CHAPTER 1918: CHAPTER 1911: AUD ARMY APPROACHES

Luo’er always had a wish within him, and that was to keep Lipei’s casualties at the lowest possible, ideally with no casualties at all.

If he wanted to achieve this effect, unquestionably, resolving it through peace negotiation was the optimal choice. But currently, such circumstances are not viable, so he is constantly troubled, pondering over what method could be used to minimize casualties to the greatest extent.

The method of Jie Yingzhai and fighting stupid battles might be lacking in consideration, but it was the least casualty-prone plan Luo’er could think of.

Modern warfare, in essence, is a contest of attrition. This is true for Earth armies, and it is equally true for the Otherworld armies that have entered modernization.

Is it appropriate to exchange ten thousand artillery shells or a million bullets for one human life?

Such questions seem needless to Luo’er because, to him, it’s exceedingly appropriate.

Lipei’s logistics are almost infinite, but personnel is limited. Hence, he is keen to utilize vast resources to protect the people within his governance.

To achieve such an effect, fortifying and isolated defense must become the best solution.

By relying on various artillery deployed in Lipei’s outer districts, with a range covering hundreds of kilometers, Luo’er can effectively strike any enemy daring to invade.

Of course, to realize this effect, extensive reconnaissance is undoubtedly the execution’s focal point.

Thus, Luo’er dispersed many advance team scouts within Lipei territory, precisely to timely detect invading enemy forces and guide artillery strikes.

Moreover, Lipei possesses a few Skylark reconnaissance aircraft as an alternative guidance option. Once a target is discovered, the Skylark reconnaissance aircraft cruising in the sky will swiftly head towards the target for precise artillery guidance.

It’s fair to say that, in terms of tactics and strategies, Lipei’s defense army is very advanced, and no amount of advanced weaponry can compensate for such a disparity.

When engaging with Earth’s weapons, naturally, one must adhere to Earth’s rules of engagement.

These rules are not explicit clauses of war, but scientific approaches to fully utilize the advantage of weapons equipment. If this isn’t done, it’s impossible to effectively leverage the full performance of Earth’s weapons.

Clearly, in this respect, the Aud Army and Lipei’s defense army comparison shows a rather significant gap.

The Art of War states: If ten times the enemy’s strength, surround them; if five, attack; if twice, divide.

The Aud Army, with a hundred thousand soldiers, certainly has numerical superiority over Lipei’s defense army’s main forces, but it hasn’t reached the "five, then attack" level.

Therefore, their optimal choice should be to take the second best, attempt to lure Lipei’s defense army to attack, and then concentrate superior forces to assault.

Although it’s not very clear whether the Aud Army’s commanders studied the Art of War, Luo’er definitely has learned it. So he would never give the Aud Army such an opportunity, directly relocating everyone to Lipei, cowering defensively, refusing to initiate an assault.

Alternatively, the Aud Army could rely on their numerical and plains terrain advantages, rapidly raid straight to Lipei’s main city, and engage in a decisive battle under the city walls.

Lipei is located on the edge of the Odelanqi Plain, although the terrain has slight hilly undulations, mostly it remains as plains. Under such circumstances, even on foot, they could conduct a raid over a hundred kilometers within a day and night, passing through the artillery death blockade line, and directly contacting Lipei’s defense army.

If they actually choose this action, beyond doubt, Luo’er’s envisioned perfect defense plan would sink completely. The foremost first line of defense is very likely to be swiftly breached by the Aud Army, followed by the second line, then the third line, until they reach under the city walls.

But the question is, does the Aud Army truly have such combat consciousness and guts?

One must know this plan smells of fragrant paper and ink when written on paper. But once put into practice, it will smell of blood and gunpowder.

The Aud Army must first face the strong artillery strike that never ceases.

The Odelanqi Plain indeed facilitates rapid mobility for infantry but also faces the dilemma of having no defense against risk, lacking sufficient reverse slopes to help them fend off artillery strikes.

