Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

This third strategy left him completely baffled, for it did not align with the power dynamics he was aware of.

At this time, it was only the first year of Wude, and the Liang Dynasty had just been established, holding control over the entire Guanzhong and River East.

Liu Wuzhou was still in Ma Yi, relying on the assistance of the Turkic to capture places like Yanmen and Loufan, and the Turkic had established him as Khan Dingyang.

It had not yet come to his sweeping through River East.

And Song Jingang was a peasant Rebel Army leader with over ten thousand troops, who at this time was still allied with Wei Dao'er.

By the second year of Wude, Wei Dao'er had been annihilated by Dou Jiande, and Song Jingang was heavily defeated by Dou Jiande, leading him to then take four thousand troops to seek refuge with Liu Wuzhou.

After the two forces joined, they then moved southward to Jinyang and collided with the powers of the Liang Dynasty.

Thus, when Wang Shichong heard the other party link Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang together, he naturally felt it strange.

This was precisely the effect Lu Heng sought.

He stroked his beard and smiled, "Mr. Zheng need not be surprised.

"Wei Dao'er cannot defeat Dou Jiande, and Song Jingang would not willingly submit to Dou Jiande. Thus, it is highly likely he would take his troops to join Liu Wuzhou.

"And Liu Wuzhou has long harbored the intention to move south. With fierce generals like Song Jingang and Yuchi Jingde under his command, he could plan to capture Jinyang and sweep through River East, posing a threat to the heartland of Liang in Guanzhong."

Wang Shichong exclaimed in surprise, "Would Liang simply allow itself to be slaughtered like this?"

Lu Heng chuckled, "Of course Liang would not simply allow itself to be slaughtered, but they have the willingness without the capability.

"Liang appears strong but is actually hollow inside, lacking a true backbone.

"After raising an army in Jinyang, their ability to quickly invade Chang'an and occupy Guanzhong is partly because Guanzhong was empty of major powers; and partly because they represented great moral claims and had the support of prominent clans, as well as a knack for winning people's hearts.

"However, among these people, none are truly capable of combat; their only serious battle was the lucky extermination of Song Laoseng.

"Therefore, they cannot defeat Liu Wuzhou or Song Jingang.

"When Mr. Zheng, you suppress Dou Jiande, you could then divide your troops into three routes.

"One route shall enter Guanzhong from the west through Luoyang, and the other two, one through Jingxing from Hebei and another through Zhi Pass from the Taihang Mountains, striking at Shangdang and sieging Jinyang.

"Even if Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang conquer Liang, they will surely be greatly weakened; Mr. Zheng, armed with the momentum of a great victory and a dominance in force from three fronts, can keep the enemy on the run.

"A single battle could determine the fate of the empire!"

After hearing everything, Wang Shichong suddenly stood up.

"Your words have cleared my confusion! Sir, you truly are a divine being!"

He was thoroughly convinced.

Is there any sense in the strategies Lu Heng as Wei Zhen had mentioned?

They made perfect sense!

There was no need to discuss the first strategy—it was merely a replication of the standard answer from history, a super-enhanced version that spoke directly to Wang Shichong's heart.

The second strategy, compared to the first, contained more original ideas from Lu Heng, but still, it was very sound.

Wang Shichong and Li Mi were sworn enemies, and Qin Shubao and Cheng Zhijie were being heavily utilized under Li Mi at this time.

Should Li Mi be defeated, who would know if Qin Shubao and Cheng Zhijie had secretly defected?

And for Qin Shubao and Cheng Zhijie not wanting to surrender to Wang Shichong, shifting to Dou Jiande instead was quite reasonable, wasn't it?

They would bring many troops with them; and to show his trust, Dou Jiande would surely allow them to continue commanding their old troops in the campaign against Wang Shichong.

At the critical moment of battle between the two armies, the sudden defection of Qin Shubao and Cheng Zhijie would indeed tilt the battlefield instantly in favor of Wang Shichong.

