Chapter 392: Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats (Part 2)

A line of dense bullet comments floated below the sky-screen, which were comments from later generations, in small gold characters:

【The first person to forecast the weather in ancient times, and his forecast has yet to be replicated by anyone—】

【Because the people behind him were acting according to the script, while he was performing for the first time.】

【You think he is borrowing arrows, but he is actually teaching Cao Cao a lesson: don't give things away randomly.】

【Zhuge Liang: I took twenty boats for a stroll on the river, and came back to find an extra one hundred thousand arrows.】

【I also want to experience such a good thing.】

The image cut to the Cao camp.

On the water camp watchtower, the lookout was stunned when he heard the drum sound from afar, looked down at the river, and saw nothing.

The drum sound rang out another round, this time closer.

The lookout struck the alarm bell.

The torches in the Cao camp water camp all lit up in an instant, figures running back and forth in the firelight.

When Cao Cao walked to the shore of the water camp wearing an outer robe, the drum sound was already as dense as rain.

He squinted at the river, the fog was too thick to see any boat silhouettes, but the drum sound was coming from straight ahead, very close.

Cao Cao was silent for a moment, then spoke, his voice not loud but very clear: "Crossbowmen form ranks, do not leave the camp, fire random arrows to retreat the enemy."

The sky-screen gave a close-up of Cao Cao's profile.

His gaze fell into the fog, the corners of his mouth pursed tightly, his voice without hesitation.

Tens of thousands of crossbowmen formed ranks, and when the order for the first round of volley was given, the sound of arrows breaking through the air was like a piece of cloth being torn apart.

Dense black dots rose from the Cao camp direction, passed through the fog, and landed on the straw stacks of the twenty fast boats, emitting dense "thud-thud" sounds, like a rainstorm hitting a dry roof.

The sky-screen gave a slow-motion close-up:

An arrow tip pierced the green cloth, sinking into the straw, the feathers at the end of the arrow still trembling slightly.

The camera pulled back; tens of thousands of arrows landed on both sides of the boat simultaneously, nailing half the boat hull.

Zhuge Liang sat in the boat cabin, holding a cup of warm tea, listening to the movement outside, then raised his right hand and made a gesture.

The boat fleet turned direction as a whole, the straw stacks on the other side of the boat were exposed, re-exposing themselves to the Cao camp direction.

Second round of volley.

Third round.

Fourth round.

The arrow rain never stopped, like someone pouring an entire arrow mountain above the river.

The boat's draft sank by half a foot, the straw stacks on both sides of the boat hull were already inserted with arrows, the green cloth poked into countless fine holes, every hole revealing a section of arrow tail.

A line of gilded characters floated at the top of the sky-screen, occupying one-third of the top of the entire sky-screen:

【Borrowing the enemy's soldiers to create my own weapons; borrowing the enemy's hands to achieve my own success.】

In the distance, the drum sound of the Cao camp was still ringing, but the arrow rain was obviously sparse.

Zhuge Liang put down the teacup and said "enough", his voice not loud, but the sky-screen played it clearly.

The soldiers beside him began to pull up the anchors and untie the cables, twenty fast boats turned around simultaneously, the sound of oars entering the water ringing in the fog.

When returning, the soldiers on the boats shouted in unison, the sound neat, as if rehearsed: "Many thanks to Prime Minister Cao for the gift of arrows!"

The torches in the Cao camp water camp were still lit, but no one fired arrows again.

The fog on the river surface began to thin, and one could faintly see the boat fleet moving away in the distance.

Cao Cao stood on the shore watching that direction, motionless.

After a long time, he said in a low voice, the sky-screen didn't fully restore those three words, but the force of his lower lip pursed and his drooping gaze already explained a lot.

When the boat fleet returned to the Jiangdong water camp, the fog had already dissipated for the most part.

The morning light shone obliquely from the east, casting a layer of fine light on the arrows on the twenty boats.

The soldiers began to count, using thick ropes to bundle the arrows, stacking them bundle by bundle on the shore.

The sky-screen marked the counting result with numbers:

"One hundred thousand and three hundred plus, arrows are excellent, all can be used."

Zhuge Liang went ashore, still holding that cup of tea, carrying it from the boat to the shore, still not finished drinking.

The sky-screen image stopped on Zhuge Liang's back as he went ashore.

His walking pace was not hurried, the hem of his robe blown by the morning wind and then falling back.

No arrows on his shoulders, no blades in his hands, but the one hundred thousand arrows on the twenty boats behind him were the heaviest weapons on the entire river.

