Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1798 - 1791: Tactical Formulation

Chapter 1798: Chapter 1791: Tactical Formulation

Cheng Ziang and Hu Daoke were invited to the military camp, where they saw the flags flying and the new army soldiers in brightly colored uniforms, lined up to welcome them.

Judging from the attire and weapons, the Dongsheng new army almost completely copied the structure of the Demon Clan army, thus presenting a modern army feel.

Moreover, what’s even more commendable is that the proportion of Demon Clan people in the new army is as high as forty percent, which is rare compared to the past.

It should be noted that Demon Clan people have always lived humbly in Kyushu, although there is policy support from the Wen Family Imperial Court, Demon Clan people have always been at the bottom of the hierarchy.

So when the Wen Family Imperial Court decided to recruit soldiers to form a new army, they launched the slogan of enlisting to become free from being commoners.

Demon Clan people from Kyushu, as long as they enlist, can obtain officially authorized civilian status. If they achieve meritorious service, they can even be granted official titles and rewarded with land.

These are very tempting conditions. It’s necessary to know that although the Wen Family promoted the abolition of slavery, the tradition of keeping slaves in Kyushu has long existed, and discrimination against Demon Clan people is deep-rooted.

If they can get the official endorsement of the Wen Family Imperial Court, then undoubtedly, these Demon Clan people can hold their heads high and live their lives.

The Wen Family doesn’t care about the expansion of Demon Clan people in Kyushu, because they really don’t need to maintain the so-called purity of bloodline.

Even if it touches the interests of the Wu Family, as long as it solves the problem in their hearts and they can command a powerful army, then the Wu Family is not something to be afraid of.

The soldiers wore brightly colored red uniforms, which was Cheng Ziang’s suggestion.

Having experienced the war in West Outer Heaven, he is very aware that once both sides fire on the battlefield, the scene would be filled with smoke and dust, making it difficult for those involved to see even their own fingers.

And communication conditions in the East Continent are extremely limited, so soldiers need to use brightly colored clothing to distinguish friend from foe. On one hand, it helps avoid friendly fire, and on the other, it facilitates quick regrouping of formations after a shock.

The muskets they are equipped with are all standard-produced flintlock guns.

Although Dongsheng Nine States are not strong in other aspects, as an old land power, their metal refining technology is very strong, far surpassing the Demon Clan from West Outer Heaven.

Therefore, the muskets they crafted are not as cumbersome as those of the Demon Clan, instead very close to the late 19th-century level on Earth.

However, the production capacity of Dongsheng Nine States is limited, so to craft all the weapons needed for the new army, the Wen Family Imperial Court almost recruited all craftsmen from across the nation to gather in Shengjing to create new-style weapons for the new army.

Aside from infantry formations, Jiuyun Shuang also showed Cheng Ziang the cavalry, which also borrowed from the experience of Demon Clan’s cavalry, with guidance from Cheng Ziang and others.

The cavalry are equipped with slightly shorter flintlock guns, most of which are smoothbore guns, with only a few elite guards equipped with more difficult-to-manufacture rifled guns.

However, there aren’t many cavalry because the court didn’t allocate many troops to Jiuyun Shuang, and most are infantry.

Jiuyun Shuang’s cavalry amounted to only a few hundred, and to get additional cavalry, he could only plead with his father to deploy the Nine Thousand Battalion. In the Northern Province, the Jiuyun Clan’s Nine Thousand Battalion is uniformly cavalry.

Cheng Ziang inspected the circle; the entire new army almost completely mimics the Demon Clan army with which they fought, including organization, clothing, and weapons.

High-peak people from the Western Continent introduced a modern military system to the Demon Clan army, and the Dongsheng army completely absorbed it. Thus, it’s clear that the Dongsheng army isn’t unwilling to reform; they’ve always been secretly studying their opponents.

Of course, reforming the new army is meant to happen step by step; it can’t be accomplished overnight, and requires adjusting the direction of reform based on enemy dynamics.

Considering the army led by Jiuyun Shuang primarily faces Yipa cavalry, who are renowned for their mounted archery, the army still arranged many sword and shield bearers and spearmen to resist possible cavalry shocks and mounted archery harassment.

