Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Drive the Tiger, Swallow the Wolf_1

Lance fell into thought upon hearing this.

The Empire’s situation was anything but stable. Across its sprawling map—from the Misty Mountains bisecting its heartland, to the icy northern realms, and the endless eastern deserts—lived numerous Barbarian Tribes. Their social structures remained at a tribal stage, and they mostly practiced Shamanism.

Some tribes often conflicted with the Empire, while others cooperated. In any case, the relationships between the tribes and the Empire were extremely complex, not something that could be simplified in a sentence or two.

However, the needs were concrete. The tribes required the various resources produced by the Empire, which meant they needed money.

Mercenary Corps like White Wolf’s Claws were, in fact, comprised of warriors from these tribes, undertaking missions to earn money to support their people.

It remained unclear precisely why they had offended the nobility and subsequently fled to this area.

This new information connected all the clues, making the overall situation much clearer.

Under the Prophet’s prophecy, the people of Hamlet Town had rebelled. The old ancestor had planned to hire mercenaries to kill a number of them, thereby diverting the conflict.

Around that time, White Wolf’s Claws fled to the vicinity and joined the attack on Hamlet Town, seeking a chance of survival.

However, the Mercenary Corps was crippled by the Imperial army and lacked the strength to breach the town. Alternatively, perhaps the Mercenary Corps had intentionally conserved its strength by not launching a full-scale attack.

Then the deserters arrived, joined the looting party, and simply blasted their way in using cannons.

After the bandits had pillaged the area, the old ancestor disappeared, showing no intention of paying the balance owed. Consequently, the bandits took control of the old road.

”What do you think of the relationship between these bandits?” Lance immediately threw out another question.

”During the siege, those bandits lacked unified command and fought independently, even remaining wary of one another. That was why the town had managed to hold out for so many days.”

”I was inside for a few days,” Balistan noted, ”and indeed, there wasn’t much interaction among those bandits.”

The statements from Balistan and Dismas confirmed Lance’s judgment.

He understood that these groups had only united to besiege Hamlet because such a large prize—a ”fat piece of meat”—lay before them. When everyone could get a share, peace prevailed. But now, that ”meat” was gone... They were fundamentally a scattered bunch, each with their own interests. Why would they listen to anyone else? Not to mention, the spoils from the first plunder were surely unevenly distributed, and the seeds of suspicion had long been sown. Expect them to live in harmony? It would be fortunate if they weren’t already backstabbing each other.

In a way, the town was spared a second plundering precisely because these groups were embroiled in infighting. All wanted to conserve their strength, so none were willing to exhaust their own forces by attacking the town again. They ended up dragging each other into a stalemate.

After sorting through all the clues, he soon found a strategy and then looked up with a sudden grin.

”I’ve found a way to deal with them.” This declaration immediately caught the attention of the three men, all curious as to how their Lord intended to resolve the bandit issue.

”Set a tiger to fight a wolf.” The others didn’t quite grasp the meaning of this idiom and looked puzzled.

Lance, however, explained it slowly and calmly, ”That is, to make the bandits fight among themselves.”

”But how can we make them fight each other?” The others understood Lance’s intention but were even more baffled by the specifics. Why should the bandits listen to you?

Lance’s face wore a confident smile as he elaborated, ”The key to solving the bandit problem lies in the artillery corps and the Wolf Faction. Relying on just the few of us to tackle these two bandit groups is unrealistic. Therefore, the most effective strategy is to exploit the grudge between them.”

”You should also be aware of the circumstances of these Barbarian Tribes within the Empire. Furthermore, their Mercenary Corps was crippled by the Imperial army. An inherent conflict already exists between these deserters and the barbarians. If we can exploit that to incite war between them, forcing them to weaken each other, our burden will be significantly reduced.”

Consequently, barbarians living in the Empire are often considered lower-class and face discrimination. Their Mercenary Corps, having been crushed by the Imperial army, certainly harbored deep resentment. Thus, they would naturally have no goodwill towards these army deserters.

And a sense of ’Imperial pride’ still lingered in the hearts of these deserters. They believed that even as deserters, they, as Imperial People, were still superior to barbarians. Similarly, they would never show barbarians any respect.

The others were also pondering the issues Lance had raised. As mercenaries who had roamed various places, they were naturally aware of the discrimination the Barbarian Tribes faced.

This was because Reynard, Balistan, and Dismas also looked down on the Barbarian Tribes. Even without direct contact, a preconceived notion led them to view barbarians as savage and coarse, so naturally, they felt no affinity for them.

”The key now is how to provoke conflict between the two sides.”

”My Lord, just tell us exactly what to do.”

Dismas, for his part, didn’t concern himself with such complex thoughts. He simply knew that following their Lord’s instructions would lead them to one victory after another.

”The plan is simple: you just need to infiltrate the artillery corps.”

”What!” This posed a bit of a challenge for Dismas, as joining was not something one could do on a whim.

”Don’t rush. Let me finish,” Lance said, continuing to elaborate.

”Currently, there’s no direct conflict between the two factions, so we’ll create one. First, we eliminate some smaller bandit groups. At that point, you’ll pose as a surviving bandit and approach the artillery corps, claiming the Wolf Faction is out to kill other bandits and then monopolize Hamlet Town.”

”If the artillery corps doesn’t accept you, we’ll continue to hunt down isolated bandits in the surrounding areas to sow panic. That should compel the artillery corps to take action.”

”If your infiltration is successful, we’ll coordinate our efforts. You will lead members of the artillery corps to a designated stronghold. We will then attack, disguised as the Wolf Faction. This will make them trust you.”

”Then, you persuade the artillery corps to attack the Wolf Faction. Once the fighting begins and even one of their men dies, the Wolf Faction will be hell-bent on fighting the artillery corps to the bitter end.”

Lance described his plan with a touch of excitement. His ideas were audacious, and Reynard and Balistan, both with military experience, struggled to fully grasp them.

This was an incredibly audacious strategy. If a commander in the regular army had issued such an order, they would have seriously questioned his sanity.

But those present wouldn’t doubt Lance. Because when it came to action, their Lord led by example, personally seeing through the decisions he made.

Moreover, this approach—exploiting enemy weaknesses to amplify their own strengths and achieving victory against numerically superior foes—had already been proven effective several times.

Having grown accustomed to Lance’s methods, the others weren’t worried; in fact, they found the plan rather par for the course.

After some discussion to refine the details, Lance promptly finalized the plan.

”Rest for a day. We execute the plan the day after tomorrow.”

”Yes!” everyone responded in agreement.

Lance wished to set out immediately. However, Dismas needed to rest, Reynard and Balistan had to finalize training arrangements for the militia, and Lance himself also had preparations to make to forestall any potential complications.

However, after dismissing the others, Lance didn’t leave right away. Instead, he took Dismas to a very familiar place—the brothel.

Seeing the slightly repaired building before him, a wry smile touched Dismas’s lips.