Only a woman can be happy. No man is happy, because man is associated with freedom, and in man's earthly life, he is always bound in some form.

– Otto Weininger (Austrian philosopher)

Soon after Luculus's second departure, Cunningham, who had recently been busy formulating the reinforcement plan for the Eastern Legion, came to Baifeng's military tent with the reinforcement plan he had drawn up.

"General, the revised strengthening plan is based on the actual situation of the five Eastern Army Corps, and they will be strengthened in a targeted manner; among them, the Fifth Eastern Army Corps, which needs to be strengthened, is the weakest, and the First and Second Eastern Army Corps are relatively better. ”

Bai Feng, who leaned slightly on the chair, supported his forehead with his right hand, and gently tapped the table in front of him with his left index finger, and said to Cunningham, who was standing in the military tent respectfully: "Well, tell me about your specific strengthening plan." ”

"The specific reinforcement plan is as follows: 50 officers with the rank of squadron leader will be transferred from the Yulin Wing, and 500 veterans and 500 recruits with good performance will be transferred from each of the other six standing regiments and the Iron and Blood Guards to form the elite backbone of strengthening the combat effectiveness of the Eastern Legion. ”

"The number of veterans of the Standing Legion and the Iron Guard is not large, and if five hundred veterans are withdrawn at one time, their combat effectiveness will be affected; ”

"This ......," Cunningham, who reacted very quickly, muttered for a moment and then revised the plan again: "The troops drawn from the Standing Legion and the Predator Guard can be reduced from five to five to seven to three, so that their combat effectiveness will not be affected. ”

"If you transfer 300 veterans, it shouldn't have much impact on the Standing Legion and the Iron Guard, I think it's feasible. ”

After seeing that his new proposal was approved by Bai Feng, Cunningham, who was determined in his heart, continued the plan just now: "This batch of 7,000 soldiers drawn from various legions will be divided into five units with the same proportion of new veterans, but different sizes, and they will join the five Eastern Legions. ”

"Of these, the largest number of troops of 2,000 men will be scattered and incorporated into General Luke's Fifth Eastern Army, and the two smallest units of 1,000 men will be dispersed and merged into the corps of General Aetius and General Cabitus, respectively. ”

"In addition, each of the five Eastern Legions needs to transfer a part of its original soldiers to supplement the Standing Legion and the Iron Guard in the form of new soldiers, and each of the five reorganized Eastern Legions will maintain a standard full strength of 10,000 people. ”

After listening attentively to the strengthening plan formulated by Cunningham, Bai Feng, who was satisfied with the overall plan, still felt that this plan still had a lot of flaws: "Cunningham, using the soldiers of the Eastern Legion to supplement the Standing Legion and the Iron Guard, the idea is good but not feasible. ”

Although what he just said was only a part of the entire strengthening plan, what Cunningham didn't expect was that the most inconsequential part of it actually attracted Bai Feng's attention, and was even vetoed by Bai Feng himself.

Facing Cunningham's puzzled eyes, Bai Feng, who felt helpless, had to sigh silently in his heart, Cunningham, who was extremely talented and resourceful, had spent too much time in the small world of the Wind Thieves, so that his vision became narrow.

In order not to hurt Cunningham's self-esteem, Bai Feng had to explain euphemistically: "The members of the Eastern Legion are all ordinary young men with no enthusiasm, and their quality and foundation are not very good, and there is a certain gap compared to the recruits replenished by the military department. ”

"The six standing legions and the Iron Guards are our main combat forces at present, and it is very important for them to maintain strong combat effectiveness; 7,000 soldiers is not a small number, and we can completely ask the military department to replenish the troops through the Duke of Gna. ”

Bai Feng's words were so simple and easy to understand, if Cunningham couldn't understand it anymore, then he wouldn't be worthy of Bai Feng's attention; Cunningham, who came to his senses, admired and thanked Bai Feng for deliberately protecting his self-esteem.

However, Cunningham, like Bai Feng, is a person who does not like to put his feelings on his lips, and after a little adjustment, he suppressed the admiration and gratitude in his heart, and gave advice to Bai Feng as a staff officer and think tank:

"If we can get 7,000 new soldiers from the military headquarters, then the extra 7,000 soldiers of the Eastern Legion can replenish General Luke's Fifth Eastern Army to full strength on the one hand, and on the other hand, use the remaining soldiers to rebuild the newly recovered city defense army of the two provinces. ”

With the five thousand soldiers of the five Eastern Legions who are not suitable for the regular army as the backbone, the city defense of the provinces of Lyon and Grenoble is rebuilt, which is a good note, and even Bai Feng, who was sitting in the commander's seat, sat up with a bright face.

"That's a good idea. After glancing at Cunningham approvingly, Bai Feng approved his plan and said: "It just so happens that the provinces of Lyon and Grenoble are in urgent need of rebuilding the city defense army, and the soldiers of the Eastern Army are always more suitable than ordinary young and strong. ”

"General, the provinces of Lyon and Grenoble are different from the provinces of Brojansson and Toulon that we have previously recovered, they are too close to the Sunset Fortress, and even if we can recover the provinces of Montaine in the future, we will still need to strengthen our forces in these two provinces. ”

"I think that instead of separating large armies to be stationed in these two provinces in the future, it is better to take advantage of the opportunity to rebuild the city defense army in these two provinces, and directly form two strong city defense armies for these two provinces; ”

As Cunningham said, after recovering the four provinces that had been captured by the orc army one after another, Bai Feng was most worried about the current situation of the scattered forces of the army under his command;

However, the dilemma of the Empire's two-front battle and the heavy losses of the main forces of each legion forced the Empire to adopt a tentative counteroffensive to recover the fallen provinces; otherwise, how could Bai Feng's demands be agreed to by Charlemagne?

The key now is that the extremely risky exploratory attack has been extremely successful, and the problem faced by Bai Feng has changed from how to avoid a head-to-head confrontation with the main force of the orc army to how to defend the various provinces that have been recovered.

Undoubtedly, this new proposal put forward by Cunningham could not fundamentally solve the problems faced by Bai Feng, but it could alleviate the dilemma of insufficient troops under Bai Feng's command, and the formation of a large number of city defense troops would also be beneficial and harmless to Bai Feng's control and recovery of the province.

In view of this, Bai Feng, who had a decision in his heart, took the opportunity to order Cunningham: "Cunningham, give you three days to hand over your strengthening plan with Aetius and them, and after that, you will be responsible for rebuilding the city defense army of the two provinces with 5,000 soldiers of the Eastern Legion." ”

Cunningham, who thought that he would never have the opportunity to have close contact with the army again in his life, tried to suppress his excitement, but was exposed by his trembling hands.

Bai Feng, who was smiling, waited for Cunningham to adjust his mood, and just wanted to tell him about the city defense army; Cunningham, who had regained his composure, walked to the center of the military tent and solemnly swore to Bai Feng on one knee: "The last general, swear allegiance to the general!"