Let's forget it for now. We can talk about it tomorrow.
Teresis slipped away quietly. Under the moonlight, his footsteps were so light that they made no sound at all.
And just like that, Huang Cao avoided a true man's conversation.
Of course, with the terrifying senses of Lamian and Huang Cao, Teresis's every move was no different from putting on an act right in front of them.
"What a troublesome man. I almost got dragged away by him to do labor. As expected, talented people are treasures wherever they go."
Huang Cao deliberately let out a troubled sigh, making Lamian across from him laugh repeatedly.
"Looks like our Young Master Huang has made quite a name for himself too. How is your territory developing? Do you need my help?"
"Not for now. Thank you, Sister Lamian. But from now on, I'll also help the sisters grow rich. For the time being, though, please keep our secret between us."
"Of course I know that. That's why I can only apologize to Little T. After all, we have to make a living too."
Lamian had no intention of letting her people become blood bags for the siblings.
That was not because this Banshee Royal Court Lord did not love Kazdel. However, no matter what, she still had to consider her own people.
So she could only apologize to Theresia. At the very least, she had to ensure that the Banshees had enough resources to last until the next war ended.
Meanwhile, in Eden.
Evenings were the best time for Warfarin to handle official business. Perhaps she had been nourished by love, but she had seemed especially energetic lately.
She was practically making a certain cat speechless.
Kal'tsit: If you don't sleep, I still need to sleep. I never saw you work this hard before. Could getting screwed really change someone's personality?
As one of only two maids in the castle capable of handling official business, Kal'tsit had to stand beside Warfarin whenever she dealt with affairs concerning the territory.
"This letter seems to have been sent from Yan Country, and this fellow seems to have some kind of business relationship with Huang Cao..."
Warfarin opened the envelope and found a large Yan Country character written on it.
Ji.
This person seems to be the one who bought us the printing press last time. But didn't we already pay him? What else could he want?
Unlike Warfarin's confusion, Kal'tsit's gaze became somewhat strange when she saw the character.
She seemed to know this man named Ji as well. Unfortunately, Warfarin did not notice that look.
After carefully examining the contents of the letter, she discovered that there was nothing in particular. It was simply a greeting.
He had also sent along a few small Yan Country gifts.
"It would be rude not to return a gift. Huang Cao seemed to tell me to pay special attention to this person named Ji before. Could there be something special about him?"
"Ah Cao isn't here right now. What should we send him?"
"Kal'tsit, you've lived a long time and have plenty of experience. You should know more about human relationships and social etiquette than I do."
"In theory, you should call me Kaitian Cat instead of using my real name. Forget it. Mistress, call me whatever you like."
"So you've completely stopped pretending now, huh? Looks like there's no point in staying here any longer."
If I still can't find the secret of this land after a few more years, I should find a chance to slip away...
If I stay any longer, they'll probably strip me down to my underwear.
Kaitian Cat took a deep breath and said, "People from Yan Country prefer things to be more subtle. They care about the sentiment more than the value of a gift. If the gift is too precious, there's also a risk of it being lost on the way."
"Should we send tea leaves, then? All our tea leaves are imported from Yan Country."
"No. I remember Master Huang saying a long time ago that if this merchant surnamed Ji ever sent us a letter and we needed to send a return gift, we should pluck the leaves from that little tea tree growing in the flowerpot and send them to him."
Kal'tsit's memory was still excellent, and from those few sentences, she could also deduce something.
Huang Cao definitely knew Ji's true identity. But what was so special about these tea leaves? They were nothing more than slightly greener than ordinary plants.
"He does seem to have said that. In that case, let's send him some leaves. They aren't worth much anyway."
Although she did not know why Ah Cao wanted to send the leaves, perhaps the tacit understanding between men simply did not require too many words.
Warfarin had Kal'tsit pack the leaves into a metal tin. Early the next morning, she had the Calamity Messenger passing through the territory send the tin of tea leaves to Yan Country.
Of course, Huang Cao had his reasons for doing this. He wanted to test whether his Power of Abundance had any effect on the demons.
After all, the demons were another huge plot hole waiting to be explored. If Abundance proved ineffective, he would have to be more cautious in the future.
He simply did not know whether Ji would bring these leaves, which had undergone no industrial processing whatsoever, to the person who was supposed to receive them.
To ensure the experiment's effectiveness, Huang Cao had mentioned this long ago when talking about Ji.
"If we ever get a chance to send this man a letter, try to put a bundle of wheat harvested from the territory inside."
At that moment, Huang Cao, who was enjoying breakfast, had already learned that his tea leaves had been sent out.
However, the tea leaves he gave Ji were not part of his body. They merely carried the power of Abundance.
There would be another update this afternoon.2
Nizere: So This Is How War Can Be Fought?
The next day's meeting seemed much more normal.
Moreover, Teresis was presiding over the meeting today. After yesterday's conversation, he felt that Huang Cao definitely had the talent to change the current situation.
So during the meeting, he kept calling on Huang Cao. He had something to say about everything.
He was practically making Huang Cao numb.
Staying silent was obviously impossible, while playing dumb was too embarrassing.
Teresis: "Faced with Leithania's invasion, how should we, as the weaker side, respond?"
Huang Cao: "...Why are you asking me? You're in charge of the military. Who exactly is the supreme commander of the army?"
Teresis: "Yan Country has a saying: 'Two heads are better than one.' I just want everyone to offer their suggestions. Speak freely."
At the same time, Teacher T gave Nizere a meaningful glance, telling this ancient god of war not to display his cleverness just yet.
The latter understood immediately and said nothing more.
"Without exception, wars are fought for profit. Leithania is not prejudiced against the Sarkaz. It simply covets Kazdel's land."
