“One-two-one! One-two-one!”
Deep, resonant chants echoed from below the viewing platform as the Rangcheng infantry phalanxes, having trained independently for half a month, marched toward Jia Xu, Zhuge Liang, Huang Yueying, and the others.
The sight was truly awe-inspiring. Only after the first phalanx had passed into the distance, followed by the second and third, did conversation resume on the platform.
“Were they specially selected? They all look about the same height and build,” remarked Zhuge Xuan, who served under Liu Biao. He had heard rumors of Jia Xu’s new training methods but had never seen them firsthand, having only observed the guards around Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu. He had assumed such rhythmic precision was only possible with small numbers, never expecting it could be replicated on this scale.
“They were arranged by height. The men in each phalanx are of similar stature, though we didn’t account for weight,” Jia Xu replied, his eyes still fixed on the spectacle.
Jia Xu genuinely admired this rhythmic discipline. Especially after training these men himself, he no longer needed to lead the runs. Now, he could simply stand on this platform from time to time to supervise, watching the phalanxes sweep past him one after another on the track. It was a truly gratifying sight!
One day, after leaving Liu Biao—who only knew how to envy their growing strength without ever learning from or promoting their methods—and joining Cao Cao, Jia Xu was determined to implement the New Three Kingdoms Socialist Modern Military Training Method across the board!
Cao Cao: a man who listened to his advisors yet was deeply suspicious; suspicious, yet fiercely competitive.
Surely, upon discovering that Zhang Xiu’s soldiers were trained differently—and effectively—Cao Cao would study and emulate their methods!
Jia Xu wanted to bring Zhang Xiu under Cao Cao’s banner. He even considered recreating the historical pattern of their first encounters: a minor defeat for Cao Cao, Zhang Xiu’s submission, friction arising, Zhang Xiu’s rebellion, his victory over Cao Cao, Cao Cao’s second campaign against Zhang Xiu, a failed siege leading to Cao Cao’s retreat and a minor victory over Zhang Xiu, followed by Zhang Xiu’s second submission.
This cycle of “submission–rebellion–submission” was, in Jia Xu’s view, the perfect recipe for winning Cao Cao’s favor.
Jia Xu wasn’t afraid of losing his “foresight” by altering history. Rather, through analysis, he had deduced that beneath Cao Cao’s suspicion lay a core programming: a collector’s desire for “formidable individuals who did not initially like him.”
Cao Cao had a well-known hobby of headhunting talent through direct recruitment, much like his notorious fondness for other men’s wives.
But! Talent alone wasn’t enough. One needed pride, a backbone, to earn Cao Cao’s special regard. Otherwise, it would only trigger his suspicion buff, leading to an untimely demise.
Take Guan Yu, for example: formidable, proud, and unwilling to abandon Liu Bei for Cao Cao. After cutting through five passes and slaying six generals to return home, Cao Cao never forgot him.
Then there was Lu Bu. After his defeat, he surrendered directly and sought to join Cao Cao. Cao Cao’s suspicion buff activated instantly. Agreeing with Liu Bei that Lu Bu—the “thrice-turncoat”—was untrustworthy, Cao Cao had him executed on the spot.
While this strategy had its merits, Jia Xu had no desire to repeat the “friction” incident. After all, that episode stemmed from Cao Cao taking a fancy to Zhang Xiu’s widowed aunt. No one could tolerate a superior forcing a marriage to one’s own aunt, which was precisely why Zhang Xiu rebelled in fury.
Jia Xu had been here for nearly eight months now. Zhang Xiu’s young aunt treated him almost no differently than she treated Zhang Xiu himself, and Jia Xu’s feelings toward her had long since moved beyond the single line of dialogue he remembered from history. In the past, his focus had always been on Cao Cao, but now that he was paying attention to the victims, he absolutely could not let Auntie suffer such a fate. He had to think of a solution.
Jia Xu’s train of thought during this “military review” had wandered all the way to solving the issue of “Cao Cao taking a fancy to Zhang Xiu’s young aunt,” and how to find a reasonable justification for rebellion to showcase their unyielding will and steadfast integrity.
Meanwhile, beside him, the Zhuge cats and Huang cats he had brought back from Longzhong were watching the military review with growing enthusiasm.
“This formation is interesting! If we could deploy this on the battlefield, we’d definitely seize the initiative.” Zhuge Liang’s eyes as he watched the military formations burned brighter than a cat’s gaze upon catnip.
