"Let me make one thing clear first." Plancy glanced at Sarres and Bailey and said with a smile, "The First Special Division will not compete with your Fourth and Fifth Divisions."

Hearing what Plancy said, Sarres and Bailey blushed quietly, but Wu Lai laughed and waved his hand: "Let's talk business." Plancy's statement was nothing more than an empty favor. The reason why all the special divisions were named "special" was because they were actually equivalent to the previous city defense forces, performing patrols, maintaining public order and low-intensity combat tasks, and did not participate in battles outside the city. Besides, the Assyrian City Special Division was established only ten days ago, and more than 90% of the soldiers were rookies, so how could they have any combat effectiveness?

"Yes!" Plancy's smile faded, and he said loudly, "Lord, I just listened carefully to the emergency military report from Annan City. It said that the Hatra army dug up horse paths, destroyed farmland, attacked villages, and robbed passing merchants and pedestrians. To be able to do all these at the same time, I analyzed that they sent out at least 20,000 troops and divided them into several small teams, fighting to support the war and fighting on their own."

"Their actions are no different from those of bandits, but their numbers, methods of destruction, and scope of their ravages are far from comparable to those of bandits. Moreover, their methods of fighting and harassment are disgusting, mainly destroying people's livelihoods, and they do not directly engage in combat with our army, so it is very difficult to restrain them. Therefore, my personal opinion is that we should also send tens of thousands of people, divided into several small teams, to actively search and find opportunities to annihilate them, so that they will be reduced in number. That's my idea."

"Lord, I don't think this will work." Bailey stood up and said, "The enemy is in the dark and I am in the light. If we go to find them, we will be easily led by the enemy and they will lead us into an ambush if we are not careful."

Wu Lai nodded: "That makes sense."

Plancy was stunned and felt a little embarrassed. He thought he had found the most suitable solution just now, but now it seemed like a bad idea.

"Everyone, sit down," Wu Lai said. "I once said in a lecture at the military academy that there is a kind of warfare called guerrilla warfare. It is not a regular combat, but mainly based on attack and harassment. It is highly mobile, flexible, proactive, offensive and quick to decide. Even though Hatra is only making small-scale provocations now, it is actually using this tactic. Why is Annan City in a hurry? The reason is that they can't find it if they want to fight, but they can't bear it if they don't fight. And why does Hatra want to harass Annan? It's because he wants to contain us in the Annan area, reduce the pressure on Titania, and ensure the safety of Armenia."

After a pause, Wu Lai continued, "Hatra doesn't know how to play a siege war. It can't afford the consumption and has no chance of winning. But what about us? We must attack it, first capture Titania, and then gradually narrow the encirclement, suppress Hatra in Menia, and force it to shrink its head. However, we have a shortcoming, that is, the Assyrians in Titania and Menia. They are controlled by Hatra and have become a very useful shield. Otherwise, I would have arranged artillery to blow open the gates of the two cities long ago."

Hearing this, Plancy could not help but be stunned: "Lord, according to what you said, we really can't defeat him?"

"There's nothing we can't fight. It's just that we can't conduct siege warfare at the moment or for a period of time. I don't want too many civilians to die." Wu Lai glanced around and said, "You all expressed your ideas just now. They all make sense, but they all have drawbacks. But that's okay. The best place to gain command experience and improve the art of command is the battlefield. Let me summarize. It's not the right time to concentrate superior forces to attack the enemy's city. We can play guerrilla warfare with the enemy, but we must be more active and clever than them. In this regard, in terms of experience, Plancy is better than Sarres and Bailey."

"Thank you for the compliment, Lord." Plansy was delighted and quickly stood up. "Lord, do you want to give me the combat mission?"

His stop immediately made Sales and Bailey anxious, but neither of them dared to say a word. They just stared at Wu Lai, hoping that he would deny Plancy.

"No, not for you." Wu Lai smiled and waved his hand, motioning Plancy to sit down.

Plancy's face turned bitter, but Sales and Bailey were happy.

Unexpectedly, Wu Lai immediately "poured a bucket of cold water" - "None of you three are the candidates in my mind." Wu Lai said with a smile...

…

When the wind blew, the light green smoke and a faint smell of blood blew across Hatra's nostrils.

Hatra rubbed his nose, a trace of disgust flashed across his face. This was the fourth village he had personally ordered to be burned in the past half month. Before the soldiers set the fire, the young women and children in the village were abducted, and all the food and other useful things were looted. The remaining young, strong, old and weak were all killed. According to Hatra, burning the village was like holding a cremation for these poor creatures...

The massacre and looting officially began more than 20 days ago. In order to ensure the effect, Hatra not only sent out 20 teams of 1,000 people, but also personally led 2,000 elite cavalry to participate in the war.

From that day until now, twenty-nine villages between Annan and Titania have been burned down, nearly two thousand people have been looted, and the number of crops burned is incalculable.

Despite the huge damage, there were only two attacks on the Annan army - Hatra commanded his men to lure the Annan garrison around, while waiting for opportunities to attack the small groups of soldiers who fell behind.

The two attacks did not yield much, with one attack killing a hundred people and the other barely two hundred. However, Hatra was very satisfied because he only paid the price of five casualties to harvest three hundred lives, and also caused panic in the Annan region.

A deputy general came running over and said, "Report to King Wushuang, the scouts reported that we spotted an enemy supply troop 25 miles southwest, with about 600 horses and 300 men."

