“The war in the past was more like a deliberate military conflict created by the senate because it was afraid that any military force would become too powerful. But the future is different. In the future world, there will be countless life-and-death battles. Top military commanders are scarce resources. What everyone can get is limited. The only thing that could be artificially improved was the quality of the soldiers. You have to know that back then, Emperor Victor cared more about veterans than anyone else, and these so-called veterans were actually what I called elite soldiers. Moreover, the current situation is still different from the era of Emperor Victor. The fleet’s operating speed has greatly increased, the space magic has been greatly improved, and the distance of the space jump has become farther and farther. Moreover, our communication has also broken through. Commanding from a very long distance is much more convenient than back then. Therefore, the way war is conducted and the decisive factor of victory and defeat are completely different now from before. In this era, the quality of the fleet is more important than the size of the fleet. This point many people have not realized yet because they are still stuck in the old era.”
When Lei Luo said this, he gently waved his hand.
“After going around for thousands of years, we still returned to the old ancestor’s words—the best soldier is the essence, not the quantity. Therefore, we naturally have to search for top-notch commanders. But from now on, we’ll use the method of continuous war to train our soldiers. Using countless amounts of blood to refine the empire’s strongest iron army is the inevitable path to our success.”
After hearing Lei Luo’s words, everyone present lowered their heads and did not say anything.
After a few seconds of silence, Katz turned to Morton and asked, “How much money do we have now?”
Morton shook his head and said, “Not a single cent.”
“I brought three million gold coins.” Katz turned his head and looked at Lei Luo.
“If it’s just maintenance, energy, and basic salaries for the soldiers, we can still support them for a period of time. But if we do as you say, it will be a challenge to manage the amount. First, we have to recruit a large number of soldiers. This is a fee. Second, we have to keep going on expeditions. The rewards for expeditions, pensions, and victories all require money.”
When Katz said this, he didn’t say anything else. He just looked at Lei Luo.
His meaning was actually very clear: “Your idea was very good, and I agree with training soldiers. But can we afford to train now?”
“In reality, money is not a big problem. I already have a way to solve it,” Lei Luo said lightly. However, changing the soldiers’ way of thinking is indeed a bigger problem. Ever since the beginning of the Alpha Empire, the human military thinking has been like this. The military commander is the most important, and the soldiers are the least important. The soldiers have completely adapted to the mercenary mentality of just doing a part-time job, usually getting a basic salary, and getting paid when they go out to war. I think that if our recruitment scope is still limited to human soldiers, then it will be more difficult for us to carry out our ideas. Especially since we are still in the initial stage, we can’t withstand the twists and turns.”
After Lei Luo said this, other than Allie who often fell behind on the conversations, Morton, Katz, and Zacken all had their eyes wide open in disbelief.
After a long while, Morton spoke first.
Even in the midst of the mutiny at the Holy City of Beauty and the tragedy at the Defense Center, Morton, who was still calm, could not help but stutter.
“Don’t tell me…You…you want to arm the magic conductor?”
“No.” Lei Luo shook his head. “Not arm, but hire.”
“No matter what you say.”
Morton shook his head in excitement.
“Yes, that’s right. Many magic conductor soldiers come from the same gene. Training them uniformly is definitely faster than ordinary soldiers.”.
“But, do you know the consequences of doing so? This is one of the three great sins announced by the senate. If you do this, you will be attacked by all the humans in the world.”
Lei Luo smiled contemptuously.
“Let’s wait until the day when all the humans in the empire are really united. The magic conductor had already started a riot in the distance. One of the dukes had already died at the hands of the rebel army. If the senate truly had spare strength, they should also deal with the genuine magic conductor rebel army. As for a weak person like me, they probably won’t take it to heart.”
“Lei Luo, I admit that if we do this, the senate will indeed leave us alone for now. But there is no doubt that this will cause us to be isolated in the third province.”
This sentence was said by Katz.
“Aren’t we isolated enough now?” Lei Luo asked in return. As he spoke, he raised his head and sneered.
“Perhaps we don’t think so, but after living for a long time under the rules set by the senate, we are unknowingly bound by the rules set by them. In this empire, above all the rules, there is a supreme rule, and that is the law of the jungle. Removing the veil of tenderness on the surface, all the seemingly gorgeous and humane rules are in essence serving this rule.”
When Lei Luo said this, he looked at the others present and realized that his overly harsh tone made them feel a little nervous.
He then softened his tone and said, “I dare to assure you that if we become stronger by hiring magic conductors, then what will greet us will not be cannons, but our most loyal allies.”
There was an exceptional silence. After a while, Zacken, who had not spoken for a long time, finally mustered his courage and said, “All right, even if that’s the case…But, Lei Luo, have you ever thought about mass-producing magic conductors as the backbone of the army? It’s true that they are cheaper and easy to train…However, if one day we really become the strongest of this empire and our army is mainly composed of magic conductors, do you think that at that time, this empire will still be the human empire? At that time, wouldn’t our group become traitors to the human race?”
Lei Luo raised his eyebrows and looked at the other three, only to find that Allie was frowning.
From this, it could be seen that their hearts actually agreed with Zacken’s opinion.
Although there were only five participants in this meeting, Lei Luo was very clear that this meeting would completely determine the direction of development for the next few decades, or even centuries.
Therefore, he had made sufficient preparations before the meeting, and it was already within Lei Luo’s expectations that he would encounter the greatest ideological disagreement on the issue of magic guides.
