Chapter 379: One person, one zither, scaring away an army of one hundred thousand

【An empty city, a zither, repelling an army of one hundred thousand.】

【The first great battle in the world decided solely by human hearts.】

The image on the Sky Screen stopped here.

It was quiet below for a long time.

Zhang He's mouth was open, not closing.

Guo Huai's brow was still twisted, but the direction had changed, from doubt to another indescribable thing.

Xu Chu stood there, fists clenching and loosening, several times, finally saying in a low voice: "If it were me, I would have definitely charged in."

Zhang Liao replied on the side: "So you would have charged in."

"Sima Yi didn't."

Zhang Liao said, "So he retreated."

The Cao Wei camp didn't answer.

Those military generals who had been saying "absolutely impossible" and "how can one person repel an army of one hundred thousand" were all silent now.

Not because they had nothing to say, but because they didn't know what to say.

The images released on the Sky Screen were clear—

The gate was open, there were no soldiers in the city, Zhuge Liang was playing the zither on the tower, and when he finished, the Wei army retreated.

Zhang He finally opened his mouth, his voice much lower than before: "If I were leading the army at that time..."

He paused, "I wouldn't be sure either."

Guo Huai looked at him, not answering, but nodded.

On the Shu Han side, Jiang Wei's eyes were astonishingly bright.

He watched from beginning to end, not blinking once.

When the image stopped,

He turned to look at Zhuge Liang's back, his mouth moving, making no sound, but his hand gripping the sword hilt loosened and tightened.

Wei Yan also saw the whole process, silent for a long time.

Then he said: "If I had been in the city at that time, I would have definitely thought the Prime Minister was crazy."

Zhuge Liang didn't turn his head: "You think I wasn't crazy?"

Wei Yan choked.

Jiang Wei wanted to laugh on the side but held it back.

A line of words appeared on the Sky Screen, golden characters, suspended above the image, as if giving a conclusion to the whole thing.

【War is deception.】

【Those who can deter an army of thousands may not necessarily rely on swords and armor, but can also rely on their own demeanor and a zither tune.】

The moment this line appeared, the nine emperors above the clouds also moved.

Ying Zheng spoke first, his voice deep and flat, as if stating a fact: "The power of weapons stops at the human heart."

"This strategy doesn't rely on formations or armor, but entirely on insight into the opponent's nature; it is a top-tier strategy of attacking the heart, rare through the ages."

Liu Bang sat beside him, not holding tea, his hands crossed on his knees, his tone slower than usual:

"Betting everything in a desperate situation."

"If I were trapped in this situation, I might not have the calm demeanor of the Martial Marquis."

Liu Che continued, his voice carrying a rare admiration.

"Remaining calm while thousands of cavalry press the city; this lone courage and insight is beyond the reach of ordinary generals."

Liu Xiu: "Calm as water in the face of disaster, precisely grasping the opponent's nature; the ultimate of a wise man is not in having many strategies, but in being calm."

Yang Jian: "The peak battle of psychological confrontation between people."

"Neither time nor geography was on his side; after this one example, no one in later generations would dare to imitate it easily."

Li Shimin: "The top strategy of war is attacking the heart."

"The Martial Marquis saw through Sima Yi's lifelong weakness; the outcome of this confrontation was decided from the beginning."

Zhao Kuangyin was a military general, speaking more directly:

"Zhuge was cautious all his life, but gambled everything on the Xicheng battle; just this once, it forged a legend through the ages."

Zhu Yuanzhang: "A scholar playing the zither on the city tower, scaring away an army of one hundred thousand on the battlefield."

"This matter is miraculous, and the courage is unparalleled through the ages."

Zhu Di's voice was the loudest, carrying a fierce energy from years of leading troops.

"Remaining calm and playing the zither in the face of an army of one hundred thousand, this kind of demeanor and spirit is rarely matched by emperors and generals through the ages."

The nine of them finished speaking, and the discussion below rose again.

This time it wasn't just the military generals and lords, but also those little people who hadn't spoken.

An old soldier of the Shu army squatted on the dirt slope outside the camp, finished watching the image on the Sky Screen, put half a steamed bun on his knees, looked down, then looked up.

A younger soldier stood behind him, a new recruit from Hanzhong who had joined the army for less than half a year.

