World Online

by Srtyi

Earth Online – a virtual MMORPG that takes place in the future year of 2190 – a game that everyone will bet their futures on. Set in a map that is ten times the size of real-world Earth, players battle for supremacy in the first game to feature personal adventure, territory construction, and grand warfare. For every death you experience in the game, your level would drop back to 0.

8. 185

Read The World Online - Chapter 185 - System Update online free - Light Novel Full

Chapter 185 - System Update

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

After Ouyang Shuo viewed the information on achievement value and confirming that it was the same as the last life, he turned his attention to check if the season update was too. He was terrified that he might've triggered a butterfly effect.

(1): Regarding death settings: Players' death penalty wasn't like before where they would just lose 1 level. Instead, they would lose all their items other than those in storage and fall back to level 0.

The death punishment was to prevent players from swarming people with player quantities.

For example, Zhan Lang's Blood Red City had formed an army filled with purely players. If players died and they only lost one level, while the enemy troops died when they were killed, then in the late game when players got to a high level, a player army would be unstoppable.

This kind of player quantity technique was entirely against the balance of the game and naturally wouldn't be allowed.

(2) Regarding the teleportation formation, now only people could be transported and not items unless the items were in the player's storage bag.

For example, when Ouyang Shuo ordered Wang Yuanfeng to go over to Fallen Phoenix Town to help and bring over the triple-bow acruballistas, that was also not allowed anymore. Unless Ouyang Shuo had big enough of a storage space and could store the bed crossbow himself before personally sending it there.

The settings of the teleportation formation were to prevent players from smuggling.

That's right. It was smuggling.

If one smuggled things using the storage bag, as it had limited space, teleporting multiple times, the fee might even be equal to the trading cost, so it wasn't too worth it.

Of course, to prevent that was impossible, it was just to prevent rampant smuggling.

(3): Regarding the market setting: The advanced market would now have 2 platforms, mainly the resource trading platform, special items trading platform. At the same time, there would be a new auction platform which was a combination of the old one and also the business trading platform, it would allow players to list items instantly and would be called the super auction platform.

On the platform, regardless of are you a lord game mode or adventure game mode player, or an NPC guild in the system's imperial capital, you can list an item, place an order, take an order and also buy the item.

Placing an order would be to list your requirements and what you wanted to buy. Listing an item would be to sell your item. Taking an order would be to accept another player's listing. Purchasing the item would be to buy the item that was put up for sale.

Every transaction completed at the super auction platform, the system would collect 10% tax from the buyer, as compared to the original 20%, it was half.

The main difference between the old and new systems was that there was now a price war mechanism. The price of an item would depend on supply and demand and wasn't like previously when it was based on a stable system price.

Another difference was that special items wouldn't be sold by the system, including building blueprints. Players had to go onto the platform to trade, it was not as quick, and there were not as many items as before.

As for building blueprints, they were only sold in the system imperial capital. The lord had to either find someone to buy it for him or buy it from sellers on the super auction platform.

Apart from that, there were new items on the list of unsellable items, including the military grain pill, the Xingjun tent, alchemical fire oil, etc. military resources. If the lord wanted to get such items, he had no choice but to smuggle them.

Such a setting was because the lords have all gone through half a year in the game and they wouldn't need to rely so much on the market anymore. Thus there was no need for the market to be like a babysitter.

The change in the market at the right time was also a test for lords.

(4) Regarding the relay setting: Players sending items including letters had to do so through the relay. The distance between relays, the weight, and size of the item and the value would all be taken into account to determine the price.

This meant that the relay would take over the pigeon letters for players to send information. If one wanted to talk, they could either use the channel or send the letter through the relay.

Removing pigeon letters was basically to prevent spies from spreading information on the battlefield. At the current moment, players could use the national channel, alliance channel and guild channel.

The method that Ouyang Shuo used previously to send the item to Song Jia had been banned, and if he wanted to do so, even with gold, he had to go through the relay.

The settings of the relay made use of this basic building from the grade 2 town. It also set a restriction on packages to prevent players from sending items anywhere, at anytime, and also to preventing trolls.

(5): With regards to time: All things in the game, like plants and animals, would follow real time, and the increased growth speed from before had been canceled.

This change was to increase the realism of the game further. For example, the wild pigs and cows that Shanhai City reared, which needed 3 months originally now needed half a year or even a full year.

(6) Regarding military settings, one is the adjustment to soldier ranks, officially adding rank 10-12 ranks above elite soldier, as an elite war soldier. The second was the change in military forces and to increase the specialty of the force. Divisions and above could undergo training, and upon succeeding, the division would obtain their own specialty.

After advancing the soldier rank, elite soldiers now had two choices: either change class to a basic general or continue to become elite war soldiers, adding combat power to the military.

Each had their pros, and it depended on the lord to choose.

These new settings increased the choices in military play and increased many possibilities.

(7) With free regards to the free mode setting, the items that players design had to be recognized by the system and given stats. If not, they wouldn't have any use.

(8): Regarding the lord's rank: Above Duke rank, there were new ranks, from prince to emperor. When one reached prince, he could build his country and be called a king. The requirement of a prince was 2 million merit points, double that of a duke.

As for the game updates, it was just the 8 above. What kind of effects they would bring about, only time would tell.

Apart from the system update, Gaia also published an article on how to differentiate between authentic and fake secret manuals. Without thinking, the prices of the authentic secret manuals would rise dramatically. Ouyang Shuo wanted to know how much money he would be able to earn from the 120 gold secret manuals that he had accumulated.

Ouyang Shuo went out of the forums, the moment he got back into the game, a system notification appeared in his ear.

"System notification: Half a year has passed, and many heroes have appeared. The territory leaderboard, guild leaderboard and celebrity leaderboard have officially been opened."

"System notification: Half a year has passed, and many heroes have appeared. The territory leaderboard, guild…."

"System notification: Half a year has passed, and many heroes have appeared….."

The 3 most powerful rankings had been officially opened, Ouyang Shuo opened them and checked them one by one.

Firstly was the territory rankings, an important ranking for the lord players.

Ranking- Territory

1st- Shanhai City (Qiyue Wuyi)

2nd- Pill Sun City (Chun Shenjun)

3rd- Fallen Phoenix City (Feng Qiuhuang)

4th- Blood Red City (Zhan Lang)

5th- Consonance City (Bai Hua)

6th- Swordsman City (Feng Qingyang)

7th- Handan City (Di Chen)

Note: The rankings only took note of those of rank city and above, those of similar grade were split by who upgraded first

Ranking - Guild

1st- Blood Evil Mercenary Group (Blood Romance)

2nd- Snow-war Rose mercenary Group (War Rose)

3rd- Jianqi Zongheng (Yijian Xilai)

4th- 18 Horsemen of Yanyun (Yanzi Lisan)

5th- Jin Yi Wei (Xiuchun Knife)

6th- Liuguang Pavillion (Jun Yilao)

7th- Thread (Qing Sikou)

8th- Qingfeng Pavillion (Moon Shines Over The River)

9th- Tingyu Floor (Jianqi Leiyin)

10th- Laojun Temple (Priest Qingniu)

Out of the 10 mercenary groups, only Blood Evil Mercenary Group and the War Rose Mercenary Group were the strongest while the rest were pretty balanced.

Jianqi Zongheng mainly accepted paladins, 18 Horsemen of Yanyun mainly accepted generals, Jin Yi Wei primarily accepted runners, Liuguang Pavillion primarily accepted healers, and Laojun Temple primarily accepted priests.

Qingfeng Pavillion and Tingyu Floor mainly accepted spies and did intelligence work.

The Thread was the most special as they mainly took in work occupation players. They were the most different but could still get to the 7th spot, from that one could see how strong they were.

Ouyang Shuo also knew that Qingfeng Pavillion was the guild for Consonance Studio, and the guild leader Moon Shines Over The River was Bai Hua's brother.

Yijian Xilai and Jianqi Leiyin were originally a couple, but after they had quarrels, they broke up and built their separate guilds in Earth Online.

Jianqi Leiyin was furious, and as such he changed his ID, treating Jianqi Zongheng as his enemy.

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Chapter 186 - Meeting Up Part 1

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora.

Finally, there was the celebrity leaderboard—the only leaderboard that took into account all players in the game.

1st- Qiyue Wuyi

Evaluation: Shanhai City lord, first rank earl. He has climbed to the top of the world three times and has become the number one celebrity. To make so many waves, he deserves his ranking.

2nd: Blood Romance

Evaluation: Leader of the blood evil mercenary group, 1st rank out of the adventure mode players. In terms of both personal combat ability and guild strength, he is at the peak of the China region.

3rd; Di Chen

Evaluation: Handan City lord, 3rd rank earl. He was originally in the top 10 of the world but the times have changed and he has dropped. To be able to climb back up, he is certainly a fighter.

4th: Feng Qingyang

Evaluation: Swordsman City Leader, Qingyang sword sect sect leader, rank 3 earl. Built the first sect in the China region, having both the brains and the brawn.

Note: The celebrity leaderboard only records people with huge influence, so if they weren't famous people or influential, they wouldn't be able to get in.

The celebrity leaderboard is the most stringent ranking and only accepts four people at the moment. Everyone would not only get a system evaluation, but they can also get an extra reward.

As expected, a system notification rang in Ouyang Shuo's ear.

"System notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for being ranked first on the celebrity leaderboards. 10% increase to historical figure's favor, rewarded 10 thousand reputation points."

To date, this was the highest reputation point reward he had obtained.

After he checked the leaderboards, Ouyang Shuo finally had some time to contact little aunt, Sun Xiaoyue, Song Jia, and Liumo. Unfortunately, as there was no more pigeon letter, he could only go back to the office and write a letter to them.

To little aunt, Ouyang Shuo had nothing much to say. He only invited her and Xie Siyun to come to Shanhai City to look around.

In the letter to Sun Xiaoye, Ouyang Shuo wrote about his identity and asked her for a list of names that her grandfather had gathered. This would let Ouyang Shuo add them to the teleportation formation.

Apart from that, the members of the Fallen Moon Guild that were willing to move to Shanhai City could also send a list of names.

At the end of the letter, he also asked Sun Xiaoyue about the situation with the Cui family. He instructed her to teleport over only after she made contact with them.

In the letter to Song Jia, he told her his identity, and also raised up the topic of working together with Tianshuang Town.

Ouyang Shuo wrote that he couldn't allow them to enter the Shanhai Alliance at this time, but Shanhai City could have a one-way alliance with Tianshuang Town. This alliance would give them similar weapons and equipment buying permissions.

Ouyang Shuo had so much to consider, so he couldn't be too personal. He also had to fulfill his promise to her.

To the weapon specialist Liumo, Ouyang Shuo directly added his ID Zidan Chutang to the teleportation formation and asked him to teleport over. Of course, it was best if he could bring his family along.

In reality, Ouyang Shuo had a few conversations with Liumo. Ouyang Shuo knew that he had gone home to reunite with his family after Ouyang Shuo had persuaded him, so they should be in the game together now.

After he finished the letters, he called his servant to send the letters to the relay. After the city was refreshed and reorganized, the relay was now at the second northgate, located five kilometers away from the lord's manor. Obviously, Ouyang Shuo wouldn't send it himself.

As for the sending costs, it was just one to two silver. He could ask Zisu for it when he returned. The second day that Zisu came to the Lord's manor, Siqin passed the treasurer position of the jewelry shop to her. Zisu also became the manager of the Lord's manor.

After he learned this, Ouyang Shuo allowed Siqin to manage the blusher powder shop.

Of course, be it the jewelry shop or the blusher powder shop, they all belonged to the Lord's manor as Ouyang Shuo's personal property. As such, all the profits would go to him.

……

Jianye, the base of the Snow-War Rose mercenary group.

Lin Jing took the letter from the postman Then, she covered her mouth, as she laughed.

Xie Siyun asked curiously, "Jing Jing, who's the letter from?"

"Your guess?"

Xie Siyun pondered, "Was it your nephew?"

"Smart!"

Xie Siyun shook her head and said, "So, can you tell me now who exactly is your nephew?"

Lin Jing's mood was exceptionally good, and she smiled, "You say, who is the most famous in the China region?"

"Who is the most famous?" Xie Siyun thought about it, "The most famous one would be the guy on the top of the celebrity leaderboard, Shanhai City lord Qiyue Wuyi."

Xie Siyun's mouth was agape, as she struggled to speak. This kind of situation rarely happened to this ice queen.

"Jing Jing, you… you wouldn't be telling me that Qiyue Wuyi is your nephew, right?"

"Bingo, you got it right."

This made Xie Siyun utterly speechless, "No wonder you and your nephew have been so secretive lately. Even when you reached Shanghai, he didn't want to stop and immediately boarded the spaceship."

Lin Jing opened the letter and took a look and smiled, "No matter what, this is a huge help for our mercenary group. You should know that Little Shuo has won three weapon and equipment crafting manuals during the auction. Are you confident in the cooperation now?"

Lin Jing was gloating. Her nephew was so strong and even shocked the usually calm Xie Siyun beyond words.

Xie Siyun was also a special talent, so she was able to quickly calm herself down, "Jing Jing, you are right, Shanhai City is a very suitable partner. What did he write in the letter?"

Lin Jing nodded, "En, Little Shuo invited us to visit Shanhai City. I guess it's to discuss future cooperation. So, are you interested?"

"Of course. That's the first city in the world. Of course, we have to go and take a look." Xie Siyun agreed.

…

Quanzhou, Blacksmith Shop.

Zidan Chutang, who was Liumo, had received Ouyang Shuo's letter and laughed,"My brother is actually so incredible."

Liumo placed down the letter and told the manager of the shop, "Manager, I want to resign!"

"Resign? Young man, you have only been working for how long? You can't be too ambitious and think that you have learned a bit and become so arrogant." The manager's words were a little harsh.

Liumo didn't really care and waved it off, "Manager, you don't need to try and persuade me. You don't need to give me the remaining salary." Following these words, he walked out of the blacksmith shop. He gave the other apprentices in the shop a chic back view, as he walked out.

Liumo walked through the streets and alleys. Finally, he reached the house that he had rented. It was old and squeezy and the hygiene wasn't good either.

However, such conditions were already considered good amongst players. One could imagine what it was like for each system imperial city to suddenly have tens of millions of new players.

When he reached home, Liumo instantly wrote a reply letter and told his parents' IDs to Ouyang Shuo.

After he sent the letter, he smiled, as he said to his parents, "Dad, mom pack up, we will move to a new place."

His parents were both over 50. They didn't expect that they would have to live in such conditions when they entered the game. These conditions were even worse than their house in real life.

Luckily, their son had decided to come back to their side, which was more important than anything else. Furthermore, when they saw their son work so hard at the blacksmith, the two elderly felt bad. They felt that they were burdening their son.

When they heard that they were going to move, they thought that Liumo was facing some problems. They asked worriedly, "Son, did you face difficulties at work?"

Liumo's eyes were wet. Ever since he came back to his parents' side, he realized how sorry he was and how much he had owed them, "Dad, mom I'm fine, it's a good thing."

"Good thing?" His parents were confused.

Liumo nodded with conviction, "That's right. Do you still remember the little brother I met when I was living alone in the old city?"

"Mo'Er, are you referring to the guy that persuaded you to come home?" His parents were a little emotional.

To the person that managed to persuade their son to change his mind, the two elderly were very grateful.

"Yes, it's him. He sent me a letter and told me his identity in game. He's actually the most famous guy in the game, the lord of Shanhai City. He has invited us to live at his territory," Liumo explained.

The two parents were emotional but also worried, "Mo'er if we go like this, will we disturb him and create problems for him?"

"Don't worry, this brother is a very bold person. Furthermore, we won't be freeloading off him when we go to Shanhai City. Based on what he said, he could use my talent when I am there."

"Good good good!" Only then were they at ease. They were really a bunch a cute and traditional Chinese people.

……

Quanzhou, Tianshuang Town.

Song Jia opened the letter. After she read it, a smile appeared on her face, "Stupid blockhead, you really were not bragging." In truth, Song Jia liked Ouyang Shuo as a person. No matter what he achieved in the game, she would only feel happy for him.

She was happy now, as his achievements were definitely enough to stop her family from preventing them from being together.

Now, she was curious. What would happen when this letter was passed to her grandfather, and what reaction would that stubborn old man have? After all, Song Jia was still a bit angry at her grandfather for not telling her and arranging the marriage with the Yuan family.

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Chapter 187 - Meeting Up Part 2

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora.

Dali, Fallen Moon Guild base.

"Grandpa! Ouyang Shuo has sent us a letter!" Sun Xiaoyue walked into the little house, as her face bustled with excitement.

At that moment, her grandpa was playing chess with a few elderly fellows. When he heard those words, he lifted his head and acted angry, "That brat, he exaggerated so much on the phone and now he leaves us in Dali for one full month. I'm going to beat him up the next time I see him."

The others followed suit and teased, "Old Sun, with your old bones, are you sure you can beat him up? Do you need my help? Haha."

Old Sun was furious, "Old Li, you aren't any better, and you still dare to say that to me."

Sun Xiaoyue gave up, as she couldn't deal with this bunch of old kids, "All you grandpas, do you all actually want to leave Dali? If you want to, let me finish!"

"Say say!" Old Sun asked everyone to quieten down, "I want to listen and learn who exactly is that little brat in this game, making it so mysterious and making us wait."

Sun Xiaoyue playfully laughed, "Grandpa, you will be shocked when I tell you. He's actually the strongest and most mysterious lord in China, Shanhai City lord Qiyue Wuyi."

"What? Shanhai City? The only grade 2 city in China?" He was expectedly shocked.

"Ya, there is only one Shanhai City in China..."

Old Sun's calmness was a lot better than Xie Siyun, as this bunch of old men had seen so many things. He stroked his beard. This beard was what he had specially added when he created his character in the game. He gleefully said, "Not bad, that kid is not bad."

"Grandpa, are you going to teleport there now or wait for me?" Sun Xiaoyue asked.

"What do you mean little brat? You aren't going now?" Old Sun was confused.

Sun Xiaoyue nodded, "I need to go to Cui Manor to help spread some words from Ouyang Shuo."

"How much time could that waste? We have already spent a month here, so what's a few hours difference? You brat, it's better if you go together with us," Old Sun cared a lot about his granddaughter.

"Ok, grandpa. I'll make a move first."

"Go!"

……

10 Am, Liumo and his parents arrived in Shanhai City.

Ouyang Shuo received the system notification and had reached there early to receive them.

Luckily, the teleportation fees could be deducted from the Four Seas Bank account. If not, the poor Ouyang Shuo couldn't even afford their teleportation fees.

"Ouyang!" When he saw him, Liumo became a bit emotional.

Ouyang Shuo walked up and hugged him, "Brother Liu!" Following this, he greeted Liumo's parents.

After the greetings, he invited them to the Lord's manor to sit.

When he saw the majestic manor, Liumo was amazed, "Ouyang Shuo, it's really not bad."

Ouyang Shuo looked on quietly. He obviously knew that Liumo would be amazed. In his last life, both of them had lived tough lives, and they even had to cause Bing'er to have a tough life too.

In truth, Ouyang Shuo had advised the Construction Division to build 100 exquisite little houses in the west region. These buildings were the official living quarters for these special people and their family.

10:30 AM, Linjing and Xie Siyun came together.

Ouyang Shuo let Mr. Xiwen accompany them to the guest room, while he walked out of the Lord's manor to welcome little aunt. Before he left, he also specially went to the backyard to bring Bing'er along.

When she heard that her little aunt was coming, Bing'er was delighted and brought Xue'er and little black along.

"Little aunt!" As Lin Jing walked out of the teleportation formation, Bing'er dashed up.

Lin Jing adored this cute niece. Although they haven't met many times, they had a close bond.

Lin Jing, carried her and asked, "Bing'er, are you used to the game?"

"En!" Bing'er nodded saying happily, "Little aunt, it's so fun here. There are so many good food and nice clothes!"

Only then did Lin Jing notice Bing'er's clothes, a red princess dress. Master tailor Qing'er sewed the dress from colored silk and made it exquisite and beautiful.

Lin Jing nodded, "It seems like little Shuo had taken good care of Bing'er."

Ouyang Shuo looked over to Xie Siyun and nodded in greeting. To this "uncle-in-law", Ouyang Shuo really didn't know what to call her and how to talk to her, which made the atmosphere a little embarrassing.

"Little aunt let's go to the manor. There are also a few guests there," Ouyang Shuo laughed.

"Sure, who else came?" Lin Jing couldn't resist.

Ouyang Shuo didn't mind. Ever since the spaceships launched, he had nothing to worry about,

"It's a Brother that I met in real life. He's a thermal weapon specialist."

"Thermal weapon." Xie Siyun who had kept quiet couldn't help but react. Not only did she have acute senses, but she also had a good understanding of the game. As such, she instantly had a series of thoughts.

"That's right."

"Little brat, you are really ambitious, ah."

Ouyang Shuo laughed, but he didn't say anything.

When she walked into the lord's manor, Lin Jing became amazed and teased, "Little Shuo, your manor is so huge, even bigger than our guild base."

Before Ouyang Shuo could reply, Bing'er started bragging, "Little aunt, the house I'm staying in is much prettier than here, and there's also a garden."

In the guest room, Ouyang Shuo did a simple introduction of both parties.

When Ouyang Shou saw that Liumo's parents were a little out of place, he laughed, "Brother Liu, let's go and take a look at the house I arranged for you. If auntie and uncle aren't pleased, we can add other things!"

"Great!" Liumo was also a person that wasn't good with words. In front of the two beauties, he felt weird and wanted to get away.

Ouyang Shuo called for Yingyu and asked her to accompany little aunt and Xie Siyun. Bing'er suggested to bring little aunt to view her room.

Ouyang Shuo brought Liumo and his parents out of the west gate and into the west region.

The west region was the officials' living quarters, so the living conditions were superior to elsewhere. The green brick build houses took up to 400 to two thousand square feet.

Apart from the group of houses, the official living quarters also had a farmer market, a relay, hospital, a private college, a dojo, a pharmacy, a jewelry shop, a hotel, and more facilities.

Hence, it was pretty much a self-sufficient region.

There were many different trees planted on the two sides of the roads. There was even a 10 thousand square meter public park planned in the middle of the residence quarters.

Today, this park was named Nanfang park, and it was still being built.

Including all these amenities and facilities, the number of courtyards in the residence quarters still reached 2500, which was enough to last until it reached a prefecture. One must know that during the Tang Dynasty, the number of inner officials was only around 2600 people.

Such a huge region obviously couldn't be finished in such a short time. It would at least take a year.

Ouyang Shuo specially planned for the 100 courtyards to be designed differently. It wasn't like the olden southern closed-type courtyards but the modern day villas. Each courtyard had its own back garden and took up 1000-2000 square meters.

To date, 50 villas in the villa region had been built. In a month, the rest will also be completed.

Ouyang Shuo led them to a two thousand square meter villa and laughed, "This was the house I prepared for you. How is it, can you stay here?"

Liumo shook his head, "Of course we can, even in real life we couldn't afford such a place. Compared to our house in Dali, it's like comparing heaven to earth."

"As long as you are pleased," Ouyang Shuo turned, "Uncle and auntie, from now onward, Shanhai City is your home. I won't disturb you anymore."

Ouyang Shuo said goodbye and left, giving them some space.

"Mo'er, seems like you really made an incredible brother. You must work hard and not let him down," his Father said strictly.

Liumo nodded, "Father relax! Let's go into our house!"

Ouyang Shuo didn't bother Liumo to view his own house and went back to the Lord's manor.

The concierge told him that they were all in the back garden.

Ouyang Shuo strolled in and expectedly heard her crisp laughter.

Ever since the territory upgraded to grade 1 city, Ouyang Shuo had very rarely come to this garden. Bing'er, on the other hand, had become a frequent visitor.

The whole garden was similar to Suzhou Park but also had elements of Guangxi and Lingnan, which made it very unique.

The park had many natural elements and being in a bustling city, going into the park could allow one to relax in nature. The changes in the Four Seasons and the differences it brought to the plants allowed one to be able to have a feel of the wilderness while still being in a city.

In the park, there were ponds and small hills. There were also many different flowers and plants, so it was a very interesting place.

Definitely what attracted Bing'er the most was the different flowers and the fruit trees.

The fake mountains and pond became her playground, and she would spend the whole day here. Sometimes, she would even drag Zisu and Banxia to play hide and seek with her.

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Chapter 188 - Cooperation

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

At noon, Ouyang Shuo was in Lord's manner, as he took care of Xie Siyun. He had received Sun Xiaoyue's reply, and he knew that she would be bringing a bunch of players to Shanhai City in the afternoon.

The players that she brought over were split into two groups.

The most important group was the professionals. A total of 30 professionals including ship maker, economist, chemist, doctor, mechanic, engineer, agriculture, and many other professions.

The 30 professionals and their family totaled at 150 people. Each was arranged a 2000 square meter courtyard.

The 2nd portion were the members of the Fallen Moon Guild, who also brought their family.

As of now, Fallen Moon Guild had a total of 400 members. When Sun Xiaoyue announced that Shanhai City was willing to accept fallen moon members, 350 of them instantly agreed to move there.

The remaining 50 weren't willing to move, as they had already gained a footing in the imperial city. As their wills were different, so would their paths differ from one another, hence, Sun Xiaoyue kicked them out of the guild.

The members of the guild brought their families along and numbered a total of 1850. In addition to the 150 people of the professional team, a total of 2000 people teleported over from Dali.

The core members of the Fallen Moon Guild were the alchemist Luoye, the bridge designer Wuchi, city planner Hui Tuban, map plotter Jiu Duanxian as well as Sun Xiaoyue's two ex-roommates—Qinruo and Pan Qiaoqiao. As for their two boyfriends, they had the combat occupation, so they could only be normal members.

Ouyang Shuo arranged the core members into the official residence quarters. Each person took up a courtyard of around 1000 square meters. The remaining members were assigned to the residential area and were each given a basic courtyard.

Sun Xiaoyue moved to Shanhai City, so she couldn't teleport back to Dali. Furthermore, since Consonance studio's Qingfeng Pavilion was located there, Ouyang Shuo would rather just shift Fallen Moon out of there.

With that, Fallen Moon would become the first guild to locate themselves in Shanhai City and probably the only one that will.

Ouyang Shuo planned that if the work occupation players in Snow-War Rose wanted to move to Shanhai City, they would all be taken into Fallen Moon Guild.

Sun Xiaoyue rushed over from Dali and also brought what the Cui family had asked her to give to Cui Yingyu.

The Cui family had packed the gift into two large wooden boxes, one filled with the jewelry she usually wore and the other filled with gold, a full 10 thousand.

Based on their words, the 10 thousand gold was her allowance. As expected from a huge business group, their riches weren't something that Shanhai City could compare to.

Cui Yingyu didn't keep the money they sent by her side. Instead, she saved it into the Four Seas Bank, which became the biggest saving deal since its establishment.

When she saw that her older sister had an additional 10 thousand gold savings, Qing'er was so envious. She started to think about when she too could save up so much.

In truth, based on the profitability of the garment workshop, she would save 10 thousand gold sooner or later.

Cui Yingyu stored the money into Four Seas Bank. Every month, she could get 100 gold interest.

If Four Seas Bank could loan out this large sum of gold, they could get 300 gold in interest. One in one out, they would get a 200 gold profit a month.

This was the way that the Four Seas Bank earned money.

This sum of money helped to solve the current monetary problems of Shanhai City.

Ouyang Shuo was originally prepared to leave a sum of money at the end of the 6th month for the Four Seas Bank. Unfortunately, his buying spree caused him to use it all up.

As the territory's economy developed, the need for loans also increased. The 1350 gold that he had given to the Four Seas Bank in the 5th month had already been spent, so they could only rely on some of the savings to continue loaning out.

After they gained this amount of money, the Four Seas Bank would be able to sustain itself for a long time.

Apart from the two boxes of gifts, the Cui Family also sent a cooperation contract. As long as Ouyang Shuo agreed, it would be effective immediately. The contract stated that the Cui Chamber of Commerce would become the only agent of Shanhai City in Dali to sell Shanhai City's specialties and other resources.

Ever since the system updated, the sales tax dropped to 10%. This was the same as the tax on the territorial special products selling in the grocery store. This meant that the business advantage that the grocery store held didn't exist anymore, and they could just sell everything on the super auction platform. After all, the market to buy the products would be several times more than the system of the grocery shop.

As compensation, the Cui Chamber of Commerce would collect 2% of the agent fees from the year's sale. At the same time, they could also help Shanhai City look for rare resources around Dali and be their agent to buy those items.

After they bought the resources from Shanhai City, the Cui Chamber of Commerce would sell them at their numerous shops around Dali. They would earn the difference between the buying and selling price.

This was a win-win situation, so Ouyang Shuo didn't hesitate and immediately agreed.

In the future, Shanhai City would sell their resources on the super auction platform. After listing their products, it was assumed that the Cui Chamber of Commerce would purchase it. Only if they rejected the listing would it naturally flow to the market.

Of course, if the Cui Chamber of Commerce often rejected the listing, this would affect the base of the cooperation. Once this type of agent system was challenged, the cooperation would be unable to proceed.

In the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo took the gap between settling down the batch of people to discuss with Xie Siyun about the cooperation between Shanhai City and the Snow-War Rose mercenary group.

After both parties signed the contract, Shanhai City and Snow-war Rose mercenary group officially became strategic partners.

Snow-war Rose mercenary group had priority purchase on equipment from Shanhai City, while being given a 10% discount. As payment, they would look out for talented work occupation players in Jianye and recruit them to move to Shanhai City.

As both sides were still in the starting stages, further cooperation would depend on the circumstances and would change accordingly.

The Snow-War Rose mercenary group was the first party he gave a discount. Even his allies and Tianshuang Town didn't have such treatment, which showed how much Ouyang Shuo valued talent.

