Chapter 67

The two cooks regretted speaking out the moment the words left their mouths. However, facing Xue Jin'an’s youthful face and clear, innocent eyes, they ultimately could not swallow their pride to back down. Putting on a brave front, they said, "Well, first let's make one thing clear: our martial arts are superficial, just at an ordinary level, and we are by no means the kind of experts you have in mind."

The subtext was that he should forget about any notion of the three of them blindly charging in to defeat a hundred people and capture the stronghold, as they certainly would not accompany him on such a suicidal mission.

Both of them hoped that Xue Jin'an would see the difficulty and retreat.

Yet, Xue Jin'an never intended to rely on brute force anyway. He did have methods in his mind for three people to clear the entire level, but the success rate was far too low to even be considered.

Xue Jin'an processed their conditions in his mind, filtered out strategies that had low requirements for martial prowess, and then reeled off a string of tactical names ranked by their success rates.

Diversions, luring the enemy deep, passing through the darkness while crossing the hidden path—he practically threw out the entire Thirty-Six Stratagems, leaving the two cooks dumbfounded with stars in their eyes, completely dizzy from hearing so much.

Then they heard Xue Jin'an say, "That's all of them. You two pick one."

The cooks: "..." With so many options, he still called it "that's all"? Their ears were ringing just from listening; how were they supposed to choose?

The two swallowed hard, exchanged glances, and their eyes were filled with a guilty conscience.

If before they thought this little brother was somewhat boasting, now, listening to him speak so fluently—even though they had only caught the names of the plans and had no idea how to actually execute them—his calm and collected demeanor made it hard to believe he was just talking nonsense.

As two rough men in the military camp who barely knew a full set of characters, in their eyes, Xue Jin'an’s ability to fluently and skillfully rattle off the names of the Thirty-Six Stratagems was truly extraordinary.

Could he be the descendant of some general? If so, it was no wonder he could enter the army at such a young age—inheriting the father's career was quite common in the military, especially among the border troops, largely because of the high concentration of military households.

The household registration system of ancient times was vastly different from the modern one. Ancient household statuses were passed down through generations: those entering the merchant registry saw their children and grandchildren remain merchants, while those entering the military registry remained soldiers generation after generation. Without heaven-sent opportunities, changing it was practically impossible.

When the children of military households reached the appropriate age for an official career, the military ranks were the only path available to them. Concealing this and failing to report would be treated as desertion, a grave crime where dismissal and exile were minor punishments, and being directly reduced to slave status was hardly uncommon.

Yet, military households not only held lower social status, but their channels for promotion were also extremely singular. Bound to serve as common soldiers for generations, it was exceptionally difficult for them to transition into true commissioned military officers, making even the post of a county lieutenant a formidable challenge.

The hardships faced by the children of military households could well be imagined, and during previous dynasties, large-scale rebellions by military households had even occurred.

From this, it was evident that the existence of Zhenxi General Qian Dezhong, who originated from a military household, was essential.

He served as the pacifier and the beacon of hope for the military households, convincing them that hard work would yield returns and offering them the hope of altering their household status and the destiny of their lives.

Of course, aside from military households that relocated their entire families to settle in the borderlands, many generals also had children by their sides, and if these offspring wished to join the military, they were likewise thrown into the training camps.

Judging by his age and eloquence, the two cooks concluded that Xue Jin'an must be the child of some general rather than the son of a common military household.

As for why such a noble second-generation youth was assigned to the lowly mess hall... perhaps that general felt his child was still too young and only needed to witness the world without actually having to fight tooth and nail against others.

However, it was clear this young general did not share that view; his desire to stir up trouble was stated without the slightest bit of concealment.

An invisible pressure bore down upon them overhead, both terrified that they would mess up and hold him back. Exchanging a sideways glance, they timidly asked, "Young General, is there any plan that has the lowest requirements for us?"

Preferably one where they didn't have to make an appearance at all.

Xue Jin'an felt this request was somewhat peculiar, but still managed to find the most fitting one for them: "The Lure the Enemy Stratagem—"

The plan consisted of three steps:

Step one: The two cooks would pretend to accidentally stray into enemy territory, get discovered by patrolling soldiers, and after a fierce and desperate escape, ultimately get captured.

Step two: They would inadvertently reveal Helian Yong's location, arousing the enemy's greed to take action against him.

Step three: Xue Jin'an would pull the rug out from under the enemy camp by seizing it.

The requirements for the two cooks were indeed very low. They only needed to struggle desperately and flee at the very beginning without arousing enemy suspicion, after which they could quietly play the role of prisoners waiting to be rescued.

They weren't afraid of any real danger either; after all, this was merely a military exercise, and both opposing sides were comrades-in-arms. No matter what happened, they wouldn't actually be beheaded.

"Alright, let's go with this one!" Though the two had lingering doubts as to why only the two of them had to act as bait, they kept quiet and immediately sealed the deal.

The entire plan proceeded quite smoothly. Stumbling into the enemy camp, their initial reaction was a desire to run away—and doing so on tiptoe without alerting the guards, successfully deceiving the others. Then, they pretended to "unluckily" run straight into a patrol squad during their flight.

