Take Over

Chapter 55 – Take Over

October 27th. Morning, Xin Ping Army main tent.

Xin Ping had organized all his officers to gather at his main tent today as he had an important announcement to everybody.

Thirty officers, including Zhang He and his aide, were present in the tent.

Xin Ping staggered into the tent and gazed at everyone. Afterward, he started the meeting.

"Since everyone is here then *hig* I'll be brief. We're going home."

"What!?"

"Really!?"

"But what about Zhang Tong?"

The crowd was confused. Although their army suffered a setback, the two thousand men that were captured had returned. They should be preparing for another siege attempt, but why they had to retreat.

"I know all of you are confused. However, we must not forget the purpose of this skirmish. Our Lord, Han Fu, wanted to humiliate Yuan Shao and his family so we marched here to destroy Yuan Shao's allies. But, since Yuan Shao's men were cowards. They didn't even dare to step a foot outside of their base, so we don't have to continue struggling in vain. They had already humiliated themselves."

All officers were baffled as they murmured. They did not know the purpose of this invasion before. Everything was for this petty fight between the families?

"Secondly *hig*, yesterday evening, I have received an invitation from Liu Yan Army. They want us to join them and attack Zhang Tong together. *hig*"

The crowd murmured again. Some of them wanted did not want to go back yet, but other officers of the conscripted militias were reluctant to continue fighting.

"For this joint coalition against Zhang Tong, I see this as a stupid move. Zhang Tong is already crafty and cunning, and Liu Yan's general is a snake. So if we take part in that, we'll be used by the other forces as pawns and die in vain. Let me ask you this, do you all want to die for a stranger?"

The one-arm aide of Zhang He laughed in his heart because of Xin Ping's comments.

'Hypocrite, you have just contradicted yourself. You want to use us as your pawns but you won't allow them to use us as their pawns? What do you think we are? Worthless ants?'

The one-arm soldier smirked at Xin Ping who was reeking alcohol from his mouth. His face was as red as a tomato. His hair was unkempt as if he didn't comp it after he woke up in the morning. His eyes were blood-shot, and his motion was unstable. All signs showed that Xin Ping was dead drunk.

'How do you like my 85% alcohol vodka? Let's see how you will ruin your leadership and your army.'

The smiling soldier was none other than Tong. On the day of the prison break, he caused an explosion and slipped out of his fort with the escapees. To get away from the intense interrogation from Xin Ping, Tong cut off his own arm to pretend to be an injured soldier. Furthermore, he also had Zhang He and his men made up a story about his backgrounds as if he was once a Ye City citizen. As a result, he got in with the other prisoners without being suspected of being a spy.

Before Tong started the prison break plan, he had made two bottles of vodka from his magic cooking utensil.

After he had infiltrated into Xin Ping camp, he ordered Zhang He to give all of the prepared vodkas for Xin Ping's personal cooks. So he could get himself drunk or crippled his judgment for a day.

However, Tong was surprised by Xin Ping's alcohol tolerant. He heard that Xin Ping emptied the bottles of vodka this morning but he was still able to attend the meeting.

'I thought he would die from alcohol poisoning. Well, it's better if he didn't die instantly.'

Tong rubbed his chin as he observed Xin Ping from head to toes. Then he swept his glance to everybody in the tent.

All officers had distorted expression as they noticed the alcoholic smell from Xin Ping. Tong assumed that they were already aware that Xin Ping was dead drunk.

"I'm the only one that can order you around! No one has the right to command my army! No one …"

Xin Ping started babbling nonsense which caused all of the officers to express their inconvenient on their faces. They wanted to retort or stopped Xin Ping, but they were afraid of the martial laws and its punishment for insubordination or careless remarks.

Tong smirked as he realized that the timing was right. He pulled out a small packed cloth with powder anesthetic, AKA "Date Rape Drug" in the modern time, which Hua Shi had prepared for him beforehand. Afterward, he chanted his magic words in his mind.

'Time stop!'

All movements in the world stopped. For the next ten seconds, Tong owned this world.

Tong straddled forward and shoved his drug into Xin Ping's mouth directly, and fed him with a scoop of water from a bucket nearby. After the set up was done, Tong returned to his previous spot and allowed the time to resume.

The time flow resumed. Xin Ping found himself choking because some of the water got into his lung. After the serious coughing, he felt dizzy and nauseous. Then blackness enveloped his vision as he lost consciousness.

The crowd was thrown into an uproar the moment they saw Xin Ping suddenly collapsed. However, none of them suspected that Xin Ping was poisoned or assassinated because they all believed that Xin Ping finally hit his alcohol limit and passed out.

One of the officers called out Xin Ping's servants and had them taking the drunk man back to his resting tent. After the matter was done, all of them resumed the war meeting.

"Lord Xin Ping is not currently in a state to handle troops. What do you all think we should do?" One of the officers asked.

"Lord Pan Feng is dead and Lord Xin Ping is out cold. Who will command this army?"

"That's right. Without a leader, we can't move our men like this."

"How about we move with our men and decide for ourselves what to do?"

"No! That will create chaos! All of us here are either a hundred-man commander or a thousand-man commander. If we do that we will split our forces into small numbers and it will not be organized."

Seeing that the officers were deciding what to do next, Tong chipped in.

"I think we should select someone among us to be the new temporary commander for now."

"Hmm?"

"Ehh?"

"Ah! That's right! We need a new grand commander!"

"Correct! Without a leader, our army can't operate!"

"Nice idea! Let's do that. But who will be the new commander?"

Tong smiled as he proposed another idea.

"How about our two-thousand-man commander, Zhang He."

"Hmm? Him?"

"The new two-thousand-man commander?"

The crowd focused their attention on Tong and Zhang He. Meanwhile, Zhang He's eyes were opened wide while he was sweating bullets. Although Tong had briefed his plan with him beforehand, he was still nervous.

"Yes. From the prison break attempt, he was our leader and the mastermind behind the plan. He kept his head cool and saved all of us. Moreover, he currently has the highest rank among us. I think Lord Zhang He is the most suitable candidate for this position."

Tong persuaded everyone by shoving all credits to Zhang He to create a hero image for him. However, Zhang He's teeth were chattering as if he was in the middle of Alaska naked, yet he did his best to maintain his poker face.

All officers nodded in agreement. They had no reason to refuse the idea as Zhang He had proven that he qualified to be a commander. He protected his people. He also had the highest rank and he was smart, so why not?

"Since everybody agrees with me. Then Lord Zhang He, we will leave our fates in your hand."

Tong concluded the decision without giving anyone a chance to think or offering any other idea. Then he winked at Zhang He and hinted him to acknowledge it and take the position.

Zhang He stood up and walked to the main seat in the main tent. Then he sat down as he gazed at everyone in solemn. His poker face did not flinch the slightest.

Tong was surprised by his calm reaction and his ability to maintain his coolness. He indeed had the charisma of a great general.

Everybody in the tent was also impressed by his demeanor. They had no doubt that they had selected the most suitable person to be their commander.

Tong made a hand gesture in secret, telling him what to do next, which made Zhang He rained another sweat.

Zhang He took a deep breath before he gave out his first thought and command.

"Although Lord Xin Ping was drunk, I agree with his idea of withdrawing from this battle. This war was meaningless to us anyway. What do you guys think?"

The crowd nodded. The suggestion from the sane commander and a drunk man was the same, but the credibility they had was a world apart. All officers agreed without any question.

Tong smiled while he gave Zhang He a thumb up.

'It was tiring and risky. But the second and third phase was successful.'

'With this, one of the three armies is eliminated.'