"Twenty-five miles away?" Hatra smiled and waved his whip. "Let's go and kill them!"

"Yes!" The nearby soldiers responded with more cheers...

…

Boom! Wei Huo slammed his fist on the table, his teeth chattering - he had just received news that two villages had been burned, killed and looted, and had hurriedly called the division and regiment commanders to a meeting. Before everyone had arrived, he received news that the Kati supply cavalry had been looted.

"Don't we have any solution at all?!" Wei Huo roared.

The division and regiment commanders looked at each other in bewilderment. The distance between Annan and Titania is more than 400 miles, with complex terrain and numerous roads. Not only are the Hatra troops elusive and never stay in one place for more than a day, but they also move incredibly quickly. Even if you see them from afar and chase after them, they will have already run away before you reach them, and not even a trace of them will be left. The two regiments that were deployed over the past half month have been tossing back and forth like a net, but they have not killed even a single enemy soldier.

"You are embarrassing me! Shame on me!" Wei Huo slammed the table and roared, "The Kati supply cavalry was robbed only seventy miles away from us! Only less than 30% of the three hundred people survived, and those supplies were gifts from Kati City to the lord and the temple! Now that they are robbed in Annan, how can you let me hold my head up in front of the lord?!"

No one dared to say a word.

"Are you all here just to eat and do nothing? Look at those government officials in the government office, they are busy all day long, keeping Annan City in order. What about you? Apart from training, can't you do something useful? Can't you think of any solution?" Wei Huo was so angry.

"Report to the commander!" A division commander hesitated for a moment, then stepped out with his chest puffed out. "Didn't the lord order us not to act rashly?"

"Yes! That's right!" Wei Huo's fist slammed on the table again, "The lord ordered us not to act rashly, but listen to me carefully, not acting rashly does not mean we don't need to move! The lord arranged for us to garrison Annan and point to Titania. Do I need to remind you of the meaning? But now not only can we not move Titania at all, we are also powerless to stop the repeated attacks in Annan. Are we still soldiers? Are we worthy of being soldiers?!"

All the division and regiment commanders lowered their heads one by one, not daring to look at Wei Huo.

"Immediately pick out some from each division and regiment..." Wei Huo had just said half of his words when he was interrupted by the report of the signalman at the door.

"What's wrong again?!" Wei Huo frowned and asked.

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"Report to the commander! The lord has sent a messenger! He is waiting for you in the reception tent of the military camp!" the signalman reported loudly.

Messenger? Wei Huo frowned and nodded heavily: "Wait for me here first!" In the past, Wu Lai always contacted Annan by letter. Now that a messenger was sent out of the blue, there was no guarantee that there would be no special arrangements...

After the division and regiment commanders had waited for a long time, Wei Huo finally returned to the meeting room. However, unlike his gloomy face before he left, his mouth was now grinning almost from ear to ear.

"Hahahaha! Come on! Everyone, sit down!" Wei Huo waved his hand, "I have good news for everyone! The lord has already made all the arrangements!"

…

What Wu Lai hated most was being provoked by others, but there were always people who tried to do so, such as Khufu, when he first arrived at Saltmarsh Town, and Cosmondo...

The person who challenged him now was Hatra - the guy whose happiness for the rest of his life was ruined by his arrow.

If Hatra was simply engaging in guerrilla warfare and showing off his mobile combat capabilities, Wu Lai might not feel too angry. After all, when two armies are facing each other, it is understandable that the opponent uses any means. But this time, Hatra undoubtedly touched Wu Lai's "anger point" - Wu Lai has always believed that although it is difficult to avoid, war should not bring harm to civilians.

But Hatra did just that.

So, Woolley decided to fix his muscles...

The reason why Wei Huo was so excited was that the formation Wu Lai had thrown out looked like a massive attack—

Bailey's Fourth Division marched to the left wing of the vast territory between Annan and Titania, while Sarres' Fifth Division faced the Fourth Division from a distance, protecting the right wing. The Annan Army needed to send two divisions to press forward to Titania, but these three armies did not need to engage in direct combat with the Hatra Army for the time being. They only needed to advance at a speed of twenty miles per day in a three-sided encirclement posture, setting up camp wherever they were pushed...

This was to compress the activity area of ​​the "guerrilla forces" of the Hatra Army, but compression alone was obviously not enough to achieve Woolley's original intention of "repairing Hatra", so Woolley also placed a division between the 4th and 5th Divisions and the two divisions of Annan, and this division would take on the responsibility of "repairman".

Wu Lai's arrangements did not stop there. After receiving the military order, the 8th and 9th Divisions of the Kati District would also set out from the Kati grassland and quickly rush to the rear of Menia. However, their main task was not to fight, but to block - to block all of Menia's retreat routes, because the 8th and 9th Divisions would not only rebuild the Hongguwan Fortress, but also build continuous solid fortifications and artillery positions in that area.

From Wei Huo's perspective, all this meant that Wu Lai had already reached out to Hatra, and all that was left was to strangle the wolf's neck and break it at some point.

While Wei Huo was dancing with joy, Hatra was riding his horse into the gate of Titania. Half a day ago, he had just received a notice from a general that the empire had sent a team of more than 20 architects, along with two messengers from the emperor. Now, they were waiting for his summons in Titania...

"Isn't this a strange order?" Hatra thought as he walked, frowning.