Surviving as Guan Yu in the Three Kingdoms

Zhang Fei swung his long-handled snake-spear in the air and said,

“If you don’t want to follow your dead comrades over there, act as we say!”

At those words, the prisoners, who had already become as meek as lambs, flinched.

Some even broke out in a cold sweat, imagining Zhang Fei’s monstrous strength.

“We’ll do whatever you say! Just please spare our lives!”
“I have a toad-like wife and rabbit-like children at home.”

Zhang Fei tapped his snake-spear on the ground and pointed to an empty cart.

“Move all the weapons to that cart. Don’t try to act suspiciously or attempt to escape and get caught.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she pretended to swing her snake-spear in the air.

“If you don’t move as we say, you’ll experience something unfortunate.”

Under Zhang Fei’s control based on fear, the enemy soldiers acted very briskly despite trembling.

Thanks to that, we were able to save unnecessary effort as much as possible.

Liu Bei watched this and smiled lightly.

“Yide, I didn’t know that child had the talent to handle prisoners like her own limbs. Hasn’t it become convenient thanks to her, Yunchang?”

If they had resisted or dawdled unnecessarily, we might have had to resort to violence.

But with Zhang Fei stepping in, everything was sorted out in an instant, which is fortunate.

“As you said, Zhang Fei did well, making things easier for us.”
“Now let’s go interrogate the officers. If we succeed in getting good information, that will also be a great achievement.”

Zhang Fei and I left the prisoners to Zhang Fei and went to interrogate the highest-ranking survivor among the prisoners.

Liu Bei looked down at him with his arms tied and asked,

“What’s your name?”

Perhaps because he was an officer, the guy didn’t answer Liu Bei’s question despite being a captive.

He reddened and got angry unnecessarily.

“Just kill me!”

On the surface, he might look cool as a defeated general saying to kill him with such spirit.

But as the old saying goes, the weaker the dog, the more it barks. Among those who unnecessarily get angry and say to kill them, none are actually prepared to die.

To put it harshly, the credibility of those words is like when elderly people say they should die because they’re old.

And those who say such things always try to live longer by taking care of their health.

A little threat should do the trick.

“How brave. Then I’ll grant your wish.”

Liu Bei looked at me and tilted her head for a moment.

I deliberately twirled the Green Dragon Crescent Blade in my hand in the air, making sure it was clearly visible to the guy’s eyes.

If he were really prepared to die, he would have closed his eyes with a composed expression.

The guy’s eyes were wide open, and the corners of his mouth trembled.

See, as expected, he wasn’t prepared to die at all.

“Farewell.”

And I swung at the air near his neck.

The blade of the crescent blade didn’t even touch his neck, but the guy was already kneeling, trembling, and soiling himself.

Foam was bubbling from his mouth.

I bowed my head in front of the prisoner officer and apologized.

“I’m sorry. I must be tired, as my sword technique was poor. I apologize for not properly decorating the final moments of a brave officer like you.”

Then I deliberately made an exaggerated motion and gripped the Green Dragon Crescent Blade again.

The prisoner officer, now seemingly having lost all intention of putting on airs, was shedding tears and snot.

Then he grabbed Liu Bei’s feet and begged.

“I’ll talk, please just spare my life!”

As expected, when interrogating prisoners, giving appropriate fear makes it convenient for both sides.

That guy can quickly spill information, and I can get good information.

Liu Bei looked at me with slightly cold eyes and asked the enemy officer,

“What’s your name and position?”

The guy started spilling everything as if he had a motor in his mouth.

“My name is Huan Hu, and I was serving as a Military Rear under the Left Commander of Jinan! And the name of the commander who died just now was She Shang, and he was serving as an Instructor, also under the Left Commander!”

With a bit of physical persuasion, he’s telling us the information we want without us even having to ask specifically, which is very convenient and nice.

“Then what was your mission?”

When I asked an important question, the guy started to hesitate a little.