The young soldier asked: "Old brother, did you understand?"

The old soldier thought: "I understood."

"Then tell me, how did he repel them?"

The old soldier gripped the bun back into his hand.

"There's a storyteller at the entrance of my village who stops talking at the critical moment and won't tell the story unless people give him tea money."

"Everyone in the village says he's teasing them."

"Later, a traveler came to the village, listened to it once, and said—"

"He said the storyteller isn't teasing them, he just can't make it up himself."

The young soldier didn't understand, but didn't ask further.

The old soldier bit the bun: "Sima Yi is the same."

"He hadn't seen this kind of thing, he didn't dare to believe it."

"The more he didn't dare to believe it, the more he thought there was a trick inside."

"The more he thought there was a trick inside, the less he dared to move."

The young soldier thought: "Then why didn't he send a small team in to explore?"

The old soldier chewed the bun: "If the people sent in didn't come out, who would dare to go in?"

The young soldier didn't speak.

In the distance, on the Cao camp side, a cook sat by the stove, having just extinguished the fire.

He also finished watching the Sky Screen, holding a fire-poking stick, not lighting a smoke, just sitting there.

A miscellaneous laborer responsible for grain transport nearby leaned over: "Tell me, if our General were the one fighting this battle, could he win?"

The cook stuck the fire-poking stick into the ground.

"It's the same whoever fights—you stand at the city gate, the gate is open, you can't see a single person inside, do you dare to enter?"

The laborer thought for a moment, did not answer, and changed to another question:

"Then wasn't Zhuge Liang afraid that Sima Yi would really send a small team in to explore?"

The cook looked at him: "He was afraid. But he bet that Sima Yi was more afraid than him."

The laborer did not pick up the conversation this time.

He swallowed the half-question, as if he had understood something.

That line of words on the Sky Screen was still suspended, not disappearing immediately.

The discussion below didn't stop either, and the scope was getting wider and wider.

Several strategists on Yuan Shao's side stood behind him, one of them in a very low voice,

"My Lord, if this Empty City Strategy were used on our army..."

He didn't finish, and Yuan Shao raised his hand to interrupt him.

Yuan Shao looked at the Sky Screen, his face changing several times: "Sima Yi wasn't afraid to fight."

"He just understood Zhuge Liang too well."

"Zhuge Liang never took risks, so once he took a risk, it was the most dangerous."

The strategist thought, and didn't ask again.

On Liu Biao's side, he was already too sick to stand much, leaning on a chair.

He looked up at the Sky Screen, his lips moving, his voice very small: "Is there really anyone in this world who isn't afraid of death?"

No one beside him could answer him.

On the East Wu side, Zhou Yu's hand stopped in mid-air, no fan in his hand, but the posture was like holding a non-existent feather fan.

He looked at the empty city on the Sky Screen, at the person playing the zither on the tower, looking for a long time.

Then he put his hand down, turned to Lu Su beside him and said: "Do you believe it?"

Lu Su: "Believe what?"

"Believe he wasn't afraid at the time."

Lu Su was silent for a moment: "He was afraid."

He paused again, "But he knew fear was useless."

Zhou Yu didn't ask again.

The words on the Sky Screen slowly faded, the last ray of golden light sliding off the outline of the tower.

The image disappeared, but that "one person, one zither, one empty city" was still spinning in many people's minds.

The old Shu soldier squatting on the dirt slope stuffed the remaining bun into his mouth, chewed it, stood up, and patted the dirt off his pants.

The young soldier also stood up, patting the dust off his back.

The old soldier walked two steps toward the camp, then stopped, not looking back.

"If you really don't understand, just think about one thing—you stand outside the city, you want to walk in, but you don't know what's inside."

"The closer you get, the more your heart feels fuzzy."

The young soldier stood behind him: "What if there really is nothing inside?"

The old soldier finally turned back: "This is where he is powerful—making you think for a lifetime 'what if there really is nothing inside'."

He finished this sentence and turned to leave.

【Empty City Strategy countdown completed, the next countdown will be revealed tomorrow, please look forward to it!】

The golden light of the Sky Screen dissipated.

The crowd below hadn't dispersed yet.

They camped on the spot, preparing to rest.

But they were all looking forward to which famous scene would be counted down tomorrow?

…… ===== CHAPTER 380 =====