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Chapter 258
Chapter 258 - Absolute Force
The night before, Friday took all of their soldiers and civilians in Zhao County outside of the city wall. She predicted that the flying immortal might revisit them again to drop the explosive magic.
As Friday had predicted, Sun Fang showed up and dropped his skill. The explosion destroyed several hundreds of civilian houses, causing damages to the innocent people.
Xun Yu flew into rages as he was against harming the innocents in wars. However, Sun Fang's action had provoked Xun Yu and the civilians of Zhao County.
That night, Friday told Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu to escort the people to Ye Commandery City so they could integrate into their affiliate and had a place to call home. Zhao County had suffered serious damages and had become a warzone, which was not suitable for civilians to live in.
Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, 10, 000 soldiers, and the caravan of 50, 000 civilians left Zhao County this morning, but the other half decided to stay behind as this county was their birthplace. They wanted to stay and protect their home from Sun Jian Army.
29, 000 Soldiers and 10, 000 reserved militias remained in the county to protect their affiliate border, while 1, 000 soldiers and Friday departed and headed for Guanzong County.
...
Xun Yu was pacing back and forth within Zhao County wall, thinking if his action was too rash or correct.
He had already dispatched a messenger back to Xuchang yesterday. It would take the letter a few days to reach the clan head of Xun family.
As for Friday, she had told him about the plan today.
Her plan was simple. She would go to Guanzong County and cripple their army, just like what the flying immortal did to their army.
Xun Yu disagreed with this plan, but Friday insisted on going nonetheless and left him with a quote before she took off with her 1, 000 horsemen.
"Against the absolute force, strategies and tactics mean nothing."
Xun Yu was chanting Friday's quote that she had told him. As a scholar who had been taught to master strategies over brute force, this quote was a taboo to his school of thought. However, the reality was different than theories, so he had to accept it.
As Xun Yu could not figure it out his doubts, he questioned it in the clan chat.
Xun Yu: Is it true that against the absolute forces, strategies and tactics are meaningless?
Zhang Liao: True.
Li Feihong: True.
Hua Shi: True.
Jia Xu: True, and proven.
Xun Yu: Proven?
Zhang Liao: Fengxian has proved it.
Hua Shi: Xiao Wu has proved it.
Jia Xu: Our young lord has proved it.
Li Feihong: Finish your fight in Ye and come help us in Julu. You'll know it.
Xun Yu: What!?
Zhang Liao and Li Feihong narrated stories about Lu Bu's past battles while Jia Xu enjoyed bad-mouthing about Tong's unrefined battle tactics, which Tong ended up brute-forcing his way to victory several times.
Xun Yu continued to read the tales of Lu Bu, Tong, and Xiao Wu in astonishment. However, he did not just read the messages and believed in everything. Xun Yu analyzed their stories word by word and made the judgment himself.
As if Jia Xu could read Xun Yu's mind, he sent a long message which enlightened Xun Yu.
"Brute force is also a tactic. It's about managing your personal assets to the right job, at the right time, and at the right place. Think of it as specialists that can solve several issues in the most simplistic ways. But I have to warn you and everyone here. Relying on brute-force too often will get us in trouble soon since our enemies are not stupid. They will learn, and they will adapt to our strategies!"
Xun Yu's eyes brightened. He started to enjoy having this quality chat with a fellow genius strategist like Jia Xu. He planned to visit Julu after the war was over so he could have a civilized debate about battle tactics and scholar knowledge with Jia Xu some more.
Xun Yu: So, will Xiao Wu be alright?
Jia Xu: She's stronger than Tong. She'll be fine.
Hua Shi: I'll cap it. SHE'S MANLIER THAN TONG. SHE'LL BE FINE >:D
Dong Bai:...
Hua Shi: LOL
Xun Yu still did not know about the fact that Dong Bai was Xiao Wu, so he did not understand the last part of the conversation.
Dong Bai: How about I'll sit at home, and you'll solo the next war.
Hua Shi: Nope! I'm a mother now >:D
Dong Bai: Not for long if you lose it and eat your baby for snacks.
Hua Shi: Hey! I quit that!
Friday and Hua Shi took over the chat as usual. Xun Yu sighed and closed the system menu in a pity. He wished that they could be able to create a private room for themselves.
...
...
February 23rd.
Friday and 1, 000 riders continued to ride toward Guanzong County at a casual pace. As her hands were free, Friday took it easy as she was chatting with Hua Shi in the clan chat.
It took them two days to reach the wall of Guanzong County.
As soon as they were 500 meters in front of the western gate of the county, the gate opened, and a few men rode out of the gate, approaching them.
Sun Jian, Sun Fang, and Li Jing came out with ten bodyguards. They held white flags as they wanted to negotiate with Friday.
