Chapter 148
Chapter 148
Chapter 148 – The New Trainee Strategist
From the historical timeline, Jia Xu, style name Wenhe, was the renowned vicious strategist who would not hesitate to use anything necessary to win a war during the Three Kingdoms period .
He was a talent official even before the year 189 when Dong Zhuo moved into Luo Yang . After Dong Zhuo moved in, he was transferred to serve under Niu Fu and became one of Dong Zhuo's subordinate .
After Dong Zhuo's death, it was because of him that helped Li Jue and Guo Si repelled Wang Yun and Lu Bu's rebellion, the Han Dynasty collapsed instead of being restored . Historians pointed out that if Jia Xu did not interfere with Lu Bu's rebellion, the Han Dynasty would have had a chance to be restored and the civil war would not have happened .
Jia Xu moved around and served many lords after the death of Dong Zhuo . He served Li Jue, Zhang Xiu, Cao Cao which he entered the prime of his life, and Cao Pi, Cao Cao's son . His flexibility and adaptability to survive was second to none in this era .
Under Cao Cao, he quickly piled up his achievements and became known as one of the top strategists alongside with Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, Xun You, Xun Yu, and Sima Yi .
. . .
. . .
In the end, only Jia Xu applied to take the strategist trainee trail . All old foxes decided to wait and see how the trial would turn out before they could apply for the job .
Jia Xu was guided by Sima Fang to the military camp outside of the city . Before Jia Xu left, he asked Tong .
"I have a grandson with me, but his mother will be coming to pick him up soon . Can you send someone to take care of him while I am away? From the looks of it, I will have to stay in the camp for 3 months, right?"
Listened to Jia Xu requested, Tong had to stop to think .
'Jia Xu has a grandson? Now?'
Tong narrowed his eyes as he did not believe Jia Xu's words .
'I know he had 3 children in the history . But I don't think his sons should be at the age of having a child…'
In reality, Jia Xu's parents had already been killed by Liu Ping's assassins before he left Luo Yang . After he left the Capital with Liu Xie, he did not have a chance to get married or have a son, let alone looking for a wife .
"OK, I'll arrange maids and a wet nurse for you . "
"Thank you, my lord . "
"By the way, what's your grandson's name?"
Jia Xu paused to think . "It's Jia Xie, my lord . "
Tong shrugged . Whatever his grandson's name was, it did not have anything to do with Tong . He was just curious about how Jia Xu got a grandchild .
"Did you adopt him or something? Why wasn't his mother with him?"
Mentally shaken by Tong's sudden interrogation, Jia Xu had a wry smile on his face .
"We've got separated during the time we departed from Luo Yang . Now, please excuse me . " He answered Tong and left in a hurry . If Jia Xu continued to chat, he could predict that his lie would be busted .
Tong stared at the back of Jia Xu, confused by his suspicious actions .
'Is there something wrong about asking for my subordinate's welfare and his family's status?'
'… Well, I don't remember his grandchildren's names anyway . '
'The butterfly effect is in full swing . Who knows what kind of fate that I have changed . '
'Meh, it doesn't matter . Time to brag . '
Tong snickered in his heart . He texted everyone in the clan chat .
Zhang Tong: We have recruited Jia Xu .
Within two seconds, the chatroom got noisy .
Dong Bai: REEEEEEEEEEEEE
Hua Shi: REEEEEEEEEEEEE
Li Feihong: Dafuq? First is Zhao Yun then you seduced Jia Xu!?
Hua Shi: @Li Feihong Wait, Zhao Yun!? Where is he? I want his signature!
Zhang Tong: He left .
Li Feihong: Tong went gay for Zilong, so he left ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Dong Bai: WTF
Hua Shi: REEEEEEEEEEEEE
Zhang Tong: no, u gay
Dong Bai: Tong, I'm sorry I won't cut your pee-pee again .
Dong Bai: Don't backdoor my Zilong, please .
Hua Shi: I'm sorry too .
Hua Shi: You can use my mouth if you want to if you want to release
Hua Shi: but don't swing that way, plz .
Hua Shi: BTW I'm thirsty . Please xxx me tonight .
Dong Bai: u r still pregnant, slut!
Dong Bai: use my mouth instead, tong .
Dong Bai: come to think of it, we haven't tried it in my butt .
Hua Shi: Hoe, you still have a child body!
Hua Shi: Don't do her, Tong . I'll clean my butt for u instead .
Li Feihong: My in-laws r too lewd .
Li Feihong: Pls don't text shy-shy stuff in here .
Li Feihong: We have many ppl in here, too .
Zhang Tong: (=_=)
Dong Bai: Feifei, r u a virgin?
Li Feihong: Oh, please . I'm a hunter in my previous life!
Li Feihong: I took down a dozen cougars!
Hua Shi: A level 99 hunter that protected his own virginity?
Dong Bai: LMAO
Li Feihong: TTwTT
With a poker face, Tong turned off the chat and pretended he did not see anything . He regretted starting a conversation with these bored otherworlders .
In this era, there was not much entertaining or a relaxing activity for them to enjoy, so Tong's two wives, and sometimes Li Feihong as well, spammed the chat box all day to pass the time .
