Chapter 254 Eccentric Strategists (1/2)
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.