In Tong County, it is said that professors are inferior to teaching assistants, and teaching assistants are inferior to students. The more one reads, the stupider one becomes.

We have been studying documents for over forty days, engaging in a kind of pedantic philosophy. I have always opposed this way of learning. In my view, it is a form of blind faith that should be openly criticized at a mass meeting.

We must not get bogged down in the documents. In the past, when we went to war, we would go into battle as soon as we were mobilized—winning some battles and suffering others—with no books at all. Some people even claim that we fought by following the strategies outlined in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But who could possibly fight a war strictly by the book? Whether it was Lin Biao, He ×, or Luo ××, were they born experts, or did they learn to fight only in the course of actual combat? Whether one is an expert or a novice, one can only learn by fighting. If you never engage in battle but simply keep studying, how can you ever master the art of warfare? You must fight in order to learn; without fighting, there can be no learning.

(Referring to a comrade who spent two months studying documents before finally entering the village) Chairman Mao once said: “The more you study, the dumber you become!” At the Whampoa Military Academy, recruits underwent a five-month induction period followed by four months of formal officer training, during which they studied four major curricula. I do not believe any of this works. After a bit of drill and practice, they would graduate—only to remain unable to fight. Lin Biao once told me that when he first became a company commander, he still did not know how to wage war. He simply did whatever his platoon leader instructed, because the latter had experience and he had no choice but to follow orders. It was only after fighting a few times that he began to acquire real combat skills.

Article 20 is far too long and overly complicated. Books that are too thick will not be read, and articles that are too long will not be looked at. We should avoid indulging in such pedantry.