of each of the Stratagems in this meta as they may be too long, but I will include a resource at the end that you can refer to for further reading

🔮 Spoilers ahead!

Let’s go!

Ok so! The 36 Stratagems (三十六计) is an essay on the use of cunning ruses and deceptive tactics on the battlefield, in politics, and in civil matters. It has been attributed to various authors throughout popular history, and references various famous military scenarios in the Warring States era (战国时代) and Three Kingdoms period (三国时代).

The 36 Stratagems are split into six discrete sections, each describing six techniques:

胜战计: victory stratagems

敌战计: enemy fighting stratagems

攻战计: attack stratagems

混战计: chaos stratagems

并战计: proximate (parallel) stratagems

败战计: desperate stratagems

胜战计 Victory stratagems

1. 瞒天过海: crossing the sea without alerting the heavens; i.e. setting a fake objective to mislead others, while concealing progress for the true objective.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Wei Wuxian taking a blindfolded Jiang Cheng to “visit Baoshan Sanren” to “get his core repaired”. This was a ruse to conceal the true objective — a core transfer.

2. 围魏救赵: besieging Wei to rescue Zhao (Wei and Zhao were states in the Warring States period); i.e. attacking something precious to the enemy to avoid a head-on battle and forcing them to retreat.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangyao placing a qin string around Wei Wuxian’s neck to force Lan Wangji to stand down at the Guanyin temple.

Bonus: Jin Guangyao is literally “besieging Wei/围魏” here! The word 围, other than “to besiege”, also means “to encircle” or “to surround”.

3. 借刀杀人: killing with a borrowed blade; i.e. outsourcing a difficult or incriminating task to someone else.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Nie Huaisang instigating Lan Xichen to stab Jin Guangyao in the Guanyin temple. Quite literally, he “borrows” Lan Xichen’s sword to do the deed.

4. 以逸待劳: letting others exhaust themselves, and swooping in at the right moment to claim victory or deal the final blow.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Wen Chao instructing the hostages from the various clans to wear the Xuanwu down, with the intention of coming in at the last minute to claim the kill.

5. 趁火打劫: looting a burning house; i.e. taking advantage of a desperate situation to raid a weakened enemy.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Qishan Wen taking advantage of Jiang Fengmian’s absence to launch an attack on Lotus Pier.

6. 声东击西: making a sound in the east to misdirect the enemy, while striking in the west.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangyao instigating the second siege of the Burial Mounds to divert everyone’s attention, whilst simultaneously making preparations for his escape to Dongying.

敌战计 Enemy fighting stratagems

7. 无中生有: creating something out of nothing; i.e. creating an illusion or lie to fool people into believing something exists.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Nie Huaisang perpetuating the rumor that his family’s ancestral tomb is actually a man-eating fortress, to prevent grave robbers from entering it.

8. 暗渡陈仓: sneaking through the passage of Chencang while repairing the main roads; i.e. distracting the enemy while taking a shortcut to launch an attack.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Su She devising a similar-sounding qin score to that of Gusu Lan. The discordant notes distracted the Lan disciples, concealing the score’s true purpose — weakening people’s spiritual abilities.

9. 隔岸观火: watching the fire from the opposite bank; i.e. delaying entering a battle until the enemy has been weakened, then moving in at full strength.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Xue Yang slowly chipping away at Xiao Xingchen’s virtue by making him kill innocent people, then revealing the truth at the end to break him.

10. 笑里藏刀: hiding a knife behind a smile: i.e. putting up a friendly appearance to conceal one’s true intentions.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangyao’s political maneuvering to make himself seem genial and unassuming, while concealing the truth about his roles in Nie Mingjue’s and Jin Guangshan’s deaths.

11. 李代桃僵: sacrificing the plum tree for the peach tree; i.e. sacrificing some short-term aims for a greater, long-term good.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Wei Wuxian accepting the eventuality of Wang Lingjiao chopping off his hand, and later, sacrificing his own core to restore Jiang Cheng and preserve the Jiang clan in the long run.