Then, Dou Jiande would become insignificant.

And the third strategy was mainly about bluffing.

Isn't the power of Liang sufficient?

Others might not know, but could Lu Heng be unaware? That was where the players congregated!

Originally in history, aside from Lord Qin, all those in the Liang were indeed useless—Emperor Gaozu of Liang, the Crown Prince, Prince Qi… relying on them to conquer the world was absolutely impossible.

Not to mention capturing both kings in one battle, they would probably have perished at the hands of Xue Ju and Liu Wuzhou.

But now all these people had been taken over by players, making the Liang naturally the strongest force.

The actual situation was, the Crown Prince convened heroes, Pingyang Princess gathered troops in Guanzhong, the deception plan led to the extraordinary execution of Song Laoseng, and Yan Lide manufactured siege equipment and easily captured Chang'an.

Afterward, the players would continue to stage dramas like "Prince Qi was a divine general," "Lord Wei broke cavalry with infantry," and "Yuchi Jingde's sudden defection," among others.

However, these were certainly not things Lu Heng would mention.

He was definitely going to bluff Wang Shichong as much as possible, making him believe that the Liang were not to be feared, so that he would focus all his efforts on battling Li Mi and Dou Jiande.

Then, the players would be able to profit from the situation as Liang reaped the benefits.

But to Wang Shichong, Lu Heng's bluffs sounded incredibly reasonable.

From Wang Shichong's perspective, without Lord Qin, the remaining figures in the Liang really didn't stand out.

The only tough battle was against Song Laoseng, but such a character clearly wasn't worth mentioning in Wang Shichong's eyes; winning against him was nothing to boast about.

More importantly, Lu Heng's prophecies contained both truth and falsehood, making them hard to discern.

For instance, Lu Heng precisely predicted that at this moment, Wei Dao'er's subordinate, Song Jingang, would be defeated by Dou Jiande and then defect to Liu Wuzhou.

Then, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang would definitely attack Jinyang, enter River East, and clash with the Liang.

These were all events that had historically happened, making the accuracy of the predictions extremely high.

With truth intermingled with falsehood, and the false parts aligning with Wang Shichong's expectations, it would be odd if Wang Shichong wasn't deceived.

As for what to do if the predictions were exposed?

For instance, what if Wang Shichong realized midway through his battles that Xue Ju and Liu Wuzhou were both overrun by the Liang?

Wouldn't that prove Wei Zhen's prophecy wrong?

No matter, because those two steps of the prophecy weren't significant.

Lu Heng's advice was to gain Wang Shichong's trust and have him follow his own strategies, but in reality, Wang Shichong would be captured before he could even make the second move.

This was a plot within a plot within a plot, also the greatest advantage of the player group after traversing through time.

They both knew the future development of history and were able to trust each other unconditionally despite being in different forces.

"These are letters from Generals Qin Shubao and Cheng Zhijie. Please have a look, Mr. Zheng."

It wasn't until now that Lu Heng, posing as Wei Zhen, brought out two letters.

The content of the letters wasn't important; they merely expressed long-standing admiration for Wang Shichong and the desire to help him seize the world.

In actuality, these two letters weren't even written by Yun Ying and Li Hongyun. Their calligraphy was mediocre at best, and a real attempt might risk exposure. Moreover, it wasn't worth employing a special talent for such a matter.

But no worries, Wang Shichong didn't recognize their handwriting anyway.

Whether Wang Shichong believed it or not did not affect the plan.

The strategy of pitting one against another would definitely proceed as planned, and Wang Shichong would inevitably defeat Li Mi.

As long as Wang Shichong was fighting Li Mi, if Yun Ying and Li Hongyun found a way to just watch from the sidelines, and then flee to join Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong would then believe they were his people, naturally establishing mutual trust.

At that point, Wang Shichong would step by step walk into the trap.