Chapter 77: Preparations Before the Expedition

As for the savage tribes, Luoning had learned of their existence from Steward Huoerhuate on the very day he was enfeoffed as the Baron of Shanlin Town.

Yet, despite having been in Shanlin Town for such Along time, he had not obtained any effective information regarding the savage tribes.

This time, Ruidar's intelligence completely filled this gap, not only letting Luoning know the number of savage tribes, but even providing a rough understanding of their relationships, their numbers, and the number of Transcendental among them.

The current situation was perfectly suited for Shanlin Town to enter the fray and break the status quo between the Three-Party Alliance and the Heiling Tribe.

Facing Ruidar's assertion that "the time has come," Luoning nodded slowly.

Although the best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans, followed by attacking their alliances, then attacking their soldiers, and lastly attacking their cities, the opponent had no strategic terrain to defend and no city to rely on, so the advantage lay entirely with Luoning's side.

Seeing the Lord express his agreement, everyone sitting below revealed a fighting spirit in their eyes, especially the Professional Knights; establishing merit on the battlefield had always been their pursuit, and now the exciting moment was finally about to arrive!

"We must not only fight, but we must fight quickly!"

Luoning said with resonance, "If we let the Heiling Tribe perceive our movements, the hostile state between these four tribes could very likely change into a state of temporary cooperation. At that point, we would be facing a coalition of savage tribes, just like the Noble Allied Forces of Wushan Territory back in the day."

"Therefore, once we attack, we must take down the Huitu Tribe, the Qingzhu Tribe, and the Ziguo Tribe with the fastest speed, and seize this Three-Party Alliance before the Heiling Tribe has time to react!"

As long as these three tribes were incorporated into his own territory, even if the Heiling Tribe were a bit stronger, Luoning would not have to worry about being in a passive position of facing enemies on multiple fronts.

Everyone was stunned by Luoning's decisiveness; they had not expected that this Lord, who usually focused on farm work and construction, would be so resolute when it came to taking the initiative to attack.

"My Lord, I wonder when we will begin the attack?"

Maiken could not help but ask: "Our Guards are already prepared!"

Luoning pondered for Along while, "Today is the 15th, and our autumn harvest has just ended. The eighty militiamen selected by Wilson are only here to observe and learn, and have not undergone standardized training. Therefore, for the next few days, Maiken and Dawei, you are responsible for training them, but remember to maintain sufficient stamina. The role of the militiamen is mainly to deal with ordinary people; it is enough if they can intimidate them in the short term, and I do not require them to have much combat effectiveness."

Not everyone in the savage tribes is a skilled fighter; most of them are also ordinary people, and facing a team with an intimidating aura, they have almost no courage to resist.

"Ruidar, I will have to trouble you to produce a simple map over these next two days; we will formulate a detailed plan afterward."

"You are very thoughtful, my Lord!" Ruidar nodded in agreement.

Just like that, an operation to take the initiative against the savage tribes was preliminarily settled.

In the following days, Maiken and Dawei were responsible for training the militiamen, mainly by shouting slogans and marching to boost their overall aura, while also teaching some relatively simple and practical combat techniques;

As for the Guards who had been training all along, they no longer scheduled stamina-consuming training, and even suspended the sparring sessions between pairs.

Some Guards keenly sensed the abnormality; they speculated in private whether the Lord was going to wage war on the Sain Territory?

After all, they were direct participants in Pulinsite's betrayal back then, and they were also witnesses to the subsequent confrontation between Luoning and Knight Feilidun; they knew the relationship between the Sain Territory and Shanlin Town was not good.

The Guards who had this speculation were not the least bit afraid of battle; instead, one and all were eager to have a go.

During this period, they had eaten well and trained well, and it was indeed time for them to play their part and establish merit!

As the saying goes, troops and horses move before provisions; although the distance between Shanlin Town and the Qingzhu Tribe was not very far and there was no need to carry many supplies, the rations for the noon meal still needed to be brought.

Luoning ordered the kitchen in advance to prepare the materials for making a hundred portions of white bread, ensuring that everyone could eat two meals.

Besides that, everyone used a waterskin to carry a bottle of water to solve the problem of hunger and thirst along the way.

When Ruidar brought out the simple map, Luoning called a group of people to start the second meeting; this time, he even called over Chahar, who was in charge of the castle's logistics.

