Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

At the very least, people should have been sent to pacify the entire Hebei region before stealthily killing them.

Consequently, the death of Dou Jiande made his former subordinates in Hebei feel endangered, prompting them to rise in rebellion.

Logically speaking, since Dou Jiande's army of one hundred thousand had already been dealt with, and peace had mostly been restored, these former subordinates should not have been able to cause much trouble.

However, they were incredibly fortunate to encounter Liu Heita—a military genius who could be said to be unmatched under Lord Qin during these chaotic times.

The process of Liu Heita's election was also quite absurd. At the time, Dou Jiande's old ministers planned to rebel but couldn't think of anyone willing to lead, possibly because no one wanted to handle such a hot potato. After all, the success rate of rebellion was very low at that time, and failure would surely lead to the leader's death, though the rest might have a chance to survive.

Thus, they consulted an old Taoist to tell their fortunes, which indicated that the Liu family was destined to rise.

They searched for a long time, initially finding Liu Ya from Dou Jiande's former subordinates, but Liu Ya firmly refused to join their rebellion. So, they killed Liu Ya and continued their search, eventually finding Liu Heita.

From this, you could see that Liu Heita, despite being a fellow townsman of Dou Jiande, did not hold a very high position in Dou's army; otherwise, he wouldn't have been sought after just because of a fortune-telling.

Afterward, Liu Heita was pleased and rose in revolt.

Only two months after the great battle at Hulaoguan Pass, Liu Heita, with merely a hundred or so men, rose in rebellion and within a month had successively captured Zhangnan, Weizhou State, and other places, with Dou Jiande's former subordinates defecting to him one after another.

Seeing Liu Heita's rebellion escalating, the Liang Dynasty could of course not sit idly by.

Previously, Prince Huaiyang, who had joined Lord Qin in decisively defeating Dou Jiande at Hulaoguan Pass, led an army of fifty thousand troops in a joint effort with General Li Yi from Youzhou State to attack Liu Heita.

Then, while riding a flying dragon, he lost.

Thus, Emperor Gaozu of Liang summoned Li Xiaochang, Li Shiji, and others to continue besieging Liu Heita.

Then, they were utterly defeated again.

Particularly Li Shiji, who is Li Ji, a famed general of that time who had made significant contributions in wars that quashed the Eastern Turks, Xue Yantuo, and Korea.

As a result, Li Shiji fled with barely his life.

Of course, Li Shiji was still in his youthful years at that time, and Liu Heita did have the home-field advantage in Hebei. Nonetheless, Liu Heita's formidable prowess was evident.

As for where Lord Qin was…

In fact, Emperor Gaozu did not want to send Lord Qin into battle again.

Because after the battle at Hulaoguan Pass, having captured two kings in a single battle had already made Lord Qin a marshal beyond promotion, posing a severe threat to the Crown Prince.

Thus, Emperor Gaozu considered that this military achievement should not be awarded to Lord Qin again.

As a result, Liu Heita starkly proved him wrong.

Without Lord Qin, the vast Liang couldn't find anyone capable of combat!

Compelled by necessity, Emperor Gaozu finally reinstated Lord Qin.

And during the process of quelling Liu Heita, Lord Qin still couldn't find a particularly good solution and even lost the great general Luo Shixin. Ultimately, by tightening the noose step-by-step, Lord Qin was able to triumph through the sheer national power of the Liang Dynasty, exhausting Liu Heita to death.

Given that Liu Heita, in just over two months, managed to exhibit a terrifying performance that proclaimed, "Below Lord Qin, I am invincible," his military talent at this point must certainly have been higher than anyone present.

Returning to Ling Jing's suggestion.

On the surface, the proposal seems to be a strategic diversion, but it actually is not.

Li Hongyun's questions precisely target the three critical flaws of the proposal.

Ling Jing's route was not some clever detour; it was one of the three main approaches into Guanzhong.

Historically, there have been three primary routes into Guanzhong: the first is the Northern Yu route, that is, the path via Zhi Pass that Ling Jing mentioned; the second is the Xiao Han Ancient Road, which currently leads from Hulaoguan Pass to Luoyang, then through Hangu Pass and Tong Pass into Guanzhong; the third is Wu Pass Road, starting from Xiangyang, passing through Wu Pass, Shangluo, Lantian, and finally reaching Chang'an.

Although other routes exist, they are too circuitous.

Among these three routes, the Wu Pass Road is absolutely impracticable, as Wu Pass is the most treacherous, and at its narrowest, not even two horses can pass side by side.

Zhi Pass isn't much better; indeed, it's called Zhi Pass because it can only accommodate a single chariot.

By comparison, Hulaoguan Pass is actually the easiest route to tackle, as it is much wider than Zhi Pass and Wu Pass.

If Hulaoguan Pass cannot be taken, what chance is there to take Zhi Pass?

Moreover, the route proposed by Ling Jing doesn't even reach Luoyang.

This route would involve traveling from Taihang Mountain to Shangdang, then gradually seizing most of River East before moving on to Pu Jin Crossing to attack Chang'an.

Between Chang'an and Luoyang lies a considerable distance, including Tong Pass and Hangu Pass. By the time Dou Jiande poses a threat to Chang'an, the grass on Wang Shichong's grave would be a meter tall.

It's no wonder Wang Shichong's envoy cried daily; if Dou Jiande turned to attack River East instead, it meant certain death for Wang Shichong.

This is also a key reason why Dou Jiande ultimately did not choose this strategy.

So, does Ling Jing not understand all this?

Of course, he does.

Therefore, the proposal ostensibly appears as a strategic diversion, sounding like, "If we can't take Hulaoguan Pass, let's take a detour and attack Chang'an, forcing the Liang Army to return to its rescue, thus lifting the siege of Luoyang."

But in reality, it means, "Forget about that Wang Shichong; he's doomed! We're just wasting our time here at Hulaoguan Pass; if we can't succeed here, we'll just have run a wild-goose chase. Wouldn't it be better to take advantage of the fact that Wang Shichong's desperate defense of Luoyang is drawing the main force of the Liang Army, and go seize the River East territory?"

As for whether River East can be seized?

Analyzing the situation post-facto, the likelihood of success isn't high, but it is still possible.

The chances are low because the Liang Army is already prepared and would definitely defend Zhi Pass robustly. Under circumstances where deployment of large forces is unfeasible, taking Zhi Pass seems pessimistic.

Moreover, once Dou Jiande withdraws, Wang Shichong may very well surrender quickly, perhaps not managing to stall the Liang Army for long.

Yet, the defenders of River East are not the main forces of the Liang Army, nor do they include the invincible Lord Qin. Thus, there might be a chance of success for Dou Jiande attacking River East.

Although this chance is not great, but…

No matter how terrible the outcome, it couldn't possibly be worse than the utter collapse of a hundred thousand troops at Hulaoguan Pass at the hands of Lord Qin.

After considerable deliberation, Li Hongyun said to Liu Heita, "You personally select thirty thousand elite troops, act as the commander, and march through Zhi Pass to attack River East! If successful, threaten Pu Jin Crossing and intimidate Chang'an.

"This prince will personally lead a large army and confront Lord Qin at Hulaoguan Pass!"