Chapter 548 Shakuni The Master Strategist
Rudra started right from the basics as he explained his plan to Max and the rest of his friends.
” If my ears are not fooling me, I hear that we have a total of 1.2 million troops in service of the Bloodfall clan scattered across multiple planets.
You plan to leave 200,000 of them incharge of 5 planets total while taking a million into battle.
In my humble opinion that’s not a good idea at all ” Rudra said as he rejected the idea of taking 1 million troops into battle when the clan only had 1.2 million at their disposal.
” We need all men that we can spare at our disposal old man, even a million might not be enough in this war ” Sebastian protested as in his understanding every last man mattered.
” The longer the war lasts, the more deaths there will be and the more need there will be to replace lost soldiers.
What we need to implement first and foremost is solid control over all planets and introduce compulsory 12 month war service for all non- military men aged 18-45.
We need to come up with a fast 3 month programme to whip them into fighting shape and then continue to call them up to fight as per necessity.
To implement this programme and stop riots from breaking out, have trained soldiers train the next batch and for that to happen we need to have at least 600,000 soldiers back home.
Having a military presence back home will ensure that things don’t get out of control, regardless of what developments there might be in the battlefield.
We have 45 days till the war starts and 5 more days after that to set up our base.
That means if the first batch of additional troops are trained by day 90, we would only need to survive the first 40 days of war with 600,000 soldiers, which would then be replenished constantly in a monthly cycle.
If we are fighting with all that we have at the battlefield and anarchy breaks out back home, then everything we are fighting for will be for naught.
I understand we need to take every last man that we can, but maintaining civil order should be a priority as well, ” Rudra explained as he tried to tell the inexperienced kids that the security of their homeland could not be ignored just because they were going to war and that the supply of troops was not a one time thing, but rather something that needed to be periodically cycled in preparation of a long war. ｂｅ𝚍𝚗ｏｖｅ𝚕．𝚗𝚎𝚝
When he explained it this way, his words made a lot of sense to everyone present as after a quick discussion the consensus was reached that his method was the right one.
Once that part was resolved, Rudra pointed at the battle map where he circled the orb that the Bloodfall clan had chosen to protect.
” To protect this orb well, we first need to understand what are its weakest points.
Let’s think as if we are dark faction demons for a second and analyse how we should attack this orb-
Let’s forget about the fact that Lord Ravan can manipulate the river pathway and just assume that we are to attack the orb as it stands, then how would we do it?
As I see it, the location of the orb makes it so that one can attack it from all 3 elements.
If the mountain top where our fellow vampires are holding ground falls to the enemy. They gain access to the stream from a high point and can mobilise their naval vessels to attack downstream along the river.
If they decide to march through the forest area, they can attack us by land
If they decide to fly using mounts or a legion of greater demons capable of flight attack us, we stand exposed to the air as well.
Strategically, our location is very difficult to hold onto since we might believe that setting up a proper ambush in the forest will help us choke the enemy, but what if the enemy are not demons but dark elves who are extremely proficient in forest fights?
What if instead of naval vessels water demons decide to attack the orb via water?
What good will be the defensive positions that we dig if the enemy chooses to attack via air?
Overall, the location we have chosen is a strategic nightmare which is why we need to change the approach of our defence ” Rudra said as he gave insight into scenarios that the others had not even began considering.
Max suddenly felt like his face was burning red as the choice to defend this orb was made by him.
At the time he thought that he was making a tactical masterstroke, but it turned out that it was a strategic blunder.
” So what do we do ? ” Asiva asked with a frown on her face as the scenarios that Rudra highlighted began playing out in her head.
” We need to make a dam, that’s the first thing we need to do ” Rudra said as he took a marking pencil and drew on the map of the battlefield
About 2 kilometres from where the orb was located Rudra wanted to make a dam where the flow of water could be regulated.
” If our friends on the mountain top fall, then we increase the security near the dam as should a naval assault ever begin, then the first checkpoint where they would need to fight would be near this dam.
To move their vessels they would need to bring the dam down and if they chose such a tactic then we can shave off their numbers by a lot by fighting on the shores and planting mines upstream of the dam.
But if they don’t fall, then the dam should serve as a diverter to manipulate the flow of the river.
What we want to do is divert the river to flood a section of the forest and turn it into a swampy mudland.
This would create a stretch of nearly 1 kilometre of swamp between the dry forest and the dry land where we would be defending the orb which would be impossible to travel on foot.
If they even attempt a large scale troop movement through this area, we can eviscerate them with long ranged spells which they would be unable to evade for being slowed by the terrain.
This leaves only the aerial route for us to think about and the solution to that is simple.
We build a fort like defensive structure around the orb.
If I’m not wrong the True Elites guild is in possession of a fort blueprint made from symmetrical blocks of reinforced concrete.
If we can negotiate a deal with them to prepare the base structure and the bricks needed in the 45 days that we have, then the assembly part will not take much time.
Having 5 days and nearly 600,000 troops as manpower, I think we can easily complete both the projects of creating the dam and the fort which would give us leverage to fight all three modes of battle.
We would still be at a disadvantage should we be attacked on two fronts at once, or if we have to face god’s but other than that we should be able to hold our positions for a fair time ” Rudra said as he gave his version of the defence plan that was completely different from what the others had discussed in the meeting up till now.
His plan was detailed and covered individual scenarios that may occur that made it easy for everyone to understand.
” As expected from a war veteran. His insights are much better than ours ” DarkSorrow said as he was the first one to realise the genius of Rudra’s proposed plan.
Soon everyone began debating the pros and cons of this plan, but Rudra had already thought about everything.
Returning to the corner and sitting in silence he let the kids debate the things that he had already calculated until they naturally came to the same conclusion that he had already proposed that this was the best strategy of defence for this location.
Hence in a war meeting that lasted over 6 hours, in the end the conclusion was to follow the advice of the Bloodfall clan counsellor on how to proceed with the war.