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Chapter 254
Chapter 254 - Eccentric Strategists
February 15th, 183 A. D.
Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Sun Fang, Li Jing, and 60, 000 soldiers gathered at Guanzong County, west of Ganling Commandery. They stopped here to enlist more volunteer forces and resupply the troops.
30, 000 Elites belonged to Sun Jian's men, but the others came from various noble families and their private troops. These people tagged along to scrap some contribution and achievement from the battle so they could get promoted to a higher tier noble as well.
Contrary to Sun Jian, he did not want to participate in this war because of the coalition or for the promotion, he came here to put a stop to the bandits that claimed to be Yellow Turbans.
Unlike the others, Sun Jian saw through the bandit situation as a whole. He knew that the real Yellow Turbans under Zhang Jiao were righteous as they proved their actions in Ganling. However, the imposters were cancers that needed to be eliminated.
To destroy all imposters, the real Yellow Turbans had to be disbanded or destroyed so the imposters could not rely on the dominant name of Zhang Jiao, Zhang Tong, or the name of Yellow Turbans.
Thus, he joined the coalition and led his troops here, aiming to occupy Ye City.
In the main tent, Sun Jian and all officers sat in a circle. In the middle of the tent, a round table and a strategic map laid there. Dolls and tokens were placed there as symbols and the current location of various legions.
In the map, southwest of Guanzong County, Zhao County was sandwiched in between Ye City and Guanzong County. On top of Zhao County, tokens of Yellow Turban troops were there.
Huang Gai entered the tent. He reported his finding, "Reporting our latest intelligence, we have confirmed the number of our enemy soldiers and their generals! The leading figure is Xiao Wu, the ghost bodyguard of Zhang Tong's wife. The strategist is Xun Yu of Xuchang Xun Family! The total troops are 40, 000 men!"
The officers in the tent were surprised when they heard the name of Xiao Wu. The fame of Xiao Wu, AKA Friday, spread through Ganling and other cities since January as the rumor about Liu Ping's death was caused by this woman. In addition, a female figure leading an army was new to these natives as it was rare for a woman to become successful in the military field.
Because of her fame, everyone in the tent disregarded Xun Yu, who should have been the center of attention from this intelligence.
Sun Fang and Li Jing glanced at each other. They confirmed without a doubt that this Xiao Wu might be an otherworlder as no female figure rose up in ranks during this period in history.
"It's not only two but three! Three of the reincarnators joined forces!" Li Jing whispered to Sun Fang.
"Hua Shi, Zhang Tong, and Xiao Wu. That's troublesome."
Sun Jian noticed the whispering between the two. He turned to them and asked, "Is there something that we should know about this Xiao Wu?"
All eyes were on the two husband-and-wife. Li Jing coughed and spoke her thought.
"This Xiao Wu is an immortal like us."
Everyone widened their eyes in shock. Sun Jian asked them again.
"How do you know?"
"All of you should know that it's illogical to have a woman as a grand commander of a 40, 000-man army. Am I right?"
Every officer nodded. Li Jing continued, "No one in the right mind will give a weak woman the title of the grand commander an army. But, do you think that Zhang Tong who can repel the Imperial Army twice with fewer troops than the opponents can be stupid?"
All officers did not make a noise as they frowned. They knew that Tong was never an incompetent young master of a noble family. Instead, he was a dangerous young fox in the eyes of every officer here, including Sun Jian, Cheng Pu, and Huang Gai.
"Indeed, Zhang Tong can't be that stupid. But what does it have to do with Xiao Wu being an immortal?" Asked Sun Jian.
"It starts with the late Emperor, Liu Ping, " Li Jing explained, "All of you should realize by now that the late Emperor is also an immortal like Sun Fang and me as he proved himself during the Song Family execution many years ago. His body is immune to all attacks by the executioners and all elite soldiers in the Imperial Palace!"
Song Family execution event took place many years ago. It was the time that Empress Song, the mother of Liu Ping, was framed for witchcraft by the eunuch faction. As a result, all Song Clan was sentenced for treason, and all of them had to be executed, including servants, children, and elders. Liu Ping was also part of the victims who was sentenced to death, but he demonstrated his superpower and regained his status as the crown prince of Han.
After the event, everyone in the country knew that Liu Ping was abnormal. Some said that he was the true son of Heaven. Some said that he was a sorcerer. However, Sun Jian and the others saw Liu Ping as one of the roaming 100 immortals.
Sun Jian's eyes lit up and interjected, "Liu Ping is known to be an immortal, yet there's a rumor that His Majesty was killed by Xiao Wu!"
Everyone's mouth turned into an "o" as they recalled the baseless rumor about Liu Ping's death. None of them could even confirm the source of this rumor, yet the name of "Xiao Wu" showed up as the killer of this late Emperor.
Once they combined this rumor and her identity as the grand commander of Ye Army. The puzzle piece that they could not find clicked into the grand picture.
"His Majesty can't be killed with ordinary weapons!"
"If the rumor were true, then..."
"Only immortals can kill an immortal."
"This... Xiao Wu is stronger than Liu Ping?"
The officers murmured and discussed their theories and hypothesis about Xiao Wu as they understood what Li Jing tried to convince them.
