Empire of Shadows

The battlefield at Reef Horse Bridge was like a giant human meat grinder, shredding all the soldiers who poured into it.

Whether it was the government army, or the anti-government armed forces in their mouths, they were constantly falling on this land.

Life, at this moment, had become the most meaningless thing. People simply didn’t have time to use their minds to respond to everything that was happening here.

They didn’t have time to think about who they were, why they were here, what they were going to do here, and where they would eventually go.

When the commander, the captain of the army, waved the command saber in his hand, pointing in the direction of the battlefield, and shouted, ”Kill those enemies,” the soldiers would charge out with a slight nervousness and excitement, and then die on the battlefield.

The sound of gunfire was like the tide, sometimes rising, sometimes falling. When the ”tide rose,” it was also the moment when the smell of blood was the strongest on the battlefield!

It seemed that both sides had completely abandoned the fear of life and death. At this time, they only had one belief—to crush the enemy.

A large number of wild animals entrenched in the surroundings were waiting. They had overcome their fear of the gunshots, and were watching from afar.

Whenever the gunshots stopped, or most of them stopped, these wild animals would rush into the battlefield, enjoying nature’s bounty!

Their small minds would never be able to figure out why, in such a cruel nature, there would be such a large-scale buffet for them to enjoy.The animals in the food chain, from top to bottom, also had no distinction of status or class at this time. They were gathered together, silently observing Rapa’s largest recorded slaughter of its own kind.

”If this continues, we won’t be able to hold on at all!”

A front-line officer, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, held a telescope and looked at the distant battlefield, his brows tightly knitted together.

The situation in the command post was still good. At least this place had not been affected by the battle. The officer put down the telescope in his hand and walked back to the center of the room.

There was a table here, and on the table was a deployment map of Zhuolan and the surrounding areas. Here, they could see their layered control over the entire battlefield.

Although they had now completed Diego’s required encirclement of the exit of Reef Horse Bridge, and had indeed eliminated many enemies, their consumption was equally huge.

This was the backward and poor Rapa. Almost 99% of the soldiers had not received any education before enlisting. And even after they had enlisted, they had not received any target practice.

Because bullets were too expensive. The cost of their target practice might be enough to hire another person to participate in the battle. There was no reason or need to let these people waste them.

Not to mention, bullets were not something that could be obtained whenever they wanted. Bullets cost money, and Diego’s biggest problem now was the lack of money.

The current casualty rate showed a situation where the government army’s casualties were even more severe. On the contrary, the anti-government armed forces’ losses were a little better than theirs.

A few officers looked at the officer with the highest rank here. This officer was himself a member of the Ravila family. Diego had, in the past few months, trusted the members of the Ravila family very much, entrusting them with important responsibilities.

At this critical moment, this dictatorial and irritable president had finally thought of his family. But the people of the Ravila family were, in turn, a little unwilling to be thought of by him.

If this had been several years, or a dozen years ago, and they had been thought of by Diego and had been entrusted with important responsibilities, everyone would have jumped for joy.

At that time, as long as they had become military officers or government officials, they could have quickly achieved financial freedom in Rapa.

Power, wealth, anything.

But now, to be thought of by Diego, only meant being sent to the battlefield.

It could be said that Diego had ignored them when they had most longed for his recognition, but then had remembered them when they had least wanted to be remembered.

The officer who was speaking was a subordinate of this Ravila family officer, a trusted man. His face was filled with a hint of worry.

He had originally thought that his sudden promotion to an officer was a good thing, but now it seemed that it was not a good thing at all.

The man, who was strictly speaking a young cousin of Diego’s, looked a little gloomy. ”How many men do we have left?”

”Thirty or forty thousand. No more. At most another three or five thousand.”

”We’ve eliminated many people during this period. I’m not very clear about the situation on the other fronts, but it should be about the same as ours.”

Apart from 20,000 men guarding Zhuolan, all the others had been mobilized. In fact, Diego and the people of the Ravila family were all very clear that once the war broke out near Zhuolan, it meant that the countdown to the demise of the Ravila family had begun.

As a family of power that had ruled this country for a very long time, once the regime changed, they would inevitably be at the top of the purge list.

This was also why they had pinched their noses and accepted this job, even though they clearly knew it wasn’t a good one.

If Diego lived, the rule of the Ravila family would continue, and they would still have a good life.

If Diego died, or the rule of the Ravila family ended, they would all have to accompany this rotten regime and fall into hell.

”Thirty or forty thousand men. How much longer can we last at the current rate of consumption?”

Another officer said in a low voice, ”About a month. And I’m very worried recently that there might be deserters. These deserters might cause a chain reaction.”

