Mythical Qin: I, Gao Yao, will never be a eunuch!

Chapter 860 The troubles Yi Xiaochuan encountered, Xianyang cannot be attacked!

At this time, Gao Yao, listening to Xiao He's congratulations and looking at the Chu army retreating in the distance, felt a lot of emotion in his heart, and even developed a little admiration for Xiao He.

As a time traveler, his mind was filled with 5,000 years of Chinese history, the Thirty-Six Stratagems, and various famous examples of defeating the enemy with fewer troops and achieving victory by surprise. He remembered the "Empty City Strategy," understood its principles, and could even analyze it in detail.

But knowing and being able to use are two completely different things!

This is what is called "those involved are confused, while those who are not involved can see clearly."

Only when he himself was actually on the battlefield with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and on the line between life and death, shouldering the lives of thousands or even tens of thousands of people and the survival of a regime, did he truly realize how difficult and thrilling the decision-making process behind those classic strategies that were only recorded in a few words in history books!

It requires staying calm under immense pressure, accurately judging the psychology of both the enemy and oneself, seizing fleeting opportunities, and having the courage to bear the devastating consequences of failed strategies... Any one of these is something that ordinary people cannot do.

Gao Yao's ability to stand here was largely due to his physical advantages from time travel and his fearlessness. However, figures like Xiao He and Zhang Liang, despite all the complex and extremely unfavorable conditions, always managed to find a glimmer of hope, coming up with all sorts of unimaginable yet perfectly tailored solutions to break through.

This is a true talent, a national hero! One could even say he's a demon!

Their wisdom, courage, and decisiveness transcended the limitations of their time. Gao Yao now deeply realized that while he might have an advantage through his foresight, he still lags far behind these historical leaders in true decision-making and foresight. How fortunate he was to have Xiao He's help!

"Yes... I won the bet." Gao Yao's voice was a little hoarse. He turned his head and looked at Xiao He, whose face was still stained with sweat but whose eyes were unusually bright. He said solemnly, "Xiao He, if we can ultimately win this battle, you will be the first to take credit! If it weren't for your brilliant plan, Yangping Pass might have changed hands by now."

This was Gao Yao's heartfelt recognition. He understood that respecting and fully utilizing the abilities of these local talents was the key to his survival in this era, and even his ability to dominate the world. Personal bravery was certainly important, but the wisdom that enabled him to strategize and win battles from afar was the true national treasure!

Thirty miles outside Xianyang, the Chu army camp stretched out, flags fluttering, yet an eerie silence permeated the air. Inside the central military tent, Yi Xiaochuan frowned, his fingers tapping unconsciously on a table covered with maps and bamboo slips. The latest intelligence reports from his scouts lay scattered before him, but each one contained largely the same information, failing to allay his growing suspicions.

He has been besieging Xianyang for a full half month.

He confidently declared his blockade a dragnet. Thirty thousand elite Chu cavalrymen blocked every road, even the hidden paths, leading from Xianyang to the outside world. Not to mention large-scale courier teams, even single-handed spies had been successfully intercepted dozens of times in the past two weeks, with none escaping. He was convinced that Xianyang had become a true island, its communication channels with the outside world completely severed.

It was this perfect blockade that made Yi Xiaochuan feel extremely uneasy.

The reaction of Xianyang City was so calm! So calm that it was unbelievable!

A heavily besieged city, especially one with a unique status—according to the intelligence he had, many of Gao Yao's family members, as well as the families of many of his key officials, had already been relocated there. This was sufficient evidence of Xianyang's central position within the southern border regime, making it a veritable second capital.

Normally, when such a crucial city was under siege, the defenders would be like ants on a hot pan, desperately trying to break out, seek help, and pass on the message. Even at a heavy price, as long as one person could deliver the message, victory was achieved. Initially, Xianyang did send out several waves of scouts to explore the area, but after they were ruthlessly intercepted and suffered heavy losses by the Chu army, everything suddenly changed.

They seemed to have completely abandoned all efforts at ground communication! No personnel were sent to attempt to break through the blockade. The entire city of Xianyang had entered a state of extreme silence: a sign prohibiting war was hung high, the city gates were tightly closed, and the city defenses were reinforced. Aside from the necessary city defenses, there was no intention of any active attack.

This unnatural calmness made Yi Xiaochuan feel creepy. Something must be wrong when things are out of the ordinary! Something must be brewing in Xianyang City, or perhaps they have a unique method of communication that they have not yet discovered.

Process of elimination and the only possibility

Yi Xiaochuan's brain was working rapidly, listing all the possibilities one by one and then eliminating them one by one.

Secret passages? He had already considered this, sending a large number of personnel to conduct a thorough survey around Xianyang, even capturing local elders for questioning, but no trace of any large-scale underground passages was found. Small-scale escape passages might exist, but they were definitely not enough to support the frequent transmission of intelligence.

A traitor? It's possible, but the risk is high, the efficiency is low, and it's unsustainable. With such a tight siege, how could a traitor get in or out?

Some unknown technology? What else could there be in this era?

When all possibilities of entering the ground were ruled out, Yi Xiaochuan's gaze involuntarily turned to the sky.

A thought flashed through his mind like lightning - a bird delivering a message!

The idea shocked him, and then he felt a deep sense of powerlessness. For someone from the 21st century, carrier pigeons were a common trope in period dramas, and the principle was immediately understandable. But actually implementing it in this era was incredibly difficult!

He knew that training birds to reliably deliver messages over long distances and to specific locations was an extremely specialized and time-consuming process. It required systematic selection, breeding, domestication, and training, encompassing knowledge from diverse fields, including animal behavior and geographic navigation. In that era, there simply wasn't a mature system.

He himself had once tried this out of curiosity, with predictable results. Simply getting pigeons to identify their nests and make short round trips was a struggle, let alone the complexities of military communications. This wasn't a skill that could be easily mastered by trial and error. Without the accumulated experience and systematic approach of previous generations, it could have taken a decade or more of trial and error to achieve even the first rudiments.

"Gao Yao... How could he possibly master this technique?!" Yi Xiaochuan was filled with disbelief. He absolutely did not believe that Gao Yao, a chef by trade, could possess such advanced knowledge and patience to engage in biological domestication.

He didn't know that Gao Yao had unimaginable external help, which allowed him to skip the long process of exploration and directly obtain mature techniques and training methods. This kind of dimensionality reduction attack was something Yi Xiaochuan could never imagine.