Douluo: The Adventures of King Skin

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

——"Dr. Strangelove"

It is very difficult to predict the enemy's thoughts in war.

In particular, ancient wars were often small-scale but interrelated with many aspects such as strategy, politics, and diplomacy, and contained too many uncertainties.

Pyrrhus urgently summoned the top leaders of the Independent Army and held an immediate meeting next to the military camp.

Now in the army, below Pyrrhus, the main ones who can speak are Creon, Scopas, and Hippias, who represent Philae, Larissa, and Pharsalus respectively. area.

Creon lacked military experience and had been in charge of liaison organizations. He could only provide advice as a representative of various places in combat; Scopas was young but of noble blood, but he was just a licking dog of Pyrrhus. No objections would be raised at all; Hippias was nominally the representative of Pharsalus, but everyone knew that he was actually Pyrrhus's man, and he would only communicate privately with Pyrrhus if he had any opinions.

Further down, the civilian staff include Desiachus in charge of staff and logistics, Stratton in charge of engineering and equipment; the officers include Oandros and others in the infantry rank, and Achilles and others in the cavalry rank.

Taken together, the current military discussion is basically what Pyrrhus said.perhaps.

"Before, I had always been worried that Cassander would keep wandering in the outer seas, using the fleet to carry out harassment tactics without engaging in a decisive battle with our main force, so that he could bring down Thessaly. But now it seems that he obviously does not think so. ." Pyrrhus looked around at everyone:

"Cassander deliberately divided his troops and reduced a single force to a level where we can fight with each other. This shows that Cassander also means to win a quick victory!"

Scopas asked: "Do you mean that we can fight one of them now? For example, the one going to Larissa."

"No, what I mean is that if he wants to fight, we can't fight him." Pyrrhus said with a smile:

"There are two reasons. The first is because the gap between our current strength and Cassander is still large. Although we have an advantage in cavalry, firstly we lack combat experience, and secondly we have poor equipment. We have not won the decisive battle now. The certainty.”

"Then how do we defeat Cassander?" Creon was confused. "Don't we still have many volunteers? Do we need to recruit more soldiers?"

"I think there are enough soldiers now. If there are more, it will be difficult to ensure the overall quality of the army; and the volunteers are not for this. But first, please listen to me about the second reason." Pyrrhus replied:

"The second reason is that I think strategically we should try to avoid following the enemy's intentions. Before we were worried about him running away, but now he has gone deep inland. If we have a chance to win, we can fight with him at any time; If there is no opportunity, then keep waiting for the opportunity to appear!”

After Pyrrhus finished speaking, everyone was silent.

Before the Scorched Earth Order, I spent a lot of time convincing everyone.Now that there is a chance for a decisive battle, we don't want to fight decisively. Do we have to defend the city?

In this era, people’s most deep-rooted understanding of war is still:

If you have an advantage, attack, if you have a disadvantage, defend. If you are evenly matched, win in a field battle. If the gap is too great, surrender.

The more complicated thing is to advance eastward and retreat westward, and to refuse eastward and attack westward.

This is because the city-state system limits the scale of most wars and also limits people's imagination.

This world is not without smart people. Some people can make correct judgments based on instinct, intuition or innate wisdom, but no one has yet conducted systematic and in-depth research on the science of combat.

Only in the far East, with its classical total war environment, could a great military strategist like Sun Tzu be brought out to summarize and condense the principles of war and elevate them to the level of philosophy.

The strategic thinking mentioned by Pyrrhus is roughly the same as "inflict harm on others but not on others" in Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Seeing everyone looking thoughtful, Creon was a little confused, so he had to ask:

"Do you mean that we just keep delaying until Cassander's military resources are exhausted or his morale collapses?"

"Of course it's not a simple matter of procrastination," it was Stratton who answered him. "We can always carry out a limited operation, such as inducing Cassander to continuously attack city walls or fortresses in order to continuously consume his troops. Until the balance of power is reversed, we can take the initiative to initiate a decisive battle. Am I right?"

oh oh oh!

So you were not bragging when you said you had a military education?

"Stratton is right, that is the task of our main force - we can neither fight him decisively nor allow him to retreat. When necessary, we can also take the initiative to divide our troops and induce him to engage in a war of attrition!"

Pyrrhus said to Creon again: "You just asked me about the volunteers. The volunteers have to perform another kind of task. I have to rely on you in this regard!"

"Me?" Creon's fat face was full of surprise, "But I don't know how to fight!"

"This is a brand new way of combat, and we actually don't know it." Pyrrhus explained, "The mission of the volunteers is to intercept the enemy's logistics, communications, and reconnaissance small forces behind the enemy's back. Focusing on ambush warfare, this is the way hunters and highwaymen fight.

"To fight like this, we must mobilize all local governments and urge them to actively participate in the attack, and not let go of any lone enemy!"

"Ah! I know!" Scopus exclaimed in surprise, opened his mouth and began to recite the quotation:

"'We will fight in the towns, we will fight in the fields, we will fight in the swamps and mountains...' Is that what you meant when you said it?"

"Ah...yes, yes...ah, yes, that's what it means..."

Pyrrhus felt like someone else was reciting his copied homework in front of him. This feeling was so embarrassing that he didn't know how other time-travelers overcame it.

"I also understand. I will urge the local government to implement the volunteer team's affairs." Creon promised.

"Lord Creon, there is one more thing we must ask your opinion on." Pyrrhus looked serious: "Cassander's other army went to Magnesia on the eastern coast.

"Are the Magnesians reliable?"

"Tagus," Creon thought for a moment and then replied:

"Let me tell you the truth, don't talk about the Xenophons in Magnesia. Under normal circumstances, even many Thessalians are also unreliable.

"But fortunately, there is the national bond you issued."

Creon winked.

"Judging from the sales of government bonds, the Magnesians are probably 'less than half as reliable' as the Thessalians.

"However, I think they are still reliable for the time being - they will not rashly fall to one side before the outcome is clear."

"I understand, it means, whoever wins, who do they help?"