Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Up on the Dragon Peak of the Twin Dragon Mount…
The conference hall was brightly lit by the mostly completed electric power system, and Ninth Uncle had personally set up a blocking formation outside it.
Apart from Wu Song, Lu Zhishen, and the others who were guarding the shores with the soldiers, most of the strategic personnel had gathered here.
They stood around a “battlefield sandbox” created by Elder Jiao’s 3-D printing talent and were discussing the unprecedented challenge the Twin Dragon Island had to face now.
“Based on what Master Ji said, Fang La’s army isn’t impossible to defeat.
“Even if the remaining three forces are all of the same level as Fang La’s army, we should be able to directly engage two of them in a fight at one go!”
Elder Meng pointed at a ball of flame that indicated Fang La’s army in the sandbox.
“More importantly, these people feel intimidated, which means that we’ll have a lot of room to maneuver in the battle.”
Guo Wei’s eyes flickered behind his glasses as he looked from one rival force to another.
If these Water Margin villains came here with hatred like the Black Serpent, Mandrill, and Yellow Jade Scorpion, and if the only thing they wanted was to kill everyone and destroy the settlement, there would be no point for the Twin Dragon Island to make any strategies. Their only option was to fight the tough battle.
But since those people were intelligent beings, all the war strategies throughout the Chidragon history could be used.
“Apart from that, when Master Ji went to Fang La’s camp, I secretly visited Tian Hu’s camp as well and obtained some information.”
Li Qing pointed at Tian Hu’s barracks that looked like a magnificent palace.
“I found out that probably because they didn’t have a settlement, they didn’t seem to be able to see ‘properties’ directly.
“Other than that, I’ve also learned something important. Our four rivals aren’t a unified force. Rather, they’re competitors.
“They all have the same target: our settlement’s providence core. However, once one of them obtains it, the other three will turn to ashes for failing to complete the task!”
Because Li Qing had a lot of contribution points, he was able to purchase a Superior Extraordinary Rank-9 equipment from the City of Humans last time. It could completely conceal his aura.
Together with the Invisible Suit containing Transcendent power that he had obtained from the Battlefield of Providence, Li Qing was able to walk freely in the enemy camp without getting spotted. Yan Qing had also given him the manual of the True Seer, further enhancing his ability in getting information.
“They’re competitors to one another?
“That’s why the enemies this time are unbelievably powerful!”
This piece of information brought back by Li Qing had significant value to the strategic personnel of the Twin Dragon Island.
“It means that when we attack one of them, it’s very likely that none of the other three will come to their rescue.
“Although we’re inferior in our numbers, in terms of the comprehensive capability, we’re definitely stronger than any single one of the forces. I’m sure we can defeat them one by one!” Guo Wei said with flickering eyes.
“Hey, we can pretend to be weak at first.
“That way, we can conceal our true capability, making them think that they can easily take us.
“We can then trick them into fighting one another. Once they’re all weakened and exhausted by the fights, we’ll show our real strength, defeating them all. We’ll kill the men and keep the… Ahem, I mean, what do you think of my plan?”
With shining eyes, Mister Bug made a suggestion.
The tattoo on his arm today was a middle-aged man wearing a blue headscarf and the official robe of a prime minister with a white feather fan in his hand. It was the typical outfit of Zhuge Liang, one of the wisest strategic advisers in history.
It made him feel extra quick-witted today, so he decided to join the brains of the settlement.
However, the style seemed rather similar to that of Zhou Yu!
“Well, that’s great!”
Elder Meng nodded.
“Really?”
Mister Bug was pleasantly surprised.
“Yes, really. Pretend to be weak and let the enemies fight among themselves first. Considering our situation, that seems to be our best bet.”
Elder Zhou nodded as well.
“But there’s still the problem of implementing it.
“For one, no matter what happens, the providence core of our settlement is still their primary target. Once our borders meet tomorrow, the enemies will do their best to attack us. In that situation, if we don’t give all we have, we may not be able to withstand the attack.
