The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4734

"So these are the 'honorable' and 'trustworthy' pals that Uncle Ark wants to get in bed with? He sure chose wisely."

Ves scoffed after he took in the incredible act of duplicity, hypocrisy and outright betrayal that a group of Davutans might possibly commit.

Sure, Calabast's speculations may be off the mark, but it would be pretty dreary if the conspiracy truly existed!

"To be fair to the colonial government, not every Davutan is involved in this possible gambit." His spymaster reminded him. "Only a small subgroup is plotting this scheme behind the backs of more earnest and honest colonists. I am reasonably confident that President Yenames Clive remains clueless. He needs to maintain a clean and trustworthy reputation so that he can continue to attract new allies and investors for the Davute Project." _{free𝑤ebnovel.com}

"Pfff! That doesn't change the fact that Davute is just as bad as all of the other damned states that I have encountered. The colonial government is a giant snake pit. To think I actually thought that Yenames Clive's sincerity accurately reflected the goodwill of his entire state. Nothing could be further from the truth!"

"Where there are people, there are interests. The greater the population, the more pronounced the divisions become. This applies to both Davute and our clan. You can't stop people from having different ideas on how to proceed, Ves."

"I guess you're right, but it would be nice to learn about these kinds of shenanigans in advance."

He was glad that Calabast managed to sniff out this possible plot before it happened for a change. She had redeemed herself for her earlier misses and proven her value once again, if only barely.

Ves would have never been able to deduce that this kind of conspiracy might be in the works if he was on his own. Just the work and judgment required to identify and tie together a few random clues from a substantial trove of ordinary data collected by Lucky was unthinkable!

His spymaster still cautioned him about putting too much stock in her analysis.

"You need to be careful not to dictate your actions based on a prediction derived from scarce and low-quality intelligence. The confidence value of my theory is low. The main reason why I mentioned it to you anyway is that it makes sense if you factor in the motives of the parties who invested in Davute. Schemes like this have taken place many times in the past. Directing the attention of the citizens and stakeholders of a state to an external enemy is a surefire way to condense everyone's unity and sense of purpose."

This was a tried-and-true formula for humanity. Ves recalled the discussions he held with General Verle on matters such as morale and esprit de corps.

The Bright Republic relied on these intangibles in order for its Mech Corps to resist the numerically superior Mech Legion of the Vesia Kingdom in each and every generational war.

Even though Ves had good suspicions that the Bright-Vesia Wars were at least implicitly rigged from the start, the powerful nobles of the Vesia Kingdom did not mind taking over the Bentheim when they had the chance!

The fighting was therefore very real in that sense.

Without creating a noticeable disparity between the morale, ferocity and dedication between the combatants, the Brighters would have never been able to fend off the Vesians for so many years!

This example illustrated the difference that purpose could make.

"An army without a driving reason to spur them onto fighting is no army at all." Ves quoted one of the general's words. "It is a mob of profiteers who are only good at bullying the weak and running away from the strong. If you want to condense an actual army, you need to condense a common will that can motivate soldiers into standing their ground no matter the personal risks to their lives."

A qualified army had to meet many different requirements in order to compete against other armies, but the most important ones were a commitment to duty, a belief in victory and a spirit of self-sacrifice.

Calabast nodded at those sage words. "The armed forces of Davute are currently split into two broad categories, namely the Internal Group and the External Group. The core forces that originally hailed from the founding organizations such as the Clive Consortium have completely been absorbed into the Internal Group. Every mech unit has agreed to put down their previous loyalties, adopt a common standard and take part in a unified command structure. It is a professional mech military in the truest sense."

The Internal Group was also responsible for guarding the Government District and all of the other core areas of the colony.

"Uncle Ark and his future mech division will fall into the External Group, right?"

"That is correct, Ves. As you can imagine, the External Group is much larger but can also be described as a mixed bag. The lack of consistency, the complete absence of standardization, the shaky cooperation and an unwillingness to obey commands from other private individuals no matter their rank will likely cause this group to underperform on the battlefield as a whole. This is detrimental to the war effort as the impact of defeat and chaotic routs can completely turn winnable battles into catastrophic defeats."

This was the sort of mess that Ark Larkinson hoped to fight in. If the expert pilot had any expectation that the External Group that provided the bulk of the mech forces would fight as professionally as the old Mech Corps, then he would be in for a rude awakening!

Given how the upcoming war could end up into an absolute disaster for Davute due to the lack of unity and will among the scattered mercenary forces, it made more and more sense to create an 'incident' that could successfully trigger a common hatred against Karlach!

Ves groaned as he tried to figure out how Davute ended up in this awful situation.

"Since we can foresee this scenario, so should President Yenames Clive. Why the hell isn't he doing more to unite the will of the mech forces that had pledged to fight under the External Group?"

"He isn't as smart as you think he is." Calabast replied as she played with Lucky who she had placed on the desk. The cat rolled over and presented his tummy. "You've studied his record. He's a through-and-through businessman who never stepped close onto a battlefield. His head is filled with business and management theories such as negotiating tactics, incentive structures, agency problems and so on. His modus operandi so far leads me to believe he puts too much stock on tangibles over intangibles. To Yenames Clive, every mech force is a defined war asset that can be put on a balance sheet. So long as your war assets exceed that of your enemies, you will automatically win the war."

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