Chapter 808: Chapter 45: Distracting Attention

Upon learning that the Dragon Clan and the Feathered Clan had withdrawn from their stronghold and then launched a fierce attack on it, Lv Yan was somewhat surprised and soon couldn’t help but let out a wry laugh.

“This tactic of retreating in order to advance is truly ingenious!” Qi Yingzhu also exclaimed, “In this way, the roles of offense and defense have changed.”

“So what if they have?” Lv Yan asked calmly in response.

Qi Yingzhu was stunned for a moment, then said:

“If they turn defense into offense like this, we will be the ones getting worn down.”

“But who is really afraid of getting worn down?” Lv Yan asked, appearing quite at ease.

Qi Yingzhu pondered for a while before she realized with sudden insight:

“It’s the Feathered Clan’s defensive forces in Yuanjiang City!”

“Even if such a fruitless stalemate leads to us suffering slightly more losses in battle, it is still worth the trade-off.” Lv Yan smiled slightly and instructed her, “Once the resources of Yuanjiang City are exhausted and they open the gates to surrender, the overall situation of the Two Rivers Plain will be settled.”

“Looking at their tactic, they may have won a tactical victory, but strategically it’s a major failure. Yingzhu, you must never make such mistakes in the future.”

“I understand.” Qi Yingzhu nodded, thinking to herself that if this is the case, Long Long, you’ve really disappointed me.

After parting ways with Lv Yan, she went to the intelligence department and asked the deputy general:

“Is there any word from the Dragon Clan side?”

“It is said that Long Long is still in command.” The deputy general said respectfully, yet he seemed barely able to conceal a chuckle.

“What’s the matter?” Qi Yingzhu noticed his odd expression.

“Ahem.” The deputy general then said softly, “Our spies can’t infiltrate the command room, but looking at some of the orders we’ve obtained, Long Long’s commands are overly meticulous.”

“Take this order for example: ‘Move the seventh squad forward fifty zhang.’ The specifics even detail down to the ten zhang. Does Long Long think he’s playing chess or something?”

Upon hearing this, Qi Yingzhu also looked somewhat perplexed.

In the ever-changing circumstances of the battlefield, most details usually require frontline generals to make adjustments based on the situation.

If Long Long is indeed micromanaging each squad, then he is trying to replace all frontline contingency reactions with strategies devised from the back, which is a classic example of armchair generalship.

Although the enemy’s command is so incompetent that, from her stance, she should be pleased.

Yet for some reason, she felt quite disappointed in her heart.

“Keep probing.” Qi Yingzhu said in a low voice, “Report any intelligence to me and my master at any time.”

“Understood.” The White Tiger deputy acknowledged with a nod, but didn’t take it seriously.

With Long Long’s cumbersome command on the other side, and with most orders being unrealistic, if he were to report it to the Divine General, the old man would surely question my sense of priority.

It’s better to wait for important intelligence before reporting.

Let’s not discuss the White Tiger side for now; as for Long Long in the command room, in just a short time, he had issued hundreds of orders, causing both Long Hu and Qin Lie to be taken aback.

Although neither of them was well-versed in military strategy, they also knew that Long Long’s way seemed a bit over the top… Now nearly no Dragon Clan cultivators on the frontline have a moment of rest, as they are all being commanded around incessantly!

Qin Lie couldn’t speak out, so he quietly used Flying Sword Messaging to send a message to the Great Elder Qin Chaocang in the rear, detailing Long Long’s armchair generalship, and then expressed his own confusion and doubts.

As for how to deal with it, he would leave it to his grandfather to decide.

Long Hu, on the other hand, couldn’t help but speak up:

“Long Long! Who commands with such attention to detail? The soldiers at the front are not Magic Artifacts; they can’t carry out orders with such precision!”

“What do you know.” Long Long pressed down on the fox’s head with its paw, “This is tactics! Tactics, understand?”

“Eh, so it’s just a scheme?” Long Hu asked naively.

Next to him, Qin Lie’s expression changed slightly, thinking that it was a ruse after all? Bad, I’ve been too presumptuous!

The message-conveying Flying Sword had already been sent out just now, and it was impossible to recall it at the last moment. To prevent Grandpa from misunderstanding, another message-conveying Flying Sword could only be sent, with seven large characters written in the letter: “Long Long says, it’s a strategy.”

