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"...Because of my past experience with the Dark Night Division, I am particularly sensitive to all sorts of seemingly unrelated fragmented information, and I can even vaguely sense some undercurrents hidden behind the information."

In addition, I know Dong Guan quite well, and through those seemingly unrelated pieces of information, I can vaguely discern the changes in his mentality.

These are all based on my experience, or even my intuition, and there is no solid evidence.

However, my conclusion based on this is that Dong Guan's period of rest and recuperation is nearing its end.

At this point, Yang Qian paused and said, "After this period of preparation and rest, Dong Guan will definitely go all out in this next attack."

Geng Xuan nodded slightly, acknowledging Yang Qian's explanation.

After a moment's pause, he asked softly, "So, you came here today just to remind me of this?"

“…Yes.” Yang Qian paused for a moment and replied softly.

Geng Xuan stared at him for a moment before suddenly saying, "Do you have anything else to say?"

“...Yes.” Yang Qian replied again, his voice even softer and his head even lower.

Geng Xuan laughed and said:
"Just say what you're thinking, why be shy?"

Yang Qian looked slightly embarrassed, as if to say, "I'm not shy."

However, since Geng Xuan had already offered him the ladder, he had no reason to refuse to climb it.

"I do have some ideas, but I don't know if they are feasible. I would like to ask for your opinion, Commander."

"Tell me about it." Hearing him say that, Geng Xuan became interested.

"In these days, Dong Guan has indeed stabilized his foundation and rebuilt his strength, but in reality, he has already missed the best opportunity."

Yang Qian's first words did not elaborate on his new ideas, but rather he gave a brief assessment of the situation on both sides.

Geng Xuan nodded.

This may sound like a compliment, but it's actually the truth.

Anyone who knows the profound changes that have taken place within the "Black Wind Army" in the past ten days or so would reach the same conclusion as Yang Qian.

"...However, in the upcoming new round of war, we will certainly be able to inflict unprecedented heavy damage on Dong Guan's army."

However, it's impossible to completely annihilate the enemy army with just this one battle.

At this point, Yang Qian paused, then said, half with emotion and half with statement:

"Compared to Dong Guan, our forces are still too few, while Dong Guan's foundation is still too solid!"

Geng Xuan nodded slightly again.

Yang Qian continued his analysis:
"The balance of power between us and Dong Guan will change from this point on."

In my judgment, Dong Guan will likely abandon Youzhou and retreat to Xuanzhou with his remaining troops.

In addition, he also has a large navy that can easily cut off the two waterways of the Hanghe River and the Xuanqing Sea.

If the situation really comes to this, we can certainly take over the entire Xuanzhou little by little with our absolute advantage.

However, it will take a very long time.

Even in the end, they might not be able to eliminate Dong Guan... He could easily lead tens of thousands of Xuanyou Iron Cavalry and escape to Minzhou further east.

Listening to Yang Qian's analysis, Geng Xuan frowned slightly.

If the overall situation in Xuanyou Prefecture is truly as Yang Qian predicted, then it will become a "battle of sorts".

Not only will it take a long time.

The price paid by Xuanyou and the loss of life caused by the incident will far exceed his expectations.

Moreover, as time goes on, there will be more and more "variables".

The nine provinces of the world are one.

The reason why forces from other states have not yet intervened is because there has been too little time and out-of-state forces have not had time to get involved.

Whether it's the dissemination of information or the making of decisions by various parties, time is required.

If the situation develops as Yang Qian predicted, a large number of "flies" will inevitably swarm in.

The situation in Xuanyou and Youzhou will become even more complicated as a result.

This fundamentally contradicts his attempt to resolve the "big bomb" of Dong Guan as quickly and costly as possible.

To nip this possibility in the bud, Geng Xuan's first thought was to personally take action and capture Dong Guan completely before he fled to Xuanzhou.

But Geng Xuan didn't want to do that unless he had no other choice.

Now, Yang Qian is clearly here to offer him a "new option".

Having understood the situation, Geng Xuan did not rush to ask further questions, but waited quietly.

"At present, Dong Guan is completely unaware of this, but it is the best time to plan ahead."

"By the time he realized the crisis and tried to flee eastward into Xuanzhou, we had already nipped that opportunity in the bud!" Yang Qian said, looking at Geng Xuan.

