The future of the Magic Empire wasn't a problem that Barque and Christoph needed to consider. Because right now, the only problem they needed to consider was how to defeat the other party.
"The other party seems to be very cautious, experienced, and proactive."
Barque gave a seemingly contradictory conclusion, but Christoph agreed with it very much.
In fact, this wasn't contradictory at all. Most importantly, the other party knew when to launch an attack and when to retreat.
This kind of sense of advance and retreat was definitely not something that the recruits could do.
Only a veteran who had experienced life and death in the flames of war would have such experience. The scholar in the examination room was not the commander on the battlefield. The biggest difference between the two was that they would die. The scholar would always assume that the situation on the battlefield was as they had predicted, and then they would start to plan their tactics.
On the other hand, a true commander would adapt to the situation on the battlefield and respond accordingly.
What the other party did before was to make changes according to their own actions, which was definitely not something that the recruits could do.
Barque and Christoph didn't understand the other party, and the other party obviously wouldn't understand them either.
Even if they understood each other, there would always be differences between the intelligence on paper and the actual battle.
It wasn't as simple as seeing that Christoph was good at attacking valiantly and treating him as a barbarian with a brain full of muscles. In many cases, intelligence was a combination of subjective factors.
For example, Christoph was indeed brave, but few people knew about his cautious side.
If the other party simply made commands based on intelligence, it would be impossible to achieve this.
"It would be great if you didn't retreat at that time."
Burke sighed helplessly when the thought came to his mind. Christopher, on the other hand, chuckled.
"If we didn't retreat, there wouldn't be any changes to our current situation."
"That's true. That's the disadvantage of facing an unknown enemy …"
After a short conversation between the two of them, they fell into silence again.
To be honest, if this were a real war, they could choose to retreat first and then ask the empire to send more reinforcements.
But it was a pity that this was only a drill. Although it was an actual drill, the agreement had limited the number of participants on both sides. Originally, this should have been a factor that was advantageous to the empire …
"Looks like that cunning brat is indeed as the rumors say. He definitely won't do anything he isn't confident in."
Barque was naturally not talking about Hank, who was currently commanding the fleet, but Jenn.
His name had spread far and wide in the Magic Empire.
Whether it was the attack on Seth or the Sacred Light's King City, Jenn's actions were always unexpected. No one thought he would succeed, but he always succeeded in the end.
It was obvious that the reason why the young Sir Overlord was willing to sign the unfavorable terms was because he had enough confidence in winning.
At least for now, this mysterious fleet had fooled the two old generals.
"The biggest question now is, do they only have three warships?"
"Do you think they have more warships?"
Faced with Christoph's rhetorical question, Barque was speechless. In any case, from a common sense point of view, the other party could only build three to five warships in a year at most. Even if not all of them appeared before, at least half of them should have appeared.
But now, they couldn't be sure if their judgment was correct.
After all, everything they saw before was beyond their common sense judgment, so who knew what would happen next.
"If they have more warships, then what we're doing will be in vain. Based on the current situation, even if the other party has a trump card beyond our imagination, they won't take it out immediately …"
"The only thing we can catch now is the tail of those three warships."
Captain Burke sighed again. He did not know why, but he suddenly felt like he had aged a lot.
The other party's combat style was unheard of and unseen. Logically speaking, this kind of thing should have appeared in the Magic Empire. But now, they became mice being played by cats, which made Barque feel a little worried.
In this regard, Jenn had a completely different view.
"The development of technology will lead to changes in the way of war. Machine guns and barbed wire announced the end of the cavalry, and the joint operations of the sea, land, and air made the previous battles a thing of the past.
When the interstellar era arrived, people had to start to recognize the key points of fighting in space again.
Be it in terms of era or technology, we are more than an era ahead of the Magic Empire. If we can still lose, then it's just pure bad luck. "
"So, Master, do you think you're unlucky?"
Enoya, who was sitting quietly at the side, blinked curiously and looked at Jenn with a smile. In response, Jenn shrugged.
"It's a pity that I don't know, because in the Klein Continent, there's no Goddess of Luck …"
At this point, Jenn sighed. But he was just saying it. If something like the Goddess of Luck really existed, whether or not she was really a lucky thing was another matter.
But …
"I won't let go of this victory."
Jenn gave the answer quickly.
"Hank did well, at least for now. If anything happens to him, the first thing to worry about is whether Pattilina will cut him into pieces. I don't think Hank will take this risk to deliberately cause trouble."
At this point, the corners of Jenn's mouth couldn't help but curl up into a smile.
And it turned out that Jenn's guess was correct.
Although everything went smoothly so far, Hank didn't jump up in joy. On the contrary, he seemed more cautious and nervous.
In the countless previous maneuvers, he had tasted the bitterness of falling in the face of victory more than once.
And Pattilina also told them more than once that "the ladder to victory is built step by step. If anyone thinks that it's an easy fruit, then it must be a poisonous fruit."
Honestly, Hank didn't expect that tyrannical little girl to actually have philosopher-like thoughts when it came to military warfare.
But he had to admit that each defeat was a kind of spiritual baptism for him. At least so far, he didn't have the slightest bit of complacency because of the achievements of the reconnaissance fleet. This in itself also showed how strict Pattilina's teachings were.
"He didn't fall for it."
"He's an old dog of the empire, after all. He ate a few more pounds of food."
The communication between Hank and Doronte clearly lacked respect for the Magic Empire. But that was to be expected.
Although logically speaking, as a soldier, he should abandon his emotions and give priority to rationality.
But their "demon instructor" obviously had a different view on this.
"Enemies must be defeated. Since they are enemies, it is your freedom to be respectful to them. But you only have yourself to blame for this kind of masochistic sentimentality.
Listen up, when dealing with enemies, you have to knock them down into the mud and watch them silently cry and tremble in the mud. Then, you have to laugh and stab the butcher's knife into their hearts. That's the kind of enjoyment you'll get!
Insulting the enemy is a kind of entertainment, and killing the enemy is a kind of pleasure. Apart from that, you don't have to worry about anything else.
What respect and reverence for the death of the enemy? Leave that to the stupid, stupid, underdeveloped historians of the future who only know how to judge the past based on their own preferences. Leave that to the stupid, cowardly, and stupid historians who even have a lead tied to their tongues!
Because the value of that group of people alive is to distort history. Apart from that, the value of their existence is not even comparable to a maggot. Apart from rolling dung balls to show off their existence, what else can that group of idiots do?
Don't deprive those scum of the last meaning of existence. "
Pattilina mocked historians so deeply that her students wondered if this missy had some kind of deep hatred for a certain historian.
But apart from that, what Pattilina said was right.
That was, they didn't need to worry about the enemy.
"It seems that the empire doesn't intend to take action."
"So let's launch the attack here. Since they have already set up a banquet, as guests, it's time for us to go on stage."
The two talked for a short while and then determined the next battle strategy.
Half an hour later, the three warships led by Doronte appeared silently in front of the imperial fleet.