As a young marshal, it's reasonable for me to have 300,000 private troops, right?

Only Qi Fan and Guo Songling remained in the office, and Qi Fan had already made his plans.

To deal with such an unruly character, the nicer you are to him, the less effective it will be. You must directly demonstrate overwhelming strength to suppress his arrogance and make him truly convinced.

Indulging his bad temper will only make him more unruly in the future.

Having made up his mind, Qi Fan didn't give Guo Songling a kind look and glanced at him.

"What are you planning to teach me?"

Guo Songling was visibly taken aback, clearly not expecting the young master of the Marshal's Mansion to have such an attitude.

But he was an adult after all, and it wasn't worth arguing with a ten-year-old child, so he gave a gentle smile.

"What do you want to learn? Military deployment, tactics, or geography—I can teach you anything."

"That's exactly what I was waiting for!" Qi Fan thought to himself with a sense of satisfaction, but his face remained impassive. He turned around and quickly walked to the cabinet at the back of the office, where he pulled out a military map that was as big as half a table when unfolded.

This was used by Zhang Zuolin for his daily office work. The mountains, rivers, and passes were marked in great detail, which was a good opportunity to test the system's capabilities.

He spread the map out on the table with a "whoosh" and pointed to the center of the map.

"No need for that, just tell me about this picture first."

Upon seeing this, Guo Songling immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Geographical situation and positional warfare were his strengths, and his postgraduate studies at the Army University gave him consistent confidence in this area. He stepped forward, his gaze fixed on the map, and spoke loudly.

"Alright! Then I will first explain to the Crown Prince the geographical layout of China, and then discuss the tactical arrangements for positional warfare in light of the terrain!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand to gesture and explain on the map.

But the more he talked, the more he felt something was wrong, because the geographical and strategic knowledge that Qi Fan possessed was not something an ordinary child could have.

Over the next hour, the two engaged in a battle of geography and strategy, focusing on the map.

At first, Guo Songling was somewhat dismissive, but the more they talked, the more alarmed he became. His professional knowledge, which he was so proud of, seemed so shallow in front of Qi Fan.

Many of the viewpoints put forward by Qi Fan were advanced tactical ideas that he had never explored before. Even for a few inconspicuous passes on the map, Qi Fan could accurately point out the key points of attack and defense and analyze them in a very logical way.

Keep in mind, the person in front of him is just a ten-year-old child! He, a top student from the Army University, was completely outclassed by a child in his professional field.

This sense of humiliation surged like a tide, making Guo Songling's cheeks burn, and he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

In contrast, Qi Fan appeared confident throughout, and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth, his tone undisguisedly sarcastic.

"You're not even good enough? You dare to teach me? I'd be the one teaching you."

Upon hearing Qi Fan's words, Guo Songling clenched his fists as if he had made a decision. However, in the end, Guo Songling said nothing, turned around abruptly, and strode out of the office.

Qi Fan watched his disheveled departure and raised an eyebrow in satisfaction: "Can't take it anymore? You need to work on it a bit more." But the next second, he caught a glimpse of the system panel out of the corner of his eye and froze instantly.

Guo Songling's favorability towards him skyrocketed from less than 10% when he entered the door to 60%!

"What the heck?" Qi Fan clicked his tongue inwardly. "Is this guy a masochist? Getting roasted actually increased his likeability?"

He only intended to put down Guo Songling's arrogance, but unexpectedly gained his favor by accident, and felt that Guo Songling was a strange person even more.

Before Qi Fan could process this unexpected turn of events, the office door was pushed open again.

This time, Guo Songling actually led Zhang Zuolin in directly.

Just as Qi Fan was about to greet him, he saw Guo Songling do something that shocked both him and Zhang Zuolin.

With a "plop," he knelt down directly in front of Qi Fan.

"Holy crap!" Qi Fan jumped back half a step in fright, completely dumbfounded.

What's going on? He just stormed off, how come he's kneeling down after bringing his dad back?

Zhang Zuolin stared wide-eyed at the scene before him, his face filled with disbelief, and he almost dropped his pipe.

He turned to look at Guo Songling kneeling, then at Qi Fan who looked completely bewildered, and didn't react for a long time.

"Guo Songling, what are you doing?"

Guo Songling ignored Zhang Zuolin's question, looked up at Qi Fan with an extremely solemn expression.

"I, Guo Maochen, formally acknowledge you as my master in front of my superior! I hope you will generously impart your knowledge and teach me more about strategy!"

Huh? You want to become my disciple?

Qi Fan was completely dumbfounded. He had only intended to use the map game to suppress Guo Songling's arrogance and make him submit to discipline, but he did not expect that this guy would actually play for real and directly kneel down to become his disciple in public.

This turn of events came so suddenly!

Compared to Qi Fan, Zhang Zuolin was even more confused. He had clearly invited Guo Songling to be Liu Zi's teacher, so how come he had turned around and wanted to become Liu Zi's student in such a short time?

He crouched down, patted Guo Songling on the shoulder, and said in a tone full of surprise.

"You're not kidding me, are you? A top student from the Army University, you want to become my student?"

"Sir, I am not joking!" Guo Songling said firmly, his eyes showing no trace of mockery.

"Your strategic vision, terrain analysis, and tactical deployment are unparalleled in my life, far surpassing my own knowledge and learning. As the saying goes, 'the accomplished are my teachers,' and Your Excellency's talent makes you my mentor! I humbly request Your Excellency's assistance!"

Qi Fan stood frozen in place, his mind buzzing. He was truly in a bind now.

Let's take Guo Songling as our apprentice. His abilities are all given to him by the system. Apart from strategic theories on maps, if we really try to teach him tactical practice in depth, he'll be exposed sooner or later.

But if they didn't accept it, it wouldn't be appropriate since Guo Songling had already knelt down in front of Zhang Zuolin.

Zhang Zuolin, who was standing to the side, had already recovered from his shock and was now staring intently at Qi Fan, his pipe hanging in mid-air, forgetting to put it in his mouth, his eyes full of doubt and inquiry.

Zhang Zuolin looked at Guo Songling, knowing that Guo Songling would never joke about such a thing, so he looked at Qi Fan.

"You brat, when did you learn all this map-based warfare stuff? I had no idea about it!"

Uh… Qi Fan’s heart skipped a beat, thinking to himself that what he feared most had come to pass!

His biggest worry was that Zhang Zuolin would press him on this, and he couldn't very well say that he had a system, could he?

He was sweating profusely with anxiety, his mind racing, when he suddenly remembered Li Yunlong's classic line from the TV series "Bright Sword".

"This...it's strange! I've had a knack for maps since I was a child, it's like I was born with it! Ever since I can remember, as soon as a map is laid out, the mountains, rivers, and passes on it are like they're ingrained in my brain, and I naturally know how to deploy troops and how to attack and defend!"

After saying this, Qi Fan wanted to slap himself. This reason was too ridiculous! It was utter nonsense, and even he couldn't fool himself.

But when he looked up, he found that Zhang Zuolin and Guo Songling were both staring at him with wide eyes and surprised expressions of "I see," as if what he said was not nonsense, but a great truth!

Seriously? You actually believe that? Qi Fan was completely dumbfounded.

It's no wonder the two of them believed it.

After all, Guo Songling had personally experienced Qi Fan's strategic prowess, which was something a ten-year-old child could not have fabricated out of thin air.

After much thought, Zhang Zuolin could not find any other reasonable explanation besides "a natural genius." He couldn't possibly believe in something beyond his comprehension, like a "system."