Chapter 2476: A Group of Miscellaneous Soldiers

Sunx Quan was in a state of utter frenzy and panic. Nonetheless, thinking about his own life, a collapse on the flank might be dangerous, but if the Yuan Family’s front couldn’t hold, it could be truly fatal!

“Everyone, charge with me!” Pan Zhang, not caring anymore, led the archers of Eastern Wu to move behind the Yuan Family’s spear and shield operators, and a rain of arrows frantically covered the Roman legion led by Caracalla ahead.

Speaking of the legion led by Caracalla, after Severus arrived, it had grown to over fourteen thousand men. Yet, this legion had not been acknowledged by Severus and had not been bestowed the Eagle Banner, but its combat prowess was exceptionally formidable.

Though its inherent Elite Talent was the only one it could showcase, its display of combat quality completely surpassed what was expected at this level. To be fair, these were all retired adult soldiers who had experienced many wars, and even in an unsupported scenario, veterans led by Wei Yan could hardly defeat them easily.

More importantly, with the ongoing battle, the combat awareness of the Imperial Guard Corps soldiers seemed to be quickly awakening. The legion led by Caracalla was rapidly regaining its coordination skills, organizational abilities, and other battle-related competencies.

This is why the Yuan Clan is finding it increasingly tough to fight. After the heavy crossbowmen were severely damaged, Yuan Clan lost its crucial ability to breach defenses. Coupled with their disadvantage in manpower, the soldiers led by Gao Lan, even though considered as undying elites from hundreds of battles, were evidently overwhelmed against Caracalla.

“Lyu Ziming, what are you doing?” As Cao Zhen’s legion cut through the frontal blockades, the sky was covered with a rain of arrows. Faced with such attacks, the elite warriors equipped only with leather armor and standard swords fell in the arrow rain. Cao Zhen immediately turned and cursed towards Lyu Meng’s direction; every soldier here was the backbone of the Cao Family!

“I’m barely holding it down, be careful yourself!” Lyu Meng cursed angrily. Though the power of the ten-stone strong bow was fearsome, capable of long-range suppression of other archer legions, he was now responsible for too many areas. Moreover, the Elite of Danyang lacked the ability to use Cloud Qi Arrows, energy arrows, and Will Arrows. Even with three pots of arrows per person, it’s barely enough in this situation!

Cao Zhen glanced at the situation on the flank and understood Lyu Meng’s current predicament, cursed aloud, then immediately roared, launching an attack on the Fourth Macedonian Corps upfront. Whatever the case, they must find a way to hold these people back now; otherwise, a fatal crisis might truly unfold.

[Guann Hai, hurry up. There’s little time left. The Romans are not far from getting serious! The plains of Mesopotamia, the significance of that marsh is not just to stop the Romans!] Zhuge Liang steadied his Spiritual Talent as much as possible. He enhanced Guann Hai with Xun Youi’s Spiritual Talent, and Wei Yan with Lul Xun’s misjudged Spiritual Talent, waiting for the final strike.

Yuan Tan roared as he slew the enemy in front of him. The Imperial Guard led by Caracalla had already charged to face him, and their defense lines could hardly hold on any longer.

“Yuanbo, the next part depends on you!” Sheni Pei, feeling the scantness of his own spiritual capacity and the starting pain in his head, was forced to stop his Vanguard embodiment. This high-intensity battle, forcibly embodying the Vanguard nearing the limit with insufficient heavy crossbowmen, is hard for even Sheni Pei to endure.

This terrifying attack from Vanguard was deadly to any normal legion. But in the instant of the Vanguard’s massive assault, the most elite Scythian Marksman Legion among the Roman Barbarian Army almost simultaneously locked onto the Vanguard.

Almost instantly, both sides nearly dealt massive blows to their opponents, especially the ten waves of arrow barrage within a breath, which were enough to be deemed deadly to any conventional archer legion.

Even the top-tier Vanguard heavy crossbowmen almost got severely injured when locked by the Scythian Legion’s arrow rain, as lacking the power to resist death, even with Military Spirit’s damage capability, the fatal attack would still lead to death.

Gao Lan had yet to respond but saw Sheni Pei, pale-faced, once again using his Spiritual Talent. He intended to ask but noticed Caracalla, upon confirming Vanguard had lost the ability to immediately repel them, directly leading the army in a frenzy forward.

“Hold them!” Sunx Quan wielded his sword and personally joined the battlefield. This was truly a matter of life and death now; if the line were breached here, he wouldn’t even manage to escape, so he had to defend this position even unto death.

“Yuanbo, catch!” Sheni Pei tossed the glowing booklet in his hand towards Gao Lan and then staggered as he almost collapsed.

Gao Lan speared through the Roman Infantry he was grappling with and reached to catch Sheni Pei’s glowing booklet. In the next instant, he suddenly realized the battlefield noises were fading away, leaving only a scene of dim light, with a frail silhouette in leather armor facing away from Gao Lan.

“Yuanbo, it’s been a while.” Juo Yi turned and spoke to Gao Lan in a desolate tone, “I didn’t expect we’d get to meet again.”

