Liu Zhixian had joined the military as a youth. Able to gain Jiang Yu’s favor, he was considered a notable commander in Southern Chen.

Bairen Pass was the southern gateway of Great Liang. Although Southern Chen and Great Liang had never crossed swords before, ever since Luodu changed hands and Prince Changlian and his son died, with Wen Yu’s life or death unknown, they naturally made worst-case preparations. Southern Chen’s commanders had deduced countless times how to breach Bairen Pass.

At this moment, facing the sand table, Liu Zhixian recalled the tactics the military had deliberated over for so long. The bit of panic in his heart slowly dissipated completely. He raised his head, staring at Xiao Li with a sinister expression: “My Southern Chen’s great army camps on the mountains flanking both sides of Bairen Pass valley. First we surround without attacking, dispatching scouts to investigate the guard rotation schedules at Bairen Pass’s gate tower and various beacon towers. On a moonlit night, we send two thousand vanguard troops to launch a frontal assault at the gate tower. Additionally, we dispatch another two thousand troops divided into ten squads of one hundred men each. Using Bairen Pass’s city gate as the boundary, spanning twenty li to the left and right, we simultaneously assault twenty beacon towers!”

As soon as these words came out, Fan Yuan and Chen Wei exchanged glances, both seeing trouble in each other’s eyes.

This method of attack bore traces of the strategy they used to take Tao Commandery. It looked like a feint—using the frontal assault at the gate as bait to tie down most of their forces inside the city, creating opportunities for those ten raiding squads.

But in reality, all eleven locations were genuine attacks!

Hundred-man squads sounded like thin forces, but they only needed to deal with the dozen or so Great Liang soldiers stationed at each beacon tower. Even though patrols of over a hundred men were positioned every ten li along the Great Wall, with neighboring beacon towers all under enemy assault, the patrol squads couldn’t be everywhere at once. As long as one beacon tower fell, under the pressure of the enemy’s hundred-man squad, neighboring beacon towers would inevitably fall quickly as well. At that time, soldiers attacking from various beacon towers would converge on Bairen Pass’s gate, putting the gate’s defense under attack from two sides.

Southern Chen was relying on their numerical superiority to expand this strategy to a degree they simply couldn’t defend against.

Fan Yuan was a military man—no one understood better than him what this meant. He had originally thought that relying on Bairen Pass’s natural defenses, Pingzhou could resist Southern Chen with ten thousand troops. Even if they ultimately couldn’t hold out, it would be because the other side wore them down with rotation tactics using superior numbers. That’s why when Xiao Li proposed burning the enemy’s grain supplies, he felt it was their only slim chance of victory.

But now it seemed they might not even survive this assault!

Their only chance of victory wasn’t after the enemy deployed troops! Rather, when the enemy was camped on the mountains without moving, they should have struck first and burned their grain supplies!

Understanding this, the muscles on Fan Yuan’s face couldn’t help but twitch fiercely. He lowered his voice and said hatefully: “These Southern Chen rats are using the tactics we used at Tao Commandery against Pingzhou!”

Chen Wei also felt victory seemed remote, but having once been lord of a province, he was somewhat more composed than Fan Yuan.

Seeing the Southern Chen servant had already replaced the banners at ten beacon tower locations on both sides of Bairen Pass’s Great Wall with theirs, and the general facing Xiao Li showed a provocative smile, Chen Wei rapidly thought through salvage methods.

He turned to look at Wen Yu and Li Yao, thinking perhaps they should order a mid-session break so they could privately discuss a way to preserve Pingzhou’s interests as much as possible if they lost this sand table deduction, then continue the demonstration.

But he saw both Wen Yu and Li Yao thoughtfully watching the sand table, not showing the slightest sign of losing composure due to Southern Chen’s relentless attack method.

Over there, Southern Chen’s General Liu smugly urged Xiao Li: “Southern Chen has attacked. How does the esteemed Liang general intend to defend? Speak up!”

Xiao Li’s gaze remained locked on the Great Wall rising and falling with the mountain terrain on the sand table, not bothering with him.

Liu Zhixian continued his mockery: “Could it be all brute courage with no understanding of troop deployment, thus finding it difficult? Someone personally appointed by the esteemed Liang Wengzhu shouldn’t be like this…”

He paused here, laughing mockingly: “Though the young general is still of tender years—understandable, understandable!”

He turned his head, looking mockingly at the Liang officials with ugly expressions. His gaze finally fell on Fan Yuan: “Why not switch to an old general instead?”

