General McHale wanted to know the answer to this question more than anyone else.
A month ago, the Empire's military was discussing how to deal with the arrogant Kingdom of Ruhr who dared to challenge the great Kandla Empire. Although everyone agreed that a small country like the Kingdom of Ruhr shouldn't be taken seriously and could be easily dealt with, he insisted on sending out these three legions to invade the Kingdom of Ruhr.
The reason was that one of the legions was the one he was in previously and belonged to his old subordinates. Furthermore, he had arranged for his wife's younger brother to be the leader of the cavalry brigade. He wanted to use this opportunity to gain some merits for his old subordinates and his wife's younger brother so that they could be promoted in the future.
But he never would have thought that this attack on a small country like the Rudson Kingdom would actually fail miserably. In the end, the empire's army would be defeated.
Moreover, what made him even angrier was that in order for his wife's little brother to obtain the greatest merit, he had deliberately placed his cavalry in the vanguard position. In the end, in the first battle, the cavalry led by his wife's little brother had been completely annihilated by the Rudson Kingdom's army. Even his wife's little brother had been buried, not being able to escape.
Although he had never liked his wife's brother who had a glib tongue, he was still his wife's younger brother. Now that his younger brother had died in battle because of his own arrangements, one could imagine how sad and angry his wife would be when she heard the news.
Knowing this, General McHale mercilessly vented his anger on General Cook who was in charge of this operation.
"Trash!
You led fifty thousand elites, but you couldn't even beat twenty thousand people from the Rudson Kingdom and suffered heavy casualties, how could you still have the face to stand here?
If I were you, I would've killed myself to atone for my sins! "
General Cook looked at General McHale with a cold expression and did not say a word.
Although both of them could be addressed as generals, General McHale had been personally awarded a medal by the Emperor and was officially recognized by the Empire's military as one of the Five Great Protectors of the Empire. He had an extremely high status and reputation in the entire Empire and was not someone a mere commander of a local legion could compare to.
So even though he was dissatisfied in his heart, he could only maintain his silence and didn't dare to refute.
General McHale scolded for a full 20 minutes before he stopped, panting heavily. He then took out a document and threw it to General Cook.
"Because of your failure, the military has relieved you of your duties as the commander. I will now be in charge of this operation.
As for you … just wait to be held accountable by the military! "
General Cook opened the document and looked at it. He found that the contents were not too unexpected, so he put it aside.
"Sir McHale, I can't deny our failure this time, but I must remind you that the combat power of the Kingdom of Ruhr's army is far beyond your imagination. I hope you can be more cautious."
General McHale said in a low voice, "What?
Are you still trying to find excuses for yourself?
A trivial Rudson Kingdom, how strong could their battle strength be?
You're the commander-in-chief, yet you've achieved such a result. Do you think you can just find an excuse to get away with it? "
"I'm not trying to explain myself. It's just that the Kingdom of Ruhr's army is really strange. They …"
General McHale waved his hand in annoyance, "Alright, stop talking nonsense. There's nothing for you to do here."
General Cook's face turned red. He wanted to say more, but when he saw the impatient expression on General McHale's face, he felt a chill in his heart. He couldn't help but snort coldly and walk away.
"Trash!"
General McHale looked at his back and spat out a mouthful of saliva. He then began to study the battle report left behind by General Cook on the table.
After studying it for a while, General McHale couldn't help but frown.
From these battle reports, the Kingdom of Ruhr's army was really strange.
This was because according to the battle report, every time the two sides fought, the Kingdom of Ruhr would launch an unusually dense rain of arrows to attack. When the actual battle started, the Kingdom of Ruhr's army was extremely mobile. It was always difficult for the Kandla Empire's soldiers to even touch them. At the same time, they could also launch strange long-range attacks that were extremely lethal.
This caused the two sides to almost never have a proper battle. This caused the Kandla Empire's army to suffer heavy casualties and eventually lose.
"What a joke!" General McHale threw the battle report on the table.
"How can there be such a strange army in this world? This General Cook, can't he even find excuses for himself?"
General McHale couldn't understand the situation described in the battle report. He decided to ignore the contents of the report and do what he wanted to do.
This time, he brought the Third Legion of the Empire's army. Although there were also fifty thousand soldiers, their equipment and training were far superior to the fifty thousand local soldiers led by General Cook. Naturally, their combat power was much higher.
