Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

Barnett felt a bit annoyed looking at the soldiers lying on the ground.

Although the intention was to teach them a lesson, this is just too horrible! Not only do their limbs need time to recover from being broken, but I also feel that these soldiers will suffer psychological trauma when they wake up.

This is a bit troublesome.

"Lieutenant Colonel Claudia, you've come at the right time. Go to the infirmary and get a few medics. Have them carry the person away."

"it is good."

Claudia turned and left, while Barnett sighed, covering his forehead.

These soldiers are utterly useless.

Fortunately, it was spotted by some high-ranking military officers.

"I think your soldiers are not up to standard. They get scared after being hit a few times. What will they be like on the battlefield?"

"That is indeed the problem. These rascals have never been on the battlefield, and some of them haven't even graduated from sergeant school yet. I don't dare send them to the front lines now."

"Come on, the main reason you got beaten was due to tactical issues," Isaac said.

"War is a matter of life and death for ordinary soldiers, but a game of chess for generals and leaders. No matter how bad a soldier is, he can fight as long as he picks up a weapon on the battlefield."

After a pause, Isaac continued, "Soldiers are just pawns on the battlefield. The one who controls the outcome is never a few of the pawns, but the one who plays the game."

Barnett didn't speak, but listened quietly. The army's command these past few times had indeed been baffling, and the advantageous situation had been squandered by that group of mediocre people.

"I remember you attacked Instan City with a frontal assault, right?"

Barnett thought for a moment and said, "Indeed."

"You relied on your numerical advantage and tried to launch a head-on attack. Galdarik chose to build defensive fortifications, and as a result, by the time you took it, you had suffered heavy casualties. It would have been easy for Galdarik to counterattack."

“Your analysis is correct, but what would you do if you were in my shoes?” Barnett suddenly asked Isaac.

The officers nearby also pricked up their ears, eager to hear what insights the colonel from Amestoris had to offer.

"The basic tactical principle of warfare is to attack from the flanks, focusing on one side to create an imbalance of power and break the balance," Isaac said slowly. "If it were me, I wouldn't choose a head-on confrontation. I would leave several army groups to conduct a detailed attack on the front, and then have the rest of the army quickly launch a surprise attack on the enemy's flanks."

The generals fell silent; Isaac's tactic was indeed feasible.

If they had used that tactic back then, things might be different now...

clap clap clap!

Suddenly, one of the generals started clapping.

"As expected of Colonel Isaac, this tactic is very impressive."

Isaac glanced at the man, seemingly not recognizing him.

"Colonel Isaac, I've come to ask you for a favor..."

Chapter 45: Tactics

"Commander-in-Chief!"

The officers around him gasped in surprise when they saw who was talking to Isaac.

Isaac listened to their conversation and carefully examined the officer.

A smiling middle-aged man, dressed in the country's military uniform, bore a resemblance to his own country's president.

"You mean you need to talk to me about something?" Isaac asked, looking at the middle-aged man.

“Yes, Mr. Isaac, let me introduce myself. My name is Ford, General Reddingsheftrich, the current Commander-in-Chief of the Army.” He then extended his hand to Isaac.

After shaking hands, Isaac said, "Isaac, the current Colonel Amestoris, just call me Isaac."

"What a young colonel," the Commander-in-Chief remarked. "I have indeed come here with a request. If it's convenient, let's meet at headquarters."

"can."

"Thank you very much." The Commander-in-Chief then addressed the people present, saying, "Disperse! Go do what you were doing."

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief." Everyone around dispersed, leaving only Isaac and Violet.

"Then, please follow me."

--------

Army Headquarters.

Isaac and the Commander-in-Chief entered a conference room.

Upon entering, I found a large round conference table with a map on it, and the room was already full of people.

These people were all high-ranking officers in the army and commanders of various army groups.

After the commander-in-chief walked in, he casually sat down in an empty seat and said, "Let's begin the operations meeting."

"The topic of discussion today is the plan to retake Instan City. We have been discussing it without any results, but I have invited a guest to join us this time."

As a neutral zone, Instan is a major strategic area; whoever captures it will have an absolute advantage.

At this point, the Commander-in-Chief sat down next to him: "This time I have invited Colonel Amestoris, Mr. Isaac."

After the commander-in-chief finished speaking, the people below began to whisper among themselves.

"Isaac? That national alchemist?"

"This is the first time I've seen someone like this. They're so young."

"What is he doing at the war council?"

