Chapter 131: Military Council

Xu Wenshan adjusted his breathing several times before finally suppressing the restless nether qi within him, immediately cutting off the demonic power supplied to him by several demons. To onlookers, this action somewhat resembled a heart attack, and the surrounding soldiers looked at him in dismay, completely unaware of what had happened to their commanding officer.

Fortunately, the soldiers of the raiding squad in the backyard had already been so thoroughly demoralized by his archery that they dared not approach.

The sun gradually slanted westward, and the Cai State soldiers besieging the courtyard finally could not hold on any longer. The raiding Cai State soldiers were virtually annihilated, with only a few managing to escape back, while wounded soldiers still lay groaning on the ground. The feinting soldiers had already paced back and forth twice at the front gate, launching several rounds of attacks, leaving one or two corpses in front of the courtyard wall each time.

This tiny residence had unexpectedly become a heartbreak zone for the Cai State garrison forces.

"Squad leader, we can't break through, let's go!" a soldier pleaded, crouching before Kou Guo with a tearful expression.

Kou Guo tightly clenched the saber in his hand, then slowly relaxed his grip.

For a split second, he had a strong urge to emulate their general and behead on the spot any soldier who disrupted military morale. But after all, he was not a general; he was merely a squad leader. He possessed neither such imposing majesty nor such a lofty status.

These soldiers were not just his subordinates; they were his assistants, and he would rely on them to maintain public order in the future. Therefore, he could not act like the general and execute anyone who disobeyed military orders.

He cast his gaze around at his soldiers, seeing that every single one of them was as pale as a corpse, three parts human and seven parts ghost, and finally sighed. "Retreat."

At Kou Guo's command, the Cai State soldiers retreated en masse, not even having time to carry back their wounded. A cheer erupted among the Luhe soldiers in the courtyard—this was the first time they had ever defeated a regular army of a sovereign state outside the mountains.

Xu Wenshan, however, remained pale-faced as he exerted all his strength to suppress his cultivation realm.

While other immortals always strove to break through, he, a cultivator of demonic arts, had to go to great lengths to conceal his progress. Practicing demonic arts truly felt thoroughly humiliating.

***

As night fell, a bonfire was lit inside the Xu estate. The soldiers crowded into the main hall, their excitement running high as everyone discussed how they had completely routed the Cai State army. Xu Wenshan sat alone in a corner, smiling in silence.

For some reason, he now felt a vague sense of unease regarding this trip to Shaxian.

When coming to Shaxian this time, he had originally intended to purchase slaves and return immediately without any entanglements, and his subordinate demons all had their respective tasks: Shaye was cultivating venomous insects and rice, the spider spirit was responsible for the security patrols of two villages, Luze was managing the production of cement, and he had even vomited out the wine worms to help brew wine. Consequently, he did not have a single demon by his side right now.

As he sat alone in the corner pondering, two figures squeezed over beside him—a fat centurion and a skinny clerk, both gazing at him eagerly.

The fat man was named Pang Xing. Originally belonging to the frontline army, he had been wounded and, upon recovering, transferred to the garrison force. Unexpectedly, factional struggles within the garrison were fierce, and as an outsider, he was naturally bullied, eventually being assigned to Kou Guo's frontier outpost. Thus, although his official rank was centurion, his actual power was inferior to that of a minor squad leader, nor was he valued enough to even be used as a hostage.

The clerk, named Liang Dong, was merely a licentiate student, but because the Cai State had recently occupied a vast expanse of territory and lacked administrative personnel at the grassroots level, he had been transferred to serve as a clerk in the local yamen. Slave trading was part of his duties, though he had no real say in the matter and could only handle some preliminary liaison work.

In other words, both of these men were small fry.

"What is it?" Xu Wenshan asked, noticing the two hesitating with words on the tips of their tongues.

