My Cultivation Starting from Archery

Chapter 298 - 156: The Art of War is a Matter of Momentum

Chen Sansi led the troops away, and after another fifty li, stopped at a crossroads on an official road in the wilderness.

"Xu..."

It slipped out so naturally that he found it hard to correct himself: "Bring me the map."

"Who has a map? Quickly!"

Zhao Kang and the others

To the side.

The other two Thousand Captains of the Xuanjia Army, Xiao Zheng, and You Jike, also listened with serious expressions.

"You few are still clear-headed."

Chen Sansi continued: "So, what we have to do is race against time, time is the essence of opportunity, the faster we deal with the soldiers and horses in each city, and gather the dispersed forces of our Great Sheng Dynasty, the better prepared we will be to face the upcoming changes."

"The fastest way to capture a city is to make the Enemy Army open its gates and surrender. If fighting breaks out, even with the smallest city, it will cost us a lot of time and troops. On a front of nearly a thousand li with so many cities, we simply cannot afford the accumulated time."

"One Songlin is not enough, one Zhaotong is not enough."

"What I want, aside from Yong Yue Prefecture, is for all thirty-six prefectures within the territory of Lai State to surrender at the sight of my forces!"

All thirty-six prefectures surrendering at the sight!

Xia Cong and the others exchanged looks, seemingly finding it hard to believe.

Moreover, on the military order.

They were only required to deal with Zhaotong Prefecture; was it really necessary to go this far?

Xiao Zheng expressed his doubt: "My lord, if I may be bold, isn't the difficulty a bit too great?"

"Yes, my lord, it's not that I doubt you, just..."

You Jike added: "Persuading one or two key cities to surrender is already an exceedingly difficult task, let alone convincing all thirty-six prefectures. It's almost... impossible, isn't it?"

"Hmph! Making a fuss over nothing!"

Zhu Tong scornfully said: "Even I understand, do this first, then that, and it'll work out!"

"Old Zhu, stop causing trouble."

Zhuang Yi pulled him aside: "Just listen to the general's speech, and you know nothing!"

But the brothers from Po Yang were unfazed, as they had no doubt their general could achieve the strategic goals he had declared.

"You Jike, there's one thing you got wrong."

Chen Sansi's gaze remained fixed on the map: "Sometimes, the difficulty of persuading many cities in a state to submit is far less than persuading just one or two cities; this is called momentum."

"Some say that in war, deceit is key, others say authority is key, and still others say that the most important thing is to ensure a stable position for oneself, awaiting the enemy's defeat. But I say—"

He paused for emphasis, each word he spoke ringing out like a deep ringing bell: "In war, momentum is everything!"