The Commander-in-Chief looked at the puzzled crowd and coughed twice: "Ahem, everyone, please be quiet. Mr. Isaac has participated in many wars in Amestris. As a colonel from an advanced country, I think he can provide valuable advice for the upcoming war."

As a militarily advanced nation, Amestris leads many countries in military tactics and weapons technology, so it's no wonder that the Commander-in-Chief wanted to ask Isaac for help.

The surrounding high-ranking officials did not express any opinions. Although Isaac looked very young, as a colonel from that powerful country, his words carried no less weight than those of them.

Seeing that the people below had no objections, he said to Isaac, "Please."

Isaac nodded and looked at the map on the conference table.

The map showed the positions occupied by the enemy's Gadariki army and the locations of the various army groups of Ledingsheftrich. Looking at the markings, one could roughly guess the tactics they had discussed earlier.

"You want to attack the enemy's weakest point in Instan City by gathering all your army groups, right?"

“Yes,” an officer said.

"Naive idea," Isaac said bluntly.

"What did you say?"

The officer was very indignant about Isaac's statement.

"Sir Isaac, what's wrong with launching a full-scale attack on the enemy's weakest point?"

Isaac glanced at the officer and said calmly, "You all know that's the weakest point in Instan City. Do you think they wouldn't know?"

"This..." He was speechless for a moment.

“It has been a week since your city of Instan fell. In a week, they have enough troops to reinforce the weak points. You will not be able to break through in a short time.”

"Furthermore, the surrounding cities are all occupied by Galdarik. If you fail to break through for a long time, reinforcements will arrive from the surrounding cities, and then the entire army will be wiped out."

Indeed, this was the case. After capturing Instan, Gadarik did indeed transfer troops from other places to replenish Instan.

An officer suddenly remembered something and said, "Wait a minute, didn't His Excellency Isaac promise to provide us with thermobaric weapons? As long as we have that..."

“The Gadarick side must have already learned that I have this weapon, so after they captured Instan, they’ve been holed up in the city, using the civilians inside as their best hostages.” Isaac interrupted him before he could finish speaking.

“If you think the civilians in the city don’t matter, I can provide you with thermobaric bombs. Anyway, it’s none of my business,” Isaac said, speaking words that sounded incredibly cruel to them.

"..." Upon hearing Isaac's words, all the officers fell silent.

"Then, Mr. Isaac, do you have any good ideas?" the Commander-in-Chief suddenly asked, placing his hopes on Isaac as well.

“If you ask me, you should just give up on the plan to reclaim Instein,” Isaac suddenly said.

"What do you mean?"

"You mean we're going to abandon Instan City?"

"How can this be!"

The surrounding officers shouted in response to Isaac's words.

"Quiet down, everyone! Let Mr. Isaac finish speaking!" the Commander-in-Chief shouted to the crowd, gesturing for Isaac to continue.

Isaac continued, "I don't mean for you to abandon Instan, but rather to change the location of your attack."

After saying that, he pointed to a small city on the edge of Bienstein on the map.

"Prioritize attacking Mazig City."

Mazig is a city that was occupied by Gadarlik three years ago.

"Mazig City? Forgive my bluntness, Lord Isaac, but even if we take Mazig City, it won't help us win. Only by taking Instan City will the enemy be defeated."

The current situation is that as long as the major city of Instan is captured, the Southwest Allied Forces will gain a huge advantage, and the war can basically be declared over. Even if Mazig is captured, at most it will provide a supply of materials, which will not help the victory at all.

Therefore, these officers completely failed to understand why they needed to capture Mazig.

"My main purpose in having you attack Mazig is to capture Instan."

Isaac looked at the group of officers and sighed: "Take small cities, medium cities and vast rural areas first, then take large cities. This is a basic tactical principle. If you leave Mazig City untouched, enemy troops from the smaller cities will come and cause trouble when you attack Instan, a large city."

"So if we take these small cities first, we can not only wear down the enemy's fighting strength, but also eventually surround them, making it extremely easy to take Instan."

After Isaac finished speaking, the group of officers remained silent for a long time.

They were all stunned.

Chapter 46: Taking on the Role of Operations Commander

The battle plan was thus formulated.

The meeting concluded with a decision to launch a recapture operation for Mazig in three days.

After confirming some specific details, the meeting ended, and just as Isaac was about to leave, the Commander-in-Chief called him back.

"Mr. Isaac, please stay for a moment."

"Is there anything else?"

After a moment's hesitation, the Commander-in-Chief said, "We are far from being able to match the military theories that Mr. Isaac mentioned earlier. With you here in this war, I believe we will soon be able to defeat the enemy."