The battlefield was too cruel. When they were fighting during the day, people might not be aware of this. A kind of battle readiness suppressed their fear. But with the end of the battle, in the dark night, they would begin to feel fear.

In fact, there had always been deserters, but now the incidents of desertion were becoming more and more frequent.

The officer pursed his lips, his face solemn. ”Deal with them as necessary. Hold on for another half a month.”

”If we really can’t hold out after half a month, then retreat.”

A look of shock appeared on the faces of the other officers. One of them lowered his voice. ”If we retreat, it will give them the opportunity to completely break the blockade. The other armies might be surrounded.”

The officer’s face was still expressionless, but he appeared somewhat cold and ruthless. ”It’s better than all of us being annihilated.”

The officers did not say anything more, but remained silent. They had accepted this result.

...

On Pedro’s side, they were also discussing. The battle was too fierce.

”Why don’t we... take a break first?” a rebel leader said, with a reluctant expression. ”The troops under my command are completely crippled now. Let’s arrange for someone else to take over tomorrow.”

”My men and I will not take the lead again.”

He was very determined. He had originally brought about 15,000 men here to ”besiege Zhuolan,” and had thought he would, like the grand nobles in some stories, ride his horse into Zhuolan. But when he had really arrived here, he found that it was not that easy.

Before, when he had watched others fight, he hadn’t thought much of it. It’s war, people are bound to die.

It wasn’t until he himself had entered the fray that he realized he couldn’t bear it. His force of more than ten thousand men had been reduced by half in just three days, and they hadn’t gained much income from the battle either.

Except for the fact that the control area had expanded by a few dozen meters.

But that was actually meaningless.

He didn’t want to fight anymore. This army was his foundation. As the leader of an anti-government armed force, he was one of the people who were making waves on Rapa’s stage at this time.

The reason he could wave the banner with his symbol on it was not because he had strong personal power, capable of wielding something hundreds of pounds heavy.

Nor was it because he had some special skill to wave the banner beautifully.

It was purely because he had this army in his hands, a force that gave him the confidence to stand in front of these ”warlords” and be treated as an equal.

If this war completely wiped out his men, then he would no longer be a warlord.

How can you be a warlord without soldiers?

And another thing had happened recently. The international friends who had been very supportive of their overthrow of Diego’s rule had begun to reduce their aid.

The explanation from these international friends was that they had supported these resistance organizations for two years, but the resistance organizations had only been active near their own activity areas. They had not considered advancing to Zhuolan to overthrow Diego’s rule at all.

They had begun to suspect that these resistance organizations were merely using the pretext of ”overthrowing Diego’s tyranny” to defraud them of financial aid.

So now, basically all the financial aid and material aid for all the resistance organizations had been cut off.

This was also the reason why Pedro could quickly gather them all together.

A resistance organization is still an organization. It also needs a large amount of funds and supplies to maintain itself. Idealists do exist, and quite a few of them, but idealists still need to eat. Their families still need to eat.

Before, with the aid of international friends, they could completely stop production, and just focus on training, fighting, and destruction.

But now, after this aid was cut off, they were facing a very terrible situation.

If they wanted to continue to maintain their current scale, they had to find a sustainable channel to provide funds and supplies.

But as an anti-government armed force, they only engaged in destruction, not production. Relying on the autonomy and output of the areas they controlled, they might not even be able to fill their stomachs.

If people can’t eat, what ideals, what doctrines, can you talk about?

So these international friends had given them a demand, which was to overthrow Diego’s rule as soon as possible, to prove that they were not using a pretext to defraud financial aid.

This move had almost suffocated all the resistance organizations, including Pedro. He was also the same.

Pedro’s strength was relatively strong among these people who considered themselves warlords, but he was also facing a situation where funds were running short, and supplies might not be able to keep up.

As a teacher who had received a relatively high education, he was very clear that once he couldn’t produce money or supplies, his team would quickly fall apart.

This was the federal people’s conspiracy, a blatant one.

They had first made him and his men completely stop production, and had made them rely heavily on this non-production, putting all their energy into fighting.

This way, they had no source of blood, food, firearms, ammunition, or funds of their own. Everything came from outside the country.

Once the foreign aid stopped, they would quickly collapse.

This was a conspiracy, and also an open scheme. He couldn’t refuse.

Having come this far, to ask him to put everything down and go back to being a high school teacher, he couldn’t do it.

He believed that whether it was Diego, or the leader of the resistance organization who would overthrow Diego in the future, they also couldn’t do it. They couldn’t allow a former rebel leader with considerable prestige and influence to live. They would find a way to kill him!