“So, it’s a feint?” Long Hu was still trying to understand, “By using overly meticulous handiwork to command, you make the enemy think Long Long you are nothing but a mediocre strategist only capable of tactics on paper. Then, when underestimated, you bring out the secret weapon to turn defeat into victory, right?”

If that was the case, it seemed plausible, and Qin Lie also thought to himself. The White Tiger Divine General was long renowned for his military expertise, and coupled with Long Long’s maneuver, it was very likely that he would underestimate him.

Just don’t know what that killer move is…

Several hours passed, and Long Long was still tirelessly detailing his commands with extreme attention.

Looking at the front lines again, most areas had gained a slight advantage. The opposing Qilin and White Tiger allied forces didn’t seem to plan on combating with equally intricate and tedious strategies; they were simply defending and stalling methodically.

But such minor advantages were not enough to secure a victory, let alone alter the tide of the battlefield considerably.

Thus, Long Hu finally came back to her senses: was Long Long bluffing me?

She remained silent, observing coldly, and the more she watched, the more she felt “he’s just playing around.” Suddenly furious, she began grinding her teeth fiercely.

“What’s wrong?” Long Long had just made a move and turned his head to ask, “If you’re hungry, I actually have a leftover chicken leg from lunch here…”

“It’s not about the chicken leg!” Long Hu was so angry she twisted his ear, “Where’s the promised secret weapon? Where is the grand move you talked about?”

Qin Lie turned his head away, embarrassed to watch their close interaction, while Long Long pretended to push the fox away and took the opportunity to stroke her a few times. Then calmly said:

“The grand move? It’s quite simple.”

What followed was something that made both Long Hu and Qin Lie stare in astonishment: he packed up the chessboard magic artifact into his storage pouch and took it with him.

“Let’s go.” Long Long said, “We’re moving to the rescue of Yuanjiang City’s remaining troops.”

Long Hu: ???

Qin Lie: ???

Both were confounded, but seeing Long Long’s confidence, they put aside their doubts and followed along.

Leaving the tunnel and coming to the river, Long Long took the lead with the Water Escape Technique. He sometimes veered east, sometimes looped back west, but the shifts were not great–it was mainly a northward advance.

Long Hu and Qin Lie followed behind, wondering about the strange route.

After following for a while, they suddenly realized in shock:

Along the way, let alone encountering enemy troops, they hadn’t even run into a single ally!

“What’s there to be surprised about?” Long Long said with a composed expression, “Did you really think my previous command was just showing off my paper strategy?”

Long Hu and Qin Lie were taken aback, a certain realization dawning on them:

Could it be that through meticulous and tedious command, the habitual thinking of the enemy commanders stationed here had been thoroughly probed?

In this way, whether it was on the offensive, for diversion, or defense, it was possible to make corresponding predictions based on the enemy’s responses.

With such predictions, one could move cleverly, completely bypassing the enemy’s patrol defenses!

Let’s not discuss further how shocked the two of them were.

Inside the Sea of Consciousness, the Kunlun Mirror asked the Summoning Sword curiously:

“Do you think his command just now was really about probing?”

“There should be an element of probing, but mainly it was to paralyze the enemy,” the Summoning Sword said languidly, “With your scanning ability, any ambush is simply impossible to hide from his sight.”

“But even if he can see through the battlefield situation, if that White Tiger gets the message and sends a large force to block and slaughter us on this water route, we still can’t get through.”

“That’s why the eyes and ears of the White Tiger Divine General must be dulled,” the Kunlun Mirror realized, “With such detailed and complex orders on our side, adjusting the military like a game of chess, the enemy surely wouldn’t choose to respond one by one, or else they’d be too passive.”

“Since they won’t respond to each, they certainly won’t report it to the White Tiger,” the Summoning Sword said with a cold laugh, “No matter how clever a general is, if they can’t get first-hand information from the battlefield, what’s the difference between them and a deaf and blind person?”

“So, the key is to make the first-hand information from the battlefield overwhelmingly abundant!” the Kunlun Mirror finally wholeheartedly conceded, “This guy, he does have some skills!”