Chapter 397
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Chapter 397: Disparity in Military Strength
Under the pitch-black night, only the burning firelight within the tribal camp brought some brightness to the dark world.
However, it also turned the tribal camp into a living target at night!
Figures quickly darted through the bushes.
The Hyena Queen, having almost fully mobilized her tribe, was clearly very confident in their strength and had no intention of playing games.
Upon arrival, they immediately surrounded the entire camp and then swarmed in.
Their simple and brutal approach showed that they wanted to kill everyone.
However, no one would have expected that the Hyena Queen’s confident pounce would completely miss its target!
“Bang!”
The Hyena Queen’s furious mood made her kick over a bonfire in the camp.
Then, looking at the empty camp, her mood worsened.
“They ran away? Everyone spread out and search! There should be footprints left nearby!”
The Hyenamen, silent as cicadas, dispersed after hearing their queen’s command and began searching for footprints around the camp.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Zhou Yi and Li Ke exchanged quick glances as they observed the unusually lively tribal camp below.
Then, they simultaneously turned to look at Jie Zichuan, who was standing behind them.
“This time, your intuition saved us again.”
Zhou Yi was completely convinced by Jie Zichuan’s intuition.
“I didn’t expect the number of Hyenamen to be so high. Roughly estimated, there should be at least 200 to 300 right?”
Zhou Yi’s tone carried a hint of uncertainty.
After all, it was night, and the light was dim.
Even with the firelight from the camp, he couldn’t see very clearly.
Hearing this, Jie Zichuan humbly replied, stating that he was unworthy.
His intuition didn’t always work, and there were often times when he faced danger but his intuition didn’t react.
This time, it worked twice in a row, which he could only attribute to good luck.
However, in Jie Zichuan’s own opinion, it wasn’t a skill.
Exhaling a deep breath, Zhou Yi adjusted his emotions and spoke again.
“Let’s leave quickly. Although we left many footprints to confuse those Hyenamen during the retreat, their noses are also very keen. We probably can’t delay them for too long.”
The group quickly departed.
According to Li Ke, even beastmen with keen senses don’t have omnipotent noses because residual scents in one place quickly dissipate.
Zhou Yi undoubtedly used this point during the evacuation, coupled with intentionally left footprints.
This was estimated to fool the Hyenamen for quite a while.
After leaving, Zhou Yi and his group all relocated to Jie Zichuan’s original tribe.
This tribe had long been massacred by the Hyenamen.
Looking at the large patches of dried blood on the ground, Jie Zichuan’s face inevitably showed a hint of sadness.
After taking a deep breath, Jie Zichuan, who had regained some of his spirits, told Zhou Yi and the others.
“The location of this camp is quite far from the original one. Plus, the footprints and scents along the way have been dealt with. Logically speaking, those Hyenamen shouldn’t be able to find us that quickly. However, to be safe, it’s better not to light a fire.”
Zhou Yi undoubtedly agreed with this point.
Without a fire, the dark environment was quite unfriendly to them as humans, but safety remained their primary concern.
After all that commotion in the middle of the night, everyone clearly wasn’t feeling very sleepy.
Zhou Yi called Li Ke and Jie Zichuan, then casually found a tent to discuss their future plans.
However, the atmosphere was subtly eerie.
The reason was clearly Li Ke’s eyes, which glowed green in the darkness.
They knew Li Ke couldn’t control this, but in the pitch black, two glowing green eyes staring at them from the side was somewhat frightening.
Li Ke himself seemed to realize this.
For a moment, not knowing what to say, he simply cut to the chase.
“If the Hyenamen’s number is only 200 to 300, then our chances of winning are actually very high.”
“This time, you brought 200 troops, right?”
Zhou Yi asked calmly.
“That’s right.”
Li Ke nodded.
The individual combat strength of beastmen soldiers was, after all, different from human soldiers.
200 wolf warriors could generally match 500 human soldiers.
Not to mention, for this expedition, Luo Ji had also equipped them with decent sword-shield soldier gear, making their strength even greater.
This military force was indeed not weak, but the problem was that the number of Hyenamen was greater than the number of wolfmen on this expedition.
After pondering for a moment, Zhou Yi’s calm voice rang out again.
“We still have the advantage in weapons and equipment, plus the support of 50 crossbowmen. If we really fight, our chances of winning should still be very high.”
Li Ke subconsciously nodded upon hearing this.
Clearly, he thought the same way.
Without weapons and equipment, facing a much larger number of Hyenamen would be unwise.
But now, they had an advantage!
However, in the next second, Zhou Yi’s tone suddenly shifted.
“But don’t forget, His Majesty’s purpose for sending us on this expedition is to incorporate the barbarians in the northern mountain forest to expand our civilization’s military strength.”
Hearing this, Li Ke’s expression changed slightly.
Undoubtedly, he already knew what Zhou Yi was going to say, and what Zhou Yi said next was indeed consistent with what he had thought.
Zhou Yi continued, “Against that number of Hyenamen, we can indeed win by relying on our weapon and equipment advantage, but the key is casualties! If we suffer heavy casualties before incorporating the barbarians and expanding our military, wouldn’t that be putting the cart before the horse?”
Li Ke was completely unable to refute because Zhou Yi was right.
Against such a large group of Hyenamen, even with equipment, Li Ke couldn’t say with 100% certainty that they could easily win.
Casualties were unavoidable.
“Then what do you propose we do?”
Facing this question, Zhou Yi pondered for a moment before slowly speaking.
“Focus on maneuvering. We’ll split into two groups. Your wolf unit will be responsible for maneuvering with the Hyenamen, while I’ll take Jie Zichuan and the rest to incorporate the barbarians. At the same time, we’ll send a few messengers back to deliver a report, informing His Majesty of the situation here and requesting His Majesty to send troops to support us. Once they arrive, everything will be much easier.”
“So, the key is how to maneuver.”
Li Ke got straight to the point.
“The Hyenamen outnumber my wolf unit. If we maneuver against them, we might suffer even greater casualties than if we just attacked directly.”
“That is indeed a problem.”
Zhou Yi nodded.
As he was pondering what methods to use to maneuver with the Hyenamen, Jie Zichuan, who had been sitting silently beside them, raised his hand.
“How about setting traps?”