"So can you tell me whether Leithania's number of attacks has changed recently?"
After thinking it over, someone decided to show off a little. In any case, these people had probably already thought of it...
Probably...
Huang Cao of course knew how many times Leithania had attacked recently. He was only asking to avoid arousing suspicion.
Since there were no charts or anything similar at present, Teresis simply described aloud how many times Leithania had attacked each month over the past few months.
From his words, everyone could tell that Leithania's number of attacks had been declining each month, while its offensives had also been growing increasingly fierce.
Fortunately, the battlefield had always remained within Sarkaz territory. Big T, Small T, and the various Royal Court Lords taking part in the war were holding the front line, so they had not suffered a defeat yet.
However, the fighting was still extremely difficult. After all, when fighting on home soil, the defending side still suffered the greatest losses, while the attacking side had not sustained any substantial damage.
"Nizere, do you know why Kazdel's economy is in such a difficult state?"
"Because the war has left us no time to develop. All our resources have to be supplied to the front lines." Nizere's voice was low and dignified, with a trace of anger in his words.
"Do we have a map?" Huang Cao asked.
Huang Cao did not think his military talent could compare with Nizere's. But sometimes, even a Royal Court Lord could get stuck in a rut.
Being good at attacking did not mean being good at defending.
Every one of Leithania's attacks was an attritional battle, consuming Kazdel's resource reserves.
In theory, both sides were being worn down, but Leithania had always expended less than Kazdel.
So Leithania wanted to drag Kazdel down through this method.
"Those goats really do have that plan. But this is ultimately our land. We have nowhere to retreat."
How could Nizere not know that?
Over the endless years, the old man had fought countless grueling battles. Naturally, he could see that Leithania was fighting a war of attrition.
But at present, the Royal Courts' only option was to fight head-on. They could not exactly hand their land over to the enemy.
"Fighting head-on is the most foolish choice! And this is exactly what I want to talk about next."
Huang Cao pulled the map over and circled Kazdel with a pen.
"Nizere, the wars of attrition you fought in the past were situations where there was nowhere left to retreat. But this war of attrition leaves us plenty of room to maneuver."
"In my view, Kazdel itself is the best barrier. Leithania wants land, so we'll give them a stretch of land that has no value whatsoever."
"The tactic I'm about to introduce is called guerrilla warfare. Let me explain it in detail."
"Leithania's troops advance quickly. That's a disadvantage for us, but we can also turn it into an advantage."
"The essence of this tactic is to let the enemy win without allowing them to obtain any supplies. Before the battle begins, move every resource near the battlefield that can be used for resupply inland."
"At the same time, create the appearance that we're about to lose. Once you notice that Leithania has become overconfident, retreat immediately, drawing all their elite troops deep into Kazdel. Since their advance is too fast..."
Nizere suddenly understood. "If the main force advances too quickly, Leithania's supply lines will become disconnected... We can take this opportunity to..."
"As expected of the god of war. You understood that quickly. That's precisely the essence of guerrilla warfare."
"Without supplies, an army has only two choices: advance or retreat."
Nizere: "And since the main battlefield is in Kazdel, we understand the terrain better than the enemy.
"Even their every move can be exposed before us. As long as they are inside our territory, whatever Leithania does, we can seize the advantage before them."
Huang Cao nodded. "When facing a powerful enemy, one of the necessary conditions for victory is making them pay an extremely painful price for every step forward!"
"The essence of this tactic can be summed up in a few words: when the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy retreats, we harass."
"However, this tactic places extremely high demands on the soldiers' qualities. Whether it succeeds will depend on Nizere's command. I merely provided a method."
How did I never think of this before?
There are actually ways to fight a war like this!
Nizere looked at the youth with immense admiration.
Was this method really something he could not think of? On the contrary, he certainly could have. He had simply never tried it before.
Because the hatred that shackled the Sarkaz made it impossible for them to accept such a humiliating way of fighting. They only wanted to clash head-on with the enemy, blade against blade.
Once they started fighting, they became carried away. Every strategy revolved around attacking.
Retreat? What was retreat?
The word "retreat" did not exist in Nizere's dictionary at all.
Because Sarkaz territory had continuously shrunk throughout history, and by the time Kal'tsit invaded, only the capital remained, they essentially had no strategic depth to speak of.
But things were different now.
Kazdel had not reclaimed all its territory, but compared to before, its land area was already thousands of times larger than it had been at its worst.
That was also why Leithania had coveted it for so long.
Such a vast territory, combined with the Catastrophes that erupted from time to time, was enough to create terrain crisscrossed in every direction.
These landscapes were natural strategic depth. As long as Leithania's army dared to come, under this kind of tactic, it would surely die without a burial place.
However, Dukare had a question at this point. "But what if Leithania's commander sees through your plan? What should we do then?"
Huang Cao answered without hesitation, "That's why we need to create the illusion that we're about to collapse and are preparing to make one final desperate strike."
"Once we draw Leithania's forces deep into the country, they will see that there are no resources near the border and will surely assume that we've already exhausted everything."
"Our sudden, fierce counterattack will definitely cause Leithania's commander to mobilize a large number of elite troops. These soldiers will crave honor and military achievements more than anyone else."
"Once we deliberately reveal an opening, what awaits them will be a chance to occupy the capital. How could they possibly let an opportunity to go down in history slip away?"
"Besides, Leithania's number and intensity of attacks show that the commander on the other side is probably already close to breaking. They only want to win as quickly as possible. No one can resist the temptation of honor and wealth."
Leithania's current commander had been gnawing at Kazdel without being able to bring it down. These days, he was probably under immense pressure from the nobles above him.
So this was a contest of wits.
War was not merely a clash of strength between the two sides. It was also a test of how well one could read the human heart.
Before you continue