Chapter 69
Xue Jin'an acted on his idea immediately, ordering Zhao Pianjun to dig Helian Yong out of the pit again, while he himself led his men back first, and also ordered all the Blue Army troops outside to be recalled.
Xue Jin'an proceeded with the arrangements methodically, while Deputy General Han was filled with questions and couldn't keep up with his train of thought. He wanted to ask questions but didn't know where to begin.
Vice General Han looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated. Even if Xue Jin'an didn't understand human emotions, he couldn't possibly miss such an obvious expression. However, the plan was still being optimized in his mind, and he was calculating the various possibilities after its implementation.
Because the opponent involved is Helian Cheng, he first needs to import relevant combat command data about Helian Cheng, build a relevant character model of Helian Cheng in his mind, test it until it is mature and put into use, and then put it into the plan to start the rehearsal.
—Just from the description, you can tell that this is not something that can be accomplished overnight. It is also thanks to Xue Jin'an's previous political history class with Grand Tutor Li that he imported all the textbooks he gave him into the database. Although these textbooks are all about the past, many of Grand Tutor Li's annotations on them are about using the past to talk about the present. As the war god general of the Great Qi Dynasty and a person who has stabilized the border situation for many years, Helian Cheng cannot be ignored when it comes to war.
As a result, Xue Jin'an learned a lot of specific information about his command of the battle. Otherwise, he might not have been able to even complete the first step of building the character model and would have had to go offline to look up information about Helian Cheng.
After all, the Northwest Army part of the original novel "I Want to Be Emperor" mainly tells the story of the rebel king Cui Zui. By then, Helian Cheng had already died. When mentioning him, it is only said that he was brave and good at fighting, but he was trapped and died in a lonely city. His glorious battles are rarely mentioned in detail. His useless successor is only known by name.
Before obtaining all the results of the rehearsals, Xue Jin'an would not easily mention his plans. He only said to Deputy General Han, "We will hold a meeting once all the generals have arrived."
"Yes, I understand." Deputy General Han could only suppress his worries and wait patiently.
However, he soon had no time for sentimentality. The troops that had been sent out to roam returned one after another, and the empty camp gradually became lively. Deputy General Han was visited and checked in by his colleagues one after another, just like a tourist attraction.
"Why were we suddenly recalled? What happened? Or have you finally decided to abandon guerrilla tactics and switch to frontal warfare?"—This was a question posed to Deputy General Han upon their return, completely unaware of the situation.
"What's going on, Lao Han? I heard that you were overtaken as commander by some greenhorn?" — This was after hearing some rumors.
"Are there more people at the camp? It feels crowded." — This is a sign of keen intuition.
"I've always heard that Long Aotian is very young, but isn't he too young? Is it really him who orchestrated the takeover of our Blue Camp's command and even captured that kid Helian Yong? Vice General Han, didn't you let him get away with it?" — This was something that had already been heard and secretly verified.
"What? What's going on? Tell me quickly!"
...
Once these people got together, there was no need for Deputy General Han to explain anything. They quickly started chatting and soon understood the situation. Some were astonished, some were amazed, and some were incredulous... In the end, all their eyes turned to Deputy General Han, the person in question.
Deputy General Han gestured for him to stop. After all, he had served by Helian Cheng's side for many years and had considerable prestige and intelligence. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been chosen as one of the two commanders of the camp.
This was a test for the general, which is why he boldly chose to leave the camp empty and send his men out to fight a full-scale guerrilla war—guerrilla warfare was his best tactic, which he learned from the Rong and Di tribes' repeated attempts to plunder.
The north is vast and sparsely populated, and the Rong and Di tribes have excellent horses. When they come to burn, kill, and plunder, they always come in small groups, and after they've done their work, they run away, galloping away so fast that they quickly disappear from sight. Deputy General Han learned from their mobility and improved, or more accurately, optimized, his tactics for guerrilla warfare against the Rong and Di in the northern desert.
Deputy General Han knew that the General had been fighting for many years and might retire at any time. Now, the successor was still undecided, and the auxiliary team needed to be cultivated. The Northwest Army had always adhered to the principle of meritocracy, so it was normal for these generals to want to show their abilities.
However, Vice General Han never expected that his entrepreneurial endeavor would be cut short halfway through, kicked down by a teenager. In fact, the teenager's appearance was hardly even that of a teenager; he was just a child.
"But there's nothing we can do. They're just that talented. Sometimes you can't deny talent." Deputy General Han couldn't help but sigh. "When someone's talent is so high that it's unattainable, you can't even feel any jealousy."
The generals all frowned upon hearing his words, disapproving of his self-pitying attitude. One of them said bluntly, "He's just a kid. How good can he be? He has no experience whatsoever. He'll always have to clean up someone else's mess."
