When the Side Character Gets a System and Travels through Difference Worlds

With that, she scurried out and quickly gathered dozens of young children. As the sound of their cheerful ruckus faded into the distance, Tan You pinched the bridge of her nose. "Go on and do what you need to do."

Everyone left, leaving Tan You alone. She picked up her tea and took a sip. ’An era of great strife... It all comes down to who has the last laugh.’

Since the outside world was descending into chaos, no place would be spared. To stay informed of the latest developments, villagers traveled daily between the town and Miao Gou Village, but the news they brought back was never optimistic.

At the same time, the village was also actively purchasing grain. In times of turmoil, food was the most important resource. Although the clan had stored enough grain to last its people for several years, everyone else was buying, and it would look strange if they didn’t.

Besides, when turmoil arrived, the price of grain was always the first to skyrocket. Just as it was now—the price in town was climbing ever higher while the available supply dwindled. They had even started implementing purchase limits.

The clan’s leadership convened another meeting. Chen Tianshui looked grim. "Things are getting more and more chaotic."

Tan You, however, was perfectly calm. "We’ll deal with problems as they arise. We have to survive, no matter what."

Chen Tianshui looked at Tan You. "Mistress, when do you plan to make a move?"

Tan You raised an eyebrow slightly. "We shouldn’t be the ones to make the first move. We should act when the time is right. With the County Magistrate and the Magistrate still in their posts, now is certainly not the time for us to step into the spotlight."

Chen Tianshui asked probingly, "And if they were no longer around...?"

Tan You saw right through him. "We are not going to be the ones to stir up trouble. For now, we have only one strategy: wait. We wait for the right opportunity. But we can’t just passively wait to be attacked, either."

Chen Tianshui frowned. "How long will we have to wait?"

Tan You tapped the table. "The Beirong have already reached Youzhou State. Our Miao Gou Village is in Yunzhou State, which borders Youzhou. If Youzhou can’t hold on and falls to the Beirong..."

"The Beirong will only push further south. And since they burn, kill, and pillage as they go, they surely aren’t carrying many provisions. The imperial court may be weak, but it’s not going to let the Beirong march all the way south just like that."

Third Grandpa caught the implication. "The court can’t defeat the Beirong as things stand, so the only option left is to negotiate for peace."

Tan You nodded. "Exactly. And peace always comes at a price. I estimate the court will cede several states near Yunzhou State to the Beirong. It won’t be too late for us to make our move then."

Chen Tianshui assessed the clan’s current fighting strength. "But our guard unit only has five or six hundred people ready for the battlefield. Although everyone in the clan knows martial arts now, against the Beirong..."

Yue Shu raised an eyebrow slightly. "We still have a fighting chance."

Seeing the confused looks on his clansmen’s faces, Yue Shu said, "Have the clan elders forgotten the sounds like muffled thunder that kept coming from the mountain some time ago?"

It was so much easier talking to clever people. Third Grandpa understood at once. "Is it that new thing the Mistress made?"

"Yes," Tan You said, taking a sip of her tea. "I call it gunpowder. With gunpowder, even if we’re facing an army of hundreds of thousands, we can still retreat completely unscathed."

Third Grandpa was skeptical, but his faith in Tan You ultimately won out. "As long as you’re confident, Mistress, that’s all that matters. You’ve never told a lie."

Yue Shu looked slightly smug. "We have gunpowder, and our supply is plentiful. That puts us in an invincible position. On top of that, the Mistress also has Soft Muscle Powder, and just a few days ago, she even made smoke bombs..."

Tan You didn’t dash his enthusiasm. "For now, we just wait for the imperial court to negotiate peace. Once Yunzhou State is ceded, we make our move."

"At that point, our cause will be just. We won’t be rebels against the court, but national heroes fighting for ourselves."

Yue Shu was confused. "Mistress, must we really wait until then? If the Beirong occupy Yunzhou State, how many people will die?"

Tan You could only harden her heart. "In times of war, death is inevitable. Besides, we need a just cause. If we were to confront the Beirong now, how many people do you think would be grateful? They would just see us as no better than mountain bandits."

"These court officials can’t resolve external conflicts, but they’re merciless when it comes to attacking their own. They even shout that slogan about ’pacifying the interior before resisting foreign aggression.’"

"If you ask me, since the world outside is already in chaos, everyone should be uniting and working as one. Is the imperial court truly incapable of defeating the Beirong? Of course not. It’s just that they are not united."

"Those high officials, hunkered down in the heart of the Central Plains, are all suspicious of one another, caring only for their own positions. They’re afraid the border generals’ achievements will outshine the emperor, yet they still expect those generals to charge into bloody battle. How can they have it both ways?"

Yang Youchang stared at Tan You. "You seem to have a high opinion of military commanders, Mistress."

Tan You clenched her fists. "Master Yang, in these chaotic times, what will allow us to survive? There is and only is military might. ’Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun’—that saying is no exaggeration."

"Once we have our own armed force, others won’t dare to bully us so easily. An army is the most important thing, no matter the era. That’s why I say those civil officials who are suspicious of military commanders are unbelievably foolish."

"And many military commanders don’t die at the hands of the enemy. They die at the hands of the imperial court and the sovereign."

Yang Youchang sighed. "You are incredibly perceptive, Mistress. Indeed, from ancient times to the present, very few military commanders have met a good end. Simply living to old age in peace is an extravagant hope for them."

Tan You said, "But let’s set that aside for now. I’ll now lay out our plan..."

Everyone immediately held their breath. Only after Tan You had laid out the plan, step by step, did Yang Youchang speak. "In our residence in Yunzhou State, we have hidden dozens of trebuchets and a great deal of gunpowder."

"If we take the entire guard unit to Yunzhou State, I worry about the village..."

Chen Tianshui was optimistic. "Let the entire official guard unit go. We still have the militia in the village. Once we’ve taken Yunzhou State, what will there be left to worry about?"

"Besides, we have our walls. Even if the Beirong decide to attack, they won’t be able to breach our village in a short amount of time."

Tan You mulled it over for a long while. "Leave fifty guards in the village. They can train the militia in the meantime. The remaining four hundred and fifty will come with me. In addition, Zhu Rong’s apprentices will have to come with us."

The clan elders were a bit worried. "Will that be alright? You’re not taking Doctor Zhu along?"

Tan You waved her hand. "There’s no need. Zhu Rong is pregnant, so she should stay in the village and take care of herself. It will mostly be treating external wounds. I’m confident they can handle it."

Yue Shu was deeply moved. "Thank you for your concern for Zhu Rong, Mistress."

Tan You glanced at him. "There’s no need for sentimentality. You will all depart for the capital city of Yunzhou State in a moment. I’ll leave with the last group."

Yue Shu and the others snapped to attention. "Yes!"