Chapter 1 Sweat-Soaked

Chi Yun was covered in sweat. He had never imagined being pushed to such straits. As the third group to experiment with the grand strategy gameplay of military chess, the group led by Chi Yun, the Deputy Commander of the Left Imperial Guard, and composed entirely of young officers, was undoubtedly the most professional. They believed their understanding of command and combat far surpassed that of the previous two groups. Indeed, they had ample reason for such pride.

The first grand strategy gameplay involved personnel from Ye Shi-related enterprises. In essence, it was a battle between the Ye Shi Workshop team and the IKEA team, made up of employees from the soon-to-open Yijia Home Danyang store. This battle was more of a performance than a contest, with both sides being Ye Shi employees who had long understood the grand strategy gameplay and pre-arranged the script. It turned a wargame match into a theatrical show with numerous dramatic elements. While satisfying wargame enthusiasts and showcasing the grand strategy gameplay, it left the keen young officers who saw the potential for military simulations in the grand strategy gameplay rather dissatisfied.

The second match featured a joint team of Ye Shi Workshop, IKEA Home, and Ye family servants against a Danyang team of wargame enthusiasts. Unable to agree on a commander, the Danyang team democratically conducted their battle, resulting in a complete rout. Everyone in the Ye Shi team had received basic mathematical training and was intimately familiar with the calculation formulas used in the game. The Ye Shi team's commander even helped create the detailed rules. While there was a hint of unfair competition, the Danyang team never gained an advantage, either overall or in specific areas, even with a 30% troop handicap. It was truly unexpected.

At this point, Zhuo Mang, intrigued after learning a bit about the grand strategy gameplay, instructed Chi Yun to lead a team and give it a try. Chi Yun was only twenty-four years old. Coming from a military family, his rapid rise to Deputy Commander was not due to luck or family privilege. In fact, Chi Yun's father, Chi Xianping, had always hoped he would become the first scholar-official in the Chi family rather than a military man. Chi Xianping believed Chi Yun was studying in Lu City, the most culturally vibrant city in Dongping, unaware that shortly after arriving in Lu City at eighteen, Chi Yun had secretly joined the army. He rose from a common soldier to become a Staff Officer in the Lu City garrison within three years due to his outstanding performance. It was only then that Chi Xianping was surprised to find Chi Yun's name on the roster of officers sent back by Lu City. By then, it was too late to object. A year later, following the principle of rotating troops in Dongping, Chi Yun was transferred to Danyang. Due to his exceptional performance, he was spotted by the Commander of the Left Imperial Guard and transferred laterally into the Imperial Guard. This peculiar resume amused many who knew both Danyang and the Chi family. Had they known, Chi Yun wouldn't have needed to go through so much trouble. However, Chi Yun became one of the few young officers with both comprehensive military theory and solid grassroots experience. The twenty-four-year-old Deputy Commander was highly regarded. Before thirty, he was expected to become a full-fledged general. Having received a scholar's education since childhood and being familiar with political affairs, Chi Yun might even become the youngest regional governor in Dongping's history.

Chi Yun also selected talented mid-level officers from the Imperial Guard system who enjoyed the military chess system as his staff and assistant commanders. Many came from military families or had a history of military service. Twenty years later, such a group could be considered a gathering of stars. But now, their opponents were a motley crew of carpenters, blacksmiths, coopers, shop assistants, and even cooks. The Ye Shi team even included girls like Cassandra, and more than one.

Despite the Ye Shi team's lineup, which the arrogant young officers looked down upon, the actual battle was a different story. All the battles took place on virtual terrain, without using any maps based on real geography. This time, the two sides drew the most complex map among the first batch released: a mix of plateau, alpine meadow, Gobi Desert, and a few river terrains, with negligible elevation changes.

Originally, this should have been a map well-suited for a large-scale regular army battle. However, things didn't go as expected by those following the match. The Imperial Guard advanced on three fronts, aiming for a quick victory, but instead found themselves bogged down in guerrilla warfare and sparrow warfare.

In the game, one ke (quarter of an hour) represented one day, so one shichen (two hours) represented eight days. Each day, excluding lunch breaks, the two teams played for no more than four shichen, equivalent to thirty-two game days, slightly over a month. The first two matches were decided within a day. But the Imperial Guard's match against the Ye Shi team lasted a full six days, almost half a year of game time.

