Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 166 - 161: How Many Moves Does It Take to Kill the Enemy General?

Chapter 166: Chapter 161: How Many Moves Does It Take to Kill the Enemy General?

Zhao Haiping’s feelings at this moment were quite complex.

Was this piece of history famous? It was incredibly famous; probably even children knew about it.

But precisely because it was so well-known, Zhao Haiping hadn’t initially realized that "Dark Sand" had the audacity to use this piece of history as a cavalry trial instance.

This historical event was truly unique in history.

"Slicing off the head of an enemy general amid thousands of troops"—such feats were not unheard of for other generals, but the ones they killed were mostly obscure figures, and the battles they fought were often as easy as breaking dry branches.

Therefore, this naturally diminished some of their luster.

Of course, even including these easier "slicing through thousands to behead the enemy general" feats, there were very few such fierce generals in all of history.

As for Qin Kaiyun’s beheading of Gao Yi, that deed’s historical significance was unparalleled; it was unmatched both in the past and the future.

First, it came from official historical records, whose author lived only shortly after the events and approached his craft with utmost rigor and brevity.

Second, many other events of that time, such as General Qin’s rewards, changes in status, and the appraisals of other historical figures, also corroborated this.

Third, Gao Yi was not an unknown figure; he was already renowned throughout the world before battling Qin Kaiyun, with historical texts recounting him as a "perennially fierce and battle-hardened adversary, considered equal to ten thousand men," and the foremost general of the opposing forces.

Fourth, this battle was not a one-sided affair where one easily crushes dry weeds; at the time, General Qin’s side was at a disadvantage, and it was precisely his earth-shattering act of slaying the enemy general in battle that turned the tide.

Of course, General Qin was only the executor of specific tactics; the higher commander, who devised the strategy to distract the two enemy armies and ordered General Qin to strike hard at Gao Yi’s rear formation, also played a crucial role. But no matter what, a great strategy depends on its execution.

Only General Qin among all historical figures managed such a feat, which underscores the difficulty of the task.

As for why the instance was named "Grasping from the Bag"?

Clearly, it was in reference to General Qin’s past declaration: slicing through the masses to take the enemy commander’s head as if reaching into a bag.

But hey, that was General Qin’s own words!

Wasn’t it a bit too much to name this trial after that phrase?

When General Qin said it, it was an objective assessment of his strength; if a player claimed the same, they must be seriously deluded...

Feeling slightly shattered, Zhao Haiping tried to composed himself, but to maintain his precious cavalry identity, he had to diligently study the battlefield details recorded in history.

Although the historical texts were brief, just these two lines, the amount of information they contained was enormous.

Setting aside the content about enemy General Gao Yi, the description of the whole battle was just this: Kaiyun, spotting Yi’s command flag, spurred his horse directly into the throng of soldiers and stabbed him down, beheading him and riding back unchallenged as the surrounding generals could not withstand him, breaking the heavy encirclement.

Translated, it meant: from a distance, he saw Gao Yi’s command flag and charged on horseback into the mass of soldiers to unseat him, beheaded him, and then returned, with no other enemy generals able to stop him, thus securing victory.

After reading the original historical text, Zhao Haiping felt like an elementary student facing an advanced mathematics problem, all "it is easy to demonstrate" and "this obviously follows."

He was so frustrated, he wanted to slam the table.

Where were the steps? The key steps!

It was like that joke: How many steps to decapitate an enemy commander? Three steps—first, find where the enemy commander is; second, charge over and stab the commander to death and behead him; third, pull back.

The problem was, considering each step carefully, they all looked like utterly impossible tasks.

Let’s start with locating the enemy commander.

That would be on an ancient battlefield amidst chaos, with the general surrounded by deputy generals and soldiers—not having seen a photo, how could one discern from afar which one was the target general?

Even if it were possible to identify the highest-ranking officer by intricate details in armor and clothing as well as their position upon getting closer, that approach itself takes time, and by the time one can see clearly, it means they are already deep in enemy lines, encircled, with countless enemies attacking from all directions. Could one really maintain such discernment then?

This isn’t like playing a game where one can just enter ghost mode or switch to a god’s-eye view and observe at their leisure.

Next, how to stab the enemy commander to death and behead him?

