Close Combat Mage
chapter-208

Chapter 208 – The Three Great Generals Pt. 2

That night, Suo Jia welcomed three guests into his office. These people were General Harvey, General Jason, and General Roger. Currently…each of them was holding a form in their hands, waiting to submit it to Suo Jia.

The first to walk up and speak was General Harvey. As he passed the form over to Suo Jia, General Harvey said carefully, “I split the Mengma Knights group into 5 major bodies. There are 1000 Knights in the middle sections, two branches in the left section that totals 2000 Knights, and two branches in the right section, which also has 2000 Knights. The grand sum is 5000 Knights!”

Harvey looked at the form in Suo Jia’s hands and continued, “The 5 main lieutenants on the form each command a single branch of the Knights group. When in battle, they’ll lead their groups to advance in movement, defense, and attack according to my commands!”

“Mm…not bad!” Suo Jia read the form as he listened to General Harvey’s explanation. He praised, “This way is extremely good. One level supervises another. Such perfect command is extremely appropriate!”

General Harvey’s expression lit up at Suo Jia’s praise, and he continued, “There are 10 sergeants under each lieutenant. Each seargent also controls 10 corporals, and each corporal commands 10 Knights!”

“Good!” Suo Jia shouted in praise after hearing Harvey’s arrangements. This was something that no army had ever done. Before, the smallest division reached 1000 in number. The corporal thus commanded 1000 people. But now, with General Harvey’s divisions, the corporal commanded 10!

Suo Jia sighed in praise, “God, how did you ever think of such a division? This is really too amazing!”

Harvey solemnly met Suo Jia’s gaze and said calmly, “This is something I surmised after thousands of battles. On the battlefield, a corporal that only has to command 10 Knights is most appropriate. Commanding any more would lead to loss of control, and commanding any less would be wasting energy and intelligence. If there are too few subordinates, the amount of tasks one can carry out is limited.”

“Mmmmmm…” Suo Jia nodded along furiously with General Harvey’s words. Indeed…10 Knights could assault, 100 Knights could break through an army, and 1000 could raze the area. This kind of division couldn’t be any more well-suited. If there were only 4-5 Knights, it wouldn’t be possible to form an attack, as the amount of power would be lacking.

Suo Jia grabbed a pen on his table and approved the divisions with flourish. He then handed the form back to General Harvey, and smiled, “Alright, you can go back and prepare now. Tomorrow at 8am, I’ll formally appoint them!”

After hearing Suo Jia’s order, General Harvey sternly saluted in respect once more, then turned around to leave the room.

After seeing General Harvey leave, Suo Jia turned around to look at Jason. Seeing Suo Jia’s gaze, Jason hurriedly placed the form in his hand onto the table and said, “This is the administration division for the pike users!”

Suo Jia casually accepted the form and examined it closely. He then furrowed his brows; within the entire pike user group, the only commanding officer was Jason. He then created a new type of soldier: the messenger soldiers. There were a total of 10 messenger soldiers.

Stunned, Suo Jia raised his head and looked at Jason in confusion, “General Jason, isn’t your position a bit too simple? In the entire corps, you are the only commanding officer. How are you going to command the entire army?”

Jason’s expression remained unchanged as he replied, “Viscount Suo Jia, you need to know that defending and attacking are completely opposite things. Attacks must be diverse, as well as penetrating. On the other hand, defense requires stability and sturdiness. All of us have been training for a long time. Masters proficient in defense aren’t necessary, nor should they have commanding officer positions established!”

“Oh?” Suo Jia put down the form and asked curiously, “Tell me, exactly what differences are there between defense and attack? Honestly, I still don’t really understand this!”

Seeing Suo Jia sincerely seek instruction, General Jason’s lit up in admiration. He had lived for so long, and encountered many bosses that clearly didn’t understand anything, yet pretended they did. All the commands they had issued were ignorant, but he couldn’t ever protest.