"Our first target this time is the Qingzhu Tribe, located directly north of Shanlin Town."

Luoning pointed to the location of the Qingzhu Tribe on the map and said: "There are two roads to the northeast and due east of the Qingzhu Tribe, leading to its allied parties, the Ziguo Tribe and the Huitu Tribe, respectively. The distance is about ten-plus miles for both. To prevent anyone from the Qingzhu Tribe from escaping to report the news when we attack, I need someone to lead a team to lie in ambush on these two roads."

Luoning scanned all the Transcendental at the long table, and his gaze finally landed on the two newcomers at the far end of the table, Zhuweite and Ximu.

"We will act in three teams this time. Zhuweite and Ximu, you two will each take five Guards and ten militiamen, and be responsible for lying in ambush in the woods on both sides of these roads. If you discover anyone escaping, capture them immediately!"

Everyone's gaze turned to the two newcomers at the end of the long table, which immediately made the two of them stiffen their bodies and look straight ahead, though they were very panicked inside.

They had thought they would just follow the charge; they had not expected the Lord to let the two of them lead teams.

Luoning emphasized the content of the mission again: "Your mission is to ensure that what happens at the Qingzhu Tribe does not spread to the Ziguo Tribe and the Huitu Tribe. Do you understand?"

Zhuweite and Ximu immediately stood up and performed a Knight Salute to Luoning, "Understood, my Lord!"

Luoning signaled for them to sit down, "The third team, which is the main force, will be led by me, Ruidar, Dawei, Tangmu, and Aierlong—five Transcendental—equipped with ten Guards and sixty militiamen to be responsible for attacking the mountain stronghold. Let Baobo and Masai lead the remaining seven Guards to guard the castle."

As he spoke, he looked at Ruidar and Maiken and instructed: "After our main force officially launches the attack, have those militiamen shout toward the Qingzhu Tribe, letting that group of people know that their stronghold has been surrounded by the army of the Marquis of Wushan Territory. Make them understand that laying down their weapons and surrendering is their only path to survival!"

Ruidar nodded and echoed: "A surprise attack will naturally bring them panic, and coupled with such shouting, it will surely make this group of savages even more flustered, making them feel timid before they have even begun to resist. This method of yours, my Lord, is very clever."

Tangmu, Zhuweite, Ximu, and others who were born and raised here were also full of admiration for the Lord.

In their view, fighting a war was nothing more than lining up and then charging; there had never been so many arrangements and layouts, and today they had truly opened their eyes.

Luoning chuckled, accepting everyone's praise.

Morale is still very important; doing this can make one's own morale soar and the opponent's morale drop. Only in this way will one win faster and suffer fewer losses.

"The number of Transcendental in the Qingzhu Tribe is not large, at most three to five. Once we discover them, we will subdue them with the fastest speed. If they can be captured alive, capture them alive; if it is difficult to capture them alive, it does not matter if they are killed."

Luoning emphasized specifically: "But remember, for those who kneel to surrender and beg for mercy, we do not need to deal a killing blow. You also know the situation in Shanlin Town; producing more food, building more housing, opening up roads connecting to the outside, etc., all require more people to complete."

He laughed: "If anyone is discovered wantonly killing those who have surrendered, after we return from the battle, I will have them join the Manure Collection Squad to go pick up manure on the town streets."

The Manure Collection Squad was a unique team in Shanlin Town, and everyone had more or less seen the scene of those ten people carrying manure buckets and manure baskets, picking up manure everywhere.

As soon as they thought about the possibility of doing this, they hurriedly kept the Lord's instructions firmly in their hearts.

Luoning discussed some more details with everyone before officially ending this meeting.

"Today is September 19th, and we still have tomorrow to prepare. Let the Guards and militiamen rest well for these two nights."

Luoning stood up, "At four o'clock in the morning on the 21st, everyone gather outside the castle to have breakfast, and we will set off promptly at five. Now, go and prepare yourselves!"

This was the first proactive external battle for Shanlin Town, and Luoning did not want any accidents to occur.

Choosing the 21st was precisely to ensure that he could claim the second Warm Heart Gift Pack of September, allowing his side's strength to improve a little bit more.

Wishing all you gentlemen a soaring 2024 Year of the Dragon~

(End of chapter)