Li Jing continued, "Yes, Xiao Wu's name appears in the rumor as the general who had slain the Emperor in the middle of his several thousand bodyguards. If it was only a rumor, why would she appear again as the commander of an important city such as Ye?"
The face of all officers was solemn. Everything made sense if the rumor was true.
"If that's the case, this battle will be difficult." Lamented Sun Jian.
"No, it won't, " Smiled Li Jing.
"How?"
"All immortals have been cursed by the gods. We can't use the same magic multiple times in a day. Besides, some of the immortals are powerless at the moment. But, you have forgotten. You also have us, " Li Jing spoke as she glanced at the menu.
The number of otherworlders increased, but they were listed as the powerless side.
[7:5]
Seven people possessed system skills while the other five did not so there was a slim chance that Xiao Wu could be one of the five. Furthermore, Sun Fang and Li Jing were against only one otherworlder. They had the number advantage.
"Right, I forgot about you two. I'll leave that Xiao Wu to you two then. Do you have a plan in the next battle?" Sun Jian turned to Sun Fang, his adopted son.
"We can fly and bombard her to test her skills and strength. If it works, then all is well. If it doesn't work, we'll retreat to plan our next move, " Answered Sun Fang.
Several officers in the tent did not know what Li Jing and Sun Fang were talking about regarding the immortals and power. They looked at each other in confusion. However, Huang Gai and Cheng Pu had already learned about the two's abilities, so they did not voice anything to protest.
"Good. I'll tell you our plan to attack Zhao County. Everybody, listen carefully!"
...
...
Zhao County, northeast of Ye City.
40, 000 Soldiers from Ye City stationed here to repel Sun Jian force. They managed to recruit a few thousands of reserve militias as their logistic guards and provision guards in this county.
Xiao Wu, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, and Xun Yu gathered in the main tent.
The temporary governor, Xun Yu, gazed at Xiao Wu with a doubtful expression. It was a first time for him that he had to assist a female general, who was the grand commander of this army at that.
Xun Yu glanced at Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu, who he heard that they were the aides of Xiao Wu. He knew that these two were former subordinates of Dong Zhuo, but they were sent here to serve Tong along with the tribute, Dong Bai.
Xun Yu was disgusted by the fact that Tong actually accepted Dong Bai as his concubine. But since it was a political marriage, he turned a blind eye on it. Still, Xun Yu did not have a good impression on Tong and the Yellow Turban force.
When he heard that Tong killed everyone in Liyang, he had sent a letter to Xuchang, hoping to withdraw from this force. However, his father declined his proposal and insisted that Xun Yu had to remain in Ye for the time being as the situation in the country was in a critical state.
A hero might rise from a pile of trash, or a villain could emerge from the crowd of righteous monks. Nothing was certain!
Thus, Xun Yu accepted the task with complicated emotion. He planned to remain in this force for the time being. Should Ye City fall, he would abandon his post and return to Xuchang without hesitation.
"Xun Yu, are you listening?" Xiao Wu, or Friday, reprimanded this strategist as his mind seemed to be in Lalaland during the military briefing.
"Eh? Oh, yes, ma'am!"
Friday raised one of her eyebrows in doubt. This strategist had yet to contribute to their strategic planning ever since she had arrived in Ye. She was wondering if this was the real Xun Yu.
'I was supposed to recruit this guy into our clan, but is he even the real Xun Yu? He didn't even contribute shit in the army!'
Friday and her subordinates also had a bad impression on Xun Yu. He appeared to be a lazy bum that always day-dreamed during work. Had she not confirmed Xun Yu's identity with Jia Xu, or had she not learned about the people in the Three Kingdoms period, she would have sacked this man out of her army long ago.
"What's the latest intel about Sun Jian Army at Guanzong? Did you pay attention to the scout reports?"
"It's 60, 000 men or something?" Xun Yu answered half-heartedly.
"What did I explain just now about what we were about to do?"
"Was it about the stupid part where you want to jump into the middle of their troops and assassinate Sun Jian?"
Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu glared at Xun Yu with bloodshot eyes as this strategist got on their nerves.
On the contrary, Friday withheld her inner emotion and questioned Xun Yu, "Tell me why you think it's stupid."
"You're the only immortal in our army, but you want to jump into the army with at least two immortals. That's suicide in my point of view. Secondly, aside from you, we don't have a competent general in our army, but Sun Jian has several capable men. If you leave everything to these two apes, we'll lose this battle in two days!"
Xun Yu and Friday knew about Sun Fang and Li Jing's identity so they were on guard against this husband-and-wife. However, Xun Yu's reckless words got on everybody's nerve every time.
"What did you say!?"
"What did you call me!?"
Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji could not hold it anymore. They stood up from their seat and was about to beat this fragile young man into a pulp. However, Friday raised her hand to stop them.
Friday glared Xun Yu into his eyes, "Do you have a better idea other than criticizing us?"
Xun Yu shrugged, "No. I haven't thought of it yet. Give me two weeks, and maybe I can think of something."
The face of Friday twitched.
'Are all capable strategists in this era obnoxious? Jia Xu is understandable because he went through a lot in his life, but this asshole is still in his 20s. Why the hell does he have this kind of attitude?'
| ← Ch. 253 | Ch. 255 → |