Li Dian POV

“Alright,” In the end, I nodded and went along with it. However, I looked up, unwilling to give in completely, “But I would like to request to be allowed to remain in the city. In the event something extraordinary happens, I will be there to deal with it.”

“There is no need for that. If we are wiped out or achieve complete victory, we will just wait for the main body to arrive.” Cao Ren shook her head and looked at me, “I need you on the frontlines. So you can’t stay back in the city.”

“Haha.” I laughed but did not say anything. She is really similar to my lord in this aspect huh?

“Could it be that Lord Li Dian fears death?” Cao Ren said as she looked at me and gave a wry smile which made me laugh even more.

“How could that be?” I smiled as I closed my eyes and gave a relaxed expression unlike before as I slowly said, “I am a warrior after all.”

A warrior dying on the battlefield is something that is a given. Dying in battle as a general of the southern campaign’s vanguard sounds decent.

“That’s good then,” Cao Ren seemed pleased at my answer, “I can’t claim to be a warrior but I feel that I have the same resolve that you have.”

“Un.” I nodded. I know this already, having guessed as much before.

“Whether we win or not, the southern campaign will undoubtedly end in success so it’s fine even if we push ourselves here.”

Consider me won over, I said in my heart.

In the end, I found that I am Cao Ren’s inferior as a warrior. As a warrior, one cannot be too preoccupied with the past or future. As a warrior, one only needs to continue forging ahead bravely.

Cao Ren’s bravery is worth in excess of 80 points. As for myself, there is much improvement to be made.

“Hahaha!”

Un? Just as I was feeling impressed with Cao Ren, she suddenly started giggling. When I looked at her, I found that her laughter was sincere.

“By the way, is it alright for us to be like this?”

“Eh?”

“We haven’t even begun fighting yet and we know barely anything about the enemy yet why are we acting like we’re running headlong to our deaths? Puhahaha!”

“That’s because you started acting serious all of a sudden!” I said but felt that this entire exchange was indeed very comical. Our chances for victory were about 50-50 after all yet why are we being so pessimistic?

“That’s it for now then. We’ll deploy our troops out over the next 2 days and we’ll make the necessary decisions later on after we’ve set up camp.” Cao Ren gave the order as she heaved a sigh of relief.

“Understood.” I nodded, fully accepting the fate that we would be engaging the enemy in a full-on frontal clash, “What about our siege weaponry? Will we be bringing them along?”

“Yes, bring them along.” Cao Ren said and then sank into thought, “Speaking of which… I haven’t spoken to Lord Shen Pei on the logistics arrangements yet. I’m planning on leaving her with the responsibility for logistics operations between Fan city and the encampment.”

“Lord Shen Pei huh?” I asked, suspicious of Shen Pei’s ability to be able to fulfill the role. I personally think that she is only as capable as a county clerk and that letting run logistics operations would be overestimating her abilities. No, letting her be a part of the vanguard was a mistake to begin with.

I do not really

know Shen Pei but just being with her for a few days has led me to have this negative view of her. But even if I felt this way, I had no way of voicing it as there is no concrete evidence for how I felt.

“U… Umm…”

Un? A soft voice came from outside the room and drew the attention of both Cao Ren and I. When we looked over, we saw Shen Pei standing by the door with her sleeves in front of her mouth as she poked her head into the doorway timidly.

Perhaps it’s this sort of hesitant personality that has led to my negative view of her.

“Ah, Lord Shen Pei huh? I happen to have business with you which I did not clarify with you before.” Cao Ren smiled and spread her arms wide in a welcoming gesture.

“Ah… Un.” Shen Pei timidly nodded and ran over with small steps that made it seem as though she were floating, and sat opposite of Cao Ren and I. When she sat down, she suddenly looked up as though she thought of something and said, “Ah, Lord Lu Xiang has already relayed the order to the troops.”

“I see, I see. Thanks for your hard work.” Cao Ren nodded, “I was too focused on saying that we should attack and forgot something more important. Umm, I’ll be leaving you with the responsibility of our logistics operations, is that agreeable?”

“Ah… Un.” Shen Pei opened her mouth and did not speak for several seconds. After a long while, she finally closed her mouth and nodded wordlessly.

“Alright, I’ll be counting on you for that then.” Cao Ren said as she took out her tally, “This is my personal command tally. If you need any help from my troops, feel free to use any of my officers and any of the city’s official, as well as any other resources you may see fit to use.”

