Chapter 909: Chapter 683: The Art of War
And so, Long Yi received a thousand soldiers. Upon acquiring these soldiers, Long Yi first conducted a series of inspections and found their quality to be quite mediocre; both their physical and magic abilities were decidedly below average. It seemed that the higher-ups weren’t foolish enough to provide Long Yi with superior soldiers.
But Long Yi didn’t care. The poorer the quality of the soldiers, the more it proved his theory was correct.
"You say I don’t understand the art of war, huh? Fine! Then I’ll show you something blunt and straightforward! Let me show you how someone who doesn’t understand the art of war can crush you all!"
First, Long Yi tailored the gear to fit his soldiers, redesigning their armor and weapons. On top of the original armor that could reduce magic damage by fifty percent, he added new runes that not only further increased magic defense to sixty percent but also sped up spellcasting by ten percent!
Don’t underestimate this ten percent reduction in casting time; it means you can cast more spells in the same amount of time!
In the past, these soldiers used staffs. Now, Long Yi had replaced the cumbersome staffs with gloves. Staffs were bulky and inconvenient to carry, usually stored in personal space when not in battle, but once the fight started, the soldiers had no choice but to wield them. The gloves designed by Long Yi were not only more comfortable but also had more arrays inscribed on them, ensuring a ten percent increase in the strength of each spell cast!
Of course, while crafting this equipment, Long Yi didn’t let the soldiers idle away. Instead, he led them in physical and hand-to-hand combat training. Long Yi wasn’t aiming to turn them into mage fighters in a month. Rather, this was a way to indirectly boost the soldiers’ combat awareness. You see, grappling enhances their coordination. As mages, they rarely have the opportunity for such training.
A month flew by, and today was the day agreed upon for the duel.
On a plain outside the Imperial City, both teams were prepared, just awaiting the signal for the duel to officially begin!
Long Yi’s side had a mere thousand men, whereas in the distance, a ten-thousand-strong army lined up, seemingly intending to completely envelop and devour Long Yi’s thousand-man team.
The viewing platform floated in the air, with Saint Danze and Long Yi sitting side by side, and the high-ranking military leaders who would face Long Yi sitting on the other side of the Emperor.
"Regardless of who wins or loses today, both parties must prioritize harmony," the Emperor said. He was worried that someone, after winning, might become unrelenting with their logic, ultimately leading to a strained relationship. Both the military higher-ups and Long Yi were individuals Saint Danze valued greatly.
"Rest assured, if he loses, I promise not to mock him," Long Yi said with a smile.
"Please be at ease, Your Majesty. Though I believe Mr. Long Yi is bound to lose, I will certainly not utter a word of ridicule," the opponent said.
"Very well! Then, let the battle begin!"
At the Emperor’s command, the battle commenced.
The ten-thousand-strong army began slowly advancing, casting collective defensive spells—a standard tactic for an attacking mage legion. But Long Yi’s thousand-man legion did not cast any defensive spells; instead, they cast "Sail with the Wind" on themselves to increase their movement speed, and the entire team charged toward one flank of the enemy ranks.
"Heh, are you planning to devour my troops from one end?" the high-ranking military leader beside the Emperor said with a laugh, as if seeing through everything.
"Yes, that’s the standard approach, isn’t it?" Long Yi laughed as he replied.
On the battlefield, the ten-thousand-strong force began to shift formation, with one end moving to meet the thousand-man team while the other end started to encircle. If they managed to encircle them, they could swallow up this modest thousand-man team in an instant.
However, the thousand-man team exhibited astonishing agility.
They moved quickly and cast faster. Because Long Yi had changed their staffs to gloves, they could cast spells at any time. Normally, the regular soldiers would keep their staffs in personal space to maintain agility and retrieve them for casting when combat began. Although this step didn’t take long, even a small difference could, to some extent, tip the battlefield scale. This change was clearly demonstrated by the fact that they would cast a spell and then immediately flee, leaving the adversary’s counterattack to hit where they were just moments ago.
Although at first, there was no sense of anything amiss, after this situation repeated several times, people suddenly realized that the thousand-man team had incredible flexibility. Moreover, this was without sacrificing spell lethality.
After several skirmishes, the thousand-man team successfully maneuvered behind the ten-thousand-strong force, which hadn’t even completed their encirclement yet! This threw the entire ten-thousand-strong force into disarray. Their large numbers caused sluggish formation changes, yet throughout these changes, the thousand-man team’s assault never ceased!
Bang!
