Chapter 202: Chapter 142: Victory belongs to those who can endure (Part 2)
Translator: 549690339
This military officer named Gu Wei was one of Lu Yuan’s nominal disciples, whose strength was considered third-rate in the Jianghu.
Actually, among the entire army, essentially all the military officers and camp leaders were Lu Yuan’s nominal disciples.
It was through such teacher-disciple relationships that he ensured his control over the army.
Lu Yuan turned back to look at Gu Wei and nodded, “Indeed. However, after five days of fighting, more than half of the vanguard army is gone. I’m afraid they’re running out of steam.”
Furthermore, with such heavy casualties, the soldiers of the vanguard might not be able to bear it and might start a mutiny.”
He knew what Gu Wei was implying at this point.
Because among the seven camps of the vanguard, all were managed by Gu Wei. After five days of battle, the vanguard had suffered heavy losses, with more than half dead or injured.
But they had achieved a glorious victory.
Within five days, the vanguard broke through eight enemy camps, killed nearly three thousand bandits, and almost completely cleared the outer perimeter of the Seven Star Sect rebel camp.
And according to the principle of rewarding merit established by Lu Yuan, Gu Wei had made a great contribution and could not go without reward.
“Master, rest assured, even if we fight to the last person in the vanguard, we won’t retreat from the battlefield,” Gu Wei immediately assured when he heard doubts from his master.
To him, those who died were not his direct subordinates but merely a ragtag militia.
Even if all of those soldiers were wiped out, it would not matter much to him.
On the contrary, if he could exchange the lives of these miscellaneous soldiers for his own merit, it would be a great gain.
This risk-free deal was, of course, attractive to him.
“Then I’ll leave this to you. Break through five more camps within three days.”
Lu Yuan nodded and continued, “However, you don’t need to drive the vanguard to their deaths. Tell them that as long as they break through five more camps, the survivors will be incorporated into my direct army and exempted from the vanguard status.
In addition, each of them will be rewarded with twenty silver tales as encouragement.”
At this point, he looked at Gu Wei and hesitated for a moment before saying, “After breaking through the five camps, you can go to your Senior Brother and receive the complete set of skills for the Cloud Palm.”
“Thank you, Master,” Gu Wei was overjoyed when he heard this and hurriedly bowed.
Lu Yuan glanced at him and said indifferently, “You’re in the teacher-disciple relationship with me, so there’s no need for so much formality. As long as you work diligently for me, I won’t treat you and the other disciples unfairly.”
“Yes,” Gu Wei stood up and thought about the reward before immediately saying, “I will go to the front lines to supervise the battle. Rest assured, Master, I will break through five enemy camps within three days.”
“Alright, go,” Lu Yuan replied, waved his hand, and watched his disciple leave before turning back to look at the battlefield ahead.
The battle in front was still fierce, and the vanguard soldiers were already on their fourth assault.
Under the intense attack of four waves, more than half of the village enemy army had been killed and wounded. Even the village gate began to shake and teeter under the impact of the battering ram.
Breaking through five camps within three days was still achievable for the
vanguard army.
“However, after three days, with only a thousand of the vanguard soldiers surviving the battles, I’m afraid they could barely fight.” Lu Yuan calculated the casualties of these days and couldn’t help but fall silent.
The horrifying casualties of going from seven thousand soldiers to only one thousand were truly terrifying.
For the vanguard, it was extremely cruel.
If it were possible, Lu Yuan actually wouldn’t want to force the vanguard so harshly. After all, they were still on his side and were considered government soldiers.
Moreover, every vanguard soldier was a living person, and it was cruel to have them buried on the battlefield.
But there was nothing he could do.” Lu Yuan sighed.
The main reason for this cruel decision was that the enemy army on the opposite side was too cowardly.
Ever since he led the army to the battlefield, the rebellious soldiers of the
Seven Star Sect had been hiding in the camps, not daring to come out to fight.
Although the rest of the Seven Star Sect’s army still numbered around seventeen or eighteen thousand after their previous defeat, they had at least thirty camps stretching for miles.
Moreover, as a rebellion of the martial arts world, there were many martial arts experts in their army, and their remaining strength should not be underestimated.
With such forces, as long as they focused on defense and didn’t come out, Lu Yuan really had no way to deal with them.
After all, if he led a sudden attack with his experts, the Seven Star Sect had even more experts on their side. It was uncertain who would be able to cut off whom if they opted for a beheading strategy.
Furthermore, it was impossible for Lu Yuan to take such a risk with his own life.
As for challenging the Seven Star Sect to a decisive battle, the other party was not willing to accept.
So after weighing the options, the only choice left was to launch a strong offensive.
Hence, the emergence of the Vanguard Army, which achieved the glorious record of breaking through eight camps in five days and killing three thousand bandits.
“I can’t believe it. Even if those rebels are like a ragtag army, relying on their camps and having a defensive advantage, how long can they last under heavy casualties?”
Lu Yuan is now in a battle of attrition with the rebels of the Seven Star Sect.
It’s a competition to see who can hold out longer.
An army’s tolerance for casualties always has a breaking point. With today’s armies’ ability to withstand casualties, a loss of one or two tenths often leads to collapse.
He can transfer the pressure to the Vanguard Army on his side.
However, the rebels have no other vanguard to transfer the pressure to.
So now, with Lu Yuan attacking and destroying one or two camps daily and causing hundreds of casualties, the immense pressure is evenly distributed across the entire Seven Star Sect’s rebels.
For now, the death of three thousand people is just over one-tenth of the total rebels of seventeen or eighteen thousand, which they might be able to withstand.
But if the death toll continues for another three days, breaking through another five camps and causing two thousand more deaths, the casualty rate will have exceeded two-tenths.
If you also count the previous five thousand, that would be over four-tenths of casualties, almost half.
Moreover, these massive four-tenths of casualties have been incurred in just ten short days.
“To lose nearly half in just ten days, even an iron army would break, right?”
Lu Yuan didn’t believe that the enemy army was unbreakable and that they could fight to the last man against him.
If the other side could really do that.
Then there would be nothing to say, and Lu Yuan would willingly concede defeat.
At that time, there would be no need to fight the other party any further; he could simply withdraw his troops and give up Changning County to the other party. What’s the big deal?
But can the Seven Star Sect rebels really achieve this?
He didn’t believe it anyway.
This is a war where the victor will be the one who can endure the most.
Whoever can endure greater casualties will win.
In reality, not only did Lu Yuan not believe it, but even the Seven Star Sect rebels themselves didn’t really believe they could hold out to the last man.
That’s because they were already struggling to hold on at this point.
“Sect Leader, those government soldiers don’t even consider themselves human; no, they simply do not fear death.
After one wave of attacks, another wave follows.
In just two short hours, five hundred of my men have already been killed or injured, leaving less than two hundred remaining.”
Inside the central tent of the Seven Star Sect camp, a Seven Star Sect elder wearing armor knelt on the ground, crying and wailing before the Sect Leader. Previously, this man of iron wouldn’t even blink when struck by a sword.
But now he was pushed to this point.
However, it’s no wonder that the elder was like this; it was really too tragic.
In just half a day, not only had he lost three hundred men, but also three apprentices, a son, and several nephews.
These were all the younger generations he cherished and valued most, but now these promising young people had been wiped out on the brutal battlefield in just two short hours.
This huge blow made the elder, who had always been known for his toughness, collapse.
The others in the tent also looked at this scene with heavy hearts and sorrowful faces..