Fan Yuan’s tiger eyes blazed with fury. If not for having witnessed Xiao Li’s abilities and remembering this was the government hall, retaining a shred of rationality, he might have truly been provoked into stepping forward.

Chen Wei, seeing the situation growing increasingly unfavorable, hastily and imperceptibly circled to the rear, summoned a nearby guard, and whispered instructions. The guard looked toward the sand table, nodded, then walked toward Wen Yu.

Zhao Bai stood right beside Wen Yu. Seeing the guard approach, she leaned in to hear what he said, then glanced at the sand table. Just as she was about to relay it to Wen Yu, she heard a cold voice from the sand table: “My Great Liang dispatches two thousand soldiers from the central army battalion to firmly guard Bairen Pass’s gate. Using catapults to hurl clay jars of fire oil, archers strike them, then use fire arrows to shoot and kill the Chen army assaulting below the city.”

Glancing over, she saw Xiao Li with both hands braced on the sand table’s edge, slowly raising his head to look at the Southern Chen general facing him.

Liu Zhixian was clearly bewildered by Xiao Li’s counterattack. The provocative smile froze at the corners of his mouth, looking rather comical at this moment.

Both Jiang Yu and Fang Mingda were also shocked enough by this unprecedented tactic to raise their heads.

The Liang officials who thought defeat was certain were even more astonished hearing this plan. They put their heads together, discussing animatedly: “Marvelous! Marvelous! Fire oil ignites when meeting fire. When those clay jars shatter, whether the spilled fire oil falls on the ground or splashes on the Chen army below the city, once fire arrows are released, it all blazes into flames!”

“This plan can burn some Chen troops, making them panic in the flames and disrupting their morale. Moreover, with great firelight below the city, the Chen army loses their advantage of concealment in darkness. When we shoot arrows down from the gate tower, it’ll be no different from daylight!”

Seated in the main position, Wen Yu also lightly raised her eyes. Xiao Li’s solution equally surprised her.

Earlier, examining the terrain outside Bairen Pass, she had been thinking how to repel those Chen troops attacking from the beacon towers.

Bairen Pass got its name from the towering blade-like mountains on both flanks. Its mountain range stretched over a hundred li. Bairen Pass’s gate sat at the peak of these mountains. The gorge split between the frontal mountains was the only route connecting Southern Chen and Great Liang.

Therefore, even if the assaulting Chen troops captured beacon towers on the Great Wall, beyond the wall awaited endless old forests and wilderness. If the army wanted to attack into Pingzhou, they could only take the main road through the pass. Those ten raiding squads’ only purpose in capturing beacon towers was to attack the city gate from both left and right sides along the Great Wall.

The two thousand troops attacking frontally held only the advantage of surprise timing and darkness for concealment—nothing else favored them.

Southern Chen learned from their previous Tao Commandery tactics. But Tao Commandery had walls on all four sides to surround. They used feints to draw away some of Tao Commandery’s southern gate forces, allowing Xiao Li to find the right timing to attack the city. Outside Bairen Pass, however, there was only this one vital point. All of Pingzhou’s pass-defending forces could be stationed here.

As long as the gate tower wasn’t attacked from both sides along the Great Wall, those two thousand Chen troops assaulting Bairen Pass’s gate frontally posed no real threat.

Thus in Wen Yu’s view, the greatest threat in Southern Chen’s siege was only those two thousand troops attacking from the beacon towers.

To break this situation required dispatching troops to advance from both Bairen Pass’s gate tower and the beacon towers not yet occupied by Chen troops, attacking from front and rear to completely trap the Southern Chen reinforcements trying to reach the gate tower on the Great Wall.

In this engagement, they were caught off guard—casualties and losses were inevitable. But compared to Southern Chen, they were undoubtedly the winners.

Xiao Li’s plan directly and drastically weakened Southern Chen’s frontal attack, maximally reduced casualties among defending soldiers, and boosted Pingzhou soldiers’ morale. The gate’s defense would only become more impregnable. Blocking Southern Chen reinforcements attacking from left and right at this point would be twice as effective with half the effort.

From when he first proposed the plan to hijack the Xu family cargo ships to now wielding troops with ease, Wen Yu actually felt somewhat puzzled in her heart.

—His progress was so rapid. Had he truly never studied military strategy before?

But if he had studied it, given his previous circumstances, where could he have learned these things?

Perhaps her gaze lingered on Xiao Li too long. He seemed to sense it and looked up at her, discovering she was staring at him thoughtfully.

