Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 417 - 246 Prince Yun_3

Chapter 417: Chapter 246 Prince Yun_3

"Dark Sand" was a game that automatically omitted some meaningless segments, but the segments players went through were either directly related to the subsequent puzzle-solving or served as a supplement to the real historical plot.

One day, Fan Cun followed Tong Daofu and arrived at the Western Army’s camp.

After some preparation, the great army set out, ready to officially launch an attack on Xixia.

At this point in the northwest, the war had actually mostly calmed down under the efforts of Tong Daofu; the Qi Dynasty had entered a long period of strategic suppression against Xixia.

From this perspective, Tong Daofu could indeed be considered talented.

This could be explained from two angles: from the history of the Qi Dynasty, those who truly achieved complete suppression over Xixia were just a scarce few historical phases; from this standpoint, it seemed Tong Daofu hadn’t done too badly;

but if you looked at the combat power of the Western Army at that time, and the power comparison between the Qi Dynasty and Xixia, randomly replacing Tong Daofu with a militarily talented famous general might have already wiped out Xixia.

All the way there, Fan Cun also paid attention to the combat power of the Western Army.

It had to be said, this was truly the best-equipped and strongest force in the entire Qi Dynasty.

Even by the time of General Han Fuyue, although the Western Army had already suffered several disastrous losses and had its elite forces greatly reduced, it was still the most battle-ready source of soldiers.

Especially compared to the Peace Army that Fan Cun had encountered in the first phase, in terms of soldier quality, morale, or equipment level, they weren’t even on the same level.

The army continued to march, all the way to Huang Chuan.

Tong Daofu looked at the surrounding scenery, at the unique mountains and rivers of the great northwest, and couldn’t help feeling proud and boastful about an incident when he went on an expedition to the northwest before.

At that time, he was the Lord Governor, and the army just so happened to be progressing towards Huang Chuan.

The army performed a sacrificial ceremony with the slaughter of animals here, preparing for battle.

However, at this moment, they suddenly received an imperial edict from Emperor Qihui, ordering them to withdraw their troops.

This situation was almost similar to modern-day airdropped orders.

As for why they had to withdraw, the reason was very simple: the palace had caught fire, and Emperor Qihui saw this as an ominous sign, so he wanted the troops to withdraw.

At that time, Tong Daofu obviously felt somewhat speechless; he directly stuffed the edict into his boots. When the generals in the army asked him what was written on it, Tong Daofu unflinchingly replied, "His Majesty hopes for our early success."

As a result, this expedition returned with a great victory.

It was during the victory celebration that Tong Daofu finally took out that edict and showed it to the generals in the army.

The generals were astonished; this was disobedience to orders—if they had really lost, wouldn’t that have been a capital offense?

Tong Daofu said that at that time, morale was high, and if they really followed the imperial edict and halted their attack, that would be a huge blow to morale! If they set out again, they might not be able to achieve such results.

Therefore, he would rather take the blame for defeat upon himself than conceal the imperial edict and force a military advance.

And this also greatly boosted Tong Daofu’s prestige in the northwest, becoming a major turning point for him later to be ennobled as a prince for his military achievements.

Tong Daofu proudly boasted to Fan Cun with a clear implication.

"The General outside, need not obey all orders of his Sovereign", right?

On one hand, he was showing off his proud moment from the past, displaying his military talent to ensure that Prince Yun from above wouldn’t meddle; on the other hand, he was also hinting that if he dared to defy even the Emperor’s words, Prince Yun better not get too comfortable thinking he could command him.

Fan Cun looked at Tong Daofu and chuckled inwardly.

This incident with Tong Daofu was indeed something to brag about. After all, it was the brightest highlight of his entire military career.

But on closer analysis, was Tong Daofu’s so-called highlight really that impressive?

Not necessarily.

On one hand, the victory at the time was the result of the combined efforts of the entire Western Army and its generals. Tong Daofu was just a Lord Governor at the time; he had a say, but to claim that it was all thanks to his command? That’s nonsense.

With the combat power of the Western Army, they should have won regardless.

On the other hand, the reason Tong Daofu dared to stuff the Emperor’s edict into his boot was also because he had thoroughly understood Emperor Qihui’s temperament.

Although Emperor Qihui wasn’t very clear-headed, overall, he was a rather lenient monarch. At that time, Tong Daofu judged that Emperor Qihui still had to rely on him for everything and that even if he disobeyed an order, there probably wouldn’t be any particularly severe consequences. That’s why he dared to make such a risky move to garner fame for himself.

If there was a tyrant who would definitely kill someone’s entire family for disobedience, would Tong Daofu still dare to do it?

Probably not.

The biggest label on Tong Daofu was "bullying the weak and fearing the strong," as could be seen from his different attitudes towards Xixia and the Jin people.

When fighting Xixia, he relied on the Qi Dynasty’s stronger national power and the mighty combat power of the Western Army, acting recklessly and carelessly, even fabricating victories after defeats; but when it came to fighting the Jin people, he was already retreating without having seen a shadow of the Jin people in Taiyuan City.

So, no matter how Tong Daofu bragged now, Fan Cun simply ignored him.

Tong Daofu felt frustrated. At this moment, facing Prince Yun, he really had no temper at all and had to vent all his anger on military affairs.

...

"General Liu Fa, I command you to immediately lead your troops to attack Tong’an City. You must not delay the military situation, or else military law will be applied!" Tong Daofu looked at a general who appeared to be over fifty years old before him.