STARTING MY CULTIVATION WITH TIME MANAGEMENT

Chapter 811: Chapter 48: Qin Lie’s Headache

The fastest retreat…

Long Hu never imagined that Long Long’s decision on who should stay behind would be based on their ability to flee.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t unreasonable.

The first batch to evacuate had the element of surprise, so it would certainly be the easiest.

The second batch would face more precautions from the enemy, requiring a greater ability to flee. Keeping those adept at escaping for later would definitely increase the survival rate of the second evacuation.

Who would have thought, dear Feathered Clan friends on the list? Because of your usual indifference to proper pursuits and your specialized research in fleeing tactics, you have now been included in the second batch of the evacuation plan.

While Long Hu was still mourning in silence, Long Long had already picked up the list and walked out.

With the announcement of the list, naturally some were delighted while others were despondent.

The cultivators listed to stay behind naturally cried out at the injustice, clamoring for Long Long to provide a basis for his decision.

Meanwhile, those included in the evacuation list immediately and clearly sided with Long Long, as if fearfully arguing their case, lest he be persuaded to announce a revision of the list… How could they possibly let that happen!

Long Hu was surprised to find that, since Long Long had predetermined that the number of people evacuating versus staying would be two to one, there were now far more Feathered Clan cultivators supporting Long Long than opposing him.

The latter were almost completely overpowered in terms of momentum, simply refusing to concede due to their stubbornness, for it was a matter of life and property, not easily persuaded. If one lacked reason, they had to stir up some trouble.

As a result, Long Long used merely six words to defeat these Feathered Clan cultivators just as he had with Long Hu before:

“You excel at escaping.”

Because of their expertise in fleeing, they were assigned to the more dangerous second evacuation. Such logical reasoning mostly silenced the opposition.

A minority of cultivators tried to persist with unfounded arguments, claiming the intelligence records were wrong and that they were not skilled in fleeing. They were quickly ruthlessly suppressed by the large number of supporters—after all, they had been comrades for many years, who didn’t know each other?

Then, with another six words, Long Long quashed the last of their complaints:

“I will stay here.”

When the commander himself decided to stay for the second wave of evacuation, you grunts still fear for your lives, is that appropriate?

The opposition could of course say “it’s appropriate,” but such unfounded clamor lacks persuasiveness. Now everyone understood very clearly that someone had to stay behind in the city to distract the enemy and create favorable conditions for the first wave of evacuees. It’s either you or him, why shouldn’t you stay?

In contrast, the reasoning “skilled at fleeing, high survival rate” was simple and much harder to refute.

Thus, the matter was settled, and the cultivators of the first batch of evacuees were naturally tearfully grateful to Long Long; those who were left behind, although accompanied by Long Long, still held little regard for him, each silently in low spirits.

Just as everyone was coming to terms with the situation, Long Long threw out a second decree:

“Given that the number of defenders in the city has been reduced to a third, the pressure to face a siege will inevitably be greater.”

“Therefore, in order for the remaining cultivators to better complete their mission of holding the fort and to create opportunities for the evacuating cultivators, I suggest all evacuating cultivators donate some Magic Artifacts and Elixirs to those staying behind.”

Upon these words, silence befell.

For the cultivators staying behind, this was certainly like receiving timely help during a snowstorm. Yet realizing that it was Long Long, who had insisted on their staying, that proposed this help, they couldn’t quite bring themselves to be happy about it.

And as for the evacuating cultivators, if giving away some Magical Treasures and Elixirs meant saving their lives, it naturally didn’t seem like much.

However, people are all selfish. Since it’s a donation, it naturally depends on an individual’s wealth—with the rich giving more and the poor giving less. What if I say I’m very poor and just donate some junk metal? Would that work?

Therefore, everyone started to claim poverty. Before the commotion could go on for long, Long Long said:

“Hu, go bring the gift list from last time.”

Long Hu was momentarily stunned, but quickly grasped the implications and cleverly said:

“It’s in the City Guard Mansion. I’ll fetch it right now.”

The cultivators planning to leave were taken aback at the sight of this.

Damn, there’s such a trick?

Judging one’s wealth by the gift list might seem odd at first, but it actually makes perfect sense upon reflection. Especially because the list hadn’t been released at the time, everyone was worried about gifting too little and being put on the stay-behind roster, so they all made a hefty contribution.

As a result, Long Long returned the gifts with one hand and then called for a donation with the other, leaving the departing cultivators dazed by his dazzling maneuvers. In essence, he had the departing cultivators directly donate their wealth to those staying behind. This eased the grievances of both parties: the former avoided disaster by losing wealth, while the latter took risks to gain wealth.

“I don’t quite understand,” Qin Lie whispered to Long Hu, “Why not just accept those gifts at the start and then distribute them to the cultivators staying behind? Wouldn’t that be more direct?”

“Of course not,” Long Hu revealed a “only I understand him” subtle smile and confidently said, “If we did that, it wouldn’t be a voluntary donation.”

“How much we collected and distributed, only we would know. Even if we handed out all the received gifts, people would still suspect us of secretly keeping a portion.”

“But if we first let everyone take their gifts back and then call for a ‘voluntary donation,’ those concerns would not arise.”

Qin Lie suddenly realized and nodded, thinking that Long Long, indeed favored by his grandfather, had much to teach him!

What Long Hu didn’t say was that Long Long wanted everyone to voluntarily donate as a way to “pressure with prestige.”

You do as I ask, willingly or because of the situation. Regardless, it creates a mindset that eventually leads to everyone not thinking for themselves, simply following whatever Long Long says—that is the so-called “prestige.”

Of course, these were sensitive matters, probably not good to discuss with Qin Lie—who knows if Long Long would use this strategy against the Dragon Clan in the future?

Qin Lie pondered silently and returned to the City Guard Mansion. Suddenly, she sensed a Flying Sword Messaging heading straight for her.

She reached out to call the Flying Sword to her hand, and upon close inspection, she saw the message from Qin Chaocang expressing utter shock at Long Long’s armchair strategies, questioning whether what Qin Lie said was true?

If true, he ordered to immediately stop Long Long’s command, take control of his troops and hand them over to Qin Sitong, then hastily bring him back to the rear camp, making sure he doesn’t cause any further trouble.

Qin Lie almost choked from exasperation. Grandpa, why so impatient? Couldn’t you wait for my second message before replying?

Soon enough, the second message arrived, with just four simple characters:

What does this mean?

Qin Lie kept a poker face, wondering how she should explain.

To say that Long Long’s actions were merely a ruse, actually aiming to clarify the defensive movements for infiltrating Yuanjiang City… With so much having happened since the earliest infiltration, the Yuanjiang City defense was now entirely at his mercy. Explaining such an outdated strategy now might seem as if she were hiding the current situation, wouldn’t it?

But reporting the current status wasn’t something a few messages could cover, and grandpa’s questions would likely increase.

What a headache.

Source: .com, updated on Novlove.com

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