The most unbearable part was that these bosses had been figures that couldn’t be argued against. They had seemed to be stronger than anyone else, but they were actually no different from idiots. Even if they were beyond wrong, they stubbornly refused to admit their mistakes. When they lost battles, they’d then go and blame their commanders. It had been extremely suffocating.

However, Suo Jia was clearly different. If General Harvey did well, Suo Jia would praise him and flatter him. On the other hand, although he didn’t understand Jason’s arrangements, he still genuinely wanted to learn, and patiently listen to an explanation. A commanding officer like this was one Jason had never even heard of, let alone met.

Jason explained, “Attacks require constant change: splitting soldiers and paths, then executing combined attacks in ambush…all of these rely on variation. However, defense is different, and cannot be arranged the same way attacks are.”

Jason paused for a bit before continuing, “Defense pays particular attention to maintaining the same state. If I assigned 10 high ranked military officers to defense, regardless of how well coordinated they are, there would be still be gaps and loopholes. Enemies would then use these openings to charge straight through. Such a conclusion would be hard to avoid.”

Only when the whole defense army was fused together as one, would the enemies be unable to find any cracks. All the soldiers were to listen to Jason’s commands alone. His orders would be spread around through the messenger soldiers, and then the entire group would simultaneously execute it. That way, despite there being 5000 people, they would act as one united being. Everyone would follow a single person’s commands and act accordingly, which would prevent any openings and holes from appearing. This was an ironset, perfect defense.

“Pa!” Although Suo Jia didn’t understand all of Jason’s words, he understood a majority of it. Defense and attack did indeed have differences. If the army in charge of defense were split into 5 branches, cracks and holes would inevitably appear. This would provide the enemy an advantage. That’s why the pike users couldn’t be divided up. They were like a single shield, a unified body, that couldn’t be split apart!

Without another word, Suo Jia picked up his pen once more and happily signed the form before handing it back to Jason. “Very good. What you said does indeed make sense. Just like I said earlier, you should go back and start preparations. I’ll officially confer your rank upon you tomorrow morning at 8!”

Jason took the form and respectfully responded, then turned around and left the room. In that moment, the only ones remaining in the room were Suo Jia and Roger. Suo Jia smiled at Roger and pointed to the fatty’s chair, “Alright, let’s sit down and talk!”

Roger couldn’t help but feel stunned at these words. He then gratefully shot Suo Jia a glance. He understood that the reason Suo Jia acted in such a way was because it was most appropriate and suitable.

He was different from General Jason and Harvey; they were official soldiers. On the other hand, Roger was only a slave soldier. Suo Jia had invited him to sit down in order to declare where Roger stood. In front of Suo Jia, although Roger didn’t follow the military etiquette, Suo Jia viewed Roger as another aristocrat. Roger didn’t refuse, as he was never an artificial person that said things he didn’t actually mean.

Looking at Roger in delight, Suo Jia clapped his hands together and loudly declared, “Servants, bring some fruits and pastries here!” Following this order, maids carrying the food walked in.

Suo Jia smiled as he leaned back into his chair and leisurely told Roger, “Ok, now…let’s talk about the slave soldiers’ situation. Do you have any good proposals?”

Roger smiled and didn’t hesitate to pick up a fruit and toss it into his mouth. Although the fruit was nothing special, it was something that he hadn’t eaten in ages. As a slave soldier, there was no opportunity to ever eat fruits.

As he chewed the sweet fruit, Roger mumbled, “It’s very difficult to give the slave soldiers any significant roles. However, during the past 6 years, I’ve already strived to gather together the absolute elites amongst them and formed a small group. There are nearly 100 people that each possess extremely special abilities!”

As he swallowed the fruit, Roger continued, “If you let them enter the battlefield, you surely won’t be disappointed. We aren’t specialized military personnel, and haven’t received training since we were young; that’s why we’re mere amateurs on the battlefield. However…there are various things that we are experts in, and one could even say that we are the founders of such things!”