I'm a villain, not a devil

"We are already short of manpower. No matter how fast we speed up, people can't be born and grow up overnight, and our reserve forces can't immediately go into battle and attack the enemy—"

Even though Sean's big hands were not honest, Bai Ye did not lose his calm judgment and directly rejected Sean's proposal.

Sean just raised his eyebrows and put his hand into Bai Ye's clothes, turning the "steering wheel" in a way that they were familiar with before.

Facing the slightly resentful look in the other party's eyes, he said cheerfully: "Isn't this easy? All the current soldiers will be organized into a new army, and the kitchen team will also be sent together. As for logistics, they will be directly requisitioned from the city. As long as there are people at home, they will be forcibly conscripted. It doesn't matter if they can't fight, as long as they can cook and transport supplies."

Bai Ye struggled for a few times but failed to get the other party to let go of his "steering wheel", so he could only helplessly say: "You don't know the situation in the imperial capital. If I forcibly conscript civilians into the army, not only me, but even my father, who is respected by thousands of people, will come back and there will be no way to stop him. The city will fall into chaos the next day."

"Besides, your new army has no coordination and no organization. I'm afraid they won't even be able to distinguish between us and the enemy after they go into battle. Our army will disperse on its own without the other side making a move."

Sean sighed and shook his head: "You always make things too complicated."

Bai Ye was a little unconvinced: "This is not called overthinking things, but if I do as you say, what I said will definitely happen!"

Sean winked at her: "But what if I say that war is fleeting?"

Bai Ye was stunned: "What do you mean?"

"What are the advantages of the Empire?" Sean asked.

Bai Ye habitually spoke: "Of course it is the strong national strength, vast territory and..."

Sean interrupted her directly, then pointed at himself and then at her: "No, it's you, it's me, and my godfather Bai Youming - of course, Old Bai is out for a stroll now, so he doesn't count for the time being, but others don't know."

Bai Ye was a little dazed. Sean pointed out her blind spot in military command.

Sean said slowly, "In theory, even if you and I kill the enemy like crazy on the battlefield, it will be useless because our team is too weak. Throughout history, 20% casualties can cause chaos in the morale of a mature army and directly lose its combat effectiveness. However, the current imperial army, even with those veterans, only needs 10% casualties to declare the camp collapsed."

"That's true." Bai Ye didn't refute.

Sean continued, "The role played by high-end combat power at this time is far less than imagined. Your concerns are correct - but you are still wrong. Who said we have to face the enemy head-on?"

Bai Ye was stunned: "What do you mean?"

Sean said without hesitation: "Our army cannot defeat them head-on, but we can always take advantage of them, right? The enemy's army is more organized, and the premise is that all officers must be on duty, right?"

Bai Ye exclaimed: "You want to deal with the other party's leadership first?"

Sean said dissatisfiedly: "Hey, how can you say that? Of course, you and I will have some secret negotiations with the other party first, and then kill them all."

Bai Ye: "..."

What's the difference between that and what I said!

Bai Ye frowned: "That won't do. When two countries fight, they must be fair and square. It doesn't mean that the two armies must face each other head-on. But, if before that..."

Sean reached out and grabbed the "steering wheel". Bai Ye exclaimed and looked at him angrily.

Sean said indifferently: "What's the point of caring about the face of a great power at this time? Besides, the face is given by oneself - people in your empire are indeed stubborn in this regard, I don't blame you."

"Are you blaming me? Take your hand away!" Bai Ye said angrily.

Sean didn't even move his hands: "Dream on - you think too much. If it wasn't for boosting the morale of the army and convincing the entire empire, I wouldn't have resorted to such means. What do you think I asked you to bring people with you? To fight? No, of course, it's to witness the great victory of the empire!"

He leaned close to Bai Ye's ear and whispered a few words. The look in the latter's eyes kept changing, and after he finished speaking, he looked at him with a complicated expression.

"Is this...appropriate?"

Sean said proudly: "It's suitable, very suitable."

Bai Ye was obviously tempted, because the method Sean mentioned seemed really simple... The confidence of the imperial army and the imperial residents could also be unprecedentedly enhanced.

However, the opponent is very important...

"Who to choose?" Bai Ye finally spoke.

Sean licked his lips excitedly. He pointed to the strategic map in front of him and said, "Let's pick the one that's close."

……

"According to Imperial law, any family with more than two males must send one male to accompany the army!"

At the door of the simple house, the fully armed imperial soldiers were shouting sternly.

Inside the house, a family of three was looking at the scene in horror. After a moment, the woman knelt down tremblingly, "Master Jun, there are only three of us left in our family. My husband was seriously injured and paralyzed. He can't do anything... My son is only fifteen years old. We all rely on him to work and support ourselves!"

In front of the window, the middle-aged man paralyzed in bed had a gloomy face, and the boy with a childish face bit his lips.

The imperial soldier pushed the woman away impatiently and threw down a bag of food: "This is a reward for joining the army. We are not asking your son to risk his life. He just needs to join the army and do some logistical work."

The woman hugged the soldier's thigh tightly with tears streaming down her face. There were originally six people in her family, and half of them died after the Imperial Capital Incident. She didn't dare to believe that he was only doing logistics, and she just begged him not to take her son away.

The imperial soldier was a little annoyed. He pushed the woman away and looked at the boy in the room: "Boy, are you going to leave or not? If not, I will be rude to you!"

Seeing the soldier's sudden change in expression, Rayleigh quickly ran over to help his mother up. He tried to plead, "Sir, I..."

The soldier interrupted without hesitation, his eyes cold: "I'm already very polite, I'll count to three... three, two..."

"I'll go! I'll go!" Rayleigh finally gritted his teeth and lowered his head.

His mother hugged him and cried, "You can't go! You must not go!"

"Mom, there's nothing I can do..."

Riley followed the soldiers out of his home with a dejected look on his face, leaving only his crying mother and paralyzed father in the house.

He looked up blankly, and saw that men were walking out of other houses one after another. Their expressions were the same as his...

Rayleigh gritted his teeth, his face full of reluctance.

Her Majesty has only been on the throne for a few days. For the sake of war, does she not care about the lives of ordinary people at all?

A few days ago, my parents and I thought that Her Majesty the Queen would be the next wise ruler...

Bah! All emperors are the same! Who cares whether these people live or die?