Luo Guanzhong’s classic book Romance of the Three Kingdoms begins: “The empire long divided must unite and long united must divide. Thus it has ever been.” That has been true of China and most other places, and it is likely to continue, so it’s a good principle. I explained the big cycle of internal order and disorder in Chapter 5, so I won’t reiterate it here other than to remind you of a key principle: peace is profitable and war is costly.
