Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

Although Li Hongyun could have either proposed these strategies in advance, or fervently supported one of them when everyone else was hesitant, he created an illusion: it seemed as if he was the one making the final decisions.

True, it was Emperor Gaozu of Liang who made the final calls, but it seemed that every time Prince Qi spoke up, Emperor Gaozu came to a decision.

Moreover, it always turned out that Prince Qi was right.

Although Lord Qin was also repeatedly proven right and his opinions were highly consistent with Prince Qi's, Prince Qi often weighed multiple options when offering advice. Therefore, he seemed to Emperor Gaozu to be even wiser and more prudent.

For example, when confronting Qu Tutong, Lord Qin suggested crossing the river immediately to seize Yongfeng Warehouse.

While Prince Qi's suggestion was that Emperor Gaozu could leave some troops to continue the standoff with Qu Tutong, and he and Lord Qin would need only half the men.

Because Li Hongyun was well aware that even if he wanted all the troops, Emperor Gaozu would not give them to him.

So he simply asked for half, knowing that in actual history, Lord Qin was able to quickly eliminate the powers surrounding Chang'an with just these tens of thousands of men and swiftly grow stronger.

Hence, the impression left on Emperor Gaozu was: Lord Qin was skilled in war and had a clear vision, but Prince Qi had the upper hand.

Because Prince Qi not only saw what Lord Qin saw but also integrated the actual situation, always offering the best solution that matched Emperor Gaozu's wishes. And what's more, Prince Qi appeared to be even more confident than Lord Qin, and it indeed turned out that such confidence was justified.

Although this confidence was actually bravado, even the "tiger," Lord Qin, couldn't see through it, let alone others.

Thus, Prince Qi's strategic and tactical abilities skyrocketed in status in Emperor Gaozu's eyes.

In the process of following Lord Qin to conquer the regions surrounding Chang'an, Li Hongyun also deliberately participated in some of the planning.

In fact, this was an area where Li Hongyun felt somewhat insecure, as he couldn't offer much good advice concerning those he had never heard of, whose troop strengths were unknown and whose historical victories were a mystery to him.

But he had a way.

Using his gift of persuasive speech along with his series of previous actions, he had already completely won Lord Qin's trust.

So, whenever Lord Qin made a plan, all he had to do was nod and agree.

Not only would Lord Qin not think he was being fobbed off, but he would also be delighted, thinking that his insightful brother was on the same wavelength as him.

And so, by using a strategy of bluffing, Li Hongyun rose up from Jinyang, followed Lord Qin in taking Chang'an, and established considerable prestige.

Though he was young, since ancient times heroes were often young, and no one dared to underestimate him anymore.

Later, the Liang Dynasty was established, Emperor Gaozu ascended the throne, established the Crown Prince, conferred Lord Qin and Prince Qi, and marked the beginning of the Wude era.

After so much preparation work, the Battle of Qianshui finally arrived.

After Lord Qin fell ill, Li Hongyun refused to give Liu Wenjing any face and forcefully took command from Lord Qin.

At this point, he was Prince Qi and had shown remarkable acumen in planning after raising an army in Jinyang, so both Lord Qin and Emperor Gaozu trusted him even more. Although Liu Wenjing was still a bit dissatisfied, he was unable to do anything about it.

Li Hongyun implemented Lord Qin's concepts of warfare, holding firm without engaging, and continued the standoff with Xue Ju.

According to original history, in the first Battle of Qianshui, Lord Qin fell ill in July, leading to a major defeat for the Liang Army. It wasn't until November that Lord Qin led the troops to fight in the second Battle of Qianshui and, after a standoff of over sixty days, was victorious.

But Lord Qin's illness would not have persisted until November. It was likely almost healed by the time the troops withdrew in August.

Even if it were proposed that Lord Qin's illness had not fully healed and he needed more rest, it would have been very difficult to drag out for over a month.

Therefore, Li Hongyun had only about less than two months' time.

Winning in two months would be quite challenging because even Lord Qin himself, if he were leading the battle, would definitely need to hold out for at least a month or two until Xue Ju's food supplies were depleted and the soldiers exhausted before striking and determining the outcome in one battle.

However, Li Hongyun could not wait that long, because by the time Lord Qin recovered, the credit would at best be equally shared between them, which would not fulfill his goal of replacing Lord Qin.

After much contemplation, Li Hongyun found a way.

The opportunity came on the ninth day of the eighth month of the first year of Wude, when Xue Ju died.

According to the original course of history, the first Battle of Qianshui was in July; Lord Qin arrived at the battlefield on the fourth and fell ill, and by the ninth, there was a defeat.

After that, the Liang Army withdrew until August, when Xue Ju's large forces besieged Ningzhou. Despite being repelled, they generally maintained an advantage. Xue Ju even contemplated taking advantage of their victory to directly attack Chang'an.

Unexpectedly, he fell ill and died on the ninth.

His son, Xue Rengao, was in the army and immediately succeeded him.

But Xue Rengao did not have the experience nor the prestige of Xue Ju. So, when Lord Qin returned with the Liang Army in November and held out for over sixty days, they were successful in winning.

In fact, the sudden illness and death of Xue Ju presented the optimum opportunity to attack.

However, in history, the Liang Army had just suffered a defeat, and although Emperor Gaozu was prepared to have Lord Qin lead the troops again, mustering the troops and stockpiling supplies would certainly take a long time.

Thus, it was not until November that they dispatched troops.

These three months were enough for Xue Rengao to assume his position and stabilize the situation as much as possible.

But Li Hongyun seized this moment to devise a plan that only someone with knowledge of the future could make.