Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Woods bowed his head and said no more.

Colonel Gaisa suddenly chuckled coldly.

"This kid may have really pulled off a divide-and-conquer strategy," he remarked with some emotion.

"Divide and conquer? Isn't he afraid that once his troops scatter, he'll never be able to gather them again?"

"If he dares to do so, he must be relying on something." Colonel Gaisa laughed heartily as he stroked his palms. "Young man, truly remarkable!"

Captain Hudson and the other centurions in the tent felt their faces grow hot.

The colonel's praise for the enemy was like a knife cut, more painful for the Mont Blanc County officers than being whipped.

Someone, unconvinced, interjected: "I still don't think the rebels can manage to divide and conquer."

"Why not?" Colonel Gaisa asked his subordinate calmly. "If I had you lead your own troops independently, would you be able to do it? Could you?"

"Yes!" the centurions answered in unison.

"Then why can't the rebels?" asked the colonel with a smile.

"Because... we have received comprehensive military education and training," Captain Hudson organized his thoughts. "As commissioned officers, we have the ability to command our troops independently. How could the rebels have so many officers?"

"Yes, I was wondering the same—I bet Mad Richard was even more puzzled thirty years ago," Colonel Gaisa said, stroking his chin and smiling mockingly. "Where would the rebels get so many officers?"

...

Convinced that Montagne's forces had dispersed, Colonel Gaisa made a swift decision—to pursue them separately.

He sent pursuit troops in units of a hundred men, wherever there was enemy activity, there they would head.

"The rebels scatter, and you chase after them," Colonel Gaisa deliberately provoked his centurions: "Mont Blanc County is our turf. If you can't keep up, then you're simply outmatched; there's nothing more to say."

"Just you wait," Captain Hudson huffed, raising his hand in salute.

The rest of the centurions, with eyes wide and breathing heavily, also saluted and set out with their hundred-man units.

...

Talking big was easy, but when it actually came time to lead troops in pursuit, Captain Hudson realized what an arduous task he was up against.

The size of the enemy force he was pursuing was quite small; judging from the traces left behind, it couldn't have been more than thirty or forty men. In a direct battle, he was utterly confident.

But the enemy didn't engage in battle at all; they just ran.

And their cross-country speed was astonishing, as if they were running for their lives.

One moment they were in the eastern village, and the next, an alarm came from a village a few kilometers to the west.

Hudson was left confused as to whether it was the enemy's speed that was remarkable or if it was a different group entirely.

What drove Hudson crazier was that his enemy seemed to be more familiar with Mont Blanc County's terrain than he, the rightful stationed captain, was.

The enemy would often dive into some ravine he didn't know existed and then reemerge from a mystifying place, leaving Captain Hudson disoriented,

So he also couldn't figure out whether the enemy was fleeing aimlessly without a destination or if every step was planned...

The boasting had been made, so Hudson could only grit his teeth and stubbornly follow behind the enemy.

Hudson might have been able to endure, but his soldiers could not.

After a day of traversing forests and hills, the soldiers refused to go another step.

"Sir, even if you beat me to death, I can't walk any further," a soldier, on the brink of both mental and physical collapse, said to Hudson with a sobbing voice: "I really can't do this, just leave me here."

Hudson was equally exhausted, and surveying his disheveled subordinates, he sighed in agony: "Alright, let's rest for a while then."

...

In a nameless ravine in the southern part of Mont Blanc County, Bart Xialing was also leading three squads of ten men each.

Lieutenant Cherini's cavalry had already raced to the South Mountain Town's military horse farm, and Xialing was to meet up with the cavalry there.

The small thirty-odd man unit trudged on tormentingly; they too were nearing their limits, each step a huge ordeal.

One soldier could bear no more and flopped down onto the ground.

The entire small unit also came to a stop.

Bart Xialing quickly walked over, wanting to help his subordinate up.

"Centurion, even if you beat me to death, I can't walk any further," the other cried. "I really can't do this; just leave me here."

"Don't speak such disheartening words," Xialing replied, panting heavily. He took out his water flask and passed it over: "Take a small drink."

The soldier sitting on the ground grabbed the flask and eagerly guzzled from it.

Xialing was similarly parched, but he could still endure: "Don't drink too much; it'll cause problems."

The soldier nodded in agreement, squeezing out the last drop of water from the flask.

"How about now, after drinking water, can you walk?" inquired Bart Xialing, the acting centurion.

The soldier looked down and gently shook his head.

Bart Xialing desperately tried to recall what his centurion would do in such a situation.

But Xialing sadly realized he couldn't emulate what his centurion did: his centurion could address hundreds upon hundreds of men without a change in facial expression, his few words were enough to stir everyone's fighting spirit.

But Bart Xialing admitted he didn't have that gift; he would even tremble talking in front of a hundred or so people.

Bart Xialing wasn't Winters Montagne, Bart Xialing could only do it Bart Xialing's way.

"Bro, I'm not good with words, and I don't know what to say…"

Bart Xialing licked his dry lips, struggling to articulate his inner thoughts into coherent words: "Here's the thing. I'm tired too, I can't walk another step. But I've got three hundred acres of land waiting for me back home, and I haven't yet pocketed the money we looted in White Mountain County. If we stay here and don't go back... that would be a monumental loss, as if I've let down my grandmother."