Qin Chuan soon encountered several men from the Northern Prince's Mansion who were capable of defeating ten thousand men. These were middle-aged urban men, all at the peak of their lives.
However, Qin Chuan was surprised to see their talents. He hadn't used it on Yu Qing before, and this time it was only a subconscious use, but he hadn't expected to be able to see their innate abilities.
The Golden Divine Eye was truly powerful. As the saying goes, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated." Knowing the opponent's talent allowed for a clear understanding of their combat strength during battle.
For example, the man he had seen before, Niu Ben, was a formidable opponent. His talent, called "Ox Strength," was quite good, increasing the attack power, speed, and defense of all friendly units by 100%, and granting a 10% chance to ignore 10% of the opponent's defense.
Although the increase wasn't huge, 100% was still considered above average. Moreover, the 10% armor-piercing ability was quite impressive; that 10% alone would barely place Niu Ben's talent among the top-tier talents.
Unfortunately, when combined with his own talent, only the 10% armor-piercing ability was truly useful, and extremely so.
A 10% probability isn't low. The more people there are, the better the effect. This armor-piercing ability has a 10% probability of breaking through 10% of the opponent's defense.
Qin Chuan's talent increases combat power tenfold, and with this 10% armor-piercing ability, it's quite good. Add to that Yu Qing's tenfold morale boost, and the entire army can almost crush the enemy with unstoppable momentum.
Qin Chuan also looked at the talents of the other people. In fact, most of their talents overlapped. Increasing soldier combat power is the most common talent, and Qin Chuan's is too.
However, while Qin Chuan's increases combat power tenfold, the largest increase others get is double, and that's the highest increase among them.
There's also one talent that increases morale, which overlaps with Yu Qing's. Only Niu Ben's talent and another person's talent are truly useful.
Another one is called Golden Wolf. His talent is good, increasing speed by 100% and adding a 1% chance of stunning for half a second.
This is incredible. Qin Chuan is a little envious. Speed is everything. Increasing speed is really powerful. It provides high mobility, allowing for both offense and defense, and its speed makes it very lethal.
Qin Chuan's talent of increasing combat power tenfold doesn't mean increasing attack or speed tenfold; it simply means increasing combat power in one area—one against ten. Similarly,
increasing strength tenfold doesn't mean increasing all attributes tenfold; it simply means increasing combat power.
Therefore, this Golden Wolf's talent is incredibly powerful: double speed and a 1% chance of stunning for half a second. Half a second can often end a battle instantly.
Knowing about Qin Chuan and Yu Qing's talents, these people were incredibly excited. While the number of soldiers and their supplies are important, the talent of the generals is even more crucial.
The Northern King knew that Yu Qing's man was no ordinary person, and this was only one of Qin Chuan's talents; there must be many other trump cards.
Qin Chuan came here to assist in the battle; he wouldn't offer any advice, and besides, it's unknown what advice he would offer, as he's unfamiliar with the area.
He and the Crown Prince are now irreconcilably at odds, and intelligence indicates that the Crown Prince is preparing to attack the Northern King's residence, aiming to seize it and eliminate the Northern King from the royal family.
In the Bright Moon Kingdom, besides the vassal states, there are many other military states that are observing the conflict from the sidelines, not participating in the struggle between the Crown Prince and the Northern King. These states also harbor ulterior motives and aspire to become vassal states themselves, but lack the strength.
Participating in a conflict now, if they lose, could result in anything from nothing to the extermination of their entire clan.
Therefore, the more cautious among them are choosing to observe.
The Crown Prince and the Northern King will inevitably need to determine a victor to unite the royal family and allow them to rival the vassal states. Then, they can devise ways to dismantle the vassal states one by one.
It sounds simple, but it's incredibly difficult in practice.
Right now, the most important thing is to stop the Crown Prince's attack. Qin Chuan isn't worried about that, but the Northern King's forces only number two hundred thousand elite troops. If the enemy is clear-headed, even sacrificing two or three hundred thousand to raze the Northern King's forces would be worthwhile.
However, the Northern King's Palace also possessed a special force of eight or ten thousand men, the most elite infantry in the entire Bright Moon Kingdom. These were the Northern King's own proudest troops, the Golden Armor Shield Soldiers, trained by himself. Ten thousand Golden Armor Shield Soldiers could easily crush ten times their number of elite troops.
A week later, the Crown Prince's army had already reached the city walls.
Six hundred thousand!
The entire Northern King's Palace only had two hundred thousand troops in total; this army was going to raze the Northern King's Palace to the ground.
The Northern King's expression was solemn. After all, the enemy's army was three times his size. Although he had ten thousand special troops, who could guarantee that the enemy didn't have any?
Standing on the city wall, looking at the endless army in the distance, the three generals leading them were all capable of defeating ten thousand men, their aura imposing.
The Crown Prince was not present. He only cared about the result, not the process. Even if all these people died, as long as the Northern King died, then his goal would be achieved.
Three times the enemy's strength would normally be enough to crush them, but in a siege, the enemy had high city walls and a terrain advantage.
Moments later, the siege began. Archers fired at the city walls to suppress the enemy, while siege engines charged towards the city gates.
Simultaneously, soldiers on flying mounts attacked from the air, but those in the air were easy targets, riddled with bullets.
Unless one was extremely overconfident, no one dared to fight in the air in such a large-scale battle.
Hmm?
The enemy came prepared. They only attacked the city gates, and a shield formation of over ten thousand men tightly protected them, keeping arrows, stones, and wood at bay.
These shield-bearers weren't special troops, but they were definitely top-tier elite soldiers, and they could even condense a faint mist around their shields. "
Shield formation!
Break!"
Niu Ben roared, looking down from his high position, his giant axe slashing down at the shield-bearers below.
Niu Ben was a warrior capable of taking on ten thousand men; this strike was powerful enough to level a small mountain.
Boom! The attack
was massive and brutal, sparks flying everywhere. The imagined scene didn't materialize. Niu Ben's ferocious strike only took down fewer than two hundred of the enemy, with fewer than fifty dead…
Qin Chuan had been observing intently. He had to admit that these battle formations, often composed of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, were indeed incredibly powerful. However, they had many flaws, which was unavoidable; the more people in a formation, the more flaws it would have.
There are advantages and disadvantages; this was unavoidable. The advantage of the battle formation was obvious: it maximized the advantage of numbers.