At the meeting of hall leaders, all the hallists were filled with anger and demanded to be beaten back for revenge.
Some people have put forward the suggestion of concentrating their efforts and attacking one point; first conquer the town and win a big victory. Only by hurting the enemy and letting them see the power of the people will they act cautiously.
It's not that Auster didn't understand the principle of hitting with one punch to avoid hundreds of punches, but he was very worried. These hall masters come from all directions, from various forces, and have different thoughts. Some of their family members and friends were killed for revenge, and some of them simply had unstable status and needed to continuously seize territory and population to expand their strength.
In order to brainstorm ideas, Skar implements group discussions on major issues. As the rebel ranks have grown aggressively over the past few months, he is no longer able to decide all of the gang's affairs. While this system appears to be more democratic, in fact it is difficult to unify opinions once major junctures are encountered.
Skaar himself is a somewhat indecisive person who always wants to take into account all aspects. Auster was worried that if the discussion continued like this, the idea of revenge would lead the rebel army to rapid destruction; there would be no eggs in the nest, and there would be chaos. A straw bag like him would definitely be the first to die. He must not let this happen. occur.
So he expressed his opinion: Oster believed that it was extremely abnormal for the Kingdom Legion, the State Guards and the Holy Knights, who were originally conflicting with each other, to suddenly act in a unified and orderly manner to deal with the Montenegrin rebels. . It is obviously from the unified command and transfer, and the level is not low;
According to previous understanding, the Western Frontier Prefecture in Sentinel Ridge definitely does not have this ability and qualification. Grian Stallman's title is the highest administrator of the Kingdom in the Western Territory State and the Marshal of the Yuexi Corps. He does not have the authority to command other corps directly under the Kingdom. He only has the power to appoint and reward the local guards. Large-scale transfers still need to be reported to the superiors for approval, let alone the church knights who are equivalent to independent small countries.
There is only one possibility that can effectively mobilize the forces of all parties to obey unconditionally and jointly send troops to suppress the people's uprising in the Black Mountain region, and that is the direct order of the highest ruling group in Stormwind City.
If this judgment is correct, it means that the nature of the Montenegrin rebels in the eyes of the royal family has changed from ruthless bandits who bring trouble to one side and rob the rich to a rebel group that directly threatens the rule of the kingdom. Just like the Defias Brotherhood.
Although Skar and others have indeed inherited Van Cleef's factory and legacy, it is not yet time for a showdown. The rebels actually do not have the strength to compete with the Kingdom. Oster agrees with the plan that Skarr said. At least they must first seize the mining area in the west, and then move south to the Gold Coast and Moon Creek Town, and basically restore the original Brotherhood. After establishing a base, they are eligible to formally challenge the kingdom.
In this regard, his opinion is: "... there are various signs that the kingdom and the church have united. Facing an enemy who controls the entire country's resources, the rebel army's human, financial and material resources, magical technology level and resource reserves are lagging behind in all aspects, and even It can be said that it is far behind. At the military level, there is also a level gap between the militia and the high-level professional army, and there is no way to confront them head-on. Therefore, we must not fight head-on, we must first preserve our strength."
A hall leader retorted, "We also have a secret weapon. As long as we equip a large area with engineering puppets, our ordinary troops will also have the strength to defeat the mid-level army. Just like before, we were just farmers, slaves and traders, relying on magic Engineering guns and bombs beat the crap out of those monks and mages. Now with this trump card, we can definitely turn defeat into victory again!"
Skar had previously disclosed some information with some reservations, and many hall leaders had already heard about the harvesting of puppets. Indeed, as people say, these engineering creations that draw on legion technology are easy to operate, powerful, and have magic immunity like a plug-in. With them, the rebels actually have the ability to fight tanks and knights and attack strong fortresses.
However, Oster immediately raised a key issue: Although they had the technology and equipment left by the Brotherhood, the rebels were extremely short of the most critical energy source, which was high-quality magic powder made from source ore.
There is no pure mechanical or chemical energy equipment in the general sense in this world. Magic is the most stable and efficient way of supplying energy. All magic engineering equipment needs to be driven by magic power. Without power, no matter how powerful the machine is, it is just a pile of scrap metal;
Those black powders are contraband strictly controlled by the kingdom. There are no mines around the Black Mountain County controlled by the rebels, or even in the entire eastern part of the Western Wilderness. There are two main mining sites in the Western Frontier State. One is concentrated in the Jangorod area in the west, which is the area severely affected by the blight disease; the other is the boundary mountain of Stranglethorn Valley in the southwest, which is the death mine in the game. Nearby, the journey is too far.
