That is, even though they were slacking off, they had to give the Emperor the illusion that they were thinking hard.

Only that way could they muddle through under these circumstances; only that way could they trick the Emperor into mistakenly thinking they weren’t completely useless.

So, everyone scrambled to put on that kind of expression and bearing, all striking a pose of deep contemplation.

As for all this, Lin Yi naturally saw it as clear as day, and he also knew exactly what was going on in these guys’ minds.

It was just that he didn’t expose them; after all, doing so would be useless and would only leave them feeling psychologically displeased.

If this bunch of old fellows all became dissatisfied with him, then with his current weak position, he really wouldn’t be able to get any real work done.

Only by first gathering their hearts together could he slowly replace them all.

Thinking so, Lin Yi didn’t make things too hard for them, but instead turned his gaze toward Leng Yu, hoping Leng Yu could give him an answer.

Only this time, Leng Yu still couldn’t give a real answer either, and was likewise there, sunk in deep thought.

But unlike those ministers, those old guys were all pretending to think, whereas Leng Yu was genuinely and seriously thinking.

One stratagem after another formed in Leng Yu’s mind and began to be run through, but in the end all of them failed.

She really had no idea how to get hundreds of thousands of troops past all the enemy eyes and ears without a sound.

"Heh, I feel we might as well first disperse our army, have them secretly rush in advance to the Border Army Camp at Shanhai Pass. Once they’re all there, we then reorganize them on the spot into an army of several hundred thousand, and then march south.

In this way, we can both confuse the enemy’s eyes and quietly send troops once to the Border Army Camp at Shanhai Pass without them knowing.

Only by then can we truly deliver a fatal blow, catch them completely off guard, and directly pocket this Zhao Country."

But as soon as Lin Yi said this, everyone was puzzled, including Leng Yu, who couldn’t help but speak up and ask:

"But Your Majesty, if we split up the army and send them to the Border Army Camp first, how are we going to form a force of several hundred thousand later?

By that time, if our troop numbers aren’t enough, or are fewer than two hundred thousand, it will be very easy to expose.

Although the enemy’s spies can’t possibly know our exact troop strength, if it’s below two hundred thousand, they can still tell."

Just as Leng Yu said, although technology now isn’t so advanced—no satellites, no various surveying devices—

human eyes and years of experience can still allow those scouts to gauge roughly how large an army is; the margin of error absolutely wouldn’t exceed ten thousand.

After she said this, the other ministers all chimed in one after another, all believing Leng Yu was right and reasonable.

Although earlier we could indeed first send people to the Border Army Camp at Shanhai Pass, and if done secretly enough, in multiple batches and waves, it would be quite easy to evade the scouts’ eyes.

After all, they train every day; if they go out in the name of training, it won’t be noticed.

Of course, even if something was noticed, no one would think the main force was shifting in that direction.

The key issue was: how to gather the remaining force of more than two hundred thousand troops.

Who would have thought that after hearing this, Lin Yi instead revealed a faint smile, then spoke calmly:

"Heh, don’t forget, the population of our Dayou Country is not just a few hundred thousand, but several million.

Is it really that hard to cobble together a three-hundred-thousand-strong army?

Have our commoners all participate, then have our soldiers stand guard around them, posing as an army of several hundred thousand. I don’t think that’s too difficult, is it?"

Lin Yi didn’t play coy and instead directly laid out what he had in mind.

This time, everyone’s eyes lit up.

Although carrying this out would be somewhat difficult, it was by no means unfeasible.

If we have those commoners all put on military uniforms and mix them into the center of the ranks, then use twenty or thirty thousand real troops to surround them on all sides, it should be very hard for others to see through.

After all, no matter how cunning the scouts are, they wouldn’t dare rashly approach the main army.

Observing from the outskirts, as long as the numbers look right and the movement is big enough, then no one will suspect anything.

And so, after a bout of discussion, this was settled as the final plan.

In the end, Leng Yu directly led the vanguard, dispersing them and heading straight for the Border Army Camp at Shanhai Pass, while making preparations there to receive the rest.

Although Shanhai Pass could be considered a city, trying to house hundreds of thousands of troops at once was clearly not an easy task.

Even operating at full capacity, it could probably only hold fifty to sixty thousand troops.

And once these hundreds of thousands of soldiers all went over, survival would become a problem.

Of course, it wasn’t necessary for them to all live inside the city; after all, outside Shanhai Pass there were countless primeval forests, and setting up camp in the forests wasn’t any kind of difficulty. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Especially since there were countless game animals in those mountains and woods.

By then, letting these hundreds of thousands of troops go hunting would be an easy task.

Of course, in order not to stir up too big a commotion, they wouldn’t be allowed to do that wantonly; they’d only clear out a small area big enough to accommodate them.

As for military rations, they had no need to worry.

As for the troops serving as the decoy, they would be organized under the overall command of Minister Wu.

He would draw out a force of several hundred thousand as quickly as possible.

Of course, these three hundred thousand would need uniforms, and having that many uniforms was no small matter.

But this wasn’t too difficult either.

Though current military benefits weren’t particularly generous, and uniforms weren’t regularly issued, every soldier still had two sets of uniform, since they needed to change and wash on normal days.

When the time came, they’d just take out one set first and hand it out to those people; that would be enough.

As for weapons, they wouldn’t be given too many.

They’d just be equipped with some dummy gear; as long as it could fool the enemy, it wouldn’t be a problem.

Once the discussion on this side concluded, everyone immediately split up to execute their tasks.

As for Leng Yu,

[To be continued...]

PS: Recommending a new book: [Fake Eunuch: I Accidentally Discovered the Emperor Is a Woman at the Start] by Zimu Zhao.

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