Chapter 392: I

Baoyue felt slightly awkward and said vaguely:

"It was a coincidence."

Xiao Luan just looked at his daughter and asked patiently:

"What kind of coincidence?"

Baoyue originally wanted to brush it off, but firstly, she needed a favor, secondly, she feared inviting unnecessary suspicion, and thirdly, she felt this might be another good opportunity to stir her father's admiration for talent. Thus, she recounted how a heroic youth had seized the initiative amidst a standoff with the barbarians: with a light flick of his folding fan, he concealed a tiger's roar; with a few words, he shattered their courage and terrified the barbarian chieftain! Life and death hung in the balance, survival rested in his hands! With the two tribes wavering, a few words turned the tide! Success was achieved in mere conversation—why the need for iron horses to trample the hills?

As Baoyue spoke of the scene in the tent, it was vivid in her mind, as if it were yesterday. Her eyes shone, bright and stunning! In her excitement, she used her chopsticks as a fan, imitating Wang Yang's expression and movements. Her brows were heroic, and she pointed the chopsticks forward, saying in a gruff voice:

"Today I invite the two chieftains to join forces with our Great Qi, swords pointed at the Wu Ning barbarians! Tell their chieftain—"

Baoyue was radiant and vivid as she acted it out, performing with such brilliance that the Marquis was left stunned, forgetting to drink the tea he had raised, just holding it there the whole time.

Given Xiao Luan's status and composure, such a scene of losing his poise was truly rare!

Baoyue, getting into the spirit, even had a rare moment of interaction with her father:

"Father, do you know what the reaction of the barbarians in the tent was after hearing that?"

Xiao Luan stared at his daughter and shook his head.

Baoyue triumphantly held up four slender fingers and said lightly:

"Just four words—all were struck with terror."

Xiao Luan:......

Baoyue hid the clashes and secret struggles between herself and Wang Yang, saying only how Wang Yang represented Great Qi to negotiate with the two barbarian chieftains. As for the subsequent battle, that was naturally because the evil chieftain of the Yongning tribe, Angta, was faithless, despicable, and shameless, wanting to launch a surprise attack while the peace treaty was reached and the Wenyang tribe was relaxed. As a result, he was seen through by Wang Yang, who struck first! From the fierce battle in the night, she recounted all the way to: "Angta's clever plan to pacify the world ended up costing him his own troops."

Xiao Luan interjected:

"This Angta is a bit stupid......"

Baoyue was almost enraged:

"How is he stupid!! In that situation, burning their camp and supplies would inevitably shake their military morale! At that time I—at that time Angta would use that momentum to return and raid the Wenyang tribe's rear! In the darkness, not knowing how many troops there were, they would think the Yongning reinforcements had arrived. Once the camp fire started and the rear was cut off, with aid from all sides severed and attacks from north and south, they didn't even necessarily need to fight; they might have collapsed on their own—"

"I wasn't talking about that. I meant that Angta went back on his word after negotiating. Isn't that offending both Great Qi and the Wenyang tribe at the same time? Could it be that he wasn't tempted by the massive profit? Or perhaps he was certain that we wouldn't use troops against the barbarians?"

Baoyue couldn't say that in order to retrieve leverage and counter Wang Yang, she had coerced and lured Angta into acting. Nor could she say that even if she hadn't acted, Wang Yang would have used this opportunity to act! Otherwise, how could the Wenyang troops have arrived so quickly that night? This showed that Wang Yang had already made up his mind in the tent! But to lull her, he deliberately spoke of holding a banquet, letting her mistakenly believe he was setting an ambush, thereby guiding her to arrange a counter-ambush against the banquet, and then Wang Yang launched a surprise attack while she was setting up—what a cunning mind......

Of course, when telling Xiao Luan, the cunning person became Angta. It was Angta who was unwilling to give up, wanting to defeat the Wenyang tribe before officially submitting, capture Wang Yang, and snatch back the Three Mountains territory. Once the facts were established, he would force Wang Yang to acknowledge it, but he didn't expect to be beaten to a pulp. Anyway, all bad things were blamed on Angta.

