Chapter 263 Te Langpu, the Lazy Strategist? (2/2)
Tian Feng gazed at the fortresses and the defensive moats, ”It must have been Jia Xu who's behind this since he is the current head strategist in the Yellow Turban force.”
Te Langpu tilted his head, but he did not say anything. He was not an expert in the military so he refrained himself from giving useless comments.
”Have we sent an invitation to this Jia Xu? Why is he still fighting for those bandit gangs?”
”We did, but I heard he burned our letter right in front of the massagers.”
”Ha! Foolish guy. He doesn't know what is good for him. Now, draft me a strategy to take down those bandits.”
”Yes, Lord! We shall go back and prepare at once.”
Tian Feng and Te Langpu bowed and returned to their strategist group.
On the way, Tian Feng glanced at Te Langpu in doubt. He knew that this chubby man was talented, but he enjoyed keeping his low profile. Fortunately, Tian Feng's spies learned about Te Langpu's experiment and reported to him, so Yuan Shao got their hands on Te Langpu's incomplete gunpowder formula.
Because of the discovery, Te Langpu got promoted to the status of Tian Feng's equal. After that day, both of them always got summoned when Yuan Shao requested a piece of advice.
”Lord Te, I have a plan that I want to suggest, but I'll ask for your opinion first. What would you do if you were the commander of this army? How do you think we can win?”
Te Langpu answered in a reflex, ”Spread the freedom and nuke them back to stone-age!”
”Freedom? Nuke?”
”I meant, we throw our bombs at them, of course. Artillery bombard first to soften their defense, then let the ground forces do their jobs.”
”Of course. I also planned a similar strategy. What do you think about fire attack?”
”Did you check the wind direction?”
”It always blows east to west on land. It sometimes comes from the north to south in spring though.”
”Then, go with the wind. There are three castles to attack, right? We'll concentrate on the northern castle and let the fire and smoke kill the soldiers inside. Build the trebuchets that I designed and throw in those bombs. Don't forget to mix in some crude oil as well.”
”…”
Tian Feng nodded in approval. Te Langpu's tactic and insight were beneficial to Yuan Shao, so he did not mind about this chubby man's crude manner.
…
All strategists gathered around a make-shift strategic-map table. Though they had not received an updated scout report yet, the strategists decided to hold a meeting to discuss their plans first.
Feng Ji was hungry for the achievement. He took the lead, ”This fortress weakness had already been scouted by Sir Wen Chou two years ago. I say we should focus on the range attack and barrage them with trebuchets and archers.”
Guo Tu, an officer who had escaped from Ye City along with Shen Pei during the betrayal of Ju Shou and Zhang He, had also contributed his thought, ”Since we have stolen their crossbows, we can craft siege towers and use them against the defenders!”
Shen Pei, a friend of Guo Tu, also chimed in, ”We can use Xiongnu horse archer tactic. Let our horsemen fire the repeating crossbows at their soldiers outside the forts. If they pursue our horse archers, we use the hit-and-run tactic.”
There were 20 strategists in the group, which all of them exchanged their thought without refrain, except for Te Langpu and Tian Feng who was still keeping quiet.
Thirty minutes later, Feng Ji noticed that his target of hatred and envy, Tian Feng, and the new guy Te Langpu were still keeping their mouth shut. He decided to probe the two quiet men.
”What are our [Leading Strategists] currently thinking? Would you mind sharing with us?”
Tian Feng still did not open his mouth as most of the eyes were on Te Langpu. Because he was a hot-shot who had just been promoted a few months ago, everyone paid attention to this ex-president.
Te Langpu clicked his tongue in annoyance. He spoke with his obnoxious facial expression.
”Burn them, bomb them, and use the wind.”
Te Langpu held his arms and snorted as a gesture that he was done suggesting.
Instead of getting frustrated by his short comment, all strategists gazed at Te Langpu in awe and respect.
”Such a profound insight!”
”Good wisdom!”
”That's how he earned his title, much respect!”
Te Langpu had a wry smile on his face, 'What's wrong with these people? I just copied this Tian Feng's plans and spoke in a short term. Yet, these yellow monkeys jumped around thinking I'm a genius?'
Te Langpu did not know that these natives loved poems and short sentences as they enjoyed digging the meaning behind the author's words. They mistook that Te Langpu's words had other underlying meaning that could be comprehended in many ways.
Tian Feng, on the other hand, chuckled as he understood Te Langpu's point of view and the crowd reactions.
'Ah, those guys … Sir Te is just being lazy. Sometimes, you guys think too deeply.'