"We don't have a brilliant plan yet. Since we've just been air-dropped here, the entire military strategy is in this pile of intelligence before your eyes, right? Make way. Let me study it first." After saying that, I plopped myself down in front of the table and casually began flipping through the various reports written on silk.
Ren Kong saw that although I was overbearing, I didn't act like someone who issued orders at random out of thin air, so he patiently stood to one side.
What surprised him next was that I needed only a glance at almost every silk document before asking about its key points, leaving him utterly stunned. But because I was so fast, he didn't even have time to ask questions in return. I asked one question, and he answered one question, as if a master were questioning his disciple. Ren Kong's brows remained tightly knitted the entire time.
By the time I finished flipping through the latest pile of intelligence, I had more or less understood the predicament Ren Kong faced while holding this place, so I said, "The grain and fodder supplies can't keep up. Is that why you're staying holed up here instead of sending out troops?"
"Commander-in-Chief, the foreign relatives have control of all the grain and financial lifelines. Our borderlands neither produce much grain nor serve as any important trade hub. Once troops move, both money and wealth are spent. Surely you understand that, Commander-in-Chief?" Ren Kong raised his brows, clearly thinking I was asking a question whose answer I already knew.
I smiled and said, "So Marshal Ren means to wait until the rear sends over provisions and funds before launching an expedition?"
"If we don't do that, soldiers will grow weary without food, and the army's morale will