Chapter 521 - 327: A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings in Deepwater City

Chapter 521: Chapter 327: A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings in Deepwater City

What should an army fight for?

Zog truly hadn’t expected that Figxin’s vision for her new army had already moved beyond mere upgrades in equipment and systems, ascending to the level of ideological construction.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Because I feel... I just feel," Figxin said, her tone uncertain, "that understanding the reason for fighting is also a source of fighting strength."

Figxin’s thoughts stemmed from her extensive combat experience. "Soldiers in the past fought for nothing more than direct benefits: merits that could earn them promotion, rewards from their Lord, or simply the chance to plunder. While that can certainly motivate them, it’s not enough."

Perhaps believing she could find the answer in Zog’s ancient mind, Figxin laid out all her thoughts.

"Motivation driven by personal gain has its limits. They’ll weigh the risks, and if the risks outweigh the benefits, they’ll immediately lose the will to fight and fall into disarray. But before, when we were clearing out bandits in the Northern Domain, the units formed by local people—aside from my Guard Corps—never backed down, even when facing extreme danger, despite their overall poor quality."

"I’ve thought about why that is for a long time. Even the elite legions of the Royal City would have a hard time achieving that."

Just as she said, wars were frequent in Feilin, but the casualty rates had always been low.

A small part of the reason was that when nobles fought amongst themselves in the past, they were concerned with dignity and saving face. But the main reason was that their armies were simply incapable of fighting brutal wars.

For temporarily conscripted peasants, a ten percent casualty rate was the breaking point. Anything higher and the army would completely rout. Not even the provosts could stop them. ’Forget fighting, let’s run!’

As for the so-called trusted retainers of a Lord, the elite legions, their limit was generally a thirty percent casualty rate.

If their Lord lost, so be it. At worst, they’d just get a new Lord. Life would go on as it always had.

But there were a few exceptions.

Figxin gave some examples. "Besides the locals in the Northern Domain who helped suppress the bandits, there’s also Augustine City, whose defenders would never surrender. And historically, in the wars against the Devils, there was almost never any retreat. If I had to find a common thread, the only one I can think of is that they all had a reason to fight. They *had* to fight—for themselves, for their families, for their homeland—not for a Lord’s command, or for the desire to get rich and climb the ranks."

"So... so," Figxin uttered the conclusion that, for someone of her status, was rather treasonous, "an army that truly has fighting strength shouldn’t serve an individual Lord. It should serve the entire domain... in short, it should serve everything the people living on the land care about."

Having said it all in one breath, Figxin watched Zog’s reaction, her nervousness apparent.

She, too, felt her ideas were a bit too bold. As a Princess, the daughter of Sutton—the greatest Lord of them all—she was still a theoretical candidate for succession, even if her place in line was abysmally low. To say that an army shouldn’t serve its Lord... her father would be showing immense tolerance just by letting her choose a dignified way to die.

This was the first time Figxin had ever spoken her true thoughts to another intelligent being.

She had never even told Gelda, with whom she had grown up, or the Zete Mage who had tutored her since childhood.

Figxin felt that such ideas might be too radical for them.

But Zog was different. Figxin had a faint feeling that although Zog never showed it, if there was anyone in this world more radical than her, it had to be this Red Dragon.

After she finished speaking, Elsa, who was standing in the corner of the office, was dumbfounded.

’I’m just an assistant! Why do I have to listen to this stuff?’

’This sounds dangerously close to treason, doesn’t it?’

’The things I go through for a simple salary...’ In a daze, Elsa could almost see herself being led to the guillotine.

As for Zog, he remained silent for a long time.

This was probably the most shocking thing he had heard all year.

Coming from the Lord of the North, a scion of the Royal Family, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the entire aristocratic system.

’Is she trying to start a revolution against herself?’

In Zog’s eyes, Figxin’s pale skin seemed to be glowing redder and redder.

If the concept of "the people" even existed in the common tongue, Zog suspected she would have blurted out "serve the people."

’What a super-progressive Princess.’

Seeing Zog remain silent for so long, Figxin assumed he also couldn’t accept her philosophy and lowered her head in disappointment.

"Just pretend I was talking nonsense. I came here mainly for weapons and equipment anyway."

"No, this can’t be considered nonsense. Your idea is excellent, it’s just not suitable for public disclosure at the moment," Zog reminded her.

"Of course, I know that." Figxin might seem a bit reckless—a trait from her Barbarian class—but she wasn’t stupid.

Zog tapped the tabletop with the tip of his claw. He was thinking, ’Should I build up my own defense force?’

Deepwater City was developing faster and faster. He couldn’t just rely on the police department and his Beastman Zor retainers.

Besides, there was always the possibility of war, and their numbers were far too small.

As for his own military expertise, it wasn’t that he had zero accomplishments; it was that he knew absolutely nothing.

At best, he had the experience of an armchair general. Compared to him, Zhao Kuo was a master of practical warfare.

Now, there was a living, breathing expert right in front of him, and one with incredibly progressive ideas at that.

With a decisive swipe of his claw across the tabletop, Zog made his decision.

"Not only can I provide weapons, but building a new type of army requires money. As it happens, I, a Dragon, have a unique advantage in that department. And Deepwater City is very close to the Northern Domain."

Figxin’s face was full of doubt; she hadn’t immediately grasped Zog’s meaning.