Li Jing was still donned in a standard armor, disguising herself as one of the bodyguards, so her identity would not be noticed by Friday.
Friday smirked as she recognized the face of Sun Fang. However, she did not notice Li Jing.
'Are they surrendering?'
Friday doubted that it would be that easy. Since this otherworlder reappeared in front of her, they might have planned about something with their lord.
"I am Sun Jian, the commander of this army. I wish to negotiate with the commander of Ye Army."
Friday replied, "I'm the commander, Xiao Wu. What do you want to offer?"
Sun Jian scanned Friday from head to toes. If he had not experienced or witnessed Sun Fang or Li Jing's superpower, he would have thought that this young woman was a normal, powerless girl.
'Looks can be deceiving as Sun Tzu said, ' Sun Jian thought.
"We wish to retreat from Guanzong and withdraw our men from Ganling City back to Xiapi. We'll also withdraw from this conflict, and we promise that we'll not try to pick a fight with you again. We hope that you can let us go."
Sun Jian knew that they were no match for Friday. Because he did not want his men to die in vain, Sun Jian swallowed his pride and took a step back, hoping to save his subordinates.
"What can I get in return?"
Sun Jian had a bitter smile on his face, "We will eradicate the imposters for you in this vicinity, and we will leave half of our supplies here to compensate your losses."
Friday shook her head, "Not enough! We can't guarantee that it's one of your ploys. You will remain with us as a prisoner until you fulfill your promise! And..."
Friday copied what Tong did with Liu Biao and Huang Zhong. By temporary holding Sun Jian as a hostage, Sun Jian's subordinates would not dare to backstab them.
However, it was still not enough.
Her finger pointed at Sun Fang, "Delete all of your skills. Since you resorted an immoral tactic by harming the innocent civilians, you will have to pay the price."
Sun Fang and Li Jing's faces changed.
"There is this [7:5] indication in my system menu, so you can't fool me. I'll give you a minute to do it yourself. If the indicator is not [6:6] within a minute, I'll kill everybody here!"
The overbearing tone of Friday angered Sun Fang and Li Jing. They wanted to retort and resist, but they did not have a way to defeat Friday's female ghost.
Moreover, because of brief fights with Friday, Sun Fang's lifespan was downed to less than 200, 000 years. If they continued to resist, both of them would have been killed without a way to fight back.
"I'll delete it."
Sun Fang lowered his head and opened his system menu.
>
Li Jing: Don't delete your skills.
Li Jing: I'll delete mine. Save your skills.
Li Jing: We need them to harvest more lifespans.
Li Jing: Your skills are more important than mine!
The clan messages stopped Sun Fang's finger before it hit the delete button.
>
Li Jing: Pretend that you have just deleted all of your skills.
Li Jing: Keep looking at that girl. Don't look at me.
Sun Fang eye's move up and met with Friday's eyes. His fingers tapped on other buttons, pretending to delete his own skills in the system.
Soon, the survivor indicator changed to [6:6], but Sun Fang had yet to delete his skills. As soon as the number changed, Sun Fang glared at Friday with bloodshot eyes, which were on the verge of crying.
"Is this enough?" Asked Sun Fang.
Friday glanced at the system menu. Seeing that the number changed from [7:5] to [6:6], she nodded.
"Fair enough. Now then, Sir Sun Jian. Give your orders to the men, once you finished you can meet me here. All of us will be waiting here until the sunset. If we don't see you coming out, then you should know what will happen."
...
The same day, Sun Jian came out of Guanzong County alone after he had completed giving orders to his men.
Huang Gai objected with the sudden retreat order. However, after listening to the reports about the battle between Li Jing's cavalries and Friday's unit, he conceded.
The ghost soldier skill of Xiao Wu alone was enough to kill all commanders in Sun Jian force. The existence of repeating crossbows was another nightmare that they could not challenge.
When Sun Jian surrendered, Friday did not complain nor mock him. She had her subordinates escorted him without bother tying him with a rope as she could kill this native any time she wanted.
As the matter settled, she planned to report it to the clan chat. However, she stopped as she recalled that she was supposed to keep her identity a secret.
"Meh, that's troublesome. I wish I can change my name in the system."
...
At Guanzong, Huang Gai, Li Jing, and Sun Fang sat in the main tent. All of them had a black face.
"What's next, young lord?" Asked Huang Gai.
"We'll retreat back to Xiapi after sir Cheng has returned."
"Ah..."
Everybody sat still without speaking. No one had the mood to start a conversation.
But a messenger rushed in to break the silence.
"Report! Someone has come here claiming that he carries a decree of the new Empress."
Everyone frowned after hearing the sudden emergence of a new empress and an edict. What kind of troubles that the higher-ups had made that required their assistance again?
"Let him in. I want to see what's this so-called [Empress] wants us to do."
| ← Ch. 257 | Ch. 259 → |