Chapter 1037: My Proposal
"Hahahaha!" A strange laugh suddenly shattered the silence among the new students.
Padi Tu spoke up. "Why do we need to consider any plans in advance? This Rabbit Lord possesses unparalleled wisdom and strategy; at the moment of battle, I can conjure ten thousand strategies on the spot. Now that the Tongguan garrison has arrived and we have proper weapons, why bother thinking so much? Tongguan army, come with this Rabbit Lord! We'll break through head-on, storm straight into the rebel camp, and slaughter them all, leaving no one alive. As for battle plans, this Rabbit Lord will come up with them as we fight."
The others were speechless.
The Tongguan commander quickly retorted, "I must respectfully decline!"
Sun Chuanting turned to the new students. "See?" he said. "Senior Padi Tu has just given you a demonstration. Don't hold back your ideas; speak them boldly. It doesn't matter if you're wrong, because the Tongguan commander is perfectly sane, and he'll simply reject any nonsensical proposals."
This remark indeed emboldened the new students.
If Padi Tu could voice such an outlandish proposal, what did they have to lose? At worst, their ideas wouldn't be adopted, and they certainly wouldn't be more embarrassing than Padi Tu himself.
A group of students gathered around the map, all talking at once, eagerly offering their suggestions—
The Chuǎng Wang's army was currently encamped in Black Pool Ravine, southeast of Zhougou.
With rebels hiding in such a place, government forces would find it utterly impossible to corner them. Even Gao Family Village's formidable arquebusiers couldn't sweep them clean in this kind of terrain.
Huang Long slipped in from outside. "I met a local hunter in the mountains," he reported. "He told me about a path called Sanyuan Ravine, which can bypass Miaogou and lead directly to the foot of Mount Hua."
The Chuǎng Wang let out a soft "Eh?" "To actually encounter a hunter pointing the way in these deep mountains? Indeed, I am destined by Heaven!"
Huang Long continued, "Although we can bypass it via Sanyuan Ravine, that Padi Tu fellow's words are quite irritating. If we don't go through Miaogou, it'll seem like we're afraid of him."
Liu Zhe chimed in, "We'll first bypass Miaogou, then shout loudly to mock him. He'll surely abandon his ambush position and pursue us. Then we can spring our own ambush on him, heheh! Once we ambush and eliminate him, who in the world would dare say we feared him?"
Huang Long was overjoyed. "Exactly!" he exclaimed. "We're not afraid of him; we're just using a superior strategy to defeat him."
The Chuǎng Wang nodded. "Well said," he approved.
The Chuǎng Wang commanded, "Alright, the entire army will detour through Sanyuan Ravine. Once we're behind Miaogou, we'll wave our banners and shout to provoke that Padi Tu fellow. He'll surely set out to chase us. We'll lure him into the valley and ambush him, letting them know the might of our Chuǎng army!"
After saying this, he suddenly paused, realizing something with a start. Although Chuang Jiang wasn't by his side, the decisions for his army were still not being made by him, but were being deliberated and settled by his two loyal subordinates, Liu Zhe and Huang Long.
He was merely reciting the strategies they had already agreed upon.
What was going on?
Could it be that I am a magnanimous person, one who truly listens to his subordinates' opinions? Yes, yes, yes, that must be it! This is truly the demeanor of a Heaven-destined leader.
What he didn't know, however, was...
The hunter who had just pointed the way for Huang Long circled around the northwestern slope twice, shed his hunting attire, and put on a Tongguan garrison uniform. Back with the army, he saluted a new student. "I did as you instructed," he reported. "I pointed out the Sanyuan Ravine path to the rebels. I wonder if they'll fall for it."
The new student was overjoyed. "It's done!" he exclaimed. "They'll definitely fall for it. Let's move the entire army now and set up an ambush at the mouth of Sanyuan Ravine!"
Sun Chuanting nodded. "Regardless of whether this plan succeeds," he said, "I've already decided to give you extra credit. Whether a strategy works depends on the opponent's intelligence. But for you to conceive of this strategy, you are already an excellent student."
The new student was overjoyed. "Thank you, Headmaster!" he beamed.
Soon, half of the new students split off, leading half of the new recruits and half of the Tongguan garrison. They arrived at the mouth of Sanyuan Ravine, a dangerously narrow pass between two mountains. The new students immediately applied their learned military knowledge, deploying the Tongguan garrison and new recruits across the slopes, creating a staggered and well-arranged formation—
As evening fell, dusk settled over the land.
Li Daoxuan held a bowl of egg-fried rice, squatting in front of his diorama box.
He was studying his newly expanded field of view...
Recently, the construction on Zhoushan Island had proceeded smoothly, and in the northwest, a livelihood had been secured for the Yinchuan border army. Both areas had provided a significant amount of Salvation Index to the box, allowing Li Daoxuan's field of view to expand a little further into central Henan.
He was certainly going to thoroughly examine this newly opened area.
Scanning the new area, using the 'careful observation' and 'focus' functions, and leaving no inch of land unexamined, he soon discovered a poor village. The people there were just like the original forty-two tiny villagers of Gao Family Village in its early days: impoverished, struggling on the brink of survival.
Li Daoxuan happened to be holding a bowl of egg-fried rice. Naturally, without a second thought, he gently picked up a small clump of rice with the tip of his chopsticks and lowered it towards the center of the village.
The dozens of impoverished people in the village were miserably foraging for tree bark and wild vegetables. Suddenly, they saw the clouds part in the sky, and a giant pair of chopsticks extend forth, scaring them into shrieking in terror. But in the next moment, they realized that the tip of the chopsticks held a small clump of rice.
No, no, no, it was only small relative to the chopsticks; to them, it was an enormous clump of rice.
A single cooked grain of pure white rice was half a person's height, likely weighing over a hundred pounds.
The rice clump also had several yellow egg fragments clinging to it!
Of course, these were only "fragments" relative to the chopsticks; to the villagers, they were "giant chunks of egg yolk."
"Is that egg-fried rice?"
"Heavens, why would such an enormous clump of egg-fried rice fall from the sky?"
"It clearly didn't fall," another whispered. "The Old Man in the Sky picked it up with chopsticks and placed it here!"
"The Heavens bless us!"
The villagers wept tears of joy and gratitude. After a round of fervent kowtows to the sky, they quickly gathered around the enormous mound of rice and began to eat!
The rice was truly fragrant. Not only was it made with premium white rice, but it also had egg, sesame oil, and salt added. They simply couldn't stop eating it.
Li Daoxuan, however, didn't watch them eat. He switched his perspective back to Luoyang and instructed Bai Yuan: "To the southeast, roughly XXX li away, there's a small village. Dozens of its people are barely surviving. I've provided them with food, enough to last them a few days. Organize a rescue team as quickly as possible."
Bai Yuan replied, "Understood."
Li Daoxuan continued, "The main government forces have now headed north. As for the rebels in the Henan region, only our militia can keep a diligent watch over them. Bai Yuan, you bear a heavy responsibility."
Bai Yuan responded, "I understand."
At this point, Bai Yuan suddenly said, "Your subordinate recently received news that the Chuǎng army has split into several contingents, and one of them seems to be planning to return to Shaanxi..."
Li Daoxuan uttered, "Eh? Is that so? Then I'll go take a look."
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