12. 顺手牵羊: taking a opportunity to steal a goat; i.e. making use of available resources as they present themselves.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Wei Wuxian leading Lil Apple from the Mo household!

攻战计 Attack stratagems

13. 打草惊蛇: hitting the grass to startle the snake; i.e. making over-the-top gestures to taunt or disrupt the enemy.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Wei Wuxian taunting Wen Chao in the Xuanwu cave for his lack of knowledge of Wen Mao’s writings, to lure Wen Chao away from Wen Zhuliu’s protection.

14. 借尸还魂: borrowing a corpse to resurrect a soul; i.e. fixing up something useless to give it a fresh purpose.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Mo Xuanyu’s body literally being used as a vessel to resurrect Wei Wuxian!

Bonus: here’s a short explanation I previously wrote as part of the cql subs critique for Episode 1 on the poem Chu Ci 楚辞. It’s in para 4.

15. 调虎离山: enticing the tiger to leave the mountain; i.e. luring a strong enemy away from their base of protection to attack them in the open.

Where this plays out in MDZS: the invitation to Jin Ling’s party as a means to lure Wei Wuxian from Burial Mounds and into a set-up.

16. 欲擒故纵: loosening the hold slightly to ensure capture; i.e. allowing an enemy to believe they have a chance to escape, thus getting them to lower their defenses, then crushing their morale.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Wei Wuxian taunting Wen Chao at various intervals instead of killing him outright — letting Wen Chao run a little, then catching up with him to slice pieces off of his body.

17. 抛砖引玉: tossing pieces of brick to get gems; i.e. throwing out pieces of useless information to tempt the enemy into revealing something important.

Where this plays out in MDZS: A-Qing deliberately misinterpreting the term “night-hunt 夜猎” to trick Xue Yang into revealing that he is also a cultivator.

18. 擒贼擒王: defeating the enemy by first defeating their leader.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Nie Mingjue infiltrating Nightless City during the Sunshot Campaign to attack Wen Ruohan, as a means of quickly securing victory.

混战计 Chaos stratagems

19. 釜底抽薪: removing the firewood from the underside of the pot; i.e. cutting off an enemy’s resources or means of attack.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangyao making everyone seal their spiritual powers in Guanyin temple, so they would not be able to attack him.

20. 浑水摸鱼: disturbing the water to catch the fish; i.e creating confusion to mask one’s true purpose.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Su She trying to incite mass panic during the second siege of Burial Mounds to get everyone to be suspicious of Wei Wuxian.

21. 金蝉脱壳: the golden cicada shedding its shell; i.e. leaving riches or identifying marks behind to go undercover or escape.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangyao, knowing that he has incurred the ire of the clans, preparing to leave his position behind and escape to Dongying.

22. 关门捉贼: shutting the door to catch a thief; i.e. cutting off all escape routes for an enemy.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Xue Yang trapping the juniors in Yi City and turning them around in circles, in order to get close to Wei Wuxian.

23. 远交近攻: allying with people further away while attacking those closest, for a strategic advantage.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangyao swearing brotherhood with the two most powerful people outside the Jin clan, whilst simultaneously planning his takeover of the Jin household.

Bonus: here’s another meta I wrote on Jin Guangyao’s personal reasons for joining the sworn brotherhood, in which I also touch on 远交近攻.

24. 假途伐虢: getting safe passage to besiege Guo (a state during the Zhou dynasty); i.e. borrowing an ally’s resources to attack an enemy, then turning on that same ally with those resources.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Xue Yang borrowing the abilities of Shuanghua to kill innocent people, then instigating Xiao Xingchen to turn those same abilities on Song Lan, thus destroying their bond.

并战计 Proximate stratagems

25. 偷梁换柱: replacing the beams with rotting timbers; i.e. disrupting the enemy’s operations by replacing certain supports with inferior varieties.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangyao swapping the notes of Cleansing 洗华 with those from the Collection of Turmoil 乱魄抄.

