Cthulhu Gonfalon

Soon, Sui Xiong received news from Wenner.

He had found the opportunity for the merchant party to win the battle.

Sui Xiong rushed over, but he wondered at the scene that greeted him.

A group of people who bore no resemblance to soldiers, but rather looked more like farmers, were lined up neatly in an array. They were using long spears to pierce the targets before them.

“You’re referring to this group of people?” Sui Xiong asked doubtfully.

“Yes. My priesthood has told me that they are the source of opportunity for the merchant party to take victory,” Wenner said with great confidence.

Sui Xiong looked carefully. Then he shook his head repeatedly and said, “I’ll bet you that within that group, the biggest thing that the most experienced fighter has ever killed is no bigger than a rooster.

Though his priesthood did not encompass that of War, in the realms of war, combat and the likes of them, he was still quite accomplished—after personally witnessing the death match between two master gods, especially the final strike made by the God of Human Beings, Wuther Rang’s blade, he felt a deep sense of urgency rising within him. So upon inheriting the legacy of the former Sun God, the first thing he did was to work hard in studying these things that could increase combat power with immediate effect.

With his ability, naturally, there was no way he could tell whether they would fight this battle. Neither was he sure which one, out of the two sides involved, was more likely to emerge victorious in this battle. But it would be effortless for him to see how high the level of combat power of a group of soldiers was.

It seemed to him at that moment, the basic attributes of this group of soldiers were pretty good. All of them were strong and sturdy. It was rare that all of them were upright, and no one had bad habits. This contributed greatly to the social ethos of the army. But this group of soldiers were generally inexperienced and did not show signs of blood accumulated from killing people on them. It would take just one look at them to know that not long ago, these were just people who were farmers or workers.

Sui Xiong truly did not think much of the combat power of such soldiers.

Wenner smiled and said, “It’s not a problem if they have little experience in taking lives. The key to the combat power of an army lies in its equipment and training. The actual combat is in fact, not that important. Anyway, so long as their hard power is in place, just fighting a battle or two would gain them enough actual combat experience. This is, in fact, the least valuable aspect.”

“Eh?” Sui Xiong was stunned and subconsciously asked, “The powerful armies are all veterans who had stood the test of countless battles, aren’t they?

“An army can experience countless battles, but the soldiers can’t. The sword has no eyes; how many people in this world can fight battles for the rest of their lives?” Wenner said. He laughed and shook his head, then said, “This is why there’s one important principle when it comes to the way of training soldiers, that is, to rely mainly on training. In general, it means that if we can solve a problem with the use of training, we must remain resolute and not rely on an actual war to settle the problem.”

“I was still thinking of you as a firm supporter of actual combat.”

“The firm supporters of actual combat have all been beaten to death by me.”

Upon hearing what Wenner just said, Sui Xiong burst into loud peals of laughter and nodded eagerly.

He was not well-versed in the art of war and did not have much experience in military training. Despite the practice Crick had over the years, he was most probably still an amateur when compared to the true God of War, Wenner. Since Wenner felt that these people could become strong through training, then the case should be as such.

“But I still don’t get it. Isn’t it too late for them to only start training now?” Sui Xiong could not help asking after another short look.

“It’s not late. Even if the war has already begun, it’s not late at all, not to mention the fact that the war has yet to begin. At the beginning, it’ll only be some friction on the border. When these develop into a full-scale war, it’ll at least take another few years… adding everything up from the beginning to this point in time, at the very least, there won’t be a war between the North and South breaking out within the next five years,” Wenner said. When it was about judgments of war, Wenner was undoubtedly most authoritative, so no one would question what he had pointed out. “Five years is enough for them to mature into a strong, reliable army.”

This allowed Sui Xiong to grasp a full understanding of the situation, and finally, he could rest his heart at ease.

They watched these rookies who had come into contact with these weapons not too long ago train. After a while, Wenner suddenly smiled and said, “In fact, this army coming into existence has a lot to do with you.”

“Ah?” Sui Xiong wondered and asked, “What has it got to do with me?”

“Don’t you have a Holy Spirit by the name of Crick Keane? This set of training methods was first brought up by him. The merchant party had a few powerful aristocrats, but because the party didn’t have an army that was truly reliable, they’re always in pursuit of reliable ways to train the soldiers. They looked all over for one and finally, they found Keane Hill,” Wenner said. His Oracles had just sent him a report to tell him about this matter. “The merchants have paid a hefty price to obtain the Keane family’s training secrets.”

Sui Xiong was shocked into momentary paralysis. He hurriedly sent for his clergymen and followers in Keane City to check out the situation.

The Church of the Void Mask had great influence in Keane City. The present Baron, Anna Keane, was Sui Xiong’s follower. And her appointed successor to be the next city lord, her eldest son, Louis Keane was naturally also a member of the Church of the Void Mask. He was still a clergyman, though yet to even reach mid-rank, his status itself was enough to address the problem.

More importantly, Louis Keane had personally handled this matter of teaching the Keane family’s training methods to the merchant party of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins.

About three months ago, which was the period where a terrible row was still going on within the Grand Parliament Hall, a few powerful merchants who were more far-sighted had sent people over to Keane City. They wanted to try to negotiate with the Keane family and see if they could learn the Keane family’s ways of training soldiers.

Unlike the other aristocrats in general, the Keane family had never recruited adventurers to form their army. Neither had they recruited those strong gangsters and ruffians, or the likes of them. They always recruited soldiers from amongst the civilians with decent family background and who were upright and honest. Then they would put these people through a long period of training to train them into loyal, courageous and tenacious soldiers who were skillful in battle.

Over the years, Baron Keane had clashed with the other aristocrats in the surroundings more than once. There were even several situations that called for the mobilization of an army to fight. In every battle, this army never failed to display a very different style from the other ordinary troops—they were not more powerful than the traditional army, but they were particularly obedient to commands and also, they were persistent and indomitable. On more than one occasion, they had persisted with close to 20% of casualties and fought valiantly. Eventually, they defeated an enemy who might be more powerful than them.

The merchants were not short of money, but they had always lacked a truly reliable army. The combat power of the mercenaries was unquestionable, but they were simply not reliable enough. Usually, or when they only had to fight battles that they could easily win, they were good enough. However, the moment they met with adverse situations, they would often collapse as an entire army. Then they would tear about like a pack of wild beasts trying to flee in panic.

Of course, there were loyal and reliable mercenaries too. However, even if the merchant party had the money, there was no way they could engage too many mercenaries for such an army—because they had a small number to start with.

For example, the famous “Mountaineers with Halberds” was an outstanding army that was extremely loyal and reliable. But even if the merchant party gathered almost all of such mercenaries on the continent and recruited them to form an army, there would not be enough to make up one thousand people.

This number was certainly enough to fight the minor conflicts by the borders, but if the merchant party wanted to completely fall out with the aristocratic party and wage a full-scale war, this number would not even be enough to make up the frontline troops.

This was why the merchant party attached particular importance to the Keane family’s training methods. After spending a large amount of money and various political costs to get a hold of this set of training methods, they adjusted according to their actual situation. Then, they impatiently formed a few experimental armies and began the actual training.

At that moment, Sui Xiong and Wenner were looking at one of these experimental armies.