Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 288 Choosing the Initiative
With the battle imminent, it wouldn't be true to say that anyone present wasn't nervous.

Whether it was the eight-man gang of thugs or the three people, including Jiang Xian, who were robbed, it was all without any surprise.

It would be a lie to say they weren't nervous, especially the leader of the gang, who was the most uncertain of all.

You could say he was going to fight against all odds, but his true intention was to let this opportunity pass.

As for that, he had already made plans.

He stood there pondering for a long time. Although the Jiang family guards put pressure on him several times during this period, due to the high tension, it was clear that he was somewhat disturbed by the Jiang family guards the first two times. However, he did adjust his state later and was no longer easily swayed by the Jiang family guards.

In this way, he had considered all the possibilities. It was impossible that he had only thought about the order of importance in his mind. He must have also planned something else.

For example, strategies during war.

Although both sides were prepared for battle, the scenes on both sides were quite different.

The eight thugs each had their own posture. Apart from the leader and the strategist in charge, no one else felt that the three people opposite them were a threat.

With battle imminent, even those who had experienced similar situations before couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.

But it is indeed due to a lack of combat experience.

Although there have been situations where direct confrontation was necessary before, most of the time, like today, the main approach has been to launch surprise attacks.

Today, they were crouching in the treetops, preparing to ambush that wealthy man, while Jiang Xian and his two companions were merely an unexpected bonus.

But for the leader of the criminals, this is hardly a pleasant surprise; rather, it's a tough nut to crack.

Although they do sometimes inevitably clash, such situations are relatively rare.

According to the leader's instructions, if you encounter a large enemy force, you must launch a surprise attack. If the attack fails, you must leave immediately without lingering or harboring any illusions.

The elderly, weak, women, and children don't need to be robbed; a little intimidation is enough for them to hand over all their valuables.

Therefore, there are very few situations where they need to confront each other directly.

They were nothing more than people whose strength was neither exceptional nor inferior; they might be strong and robust men or martial artists with slightly lower skill levels.

These thugs, being well-equipped martial artists, had no fear of those weaker than themselves, and naturally, they weren't nervous at all.

Today's situation is different. They saw their boss behaving so abnormally when facing the three people opposite them. Naturally, they were not people who didn't care about anything. Naturally, they would take this situation into consideration. Therefore, they would look at Jiang Xian and the other two with more respect, while underestimating their strength.

Even so, and despite some nervousness, they still appeared relatively relaxed.

They did indeed underestimate the current battle; they only felt that it might take a while to resolve and might not be easy to win, but they didn't take it to heart.

On Jiang Xian's side, the situation for the three of them was completely different from that of the several thugs opposite them.

The three of them have not made any major moves from the beginning until now.

He didn't say much, which gave a signal to the thugs on the other side, especially their leader and backbone. Although Jiang Xian and his two companions were outnumbered, their aura made them formidable.

This was also the point that the leader of the gang kept thinking about.

Since he couldn't ascertain the strength of Jiang Xian and the other two, he naturally dared not make any rash conclusions and therefore had to be wary of them.

But there was no other way; he couldn't think of a better solution. All he could do was stay vigilant in the battles to come.

The current situation is that both sides are watching and waiting to see who will make the first move, thus determining who is the proactive party and who is the reactive party.

Both the party that strikes first and the party that strikes second have their own advantages.

The party that makes the first move will gain a certain degree of initiative.

The course of the battle will be in our own hands in the initial stages.

The side that attacks later also has a certain advantage, namely, they can observe the opponent's offensive moves first, see the opponent's moves clearly, and make timely judgments. They can have a certain understanding of the opponent's strength in the early stages of the battle.

Both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. Strike first and control the initial attack patterns of the battle, but also have drawbacks, such as allowing the opponent to observe your moves and thus assess your strength to some extent.