Of course, it was partially because of his relationship with his little aunt. After all, they were a family, and the monetary ability of a guild couldn't be compared to a territory.

Ouyang Shuo had his reasons for being willing to hire work occupation players for such a high price.

Compared to talented individuals amongst the residents, players had an advantage.

Firstly, they didn't need to fulfill any requirements to choose a job. After they created a character, they could choose any occupation, and the system would naturally give them a hidden talent for them to explore.

This was the same as the talent for combat occupations. However, one was used for combat and the other was for production, so they had totally different uses.

Hence, the number of work occupations amongst player was more than the talented NPCs amongst the refugees. One could only depend on luck to get such talented people, but they could just keep hiring players, so the difference in efficiency was incomparable.

Secondly, compared to NPCs, it was easier for players to break through bottlenecks. Thus, it was much easier for them to become master rank and higher. This had something to do with the biases of the system. In the future, work occupation players would start to attract a lot of attention.

Of course, players also had their deficiencies.

Firstly, some couldn't take the hard work and would waste their talent. For example, in sewing, if you the needle doesn't poke you several times a day, you couldn't be considered a passable tailor. Compared to other jobs like blacksmiths, tailoring was already an easy occupation. Those people who were brought up with a silver spoon obviously couldn't handle such hardships.

Secondly, players had to start from apprentices and needed a relatively longer time to train and develop. Like Sun Xiaoyue becoming an architect. She took a full two months to become an intermediate architect. The further behind, the longer time it took to upgrade, so one needed a lot of effort and patience.

Hence, only those people with resilience, who could take hardship and weren't afraid of loneliness could have a chance to become a real master. Most people drop out in the process.

5 PM, Xie Siyun and little aunt went back to Jianye.

At night, Ouyang Shuo was at Sangu Hotel to welcome the group of professionals with a banquet.

During the banquet, Ouyang Shuo announced his plans for the various professionals. Lianzhou College would hire all of them as professors. Each month they would earn 10 gold—similar to a secretary.

At the same time as teaching, they could—based on their profession or hobby—become an advisor for a department or division. Alternatively, they could open a research lab to research their interests.

The agriculture professional could apply to be an advisor for the agriculture division and guide them in changing the water irrigation system. They could guide farmers to change the way they planted crops to raise production as well as teach ways to deal with bugs to increase yield.

An economist could be the financial department advisor. Combined with their economic knowledge, they could perfect the tax system and create better policies to stimulate the economy.

Engineering professionals could become the advisors of the building division and advise them to come out with better tools or machines to lessen the workload and increase building efficiency.

A mechanical studies professional could become the advisor of the combat logistics division and help them create siege weapons and make modifications to the ladder, alchemical fire oil, cabinet, and the like.

Metallurgy professionals could be the advisor of the material reserves department and advise them on how to raise the refining level of the Langshan mining fields gold ore, various iron ores refining levels, and make modifications to the current smelting furnace.

All in all, this batch of professionals were a treasure trove. Although they were unable to do anything about the system restrictions on the technology tree, they could use their knowledge to improve and make modifications to each industry.

Of course, the premise was that they could to adapt to the territory and understand the situation before making changes to improve it.

If one said that agriculture, economics, engineering, mechanical studies, metallurgy were all the icing on the cake, Ouyang Shuo's main task was to build steam warships, guns, and cannons.

This plan involved many fields and needed the cooperation of many professionals. In addition to Liumo—the thermal weapon specialist, there were the alchemy workshops, the weapons workshops, and the other departments. Only then would it be possible to succeed.

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Chapter 189 - Xinan University

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

7th month, 2nd day, 10 a.m. Shanhai City meeting hall.

Ouyang Shuo gathered Fan Zhongyan, Xu Shuda, Elder Sun, ElderLi, and Sun Xiaoyue for a meeting. Elder Li was that old grandpa that was bickering with Elder Sun. He was the only architect out of the 30 professionals.

Last night, after he sent off all the professionals, Ouyang Shuo returned to the Lord's manor to think about the new structure of Lianzhou college.

When Lianzhou college was first set up, it was to develop civil servants. Today, with the addition of several professionals, it wasn't suitable to still call it a college. In the end, Ouyang Shuo decided to use the Qing Dynasty education system and renamed the Lianzhou college as Xinan University.

Ouyang Shuo looked around and introduced everyone to the structure of the new Xinan University, "Xinan University will temporarily set up three colleges, which are the economics college, natural science college, and the architectural college. The original economics, politics, and law departments will all be drafted into the economics college. They will remain in charge of producing civil servants. The remaining computing department will be in the new natural science college. Apart from that, business, economics, and auditing will all be in the economics college. They will be responsible for producing talents for the financial department and auditing division."

"Natural science college is like the name suggests, as it is the college for the sciences. A large portion of the professionals will become professors here. As for the last one, the architectural college," Ouyang Shuo turned toward Sun Xiaoyue, "The core members of Fallen Moon Guild are mostly graduated from the imperial city architectural college, and they also specialize in different areas. Hence, these members would form most of the architectural college."

"Currently, Xinan University would only have three colleges. In the future, there might be more."

Ouyang Shuo's change for the Lianzhou college was obviously nothing in the eyes of Elder Li and the modern people. However, in the eyes of Fan Zhongyan and Xu Shuda, it was something shocking.

Luckily, neither of them were stubborn. Moreover, Ouyang Shuo had used them a lot in the past half a year, so their thinking processes and views had slowly changed. They had slowly begun to accept modern thinking.

And this was what Ouyang Shuo really wanted.

After all, it wouldn't be suitable to make these officials into cyborgs in the future if he wanted them to help him deal with the real life territory without modern thinking.

Fan Zhongyan was the fastest to react, "I agree with the change to Lianzhou college."

Xu Shuda followed and expressed agreement.

Ouyang Shuo nodded and said, "Xu Shuda will be the principal of the Xinan University. The dean of the natural science college will be Old Sun; the dean of the architectural college will be Old li. As for the dean of economics college, Shuda do you have any suitable choices?"

Shuda pondered before he replied," Sire, I recommend professor Suze."

"Mr. Suze?" Ouyang Shuo felt a little surprised and asked with doubt," Mr. Suze is obviously a great choice, but he has said he is not interested in this career, will he agree?"

Shuda nodded, "Sire doesn't know that although he doesn't want such a career, he is very concerned with the teachings in Lianzhou College. Additionally, being the dean of the economics college is different from being a dean in Lianzhou college. You don't need to take control of everything and just one small piece. I have confidence that Suze will accept it."

"Good! So that's settled. The name change to Xinan University, the hiring of professors, and the expanding of the campus will be left to the culture and education division."

"Yes Sire!" Xu Shuda replied.

"The first stage of the expansion should be at least 50 times that of Lianzhou College. In the west region of the core region, a third was left for Xinan University. This time, they not only needed to increase classrooms, student hostels, canteens, teaching staff hostels, halls, tracks, garden, and more, but they had to make a beautiful environment for the students. The culture and education division must work together with the construction division and also invite some of the students from the architectural college to participate in the design. Then, allow me to inspect it," Ouyang Shuo described the future of the Xinan University blueprint to them.

"Yes sire!" Ouyang Shuo's description amazed Xu Shuda, who was really excited to begin.

Ouyang Shuo nodded and looked at Elder Li, "Elder Li, the overall design will be handed to you. For you to be the main architect, is that okay?"

Elder Li laughed, "Of course. Not bad, you're even making the blood of an old fogie like me boil."

Ouyang Shuo assigned 1000 mu of land in the core area to build the Xinan University. With that, one could see how much he focused on education and developing talent.

After Fan Zhongyan and Xu Shuda left, Ouyang Shuo turned and looked toward Elder Li and Elder Sun. Then, he laughed, "Elder Sun, Elder Li, I didn't ask you for your opinions just now. I hope you didn't mind."

Elder Sun waved him off, "Ouyang, since we are staying in Shanhai City, we will naturally follow your orders. You are the lord, so it's okay to respect us old fellows, but the one who makes the final choice is you."

"I've learned!" Ouyang Shuo clasped his hands.

Elder Sun nodded," It's okay, us bunch of old men have been lazing around for a month, so it's time for us to do some work. You can relax and pass the natural science college and architectural college to us!"

After Elder Sun finished, he left together with Elder Li.

In the end, only Sun Xiaoyue and Ouyang Shuo were left in the meeting hall. Yesterday, Ouyang Shuo was too busy, and both of them hadn't had a proper conversation.

"Xiaoyue, this time, I need to really thank you. Without you talking to your grandpa, Shanhai City wouldn't have gotten such great people," Ouyang Shuo said sincerely.

She looked at him with a complex expression, "We have not met for a few days and you really make me look at you differently. Ouyang, you really shock me."

Before the migration, Sun Xiaoyue always thought that Ouyang Shuo was being too safe for not even telling her his ID and acting so mysteriously.

When the truth was revealed, she didn't expect for him to be such a big fish, a big shark.

When Sun Xiaoyue saw Ouyang Shuo attending to the administrative matters with such focus, barking orders here and there, making historical figures like Fan Zhongyan listen to him, she really couldn't connect him to the homeboy in real life.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head, "Xiaoyue, stop teasing me. I'm very happy that you came. You don't know how much that little brat Bing'er misses you."

After he mentioned Bing'er, Sun Xiaoyue froze before laughing, "You have spoilt that little brat, she's practically a princess here in Shanhai City, and everyone is spoiling her. She even has maidservants following her around, why would she remember me?"

Ouyang Shuo laughed in embarrassment, "Are you jealous? You, ah, you really don't understand her? This kind cares a lot about relationships, and she has very flown close people. You are definitely one of them," Ouyang Shuo continued, "She even came to me last night to beg me to let you move into the Lord's manor, but I chided her. From this, one can see how much she relies on you."

Sun Xiaoyue was naturally living in the official residence quarters with her grandpa and family. In reality, circumstances had forced them to live apart previously. Now in the game, she had no reason to live away from her family.

The ones living in the Lord's manor were naturally Ouyang Shuo's family. Even though both of them had a little spark or that little misunderstanding, they could only be considered good friends.

"Oh ya," Ouyang Shuo remembered, "I feel geniuses that graduated from imperial city architectural college cannot be cooped up in Xinan University. The construction division is rebuilding and refreshing the territory. There are many places that need your help. I did some slight research and found out that those few of your friends are all talents."

"Based on my understanding, Shanhai City's constructions are nearly completed, so is there a need for us?"

Ouyang Shuo shook his head, "Why wouldn't there be? It looks good on the surface, but in truth it's still very much lacking. Not only is there the Xinan University, there are also water systems, bridges, and dams, because of the lack of guidance, these haven't been started. In this aspect, you are all the professionals."

"I understand," Sun Xiaoyue understood, "You want to modernize the city?"

"Smart!" Ouyang Shuo commended," In this period of time, you all need to inspect the city and raise up what you think needs to be changed. As long as it's logical, I will support it."

"No problem," Sun Xiaoyue replied.

"And also, after you settle down, as a guild leader you need to motivate the Fallen Moon Guild to do more quests and try to get the guild to silver rank. Fallen Moon Guild is the only recognized guild here. I estimate that the 1000 members will not be enough."

Sun Xiaoyue burst into a smile, "So, that means I as a guild leader still has something to do?"

"Of course. You are the future leader of our player group!"

"Okay, I will ask them to do quests. Furthermore, ranking up the guild will increase the specialty, which will be good for everyone. I don't think anyone will reject it," Sun Xiaoyue assured.

Ouyang Shuo nodded and agreed.

After Sun Xiaoyue left, Ouyang Shuo also left the meeting hall and walked out of the Lord's Manor.

Ever since the system upgraded, the two buildings by the side of the square in front of the Lord's manor had some changes.

Beside the east face of the teleportation formation, there was an eight meters tall stone hall and a squarish huge stone box. Even though it was a new building, there were fern and creepers growing on the walls, which made it look mysterious, and it seemed like a place that strangers shouldn't enter. This was the famous reincarnation hall.

All the players who lived in Shanhai City, after they died, they would reincarnate here.

The west side advanced market had also changed. The original market was a wooden hut and a small square, but now it became a huge building. The small square was not within it.

Inside the building, it was no different from the wooden hut.

Ouyang Shuo opened the super auction platform to search for authentic secret manuals. As expected, the price of a gold level secret manual had already risen to 400 gold. Moreover, it was still rising.

Ouyang Shuo remembered that in his last life, at the peak, an authentic gold secret manual cost 800 gold, but that was already the second year.

Ouyang Shuo naturally didn't want to wait until that time. As he saw it, if it rose to 700 gold, he would be willing to sell it.

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Chapter 190 - Medical Department

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

7th month 2nd day, 3 PM

Dr. Song walked into the lord's manor, feeling a lot of emotion.

He could be considered one of the old generation of Shanhai City, coming here on the second day of the village. He was also the first advanced talent in Shanhai Village, even the Financial Director Cui Yingyu was under his care before.

After the thing with the apprentice, Dr. Song placed down his self esteem and stayed in the hospital to take care of patients and also take care of apprentices. In half a year, he produced 50 apprentices of Shanhai City, 20 basic doctors, and 5 intermediate doctors.

When he just came to Shanhai Village, he was a valuable person. However today, as the territory continued to upgrade, the Lord's manor became more and more strict and not everyone could enter.

Last time when Ouyang Shuo had business with him, he would go personally to the hospital. Today, even if Ouyang Shuo sent someone to the hospital to invite him, it would be a huge honor.

In just half a year, Dr. Song had a feeling of being a nobody.

Seeing Dr. Song enter, the clerk Bai Nanpu stood up and smiled. "Elder Song, Sire is waiting for you in the guest room, please follow me."

Before he even walked into the guest room, he heard sounds of talking and laughter spread out from within.

He had a face filled with doubt and asked, "Mr Bai, does sire have any guests?"

Bai Nanpu smiled slightly. That's right, the one in the guestroom is a famous doctor that came yesterday, Elder Qian. Dont worry Old Song, Sire asked you here today for a good matter."

Dr. Song nodded and didn't say anything.

Walking into the guest room, sire was seated on the main seat, and below him was a white-haired old man, both of them in deep conversation.

"Sire, Elder Song is here." Bai Nanpu reminded.

Ouyang Shuo turned around and upon seeing Dr. Song, he laughed. "Elder Song, please sit."

Dr. Song sat down at the other side on the lower level.

Ouyang Shuo naturally wasn't as emotional as Dr. Song and said directly, "Elder Song, let me introduce to you, this is a doctor I've invited here, Elder Qian."

Elder Qian was one of the 30 professionals, and in reality he was a top-grade surgeon.

Before Elder Song arrived, Ouyang Shuo had asked Elder Qian to teach him the difference between Chinese and Western medicine.

Based on his introduction, Chinese medicine focused on preventing illnesses from happening. Western medicine emphasised curing the illness by immunization, diagnosis, operations and saving. Both of them improved each other and could co-exist but it was hard to integrate them.

Elder Qian was being honest that he had looked up to Chinese medicine for a long time and upon hearing Shanhai City had an Advanced doctor, he was excited. Hence upon hearing that Ouyang Shuo was willing to build a Medical Department, he automatically gave up the lead and wanted to be the deputy director.

In truth, to Ouyang Shuo, Elder Qian was of greater use. This was because he could develop military medics and send them to each unit to lessen the number of casualties.

After a simple introduction,Ouyang Shuo said, "A long time ago, I talked to you about a Medical Department. Now the time is right and i announce that Elder Song will be the director of the department while Elder Qian will be the deputy director. The Medical Department has a official background but doesn't have any administrative or political powers. It mainly focuses on developing doctors and military medics while also saving lives and curing patients. The Construction Division will build a department building for the Medical Department in the residential area, the territory medicine government could help to provide medical resources to the Medical Department."

Ouyang Shuo treated the Medical Department as a modern institution.

Dr. Song, who have always wished for such a thing, stood up emotionally and bowed to Ouyang Shuo. "Thank you sire! I won't let you down!"

Ouyang Shuo rushed to help him up and said, "I'll have to busy you, Old Song!"

After that, both Dr. Song and Elder Qian left together and discussed about the Medical Department.

After Ouyang Shuo sent them off, he finally had time to open the letter he received in the afternoon and read it.

This letter was from Song Jia.

In her letter, she said that she had already passed the letter to her grandpa. As Ouyang Shuo's identity was revealed, The Song family was naturally shocked and they felt conflicted.

They were happy that they didn't rush the marriage with the Yuan family, if not they would have missed the chance to get such a powerful ally like Shanhai City. They were also worried that they were revealed to be materialistic in front of Ouyang Shuo and they were afraid that they were unable to earn his trust. They felt all that from Ouyang Shuo not being willing to get them into the Shanhai Alliance.

Hence, they spent a whole day discussing before coming to a conclusion.

The Song family had a huge business and the wealth was spread out amongst the hands of many family branches. During the calculation of the achievement value, the one with the highest was Song Jia's grandfather who got a C permission level. Apart from that, there were 5 more D permission levels which included Song Jia's father and her brother.

To fulfil their hope that their family could rise again in planet Hope, the Song family decided to all step back and only act as consultants, not participating in any decisions in Tianshuang Town. Song Wen was deemed as the heir to the family and thus he was given the managing rights of the town.

Hence, the cooperation between Tianshuang Town and Shanhai City would be managed by Song Wen. In Song Jia's letter, she mentioned that her brother was different from her grandfather and was more warm and kind-hearted.

As the family had just entered the game not long ago and have not adapted, Song Jia wanted to wait until everything settled down before moving to Shanghai City to reunite with Ouyang Shuo.

Ouyang Shuo placed down the letter and opened the territory operation interface. As expected, he saw Song Wen's ally request which he accepted without hesitation.

……

In the next half a month, the game was calm and nothing much happened.

Be it the territories or the guilds, they were all digesting the changes from the system update and consolidating and adjusting their men.

The only huge news was that Xiong Ba's King Town had became the 8th City in China. Hence, in the territory leaderboard, there were only two empty names left.

During this half a month, Shanhai City has also been very busy.

The busiest was the Construction Division. Apart from continuing with the refreshing and renovating of the city, they also started work on the Xinan University. Other than that, there was also a series of municipal engineering projects.

Based on the standards that he had set, the main road, which was the central axis of 2nd grade roads, was 150 meters wide. The two smaller roads, which were the central axis of the third grade roads, were 100 meters wide. The 3rd grade roads, which were on the central axis of each region, were 60 meters wide. The 4th grade roads, which would separate the region, were 40 meters wide. 5th grade roads, which would further separate them into streets, were 20 to 25 meters wide.

Each road would have the middle portion higher and the sides lower, each side having a 2.5 meter wide drain with various wild plants and trees growing around it. All the drains would lead to the inner city river, through that to the canyon, and lastly into the North Sea.

All the materials used to make the streets were the same and were a mix of sand and mud. To prevent dust, a layer a small sand was placed on followed by a layer of green stone. Be it sand or stone, Shanhai City had lots of them. All the sand came from Beihai City, and it was very convenient to transport them.

This project would have Hui Tuban as the main architect.

Secondly would be the bridge and the water-gate projects.

As the inner city river was on both the west and east sides, passing through the 2nd city wall. To not leave any weakness in the city defences, water-gates were designed at these two spots. The water-gates were made using iron rods which through soldering, and were wielded into a hollow huge iron net, not only ensuring water flow but also preventing enemies from entering.

On the inner city river, there were 5 stone bridges. The suspension bridge outside the core region's north gate was removed and changed into a huge wooden door. In front of the north gate was 3 stone bridges, one main and 2 auxiliary ones leading to the main door and the side doors, respectively. Removing the suspension bridge was because Ouyang Shuo was confident no one would be able to attack the core area.

Apart from that, in the east area and the residence region, around the middle of the inner city river was a stone arch bridge to make in convenient for residents to travel.

The next step was to build a bridge across the river at the Friendship river, Qiushui river and the canyon to join up Shanhai City, Qiushui City and Friendship City.

Wuchi was in charge of this project, and he was the main architect.

This series of projects were only at the starting phase and to complete it all, it needed 3 months and over 8000 gold.

Out of the "three male gods" in Fallen Moon guild, the name of which they came up with by themselves, the third member also had heavy responsibilities.

Jiu Duanxian led a 100 man team and started to map out the entire area of Shanhai City, getting the coordinates of each landmark and the places of resources, as well as the rivers and seas.

This project was also going to take a long time.

Apart from the Construction Division, the Agriculture Division also had much to do.

The first season's rice harvest in Qiushui City and Friendship City had been harvested and they had obtained 13.2 million units of grain, exactly what Ouyang Shuo had expected.

Qiushui City and Friendship City, based on the 30 to 1 tax, would get 440 thousand units of grain. These units would be given to them as military grain, and they didn't need to give it to the main camp.

As they did not have sufficient funds, the Resource Division didn't start to buy the grain. They needed to wait until the end of the month before buying it all. The farmers, apart from the grain they needed to eat, were to sell the rest at 10 coppers per unit to the Resource Division.

The Resource Division then sold it to the people for 11 copper per unit. The price difference was for the storage fees and sales costs, and it wasn't that they really wanted to take the people's money.

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Chapter 191 - Research Institute No.7

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

Snow-War Rose mercenary group had sent the first batch of lifestyle players into Shanhai City.

The players numbered 500, along with their families, totaled at 2,400. The Fallen Moon Guild absorbed all of them and arranged for them to stay in the residential area. He would give them the same benefits and status as ordinary guild members.

In this way, the Fallen Moon Guild officially had 850 members. They were close to the maximum limit of 1,000 members. This left Ouyang Shuo with no choice, so he could only hurry Sun Xiaoyue to upgrade the guild to the next rank. This upgrade would expand the maximum members limit. At the same time, the Fallen Moon Guild would slow down its rate of absorbing members. Instead, they would the allow Snow-War Rose mercenary group to handle the new members.

Fallen Moon Guild members consisted of talents all across every industry. However, most of them were still intermediate talents, some even basic talents. There was only a limited amount of those advanced talents.

Like the Earth Online aboriginals, the players were assigned to workshops, shops, or sites according to their respective talents. Their wage and work benefits would all be the same as the aboriginals. Of course, the four main workshops in the East district were restricted from players until Ouyang Shuo had determined their loyalties.

In this way, the players could earn money. At the same time, they could level their talent skills. Especially in a city like Shanhai, the territory's special properties could help lifestyle players easily break through in their talents.

A player's achievement values didn't only take into account their assets. It also accounted for the achievements one had achieved in their field of profession. As for lifestyle players, leveling their skills to the rank of God-level was their ultimate goal. In Ouyang Shuo's past life, no one in China region had achieved that ultimate goal yet.

Ever since the world online policy, players weren't allowed to log out for a long period of time. That said, there would be almost no difference between players and the aboriginals in the game anymore.

Ouyang Shuo simply had no reason to treat them differently.

Furthermore, in comparison to the aboriginals, the players had a worse discipline. Some players were still unable to fit into their current character. They looked down on the aboriginals, and they even fought with them. Otherwise, they would slack off from work, and subsequently, the Business Division would receive complaints about them.

For matters like these, Ouyang Shuo's approach was really strict. He had given the Procuratorate Division full authority in dealing with those at fault. If the faults were serious enough, they could be mercilessly jailed.

When the players came into the territory, they had to follow the rules of the territory. A lord player had more than one ways to mete out punishments, and the players couldn't even leave from the territory. Even if one committed suicide, they would only be revived again in the reincarnation hall of the territory. Therefore, as long as Ouyang Shuo didn't allow the players to leave, the players would be tied to the territory for life. They would live as the resident of Shanhai and die as the ghost of Shanhai.

There was one exception. If a lord player's territory was destroyed, the players could once again lay their hands on freedom.

Other than that, there were other changes happening around Shanhai City.

Under Elder Sun's suggestion, they moved the advanced shipyard to Beihai Harbor. Elder Sun had also officially taken up the position of the Chief Advisor of the shipyard.

According to Elder Sun's words, the valley was too narrow and shallow. It simply wasn't suitable for large-sized warships, and the geographical condition didn't allow them to build a large dock. Therefore, it would be better to shift it to Beihai Harbor and solve the problems all at once.

Naturally, Ouyang Shuo naturally wouldn't refuse. Moving a building around in the game was merely a simple task. The only trouble was the fees that the system charged for shifting buildings.

Not only that, but Ouyang Shuo had also instructed the Construction Division to upgrade and refurbish the Shanhai dock for expansion. From now onward, tradings between Shanhai and Beihai would grow more and more.

During this half a month, Ouyang Shuo's most important action was establishing a mysterious research institute.

He set up the research institute in the military restricted area in the East district.

Members included ship expert Elder Sun, metallurgical expert Elder Liu, dynamic expert Elder Zhou, mechanical expert Elder Bian, weapons expert Liu Mo, master blacksmith Wang Gao, and advanced alchemist Magnus. Altogether, there were seven of them. Hence, Ouyang Shuo gave it the name of Research Institute No.7.

Needless to say, Research Institute No.7's mission was naturally to conduct and research technologies regarding steam engine driven warships, firearms, and artilleries. Ouyang Shuo's goal was to at least reach the technological level of the British during the late Qing dynasty.

However, he had little hope of immediately visible results. There were loads of basic technologies involved, which included materials, machinery tools, fire-powders, and more. A complicated series of technologies were needed as the base before they could build the technology pyramid higher.

Within the next two to three years, it would be perfectly normal if there weren't any progressions. Ouyang Shuo hoped that Research Institute No.7 could shine brightly during the mid-late period of the game.

7th Month 20th, Ouyang Shuo, Ge Hongliang, and Shi Wanshui arrived at the City North Camp.

Military Camp Chamber, Ouyang Shuo sat on the throne. He glanced around and said solemnly, "Lately, the nomadic tribes are like a pool of stagnant water, no ripples, no waves. The disturbances Operation Dawn caused had ceased, as it dispersed into thin air. Mengke and Dariachi, the two cunning old foxes, were really impressive. They restrained themselves from making reckless decisions. As a direct result, the numbers of our Qingfu horses are critically insufficient. Up until now, we can only fully-equipped the Vanguard Unit. St this rate, how can we still develop our cavalries?"

The situation also left the commander of City North Camp, the major of 1st Vanguard Unit, Lin Yi, unsatisfied, "My lord, since ordinary commerce did not work, we can only solve this problem through war."

'I agree with General Lin. However, the problem is how to make the right decision at the right time. Wiping out one or two small tribes like last time won't help the situation. Exterminating a middle-sized tribe is possible, but with our military forces at the moment, we can't guarantee that no fugitives will slip through the net."

Lin Yi smiled. Then, he turned and said, "Sire, I have a thought."

"Oh?" Ouyang Shuo exclaimed. He knew that Lin Yi had long garrisoned in the City North Camp, so Lin Yi's understandings toward the nomadic tribes would be better than Ge Hongliang.

It seems like the general had already thought through the concerns of Ge Hongliang. Since he spoke up now, he must be fully prepared.

"In my opinion, in order to break the balance between the nomadic tribes, the key lies in the Tian Qi tribe. The peace of savanna is only kept because Tian Qi is too strong, way stronger than the others. That is why, even when they knew that someone was provoking the Tian Qi tribe, no one dares to break the order. This is because Tian Qi is beyond them."

"The Tian Qi tribe has 12,000 brave warriors whereas the Tian Feng tribe only has 1,000. A disparity of tens of times, so only a fool will challenge Tian Qi's royal throne. Therefore, from the way I see it, if the middle-sized tribes' spirits are willing but their strengths are weak, why don't we help them once?"

His words sparked Ouyang Shuo's interest. He could vaguely tell Lin Yi's intentions, and the young general's thoughts truly astonished him. He hurriedly asked, "Be more detailed."

His lord's great interest in his plan boosted Lin Yi's confidence, and he said, "The Tian Qi tribe has two sections, ZhenXi and ZhenDong. Each section is garrisoned with 5,000 warriors. If we can travel deep into the savanna and destroy one of the sections, then we will be able to break the peace and balance. A tangled warfare for the royal throne between the tribes will be inevitable."

"How so?"

"Sire, you see, once Tian Qi tribe is severely damaged, it can't suppress the other tribes anymore. Even then, the middle-sized tribes still will not dare to point their swords at Tian Qi, but they will definitely not take Tian Qi's orders anymore. The best way out for them is to abide the orders and the warnings. They will annex the smaller tribes and strengthen themselves. In that case, no one tribe will be safe, so a war is hence inevitable. But, at this time, this is where Friendship City comes in. This is the best time to open Friendship City's market. In order to expand their forces and strengths, the tribes will trade anything, including Qingfu warhorse, for weapons, food, and various other materials from us."

Pak pak pak——

Ouyang Shuo led the crowd, as they clapped. He smiled and said, "Great thoughts, well planned and far-reaching. General Lin, one who has been away three days must be looked at with new eyes!"

This made Lin Yi excited, and he said, "I thank my lord for his appraisal."

Ouyang Shuo then turned serious. Then, he solemnly said, "Then, I ask you, how many cavalries do you need? Only then can you have the confidence to defeat one of the Tian Qi sections. Bear in mind that they are 5,000 elite horseback warriors."

Since it was open-field savanna warfare, the only suitable unit was the cavalries. The individual combat capabilities of the horseback warriors were better than Shanhai's cavalries. The horseback warriors lived in the savanna, so they were proficient in archery and horse riding.

They also have Qingfu warhorses as mounts. Unlike the warriors, Shanhai cavalries are half-trained, without a solid foundation.

Lin Yi smiled with great confidence and answered, "My lord, 2,000 cavalries is more than enough."

"There is no jesting in war. 2,000 cavalries and you can make it?" These words shock Ouyang Shuo. He couldn't believe it.

"Of course, relying only on the cavalries won't work. It all still need my lord's coordination." Then, Lin Yi told Ouyang Shuo his whole plan, each and every bit in detail.

Ouyang Shuo listened carefully. After he heard the whole plan, Ouyang Shuo was at ease. He believed the plan had at least 70-80% of success. Although there were still some risks, but to build an empire, one could not always be prepared. They had to be daring and take the risk and give their all when the time comes.

