Chapter 362: A Shameless Plan
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Giving wine can be considered a good plan as well?"
"In the battle of two armies, the most important thing is to attack their emotions. While our army is fighting hard, Fang Zhengzhi started a field cooking blatantly by the side. This is an attack on emotions. Young Master Nangong's gift of wine is also an attack on emotions. Don't you think it's a good plan?"
"It isn't just an attack on emotions. If Fang Zhengzhi rejected it, he would lose his goodwill in allowing the soldiers to cook. If he agreed, how would soldiers who had drunk the wine fight?" Another middle-aged man added in at this moment.
"One hundred barrels of wine is enough to achieve this effect. Young Master Nangong's plan indeed amazes me!" The middle-aged man who was initially still somewhat doubtful finally understood when he heard this.
…
Within the wind valley.
As Fang Zhengzhi chewed leisurely on his roasted meat and watched the battle, he saw over ten soldiers coming over from afar. Every soldier carried a beam on their shoulder.
On each beam, there were six wine barrels sealed with mud.
"Hmm? Are they sending wine to us?" When Fang Zhengzhi saw this, he was slightly taken aback and felt somewhat surprised.
"Nangong Hao is willing to give us wine? How is this possible?" A commander also stared in disbelief when he saw such a strange scene.
The other commanders also frowned, trying to guess Nangong Hao's intentions.
"I understand, Nangong Hao knows that we are cooking in the middle of a battle, hence he wishes to…"
"Win their hearts?!"
"Yes, Nangong Hao's move is indeed devious!"
Very quickly, a few commanders managed to guess Nangong Hao's intentions and instantly revealed a somewhat furious expression.
"General Fang, should we send some people to stop them?" A commander stood out eagerly. At this moment, the best choice was to reject.
After all, if they really allowed forty-over thousand soldiers to drink, everything would be over.
Furthermore...
Only Heaven knows if this wine contained drugs.
"Why must we stop them?" A faint smile appeared on Fang Zhengzhi's lips.
"Don't tell me General Fang really wishes to accept these hundred barrels of wine from Nangong Hao and then distribute it out for the soldiers to drink?" The commanders were somewhat confused.
"Since we have people delivering gifts, it isn't polite to reject. Even though there are only dozens of soldiers, they are still military forces of the Great Xia. Keep these soldiers and make them hold on to these wine. When I take down the Icy Monkey Settlement, I'll use these wine to set up a feast to treat the forty thousand soldiers!" Fang Zhengzhi exclaimed generously.
"Capture these soldiers?!" When the commanders heard Fang Zhengzhi's words, they exchanged glances with each other, their faces filled with disbelief.
The other party sent you wine as gifts.
Yet, not only do you want the gifts, you even want the people!
Why must you be so shameless!
"General Fang, in a battle between two armies, we don't kill messengers!" A commander reminded very softly.
"I didn't kill them, I only wish to kindly accept and keep them so that they can contribute to us. Am I right?" Fang Zhengzhi casually waved his hands.
"This… Alright!" The commander was somewhat helpless.
After all, at this moment, Fang Zhengzhi was the true commander in chief of these forty-over thousand troops. As soldiers, all they could do was to obey the orders of the chief commander.
Over ten soldiers entered the wind valley with bright smiles in their faces. One of the stood out and loudly announced Nangong Hao's welcoming of the "guests".
However, after the speech, the smiles on their faces vanished.
Because, they were captured.
From the status of over a dozen messengers, they became over a dozen prisoners. This change in status was indeed a little too fast, so fast that they weren't able to react.
And after that, Fang Zhengzhi's actions broadened their horizons once again.
Fang Zhengzhi began to announce loudly that Nangong Hao and himself had a bet that was communicated through letters. The bet was whether or not he could defeat the wind valley. Now, Nangong Hao had lost.
He admitted losing the bet.
The only thing he could do was to present them with a hundred barrels of good wine.
However, the conditions of the bet were clearly a thousand barrels, Nangong Hao was clearly eating his words!
Fang Zhengzhi's words were filled with genuine sincerity, and in addition to the fact that Nangong Hao had indeed given them good wine after they defeated the wind valley, out of the forty-over thousand soldiers, there were actually more than half that believed.
A man's life on the world is completely based on his acting!
Fang Zhengzhi was once again enlightened on the wisdom behind these words.