If you play the second move, the advantage is that you can respond to the opponent's attack in time, and you can see the opponent's series of moves and estimate the opponent's approximate strength. However, it also has disadvantages, namely that you will lose the favorable offensive momentum in the initial stage of the battle and lose a certain degree of initiative.

If the two sides are not significantly different in strength, losing the initiative in this situation will put you at a disadvantage and make you the one in the weaker position.

Therefore, the decision on these two aspects naturally rests with the two sides in the battle.

Whether to strike first, strike later, or strike simultaneously, the three approaches result in completely different combat styles. They will also cause drastically different changes in the overall situation and scene of the battle, with the order in which they strike leading to different outcomes.

Of course, if the strength of the two sides in a battle is vastly different, then it's a different story, and the order in which they attack doesn't necessarily have a crucial, decisive effect.

In such a situation, whether one strikes first or last becomes less important and will not have a decisive effect.

The situations of the two groups were naturally different.

The group that seemed a little impatient was the one lined up with several thugs.

Jiang Xian's side, on the other hand, seemed relatively calm, as if they were waiting for the other party to make a move, or perhaps they intended to strike later.

The next instant, several thugs began their operation at the shout of their leader.

They all rushed towards Jiang Xian and his two companions, with four of them charging straight at Jiang Xian.

Among the gang of thugs, the leader, who was also the head of the gang, exchanged a glance with the key figure in the gang. The key figure, who received the signal, naturally understood what their leader meant.

Despite their resentment and unwillingness, they had no choice but to temporarily comply in the face of their boss's current expression.

His boss's plan was to have the core leader and himself each lead one person to fight against the two Jiang family guards.

On the surface, this appears to be a case of treating the core leader differently without any negative implications, but there is something more subtle about it.

The leader of the thugs was naturally unwilling to fight the two guards whose strength was unpredictable, but he had no choice but to resort to this tactic.

If it were him who were to kidnap Jiang Xian, he would think it would be inappropriate.

The reason is that if he were to personally abduct someone's young master, he could threaten the actions of the two guards. Similarly, if his brothers could not hold off the two guards, he could not expose his back to others.

If one were to abduct someone's young master, one could use him to blackmail the two guards into doing things, but in doing so, one would inevitably lose the ability to fight, and thus would be unable to provide adequate protection.

The leader of the thugs was also somewhat confused. He didn't know why, at this critical moment, he suddenly couldn't trust his own brothers and couldn't believe a single one of them.

Therefore, he dared not easily try either the idea of ​​personally abducting Jiang Xian or bringing a few people to abduct Jiang Xian. After all, although Jiang Xian and their young master did not appear to be from a wealthy or influential family, he was more afraid of those whose backgrounds were unknown.

Within Qizhou, apart from those few families, the other major households can be easily investigated to ascertain their true strength and capabilities, thus determining whether robbery or kidnapping is feasible.

But this kind of person, whose specific family background is unknown, can remain so calm, which is really hard for him to figure out. Therefore, he absolutely cannot go to that young master's side in person, nor can he enter the center of this trouble.

Instead, he and the leader each led men to hold off the two guards, which was much better than directly leading men to kidnap the young master.

On the surface, having one person lead one group and the core leader leading another group doesn't necessarily mean mistreating or disrespecting the core leader; rather, it implies that the core leader is being treated with great importance.

It was as if he was telling others that this was the second-in-command of the team.

But the truth is far from that. The leader of the criminals had a completely different mindset and intention.

The reason he was able to make such an arrangement at this moment was naturally because he believed that by personally going to the guard's location, he could stay away from the center of the conflict, control the pace of the battle, and stop it at any time.

While bringing the core leader along was ostensibly the intention, the real reason behind it was something else entirely.

He assigned his key advisor to the guard, partly to keep an eye on his movements, and partly to keep him away from the young master, fearing he might conspire with him.

Assigning him to a guard with higher combat strength meant that even if he wanted to collude with the other party, he would have little opportunity to pass on any information due to being too busy fighting.

So that's why he made that decision.

(End of this chapter)