So I moved the crescent blade and put the back of the blade to his neck…

Huan Hu straightened his posture and answered clearly.

“Our mission was to supply provisions to Linzi City.”
“Tell me more details besides such obvious things. Until when do you have to supply the provisions?”
“We must deliver the provisions within a week from now. If we exceed that deadline, the Instructor who died and my head will fly.”

In war, if supplies aren’t properly delivered, soldiers have no choice but to starve.

So when supplying, they set deadlines, and if they’re violated, it’s not uncommon to be beaten with a stick or beheaded depending on the reason.

“A week, you say a week.”

As soon as I heard those words, a strategy that might allow us to capture Linzi City, which had become the stronghold of the Qing Province rebellion, came to mind.

“Anyway, I understand. I’ll ask you again later when necessary, and if you answer well like now, you might be able to keep that meager life of yours.”

After finishing the brief interrogation, I came out with Liu Bei.

“I was really surprised because I didn’t think Yunchang would threaten right away during the interrogation like Yide. Why did you do that?”

“Originally, among those who shout to kill them right from the start, none are properly prepared to die. If they were truly prepared to die, they would have spoken in a restrained voice as if resigned.”
“Well, even when I was a wandering knight in Xu County, there were hardly any truly strong people among men who spoke unnecessarily grandly.”
“So I thought he would talk if I just scared him a little, that’s why I immediately pretended to behead him.”

Liu Bei heard my words and chuckled.

“Yunchang, you had it all thought out. Now I’m thinking of giving the supplies these guys brought to Lord Jinan. What do you think?”

Originally, our mission as a guerrilla force was to attack and wear down the enemy’s supply units or small-scale units.

So it would be right to rob the supply unit and give the supplies to the Jinan Lord, who is practically our direct superior…

Honestly, it’s too wasteful to return it like this.

“I’m against that idea. To take all those supplies and prisoners to where Lord Jinan is, we’d have to divide our forces. The loss would be too great for that.”

Even if we disarm the prisoners we’ve captured now, tie their hands with ropes, string them together like dried fish, and allocate the minimum force to carry the supplies, we’d still need to take at least 500 men.

Then we’d have to conduct guerrilla warfare with just 700 men, but is that possible?

This is also the enemy’s front yard, and there’s no guarantee that 500 men slowly moving while dragging prisoners won’t be robbed in reverse by the enemy.

Liu Bei clicked her tongue looking at those provisions.

“Then we’ll have to burn all that, even though it’s a waste. And we’ll have to leave the prisoners at a nearby allied city.”

This is the most orthodox method, but…

“Rather than that, how about using these guys to enter the city and open the gates?”

Liu Bei agreed with my words.

“The enemy probably doesn’t even know their supply unit has been defeated yet. So you’re saying we should pretend to be those guys and enter the city? But isn’t it a bit dangerous?”

Of course, it’s dangerous to say we’re going into the enemy’s mouth.

However, the reason those rebel bastards can sit comfortably in Linzi City throwing their weight around is because of the city walls…

What if we cause a commotion inside and lower their morale?

The inside of Linzi City will fall into tremendous chaos.

“It’s dangerous, but seeing how the supply unit didn’t even put out scouts, the enemy army seems to have been loosened up for a long time. So just entering the city could have an effect beyond surprising the enemy.”

At those words, Liu Bei nodded.

“That alone might not be enough, so let’s gather people from nearby villages and have them shout near the city at night. At other times, it might be difficult to expect their cooperation, but since you’ve already gained some of their public support, we should be able to get that much cooperation.”

From our perspective, we just shared some of our ample food.

However, the people who received that gained hope to live on with just a bowl of porridge and a warm word…

They will surely grant this much of a request.

And the people also want the rebel bastards to be defeated and return to their daily lives as soon as possible.

“When great confusion occurs inside, an army with low morale will scatter in disarray. So Yunchang’s strategy should work well enough. Then let’s try it that way.”