Without further hesitation, he followed Lin Yi's plan and announced a military expansion arrangement, "Liao Kai!"

"Here!" Liao Kai stepped forward.

"My orders. Select 500 men from the military reserve unit, establish the Qiushui City cavalry unit. You have 10 days. After 10 days, I want to see a well-established cavalry unit."

"Thank my lord for his trust. I will not fail you!" Liao Kai was filled with joy and excitement.

Ouyang Shuo only intended to leave the newly established cavalry unit under Qiushui City because after the upgrade, the count was very vulnerable with only one city defense unit. Furthermore, he didn't want to garrison too many military forces in City North Camp. Otherwise, it would bring tremendous pressure to the Tian Feng tribe.

The 2,000 cavalries were arranged and fully prepared according to Lin Yi's plans. They formed the two cavalry units from City North Camp, one cavalry unit from City West camp, and the last, newly established cavalry unit from Qiushui City.

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Chapter 192: Operation Wildfire (1 / 3)

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nova

Lin Yi's proposed plan was officially given the code name Operation 'Wildfire'. This was because the operation would lead to the destruction of the savanna. It would lighten the flames of war and burn the grassland into ashes.

The operation's success was directly linked to Shanhai City's future governing policy toward the nomadic tribes as well as the future of Shanhai's cavalries. Therefore, its importance did not need to be repeated twice.

Military Affairs Department and Lin Yi would discuss the plan. They would forge it into a perfect plan in order to be as foolproof as possible.

Right after Ouyang Shuo returned from Friendship City, he once again dived into the sea of governing affairs.

……

July 20th, they completed the establishment of Qiushui City's cavalry unit. Lai Kai was officially promoted to the rank of major, and he led the cavalry unit. The class change fees were of course taken from the profits made in the first half month of July.

Three days ago, Ouyang Shuo and the Chui Chamber of Commerce from Dali signed off their first deal on the trading platform.

Northern Saltworks had produced 2.5 million units of consumable salts in the first half month of July. According to the market price of 20 copper per unit of salts, Chui Chamber of Commerce would have to pay 5,000 gold. After the 10% system tax deduction, Ouyang Shuo was left with 4,500 gold. After the further reducing the cost of salt production, the amount that handed to Shuo was actually 4,100 gold.

After the system update, the taxes were halved, so the Northern Saltworks could save a thousand gold every month from the taxes alone.

As for Langshan mining field, they turned over 4,000 gold without fail.

Since he stationed the mineral expert from the professional group in the mining field, they were taught to further enhance the production line and mine with more logical and scientific techniques. In the preliminary estimates for August, the production efficiency would increase by 10%. A mineral expert's technical advice could help generate at least an additional 800 gold for Shanhai City. This was exactly where the value of an expert laid. Their contribution to the territory was an overall enhancement.

The initial 8,100 gold from first the half month, after the deduction of the cavalry unit class change fees of 750 gold and Four Sea Bank's payment for teleportation formation fees of 4,400 gold, there was only 2,950 gold leftover.

Through the teleportation formation, the cost to recruit a player was immensely high. Including the player and the family, it would cost an average of 5 gold for teleportation fees.

This didn't include the cost of the basic accommodations for the players.

For the likes of Di Chen and others, they had previously recruited new players from the real-world and arranged for them to directly spawn in the territory. Only those from the rich and powerful family or clans could have the resources to do so.

However, after the interplanetary immigration, they would have lost their resources and could only pay the teleportation fees like Ouyang Shuo. This would in turn be a large expense and a burden to them.

According to Feng Qiuhuang, before the immigration, they had already recruited a large batch of new players in their territories. As for the precise amount of players, only they knew themselves.

The 2,950 golds didn't last long in Ouyang Shuo's hands. Through the Chui Chamber of Commerce, he bought 2.95 million units of food.

Hence, for the next half of the year, Shanhai would be free from the risk of food shortage. The price was nearly a total of 9,000 gold spent solely on food.

Ouyang Shuo couldn't imagine the price that the other lords would have to pay when the food prices soared high in the future. After all, the other territories weren't like Shanhai. They didn't have 40,000 acres of fertile farmland to provide grains, so they would have to purchase more food.

Probably the only thing worthy of rejoice was that the other territories didn't have such a big population like Shanhai City or Shanhai's high refugee spawn rate.

If Ouyang Shuo had enough funds, he would even consider purchasing more food and profit by reselling it when the price went up.

As for his assumptions about the prices of food, Ouyang Shuo had informed his allies, including Song Wen. However, it was up to them whether they had sufficient funds to hoard enough food. It was not something Ouyang Shuo could help.

Shanhai City was strong, but it was not strong enough to provide financial aid to five or six lord territories.

Moreover, they were allies and only allies. Ouyang Shuo was not a philanthropist. Any territory that required Shanhai's financial aid would have to allow Four Seas Bank to establish a branch in their territory with no exceptions.

Whereas for Mulan Town, Ouyang Shuo was waiting for the end of the month. When the profits for the next half month came, he would add more funds to the Four Seas Bank branch in Mulan Town.

As for the acquisition of grains from the farmers, Yingyu's idea was to utilize the funds from Four Seas Bank and acquire the grains. The acquisition would not be a one-off deal. Instead, they would be traded in batches. They would sell them off before acquiring another batch of grains. Otherwise, to complete the deal in one blow would require tens of thousands of gold, which was literally a waste of funds.

On average, a farmer could plow and manage 10 mu of land. A mu can grow 350 units of grains. Hence, it would produce 3,500 units of grains. They had to turn over 117 units to the lord. After they stored half a year of grains, there would still be 3,200 units of grains available for sale, which would be three gold 20 silver. After the tax deduction, it would still be three gold and 10 silver. A year had two farming seasons, minus the cost, the final annual income for a farmer would be around five golds.

If one decided to be more hardworking and raise some poultry or even a pig, he could earn tens of silver more for that year. This hard work would contribute a little more to the family livelihood.

Therefore, in actual fact, a farmer's income was considerably high. Their income was almost the same as a rank 5 veteran soldier. The only difference was that the military took care of a soldier's livelihood, and their pay could be increased further.

These only happened because of three reasons. Firstly, the farmers had enough farmland to plow, and those lands were fertile farmlands. Secondly, Shanhai had the lowest tax rates in the history. Lastly, Ouyang Shuo did not intentionally oppress and exploit their hard work, and he did not purchase grains from them for a low price and sell it high.

All these factors added up to create Shanhai farmers' high annual income.

……

For the past half a month, Mulan Town was developing rapidly under the help of Four Seas Bank.

Utilizing the loans from Four Seas Bank, Mu Guiying successfully established Mulan Town's city defense unit. The brave general led this city defense unit to cleanse the territory and destroyed every single raider in sight.

Exterminating the raiders were not only meant to train the soldiers, but also to ensure the territory's safety. Furthermore, the rewards they plundered could contribute populations, materials, and funds to the territory, which would further develop their hometown.

Other than that, Mulan Town had also finished the construction of stone walls, which enhanced their defense. Territory privatization was also fully completed, so it was not the usual same semi-finished product anymore. The territory's economy began to sprout. It slowly accumulated, as it waited for the day to explode and bloom gracefully.

Mulan Town's rapid development now was exactly like the former Shanhai Town.

Just a week ago, Mulan Town was successfully upgraded to grade 3 township. After the upgrade, the miners of Mulan Town found a silver mine within the territory. Hence, another source of wealth. Although a silver mine couldn't be compared to a gold mine, if it was excavated with maximum effort, there would still be at least 200 gold monthly.

Now, the only thing that stopped Mulan Town from its next upgrade was Mulan Yue's rank title.

During the Battle of Zhoulu, Mulan Yue was rewarded with 2,500 merit points. With these points, she leveled her title to the rank of 'First-class Viscount'. In addition, the extermination of raiders had rewarded her some merit points, and she now had 5,000 merit points. Currently, she was 1,400 merit points away from Third-class Earl.

Fortunately, Mulan Town was just upgraded into a grade 3 township. Time was still needed to reach the total population of 1,000. Perhaps, during the following Battle of Zhennan Pass, she could earn the merit points needed.

In any case, she might have to participate in another battlefield warfare during this period of time. If she earned the merit points needed, the problem would be solved.

Gong Chengshi was envious of Mulan Town's rapid development. Within the Shanhai Alliance, only he remained as the lord of a grade 2 township. Lack of funds restrained his move of recruiting more players, and he couldn't afford the high price of teleportation fees.

Left with no other choice, he stopped persisting and invited Ouyang Shuo over to establish a branch of the Four Seas Bank in his territory.

Naturally, Ouyang Shuo had no reason to decline, as the financial situation in Shanhai was getting better. Langshan mining field and Northern Saltworks alone could provide him with a fund of nearly 2,000 golds monthly. These additional funds emboldened Ouyang Shuo to establish a Four Seas Bank branch in Black Lion Town.

Ouyang Shuo replied to Gong Chengshi's call. He told Gong Chengshi to wait until the end of the month. When the funds of Shanhai came together, he would send his men to Black Lion Town for the establishment of the Four Seas Bank branch. He urged Gong Chengshi to prepare for it.

Ouyang Shuo's wild hope was to establish a branch in every territory. Even if the Four Seas Bank wouldn't be the only bank in the territories, it needed to be at least one of the main bank.

In order to do so, the first step was to open the branches in his allies' territories. Now, Mulan Town and Black Lion Town had both accepted, and it was only time before the Xunlong Town submitted.

As for Consonance City and Fallen Phoenix City, it wouldn't be that easy. Only with luck and fate could he manage to infiltrate their territories. Especially Fallen Phoenix City, there stood a powerful family behind Feng Qiuhuang. Even if she agreed to it, they wouldn't allow it to happen.

As for Consonance City, it could sustain with the help of only Dali Qingfeng Pavilion. Qingfeng Pavilion's gold farmers were quietly supporting them from behind.

Consonance City had now achieved a symbiotic relationship with Qingfeng Pavilion, much like the cooperative relationship between Shanhai City and Snow-War Rose mercenary group.

The only difference was that Consonance didn't have such a well-developed military industry.

It wasn't Ouyang Shuo acting mean or contemptible, taking advantage of his allies' difficulties. The deal was mutually-beneficial in the first place. It even could further pull the alliance together.

After all, what kind of alliance is better and stronger than an economically integrated alliance?

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Chapter 193: Operation Wildfire (2 / 3)

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nova

7th month 24th, night.

The vanguard unit sneaked out of City North Camp, while two units from the mixed regiment took over their place.

First light tomorrow morning, the mixed regiment's two units would start their usual morning training in the camp, while disguised as the vanguard unit. Tian Feng scouts couldn't come too close to the camp. Hence, they wouldn't know that the troops had all been replaced.

Vanguard 1st unit left their Qingfu warhorses and Mingguang armors behind in the camp. Then, they wore and mounted their alternate equipment and horses. The four cavalry units all dressed themselves as raiders—the clothes plundered from the raider captives.

That's right, for this operation, they had disguised themselves as raiders.

Their destination was far from the border, so they had to venture deep into the savanna. Hence, in order to reduce risk and avoid being spotted, the four cavalry units would travel their own paths, as they rode their ways toward Tian Qi tribe ZhenXi camp. The units used their specially-trained hummingbirds to communicate through the intelligence team.

At the same time, the five squadrons from every unit would also spread out two kilometers from each other.

ZhenXi camp was situated 160 kilometers away from the Friendship River. Traveling alone would take three days if the journey was smooth and steady without mishaps.

Because it was savanna—an open field grassland—there was simply nowhere to hide. Therefore, the cavalries would not hide by day and come out by night. Instead, they would march at a steady pace and eliminate every nomad they encountered to cover their existence.

Lei Xun led Military intelligence team two. They had finished their preparation work, the pathways they chose for the four cavalry units were all routed away from the tribal camps.

Ouyang Shuo personally followed the expedition force, and he would ride between the vanguard first unit second squadron and the third squadron. The newly established lord's guards rode beside him. As for Lin Yi, he led the cavalry first squadron at the forefront.

July 25th, morning 5 a.m. dawn.

With the help of the Beihai navy, the expedition force crossed the Friendship River. From here onward, the force would separate and ride their own paths. They would only gather together when they reach their final destination.

On the first day, everything went well because they crossed the site of the Tian Lian tribe that had been wiped off. Although the Tian Feng tribe had taken over the area, they had not arranged any pastoralists. Tin Feng tribe had only taken this area as a ranch to use.

Therefore, on this day, the overall progress of the expedition forces was relatively rapid. In addition, without infantry dragging them down, they could travel a full 60 kilometers. At seven o'clock in the evening, the scattered squadrons regrouped to rest on the spot.

Military tents and military grain pills, these two logistics weapons, began to show their importance.

In the morning, each soldier took one military grain pill. For the rest of the day, they would not need to eat anymore. Without the need to create fire for a meal, they had minimized the risk of exposure. As for drinking water, they had long since stored enough water in their backpacks for three days. In addition, in Ouyang Shuo's storage bag, there was still a quantity of drinking water.

Tomorrow, the troops would have to cross the site of a medium-sized tribe, and the risk factor would greatly increase.

Five o'clock the next day, the squadrons departed. They kept a two kilometer distance from each other and took advantage of the early morning when there were fewer people to travel some distance.

At noon, Ouyang Shuo was riding Black Tornado, while his guards rode beside him. Just then, a group of herdsmen appeared in front of them. There were about seven or eight people, driving and grazing the flock.

"My lord?" Guard Captain Wang Feng immediately rushed in front of Ouyang Shuo.

Ouyang Shuo naturally understood Wang Feng's intentions and nodded.

Then, Wang Feng made a gesture toward the rear. As a result, half of the guards immediately left the ranks like a group of hungry wolves and rushed toward the pastoralists.

When the pastoralists saw the guards, they thought they were raiders. They panicked and immediately fled.

The horses that served as the mounts of the pastoralists were naturally not Qingfu horse. Even in the nomadic tribes, Qingfu horses were somewhat rare. It wasn't so common that the ordinary grazing pastoralists could ride them.

The guards' attacks were very tactical. Instead of directly hurling toward them, they first flanked them on both sides to form an encirclement that surrounded the herders. This action prevented them from slipping through.

The guards surrounded the pastoralists, who panicked. Their mouths grumbled with unintelligible words, and it was estimated that they were begging for mercy. While talking, they pointed their fingers to the flock not far away. These gestures denoted that the flocks could be taken away in exchange for their pitiful lives.

Sadly, what they met was not the bandits who robbed money, but the officers and men of Shanhai City.

The lord's guards were soldiers of life and death, so their hearts were as cold as ice and hard as stone. They held an emotionless poker face, as they rode on their horsebacks. They raised their bows and released a volley of deadly arrows that shot their victims down from their horses.

According to Ouyang Shuo's original intentions, he was naturally reluctant to harm the innocents, especially civilians.

However, this operation was so important that it could not tolerate any accidents. The blood and tears of others had long since covered his hands.

Those pastoralists looked at the arrows in their chest with shock.

They could not understand why these raiders were not like the rumors, who only took money instead of lives. Instead, these raiders took away their most precious lives away from them. Even being taken away to the raiders camp as captives was still a better ending than this.

They guards paid little attention to the flocks, as they rode to the corpses. They pulled out their Tang swords and slashed the corpses to ensure no loose ends. After that, they removed the shovel prepared in advance from the backpacks and dug a large pit to bury the dead bodies. Then, they covered the dead with a layer of weeds as a simple disguise.

When the night arrives, the relatives of the dead pastoralists became aware that they were missing and did not come home. Coupled with the time required to search for them, it was estimated that it would take one or two days before they could find the land where the dead bodies were buried. Even so, it would be nothing more than an incident identified as a raider attack that simply could not attract the attention of the tribal leaders.

This was but only a small incident that happened on the way. Similar things also took place in the four cavalry units. The Military Affairs Department had formulated this set of handling measures in advance, and they had given detailed explanations to every soldier. This was the function and value of the Military Affairs Department. They were responsible for the development of a very detailed war plan. A variety of small details, as far as possible, were taken into account.

At night, the team stopped again. Tomorrow, they were about to enter the territory of the Tian Qi tribe. The camp of ZhenXi was located on the western edge of the Tian Qi tribe, which made it a full 50 kilometers away from the Khan tent beside the Shen Juan Lake.

After they entered the territory of Tian Qi tribe, the number of pastoralists around the area increased. Occasionally, they would meet with tribal warriors that patroled the border. At times like this, they would try to avoid them, but if a fight was inevitable, they could only eliminate the warriors.

However, when the night fell, and the ZhenXi patrols returned to their home base, they would realize that their fellow warriors were missing. It would raise their alarms. But this was not something Ouyang Shuo could control. It was inevitable, as it was not that easy for an army to sneak into their enemy's hinterland.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the cavalry units stopped 10 kilometers away from the ZhenXi camp. If they headed further, they would step foot in the core area of the camp. Moving into the camp recklessly during the day would be tantamount to suicide.

In order to hide their whereabouts, they once again spread out and hid in the pastoralists' homes. As for the original owners of pastoralists' home, their fate could be imagined. Just like a monster, the two thousand troops secretly lurked outside of the ZhenXi camp, as they eyed their prey.

In the evening, after the centurion in the ZhenXi camp routinely counted the patrols, they noticed that some of the warriors who were on patrol duty on the frontier had not returned on time.

The abnormal situation was immediately reported to the captain, and the captain again reported to the camp commander Lhakhshen. After hearing the report from the captain, Lhakhshen frowned and asked, "Have you sent anyone to check?"

"General, I have sent a hundred men to the border to investigate. I find the situation rather odd, and that is why I have specifically come to report." The captain was not negligent.

The town had not experienced any war for many years, and matters like this seldom happened.

Thinking of the exhortations from the Khan, Lhakhshen did not dare to take this matter lightly.

"Give my orders. Tonight, the camp shall maintain a full alert, and we will increase the patrols on duty." Lhakhshen decided to take cautious measures.

For some unknown reason, he had felt a little restless during these two days. It was as though a ruthless beast was eyeing him in the dark, yet he still couldn't see any traces of the beast. This made Lhakhshen very uneasy, and the disappearance of the patrollers further aggravated this uneasy sentiment.

However, in front of his subordinates, Lhakhshen remained as calm as usual.

"Understood!"

……

10 kilometers away from the camp, there was a very humble pastoral tent.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, Lei Xun, who had disguised himself as a pastoralist, opened the tent and walked in. Then, he respectfully said, "My lord, as expected, the camp was alerted."

It turned out that Ouyang Shuo had settled here.

Ouyang Shuo nodded. The reaction of the enemy did not go beyond his expectations.

According to the report, the town commander Lhakhshen was not a simple person to deal with, "Contact the units. Tonight, we will act according to the plan."

"Understood!"

Seven o'clock in the evening, Ouyang Shuo exited the tent and rode Black Tornado. He took advantage of the night, and under Lei Xun's guidance, Ouyang Shuo visited the units one by one. Every time he reached a unit camp, Ouyang Shuo would remove a barrel of alchemical fire oil from the storage bag and pass it to the soldiers.

In the savanna of July. The starry night sky and the cool monsoon breeze that blew waves of green grass. Under the starlights, the cavalries walked out of the tents one by one, as they carried the barrel of oils and tied it on the horse's saddlebags. These saddlebags had been specially modified, so each side of the saddle could contain two barrels of alchemical fire oil.

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Chapter 194: Operation Wildfire (3 / 3)

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nova

The Shanhai cavalries mounted their horses. Step-by-step, they began to sneak into the camp.

When the cavalries departed, it was already around 9 to 10 at night. The night was dark, and the weeds were high. Even with the help of the faint starlights, it was difficult to distinguish between the silhouette of humans and other things.

As the investigation team came back with nothing, the commander of ZhenXi camp ordered martial law again. The patrol warriors had twice received the instructions from the commander that asked them to raise their vigilance. However, through the whole night, even a ghostly shadow could not be seen, so they could not help but relax and lay down. One by one, they yawned in boredom.

Furthermore, there weren't any wars in the recent years. The Tian Qi tribe claimed itself as the king of savanna, so the warriors grew lazier and started to slack. They took the disappearance incident during the day as nothing more than just an accident.

Maybe those missing patrols had secretly sneaked into some girl's tents and had stayed there. The patrols were chatting and talking to pass the time.

"Hey, do you think that the commander is too cautious? Just a few missing patrols, and yet he makes such a big fuss. Depriving our night and making us suffer in the cold," a soldier complained.

"Brat, don't you dare say a bad word about the commander. Do you want to die?" the centurion leading the team rebuked. Lhakhshen had a high prestige within the camp, so one must be careful when they spoke about him.

The soldier also knew that his words were impulsive, and he had said something wrong. Fortunately, the centurion was a good friend of his, so he laughed and said, "Leader, I know. I am at fault, so please do not report me."

The military regulations of the savanna were harsh and cruel. If anyone seriously handled this matter, then the soldier would not end well. At least, he would be whipped.

"Do not worry!" The Centurion did not want to make a fuss of it either.

During July, the mosquitoes in the savanna were many and large, so it was hard for one to endure. Thanks to the dedication of the warriors, although they mouths complained, they didn't neglect their duties.

A short distance away, the cavalries dismounted and held the reins in their hands. Like ghosts, they slowly moved toward the camp patrols.

After they entered the effective range, they squatted down on the ground and hid their whereabouts. Quietly, they stealth shot the patrols to death one-by-one.

The vanguards were all elite soldiers proficient at shooting. As for melee-combat, it was almost impossible in the grassland.

Ouyang Shuo's men slowly picked off the patrols.

Slowly and steadily, they reached five kilometers away from the camp. As it was closer to the camp, the vigilance level was raised. Any signs or sounds of combat could immediately alert the camp.

Therefore, Shanhai cavalry stopped moving forward.

Ouyang Shuo mounted his horse and gazed at the distant camp.

Because it was a settlement camp, the camp wasn't like the Tian Lian tribe. It was just an encirclement of tents that formed a defense circle.

The camp was no different from the camps on the Central Plains. Tall wooden walls erected above the ground surrounded the camp and arrow towers stood at the four corners. There was only a main gate open in the south.

It was impossible to take down such a camp with only 2,000 cavalries, so their only choice was field combat.

However, field combat was precisely the nomadic warriors' best combat mode. According to the Military Intelligence Department intelligence investigation, the camp had 5,000 horseback warriors. Among them, they had 1,000 heavy cavalries, and the remaining 4,000 were light cavalries.

The horseback warriors often took the lead in sending light cavalry to lure enemies. Then, they round out the two wings of the enemy for outflanking. At this critical moment, heavy cavalries would charge forward and clear their enemies in one killing blow to decide the outcome of the war.

The Shanhai cavalries dismounted. They began to layout and prepared the fire array. This was Lin Yi's tactic. They would lure the enemies out of their camp and use the fire array to stop the enemies.

When they finished setting up the fire array, they all evacuated.

……

July 28th, 6 a.m.

The vanguard 1st unit was tasked with luring the enemy forces. Under the leadership of Lin Yi, they rode toward the camp. Along the way, they indiscriminately shot down the patrols.

For the whole night, Lhakhshen did not sleep well. Hence, he got up early. Before he could do anything else, a warrior came rushing in and said, "Reporting to the commander, a band of raiders has appeared to the south of the camp. They have around five hundred people, and they are coming for the camp."

This report shocked Lhakhshen as it was simply unbelievable, "You are talking about raiders? Only five hundred people, who gave them the courage to attack our camp?"

The warrior answered, "Yes, commander, five hundred raiders."

"Let's go!" Lhakhshen decided to personally check the situation.

Lhakhshen climbed the arrow tower. When he looked ahead, he only saw the distant troops dressed in raider attire wantonly clearing the warrior guards stationed in the outer area. At the same time, they also continually whistled. Their attitudes were extremely wild and ill.

Faced with such naked provocation, Lhakhshen simply could not tolerate it. He ordered a light cavalry captain to lead his troops and teach the raiders a lesson.

Captain Hu'he excitedly received the order. In his opinion, it was easy to defeat these raiders, so this was a merit-based war effort. It seems that the commander still had high hopes in him.

A thousand cavalry rushed out of the camp like an arrow.

Who would have known that those raiders were a bunch of useless soft eggs. When they saw the cavalries, they panicked and turned and fled like a flock of sheep.

Relying on the advantages of the Qingfu warhorse, Hu'he did not give up. He led his warriors and continued to pursue the raiders.

At the camp arrow tower, the gradually disappearing warriors puzzled the strategist— Er'risi—he turned and said to Lhakhshen, "Commander, the situation seems to be somewhat wrong. These strange raiders came out of nowhere and fled so suddenly. Will there be some trickeries going on?"

Lhakhshen nodded, "Indeed, something is unusual. Order the rest of the troops to be on standby. With Hu'he's ability, even if the raiders are truly fraudulent, he can still retreat safely."

"Understood!"

On the other hand, Hu'he led his troops and chased the raiders for more than 10 kilometers, and he was about to catch up. Suddenly, more raiders emerged from the two sides. They immediately surrounded Hu'he and his men.

"Sh*t, a trap!" Hu'he was finally alerted, and he knew he had fallen into a trap.

Unfortunately, his troops were pressing forward too harshly at the moment, and they couldn't immediately stop the inertia. The raiders from the sides pierced his troops like sharp knives.

In the face of the nomad warriors, Ouyang Shuo did not stupidly choose to fight with the arts of archer ridings. Instead, he engaged the warriors in close combat and took advantage of the Tang swords and armor, as he fought them at their weaknesses.

The horseback warriors were almost defenseless, as they only wore simple leather armors. In the face of tang sword, this was fatal.

The sharp blade of Tang sword could easily slice through the enemy's leather armor and straight into their flesh. They only left behind death or injuries.

The battle had started.

Finally, Hu'he and his troops had begun to gather together and stabilize. They were ready for a round of tough battle. Right at this moment, Lin Yi and his vanguard 1st unit had already turned back and encircled Hu'he.

Immediately Hu'he realized that they were powerless, so he decisively ordered the troops to retreat.

However, Ouyang Shuo did not give him the opportunity to leave. 2,000 Shanhai City cavalry pursued Hu'he. The blood stained the savanna, and the sad neigh of horses resounded through the sky.

After nearly an hour of mad slaughter, less than two hundred warriors of Hu'he troops survived. They herded Hu'he in the middle, and they hastily escaped the encirclement. Then, they headed toward ZhenXi camp. Shanhai cavalries chased and relentlessly pursued them.

Due to the limitations of their horses, the distance between the two sides grew farther and farther. Eventually, Hu'he escaped.

However, little did he know. His success was only because Ouyang Shuo intended to let him escape. By doing so, Shuo could completely provoke Lhakhshen and cause him to lead the warriors out of the camp.

Ouyang Shuo chased after the fleeing party. Shortly, they arrived before the camp.

Sure enough, Lhakhshen could not help but become furious when he witnessed his warriors panicking and fleeing, while the raiders pursued them. He snapped and said, "Courageous!"

As he finished his word, he ran down the tower and mounted his Qingfu warhorse leader. Then, he shouted, "Everyone with me. Rescue Hu'he and exterminate the raiders."

"Kill!" Four thousand horseback warriors gushed out of the camp.

The sight of reinforcements made Hu'he overjoyed. He patted his Qingfu horse and headed straight to the camp. Ouyang Shuo, on the other hand, stopped uniformly. Then, he turned to leave.

Before he left, Lin Yi used his internal force and shouted, "Lhakhshen you brat. Today I am here to teach you a lesson. The next time I come back, I will take that head of yours." Then, he laughed loudly in an extremely rampant manner.

No one had ever humiliated Lhakhshen like this before. Without a word, he led the troops and chased after them. Although Hu'he had just recounted his experiences, Lhakhshen did not believe that the raiders could mount another troop ambush. Even if they could, he did not need to fear, as he had his 4,000 elite warriors.

The savanna was once again the stage of an escape-pursuit scene. However, the two parties had switched places.

At this time, the strength and speed advantage of the Qingfu warhorse was evident. In less than 10 minutes, Lhakhshen and his troops were catching up, which brought their enemy into their shooting range.

Lhakhshen watched, as he closed in on to the fleeing enemy. His face was a deadpan; emotionless and cold, as if he was looking at a group of dead men.

Unfortunately, Lhakhshen did not know that he had just led his troops straight into Shanhai City's well-established trap. Lin Yi took out a special arrow and lit it on fire. Then, he turned his body on the horseback and released the fire arrow.

The fire arrow flew across the sky like a shooting star, and it accurately fell in Lhakhshen's proximity.

In the blink of an eye, the fire arrow lit the oil that Ouyang Shou's troops had poured on the grassland beforehand. The layout of the raging fire array was not a long strip like before. Instead, it covered the entire area. The raging flames, with the help of gales and weeds, submerged Lhakhshen in a sea of fire.

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Chapter 195: Evacuation

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

The fierce fire left the soldiers helpless, as they cried for help. Fiery flames consumed their bodies. One-by-one, they fell down from their horses and landed on the ground. The sea of fire burned and toasted them into coke.

The grassland burned and smoke billowed. It was capable of suffocating anyone in it.

Despite the Qingfu warhorses' bravery, they still panicked after the double blow of flames and smoke. They ran around the field like headless flies without a sense of direction. With the warriors in the formation, it was easy for them to bang on each other, and it would often mean a lose-lose situation.

The moment the flame soars high, Lhakhshen's face turned pale. He could tell instantly that the enemies before their eyes were not petty raiders. A big conspiracy was shadowing the skies of the whole Tian Qi tribe.

At this critical moment, he had to assume responsibility. He would have to bring his men out of the flames and bring them back to the tribal stronghold.

Lhakhshen's mount was a lord-level Qingfu horse, a platinum-level steed, so it was like a legendary animal. The Qingfu warhorse gave out a neighing sound and was the first to leap out of the flames.