The two put immense effort into resisting and fleeing, nearly managing to slip away from several Blue Team members. Because their performance was so convincing, the subtle suspicions in the patrol leader's mind were quickly cast aside.

While the camp did not house a large number of people, its defense could genuinely be described as strict; entering and exiting required a password. Even though this particular patrol squad had just emerged from the interior, returning meant they had to go through the countersign process all over again.

The Blue Team patrol tied their hands and feet, tossed them aside to the corner, and left them unattended. Far from carelessly revealing Helian Yong's whereabouts, they hadn't even caught a glimpse of the Blue Team's commander. Unable to advance to the next step, both cooks grew somewhat anxious.

Suddenly, a commotion arose within the camp. Stretching their necks and straining their ears to look and listen, they discovered that a scout had returned to report the discovery of Helian Yong's tracks, and a troop was being led to set an ambush nearby.

"Scout again and report back!" The chief commander immediately perked up, stepping out of the command tent with a look of excitement.

As the absolute master of the Northwest Bureau, Helian Cheng naturally commanded the deep admiration of his subordinates. Consequently, as Helian Cheng's disciple and adopted son, Helian Yong—despite having yet to establish a notable reputation—carried considerable expectations among everyone.

These expectations fueled a strong desire to test Helian Yong's capabilities and see whether he was a qualified successor.

Yet, eager as the Blue Team commander was to take action, he remained sufficiently prudent to order the scout to conduct a thorough reconnaissance before proceeding.

Little did the Blue Team members know that the intelligence they had gathered regarding Helian Yong's location was deliberately guided by someone, and that person was none other than Xue Jin'an.

Xue Jin'an understood very well that people only harbored deep conviction in the "truths" they deduced themselves, a rule that applied equally here. Only by letting the Blue Team's own men "inadvertently" discover Helian Yong would they truly believe it.

Therefore, he had never intended to let the two cooks reveal the existence of Helian Yong as another decoy from the very beginning.

The two cooks were not genuinely foolish; by this point, there was nothing they failed to grasp. They couldn't help but feel a wave of gratitude: that little brother's overflowing shrewdness was entirely justified, otherwise, they would have been sold off and still happily helping him count the money.

Come to think of it, neither of them even knew that little brother's name... They would be sure to ask once the mission was accomplished.

By the time the Blue Team commander confirmed Helian Yong's location, discussed countermeasures, and prepared to dispatch troops for the strike, Xue Jin'an had already finished digging traps outside for them to fall into.

Helian Yong commanded a full three hundred men, whereas the Blue Team's main camp currently held fewer than a hundred. To prevent any mishaps, they naturally deployed in full force, leaving only the Blue Team commander and a few flag-guards behind in the camp.

It was precisely at this moment that Xue Jin'an seized the opportunity, walking straight into the empty stronghold and catching the Blue Team commander completely off guard.

"This is bad, go protect the flag!" The commander instantly issued the order, "Never mind me, you must protect the military flag at all costs!"

He had not forgotten that one of the criteria for winning or losing this exercise was whose military flag was uprooted first. This three-day competition had only just begun; he could accept his own elimination, but he would never accept such a disgraceful defeat.

Yet Xue Jin'an paid no attention to the flag whatsoever, walking straight up to the commander instead. "I'm not here to pull up the flag. I'm here to replace you."

Xue Jin'an wanted to be the strongest and win everything, and replacing his identity was the logical first step.

The commander refused to believe it and tried to stall for time.

"Long Aotian? Are you Long Aotian? You're even younger than the rumors say." The commander instantly recognized Xue Jin'an's identity. It wasn't that they had met before, but the incident where Helian Yong clashed with a young lad named Long Aotian, resulting in General Helian punishing him to hold a horse stance for four hours and handing down ten military cane strokes, had spread like wildfire throughout the Northwest Army. It was nearly impossible for him not to know.

Word had it that this Long Aotian was the general's favored successor, but because his frame was far too small, the general had reluctantly passed him over, settling for Helian Yong as the second choice. It was precisely for this reason that Helian Yong held deep hostility toward Long Aotian.

This narrative was spread with vivid details, and since not only Helian Yong but many onlookers had been disciplined that day, people naturally believed it.

Especially subordinates like them, who knew that the general had initially selected more than just Helian Yong from the new recruits. Even when mentioning Helian Yong, the general's expression was rarely satisfied, occasionally letting out sighs.

The commander was one of those who half-believed the rumors, and thus recognized Xue Jin'an without surprise. He remarked, "You ultimately decided to join this drill, but I never expected you to choose the young general's side. I thought you two were at odds."

"Our relationship is indeed poor," Xue Jin'an affirmed with a firm nod.

Hearing this, the commander assumed his attempt at sowing discord had taken effect, and quickly urged, "That being said, why bother siding with him? You might as well—" You might as well come over to my side.

The commander's words came to an abrupt halt. A sharp pain struck the back of his neck, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious to the ground.

"That's why I'm here to replace you." Lacking patience for nonsense and valuing sheer efficiency, Xue Jin'an withdrew his hand-chop, fished out the seal belonging to the Blue Team commander from his robes to tuck into his own chest, and stripped off the commander's armor to put it on himself.

The cooks, who had escaped the chaos hoping to help out, only to witness their young partner stage a direct mutiny on the spot: ???