Chapter 40: Post-War Summons

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Li Xiang, far away in Bingzhou, had no idea that his plan had already succeeded, nor did he know that Wang Yun had been promoted to Grand Commandant, becoming one of the Three Excellencies of the imperial court.

Still, in the original course of history, Ding Yuan had already held the position of Commandant of the Capital, while Wang Yun would eventually become one of the Three Excellencies as well. The only difference was that both developments had come much earlier this time.

Even if Li Xiang had known, he would not have devoted too much energy to the matter now that everything had become settled. He had far more important things to attend to.

The more important matter, naturally, was summoning. That was right—Li Xiang wanted to summon another talent.

After the great battle ended, there were far too many things Li Xiang wished to accomplish. To do so, he needed more capable people, and that was when he thought of summoning.

The first person he wanted to summon was someone skilled in gathering intelligence or carrying out assassinations, so that he could establish an intelligence organization.

As a soul from a later age, Li Xiang naturally understood the role intelligence played in war and in times of chaos.

A good intelligence organization could employ every available means to investigate, scout, and obtain information about the enemy, thereby ensuring the correctness of its own decisions. At the same time, it could disrupt or prevent enemy investigations and reconnaissance, stop the enemy from acquiring its own information, weaken or destroy the enemy’s intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities, and even influence, restrain, or alter the resolve of enemy decision-makers.

Intelligence had two greatest functions. First, it could accurately obtain information from the battlefield—especially information about the enemy—allowing one to see and hear everything clearly. Second, it could prevent the enemy from obtaining information, leaving them deaf and blind.

Yet intelligence was useful not only externally; it also played a considerable role within one’s own forces. In this regard, the surveillance institutions of the Ming dynasty had carried matters to their most extreme.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, originally established as a military institution serving as the emperor’s personal guard, was specially empowered by Zhu Yuanzhang to administer criminal justice. It was granted authority to inspect, investigate, and make arrests, and its subordinate Pacification and Investigation Office was responsible for surveillance, arrests, and interrogations. During that period, the Embroidered Uniform Guard became a towering presence in the hearts of the people.

Thinking of this, Li Xiang became even more determined to establish a vast intelligence organization covering the entire realm. When the world descended into chaos, others would only just be making their preparations, while he would already have seized the initiative.

“System, begin the summoning. Use a Random Summoning Card to summon a talent skilled in intelligence.”

“Ding. Summoning begins. Since an intelligence specialist is a special type of talent, three candidates will be provided.

“Candidate One: Mao Xiang, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard during the Ming dynasty. Command: 76. Martial Ability: 82. Intelligence: 88. Politics: 87. Intelligence Operations: 96.”

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This was someone Li Xiang did not know much about. He knew only that Mao Xiang had been the first commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the Ming dynasty and had made major contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang’s investigation of the Hu Weiyong case. It could be said that when Zhu Yuanzhang purged the civil and military officials who had helped establish the dynasty, Mao Xiang had played a major role.

“Candidate Two: Yuwen Yue, from Princess Agents. Command: 80. Martial Ability: 95. Intelligence: 90. Politics: 85. Intelligence Operations: 96.”

In Princess Agents, Yuwen Yue was the fourth young master of the Yuwen household. Though he appeared calm and indifferent, he was actually resourceful and highly skilled in martial arts. He had protected the heroine, Chu Qiao, from harm on numerous occasions.

“System, characters from television dramas can be summoned too? Aren’t most of them fictional?” Li Xiang asked, his face filled with curiosity.

“Host, aren’t Nian Deli and Shanshituo, along with the other characters from novels, also absent from recorded history? Weren’t they fictional creations as well? Since they can be summoned, why shouldn’t Yuwen Yue be summonable?”

After hearing the system’s explanation, Li Xiang found himself momentarily speechless.

“All right, System. Let’s not discuss this any further. Continue the summoning.” Li Xiang ultimately chose to change the subject.

“Candidate Three: Lin Chen, from Nirvana in Fire. Command: 78. Martial Ability: 95. Intelligence: 96. Politics: 82. Intelligence Operations: 97.”

Li Xiang had watched Nirvana in Fire before transmigrating, so he was quite familiar with several of its famous characters.

Lin Chen had once been the young master of Langya Hall and was a close friend of Mei Changsu. He possessed insight into everything under heaven and an extraordinarily quick and perceptive mind. He was familiar with the affairs of the world, free-spirited and carefree, fond of joking, accomplished in both literary and martial pursuits, deeply loyal and affectionate, and highly skilled in medicine. He even styled himself “the finest quack doctor under heaven.” He gave the impression of being unfathomably deep and had been summoned by Mei Changsu to treat Nie Feng, who was likewise afflicted with the Coldfire Poison.

“Ding. Summoning in progress. Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Mao Xiang of the Ming dynasty. Command: 76. Martial Ability: 82. Intelligence: 88. Politics: 87. Intelligence Operations: 96. His implanted identity is that of an ordinary soldier who fought bravely in the Battle of Yanmen. Because you recognized his talents, you took him as a trusted subordinate. He has now acknowledged you as his master and is waiting outside your residence for your orders.”

Upon hearing that Mao Xiang, rather than the more capable Lin Chen, had been summoned, Li Xiang showed no disappointment. Instead, he appeared delighted and thoroughly satisfied.

How should one put it? Of the three, the one Li Xiang had wanted most was actually Mao Xiang, whose overall abilities were the weakest.

In Li Xiang’s view, both Yuwen Yue and Lin Chen possessed kindness and a strong sense of loyalty. Lin Chen in particular valued friendship deeply; his bond with Mei Changsu had been one of the major highlights of the drama.

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For Li Xiang, however, an intelligence operative could not afford to possess too many such emotions. Feelings of that sort often ruined important matters at critical moments. Thus, Mao Xiang, despite being somewhat less capable, had become Li Xiang’s first choice.

Moreover, Li Xiang was very satisfied with the identity the system had implanted for Mao Xiang. The man had acknowledged him as his master from the very beginning, saving him the trouble of subduing him himself.

It had to be understood that although Li Xiang had summoned quite a few people by now, only Wang Meng and Shen Wansan had truly acknowledged him as their master. The others merely served under his command.

The most troublesome among them was Meng Tian. Although the Meng family had long since attached itself to the Li family, and Meng Tian had already become one of Li Xiang’s people, the truth was that Meng Tian’s loyalty belonged to Li Xiang’s father, not to Li Xiang himself. Furthermore, Meng Tian currently held the same rank as Li Xiang—that of Assistant General. How could Li Xiang summon the confidence to speak of subduing him?

If Meng Tian had not fundamentally been a member of the Li family, Li Xiang might truly have taken issue with the system.

Now that Mao Xiang had been implanted as someone who acknowledged him as his master, Li Xiang was spared the trouble and could immediately begin establishing the intelligence organization he desired.

After giving it some thought, Li Xiang decided to summon another strategist. For the moment, Wang Meng alone was sufficient. But once the realm descended into chaos, both the quality and quantity of strategists would become critically important.

Consider Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. It occupied the greater part of the realm’s talent and had, for a time, been able to fight two powers at once. Although national strength had played a crucial role, one could not deny that Cao Wei possessed a deep enough reserve of talent to support warfare on two fronts.

“System, use a Random Summoning Card to summon a strategist.”

“Ding. Summoning in progress.

“Candidate One…”

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