Chi Yun's three-pronged advance aimed to squeeze the Ye Shi team's space and force them into a decisive battle. However, So Zheng wouldn't let Chi Yun succeed so easily. Since they couldn't deploy large forces, they broke them down into smaller units for long-distance raids and incursions, constantly harassing the Imperial Guard's supply lines and lightly defended areas. Sometimes, the small units would regroup, forming a local advantage and eliminating Imperial Guard units one by one. This unorthodox tactic baffled Chi Yun. The first day passed like this.

After a night of consultations, Chi Yun and his selected officers discovered a crucial problem with the Ye Shi team's tactics: supplies. In this type of warfare, it was impossible to carry large amounts of supplies or allocate too many troops for supply transport. The only feasible method was to pre-arrange supply points, where all the small units would gather at a specific time for resupply. So, on the second day, Chi Yun had most of his troops remain in place, sending out the most mobile light cavalry to shadow any small units they encountered, preventing them from resupplying and waiting to deal with them after they ran out of supplies. If the small units forced a resupply, they would take the opportunity to eliminate the supply team. However, after a half-shichen lunch break, the situation changed again in the afternoon. The Ye Shi team used two methods to counter Chi Yun's strategy. One was to precisely schedule the resupply time for different units, so they could gather together and not fear Chi Yun's units, even having a chance to bite back. The other was to send out small units to deliberately engage Chi Yun's units, leading them into pre-planned ambush zones for annihilation.

On the third day, Chi Yun adopted another tactic. He endured the losses suffered by the front-line troops, used his troops to consolidate the occupied areas, and began to acquire more resources from those areas according to the rules. He then used these resources to build numerous small and medium-sized fortifications, similar to the Japanese "cage tactics." So Zheng quickly realized this and simply used a small force to harass the front lines while also adopting similar tactics to consolidate the occupied areas. The two sides formed a relatively stable front line.

The fourth day's battle was perhaps the most exciting, with a series of raids around the front line. The Ye Shi team had the advantage of a large number of troops, allowing them to move more units. Although the Imperial Guard had invested heavily in building fortifications and had fewer troops, their solid tactical skills in each on-site command fully compensated for this, driving the Ye Shi team back. Just as everyone thought the Imperial Guard was about to seize the initiative, the situation suddenly changed in the afternoon. A powerful Ye Shi team, taking advantage of the fact that a large number of Imperial Guard troops were consolidating their gains, thrust directly into the Imperial Guard's control zone, capturing a relatively strong small city only forty li (approximately 13 miles) from the Imperial Guard's headquarters and began to defend it. This was like a nail hammered into the enemy's heart, making Chi Yun and his "subordinates" extremely uncomfortable.

Whether to remove the nail or drive it deeper, would this question be answered on the fifth day? So Zheng had the force defend the fortified city on one hand, while changing the tactics of other forces on the other. He had no intention of rescuing the isolated army, but rather had them hold out, constantly draining Chi Yun's forces. To remove this nail, Chi Yun had no choice but to constantly draw troops to support, maintaining a numerical advantage. However, many of the reinforcements transferred from various parts of the control zone were intercepted, surrounded, and annihilated by So Zheng's forces with superior numbers. On this day, both sides showed tenacious fighting spirit and rich tactics. Although both sides suffered enormous losses, the result was captivating for all outsiders.

Finally, on the sixth day, both sides, bleeding profusely, could only engage in a final battle under the dilapidated small city. But no matter which side, no matter how precise the arrangement and calculation, everyone found that as long as no serious mistakes were made, the outcome might depend on the numbers rolled on the dice at certain crucial moments.

When Lu Dan, who had been maintaining a fair stance, announced this situation in the commentary hall, the whole place erupted. Who would have thought that such a wonderful battle would have its outcome determined by the randomness of dice? But no one could deny that both sides had shown their true skills to fight such a battle. The flexibility and adaptability shown by both sides in the entire battle command were truly admirable.

Chi Yun ultimately led the Imperial Guard to victory. However, the victory made him feel somewhat ashamed. In the last two rounds of combat, with the difference in troop strength almost negligible, the twenty-sided dice rolled two nineteen points in a row in his hand...that was all.

Amidst the enthusiastic applause and cheers in the commentary hall, Chi Yun and So Zheng, both red-eyed, went on stage and shook hands with their opponents after six days of intense battle. At this time, Chi Yun and his "subordinates" no longer dared to look down on the Ye Shi team's super ragtag army. Perhaps they didn't understand how armies worked, but being able to force these self-regarded young officers to this point in such a realistic game was enough to prove their intelligence. These young officers also realized that with a little training, these people could at least be competent as military advisors.