The legend could reasonably be true if you assume the generals just used the process for communication: "my troop strength is (3, 7, 2)." Actually lining up the

The legend could reasonably be true if you assume the generals just used the process for communication: "my troop strength is (3, 7, 2)." Actually lining up the troops seems unnecessary: it takes far less mathematical sophistication to calculate the moduli than to reverse engineer the total number.