The three guides looked at the plan brought by Fatty and showed a look of difficulty. Such attacks had been carried out many times by the Freedom Front, and each time the losses were heavy. Trying to succeed while preserving forces was truly challenging. Yaric said gloomily, "Messenger, to be honest, the Gazalin Empire has stationed a large number of troops in their only Star Domain. Surprise attacks are possible, but preserving strength is not easy."
Fatty was surprised and said, "You are experts in this area. In the strategy of enemy rear raids, the results are the least important factor; preserving strength is the most important. If one raid doesn’t achieve much, the results can be accumulated through multiple raids. As long as you can withdraw in time before being surrounded by the enemy, it’s not difficult at all."
Seeing the heavy expressions on the faces of the three guides, Fatty said in disbelief, "Could it be... every time, after setting the attack target and retreat route, you just started the operation?"
Yaric and the other two exchanged a glance, nodded awkwardly, and replied, "Isn’t that how it should be? Our plans are well detailed, but losses are still unavoidable."
Fatty asked with some headache, "What about the enemy’s electronic systems? Were they destroyed before the action?"
Sanjad smiled, "Of course, in Gazalin, we have planted many people in various systems. Our electronic experts are also quite capable. Controlling the surveillance system for one or two hours is doable. However..." He shrugged with an embarrassed expression, "The losses are still significant, especially when exceeding the planned time... "
Fatty smiled bitterly, "How could there be situations where the planned time was exceeded during a raid behind enemy lines? You aim to disrupt within the time limits. Whatever you can achieve within that time, just do it. The pre-arranged blocking forces, retreat routes, and time control must leave room for flexibility. Don’t expect one hundred people to achieve one hundred percent outcomes. If you can achieve forty percent while preserving your strength, it’s already good enough." He pondered for a moment and asked, "How many attack targets do you choose at once?"
Sanjad exclaimed in surprise, "Just one! Now, focusing on effective raids on a single target is already enough for us to rack our brains. The preliminary understanding, reconnaissance, and planning require a lot of work. Moreover, our forces only allow us to concentrate on raiding one target."
"Damn, Russell, it turns out the guys you handed to me are all single-minded!" Fatty lamented internally and tried to ask, "Haven’t you deployed special operations teams?" The three guides shook their heads. Sanjad said, "The enemy’s forces are too large, we can’t proceed without concentrating our forces." Fatty asked again, "Never used feint attacks?" The three guides shook their heads again. Fatty sighed and asked, "Never used strategies like Fortifying Failure to Rescue, or Borrowing a Knife to Kill, or Looting a Burning House, Fishing in Troubled Waters, or Rattling the Grass to Startle the Snake, or Passing Out at Sea, or Involving Fake Smiles, Stealing Targets, or Luring the Tiger from the Mountain, or Better a Peach than Plum, or Stealing a Beam to Replace Pillar, or Borrowing a Corpse to Resurrect?"
The three guides were confused by Fatty’s rambling and looked at each other in dismay. Oberto asked, "What is Feint Attacks?" Fatty explained, "It’s pretending to attack one place while actually planning to strike another. Successfully executing the plan in the real target area."
The three guides suddenly understood. Yaric nodded and said, "We fought a few battles twice, but we don’t really understand these concepts very well." He blushed slightly and continued, "You see, apart from Algarfar, we haven’t been able to receive formal military education. The Gazalin Empire’s Military Academy doesn’t accept people like us. The tactics we know are those we figured out from frequent battles, combined with some experience passed down from predecessors. In theory, we don’t really understand much."
Sanjad continued, "Besides, those things you mentioned aren’t even in the books Algarfar gave us. We studied how to make plans and how to implement them. We learned about diversions and creating illusions, only we are not that proficient at them. The things you mentioned, we have never even heard of them."
Fatty silently cursed their lack of education and grumbled internally, they don’t even understand the Thirty-Six Stratagems. He smiled and said, "It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand the theory; as long as you have rich experience, these things will click instantly. Let’s do it this way. There’s still some time before the plan is executed. During these days, train the warriors in small team formations. I will give you a guide on enemy rear raids. Maybe everyone isn’t used to such combat at the beginning, but they’ll get it after a few battles. A small team, or even one person, can complete missions. Concentrating power doesn’t mean concentrating numbers. Having too many people could be meaningless."
Sanjad hesitated, "But, one team and one plan, we don’t have that much energy."
Fatty smiled, "If you three have to handle everything personally, of course, you won’t be able to manage it. However, the Freedom Fighters include many veterans who previously served in the Imperial Army. Actually, commanding a small-scale local battle is no problem for them. You just need to provide a tactical guide beforehand. I’ll help you with this task, teaching them how to become a competent rogue is something I have experience with."
Fatty wasn’t taking on too much himself. Through the conversation, he knew these soldiers only lacked a set of pre-defined tactics for rear-area warfare. Once they underwent rigorous tactical training, they could carry out missions independently instead of facing the enemy head-on and initiating full-scale assaults.
The ability of the three guides wasn’t bad, but except for the Han people, very few now understood the Thirty-Six Stratagems and The Art of War by Sun Tzu from ancient Chinese civilization. Even if they had heard about them, their understanding was fragmented, lacking systematic and in-depth study. Thousands of years of human social civilization changes had buried too much essence in history.
As the guides said, they knew how to use diversion tactics occasionally, but they didn’t understand the real essence of "Feint Attacks." This military wisdom from the Chinese nation contained vast concepts and broad application ranges. It could not only be used for Feint Attacks but also to mislead the enemy in varied ways, attacking unexpectedly, causing confusion, etc.
"Damn, having an education is indeed good," Fatty thought.
These things, once slightly summarized and explained to the guides, they could immediately grasp. Their rich combat experience combined with these strategies could multiply their effectiveness in rear-area operations by hundreds of times. Just one strategy like "Feint Attacks" could make small unit raids flourish everywhere, mixing reality and fiction abundantly. Combining other strategies like Borrowing a Knife to Kill, Looting a Burning House, Fishing in Troubled Waters, and others would make formulating a brilliant rear-area operational plan incredibly easy.
Deploying these Freedom Fighters into the masses, neutralizing their brutal aura, integrating them into every corner of Gazalin, and performing organized yet unrule-bound actions according to plan and assault guidelines. By any means necessary! Preserve oneself and strike the enemy! This was the essence of rear-area raids.
Still short by twelve thousand, apologies, this Chapter was updated late. I was too exhausted these past few days, slept for twelve hours straight. I’ll try to catch up. The current plot cannot be rushed. Please understand. Thank you, everyone. Follow current novels on ɴovᴇl(F)ɪre.ɴet
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