Deputy General Han did not refute, but simply shook his head and said, "You'll see when you witness it."
Almost as soon as Vice General Han finished speaking, the curtain of the main tent was lifted, and a middle-aged man with a long scar on his face and blind in one eye walked out. This man was none other than Blind Ding.
Deputy General Han keenly noticed that the blind man Ding's current state and appearance were completely different. Before, he was sluggish and looked like a cook, but now he stood up straight, his whole body was tense like a bow, and his one eye, which was not blind, was as bright and sharp as a hawk's. When he scanned around, he always habitually looked at the vital points of the body - this was the archer's habit.
Clearly, this person's strange transformation was due to the people in the tent.
"Ding Wang? You're back?" A general recognized Ding the Blind and walked up to him with delight, patting him on the shoulder. "I thought you'd stay depressed forever. This is good, very good!"
Hearing the name Ding Wang, Vice General Han was somewhat surprised.
Ding Wang was once a promising talent cultivated by the Sharpshooter Battalion. The bow he could draw might not be the strongest in the battalion, but he was naturally very accurate. Within a hundred paces, he could hit the bullseye on both fixed and moving targets. With such talent, he could have become a sharpshooter in the future. However, he was unlucky. He was wounded on his first battlefield and lost his eyesight. His originally promising future was now completely bleak.
After that, Deputy General Han had never heard the name Ding Wang again and thought he had left the army and returned home. Little did he know that he had been living a dejected life in the cookhouse all along.
Faced with the concern of his former colleagues, Blind Ding nodded slightly, standing as straight as an arrow: "Generals, the commander-in-chief invites you in."
Looking at Ding the Blind's transformed appearance, Deputy General Han couldn't help but wonder: What kind of magic potion did Long Aotian give him, and what encouraging words did he say?
In reality, Xue Jin'an did not give Ding the blind man any magic medicine, nor did he engage in any talk therapy with him. To put it more bluntly, the only thing Xue Jin'an said to Ding the blind man was to ask him to find some paper.
Blind Ding was good at drawing inferences from one instance to another. He immediately brought over a set of writing materials, and Xue Jin'an directly imported the plan he had perfected in his mind. After the incident of Cui Zui's CPU burning out, Xue Jin'an, a military general, inevitably had some stereotypes. He felt that producing a paper version would save him some trouble.
As for the possibility that some people might not understand the text, Xue Jin'an said that such people should be laid off on the spot.
In short, Blind Ding, who was grinding ink, was the first to know about Xue Jin'an's plan. He was immediately drawn in by this audacious scheme and asked in surprise, "Is there something between me and Xiao Jia?"
"Xiao Jia is alright, but I... I'm a cripple." As Blind Ding spoke, belittling himself, his eyes unconsciously drifted toward Xue Jin'an. He had no idea what his gaze looked like at that moment, so much like a drowning man looking at a piece of driftwood floating on the water, stretching out his hand and struggling to grab it before he succumbed to his injuries.
Xue Jin'an didn't receive that hopeful and longing look in his eyes. He simply said matter-of-factly, "I've written your name here, so you can definitely do it."
This was the best candidate he had determined through data analysis; there wouldn't be any problems. Xue Jin'an was always confident in his data analysis skills.
Ding the Blind, who had always considered himself a useless person and had always lived as one, finally straightened his back and thought: I have finally grabbed onto the driftwood and escaped that extremely dark deep water.
His driftwood only said one thing about his change: "Very high."
Blind Ding couldn't help but chuckle.
A group of people entered Xue Jin'an's main tent and watched the plan they privately named "The Great General Cannot Escape." From the very first sentence, their pupils dilated in shock.
The reason is simple: recalling them all is the first step in the plan.
The commotion caused by the Blue Team's mobilization of all its members was so great that the Red Team couldn't possibly be unaware of it. They would definitely be on high alert soon and would most likely recall their other Red Team troops stationed elsewhere. Xue Jin'an planned to send Xiao Jia back to report that Helian Yong had been captured. Meanwhile, the Blue Team planned to take advantage of their victory and launch a night raid on the camp. As the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry, and the Red Team would take precautions regardless of whether they believed it or not.
Ding the Blind then secretly released Helian Yong and several of his men, informing them that the Red and Blue factions had reached an agreement to attack Helian Cheng's main camp. He then instructed them to allow the pursuers to escape with difficulty. Ding the Blind was responsible for drawing away the pursuers, ideally by sustaining some obvious injuries, or even by collapsing in serious injury in front of Helian Yong, thus sowing seeds of suspicion in Helian Yong's mind.
After all, this was just a drill, and everyone agreed not to use excessive force. Such ruthlessness was definitely not right. Helian Yong may be a theorist, but having gained Helian Cheng's favor, he wouldn't be so foolish as to believe everything he's told; he would inevitably investigate.
