Chapter 840 (1/2)

Chapter 840: Vol V Chapter 200

When it came to matters pertaining to “war,” no one could be more resourceful or informed than the War God System. Even many of the mid-level aristocrats from the southern aristocratic party of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins wouldn’t receive news as fast as the War God System, much fewer people from other forces.

After all, so long as there were battles, there would be war. Therefore, the people who believed in the war gods would always be involved.

Be it the regular army or mercenaries, the number of people who believed in the war gods was definitely not in the minority. The war gods had promised them that after they fought courageously in battles, their souls would be able to go to rest in peace in a God Kingdom. Those with good qualifications might even be transformed into Oracles with immortality and continue their unfinished journey in life. To the soldiers, this was practically regarded as one of the best destinations for them to go.

So when the aristocratic party wanted to form a rapid-mobility troop, the War God System received the news soon enough and had verified in detail. It had since been consistently following up.

“They’re probably going to form a rapid-mobility troop with a total of 200 people,” Augmentin said. “Of which, one-third would be at the level of mid-ranked, which is a very shocking number.”

One-third of the 200 people at the mid-ranked level would mean that there were about 60 to 70 people in total. This was indeed quite a surprising number—if placed within an ordinary army, this number would already be more than enough to support an army with a force of ten thousand soldiers.

Considering the fact that the remaining ones consisted of those at the junior level, as well as the spellcasters needed by this troop, the cost of setting up this team of merely 200 people would be even more than the cost of setting up an ordinary army of ten thousand people.

In other words, in forming this army, the hope was that they would achieve military successes that were as good as or even far better than that of an ordinary army. In the same way, if they were defeated, or even wiped out, the losses that the aristocratic party would incur would not be as great as, or even exceed that of an ordinary army.

On the Dominant Continent, defeating or even wiping out an army was absolutely deemed as an extraordinary battle. Generally speaking, in the wars of relatively low intensity such as the internal war in the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, such a great battle was enough to determine the result of war. It was basically impossible for an army to make a comeback after losing such a battle.

Reality was nothing like playing a game. When an army was lost, it would not be as simple as re-recruiting soldiers from a few nearby cities, finding them a general and shipping everyone over. A long period of training and a great number of materials would be required to support an army.

Since ancient times, able men who could make a comeback after losing an entire army were very rare. Liu Bang had, on two occasions, relied on the help of Lü Ze and Han Xin to salvage such losing battles. Thereafter, he became known to the later generations as the typical example of “one who knew how to face failure positively would never die.”

Liu Bei spent half his life in exile after being displaced. Many times, he was forced to abandon his wife and flee for his life, but the elite guard unit under his command, “White Feathers,” had never really been defeated to the point of collapsing. This was the source of his confidence in overrunning the world as he pleased. The weak and frail scholar-turned-general, Chen Qingzhi, led his White-Robed Army as they swept through the North. With merely a few thousand horses and men, he conquered Luoyang. But the moment he lost his White-Robed Army to bitter fighting and a flash flood, he had no choice but to disguise himself as a monk and escape back to the South in a sorry state.

The aristocratic party was a massive force, and naturally, it did not lack great generals. But still, there was no way an ordinary farmer could be transformed into an elite soldier instantly, no matter how great the general could be.

It was for this reason that at the Council of Great Aristocrats, Earl Hauss proposed the formation of a rapid-mobility troop and the plan to use an army of pure elites to attack the rear of the merchant party. This would subject the merchant party to continuous bloodletting and then force them to surrender.

At first, even the aristocrats of the local party opposed his plan. This plan was simple… Transfer a few hundred low-level and mid-level good men to form an excellent team where all would be equipped with a heterogenous kind of horse that had appalling endurance. They would bypass the borderline of confrontation between the North and South, enter the vast north and cause devastation everywhere. The aim was to target and kill civilians, as well as to cause damage to production and life in the North.

This was not only very dangerous; it was vicious.