So many lieutenants and common soldiers would be by the enemy commander’s side, and the enemy commander himself wouldn’t be foolish; they would all be resisting, trying to surround and kill you.

Even if everything went smoothly, then how would they retreat?

Even if the General was killed, a well-trained army wouldn’t collapse instantly. Instead, the Deputy Generals would likely go mad, chasing after to retrieve the General’s head—meaning they would still need to fight their way out and make a long escape.

Only then could they claim victory in this battle.

In short, this challenge was simply inhumane!

It’s no wonder that "beheading a General amidst a sea of soldiers" held such a lofty status in history, with very few heroes having actually accomplished it.

Zhao Haiping had no clue how to proceed, so he checked many online discussions about this historic event.

Some said General Qin must have used some strategy, such as disguising himself as a messenger, hiding inside a horse’s belly, or simply because his horse ran fast, he appeared out of nowhere, killed the man, and ran away...

But a careful analysis of these claims was obviously nonsense.

This was all based on the premise that Gao Yi, who already had a reputation as a famed General and was the enemy’s top commander, was actually an idiot.

An idiot to the point where if someone charged at him with a several meters long spear while on a fast horse, he would still think the person was a messenger or for some other reason had no defenses up.

Or maybe General Qin had some kind of Skytop Star technology at the time, which allowed him to teleport over ten miles.

The historical text was very clear: "Before reaching ten miles, Gao Yi was startled and prepared for battle."

In other words, when Qin Kaiyun led light troops to attack Gao Yi’s rear, Gao Yi spotted Qin Kaiyun’s troops from over ten miles away, was startled, and readied himself to fight.

This matched up perfectly with the scenario in the Trial Illusion.

At that moment, Zhao Haiping noticed a change in the enemy’s formation, from a siege attacking the ford from inside to an outward field formation.

Moreover, the whole process was orderly and efficient.

Zhao Haiping, having listened to the Deputy General’s advice, stayed back a little to wait for other Deputy Generals and soldiers, and by the time the two sides engaged, the enemy’s formation was almost fully transformed.

So, Qin Kaiyun’s killing of Gao Yi definitely wasn’t under the circumstances of an intact formation and readiness.

After all, even if General Qin was fierce, he wasn’t a superhero, and he couldn’t possibly charge alone into the midst of countless enemy soldiers, archers, and Deputy Generals to kill the opposing General.

The enemy had a flaw, but it wasn’t significant and didn’t last long.

Combining many experts’ analyses of historical materials online and his own experiences within the Trial Illusion, Zhao Haiping quickly summarized the standard procedure for clearing the instance.

He had to play the role of General Qin Kaiyun, leading a small elite force on a rapid cavalry charge, breaking into the enemy lines before their formation was complete.

Of course, it wasn’t realistic for him to do this alone, but it also wasn’t viable for everyone to follow him in a frenzied sprint.

The most likely scenario was to form a wedge, with General Qin Kaiyun having the famous horse Chi Ji, running the fastest and therefore at the front; followed by some Deputy Generals or elite cavalry, then other foot soldiers.

Like a steel wedge, they would break through the defensive line and tear open a gap.

As the enemy was changing formations, there would certainly be flaws. But these flaws wouldn’t form a straight line; it wouldn’t be possible to reach Gao Yi’s location directly from the perimeter. The flaws were likely changing, or they needed to be actively created.

So, he had to rush left and right within the enemy formation, relying on himself or other Deputy Generals to increase the gap and finally reach General Gao Yi.

During this, they could determine positions through flags or other means.

When close to Gao Yi, the enemy would undoubtedly panic, but they certainly wouldn’t just sit and wait for death. The key to a surprise attack was the initial sprint; if the first strike failed, then the rest likely wouldn’t succeed either.

So, assassinating, beheading, and breaking through needed to happen in one smooth sequence; any slight mishap would lead to failure.

After this analysis, Zhao Haiping felt a surreal sensation.

It was as if he had only wanted to casually get a driver’s license for a small automatic car.

But once at the driving test, the examiner asked him to take out an enemy command center driving a tank?

...

P.S. There seems to be an event on the 15th; updating 25,000 words allows readers to enter a raffle. I’ll save up some drafts these few days, still updating the regular two Chapters of 5000-6000 words daily, then on the 15th, I’ll burst update about 25k words, roughly 10 Chapters.

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