Chapter 145
Chapter 145 – Reflecting On Your Mistakes (?)
August 10th, 182 A . D .
Sun Jian Army moved into Ganling City ahead of the schedule . Because of the quietness and their scout reports, they found out that Zhang Tong and his army had withdrawn a few days ago .
As soon as they entered the city, they were shocked by the remaining citizens as there were only less than 10,000 townspeople remaining . Furthermore, the majority of the city had been burnt to the ground, only the remaining people’s houses were intact .
The people also treated Sun Clan soldiers with a strange attitude . They avoided Sun Jian and his men as if they had done something bad to the people .
Li Jing walked around the city and tried to interact with the people . Because of her look and her existence as a girl, a few elders talked to her and told her about what actually happened to the city before they came in .
After the investigation, Li Jing returned to Sun Jian and Sun Fang to give them a report .
"We’ve been had . Zhang Tong has left a mess for us . "
"How?" The two father and son was puzzled .
"First, Zhang Tong spread bad rumors about us while he appeared to be a saint in their point of view . Since we suddenly come and chase them away, the people treat us as corrupted officials who bullies the honest hard working officials . "
"What!? That’s absurd! We haven’t done anything yet!" Sun Fang was infuriated .
Sun Jian shook his head and tapped Sun Fang’s shoulder .
"We’ve made a big mistake on our part . From the very beginning, we shouldn’t have demanded the city from Zhang Tong . If we negotiate and coexist normally in the city from the start, the people would have looked at us differently . "
Li Jing shook her head .
"Father-in-law, though it was a mistake, it was a necessary mistake . If we had tried to coexist with them, our trip would have been wasteful . Then I, Hanfang, and you might have died already . "
"Why would Zhang Tong want to kill us? We’ve never had a feud with each other . " Sun Jian doubted .
Sun Fang and Li Jing had a wry smile on their faces as they knew about Tong’s motive and the reason to kill all of them . If they died, the Sun Clan would be finished as Sun Ce and Sun Quan would not be able to rise . Once that happened, the Kingdom of Wu would not exist . It was the best tactic to weed out a potential enemy before it grew stronger .
"Because Zhang Tong knew that if he left us alone, we will become a threat to him in the future . "
Li Jing decided to confess to Sun Jian about the true history of the three kingdoms and about the kingdom of Wu’s fate .
Sun Jian listened to the tales of his sons in astonishment . After he listened to the end of the story where the Wu Kingdom fell, he shed a tear . It was not a tear of sadness . It was a tear of happiness and pride . His descendants did their best and lived proudly .
’So my efforts are not in vain!’
He smiled to Li Jing and Sun Fang, then he told them to stop .
"I’ve heard enough now . You can stop . "
Li Jing nodded and continued . "The second reason is, they are wary of us and afraid that we will steal their food and water . It seems Zhang Tong has given them enough food supplies for them to live through this ordeal for 8 to 9 months . And also..."
Sun Jian raised his hand . "I said, you can stop now . "
Li Jing and Sun Fang were taken aback .
"Father-in-law?"
"Father?"
Sun Jian smiled at them again . However, this time, a dominant aura leaked out of him which made both otherworlders suffocated .
"Hanfang, Jing’er, both of you has done enough . I think I will take this from now on . "
"Eh?"
"Err... Father?"
Laughed Sun Jian, "You two kids have tried hard, but sometimes you are overthinking . You see, I appreciate that you contributed to our family, but you’ll have to believe in us, adults, too . Hanfang, I believe in your prowess and your mystic powers, but your power alone has a limit of what you can achieve . You only know how to fight and destroy, but you don’t know about the management, domestic affair, and leadership abilities to win the heart of the people . Jing’er, you too, although you are the brain of our family, relying on yourself for too long will narrow down your vision and your mind . "
The two otherworlders were sullen as they were given a sermon .
"It’s true that this time it was a necessary mistake, but you also overlooked one fact . It was also possible that Zhang Tong could have been our friend if we could have forgotten our differences and have a good drink and chat for a day . Did you forget that Zhang Tong used to ransom Yuan Shao’s followers to get his father back home? Someone who is filial is a person with a learned mind . He is not a reckless person who will kill someone in the first time meeting unless he shows up as an obvious enemy . To be honest, I don’t think he will kill me or you two if we were to meet him and talked first . "
Sun Fang and Li Jing’s face gloomed further as they reflected of what they had done .