Sometimes people can see the road ahead clearly. They can clearly see what the road ahead is like. They can see the end with a single glance.

There is no fog, and there are no forks in the road. You can see the end at a glance.

But it is precisely this ability to see the end that makes people despair!

On the way to Zhuolan, Pedro’s mood was complex, and his heart was cold.

He had originally thought that he possessed such a powerful force, with tens of thousands of men under his command, which was a solid force for him to gain political power and to counter the federal invaders.

It wasn’t until this moment that he realized that he had never truly possessed these things. He had always been a piece on the chessboard, not the player he thought he was.

In a daze, he was awakened by the sound of a table being slammed. He looked at the rebel leader who was red-faced and demanding to retreat.

He stiffened his neck. ”No matter what you say, I’m not going to fight anymore!”

Pedro’s gaze gradually focused on him. He pursed his lips. ”You can leave, but have you considered what you will face after you leave here?”

The leader was stunned for a moment. ”What could I face?”

The room also fell completely silent. Everyone looked at Pedro. They still admired Pedro’s talent very much.

Pedro leaned back in his chair. He lit a cigarette, took a puff, and then slowly exhaled.

His movements were very slow, not fast at all, but these people, who usually seemed to have no patience, all waited patiently for him.

His gaze swept over their faces. ”We are all subconsciously avoiding one question, and that is that we are not stable at all now.”

”I know, including me. The reason why all of us have concentrated our attack on Zhuolan this time is only two.”

”First, the threat, or rather, the control, from our sponsors behind the scenes.”

”If we don’t attack Zhuolan, we will soon lose the aid of funds and supplies. Our soldiers will immediately fall apart...”

Everyone’s faces changed.

He continued, as if he didn’t see the expressions on their faces. ”Second, as long as we fight our way into the Zhuolan region, the richest place in Rapa, where the rich people of this country live,”

”We can plunder their wealth, to break free from the control that those international friends have over us.”

”Or to put it more simply, to break free from the control that the federal people have over us, and to truly become a free resistance force.”

”This is our only way out now.”

He looked at the man who was loudly announcing that he was withdrawing. ”Have you thought about it? Even if we agree to let you withdraw, what will you do next?”

”Where will you get the funds to pay your soldiers’ salaries? Although their income is not high, it probably costs tens of thousands of Federal Sols a month. Where will you get this money for them?”

”Stealing, robbing?”

”You won’t be able to get this much money. Even if your occupied area has rich resources, can you turn these resources into money?”

”You can’t. You’re not a magician. You can’t do it.”

”Your men will fall apart. When you are no longer a...” a mocking expression appeared on his face. ”...no longer a warlord, do you think those people you have hurt before will let you go?”

The man’s face turned pale. Of course he knew what he had done in the occupied areas. Once he no longer had those soldiers by his side, the people in the occupied areas would tear him apart and eat him alive!

Watching his pale face and wandering eyes, everyone’s attention was once again focused on Pedro. They became even more respectful of this intelligent and wise high school teacher.

”So, the more it is at a time like this, the more we cannot retreat. Because once we retreat, it is equivalent to cutting off our own retreat.”

”Without the funds, the weapons, and the ammunition that the federal people have supplied us, we will, overnight, turn back into our past selves.”

”I will become a teacher. Ross, you will go back to being a worker. ...you will go back to setting up a stall on the roadside.”

”And all of you. You will all become your past selves, and then you will be crushed by the Rapa government, by the Ravila family, just like crushing a small bug!”

”We seem to have many choices. We seem to have a lot of power. But in reality, we have nothing, and we have never truly controlled any real power.”

”Now, if we want to live, to live better, there is only one way.”

He took a fierce puff of his cigarette. The smoke he exhaled was also very thick. ”That is to continue to advance, to defeat these people, and to conquer Zhuolan.”

”Zhuolan has enough wealth to allow us to break free from the federal people’s control. Only in this way can we achieve independence and self-determination, and can Rapa be reborn.”

”You can flee, but after you flee, we will no longer accept you!”

The man’s expression was very ugly. He hesitated for a long time. In the end, with a sigh, he abandoned those unrealistic ideas.

”Since this matter is related to everyone’s fate, I can’t be the only one charging at the very front.”

”Pedro, I respect you very much. I believe everyone else does too, but this is not a reason for you and your men to be positioned at the rear.”

”It’s not right for you to directly seize the country that our people have fought for with their lives.”

The gazes of the others focused on Pedro again. Pedro thought for a moment and came up with a solution.

”In order to prove that I am not acting out of self-interest, I suggest that in every battle now, we each send a part of our men. I know this cannot be absolutely fair, but relatively speaking, it is not a problem.”