Chapter 720 (2/2)
He paused for a moment then said, “From how I see it, morale not only comprises of the army’s courage but also whether they are brave enough to combat, and more importantly, whether they have the right attitude or not. Are they able to execute commands well? Are they able to maintain good military discipline? A brave army that’s full of vigor and dares to fight may not necessarily be invincible. For instance, the barbarians from Northern Iceland are unquestionably full of valor and vigor, but whether they’re against the Orc Empire, or the Kingdom of Holy Angels—now known as the Kingdom of Light—in battles all year round, they’re always losing more than they win. One of the most crucial reasons is that the moment they win the battle, they’ll be so impatient in wanting to grab the loot. This causes them to lose their military discipline right away.
“Back in those days when I had to lead troops, I fought several battles against them. At first, I was inexperienced and always stuck to confronting them with a tough-against-tough approach. I suffered quite a lot then. Later on, an elderly senior taught me the way to deal with them. When I fight them, I had to bring more cattle and sheep, food supplies, salt, medicine and so on. The moment I start the battle, I must first concede a small defeat and throw everything all over the place in a mess. Then they’ll get distracted and be in disarray among themselves as they start fighting for the loot. At this time, my army will strike back. With this approach, I can win almost all the battles.”
Upon hearing this, Sui Xiong could not help but ask, “You used this method only once or twice. Thereafter, you didn’t use it anymore?”
“I’ve always been using it,” Wenner said as he laughed. He said, “Although everyone knows the drill for this method, the barbarians’ military discipline is really terrible. In the face of loot so close at hand, they’re simply unable to suppress their desire to plunder. So, even though they are aware that such behavior is not good, they’re still unable to do anything—in fact, many Barbarians plan to just rob a place and leave right away. Even if they are going to fight a losing battle, what matters is that they manage to obtain something and return alive. Whether others live or die or whether the other tribes live or die, what has that got to do with them?”
Now, Sui Xiong fully understood the whole picture. He could not help but lament, “That army is really terrible!”
“Yes, it is. That’s why I feel that an outstanding army must not only be brave, but more importantly, it must have strict discipline. And it’s best for the army to be simple in nature. This way, the soldiers won’t be easily cheated or tempted,” Leonard said. “And that new army that the merchant party of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins is training gives me such a vibe.”
“You are rating them so highly?” Sui Xiong asked. He was taken aback.
Leonard said in all seriousness, “It’ll only be higher than whatever you may conceive. Seeing such an army and knowing that the merchant party will use this as their training model in the future to train a large number of such armies, I can almost ascertain that the aristocratic party is heading for doom. There’s no chance for them to win at all.”
Sui Xiong nodded and said, “Though I’m not as certain as you, I also feel that such an army is much more reliable than the traditional army.”
“Yes, especially when the merchant party has enough money to arm the army with suitable equipment. At the same time, hiring some masters as a reserve force to back the army up is also a way to bridge the gap between the strength of the merchant party and the aristocratic party… in short, so long as this army takes form, the traditional army will not be able to gain any advantage before them. It’ll then depend on the commander’s ability to prevent his army from fighting a losing battle.”
After Leonard had given a long tirade, he said that he wanted to go back to his people with the information he saw and then re-discuss about how they should handle the relationship with the merchant party.
As for the aristocratic party… they were destined to be the doomed ones and were no longer worthy of attention.
This time, Sui Xiong also attended the meeting.
At the meeting, Leonard told everyone what he saw and the related analysis. The higher-ups of the Republic were all taken aback by this startling news. Then, after a discussion, they quickly decided on a solution with respect to the issue between the merchant party and aristocratic party of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins.
They were ready to dig a hole for the aristocratic party to jump into. The moment the aristocratic party lost the battle, they would be able to take advantage of their situation and reap some benefits.
As for the merchant party, they had decided to strengthen cooperation. And it was comprehensive cooperation at that. It was best to take advantage of this period where the merchant party had yet to take superiority in the full-scale civil war. They had to bind them to the chariot of the Republic and then do all that was required to push for the establishment of the second Republic after they had won the civil war.
To that end, it was now the time to start making advances to woo the merchant party.