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Chapter 507 - 507 507 Coruas's Tactics

507: Chapter 507: Coruas’s Tactics 507: Chapter 507: Coruas’s Tactics “What has our intelligence network reported?” Zhao Guang directly asked Qiao Miya.

Qiao Miya bowed and spoke in a low voice, “There is something different.

On the surface, Marquis Coruas has been forcibly drafting soldiers in his territory for the war, creating the illusion that he is going all out.”

“But in reality, we’ve discovered that Coruas is just sending those conscripted recruits to the battlefield.

Once many of them die, he places their names among the elite troops and swaps them out.”

Zhao Guang realized that this indeed matched his own thinking.

“So, how much did they lose in the end?”

“According to our intelligence, Marquis Coruas’s elite troops have probably lost less than one-third.”

Less than one-third is no small number, and Coruas must be feeling the pain.

Yet, by keeping two-thirds of their elites, it’s clear that their main force remains intact, still possessing formidable fighting capability.

With this fighting force, if they continue to hold back the Undead Mages, they can certainly hold them off for a considerable period.

But Coruas also knows that stopping the Undead Mages is not a favorable task.

Continuing to hold them off, with nothing but further losses to his own forces, is meaningless.

With so many Undead Mages, among them numerous Advanced Undead Mages, he simply couldn’t match them.

Under the circumstances that the Undead Mages don’t wish to engage in full-scale war with the Empire, the Empire also doesn’t want to provoke them.

Especially the surrounding nobles, none of whom would willingly send their men to certain death.

Thus, deliberately concealing the intelligence and claiming they’ve been nearly wiped out is the best approach.

“It seems he has been preparing from the start,” Zhao Guang thought, initially believing Coruas was making foolish decisions in chaos.

Now, it appears he’s been crafty and calculating.

This guy isn’t someone you can handle casually.

“He’s been prepared from the start, and if it weren’t for the Prince’s interference, their losses would’ve been even smaller.”

The Prince?

He almost forgot about that guy.

An ally as useless as a pig, who did a fine job indeed.

“So, the Great Horned Bull Wilderness has been lost as well now?”

“Yes, Coruas has been proclaiming that the Great Horned Bull Wilderness has been taken by the Undead Mages, and that their army has protected and evacuated all the civilians.”

“Psh, ‘protecting civilians’, as if there were any civilians in such a place.

Isn’t that just a hunting ground for the Beastmen?”

Zhao Guang scoffed, finding such claims only deceivable to those ignorant of the actual situation.

Everyone informed would not be fooled.

Wait, it seems there are quite a few idiots among the nobility who might just believe it.

“Now Marquis Coruas is continuously propagating the message that he will reclaim the Great Horned Bull Wilderness one day.”

Zhao Guang understood, it was all just slogans.

With the Undead Mages heading south, Coruas would definitely not dare to try retaking it, as doing so would mean he’d have to confront the Undead Mages; a loss greater than the gain.

In the Great Horned Bull Wilderness, aside from training troops, he never really gained any substantial benefits.

No, there was one benefit.

By contesting with the Beastmen here, he was able to receive a substantial military subsidy from the Royal Family every year.

Once the Undead Mages had all moved south, this guy would probably announce he had retaken the area.

Everything would return to how it was before; such is Marquis Coruas’s strategy for dealing with the situation.

“Old fox, truly an old fox.”

Qiao Miya also spoke up, “What shall we say regarding Marquis Coruas’s plea for help?”

Zhao Guang responded directly, “Are we not also fighting the Undead Mages?

Many have seen us battling in the North, so our losses are even greater, plus we have to take in so many refugees.

Where would we find the support for them?”

“We’ll just announce that we offer Marquis Coruas our full moral support,” he said.

Qiao Miya’s expression remained unchanged; these were all effective tactics used by the nobles.

It’s just that some use them smoothly, while others awkwardly, that’s all.

To say that they haven’t suffered any losses would be impossible, for the battle with the Undead Mages was real, and indeed many had witnessed it.

The people from Fla Fortress next door were watching every day.

Therefore, there were both evidence and witnesses, and to promote this support would be perfectly fine.

Of course, in reality, they hadn’t suffered much; on the contrary, they had the opportunity to train their troops and also received quite a few things from the Undead Mages.

Zhao Guang wanted knowledge, but the Undead Mages were also trading with them in secret.

Some items that seemed trivial to them had significant value within the Chirali Empire.

And the materials that were easily obtained here were very important to the Undead Mages.

Especially the bones of some animals, normal people would not dare sell to them, but Zhao Guang was also doing it covertly.

This could be considered a sort of arms trade; without the massive amounts of bones provided by Zhao Guang’s side, causing such significant damage to Coruas in such a short time would not have been an easy task.

“However, there is another issue.

With Marquis Coruas’s defeat becoming public, the situation in the rear has become even more unstable.

Now more and more refugees are starting to flee, and the population pressure here is likely to balloon rapidly,” Qiao Miya said.

“What?

Coruas isn’t handling this?”

The mass exodus of people was not a small matter, and it could greatly affect them if not handled properly.

“It might be that he simply doesn’t have the capacity, or it could be deliberate,” Zhao Guang mused.

Not having the capacity meant that he was still wary of the Undead Mages and most of his attention was focused on that front, leaving him unable to attend to matters at the rear.

If it was deliberate, then perhaps he was using this situation to garner sympathy deliberately.

In the eyes of others, Coruas had protected the civilians and was beyond reproach.

Should he manage to reclaim his territory later, it would be considered a great merit.

Playing the victim now could also net him considerable benefits.

Even if the Empire were to pacify him and the other nobles, they would have to grant them some rewards.

“Forget it, let them create a fuss.

In the end, if things blow up too much, it would be difficult for them to handle.

Actually, let’s add fuel to the fire.

Get the word out about their imminent defeat and ruin, it’s just refugees, isn’t it?

We can certainly take them in,” Zhao Guang decided.

Food was something he had plenty of, and once the first harvest of spring came in, there would be no problem at all.

By then, his territory would be able to sustain itself, and it wouldn’t be an issue no matter how many refugees they took in.

Of course, productivity must be maintained, otherwise, they would run out of resources like cement.

Planning needed to continue, like the construction of roads within the territory, something that couldn’t be slowed down.

Getting things back under control once they’d spun out of control would be difficult.

“There’s also one more thing; our steel is almost running out, and the territory now needs money,” Qiao Miya added.