I did my best!
After formulating a series of battle plans, they began to deploy them. In three years, they conquered a city hundreds of feet high in the Li Kingdom. Now, the Li Kingdom is beset by internal and external troubles, and its territory is much smaller than before. It's all just a futile struggle now. The group finalized their plans in the camp and began to implement them.
A group of people unanimously obeyed Xuan An's orders, moved south to besiege the city, cut off its food and water supplies, stole grain from the city, and burned its houses...
One group launched a night raid to the east, stealing fodder and horses...
Peng Xuan'an lifted the curtain to return to his tent to rest. He was exhausted and listless, and wanted to rest early, plus the training of the troops these past few days had been quite tiring. They had been here for a week already, and he raised his hand to rub the flesh on the back of his neck.
"Boss! I won! Hahaha."
He stopped, his brow furrowed and eyes wide. He looked up at the sky. It was late at night, and yet people were gambling in the military camp—they were showing him no respect whatsoever! He followed the sound towards a large tent.
The tent was filled with cheers and shouts of joy from those who had won, accompanied by the rustling sound of dice being shaken. He angrily walked towards the tent. Pushing aside the curtain, he found a group of people huddled in the center. He quietly approached to peek inside and discovered an "old acquaintance" among them.
Two people sat facing each other at a long wooden table: a middle-aged man and the spirited Pang Linqiu. Both held an overturned porcelain bowl containing shaken dice.
She was dressed in a dark, fitted outfit, with her hair tied up in a high ponytail and loose strands falling across her forehead. A light smile graced her delicate face, and her right leg was bent at the knee, resting on a wooden bench in a rather unrestrained manner.
"Brother! I'll bet four taels of silver!" the man said to her with a smile.
She gave a meaningful "Oh~", raised her eyebrows and squinted her eyes, teasing, "Wu Qin, can you afford it?" with the air of a spoiled brat.
"I still have this much money!" he patted his chest, confident and candid.
"Alright!" she chuckled, bending her index finger to examine the bottom of the porcelain bowl with unwavering confidence. "I bet mine is bigger than yours! I'll go with it!" She then slammed the loose silver pieces onto the table with a "thud."
Wu Qin grinned after hearing this, "Okay!"
Suddenly, an extra onlooker appeared. Some people, curious, glanced at Peng Xuan'an out of the corner of their eye, then were startled and quietly pulled their companions away. The departure of some attracted the attention of others, who looked up and, coincidentally, spotted Peng Xuan'an. They all stiffened, not daring to breathe.
"Cough...cough..." A suggestive, fake cough, and the sudden shift in the stance of some people made Pang Linqiu feel a chill run down her spine.
Peng Xuan'an stood behind Pang Linqiu with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face, his curious gaze fixed on the bowl in Pang Linqiu's hands. Wu Qin also sensed something was wrong and a threatening aura. He looked up and was shocked by what he saw.
He stood up abruptly, "Greetings, Major General Peng!"
“?” Pang Linqiu stared blankly at him, then turned around and saw a human body. She looked up along the body.
She recognized the person's face, her pupils dilated in shock, and she trembled in fright.
With a dark expression and a forced smile, he asked, "Miss Pang, is it fun?" His tone was ambiguous, like the interplay of fire and water.
She stood up with a wry smile, as if caught in the act, and turned her head away, scratching her face. "...General... what are you doing here..."
Seeing that Peng Xuan'an was not paying attention to him, Wu Qin hurriedly said, "Major General, I'll go down first..."
Seeing that the last three people in the tent were about to leave, Peng Xuan'an shouted, "Stop! All of you stay here!"
Wu Qin and the other two stood side by side, bracing themselves for punishment.
Seeing this, Pang Linqiu thought about sneaking out, but Peng Xuan'an was blocking the exit.
His gaze shifted to her again, and he rebuked her in a slightly stern tone, "Miss Pang, do you really disregard military regulations?"
She retorted softly, "There's no military rule against gambling at night..."
"What did you say?" He frowned, displeased.
"If you don't believe me, go see for yourself." She had done her homework thoroughly, and this was her third time gambling, but the first time she had been caught.
“Miss Pang, now that we have this military regulation. If there were no such regulation in the military, I would now establish it, and they would still be dealt with according to the military regulation.”
She felt he was being unreasonable and argued, "General, are you so unreasonable? You say it is?"
"Military orders in the army are all issued by superiors..."
She interrupted him, "So what if you're his superior? Isn't Brother Mohe also his superior?"
He was very displeased that every time he argued with her, she would always bring up Qin Mohe. "Miss Pang, don't you know that military regulations prohibit disobeying orders from superiors? Even if I punish them, it's just a matter of a few words."
Pang Linqiu glanced back at the three of them; they were all her good underlings! She felt a little reluctant to see them punished. She hadn't done anything particularly heinous... The key was that she originally just wanted to have a simple bet with these three underlings, but she hadn't expected to attract some people who were taking a break... and things had gotten a little too far.
