My name is Wei Qing, and I want to fight the Xiongnu.

Later, the title "enemy of ten thousand men" gradually transformed into a standard of strength, referring to the ability to surpass the elite infantry of the Han Dynasty.

In other words, at least they're no longer at the level of a nobody.

In fact, Wei Qing didn't understand any of this. He only remembered that all the soldiers who participated in the exhibition in his dream were at least at the level of a thousand-pound strongman.

I don't know if it's because if you resist this standard line, you wouldn't even qualify as cannon fodder on the battlefield, or if even someone like the eternal overlord Xiang Yu was almost crushed to death by a million strong men!

As for elite infantry, they are the elite troops that require the fewest resources.

If it were cavalry, the resources I have wouldn't even be enough to buy three hundred cavalrymen.

Looking at the hundred mighty warriors appearing behind him, Wei Qing reached out and grasped the military flag symbolizing the "Han Army Corps." The flag, fluttering in the wind, bore a large character "Han."

The moment Wei Qing's hand grasped the flagpole, a strange power erupted, connecting Wei Qing with a thousand mighty warriors.

Sensing the flow of this strange power, Wei Qing seemed to gradually understand how these creatures, whose bodies could easily kill hundreds or thousands of small fry with a single slap, could hunt down those kings and generals who were symbolized as eternal and invincible.

I also learned why the soldiers guarding the Great Wall started as elite infantry.

Wei Qing looked up at the sand table, considered for a few seconds, and murmured, "I remember Uncle Cao once said that Sun Tzu's Art of War states: 'Therefore, the method of using troops is to surround them if they are ten times stronger than you, attack them if they are five times stronger, and divide them if they are twice as strong.'"

This means that if the enemy outnumbers you tenfold, you should try to find an opportunity to surround them in order to win. If the enemy outnumbers you fivefold, you can choose to launch a frontal assault. If the enemy outnumbers you twice as many, you should send out a portion of your elite troops to fight, and avoid tying down your main force.

Although the size of the enemy's army is unknown, since their resources are five times that of ours, they fall within the range where a direct frontal assault is feasible.

Moreover, if the enemy is careless, they will likely allocate some of their forces to guard the four passes.

If the enemy chooses to divide their forces to defend, it is undoubtedly a way to reduce the enemy's strength.

No wonder this martial arts battlefield not only gave away Pengcheng to our opponent, but also four passes; it's clearly a trap!

First, annihilate Feihua Pass, which is closest to you, and then attack Pengcheng. This way, the enemy will definitely redeploy troops from the other three passes to relieve Pengcheng.

In this way, he could wait in comfort and then sweep away the reinforcements coming from the three passes with overwhelming force.

By the way, Uncle Cao mentioned this tactic before; it's called "encircling the point and attacking reinforcements!"

After figuring it out, Wei Qing pulled out the flag and led a thousand elite soldiers toward Feihua Pass.

On the other hand, the Ninth Legion of the Chu Army had just finished selecting the types and numbers of its troops and was carrying out its deployment in an orderly manner.

Actually, this wasn't the first time they had faced the enemy, and the terrain chosen for the training ground was practically home turf for the Ninth Elite Legion of the Chu Army.

Pengcheng was the capital of the Chu Kingdom, where Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King, once established his capital.

Therefore, they are already extremely skilled at how to divide their forces, how to utilize favorable terrain, and how to form a pincer movement to attack the opponent.

However, this opponent is no ordinary one; in terms of ability, they are probably far superior to our own army, so we must deal with them with caution.

Even if they were outmatched, they couldn't afford to suffer a crushing defeat. They had to at least display the prowess of the Chu army. That's why they acted overly cautiously from beginning to end, or to put it bluntly, timid and hesitant.

After a comprehensive and multi-faceted discussion, Liu Piqiang and his strategist finally came to the conclusion that, given the disparity in troop strength, the enemy would inevitably choose to retreat and defend, which meant first occupying Lushan, where not only was the terrain high, but there was also a water source.

And to facilitate an orderly retreat from the back of the mountain in the event of an unfavorable situation.