The last group of bullet comments floated on the side of the sky-screen:

【The essence of Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats is: using other people's costs to complete one's own KPI.】

【And the other side not only put in the effort, but also subsidized the shipping costs, and finally had to listen to you say thank you.】

【Cao Cao: What I sent out were arrows, what he received on his side were one hundred thousand excellent arrows. This business makes me unable to sleep at night.】

【This operation of Zhuge Liang is like today's:

Taking a pile of paper shells to the other side's warehouse door for a stroll, saying they were going to fight, the other side was so scared they threw out their entire warehouse of equipment, and then he packed it up and took it away.】

The sky-screen's golden light began to gather, the ink color faded bit by bit from the edges, revealing the blue sky behind it.

The last line of text stayed on the darkening sky-screen for a long time before dissipating:

【Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats, the first borrowing-force strategy of the Three Kingdoms.】

【Human power wins over heaven, wisdom suppresses the world, eternal and unrepeatable.】

The silence on the ground was longer than any other time.

On the shore of the Jiangdong water camp, Zhou Yu stood for a long time.

Lu Su beside him didn't speak, but Lu Su could hear Zhou Yu's breathing, shallower and faster than usual.

After a long time, Zhou Yu spoke, his voice very low, as if speaking to himself:

"I built one hundred thousand arrows in ten days, using seven thousand craftsmen, five hundred blacksmiths, thirty tons of iron, and still fell short by twenty thousand."

"He took three days, zero cost."

Lu Su hesitated, then followed: "Commander, Kongming he..."

Zhou Yu raised his hand, meaning "no need to say more".

He turned and walked toward the commander's tent, walked two steps, stopped, and continued walking.

Lu Su followed behind him, seeing his left hand resting at his side clench and then relax.

On the Cao camp side, Cao Cao stood on the shore motionless.

Behind him, Xun Yu and Cheng Yu stood side by side, neither speaking first.

Cao Cao suddenly laughed, not the heroic kind of laugh, but a very light air sound squeezed from his nasal cavity.

"One hundred thousand arrows... I sent them out."

He took his hand off the railing, walked back with his hands behind his back, stopped halfway, turned his head and said to Xun Yu behind him: "Next time it's foggy, the crossbowmen guarding the camp form ranks but are not allowed to fire, wait until you see clearly before fighting."

Xun Yu bowed: "This subordinate has noted it."

Cao Cao did not speak again.

On the Shu army side, Zhang Fei laughed out loud for the first time, the sound pushed directly from his chest, loud and long, making the ears of several soldiers beside him buzz.

He slapped Liu Bei on the shoulder, holding back a few points of force:

"Big Brother! This move by the military advisor is enough for the Cao thief to drink a pot!"

Liu Bei was slapped forward half a step, stood steady, turned his head to look at Zhang Fei, and the corners of his mouth curved.

He didn't speak, but the corners of his mouth curved deeper than usual.

Guan Yu stroked his long beard and didn't speak, but his gaze toward Zhuge Liang's tent direction lingered two breaths longer than usual.

Zhao Yun stood at the camp gate, looking at the boats still unloading arrows on the river in the distance, and withdrew his gaze.

On the deck of the spirit ship, Gu Shanhe drank a cup of tea slowly.

Subsequently, he placed the empty bowl on the table, turned his head and looked at the several emperors beside him.

"The evaluation of Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats has always been very high in later generations."

"The most amazing part is not the one hundred thousand arrows, but that Zhuge Liang didn't carry a single weapon from beginning to end, didn't send a single soldier ashore to fight."

"He took twenty boats and a boat of straw when he went out, and came back with one hundred thousand arrows, and by the way, emptied one-third of the Cao camp's arrow warehouse."

Ying Zheng's gaze was still on the direction where the sky-screen dissipated, without turning his head: "He knew there would be fog that night before he left?"

"Knew."

Gu Shanhe said, "He calculated it."

"The Yangtze River in the autumn of that year had heavy fog every seven days."

"He calculated that the third night was exactly the seventh day."

Liu Bang clicked his tongue: "If I had someone like this to help calculate astronomy back then, Xiang Yu would have run away long ago."

Li Shimin sat beside him, reached out and picked up the second pot of warm tea on the table, and poured himself a cup.

The rim of the cup touched his lips without rushing to drink, he put it down and said: "He didn't just calculate heaven."

"He also calculated that Zhou Yu would fear him, and calculated that Cao Cao would not dare to fight."

"He calculated everything in three directions."

Zhao Kuangyin was silent for a while, his fingers tapping lightly on his knee:

"Calculating heaven, calculating people, calculating hearts, three calculations stacked together, one game decides victory."

"Not relying on soldiers and armor, but relying on putting every step of the opponent into his own chessboard."

Zhu Di finished, his voice line pressed flat, but the tail sound dragged for half a beat.

"Cao Cao has suffered many losses in his life, most of them lost in battle."

"This loss was a gift; to be fleeced of one hundred thousand arrows and still have to say thank you to the other party."

【The next countdown will be conducted in half a month, please look forward to it!】

The sky-screen dissipated slowly, and the lords were still digesting what the sky-screen had just said.

... ===== CHAPTER 393 =====