Chapter 264: Let Me Explain!

Seeing you all roast me until I'm howling, fine! Let me explain in advance: Tiger really did revise the outline, because I suddenly realized there was a plot hole.

Readers watching the protagonist strut his stuff in Anxi and Transoxiana have probably noticed that the protagonist was actually only in charge of military affairs. As for logistics — who provided the grain and fodder? Who provided the armor, weapons, swords, and arrows?

It was certainly the result of Li Shengtian of Khotan giving his full support. The logistical supply for an army of ten or twenty thousand is no easy matter. Without the backing of Khotan's population of six or seven hundred thousand, the protagonist could never have casually mobilized over ten thousand men for a campaign.

So in Khotan, we can't say all the credit belongs to Zhang Zhao. The support Li Shengtian provided was also extremely important. Li Shengtian and Zhang Zhao, this uncle-nephew pair, had a relationship where each made the other possible.

As for whether Khotan's double-headed eagle will cause this or that problem — hmm! It actually doesn't matter at all. The protagonist is going to become Emperor of the Central Plains. Once the Central Plains is settled, even if the Western Regions fall into chaos, what trouble could there be that tens of thousands of heavenly troops couldn't settle?

Now, since this book tries to be as realistic as possible — and I imagine you all want the same as I do — that brings up a somewhat headache-inducing problem: the Guiyi Army's two prefectures of Gua and Sha are simply too small. With this little land and population, not only can they not raise a large army, they can't even feed the protagonist's current five thousand troops.

Some readers will say: didn't the protagonist extort a huge amount of money back from the Samanids, Persia, and India?

But gold and silver can't be eaten! They only have value when there are goods available!

With the Guiyi Army's tiny size, plus the per-acre yields of the Five Dynasties period, even with money you couldn't buy much grain.

As for requesting support from Khotan — ahem! That's over two thousand li away! Most of it is the Taklamakan Desert. Support would be utterly impossible.

Some people might suggest buying from traveling merchants. Uh! The Ganzhou Uyghurs happen to sit right on the eastern side — would they easily allow large quantities of grain and supplies to reach the Guiyi Army's territory?

Of course, if I ignored these factors, I could write about how invincible Zhang Zhao's army is, how he smashed the Ganzhou Uyghurs in a few quick moves. But Tiger just can't get past that hurdle in his heart.

This is a historical novel, not an urban system tycoon story or a xianxia tale. The reality is: armies must eat, and war is fought on logistics. Tiger himself has run at least seven or eight simulations, and given the Guiyi Army's population size, the probability of defeating the Ganzhou Uyghurs is extremely low.

So how to solve this problem? Tiger has come up with a solution: the foothold isn't in the Guiyi Army. The place Zhang Zhao is actually going is Liangzhou! And right now there happens to be a heaven-sent opportunity.

This way, what you readers were worried about actually doesn't exist, because we're not in Gua-Sha, and not in Suzhou — we're going to Liangzhou!

A military entity of this scale, even with internal strife, couldn't get all that intense.

In the past, the Guiyi Army's internal strife sent heads rolling, but that was because back then the Guiyi Army still held more than half of Hexi — not like now, trapped in Gua and Sha.

Moreover, as the territory shrank, the circle shrank too. The entire upper echelon of the Guiyi Army is tangled in kinship like a spider's web.

Not to mention Cao Yuande doesn't want to kill Zhang Zhao — even if he did, hardly anyone would support him. Let alone the fact that Zhang Zhao has several thousand troops, and the Ganzhou Uyghurs are about to attack.

Finally, let me say a bit more about Cao Yuande as a person. His abilities are quite mediocre, and his health is poor.

Historically, he succeeded to the position this year, but didn't even serve a full year as Military Governor before poor health forced him to retreat behind the scenes.

This is evident from the inscriptions at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang. After 937, almost everything concerning Cao Yuande consists of prayers to the gods and Buddhas for his health. In the end, he served as Military Governor for less than four years before passing away.

To have such a man at death's door — who was actually more of a soft-hearted good guy, a "young whelp" — make a move to kill Zhang Zhao, he couldn't even get past his own conscience.

If Cao Yijin were here, Zhang Zhao entering Dunhuang would be seeking death. But Cao Yuande and Cao Yuanshen are different.

Not to mention, among the three brothers, Cao Yuanzhong is Zhang Zhao's father-in-law twice over, and they also have to consider Li Shengtian.

Furthermore, Li Shengtian's daughter still has a hundred Khotanese warriors in the palace. Would Cao Yuande dare provoke a bloody clash?

If he killed Zhang Zhao, would he kill his son Cao Yanming too? Is his younger brother Cao Yuanshen prepared to be smashed to pieces?

As for killing the Cao brothers and cutting the Gordian knot — everyone, put yourself in that position and think about it. Family matters, affairs between kin and relatives — when is there ever a time you can just cut the Gordian knot?

In this situation, how could the protagonist get the Cao family's blood on his hands? This protagonist isn't modeled on Zhu Wen or Qin Zongquan. Going on a killing spree like that — even Cao Cao and Li Shimin couldn't be that ruthless, right?

All right! I've said quite a lot. If some readers truly feel they can't get past this hurdle, then there's nothing to be done.

That you all came to subscribe is fate between us. If the fate is gone, it can't be forced.

If you just feel a bit uncomfortable, then please try your best to push through it — just treat it as the protagonist having a cheat.

One last thing to tell everyone: Tiger has a cousin's funeral to attend these next few days, and I'll definitely have to go help out. I'll probably need to take a day off sometime soon. So, as per our usual rule, the owed chapters will be made up next Tuesday or Wednesday with a six-chapter burst.

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