“Ah, these bows are too outdated.” Huang Yueying, on the other hand, was pondering whether among the bows she had developed, there were any that were both affordable and effective, to replace the old, damaged weapons in Jia Xu’s arsenal that hadn’t been upgraded due to insufficient funds.
Snapping back to reality, Jia Xu heard this first and was moved to tears of excitement.
What outstanding, heartwarming employees! With them, I won’t have to work so hard in the future!
Excellent, truly excellent! This is the life a transmigrator should live! Just propose an idea, and someone will execute it perfectly. So satisfying!
“Yinyi, isn’t Liu Biao just useless?” Huang Chengyan even began attacking Liu Biao. “He doesn’t even try to learn formations like this? He never considered implementing such training himself? All he does is brood jealously in the shadows and use underhanded tactics to drain their energy?”
How utterly useless, Liu Biao!
Huang Chengyan deeply resented Liu Biao. How easy is it for a person to have a few true friends? Although he himself was a renowned scholar with many acquaintances, genuine confidants were rare! He had only one Zhuge Xuan, and Liu Biao had nearly worn him to death.
Why are you still hating on Liu Biao?
Zhuge Xuan didn’t quite understand, but Zhuge Xuan knew how to give Huang Chengyan something to do.
“Don’t focus on hating him just yet. Help me think about this: when Liu Biao finds out I’m here with Jia Xu, how should I brush him off?”
Huang Chengyan had actually forgotten about this!
“Why aren’t you worried about your own affairs!” he scolded Zhuge Xuan, then began listing names like a khan mustering troops, muttering about who he could call to help.
Huh? Why is he suddenly reciting names?
Jia Xu was a bit confused. He hadn’t missed any steps, so why were they suddenly taking stock of their connections?
“Don’t mind them. They’re just teasing you. They’re thinking about who they can recruit to your side. Liu Biao doesn’t care about Uncle.” This was the conscience of the cat family, Zhuge Hong, the younger sister of Zhuge Jun. She also had the Zhuge family’s standard facial features, was around the same age as Zhuge Jun, but with more baby fat on her cheeks. After saying just this to Jia Xu, she went back to discussing weapon upgrade ideas with her sister and Huang Yueying.
Jia Xu’s “naivety” was now common knowledge within the Zhuge family. The younger sister was simply doing a good deed in passing, worried that this honest man might be tricked by the two older foxes.
Such good people, truly great people!
Cao Cao had Xun Yu to recommend talents for him. Who would have thought that Jia Xu would also have someone recommending helpers to him! Absolutely brilliant, our cat team is scoring big points!
When the “military parade” concluded, Jia Xu was still feeling unsatisfied. It was nothing else—the voices of Huang Yueying and others complaining that the weapons were too outdated and plain had triggered his underlying buff.
His fear of insufficient firepower instantly flared up, and his mind was once again filled with admiration and longing for the various weapons of modern military parades.
Gunpowder hadn’t been developed yet in the Three Kingdoms era. Should he consider working on gunpowder?
As the host, Jia Xu felt the parade had many shortcomings. However, including Huang Yueying, who had criticized the weapons, everyone else thought the parade was excellent!
“To have such soldiers under one’s command…” Zhuge Liang’s eyes lit up. “All that’s missing is a capable general to lead them into battle.”
We have one! Zhang Xiu is exactly that!
Before Jia Xu could speak, someone else did.
“Report, Military Advisor! The general has returned!”
It was today’s duty guard. The way he approached step by step, stood at attention below the viewing platform, and delivered his report became another small spectacle for the cat-like observers—his posture and bearing were simply too cool!
Zhang Xiu?
So the letter sent earlier was about his imminent return, not just a message of safety?
At this moment, Jia Xu still hadn’t realized what was wrong. Zhang Xiu, that reckless man, usually never sent letters. For a letter to become common knowledge, it must have been because the messenger was instructed to deliver it directly to Jia Xu. Unable to find him, the messenger asked too many people about his whereabouts, to the point where everyone in Rangcheng knew Zhang Xiu had sent a letter back.
Jia Xu and Zhang Xiu had agreed to “report safety,” but reporting safety didn’t involve sending letters—it was about arranging for a few soldiers to return in advance and deliver a verbal message.
The “letter” had already informed Jia Xu that Zhang Xiu had “gotten into some trouble,” but Jia Xu hadn’t had the chance to open and read it yet.
