Don't Mess with That Dragon-Chapter 464 - 017 Strategic Change

In the Kawa Great Forest, the deeper you go, the higher the tier and stronger the monsters that roam the forest.

The higher the danger,

naturally, the fewer Beastman Tribes survive around.

Through the Stone Peak Forest, the Dragon Nest Legion entering the inner domain encounters resistance that is several times stronger than in the outer domain.

Those monsters rampant in the mountains and forests are simply difficult to achieve a complete cleanup.

In fact, the expansion of the Dragon Nest Territory to such a vast region nowadays, due to population concerns, it is impossible to attack a place and completely sweep away all the monsters there.

The farther away from the Dragon Nest Base, the longer the supply line, making expansion increasingly difficult.

Before the Dragon Nest Legion reached the Stone Peak Forest, they basically conquered a region suitable for development, cleaned up the monsters around that area, and then relied on the Stronghold City for outward expansion.

Those stone mountains, mountains, and other largely undevelopable forests were directly abandoned.

In fact, in the current Dragon Nest Territory, the land directly controlled under the Dragon Nest Tribe’s banner is only one-tenth of the map.

The remaining nine-tenths, although explored by Dragon Nest soldiers, are not suitable for development.

Nor is there a sufficient population to develop them.

Just like Russia in Austin’s previous life, due to the factor of vast land and sparse population, a large area on the Siberian Plain remains an uninhabited zone.

The situation faced by the Dragon Nest Tribe today is somewhat similar. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

With this, coupled with the inner domain itself being rampant with monsters and sparsely populated, making conquest extremely difficult, the Dragon Nest Legion finds itself somewhat out of reach.

In this context, Austin weighed the gains and losses and quickly changed the tribe’s development strategy.

Previously, Austin’s strategic thought was to sweep the entire Kawa Great Forest, break all forces, and dominate the vast Kawa Great Forest area, then establish a kingdom, later march north, wait for an opportunity to break the Border Great Wall, occupy the border to extend into the Central Earth World, and wait for a chance to participate in the upcoming great era.

But now, the difficulty in attacking the inner domain of the Kawa Great Forest is evidently high.

Plus, the harvest after entering the inner domain is not much, the Beastman Race within the domain is scarce, and although there are many kinds of magic mineral resources in the wild, it ultimately isn’t worth it overall.

"The inner domain itself is sparsely populated, difficult to gather enough population for my use in the short term, but rich in magic resources with great development potential."

"However, more than half of the outer domain’s territory potential has yet to be developed. What I need now is population, a large population to enrich the Tribe Kingdom, thereby promoting various aspects of tribal development, the potential of the inner domain waiting for future tribal development before being further exploited."

Moreover, as the former site of the Beastman Royal Court, it is still unknown whether the Beast God has left any contingency plans or spies in the vicinity after that battle.

It might be possible to inadvertently bump into the opponent without knowing.

However, also because of the abundant magic resources, quite a number of powerful beings are nourished, among them, avoiding the previous disaster in the Kawa Great Forest, probably nine-tenths of the Legendary existences remain in the inner domain.

There are also many who survived the core battle by luck, mastering some Law Power at the peak of gold and Half-Legendary level.

For Austin, the inner domain is simply a natural Law Origin site.

Though so, the latent power within the inner domain is so formidable; if Austin personally hands it over to the Dragon Nest Legion, the losses might not be low.

Given all these factors,

changing strategy is naturally justified.

"First, conquer the outer domain area, establish the kingdom, and once developed to a certain extent, then implement the strategy of developing the inner domain."

The attack on the inner domain of the Kawa Great Forest is temporarily paused, keeping garrisons in the Stone Peak Forest, relying on the Stronghold City on the key throat location as a backing, slowing the intensity of inner domain development.

The main target of the army shifts to the outer domain bordering the Great Wall.

And in that vast area, besides the Beastman Race, recently traces of human cultivation have also increased.

Various landless farmers, bankrupt merchants, fallen aristocrats have begun to cultivate the vast area on the edge of the Kawa Great Forest, establishing villages and fortresses, competing against the Beastmen.

But for now, perhaps the best course of action is to consolidate for a year or two.

During the previous round of expansion, the Dragon Nest Tribe swept through the central part of the Kawa Great Forest, the territory expanded significantly, reaching an extreme.

Further expansion cannot yield effective governance.

Expanding too fast, the foundation still needs to be solidified.

At this time, it is just right to enter a new phase of internal development, build the railway, develop the mines, and allow the tribal Beastman populace to rest and recuperate.

Especially now as the Dragon Nest Tribe’s population has skyrocketed, exceeding 900,000 and nearing a million.

The rapidly growing population also needs careful assimilation.

At the same time, connecting each stronghold and the capital city with each other, the internal affairs also need certain optimization and adjustment.

While establishing a solid foundation, the peripheral auxiliary troops can also explore outward, early contact with peripheral areas, occupying some bridgeheads, engaging with Beastman or human forces struggling to survive in the outer regions of the Kawa Great Forest, gathering various intelligence therein.

By now, the auxiliary troops have already changed several generations.

Those early auxiliary Beastmen have achieved enough merits, coupled with the Dragon Nest Tribe’s ruling region needing a large population, they were filled and settled within the territorial range.

Through military training and collective development, those Beastmen were absorbed into the Dragon Nest Tribe’s system.

However, this does not affect the strategic direction of the Dragon Nest Tribe.

Once the Dragon Nest Tribe’s infrastructure is ready, and some intelligence from the periphery is collected, then it will be the time for the army to strike and sweep the periphery.

With the adjustment in the Dragon Nest Tribe’s strategy,

soon, the warfare expansion of the Dragon Nest Legion started to halt, entering a stage of internal development.

The railway’s mileage further increased, connecting several early stronghold cities.

Relying on the transportation capability of the railway, the Dragon Nest Tribe established pioneer villages along the railway line, placing captured Beastman prisoners and meritorious retired auxiliary troop Beastmen beside the railway.

While maintaining the railway daily, it also further strengthened and enhanced the overall power of the Dragon Nest Tribe.

Due to the increased number of people within the tribe, in order to further stimulate development among civilians, the Dragon Nest Tribe further lifted restrictions on civilian economic development, injecting fresh vitality into the civilian economy of the Dragon Nest Tribe.