Chapter 1151: 1092. Chang’An Meeting Of Attack Pt.2

If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my P-Tang12!!!

______________________________

(A/N: Don’t forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)

...

​"To execute this grand strategy," Chen Deng announced, his voice carrying clearly across the silent hall, "His Majesty has explicitly deployed a massive reinforcement of twenty thousand elite central troops to our western theater. This independent vanguard is under the direct, joint command of Generals Yue Jin, Li Dian, Yu Jin, Zhang He, Xu Huang, Pang De, and Gao Lan."

As Chen Deng called out their names, the seven former Wei generals immediately snapped to perfect attention and discipline. In perfect, synchronized military discipline, they cupped their hands together and bowed their heads respectfully toward the Marshals and the gathered commanders, officially presenting themselves to the high command.

​Guan Yu stroked his long beard, his eyes narrowing slightly in assessment, while Zhang Fei let out a soft, challenging huff from his nostrils. The history of blood between them was long and dark, as after all they have fought against some of them when they served Liu Bei in the past.

​Anticipating the friction, Chen Deng reached into his wide sleeves and produced a small, tightly rolled silk scroll, sealed with the unmistakable black wax of the Emperor’s private seal.

​"Before we delve into the exact tactical deployments," Chen Deng said, his voice dropping into a solemn, reverent register. "His Imperial Majesty asked me to read a personal addendum to his orders. A reminder to every single man standing in this room."

​Chen Deng unrolled the silk, holding it up to catch the light of the oil lamps. He read the Emperor’s words with absolute clarity.

​"You are the architects of the new world. Many of you all present have bled for different banners in the past. You have fought for different lords, held different grievances, and spilled each other’s blood on the plains. But hear me now, within the walls of this command, under the shadow of the Black Dragon of Hengyuan Dynasty, you are all entirely equal."

​Chen Deng paused, letting the immense weight of Lie Fan’s words settle over the titans of war.

​"The moment a man drops his sword and pledges his allegiance to the Hengyuan Dynasty, whatever past he carries is entirely erased from the ledgers of my wrath. There is no more Wei. There is no more Eastern Han. No more There is only Hengyuan. You are here, side by side, to build a new Chapter in human history. Any man who lets the ghosts of the past dull his blade against our true enemies will answer to me in Xiapi."

​Chen Deng lowered the scroll.

​The silence that followed was heavy, but the suffocating, hostile tension that had gripped the room upon their arrival had vanished entirely.

​The Emperor had spoken. He had extended his absolute, divine protection over the seven generals, validating their presence and forbidding any internal retribution. Zhang Fei crossed his massive arms, offering a begrudging, slow nod of acceptance.

Guan Yu closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, his profound respect for Lie Fan’s authority overriding his personal martial pride. The rest of the commanders let out soft, unified murmurs of acknowledgment, receiving the Emperor’s words as absolute law.

​The air cleared. They were no longer enemies. They were all generlas for the same throne and man.

​"With His Majesty’s will established," Fa Zheng smoothly transitioned back into the war council, picking up a long wooden pointer. He slammed the tip of it onto a massive valley route leading deep into Liang Province. "Let us discuss the butchery. How do we best apply this pressure? We need a vanguard strike so terrifying, so relentless, that Yan Xing and Cheng Li shatter before the main host even engages."

​The council immediately erupted into a high level, aggressive brainstorming session. This was where the brilliance of the Hengyuan military truly shone, the ability of vastly different tactical minds to collaborate, argue, and refine a strategy into a flawless weapon.

​"We push directly through the primary eastern passes," Guan Yu suggested, his deep, resonant voice cutting through the chatter. "A massive, frontal heavy cavalry charge. I will personally lead the vanguard. We smash their forward garrisons into dust. When they see the green dragon blade cutting through their lines, panic will spread faster than a plague."

​"A frontal assault is glorious, General Guan Yu, but the terrain in the northwest is a nightmare," Zhang Ren countered politely but firmly, pointing to a series of jagged contour lines on the map. "If we push too hard into the narrow valleys, we risk massive casualties from rockfalls and ambushes. We should coordinate our strikes. Send smaller, highly disciplined units to secure the high ground first before the heavy cavalry advances."

​"Bah! High ground, low ground, what does it matter?!" Zhang Fei boomed, slamming a massive hand onto the table. "Just point me at the largest concentration of their troops! Give me ten thousand men and I’ll carve a bloody road straight to Yan Xing’s front door! They will fold when they hear my voice echoing off the mountains!"

​Meng Huo leaned over the map, his eyes tracing the dense, forested foothills that bordered the arid plains. "If you want to create paranoia, you do not just march down the main road. You send men through the brush. We use the mountain paths. We strike their supply lines in the dead of night, burn their grain, and vanish before dawn. Let them think the mountains themselves are swallowing their armies."

​As the veterans of Hengyuan Dynasty aggressively debated the logistics of the assault, the seven former Wei generals remained noticeably quiet.

​They were still processing the surreal nature of their new reality. Standing shoulder to shoulder with men they had spent years trying to kill was a bizarre, disorienting experience. Yue Jin, a man of aggressive action, felt entirely out of place in the highly structured, theoretical debate.