“Wenhe! Wenhe! Look what I picked up on the way back?!”
Zhang Xiu’s voice was brimming with excitement.
Picked up something?
Jia Xu cautiously glanced around, also eager to happily tell Zhang Xiu that he had brought back a group of “kittens”—now they too had “cats.”
Then he saw the “dog that had gone out to frolic” returning with a person in its mouth. Well, in human terms, Zhang Xiu was struggling to carry a burly man who was even more imposing than himself. His face was flushed, whether from excitement or exertion, and he wore a wide grin, insistently raising his arms to display his trophy.
“Don’t move recklessly! Put the person down!” Jia Xu’s reaction to this scene was no less intense than seeing a mischievous child bring home a snake.
Had Zhang Xiu gone mad? How could he just pick up someone on the road? And a living, grown man at that—didn’t he know that randomly picking up men could bring bad luck?
Jia Xu didn’t recognize who it was. His “facial recognition” skills were rather poor—modern photo technology was too advanced, making it difficult for him to identify people from ancient portraits. Still, he felt the man Zhang Xiu was carrying looked somewhat familiar.
“General Zhang, is this… Dian Wei, the warrior under Cao Cao?” It was Zhuge Liang who recognized him first.
“Heh, it’s Dian Wei indeed!” Zhang Xiu, immersed in the excitement of having captured Dian Wei alive, didn’t even notice that the speaker was someone he didn’t know. He set Dian Wei aside for others to watch and began animatedly recounting to Jia Xu how he had encountered Dian Wei on the road.
“This Dian Wei was leading a small group, perhaps intending to march quickly. Who knows which unlucky fellow Cao Cao is planning to attack.”
“I happened to run into him, don’t worry! I didn’t fight him—I’m not a fool. Dian Wei is the kind of person who can tear apart a tree trunk as thick as a man’s embrace with his bare hands. Tsk, he’s fierce.” Seeing Jia Xu’s look that seemed to say “we’re the unlucky ones,” Zhang Xiu misunderstood and thought Jia Xu was worried he might have acted recklessly and gotten into a fight. He quickly explained.
Little did he know, from the way he mentioned Dian Wei and how he could accurately measure Dian Wei’s combat strength in terms of tree trunks, everyone present could sense there must have been some friction between them.
But no one expected the “friction” to be so dramatic.
“I listened to you and set traps nearby every time we rested.” With this sentence, Jia Xu understood why tree trunks were involved.
Sure enough, Zhang Xiu burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“This guy somehow fell into the pit! Hahaha, we dug a three-meter-deep pit, and once he was in, he couldn’t get out. We tried to rescue him with a tree trunk, but he wanted to show off his strength and snapped it in half.”
In ancient times, there was “waiting by a tree stump for a rabbit”; today, there’s “waiting by a pit for Dian Wei.”
Cao Cao, isn’t your Dian Wei the god of land warfare? How come he was helpless against “tunnel warfare”?
“What happened next? How did you capture him alive? Didn’t you let him go?” Jia Xu supported capturing him alive. Their side now had many strategists but few generals—exactly like Cao Cao!
In other words, without Dian Wei, Cao Cao wouldn’t be able to find a replacement anytime soon! Not to mention, Dian Wei was leading a small, fast-moving force. Without their leader, these soldiers wouldn’t dare attack their city of Rangcheng recklessly. Cao Cao’s move was doomed to fail!
“It was his own fault. He snapped the tree trunk, and it hit him on the head. He was probably exhausted from being in the pit and passed out.”
As Zhang Xiu spoke, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curl upward.
“I took advantage of the darkness and quickly brought him back! Before returning, I even sent someone to deliver a message to you, asking you to come up with some persuasive words to win this man over from Cao Cao to our side!”
“We’re going to have a new general!”
Zhang Xiu’s rising tone reminded the Zhuge family of when Jia Xu first sought them out.
————————!!————————
We’re going to have a general (puppy) now [star-eyed]!
Liu Bei, your Zhuge Liang is now ours, courtesy of Jia Xu.
Liu Biao, your Zhuge Xuan is now ours, courtesy of Jia Xu.
Cao Cao, your Dian Wei is now ours, courtesy of Jia Xu.
—by Jia Xu [Codename: Old Monk]
Bringing Dian Wei to join Cao Cao [dog head]. Cao Cao: Isn’t this my man? Who are you bringing to join me?