Eh? Is that really okay?

I looked at Cao Ren but she only nodded slightly at me. If I think about it carefully, I suppose it’s not really an issue. The 10,000 strong we brought have diminished in number by a fair bit already so there’s not much help we can render to Shen Pei.

“Ah, alright, I got it.” Shen Pei nodded and muttered under her breath. Looks like she’s reciting the orders she received to memorise them. She’s not very bright but at least she’s rather serious, and loyal to boot too. I suppose she’s not so bad after all.

“Ah… By the way, is there any reason why Lord Shen Pei came back?” Cao Ren asked when she saw that Shen Pei did not speak even after a long while.

“Eh? Ah! Yes!” Shen Pei took a while to react and then nodded vigorously before sitting upright and lowering her head as she continued timidly, “U, umm, while we were having discussions before, I, umm… Didn’t speak at all right?”

Eh?

“Ah,” Cao Ren blinked and took a moment before she understood what Shen Pei meant before answering firmly, “Yes, I don’t recall Lord Shen Pei saying anything earlier.”

(Yes, I thought so.) Shen Pei whispered and then nodded to herself.

“So…”

Is there something else?

“U-Umm!” Just as I was about to ask her, Shen Pei frantically interrupted me and then looked at Cao Ren and I with a very frantic look, “Umm, please give me a bit of time.”

Un? A bit of time? I really did not understand what she meant by this and looked at Cao Ren who gave me a stiff smile in response before gesturing to Shen Pei to go ahead.

“Un un.” Shen Pei nodded and gave a silly smile.

Haa~ Huu~ Next, Shen Pei closed her eyes and placed her hands on her chest as she began taking in deep breaths.

Haa~ Hu~~ Ha~~ Huu~~~

I was completely befuddled and Cao Ren seemed to be the same.

Haa~~~ Huu~~~~

However, it seemed like her nervousness diminished significantly every time she took a deep breath and expelled it. When I looked closely at her, I found that her tight frown had eased up and her countenance was different than before.

Is she… Trying to alleviate her nervousness?

Haa~~ Hu~~~~~

Just as I guessed what she was doing, she spat out her breath 1 last time and she slowly opened her eyes. Surprisingly, her eyes were now filled with resolve and the Shen Pei I knew seemed to be completely different from the Shen Pei now.

It felt like Shen Pei was now an actual strategist. It was as if her breathing exercises had helped her to shed a layer of nervousness and fear and she transformed from a county clerk into a sage.

Frankly, I could not believe what I was seeing. Cao Ren, on the other hand, had a ‘I see’ expression on as she nodded.

Shen Pei then saluted us, “Lord Cao Ren, Lord Li Dian. I seek your understanding for my rudeness from before.”

Be it her actions or her speech, there was no hint of nervousness. In fact, she seemed respectable even.

“No no no, not at all.” Cao Ren seemed accept this very easily, “So maybe you can tell us your reason for returning now?”

“Yes.” She said as she bowed before beginning to slowly explain why she had returned.

“Right now, we have no clarity on the enemy. And so, as the vanguard, it is an imperative for us to launch further attacks.” As she said so, she let her sleeves fall back, revealing 2 slim arms that she placed on her lap, “But we only have slightly more than 20,000 troops so we need to use them efficiently. When we engage with the enemy, we must attack and attack again, and seize the advantage in our follow-up.”

Shen Pei clearly had a lot more to say about this and she seemed very confident too. Be it me or Cao Ren, we both knew now why she returned.

“Are you here to offer a strategy?”

“That is so.”

“Why did you not do so earlier?” I asked.

“Because I was nervous. But this battle is critical and I cannot remain silent. Which is why I came here once more and did breathing exercises to relax.”

So that’s why.

“Well then, what strategies do you have?” Cao Ren asked expectantly.

When Cao Ren finished, Shen Pei saluted us once more, “Combat strategies are not my specialty but I am still a strategist after all.” As Shen Pei said so, looked up and use the words that strategists always use, “I’ve been pondering for a long while now and I have come up with a plan which I hope you will listen to.”

“Before I start feeling nervous again.” She weakly added at the end.

“I will be more than happy to.” Cao Ren said as she sat upright and so did I.

In the next moment, Shen Pei began explaining her strategy.