The batch of soldiers who hadnât died returned to their own tribes in misery.
They couldnât be considered deserters, as they were conscripted from each tribe.
Without food and without a general, with nobody to guide them or feed them, they could only return, dejected, to their original places.
Of course, their defeat was quickly reported back to the Capital City.
The King in the capital decided to personally lead their forces this time, not only personally leading the soldiers, but also selecting warriors from each tribe, choosing more warriors to become soldiers and selecting generals from among many candidates.
The food for the expedition would have to be collected from each tribe, including not just horses, cattle, and sheep, but also grain and fodder.
Furthermore, they had to obtain some minerals from mines, such as those that could be made into gunpowder.
Where others could use firecracker-style gunpowder to create such powerful explosives, they too needed to make such explosive materials.
The King listened to the mage, who said he had seen something explosive, in the form of a talisman.
He even wanted the mage to post notices to recruit such talent.
They also possessed such a secret weapon, not to mention that even the enemyâs maps were blown to bits.
They had also thought about oil, planning to burn the enemyâs city with more fuel.
Previously, they believed it would be easy to occupy the enemyâs city, and that the people there had become one of their own and wouldnât seek to kill them.
Ye Weida listened silently to the discussions in the meeting, as his prowess in defending the city prevented the enemy from breaking through immediately or securing victory instantly.
But they failed, despite sending so many people, some of whom were their best in battle.
The King was furious and decided to personally lead the campaign.
Previously, he just wanted to fight the enemyâs main forces, and if some people were killed in emergencies, so be it, without intending to annihilate entire cities.
After all, when they occupied a place, they needed the locals to become their slaves, working for them on site.
Originally, their nation had fewer people, and now a large group might sacrifice during the battle. Their army would enter, occupy a city, station some of their own there, and then move on to conquer another city.
If they lacked enough personnel, they might even recruit soldiers and seize horses from some ordinary citizens in the enemy nation.
After facing defeat, they were angry and wanted to use their power and resources to blow up the enemyâs cities.
No matter how many casualties, even if everyone died, it would be fine.
As long as the land was theirs, nothing else mattered.
The more people died, the faster they could seize the country.
If they could blow up an army of a hundred thousand with strength, even better, then they wouldnât need any other military forces.
They just needed to use their resources to do it.
The tribal chiefs heard that they had ample water sources and good breeding and planting capabilities, and were required to provide manpower, granaries, cattle, sheep, and horses.
Their drafts almost conscripted all males over fifteen from their tribe.
Then the tribe was left with only the old and the young, with insufficient manpower to cultivate and breed.
How would the lives of the tribeâs old and young be maintained in the future?
After donating cattle, sheep, and horses, their tribe became impoverished, and after donating grain, they didnât have enough to eat.
With so many young adults gone, it was unknown if they would ever return, leading to immense worry.
It wasnât fear of the enemyâit was because this battle was different from previous ones.
Before, they could leverage strength and strategy to attack, barely losing personnel while entering, and could even face the enemy.
Now, it was one-sided death: they were being killed on their land, their grain burned, and they didnât even know how the enemy got in.
The prospect was bleak.
The tribeâs leaders, although able to become generals, couldnât shake the feeling of a dangerous aura looming over them?
A kind of sixth sense from the commanders suggested that this battle might lead to near-certain death.
A war without any chance of victoryâwas this just sending people to their deaths?
The commander voiced his concerns to the official personnel.
The officials, of course, supported the Kingâs will, as they were just persuasive personnel and not required to engage personally.
Even if they failed and everyone died, without those participating in the front lines, if the King died, wouldnât the Kingâs son become emperor?
They would just support the Kingâs son to be emperor.
Despite the Kingâs ambitions?
Of course, they also supported it; when successful, they too would share in the prosperity and glory.
Someone listening to the commanderâs concerns slapped the table loudly, saying he was disobeying orders, that this was the Kingâs command, and they had no right to speak, only to execute orders.
The commander saw the otherâs blatant disrespect, and his expression worsened, almost leading to a fight.
Ye Weida, having heard to this point, lost interest, pondering whether they werenât intending to fight or to show their strength?
He decided to ensure their inability to take action before they even mobilized by absorbing their resources.
Without resources, even if they wanted, they couldnât do anything.
This time, Ye Weida did not think of eliminating some key figures.
He just went to the farm area and collected millions of cattle, sheep, and horses from the enemy into his prepared space.
He then took all the livestock ready for slaughter at the enemyâs entire tribal breeding ground.
After acquiring those resources, he began searching for their so-called warehouses.
Each tribe had a granary, and each tribe also had a marketplace and shops.
There were also soldiers managing the entire tribe, although they wore their own clothes, not military uniforms.
During the war, to avoid injuries and clothing damage, they wore a type of thick, durable, earthen cloth.
The women of the Barbarian Nation learned weaving techniques of earthen cloth from their neighboring countryâs women.
Ye Weida could also see silver jewelry made in unique designs here.
It seemed there was a silver mine in this place as well.
Without revealing himself in the market, even while invisible, he overheard some discussion regarding a gold mine, a placer gold mine, somewhere in the desert of this country.
Ye Weida contemplated visiting, wanting to inspect the silver and gold mines and gather the silver and gold.
He intended not only to acquire resources from the wealthy familiesâ stores and mines, but also to cause a stir in the Imperial Capital, forcing significant resource losses from various tribes, leaving them scrambling and unable to support the Kingâs military endeavors.
He desired to wound and ultimately kill the wrathful King during his furious rampage.
He sought to leave the entire nation in disarray, unable to focus and therefore unable to attack their country again.
Ye Weida decided to act, stealing a map. It was a map of the countryâs tribal areas, more accurate than those he knew, belonging to the militaryâs official deployment maps.
Every city, every mountain was clearly depicted on the map.
With this map, he no longer needed to visit the places heâd been to, nor wander around aimlessly in places he hadnât.
He could save time and swiftly gather resources, capturing all the resources that hadnât been donated, causing chaos in every tribe of the Barbarian Nation.
They would begin doubting each other, thinking it was their own tribesmen committing the theft.
Ye Weida, however, was unaware that just after he left the oil field, the entire oil field was depleted the next day, causing chaos in the tribe around it.
They couldnât believe the once abundant oil field was suddenly dry.
As they investigated, digging underground tunnels, they were visited by guestsâofficial agents demanding their tribe donate oil.
The bit of oil they hadnât yet sold was now needed for trade materials, and a portion still needed to be left for their own use.
The officials demanded oil, without offering a single cent in returnâwhere were they to find that much oil?
No matter how they explained, disbelief prevailed, forcing them to take the officials to the now-dry oil fields, leaving the officials dumbfounded, unable to fulfill their task or report back properly.