Chapter 1154: Becoming Pioneers for the Empire

In the age of cold weapons, morale is a mysterious thing. Once it's gone, even a once-elite army could be defeated by a band of recruits. Realizing they wouldn’t benefit much from continuing the fight, Gannasius decisively ordered a retreat.

“They retreated? Damn those Roman bastards! Why couldn’t they stay and let me beat them down one more time? After taking all this loot, it's only fair we fight again before leaving!” Li Jue cursed immediately.

The main issue was that Vologases V was just too generous. He had given so much, and although Li Jue and the others weren’t exactly the most honorable people, they did believe in earning their rewards. With all the gold, armor, and horses they’d received, Li Jue felt they owed at least one more battle in return.

However, Li Jue also understood that replenishing their Western Liang Cavalry was becoming increasingly difficult, and he couldn’t afford to let his forces get caught in a war of attrition. Therefore, he started thinking of alternatives. Guo Si and Fan Chou were of the same mind, and after some brainstorming, they managed to come up with a plan. As the saying goes, three mediocre strategists together can rival Zhuge Liang.

The Western Liang Cavalry’s greatest strength lay in their formidable defense, which allowed them to completely ignore the Roman short bowmen’s arrow volleys. However, Roman spear infantry could still kill their cavalry. Therefore, it became obvious that avoiding close combat and focusing on long-range attacks would be the best strategy.

Though the Western Liang Cavalry’s archery skills were terrible—they were always intended as a close-combat, melee-breaking force—they weren’t equipped with bows. In fact, even Li Jue and the other leaders were notoriously bad archers.

This was why, years ago, Li Ru had decided to simplify things for them, equipping Li Jue’s forces with single-shot crossbows, though by now, these were considered outdated relics.

But, as the saying goes, "trash is treasure in the right place." Li Ru wasn’t an idiot. These single-shot crossbows were cumbersome to load and draw, but they packed enough power to pierce through heavily armored enemies.

They were brutally powerful weapons, though their slow rate of fire meant that by the time a soldier loaded a single bolt, Roman archers could have already loosed an entire quiver of arrows and then begun firing a second. Because of this, such weapons had long been abandoned in the Central Plains.

However, Li Ru had never intended for the Western Liang Cavalry to reload these crossbows during battle. They were meant for a single, decisive shot, enough to punch a hole in the Roman spear formation.

Even though the Western Liang Cavalry’s archery skills were subpar, how could they miss when facing such dense spear formations? As long as everyone fired in unison, a single volley could open a hole in the enemy lines.

Once a gap appeared in a spear formation, its combat effectiveness was essentially nullified. After that, the cavalry could easily crush the remaining infantry. Thus, Roman spear formations, designed to counter cavalry charges, were useless against the Western Liang Cavalry, especially their main forces.

But the Western Liang Cavalry rarely used this tactic unless absolutely necessary. They preferred to keep this as a hidden trump card.

After confirming that the Romans didn’t have strong crossbows, Li Jue had an epiphany: why not do exactly what Li Ru had taught them years ago—focus their firepower to create a breach? They didn’t need to worry about speed, range, or accuracy.

They could charge to within thirty paces of the enemy, endure the arrow volleys, and fire in concentrated volleys in a single direction. Surely, they would kill dozens with each volley. After firing, they could retreat.

By wearing the enemy down bit by bit, their morale would eventually crumble. After all, with their superior defense, they didn’t need to worry about the Roman short bows.

“We need to go fight the Romans! After taking so much from Parthia, don’t you feel uneasy about it? Worst case, if we exhaust our reserves, we can go back and rely on our strategist,” Li Jue finally declared, slamming his hand on the stone table.

“Ten thousand fine horses aren’t much use to us, but I like this Parthian king. He’s generous. If we can defeat Rome, he’ll definitely reward us with even more!” Guo Si said, rubbing his chin. The best part about having a strategist like Li Ru was the security he provided.

“The Romans now understand that their archers are useless against us, so their rear guard will definitely consist of spear and shield infantry. At the same time, the center will likely be light cavalry and archers,” Fan Chou added, tapping the stone table. “The real challenge is whether we can break through their spear and shield formations. We saw clearly a few days ago: they use a combination of one long spear and two short spears. Once they form ranks, we lose our advantage.”

“The biggest issue is our lack of manpower. If we still had the 30,000 soldiers and 100,000 followers from the days of Guo, Li, Fan, Zhang, and Hua, we wouldn’t even need to think about this. We’d just charge in, and all our problems would be solved,” Guo Si said thoughtfully.

“Manpower is indeed a problem, but we’ve also seen Parthia’s situation. Aside from the king’s elite guards, they are completely countered by the Romans—almost as much as we counter their archers,” Li Jue said with frustration.

Guo Si and Fan Chou both laughed at the absurdity of the situation. It was as if fate itself was mocking them, but they agreed: it was time for Parthia to change their military tactics.

“In my opinion, whether we include the Parthians or not is irrelevant. If we can break through the Roman spear line, we don’t need the Parthians. If we can’t, having them will only result in more deaths,” Fan Chou said, throwing up his hands.

“That’s true,” Guo Si said, recalling the ineffectiveness of Parthia’s light cavalry.

“So, should we fight or not?” Li Jue asked, looking at his two comrades.

“If Bo Yan were here, I’d support fighting,” Fan Chou said, shaking his head and rejecting Li Jue’s dangerous proposal. He wasn’t willing to risk his men’s lives for mere riches.

“Zhirang, tell us your honest thoughts. You’re the smartest among us,” Guo Si said after a moment of hesitation, deciding to support Li Jue’s idea. He truly wanted to fight. After all, he was a bandit at heart, a man who had risen through the ranks by fighting and killing.

“I want to fight—not for the money, but because I’m thinking about what our strategist really wants from us. He may have said that we don’t need to do anything as long as we stay away from the central plains, ensuring our safety for the rest of our lives. But can we really just do nothing?” Li Jue asked, looking at the other two.

In their eyes, Li Ru was always a beacon of wisdom. They believed Li Ru wouldn’t waste their talents and military prowess, especially since he had sent them with troops, not as mere messengers to the Western Regions.

This made Li Jue, the sharpest of the three, start to think that Li Ru had another mission in mind for them. Yet, even after they reached the Western Regions, Li Ru hadn’t given them any new instructions. That was until Parthia came asking for help, sparking a realization in Li Jue: perhaps their strategist wanted them to act as pioneers.

They had titles, military forces, and exceptional leadership skills. Acting as pioneers would be inconspicuous, and they had the ability to test the strength of another empire!

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