Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Chapter 804: Chapter 41 Being Lectured

Two hundred people…

Qin Sitong was suddenly stunned.

At present, with the Dragon Clan and the Feathered Clan on one side, there were only about a thousand Cultivators in total.

On the opposing side, the Qilin and White Tiger alliance armies surrounding Yuanjiang City were estimated to have roughly twelve hundred Cultivators, but they had to split their attention to block the forces inside Yuanjiang City, thus overall, the two sides were evenly matched.

If they followed Long Long’s suggestion to directly pull out one-fifth of the Cultivators to ambush the enemy patrol troops on the western Water Domain… that wasn’t an ambush, that was clearly a forceful attack!

Moreover, if it were only twenty or so people, Qin Sitong could easily reassign them from somewhere else.

However, Long Long wanted two hundred people, which wasn’t something that could be reassigned lightly, as it would inevitably affect the density of the frontline defense.

Seeing Qin Sitong deep in thought, Long Long asked:

“What’s the matter?”

Qin Sitong tactfully said:

“Long Long, what you do not know is that these two hundred people… are not so easy to reassign.”

Long Long naturally guessed the reason, thinking it was because the Feathered Clan was unwilling to cooperate, and if the Dragon Clan provided these two hundred people, it would affect the front line defense. Therefore, he said:

“There’s no rush for this matter. Let’s go back first, and I’ll take a look at the distribution of forces on the front line.”

The group again left the surface of the river and returned to the underground command center.

Qin Sitong’s expression unchanged, he explained the distribution of forces to Long Long using the command sand table.

The other Dragon Clan generals, although silent, continued to communicate through concealed incantations, opening channels to discuss:

“What’s with this one? He doesn’t even understand the distribution of forces and just asks to reassign two hundred people right off the bat?”

“What can be done? The man has the Great Elder behind him!”

“Since it’s the Great Elder’s will, even if Fourth Master is asked to go to the battlefield himself, he probably would not object.”

After patiently listening, Long Long understood that the Dragon Clan was deployed on the left wing, and the Feathered Clan on the right, each with completely independent command systems, just like fingers unable to make a fist, no wonder they couldn’t beat the White Tiger Divine General on the opposite side.

Qin Sitong explained the situation in one breath, and the discussions among the other Dragon Clan generals ceased. Everyone wanted to see how Long Long would react and what command he would give.

Long Long pondered for a long time, and just when everyone was getting a bit impatient, he slowly asked:

“How does this sand table Magical Treasure function?”

All the Dragon Clan generals were dumbfounded, thinking Qin Sitong had explained so much to you and you didn’t listen to any of it, focusing all your attention on “What is this sand table Magical Treasure”, right?

Qin Sitong was speechless but still elaborated:

“Each of our Dragon Clan Cultivators in service carries a chess piece Magic Artifact for messaging.”

“This sand table Magical Treasure, named ‘Strategic Chessboard’, can then display the actual distribution and formation of forces based on the specific locations of all the chess piece Magic Artifacts.”

“If a Cultivator falls on the battlefield, we can also promptly be informed and confirm it through this chessboard Magical Treasure.”

“I see,” said Long Long, nodding, “So the terrain on this sand table is also a real-time representation scanned by the Magical Treasure from the actual battlefield, correct?”

“Oh, that’s not the case.”

“How is that so?”

“It’s based on the scouts’ memories of surveilling the surrounding terrain, manually drawn onto the Chessboard Magic Artifact…”

Long Long was momentarily at a loss for words, thinking to himself that he had expected this Magic Artifact to be a simplified version of Ah Jing’s, yet it was not even on par with a simplified version.

“Given the circumstances, then let me rearrange the forces.” Saying this, Long Long picked up the chess pieces symbolizing the troops on the sand table and pushed them straight forward.

“Wait!” Qin Sitong hurriedly intervened.

“Hmm?” Long Long asked, but his hands kept moving nonetheless.

“If you directly adjust the troop distribution on the Magic Artifact, the cultivators outside will sense it,” Qin Sitong explained helplessly, “They will adjust their actual formations based on the new arrangement here.”

“Isn’t that perfect!” Long Long laughed, “With this treasure in hand, strategizing is just like playing a game of chess.”

He continued to adjust the troops, quickly moving all the available forces to the front, and then dispatched two hundred men towards the western Water Domain.

The other Dragon Clan generals couldn’t sit still either. It seemed like Long Long was merely moving pieces on the Chessboard Magic Artifact, but each change in placement meant that a cultivator had to leave their originally stationed position.

Long Long’s bold actions almost completely disrupted the prior arrangement. Such large-scale troop movement was bound to cause confusion amongst the cultivators below, and without the cooperation of corresponding generals, chaos would ensue.

Thus, the others could only curse to themselves, “This fool treats military matters as child’s play,” while they quickly left the command room to pacify their subordinates.

Qin Sitong stood by the side, wanting yet hesitating to speak.

He wanted to persuade Long Long not to act rashly, or at least to understand the situation a bit more before doing so.

But upon closer inspection of Long Long’s placements, though more aggressive than the original troop deployments, they didn’t seem inappropriately so—if the front line were to push forward a few hundred more zhang, they would enter the long-range attack radius of the Qilin and White Tiger allied forces, making the risk unacceptable.

Eh?

Looking more closely, Qin Sitong noticed that due to the combined front lines of the Dragon and Feathered Clans, they were encircling the southern forces of the Qilin and White Tiger alliance. Long Long’s comprehensive forward push was tightening the encirclement, which meant that not as many cultivators were needed as before.

Therefore, the cultivators that could be drawn out… amounted to about two hundred people.

Realizing this, Qin Sitong felt an urge to cry tears of relief.

He finally remembered: previously, beneath the riverbed, Long Long said he wanted to move two hundred men to cleanse the surface of the river, and he had responded that these two hundred people weren’t so easy to move around, so Long Long came back to operate the Chessboard himself. It wasn’t to play the game of commanding troops; he was personally demonstrating “how to move these two hundred men.”

Damn it! As an old general, could I not understand such matters of troop movements?

Qin Sitong looked at the Chessboard again, wondering why he hadn’t thought of reducing the troops needed for the forward-moving front line.

Why did we station our troops at the original position at the beginning?

Oh, I remember now. It was the Feathered Clan who first stationed there, and then our Dragon Clan, in order to ensure a pincer position with the Feathered Clan, set up our defenses on their left flank.

The original position, though not the most advantageous terrain-wise, allowed for the best coordination with the Feathered Clan.

Now, Long Long’s commands, although saving more troops, caused a gap in the line with the Feathered Clan, with no coordination.

“Long Long, is there a gap here?” Qin Sitong decided not to point out the problem directly to spare the young man some embarrassment, pretending to be unsure as he inquired.

“Indeed,” Long Long nodded, “If the White Tiger Divine General breaks through here with troops, there is a risk of cutting off and isolating our combined Dragon and Feathered forces.”

“Hmm, so perhaps…” Qin Sitong was about to say “maybe we should stick to the original positioning,” when he heard Long Long say:

“Send a message to the Feathered Clan, asking them to move their front lines forward as well, to coordinate with my troops pressing against Yuanjiang City!”