Chapter 714: Ball Kicking at the Alliance Meeting (I)

Jiang Pengji could only sigh in awe after learning of this. They were all real businessmen.

Host V: Please let the game company know that we should at least be compensated if they are using our characters to make money.

For a short while, the entire stream channel was filled with “hahaha” comments. Some even went as far as to “@” the studio’s account on Weibo.

Jiang Pengji was just playing the game with the audience to kill time. Meanwhile, the assembly had already started.

As the host, Xu Pei enthusiastically opened the assembly with a passionate speech, rallying the spirits of the audience and soldiers. He cheered on the crowd with words of encouragement about fighting their common enemy and working together in unity. With his incredible pacing of words, even boring and pretentious lines turned into exciting statements on stage when Xu Pei was in charge—truly a master of mood making!

The crowd responded with eagerness. While they did not curse or swear, they collectively agreed on their frustration about Prince Changshou.

Jiang Pengji had just come back from chatting with the audience and saw that everyone was crusading against Prince Changshou, making her frown slightly.

“Fighting him isn’t a personal matter, so what’s the point of insulting Prince Changshou?”

She shook her head as if she’d just heard a silly joke. Liu She slid a plate of dried fruits over to her discreetly with a similar faint smile on his face, offering her some snacks to munch on.

Liu She broke into laughter and said, “Just watch, you shouldn’t need to speak up.”

A spectator must maintain their spectator spirit to not speak. They must simply let the crowd argue amongst themselves.

Xu Pei surveyed the way he’d rallied the crowd with pride, but the moment his gaze turned towards the father and son duo, he felt a strange twitch at the corner of his eye.

As he was about to witness the alliance turn into a completely different party, he heard a clear voice draw the attention of everyone in the banquet.

The speaker was Jiang Pengji’s old friend Huang Song.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please spare me a minute to speak.” Huang Song had an army of 15,000 men and was a county chief himself, so his position among the Twenty-Three Princes was very high. He stood up from his seat and bowed cordially. “A traitor must naturally be hunted down, but the traitor is sly and calculating. He saw the size of our alliance’s army and remained on the defensive without making a move for days. While it may not be a problem in the short term, this may become an unknown variable if it continues.”

Someone gave the rebuttal, “What kind of variable from Prince Changshou can it be so large that an army of 400,000 men cannot handle?”

“Prince Changshou is a traitor. If he is not killed, our people will not be able to rest in peace, nor shall their anger be appeased.”

“Prince Changshou should be trembling with fear as we righteously punish treachery, why should we be afraid of him?”

Xu Pei raised his hand to suppress the other dissenting voices as he asked in a gentle voice, “May I ask why Chief Huang must make this statement?”

Huang Song answered, “If we wish for something, we must prepare the way for it. We have all brought out elite troops to join this alliance; shall I ask if my fellow brethren have enough food supplies? How long will our supplies last? Prince Changshou has land resources in Zhangzhou and reliable support from the Meng family of the Cang Prefecture. They have an army and enough supplies to sustain them if they choose to remain enclosed inside their walls and wage a war of attrition with us. Shall I ask, how long will everyone here last?”

Prince Changshou had the support of the Meng family and could fight this war, but the alliance troops could not.

The expressions on several people’s faces changed as Chief Huang spoke.

The rich weren’t afraid of using their resources. War was like spending money. Some were more reserved due to their lack of funds and weren’t prepared for a long battle.

With this sudden realization, the loud voices of opposition from before completely quieted down. Nobody could think of a response.

Huang Song smiled and asked another question. “Waging war is not the same as playing games. Strategizing and planning is a field of study. We have an alliance of 23 forces combined here, each with different styles of warfare. If we face the army of Prince Changshou, will we all be fighting individually, or will we be cooperating as a team?”

“Naturally, we should be cooperating and fighting beside each other. If we fight individually, even an army of 400,000 will simply be chaos. Prince Changshou will only need to find the weak points in our formation to easily defeat us. Even if we had a god of war among us, they would not be able to turn the tables for this chaotic troop.” Just then, someone responded to Huang Song. The speaker had a very recognizable and uniquely soft voice.

Unlike the boldness of a northerner, it was the incomparable tone of kindness and courtesy of a southerner.

Jiang Pengji looked up at the sound and glanced around with a faint smile—what a coincidence, it was another acquaintance!

The crowd’s attention turned to the source of the voice only to find a plainly dressed man in the corner. He was dressed slightly unconventionally, but his demeanor remained noble.

The speaker noticed Jiang Pengji’s gaze and lifted his head slightly to respond with a smile.

Jiang Pengji also greeted him across the room.

The speaker was none other than An Cui, the An DuoXi who had helped her quickly recover Chengde County!

An Cui had left a few days before Jiang Pengji, but because he was a nameless character, he didn’t have a formidable army of elites. Thus, he wasn’t considered a proper force for the alliance.

Despite being looked down on, An Cui was not upset with his position. He was satisfied with having a place in the headquarters of the alliance and didn’t ask for anything more.

Huang Song was not acquainted with An Cui, but An Cui’s brilliant response made for a smooth follow-up that let Huang Song continue his speech.

“Just as this gentleman said, if we do not create a uniform command, the 40,000 alliance troops will just be a crowd of weak ants in the eyes of Prince Changshou. So what if we have a large army? We will not even be considered a threat. He simply needs to follow two words, “drag on,” and our alliance will be completely broken as we run away in defeat.” Huang Song’s expression hardened into strictness. “What do my brethren say, does this humble man make a logical point?”

Everyone’s guilty conscience rose. A few generals’ expressions sank into deep thought while the Liu father and son duo watched from the sidelines as excitable spectators.

“What kind of reason is that?” Someone opposed. The crowd turned to see that the speaker was a veteran soldier of tough body build. From the looks of this man, he seemed to be very stubborn. “You kids these days only know how to rally up battle spirits and buy your own prestige. The alliance troops have 400,000 soldiers, but you’re saying we can’t even take down a single traitor? Everything else aside, if you let me out, I’ll take off that traitor’s head and turn it into a teapot!”

Huang Song doesn’t like to reason with stubborn people because, no matter how much you say something, they will never listen.

“A traitor’s a traitor, but you can’t underestimate someone just because they’re a traitor. You are a veteran, so please let me give you my respects, but not because I agree with your statement. Prince Changshou has an elite army of 100,000, and the Meng family in Cang Province have their own private military decree of 50,000 men. Among them, 10,000 are cavalry. They have a formidable army with stable resources. On the other hand, despite calling ourselves a force of 400,000, how many of us can really be considered elites?”

The veteran wanted to respond but was pushed back by the people around him. He could barely keep his frustration inside as his face grew red in anger.

He’d been put down by a younger soldier, ranks below a eunuch, even, at a public gathering. How could he not be angry?

Xu Pei lowered his gaze and followed up Huang Song’s words. “Chief Huang makes a reasonable point. What other plan do you have in mind?”

Huang Song paused for a few moments before finally expressing his idea. “The only solution is to choose a leader from the alliance to command the army.”

Xu Pei’s lips lifted after hearing that. Huang Song’s words were exactly what he’d wanted to hear.

Just as he was about to question the plan further, a fool from somewhere in the crowd jumped in and commented, “Elect a leader? What a brilliant idea! We can then create a unified system of dispatching military supplies and tie the entire alliance army into a string. We’ll go in and out together as an army and execute every order without fail to fight against the traitors.”

The moment this suggestion was thrown onto the table, it exploded among the crowd like a bomb.