Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 94: Mr. Zhang has great talent!

”Uh, I wrote it myself!” Yang Zhenshan admitted somewhat guiltily as he stroked his beard.

”You wrote this!” Zhou Lan stood up abruptly, her eyes filled with disbelief.

She found it hard to believe, staring intently at Yang Zhenshan without blinking.

Who was Yang Zhenshan?

Originally, twenty years ago, he was just an ordinary soldier, and even now, Yang Zhenshan had never truly led troops into battle.

How could he have written such a military treatise?

”Did you really write this?”

”Absolutely!” Yang Zhenshan asserted confidently.

No one here could refute him anyway, what he said about writing it was taken as the truth.

Besides, it was the truth; he had written this booklet word by word.

Zhou Lan took her gaze back and sat down, opening the booklet in her hands again.

She still found it hard to believe, but she trusted that Yang Zhenshan would not deceive her.

Seeing the situation between the two, Zhou Xu nearby also couldn’t help but become curious.

”Let me see!”

He unapologetically took the booklet from Zhou Lan’s hands.

Zhou Lan wanted to stop him, but it was already in Zhou Xu’s hands, and she could only reluctantly watch as he browsed through it.

The room fell into silence once more. Soon, Zhou Xu was completely absorbed in the content of the book, while Zhou Lan’s gaze wandered back and forth between the book and Yang Zhenshan.

”How ingenious, truly ingenious!”

Suddenly, Zhou Xu exclaimed with delight.

”What a ’Deceiving The Heavens to Cross the Sea’ strategy!”

After reading only a few pages, Zhou Xu looked up sharply, ”Did you really write this!”

”Yes,” Yang Zhenshan nodded helplessly again.

”You have great talent, Sir!”

Zhou Xu stood up, took Yang Zhenshan by the arm, and asked with admiration and anticipation, ”How did you come up with this?”

”’Deceiving The Heavens to Cross the Sea’, this strategy has been used by others before, but never has anyone summarized it so thoroughly and specifically!”

After a moment of thought, Yang Zhenshan replied, ”I summarized it from military treatises of the past.”

”This strategy is about avoiding the real attacks and striking the illusory, achieving victory through unexpected moves, correct?” Zhou Xu asked.

”Right, but also not right. The premise of ’avoiding the real to strike the illusory’ depends on understanding the enemy’s true and false situation; the key to achieving victory through unexpected moves is to seize the right moment,” Yang Zhenshan explained.

”Exactly, exactly!” Zhou Xu nodded repeatedly.

Then, the Princely Heir seemed to enter a frenzied state, bombarding Yang Zhenshan with countless questions, which gave Yang Zhenshan quite a headache.

Had it not been for Yang Zhenshan’s past life experiences of studying the Thirty-Six Stratagems and understanding the depth of each strategy, he might not have been able to answer all of Zhou Xu’s questions.

Zhou Lan also listened with great interest, though she maintained a part of her attention elsewhere.

As two hours passed, Zhou Lan had to interrupt Zhou Xu.

”Brother, it’s getting late; we should have our meal!”

It was past noon, indeed time for a meal.

”Meal!”

Zhou Xu came back to reality, ”Right, a meal. Brother Zhengshan, shall we have a drink together?”

He still did not want to let Yang Zhenshan go.

Through the earlier conversation, he had already gauged Yang Zhenshan’s capabilities.

Yang Zhenshan indeed had genuine expertise, with many insights into military strategy that Zhou Xu had never thought of before.

However, he could also see that Yang Zhenshan probably had no real experience leading troops in battle; many matters, while showing Zhengshan’s unique perspectives, also revealed his ignorance in practical issues.

For example, how scouts should scout the enemy - there existed a complete system for this, but Yang Zhenshan was not very familiar with it.

This was normal, even though over the past year Yang Zhenshan had read some military books and familiarized himself with various military types and their combat methods and related systems in the army, the time had been too short, and there were things he had not completely mastered yet.

In simple terms, Yang Zhenshan’s insights and knowledge, which had not been summarized in this world due to his past life’s experiences, were unique. However, in practical operations, he was not as capable as the native generals here.

People who had led troops for more than ten years, even decades, were not something Zhengshan could surpass easily.

Intellect is important, but experience is vital too.

There was no question about Yang Zhenshan’s strategic thinking, but he lacked much in experience.

Nevertheless, that did not prevent Zhou Xu from admiring Yang Zhenshan; knowing about Yang Zhenshan’s past, Zhou Xu even felt sorry for him.

”If Sir had not left Chongshan Town twenty years ago, today you would surely be a general or a pillar in the court!”

Yang Zhenshan didn’t quite know how to respond.

With the original body’s talent in Martial Arts, had he stayed in Chongshan Town, perhaps he really could have reached the positions of General You Ji or Assistant General.

However, that was just Martial Arts talent; as for leading troops in battle, Yang Zhenshan could not estimate, as personal growth relates to experiences and encounters.

At the dining table, Zhou Xu and Yang Zhenshan talked a lot, from military strategy to troop training, from Jianning Guard to Chongshan Town, from the East Sea Hu Clan to the court.

Initially, Yang Zhenshan managed to keep up, but when it came to subjects involving the court, he fell short.

Though he now held the Standard Fifth Rank of a households leader, he had never visited the Capital City nor had he ever dealt with court affairs, so regarding matters of the court, Yang Zhenshan just quietly listened to Zhou Xu and Zhou Lan’s discussion.

After lunch, Yang Zhenshan staggered out of the Assistant General Mansion.

Zhou Xu had made him drink quite a bit, but fortunately, his alcohol tolerance was good, and he did not pass out.

The New Year’s gifts had all been given, and that afternoon, Yang Zhenshan bid farewell to Zhao Yuan and returned to Yinghe Castle.

The next day, Zhou Lan sent someone to Yinghe Castle to return the favor.

Zhou Lan’s holiday gifts were naturally not comparable to what Yang Zhenshan could offer, involving as many as four horse-drawn carriages, loaded to the brim.

This return gift was not less significant than the thanksgiving gifts Zhou Lan had previously sent to Yang Family Village.