Xiao Luan looked at Baoyue, his eyes deep with meaning:

"So, Wang Yang is talented in both civil and military affairs......"

Baoyue said reservedly:

"Perhaps."

Xiao Luan smiled:

"Isn't this very clear? Civil affairs go without saying. As for military, judging by this battle, he used troops by sending a lone force out to the southeast. This was to divide your forces with the empty forest in the west, making you suspicious, thinking he had secretly hidden a force in the forest, intending to attack from both sides. So you divided your forces to guard the west, preparing for the unexpected. Military affairs value speed; he took advantage of the night to cover the distance, catching you off guard, and had already gained the initiative. Then he concentrated his strength in one direction, using order to strike chaos. It is no wonder you suffered a setback in the southeast—"

"It wasn't me."

"Hmm?"

"It was Angta, not me."

Baoyue corrected him seriously.

Xiao Luan glanced at his daughter and changed his words:

"Right, it was Angta. Wang Yang guarded against Angta coming from the south to strike his flank. Therefore, he reinforced his left flank to wait for him, and then used the camp as bait to lure—lure Angta into advancing with light troops, then suddenly launched an ambush, succeeding in one battle! The phrase 'clever plan to pacify the world ended up costing him his own troops' was also a psychological tactic. It made the enemy doubt before fighting, and fall into chaos before moving. Reality and illusion are hidden in the palm of one's hand, victory and defeat are decided before they take shape. Anticipating the enemy to set up surprises, taking advantage of the mechanism to win. A famous general's use of troops is nothing more than this......"

Baoyue had praised Wang Yang highly before, and Xiao Luan had no reaction, but now he suddenly went against his usual behavior, clearly praising him—and not just ordinary praise, but extremely high praise! While overjoyed, Baoyue also felt a bit panicked.

What her father saw from this battle was clearly more than what she saw. She also highly regarded Wang Yang, but her regard for his military strategy hadn't reached the level her father described. Perhaps it was a case of the bystander seeing more clearly, or perhaps their horizons were different. In any case, Baoyue believed that she had mainly lost this battle because she lost the initiative and misjudged the situation in the enemy camp. If it happened again, she would never make such a mistake.

It was precisely because she held this thought that although she believed Wang Yang was talented in both civil and military affairs, she didn't view this battle as important, only as proof of Wang Yang's knowledge of military affairs, and thus spoke of it to her father without any hesitation. She didn't expect her father to give such high praise, which violated the strategy of keeping a low profile she had previously set for Wang Yang.

Baoyue tried to remedy it:

"It could also be that it was a coincidence, or perhaps it was the Wenyang tribe's barbarian general who was the commander; it might not be Wang Yang's merit."

Xiao Luan shook his head:

"In military affairs, victory or defeat is merely a matter of seizing the opportunity.

Between two armies, it is nothing more than fighting for a sliver of opportunity.

Opportunity comes like the wind; seize it and you become a king. Opportunity goes like lightning; how can you catch up if you chase it?

Seize the opportunity and you win; lose it and you lose. Watching it seems easy, but doing it is truly difficult.

The loser often sighs at the accidental loss, thinking they will surely hold the opportunity if they come again, not knowing that opportunity is like morning dew—it vanishes as soon as it is dried, and cannot be obtained again.

Moreover, there is no second opportunity in the world.

Today's opportunity is no longer the same tomorrow; the opportunity here has changed elsewhere.

What the loser seeks is the opportunity that has already passed; and the arrival of a new opportunity is not something they can recognize again.

Therefore, the capable do not chase what is already lost, but only wait for what has not yet arrived;

The incapable often sigh at what has passed, while remaining blind to the future."

Baoyue was stunned, once again recalling what Wang Guangzhi had once said to her:

"War is something that requires tempering; fight enough and you will know how to fight. Being a general is like casting a sword; a thousand hammerings can cast a sharp blade, and a hundred battles can make a good general. However, there are some people who are born generals and are not in this category."

"How do you know if someone is a born general?"