The other Qingfu warhorses tracked their leader's sounds. They followed behind and went out together.

Yet, the moment Lhakhshen rode out of the flames of hell, he slipped into another despair.

The cunning of his enemy had almost reached a point beyond his imagination.

Outside the flames, two thousand enemy cavalry were standing-by. At this moment, their faces were no longer rampant and insolent like before. Instead, their faces were solemn and emotionless.

It struck him. Lhakhshen could tell that his enemies were just like them. They were originally regular military forces.

Right at the moment they spotted him coming out of the flames, they welcomed him with a burst of arrows. Intensive arrows ruthlessly harvested the lives of the lucky ones that survived the fire array.

The horseback warriors thought they would be safe the moment they came out from that flaming hell, yet they were actually coming out of one to step into another.

These successive hits crushed every single ounce of the tribal warriors' morale and courage.

The lucky warriors that survived the rain of arrows did not dare to have any second thoughts; they ran and quickly fled. Even mounted on a Qingfu warhorse leader, Lhakhshen did not dare to gather his troops and organize a counterattack. He rode his horse and rushed toward Shen Juan Lake.

Shanhai City cavalry did not pursue the last of the lucky ones. As the saying goes, one should not pursue broken foes and not press on desperate beasts. In order to survive, these lucky survivors would do anything. They would unleash an unimaginable power when they were in a plight.

Even though Ouyang Shuo was the winning party, he did not want to purse these desperate warriors and increase his losses.

Eventually, of the 5,000 tribal warriors, only less than a thousand people escaped alive.

Ouyang Shuo paid little attention to the burning fire array. He led his troops, routed away from the burning flames and rode toward ZhenXi camp to harvest their spoils of war.

By this time, the remnants of the camp guards had fled.

Hordes of elite cavalry usually owned three horses, two warhorses and a workhorse. The workhorse purpose was to carry things, while the calvary would alternate between the two warhorses to enhance their mobility.

Warhorses would get exhausted and lose weight very easily when carrying weights, which meant they had to be treasured and valued. In general, warhorses could travel 20-kilometers before it had to rest. At times like this, if there are two warhorses in rotation, they could naturally achieve a sustained rapid march.

Since Shanhai City had not engaged in a super long-distance warfare, the cavalries only had a single horse in general. At most, the vanguard 1st unit had Qingfu warhorses, along with the class change system gift horse as workhorses.

Cavalries from the mixed regiment were originally raiders. Even if they were not equipped with Qingfu warhorses, they also had their own two horses. While the newly established vanguard 2nd unit and Qiushui cavalry unit only had the system gifted horses.

Overall, compared to the nomadic tribes, Shanhai City cavalry seemed a little too shabby.

Strictly speaking, a cavalry needed at least two auxiliary soldier followers. One to carry his belongings and another to taking charge of his horse.

However, in order to simplify the game, the system made the cavalry not require auxiliary soldiers. Instead, the cavalry did it all himself.

The trophies Ouyang Shuo plundered from the battle were the horses in ZhenXi camp. Sure enough, in the stables stood 5,000 Qingfu horses and 5,000 ordinary horses.

In addition, they salvaged 1,000 Qingfu horses from the battlefield. Overall, they seized a total of six thousand Qinfu horses, so it was simply a sum of big wealth.

Calculated in accordance with five gold per a Qingfu horse, it would come to a sum of 30,000 golds. In addition to the workhorses, they seized the equivalent of over 40,000 gold. Most importantly, these Qingfu horses although have a price, but there was no market, no one would sell such valuable items.

Furthermore, in the camp arsenal, Shuo also plundered 5,000 composite bows. With these bow, Shanhai City military would be fully equipped with bows.

After this expedition, it would greatly reduce the need for warhorses in Shanhai City, with the price of 150 cavalry killed. Due to the long distance raid, Shuo had ordered his soldiers to bury the dead on-site.

Tian Qi ZhenXi camp had now became a dangerous place, it would not be wise to stay for long.

The troops mounted the Qingfu horses and drove the rest of the horses toward the west.

The had pre-arranged the direction of the evacuation. The troops could not leave for the south, as that would easily expose the position of Shanhai City; They could not go north either. Otherwise, they would bring trouble to Mulan Town. East was the worst because Tian Qi ZhenDong camp was located there. Hence, the only option was to head west.

The mighty hordes simply could not hide their whereabouts. They could only take advantage of the swift speed of the Qingfu horses to hurry out of the grassland before the tribes realized.

Because each horse cavalry had two Qingfu horses in rotation, the troops traveled more than 80-kilometers before it got dark. Their speed had greatly increased compared to the time they came.

The next day, five o'clock, the troops departed again. After a full day of forced march, they traveled directly over 100-kilometers. They completely left the grassland area the nomads occupied and ventured into the wilderness.

This time, Ouyang Shuo was finally at ease. During their day march, they had come across a team of nomad patrols. Quickly and swiftly, the cavalry eliminated them.

However, this exposed their position, just as the nomads wanted.

On the third day, the troops diverted south. Finally, before the night falls, they arrived in the river upstream of Friendship River. Here, the Beihai navy fleet had long awaited for them.

As for how the Beihai navy fleet was able to grasp the troops' whereabouts, the key lies in the hummingbirds from the Military Intelligence Division. These little birds the Xuanniao tribe offered may look little and insignificant, but they had greatly help Shanhai.

With the help of the Beihai navy fleet, they sailed through Friendship river. This time, they would be completely safe. There had yet to appear any power that could threaten them at the south of Friendship river.

Whatever the size of the raider's camp, in the face of Shanhai City cavalry, they would stand no chance at all. As for those lord player's territory, it was already a blessing that Ouyang Shuo did not provoke them and look for trouble. How could they have the courage to provoke Ouyang Shuo instead?

After crossing the river, the Beihai navy fleet rested next to the banks for the night. Tomorrow morning at first light, they would depart down the river and sail back to the Beihai port premises. Recently, Pei Donglai was stepping up the training of troops, as he was planning for a counterattack on Moon Island.

They traveled another two days. Finally, on the 2nd of August 5:30 PM, they returned to Shanhai City. From the day the expedition team left until they return, Operation Wildfire took a week's time. It was definitely not easy to travel so far.

After coming back, before the vanguard unit could rest, Ouyang Shuo sent them back to their duty positions in the City North Camp. Ouyang Shuo was worried about the City North Camp. He did not know what consequences could occur in the savanna due to the Operation Wildfire.

When the vanguard unit left, they did not take along any of the seized Qingfu horses.

Of the 6,000 Qingfu horses, 500 would be given to the mixed regiment cavalry unit and another 500 to the Qiushui cavalry unit. Of the remaining 5,000, they would temporarily stock 3,000 in the ranch of the City West, while he would send the last 2,000 to Jifeng Valley Pasture.

Ouyang Shuo didn't have the luxury to equip a cavalry with two Qingfu warhorses. In his current plan, Qingfu horses would only be mainly used as battlefield warhorses, while at times of peace, they would just ride ordinary horses.

As for the 5,000 workhorses, he was ready to hand them to the Transportation Division. Carriages were already produced, but they would be in vain if there weren't any workhorses. The Secretary of Transportation Division Zheng Shanpao had discussed this matter countless times with Ouyang Shuo.

Well now, Ouyang Shuo would settle the matter all at once.

As the city now expanded, there was a full 5-kilometers from the manor to the North Gate. It would take an hour to walk. Therefore, it was necessary to form and establish a city transportation system. With these workhorses, the Transportation Division could consider providing vehicle transportation services in the city, solving the problems.

After he returned, Ouyang Shuo first arrived at the arsenal and deposited 5,000 composite bows into it. As for the distribution of the bows, it would be the responsibility of the Military Affairs Department, so he did not need to worry about it.

Back to the manor, it was already six in the evening. Hence, Ouyang Shuo went straight to the backyard rather than his usual office.

"Big brother, you're back!"

The sharp-eyed Bing'er instantly saw Ouyang Shuo and ran over, so that he could hold her.

In recent years, this might be the longest period of time that Ouyang Shuo had left Bing'er alone. The little girl naturally missed him a lot. Every day she would be talking and asking, When will brother come back?

After a week of travel and battle, dust and blood dirtied his body. Although the blood had dried out, the smell retained. In such a state, Ouyang Shuo did not dare to hold Bing'er. He quickly stopped her and said, "Baby, brother is dirty. Let brother clean and freshen up. Then, I will accompany you for dinner, okay?"

Bing'er came forward and sniffed. Sure enough, there was a peculiar smell, so she said, "Smelly smelly."

Ouyang Shuo smiled. Suddenly, he reached out with his hand and pinched down on her soft white face, leaving a dirty stain. Immediately before Bing'er could react, he turned and ran away.

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Chapter 196: Secret Manual Sales

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

August 3rd, 10 AM.

Ouyang Shuo appeared in the manor's office and started to handle the government affairs that had piled up for a week.

During the second half of July, Langshan mining field and Northern Saltworks contributed a total of 8,100 gold. These funds had yet to be allocated by Ouyang Shuo. Because of this, many workers had yet to receive their pay wages for July.

In fact, the allocation was simple. There wasn't much to allocate. With the commencement of the projects, the Department of Finance was tight financially again. Hence it was given 5,100 gold, and it was already the lowest amount Ouyang Shuo could offer.

Of the remaining 3,000 gold, 1,000 gold was added to the Four Seas Bank Mulan Town Branch, while the last 2,000 gold would be used to start a new branch of the Four Seas Bank in the Black Lion Town.

Ouyang Shuo did not reserve a single gold coin for himself, not that he didn't need any gold, but he already held a huge fortune, which was the 120 secret manuals.

Over the past month, the prices of secret manuals continued rising. It had been close to the 700 gold mark set by Ouyang Shuo. Soon, Ouyang Shuo was ready to sell off the manuals and obtain funds from the sale.

He had decided to take advantage of the low prices of food, using the funds obtained from the sales of manuals and acquire a batch of foods when the time comes in the future. He would sell the food when the prices were high and would profit from the differences in cost.

If his memory was correct, then the highest point of time, the food prices rose up to 30 coppers per unit, triple the usual price. Lessing the 10% taxation fees, cost of food storage and the waste grains during transportation, he could still enjoy a profit of 250%, much higher than selling manuals.

Ouyang Shuo has ordered the Construction Division to build a large granary on the outskirts west of the city, dedicated to the storage of food stocks.

After a month of construction, Xinan University has taken shape, the three colleges have also been set up entirely, and they were starting taking in students. The rest to construct was the auxiliary facilities that do not affect the teaching and learning activities.

Following the instructions of Ouyang Shuo, every government servant, including those of affiliated territories, except for jinshi and juren, would have to continue and advance their studies at Xinan University.

To this end, the Administration Department has enacted a mechanism scheduling the officials' rotations. Its purpose was to ensure the normal operations of the government bodies while at the same time ensuring each official would receive at least a month of education at Xinan University.

Finance Director Cui Yingyu took the initiative to take the first lead to attend classes in the School of Economics Business studies.

One could tell that in the foreseeable future, Shanhai City officials would celebrate another round of upgrade and ability enhancement.

Also, Natural Science Institution was now starting admission for talents, completely breaking the ancient craftsmen's underprivileged status, and it denoted the advancement of the status of craftsmen in the territory.

A large number of carpenters, farmers, fruit farmers and other talents, were recruited into the Natural Science Institution to learn modern, scientific and logical knowledge.

It had caused a big stir in the territory. Fortunately, within the territory, there weren't any big and powerful family clans, most of them were ordinary people, and hence it was easier to make this policy to be implemented.

Other than that, Medical Department had also started operating.

In the afternoon, when Ouyang Shuo was dealing with government affairs, beside his ears suddenly came a burst of system announcements.

"System Notice: Congratulations to the player Sha Pojun for becoming the ninth lord to upgrade to grade 1 city; special reward of 600 merit points!"

"System Notice: Congratulations to the player Sha Pojun for becoming the ninth lord..."

"System Notice: Congratulations to the player Sha Pojun..."

The fact that Asura Town's success in upgrading itself to a city had shocked Xunlong Dianxue the most. His Xunlong Town has met the basic conditions to apply for the promotion. The walls had also been built. The only worry was the lack of troops.

According to Xunlong Dianxue, his Xunlong Town plus the affiliated territories together only have 2,500 troops, how could he have the courage to apply for the promotion recklessly?

But Asura Town's successful promotion had boiled the competition for the last place on the top ten of China. Hesitate more, and the chance might be seized by the others.

This time, the only one who could help Xunlong Dianxue was Ouyang Shuo.

Ouyang Shuo need not offer his help, Xunlong Dianxue came looking for it. As long as the Ouyang Shuo was willing to help Xunlong Town in its promotion, it would allow Four Seas Bank to open a branch in Xunlong Town.

He was in such hurry because he was desperate to claim his place in the top ten list of China. Do not underestimate honor. If it was used properly, it could bring many benefits to the holder.

Not to mention the others, just claiming the honor alone of being included in the top ten list could significantly increase the reputation of the territory. It would be easier to recruit elite players and increase the attractiveness to historical figures.

Ouyang Shuo pondered and took some time to think. In order to help Xunlong Town for its promotion, he could help with two matters, that is, funds and equipment. With sufficient funds, Xunlong Town could then expand its military force; with enough equipment, Xunlong Town could arm its military forces.

In the end, after the negotiations, Ouyang Shuo and Xunlong Dianxue came to an agreement.

[One] Shanhai City would set up a branch of Four Seas Bank in Xunlong Town with reserve funds of no less than 5,000 gold. Xunlong Town would construct the necessary infrastructure while Shanhai City would ensure the funds be in place within 3 days.

[Two] Shanhai City as previously agreed price, which is 5 gold per Tang sword and 10 gold per bow, Shanhai would sell 1,000 Tang sword and 1,000 composite bows, a total price of 15,000 gold. The money would automatically be converted to Four Seas Bank commercial loans, with the loan period of one year.

Calculated in accordance with Four Seas Bank commercial loans monthly interest rate of 3%, on a monthly basis equal principal and interest repayment, monthly repayment of 1490 gold coins, adding up to a total repayment of 17880 gold, and the total amount of interest paid would be 2880 gold.

Because the progress of the game was much faster than the real world. Hence, the monthly payment would basically be equivalent to annual payments; a year of loans equivalent of a loan of 12 years in reality.

When the loan amount reached 10,000 gold, the profitability of loans by Four Seas Bank could be seen clearly.

Ouyang Shuo was not worried that Xunlong Dianxue could not afford to repay. After all, after promotion to a city, taking out a thousand gold coins a month could still be done.

Of course, it is conceivable that the coming year, Xunlong City would live in tight financial condition.

The second day after the agreement was signed, Ouyang Shuo arrived at the market. He began to sell the secret manuals he had. In the market, gold-level secret manuals were still in short supply at the moment.

A secret manual would require a considerable amount of time to practice. For example, Ouyang Shuo's took him 2 and a half months. He could only reach level 3 at the end of July.

Secret manuals like and also took him 2 to 3 months before he reached the level of 'Novice.' That was with the help and guidance of a master in the respective arts. Otherwise, he would progress even slower.

Therefore, it would be wise to choose a highly graded secret manual from the start.

Those aspiring players, including some high-end players, especially the players in either the ten guilds or significant forces, would only practice secret manuals of gold-level or higher.

To practice those below the gold level was merely a waste of time.

Hence, this was precisely the best period to sell the gold-level secret manuals. Otherwise, from the second year onwards, the players would set their eyes on the higher grade secret manuals of king-level.

Ouyang Shuo started selling them one by one, each one priced at 700 gold. As expected, the moment it was placed on the market, it got bought instantly.

As he started selling them on the market, the news spread, more players were attracted by the sudden appearance of gold-level secret manuals in the market.

"Holy crap, do you know about it, the sudden appearance a batch of gold-level secret manuals on the market."

"You are outdated, look, I've bought mine."

"Damn, you are so rich, what a tycoon!"

"Ah, the money was borrowed from my friends, for the next few months, I'll have to eat simply."

In the major forces and top merchant guilds, they had special members that keep an eye on the market.

Hence, they were the first to react. Immediately, messages were sent to their higher-ups, as they weren't allowed to make deals if the amount involved were too significant.

As the chairman of the merchant guilds received the news, without second thoughts, they gathered the funds immediately. The cash flow of the merchant guilds was immensely incredible.

If they wanted to, having each guild member to contribute 1 gold would cause them to gather tens of thousands of gold immediately.

Of course, measures like this could only be done only once. Otherwise, the coherence within the guild members would be diminished. Plus, those members who could contribute gold were mainly core members, the rookies were still struggling they way through to survive in the game, how could they contribute any gold?

Seeing the sales going well, after selling 20 secret manuals, Ouyang Shuo quietly changed the price to 705 gold, and again the next 20 manuals sold instantly.

At this time, those remained was the major forces, individual players have already given up.

For the rest 80 manuals, Ouyang Shuo decided to sell them in packs of 5, with the selling price of 3,550 gold each pack, while a single secret manual selling at 710 gold.

Ouyang Shuo had his own tactics selling the manual packs, he did not place them all at once on the market, but instead, around every 30 minutes he would place in one pack. Plus, the intervals were different and varied. The buyers were then blinded, they would not know how many manuals were left, would this pack be the last deal or no.

All the way until 12 in the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo had only 40 manuals left.

At this time, Ouyang Shuo did not place any manuals on the market anymore. Instead, he turned and left the market back to his manor for lunch.

The great sale of secret manuals seems to have ended here. Those forces that did not seize the chance to purchase the manuals went into deep regret. They had lost as their gold gathering speed was too slow.

After the short break, Ouyang Shuo slowly walked back into the market. This time, he directly packed the manuals into groups of 10, with a pack selling at the price of 7,200 gold, equivalent to a single manual selling price of 720 gold.

Just when the merchants who were still close fully observing the market almost drove themselves into despair, they saw the manuals Ouyang Shuo placed on the market. They were so overjoyed, and that no words could possibly describe their joy, without even informing their higher-ups, they immediately bought the manuals.

As such, the last 40 secret manuals were sold out within half an hour.

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Chapter 197: The Burning Savanna

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

In the end, the 120 secret manuals that Ouyang Shuo held all turned into 85,300 gold. After the reduction of the 10% taxation, he was left with 76,000 gold, while the 120 manuals only cost 6,000 gold in total.

The obtained a profit of tens of times from this deal.

Ouyang Shuo had thought of sending a batch of secret manuals to his little aunt to avoid the taxes. However, he knew that his little aunt would surely negotiate with him, so he gave up on doing so.

According to his plans, he would only find a secret manual of the emperor-level for his little aunt. As for the gold-level secret manuals, even if he had sold it to the Snow-War Rose mercenary group, only the core members would use them.

After all, Ouyang Shuo did not have any feeling toward the core members.

Throughout Ouyang Shuo's whole secret manual selling spree, the most torn person was not the players that did not get any secret manuals but Feng Qingyang.

……

Swordsman City, Lord Manor Office.

"Little sister, are we really not going to sell any? Look at that guy. He sold the last batch of secret manuals at 750 gold per manual. If we don't sell them now, I am afraid that the market will get saturated."

Sitting in front of Feng Qingyang was naturally his sister, Feng Qingyue.

Different from her brother, she was calm, "Brother need not worry much. According to my predictions, the price of a secret manual will eventually rise to 800 gold. As for the market saturation you mentioned, there is no need to worry about it. Didn't you see it, 120 secret manuals were sold within a day, which clearly denotes the demand for secret manuals in China."

"Moreover, even if the market was really saturated, that would only happen because the available funds at the moment had all been used to purchase the 120 manuals. After a period of time, when people ready funds again, the price of secret manuals would rise along with it. You have to know, gold-level secret manuals denote an important boundary. Below gold-level, the manual levels are too low, so players aren't satisfied with it; above gold-level, players can't afford it, and they are low in numbers too. Therefore, for a long period of time, it will not stale."

If only Ouyang Shuo was here to listen to her analysis, he would take her as a confidant. Her vision and insight were simply impressive and unique, beyond the reaches of ordinary players.

"Alright, I trust you." Feng Qingyang chose to compromise. Clearly, he had immense trust in his sister.

……

In his hands, Ouyang Shuo held the largest funds ever since the game was launched. Naturally, he wouldn't allow the funds to get rusty and collect dust in his storage bag.

He first took out 5,000 gold as reserve funds for the Four Seas Bank Xunlong Town Branch. Then, he took the odd lots of 1,770 gold as reserve funds for Four Seas Bank Headquarters.

That's right, gold in the unit of thousands were now odd lots in his eyes.

Other than leaving 10,000 gold as spare funds, he used all of the 60,000 gold left to purchase foods.

His business partner was no doubt the Cui Chamber of Commerce. Their representative was a cousin brother of Cui Yingyu, and his name was Cui Shouren.

Even for the Cui Chamber of Commerce, such a business deal was already not a small matter. Cui Shouren couldn't imagine that a small territory like Shanhai City could have such strong financial resources. They were only business partners for a month, yet the total transaction amounts had already exceeded 70,000 gold, which was truly incredible.

Initially, Cui Chamber of Commerce was only willing to cooperate because of Cui Yingyu. But now, Cui Chamber of Commerce was starting to look squarely at their business partner as equals.

According to Cui Shouren's words, he couldn't say for sure, but the quiet Shanhai City might be the opportunity for Cui Chamber of Commerce to soar high and rise again in the future.

The incident that happened to Cui Yingyu had an impact on them. The family business caravan was robbed. Although the goods lost were nothing much, the bigger issue was that the reputation of Cui Chamber of Commerce had taken a huge blow.

In that incident, Cui Chamber of Commerce had suffered the losses of hundreds of core members, tens of top management personnel, and needless to say, the Cui family young lady went missing.

Her reappearance was a turning point for the Cui Chamber of Commerce.

In order to repay the Cui Chamber of Commerce and also to deepen the sincerity of the cooperation between the two sides, Ouyang Shuo had obscurely revealed his prediction on the food market in the next three months to Cui Shouren.

As for how much the Cui Chamber of Commerce could profit from this, that would depend on how much confidence they had in Ouyang Shuo and their own courage and resolution. It was simply something that Ouyang Shuo couldn't decide for them.

Sixty million units of food. This quantity took a full three days for the Resource Department to transfer them from the market to the massive granary built on the outskirts of the city west.

Such a decision and move puzzled Ouyang Shuo's people in the territory. No one could understand why their lord had purchase such a massive amount of food. What use did it have?

For this, Ouyang Shuo couldn't explain much. As the funds used to purchase the food wasn't from the territory's revenue, they did not try to obstruct him even though his actions puzzled them.

Well for the player community like Sun Xiaoyue, they had little understandings toward territory management. Hence, they simply had no idea what this large amount of food meant.

As the saying goes, the insider knows the ropes, while the outsider just comes along for the ride.

In the meantime, Ouyang Shuo brought along a thousand Tang swords and a thousand composite bows salvaged from the operation Wildfire to Xunlong Town, while he also personally attended the opening ceremony of Four Seas Bank Xunlong Branch.

With Ouyang Shuo's support and help, Xunlong Dianxue immediately expanded his military to 2,000 soldiers.

The following day, he applied for the promotion request to the system. On August 10, Xunlong Town will face the bandit siege.

During this period of time, Xunlong Dianxue ordered Qin Qiong to lead the troops and exterminate the bandits within the territory. The purpose of this order was to forge the newly established military so that they would not be powerless during the siege.

Of course, Wang Yuanfeng and his triple-bow arcuballista belonged to free support from Ouyang Shuo. It was a support that every Shanhai Alliance member could enjoy. As of now, Shanhai City had already manufactured 5 triple-bow arcuballista, so these arcuballista were the source of confidence for Xunlong Dianxue.

While Xulong Dianxue's territory promotion occupied him, Ouyang Shuo was keeping an eye on the nomadic tribes and also another big event.

According to his past life events, the birth of the tenth grade 1 city would trigger the second battlefield event.

For the battlefield, Ouyang Shuo had been preparing himself. He was now at the final stage of preparation.

Lei Xun had continuously sent intelligence regarding the movements of nomadic tribes to Ouyang Shuo.

A week since operation Wildfire, the genocide of Tian Qi ZhenXi camp had spread throughout the nomadic tribes, blowing a hurricane in the savanna.

Regarding the culprit, the tribes had many different opinions.

Some said it was the raiders. Whether it was the lucky survivors of the Tian Qi warriors or those who were lucky enough to witness the raiders traveling through the savanna, they all said that the culprit dressed in clothes of raiders and were rampant.

Some said it was one of the tribes and claimed that the raiders outfits were merely a simple disguise. The tribes carefully investigated this extremely tragic war that wiped out the nomad warriors, Most of the tribal chiefs agreed that ordinary raiders would not have such well-planned tactical arrangements.

Additionally, a single man said that it was the territory lord. Thi man was naturally the former commander of ZhenXi camp, Lhakhshen. He was now a prisoner under Mengke's orders. At any time, he could be sentenced to death.

The day Lhakhshen returned to Tian Qi tribes main camp, Mengke the Khan took off his role and threw him into the death row prison. Whether he could still walk out of the prison alive would depend on the Khan's frame of mind.

Faced with such a tragic defeat, although his foe had employed the element of surprise, Lhakhshen's reckless act and terrible command were undeniable. Therefore, he confessed to his wrongdoings himself, and he was willing to wash away his sins with his death. That night, no one other than the two knew what happened in the Khan's tent.

People only knew that Lhakhshen was thrown onto the death row, yet Mengke the Khan had yet to give his words about the exact time he would sentence Lhakhshen to death, so the matter just stopped and clung there.

ZhenXi camp's destruction had slowly shown its influence through the savanna. This time, it wasn't anything like operation Dawn that had tepid and little effects.

The most direct impact was the few middle-sized tribes in the west. Their hearts started to boil in excitement. Without ZhenXi camp holding them back, they no longer wanted to allow the Tian Qi tribe to contain them.

The small tribes were terrified. Tian Qi tribe was their biggest backing. Now, it had lost an arm without even knowing the identity of the enemy.

Such a backer, could it still protect them?

If the small tribes were taken as herds of sheep, the middle-sized tribes would be hungry wolves. As for the Tian Qi tribe, it would be the lion king of the savanna. The lion king contained the wolves and protected the sheep.

But now, the king was injured, and the wolves were eyeing their prey. Even though the wolves did not dare to defy and attack the lion, they could show the sheep what their sharp teeth and claws could do.

Even within the Tian Qi tribe, the enthusiasm to rage a war soared high.

The Tian Qi tribe had acted as the lion for tens of years, crowned as the king of the great savanna, so they could stand any parties' provocations. The tragic defeat of ZhenXi camp pointed directly to the few middle-sized tribes in the west. They started to think these middle-sized tribes had colluded with the raiders and directed the tragic incident of ZhenXi camp.

The reason was simple. The raiders had left toward the west.

After the incident, Mengke had sent his Khan royal guards to track the enemies.

However, the royal commander Boraktyna reported that the tracks ended at the wilderness in the west. The tracks and the enemies had disappeared into thin air.

Such a large army of raiders, along with tens of thousands of horses, how could they disappear just like that? Needless to say, there must be one or even a few middle-sized tribes covering their whereabouts.

The hatred within the tribe, even Mengke the Khan could not suppress it for long. On the contrary, the medium-sized tribes in the south, east, and north, all lost their words and kept a total silence.

Mengke knew that such a dead silence was merely just the calm before the raging storm.

Therefore, he could only try and suppress the warhawks in the tribe and prevent the war between them and the tribes in the west. Otherwise, if another incident or mishap occurred, things would only drift sideways beyond redemption.

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Chapter 198 - Faction Selection

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

Note: "King Zhou of Shang" should not be confused with "Zhou dynasty / Zhou"

The savanna was now a pile of dry wood, a slight spark could ignite the whole.

The flame had yet to burn in the savanna, the market outside of Friendship City had quietly flourished.

These few days, there would be anonymous pastoralists bringing in a large quantity of sheep herds, pelts, and even Qingfu horses to the market, intending to use these goods to exchange foods and ironworks from Friendship City.

Foods were fine, but ironworks were controlled items. Friendship City's magistrate Zhou Haichen dared not make his own decisions, immediately sending a letter to the main base, requesting for instructions from the territory lord.

Ouyang Shuo's strategic purpose was to drag and involve the nomadic tribes into a war. That way, he could reduce the threat towards Friendship City and also profit from the war.

These anonymous secret buyers, needless to say, was of course representatives from the tribes, mostly from the middle-sized tribes. One could easily understand the reason for the acquisition of foods and ironworks by the tribes.

Therefore, in his replies, Ouyang Shuo denoted that ironworks could not be traded directly, but he would release the restriction on iron ores and allow them to be freely traded in the market.

Ouyang Shuo wasn't worried at all that selling the iron ores to the nomadic tribes would feed the wolves to his own detriment. The growth of nomadic tribes were far less than the speed of the development of Shanhai City. One couldn't say for sure that after the settlement in the savanna, Shanhai City might already have the strength to crush them all together, so what would these little iron ores matter in comparison?

Last month, while Jiu Duanxian was leading the team to draw the map of the territory, he found another iron mine 20 kilometers out in the west. The Material Reserves Department had already arranged workers and miners to excavate the new mining field.

The new iron mining site was only 10 kilometers away from the riverside of Friendship river.

Hence, the iron ores would be transported using a combination of land and water, first with the wooden-ox horse to the riverside, then shipped back to the dock of Shanhai City.

Shanhai City now have no worries over their stocks of iron ores.

Ouyang Shuo also denoted in the reply that when tradings with the nomadic tribes, foods would be sold at twice the market price, which was 20 coppers per unit; iron ores at 3 times the market price, which was 300 coppers per unit.

Ouyang Shuo wasn't taking advantage of the nomadic tribes.

First off, the prices of foods were now seeing fluctuations. In estimation at the end of August, it would then soar high and keep on rising. If he now traded foods at the market price of 10 coppers per unit, he would then deficit from the tradings.