Geng Xuan asked, "How exactly should we do it?"

Yang Qian took a deep breath and said:

"I want to infiltrate Dong Guanjun's camp and explain the advantages and disadvantages to some key figures."

A thought flashed through Geng Xuan's mind, and his thoughts raced.

In fact, the situation of the "Black Wind Army" is too special and somewhat unconventional.

Many of the most routine operations in military campaigns are still a blank in the short history of the "Black Wind Army".

For example, while fighting the enemy, they would try to make direct or indirect contact, exchange information, and communicate with the enemy's generals and key figures.

They employ various tactics such as persuasion, sowing discord, planting seeds of interference, and creating disruptions.

Often, these kinds of confrontations are the real focus, while military clashes are merely the "spillover" result of these confrontations.

Given this historical context, Yang Qian's idea is perfectly normal and not at all abrupt.

On the contrary, groups like the "Black Wind Army," who disregard everything else and recklessly fight to the death, are somewhat unconventional.

Geng Xuan did not ask Yang Qian what gave him the right to sneak into Dong Guan's camp at this time.

They didn't immediately press him to tell which "key figures" he wanted to explain the pros and cons to.

Given his long-standing experience as the Director of the Dark Night Division, the fact that he dared to say such a thing meant that he was very confident that he could sneak in without alerting Dong Guan.

He probably already had a general idea of ​​who those "key figures" were.

Thinking of Yang Qian's past identity, Geng Xuan naturally assumed that Yang Qian must have a lot of incriminating material on him, the kind that would be fatal if exposed to Dong Guan.

However, if the situation changes drastically and Dong Guandong flees, the value of these incriminating materials will drop sharply, or even become zero.

Even if Yang Qian laid it all out in front of Dong Guan, he would still choose to forgive him.

They might even imitate Cao Cao's story and put on a public performance or something.

At that time, even the most dangerous and potentially fatal incriminating materials will become worthless, no different from garbage.

"Are these guys trying to cash in on all this dirty stuff before it becomes trash?"

Geng Xuan couldn't help but make this guess in his mind.

The reason he thought this way was because Yang Qian appeared too confident, not like he was going on an adventure, but rather like he was going to reap a harvest.

Of course, it would be wrong to say there is absolutely no danger.

However, if we consider Yang Qian's current ambiguous position within the "Black Wind Army," especially the change in his relationship with his former subordinate, Iron Wolf, it becomes clear that...

And the potential rewards after accomplishing this.

His "small" adventure can then be understood.

Geng Xuan pondered for a moment, but did not respond immediately.

Yang Qian, however, thought that Geng Xuan had doubts about his intention to infiltrate the enemy camp.

After all, it's one thing to explain the pros and cons and persuade people to abandon darkness and embrace light, but it's also another thing to say that Yang Qian went to "abandon darkness and embrace light."

Therefore, Yang Qian quickly added a patch:
"The best time to infiltrate is not now. Rather, it is when Dong Guan's side launches a new offensive, and the two sides are about to clash on the battlefield."

"At that time, Dong Guan's attention was entirely on the battlefield, which was the perfect time for me to act covertly."

By the time I finished my work, the situation on the battlefield had become fairly clear.

With concrete results to prove my point, my empty words become most convincing and achieve the best effect!

Having laid out his thoughts, Yang Qian had nothing more to say and just stared at Geng Xuan expectantly.

His eyes were full of expectation.

Geng Xuan didn't keep him waiting any longer, nodding in agreement, "It's worth a try."

Yang Qian was overjoyed.

Geng Xuan thought for a moment and asked:
"Will you also secretly contact that Marquis Yu?"

Yang Qian did not answer the question immediately. After a while, he hesitated and said:

"I would like to, but I'm worried that he won't give me a chance to speak and will just kill me."

Because of his continuous meritorious service, his cultivation level has greatly improved compared to before he joined the "Black Wind Army".

This is also the source of his confidence to infiltrate the enemy camp.

If someone is not strong enough, they would not give him a chance to speak if he came to their door with incriminating evidence against them; they would simply kill him.

Why would we give him a chance to spout nonsense?
But that Marquis Yu was different.