Sun Fang thought that he was too overbearing as of late, so it started to become his habits . Cultivating alone for a long time made him lost touch of his social skills and his attitude toward strangers .
Li Jing also reviewed her past strategies . She found out that she always made an assumption of the other party’s actions before she could get more concrete evidence or intel . As a result, she became an over-paranoid lady . If she was not so afraid of the power of other reincarnators, she would have come up with a different strategy .
Seeing that the two children fell into deep thought, Sun Jian smiled in approval .
"I’ll say again . The army policies will be handled by me from now on . You two will have to step back and learn from the adults, and I forbid you from using your powers . Try to achieve something without your power for once, so you will understand the hardship of the soldiers and the commoners . Once you understand, you’ll be a better leader in the future . "
Sun Jian returned to his men and also left them with a lesson . Both Sun Fang and Li Jing bowed to the back of Sun Jian in respect until he was out of their sight .
They lifted their head up and looked at each other with a wry smile .
"Sometimes I think I have chosen a wrong husband . I should have become Sun Jian’s concubine instead . " Li Jing mocked Sun Fang .
"What the hell!? I’ve never asked you to marry me . You just showed up out of nowhere, beat me up, and force a marriage and a soulmate contract on me out of the blue!"
"So, do you want to break up?" Li Jing asked with a sinister grin . Her killing intent locked on to Sun Fang which almost made him pissed his pants .
"Err... I’m sorry . Please forgive me..." Sun Fang kowtowed .
Li Jing sighed and chanted .
"[Shadow Teleport]"
She sunk into her own shadow and disappeared from Ganling City . She returned to Xia Pi as she had no reason to bother with the military affair and Ganling city anymore .
Once she returned, she pondered .
’Sun Jian is too gentlemanly, honest, and steadfast . He will be used as a tool by Tao Qian and other old foxes and died in vain at this rate . ’
’He has to experience a setback or a betrayal from an ally to wake him up from his rainbow bubble . ’
She let her thought and her imagination ran wild for 30 minutes . Then she had an inspiration .
’Liu Ping is still useful at this situation . I’ll use him then . ’
’I’ll have to write a letter first . ’
...
Sun Fang, who was left behind, stood alone in silence .
He contemplated if his decision for joining this civil war was a good idea . After he experienced a setback for the first time in this life, he became aware of the necessity of the politic skill and the leadership .
His skill template was based on a character in an eastern fantasy novel which depicted his narrow mind and his self-important attitude . Even after he was born, he still put himself first before the others .
Sun Fang finally realized, he was no different from a selfish brainless battle-maniac .
’So, this is why wifey keeps calling me a muscle-brain . ’
’If I make my status into numbers, my INT status would have been something like less than 50 and she would have something like 80 to 90s in all status . ’
’But what’s wrong with it? I can be another Lu Bu if I simply concentrate on improving my fighting skills . ’
’Instead of being a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none, I’ll be the invincible fighter for my family!’
’Who cares about management? Who cares about tactics? Who cares about the strategy and politics?’
’As long as I have to absolute power, I can blast through all of my opponents!’
’That’s how a cultivator should be!’
’If I don’t like someone, I kill!’
’If they dare to pick a fight with me, I kill!’
’If they dare to snatch my woman, I kill!’
’If anyone dares to step on my foot, I kill!’
’If anyone dares to call me a virgin, I kill!’
Instead of reflecting on what he lacked, he decided to focus on improving his specialties, which was his fighting skills .
He looked at his status menu to make his future plans .
’13,000 Lifespan upkeep a year, that’s rough . ’
’But it won’t affect me! All I have to do is to sit and cultivate! One minute of meditation and increase my lifespan for one year . All I have to do is to sit still for 9 to 10 days, then I’ll get back all of my upkeep lifespans!’
’Once my [Cultivator] reaches max level, I’ll be invincible under the Heaven! I’ll be the only immortal in this world!’
...
...
On a distance, Zuo Ci watched Sun Fang and shook his head .
"What a simpleton . Cultivation is more than just sit still and cultivate . "
Disappointed with Sun Fang, Zuo Ci left .