“Ambush?” Jiang Jiao stammered, “W-what ambush?”

“We arrived here first. With the advantages of timing, terrain, and manpower, wouldn’t it be against heaven’s will if we didn’t ambush them?” She called out to Wang Ba, “Brother Wang, this is your old profession. Do you remember the rules?”

Wang Ba felt both annoyed and proud, simply saying, “Of course I know!”

“Then let’s go scout the area first.”

“What does ‘scout the area’ mean?” Jiang Jiao was completely puzzled.

“I know this one,” Huang Xiong explained to him, “It’s thieves’ cant, meaning to reconnaissance the surroundings beforehand.”

Wang Ba snorted, saying to He Yan, “So you know the jargon, huh?”

“I only know that one phrase,” He Yan said, “If no one objects, shall I arrange the plan?”

Everyone looked at her.

“This position is elevated, and we arrived early. When other groups arrive, they’ll surely be tired and their guard will be down. We only need to ambush them here and take their flags. We have five people – one needs to climb a tree to observe, while the rest hide around. That person will be me,” He Yan pointed to herself, “I’ll be in the tree.”

“When people come, Brother Wang will be in front to lure them into our circle. Brother Jiang Jiao and Stone, one with a staff and one with a spear, will be positioned on the left and right. Uncle Huang will guard the rear, thus surrounding them in the middle. Then I’ll come down from the tree – my nine-section whip can snatch their flag from a distance.”

Everyone suddenly understood why He Yan had chosen the nine-section whip. In the chaos of battle, getting close might be difficult, but the whip could snatch the flag from afar.

“Why do I have to be the bait?” Wang Ba complained, “I could guard the rear.”

“Because you’re the strongest,” He Yan said with a straight face, making up an excuse, “If any of us other carried the flag as bait, people would be suspicious. But you’re different – you’re already known to be formidable among the new recruits. It makes perfect sense for you to have captured a flag. You’re the best choice.”

Jiang Jiao wanted to laugh but held it back. Stone and Huang Xiong silently lowered their heads, while Wang Ba alone was thoroughly convinced. His earlier dissatisfaction with He Yan’s arrangement instantly vanished.

“But will this plan work?” Jiang Jiao doubted, “What if they’re more skilled than us?”

“Don’t worry, we arrived first and have had more rest time, so our energy is fuller. Moreover, with this flanking formation combining offense and defense, they’ll only fall into disarray. Besides, our goal isn’t to fight them but to capture the flag.”

“The Art of War states: ‘Those who arrive first at the battlefield and await the enemy will be at ease; those who arrive later at the battlefield and rush into battle will be fatigued. Thus, the skilled commander brings others to him and is not brought to others.'”

Among the five, only Jiang Jiao and He Yan were educated. While the others hadn’t yet reacted, Jiang Jiao looked at He Yan with a complex expression and asked, “You’ve read military treatises?”

“A little,” He Yan answered.

Huang Xiong looked at Jiang Jiao, then at He Yan, and sighed, “I remember you said you’d read the ‘Hand Combat Record,’ and now you say you’ve read military treatises. With such abilities, you’ll surely become famous one day, no longer in the same place as us.”

“You’re too kind,” He Yan smiled.

“Just don’t forget us when you’re rich and famous,” Wang Ba muttered, then, feeling embarrassed, added, “Though you don’t look like someone who’ll become rich and famous.”

He Yan shrugged and said, “Now everyone should find a place to hide. I’ll climb the tree first, while you all eat something and rest. Brother Jiang, give one flag to Brother Wang. Wait for my bird call signal. I’ll use a partridge call – when you hear it, Brother Wang, take the flag to lure them over.”

No one objected. They dispersed to find hiding spots. He Yan found a tall camphor tree and looked up before climbing.

Her tree-climbing was quite agile. Seeing this, Wang Ba muttered under his breath, “Like a four-legged snake.”

He Yan climbed straight to the treetop and found a spot with dense foliage to sit. The breeze there was refreshingly cool. The position was high enough to oversee the surroundings. Seeing no other recruits coming up yet, she took out a small dried biscuit from her clothes, took a few bites, and drank some water.

