Lord of the Oasis

Chapter 143: An Army With Only Footmen

Manid had some experience with interrogation.

As a genius born into a merchant family, he knew the art of many languages, such as intimidation, using both kindness and intimidation, and offering benefits. These were all the most basic methods in business negotiations.

Changing the way of thinking and the method was the technique of interrogation.

Manid took his leave.

Soon, he made the arrangement of interrogation and the soldiers in charge of intimidation.

That night.

The results of the interrogation were recorded on a sheepskin scroll and presented to Kant in written form.

However, the results were somewhat unexpected.

“Ha.”, Kant had a mocking smile on his face.

Taking the information obtained from the interrogation of the captives as an example, the Kingdom of Grey Mane had already mobilized all of its elites for this operation, except for the necessary defensive forces of their own country, and they had almost recalled all of the the forces outside the Mannheim Coast. Their goal was to invade the human countries in the Nahrin Desert and turn the southern part of the desert into a colony of the Kingdom of Grey Mane.

The idea of going all out was an extremely bold strategy.

It had the imposing manner of ‘If I don’t succeed, I’ll die’.

But in Kant’s opinion.

These high-level Jackalans had never considered that if their strategic operation to colonize the human countries failed and the forces in the Mannheim coast shrank, they would be unable to advance or retreat, and would be surrounded and killed.

The consequences were unimaginable.

“They think that the human kingdom is very weak.”

Manid sensed Kant’s thoughts and reported with a shrug, “In their opinion, one Jackalan footman can easily deal with three human footmen. If the Jackalan starts to fight with their lives, they can deal with five human footmen.”

Kant raised his eyebrows slightly. “That’s true.”

Firentis did not commented, but his silence was equivalent to tacitly agree that this statement was correct.

That was the truth.

The height of a Jackalan was generally 2.3 meters, while a well-nourished high-level Jackalan would usually weigh up to 300 pounds. All of them were tall and heavy, and their bodies were full of strong muscles.

The speed, strength, and weight-bearing ability of their body were much stronger than the footmen of the human countries.

Not to mention the individual duels.

Even if it was a clash between armies, the human army would still be at a disadvantage.

However, Kant picked up the sheepskin scroll again.

Kant looked at the records regarding the composition of the army of the Kingdom of Grey Mane and their battle sequence, his tone was a little surprised, “But, these Jackalans, don’t tell me they think that the human kingdom is the same as them, that the army is made up of footmen?”

Manid nodded. “As you can see, that’s indeed the case.”

“Hmph.”, Firentis snorted coldly and frowned. “This seems like a joke.”

“There’s nothing I can do.”, Manid shrugged and said helplessly, “When I heard the information from the captives, I also didn’t believe it. Only after I verified the words of the other captives and I realize that it was true.”

“Only footmen.”, Kant tapped his finger on the table, he couldn’t helped but laughed.

Because the Nahrin Desert was a natural moat.

The Mannheim Coast, which was connected to the Sea of Stars, while the Dukedom of Leo, which was connected to the inland, didn’t have any communication at all.

Neither side knew the other.

They were even less clear about the military level and troop class structure of the other side.

But now, it seemed that the Kingdom of Grey Mane on the Mannheim Coast, which was formed by high-level Jackalan, was too ridiculous. They only relied on heavy-armored footmen to fight, and even the long-range troops were recruited mercenaries or lizardmen captives. Moreover, they were treated as auxiliary soldiers. During the war, they also served as engineers, transporters, and other miscellaneous troop class.

“They have never seen cavalry. There are also no horses on the Mannheim Coast.”

Manid seemed to have thought of something and added, “The only similar troops are the elven Moon Deer Cavalry. They use bows and arrows in long-range combat. Their close-range combat ability is quite weak.”

“Bow cavalry.”, Kant raised his eyebrows, looking pensive.

On the grassland southeast of Caradia, the Khergits elites were the Khergits veteran cavalry archers.

The strongest bow cavalry in the entire continent.

Under the influence of the tactics in the plains, these bow cavalry could even compete with the Swadian knight and Mamluke, the two strongest level-5 heavy cavalry. They relied on their extremely high mobility, as well as the accurate and deadly arrows that flew between the charging warhorse.

As for the bow cavalry who were good at guerilla warfare, they never fought a head on head battle.

As for the Swadian people, they preferred charge attack for victory.

Firentis spoke and expressed his puzzlement. “I don’t quite understand. How could the Kingdom of Grey Mane be so foolish as to think of colonizing the human countries with just the heavy footman? At the very least, I understand that the Dukedom of Leo is also a country that mainly uses the heavy cavalry. Their strength on the plains is not something that these 3,000 heavy footmen can compare to.”

“The information is not accurate.”, Manid frowned slightly and gave this conclusion.

Kant nodded. “Perhaps so.”

Only this conclusion could explain the Kingdom of Grey Mane’s underestimation and arrogance.

Since there had never been a battle between heavy cavalry on the Mannheim Coast, they definitely would not have thought that humans would ride on warhorses, fully clad in armor, and hold long spears to charge at them.

They did not understand that a lance formation was not able to defend against the charging cavalry.

Not to mention in history.

Even the continent of Caradia had proven this point.

As long as the terrain was suitable, a charging heavy cavalry, even if it was a level 4 Swadian heavy cavalry, would be able to break through the strongest level 6 footman. The footman formation formed by the royal Nord guards would be easily trampled and knocked down by these footman butchers

Although this was a desert, the terrain was still relatively smooth.

It was also suitable for cavalry battles.

“This time, we really have to be prepared.”

Kant knocked on the table and said solemnly to the two, “We cannot underestimate the enemy.”

“Understood,”, the two replied in a deep voice.

They also understood that they did not have the resources to underestimate the enemy.

They needed to fight alone and rely on themselves in the “Drondheim” fortress.

There were no reinforcements.

There were no backup forces.

Even if they failed once, they would fell into the abyss.

Compared to the powerful Kingdom of Grey Mane, they did not had the ability to underestimate the enemy.

Late night arrived.

The guards began to change shifts.

Kant’s conversation with the two ended. He looked at the moon outside the window. It was in the middle of the sky. The moon reflected the countless dim lights in the dazzling galaxy, scattering the gentle gauze onto the desert.

A new week had arrived.

He slept until dawn.

Kant got up. There were not many administrative matters to deal with this week.

There were no any surprises.

The soldiers were busy, dealing with the corpses left on the battlefield yesterday, burying or throwing them to the low-level Jackalan captives as their food. This group of uncivilized races did not mind eating the corpses of their own race anyway.

In other words, as long as there was food, it was good enough.