Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1544: Chapter 1487: Hua Xiong’s Progress

Hua Xiong, Duan Wei, and others exchanged glances; a Military Spirit Legion of three thousand can withstand an elite legion of tens of thousands without much problem. The Flying Bear Army has done such things before.

”I believe you are all familiar with the situation of the Vanguard,” Li Youu said calmly.

”The number of the Vanguard determines that they can only serve as the spearhead during large army battles, even if they are extremely powerful, they inevitably get overwhelmed,” Hua Xiong said after a moment of silence.

Li Youu raised an eyebrow, seemingly slightly surprised by Hua Xiong’s thought process, yet his expression remained calm. ”As you said, no matter how strong the Vanguard is, their numbers define their destructive power. In the Northern Frontier battle, by my estimate, the number of Hu People is this large.”

As he spoke, Li Youu raised his left hand, waggling his fingers. Given such a frightening number, it’s really hard to say how much effect a force of less than a thousand can have.

One could say that when the battle on the Northern Frontier Prairie truly commences, even elite soldiers like the Vanguard can at most act as the spearhead, boost morale, and coordinate with the strong attack, making independent fighting impossible. In a frontal thrust of the large army, if one directly compares strength, the Vanguard’s immense strength can only be used to boost morale.

All the military officers from Xiliang felt a chill; such a large-scale mobilization of soldiers has barely been seen throughout history, and yet this is just one side’s forces.

”Can the prairie support so many Hu People?” Duan Wei asked, after a moment of silence.

”The issue is that apart from the main Northern Huns, none of the others, be they enemies or the auxiliary army, count as their own people,” Li Youu replied coldly, ”Back in Yongliang, did you ever care about the survival of the Qiang Auxiliary Army? If I were the Hun Chanyu, I’d do the same.”

Hua Xiong and others nodded; who cares about the auxiliary army? Moreover, the auxiliary army that follows the main force is inherently lowly, yet when the main force commands them to bite, they bite ruthlessly, even more than their usual performance suggests, as if the main forces mocking them from behind embolden them. The Xiliang Iron Cavalry has seen this too many times with the Qiang Cavalry.

”So this battle won’t be easy,” Li Youu continued, seeing that everyone understood, ”If using conventional tactics, when the Northern Huns, already without a permanent home, are defeated, they’ll just brush it off and leave, suffering no real loss.”

Hua Xiong, a seasoned warrior, looked up at the sky, contemplated for a while, and deeply felt that Li Youu’s words made a lot of sense.

”Then how do we achieve a resounding victory?” Duan Wei asked straightforwardly, without Hua Xiong paying much mind, while Hu Zhen pondered silently.

”Exchanging pieces, taking out the opponent in a king-versus-king scenario,” Li Youu stated with a composed demeanor.

”This...” Everyone was dumbfounded until Hua Xiong spoke, ”Such a tactic, if not overwhelmingly crushing the opponent, could erupt into chaos, and in their significant numerical advantage, chaos might put us at a disadvantage.”

”Are you suggesting you don’t believe the Vanguard can hold off the Hun Guards?” Li Youu’s lips curled into a faint smile, seemingly somewhat satisfied with Hua Xiong’s judgment. Though Hua Xiong’s intelligence was not high, after many years of battling, he had understood a lot through intuition and physical memory from direct combat.

”As previously mentioned, the number is too small. If the Hun Guards are divided into ten teams, with ten spearheads, and the Vanguard is divided into ten teams with ten spearheads, the Vanguard will inevitably be wiped out,” Hua Xiong stated calmly, having experienced such scenarios too many times.

In terms of the individual value of a Vanguard soldier, aside from their resistance to death, not one soldier within the Xiliang Iron Cavalry behind Hua Xiong would pay it much heed. Simply put, they carry their heads on their shoulders just like anyone else, having fought and survived on the battlefield for over a decade; there’s basically no qualitative experience gap among the soldiers.

The incredible combat strength of the Eight Hundred Heavy Infantry arises more from the coordination among themselves. There’s a saying, if Lyu Bu led a hundred men and Zhuge Liang in his prime led a hundred men to a field battle, even with all his stratagems, Zhuge Liang would die.

Conversely, if Zhuge Liang and Lyu Bu each commanded ten thousand men, even with Lyu Bu having the Eight Valiant Generals, as long as Zhuge Liang’s subordinates followed orders, the only option left for Lyu Bu would be to kneel.

When the scale of war rises to a certain level, individual strength becomes insignificant. Similarly, elite legions like the Vanguard or the Imperial Guard, when faced with massive chaos among hundreds of thousands, serve more to boost morale and break deadlock.

If a direct confrontation is inevitable, the fate of Juo Yi, forcibly engaged head-on in the battle of Yuan Liu, serves as a prime example. It wasn’t that the Vanguard wasn’t strong enough, but the enemy was too numerous. Though individually inferior to the Vanguard, under the multidirectional assault of Guan Yu’s School Sabre Bearers, Zhao Yun’s White Horse, Xuu Chu’s Tiger Guards, and Hua Xiong’s Xiliang Iron Cavalry, they still annihilated the Vanguard by sheer numbers.

While the Military Spirit Legion is indeed strong, almost invincible with the same numbers, and can even dominate through numerical multipliers, they are still human, possessing inevitable human limitations.

”That’s about it,” Li Youu nodded, saying, ”In a direct confrontation, three thousand Hun Guards certainly have nothing on the eight hundred Vanguard. Both sides have vast reserves of elite forces and can quickly transition into the Military Spirit Legion, but in a frontal clash, at most it would be a bloodletting battle.”

Hua Xiong nodded, indicating understanding; it was akin to the main force of Xiliang Iron Cavalry behind him, with some having once been reserves for the Flying Bear Army, reaching peak quality, yet without sharing the same willpower.

”The Hun people aren’t fools and are unlikely to engage in a war of attrition, knowing their population can’t sustain it. Based on what I’ve learned from past situations, in a full-on clash, even against three thousand Northern Huns Guards at full strength, the Vanguard might not fall behind,” Li Youu said calmly; he had frequent interactions with Lyu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun.

Although Hua Xiong was reluctant to believe this truth, given how the Vanguard destroyed the Xiliang’s most proud legion, he had grudging admiration for the Vanguard’s combat effectiveness.

Duan Wei and others also understood the intentions of the Hun people. By dividing the Northern Huns Guards into three parts, though the combat power decreased, if the Vanguard engaged all of them, they might fall behind after being divided into three.

Suppose they handled only one side, the remaining two Military Spirit Legions, led by elite forces, would inflict very significant damage on the entire army. A pack of wolves led by a tiger and a pack led by a Wolf King would display substantial differences in momentum.

”According to my calculations, if the Vanguard is divided into two, they would no longer have the upper hand against one thousand Flying Bears, and if divided into three, the Vanguard would likely fall behind,” Li Youu said to Hua Xiong, whose expression undoubtedly grew more grave.