After finishing the small biscuit and lying against a branch for a few minutes, she heard rustling sounds from the path below. A group of recruits was coming up.

He Yan immediately sat up straight but remained hidden in the leaves, softly making three partridge calls. Her bird calls were identical to real partridge sounds – if not for the prior arrangement, even Jiang Jiao’s group wouldn’t have been able to distinguish them.

Huang Xiong, hidden in the shadows, signaled to Wang Ba, who secured his water flask and took up the flag before walking out.

Whether from his experience in ambushes or not, his act was completely convincing. Wang Ba would look around every couple of steps, appearing like someone who had just arrived and was exploring the area.

As he walked, he ran right into the group of recruits coming up the mountain.

“You…” Before the recruit could finish speaking, Wang Ba clutched his waist and ran back. The gesture drew attention to the red flag at his waist.

The recruits were stunned, then excited, calling to those behind them, “He’s alone, and he has a red flag. Brothers, let’s get him!”

Hearing this, the group gave chase. Wang Ba, appearing to be alone, didn’t engage but ran while cursing, “Pah, stop following your grandfather! Keep following and I’ll chop you up!”

The group laughed as they chased after him, seeing the red flag in his hand as already theirs. They called out, “Then come chop us! Brother, surrender the flag and we won’t kill you!”

“I’ll surrender your grandmother! One more step and I won’t be polite anymore!” Wang Ba warned.

“Who’s being impolite to whom?” The group laughed as they continued pursuing. When they reached a dense forest, Wang Ba suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong, too tired to run?” The lead recruit laughed, imitating a bandit chief, “This mountain is mine to open, these trees are mine to plant. To pass through here, leave behind your toll!”

Wang Ba had wanted to show off a bit, but hearing this made him laugh in anger. He drew two huge axes from his waist and turned around, shouting, “Wild chickens rushing in blindly, how dare you climb the King’s Mountain! Trying to rob your grandfather, you must be blinded by pig fat, your eyes must be clouded!”

His string of bandit slang was incomprehensible to everyone. The opponents didn’t want to waste time bantering with him and thrust their swords forward, aiming for the flag at his waist.

At that moment, there was a sudden movement from behind, and from the grass on both sides emerged two young men – one holding a spear and one an iron staff – they were Jiang Jiao and Stone. With a loud crash, a bald strong man wielding a gold-backed broadsword had leaped to the front.

What had been five against one, with Wang Ba fleeing in panic, had suddenly reversed. Like catching turtles in a jar, ambushers appeared from all directions. Though only four people, they created the impression of a full encirclement.

The group froze, their smiles fading. “It’s an ambush! They tricked us!”

Up, groups had either fought directly or ambushed from hiding for immediate battle. This theatrical performance with bait acting as a decoy was unprecedented. The lead recruit gritted his teeth, “What are we afraid of? Our numbers are equal – we can’t be scared of them. Let’s fight!”

With a turn, they all plunged into the melee.

Truthfully, while these people each had their strengths, they weren’t exactly one in ten thousand – after all, everyone climbing the mountain today was among Liangzhou Guard’s elite. But strangely, Jiang Jiao’s group gained the upper hand as soon as the fighting began.

Firstly, they had arrived earlier and had time to rest and eat, gathering their strength, while the other group had just finished a tough climb and hadn’t even had time to sit down for water before being thrown into battle, naturally putting them at a disadvantage. Secondly, their positioning was quite tactical.

Jiang Jiao and Stone on the left and right kept the opponents surrounded in the middle throughout. Huang Xiong’s great sword moved with impressive force, perfectly coordinating with Wang Ba’s battle axes. The combination of long and short weapons, both offensive and defensive, left the recruits unable to find any weakness, instead finding themselves increasingly pressured.

Jiang Jiao deflected the opponent’s sword with his spear, knocking their weapon away. One recruit said, “It’s no use, we can’t get the flag. Let’s retreat quickly!”