Therefore, the most important consideration is how to conduct mountain warfare more effectively. Crossbowmen are obviously not suitable for fighting on high slopes, especially in mountainous areas, and more mountain troops should be recruited.

Secondly, after the battle begins, the enemy will definitely look for an opportunity to break out. To prevent the main force from breaking out, it would be best to recruit more spearmen. Furthermore, pursuing the retreating army will require a number of elite cavalry...

In short, Liu Piqiang and his strategist racked their brains, considering every aspect, but... they never once thought of recruiting troops to defend Pengcheng...

Just as Liu Piqiang and his strategists were racking their brains to find Wei Qing's escape route, Wei Qing had already led his troops, lightly armed, to the pass closest to him and furthest from Pengcheng, which was guarded by the Ninth Legion of the Chu Army.

Nobody here?

Wei Qing looked at the pass from afar and saw that it was deserted. The city gates of the pass were wide open, and he was puzzled. Could it be an empty city ploy?

But then he thought it was impossible. Judging from the distance between the two sides, the other side would definitely arrive at Feihua Pass a step ahead of him, and even if the arrival time was not long, it would be enough for them to set up defensive fortifications.

Unless the enemy knows that I will choose to launch a full-scale attack on Pengcheng, and therefore does not want to waste troops guarding the pass, and intends to fight me to the death in Pengcheng.

Yes, that must be it!

Wei Qing considered it for a moment and realized that there was only one explanation.

This time, the opponent is no slouch either; they actually guessed my plan?

I thought the other person was on the first floor and I was on the second floor, but I didn't expect the other person to be on the fifth floor!

It seems that Gongshu Wu was right after all. Don't be arrogant and disregard your opponents just because you are talented and strong. Otherwise, you will eventually suffer a setback.

While reflecting on his own actions, Wei Qing looked towards Pengcheng in the distance, thinking that since the conspiracy had failed, he would have no choice but to launch a direct attack!

Even if you have five times the troops, even if you possess Pengcheng, so what!

Today, I, Wei Zhongqing, will use three hundred elite infantrymen to forcibly take Pengcheng from you.

Let me show you why I named my legion after the "Han Army"!

.............

The explanation that "ten can surround it" actually happened in history, and not just once, but twice.

One example is Han Xin's desperate battle with his back to the river, but his real killing move was to seize the flag and switch sides, attacking from both the front and the rear.

Another instance was when Li Shimin decisively defeated Dou Jiande at Hulao Pass, also by using the tactic of switching flags to create the illusion that he was surrounded, thus annihilating his opponent.

Of course, in practice, it's far more complicated than that, but... it did exist.

Furthermore, the reason why the protagonist Wei Qing thinks this way is not because he is being cute or stupid; this is simply how he thinks.

I'll explain later. Simply put, for geniuses, especially those who rarely interact with peers of genius, there's often a lack of "experimentation." For example, Faker's famous quote: "I play like a Korean server master."

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Ideals are lofty, but reality is harsh.

While Wei Qing was fighting the Chu army, several other noble sons had already emerged from the martial arts world.

They went in full of enthusiasm, but came out looking like drowned rats, all listless and without any energy.

The blow was too great.

The Martial Arts World is not a real plane, but a virtual space used to simulate a battlefield.

Under normal circumstances, a small-scale war lasts about an hour from start to finish, while a large-scale war lasts no more than six hours. As for battles between legions, they take even longer.

Of course, if the two sides are overwhelmingly superior, the outcome could be decided in an instant.

If the two sides engage in guerrilla warfare, it could easily last for a whole day and night.

At that point, it will really come down to who has the better kidneys.

However... only half an hour had passed from when this group of noble sons entered the martial arts world to when they came out looking utterly dejected.

At the normal pace, it's likely that not even a single war has been finished.

In fact, all four of them had been defeated more than three times.

To say that they were defeated is an understatement; to be more precise, it should be described as a massacre.

Upon entering the battlefield, before even deciding on troop types, the enemy army was already upon them. There was no time to organize their forces, and the battle ended in a massacre.

Having learned from their mistakes, they quickly selected their ideal units as soon as they entered the battlefield, and then the enemy's army once again charged in with two units, resulting in another massacre.

