Mythical Three Kingdoms

Regarding the Military Camp that Sima Yi laid out, Mao Jie gave just two characters as his evaluation: perfect! His heart settled quite a bit as well, and he prepared to sit back and watch how the young man would deal with the Southern Huns.

As one of the earliest people to follow Cao Cao, even if Mao Jie hadn’t understood the arrangements in Chang’an at the beginning, by the end he had guessed it: on the one hand it was the final evaluation of Cao Cao’s ability and temperament in all aspects before delegating power to the Emperor; on the other hand it was also a test for Cao Ang.

And now that the test paper of Chang’an had been discarded, Mao Jie mulled it over twice and felt that using the Southern Huns as a test wasn’t bad either. Anyway, in this era, as long as you understand warfare and can make good use of people, you can survive. It’d be good to see what Cao Ang is capable of.

Of course, even Mao Jie had to admit that Sima Yi was a completely over‑spec existence in this test. Fortunately, no matter how over‑spec Sima Yi was, in the end it was still Cao Ang holding military power in his hands. Being able to make good use of people in dealing with the Southern Huns was itself a very outstanding ability.

So Mao Jie happily used the telescope that was extremely precious even on Mount Tai to observe Cao Ang’s performance, and then he discovered that, under Cao Ang, aside from the unit led by Cao Zhen, the other Soldiers were all very bad—so bad that they had absolutely no idea what ”coordination” even meant.

Adding in those youths who had never gone through any military training at all, Mao Jie estimated that even Sima Yi could only sit on the Main Camp to block the Southern Huns from moving south.

What happened afterward, however, was completely beyond Mao Jie’s imagination. Those messy Soldiers were progressing almost like taking huge leaps every single day. By today, the Soldiers Mao Jie observed through the telescope were all standing ramrod straight in each rank; every Soldier looked full of Spirit, and the formations of the queues had become incomparably clear.

This change practically shocked Mao Jie to the extreme. He prided himself on being proficient in Drilling Soldiers, and now he was watching a bunch of trash recruits grow to this level in just seven short days!

[This fellow Sima Zhongda really is incredibly formidable. Truly worthy of being a descendant of Sima Rangju. To actually train such an Elite Troops unit in just a few days, and judging from the current situation, the momentum of this army is in no way inferior to that of my own main force.]

Mao Jie clicked his tongue as he thought. This was twenty thousand men, and they’d been trained this quickly. If he hadn’t been watching every day, it would have been absolutely impossible to believe such a thing.

[I’m afraid today is when Zhongda and the other side will decide who’s superior. Given the wisdom Zhongda has shown before, plus this level of ability at Drilling Soldiers, even if the Southern Huns have a hundred thousand troops, they still have only one path—defeat.] Mao Jie looked at that strictly disciplined and solemn military bearing with a face full of respect.

At this moment, Sima Yi did not know that Mao Jie was on a high slope just a few li away, nor did he know what Mao Jie was thinking. Otherwise Sima Yi would definitely have snorted in disdain. These Soldiers were completely Silver Spears with Wax Spearheads—good‑looking but useless.

”I’m here to inform you: tonight we make our move.” Sima Yi looked at Cao Ang and said.

”Why not train for another day or two? The recruits have only just been drilled into shape. Give us another five or six days, and even without some Ingenious Strategy, our army won’t fear those Southern Huns,” Cao Zhen asked in puzzlement. At least he genuinely felt these Soldiers had already been trained.

”You can’t really think that this is what it means to have drilled them into soldiers, can you?” Sima Yi said with a snort of disdain.

”You mean even this isn’t enough? I think they’re better than the Soldiers under my own command,” Cao Zhen countered.

”You still don’t understand warfare. These Soldiers only know how to march forward and retreat, how to turn left and right. If you can get them to obey orders fearlessly, unafraid of death, then I’ll believe you when you say they’re better than your Soldiers. But right now, they’re still far off!” Sima Yi said with a cold smile.

Cao Ang glanced at those Soldiers who looked full of imposing momentum and felt a bit of doubt about Sima Yi’s words, but the wisdom Sima Yi had displayed earlier had indeed convinced him. So he didn’t refute anything, just spoke up, ”Then Zhongda, we’ll leave the arrangements to you. Among us, only you truly understand warfare.”

”Our Battle tonight is not a frontal engagement. For our strength to win, the only possibility is to make the enemy’s Military Camp explode into chaos. If we can’t achieve that, then even with cooperation from Huchuquan and the others, there is no way our army can win!” Sima Yi said with a cold smile.