"That depends on whether the general punishes her or not!" She walked past Peng Xuan'an unhappily and headed straight for the exit, when suddenly her arm tightened.
She turned and glared at him. "General, what do you mean by this?"
He frowned and asked, "Where are you going?"
"General, this is not your responsibility." She was going to find Qin Xiangde, after all. Wasn't it said that "military orders are made by superiors"? She was going to talk to someone with a higher rank than him—wasn't that a matter of who had the higher rank? Wasn't Qin Xiangde's rank several times higher than hers? Whoever had the higher rank, their words carried more weight!
He seemed to understand that she wanted to find Qin Xiangde, and after a brief thought, he said, "Miss Pang, it's no use you looking for him. I'm the one who makes the decisions in the military."
She naturally didn't believe him, giving him a disdainful look and saying, "Oh."
His tone softened. "How about you bet a few rounds with me? If you win, I'll let them go, okay?"
She couldn't believe her ears and looked at him questioningly, "Really?"
"Mm." His earnest nod touched her.
After receiving affirmation, her expression changed faster than turning the pages of a book, and she happily turned and walked towards the table.
"General, do you know how to play?" She recalled the time she spent in the casino, when she was the only one gambling, while Peng Xuan'an stood blankly in the crowd.
I know a little bit.
She straightened all the overturned bowls, still looking at him with disbelief, "Knowing and understanding are not the same thing, General, don't say I'm fooling you into thinking you don't know how to play."
"..." He pursed his lips and pondered.
She sighed. "It's alright, let's make something simple, like..." She pondered for a moment, then continued, "How about guessing big or small? That's the simplest one."
"How do you play?" he asked, watching her skillful movements.
She covered the two dice with an upside-down porcelain bowl and pressed her hand on the bowl.
She explained, "One to six are considered small, and seven to twelve are considered large."
"That's it?" He hadn't expected it to be so simple; it was entirely based on luck.
"Yes, it's that simple."
"become."
"Okay!" Seeing him nod, she began to shake the porcelain bowl in her hand.
The two dice collided inside the porcelain bowl, making a crisp sound, and she shook it a few times.
The bowl stopped rolling, and his gaze was fixed on the bowl in her hand. He asked, "Miss Pang, what are you betting on?"
She lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, then decided she had nothing to gamble with. "If the general wins, I will be punished along with them. If he loses..." She pointed to the three men standing side by side behind her as punishment, "I want you to exempt them from punishment, how about that?"
"good."
"General, would you bet on whether the contents of this bowl are big or small?"
"Small!"
The bowl was overturned, revealing two dice, one a five and the other a four—a big one! Peng Xuan'an stood there, stunned, staring at the two dice.
She gave a wicked smile, sighed, shook her head, and spread her hands regretfully, saying, "Alas, what a pity, it's too big!"
The three people behind her were in tears, feeling grateful to have such a good older brother to help them!
"Big brother!" Wu Qin looked at her gratefully.
"I knew Big Brother had the best luck!" another person said happily.
"Brother, thank you so much!" the other person said gratefully.
The three of them dared not say anything bad about Peng Xuan'an! They were mainly afraid that he would accuse them of insulting their superior!
The three were rejoicing over their eldest brother's good fortune when Peng Xuan'an suddenly announced, "You'll be spared the beating, but you'll run six laps around the military camp carrying heavy loads!" This immediately plunged them into despair.
Pang Linqiu stared wide-eyed at Peng Xuan'an, bewildered and surprised, and demanded, "General! Didn't you say they were exempted from punishment?!"
The three men's smiles shifted to Peng Xuan'an's face, and they said with a smug grin, "Yeah, we spared them from punishment, but that didn't mean we couldn't teach them a lesson."
She took a deep breath and burst out laughing in exasperation. So they were playing word games with her!
She refused to accept it, "Continue!"
"Okay." He was happy to accept.
Soon, the dice were rolled.
"big!"
The bowl was opened, revealing two dice: a three and a two. Small!
“General! Forgive them from this lesson!” she emphasized loudly.
The three looked at Pang Linqiu with tears of gratitude, thinking that they could finally get through the night safely.
Peng Xuan'an said to them, "You can choose between carrying a weight around the military camp three times or doing six hundred push-ups."
"Peng Xuan'an!" she shouted his name angrily, "Are you trying to give me a penalty for changing direction?"
Peng Xuan'an spread his hands and shrugged. "I'm not going to teach them a lesson anymore, I'm going to train them." He sounded incredibly irritating.
She was so angry that her fists were hard. Did they really have to make them run laps around the camp to get what they wanted?
She was still unconvinced and felt there was still a chance to avoid their punishment! This time, she was going to use every single word related to sports to see how Peng Xuan'an would describe "punishment"!
“Again!” she challenged again.
"Okay." He accepted with a smile.
The dice have been rolled for the third time.
"big!"
The bowl was opened, and the two dice showed 1415! Big! Peng Xuan'an won.
Pang Linqiu was stunned. She looked back at the three of them, sighed, and shook her head. "I did my best!"
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