Wang Ming didn't know how Zhang Shi suddenly gained such great confidence, but he was genuinely happy for him.
He said, "If General Zhang Shi has such ambition, I, Wang Ming, certainly wouldn't dare to compete for it."
"It doesn't matter whether we fight for it or not, anyway, it ultimately depends on the Duke's decision..."
Saying so, the two entered the tent.
And everything went exactly as Zhang Shi had predicted.
Ren Tianye was preparing to take Huai'an City.
"Generals, who is willing to be the vanguard this time?"
"To take Huai'an City for me."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Shi immediately stepped forward, "Duke, I am willing to go!"
Ren Tianye looked at him with a half-smile, "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely, positively, and definitely sure!"
Zhang Shi pledged solemnly, "This time, if I cannot take Huai'an City within seven days, I am willing to bring my head to see you."
Ren Tianye said, "There are no jokes in the army!"
"Absolutely no jokes!"
"Alright!" Ren Tianye agreed. "I'll give you one more chance, but you must remember, no more detours."
"Ha!" Zhang Shi said arrogantly. "Detours? Even a dog wouldn't detour. This time I will let Huai'an City witness my Gale Tactics!"
Ren Tianye stared at Zhang Shi for a second, but ultimately didn't object, directly handing this task to Zhang Shi.
However, just as Zhang Shi returned to his tent, Ren Tianye had already learned the news about Yun Wanyi and called Zhang Shi over again.
"Zhang Shi, when you have an important figure in your hands, you must use them well. Think outside the box. When attacking Yunjing, Gale Tactics are not always suitable."
Zhang Shi wasn't surprised that Ren Tianye knew about Yun Wanyi. After all, the Demon Suppression Division was loyal to the Duke and served as his eyes.
Besides, he hid Yun Wanyi to guard against Wang Ming, not Ren Tianye.
He then said, "Rest assured, Duke. With Yun Wanyi, even if Huai'an City is an iron plate, cracks will appear."
"And I am confident that as long as there is a single crack in Huai'an City, it won't be able to withstand a single blow from me."
Ren Tianye felt helpless, feeling that Zhang Shi still hadn't grasped the point. With a trump card in hand, he probably wouldn't be able to unleash its maximum power.
He advised, "Zhang Shi, actually, there are many intricacies in this. If you don't quite understand, you can go find Su Jin. Su Jin is much clearer on this."
"As a general, you also need to listen more to others' suggestions. Even if it's not beneficial, there's no harm in it, right?"
Zhang Shi was relatively receptive to advice, especially Ren Tianye's words. After leaving the tent, he went straight to Su Jin's tent.
When he reached the entrance, there were soldiers standing guard.
After being announced, Su Jin strode out to welcome him.
Dressed in military attire, Su Jin had a face full of smiles. "General Zhang Shi, what wind blew you here?"
"The Duke's wind."
"Oh? Did the Duke give any instructions?" Su Jin said, inviting Zhang Shi into the tent. "Could it be there's an operation that needs my help?"
"General Zhang Shi, please give your orders. I, Su Jin, will not hesitate even if it means ten thousand deaths!"
"It's not that serious," Zhang Shi said. "Someone surrendered to me, and I saw a battle opportunity, an opportunity to take Huai'an City. However, the Duke said I could come consult with you."
"General Zhang Shi, your formidable reputation and sweeping victories have shaken the world. Who wouldn't bow before you? With your heroic spirit, it's only natural that people would come to join you." Su Jin leisurely offered some flattery, then asked, "I wonder, who is the person that surrendered?"
"A woman named Yun Wanyi. She is the daughter of the former garrison commander of Huai'an City and has quite won the hearts of the military there."
Pausing, Zhang Shi continued, "She was supposed to marry the City Lord's eldest son, Xu Shang, to boost military morale. However, that Xu Shang has something wrong with his head, and it just so happens he has a twin brother, Xu Sha..."