Before the civil and military officials and the Southern Chen envoy, he dared not reveal the slightest trace of emotion. He only withdrew his gaze, his long staff pointing toward the beacon towers on both sides of Bairen Pass’s gate. Looking at Liu Zhixian, he continued: “These are the highest beacon towers on both sides of Bairen Pass’s gate. Southern Chen’s main forces have already been repelled by me. I need only dispatch another five hundred soldiers each to capture these two beacon towers, have crossbow archers hold these positions, and separately send troops to circle behind the beacon towers for a pincer attack. The Chen troops on both flanks can then all be shot and killed here.”

On the sand table, the Southern Chen banners Jiang Yu had just replaced moments ago were pulled out one by one by him and tossed to the corner of the sand table.

Among the Liang officials, someone was first to shout: “Excellent!”

This round of attack and defense came to a close.

The others then also broke into smiles. Some even raised their sleeves to wipe the cold sweat from earlier tension.

Though this was a sand table deduction, everyone understood that in an actual battle, the situation would be roughly like this. That’s why when the battle situation was unfavorable at Bairen Pass, they all felt anxious.

Li Yao stroked his beard in praise from the hall: “This youngster is teachable.”

Wen Yu withdrew her gaze from Xiao Li without speaking, turning to Zhao Bai: “Something to report?”

Zhao Bai coughed lightly: “Earlier, Minister Chen Wei feared General Xiao couldn’t break this situation and asked if you wanted to temporarily call a mid-session break.”

Wen Yu’s gaze swept past the two from Southern Chen: “Wait for Southern Chen to request it.”

Zhao Bai followed her gaze and looked over.

Liu Zhixian’s expression was extremely ugly. Fang Mingda barely managed to keep a smile on his face as he bowed to Wen Yu: “The esteemed Liang truly has talented people everywhere. This young General Xiao’s strategy is exceptional. Even a civil official like this minor official who doesn’t understand military matters found this deduction thoroughly exhilarating. It’s just hard on both generals, mentally and verbally exhausting. Why not have some tea and continue the next round later?”

Wen Yu said: “As the envoy suggests.”

Fang Mingda bowed in thanks to Wen Yu, then brought Jiang Yu and Liu Zhi, following the guiding maidservant to a tea room specially designated for Southern Chen.

Anyone with eyes could see that Southern Chen was probably going to discuss the next round’s siege strategy.

Fan Yuan stared at their departing backs, a cold snort escaping his nostrils. He stepped forward and heavily clapped Xiao Li’s shoulder, grinning widely in praise: “Good lad! You didn’t shame our Great Liang!”

The strategists and military comrades also gathered around, praising his city defense plan as truly brilliant.

When Xiao Li finished socializing and extracted himself, he instinctively looked toward the main seat, only to see that Wen Yu, Li Yao, and Zhao Bai had all left the outer hall.

—

Inner chamber of the government hall.

Wen Yu propped her elbow, staring blankly at the white mist rising from her teacup’s rim. Li Yao, seated across from her, set down his teacup and asked: “Wengzhu seems troubled?”

Wen Yu came back to herself, gathering her thoughts: “Southern Chen’s first round of siege was already so perilous. I’m somewhat worried their subsequent offensives will also be so unexpected.”

Li Yao said: “However perilous, wasn’t danger turned to safety by the capable generals under Wengzhu’s command?”

Wen Yu fell silent for a breath, then suddenly asked: “Sir, throughout history, have military geniuses been born with innate understanding of cunning warfare?”

Li Yao lifted his eyelids to glance at her, getting to the point: “What you want to ask about is that youngster surnamed Xiao under your command, isn’t it? Do you remember—this old man asked you before whether he was from Yong City?”

Wen Yu nodded.

Li Yao’s withered hand grasped the teacup, his gaze profound: “His ferocity in deploying troops resembles Qin Yi, which prompted that question. But the Qin general Bai Qi was also a killer general. Those who later studied his military methods number countless, yet all share similarities. This youngster’s thinking is quick. I’ve heard Li Xun mention he seems to have memorized many military strategy essentials by rote. Likely he’s now slowly achieving comprehensive understanding. Speaking of talent—among this world’s two hundred sixty trades, which doesn’t require some talent and comprehension?”

He looked at Wen Yu: “Having such a military talent under Wengzhu’s command is a good thing.”

—

When the first round of sand table deduction began, Liu Zhixian used his hand injury as an excuse, having Jiang Yu, disguised as an attendant, face the opponent in his stead. He claimed he had already informed the other party of the siege tactics and could simply supervise from the side.