In addition to already organized troops, more reserve forces are being trained.

These reserve soldiers are mostly Demon Clan people, all eager to earn citizenship through military service to live openly in Kyushu.

The biggest change brought by new-style weapons to the military is the greatly lowered threshold for warfare.

Archers need years of training, whereas crossbowmen and musketmen need only a few months of training; no more need be said about such clichés.

Simply talking about battlefield sustainability, an army equipped with muskets is undoubtedly much stronger than one equipped only with bows and crossbows.

Because bows and crossbows, by nature, convert the user’s strength into forward propulsion through deformation, pushing arrows to attack the target.

Whereas muskets derive forward propulsion from powder expansion, greatly conserving the user’s physical strength.

In a battle, it’s already very impressive if an archer can shoot a hundred arrows, whereas a musketman can continuously fire hundreds of rounds without considering weapon wear.

This has been proven by Earth’s World War I and World War II.

Furthermore, muskets generally offer superior range to bows and crossbows, which makes the army equipped with muskets stronger in both endurance and range compared to cold weapon armies equipped only with bows, crossbows, or other long-range weapons.

Moreover, the Dongsheng new army doesn’t only have flintlock guns, but also crafted many muskets and cannons based on powder launches, with more than two hundred types of cannons alone in the new army led by Jiuyun Shuang.

In fact, compared to the Demon Clan army, the Dongsheng new army focuses more on artillery development because artillery is a significant improvement in both range and power over muskets.

As for artillery lacking mobility, for the Dongsheng Empire, this is not a problem at all.

It’s worth noting that the Dongsheng Empire has an airship fleet equipped with Kunzhou that can easily oversee the East Continent. They can completely rely on these formidable objects to transport the weapons needed for war, greatly speeding up the war process.

Looking at the magnificent weaponry of the Dongsheng new army, Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but sigh.

If it were this army invading West Outer Heaven, then even with the help of the Western Continent people, the Demon Clan would probably still be destined to have their cities fall and clans extinguished.

But fortunately, this is an army led by the Wen Family Imperial Court, whose attitude towards West Outer Heaven makes the advance teams fully trust them because they are rational enough not to expand their dominance over lands they can’t govern.

And most importantly, the Wen Family doesn’t believe in practice, making them bear no deep grudge against the Demon Clan, nor do they show interest in the magic crystal mines in West Outer Heaven.

Because every war the Kyushu Empire launched against West Outer Heaven was, without exception, aimed at these two.

During this time, Cheng Ziang and Jiuyun Shuang had repeated discussions, exploring ways for new combat tactics.

But frankly speaking, when it comes to air-ground integrated warfare with airships as the mainstay, Cheng Ziang can only be considered an outsider.

Because Earth people, to this day, have yet to build their own skyships, Cheng Ziang’s discussion of airship tactics is mostly derived from the combat experiences of the High-peak people.

After discussions, Jiuyun Shuang has roughly mastered a plan for infantry to counter Yipa cavalry.

First, he will go to the Northern Province to meet his father. If he can get help from the clan’s private soldiers, that would be ideal; if not, he will caution his father to strictly defend the borders.

Secondly, after issuing the proclamation, their troops will directly take Kunzhou to bypass the leading defenses of Yipa cavalry, breaking into their rear, harassing their logistics and personnel. When enemy cavalry arrives, they will board the ship and withdraw.

Repeating this cycle several times will weaken the momentum of the Yipa cavalry, making them reluctant to easily venture out, instead guarding their tribal stronghold. Thus, the cavalry alliance formed by the three Yipa groups will collapse.

Finally, once the Yipa cavalry is fragmented and isolated, unable to support each other, they will be individually defeated.

Repeating the cycle until all tribes become sincerely submissive, Jiuyun Shuang can fulfill the mission assigned by the court to pacify the three Yipa clans.

The entire plan hinges on Kunzhou and the final frontal breakthrough.

How to orderly transfer forces for harassment and launch a frontal attack at the last moment will test Jiuyun Shuang’s command and operational capabilities.