#I am living for master of psychological warfare XQ

[orsuliya]

I think I might know what the greatest difference between pre-beard and post-beard Xiao Qi is! No, it is not the Daddy-type hotness, get your minds out of the gutter! And it is not his new-found viciousness either nor even his utter lack of fucks to give.

Xiao Qi has decided to unleash his full arsenal, the Cheng Convention of Noble Rights be damned. No more being shy or moderate about using his most dangerous weapon! What is this weapon? Glad you’ve asked. PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE.

We’ve seen the palest shades of it before. The greatest example might have been when he asked the courtiers who would take responsibility if the Hulan treaty gets broken at any point. But even then he clearly held himself back. Now, though? Now he’s going to be dealing mental hits left and right. Commander Liu is just the first of his many victims; the list will later include Song Huaien, Turnip Wang, the entire noble class of Cheng and of course the Master of Mope himself.

Oh, and he’s managed to weaponize bows to an unholy degree. Not shooty-bows bows. The bend-your-back kind.

So Commander Liu is brought before Xiao Qi bound and under guard, swords at his neck and all. It’s pretty obvious from his general demeanor that he’s already composed his last will. There is simply no way that any lord, much less a whole-ass warlord, would ever forgive being left to die before the gates. And calling him a (filthy) traitor? Oooof! Even if Commander Liu might still have his uses, no Prince would ever suffer such a slight to his honour, right?

WRONG. Xiao Qi has him freed...

...and APOLOGIZES for the mutiny. And forces the mutineers to apologize as well! This is so out of the left field that Commander Liu’s brain collapses under an avalanche of ERROR! messages...

...only to reboot with new software already in place. He’s 100% Xiao Qi’s man from now on.