33 Convincing Han Xin

(HX) "Wow. You are quite an interesting opponent, Baron. I dont think I've had that much trouble, or enjoyment out of a simulation with anybody in a long time." Han Xin said with a hearty smile.

(BM) "Well I'm glad to hear you say that. Honestly though, a draw was thebest I could hope for against an opponent like yourself." Baron respectfully replied.

(HX) "Haha, you are being too modest. The way I see it is that you are still growing in terms of being a strategist. For someone like me I have, for the most part, reached a bottleneck. The only way for me to get stronger is by acquiring better, and more advanced blueprints for technology."

(YF) "Oh yes I've been meaning to ask you about that. How much silver coins do you have?" Yue Fei asked out of curiosity.

(HX) "Well I'm saving up for some blueprints I've been eyeing. I've got close to 90,000 silver coins."

The moment the 90,000 left Han Xin's mouth everybody had a stunned look on their faces. After all, they had only made a few thousand silver coins by selling multiple blueprints, which was considered a fair amount. Just how long did Han Xin have to save up to have 90,000 coins?

(BC) "Brother Han Xin, surely you are joking with us? 90,000 is quite a huge sum even to most of the elders."

(HX) "Yes I suppose that 90,000 is quite an unbelievable sum to have saved up, but I assure you that that is how much I have saved up for for over 500 years."

(BC) "I've been saving up for about half as long as you have, yet I only had a few thousand up until I met with Baron. Pray tell how did you manage to amass such a fortune."

(HX) "Well, I just travel to other communities and partake in their tournaments. I'm a fairly strong strategist and have therefore made quite a name for myself outside of the Chinese community. Though I'm sort of well known I pale in comparison to some of the true monsters out there. You would not believe some of the backing these people have."

(BM) "Let's discuss this later, I feel it is more appropriate to talk about the simulation just now."

(HX) "That's also true, let's talk about the simulation while it is still fresh in our minds."

(BC) "Hey brother Han Xin, what do you think of Baron? Pretty good for an amateur right?"

(HX) "I've noticed a bit of a pattern with you Baron. Although your tactics and military knowhow are amazing. Your experience is sorely lacking compared to even some of the regulars at the Chinese community."

(BM) "Yes, that is one of my biggest weaknesses at the moment. I died when I was only 20 so there wasn't a lot of time for me to actually experience war."

(HX) "Only 20 years old? Well then I must say, you have an incredible wealth of military strategy for someone that died at only age 20."

(BM) "Thanks for the kind words. So, you don't have anymore blueprints up your sleeve do you?"

(HX) "Not any that are worth mentioning, i've shown you four all I have." This time Han Xin was truthful in his words, because last time he had purposely left out that he had a tank blueprint.

(BM) "Is there anything you think I could've done better brother Han Xin?"

(HX) "Let's talk about what you did in chronological order. First of all, you turned your defending army around and targeted the three other armies. You lost close to 10,000 soldiers from that little campaign, but you did manage to recruit 70,000 men from those cities to fight for you. That is a very considerable win for you."

(BM) "Well I had to, you convinced those cities to not send me any aid. So the only thing I could do was to force them into it."

(HX) "Your response was very valid, and you even managed to have those cities help you to produce some weapons.That's an outstanding move. The next move you made was to tamper with the cannons that you were building so that when I used them, they would explode right next to my soldiers. That is quite a sneaky move, and I commend you for that. However everything after that point disappoints me a little. You knew the weakness of my tanks, yet you couldn't exploit that weakness."

(BM) "That's true. You seemed to know everywhere where I would send my men to divert the Tigris river to the area surrounding Baghdad. In the end I had to rely on pure chance to come out with a draw."

(HX) "Exactly, in war relying on miracles won't get you very far. You have to create those miracles yourself. You shouldn't rely on dumb chance to win wars."

(BM) "Thanks for the advice, elder Han Xin. Now that we're all sort of familiar with each other, we need to get down to business. Han Xin. Everyone here except you are committed to the starting of our faction. I need to know if you are willing to not just be a member, but also one of our core members in the future."

(HX) "I'm not completely sold on joining you guys just yet. Don't forget that the only reason I am even considering joining you four is because of Yue Fei. That being said, it's not like i'm unwilling to join. You just need to convince me to be one."

The four of them talked with each other and it was decided that Baron would be the one to try and convince Han Xin to join them. Although at first Yue Fei seemed like the obvious choice it was decided that Baron would be the one because Baron seemed to understand Han Xin the most.

(BM) "Alright Han Xin, come this way. Let's have a nice little chat shall we?"

The two of them entered another room where they sat down on furnishings and began the talk that would decide Han Xin's fate as well as Baron's faction's fate.

(BM) "What can we do to convince you to join us?"

(HX) "That's a tough question, but like others i'd want to know my benefits first."

(BM) "Once we become an official faction then we will start to recruit more people. I haven't thought of everything yet, but i'd like to have our own little auction house that is only accessible to our faction members. As for the requirements to join, I won't set any. Maybe just a small joining fee."

(HX) "Wait, wait, wait. How much blueprints do you have? The minimum blueprints an auction house should have is 100, and that's being generous."

(BM) "I'm assuming you haven't heard, but me and the gang just sold a few hundred blueprints before we met you. That's how we were able to afford this place."

(HX) "Oh, I just assumed you had Yue Fei pay for everything. What you just said makes a lot more sense. However, I need some instant benefits if you want me to join you."

(BM) "Of course of course, I was just getting to that point. For my core member, I will gift to them a really advanced blueprint of their choosing. I haven't told the others of this, so you get to choose first. If you do decide to join us of course."

(HX) "You have more than one blueprint that's even more modern than my Mark 1 tank?"

(BM) "Yes, how do you think we had that many blueprints to sell? I was the one that drew all of them up."

(HX) "I don't know..... which blueprints do you have that resembles my tank?"

(BM) "You seem quite fond of tanks. I can make a blueprint of quite a few tanks, but given how complex the system of a tank is it would take me quite a while to draw it up."

(HX) "How did you even acquire the blueprints for tanks? Tanks are super expensive here on planet four given that it is a relatively new invention."

(BM) "Back when I was alive, I spent countless years obsessing over all types of weapons both ancient and modern all around the globe. This is how I am able to draw out the schematics to form the blueprints. Since Ive only known you for a little while, I can't exactly give you my most advanced tank can I? Instead, i'll give you the blueprint for the Mark 7 tank. This one doesn't have a rhomboid type body like the Mark 1 does. It's got a whole host of advantages that makes it vastly superior to your Mark 1 tank."

(HX) "You're willing to give such a precious blueprint to me?"

(BM) "Yes, but it comes with a condition. You have to become an elder and officially announce your unyielding support for my new faction."

(HX) "That's quite a steep price." Han Xin started to sweat. This was because an elder announcing their unyielding support for any faction meant that if he were to betray the faction, they would be shunned and blacklisted from every other faction, and possibly even kicked out from the Chinese community.

(BM) "Do we have a deal Han Xin?"

(HX) "I......I don't think I can object." Han Xin had finally yielded to Baron.