Hence, amid the cheers from the crowd, Fang Zhengzhi wiped dry his tears and and pulled out the soldier who announced Nangong Hao's welcome, then gave him an important task and let him out of the wind valley.
When the commanders saw this scene.
They were all completely stunned.
"One can be shameless. But, how can one be shameless to such an extent?"
…
News of over ten soldiers in charge of delivering the wine behind captured was naturally passed by that soldier who was given an important task to the Icy Monkey Settlement. Furthermore, most importantly, that soldier conveyed a certain message.
"Fang Zhengzhi requests for Young Master Nangong to fulfill his part of the promise in the bet and deliver another nine hundred barrels of good wine!"
When the four middle-aged men heard this news, they all became somewhat speechless. Not too long ago, they were still praising Young Master Nangong for his beautiful plan.
However, in the blink of an eye…
The wine was kept by the other party, and even their people were kept as well. Most importantly, he had mysteriously accused them. What is the meaning of losing the bet?
"This Fang Zhengzhi's shameless is truly extreme. I have never seen anybody capturing a team that bore gifts. Furthermore, he is still able to boast and craft lies without feeling any shame! Don't tell me he doesn't feel even the tiniest bit of guilt?"
"I can only say that this person's way of doing things is completely unpredictable!"
"I truly never expected that such an excellent attack on emotions would actually be destroyed by such a method from Fang Zhengzhi."
The four middle-aged men shook their heads. Nangong Hao's attack on emotions was indeed a great plan. However, when it was met with somebody like Fang Zhengzhi, that was when the problem would arise.
Everybody looked at Nangong Hao who was sitting behind the study table in unison.
On the other hand, Nangong Hao remained silent. He no longer flipped the ancient book in his hands, and his eyes that were bright as the sun seemed to be deep in thought.
He was indeed deep in thought.
Because, even he was slightly shocked when he heard the news conveyed by the soldier, even though he was already somewhat mentally prepared.
"He is indeed shameless enough. But, I wonder how skilled is he in the art of formations?" Nangong Hao finally placed down the ancient book in his hand and then, stood up slowly from behind the study table…
…
Fang Zhengzhi knew for sure that Nangong Hao would not order any more people to deliver wine to him. Because, that was equivalent to delivering the lamb into the mouth of the tiger. Furthermore, most importantly, that was equivalent to admitting that he had lost the bet.
Hence…
This battle of emotions was as good as ended.
Even though the military commanders didn't wish to believe this, they all understood in their hearts that in this battle of emotions, Fang Zhengzhi indeed had the upper hand.
Of course, Fang Zhengzhi was indeed shameless!
However, just gaining the upper hand in emotions alone still wasn't a force strong enough to decide the outcome of the battle. No matter how high the morale of your soldiers are.
You still can't get out!
What was the use of that?
If they couldn't leave the wind valley, everything was pointless.
The commanders knew this. However, Fang Zhengzhi's order was to wait. Hence, all they could do was to wait. Yet, none of them knew how long they were supposed to wait!
Fang Zhengzhi had done many things in this period of time. For example, he ate the roasted meat, and drank two mouthfuls of clear water, and even loudly recited how Nangong Hao and himself had decided on the bet through letters.
However, his gaze had never left Wu Feng, Chen Feiyu and the rest of the people on the battlefield. Even when he was looking at the group of people delivering the wine, his gaze continued to be fixated upon Wu Feng and the rest.
And now…
Now that he had finished his food and drinks, next, it was time to truly act.
"Teng Shisheng!" At this moment, Fang Zhengzhi finally spoke.
"Present!" Teng Shisheng, who was currently tending to the campfire, instantly stood up.
"General Li, General Chen, General Wang…"
"Present!"
"Present!"
"..."
When the commanders heard Fang Zhengzhi's words, they were instantly energised. They didn't know what Fang Zhengzhi wished to do, however, they had a faint feeling.
It was time.
"Prepare spears, bows and arrows." Fang Zhengzhi didn't explain further to Teng Shisheng and the commanders and instead directly ordered.
"Roger!"
Teng Shisheng and the commanders acknowledged once again.
They indeed didn't know what Fang Zhengzhi wanted to do. However, once they heard about the spears and bows, they felt as if it had struck a certain chord in their heart.
