174: Chapter 174 The Five Great Tribes

The sound of wind and snow outside remained unabated, its raging fury akin to the wrath of the God of Winter.

Sitting up slightly straighter, Lister spoke, "I've called you all here today not only to announce Aier Sidi's appointment but also to discuss our upcoming military operations against the tribal forces."

"Lord Lister, have you received definitive news?" Red inquired.

"Indeed." Lister nodded and said, "The war in the northwest is currently in a stalemate, just as I previously anticipated."

"Many lords in the northwestern frontier territories have also been conscripted by the Montgomery Knights to participate in the battles on the front lines."

"The current situation sees the Beast Tribe as the aggressor, while the Montgomery Knights have been consistently shrinking their defenses."

"However, the Beast Tribe's combat capabilities are formidable. With their current numbers, the Montgomery Knights can only manage to resist with all their might; they are unable to organize an effective counterattack."

"If reinforcements aren't sent soon, they won't last long, and the lords within the kingdom typically do not move their forces lightly."

"Therefore, as we expected, there is a high probability that Earl Theodore will dispatch messengers throughout the Western Frontier Territory to deliver military conscription orders."

"The Beast Tribe will certainly react at the same time. I estimate they will soon dispatch troops in other directions to limit Theodore's military conscription efforts."

As his voice fell, the eyes of the others brightened. Though it was somewhat uncharitable, they felt extremely excited.

Because of this, they could implement their previous plan. They could not only launch an attack on those tribal forces but also likely engage in combat with the harassing armies sent by the Beast Tribe.

To be honest, since arriving at the Iron Thorn Territory Branch, their knight order hadn't experienced much combat.

Those few battles they did have were against weak magical beasts, which failed to satisfy their desire for a real fight.

Furthermore, during this period, under Lister's instructions, Red had led the knight order on multiple sweeps of the Tianping Mountain Range and the Blackwood Forest for training purposes, killing many magical beasts within.

This had resulted in the Iron Thorn Territory Branch no longer having any creatures that could threaten the safety of the territory.

As a knight, the most essential form of cultivation is gaining experience through battle to improve oneself.

Even among all the transcendent professions, knights are the ones who extremely require actual combat experience.

Therefore, going long periods without fighting causes a knight's body to grow rusty, leading to a loss of the sharp intuition needed to control a battle and the perception of killing intent.

Consequently, to maintain the combat capabilities of their knight orders, some lords frequently arrange various combat missions or military maneuvers that simulate real combat.

In the unique environment of the Western Frontier Territory, ordinary combat missions and military maneuvers were certainly not enough to satisfy the knights.

Now that the situation with the Beast Tribe had arisen, the knights of the Iron Thorn Territory Branch could finally show what they were capable of.

While excitement welled up, the group also felt immense admiration for the accuracy of Lister's previous predictions.

"Lord Lister, which tribe will we attack first?" Spartacus asked eagerly, looking as if he couldn't wait to lead his knights out right this moment.

Shaking his head with a chuckle, Lister took out the large map of the Western Frontier he had prepared earlier, which he had purchased from Theodore.

After hanging it on the wall behind him, Lister looked toward Sejin and said, "Sejin, as the head of the Special Operations Department, you shall explain the specific plan."

"Yes, Lord Lister," Sejin replied respectfully.

He then stood up, walked to the large map, and picked up a small wooden stick from the table to point out the tribal forces closest to the Iron Thorn Territory Branch, introducing them one by one.

Since he had received instructions from Lister several days ago, Sejin had dispatched many knight-Soldiers over the past few days to secretly scout for intelligence on those tribal forces.

To help him scout more effectively, Lister had also lent him the Magic Cloud Eagle and Raymond, greatly enhancing the progress and accuracy of their intelligence gathering.

"Currently, there are five tribal forces closest to our Iron Thorn Territory Branch: the Flame Tiger Tribe, the Giant Elephant Tribe, the Black Wolf Tribe, the Shadow Leopard Tribe, and the White Cat-Ear Tribe."

"We've encountered the first two before, but compared to the other three, they are the furthest from us, situated more toward the southwest."