The shield of a soldier within the ten-thousand-strong army shattered, and the next spell hit him directly. Despite the armor reducing the impact, the soldier was still knocked to the ground.
"How could this happen! The shield broke so quickly?" several military leaders exclaimed incredulously as they watched from above.
"How much damage did that shield absorb?" another leader urged, suspecting that the shield cast by the soldier wasn’t strong enough to absorb the necessary damage before it vanished prematurely.
"The shield absorbed the full extent of the damage! The magic the enemy cast each time far exceeded the damage a typical soldier could inflict!" a battlefield observer reported.
"This can’t be possible! The soldiers I gave him were not that exceptional!" a leader shouted.
"Oh, so you know you didn’t give me the cream of the crop," Long Yi smiled.
That leader’s face immediately took on an awkward smile.
Indeed, when Long Yi had asked for a thousand soldiers, they had all selected the less capable among their troops to form this unit of a thousand. While everyone was tacitly aware of this, Long Yi had not pointed it out. Now that they’d highlighted it themselves, the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.
"In truth, I was aware from the start that the soldiers you gave me were average, but I didn’t care. As long as you didn’t give me complete novices, I could ensure that they would display a combat power ten times that of an ordinary soldier on the battlefield! A thousand such soldiers against ten thousand of yours wouldn’t pose any problem at all," Long Yi stated with confidence.
"Mr. Long Yi, aren’t you boasting a bit too much?" a leader replied, "Just now, it was merely a small mistake by one of my soldiers. Don’t forget, although I’ve lost one soldier, there are still nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine on the battlefield!"
"Rest assured, they will all fall soon enough," Long Yi countered with unwavering confidence.
His confidence was unsettling for the military higher-ups, but down on the battlefield, the thousand-man unit indeed demonstrated astonishing combat capabilities. In reality, their daily training and combat skills were no different from their current adversaries. The sole difference lay in their equipment. With their new gear, they moved faster, cast spells quicker, the potency of their magic was greater, and their magic defense capabilities were stronger. These advantages could gradually tip the balance of victory in their favor.
As soldiers from the ten thousand-strong army began to fall one after another, sweat started to form on the brows of the military leaders, especially since, up to this point, not a single man from Long Yi’s unit had fallen.
"Surrender and lose half," Long Yi suddenly suggested.
The eyes of all the military leaders immediately reddened.
"Surrender? In your dreams!"
Instantly, more tactical arrangements were put in place. But Long Yi remained unmoved. With these numbers and their respective strengths, as long as you don’t manage to encircle us, any tactic would ultimately boil down to a contest of magic.
The thousand-man unit constantly maintained a high-speed maneuvering combat method, a standard tactic among mage troops, though, before this, no battle ever continued at such relentless high-speed maneuvering. The mages’ main issue was physical endurance. Most of their training was focused on spellcasting, with physical fitness being somewhat neglected. Yet, Long Yi had put the troops through an entire month of physical training, slightly enhancing their stamina and coordination. Even a small improvement could add up and result in overwhelming the enemy.
As time passed, the speed of the thousand-man unit began to slow. However, the military leaders watched more intently, as they realized in shock that their own forces were completely in disarray.
Long Yi’s unit had maintained a high-speed maneuvering combat method, while the ten thousand-strong army tried to encircle and swallow them whole. But this was unrealistic, as coordinating such a large number of troops is a significant challenge! The larger force had already suffered several hundred casualties. The numbers weren’t substantial, but their formation had been compromised.
"Split the troops!" At the command, the singular ten-thousand-man legion gradually divided into five units. Each unit was led by a commander, effectively resolving the coordination issues. These five units chased after and surrounded the Long Yi’s thousand-man legion, which greatly improved efficiency.
At this point, the military leaders looked triumphantly at Long Yi but found him merely smiling faintly.
"I think you’ve overestimated yourselves," Long Yi said. "If you had any numerical advantage at the beginning, now you don’t even have that."
As he spoke, intense magic combat suddenly erupted below. Long Yi’s legion, which had been agilely maneuvering, suddenly charged into a two-thousand-man unit and began fierce, close-range magic combat. Meanwhile, the other troops were still at a distance! It turned out Long Yi’s legion had used their mobility to draw a two-thousand-man unit far out, then they immediately engaged in close combat while the distant legions couldn’t provide magic support, for fear of hitting their own troops. They could only hasten their approach.
But by the time they arrived, Long Yi’s legion had already disengaged from the battle and moved far away.
And that two-thousand-man unit had been completely wiped out in such a short time! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