Again and again, the third time they simply chose all defensive units, and unsurprisingly, they were overwhelmed once again. Even though they had the advantage in unit type, resources, and terrain, the outcome was exactly the same as before.

If it weren't for the fact that the martial arts world didn't exist, they wouldn't have specifically targeted those few noble sons. They would really suspect that there was a bug or that the other side was cheating.

Although it was the first time that I had truly entered the world of martial arts and the first time that I had truly sparred with an opponent, the gap between us was just too, too, too big, wasn't it?

From beginning to end, there wasn't a single chance of victory. His soldiers inexplicably collapsed and surrendered without resistance...

Is this what a battlefield is?

Xiahou Ci looked at the sons of the nobles and said nothing. This was the reason why the "martial arts demonstration" of the Marquis of Ruyin's mansion was sealed. It was too damaging to the confidence of the young men.

What's even more terrifying is that those with weak martial arts talent can use rare and precious materials to temper their bodies.

By simply piling up resources, even a mediocre person can be elevated to a considerable level.

The sons of royalty, and even noble families, rarely possess strength inferior to that of ten thousand men after reaching adulthood.

It should be noted that even someone like Xiahou Ci, who has spent twelve years immersed in the martial arts world and has hardly ever trained his body, possesses the strength to defeat ten thousand men.

But in the art of commanding troops, talent almost always determines everything.

If we say that martial prowess = talent + talent + resources + effort

Therefore, the art of commanding troops = talent * talent * resources + effort

The resources mentioned here do not refer to material things, but more to teachers, strategies, and opportunities.

When it comes to commanding troops, effort is the least meaningful thing.

Xiahou Ci was not a jealous person; he only caused trouble for Liu Yangxin because he believed that Liu Yangxin had caused the death of his son.

As for Wei Qing... he was dragged down by Liu Yangxin.

These sons of nobles before him had neither a conflict of interest nor had they done anything to wrong him, so Xiahou Ci had no reason to target them.

He walked over to the sons of several noblemen, patted them on the shoulder and encouraged them, saying, "Don't take it to heart. Not everyone is suited to this path, and not everyone can reach their ideal height."

Furthermore, while there may only be one core commander in the army, even a commander needs helpers. As the saying goes, "A hero needs three helpers, and a fence needs three posts." These are common sense principles, and I'm sure you are as well.

There's a saying that it's better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox, but reality often doesn't follow our will. Finding the most suitable position for ourselves and then working hard in a down-to-earth manner is what we should do.

It's not that they were overly ambitious, but ultimately ended up with a life where their aspirations were higher than the sky's and their fate was as fragile as paper.

The four noble sons, who had been deeply hurt, seemed to regain their hope upon hearing Xiahou Ci's words of comfort. Their cold hearts once again felt the warmth from their elder.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Xun Guizi looked up, about to express his gratitude, but when he saw the ink residue on Xiahou Ci's face, his expression of gratitude failed him; he almost burst out laughing, thankfully managing to hold it in.

Xiahou Ci was instantly embarrassed. There was nothing he could do. The ink was made from Gemo ink, and once the brush was applied, it was as if it were engraved on the surface. It could not be modified, nor would the writing become blurred over time or due to external influences.

The ink is excellent; it writes beautifully on paper, and it's also difficult to remove if spilled on a person.

Even with special cleaning solutions, it still requires repeated washing several times.

Seeing the younger generation hurriedly apologizing, Xiahou Ci sighed softly and then gestured for them not to worry about it.

He doesn't have many years left to live, and he wouldn't get angry over such a small matter with a few younger relatives who haven't even reached adulthood yet.

After one of the noble sons apologized to Xiahou Ci, he looked at Wei Qing, who was squatting in the corner with his left hand protecting his body and his right hand gripping the handle of a woodcutter's knife behind his back, seemingly ready to strike at any moment. He shook his head helplessly.

This guy was really unlucky. Among the older generation of nobles, the patriarch of the Xiahou family was considered to have a good temper. If you hadn't been implicated by Princess Yangxin and suffered this undeserved disaster, even if the patriarch had seen through your slave background, he might have sent you a letter of recommendation.