<h4>Chapter 386 - The First March</h4>


    Rudra met up with the first division for the first time after the meeting with the emperor was over. The first division had 100,000 soldiers , divided into 20,000 infantry , 20,000 archers , and 50,000 cavalry and 10,000 specialists.


    The choice of steed was the Royal ck stallion , as it was a fast and reliable battlemount that could bear the weight of millitary supplies. The average level of soldiers was around level 90 tier 2. Which was extremely highpared to the neighbouring nine-cloud soldiers at around level 70.


    Only now did Rudra start to realize that Cervantez ''s n to take back Hazelgroove''s territories was not a impulse of him reaching tier 5. Rather a nned decision over years. To nurture such a terrifying army , it would take a lot of time and resources.


    There were 4modore in his army , under whom there were 25,000 soldiers each . All of them showed appropriate respect to Rudra , however all 4 of them were early tier 3 NPC.


    This greatly surprised Rudra , with his increased eye of truth , he wasfortable knowing his power level would not be easily divulged and the soldiers would not be impudent enough to ask it themselves.


    It would be shameful for Rudra to admit that yes , he was indeed lower in level and tier than them. Because , Rudra''s level and tier did not urately represent hisbat prowess at all. He was easily a tier 3 mid levelled power.


    Rudra , had a short nning session with themodores as they surveyed their first target , the Mercury vige , which was roughly a 15 day March alongside the massive army from Purplehaze city.


    Rudra nned the best and safest route of transit that took 3 more days than the shorter path , however after being ambushed once on a road where the forest was on one side and a hill on the other , Rudra did not want to walk into such terrain again.


    Choosing a tnd for travel , Rudra wanted to always be on alert for ambushes , as there was nothing as being too careful in a war.


    The Elites never had such numerical strength , Rudra always had to make schemes after schemes to fight wars. However this time it was different , he had the numbers to deploy proper war tactics and fights , he could actually choose from the wide range of millitary tactics from geniuses like Napoleon and Alexander the Great and the Roman legions of the mediaeval times to crush his enemy.


    His first target was the vige of Mercury , a small vige with only 20,000 soldiers left to defend it. However Rudra had news from the Elite yer he sent as a scout there , that there were additional 30,000 mercenaries securing the vige.


    These mercenaries were all under the triads and their ruled sub contractors. In one sense Hao Mi''s forces.?Hence why Rudra ''s hands were even more itchier for action.


    The vige had a rudimentary wooden wall built around it , and the huts and houses inside the vige were also a mixture of stone , wood and dry hay stacks as roof.


    That instantly tranted to Fire , Fire , Fire in Rudra''s mind. Unlike guild wars , this fight did not have to be a one day ordeal . He couldunch fire arrows on the vige daily , for weeks to terrorize the residents and cause civil unrest for the residing army.


    Untill one day he storms their gates and captures the vige. Rudra was going into the fight with a 2:1 numerical advantage in his favour. This was a very different feeling for him. However that did not mean that he could afford to recklessly loose even a tenth of his force. Because, the prize was not Mercury vige , but fort Magma which would need every man he had to capture.


    The March began , and Rudra''s mind started to spin at full speed , trying toe up with strategies and counters and all possible scenarios.


    Rudra engineered a n , then changed his perspective to a defender inside the vige mercury and think about how he would defend the vige should he be in the defenders position. Then reverse engineer his own n , and find the ws in it.


    He would do this continually , untill one n satisfied his taste , to take down the vige . It was the most unconventional method of doing things , however that was Rudra''s style of doing things .


    Little did he know , yearster , the history books would remember this method of capturing a vige as a work of pure genius and it would be taught to children as a part of their academic curriculum.


    The master maniptor was about to use his schemes to manipte hundereds of thousands , for his own advantage.


    The biggest witch hunt was about to begin!


    ------


    ( Meanwhile , in China )


    Sitting in a bar , was a English man , eating peanuts as he drank whiskey , trying to look like a traveller and reduce the vignce from the others around him.


    Asking the bartender in broken Mandarin about where to buy drugs , Jhonny looked like a man undergoing his mid life crisis. However it was all a hoax , all a sham to try find out the supply chain of druggies , from then on out it was only a matter of climbing the supply chain from the seller to the distributor to the manufacturer to the factory owner?the triads.


    Pretending to bepletely sloshed , Jhonny gave the man 1000 yuan instead of 100 , as he walked shakily out of the bar. And just like he expected 2 youngsters followed him out .


    Either they would try mob Jhonny , or sell him drugs , either way , the youngsters were in for a rough night of beating.


    As Jhonny walked into a narrow dark alley , clenching his stomach as if he would puke , the duo found the time appropriate to ambush Jhonny English.


    When morning rolled by , the two woke up in the same alley , smelling like urine , as they shivered remembering the terrifying details of the previous night.