As for iron ores, iron ores were originally controlled items, in order to sell it, of course he would increase the trading price. Shanhai City wasn't a living Lei Feng1, it wouldn't be a free porter for the nomadic tribes.

Ouyang Shuo had already shown his courtesy and generosity by not charging them any tariffs.

Upon receiving Ouyang Shuo's permission, Zhou Haichen was filled with with great enthusiasm and energy. Friendship City and the Material Reserves Department worked hand in hand to transport iron ores to the dock of Friendship City and sent it for trading at the market.

August 10th, Xunlong Town promotion bandit siege test.

Ouyang Shuo was not there to watch the battle, but he stayed in the his territory to handle government affairs.

At 6 PM, a burst of system announcements rang in his ears.

"System announcement: Congratulations to player Xunlong Dianxue for becoming the 10th lord of a grade 1 City territory; Special reward of 400 merit points!"

"System announcement: Congratulations to player Xunlong Dianxue for becoming..."

"System announcement: Congratulations to player..."

Such system announcements would not spike any interests among the players, but following it was another system announcement, and it caused an uproar.

"System announcement: China has successfully promoted 10 city territories, triggering the campaign system. The second battle - The Battle of Muye, officially commences after 3 days. Friendly tips: The Battle of Muye is a non-mandatory campaign task, only those with a town level territory are eligible."

In comparison to the first battle - The Battle of Zhuolu, players were now more familiar with the battlefield. The first battle had proved to the players that the battlefield was a game of gambling that followed the law of jungle.

For the strong forces like Shanhai City, no doubt they would profit and benefit the most from it. But for the ordinary players, the efforts would not be worth if they were to partake in the battle. Their troops, little in number and low in quality, couldn't direct the course of war, but would end up being the cannon fodder instead.

Some ambitious lords brought a hundred soldiers into the war, ending up losing them all only to receive a pitiful amount of a hundred merit points. Their investment and return were completely out of proportion.

Therefore, whether to partake in the event or not, that relied on the different views of different people, as the saying goes: The benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom.

As of now, the townships in China had exceeded 1000 in number. No one knew how many lords would be willing to participate in the war in the end.

Of course, to the members of the Shanhai Alliance, that wasn't a question at all.

Xunlong Dianxue was receiving the congratulations from his allies in the alliance channel when the system announcement was made. He was shocked and said jokingly: "Dang! This Battle of Muye, is it triggered by me? Things like this, shouldn't the system reward me with some stuff?"

"Puffed up brat!" Siege Lion was irritable.

"Haha, small lion, you are just jealous of me." Xunlong Dianxue rarely acted differently from his usual calm self.

"..." Siege Lion sent a line of periods to denote his silent expression.

"Oh yeah, finally it's time to earn some merit points." Mulan Yue was the happiest, she was troubled with getting more merit points lately.

"Wuyi, which faction do you plan to chose this time?" Bai Hua asked.

In the Battle of Muye, also known as "King Wu's rebellion against the Tyrant Zhou", The King Wu of Zhou led the alliance and raged the final war with the Shang dynasty in Muye. The ruler of Shang dynasty, King Zhou of Shang, Di Xin, conquered the Li tribe to the northwest and Dongyi to the southeast, although victorious in all the battles, his bellicose inclination to engage in wars of aggression at will had exacerbated social and class conflicts, and eventually led to the fall of the Shang dynasty.

These were the words that described the Battle of Muye.

However, Ouyang Shuo held a different opinion after reading and researching. In his eyes, the battle was excessively embellished by the Confucians, the rebellion of Zhou against Shang, and the death of King Zhou of Shang were perfect model examples of the crime of rebellion against the ruler and regicide. There were simply no justice and righteousness at all.

The Battle of Muye was bloody, bitter, and tragic, it wasn't anything like it was recorded in the historical book. It was a war, a rebellion by the people of Zhou relying on their lofty morality and won the war with "no blood on the men's swords", and after the battle, the Zhou armies slaughtered, burned and plundered the land of Zhaoge. There wasn't the slightest image of gloriousness.

The only reason they were beautified in the historical book was because of the cultural dominance and ideology of Confucianism. The originator of Confucianism, Confucius, praised the Confucian Six Arts highly. This included the two systems and ideologies practiced by Zhou dynasty, namely: etiquette and music. Therefore, in the world dominated by Confucianism, the Confucian would beautify and embellish the Zhou dynasty into the embodiment of justice, righteous and benevolence.

Hence, they would of course not allow any truthful recordings on the battle that "justified the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven", the Battle of Muye, a war that flooded the land with blood and the drowned the people in their tears.

It was the same as to why they obliterated King Zhou's historical contribution and then demonized his actions.

No matter what the truth was, Ouyang Shuo, out of consideration for his own interests and benefits, declared his selection of faction: "I will choose to side with the Shang dynasty."

"Eh?" Mulan Yue was surprised.

Bai Hua immediately asked: "Wuyi, are you trying to change history?"

"That's right!" Ouyang Shuo directly answered.

In the first battle - the Battle of Zhuolu, Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang had used their own blood and flesh to teach the lord players a lesson, the difficulty to change a historical battlefield's ending.

Yet, at times like these, Ouyang Shuo caught everyone off guard with his decision, puzzling everyone before him.

"Wuyi, are you sure?"

Ouyang Shuo of course did not dare to boast too much. "Regarding the actual battlefield conditions, no one knows how Gaia will deduce them. Hence, if you are talking about me ascertaining the battlefield's victory, I can't guarantee it. Although I have done my homework, it is still an uncertainty as for whether it works or not."

What Ouyang Shuo said was the truth.

In his past life, he had never partaken in the Battle of Muye. He only knew a little about the battle.

"Homework?" Bai Hua was acutely aware of his words. She asked in curiosity, "Wuyi, you mean, you knew of this battle before hand?"

Ouyang Shuo laughed and shook his head. "Of course not, I am neither God nor an immortal. Through the Battle of Zhuolu, one can easily tell the battles chosen by Gaia must be the most significant or important battles from an era or dynasty. Think about it, after the three sovereigns and five emperors, it then comes down to the Shang dynasty. During that period of time, which battle can be more significant and important than the Battle of Muye? Therefore, I took a daring guess that the next campaign chosen by Gaia would be this. I wasn't sure before, which was why I kept it to myself up until now."

His words were half true and half false. He pointed out the sequence and pattern on how Gaia would choose the campaigns, and at the same time concealed the fact that he only knew because he had reincarnated.

Bai Hua was then lifted from her doubts. She smiled and said: "Wuyi, I have faith in your decision and shall choose the Shang dynasty."

"I will listen to brother Wuyi." Mulan Yue the inwardly evil girl of course wouldn't let go of her biggest backing, if it wasn't Ouyang Shuo, she would had never taken such a big prize back from the Battle of Zhuolu.

Ouyang Shuo laughed and shook his head again, "My words are the same, there are no obligations for allies to stand together in the same faction. I have only one request, keep my decision a secret among us. I do not wish that Chun Shenjun and the others all choose the opposition because of my existence."

His words made everyone laugh. The reason was simple, if they chose the same faction as Ouyang Shuo, there was no doubt that position of player representative would be given to Ouyang Shuo. This of course would not be something they would like to see.

"I personally think that it's wiser to follow your footsteps." Feng Qiuhuang said next.

"Follow the big brother, and there will be meat to feast on." Siege Lion's words made a simple conclusion.

Only Xunlong Dianxue was left in the end. This fellow acted smart and chose a different faction the last time, wasting the ability of a great general like Qin Qiong, and his outcome was far worse than Bai Hua's.

Having bitterly paid the price, he finally learned his lesson and said, "I will follow the big brother."

1Lei Feng 雷锋 : a selfless and modest model citizen in China, subject of a nationwide posthumous propaganda campaign.

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Chapter 199 - Battle of Muye (1)

Translator: Team TWO

Editor: Nora

The system announcement was made right on time on the 14th of August at 9 AM in the morning.

"System announcement: In the year 1044 BC, the Shang army main force is still far away in the east, causing the lack of army garrisoned in Zhao Ge. King Wu of Zhou used up whatever resources he had to raise an army. Then, he led his army crossing the Yellow River at Meng Jin early and joined his allies. Together, they declared war against the ruthless Emperor of Shang, Di Xin. They charged straight into Muye, and the battle ended with the defeat of Di Xin and his death. The second epic campaign scenario―Battle of Muye, officially begins!"

Ouyang Shuo's current title was first class earl, which granted him the authorization to bring 3,000 men with him.

The expedition troops are as follows:

The Vanguard Unit's first and second squadron.

Mixed Regiment first, second, and third unit.

Elite guards of the Lord.

Qiushui Town's fourth cavalry squadron.

Other than the two heavy infantry unit of the Mixed Regiment, the other 2000 were all cavalries riding Qingfu warhorses.

The Vanguard Unit first unit and the elite guards were the real heavy cavalries, all equipped with Mingguang armor, Tang swords, pikes and composite bows. With this equipment and their stats, they were currently the best heavy cavalry regiment in the world. As for the heavy infantry unit, with the full efforts of the Armory Division, all of them were now equipped with Buren armors, Tang swords, and shields.

After he checked and confirmed the conditions of participating in the campaign and the number of his troops, Ouyang Shuo began to decide the faction he wanted to join in the war.

"System notification: Battle of Muye has two factions: Zhou Faction or Shang Faction, please choose your faction! Special reminder: If you choose the faction that supposedly lost in the battle and lead them to victory, you will be granted extraordinary rewards, so please choose wisely!"

"Shang Faction!"

"System notification: Faction selected!"

"System notification: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for starting the teleportation, 3000 men to be teleported. 3000 gold is automatically deducted from the inventory."

"System notification: Teleportation commencing!"

After a brief moment of extreme head spinning, Ouyang Shuo and his army appeared in the Shang main camp.

"System notification: Welcome player Qiyue Wuyi to the main camp―Zhao Ge, the capital of Shang dynasty."

As compared to the crude and simple of Huang Di City in the Battle of Zhuolu, Zhao Ge appeared to be a very prosperous city. The treatment the players received was completely different from the Battle of Zhuolu.

After registering in the city, players and their armies were moved to a big camp allocated outside of the city. The camp is specially set up for players and food is supplied to the players. As such, they did not need to prepare any food at all.

"Woodsy!"

Ouyang Shuo turned upon hearing the shout. To his pleasant surprise, he saw a pretty girl dressed in adventurer attire. She looked valiant and cheerful. The girl was waving at Ouyang Shuo with a look of excitement when she shouted out to him.

In the game, there was only one girl who could call Ouyang Shuo by the nickname of 'Woodsy' and this one and only girl was Song Jia.

This was the first time that Ouyang Shuo had seen Song Jia in the game. He never imagined that Song Jia's eyesight was so amazing, being able to recognize him in this extreme crowd.

Compared to reality, the adventurer attired Song Jia had another unique aura and appearance.

Ouyang Shuo forced himself to hold back his excitement and handed his horse to Wang Feng. Then, he walked up to Song Jia quickly and held her hand.

"This is so nice, to be able to see you in the game. I've waited way too long for this day!" said Ouyang Shuo with rich emotion.

One day before the opening of the campaign scenario, Ouyang Shuo had already written a letter to Song Jia. He had told her the faction he would choose, and he hoped that she could follow Tianxiang Town's army to participate in the Battle of Muye.

Song Jia's pretty face quickly blushed. She immediately shook off Ouyang Shuo's hand, and said shyly, "Idiot, there are still people around us."

Song Jia's words made Ouyang Shuo speechless. In reality, Song Jia wouldn't even feel shy while holding hands with him. Could it be that once a woman entered the game, the ancient atmosphere where ladies are supposed to be very ladylike would affect them? Just look at Bai Hua, Feng Qiuhuang, and the others, who tried to behave as ladylike as possible.

Fortunately, Song Wen came up and greeted Ouyang Shuo at this time. Then, he said with a smile, "I guess you are Mr. Ouyang Shuo? I am Song Jia's eldest brother, Song Wen. Nice to meet you."

Then, he pointed to another young man dressed in general attire and said, "This is my younger brother, Song Wu."

Ouyang Shuo quickly returned Song Wen's greeting and nodded to Song Wu as a sign of acknowledgment.

After the introductions, Ouyang Shuo took the chance to learn some information about Tianxiang Town's army. Song Wen's current title was still just a second class viscount. He brought 200 men, all normal sword and shield infantry that Song Wu led.

Song Wu was still young after all and a warrior. When he saw Ouyang Shuo's Mingguang Armor, he could not help but drool. What kind of a warrior could resist the temptation of a high quality armor? When he saw his younger brother's appearance, Song Wu felt very embarrassed.

However, Ouyang Shuo did not care much about it. Instead, he turned back to Wang Feng and made a gesture to him. Wang Feng immediately understood his master's desire and brought a few men with him away for a moment. Then, he returned with three elite class Qingfu warhorse.

Long before departing, Ouyang Shuo had already considered what he should give the Song brothers as presents. After all, they were going to become his future brother-in-laws, so he had to show respect to them.

Meanwhile, during operation 'Wildfire' he had seized 5,000 Qingfu warhorses. Among these horses, there were 20 elite class warhorses. After distributing one elite warhorse to each of the officers in Shanhai City army, there were still 10 left. Without any idea about what present to prepare, Ouyang Shuo decided to give them one elite Qingfu warhorse each. Of course, the other elite warhorse was for Song Jia.

Other than that, Ouyang Shuo had also prepared one set of sergeant class Mingguang Armor.

When Ouyang Shuo handed these presents to him, Song Wen was shocked. Then, he said, "This is?"

Qingfus warhorses and Mingguang Armor of Shanhai City had already become known to the public ever since the Battle of Zhuolu. The high quality and cost of these warhorses and armors were no secret. Therefore, Song Wen thought that these presents were way too expensive.

"This is my gratitude, please accept it!" said Ouyang Shuo.

Song Wu could no longer hold himself back, so he quickly walked forward and took over the Mingguang armor. Then, he stored it in his inventory space. After that, he took over the reins of the Qingfu warhorse from the elite guard's hand. Just when he was about to ride it, Song Wen scolded him, "Brother, please have some respect!"

In response, Song Wen turned to Ouyang Shuo and said, "Thank you for your present. I am sorry for my brother's rudeness; please forgive him."

Ouyang Shuo waved his hand and said, "No worries, Brother Song. As a general myself, I know how attractive a Qingfu warhorse and a set of Mingguang Armor can be to a general. This is just a natural reaction. It is not a big deal at all."

Song Wen nodded, and his understanding of Ouyang Shuo deepened. From the brief conversation just now, he realized that Ouyang Shuo appeared to be a man with mature thinking. He was calm and a man with an ego, but he was not arrogant at all. These were the traits of an amazing person, no wonder he could achieve so much in the game. His sister's choice was indeed amazing.

Similarly, Ouyang Shuo also gained a first impression of Song Wen. He was exactly like Song Jia had described. This fellow was a polite man with no traces of the slyness and cunning of a businessman at all.

"Alright, that's enough. You two, stop pretending to be so polite to each other," Song Jia interrupted their conversation.

Ouyang Shuo and Song Wen could only smile bitterly at each other.

Then, Ouyang Shuo started to look for the Shanhai Alliance members to join with them.

Luckily, they were all teleported to the same place at about the same time, so it did not take long for them to meet up.

Among the members of the Shanhai Alliance, Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang were both second class earls, so they led 1,000 men each. Xunlong Dianxue was a third class earl, so he led 500 men. Mulan Hua and Siege Lion were first class visearls, so they led an army of 300 each. The Shanhai City army, with the addition of the Tianshan Town army, was an army of 6,300. It was three times the size of their army during the Battle of Zhuolu.

Then, Ouyang Shuo introduced the three Song to the members of Shanhai Alliance.

Because it was their first time seeing each other, the atmosphere was a little bit awkward.

Ouyang Shuo could do nothing about it, so he suggested that they should head out right now to the camp outside of the city first. As for finding out about those famous lord type players in the Shang Faction, they could slowly take their time.

This was because no matter what, every player would eventually have to gather up in the camp.

Just as they walked out of the city gate, the campaign announcement rang out.

"Campaign announcement: 805 players and a total of 102,000 soldiers are participating in the Battle of Muye. There is a total of 480 players in the Zhou Faction, and a total of 60,000 soldiers. There is a total of 325 players and an army of 42,000 soldiers in the Shang Faction."

As expected, not only did nearly 200 players give up on this campaign, most players chose the Zhou Faction rather than the Shang Faction. First, after learning their lesson in the Battle of Zhuolu, they realized that they should not simply pick the supposedly defeated factions in history. Second, in the Zhou Faction, there was a famous legendary figure—Lu Shang. The players that chose Zhou Faction had the ambition of recruiting him into their army.

Lu Shang, also known as Jiang Shang, courtesy named Ziya.

Jiang Ziya was the founder of the Qi Empire, King Wen of Zhou's businessman, and King Wu of Zhou's head strategist, the top military commander, and the founder of Qi Culture. He was a legendary figure that had greatly influenced ancient China's military and politics. His place was accepted widely in history books. Confucianism and various cultures acknowledged him as the master of all cultures.

Speaking of him, Ouyang Shuo had some relation with this figure as well. Jiang Shang wrote the Six Tao that Ouyang Shuo had obtained before this campaign. Jiang Shang was also known as the ancestor of all military strategy.

However, hoping to recruit such a person would be utterly fond dreaming.

According to the observations and experiments of the players from Ouyang Shuo's past life, the most crucial point to recruit historical figures, especially those powerful ones, was to strike at their weaknesses or needs.

For example, the weakness of Huang Zhong, a famous general with superb archery skills in the Three Kingdoms of ancient China, was his very own son. Due to his son's sickness, if someone was able to fully cure his sickness, recruiting Huang Zhong would be dead easy.

However, as for Jiang Shang, his position in the Zhou dynasty was incredibly high. Just finding his needs would've been impossible, not to mention satisfy them. Hence, it was difficult to recruit him.

Therefore, Ouyang Shuo held no hopes of recruiting him at all and immediately gave on joining the Zhou dynasty.

"Campaign announcement: Due to the fact that the Shang dynasty has a smaller army than the Zhou dynasty, the Shang dynasty armies will automatically receive a 25% defense up for everyone according to the rules."

Because of the realistic settings of the game where there was no health bar, no matter how strong or how skilled you were, you would still die if your throat or any vital parts of the body were curt. Therefore, the defense up actually increased the thickness and the resistance of their armors.

"Campaign announcement: Based on the titles and honor value assessment, Chun Shenjun (second-class earl) is elected as the Zhou dynasty player representative, and Qiyue Wuyi (first-class earl) is elected as the Shang dynasty representative.

In the Battle of Muye, representatives for the players were still Ouyang Shuo and Chun Shenjun. However, the duo had picked their factions slightly differently this time.

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Chapter 200 - The Battle of Muye (2)

Translator: Team TWO

Editor: Nora

When Ouyang Shuo led his troops to the western suburbs military camp, there were already a few lord players coming in.

In order to maintain order in the military camp, Shang imperial court had sent a hundred royal guards, which were later known as palace guards, to take charge of the camp.

The royal guards looked strong and mighty, they were equipped with the best bronze armors and shields of the era.

As the player representative, Ouyang Shuo was luckily given the largest settlement within the camp, which was located in the middle of the military camp and besides the tents of the royal guards.

After settling down, Ouyang Shuo arranged for Siege Lion and Xunlong Dianxue to gather information, mainly to determine which famous lords were in the faction.

As for the lords that came to visit Ouyang Shuo, Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang took them all away to the other side of the tent to discuss their cooperations.

Unlike the Battle of Zhuolu, Ouyang Shuo hoped that he could gather together as many players as he could to his side this time. Because he had chosen the supposedly defeated faction, he would need to rely on the power of the whole faction if he wanted to change history.

In the camp, Ouyang Shuo could enjoy a tent of his own. Wang Feng had already led the lord's guards and taken charge of the tent's safety.

When they saw that Ouyang Shuo had his own guards, Siege Lion and Xunlong Dianxue became envious. They said that they would also form a team of lord's guards and show off their prestige as lords.

Ouyang Shuo ignored their teasings and invited Song Jia over to his tent. Ever since they met, this was the first time they had their time alone together. Ouyang Shuo naturally did not invite her over to murmur endearments. After some small talk, Ouyang Shuo took out the secret manual 1.

It was an emperor-level secret manual, and it cost Ouyang Shuo 1,500 gold to purchase it. And now, even if he sold it for 30,000 gold, the crowd would still go crazy buying it. Of course, that was if they could hold such a large fund.

For such a valuable secret manual, Ouyang Shuo did not mail it to Song Jia. Instead, he wished to hand it over to her in person as a surprise, and now was just the right time to do so.

"Take a look. What is this?" Ouyang Shuo handed the manual over to Song Jia.

She wasn't too concerned about it until she saw the title on the manual cover. She was so shocked that her jaws almost dropped; she exclaimed, "!?"

"Shhh!" Ouyang Shuo made a gesture, as he asked Song Jia to lower her volume.

"Woodsy, You..you…you, are you trying to frighten me to death?" She lowered her volume and said, "Such a rare secret manual and you are still able to get your hands on it. I am really impressed."

"So how is it; do you like it?" Ouyang Shuo smiled.

Song Jia nodded. Then, she shook her head and said, "Woodsy, of course I like it. But, I can't have it. It is too valuable, so save it for yourself. You are a great lord. How can you not practice a great secret manual?" as she finished her sentence, she returned the manual to Ouyang Shuo reluctantly.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head while laughing, This girl. It is crystal clear that she likes it a lot, but she is still thinking of me, "It's alright, I am already practicing an emperor-level internal strength technique, so I do not need this anymore."

"Woodsy, are you sure you are not lying to me? They are emperor-level secret manuals. Why do they sound like vegetables in a market, so commonly available? I don't believe you."

Ouyang Shuo was speechless, and he simply showed her his character stats panel. Scouting skills could not reconnaissance a player's character stats panel. This was the only way to discover a player's stats.

After she finished reading his stats, Song Jia exclaimed, "Woodsy, I can be sure of it now. You are a monster. My god, you alone practice two emperor-level secret manuals and a king-level manual. Really, truly incredible."

"You believe me now? Quickly learn the . I will be right beside you."

"Okay." She happily took back the manual and proceeded to learn it.

Ouyang Shuo watched, as she sat down cross-legged. He practiced beside her.

After two hours, Song Jia opened her eyes. Joy filled her face. She gazed at Ouyang Shuo, who sat beside her, and a touch of deep affection flashed through her eyes. Woodsy, You're so good to me. I don't even know how to repay you.

It was about time Ouyang Shuo finished practicing, and he saw Song Jia staring at him. He smiled and said banteringly, "What, have you never met a handsome guy before? Staring at me like this will make me feel embarrassed."

"Cheh, woodsy, your face is still as thick as before," Song Jia coquettishly smiled.

To be honest, the Ouyang Shuo in-game gave her a different feeling and felt similar to a stranger. He was a calm and steady man and a lord of great fame, so it was hard for her to relate him to Ouyang Shuo—that little brat in reality. And his words just dawned on Song Jia, Ouyang Shuo was still Ouyang Shuo. He had never changed and was still the same old little brat.

"Woodsy, I noticed that your Shanhai Alliance consists of quite a few beautiful ladies. Be honest, do you have any other girls other than me?" After the feeling of familiarity returned, she started to get jealousy.

Her words were true. Within the Shanhai Alliance, Feng Qiuhuang, Bai Hua, and Mulan Yue were all beautiful ladies and the lords of territories. Song Jia was feeling uneasy around them. Song Jia was only the young lady of Song Corporate, which was meaningless in this game. Moreover, Feng Qiuhuang was also the young lady of the Feng Family.

Their appearance made Song Jia feel threatened.

"And also, the secret manual you were practicing is the . Are you thinking of having a chamber of three thousand imperial concubines?" Her jealousy grew heavier.

Ouyang Shuo laughed and shook his head. Then, he patted her head, "What are you talking about? That is just an internal strength secret manual. What is this about three thousand imperial concubines? Do you still have any pride as a girl?"

"Then, tell me. What's with the girls? From the way I see it, they are quite close to you, smiling and chatting happily, while I can't even find a chance to enter the conversation. Woodsy, tell me honestly, do you think that I am useless? I can't even help you at all in the game. Instead, I am a burden that keeps distracting you," Song Jia felt a little melancholy.

Her words stunned Ouyang Shuo; he stood up and hugged Song Jia from behind. He curled his hands around her waist and placed his face beside her little soft white cheek. He felt the uneasy heart that pumped in her body. Song Jia was shaken and felt shy. This was the first time they ever had such intimate actions since they met.

"Silly girl, I, Ouyang Shuo, am not a playboy. To have a woman like you in my life is all that I ask for. Bai Hua and the others, we are only friends and confidants. There are no affections between us. And stop saying that you are useless. We are a couple, so there is no need to haggle about matters like this. For the things that you have given me are far beyond all material givings," Ouyang Shuo said in deep affection.

Her body trembled; her face blushed red, and even her ears were hot. This was the first time that Ouyang Shuo had spoken words of love to her, so how could she not be moved?

She turned over in his arms and looked squarely into Ouyang Shuo's eyes. Then, she seriously said, "Woodsy, remember your words today. Please do not ever turn your back on me."

"I, Ouyang Shuo, will not turn my back on you for the rest of my life!"

Song Jia couldn't hold it back anymore. She had thrown away her pride as a girl and kissed Ouyang Shuo.

This kiss set a lifelong promise in place.

While the two lovers were whispering sweet nothings to one another, Siege Lion walked in all of a sudden and witnessed this scene before his eyes. He grinned and teased, "Brother, my big brother, your little brother here was busy gathering information outside, yet you stayed in here and had so much fun, wuwu *fake cries*."

Luckily, Song Jia wasn't a small-minded woman. She had the aura of a heroine. Even when faced with Siege Lion's teasings, she was only just a little shy.

Ouyang Shuo ignored his teasing too and directly asked, "How was it?"

Siege Lion immediately became serious again and shook his head, "Brother, it is not so good. Guess what? Handan Alliance, Chunqiu Alliance, and Blood-metal Alliance have all surprisingly chosen the Zhou dynasty."

Ouyang Shuo was stunned, "How could that be; was there anyone behind it?"

"That is not all." At this moment, Xunlong Dianxue walked in. He greeted them and said, "Just now, I saw Handan Alliance's Wufu."

"Wufu? How is he not with the Handan Alliance now?" Ouyang Shuo was puzzled.

"Who knows."

Siege Lion's thoughts were much darker than the two, "Could it be that Di Chen sent him over to act as a spy?"

"Spy? On the battlefield, no messages are allowed. Even the alliance channel is restricted, so how can he send any messages?" Ouyang Shuo was still puzzled.

"Heihei, brother, as a spy, he does not necessarily need to send messages. He could just simply destroy the alliances within the faction and avoid participating during the final battle. As long as he wants to, there will be many more ways to do it," Siege Lion was indeed a man of conspiracy.

Ouyang Shuo nodded, and a frown crawled all over his face, "It can't be. If that is the case, with Wufu here, he will not benefit at all. Why would he make such a big sacrifice?"

"Brother you have spoken the main point. From my point of view, Wufu must be unwilling to do so. Probably, his own allies crowded him out. If we would like to know what is going here with Di Chen and Chun Shenjun and the trickeries they have, Wufu will be a great breakthrough point. Brother, you might want to try and contact him," Xunlong Dianxue's conjecture was fair and reasonable.

A mist of doubt clouded Ouyang Shuo. He would not be at ease without knowing what was actually happening, "Alright, I will find an opportunity and contact Wufu. It seems like this board of chess will not be an easy game after all."

"Hei, Di Chen and the likes are merely scums. Brother need not be too concerned," Siege Lion was disdainful of Di Chen as usual. The hatred between the two was quite baffling.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head and said, "You are wrong. Do not take them lightly. Didn't you realize that ever since his failure in territory city promotion, Di Chen has reduced his exposure to the public? What does this mean? It means that he has realized his wrongdoings, and he is now hiding his hands in the shadow. To make an enemy with people like this is the scariest. Furthermore, after the galactic migration, a few more cunning old foxes stand behind him."

Xunlong Dianxue nodded in agreement with Ouyang Shuo's deduction.

1 (九阴真经): A Chinese fictional martial arts from a novel in Condor Trilogy by Jin Yong.

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Chapter 201: The Battle of Muye (3)

Translator: Team TWO

Editor: Nora

That afternoon, Ouyang Shuo invited Wufu over.

The two did not meet secretly in the shadows. Rather, they directly held the meeting in Ouyang Shuo's tent. Simply because there was nothing to hide and they couldn't hide the meeting either.

"Can you tell me what conspiracies Di Chen and Chun Shenjun have?"

Ouyang Shuo's boldness shocked Wufu. Without thinking, he answered, "Why should I tell you?"

"Your words, so there is indeed a conspiracy going on!?" Ouyang Shuo said.

"You!" Wufu realized that he had fallen into Ouyang Shuo's wording traps. He calmed himself down and adjusted his strategy, "That's right. They have a plan, but I will not tell you."

"You will," Ouyang Shuo said with great confidence.

"Arrogant!" Wufu became irritated.

Ouyang Shuo smiled and said, "Brother Wufu, there is no need to beat around the bush. We all know that you and them are not of the same kind. Otherwise, you wouldn't be the one sent here. They have crowded you out. They distrust you; this is a truth that everyone knows."

Wufu's face darkened, Ouyang Shuo's words had stung his painful spot.

Wufu raised his head; his face emotionless, "Then, can I trust you? Or should I put it this way, you, China's number one Lord, Leader of Shanhai Alliance, representative of the civilian players—will you trust me?"

Ouyang Shuo nodded, "You have no other options."

Wufu felt decrepit. He took a breath and made his decision, "Qiyue Wuyi, let's make a deal."

"Speak!"

"I tell you the truth that you want. In return, you accept me into Shanhai Alliance."

