Chapter 93: 13: Conferred the title of Centurion, Rank of Stones

Throughout history, there have been countless people who are proficient in military tactics.

Whether it is Sun Wu, the author of "The Art of War", or Han Xin, the military genius, they are all outstanding figures in their respective times.

However, looking back over the five thousand years of Yanlong Kingdom, the only person who could be called a god in Su Shan's heart was Taizu.

Among the countless battles throughout history, the Four Crossings of the Chishui River was the only one that Su Shan could not win even if he activated the full map cheat and simulated it hundreds of times.

During today's sand table battle with Guo Xiaoding, when Su Shan saw the terrain on the sand table, Taizu's Four Crossings of the Chishui River Campaign involuntarily emerged in his mind.

So a bold idea emerged in Su Shan's mind. He gave up relying on the natural barrier of Yingshui to stop Guo Xiaoding's 300,000 troops, and instead chose to cross Yingshui to attack the base camp where Commander Guo Xiaoding was located!
After crossing the Yingshui River, Su Shan's troops broke through Guo Xiaoding's first encirclement, which also made Guo Xiaoding unclear about what Su Shan was leading his troops to do.

Although the second crossing of Yingshui River exposed Su Shan's goal, it allowed Su Shan to successfully break through the encirclement of Guo Xiaoding's main forces.

Most of the main forces of Guo Xiaoding's 300,000 troops were thrown off by Su Shan's two crossings of Yingshui River. Currently, the third encirclement blocking Su Shan has a total of less than 50,000 troops, and the troops in the direction of Su Shan's breakthrough are less than 10,000.

If he did not send troops to support him, the 30,000 troops under Su Shan's command could easily cross the river and head south to attack his base camp.

"Su Shan, his target is my base camp!"

As the chief general of Yancheng, which governs the country, Guo Xiaoding's reaction was very quick. The moment Su Shan crossed the Yingshui River for the second time, Guo Xiaoding realized his intention.

"Good strategy, the bigger the courage, but you underestimated my reaction speed."

Guo Xiaoding secretly praised the baggage cart in his heart, and he quickly dispatched troops to stop Su Shan who was preparing to cross the Yingshui River for the third time.

However, Su Shan, who was preparing to go south and cross the Yingshui River for the third time, was still making a feint.

After the scouts he sent out discovered Guo Xiaoding's troop movements to prevent him from going directly south across the river, Su Shan decisively commanded the army to abandon not only all the baggage carts, but also the heavy armor on the soldiers.

All the soldiers carried dry food, traveled light and hurried, gave up crossing the river from the south, and turned west again, crossing the Yingshui River for the third time.

"We really have to cross the Yingshui River four times?"

"This guy is quite cruel. It's ok to abandon the baggage cart, but he actually abandoned the heavy armor as well. Although abandoning the heavy armor increased the marching speed, it also reduced the combat capability of the soldiers!"

With light equipment and haste, Guo Xiaoding had a time difference. Guo Xiaoding was certain that Su Shan would cross the Yingshui River three times from the south, so he dropped most of the troops in the third encirclement to the south to prevent Su Shan from crossing the Yingshui River three times. However, he did not expect Su Shan to feint and give up the southward march and cross the Yingshui River three times from the west.

Su Shan, who was lightly travelled and in a hurry, not only fooled Guo Xiaoding, but also deceived Chu Zhongxing who had a God's perspective.

"Cross the river, cross the river, attack the base camp directly and take it down!"

After crossing the Yingshui River three times and completely breaking through Guo Xiaoding's encirclement, Su Shan led his 30,000 soldiers to cross the river southward for the fourth time. After crossing the Yingshui River four times, Su Shan led 30,000 troops all the way eastward and rushed directly to Guo Xiaoding's base camp.

Guo Xiaoding, who was fooled by Su Shan's four crossings of the Chishui River, reacted very quickly. After realizing that he was fooled by Su Shan, he immediately mobilized his troops to return to defend the base camp.

