Chapter 1022: Shaoyin's Demonstration

Limu wanted to say something, but since Xiong represented the Huaxia people, it was not appropriate for him to sway the man's decision; besides, his own Tribal Chief had not spoken, so it seemed useless for him to interject.

In the entire tent camp, the only commander with a low status was Shaoyin; if it were not for his connection to Xiong, Shaoyin would have had no qualifications to enter this large tent at all. Now, Xuanyuan and the others had also come to know this young man named Shaoyin, and at the same time, they had given Xiong plenty of face.

Regarding the plan proposed by his father, Shaoyin voiced his opinion without any hesitation: "Father, I do not believe this method is feasible."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's gaze gathered toward him. Xiong was not angry; instead, he asked Shaoyin quite kindly: "Then tell us your own view."

Shaoyin was not the least bit stage-frightened, nor did he spare his father's feelings: "Father, the plan you mentioned of having vanguard scouts go deep behind enemy lines to investigate the situation is, in my opinion, impossible. With a force of tens of thousands, they will certainly spread out as they advance, and they will also need to hunt for food along the way. Although their movement is slow, if anyone approaches, their hunters will absolutely be able to discover them.

If we try to bypass them, it will take even more time. According to what Fenghou said, there is another tribe behind them, and that is likely not just a day or two away; it might be even further. By the time the scouts discover the tribe behind and return, will there still be time to report? I fear the first tribe will have already collided with us, and we must continue to advance regardless."

After listening, Xuanyuan did not express his stance, though this was exactly what he had wanted to say. He then looked at Xiong, signaling for Xiong to resolve it himself.

Xiong said: "Good, then tell us your view."

Shaoyin looked around at everyone and then said confidently: "We have come to attack the Shennong Clan, so normally, regardless of which tribe we encounter, as long as they are of the Shennong Clan, we should fight them regardless of their purpose. We must defeat them to weaken the power of the Shennong Clan and expand our own strength.

Therefore, when facing this tribe, we should prepare for battle—that is, we fight. If they truly do not want to fight and intend to flee to the Chiyou Tribe, then I think we can use that as leverage to demand they give us grain or slaves in exchange for us letting them pass.

Otherwise, this land is already occupied by us. Everything on this land belongs to us; why should they be allowed to traverse our territory at will, catching game and collecting food on our land?

Behind us, the Tribal Alliance has over a hundred thousand people who also need to eat; we cannot let this tribe eat up all our food.

Therefore, my opinion is to prepare for battle directly. If they come, we prepare to fight. If they are unwilling to fight, we trade the right to pass through our territory for grain, supplies, and slaves. We let them go; if they do not provide supplies, then we fight until they do.

Our two tribes combined have a force of over ten thousand men; we are not short on grain, and our weapons are the best.

Never mind their thirty thousand; even if they had fifty thousand, how many soldiers could they actually muster? Can they afford to exhaust themselves? Therefore, they will certainly compromise.

After we finish off the first one, we can simply deal with the next one according to the standard of fighting to the death.

Very well, Father, Tribal Chief Xuanyuan, this is my view."

As soon as Shaoyin finished speaking, Xuanyuan could not wait to applaud, and he laughed heartily. After laughing, he said to Xiong: "Xiong, this son of yours is extraordinary. He thinks deeply and far ahead, and his methods are ruthless enough. He is truly a capable hand at warfare."

Xiong was also taken aback by the idea his son had proposed. Looking at it this way, it seemed he really was not as good at fighting as he thought; he had always listened to the King telling him to be steady, to focus on intelligence, which had left him feeling as though he lacked confidence now.

If he thought about it carefully, he really had never led a war of such scale; he had only fought battles where he could achieve an overwhelming victory, or some small-scale but relatively dangerous missions.

He completely agreed with his son's idea, as he could not think of a better method himself.

So he said to Xuanyuan: "Then, Tribal Chief Xuanyuan, do you see any possibility of realizing Shaoyin's plan? I personally think it is possible. What does your Xuanyuan Tribe think?"

Xuanyuan said with a smile: "I think there is no problem either. We said before that for the war, our two tribes would discuss things together; whoever has the better method, we use it. I see that Shaoyin's method is very good, so we will use Shaoyin's."

"Very well, if that is the case, I will arrange for our Huaxia soldiers to make preparations. The vanguard scouts do not need to continue moving forward; they just need to keep an eye on the movements ahead. However, do we need to continue pushing forward?"

Xuanyuan looked at Shaoyin, signaling for Shaoyin to answer Xiong's question.

Shaoyin turned his head to look at the scouts: "Where is the map you drew? Bring it here for me to see."

"Yes." The scout immediately took the map they had drawn from his pocket and handed it to Shaoyin. Shaoyin spread the map out on the table for everyone to see.

For so many days, the Huaxia force had been drawing maps, so Xuanyuan and the others had learned how to read Huaxia maps. He had not expected that such a thing as a map could exist, especially the contour lines, which were completely beyond his imagination; it could be said they were very useful and advanced.

Shaoyin pointed at the map and said: "Here is our position. The terrain is not high, so we have no topographical advantage for battle. But this position here has higher terrain, and it is also the only path that tribe must take. They will certainly need to cross this small valley; although it is not very treacherous, for us, even a little height advantage is extremely useful.

Therefore, my opinion is that we continue forward, stop at this position, and then set up camp to wait. When the first tribe comes through here, we block them and coerce them. If they do not agree to the conditions, we fight; if they agree, we let them pass.

Afterward, we remain stationary and wait for the next one, because as you can see, further ahead, there is not even this little bit of height advantage, which is disadvantageous for us. After we finish fighting the tribe behind, we will continue to push forward."

After Shaoyin finished speaking, he looked up at everyone. At this moment, he was also very nervous; after all, among these people, he was actually the one with the least experience. Everything relied on his own guesses and imagination. Whether it could succeed still depended on the opinions of Xiong and Xuanyuan.

After listening, Xuanyuan looked at the map again and then said to everyone: "I have no objections. I think Shaoyin's method is very good. Xiong, what does your Huaxia think?"

"I have no objections either. Then it is settled; we shall fight like this?"