âLong live His Majesty the Emperor!! Long live His Majesty the Emperor!!â
Hercule was riding on a four-horse-carriage amid a shower of flowers strewn by the citizens. Each time he waved his hand, the citizens would go into a craze.
That was hardly surprisingâit had been a very long time since the Lemurian Empire had seen a victory. No small part of it was Hadrianus IIIâs fault for being so bad at warfare.
âSupport for my rule will rise after this.â
Receiving loud cheering, Hercule was in a good mood. Support for the state would rise after a victorious war. That applied to all countries, time periods and cultures.
A monarch with a sharp mind for warfare would always receive support no matter what kind of ruler he was. Even if he misgoverned, he imposed heavy taxes, he ruled tyrannically⌠as long as he won wars, the massesâ opinions would be overturned.
Now, the basis for Herculeâs authority had been firmly solidified.
âŚThat made some people feel uneasy, however.
âTdah! The post-war review meeting is now underway!!â
Hercule said as he clapped his hands. Today, he had gathered the generals who took part in the campaign. Even Darios was present.
âIs this some sort of event, Your Majesty?â
âItâs a meeting to reflect on our last campaign.â
ââŚBut we won, didnât we?â
âThere might have been a better way to win, you know. And thereâs always room for improvement.â
Hercule answered Garphis.
Hercule could be described as the hardworking type. Though that may sound dubious when you consider his words and conduct so farâŚ
Reading a massive number of books, learning several languages, amassing abundant knowledge, scrutinizing huge amount of administrative data, revising the tax system, persuading the bureaucrats, writing down documents⌠Hercule had clearly exerted a lot of effort.
If it was for the sake of achieving his goals, Hercule would put in as much effort as needed. Regardless, he always made sure the process was as fun and painless as possible. Because he only had so much time on his hands, he tried to save as much time and effort as he could while avoiding accumulating stress, so he could spend his time off-work on other matters.
Thereâs no value in wasting time and stamina doing tedious, pointless and stressful tasks. Thatâs not diligence but simply negligence.
Thus was Herculeâs opinion.
And that was why this review meeting was needed.
If the result was good, itâs necessary to determine the reason why it went well and work out how to improve it even further.
If the result was bad, itâs necessary to find out what went wrong and make sure they never repeat the same mistake again.
Improvements must be made continously. That was also diligence, surely.
And for that reasonâŚ
âLetâs start the meeting. First of all, Darios. Letâs review your performance.â
ââŚMine? But I was the enemyâŚâ
âFiguring out the reason why the enemy lost is important, too.â
I see, Darios concurred. After a bit of thinking, he said.
âI would have have won had we fought on open plains.â
âDo you take me for a fool who would fight head-on against a numerically superior army on open field?â
âWasnât there a famous mountain climber who surrounded and wiped out a Lemurian army twice as numerous as his own, thus driving the Empire to a corner?â
âThat was no mean feat, you know. A fifteen-year-old brat couldnât possibly manage that.â
At the very least, the current Hercule didnât have the ability to reproduce that famous tactic. And there was no chance Darios would have allowed that.
If itâs Darios, he would definitely have been able to cut his way to victory before Hercule could have enveloped his army. In the first place, itâs stupid to try to copy a man who was crazy enough to lead his elephants through the mountains before going to battle.
âThatâs true, I guess. In restrospect, thereâs probably no general other than me who would lead such a huge army single-handedly. Had I dispersed my troops out, I could have been more alert. Itâs not like I could have appoint another commander, though. Canât trust mercenaries, after all.â
âArenât you a mercenary, too?â
âItâs mercenaries who distrust other mercenaries the most.â
It was self-hatred, basically.
âFear not, our army will learn from your mistakes.â
ââŚIâm not sure what to say about that.â
Darios displayed a complicated expression. At the moment Darios had no thought of betraying Hercule, though, nor did he bear a grudge towards Hercule.
On the contrary, he rather liked this new master who gave him an opportunity to hit it big. He also wanted to watch over the growth of this young boy who obliterated Darios himself.
âWant me to tell you why you lost?â
âWhy was it?â
âItâs because you took territories from my father. You shouldnât have taken those territories if you couldnât manage them.â
âHaha⌠Itâs just as you said.â
Darios had a favorable impression of Hercule, but⌠He couldnât help feeling uncomfortable. That was little wonderâcurrently, Darios colleagues were the generals who he had defeated before.
At least, there wasnât any general who had the backbone to object to Herculeâs decision.
âOkay, thatâs it for Dariosâs review⌠Letâs reflect on our armyâs perfomance.â
âWas there anything that could be improved? Everything went well as far as I can tell, though?â
Carolina tilted her head adorably.
âWell, there wasnât any issue with the strategy and tactics we used. But the battle itself⌠the weapons, I mean.â
ââŚWeapons? Whatâs about them?â
âThe spears used by the infantry. Adopting the five-meter-long spear right away was an good decision⌠but they were used too poorly! They are too lacking in flexibility.â
Until now, the Lemurian Army had used short swords and shields in combination with javelins. This setup was extremely flexible but had been left behind the times by the development of cavalry.
Therefore Hercule ditched shields, equipping the infantry with five-meter-long spears and adjusted his tactics accordingly. This five-meter-long spear was a come-back of the Sarissa spear used in the phalanx formation of antiquity.
Basically, the Lemurian Army had rolled back the clock to return to an equipment of several thousand years past. HoweverâŚ
âGranted that we were fighting downhill, that was a bad idea. The infantry broke ranks right away and were too weak in melee.â
It seemed some infantry ended up throwing away their spears early on and fought with swords which were more mobile. As expected, the long spear wasnât usable in close quarters on poor footing.
What Hercule was looking for was a highly flexible force. One that could exert consistent strength against any enemy, on any terrain, in any weather.
In the domains of the Lemurian Empire, there were deserts, plains and even mountains. They were facing all kinds of enemies, like nomads and mountain peoples.
Somewhere, there must be some terrains where his army couldnât operate.
Was there no choice but to create exclusive forces for use in deserts, mountains, jungles and plains?
âHow about legions, then?â asked Garphis.
We went through so much trouble to convert the army, now you want to change it back?
âThatâs a bit⌠Spears are still preferrable to short swords, after all. But infantry should have shields to protect against arrows. And the five-meter-spear isnât quite long enough to fend off cavalry⌠It has to seven-meter long, at least.â
ââŚâ
âHaving longer reach than enemy weapons, usable on poor footing, strong in close combat and light enough to use with a shield. I wonder if such a weapon exists?â
ââŚâŚâŚâ
Thatâs asking for way too much. But the generals kept that thought to themselves.
Such a convenient weapons couldnât possibly existâŚ
âWhy not use them all, then?â
Darios jokingly said. But thenâŚ
âThatâs it!!â
ââŚEh?â
And thus, the equipment for the reborn Lemurian Army was decided.