Ouyang Shuo's sights congealed. He had not foreseen this. Things were far worse than he imagined, as even Wufu had to look for shelter if he spat out the truth. That said, those old foxes were really unwilling to be lonely anymore.

Old foxes, do you all really think that I have not noticed anything at all? Truly hilarious.

"I accept your terms," Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate.

"Things are simple. There are signs of a reunion of the Handan Six Tyrants. Not long ago, I inadvertently saw the heads of the forces gathering in Handan City. I'm not talking about Di Chen, Chun Shenjun, and the like. I'm talking about their elders, the real heads of the forces and parties," Wufu said, as he recalled the images in his mind.

Sure enough, Ouyang Shuo's conjecture was coming true.

The Handan Six Tyrants had only split because of Di Chen's arrogance, Chun Shenjun's self-pride, and Feng Qiuhuang's ambitions. Ouyang Shuo and Xiongba were merely the catalysts that stimulated the process.

Handan Six Tyrant became divided into three. Shanhai Alliance had seized the opportunity to rise and grasp the power of discourse in China.

However, after the galactic migration, the elders were finally relieved of their duties and had more time to overlook matters in the game. The monkey businesses of the young ones had caused their dissatisfaction.

Clearly, the young ones were still handling matters according to their emotions, rather than handling it with the arts of negotiation and compromisation. At times like this, the elders would naturally have to step in and clear up the mess the young ones made. After all, they wouldn't allow the power of discourse to fall into the hands of others. In their eyes, Ouyang Shuo was nothing but a petty child.

Through mutual compromisation, reuniting all their forces was their best option.

However, Ouyang Shuo did not worry about this. He was more concerned about Feng Qiuhuang. From the signs and indications, it was clear that they still kept her in the dark. She knew nothing about the gathering and did not know that her elders were engaged in a coalition.

"Xiongba is in it too?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Wufu was surprised. He hadn't thought that Ouyang Shuo would be this sharp. He nodded and said, "Yes!"

During the division of the Handan Six Tyrants, Xiongba had played a disgraceful role. He was the one that tempted Chun Shenjun to form an alliance of his own. If the Handan Six Tyrants were to seek a reunion, they would have to go through Xiongba.

With the wisdom of these old foxes, the best option was to accept and admit Xiongba into the alliance, or for that matter, the forces that Xiongba represented.

It was foreseeable that when the Handan Alliance, the Chunqiu Alliance, and the Blood-metal Alliance came together and reunited, the newly formed alliance would be much stronger and greater than before.

These factors answered why they dumped Wufu away. In such a great alliance of forces, Wufu was nothing. The only reason he was in the alliance was because Di Chen desperately needed allies for his Handan Alliance at that time. Wufu was taken in as an emergency measure. Now he had grown useless to them, it was not a surprise that he was left behind.

Ouyang Shuo nodded and said, "Alright, today's talk shall end here. We will discuss about the alliance after the war. What's more important as of now is to win this war."

After he sent Wufu off, Ouyang Shuo did not stay long in the tent. He rode back to Zhaoge.

In the city of Zhaoge, the people were terrified. The news of the approaching Zhou armies had spread throughout the whole city. The city was practically defenseless, as the military had been sent to wage war with the Dongyi to the east. As such, what else could the king use to fight off these intruders?

In fact, there was still a week before the final battle. Gaia left this period of time so that players could utilize it and complete the side missions.

However, Ouyang Shuo ignored all this and went straight to the palace.

The royal guards stopped Ouyang Shuo in front of the palace gate, "Who are you? This is the king's palace. It is restricted to authorized personnel only."

Ouyang Shuo dismounted and passed the reins to his guard Wang Feng. Then, he made a slight bow with clasped hands, "Player representative Qiyue Wuyi. I am here to look for the king; please pass on my words!"

The royal guards checked his waist tag and immediately passed his words to the king.

Following behind the royal guards, Ouyang Shuo did not look at the palace. He was only thinking in his heart about how to convince King Di Xin to accept his plan.

In the palace, Di Xin was currently discussing with his General E'lai about how to fight off the Zhou armies. His royal guards report that the player representative was here, which sparked his interest.

E'lai was the son of Fei Lian. He was a warrior that could fight with rhinoceroses, bears, and tigers. On the other hand, Fei Lian was a messenger. This father and son duo served under King Zhou of Shang, Di Xin. The two were both extremely loyal.

During the era of Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao called his subject Dian Wei 'The ancient E'lai'. The "E'lai" Cao Cao referred to was the E'lai here.

Ouyang Shuo walked into the palace. Then, he bowed and greeted the king, "Qiyue Wuyi, greets the king."

Di Xin sat on his throne with an imposing appearance, "For what matter do you seek me?"

"I am here to help the king," Ouyang Shuo answered, neither servile nor overbearing.

"What boasting," E'lai said from the side.

"And you are general...?" Ouyang Shuo calmly smiled and asked.

"I am E'lai, don't you boast. The Zhou armies are strong, and our main forces are not here. How can we do it?" E'lai was a straightforward man, so he directly asked the questions on his mind.

"I do not agree. From what I heard, the king has gathered 700 thousand slaves, which is multiple times that of the Zhou armies. How is that lack of forces?" Ouyang Shuo acted dumb.

E'lai scoffed in disdain, "Child, what do you know? Those slaves, they have never received military training. They do not have weapons or armor either, so how can they even go to war?"

Ouyang Shuo nodded, "Then why not give them weapons and armor?"

E'lai had almost run out of patience. However, Di Xin sat on his throne and pondered.

"You. You know nothing, yet you dare to speak of rescuing the city, this is ridiculous."

Ouyang Shuo continued to smile normally and said, "Please enlighten me, general!"

Seeing that his king did not stop him, E'lai held himself back with great patience and said, "The 700 thousand slaves all come from the countries and tribes around us. How can they be reassuring? If we gave them weapons, what if they defected? That will drive us into great trouble. Furthermore, even if we gave them weapons and armor, in such a short period of time, how can they train and fight?"

Ouyang Shuo pretended that he had just understood E'lai's words. He smiled and said, "So, that is why I am here."

Di Xin was finally moved, "What plan do you have? Say it quickly!"

"My king, in order for this plan to work, the king has to make a promise."

"What is it?"

"I request that the king places the high priest under house arrest. Cut off his connection to the outside world," Ouyang Shuo's words surprised everyone.

The high priest that Ouyang Shuo mentioned was Di Xin's elder brother—Weizi.

Weizi Qi, Weizhong Yan, and Di Xin. They were brothers from the same mother. When Weizi Qi was born, their mother was still a concubine. After she became the queen, she gave birth to Di Xin. The king initially wanted to make Weizi Qi his heir, but the court said that according to etiquette, Di Xin was the rightful heir.

After Di Xin was crowned as king, Weizi Qi buried his hatred deep inside with great patience and restrained himself for years. As the first son of the former king, Weizi Qi enjoyed a great amount of prestige among the royal family, nobles, and blue bloods. In the end, he managed to form a great force by his side.

As the King of Shang, Di Xin was clearer than anyone else of the threat his dear brother could bring. Even after Di Xin was crowned, he still had to show his goodwill toward his brother. Although the former king—his father—was not here anymore, his two uncles were still at their prime of life, and they eyed the great throne. His uncles formed another group of strong forces within the country.

Therefore, Di Xin decided to entice his brother. After they wiped off the former high priest and their forces, Weizi Qi took over the position of high priest. Theocracy seeped through to the bones of Shang, so the high priest was the great leader of all. His status was comparable to the Roman Pope.

But things drifted far beyond Di Xin's expectations. After he became king, he started a revolution. One of his moves were to limit and strip the rights of the nobles. He promoted talents from the civilians and even slaves—E'lai was an example of this. However, his move enraged the entire slavelord nobles.

From Xia dynasty to the Warring States period, China had thousands of years of slavery in their history. The nobles dominated the official posts. They owned the slaves and controlled the country's economy. Di Xin's move was a great provocation to the entire slavelord nobles, so it was undoubtable that he would be faced with great resistance. Especially when the war he waged to the east depleted a large amount of resources. At that time, the chancellors in the imperial court would criticize him greatly. In the end, a force that opposed the king emerged during the Shang dynasty, Weizi Qi, and the two uncles—Bigan and Qizi, led these forces.

It was a joint force that consisted of nobles that controlled the military, government, and finance, and a royal member that held the theocracy. The threat that they imposed to the king was immense. However, Di Xin was a cold-blooded and ruthless king, so there was simply no way that he would compromise. All these things led to one ending, the king sentenced Bigan to death, he exiled Qizi, and Weizi Qi surrendered to Di Xin.

But in actual fact, his hatred toward the king had grown far beyond redemption, so he swore that he would take his revenge in a way that shocked everyone. He sold his beloved country to his greatest foe—Zhou.

This traitor ordered his men to bring along the sacred ceremonial item and the royal power representative cauldron 'Jiu Ding (Nine Cauldron)' and defected to Zhou. At the same time, they brought a gift to the King of Zhou—intelligence regarding Shang's economy, politics, and military. This intelligence included the chaotic political affairs, the withering financial status, and also the emptiness of military forces in Zhaoge City. They also reported to King Wu of Zhou the path taken and the time required for the Shang major force in the east to get back.

The Shang dynasty was stripped naked of secrets in front of the Zhou.

Without hesitation, King Wu of Zhou and his trusted minister Jiang Ziya gathered every soldier they had in the country and also convened the other countries to form an alliance. Within the shortest period of time and with the quickest speed possible, they waged war directly to the capital city of Shang, Zhaoge. Hence, the tragic Battle of Muye had taken place.

When the alliance surrounded the city, Weizi Qi led his men and surrendered to Zhou. After that, Dan, Duke of Zhou, rewarded Weizi Qi with a piece of land and established the country of Song. This action aimed to show their courtesy and that 'the descendants of Shang will not die out.' Weizi Qi hence became the first ancestor of Song of Zhou Dynasty.

Therefore, Ouyang Shuo had to get rid of this biggest traitor Weizi Qi before his plan could work.

Di Xin's sights congealed, and coldness lurked in his eyes. His elder brother had never let him be at ease, but it would not be easy to house arrest his brother either, "Is this a must?"

"Yes, it is," Ouyang Shuo did not back off.

Di Xin was also a decisive man, "Alright, I promise you. But, if your plan doesn't work as you say it would, you know what consequences would be upon you," the royal king could never be provoked.

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Chapter 202: The Battle of Muye (4)

Translator: Team TWO

Editor: Nora

After he obtained the king's approval, Ouyang Shuo detailed his plans.

"Winning a war is nothing more than strengthening ourselves while weakening the enemy."

"Can you elaborate?"

"Just as General E'lai said, most of the slaves cannot be trusted. Therefore, the king can choose the best 100 thousand slaves and free them from the chains that restrict them. Feed them food and promise that if the battle is won, they can have their freedom. Equip them with crossbows and provide some minor training. This way, they will be fresh troops. While their war chariots are the greatest strength of Zhou, we can have the other 600 thousand slaves dig deep trenches scattered around the battlefield to counter it."

Ouyang Shuo was describing the elite strategy commonly used in the modern society. Rather than sending a sea of 700 thousand slaves to war and risk defection, why not just abandon directly them and refrained them to the battlefield? Additionally, crossbows were the easiest weapon to grasp, so it only requires two to three days.

Di Xin trembled. Joy filled his face, but it quickly faded. He frowned, "It is well-planned, but the imperial court does not have such a large quantity of crossbows."

Ouyang Shuo smiled, "Are there any hard bows?"

"Naturally there are."

"The hardest part of crafting crossbow is the crossbow parts that contain the mechanism. I can solve this problem for the king. The king only needs to gather the craftsmen in the city and manufacture as many crossbow bodies as possible and assemble it together with the mechanism and hard bow. This way, 100 thousand crossbows can be produced."

"Good! If we win this war, you will be the hero of Shang, and I will reward you greatly."

Ouyang Shuo was happy in his heart, and he quickly said, "If the battle is won, I only wish for a man."

"Oh? Who is it?" Di Xin was curious to know.

Ouyang Shuo turned and looked at E'lai. He smiled and said, "It is General E'lai."

Even before Di Xin could answer, E'lai had already given replied, "If you can defeat the Zhou armies, I will follow you."

"System notice: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for receiving the subdue mission for the Emperor-level Historical figure, E'lai. Mission task: Assist Shang dynasty and defeat the Zhou armies. Mission deadline: Before the end of the Battle of Muye."

Ouyang Shuo was overjoyed, "In that case, I have nothing else to wish for."

……

Ouyang Shuo followed E'lai's back, and they walked out of the palace to the weapons workshop in Zhaoge City.

After they reached the workshop, Ouyang Shuo removed the 100 thousand crossbow mechanism parts. The Bow and Crossbow Division crafted all of these parts. Now, they all finally came in handy. Ouyang Shuo had spent a huge fortune in order to win this war.

These 100 thousand crossbow mechanism parts cost Ouyang Shuo 10 thousand gold. Luckily, the territory self-excavated the iron ores, and the wages of the workers were fixed. Otherwise, Ouyang Shuo would have to spend even more.

The Shang dynasty would assemble the crossbows, while E'lai would be in charge of the 100 thousand troops. Ouyang Shuo was relieved of the two tasks that he had suggested.

Ouyang Shuo needed to gather the players and unite them all together now. Ouyang Shuo had no expectations that they could win the battle with only 100 thousand crossbowmen, as it would need more than that. Only coordination between the vanguard troops and the two wings could help them win this war.

It was already 5 PM when Ouyang Shuo returned to the military camp. Such a massive military camp still seemed a little small when it was crowded with the 42 thousand that made up the armies of the players.

In comparison to the Battle of Zhuolu, it was way easier when Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang were recruiting the other lord players. The lords knew that in the faction of Shang dynasty, more than 15% of the forces belonged to Shanhai Alliance, and they were also troops of elites. Therefore, if they would like to earn a decent quantity of merit points, joining forces with the Shanhai Alliance would be the best option. Acting alone would only make themselves into cannon fodders.

Other than a few stubborn players, most of them were willing to accept the Shanhai Alliance's terms.

Ouyang Shuo's arrangements were still the same. Zhang Liao was the lead cavalry general and Qin Qiong and Lin Yi were his right-hand men; Shi Wanshui was the commander of the sword-shield infantry, and Mu Guiying was the archers general.

As they were under the policy of 'The World Online,' players would remain logged in. Hence, when the night falls, everyone returned to their tents.

The following day, the official reorganization of the troops commenced.

After a morning of statistical analysis, excluding the 2,000 that obstinate lords led, there were 40,000 troops in total. Of these troops, 25,000 were infantry, 10,000 were cavalry and 5,000 were archers.

For the next few days, they would have joint training to improve their coordination so that during the final battle, they could be commanded effectively. On a traditional battlefield that involved soldiers of more than tens of thousands, commanding them was always the issue. This aspect could really test the ability of a general.

At the same time, the 600 thousand slaves that were not chosen were digging deep trenches outside of the city. With such large manpower, even the largest fields could be dug beyond recognition.

25-kilometers south of Zhaoge was Muye. It would take the slaves one to two days to move to the battlefield. Therefore, in order to prevent the slaves from running away, King Di Xin ordered 500 royal guards to watch over them.

The main military force of Shang was at the east, which was only composed of 10 thousand royal guards, 6,000 imperial guards, and a number of war elephants. At times like this, Di Xin still sent 500 royal guards to ensure the progression of the plan. The importance he placed on this plan was evident. He had to make sure it worked without fail.

In the skies above them, a little bird flew unnoticed behind the slaves, following them all along the way.

……

The 4th day, Zhou military main camp, Mengjin.

"Report!" the military spy rushed into the king's tent, kneeled down and said, "Reporting to the king, intelligence from the front line."

In the tent was King Wu of Zhou and prime minister Jiang Shang (Jiang Ziya).

"Quickly, tell me." King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa was impatient.

"Shang dynasty has made a weird move. They chased hundreds of thousands of slaves out of the city and forced them to dig trenches in Muye," The spy did not dare to drag on and quickly answered the king.

Ji Fa was puzzled. He turned and looked at his minister, "Prime minister, what are their intentions?"

Jiang Shang stroked his beard. Then, he frowned and said, "Digging trenches, they are trying to stop our war chariots. It seems like there are talents helping them."

"What? What should we do in response?" Ji Fa was shocked, the war chariots were their biggest trump card and the core of their battle plan. If the war chariots could not reach their enemies, the whole plan would completely fail.

"The only thing we can do now is to send soldiers and chase off the slaves, stopping them from digging the trenches."

Ji Fa nodded, "In your opinion, who should we send?"

"This is where the problem comes in. Our forces are limited in numbers, so we cannot act recklessly to avoid getting ambushed."

"Then why not launch the final attack and start the war?" Ji Fa suggested.

Jiang Shang shook his head and said, "We can't. The others are not here yet, so it is still not the time to launch the final attack."

Ji Fa was a little unsettled, "Then, what should we do?"

Just as he was getting unsettling, the guards outside the tent reported, "Player representative Chun Shenjun requests for permission to see the king."

"Let him in," King Wu of Zhou approved.

Chun Shenjun entered the tent. Then, he bowed and greeted, "Player representative Chun Shenjun greets the king and the prime minister."

"Forego the formalities," King Wu imposed his courtesy, "What do you have for me?"

"I am here to relieve the king's concerns," Chun Shenjun answered with great confidence.

"Oh?" The king was puzzled.

"I heard the news that the enemy is cunning and sly. They are digging trenches outside on Muye, trying to stop our mighty war chariots. As the representative, I am here to ask for the king's permission to stop their plans."

King Wu was overjoyed, "Good, I was just worrying about this matter."

"Thank you my king!" after getting his approval, Chun Shenjun left.

"Wait," Jiang Shang opened his mouth and said with great worry, "Chasing them out will do. Try not to hurt anyone."

"Understood!" Although he answered this way with his mouth, Chun Shenjun did not take the words to heart.

After scouting, they discovered that only 500 soldiers followed the massive quantity of slaves. This was the best-gifted opportunity for them to slaughter the slaves and earn merit points, so how could they possibly miss it? That was why Chen Shenjun had hurried to the king's tent and requested this task.

After Chun Shenjun left, Jiang Shang was still frowning. He was not at ease.

"Minister, is there anything wrong?" King Wu asked.

"My king. The slaves come from different tribes and states, so they are worth our time fighting for. I am worried that the players will slaughter them." Jiang Shang explained.

"Did Chun Shenjun not promise you that he will not massacre the slaves? What more is there to worry about?" King Wu was even more puzzled.

Jiang Shang shook his head, "My king, the players' origins are strange, and they are strong. They might not listen to us at all."

"Minister, you must be overthinking things," King Wu believed that he held great power and that his words were useful within the forces.

……

When Chun Shenjun returned to his tent, Di Chen, Zhan Lang, Feng Qingyang, Xiongba, Sha Pojun, and Wandering Magic were all waiting for him.

"How was it?" Xiongba asked. He and Chun Shenjun were close to each other now.

Chun Shenjun showed his joy on his face, "Done!"

"Good, let's see how Qiyue Wuyi can still laugh now," Sha Pojun clamored.

"Should we asked the other lords to join us together?" Zhan Lang asked.

Feng Qingyang was the first to disagree, "There are only 500 soldiers. Our troops of 4,000 are more than enough to handle them. Why should we split the merit points with the others?"

Zhan Lang shook his head, "The infantry walks too slow. Only the high mobility cavalry are more secure."

"Then, we can invite the core allies and form a force of 3,000 cavalries," Feng Qingyang took a step back and compromised.

"Brother Di Chen, why aren't you saying a word?" Chun Shenjun seemed to intentionally ask this.

Di Chen locked his brows. He ignored Chun Shenjun's self-pride and said, "I am thinking that Qiyue Wuyi most likely proposed the plan to dig trenches. Will there be some trickeries or conspiracies behind it?"

"Haha, brother Di Chen. Are you scared of Qiyue Wuyi now?" Feng Qingyang had voiced his disdain about Di Chen's doubts.

Chun Shenjun also had a bantering look on his face, and he did not answer Di Chen's question.

Although they were forced to reunite under the elders' command, Chun Shenjun still would not allow Di Chen to chair the alliance. It was not a surprise that he had to suppress Di Chen and his fame.

However, Zhan Lang did not follow their childish acts, "What brother Di Chen said is possible, so we must be prepared."

Chun Shenjun shook his head, "Brother Zhan Lang, you are thinking too much. According to the scout's intelligence, there are no signs of any other military around Muye. We only need to send the cavalries and surprise them with an ambush. It will take a day for Qiyue Wuyi to receive the news and come forth. That is more than enough time for us to accomplish the task and leave."

"That's right. I don't believe that Qiyue Wuyi is so strong and powerful," Feng Qingyang was Chun Shenjun's hardcore ally. Naturally, he would support Chun Shenjun.

Zhan Lang remained silent.

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Chapter 203: The Battle of Muye (5)

Translator: Team TWO

Editor: Nora

11 AM, Chun Shenjun, Zhan Lang, Xiongba, Sha Pojun, and the others led 3,000 cavalries and rushed out of Mengjin toward Muye.

At nightfall that day, they were already within 10-kilometers of Muye. They set up a camp and settled down for the night.

Surprisingly, Di Chen did not follow them. Instead, he only sent one of his basic officers and 500 Handan cavalries.

Sure enough, the others called his decision cowardly and timid.

Juedai Fenghua was puzzled too, "Why didn't you follow them? Is there anything wrong?"

Di Chen locked his brows. Then, he spoke in a solemn tone, "I have a bad feeling about this, I have dealt with Qiyue Wuyi quite a number of times already. Do you think that he is such a careless man? Such a big flaw and he did not realize it, giving us the chance to reap the slaves and earn easy merit points? Their own arrogance blinds Chun Shenjun and the others."

"Then, why did you still send over our troops?" Juedai Fenghua was still puzzled.

Di Chen shook his head, "The families are now talking to each other and seeking cooperation. It is a very sensitive time, so I do not wish to destroy the peace and unity of the alliance. In any case, if my conjectures are wrong and I send no one, I would miss a good chance."

Juedai Fenghua finally understood and felt relieved. The shrewd and deeply subtle Di Chen was finally back after taking a few blows, which was more important than anything else.

……

As Chun Shenjun and the others were busy settling down, a little bird passed them and flew to the north.

5 AM the following day, Military Intelligence Division Secretary Song San received intelligence from the hummingbird. He did not dare to delay and immediately rushed to Ouyang Shuo's tent.

The guard stopped him outside of the tent and whispered, "The lord is still sleeping. You cannot enter."

However, Song San was anxious, "This Intelligence is of great importance, so it can't be delayed."

Only after they heard this did a guard walk into the tent to wake Ouyang Shuo up.

But even before the guard had walked in, Ouyang Shuo had already woken up. Practicing the had greatly enhanced his senses, so he could pick up the little changes in the surroundings.

Song San entered the tent and greeted Ouyang Shuo, "My lord, the enemies have indeed appeared. They have 3,000 cavalries and are 10-kilometers away from Muye. They can have arrived at Muye by this morning."

Ouyang Shuo rose with force and spirit. The fish had finally taken the bait.

If Ouyang Shuo wished to win this battle, he would have to pay great attention to the Zhou players. The players added up to a force of 60 thousand soldiers, comparable to the Zhou military force.

For the past one or two months, Ouyang Shuo had killed countless brain cells in an attempt to figure out how to turn the tide of the war. He had taken in every possibility and consideration. The worst of all situations he took into account was that Di Chen and the likes reuniting together and fighting as one, which had happened.

Therefore, the first step in his plan was to get rid of them.

No matter how many strategist advisors they had, in the case of asymmetrical information, they were still blind men.

"Guards!" Ouyang Shuo shouted.

"Sire!" a guard entered in.

"Get General Zhang Liao, General Qin Qiong, and General Lin Yi to the tent. I have important news for them."

"Yes, sire!"

When the three generals arrived, Ouyang Shuo skipped the formalities and directly said, "Gather the cavalries and follow me to Muye."

"Understood!"

Two days of joint training had allowed the cavalry to gather within half an hour.

Such a big move naturally alerted the other lords. When the troops were gathering, Ouyang Shuo had approached Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang. He explained the situation and tasked them with further explanations to the other lords.

Since the lords were willing to accept Shanhai Alliance's jurisdiction, Ouyang Shuo did not need to report every single detail to them every time. Otherwise, how could he rage a war? Time would be wasted on explanations.

The 10 thousand cavalries marched from Zhaoge toward Muye.

……

8 AM in the morning, under the watch of the royal guards, 600 thousand slaves started the work of the day. Trenches were dug and started to form a pattern that looked breathtaking from afar.

However, an hour later, darkness fell upon the land.

3,000 cavalries of Zhou players made their appearance and charged toward the slaves.

It was morning, and the sunlight brought brightness and warmth, but the 3,000 calvaries of hell came out of nowhere, bringing forth darkness and sanguinary. Without a word, they rode into the sea of slaves, swinging their blades and splattering blood down on the land. How could these empty-handed slaves defend themselves against these cavalries? They were like a flock of sheep. Although they were large in number, the lesser wolves chased them, which caused them to run and flee around with no direction.

But the slaves were too large in number, so even the cavalries could not slaughter them all at once. At critical moments like this, if one desired to live, they would have to run faster than the others. Fetters of iron chained all of them. In order to live, they would push down the other slaves, only because they were blocking the way.

Sha Pojun and the others were overjoyed as they watched their merit points constantly increase. In the time frame of less than 10-minutes, they dominated the whole battle contribution list.

Initially, when the slaves saw the armies coming from the south, the slaves thought that their countries had sent these people to save them. But who knew that these 'saviors' were actually their annihilators.

Rather than saving them, their own countries slaughtered them mercilessly instead.

You see it? These devils are still laughing out loud.

The slaves ran and fled for their lives, as an endless hatred toward their own countries was bred in their hearts. The hatred was so strong that they hated their home countries more than the Shang dynasty.

Damn you brats. Even the Shang dynasty did not do this.

Fortunately, the 500 royal guards acted quickly and came to the rescue.

Unfortunately, the guards were only infantries. Moreover, the bronze weapons and armors they were once proud of were nothing compared to the fine ironworks of the cavalries.

The slaves watched as the royal guards defended them. Their hatred grew deeper, stronger, and greater. Their kings had abandoned them and slaughtered them now like a pile of dead meat, yet their own enemies stepped forward to protect them with flesh and blood.

How ironic, they thought, as tears of despair flowed down their cheeks.

As the temporary chief-in-command, Zhan Lang decisively ordered the cavalries to stop the massacre and focus on the royal guards. The mighty cavalries charged in formation and pierced through the defensive line of the royal guards. Within an hour, for the price of fewer than 200 casualties, the cavalries crushed the last light of the slaves. Not even a single royal guard survived.

Just as the proud and complacent cavalries planned to continue harvesting the fruits of victory, a force of greater darkness shadowed them. It was a horrific nightmare that would haunt them.

10 thousand cavalries of Shang finally arrived under the leadership of the three generals.

Zhan Lang's face turned pale white, as the 10 thousand reinforcement cavalries came forth. He mumbled in deep remorse, "I regret that I did not listen to Di Chen's advice."

There was no doubt that this was a conspiracy. Hence, Zhan Lang decisively ordered the troops to retreat.

Unfortunately, Ouyang Shuo would not allow this to happen.

In fact, Ouyang Shuo and the troops had arrived 20-minutes ago. But in order to completely exterminate the enemies, he had ordered the troops to make a big turn to the south. Then, they struck from the north, ambushing the enemies from behind.

Therefore, Ouyang Shuo had already blocked off their retreat route. If they wanted to retreat and return to Mengjin alive, they would have to breakthrough the 10,000 cavalries.

In their formation, Chun Shenjun stepped forward and made his final struggle. With a voice like a foghorn, he shouted, "Is this brother Wuyi? Brother Wuyi, can you give us a way out? I will repay you greatly after."

Ouyang Shuo laughed and shook his head. Then, he replied, "Chun Shenjun, I am sorry, but we are now enemies. We serve our own kings. If you'd like to catch up with each other, I will welcome you with open arms in Shanhai City."

Zhan Lang was as decisive as always. He turned and said to Chun Shenjun, "Victory will favor the braver of the two who come into unavoidable confrontation. The only way out now is to have the troops around us fight a way out for us. As long as we survive, there is still hope."

His words were simple. According to the law of the battlefield that Gaia set down, when a lord died, their troops would be sent back to the territory along with them.

Therefore, as long as the lord survived, the losses of the cavalries were not a big deal to the battlefield. After all, there were still plenty of cavalries in Mengjin.

Chun Shenjun nodded in agreement.

On the other side of the battlefield, Ouyang Shuo specifically ordered the three generals not to allow the lords to escape. He pointed out each and every one of them to the generals. Speaking of the law of the battlefield, who could possibly know it better than Ouyang Shuo? Of course, he would not allow such low-level errors to take place.

This was the sole reason he had established the lord's guards—to protect and defend his safety.

Zhan Lang split the cavalries into three groups and each went on their own path.

Ouyang Shuo's cavalries tripled them in quantity. Furthermore, they had just gone through a battle. Now, a sudden ambush faced them, so the morale of the two sides could be clearly distinguished.

The two forces of cavalries simultaneously charged forward, and they clashed like two strong waves of torrents stirring together. Blood water sprinkled into the air and flowed down onto the ground.

Ouyang Shuo personally led the lord's guards and stared at Sha Pojun. Sha Pojun had acted resentful to him several times, so Ouyang Shuo had long since thought of making him pay. On the other hand, Sha Pojun was not a kind-hearted man either. He had seen blood in the real-world. Naturally, he wasn't scared of Ouyang Shuo.

Sadly, this was a game. Whether it be weapon, armor, mounts, or even personal combat skills, Ouyang Shuo was better than Sha Pojun. Ouyang Shuo waved and brandished his iron spear, fully showing the true power of Yang spearmanship.

