L.J. is reading the DaodejingThe whole thing becomes both so much more poignant and so much more brilliant when you realize that the Maroon rebels, being short on munitions, used "very few leaden bullets, but many pebbles, coat-buttons, and pieces of silver coin" as ammunition, resulting in very negligible harm to the other side. They KNEW they could not hurt the enemy anywhere near the casualties they themselves would suffer, but they not only fought but went BACK to hold and distract the enemy for their community's escape and survival, tricking the mercs into being threatened by the harmless fake bullets. It is hard to overstate the sheer ingenuity of it, the boundless chutzpah, the depth of their courage.
And despite these heavily uneven odds they still fought and they still. fucking. won, because victory to them was not destruction and domination of the enemy but life and freedom for their people. This is how a resistance wins.
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