Instead of using the clan chat to pass long-range messages, it became their source of entertainment .
Ding Yuan, Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang were not good at texting yet, but they could send messages . Because of the fast pace of the chatting and the unique vocabularies, they were unable to participate in the chat .
Tong imagined if everyone in the chat room understood what they were chatting, he did not know how to explain it to his father and uncles .
…
…
Evening .
Jia Xu relaxed in his private strategist tent . Without having to take care of the prince, he wanted to sleep soundly for today .
His eyelids closed for ten minutes, they opened again .
'Dammit! My brain is getting too worked up! Stop thinking!'
The army training in Tong's camp piqued his interest . Before he knew it, he was running around asking every soldier about their training routines and schedules .
Because of the collected information he had, Jia Xu could not stop his imagination and his thought processing . Many ideas came up within his head to the point that his heart was beating faster in every second .
'Grr . I'm sleepy, yet I want to write down something…'
"Guards! Fetch me a pen and papers! I need to write!"
Jia Xu got more hyperactive, he paced around the tent as he mumbled random words . His eyes did not focus on anything, but he stared into a distance as if he was reading or imagine something .
A guard arrived with a pen, ink, and a blank scroll as Jia Xu had asked . However, he was not satisfied .
"Get me 10 more blank scrolls… no, get me 20! And I want another set of ink!"
Done with his order without gazing at the soldier, Jia Xu began writing and jotting down his ideas .
Within 10 minutes, all blank space within the scroll was dirtied by Jia Xu's handwriting . If any scholar read the scroll, he would not be able to comprehend anything as all characters in the scroll were Jia Xu's personal secret code . Only he could understand the content .
Once done with the scroll, Jia Xu looked around and found that another 20 blank scrolls had been prepared for him . He grabbed a scroll in the pile and started writing again .
From the second scroll onward, his pace slowed down, and the scroll could be read by any literate person . Jia Xu grabbed another scroll as soon as he finished the second one .
He continued writing all 20 scrolls without stopping, eating, going to a latrine . He even asked for another 20 scrolls for him to write .
That night, Jia Xu wrote 50 scrolls before he got too tired to continue writing . He went to sleep at 7 AM in the morning with a satisfied smile .
…
That morning, Jia Xu did not attend the daily regimen training . The guard on duty last night reported Jia Xu's behavior last night to Tong which caused him to laugh .
Jia Xu woke up in the late afternoon . The first few orders he gave to the soldiers that day was .
"Get me more scrolls, pen, and ink . "
"And get me the map of the entire Northern Province . "
"I forgot, have someone sculpt me a few wooden dolls . Wait, make it 100!"
"And fetch me a craftsman or a carpenter . I have a job for him . "
A craftsman arrived after Jia Xu's summon . Thirty minutes after he entered the tent, he rushed out with a few scrolls in his arms with a complicated expression .
…
After that day, Jia Xu cooped up in his tent for an entire week without attending any meeting or training . There was even a rumor going around in the army that Jia Xu was a lazy person as he had not attended to morning drill training .
The rumor also caught the ears of Sima Fang and Tong . However, Tong dismissed it as he knew about Jia Xu's true abilities .
On the other hand, Sima Fang ordered an investigation of Jia Xu's antics as it was his job to monitor all officials .
It was not hard for Sima Fang to obtain the information . Within a day, he had the rough idea why the rumor was going around .
In a week, Jia Xu wrote over five hundred scrolls which contained many thorough tactics and ideas about the improvement of the current army . Three hundred of the scrolls were guidelines, rules, regulations, military organization structures, and procedures . They were the overhauled version of Tong's current army system .
The said scrolls had been delivered to Tong yesterday morning, which Tong was also busy reviewing Jia Xu's ideas .
The remaining 200ish scrolls of Jia Xu were still in his private tent because the author of the scrolls said a few words to everyone who came to inspect what he was doing .
"I'll give it to you when it's done! Now, SCRAM!!"
Knowing that Jia Xu was working hard which was the opposite of the rumor, Sima Fang decided to explain each of his actions in the morning assembly to dismiss the groundless rumor .
But before Sima Fang had a chance to vouch for Jia Xu's credibility, a surprise arrived in front of the main government hall .
A gigantic 20x20m strategic map was carried by 50 strong men . They were made by stone, mud, wood, and it was even colored on some parts .
Because the map was too large, Zhang Jiao ordered the men to place it directly in front of the government hall . Thus, a new unique landmark of Julu was born on this day .
More other weird gadgets arrived after the large table was placed . Three wooden-siege-engine-like stairs were rolling to each side of the table, leaving the north area, which was the direction of the stairs to the entrance of the government hall, opened .
They were the mobile spectator seats that Jia Xu had ordered the craftsman to build .
Jia Xu himself also appeared after the seat arrangement had been completed . The government workers looked at him and the toys with curious eyes while the officials came out from the hall to see what had happened .
Ignored the onlookers, Jia Xu approached the table, took out a long grabber stick and put several dolls on the map by shoving the dolls with the long stick .
"Oh, don't mind me . I'm just playing with my new toys . " Said Jia Xu .