Li Dian observed silently, his sharp mind absorbing the tactical dynamics of the new high command, calculating the power structures and the interpersonal relationships of his new peers.

Xu Huang stood perfectly still, his arms crossed over his massive chest, simply waiting for someone to point him at a wall he could tear down with his axe. Gao Lan remained a solid, silent anchor, entirely content to let the louder voices dictate the grand strategy while he focused purely on the survival of his own men.

​They were adapting. They were observing. They were not yet ready to aggressively assert their dominance in a room filled with established generals of Hengyuan while the seven of them are still the newcomer.

​However, they were not entirely passive. They were the finest strategic minds of the central plains, and when the discussion hit a logistical roadblock, three of them stepped forward to prove exactly why the Emperor had spared their lives.

​"If the objective is to create sustained, inescapable pressure," Yu Jin finally spoke up, his sharp, authoritative voice instantly drawing the attention of the entire room. He pointed a gauntleted finger at a vital supply artery on the map.

"Then disorganized, sporadic ambushes will not suffice. We must establish strict, relentless logistical timelines. If we deploy the twenty thousand central troops in three staggered, overlapping marching columns, we can ensure that a fresh, heavily armed host engages their forward scouts every six hours. Day and night. We deny them sleep. We deny them time to regroup. A disciplined, unending march will break their psychological resolve far faster than a single, bloody charge."

​Zang Hong and Meng Da, standing across the table, exchanged looks of profound, impressed agreement. The sheer, terrifying discipline required for such an maneuver was a hallmark of Wei military doctrine, and its application here was flawless.

​"General Yu Jin is absolutely correct regarding the tempo," Zhang He added smoothly, gracefully gesturing over a complex cluster of mountain passes with a fluid motion of his hand. "But to amplify the paranoia, we must utilize the terrain to deceive them. If we launch a series of rapid, highly visible feinting attacks against Lu Kan and Yang Qiu’s territories, we will force Yan Xing and Cheng Li to believe they are being deliberately bypassed. They will assume their allies have already sold them out to us. We make the shadows dance, and they will turn their swords on each other in the dark."

​Fa Zheng’s eyes widened slightly, a genuine, predatory smile spreading across his face. "A beautiful, deeply cruel manipulation of their paranoia, General Zhang He. It synergizes perfectly with Chancellor Jia Xu’s espionage."

​But the most critical contribution came from the man who knew the blood and the dirt of Liang Province better than anyone else in the room.

​Pang De stepped forward, slamming his fists onto the edge of the wooden table. He did not look at the map; he looked directly at Chen Deng and Fa Zheng, speaking with absolute, undeniable authority.

​"You can feint and you can march, but you must understand the psychology of the men you are fighting," Pang De rumbled, his voice echoing like grinding stones. "Yan Xing and Cheng Li are proud, stubborn desert warlords. They will not fold simply because they see a large army. They will fold when they realize there is literally nowhere left to run."

​Pang De reached out, his heavy finger tracing a highly specific, narrow, and incredibly dangerous pass that had been largely ignored by the other commanders.

​"This is the Longyou Pass," Pang De declared. "It is treacherous, it is brutal, and it is the only viable retreat route back into the deep desert if their front lines collapse. While General Guan Yu and General Zhang Fei apply the crushing, frontal pressure upon their main gates, you must allow me to take ten thousand of our central troops and force march them through the southern ridges. I will bypass their scouts entirely, and I will seal the Longyou Pass behind them."

​Pang De looked up, his eyes burning with a fierce, aggressive tactical fire. "When Yan Xing looks back and sees my banners blocking his only escape route... when he realizes he is entirely trapped between the God of War in the front, and the White Horse Vanguard in the rear... the terror will finally snap his pride. He will take the Chancellor’s deal before the sun sets."

​Silence fell over the war council once more.

​Huang Zhong, who had been listening to the entire exchange with his arms crossed, let out a low, impressed whistle. He looked at Pang De, then at Yu Jin, and finally at Zhang He. The old tiger’s brash, insulting demeanor faded, replaced by the profound, authentic respect of a lifelong warrior recognizing peerless talent.

​"Well," Huang Zhong grunted, a fierce, genuine grin splitting his weathered face. "It seems the Emperor was right. The ghosts of Wei certainly know how to hunt."

​Chen Deng smiled, a look of profound satisfaction settling over his aristocratic features. The integration was a resounding success. The Hengyuan military had just absorbed the brilliance of its greatest enemy, and the resulting synthesis was a strategic weapon of unimaginable power.

​"The strategy is set," Chen Deng announced, pulling a fresh roll of parchment toward him to draft the official deployment orders. "We strike at dawn. The League of Northwestern Lords falls this month."

​As the war council broke into smaller, highly focused logistical discussions, Yue Jin, Li Dian, Xu Huang, and Gao Lan finally allowed themselves to relax slightly. They looked at Yu Jin, Zhang He, and Pang De, a quiet, profound sense of camaraderie passing between them. They were no longer prisoners. They were no longer defeated men.

______________________________

Name: Lie Fan

Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty

Age: 36 (203 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 462,000

Renown: 2325

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)

SP: 1,121,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 1,010 (+20) 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

VIT: 659 (+20)

AGI: 653 (+10)

INT: 691

CHR: 98

WIS: 569

WILL: 436

ATR Points: 0