When Guo Xiaoding's troops arrived to support the base camp, half of Su Shan's troops had been killed in the siege. After his scouts discovered that Guo Xiaoding's troops were coming to support, he directly gave up the siege and dispersed his troops, letting them flee in all directions.

They were traveling light and in a hurry, so their combat effectiveness was poor. In addition, the difficulty of siege was much greater than that of defending a city. Although Su Shan tricked Guo Xiaoding by crossing the Chishui River four times, he failed to capture Guo Xiaoding's main general.

However, Su Shan's attack on the city forced Guo Xiaoding to recall his troops. With such a struggle, Su Shan easily delayed the arrival of the reinforcements from Di Shang and won the military sand table battle. What a great strategy of Taizu! Even I, a person with a God's perspective, could be fooled. Chu Zhongxing looked at Su Shan, who was not very satisfied with the results of the battle, and couldn't help but applaud: "As a commoner, he defeated the chief general of Yancheng Zhiguo. This strategy really deserves the title of the natural military power saint."

"Crossing Yingshui River Four Times, That's Really Amazing!"

After losing the game, Guo Xiaoding's eyes towards Su Shan changed completely. He thought that Su Shan would cross the Yingshui River three times at most and attack his base camp directly, but he never expected that Su Shan would be so patient and strategic.

"It's just a poor imitation!"

Facing the praise from the two NPCs, Su Shan did not feel anything. His Four Crossings of Yingshui River was indeed a poor imitation. After all, there was a huge gap between the rehearsal on the sand table and the real battlefield.

You have to know that when Taizu crossed the Chishui River four times, the enemy had 500,000 soldiers and horses, while his own side had not only suffered several major defeats, but also had low morale, insufficient food and fodder, and extremely backward equipment and weapons.

As for his clumsy imitation, he did not need to worry about morale issues, as he had sufficient food and grass, and the combat effectiveness of his troops was also quite high.

If Su Shan had not abandoned the heavy armor in the end, he would have had a chance to break through Guo Xiaoding's base camp.

"A parody?"

Hearing Su Shan say this, the old veteran, who was over 130 years old and never showed his emotions, was suddenly shocked.

Su Shan's Four Crossings of Yingshui River was an imitation. Then the first person to use this strategy was the big boss who pacified the world, and why was he unheard of?

Guo Xiaoding glanced at Chu Zhongxing with complicated eyes. He had some guesses in his mind and suddenly he was not sure whether it was right or wrong for him to take Chu Zhongxing in.

"Su Shan, listen to my orders!"

"To!"

Chu Zhongxing's sudden words made Su Shan, who had just won the game, stand up subconsciously and salute Chu Zhongxing. The next second, Su Shan reacted and quickly put down his right hand and looked at Chu Zhongxing.

"Today, you defeated Yancheng's commander Guo Xiaoding in the military sand table exercise and demonstrated your talent.

Gu, I will make you a centurion, with a salary of 100 shi, and reward you with a land deed of one mu, and you can command 100 soldiers. "

As the commander-in-chief of Yancheng, Chu Zhongxing naturally has the right to reward his subordinates. After Su Shan demonstrated his abilities as a "professional" gamer, Chu Zhongxing unceremoniously rewarded Su Shan with the rank of centurion, giving him the right to command troops.

The so-called right to command troops is not the same as commanding players.

Simply put, Su Shan's right to command troops allows him to command the natives. If Chu Zhongxing sends a few white-haired soldiers from Yancheng to Su Shan now, these white-haired soldiers will have to obey Su Shan's orders.

As the chief commander of Yancheng and the actual ruler of the northern border of the Imperial Shang Dynasty, the centurion awarded by Chu Zhongxing must be recognized by the entire Imperial Shang Dynasty.

Of course, this is true according to the rules and regulations of the Imperial Shang Dynasty.

But the reality is
The emperors of the Shang Dynasty ruled the world together with the princes, so there were no rules and regulations to speak of.

(End of this chapter)