“How can we retreat?” the lead recruit snapped, “You try finding a gap to escape through!”

He had tried to break through several times but couldn’t find a single opening. If this continued, they would be the first to give out.

“Wait a minute,” a recruit dodged Huang Xiong’s great sword and turned to ask, “They only have four people. Where’s the fifth one?”

Indeed, they had been fighting five against four, one person short, but they had been so overwhelmed they hadn’t noticed. Now that someone mentioned it, they suddenly understood. The recruit leader shouted, “It’s a trap! Protect the flag!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Ba roared, “He Yan, are you just watching the show? Get out here!”

A youth’s cheerful voice rang out from the leafy camphor tree: “Coming!”

A crimson figure suddenly appeared in the dense forest. The youth smiled brightly, darting past like a swallow, movements graceful but appearing threatening to the opponents. Before the man on the edge could hide his bundle, a long shadow flew at his face. He jumped in shock, instinctively loosening his grip. The shadow, snake-like and agile, wrapped around the bundle and retreated. The youth retrieved the nine-section whip, sat in the tree, smilingly shook out the bundle’s wrapping, and held up a flag, saying, “Thanks!” With a turn of the head, they vanished into the forest, leaving behind the words: “Got it, let’s withdraw!”

The remaining group – Jiang Jiao and the others – acted as if receiving an order. Though they had been in fierce combat moments ago, they now showed no desire to continue fighting. They put away their weapons and ran. The other group, already exhausted from climbing the mountain and now completely spent from battle, couldn’t keep up. After chasing for a few hundred steps, they lost strength and could only watch helplessly as the group disappeared into the distance.

“What kind of bandits are these…” someone collapsed on the ground, cursing through gritted teeth, “They’re completely lawless!”

“Can’t help it, thieves never leave empty-handed.” Meanwhile, He Yan had Jiang Jiao throw away the red flag, snap her fingers, and say, “Let’s go.”

“Where to?” Wang Ba asked.

“To rob the next group.”

…

A pigeon paced back and forth on the windowsill. Someone scattered some rice grains in their palm, and the pigeon landed there, docilely allowing them to remove the copper tube from its leg.

Xiao Jue read the note and passed it to Shen Han, shaking his head with a smile.

The note was simple, mentioning only one thing: He Yan had set up ambushes all over the mountain, taking up banditry, and had stolen flags from several recruit teams.

In the flag competition, the emphasis was on “compete,” but to compete in such a stealthy yet brazen way was unprecedented. From the start, they had focused solely on the flags, avoiding conflict with other recruits. Even when setting ambushes, they prioritized the flags. They ignored groups without flags, letting them pass. Those with flags, would strike opportunistically and flee immediately after.

In the end, they had minimal losses and obtained the most flags.

“He’s quite clever at finding advantages,” Shen Han finally managed to say.

“Not just clever at finding advantages, but also skilled in military tactics,” Xiao Jue said.

“Military tactics?”

“Using proximity against distance, using the rested against the tired, using the well-fed against the hungry.” He curved his lips slightly, saying leisurely, “He’s made fools of all the Liangzhou Guard’s recruits.”

Shen Han was speechless – this youth was truly beyond words. He suddenly recalled something else: “Speaking of which, all five of them followed his lead without objection.”

Actually, in the flag competition, besides competing with other recruits, there were also conflicts within each team. Everyone had different habits and fighting styles, and wouldn’t necessarily work together harmoniously. Some teams even fought over command authority, ending up with nothing. The ability to coordinate and arrange showed a recruit’s capability. From this perspective, He Yan already possessed the ability to command troops.

Among these five people, except for Stone, everyone else had previous conflicts with He Yan, yet now none of them quarreled with her over this.

This was another of the youth’s exceptional qualities.

“These people are all quite good,” Shen Han pondered, “Jiang Jiao and the others slightly outperformed other recruits in combat. So far, they haven’t lost once. Governor, do you think these people qualify for the vanguard camp?”

Xiao Jue gave a light laugh, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, “It’s not that their abilities are strong, it’s because of He Yan’s formation. A team in formation versus scattered soldiers naturally can’t be compared.”