"Silver Horned Wolves, watch the flag on my hand. Wherever my flag points to, you will shoot the spears to that location. Shoot ten spears each time!" As Fang Zhengzhi spoke, he took out a small flag.
"Understood!"
"The arrows of the archers must land in the vicinity of the spears, there cannot be any deviation, can you do it?"
"Yes!"
"Then… let's start!" After hearing the acknowledgements, a faint glow flashed in his eyes. After all, no matter what, this was his first time commanding a battle.
Even though these orders somewhat childish, and not something coming from a chief commander.
Shooting wherever I point and so on!
However…
Isn't all that's required for the soldiers to understand?
Fang Zhengzhi wasn't too bothered about whether the order was beautifully worded. What he cared about was whether Teng Shisheng and the commanders would be able to understand his order.
"Woosh!"
In a flurry of activity, some of the archers among the forty-over thousand soldiers took a step out and drew their bows.
On the other hand, the five hundred Silver Horned Wolves lined up in rows of ten and nearly stood behind Fang Zhengzhi and the commanders, raising the black spears in their hands up high with cold glints in their eyes.
At this moment, Wu Feng and Chen Feiyu had also noticed the change on Fang Zhengzhi's side.
All of them were somewhat confused.
What is Fang Zhengzhi trying to do?
There were spears and there were bows, could he be thinking of...
Mass murdering these thousand soldiers and themselves?
If that was the case!
"Fang Zhengzhi, I will never forgive you even when I die!"
Wu Feng and Chen Feiyu definitely knew about the incident in which Fang Zhengzhi murdered in the Northern Mountain Village. However, they really didn't wish to believe that Fang Zhengzhi dared to do something like that over here.
The combat examination was a practice for the army.
The Great Xia Dynasty always had one principle. That was that a soldier who had never seen blood before cannot be considered a good soldier. Hence, deaths and injuries were extremely common in the combat examination.
However, deaths and injuries were one thing. Being mass murdered under a barrage of arrows was still a little too much.
Fang Zhengzhi didn't care about how Wu Feng and Chen Feiyu thought. In reality, his gaze had already completely left Wu Feng and the rest.
The flag in his hand finally moved at this moment.
"There, the position ninety five steps away from this place in the South-East direction!" Fang Zhengzhi described the distance to the location he pointed out with great precision.
There was an ancient saying.
A hundred steps passes through anything!
It meant that within a hundred steps, arrows never miss their target.
In the history of his past world, there was a great general by the name of Lu Bu. He was able to hit a tiny branch a hundred and fifty steps away and was greatly respected
In this world.
In terms of strength, it had greatly surpassed that of his past world.
As for whether they were able to hit things a hundred steps away, or even a hundred and fifty, with complete accuracy, Fang Zhengzhi wasn't very sure. However, playing it safe, he decided to start from a position ninety five steps away.
"Woosh woosh woosh…"
Once Fang Zhengzhi's words landed, ten black spears blew past his body like a gust of wind and then drew a beautiful arc in the air.
Lastly…
"Ding ding ding…"
Each of the black spears impaled itself into the ground, marking out a circular area that was five meters wide.
Fang Zhengzhi had seen the ability of the Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry Troops to toss spears before. That time, he was mercilessly trapped on the spot by these Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry Troops.
Now that he was seeing it once again.
The feeling was completely different.
The black spears landed on the ground.
In an instant, white feathered arrows were shot out, filling the sky like raindrops. Almost exactly a hundred arrows flew into the sky, just like streams of snowflakes drifting down from the sky.
"Woosh woosh woosh…"
This movement naturally caused the thousand-soldier strong army to receive a huge fright.
When they saw Fang Zhengzhi lead his army over, they actually weren't very concerned. After all, Fang Zhengzhi stayed where he was without any further movements.
He even began to cook by the side.
This had actually caused them to lower their guard slightly.
However, the sudden change still caused them to be alarmed. After all, that was an army consisting of over forty-thousand soldiers. It was a powerful and formidable force.
The white feathered arrows that filled the sky landed onto the ground.
Instantly, some of the soldiers who were still standing near the black spears quickly dodged away. The huge circle with the black spears at its heart once again expanded by at least two times!
At the same time, the other soldiers who were standing around the circle felt some sort of pressure of their bodies. That pressure didn't originate from the black spears and white arrows.
Instead, it originated from the surrounding soldiers!