| Author: Cherish the World | Original Source: SFACG |
| Translator: raltzero | English Source: Re:Library |
The issue of industrialization was mainly handed over to Moon and Felita to solve.
One of them was in charge of constructing factories while the other was in charge of power generation.
Then came giving the current temporary commanding officer, Lugh, his mission. Simply put, it all falls onto one word: recruitment. There’s a saying, “the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice”, and that’s also true for our “army” of dozens. They would be hardpressed to make any waves in wars. My tentative idea was to recruit 500 people, but Moon personally came out and rejected my idea, lecturing me for a while about the ratio between the army and the masses. Ultimately, I agreed with him and agreed that I would recruit no more than 100 people.
Moon remarked:
“Actually, there’s no need to be particularly anxious about military affairs. I’ve made a tour around more or less the entire city and found that the people’s current vigor isn’t bad.”
He gave me a look, saying with reluctance:
“The credit goes to you. Tax reductions and even exemptions, as well as using the old noble’s inheritance to buy farm tools for the populace, they were all good methods of gaining the will of the people. Especially afterwards when you weren’t present, West-Resisting City had to defend against the Demon Race’s assault on the west side as well as obstruct the invasion of Zhao Chen from the north. Regardless of how tattered and worn out the city walls are now, the vast majority of the people weren’t too panicky. Rather, they believed that after you returned, West-Resisting City would be in an invincible position.”
“She” told Lugh:
“The army is also doing very well. There is rigorous training and the distinction between reward and punishment is clear. For those dead soldiers, relief payment was given to their relatives. These actions are all very good. At the very least, the people have started to slowly grow their trust in us and made a distinction between us and those previous leech-like nobles. If you wish to recruit new soldiers now, there should be quite a lot of people wishing to join. You may immediately enlist anyone who passes a strict selection process.”
Lugh stratched his head, bashfully confessing:
“So it was like this, no wonder I felt like my body was full of power when I was fighting shoulder to shoulder with my brothers. Even to the point where if I had to sacrifice myself, I wasn’t afraid of doing so. I felt……as if there was divine assistance.”
I muttered to myself, a bit unsure:
“This should be the so-called ‘Territory’s Protection’. You were, after all, fighting in the vicinity of West-Resisting City, and couple with the fact that the populace place their trust in you and West-Resisting City is on a road of rising……”
As I was speaking, I stopped, then voiced a suspicion:
“Not right. Theoretically such a thing requires at least an army of 100 or more to deploy army formations and receive territory protection.”
On the side, Aleya serenely informed:
“Young master, I held an army recruitment for expansion. A reserve army of 40 people was established. I didn’t mean to disobey young master’s command, it was just that there were a lot of people voluntarily participating in the battles and there was an urgent shortage of manpower at the time. I ask the young master to punish me.”
I patted her shoulder, replying:
“There’s nothing wrong with your decision. There were originally 81 people, but only 63 people left after so long. Adding 40 more people does make the size of the army above 100, so it indeed was possible to gain the territory’s protection……it could be said that without the territory’s protection, such a low number of people wouldn’t even enter the eyes of the enemy side.”
With Felita’s AoE attacks, Aleya’s stealthy assassinations, and the continuous harassment of the over-100 soldiers with the territory’s protection, there was nothing that the enemy side could do against such guerilla warfare battle formation unless they were prepared to capture West-Resisting City regardless of casualties.
Moon wrinkled his brows:
“Those 40 people haven’t gone to the battlefield?”
Aleya calmly answered:
“Training insufficient, hastily incorporating them into the original formation is just sending them to die. I’ve temporarily placed them in the protection of the flanks.”
Moon pondered for a very long while before concluding:
“If there aren’t any casualties, this time’s expansion enlistment only need to recruit 60 people. This way, successive recruitments will still recruit at most 100 people.”
Lugh didn’t seem very happy to hear this.
I rapped the table and asked:
“Those 40 people are very crucial?”
Moon nodded, explaining:
“I’m not trying to purposefully suppress military authority since the army is something that the current West-Resisting City urgently needs. But I hope that everyone can understand this point: regardless of whether we recruit 60, 100, or even 500 people like sir City Lord suggested, we don’t have any assurance that we will be able to defeat the army outside our city. Considering the constant threat of the Demons, it’s impossible for miss Felita to always be in the state of magic exhaustion, we need her to retain some reserves. Miss Aleya also hasn’t succeeded in any of her assassinations and has suffered quite a few injuries, so we should be aware of how powerful they are. Previously, they were worried about possible reinforcements from the east, so they held back a hand, but if we open our city gates and fight them head-on, Fang Thirteen will definitely make an all-out effort. Once that happens, don’t even mention 500 people, even 1,000 people wouldn’t be enough to defeat her. Do you think that Fang Lita was conferred 10 cities right off the bat? No, in fact, he was just like us, a City Lord of a single city. It was Fang Lita who brought the weak, feeble army at the time to take over city after city. She isn’t an opponent to be trifled with.”
Lugh smiled bitterly:
“Alright. We’ll keep enduring.”
He cupped his hands towards Moon:
“No wonder you were appointed as auxiliary minister. It’s just that I’ve been acting as a coward for too long and felt like I needed to blow off some steam by avenging our fallen brothers.”
Moon crossed “her” hands, responding:
“No problem. There will inevitably be an opportunity.”
He continued:
“The 40 people shouldn’t be underestimated. These 40 people might not necessarily have a role on the frontline battlefield, but if placed in the field of construction, they’re a force that shouldn’t be despised. In the final analysis, West-Resisting City is quite a big place and there aren’t as many youths as you would imagine. Power is dependent on how you use it.”
The favorable impression I had towards Moon rose a little.
In reality, the scene he described just now was one bound to happen, where powers clash against one another.
Moon’s management is that of the entire city’s internal affairs while Lugh is currently in control of the military. It’s normal for the two people to have conflicting opinions. Even though I could always interrupt them and mediate between the two parties, them not needing me to do so clearly demonstrates Moon’s skill and Lugh’s understanding of the bigger picture.
Such an environment is best suited for slacking off.
After everyone discussed matters for a period of time, Moon suddenly brought to attention:
“Speaking of which, the demon cultivation farm that we set up previously has been having problems recently. The person in charge says that he hopes that he can get in touch with you alone. It seems like it’s a very grave issue.”