”But how can we make the Southern Huns’ camp explode into chaos?” Cheng Wu frowned and asked. As Cheng Yu’s son, he was skilled in strategy, but unlike his father he wasn’t also able to Command Troops.

”If all these Soldiers were real Elite Troops, then after one wave of Strong Strike and pressing the main army forward, we could charge into the enemy’s camp with an unstoppable momentum. In such internal and external distress, the chance of their camp exploding into chaos would be very high. But as Zhongda says, our army is just bluffing…” Cheng Wu said helplessly.

”Right now the main problem is that I don’t believe the other Southern Hun Leaders are completely without vigilance toward Chanyu Huchuquan and the others,” Xiahou Shang looked at Sima Yi and said, with a hint of provocation.

Sima Yi swept a glance at Xiahou Shang. ”Have you ever seen people whose codes of conduct clash not be wary of each other? All the more so when Chanyu Huchuquan of the Southern Huns had actually hidden part of what he told me—that among the Chiefs of the other tribes, at least one has Inner Qi Manifestation.”

”Hmph, in that case, how are we supposed to make their camp explode?” Xiahou Shang said discontentedly, extremely displeased that Sima Yi had been outshining him all this time.

”That will depend on how good your acting is.” A trace of mockery rose on Sima Yi’s slightly gloomy face. ”Is the momentum of our army magnificent or not! Have someone give the order—take one step forward!”

Sima Yi faced the Soldiers and spoke to the officer in command. Then, as the Command Banner moved, all the Soldiers stepped forward. Over ten thousand men lifted their legs almost simultaneously and brought them down almost simultaneously. According to the requirements of the drilling, that stomp‑like motion when their feet hit the ground kicked up a large cloud of dust.

”Thud!” The sound of over ten thousand footsteps landing at the same time rang out, and all the ranks remained straight, row after row and file after file. Such a display, in the eyes of anyone in this era, would immediately and deservedly be considered top‑tier Elite Troops.

Then Sima Yi turned his head to look at Cao Ang and the others. ”If we didn’t tell you, who among you could see that they’re Silver Spears with Wax Spearheads?”

Chen Wu silently nodded. Indeed, judging from the quality those Soldiers had just displayed, they were in no way related to Miscellaneous Soldiers from any angle.

”So what we need to do is very simple. Gather all the most capable‑in‑combat Soldiers together and directly Strong Strike the Southern Huns’ Military Camp. Then we have these ’Elite Troops’ hold their spears and advance slowly as they did just now. The moonlight will be good tonight; at Midnight the half‑moon will be just in the Southwest. The Southern Hun tribe facing us will see them very clearly.” Sima Yi slowly explained.

”The Southern Huns are also made up of separate tribes, and there is competition between them. At the same time, they have a clear understanding of the strength of the Han Dynasty. So once they see such Elite Troops, they’ll turn around and leave without the slightest politeness. As for us, that’s called using the fox to borrow the tiger’s might!” Sima Yi looked at Cao Ang and the others with absolute calm.

At that instant, everyone understood Sima Yi’s plotting. What he was scheming wasn’t tricks, what he was calculating wasn’t battlefield maneuvers. From the very beginning, what he had laid plans for was the human heart.

”These Soldiers may be unpromising, but if the fight is going our way, as long as their quality is not much worse than that of veterans, their results won’t differ much. The greatest difference between Elite Troops, veterans, and recruits is not in a tailwind Battle, but in a headwind Battle!” Sima Yi said as he looked at the few men before him.

Hearing this, everyone fell silent in thought. Having never truly been on the battlefield, they simply couldn’t fully grasp what Sima Yi meant by those words.

”First gather all the most capable‑in‑combat Soldiers in our army, then merge them into the Elite Soldiers led by Zidan. I have only one demand of you.” Sima Yi looked at Cao Zhen as he spoke.

Upon hearing this, Cao Zhen immediately stepped forward, puffed out his chest, and listened for Sima Yi’s order.

”Lead the Soldiers under your command, unleash all of your strength, and let the Southern Huns recognize that you are an Elite Troops unit—an extremely powerful Elite Troops unit. And while you’re at it, take down all these messy banners for me. Tonight we will have only a single flag, and that will be ’Han’!” Sima Yi warned as he looked at Cao Zhen. Cao Zhen nodded repeatedly at his words.