Yang spearmanship was born in war, for war.

Ouyang Shuo made a move of the famous 'Whitesnake spit letter' and directly aimed for Sha Pojun's weak point. Sha Pojun quickly reacted and barely countered Ouyang Shuo with his halberd.

The two fought for twenty over rounds, and Sha Pojun grew more and more powerless.

Even at a time like this, Ouyang Shuo did not let his guard down. He continued to use his Yang spearmanship and suppressed Sha Pojun to his limit. Finally, he seized an opportunity and used the ultimate move 'Throat-killing Spear'. His exquisite iron spear was like a mighty dragon fluttering in the nine skies. It pierced Sha Pojun's throat like a lightning bolt, killing him in one blow.

Sha Pojun's eyes widened. He could not believe his death and fell off his horse. Eventually, he turned into a flash of white light.

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Chapter 204 - The Battle of Muye (6)

Translator: Team TWO

Editor: Nora

After Ouyang Shuo defeated Sha Pojun, he looked around to evaluate the situation of the battlefield.

Both armies fought in close proximity, engaging in close-combat warfare. Right at this moment, Ouyang Shuo noticed that a small force was making its way out of the encirclement, retreating toward the south.

Needless to say, it must be Zhan Lang and the others.

Without hesitation, Ouyang Shuo led his guards and chased after them. Along the way, Lin Yi led the vanguard 1st unit and joined Ouyang Shuo.

The advantage of Qingfu horses became evident. After less than 5-kilometers, Ouyang Shuo and his men had caught up with the enemies.

They only had less than a squadron left. Clearly, they were all elites of the elites. Their mounts were also quick. Sadly, they still couldn't match up with the Qingfu horses.

Ouyang Shuo realized that the squadron must be Xiongba's soldiers. He could still remember that during the last system auction, Xiongba had spent 1,200 gold on one heavy cavalry token—this must be them.

"Brother Xiongba, I hope that you are well!" Ouyang Shuo shouted loudly.

Among the squadron, a man trembled for a moment. He must not have expected that Ouyang Shuo could catch up to them so quickly. Of course, this man was Xiongba. But he did not give up and ordered the squadron to move faster.

Ouyang Shuo sneered at Xiongba's order, and he made a gesture to Lin Yi.

Lin Yi understood his meaning and split the cavalry unit into two, preparing to flank the side and surround the enemies.

After Ouyang Shuo surrounded him, Xiongba had no choice but to stop. He turned around and looked at Ouyang Shuo. Then, he spoke with a bitterly smile, "Brother Wuyi, do you really have to do this?" His partner Wandering Magic stood beside him.

Ouyang Shuo had a heart of stone; he smiled, "Brother Xiongba, you can only blame that we chose different sides. Next time, think twice before you select who you should side with. Try not to chose the wrong side."

Xiongba's sight congealed. He had a feeling that these words had a hidden meaning behind them.

Could it be that Ouyang Shuo knows about the cooperation of the families? How did he get the news?!

While his head flowed with various thoughts, his face remained calm. He smiled and said, "Brother Wuyi, killing me is pointless. Di Chen is still in Mengjin. With him there, the players of Zhou will not fall. Why not do me a friendly favor? Lend me a hand. Levels are not that easy to train."

This cunning fox, trying to play around with his famous favor card again.

Ouyang Shuo realized why he had not seen Di Chen. As the saying went, 'Those who knew you best were often your enemies.' Di Chen and Ouyang Shuo had a bit of history together, which almost allowed Di Chen to grasp and understand Ouyang Shuo's plannings, how interesting.

"You can leave Di Chen to me. That is not something brother you should worry about," Ouyang Shuo was still unmoved, "So, I think it is best for me to send you off," as he finished his sentence, he waved his hand forward.

The lord's guards and the vanguard unit understood his orders and charged forward.

Xiongba was stunned; he was really surprised. But Xiongba was also a formidable person, so he laughed, "Good, brother Wuyi, it seems like we are of the same kind. I will accept my defeat today wholeheartedly."

After settling Xiongba and his men, Ouyang Shuo brought the troops back to the battlefield.

When he returned, the fight had already finished. Horses that lost their master stood helplessly, and the neighing of horses resounded through the battlefield. The wounded laid on the ground wailing in pain and sorrow, as their splattered blood painted the field red. Broken spears perforated the ground, endlessly telling unspoken words of desolation.

Zhang Liao and Qin Qiong noticed Ouyang Shuo and patted their horses. They came forth and reported to Ouyang Shuo, "Sire, the enemies are all eliminated."

Ouyang Shuo nodded: "Is there any lords that escaped?"

"Other than the group that sire chased after, we terminated all the others," Zhang Liao did not disappoint him.

"The slaves?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

"I have sent troops to capture them all. We took back the escaped slaves." Ouyang Shuo had already ordered them to not slaughter the slaves, and Zhang Liao had precisely followed his words.

"Bring me to them." Ouyang Shuo had some plans in mind for the slaves.

"Understood."

Although the massacre had only lasted for half an hour, the casualties of the slaves had risen to tens of thousands. The trenches that they dug now contained their own blood.

Ouyang Shuo rode to the front of the slaves and shouted, "It is I, player representative Qiyue Wuyi. All of you have seen it with your own eyes. It was the Shang dynasty that protected you, that kept your soul and body intact. Your home countries, your tribes, have abandoned you like a pile of useless dirt. You are now standing on the edge of a cliff; you have nowhere to go."

"Save us sire!" some slaves started calling for help.

"Save us...save us…" Eventually, all of them started to call for help.

Ouyang Shuo raised his hand, indicating for them to keep silent. Then, he continued, "You want to live? Simple, continue digging and finish these trenches. If the time comes, raise your arms and fight on the battlefield for the Shang dynasty."

The 500 royal guards that Di Xin send had all died. Hence, Ouyang Shuo had placed his cavalries in Muye to ensure that the trenches work could be completed in time.

Ouyang Shuo and his guards rushed back to Zhaoge City and reported to King Zhou of Shang.

……

Mengjin, the news of the annihilation of the player armies had spread through the whole place.

King Wu was naturally unhappy, but the other lord players were even more unhappy. They only learned now that Chun Shenjun and the others had secretly gone to claim merit points.

Although Chun Shenjun and the others were ambushed and forced to leave the battlefield, their names remained on the battle contribution list. All of them had at least 10,000 merit points, dazzling the eyes of the other lords.

Even as the player representative, his decision to act alone disgusted the others. Therefore, even after their death, they weren't spared any compassions. Instead, the others only gloated and despised them.

Di Chen, the only one in his group that had remained rational, tried to take over Chun Shenjun's place and unite the lords. Unfortunately, the other lords did not trust him anymore.

Although you did not personally go, you did send your men along, so you too took part in it. Plus, Handan City is only left with 500 infantries now. What qualifies you as the leader?

He had the intention to lead, but the other lords did not commit to him. Di Chen could only try his best in the following battles.

Fortunately, there were indeed some lords that were reasonable. They knew that at times of crisis, they had to unite and stand together. Otherwise, the players of Shang might defeat.

These rational lords formed an alliance of their own. However, they refused Di Chen as their chairman.

In the king's tent, King Wu was furious, "Prime minister, what should we do now? Should we send more troops over and stop them from digging the trenches?"

Jiang Shang opposed this proposition. He was as calm as always, "My king need not be impatient. It was only a small defeat. Only the player's armies were lost, which will have no major effect on the war," he waited until King Wu had calm himself down. Then, Jiang Shang continued, "Sending over more troops will not work either. The Shang must have already stationed more troop over in Muye. The only thing we should do now is stay on guard. We need to wait for the others and their troops to gather together. After that, we will launch the final attack on Muye, taking down Shang from the mighty throne once and for all."

The plan that Jiang Shang proposed was frank and upright, launching the attack and fighting Shang in a face-to-face in war. From the intelligence that Weizi sent, there were only less than 20 thousand soldiers in Zhaoge City. There was a huge difference in military size between the two parties. However, if Jiang Shang knew that there were 100 thousand crossbowmen receiving training in Zhaoge City, what would he think?

Ji Fa was a king after all, he picked himself up and said, "Minister, should we send a spy and contact Weizi? We can get them to gather the latest information regarding Zhaoge City. They can find out what is going on and who is helping the Shang."

Naturally, Jiang Shang had no objections.

……

While the lords in Zhou were like a sheet of loose sand, the lords in Shang became more united. Ouyang Shuo had proved with his actions that he possessed the ability to lead them to victory.

In contrast to Chun Shenjun's selfish decisions, Ouyang Shuo's actions were just and even. As a result, the former 2,000 troops that were reluctant to join them submitted themselves in the end. Now, the leadership of the players in Shang was completely transferred to the Shanhai Alliance.

With this opportunity, Ouyang Shuo could raise his prestige among the players. Slowly and steadily, he could build up his reputation. This was important. If Ouyang Shuo continued to make decisions that were just and even, he would not need to waste his energy convincing the lords to join him on the battlefields in the future. Instead, the other lords would come looking to cooperate with Shanhai Alliance.

King of Shang, Di Xin finished listening to Ouyang Shuo's reports. Although he mourned the royal guards, he also praised Ouyang Shuo for the victorious battle, and his trust toward Ouyang Shuo grew greater.

In addition, the battle's victory was like charcoal in the snowy weather.

When the news reached the people in Zhaoge City, it settled their uneasy hearts. They now knew that there stood a strong force by their side, helping them fight off the Zhou armies.

The once tense atmosphere in the city was no more, as the people brimmed with energy. They voluntarily donated food and grains to the military. As a result, they greatly helped the military logistics and eased the shortage of food for the soldiers.

Under the official's guidance, carriages after carriages of food were sent from Zhaoge to Muye.

As food was no longer a concern, Ouyang Shuo proposed that the king ameliorated food supplies to the slaves. This action would ensure they could acquire enough energy to sustain their work of digging trenches. By doing so, Ouyang Shuo proved to the slaves that the promise he had made would be kept. Subsequently, the slaves worked harder.

At the same time, they 100 thousand crossbows were finished and distributed to the slaves. The general, E'lai, was training the slaves to ensure that they could effectively go to war.

The general divided the 100 thousand crossbowmen into 10 formations of 10 thousand men. After that, every formation was divided into 10 again. Under Ouyang Shuo's suggestion, Mu Guiying led the 5,000 properly-trained military crossbowmen and joined the formations. Every formation of a thousand men was given 50 crossbowmen, who acted as the tutors and the leaders.

Ouyang Shuo formed the first mixed military force from both the player's troops and the system's armies—the first of its kind in humanity's history. Without the great trust that Di Xin invested into Ouyang Shuo, he could not have possibly done this.

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Chapter 205 - The Battle of Muye (7)

Translator: Team TWO

Editor: Nora

Day 10, Battle of Muye, Zhaoge City of Shang dynasty.

Zhaoge City, this name sings the dawn of lights, welcomes the sunrise, and the booming of prosperity.

Facing the bright sun, the troops bathed themselves in the warm sunshine and departed from the South Gate of Zhaoge City. The mighty troops marched toward Muye, consisted of 40 thousand players troops, 100 thousand slave crossbowmen, 10 thousand royal guards, 6 thousand imperial guards, and 12 war elephants. In total, they had over 150 thousand soldiers.

The first time the war elephants appeared before their eyes, Ouyang Shuo and the other lords were stunned.

Armor made of rhino skins and hardwoods protected the war elephants, while bronze basks covered their faces and sharp swords were tied to their tusks. On their backs, they carried a wooden tower with a mahout1, two archers and two pikemen in it.

Such a well-equipped war elephant from top to toe was the perfect bulldozer war machine. No ordinary human could possibly stop it from paving a bloody path of meat and flesh.

Sadly, they only had 12 war elephants, as the others were sent to war with Dongyi to the east. Otherwise, the Zhou armies would be nothing compared to the great war elephants.

If the royal guards were the elites of the Shang dynasty, then the imperial guards would be the elites of the elites. They fought side by side along with their king, Di Xin. They had battled in countless wars, conquered lands to the south and earned great military merits and honors. They were all descendants of the nobles, true soldiers of the Shang dynasty and extremely loyal to the king.

The rebellious act of the Zhou armies enraged them. They were furious that the Zhou and the other countries defected from the king. Rage filled the guards—both royal and imperial. They swore with their lives that they would make the Zhou armies pay the price. With their swords and spears, they would defend the honor of the Shang dynasty. Hence, their blood boiled in excitement and their morale was high.

The people of Zhaoge gathered in front of the city gate to send off the soldiers. Be it the royal guards or the imperial guards, they were all the people of Zhaoge. The glorious blood of Shang flowed in them. The slaves were incomparable to them.

King Zhou of Shang, Di Xin, rode a war chariot embellished with golds and jewels. He would personally lead the soldiers off to Muye.

The mighty troops stood straight and upright; flags and banners soared in the wind, as spears and pikes pointed toward the sky. The morale and discipline of the troops were high. The troops marched out one-by-one from the South Gate and headed toward Muye. They left behind streams of dust.

The people beside the roads danced their worshipping dancing rituals, as they prayed for the soldiers. They hoped that the soldiers could return home safely. Their parents, wives, and children lived here in Zhaoge. They waited for their sons, husbands, and fathers to come home and reunite with them.

Di Xin sat in his golden war chariot. As he rode past his people, he waved at them, and the crowds cheered for their king. Although their beloved king was ruthless, stubborn, and moody, he was their king. He contributed his entire life to them; he never left his people to die. Instead, he led them to war, and this action was more than enough to grant him the people's support.

When the rows of crossbow equipped slaves appeared before their eyes, the people were dumbfounded. As the last slavery dynasty in China's history, the slaves had a very low social status. They were captives, goods, commodities, and livestock, but they were never once taken as 'people.'

Therefore, one could tell how surprised the people were when they saw that the slaves were equipped with crossbows and given military training.

If it wasn't for this critical moment of death and life, there would definitely be a large group of people among the Shang slave lords and nobles that would stand and oppose their king's decision. After all, such a decision violated the vital interests of the slave lords and nobles.

In order for the 100 thousand slave soldiers to be selected from the 700 thousand slaves, the chosen must be strong and obedient. They were very cagey, walking in formations. Their hearts were unsettled, and they felt restless as the people stared at them. They felt like they were walking around naked.

They had yet to adjust to their new roles.

General E'lai had similar origins as these slaves. He walked at the forefront of the crossbowmen. The people warmly welcomed the ferocious and strong general.

Lastly, there were the player troops. Although the cavalries had suffered a minor loss during the last battle, they remained as one of the strongest forces, riding at the forefront.

20 thousand shield-sword infantries marched behind them, forming square formations. They trod on the same beat, as they marched their way through the South Gate. Their prime and proper array, along with their fine and exquisite equipment impressed and moved the people of Shang.

The armies traveled along the road and filled the horizon with people. Even when the vanguard forces reached the field of Muye, the rear army was still waiting for their turn to travel through the South Gate. Soldiers filled the whole pathway, and the road could not even fit a single person more.

It was already 3 PM when the last group of infantries reached Muye.

Muye was a small city. The walls were low and half-broken. It was made of loesses and barely possessed any defensive ability. It was only important because Muye was the last line of defense before the Zhou armies reached the Shang capital, Zhaoge City.

The army simply did not enter the city. Instead, they directly settled in the southern suburbs. Tent after tent occupied the plains, the slopes and the valleys of the southern suburbs, surrounding Muye City, which stood at the center.

The southern suburbs had long reached a point beyond recognition. 1 to 2-meter deep trenches covered the entire southern suburbs. Each trench was less than 100-meters from another one, while the whole field covered a kilometer. This layout could effectively put an end to the use of war chariots on the field, while the cavalries could still move around freely.

King of Shang, Di Xin, stayed in the city hall of Muye. The city hall would act as the temporary command center until the war ended.

They sent the citizens of Muye and the 600 thousand slaves back to Zhaoge City. This action aimed to reduce the consumption of food and also prevent spies within the crowds. The whole of Muye had turned into a military stronghold. Other than the soldiers, the rest that stayed were logistics personnel.

The imperial guards had taken over the job of the city hall guards. They would do anything they could to ensure the king's safety.

That night, Di Xin called for a meeting to discuss their war strategies. Ouyang Shuo, as the player's representative, was given the honor of attending the meeting.

Honestly speaking, Ouyang Shuo was now an apple in Di Xin's eyes. His status was way beyond an ordinary player's representative. Di Xin would take his suggestions and proposed plans.

Of course, Ju Shuo gave Ouyang Shuo most of these tactics.

……

Mengjin, Yong, Lu, Peng, Pu, Shu, Qiang, Wei, Mao—the kings of these various countries had finally arrived.

When they were all gathered, King Wu of Zhou and the other kings held an Oath Assembly.

In the assembly, King Wu gave a speech of call to arms against Shang first. He listed the six biggest crime of King Zhou, Di Xin: One, excessive drinking; two, abandoned loyal courtiers; three, employing scoundrels and giving them power; four, blindly trusting the words of woman; five, blindly trusting in faith; six, disregarding the sacrificial ceremony.

For a small country in the west that was still under the control of the Shang dynasty to publicly condemn his king's crime, one could tell how hypocritical Zhou and King Wu were. Even such a small thing like excessive drinking could be listed. It was a naked rebellion, yet he packaged himself as the embodiment of justice.

After the assembly, they had a sacrificial ritual. King Wu and the others swore an oath to the heavens to destroy the Shang dynasty. Naturally, a sacrificial ritual required them to sacrifice livestock, but instead of livestock this time, they changed the sacrificial offerings to slaves of Shang people.

When they completed the sacrificial ritual, they marched toward Muye.

The forces of Zhou included 300 war chariots, 3,000 royal guards, and 45 thousand armored soldiers. These were all trained soldiers, well-disciplined, fully-equipped, properly trained and with combat experience. In addition to the other kings, the total force numbered 70 thousand, along with 50 thousand player's troops.

Despite this, the weapons and equipment of Zhou were still incomparable to that of Shang. The bronze smelting and technology of Shang were better. Therefore, Shang produced better bronze weapons and armor.

Especially in the case of infantry armor. Shang military had generally equipped their soldiers with armor made of bronze and rhino skin. They also had bronze helmets as part of the soldiers' standard equipment. The helmet's core structure, manufacturing technology, defensive ability and equipment quality made it one of the best equipment in the world of that era.

Meanwhile, the Zhou armies were only equipped with ordinary leather armor or armor made of wood. Even their officers and nobles could not enjoy the luxury of bronze armor. The two were simply incomparable.

Naturally, compared to the slave armies only equipped with a bronze spear and no armor, the Zhou soldiers were much stronger.

Zhou and Shang were rivals, blood feud enemies.

The royal family of Shang had killed and slaughtered the Zhou royal family for three generations. King Wu's brothers, father, and grandfather had all died because of the royal family of Shang. Furthermore, Shang had raged countless wars on the land of Zhou, leading to the contention of territory, population, and dominance between the two countries.

Therefore, whether it be the royalty or the civilians of the two countries, there were conflicts everywhere. Up till this point, during the King Wu of Zhou period, they had already accumulated over a hundred years of hatred toward Shang.

This time, Zhou threw in every man and all the strength that they had. Their only wish was to destroy the Shang dynasty at all cost. Hence, there was no retreat for the people of Zhou. They had to win the war, as the consequences of defeat were disastrous. The morale of the army—from the king to the soldiers—were extremely high and unified.

Even the soldiers that the other kings sent were the strongest of their countries.

Since the day that Shang was established, their desire to expand its territory and population drove them to continuously invade the countries and nations beside it. While increasing the population served the purpose of expanding the scale of slaves, it also carried the important task of sacrificial offerings selection and sacrificial burial with the nobles.

During the Shang dynasty, theocracy greatly ruled over the land. They often required humans as sacrificial offerings. Moreover, they often required 'offerings' of high 'quality,' The sacrifices would have to be young and strong. In order to gather such offerings, they would need a large population. Therefore, Shang had actively sought war, plundering populations from different nations. The whole of Shang advocated and believed in violence and force, so they would directly rage war with those beside them, especially to the west.

This all resulted in the unforgettable hatreds from the different nation towards Shang. Since the time was ripe, they would seek revenge at all costs. Their morale and purpose were the same as Zhou.

While the royal family of Zhou acted peaceful and gentle, their propaganda of 'peace, benevolence, and goodwill' earned respect, so they enjoyed a high level of prestige among the kings and people.

The mighty force marched along the river of Wei toward Muye. The flags and banners of the different countries fluttered in the wind, expressing their determination to destroy Shang. These were a bunch of blood-eyed enemies.

A group of birds flew by the dark sky, leaving behind endless loneliness.

Mahout1 : An elephant driver.

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Chapter 206 - The Battle of Muye (8)

Translator: Team TWO

Editor: Nora

Second day, before daybreak, the two forces stood in formation on the field of Muye.

Drops of rain started to drizzle down from the gloomy sky, as dark clouds covered the top of the battlefield.

For the Zhou armies, the trenches forced them to place the war chariots at the rear. They could only act as reserve units. There were mostly Zhou homeland soldiers in the middle. 3,000 royal guards stood at the forefront, and 45 thousand armored soldiers followed them.

The kings stationed their troops at the left wing, while the players' troops were at the right wing.

The arrangement of the Zhou armies was a typical attack formation.

Before the battle, the Zhou armies had made an oath. King Wu stood in front of the formations and condemned King Zhou for all his crimes.

On the other hand, the 100 thousand crossbowmen were the core of Shang dynasty. Therefore, they had decided to take on a defensive strategy. 20 thousand shield-sword infantries formed defensive lines, as they raised their shields to form a wall of metal.

Behind them were naturally the 100 thousand crossbowmen, who stood in a fan-like formation. This formation could allow them to fire arrows from both sides. With such a three-dimensional defensive system, they could directly shoot or project arrows from three directions, front, left, and right, which greatly increased the lethality of the crossbows.

Every formation of a thousand crossbowmen was divided into three groups. The first group would aim and fire, the second group would aim and get ready, while the third would raise their crossbows and wait. They would take turns firing, which allowed them to continuously maintain fire.

The guards and war elephant were on the left wing, while the 10 thousand players' calvaries were on the right wing. In order to leave enough charging space for the cavalry, they stood slightly behind.

The arrangement of the Shang armies shocked Jiang Shang. A few days before, he had a bad premonition when the spy they sent to contact Weizi did not return. Now, looking at the well-equipped and strictly disciplined soldiers in formation, rather than noisy and disordered slaves, his foreboding had come true.

But there was no turning back now, so their only option was to put in their best and win this war.

Jiang Shang walked to the war drum, and he personally played the drum beats.

As he beat the drum, the Zhou armies moved on beat. One after another, they steadily marched in formation across the trenches toward the Shang. They were like waves of torrents.

The soldiers moved across the field of Muye like sea waves flooding a beach. They trod toward Muye, slowly swallowing it.

King Wu personally led the troops. The imperial guards surrounded and protected him, as he moved in front of the formations.

The soldiers maintained the formations under King Wu's orders, and they marched together. Above the formations, pikes and spears pointed upright, as the flags and banners of various countries fluttered.

"Raise your shields!" As the officer swung his command flag and gave this order, the imperial guards raised their shields and chanted in unison. They knocked their weapons against their shields, "wu..wu...wu..." along with this sounds, they pushed forward in unison.

When the distance between Shang and Zhou closed to 300-meters, the Shang took the initiative.

Under the lead of the experienced team, the 100 thousand crossbowmen half-kneeled down on the ground. They raised their crossbows and pulled the triggers. Words of the massacre of the 600 thousand slaves had reached them. Since Zhou showed them no mercy, what more did they need to hesitate about?

Volleys of arrows poured down onto the Zhou armies. Every volley could end the lives of more than thousands of soldier, which caused their blood to spurt into the air. The Shang army heavily suppressed the archers of Zhou. They could only passively defend themselves.

Rows and rows of brave soldiers fell; they would never stand up again. Whether it was the elite imperial guards, the soldiers of the kings, or the players' troops, all of them mourned as the unstoppable arrows rained.

King Wu tried his best to maintain the formations so that it would not venture into chaos. Under the encouragement of King Wu, the rear army continued to fearlessly push forward. They stepped on the corpses of their comrades, eventually turning them into mashed meats.

If they retreated, the only ending for them would be death. None but the brave can live to the end, as long as they crossed the 300-meters firing area, the crossbowmen would be theirs to reap.

At least, the Zhou armies believed it would be so.

The arrows took down the soldiers, and the wounded soldiers fell and filled the trenches. Their blood overflowed and trickled out of the trenches, and the land was once again painted red. Their bodies became bloody, as they stepped on the corpses and blood. However, they bravely moved forward through the rain of arrows and continued on. They were an army of revenge without retreat.

As the fear faded away, the crossbowmen grew more confident, and their coordination improved. Their shooting rate increased, and the arrows had gotten more intensive and penetrating. The arrows passed by the soldiers' ears and shoulders, or directly struck one of the unlucky ones.

The simple and crude armor of Zhou simply could not stop the sharp arrows. The casualties were getting too heavy. In such a short distance of 300-meters, 20 to 30 thousand soldiers would sleep forever on this blood-soaked land.

When the remaining soldiers finally rushed to the front of the Shang army, Shi Wanshui led a wall of shields to welcomed them. The 1,000 heavy infantry soldiers of Shanhai City were placed in the front, equipped with the Buren Armor made of fine iron. They were indestructible, and even the Zhou spears could not even breakthrough their armor.

As an emperor-level officer, Shi Wanshui had three talents: Take the Lead: Morale of troops enhanced by 40%; Conquer to the South, Fight to the North: Speed and mobility of troops enhanced by 30%; Insightful: Attack power of troops enhanced by 20%. There was also the additional 25% defense up for everyone of the Shang dynasty.

Under these buffs, the shield-sword infantry became fierce and invincible against the poorly equipped Zhou armies.

Shi Wanshui raised his spear and shouted, "Kill!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The infantries raised the shields on their left hand, fending off the spears of their enemies. With their other hand, they swung their blades and split the Zhou soldiers in half. Bits and pieces of broken limbs flew across the sky, as flowers of blood bloomed in mid-air. The proud elite Zhou soldiers were chicken and dogs in the face of the shield-sword infantries.

The wall of shields stopped the Zhou armies from moving even an inch forward. Instead, they were suppressed and forced back.

The crossbowmen were like restless killing machines. They did not stop pulling their triggers for even a second. Volley after volley of arrows relentlessly reaped the souls of the Zhou soldiers.

The arrow rain coverage was so immense that it didn't just affect the Zhou soldiers in the middle. Even the armies at the two wings were getting hit too.

At least one-third of the 50 thousand players' troops were eliminated. Some of the lords that had charged at the forefront lost all their soldiers, and some of the others were sent out of the battlefield as a result of their death. At this point in time, the lords were starting to slow down and were asking for a retreat.

However, a darker nightmare fell upon them.

The war elephants charged forward under the covering fire of the crossbowmen. The soldiers on the elephant's back shot arrows at the long-range; at the short-range, they used spears. At the same time, the war elephants were controlled to fight with their tusks and trunks. The 10 thousand royal guards followed the war elephants, protecting the war elephants from ambushes.

The war elephants raged a storm across the players' troops.

The players' troops were a pile of loose sand. A great number of the cavalries were uncoordinated, unorganized, and fighting independently. They suffered a great loss even before they reached the front of the Shang armies. And now, as the war elephants charged right into the cavalries, they were thrown into chaos. They couldn't find their commanders; the commanders couldn't find their lords, and no one knew whether they should continue pushing forward or retreat. They wasted their strong combat capabilities.

The royal guards of the Shang held the determination to protect their homeland. They waved their spears at the enemies and took away the lives of those who stood before them. Their bronze armor provided great protection.

The players' troops that held a great advantage were now placed in a bad position. The Shang royal and imperial guards suppressed and held back the players' troops.

On the right wing, Zhao Liao raised his spear and gave the order to attack, "Charge!"

The cavalries raised their weapons—both spears and lances—and charged toward the kings' soldiers. Mounted on their warhorses, they were like fairies that rode past the trenches. They did not slow down in the slightest.

In the era of war chariots, these cavalry units were the definition of a nightmare. The arrows did minimal damage to the cavalries' Mingguang armor. The cavalries were like a burning hot metal rod poked into a pile of butter; they easily tore the kings' armies into half.

Not a single soldier could stand in their path. Not even a decent corpse could be found, as they were all stomped into mashed meats.

This was not a war. It was a massacre, and the battlefield had turned into a slaughterhouse. The invincible cavalries fearlessly charged back and forth through the sea of the kings' armies, crippling and disabling them.

Even the bravest soldier would lose all their courage when faced with such a hell on earth. The cavalries' lances, under the enhancement of their momentum, pierced their enemies into human skewers.

The soldiers that were not dead mourned in mid-air.

But the cavalries were emotionless. They swung their lances and left behind corpses, spreading the intestines and internal organs across the ground. Then, the horses stampeded it all together with the soils and grasses, making a land of human salad.

The rain of relentless arrows continued to pour down onto the Zhou soldiers.

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Chapter 207 - Battle of Muye (9)

Translator: Team TWO

Editor: Nora

The progress of the Battle of Muye did not turn out as the others had expected.

Contrary to the expectations of the others, Zhou dynasty's three roads suffered heavy losses. More than half of their men died, and they were now facing a dire situation. Jiang Shang, who was commanding the army from behind, could only let out a sigh. He bitterly signaled for them to retreat when he saw the situation.

He clearly understood that after today's battle, every single possibility and chance to overthrow the Shang dynasty had been completely cut off. After this battle, the Zhou dynasty was unlikely to survive the Shang dynasty's retaliation. He did not forget that at the far, far east, the main force of the Shang dynasty was rushing back at full speed.

A desperate attempt with every single thing that they could muster, yet it only led them to such a result—it was indeed bitter.