"You'll know after fighting once."

You'll know after fighting once.......

Baoyue was lost in thought.

Suddenly, she felt something was wrong!

She looked at her father, her almond eyes suspicious:

"Father said 'the loser often sighs at the accidental loss, thinking they will surely hold the opportunity if they come again'—who are you talking about?"

Xiao Luan said with a natural expression:

"Of course I'm talking about Angta, who else could it be? Eh? You were in Angta's camp, Wang Yang sent troops to attack Angta—weren't you afraid of getting hurt?"

Baoyue suspected her father knew or had guessed something. She originally wanted to fish for information from her father, but was caught off guard by this sudden question and immediately said:

"He specifically sent people to protect me!"

Xiao Luan's expression turned slightly cold:

"Did he send people to protect you or to kill you?"

"Of course he sent people to protect me! I have no grudge against him, and we were even joining forces to deal with the Prince of Badong—why would he kill me?!" Baoyue said loudly.

Actually, when she reviewed it later, she vaguely felt in her heart that, judging solely by the situation at the time, it was indeed a good opportunity to kill her. It wasn't impossible for Wang Yang to have done so. However, firstly, she didn't want to delve deeper, and secondly, she felt that times had changed—at that time they were enemies, not friends, so even if he wanted to fight or kill, it was understandable. At the very least, in the Yidu tribe, after Wang Yang had completely controlled the situation, he still didn't do anything to her. Doesn't that explain a lot?

And when she asked him if he wanted to kill her, he immediately denied it, explaining in all sorts of ways! Explaining in all sorts of ways! Isn't this just because he was afraid I would misunderstand, afraid I would be sad? Tsk, is he really that afraid of me being sad......

Baoyue curled her lips unconsciously.

Xiao Luan looked at his daughter, who had a look of having eaten honey:......

Baoyue finished her imaginary sweetness and returned to the main topic:

"Regardless, he saved my life. Based on this point alone, your daughter implores Father to lend a helping hand and repay his life-saving grace to your daughter!"

Xiao Luan said coldly:

"Repay what? He was saving himself! You were just incidental."

"Incidental still means he saved me!"

"Then I will thank him properly in the future."

"No need, just help him submit this letter."

Xiao Luan did not speak.

Baoyue was deeply puzzled, and at the same time felt a bit chilled:

"From childhood to adulthood, your daughter has never asked Father for anything. Today I only ask for this one thing, which is just a lift of a finger for Father. Why is Father unwilling to even do this?"

Xiao Luan snorted through his nose:

"A lift of a finger......"

"Isn't it?"

Xiao Luan did not answer, only looking at the tea leaves floating in the cup, his expression deep and unfathomable.

"I'm moving back home."

Baoyue suddenly said.

Xiao Luan looked up at his daughter.

Baoyue's eyes carried a hint of stubbornness:

"As long as Father submits this letter to the Son of Heaven tomorrow, I will move back to the Marquis's mansion immediately."

Xiao Luan stood up and walked to the window with his hands behind his back.

Baoyue couldn't be sure of Xiao Luan's intentions, staring at Xiao Luan's back, pondering in her heart.

After a long while, Xiao Luan turned around, looked at his daughter, and said deliberately:

"Xu Kuang—"

"I won't marry him."

Baoyue said decisively.

Xiao Luan had only said two words before being interrupted, and interrupted by such a sentence, yet he had no surprised reaction, only letting his gaze linger on his daughter's face and asking:

"Didn't you agree before?"

Baoyue lowered her eyes. The sharpness from just now was retracted into her deep pupils, replaced by a calmness like still water flowing deep.

Deep pools have no waves, ten thousand jun of force are hidden within.

"I hadn't thought it through before—"

Baoyue raised her eyes to look at her father:

"Now, I have thought it through."

——————

I received the bonus items for the physical book. I promised to post the Q&A that wasn't in the web version. Below are the photos. The text is a bit small and the clarity is limited, so I tried my best to adjust it to be clearer:

Image 1

Image 2 ===== CHAPTER 393 =====