Stratagems

Chapter 40 – Stratagems

May 15th.

Tong and his caravans returned to Anping along with the escort troops.

Tong was relief that there wasn't any mishap happening along the way home. He was over-paranoid.

After they had arrived home, Wen Chou requested them to remain in this county until the harvest season.

Tong was baffled. Why would they want to stay here despite knowing that there would be a battle breaking out here?

Then Wen Chou gave Tong a letter. It was a letter written by Feng Ji.

In the letter, Feng Ji described the Intel that they had acquired from the Julu County. Guo Dian currently had 500 light cavalries and 1,000 professional infantry. But there would be 3,500 conscripted militias in September or October.

The letter also described that if Tong and his family lost this battle, they could seek shelter in the Yuan family. The Nan Pi City would always welcome them without any discrimination.

Tong realize Feng Ji's true motives now. They wanted to rope the Zhang family into their ranks.

The soap business definitely caught their eyes, and they wanted to acquire it. But they would not use any unscrupulous practice to take it by force. The Yuan family always welcomed any talent so they wanted Tong to volunteer and join them without being forced.

Therefore, they sent Wen Chou here as an escort. Tong assumed that the group of soldiers that came along with Wen Chou could be the elites of the Yuan family, too.

With these people, they could take Tong and his family and retreated back to Nan Pi once Tong and Zhang Jiao lost the fight.

Once they got there, Tong and Zhang Jiao would have no choice but serving their family as servants. Then the businesses they had would fall into the hands of the Yuan by default.

However, if a miracle happened and Tong won the battle, they would form a good relationship with the Zhang family.

Furthermore, because the Yuan family had helped Tong throughout this trading deal and this upcoming battle, Tong now owed a debt to the Yuan family.

Then in the future, if they required it, they would send someone to ask the Zhang family for a favor and Tong had no choice but to repay this debt.

If Tong refused to pay this debt and the words got out, then the other nobles would mark Zhang family as fraud and would no longer trade with them.

And lastly, Wen Chou troops could also act as scouts to obtain more information about Tong and his troops, his tactics in the next battle, his personality and etc. They would report back to the Yuan family about everything they saw once they returned.

This stratagem by Feng Ji made Tong depressed. Feng Ji was worthy to be called one of the leading advisor. His skills couldn't be underestimated.

Then a question popped up in Tong's mind. If Feng Ji, who was considered subpar when compared to Tian Feng, was this good, then what kind of monstrous brain that top strategists in this era like Jia Xu, Sima Yi, Zhou Yu, Guo Jia or Zhuge Liang would have?

Tong shuddered. Without cheat skills or the 21st-century knowledge, Tong would be nothing comparing to those monsters.

Right now Tong could only nod and accepted his disadvantages position. Once he repelled Guo Dian's troops and occupied Julu County for his own, then it would be different.

Tong returned the letter to Wen Chou and asked him to burn it. He already understood his intention so the letter was no longer needed.

Wen Chou smiled and did what Tong had asked him.

"Then Lord Immortal Zhang. If you have any request in the future, you can ask me."

"So you knew it all along."

"I'm sorry to deceive you. It was the order of the butler."

Tong had a bitter smile. He nodded in acknowledgment and bid farewell to the group of escort.

Wen Chou cupped his hands and said goodbye. They didn't stay in Zhang temporary resident but chose to camp outside.

Tong looked at the back of the leaving Wen Chou. Hundreds of schemes were being simulated in Tong's mind.

The Yuan family played it this way, then Tong would answer with a similar stratagem.

Since they sent one of their best general Wen Chou here to assist him, then Tong would not be humble and would use him to the fullest.

…

May 16th. Morning.

Tong woke up and sat up on his bed. Hua Shi was also there, clinging to Tong like glue.

Tong was away for a month and a half which caused her withdrawal syndrome to relapse. She was thirsty for Tong's blood or saliva.

Tong was afraid that she might return to be a psychopath zombie again, or she might wander around and killed someone for food. He allowed her to stay in his room for a night, which resulted in Tong getting his saliva sucked dry.

Tong hydrated himself and went out to sort the gold and other stuff from yesterday.

He stored 245,000 gold and all armors and weapons in this inventory to save spaces. As for the 5,000 gold remaining, he gave a portion to the family and bought more ingredients for the next batch of soap. Soap was his ATM right now.

Tong also left the remaining 7,000 gold in his warehouse for the family to use in case of emergency. He had more than enough in his hands.

After Tong arrived at his camp, he could see changes.

The fortress had been built in a shape of double pentagrams. The wall was three meters tall and a giant gate erected there, deep in the corner inside the V-formation of the wall. Any local that caught sight of this fortress would be stuck awed.

The trenches around the fortress were hidden there like a maze. The workers were busy finalizing the layout and maps of the maze trenches.

The soldiers in the camp became more dignified and were worthy to be call soldiers rather than thugs now. They could run and execute orders in a disciplined fashion. No one showed signs of tiredness or exhaustion.

To Tong's surprise, Zhang Liang's soldiers were here too. Zhang Liang had noticed how efficient the training program that Tong's camp was using was, so they were sent here to train with Tong's men.

The repeated crossbows were already distributed to the men. They had been training and practicing using them, so they could fire a volley with ease.

The shields, chest armors, and spears that Tong commissioned the blacksmiths were also completed. Two thousand sets of tower shields and spears were distributed to both camps, and the soldiers were in the middle of training with them.

But everything couldn't be learned in a short amount of times. The phalanx formation still couldn't be executed by the standard that Tong had imagined. A handful of officers also showed signs of slacking and abusing their authorities.

Another readjustment and a purge were required. He was going to get busy again.

Then Tong glanced at the location of Wen Chou temporary camp and grinned. It was a good time to put this famous general to good use.

Wen Chou was Yuan Shao's one of the two strongest generals in the history alongside with Yan Liang. So he should know a thing or two when it came to training soldiers.

That afternoon, Tong visited Wen Chou's camp and asked him if he could administer the training of his troops.

Wen Chou was sent here to obtain information about Tong and Zhang family in the first place, so he accepted. All the elite soldiers in his camp would go and help too.

But once Wen Chou saw Tong's 2,000 soldiers, he was flabbergasted.

'Are you sure that they are ex-bandits and not the imperial troops?'

'The info we have had was wrong. They look more like elites to me.'

Although the troops didn't have experiences and toughness like the real professional imperial soldiers, they could still efficiently execute orders like one. Wen Chou was amazed by the disciplinary of the soldiers.

"Lord Wen Chou, I'd like you to help me train these soldiers about phalanx formation and other infantry formations. Could you help me?"

Wen Chou clicked his tongue in his mind. Tong wanted him to impart his experience for these soldiers. But Wen Chou couldn't complain. He was sent here so Tong would be indebted to the Yuan family, so he had to help.

Seeing Wen Chou agreed, Tong laughed in his heart. Since Tong was indebted to the Yuan family, then why not add another debt on his tabs.

"Oh, by the way. I have a couple hundred horses with me. Could you also teach my officers about cavalry tactics and formations once you've done with the soldiers? I'll be indebted to you."

Wen Chou almost choked blood. This brat was shameless! He was not even a Zhang family servant but Tong still had the balls to order him around. But he swallowed his pride and agreed. It was his job.

Tong almost died laughing in his heart. He no longer cared how many debts he owed to the Yuan family. As long as there was something he could use, then why not using it to the fullest.