At this point, Xue Jin'an would invite the Red Army commander to a meeting, a face-to-face dialogue between the two sides with their troops. What they talked about was unimportant, as they wouldn't actually fight. Helian Yong couldn't get close to them and could only watch them chatting and laughing from afar, unaware of what they were saying. However, Xue Jin'an would let him "know" something. Xiao Jia would suddenly stand up, point at the two commanders, and say something intensely. Finally, Xue Jin'an would order him to be dragged away and buried alive. This would allow Helian Yong to hear things like, "The exercise was fake," or "You assassinated him."
Helian Yong would definitely want to know the truth and would try to rescue Xiao Jia, but Xue Jin'an would not let them get the person. Instead, he would make them witness Xiao Jia's "death." At this point, Helian Yong was still half-believing and half-doubting. He would ask the people who came out with him about the commanders of the red and blue sides. He would know directly or indirectly about the "wolf ambitions" of the two deputy generals.
Xue Jin'an will gradually increase Helian Yong's suspicions, even leading him to speculate wildly. For example, he might suggest the accompanying phrase "high merit overshadows the master" to explain why a general would not have a good end, thus inducing Helian Yong to combine his own experience of being "abused" with a reasonable conspiracy theory. He will then rationalize all his guesses and believe them wholeheartedly.
When he believes in this fabricated conspiracy, he will be eager to go to Helian City. At this time, people from both the Red and Blue factions will chase after him. He will suffer heavy losses and escape with great difficulty to the vicinity of the main camp. Then he will see the Red and Blue factions secretly stationed not far from the main camp, looking like they are about to attack Helian City at any time.
Helian Yong finally managed to escape into Helian Cheng's territory, only to find that his adoptive father didn't really trust him and even kept him and his men under strict surveillance. This was understandable, as Helian Cheng wasn't one to be easily swayed by others, and he had the most powerful scout battalion in the entire Great Qi. His understanding of the battlefield was definitely better than Helian Yong's.
But Helian Yong didn't know that seeing his adoptive father distrust him would only throw him into a state of mental turmoil and make him increasingly resentful of Xue Jin'an. Once a person gets carried away by their emotions, it's easy for them to make a mess of things.
However, it would be enough for him to do nothing. Xue Jin'an was just letting him go to disrupt the morale of the army, while at the same time pushing Helian Cheng, who was hiding in the base camp waiting for the winner of the red and blue sides to challenge him, to take the initiative to come out.
As long as he takes the initiative to come out, Xue Jin'an will have a way to occupy the main camp, then swallow up the Red Army's troops and surround and intercept the general who has lost his base.
As for what tactics to use to capture the base camp, Xue Jin'an said there were too many to list, and he could just give a menu if you wanted to choose.
The group entered the general's tent with a dismissive attitude, some even looking down on the fact that the general had become a mere child. In the end, they walked out looking completely bewildered. Even Vice General Han, who had been prepared to face Xue Jin'an's tactical onslaught, showed an expression of utter shock.
Actually, breaking this plan isn't difficult. The whole plan relies on psychological warfare. As long as Helian Yong doesn't believe those statements from the beginning and doesn't investigate, it will be fine. But the problem is that people can't control their own thoughts. If you put them in a certain position, could they resist the urge to investigate? Impossible.
Moreover, Vice General Han and the Red Army's commander are truly ambitious; they are working so hard because they want to get better positions. Similarly, Xue Jin'an genuinely wants to defeat the Grand General and seize the base camp.
As the saying goes, there must be a reason for every rumor. Now that the reason has been determined, who would believe that the evil wind that they claim is not meant to harm Helian City?
Anyway, not only did Helian Yong believe it, but he himself was starting to believe the plan, believing that he was a wolf in sheep's clothing who wanted to murder the general.
Vice General Han never expected that his painstaking efforts to save Helian Yong's life would actually cost the General his life!
As soon as he stepped out of the main tent, he couldn't help but cover his face and utter a sorrowful cry: "General, I'm so sorry!"
Someone asked cautiously, "So, should we act according to his wishes?"
The generals looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Why not?" Xue Jin'an's voice rang out, and they immediately turned to look. They saw Blind Ding lift the curtain, and a young man walked out from inside.
At this moment, in their eyes, the short, scrawny boy in front of them was no longer a boy, but a terrifying troublemaker who could kill someone with a single word, inspiring a sense of dread and fear from the depths of their souls.
Some were so nervous that they couldn't help but swallow.
Xue Jin'an simply looked at them and asked calmly, "Don't you want Helian Cheng to see your abilities?"
"The chance to surround and intercept him, the chance to rebel..." Xue Jin'an raised a finger and emphasized slowly, "This is the only time."
The generals: "!!!" What, what should we do? Suddenly this proposal seems so tempting!!
Generals: General, we are sorry for what we did to you.
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