Chapter 254 - 153: Not Good! It’s a Trap
The lords of the Sniper Corps were more than happy to drag things out. Their main mission was to stop the Northern Expedition Legion from advancing north into the plains. Once time was up, they could all go home in peace.
-----------------
After the Northern Expedition Legion’s latest failed attack, all the lords pulled their soldiers back to their camps to defend. In the mountain forests behind them, countless soldiers reappeared to chop wood, preparing to build Catapults once again.
In the Central Army Camp, the adjutants of the outer lords gathered for a tactical meeting held by Mei Yuan.
"Why haven’t any of your lords come?" Mei Yuan asked, looking puzzled at the lords’ adjutants in the camp.
He knew those lords were cautious, but the proportion had never been this high before. ’Why are none of them coming now?’
"Lord Mei, my lord is unwell and is resting in his camp."
"My master overexerted himself last night. His back is sore, his legs are weak, and he can’t walk today."
"My lord ate a poisonous plant at a gathering last night and is feeling extremely unwell today."
...
The adjutants offered all sorts of excuses. In short, the lords weren’t coming.
Mei Yuan couldn’t do anything about those lords. After all, among the outer lords, only a few at most had heroes he had upgraded (parasitized). Some of the newer lords didn’t even have upgraded (parasitized) heroes; they were purely here to leech Combat Points or collect protection money.
So, surrounded by the Core (parasitized) Lords, he walked to the main seat and began to explain the battle arrangements.
"Everyone, I am very disappointed by the failure of today’s attack. I know you’re all here to farm points, but if we’re just a disorganized mob, we’ll never be able to defeat the Sniper Corps."
"After today, only three days remain. Are you all planning to call it quits here?"
"From now on, we must have unified command..." (Countless words omitted)
Mei Yuan said a great deal, but it all boiled down to one thing: he wanted the outer lords to hand over command of their troops. The soldiers would then fight under the unified command of his commanders, while the lords themselves would only need to watch from the sidelines with their heroes. If the battle situation required it, their heroes might also be called into action.
In other words, Mei Yuan was making an appeal to the outer lords, asking for their full support. Of course, he used plenty of words meant to appeal to both reason and emotion, but unfortunately, only the lords’ adjutants were present. It didn’t matter how stirred they were.
After the meeting, once they received messages from their respective adjutants, the outer lords began discussing it in their private group chat.
"Mei Yuan wants us to hand over complete command of our armies. What do you all think?"
"No way. I’m here for the spectacle, not to be his dog!!"
"It’s almost the end of the month anyway. Once this phase is over, these soldiers will have nothing to do with us anymore. What does it matter if we hand over command?"
"So you’re fine with it if Mei Yuan sends them to their deaths?"
"So what? In a few days, it won’t be my problem!"
"Scum!!"
"Hey now, let’s just discuss this properly. No personal attacks."
"Exactly! I’m just speaking my mind. Why are you insulting me? It’s not like I’m the only one who thinks this way. Go ahead, ask everyone if they agree with me."
"It’s a bit cruel, but logically speaking, in a few days, they really will have nothing to do with us."
"Don’t forget, we’re not playing a game. These territory members are real, living, breathing people."
"A single general’s success is built on ten thousand bleaching bones!!!"
...
Although the rumors about the Eye Demon had made everyone cautious enough to skip Mei Yuan’s meeting in person, they all had their own opinions on whether to surrender command. The private group chat was in an uproar.
Inside a small camp, the four brothers of the Xiong Family gathered together, watching the constantly refreshing messages in the chat with a sense of speechlessness.
"Why would anyone want to hand over command of their troops?"
"Probably because they’re all unranked lords."
"Unlike us brothers, who need to save our army for the third phase."
"Makes sense. So, are we handing over command?"
"Hand over my ass! No way! The worst that can happen is we quit the Northern Expedition Legion. We haven’t participated in any sieges along the way, we don’t have any kill records, and we’ve earned enough points. No need to wade into this mess."
(The Xiong brothers commanded Cavalry, so they didn’t participate in sieges and got no spoils from them. They mainly collected protection money along the way.)
"But, Big Bro, I’m worried it won’t be that easy to leave the Northern Expedition Legion!"
"Hmm... How about this: tomorrow, we brothers will volunteer for patrol duty in the surrounding area. We’ll say it’s to prevent the enemy from coming down from the mountains near the pass."
...
The voices in the camp faded. Faintly, Xiong San could be heard asking Xiong Da, "Big Bro, I heard our Northern Expedition Legion uses Eye Demons to parasitize high-grade heroes to ’upgrade’ them."
"Why worry about that so much? The heroes that Mei Yuan upgraded for us were borrowed, and we returned them long ago. Go give a heads-up to the lords who lent them to us!"
"Big Bro, I think I saw them join Mei Yuan’s team of Core Lords a few days ago."
"Fuck, it’s that sinister?"
...
That night, a new order was issued from the central command.
"To all lords: Last night, the Sniper Corps harassed our forces. Tonight, we strike back."
"Please dispatch your stealth units to carry out relentless harassment on the enemy’s main camp. The timing of your attacks is at your discretion. We want to prevent the enemy from discerning any pattern in our attacks."
"Lords without stealth units, please assign a portion of your soldiers to guard duty to prevent enemy harassment."
This was a very standard battlefield command. Even lords like the four Xiong Family brothers, who were planning to distance themselves from or even quit the Northern Expedition Legion tomorrow, did not disobey. They followed the order and dispatched their soldiers for guard duty.