“For another, if we choose to show our weakness right from the beginning, it will be a waste of the opportunity when we could achieve maximum casualty with our firearms before our borders meet, during which time the enemies still haven’t figured out our attacking methods.”
Most of the people here in the conference hall had also realized the problems that Elder Zhou had brought up.
“Then we show them how capable we are!
“As soon as the battle starts tomorrow, we’ll let the Golden Condors throw some Flood Dragon Eggs into three of the armies, blowing a few hundred people up. That’ll intimidate them and stop them from advancing too quickly. Then, we’ll find a way to defeat them one by one!”
“Zhuge Bug” gave it some thought and came up with another idea.
The inspiration naturally came from the two bombs named “Fat Man” and “Little Boy”.
Although the Flood Dragon Eggs were far less damaging, they would be enough to intimidate these ancient men.
“That plan also has flaws.
“It’s true. They’ll be frightened by our powerful weapons.
“But it’s also very likely that because of that, they wouldn’t fight against one another, let alone giving us a chance to defeat them one at a time,” said Ji Ye.
“I’m confused. What should we do? Show our muscles or pretend to be weak?”
An Quan scratched his completely bald head.
He had been in charge of building the SkyNet, but it wasn’t finished yet.
Otherwise, they might have been able to simulate the battle on the computer.
“Why don’t we do both? Show our muscle and pretend to be weak both at the same time?” said a gentle, mellow voice.
It was Zhou Yu, who had been studying the sandbox for a few minutes.
“Gongjin (Zhou Yu’s courtesy name), have you figured it out?”
Ji Ye couldn’t wait to hear Zhou Yu out.
After all, he was one of the cleverest men in the Three Kingdoms era.
“Since we’ve decided to defeat them one by one, the Flood Dragon Eggs shouldn’t be thrown at all four of them. Only three sides should be bombed. That way, we can intimidate the three sides while we focus our strength on defeating the fourth force!
“In defeating the first force, we can convince the others that the battle has caused destruction to both sides, which will make it more convincing when we pretend to have been weakened,” said Zhou Yu.
“That’ll work!”
Elder Zhou and Elder Meng nodded in unison.
“But which force shall we choose to show our muscles?”
“Well, according to what I’ve heard, Tian Hu and Wang Qing have weaker generals, so there’s no need to target either of them first,” said Zhou Yu.
“Okay!” Ji Ye nodded.
But there was actually another reason for not choosing Tian Hu.
In the novel, a lot of Tian Hu’s soldiers became Liangshan members after the war.
For instance, Tian Hu had a female general Qiu Qiongying, who was nicknamed Jade Arrowhead.
She could be considered the most capable female heroes in the Water Margin, and her flying stones were incredibly accurate. Not only had she fought against Hu Sanniang and Gu Dasao all at once, but she had also injured Lin Chong and Li Kui with her stones as well.
As for the flying stone skills itself, it was taught by Zhang Qing, who was summoned by an immortal, in her dreams.
Qiu Qiongying and Zhang Qing were said to be “bound by fate”. She married him after yielding her surrender to Liangshan and had made a great contribution in the war against Wang Qing.
There was also Qiao Daoqing, the “Illusion Magic King”, as well as Maling the Divine Horse, who was also good at conjuring spells and became Gongsun Sheng’s pupil after the war.
Since a hero would learn their fate when they were summoned, Ji Ye couldn’t bring himself to kill them.
“As for whom we shall show our muscle… It’ll be Fang La!”
Zhou Yu pointed at Fang La’s flame mark in the sandbox with an IR pen that the technology department had newly developed.
“Yes. Wait… Fang La has a lot of ‘believers’, and according to Master Ji, what he said had already made them hesitate.
“Why don’t we leave them for last? Maybe we’ll even be able to use the ‘power of the Empyrean Dragon Emperor’,” An Quan said in bewilderment.