Even though his strength had improved significantly, he had no confidence that he could withstand the opponent's "greeting gift".

Finally, Yang Qian muttered with some regret, "This is actually a very good target, and the chances of success are quite high... as long as I get a chance to speak."

The problem now is that they won't give him a chance to speak at all.

Hearing him say that, Geng Xuan became interested and asked, "Is there any way to get him to listen to you properly?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Qian began to think about it carefully.

His eyes sometimes brightened, sometimes dimmed.

Just then, Liu Mu suddenly rushed over to see him.

"There's unusual activity in the enemy camp; a major operation is very likely on the horizon!"

Geng Xuan was slightly taken aback.

The next moment, he couldn't help but look at Yang Qian.

Yang Qian's gaze also happened to be directed at him.

Their eyes met.

……

Rewind a few hours.

The first half of the night.

The Black Wind Army camp is located more than 300 miles southeast of the camp.

Dong Guan gathered with a group of his trusted advisors; this was a daily meeting.

Tonight was no exception.

However, unlike the usual discussions about how to reorganize the internal affairs, tonight everyone gathered together to discuss only one thing.

attack.

All the previous preparations were for the upcoming new round of attacks, to make more thorough preparations.

No one has forgotten this.

Therefore, after sorting out the internal situation and having the confidence to deliver a more powerful and sustained punch, no one would think of waiting any longer.

They were all eager to unleash this long-awaited punch.

Tonight, when everyone gathered together, the discussion wasn't about whether to fight or not, but about how to fight.

After discussion, specific tactics gradually took shape.

First, the option of launching a full-scale attack on the enemy camp has been abandoned by everyone.

This is not an opponent to be underestimated!

This is an exceptionally dangerous enemy!

The enemy camp had clearly been carefully prepared, so they certainly wouldn't be so reckless as to fight it to the death.

Moreover, siege warfare was not something the Xuanyou Iron Cavalry was good at.

The response that Dong Guan and others came up with was also very simple.

Head west, try your best to head west!
They won't even hide their own operational plans; instead, they'll find ways to expose their intentions.

At that time, the "Black Wind Army," located more than 300 miles to their northwest, will face two choices.

Either obstruct it.

Then the two sides should have a fair and square battle.

From Dong Guan to his other trusted advisors, everyone was eager for the "Black Wind Army" to make this choice.

In that way, they could use their superior cavalry, which outnumbered the enemy by several times, to create the greatest advantage and completely end this "farce".

Their simple "straight punch" might deter their opponent from responding.

Although they were reluctant to admit it, their analysis showed that this was the most likely response from the "Black Wind Army."

A battle that is known to be lost should of course be avoided.

The "Black Wind Army" has always operated by taking advantage of the "enemy's light and our darkness" situation to carry out unexpected actions.

And try to create a situation where "the enemy has more men than women" in local battles.

Then, make full use of every victory to eventually create a terrifying momentum like a massive avalanche.

Such a method is certainly ingenious.

But it's a little too "exquisite".

After seeing through the enemy's true nature, they all felt that the enemy would tend to avoid such "clumsy" fighting.

However, that's alright.

In this way, they can reclaim the territory that the other side has occupied for more than ten days.

Cut off the possibility of the other party drawing blood from Youzhou.

If they can do this, they won't need to launch a full-scale attack on the enemy camp; they can simply surround it without attacking and starve it to death.

This strategy seems unremarkable.

However, they maximized their own advantages, leaving the enemy no opening to exploit.

Finally, everyone began to discuss who should lead this large army on which they had placed high hopes.

According to Dong Guan, there's really nothing to discuss here.

Just maintain the status quo.

The Iron Cavalry had a complete organizational structure and did not require any temporary adjustments.

But the repeated defeats eventually had an impact on people's minds.

Some people felt it wasn't safe enough and came up with an idea.

"Would it be alright to let Marquis Yu take command?" someone asked, throwing a "shot put" at Dong Guan.

Dong Guan paused for a moment, then looked at the person who asked the question, his eyes becoming sharp and cold.

If it weren't for his drastic change in temperament during this period, becoming gentle and kind, he would have grabbed the other person by the neck and demanded, "Who instructed you to do this?" (End of Chapter)