The trash General Cook led a group of trash and was defeated by the Kingdom of Ruhr. However, this didn't affect General McHale's confidence in defeating the Kingdom of Ruhr.
Just as he was thinking about the specific tactics, a guard suddenly opened the tent and walked in.
"Sir, the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Sir Russell, wishes to see you."
"Russell?" General McHale was stunned.
"Didn't he depart with the naval fleet?
According to the time, he should have already landed on the southern coast of the Kingdom of Ruhr. Why is he suddenly here? "
After thinking for a while, General McHale waved his hand and said, "Let him in."
"Yes."
A moment later, Russell was led in by the guard.
"Sir Russell, why are you here?
Do you want to say that your navy's operation also met with an accident? "Seeing Russell, General McHale let out a mocking laugh.
The Empire's army and navy had always been in conflict because of budget issues. Because the army had always been more important than the navy, the budget was also greatly skewed. Therefore, when facing naval officers, the army officers always had a sense of superiority. General McHale was no exception.
Russell didn't have the slightest intention of joking. He calmly nodded.
"Yes.
Sir McHale, I came this time to tell you that the navy's operation has completely failed.
We can't go deep into the waters of the Kingdom of Ruhr and can't successfully land as planned. "
General McHale was stunned and then laughed loudly. His laughter was full of mockery.
"Ha, I thought that your navy was confident enough to take the initiative to attack and would definitely bring us a surprise. I didn't think that you wouldn't even touch a hair of the Kingdom of Ruhr and would retreat. This is simply a disgrace!"
Russell was silent for a bit before giving a sigh and saying with a serious look, "Sir McHale, I didn't come this time to discuss these meaningless things with you. I just came to remind you that you can't underestimate the Kingdom of Ruhr.
They have obtained the support of the New Flyer and their strength has far surpassed your imagination. "
"New Flyer?" General McHale was stunned again. After thinking about it, he reacted.
"I seem to have heard of this name before. Is it the company that makes those Magic Air Conditioners?
What?
Is this small company that powerful?
The Kingdom of Ruhr has obtained their support and we can't even beat the Kingdom of Ruhr? "
"I'm not certain.
But ….. it's better to be careful. "
Russell shook his head, "Because the Kingdom of Ruhr has obtained the support of the New Flyer, their army has been equipped with the military magic machines produced by the New Flyer.
These military magic machines are completely different from the weapons we've used before, so when facing them, we have to be careful. "
"Military magic machines?" General McHale frowned.
General McHale knitted his brows, "Just what are these things?
Do you have detailed information on them? "
Russell helplessly spread his hands, "The New Flyer has tightly protected the information on the military magic machines, so I can't obtain any specific information.
But our empire's navy has bought three guard ships made of steel from the New Flyer, which are equipped with some military magic machines.
Through the might of these military magic machines, we can infer how strong the other military magic machines are. "
Seeing how serious Russell was, general McHale put down some of the contempt in his heart, but he still didn't care that much.
This New Flyer's military magic machines might be unique, but they were just a small company without any fame. Adding in the fact that the Kingdom of Ruhr was only a small country, how could they pose a threat to the powerful Kandla Empire?
After casually saying a few words to Russell, general McHale used the prewar meeting as an excuse to ask Russell to leave.
Russell, of course, could see that general McHale wasn't paying attention. He originally wanted to say a few more words to persuade him, but then he thought better of it and gave up on the idea.
After leaving the commander's tent, Russell looked at the flickering silhouettes near the camp and narrowed his eyes, revealing a trace of coldness.
This fellow McHale didn't care about the military magic machines he'd mentioned in the New Flyer, so Russell was almost certain that his operation this time wouldn't go smoothly.
This was of course a blow to McHale and the empire's third legion, but from the perspective of the empire's military, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
When the empire's navy wanted to buy the three guard ships from the New Flyer, they were met with all sorts of obstructions. If it weren't for the support of the navy's staff, this proposal might not have been passed.
The reason for this was that the empire's military didn't care about Russell's analysis of the guard ships at all, so they weren't willing to increase the budget to buy another guard ship.
This time, the empire's military still didn't care about the New Flyer and the military magic machines from the New Flyer, so they could only let them suffer a loss. Only then would they have a chance to pay attention.
Compared to the empire's navy, the empire's army was more favored by the military.
If the army suffered a great loss this time, and the military still didn't treat it seriously, then it would be too unreasonable.