Once the Aud Army is discovered by Lipei’s defense army’s scouts during the raid, they will face endless artillery bombardment until ultimately breakthrough the third line of defense and destroy all artillery positions.

But even then, there’s still more, because Lipei’s city walls are also deployed with dense direct-fire points. To completely capture Lipei, one would require an even heavier price.

Thus, King Gudelv ignoring Lipei has a reason, not merely out of arrogance.

For he knows very well, as the pivot of the Otherworld Gate, capturing Lipei would require exerting the entire military force to possibly achieve.

For Gudelv, this is not cost-effective, as his current urgent task is to take down the Church Court. Once the allied Church Court is removed, Lipei’s attitude development naturally would be inevitable, perhaps not even necessitating an attack.

A hundred thousand troops are merely a show of armed procession.

If one wants to conquer Lipei, at least two hundred thousand troops would be required, with at least two-thirds casualties, to potentially achieve strategic intent.

This initially may sound very feasible, and the Americans seem to think so too.

However, the essence of war has never been filling the award pool with lives.

Even Gudelv hopes to minimize casualties as much as possible. His assembly of a million troops does not imply expending all these to win the war.

If understanding of war remains stuck at the level of trading lives for results, it would be challenging to gain strategic advantage.

Precisely because of this, Luo’er has not sunk into complete despair.

He has always believed the Aud Army’s action merely intends to give Lipei a show of force. As long as he manages rightly, he can be unafraid of this army’s arrival.

Thinking this way, Luo’er’s initially heavy mood suddenly lightened.

"Go inform the intelligence department, I need all information about this Aud Army as soon as possible." Luo’er took a deep breath and said to Cheng Ziang.

"I’m not a runner; I’m the Chief of Staff." Cheng Ziang shrugged and said.

"Hurry up, stop talking nonsense."

Luo’er gestured with his hand.

"Did you think of a way?" Cheng Ziang curiously asked.

"Yes," Luo’er nodded confidently, "war, any war, doesn’t necessarily have to fight; it can be disputed. Many issues can actually be resolved by negotiation."

"Sure enough, some people always criticize you for not having enough valor." Cheng Ziang suddenly thought of something and said with a smile.

"I don’t care. If criticizing me allows policies to pass quickly, I would willingly accept criticism, even setting up a board to curse me in the square." Luo’er said indifferently.

"Resolve issues through negotiation?" Cheng Ziang lowered his head and pondered, "Don’t forget, you also wanted to negotiate previously, but the talks broke down."

"Of course, I know the talks broke down, but I never expected Kali to handle Gudelv." Luo’er remarked nonchalantly, "It was merely to gain a good reputation. Everyone knows, war with Odelanqi is almost unavoidable. If one truly wished to echo Odelanqi, they should have severed ties with the Church Court earlier."

"But is this really okay?" Cheng Ziang was still somewhat concerned, "These hundred thousand Aud Army soldiers are aggressive and determined; a few words can’t just brush them off."

"Heh," Luo’er showed a self-assured smile, "The commander of the Aud Army probably also doesn’t wish for his legion to end up as an empty shell."

While Luo’er was actively preparing for battle, the assembled hundred thousand Aud Army had already approached Lipei’s border. Though primarily infantry divisions, their movement was not slow on the plain. The slow march mainly aimed to allow two artillery divisions to keep pace with the main force.

Now they have approached Lipei’s border, and no one knows which defense line the situation will develop towards. Once they cross the border line and enter Lipei’s jurisdiction, that means the Aud Army formally declares war on Lipei.

Yet, the commander of the Aud Army clearly realizes this too, so upon reaching the border, they stopped and started camping, constructing defense fortifications, clearly wanting to confront Lipei.

Otherwise, if they really wanted to attack, they need not march slowly, but could leave the artillery division behind for a rapid raid.

The pressure has now shifted to Lipei, but as information continuously pours in, Luo’er’s understanding of this Aud Army grows deeper.

After obtaining most of the intelligence, Luo’er finally managed to calm down and prepared to engage with the Aud Army’s commander to negotiate over the conflict.