Bright Sword: I, Jia Xu, Sacrifice Ping'an Gele

Jia Xu, the poison strategist of the Three Kingdoms, dies peacefully of old age. When he opens his eyes again, he is Li Wen, a frail soldier in the kitchen squad of the New First Regiment in northwest Shanxi in 1940.

He has no System inventory and no advanced technology, only the mind of a strategist who once saw through every heart in the chaos at the end of the Han dynasty, and a principle etched into his bones: In a time of turmoil, strategy may sacrifice a thousand enemy commanders, but it must not cost our country an inch of land or a single fellow countryman.

Cangyun Ridge is ablaze with artillery fire. Li Yunlong wants to break through to the east. Jia Xu cradles a bowl of porridge and murmurs, “Commander, the east is a trap. Sakamoto’s head is waiting on the western heights. But first, we need to get the villagers into the mountain ravine, then use the mortars to pick our targets. Hit the command post, and don’t touch a single tile on a civilian home.”

That battle ends with the Sakamoto Regiment’s command post blown to dust, while the villagers below escape without a scratch. Li Yunlong stares at the defensive line the “little cook soldier” has drawn on the map and curses. “Damn it, you’re even more of a gambler than I am, but you look after your men even more than the political commissar does!”