Liang Dong spoke first. "Hero, please don't get angry if I say something unpleasant! Look, after this commotion you've made, you're bound to be wanted by the county authorities. Buying slaves is out of the question, and entering the city at all will probably be difficult. Staying here is useless for me either, so..."

"Want to go back?" Xu Wenshan asked.

"Yes, yes..." Liang Dong nodded hastily.

Xu Wenshan turned to the fat man. "And you? You want to go back too?"

To his surprise, Pang Xing said with righteous indignation, "No, I came because I want to ask you to let me work under your command."

Liang Dong was dumbfounded, mouthing silently to Pang Xing: This isn't what we agreed upon!

Pang Xing continued with righteous indignation, "I saw how you treated the captives and wounded soldiers with kindness, and how every single one of your subordinates possesses formidable martial arts. I am completely won over by your noble demeanor! Please let me follow and serve you, even if I have to start as the humblest foot soldier!"

Xu Wenshan glanced at Pang Xing and smiled. "I didn't expect you to be quite so clever, kid."

The fat man laughed sheepishly. "You flatter me..."

Liang Dong, however, remained puzzled, having no idea what kind of game was being played here.

Xu Wenshan said to Liang Dong, "This fat man already understands. You still don't?"

Pang Xing humbly replied, "I don't understand either, I was just guessing, purely guessing."

Liang Dong finally couldn't help bursting out, "What on earth are you two talking about?"

Xu Wenshan had the soldiers from Luhe Ravine rest and said, "Let's take this opportunity to hold a military meeting and clearly lay out my thoughts."

Everyone quieted down. Some soldiers wondered how two captives could possibly participate in a meeting, while Pang Xing and Liang Dong were wondering how these ordinary foot soldiers could be included in a military conference.

Once Xu Wenshan spoke, all restlessness ceased. "After this battle, the Cai State will definitely assemble sufficient forces to encircle and annihilate our stronghold."

A nearby soldier chimed in, "Our commander and squad leaders are master sharpshooters. No matter how many come, we can kill them all."

The others chimed in with agreement, but Xu Wenshan shook his head. "A single arrow can only kill a single person. We have just over thirty people, while the enemy has hundreds or thousands. Even if every single one of us has a hundred-percent hit rate, we cannot defeat them all."

At these words, the soldiers fell silent. They could not understand why the commander would utter such discouraging words, and their morale took a heavy blow.

Xu Wenshan smiled and said, "Saying this doesn't mean we cannot win; rather, it means we must learn *how* to fight, and fight using the correct methods."

"Then what is the correct method?"

"Two words," Xu Wenshan said. "Guerrilla warfare."

"Guerrilla warfare?" Everyone murmured the novel term to themselves, deep in thought yet unable to fully grasp its exact meaning.

Xu Wenshan explained, "We are like a small fish, and before us is a vastly enormous giant fish. Trying to swallow this giant fish whole is impossible. Though the giant fish is massive, it is also clumsy. We can make use of our agility, slip into places the giant fish cannot see, attack its vulnerable spots, take a bite, and immediately move elsewhere, continuously tangling with the giant fish."

Liang Dazhuang and Lei Laohu both understood instantly. This was just like the time they went to burn down the bandits' camp. Although their numbers were few, they had still overturned the entire bandit stronghold. Had they not encountered enemy cavalry, they could even have withdrawn completely unscathed.

Still, Liang Dazhuang raised his hand and asked with deep concern, "But this is not a long-term solution either. If the enemy truly sets up strict defenses, sooner or later we will find no openings to exploit."

Xu Wenshan replied, "Correct. But there is one point: we do not need to fight to the death with the enemy, nor do we need to exhaust the giant fish to death. We only need to fight until they are willing to offer us terms of surrender."

Hearing this, the soldiers of Luhe Ravine still did not quite understand, but Liang Dong beside them experienced a sudden flash of enlightenment: Xu Wenshan had not attacked the Cai State army on a whim; he had planned this from the very beginning, and his ultimate goal was to be officially granted amnesty and incorporated by the Cai State.