“Zhengli?” Gao Lan looked at Juo Yi in shock.

“Sheni Zhengnan is indeed formidable. The power of yesteryears or yesterday’s afterglow actually gathered the scattered Military Spirit through my booklet. It’s more of a miracle than luck.” Juo Yi turned slightly to glance at the direction of the Feathered Forest Guards.

“Then you now…” Gao Lan spoke with excitement.

“I’ll soon dissipate.” Juo Yi said calmly, “What a pity, if I’d known, I’d definitely have joined such a battlefield.”

Gao Lan looked at Juo Yi, unsure of what to say. He knew this place was where his heart spirit found peace, where time relative to the outside was but a moment.

“Although I can’t help you much anymore, the elite soldiers of the Yuan Clan are weaker than before, it’s truly frustrating. Fortunately, there’s still a little time left for me to teach you all the soldier drilling techniques I know,” Juo Yi said after a moment of silence.

“Are we weaker than we used to be?” Gao Lan looked at Juo Yi incredulously.

“Yes, the soldiers you lead now used to at least rank in the second tier on this battlefield. As for now, they’re miscellaneous soldiers,” Juo Yi scoffed.

“But I completely trained according to your methods!” Gao Lan exclaimed, his eyes widening in disbelief as he looked at Juo Yi.

“Your methods are entirely wrong,” Juo Yi said as he turned to look at the battlefield.

“There are four trump cards on this battlefield that can be called the first tier,” Juo Yi said, pointing to the positions of Li Jue, Alessandro, Gao Shun, and Camillo.

“Indeed, they are the Three Talents and the Military Spirit Legion, incredibly powerful,” Gao Lan nodded in agreement.

“Three Talents?” Juo Yi looked at Gao Lan in confusion, “When did that term appear? They each only have one talent.”

“One?” Gao Lan looked at Juo Yi in disbelief.

“The Xiliang Iron Cavalry is the embodiment of will, the legion fighting against them is the embodiment of power. Gao Gongzheng now uses the Feathered Forest Guards, no comment needed, and their opponent has the same will!” Juo Yi casually glanced at Gao Lan and said.

“To be honest, most of the legions present here can’t match Gongsun Zan’s Divine Speed White Horse from back then,” Juo Yi said after scanning the area, then pointing to the positions of the Fourteen Combined Legion and the Fifth Lark Legion, “These two are worth watching, but one’s ambition is too great, the other is incomprehensible.”

“Can’t match Divine Speed White Horse?” Gao Lan looked at Juo Yi in shock.

“The Vanguard defeated the peak Divine Speed White Horse of the past, and in the end, the Divine Speed White Horse took the Vanguard into history. Actually, besides the first-tier legions whose quality could crush the ones that followed, the difference in physical quality between the miscellaneous soldiers and elites wasn’t as vast as double,” Juo Yi explained.

“Then what about Dual Talent? What about Dual Talent Super Elite?” Gao Lan anxiously asked Juo Yi, wondering about their significance if what Juo Yi said was true.

“Dual Talent? I never understood what Dual Talent means, do two talent effects qualify as Dual Talent?” Juo Yi asked inquiringly at Gao Lan, who nodded repeatedly at his words.

“Oh, then the Wolf Cavalry has ten effects, and the Yuan Family Spear and Shield you lead also have more than a dozen talents, should it be called a more-than-ten-talent legion?” Juo Yi scoffed, “What a foolish classification.”

Gao Lan was at a loss for words.

“I roughly understand the situation. Your so-called One Talent shows a legion’s strongest capability, and Two Talents show two strongest capabilities?” Juo Yi somewhat grasped the concept.

“It’s practically a neurotic classification. Simply put, decisive battle troops, elite, and miscellaneous soldiers are enough. Decisive battle troops have physical quality that crushes most elites, while their combat will and organizational coordination far exceed the standard, with determination beyond limits!” Juo Yi outright rejected Gao Lan’s classification method.

“Elites have combat will matching their quality, while miscellaneous soldiers lack in either quality or will. Clearly, your legion is miscellaneous soldiers,” Juo Yi mercilessly criticized Gao Lan’s distribution method.

“How can that be? My legion can comfortably fight against the Wolf Cavalry,” Gao Lan said in disbelief as he looked at Juo Yi.

“The Wolf Cavalry you fought were also miscellaneous soldiers, mere soldiers with quality,” Juo Yi remained proud but perhaps realized his words were harsh and after a pause, said, “I am already dead, and with my Military Spirit dispersed, I won’t appear a second time. So, I need to pass on all I know about soldier drilling to you.”

“Actually, drilling soldiers is not about physique, but will, and belief. The Yellow Turbans were just ordinary farmers; in the era of Zhang Jiao, the only legion that could claim certain victory was the Iron Cavalry. But having the gall to say it and being able to win are two different things; during Gongsun Zan’s era, the White Horse, even with just divine speed, was still invincible. Even against its nemesis, the Vanguard, it could still fight when driven by a death-seeking spirit,” Juo Yi said sadly as he looked at Gao Lan.