Bonus: here’s a quick explanation on the name 乱魄抄 in my critique of CQL episode 42, para 441.

26. 指桑骂槐: pointing at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree; i.e. deliberately misdirecting one’s anger to avoid having to make the first move.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangyao forcing Wei Wuxian to reveal himself in the treasure room by addressing him as Mo Xuanyu, accusing him of slander and of causing Qin Su’s death.

Bonus: it’s possible that Nie Huaisang’s name was derived from this particular stratagem — except that instead of the locust tree 槐, he uses the character 怀, which loosely means “to harbor (in one’s heart)”. Both words use the same tone and are similarly pronounced.

27. 假痴不颠: feigning ignorance to lure the enemy into complacency.

Where this plays out in MDZS: this is the crux of Nie Huaisang’s nickname, 一问三不知 “Mr I Don’t Know”!

Bonus: here’s a brief explanation I wrote about 一问三不知 for my critique of CQL episode 34, para 351.

28. 上屋抽梯: removing the ladder when the enemy has reached the roof; i.e. severing an enemy’s recourse or supply lines.

Where this plays out in MDZS: the plot for Su She to finish everyone off at the second siege of Burial Mounds, through the cutting off of everyone’s spiritual abilities and means of escape.

29. 树上开花: tying blossoms on a dead tree; i.e. making something of low value appear useful and beautiful through artifice.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangshan accepting Jin Guangyao into the family and bestowing his own generational name on him as a public honor, while continuing to undermine and ill-treat him.

30. 反客为主: forcing the host and guest to change places; i.e. usurping authority by turning the tables.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Wei Wuxian seizing Wen Chao and holding him hostage in the Xuanwu cave.

败战计 Desperate stratagems

31. 美人计: the beauty trap; i.e. sending a beautiful woman to distract the enemy and incite unrest in their camp.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Jin Guangyao literally ensnaring his own father in such a fashion to bring about his death.

32. 空城计: the empty city; i.e. appearing calm despite being at a disadvantage, to fool the enemy into thinking that there is an ambush waiting for them.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Wei Wuxian remaining at ease when confronting Xue Yang in Yi City, despite knowing he would not be able to physically overpower him.

33. 反间计: sowing discord between an enemy and their allies.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Nie Huaisang instigating Bi Cao to write a letter to Qin Su, with the intent of turning her against Jin Guangyao.

34. 苦肉计: inflicting injury on oneself to earn the enemy’s trust and sympathy.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Xue Yang masquerading as an injured Xiao Xingchen to gain entry to the house that Wei Wuxian and the juniors were hiding in.

35. 连环计: chain stratagems; i.e. carrying out different plans as part of a linked, continuous scheme.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Nie Huaisang methodically laying the trail of body parts and clues for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji to follow.

36. 走为上: if all else fails, flee, and regroup to fight another day.

Where this plays out in MDZS: Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji running from the Xuanwu after their escape had been sealed off.

Bonus: there’s a saying 三十六计 走为上计 which means “of all the 36 Stratagems, fleeing is the best”!

References

Translations largely referenced from Military Wikia

Details of each of the Stratagems

Original post on Twitter

every day people tell me that the untamed is good, i’ve seen the first episode, stop gaslighting me

posting on twitter feels like throwing something you worked on for hours, days, weeks into a river, hoping it'll get swept out to sea for many people to experience, only for it to immediately crash into some rocks and explode. its gone now. if no one sees it in the 0.00003 seconds it exists on their timelines, no one ever will

posting on tumblr is like carefully placing your work in the middle of a dark abandoned factory, and slowly a bunch of weird little goblins manifest from the shadows and touch your work all over with their little raccoon hands and share it with each other. sometimes they find your thing again many years later and excitedly share it again

the weird goblins are much more enjoyable