At present, the rebels' magic energy supply can only rely on underground trade routes. With the government blocking roads, setting up transportation checkpoints, and peripheral channels almost cut off, the supply of source mines has been interrupted for a long time; not to mention the supply of a large number of engineering mechas known as magic tigers, even the supplies of ordinary rune guns and spell grenades are about to follow. Not on.
In addition, the limited number of mechas is also a big problem. The core components and production process of the Harvest Puppet have not been fully analyzed and cannot be copied, so one less one will be scrapped. These trump cards should be used during the more critical life-saving period, rather than risking attacks on towns.
Regarding the issue of magic engineering weapons, Oster, as the chief technology officer, has a say. Skaar also agreed with him, but everyone still had objections;
Another hall leader retorted, "It is also these magic powders that drive the kingdom's steam tanks and knights' sanctified armor. Since there is no ore in the east, the supplies for the army must be brought from other places. As long as the towns are conquered and the arsenal is obtained, There is an endless supply of supplies, don’t forget what we did in the first place; guns, ammunition, and food have always been brought to us by the enemy with great pains, and now, energy can also be taken from the enemy!”
Auster said, "What should I do if the attack fails? The secret weapon has been exposed and the energy has been exhausted. If you still cannot capture the town and are surrounded by enemies from all sides, how can you escape? Even if you capture it, if the opponent has burned down the warehouse and moved If we lose supplies and cannot get effective supplies, what should we do in the face of enemy counterattack?"
What he actually wanted to say was that, just like the early revolutionary history in the southern mountainous areas that he was familiar with in his previous life, once he fell into left-leaning adventurism and engaged in positional warfare with the White Army to compete for territory and towns, failure was not far away.
The hall leader was speechless for a moment and asked, "Then, deputy gang leader, please tell me how to deal with the current situation?"
Oster said, "Our army is currently insufficient in strength. It is not at all a question of a certain weapon or the combat effectiveness of a certain unit. Facing an invincible enemy, avoiding its edge is the only way. Now, it has occupied a position close to Sentinel Ridge. The guerrilla advantage was completely lost by dividing the troops and garrisoning them in such a close and vast area."
He thought for a moment and then said, "We can retreat to the mountainous areas of Montenegro, or remove strongholds in market towns and plains, and shrink our troops. If that still doesn't work, we can go on an expedition to the disaster areas in the west, where the ruling order has collapsed and we can gain a firm foothold. We can also obtain source minerals. If we keep the green hills, we won’t have any firewood to burn. Only by preserving the team’s strength and waiting until the time is right can we achieve future development.”
As soon as these words came out, the venue was in an uproar.
A middle-aged hall leader clenched his fists and asked Auster, "If we leave, what will happen to the people in the base area? Should we let them wash their necks and wait for the government's butcher's knife?"
Auster asked, "If all our people die, how can we protect the people?"
An older leader said to Auster, "Deputy leader, you may have some misunderstandings. From the day we raised the flag of righteousness, none of us put personal life and death first. You said the enemy is powerful, yes, the kingdom and The church has always been a ferocious and cruel ruler, so should the people always live in fear and oppression and swallow their anger? If they don't have the strength, won't they resist? We have to wait for everything to be ready. Unfortunately, that day will never come Came by itself.”
Most of the hall leaders believe that abandoning a large base area and people and fleeing in embarrassment is a cowardly approach. Skaar also believes that if you show weakness at this time, not only will the reactionary forces not stop, but they will also be attacked in an intensified manner, causing the people to gradually lose confidence in victory, until they suffer catastrophe.
Auster was speechless. He suddenly realized that while he was arguing against the left, he had also fallen into right capitulationism. As soon as they encounter a setback, they declare that the enemy is too powerful and invincible, and they must abandon the newly improved base areas and withdraw. Such hasty and harmful remarks had just come out of his own mouth, and he felt a little blushing.
After careful consideration, Oster once again confirmed that he was a fool. Revolution is really not a simple thing that can be achieved casually. Although he relied on the institutional memory and basic education of modern people, he knew nothing about real leadership movements, marching and fighting, etc. Just be a gold finger pendant and continue to insist on your opinions will only harm these kind people.
Some of the hall leaders also supported Auster's views. Everyone couldn't argue, and Skar adjourned the meeting temporarily. They only made the decision to concentrate their forces and rescue the Dongxiang stronghold first.
