15 Yet Another Challenger

(XD) "Talk? We're at war what could we possibly have to talk to each other about?" Xu Da was puzzled by what Baron was trying to accomplish by coming here.

(BM) "Well, I thought we could have a nice peaceful talk about how we should end this simulation peacefully."

(XD) "What?" He was beyond confused now.

(BM) "Remember that person who assaulted you with a goose?"

(XD) "Did you send him as a spy?"

(BM) "Yes i did, you should have realized by now that I plan to use the goose to force you to stop this simulation between the two of us."

(XD) "I applaud you for your bravery, if nothing else. however, just because you know my weakness doesn't mean that I will bow down to your will."

(BM) "I thought you were a strategist, yet you fail to realize what your enemy plans on doing. You disappoint me quite a bit."

(XD) "Then tell me what you are planning to do. "

(BM) "Now you're asking your enemy to reveal their plan? Haha alright. Let me give you a little hint. I haven't just spent my first few days on planet four laughing and drinking it up with Yue Fei. I have also amassed all the info available to the public in the Chinese community. Turns out from what I have gathered, you enjoy a pretty nice life here. You aren't as powerful as the 100 elders, but you are somewhat close."

(XD) "Yeah,so what's your point?"

(BM) "My point is this world cruel,you already know that much. It would be a shame if word got out that you were afraid of geese. Everyone below you would exploit that weakness of yours like no tomorrow."

(XD) "Are you threatening me boy?"

(BM) "Oh not at all,in fact I have something even better planned."

(XD) "And that would be... "

(BM) "How about we have our chat in private?"

(XD) "Very well." He said as he ordered his guards out of the command tent. "So what is your proposal?"

(BM) "You and I put on a grand show for the people who are watching our battle, but ultimately you will lose to me and follow under me."

(XD) "Shameful.Too shameful. Do you realize that I would be throwing away all of my face if we did that? "

(BM) "Would you rather I reveal your little secret to everyone?"

(XD) "..." Xu Da had to think long and hard on this decision. On the one hand he would be losing everything he had worked so hard for these past hundreds of years, and he would lose the freedom which he had enjoyed ever since coming here. On the other hand, if he didn't take Baron's offer then he would be ridiculed out of the Chinese community for having such an easy and exploitable weakness, then he would have to fend for himself in the streets, which he would not be able to survive very long even if he had some ability. In the end he chose to swallow his pride and follow Baron. "You win, I chose to be under you."

(BM) "A very wise choice I assure you." Baron was overjoyed by type fact that he had another powerful ally by his side. "One more thing Xu Da,I hope that you will trust me as much as I will trust you in the future.I don't plan on exposing your little secret so don't make me go that far. Also, do not announce that you have joined me just yet.I want to surprise everyone."

(XD) "Alright,whatever you say. So how do we go about the rest of this simulation?"

(BM) "You and I will start a general vs. general fight that will last until the sun goes down. Then I will make my escape with my men and you are not to give chase."

(XD) "What about my men already on the walls?"

(BM) "Just leave them to fight it out with my men. All that matters is you and I put on a good show to give to our audience."

(XD) "Very well."

Within an instant both of them unsheathed their weapons and let loose on each other. The battle that they fought was vicious and many of Xu Da's men came to aid him but were told to stand guard and watch. With such a big commotion happening, Baron's men that were dressed as the enemy naturally heard, and rushed to the enemy camp just as Baron had ordered them to do moments earlier.

The enemy camp became an instant mess as soon as Baron's disguised men charged into the camp and started letting loose on their enemies. Screams of pain, confusion, and curses rang endlessly in the turmoil that ensued. Not wanting their general to be overwhelmed by these newcomers, Xu Da's men had turned around to fend off these 2,000 cavalry. At the end of the day, Baron had managed to deal a sizeable blow to Xu Da's troops. Once the sun was about to set, Baron ordered a full scale retreat back into the walled city. Baron's troops' morale was higher than the sky at this point.

Within a day Baron had lost 6,000 troops, and his surviving army totalled 28,000. Whereas for Xu Da, he had lost 16,000 men and his surviving army totalled 20,000 men. Most of Xu Da's casualties laid in two tactics devised by Baron. One was completely wiping out Xu Da's camp when Xu Da had left with the majority of his army to lay siege to the city. The other one was the 7 to 8 thousand cavalry troops sent to kill as many soldiers as they could outside of the south wall.

After that day the rest of the battles were uneventful and a battle of attrition occurred. With Baron's obvious superiority in number of soldiers compared to Xu Da he eventually won after two more weeks of their forces just duking it out without any strategy. After about three weeks of fighting, the game had decided a winner. The winner of the battle simulation was Baron Magellan.

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Back in the training room where Baron and Xu Da had returned to after the results were announced. Many people were stunned to see that Xu Da had not used any tactics to pressure Baron after the day where he lost 16,000 of his men.

(XD) "Remember what you told me."

(BM) "No need to worry my friend. Just do as I say and we will be able to become great friends." Baron whispered to Xu Da. After which Xu Da just up and left without another word.

Everyone was shocked to see that not only had Baron bested Yue Fei, but he had also somehow managed to beat Xu Da. While Xu Da didn't have the greatest amount of influence within the Chinese community he could also be considered one of the top brass of the regular members. Just who is this young fellow who had managed to beat these two semi well known figures? Soon after his simulation against Xu Da, Baron received another challenge. This time the challenge came from a person by the name of Ban Chao.

Naturally, Baron had researched this elder of his as well. Ban Chao had fought numerous times against the xiongnu (ancestors of the Mongolians, maybe), but he wasn't that renowned for his aggressive plays. Rather he was more well known for his administration and his efforts to protect his land from enemies more than anything. Baron accepted it quickly, and being the junior in this situation, he had control of what the setting of the simulation was again.

Since Baron wasn't too afraid of the skills of Ban Chao, he just set the simulation on random mode. Therefore the game would randomly choose what mode, troops size, and other things for him. The game chose to have the two competitors play the mode Battle of Thermopylae. Where 300 Spartan soldiers and about 6,700 others were to fight a vastly superior army of over 100,000+ Persians. This battle is considered one of the most famous last stands in history.

This battle mode only included the land portion, so the naval battle that occurred simultaneously was not to be played out unless both sides had at least two or more strategists with them. The game chose Baron to be on the defending Spartan side where he only had about 7,000 fairly well seasoned troops. While the leading of an army over 100,000 would go to Ban Chao.

This mode heavily leaned towards the favour of the attacking side. Most of the times, this mode would be used by strategists to see how long they could last while using strategies with only 7,000 troops if the enemy did nothing but to rush over. Therefore this mode was more of a training simulation rather than a serious battle. So, the preparation time for this simulation was a lot longer than most other modes at 2 weeks.

This time was mostly for the defending side to scout out as much of the terrain as possible and develop multiple strategies to fight their enemies with. Baron however, knew exactly what he needed to do if he was to win such a disadvantaged simulation, and with the two week preparation time he had no worries in his mind that he would ever lose.