Before he could finish, Su Jin chimed in, "So, Xu Shang wants his brother Xu Sha to take his place and marry Yun Wanyi?"
Zhang Shi was stunned for a moment. "I haven't even finished speaking, how... how did you know?"
"It's so simple, why would it be hard to guess?" Su Jin smiled. "That Xu Shang must have another sweetheart, right? Has General Zhang Shi investigated this clearly?"
Sweetheart?
Zhang Shi was stunned again.
Xu Shang had another sweetheart?
No, this Yun Wanyi didn't tell him that.
No, he didn't even damn well ask!
But how did Su Jin know?
"Isn't it obvious?" Su Jin smiled. "Our great army is bearing down on Huai'an City. As the acting City Lord, Xu Shang shows no signs of fleeing, which means he must intend to resist to the end."
"That's why he would marry Yun Wanyi at this juncture, to rally the troops' morale and strengthen his power."
"Plus, scouts reported that Xu Shang is a talent skilled in both pen and sword, so he clearly understands this point."
"But since he understands this and is working towards it, yet wants his brother to replace him at his wedding, it clearly shows he must be influenced by someone else. And the person who can influence him must have an extraordinary relationship with him."
"Then..."
"In a place like Yunjing, who else could it be besides a sweetheart?"
Zhang Shi's head was buzzing.
When Yun Wanyi told him earlier, she had repeated it a few times, and he only felt his head ache from the convoluted story. But now, he had barely opened his mouth, and Su Jin had already sorted it out so smoothly?!
Su Jin could even deduce things he didn't know.
Since when did Su Jin become so formidable?
"General Zhang Shi, every person has their strengths and weaknesses. I only know a little about trivial matters. Compared to the General sweeping across the grasslands and being invincible, I pale in comparison and can hardly catch up."
Su Jin saw through Zhang Shi's thoughts at a glance and quickly comforted him, then asked, "Now that you have such an important person as Yun Wanyi in your hands, what are General Zhang Shi's plans?"
After standing there for a moment, Zhang Shi slowly recovered, then said confidently, "Of course, it's to take advantage of the internal chaos in Huai'an City and launch a direct Gale Tactics strike!"
"Let them... face the gale!"
Su Jin nodded in affirmation, then said, "General Zhang Shi, tell me, is it possible that there is a more brilliant maneuver?"
"Of course there is!" Zhang Shi said with overwhelming momentum. "This time, I will push the Gale Tactics to the extreme. Every soldier will have two light warhorses. The horses will be un-belled, the men will carry gags in their mouths, and under the cover of night, we will charge out wildly."
"We will definitely take Huai'an City within half an hour."
Su Jin's lips subconsciously pressed into a thin line. Pausing for a moment, she said, "General Zhang Shi, aside from Gale Tactics, could there possibly be any other maneuvers?"
"Absolutely!" Zhang Shi said with boundless enthusiasm. "Besides Gale Tactics, we can also strike directly at Huai'an, use decapitation tactics, starve the enemy of rations, sustain war with war, divide and conquer, advance on multiple fronts, pierce through with elite cavalry, and break through the center..."
Pausing, he said, "All of these depend on the mind. We just apply them flexibly on the battlefield. We cannot fall into fixed patterns, otherwise even a victory will be a pyrrhic one!"
Su Jin admitted that there was nothing wrong with what Zhang Shi said; this was indeed the ability that allowed Zhang Shi to sweep across the grasslands. It was just... she felt helplessly frustrated again and again.
She had no choice but to spell it out.
"General Zhang Shi, tell me, is there a possibility that we don't really need to fight much to easily take Huai'an City?"
"No need to fight?" Zhang Shi shook his head and said, "Yun Wanyi can't get military power. It's the person she marries who can get the military power."
"Exactly..." Su Jin said with a smile. "Once the man she marries seizes military power, won't the gates of Huai'an city be thrown wide open?"
...
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