"Looking at the distances of the other three tribes, the closest is the White Cat-Ear Tribe, followed by the Shadow Leopard Tribe, and finally the Black Wolf Tribe."

"Originally, there was also a Black Snake Tribe before them, but not long ago, it was carved up and destroyed by the four tribes excluding the White Cat-Ears—that was Kuro's tribe."

After pausing briefly to give everyone time to digest the information, Sejin continued, "After several days of full-scale scouting by the Intelligence Department, we have roughly analyzed the strength of these five tribes."

"The strongest among them is the Flame Tiger Tribe. They have several Intermediate Totem Warriors equivalent to high-tier Silver Knights. As for whether they have High-level Warriors, we haven't scouted any, but there's a significant probability they do."

"However, they are the furthest from us and are not our target for subjugation. Moreover, they are currently fighting the Frost Lion Tribe, a tribe of similar strength, and have no time to concern themselves with others."

"Excluding the Flame Tiger Tribe, the remaining four tribes are our primary targets for analysis."

"In terms of strength, the Shadow Leopard Tribe is the strongest, possessing one mid-level warrior equivalent to a high-tier Silver Knight, three or four equivalent to mid-tier Silver Knights, and seven or eight equivalent to low-tier Silver Knights."

"Next are the Giant Elephant Tribe and the Black Wolf Tribe, who are of similar strength. Although neither has a mid-level warrior at the high-tier Silver Knight level,"

"they each have about five or six mid-level warriors at the mid-tier Silver Knight level, and nearly ten at the low-tier Silver Knight level."

"The relationship between these three forces is poor; they exist in a triangular relationship of mutual checks and balances, so they would all be happy to see one of the others perish."

"As for the final one, the White Cat-Ear Tribe, they are somewhat special. They are a branch of the Cat-Ear Race. Their overall strength isn't high, and they don't gain power through totem worship."

"They use their own extraordinary spiritual power as a weapon, allowing them to control various objects to carry out attacks. The powerful ones can even directly influence an opponent's spirit, similar to some transcendents within the kingdom."

"It is precisely because of this that they have managed to barely survive among these ambitious forces."

"However, their current situation isn't great either. Having been encroached upon by other forces for a long time, their strength has weakened significantly. There's no telling when they might be carved up and destroyed."

Everyone nodded. Except for Lister, they all wore expressions of admiration for Sejin's high efficiency in executing his mission.

They truly hadn't expected Sejin to have such a high talent for intelligence scouting, even if he wasn't the one personally doing the scouting.

The fact that he could train his subordinates well and complete the reconnaissance tasks quickly and accurately meant he had definitely played a major role.

Lister said with praise, "Sejin, it seems I really didn't make a mistake in letting you manage the Special Operations Department."

"In view of your outstanding performance in leading the Intelligence Department to complete this mission, after the meeting, go to Thomas and collect double the monthly cultivation resources for everyone in the department."

"Thank you for your grace, Lord Lister," Sejin said, his face full of excitement as he thanked him.

Currently, the distribution of cultivation resources for the knights and Soldiers in the barracks had been meticulously categorized; how much to use each day and what to use were all predetermined.

Lister's gesture of providing two extra months of cultivation resources would be a massive help to the members of the Intelligence Department.

Originally, the Intelligence Department had few Full Knights, but with so many extra resources, Sejin believed that many more knights would soon emerge within the department.

Excitement aside, Sejin did not forget the business at hand. Regaining his composure, he continued, "Based on the integrated intelligence analysis, my recommendation is to attack the Black Wolf Tribe."

"Whether in terms of distance from our Iron Thorn Territory Branch or overall strength, they are the most suitable target for us."

"True." Red looked at the large map and nodded in analysis. "Looking at the geographical positions of the tribes on the map, although the Shadow Leopard Tribe is closer, its position isn't directly in front of or behind the Black Wolf Tribe's."

"This way, when we attack the Black Wolf Tribe, we don't have to worry about being backstabbed by the Shadow Leopard Tribe."

"Of course, to ensure everything is foolproof, we can also offer some benefits to the Giant Elephant Tribe in advance to have them help us pin down the Shadow Leopard Tribe. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Although the Black Wolf Tribe has more combatants at the Silver Knight level overall, they are inferior to us in terms of high-end combat power, so our chances of defeat are very small."

