When I was listening to the podcast, something in the back of my brain kept telling me I HAD HEARD THIS ONE before, and dang it I was right when you guys got the answer.
I swear the question should be rephrased as such (inspired from Mock the Week): "Eccentric Chinese Warlord Zhang Zongchang displayed his fearlessness by sitting in his own coffin and smoking a cigar. That is not a question, just a statement. Anyway, what resource problem..."
I absolutely love having those three on! Just finished listening to the whole latest episode during a car ride earlier today. They have such fun, chaotic energy, great chemistry. You're spot on with "end-of-term energy", Tom (Scott). I also like listening to their own podcast. Highly recommended!
@@cvindustries as explained in the video, Everybody in his army got promoted when they defeated a competing warlord. the army of the defeated warlord is then absorbed into the army to make the new lower ranks. In a perfect world where nobody would die this would create a big upper echelon, but in war people tend to die quite a bit more than normal.
My initial guess was he was just going to declare that all the existing medals now signified one rank up, and then any new recruits would get a new kind of medals, which would be a lower volume that they could actually produce enough of
😸 I'm imagining a brainstorming session where that idea is floated, until someone points out that there are _normally_ more recruits than officers when things are going well.
3:47: If Zhang Zongchang only had four soldiers, and those four soldiers didn't trust each other to remember and respect their ranks without medals, _and_ Zhang couldn't afford four new medals, I don't think he'd be a historically significant warlord.
FYI: Zhang (张) is a very-common family name in China. It’s pronounced (in Mandarin) like “John,” but ending in an “ng” phoneme rather than “n” phoneme. Of course, you have to get the tone (pitch inflection) right too.
Initial guess: cigars given out with promotions; didn't have enough; changed rules to allow for one symbolic one (maybe per rank). Alt: not enough insignia patches, just moved each current one up a level
I love this so much, but I have to watch them on tik Tok because I don't like audio podcasts generally and the comments preview often times spoils it immediately
I love that movie "Foil Medal Jacket"
🤣🤣🤣
Zhang Zongchang giving his medals out: “Now the bronze are really blue, and they're also the back side of the gold, so no flipping. K? Honor system.”
Known it from the great Sam O' Nella
This was a very fun episode to record but I'd like to officially apologize to Tom Scott for stealing his credit for this answer 😔 i am unworthy
I mean... at least in the final cut, you spoke up first at 1:16! It's rightfully yours! :)
@@Anolaanawhat if.. Tom is actually not fully bound by the flow of time and causality and Ella knows it? 👀
When I was listening to the podcast, something in the back of my brain kept telling me I HAD HEARD THIS ONE before, and dang it I was right when you guys got the answer.
Sam O Nella, right?
I had that same feeling watching this video, then I realised it was because I'd already heard the podcast.😁
@@FeliVee Looks like Sam O'Nella is pretty popular with question submitters
Considering the number of "true crime" podcasts out there, "it's not dead people" could be a fairly relevant tagline for a podcast, actually.
I swear the question should be rephrased as such (inspired from Mock the Week):
"Eccentric Chinese Warlord Zhang Zongchang displayed his fearlessness by sitting in his own coffin and smoking a cigar. That is not a question, just a statement. Anyway, what resource problem..."
I read this in Dara's voice.
Lettuce ?
You mean mock of the week
Man this barely to covers the craziness of Zhang Zong Chang.
I absolutely love having those three on! Just finished listening to the whole latest episode during a car ride earlier today. They have such fun, chaotic energy, great chemistry. You're spot on with "end-of-term energy", Tom (Scott). I also like listening to their own podcast. Highly recommended!
Totally agree! I found their podcast via lateral as well. Definitely my favorite guests!
For context, this is about a warlord during the Chinese Warlord Era, from 1916 to 1928.
promoting is all about the branding.
If you promote everyone in the army, did you really promote anybody? It's like Syndrome in the Incredibles, "when everyone is special, nobody is".
@@cvindustries as explained in the video, Everybody in his army got promoted when they defeated a competing warlord. the army of the defeated warlord is then absorbed into the army to make the new lower ranks.
In a perfect world where nobody would die this would create a big upper echelon, but in war people tend to die quite a bit more than normal.
In German ”coffin nails” is sarcastically used for cigarettes. I kept thinking about a connection with that.
It's always super lovely seeing the Let's Learn Everything cast come back on!
My initial guess was he was just going to declare that all the existing medals now signified one rank up, and then any new recruits would get a new kind of medals, which would be a lower volume that they could actually produce enough of
😸 I'm imagining a brainstorming session where that idea is floated, until someone points out that there are _normally_ more recruits than officers when things are going well.
To be honest every guest on this show turns out to be great, but this trio of guests is BY FAR the best one, the synergy is unmatched.
I'm sorry, I was entirely distracted by Ella's cats in the background.
That's not a complaint, not in the slightest. Just a happy observation 😁
Sam O’Nella and Behind the Bastards podcast told me this!
This episode was particularly entertaining. Props!
I thought that maybe he used the cigar bands to make the medals
there hasn't been a single question where one of the players just goes laughing while the question is being read in this episode.. lol
I was thinking using the band around the cigar, I was not too far away.
Tom Lun with that Timber Hearth poster in the background making me happy on a Monday.
sam o'nella knowledge has finally benefited me
I went into this assuming the resource problem was he had no army.
3:47: If Zhang Zongchang only had four soldiers, and those four soldiers didn't trust each other to remember and respect their ranks without medals, _and_ Zhang couldn't afford four new medals, I don't think he'd be a historically significant warlord.
ecentric is putting it mildly where Zhang Zongchang is concerned
I remember this from Dankula's "Dogmeat General" vid.
5:09 The Funniest kid in class. key & Peele moments right there😅
Get Tech Diff on here, it’d be brilliant
FYI: Zhang (张) is a very-common family name in China. It’s pronounced (in Mandarin) like “John,” but ending in an “ng” phoneme rather than “n” phoneme. Of course, you have to get the tone (pitch inflection) right too.
I'd seriously consider buying some Lateral Tagline T-shirts
Initial guess: cigars given out with promotions; didn't have enough; changed rules to allow for one symbolic one (maybe per rank). Alt: not enough insignia patches, just moved each current one up a level
1:30 I like "Icy dead people. They are cold blooded and hard hearted."
'Tea & medals' - Warlord style? He shoulda' awarded them original Kit-Kats, a far superior foil : )
Initial thoughts: this is so wild that I'm just gonna sit back and watch the mayhem unfold.
"I am promoting you"
"Why?"
"Because I am promoting everybody here!"
Yongchang's nickname was John Player
Halfway though: I am wondering if they cut the medals (bars) in half. Thus starting the tradition of having half width bars to indicate lower ranks.
I love this so much, but I have to watch them on tik Tok because I don't like audio podcasts generally and the comments preview often times spoils it immediately
i thought laterally i guessed bottle caps
The foil is much thicker around chocolate coins and therefore would last much longer!
What I'm hearing here is that I would have been a good warlord
Cigar bands?
Spoiler: the butler did it.
Free advertising for "the" companies.
Caroline Reaper: "It's not dead people."
Chinese history is wild. It's always wacky comic relief stuff like this, immediately followed by _millions die._
Sashes or ribbons instead medal
Guess: they ran out of purple dye. They solved it by changing the insignia to use red.
Tom solved it, not Ella
He did. It was stolen glory 😢
You know what would make a badass rank insignia? Coffin nails.
I was way off, thinking this was some 15th century warlord or such.
If tobacco has been exported from America it must be 16th century or later.
Thank you sam o'nella
Is it something to do with 12 monkeys. I see Dead People lol.