“Governor means…” Shen Han seemed to realize something.

“Left and right spreading like crane wings, the general pressing the center and rear – didn’t you notice?” Xiao Jue said, “With five people, he arranged a crane wing formation.”

Perhaps because this news was too shocking, Shen Han was momentarily speechless. For a recruit to know formations almost certainly indicated something unusual about that person. Shen Han hesitated, “Perhaps… Is it’s coincidence?”

“Whether it’s coincidence or not, we’ll know soon,” Xiao Jue said, “Fei Nu.”

The black-clothed guard appeared silently behind him: “Young Master.”

“Send word to the other commanders on White Moon Mountain,” he lifted his teacup and took a small sip, “Set up formations on the descent path.”

“Governor!” Shen Han grew anxious, “This will prevent other recruits from getting down the mountain!”

“Don’t worry,” the young man put down his teacup and picked up a black piece from the chess box, placing it down in a sudden tactical reversal, saying, “Someone will break through the formations.”

…

On White Moon Mountain, near the cliff face, several people were hiding in the grass, counting their spoils.

“One, two, three… six! We’ve got six flags in total!” Jiang Jiao was somewhat excited.

“Not even half,” Wang Ba dampened his enthusiasm, “What are you so happy about?”

“Six is already quite good,” Huang Xiong spoke up, “Plus three of them were seized.”

Of these six flags, three were found by He Yan’s group taking shortcuts, and three were captured by ambushing recruits who already had flags near the mountaintop.

“Still not enough, let’s grab more.” Wang Ba secured his axes, “We win if we get more than half.”

He Yan shook her head: “We can’t get any more now.”

Stone frowned and asked, “Why not?”

“By now, other recruits have gradually all made it up the mountain, and those we robbed earlier have surely spread word about us stealing their flags. I imagine we’ve become infamous among them by now. Those with flags will be especially wary of us, and besides, after conducting three consecutive raids, our strength isn’t what it was before.”

“Says who?” Wang Ba gestured for others to look at his strong arms, “I’m full of energy, not tired at all! I could raid several more groups!”

He Yan said, “Oh? What if several groups join forces?”

Wang Ba froze.

He Yan spread her hands and said, “We currently have six flags, making us like living targets. I think the smart recruits at the mountaintop have probably already thought of joining forces to seize our flags and divide them. Two fists can’t fight four hands – our five people against ten, twenty, thirty… or even a hundred people. Do you think it’s worth fighting then?”

Everyone was speechless.

“Then what do you suggest we do?” After a while, Wang Ba asked impatiently.

“In this world, no matter how clever a trick, where there’s a first, there’s a second. We’ve just shown them how to strike opportunistically. I expect the remaining recruits will copy our method. We don’t need to compete with each recruit one by one – we only need to compete with the strongest remaining group.”

Jiang Jiao’s eyes lit up: “You mean, wait for them to fight each other like the snipe and the clam, while we play the fisherman who benefits?”

Let the remaining recruits on the mountain decide who prevails, whether east wind overcomes west wind or west wind overcomes east wind doesn’t matter. One team will emerge victorious, and their job is to ambush this victorious team and steal their flags – this way, they should be able to get half the flags.

“So…” Huang Xiong looked inquiringly at He Yan.

“We go down the mountain.”

“Down the mountain now?” Jiang Jiao hesitated.

“Going down now, it’s still early, and we can gain the initiative. We’ll hide along the necessary descent path – whether they have flags or not, all recruits must pass by us. We’ll identify the strongest team – they’ll be our target.”

“You make it sound simple,” Wang Ba couldn’t help arguing, “They’re not sheep – if they’ve gotten so many flags, they must be formidable. We might not win.”

“You make a very good point.” He Yan nodded, “So that final battle at the bottom of the mountain won’t be easy. But it doesn’t matter, we’ll win.”

“Why?”

The youth smiled confidently: “Because you have me.”

[He Yan: I’m the MVP, the golden jungler]