"Furthermore, this can effectively train the knights and Soldiers in the territory, and it will also let Earl Theodore know that we aren't intentionally refusing him, but are truly mired in the depths of war."

"Red's analysis is good."

Lister showed an appreciative look and emphasized once more, "Everyone must be clear: my current strategic goal is not to conquer or destroy those tribal forces."

"Instead, it's to use the excuse of attacking tribal forces to decline Earl Theodore's military conscription."

"The engagement with the tribal forces doesn't need to be massive. We only need to hone the actual combat experience of the knights and Soldiers while ensuring their survival probability to the greatest extent possible."

"Our primary targets for combat and defense remain the harassment units sent by the Beast Tribe."

"Any Beast Tribe units that invade our territory or the surrounding territories must be engaged with all our might and eliminated."

"As for how to extricate ourselves from the conflict with the Black Wolf Tribe later, we can expand on Red's method and incite a conflict between the three tribal forces."

"It's winter now; the Black Wolf Tribe will certainly be unwilling to cross territorial borders to fight us."

"Everything is centered on ensuring the development of the territory and the training of our knights and Soldiers."

The others deeply agreed with Lister's planned deployment.

If the plan proceeded smoothly, the development of the Iron Thorn Territory Branch could progress steadily during this winter without being disturbed by the outside world.

Unless the war in the northwest became even more intense and the Iron Thorn Territory Branch was forced to provide support, everyone could just 'coast' within the territory without a care.

However, according to Lister's estimation, the Beast Tribe's primary goal was also to pin down their enemies and they were unlikely to launch a full-scale, large-scale war.

Even if they did, it likely wouldn't be in winter. After all, winter is truly not a good time for war; the mortality rate would be terrifying.

After discussing some details, Lister looked at Odinton and asked, "How is the mining of the gold and mithril mines in the Tianping Mountain Range going lately?"

"In response to Lord Lister," Odinton straightened his posture and replied seriously, "after many days of preparation, mining operations for the gold and mithril mines have already begun—"

Odinton's report was very detailed, and Lister and the others listened patiently.

These two resources were currently the most important in the Iron Thorn Territory Branch, and very strict control measures had been implemented.

Any serf successfully hired as a miner had to sign a corresponding confidentiality agreement. If anyone dared to leak even a hint of information, they would be executed for the crime of betraying the territory.

To ensure better secrecy, Lister also had new housing built near the mines specifically for the miners to live in.

As long as they were in a mining work cycle, miners had to live there together under non-stop, 24-hour regulation.

The management was handled by knight-Soldier squads from the barracks, and incentive measures for mutual supervision were established.

Of course, the strictness of the work and regulation also came with high wages, making it the most coveted position in the territory right now.

Furthermore, all managers and miners working inside enjoyed humane working and rest hours.

The knight-Soldiers and mining workers were divided into three groups, performing supervision and mining work in three shifts—morning, afternoon, and night—to ensure they had sufficient rest.

However, according to Odinton, while there were enough ordinary miners for now, there was a significant lack of miners with professional mining knowledge.

After all, mining isn't a job one can just pick up and do; the professional knowledge required is very important.

If an operation was handled improperly, the miner could very likely cause a cave-in, a scene no one in the territory wanted to see.

Therefore, although the mining work had started, progress was still very slow.

Fortunately, Lister and Odinton had good foresight and had already mentioned this to Brutus in their previous correspondence.

Thus, in a few days, the professional miners sent by Brutus would arrive at the Iron Thorn Territory Branch, at which point the mining progress would increase significantly.

Upon hearing Odinton's words, the four tall men, including Red, immediately showed looks of joy.

After all, one of the mines was the mithril mine they cared about most.

If the mining of the mithril mine was slow due to a lack of professional miners, then the new weapons and equipment they were longing for would also have to wait.

Lister was naturally well aware of how these guys were thinking about new weapons and equipment every day.

Since it was a promise he had made to them previously, it indeed couldn't be delayed repeatedly. Moreover, producing and putting them into use early would add more combat strength for the future battles with the Beast Tribe.