I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 260 Lin Ruoyu's Low Blood Pressure is Cured
This was the first time Lin Ruoyu had commanded an army of over five thousand people, a mix of players and NPCs, and he realized for the first time just how troublesome this situation was.

The NPC soldiers are fine, but even the laborers have undergone some military training and have been whipped by instructors. When marching, setting up camp, or even encountering the enemy, they know what to do and where to be.

The players are different. Whether they are members of a battle group or casual players, they all have a rebellious spirit. They come from different battle groups and have their own playstyles and combat habits. They are not obedient like NPCs at all.

For the first time, Lin Ruoyu realized that commanding such a mixed army was far more complex than he had imagined.

During marches, players are always undisciplined and unwilling to follow the prescribed formation. They often gather together to discuss tactics, and some even ride their horses to the front of the formation to argue with Lin Ruoyu.

If you see a group of players marching quietly in a line, with one person every meter, neatly arranged and moving in unison, then they are definitely using the auto-march function.

To facilitate the march, Lin Ruoyu divided the expeditionary force into three parts: the vanguard, the central army, and the rearguard.

The vanguard is a rapid reaction force composed of elite NPC cavalry and player scouts, responsible for clearing the way and reconnaissance.

However, this vanguard force, which should have been disciplined, became the source of Lin Ruoyu's biggest headache.

"Reporting, Commander!"

At midday, during a break, Lin Ruoyu was sitting on a wooden stake by the ancient passage, just about to eat, when an NPC messenger rushed over in a panic.

"The knights of the vanguard...they...they're having a horse race!"

"?"

"What horseback riding competition?"

"I don't know, sir."

Lin Ruoyu immediately sensed something was wrong. He forgot all about eating and quickly mounted his horse. When he arrived at the front, he saw more than a dozen players competing to see who could reach the distant hillside first.

Some people rode warhorses, some rode donkeys, and there was one oddball who had someone push him in a wheelbarrow while he sat on it, shouting loudly. Although he was slower than the boy riding an ox, he was the happiest and most excited one.

Upon seeing this, Lin Ruoyu felt a wave of dizziness.

"What are you doing?!"

Lin Ruoyu roared and rode his horse forward, blocking the way for these idle bastards.

"Let's farm achievements!"

One of the players, riding a mule, answered confidently.

"I'm still 3 kilometers away from achieving the '1000-mile solo ride' milestone!"

"I set this achievement for you to encourage you to march, not for you to cause trouble!"
"Damn it, I'm disqualifying you from this achievement!"

After quickly and roughly dealing with these troublemakers, Lin Ruoyu suppressed his anger and turned to the central army. The situation there was slightly better, but not much better.

The central command, which should have been responsible for the main combat operations, now resembled a large market. Players gathered in twos and threes, some setting up barbecue grills to roast whole lambs, some setting up stalls to sell equipment, and some even holding a "Most Beautiful Armor" beauty pageant.

"This is wartime, not a picnic!"

Lin Ruoyu's roar startled the birds in the trees, but despite his anger, he really couldn't do anything about these people. They were players, not soldiers, and trying to manage them with real military discipline would only backfire.

The most outrageous was the rear guard. When Lin Ruoyu arrived, he found that the rear guard players, who were supposed to be in charge of transporting supplies, had converted the grain carts into mobile casinos, and one player was standing on the cart shouting.

"Place your bets now! Guess when we'll encounter the enemy!"

"Teacher Lin is here!"

"Someone shouted. The players scattered instantly, leaving only a few NPC laborers standing there blankly. Lin Ruoyu laughed in exasperation at this group. He wasn't going to be polite to gamblers; he'd directly deduct from the battle group's military merit points."

The squadron leader whose military achievements have declined will naturally turn around and deal with these bastards.

"That's fucking enough."

Lin Ruoyu rubbed his temples as he returned to his central position. For the first time, he felt what it was like to be so angry that his liver hurt. This pain, which he had never experienced in real life, made him deeply understand what it meant to have "high blood pressure".

However, today was destined to leave Lin Ruoyu with no leisure time. He had just picked up his rice bowl when a virtual letter icon started flashing in the corner of his eye.

Lin Ruoyu casually tapped it with a rice spoon, and a large amount of text jumped out in front of him.

"Oh, so the vanguard battle from last night has come to a conclusion."

Lin Ruoyu learned about the encounter last night through offline means, but just like Chris, knowing it meant he couldn't do anything about it.

Now that the battle has been decided and someone needs to clean up the mess, someone remembered Lin Ruoyu and sent him a battle report.

"...encountering over two thousand enemies, our side suffered two hundred and seventy-five casualties, defeated and captured four hundred prisoners of war, and killed many enemies..."

"Stain..."

Lin Ruoyu couldn't stand it anymore. He closed the letter, put down the spoon, covered his forehead with his left hand, let out a long sigh, and then cursed in a low voice.

"Nima's..."

Xiao Dao's Over-the-Mountain Tiger Squad, as the vanguard, what exactly are they planning to do? Don't they know?

Okay, okay, don't be angry, don't be angry...

When Lin Ruoyu dispatched battle maniacs like Xiaodao and the Over-the-Mountain Tigers, he should have known that things would turn out differently than he expected.

Moreover, trading nearly three hundred casualties for two thousand enemy vanguard troops, it's not a bad deal... just kidding.

Logically speaking, a T1 tier battle group like Overlord Tiger, with 500 fully armed veteran players, could be used as a force of 5,000 if they were to fight in a frontal formation, with no problem in long-range or close-range combat.

In other words, the members of the Over-the-Mountain Tigers combat group are like the veteran soldiers of the Tang Dynasty who carried five walking sticks.

What is the player version of "Possessing Five Staffs"?
It means an all-around warrior who is proficient in all combat skills, including accurate long-range shooting, long-range formation, armored infantry fighting, mounted archery, and charging into battle.

Lin Ruoyu felt that if players couldn't be resurrected, the casualties of the vanguard would have been enough to infuriate a general... Damn it, my five hundred all-around warriors were wiped out by two thousand ordinary enemy field troops in a single skirmish.
Don't say that only 275 people died, there are still 225 people who survived.

Lin Ruoyu surely knows the players' character.
They must have downplayed their strengths. Of the more than three hundred who died, the remaining two hundred or so must all be wounded, and seriously wounded at that. There were hardly any with minor injuries.

Adding the so-called four hundred prisoners of war, this means that the vanguard force was practically wiped out, and they could no longer fulfill their vanguard role.

"Hey……"

Lin Ruoyu sighed again, trying to comfort himself.

"On the bright side, because of their fighting, at least the supply convoys that lagged behind to deliver supplies to Hegland won't encounter the Bohemians, so they're safe..."

"Sir, how far are we from the location of the Overlord Tiger Squadron?"

"A two-day journey, sir."

“Select a unit, carry a standard supply of provisions, and send it on a forced march to support them…”

(End of this chapter)