Chapter 518 - A Mountain Pass, an Illusion Formation and a Battle Plan (2/2)

Yuwen Tong shot him a forbidding look. “Show some respect.”

Yuwen Jin flinched and then hastened to deferentially address Ling Zhang as “Your Highness”.

Ling Zhang inclined his head. Since he was here to discuss battle plans with them, he appeared very serious, looking nothing like the person who was normally mild to Yuwen Jin. He always had a commanding air about him, especially when he was intentionally being serious, so at this time hardly anybody in the tent dared look him in the eye or risk being impertinent.

Xiao Jiangyue and the others reverently paid their respects to Ling Zhang. There were a couple of newly appointed officers present, but all the others were familiar faces. They all had some acquaintance with Ling Zhang and was fully aware that although Ling Zhang had scarcely partic.i.p.ated in politics, he knew about the political landscape better than any of them did. Leaving aside his strong marital bonding with the emperor, his intelligence network alone which covered the whole Great Wen and even the other two countries guaranteed that he could keep abreast of the latest developments of the situation in almost every area. Jiang Ke and Jiang Xi, who had once fought side by side with Ling Zhang, knew this fact better than anybody. Xiao Jiangyue and a couple of other experienced officers, who had fought their way northwards to this place with Yuwen Tong, during the smooth process of taking those cities along the way, had all found quite some traces of what that intelligence network was capable of, and they all knew without a shadow of a doubt that although Ling Zhang had not been in the army, his influence had been everywhere. Apart from them, the couple of newly appointed officers did not dare take Ling Zhang lightly either. It was true that they did now know about Ling Zhang as well as the others did, but because of the fact that Ling Zhang, when standing beside Yuwen Tong, emanated an air just as commanding as Yuwen Tong’s, they all sensibly chose to adopt a reverent att.i.tude towards Ling Zhang.

“I’m here because I’ll partic.i.p.ate in the offensive operation aimed at taking the mountain pa.s.s as well, and I’ll deploy a large-scale Formation to a.s.sist you in the attacks,” said Ling Zhang.

A large-scale Formation? The couple of officers who had some acquaintance with Ling Zhang’s skill set had thoughtful expressions on their faces at these words. Those who had no knowledge of what Ling Zhang was capable of, however, were baffled as to why Ling Zhang wanted to deploy a large-scale Formation. How was that supposed to help with their attacks?

Ling Zhang said, “The deployment of the Formation consists of two steps. The first step is to lay the foundations under the cover of night; the second step is to have our troops create a distraction during the first engagement in which we’ll try to get the enemy’s measure. If successfully deployed, the Formation will buy our troops at least an hour to advance without the enemy noticing.”

It would buy them an hour to advance without the enemy noticing?! Everybody present except for Yuwen Tong was shocked.

“Are you sure it’ll buy us an hour, Your Highness?” Even Xiao Jiangyue, who had always been a poised man, couldn’t help but be the first to ask.

Ling Zhang nodded. “I promise it’ll buy us an hour if it’s successfully deployed.”

Xiao Jiangyue immediately said, “Okay! Even a quarter of an hour would put us at an advantage, not to mention one solid hour. If there’s anything you need us to do to help with the deployment of the Formation, all you have to do is ask. I promise I’ll do everything I could to get the job done!”

When Xiao Jiangyue had unhesitatingly expressed his support for the plan, the others immediately came to themselves. Yuwen Jin, Jiang Ke, Jiang Xi and He Xiao all hastened to follow suit.

“Brother Zhang … Your Highness, please don’t prolong the agony – just tell us what kind of Formation it is,” urged Yuwen Jin.

The other newly appointed officers, though bemused, were all smart enough not to raise any objections at this point in time. Two of them were a little overcautious, but they merely said they wanted to hear more details about the Formation first.

Ling Zhang did not take offence. Xiao Jiangyue, Yuwen Jin and a couple of others had quickly expressed their support because they knew him well and trusted him. The others, however, did not know him as well as they did, and neither did they have as much trust in him. They were reserving their judgement instead of immediately expressing their support because of their awareness of their responsibilities, which was exactly what competent officers were supposed to do.

“It’s an Illusion Formation, the successful deployment of which requires the right terrain and the cooperation of soldiers. Some kung fu masters with powerful internal energy are supposed to be at the Eyes of Formation. Its function is to distract the defenders’ attention, temporarily deceive their eyes and make it difficult for them to figure out from which direction the attacks come,” explained Ling Zhang.

When he said these words, all the others listened attentively.

Next, Ling Zhang expounded to them what they were supposed to do, and how the Formation was going to work. After that he deployed a miniature Illusion Formation on the sand table and demonstrated its function. The officers were all amazed as they saw the model army suddenly disappear and then materialize elsewhere. They even felt that the terrain was no longer what it had always been.

Not until Ling Zhang unmade the Illusion Formation did they find that the model army was still in its original position, that the terrain had not changed a bit. All of them were astonished.

“I can’t believe this is really happening!” said one of the officers, astounded.

Ling Zhang said, “This is just a simple demonstration. For the Formation to serve its purpose on the battlefield, I’ll need everybody’s cooperation. And, it’ll be best if we create a spurious impression to mislead the enemy when we try to get their measure during the first engagement.”

A spurious impression? A couple of quick-witted officers immediately cottoned on, their eyes twinkling with excitement. Jiang Ke and Xiao Jiangyue exclaimed at the same time, “What a masterstroke!”

And with that the two of them exchanged a glance and dissolved into chuckle in unison. Then they hastened to look at Ling Zhang. “Your Highness, are you saying that when putting out feelers in the first engagement, we should attack the mountain pa.s.s as the illusory army in the Illusion Formation would? So that the enemy would get a false impression, and when we launch a full-on attack later, the fake army displayed in the Illusion Formation would cause them to drop their guard and mislead them into believing that the army was real?”

Ling Zhang smiled with a head bob, “Exactly. It’ll help with the successful deployment of the Illusion Formation, which would in turn better serve the purpose of deceiving the enemies.”

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