As the prime minister of the Zhou dynasty and the commander-in-chief of the army, he could not escape the blame for everything that had happened today. He could only redeem himself with his very own life. However, before he redeemed his sins with his own life, there was still one last thing to do. He needed to protect and secure King Wu of Zhou's life. Only by protecting the king could the royal bloodline of Zhou continue. As long as the blood continued to flow, there would always be a comeback; they shall rise again.

Jiang Shang ordered the war chariot division to turn back and prepare themselves for retreat. As soon as King Wu returned, they would fall back immediately. As for the remaining soldier and those from the alliance, Jiang Shang couldn't care less about them anymore in this horrible situation.

After all, Jiang Shang was downright a man of utter utilitarianism. He was a man who was good in the art of trickery to the point of perfection. Jian Shang was the reason why the rebellion of all the ethnic groups in Dong Yi started in the first place. He was the mastermind of all these events; he had stirred up the situation and started the rebel so that once the tribes and Shang dynasty started a war, his country could benefit from it.

After receiving the order to fall back, King Wu showed his emperor's responsibility at the most crucial moment. He took the initiative to leave his soldiers to cover their backs, allowing the alliance's army to retreat first. In fact, the alliance had already lost their minds. They were slaughtered like pigs, and they only had less than 1,000 men left.

This war was a nightmare for the alliance. After returning to their own countries, their main priority would be how to deal with the retaliation of the Shang dynasty. According to Di Xin's personality, the best ending for all the lords was being sacrificed for the worshipping of spirits.

As for the players who sided with them, they had already fallen back one step ahead. Seeing not even the slightest chance of winning, the players would naturally not stay back and die in vain with the Zhou army. Every soldier they brought with them was the best of the best in their own territory, so they must not suffer any unnecessary losses.

The remaining 20,000 men of the players abandoned their weapons, armor, and supplies. Then, they fled in every direction. They ran away like stray dogs that people chased away. Some of them hid in the forest, some tried to cross the river, and some even ran into the mountains. It formed quite a spectacular scene. These players had no intention of returning to Mengjin; they just simply hid themselves somewhere in the wilderness until the battle ended.

The king of Shang, Di Xin, knew the nature of these players' forces. He knew that they would not stay here for long. Therefore, he did not order his army to pursue the fleeing enemies in order to avoid unnecessary losses.

Although they had successfully suppressed the players' armies, the imperial guards and the royal guards had also suffered heavy losses. After all, the strengths of the players' forces were there. There were even these small teams that were willing to die in order to earn themselves more contribution points. In this battle, the war elephants were all wiped out, half of the imperial guards were killed, and the royal guards had lost around 1,000 of their brothers.

Di Chen looked at the fleeing army and let out a sigh. He had completely lost to Qiyue Wuyi again in the Battle of Muye. Chun Shenjun and the others didn't even have a chance to participate in this final battle.

"What should we do now?" asked Juedai Fenghua.

Di Chen looked around. He could only mobilize a force of fewer than 500 men. It was certainly impossible to make a difference at all. Moreover, they had lost all their cavalries. It would be impossible even if they wanted to retreat with King Wu. The only option they had left was to run away and hide in the wilderness, just like the other players.

Di Chen smiled bitterly and said, "What can we do now? There's nothing we could do. We can only flee and hide!"

The remaining 500 guards surrounded King Wu and quickly retreated. The remaining 20,000 soldiers stayed behind to secure the safe retreat of their king. They courageously took over the defense line of the guards and stood up against the shield-sword soldiers that Shi Wansu ledi.

These 20,000 men that stayed back had prepared to not return to their own countries and families. Their only mission now was to buy their king more time so that he could safely escape. They had already gone mad; if stabbed, they would hold onto the enemies and provide a chance for their brothers. It was a tragedy. Because of their madness, they managed to hold off the army that Shi Wansui led.

However, Shi Wansui was extraordinary too. Excited with the blood ocean on the battlefield, he killed one soldier with just a swing and shouted, "Leave no one alive. Kill them all and capture King Wu! Death to those who block my path!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" the heavy infantries let out a roar, one that could seemingly pierce the sky.

Even the maddest radish could not take on a kitchen knife. Once the soldiers interrupted their movements, the heavy infantries would just swing their swords and sever the enemies' limbs. Then, they would kick them off or swing their shields to deliver a crushing blow to smash open the enemies' head.

The 20,000 soldiers left behind to cover their king's retreat died one by one. Their ranks decreased rapidly, being pared layer by layer. The scene was horrible and bloody. The sacrifices of their brothers did not scare them off but drove them even crazier instead.

As King Wu retreated, he could only burst into tears when he heard the dying roars of his soldiers. These were all his soldiers, his people, and his children. The enemy mercilessly slaughtered them, and their king could do nothing but watch them die.

King Wu turned his head back and looked at Di Xin, who was watching the battlefield on his golden war chariot. Then, King Wu said fiercely, "Di Xin, I swear to god that I will kill you for what you have done today!" He carried an even deeper hatred within him, as he joined back with the War Chariot Division.

Up until now, the crossbowmen at the rear had not stopped their barrage at all. Therefore, arrows and bolts still rained down on their path of retreat. Many of the soldiers died on the way because of this.

At this time, their companions could spare no more attention to those who got hurt in the war anymore. They could only leave them lying on the ground, helplessly crying for help. They had to pretend that they could not hear their cries.

Corpses had completely filled the trenches in the southern suburbs, and blood flowed everywhere on the ground. The cruelest part was that these bodies had become the best stepping stones for the retreat of the remaining soldiers. At least they did not have to waste extra energy just to go across these trenches. This moment, every second and minute was very crucial, as they could affect the life and death of every soldier.

Their only thought now was to quickly get out of the range of the enemy crossbowmen. The arrow barrage that the crossbowmen unleashed had become their nightmare.

Even when King Wu retreated, he could not help but lament, "These strong crossbows destroyed my dreams!" By the time they merged with the chariots at the rear, the 1,500 men had been reduced to only less than 1,000.

Ouyangshuo did not plan to stop at this point. Di Xin had appointed him as the commander in chief. While the rear gave out the order to capture King Wu and Jiang Shang, he ordered his own cavalries to aid the heavy infantries. They were to quickly exterminate every enemy that still resisted.

"Capture King Wu! Capture Jiang Shang!"

The army advanced and launched an attack, as they shouted this slogan.

The Cavalry Division was the first to act. The Cavalry Division had suffered little to no losses. They charged and suddenly turned left, piercing into the enemy's main camp under the lead of the three generals—Zhang Liao, Qin Qiong, and Lin Yi.

The truth was, if the cavalries managed to plunge into the rear of the enemies at this time, they would gain a very great chance to destroy the 300 chariots. They could even capture Jiang Shang.

However, destroying all the chariots would be the same as crushing their final glimmer of hope for retreat. With their last hopes crushed, they would know that they had no hopes of surviving. Destroying the chariots would cause the enemies to fight with everything they had left until they all die, which would cause unnecessary damages.

Not only that, Ouyang Shuo also wanted some benefits for himself. If he let King Wu escape now, only Shanhai City's calvaries would chase after them. As a result, the rewards for killing King Wu would definitely fall into his hands and not some lucky players.

Other than that, Ouyang Shuo also hoped to lessen the losses among his infantries. These enemy infantries had lost their minds, so they could still deliver fatal blows to Ouyang Shuo's infantries.

The reinforcements of the cavalries thoroughly forced the Zhou troops up a dead end. The cavalries and the infantries cooperated and struck the enemies from the front and back. Then, they began their slaughtering.

At this time, the crossbowmen finally stopped their arrow rain. The continuous and high intensity shooting resulted in the slaves with weak bodies almost collapsing. Even those 5,000 player crossbowmen were exhausted.

They had played a major role in today's victory.

After they killed the remaining Zhou troops, King Wu, along with Jiang Shang and the other lords, had already escaped on the war chariots.

Now, the noises on the battlefield suddenly subsided, and only some injured soldiers let out occasional groans.

No one realized when the drizzle stopped. The dark clouds dispersed, and the sun shone on the earth again, bringing some warmth to all the survivors.

At the southern suburbs where the sun shone, there wasn't even the slightest hint of greenery. Bodies covered the entire blood-soaked field. Packs and packs of vultures flew to the field, tracing the blood scent that the bodies emitted. They circled in the air for a long time and refused to leave.

Facing this hell in the human realm before them, many players who were still accustomed to the peaceful environment of reality couldn't stand it. They quickly withdrew themselves to the rear of the army and started puking.

It was the games fault. The realistic settings of the game were just way too gory. Internal organs, intestines, and brain pulp just scattered around the field, luring swarms and swarms of flies.

Perhaps, all of these were just an unexpected gluttonous feast for the animals in the wilderness.

King Shang, Di Xin, stood in his golden chariot. He did not care much about this bloody scene in front of him. In fact, he seemed to be very exuberant. His general, E Lai, stood beside him, and they smiled together.

Ouyang Shuo rode on his Qingfu warhorse and headed toward the golden chariot. He dismounted and saluted Di Xin. Then, he asked, "My King, the enemy leaders are still not dead yet. May I have your permission to chase after them and cut them down once and for all?"

Di Xin had the same intentions. He too understood that if one wanted to get rid of the wild grasses, they had to pluck out the roots of the grass as well. However, with only his armies made up of infantries, there would be no way that they could catch up with the fleeing enemies. He was happy that Ouyang Shuo had volunteered as well.

"Permission granted. Kill them all, and your king shall reward you greatly!" promised Di Xin.

"Your will is my command, my king." after receiving the order, Ouyang Shuo mounted his horse and went to Lin Yi. Together, they set out with the cavalries and headed to Mengjin.

The other players could only watch Shanhai City's cavalries mobilize far away. Envy was clearly written on their faces. They knew that there were just so many honor points awaiting Ouyang Shuo and his cavalries to harvest. Those that managed to escape not only included King Wu and Jiang Shang. There were also those lords that were worth an abundant amount of honor values. However, they could only blame the fact that their horses were not as good as Ouyang Shuo's and his cavalries' Qingfu warhorses.

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Chapter 208 - Battle of Muye (10)

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

They tracked the ruts that the chariots left behind. Ouyang Shuo and the 1,700 cavalries that survived tracked them down along the Wei River, all the way down to the south. They were very determined to kill or capture the main leaders of the Zhou dynasty in one attempt.

King Wu and Jiang Shang did not even have the slightest clue that the enemy would have horses like the Qingfu warhorses—horses that had such incredible speed and magnificent mobility. The Qingfu warhorses could catch up and even outrun them. However, they did not know this, so they did not even bother to cover up their tracks.

When it was close to noon, the enemy chariots that had fled were already in the vicinity of Ouyang Shuo and his army.

Ouyang Shuo suddenly raised his hand to signal for the party to stop. When he signaled them to down, they cavalries that were still traveling at high speeds abruptly stopped. It was like they had pressed down hard onto the brakes of a car. Their movements were united and flawless.

"Wang Feng!" Ouyang Shuo called to his elite guard captain

Wang Feng, who had always followed behind Ouyang Shuo, immediately rode to the front and said, "My lord, your orders?"

"Come here."

The always cool captain now had a face of confusion. He had no idea what his lord was trying to do again. Ouyang Shuo whispered something to Wang Feng. For a quick moment, Wang Feng showed a surprise expression, but he soon returned to his usual cool expression. Although his face slightly changed, no one saw anything. As such, none of them had any idea what kind of task their lord had given him.

Wang Feng returned to his position and signaled to the elite guards. Then, he said, "Elite guards, come with me!" Then, they headed toward a small path at the side.

"Yes sir!" said the elite guards. They swiftly followed their captain with no unnecessary thoughts.

All of the other cavalries, including Lin Yi, did not raise a question at all. There were rules in the armies. Things that should not be said shall never be said, and whatever should not be asked shall remain unasked.

As the head of all the Shanhai City's armies, Ouyang Shuo's orders would always be kept as the top secret information at all times.

"Keep moving. Remember, I want both King Wu and Jiang Shang alive. Capture them and make sure not to hurt them," Ouyang Shuo specifically reminded his cavalries, as he was worried that they might carelessly hurt King Wu and Jiang Shang.

"Yes my lord!"

After a short moment of waiting, the army continued their advance and caught up with the enemies that had fled in front.

The sounds of galloping horses were just like rumbling thunder. It alerted King Wu about his pursuers. The now frightened King Wu turned his head. What appeared in his sight was wave after wave of fierce cavalries that advanced toward them with immense power and incredible speed.

The Mingguang armor on each and every cavalry was just so obvious, as they brightly glimmered under the sunlight.

The golden rays reflected from the Mingguang armor was just way too iconic. Therefore, King Wu recognized that these cavalries were the ones that had mercilessly slaughtered the alliance forces. The faces of the other lords turned even paler. In their eyes, these cavalries were the shadow of war that rode beneath the fog of war. These cavalries would cut down and trample their foes under their iron hooves, despite the shiny armor that made them resemble holy knights.

"Even the heaven wants me dead!" King Wu lamented.

Right after the lamentations of King Wu,s a non-stop heavy arrow rain traveled toward them at high speeds.

Every chariot had two or four horses pulling it. Among the four horses, the two horses in between were called 'two fu.' They were tied with the yoke used to balance the two shaft of the chariot; the left and right horses were called the 'two can.' They were tied in front of the chariot with leather, collectively known as 'si.'

Every chariot carried three soldiers that stood in a horizontal line.

The soldiers that stood on the left plays the role of an archer, also known as the head of the chariot, called 'che zuo' or 'jia shou.' The one on the right was the halberdier, his main priority was to cut down enemies with his halberd and clear away any obstacles that blocked the chariot, called 'che you' or 'can cen.' The charioteer stood in the middle, and he only carried a short sword for self-defense.

The cavalries aimed the arrow rain at the che zuo and the charioteers. Their purpose was to shoot down and disable these threats, which would prevent return fire and stop the chariots. Of course, this would really require extremely good archery skills.

As expected, those che zuos' on the chariots tried to retaliate. However, their shooting range was quite a joke when compared to the shooting range of the cavalries equipped with composite bows. The che zuos' arrow just fell down before they could hit any of the cavalries.

"Stop now or die!" Lin Yi loudly shouted under Ouyang Shuo's hint.

When he heard this, it was like Jiang Shang had suddenly grown older. He felt like he had become a weak old man. These players were always doing things outside of his expectations. He was indeed smart and wise, but the amount of information that the parties held was completely different. The existence of his opponents was out of this era's understandings. Although he had tactics and tricks up his sleeves, he could not do much at all.

"My king, we should stop. We can't escape anymore," said Jiang Shang bitterly.

King Wu remained silent, but he signaled for his army to stop.

Ouyang Shuo and his cavalries quickly surrounded the 300 war chariots once they came to a stop. Even so, the cavalries did not let their guards down and remained vigilant. In fact, they raised their bows and aimed at each and every one of the enemies in front of them, preventing them from doing anything stupid.

"Weapons on the ground, please!" said Ouyang Shuo in a threatening tone.

The surrounded soldiers could only look helplessly at their king with pale faces. King Wu did not dare to look into their eyes. He just looked down and gestured for them to do as Ouyang Shuo had demanded. With that, the soldiers threw their weapons onto the ground and stopped their resistance.

These people were now sheeps in a slaughterhouse. They waited to be slaughtered, leaving their fates in Ouyang Shuo's hands.

Jiang Shang stood on the chariot without any fear, and he said courageously, "Your army and your skills decided that you are not an anonymous pawn! Tell me your name. Let me die knowing who defeated us."

Ouyang Shuo nodded, and he walked out of his army with Lin Yi and a few other subordinates. Then, he said, "I am the player representative under the Shang dynasty, and my name is Qiyue Wuyi. I am here to take you as prisoners under the orders of the King of Shang! Stop your futile resistance at once!"

Jiang Shang was no ordinary person. Judging by Ouyang Shuo's strange behavior, Jiang Shang could tell that he was plotting something. Otherwise, Ouyang Shuo could've just killed them all in a flash. Instead, he decided to ask them to yield instead.

Jiang Shang suddenly managed to keep his cool, and his heart started to pump at a calm rate. He said to himself that maybe there was still a chance and intentionally said, "Di Xin is a violent, greedy, and unethical king! He has wasted so much of the country's resources on unnecessary aspects! Why is someone like you still willing to work for him?"

Ouyang Shuo smiled and said, "Tai Gong, you must be joking. After all, we are serving different kings." Ouyang Shuo did not budge against Jiang Shang's accusations, as they both served a different king. Because of this, their opinions were fated to be different.

Jiang Shang became speechless for a moment, and he realized that Ouyang Shuo was a man of determination, so he became straightforward with him and asked, "Then, what do you want? Since our lives are in your hands, why not just make things clear to us? Why are you still hesitating?"

Jiang Shang was indeed a true utilitarian. He was able to directly strike the main points

Ouyang Shuo saluted him and said, "The thing is, I came here for you, Tai Gong."

"Oh? I'm just a dying old man. What an battle contribution for you to come for me," replied Jiang Shang with barbed words.

"I am sure that Tai Gong knows that players like us will not be able to stay here for long. Wuyi admires Tai Gong's wisdom and personality. Therefore, Wuyi hopes that Tai Gong will follow me back so that I can listen to your teachings every day," said Ouyang Shuo, as he boldy revealed his intentions.

Jiang Shang remained determined and replied, "A loyal vassal will never serve two lords. Besides, you are an enemy to us."

Ouyang Shuo shook his head and said, "Tai Gong, please don't reject me so fast. Perhaps, after listening to my conditions, you might change your mind."

"Say no more. No matter what your conditions are, I will not yield!" said Jiang Shang without any sign of giving in.

Ouyang Shuo did not feel disappointed, as he had expected such a reaction. Jiang Shang only said these things because he wanted to fight for more benefits and rights. It is unlikely that he would not surrender at all. Ouyang Shuo continued, "What if my condition is that I'll let King Wu escape alive if you joined me?"

Jiang Shang's face immediately changed as King Wu was his weakness. He could die to atone his sins, but he could never let himself see the extinction of the bloodline of the western Zhou in front of him. If this happened, how could he still have the guts to face King Wen when he died?

"You are saying that if I yield and go with you, you will let King Wu go?" Jiang Shang confirmed again.

Ouyang Shuo nodded and said, "That's right!"

"Then, how about the others?" Jiang Shang was definitely not satisfied with saving only King Wu.

Ouyang Shuo smirked coldly and said, "Tai Gong, letting King Wu run away alive is the most I can do. I still have to go back and receive the punishments of my king. Please don't force me to do it."

As soon as Ouyang Shuo ended his speech, other than King Wu, the other people's faces turned incredibly pale as if there was no more blood anymore. Without a doubt, Ouyang Shuo has already pronounced their deaths.

Jiang Shang remained quiet, and many thoughts ran around in his mind. He knew that Ouyang Shuo was not a soft-hearted man, "If that's the case, I'll promise you. However, I have already grown tired of all these things and have no intentions of becoming a vassal anymore. I'll just stay hidden away from politics forever."

The first half of his sentence made Ouyang Shuo excited, but the second half made Ouyang Shuo only able to bitterly smile. However, he did not feel frustrated. He knew that such a legendary historical figure was not so easy to recruit.

It would be a lie to say that the idea of recruiting Jiang Shang did not tempt Ouyang Shuo.

He chose another way of recruiting Jiang Shang in order to realize his wild wish. However, Gaia did not let his wild wish come true after all.

Ouyang Shuo sighed in his heart. In the end, there were still some gains no matter what. Even if he did not help Ouyang Shuo in anyway, as long as Jiang Shang agreed to settle down in Shanhai City, some other historical figures will be attracted to Shanhai City because of his influences. As for the other benefits, it would wholly depend on how Ouyang Shuo manipulated it.

"System notification: Congratulations to Qiyue Wuyi for successfully recruiting Jiang Shang. Due to the fact that Jiang Shang was forced, player does not fulfill all the requirements. Jiang Shang shall remain in the state of retirement."

"System notification: Congratulations to Qiyue Wuyi for becoming the first player to recruit a legendary historical figure. 4,000 battle contribution points and 20,000 reputation points are awarded to him."

This was an unexpected gain. Ouyang Shuo cleared away his unnecessary thoughts. He kept cool and ordered his men to isolate Jiang Shang's chariot from the others. Ouyang Shuo was also worried that Jiang Shang's old body might not be able to sustain the excessively bumpy conditions of the chariot.

As for the chariot of King Wu, Ouyang Shuo allowed it to be released, but King Wu refused to leave. He said loudly, "I cannot let myself get away by sacrificing my prime minister, my people, and my allies for my life! I refuse to yield and I will fight to death!"

Sadness started to spread around the surrounded soldiers and the hearts of everyone.

On his chariot, Jiang Shang bowed to his king and said, "My King! You must secure the royal bloodline inheritance of Zhou. This is your responsibility and your duty! Please do not let us down."

King Wu lamented, "But without you, I can never achieve anything even if I manage to get back alive. What can I do without you?" The young King Wu suddenly felt clueless and perplexed about the Zhou dynasty's future.

"In the country, you still have Zhou Gong. He can help you in many ways. My King, you shall never give up and you must restore the glory of the Zhou dynasty!" said Jiang Shang.

"My King! Please leave us here and get home safe!" all of a sudden, King Wu's soldiers kneeled down and begged their king to escape and stay safe.

Although Ouyang Shuo couldn't stay emotionless about this scene right now, he could not do much about it. This was war and war had always been cruel and bloody. Besides, one must have the psychological preparation of losing if they ever started a war against someone.

King Wu let out a long sigh of lamentation and boarded his chariot. Then, he swiftly left.

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Chapter 209 - Battle of Muye (11)

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

After King Wu left, a strong sense of despair clearly entangled those who were left behind.

"We fight to the death!" Some did not want to die without trying, so they picked up their weapons and decided to put up a fight before dying.

Meanwhile, along with Jiang Shang and his chariot, Ouyang Shuo had already left the battlefield. He asked Lin Yi to handle the rest. Emotionlessly, Lin Yi raised his hand to signal to the soldiers, "Fire!"

A tremendous arrow rain that seemed like it could blot out the entire sky instantly poured onto the surrounded enemies. After a brief moment, all the grieving shouts and scary moans stopped. None of them had survived. Then, Lin Yi asked his men to check on the bodies one by one to ensure that all of them were dead. If they were not dead, the soldiers were more than happy to deliver another fatal strike. Other than that, they also beheaded the enemies, covered it up, tied it to the back of the horses, and returned to Zhaoge. Di Xin had specifically ordered this.

Jiang Shang lamented on his chariot, as he heard the dying cries of his former soldiers.

At three in the afternoon, the party passed by Muye. At the same time, the main forces of Shang had returned to Zhaoge with their emperor, Di Xin. Therefore, Ouyang Shuo decided to not stop at Muye. Instead, he returned to Zhao Ge as fast as possible.

After arriving at Zhao Ge and meeting up with the other members of the Shanhai Alliance, Ouyang Shuo immediately rushed to the palace. He needed to make a report of the situation to Di Xin and claim his rewards at the same time.

Meanwhile, the Battle of Muye had officially ended, and the campaign announcement rang out.

"Campaign announcement: The Battle of Muye has ended. Congratulations to the Shang dynasty faction for successfully reversing the ending of history. Every player of this faction will be rewarded with 500 merit points. Shang dynasty faction player lords' battle contribution points will be raised by an additional 50% based on the original value. Friendly tips: additionally awarded battle contribution points are not counted toward the campaign contribution value board."

The way that Gaia awarded players was still very reasonable. It had awarded 500 merit points as a basic award to the players to ensure that everyone benefited. It also awarded additional battle contribution points to the player lords who had contributed more than anyone else. The more you contributed, the better the rewards, separating them from the normal players.

Lastly, the additional rewards that did not count toward the campaign contribution value board also ensured the fairness for both sides. This avoided scenarios where the losing side got stripped of their chances for getting listed on the campaign contribution value board.

"Campaign announcement: The Battle of Muye has ended. Now, players are now awarded additional rewards based on their contribution on pushing the momentum of the campaign, their contributions to their own faction, and other contributions."

Right after that, another system notification rang beside Ouyang Shuo's ears.

"System notification: Player Qiyue Wuyi, player representative of Shang dynasty. He contributed 100,000 crossbows to form up the crossbowmen division with the slaves. Ambushing the enemy players at the southern suburbs of Muye and destroying the enemy's command post. Effective battle commanding; pursuit of the remaining enemies; elimination of enemies that fled. With all these achievements, you are awarded 800,000 points of battle contribution points."

A crucial point of their win in the Battle of Muye was the forming of the slave crossbowmen division, and Ouyang Shuo had handled all of this. He managed to pull it off, and the forming of the crossbowmen had an even better result when compared to the Battle of Zhuolu.

In return, the additional battle contribution points awarded to Ouyang Shuo for this had reached the total of the points he gained in the Battle of Zhuolu. However, chances for special occasions like the Battle of MuYe were going to be hard to come by.

After assessing the contribution value of all the players, the final top 10 contribution list had also been confirmed and published.

【Position】

【Name】

【Battle Contribution Points】

【1st】

【Qiyue Wuyi】

【240,000 points】

【2nd】

【Bai Hua】

【 55,000 points】

【3rd】

【Feng Qiuhuang】

【50,000 points】

【4th】

【Mulan Yue】

【45,000 points】

【5th】

【Xunlong Dianxue】

【42,000 points】

【6th】

【Di Chen】

【40,000 points】

【7th】

【Siege Lion】

【32,000 points】

【8th】

【??】

【30,000 points】

【9th】

【Hua Huo】

【25,000 points】

【10th】

【Chun Shen Jun】

【15,000 points】

Shanhai Alliance had achieved another great victory again. Ouyang Shuo's battle contribution points had an incredibly huge lead from the second place. After the final assessment, Ouyang Shuo had achieved 41,000 merit points, and this was before the addition of the 4,000 merit points he acquired by recruiting Jiang Shang.

Till then, Ouyang Shuo had achieved 85,800 merit points, reaching the title of 3rd-class marquis. He was just one step away from reaching the required points of 102,400 to advance and become a 2nd class marquis.

With the help of Zhang Liao, Bai Hua had once again managed to surpass Feng Qiuhuang and achieved the runner-up position. Also, with the points they had acquired, Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang had both managed to advance into 1st-class counts. This advancement raised their town to grade 3, sweeping away their obstacles in one shot.

Other than that, Mulan Yue skipped 3rd-class count directly and advanced into 2nd-class count. Mulan Yue's main source of contribution in this campaign was from her general, Mu Guiying.

Xunlong Dianxue and Siege Lion had also advanced to 2nd and 3rd-class counts respectively. With these, the titles of all the Shanhai Alliance members had skyrocketed with the two campaigns.

However, those who had chosen the Zhou dynasty faction like Chun Shenjun had completely missed their chance to advance their title due to their losses in the Battle of Muye. As for their town level advancement, they would have to wait for a longer time or even until the next campaign. Whereas Di Chen managed to pull it off by obtaining 6,000 merit points, but it was still not enough to advance to the next title.

The Battle of Muye had become an important turning point for all of these higher level players.

Lin Yi brought a cavalry squadron and escorted Ouyang Shuo into the palace. For Jiang Shang, in order to not attract the attention of the other lords, Ouyang Shuo arranged for him to stay outside of the city and had a cavalry squadron protect him.

After a few moments, Ouyang Shuo and his guards stopped somewhere near to the palace. An hour later, Wang Feng had returned with the elite guards and rejoined Ouyang Shuo and his party.

Then, Ouyang Shuo ordered Lin Yi to return back and hand over the rewards to the elite guards division. Lin Yi needed to lead the elite guards into the palace under the guidance of the palace guards.

Di Xin summoned and met Ouyang Shuo at the main hall. Without any further ado, Ouyang Shuo immediately asked the guards to present the heads of the alliance's lords. Other than that, Wang Feng personally handed another head stored in a box to the palace guard.

When the palace guard took the box for examination, they saw the beheaded head of King Wu, which quietly laid in the box.

In truth, Ouyang Shuo did not want to let the rewards for killing King Wu slip away from his hands.

Therefore, even after he promised Jiang Shang that he would let King Wu leave safely, he had secretly ordered Wang Feng to head to the front through the small path and intercept the chariot of King Wu. Although this was really despicable, he did not regret his decision.

To be honest, Ouyang Shuo had still kept his promise with Jiang Shang. He had promised Jian Shang that he would let King Wu go, but he did not promise that he wouldn't ask his men to chase after him.

When he saw the head of King Wu, Di Xin said happily, "Good, good, good! Well done, Qiyue Wuyi, well done! You did not let me down."

Ouyang Shuo took this opportunity and said, "My king, I have one little request. Could you kindly grant it to me?"

"Speak!" said Di Xin. He was in a happy mood.

"Could you keep this as a secret temporarily? Not for long, just until I leave this place."

"Why so?" said the confused Di Xin.

Ouyang Shuo said with embarrassment, "Jiang Shang has promised to follow me back to my place, so I do not wish for him to hear any news about the death of King Wu to prevent unnecessary events."

As a very smart man, Di Xin quickly grasped the main point of this little demand of Ouyang Shuo. After all, all he had to do was just announce it one day later after Ouyang Shuo left, so it really was not a big deal at all.

"Alright, you have my promise on this," said Di Xin directly. Then, he turned to E'Lai who, was standing at the side of the main hall and said, "I will keep my promise as well. From now on, I hand over General E'Lai to you, you must never fail him."

Ouyang Shuo nodded and said, "Thank you, my king!"

E'Lai immediately understood the situation. He walked to Ouyang Shuo and kneeled down on one knee. Then, he said, "I am yours to command, my lord!"

Ouyang Shuo saluted him and quickly asked him to get up, "Rise, my general."

At the same time, a system notification rang in his ears.

"System notification: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for recruiting an emperor-level historical figure, E'Lai."

Ouyang Shuo took a look at E'Lai's stats.

【Name】：E'Lai（emperor-level）

【Dynasty】：Shang dynasty

【Identity】：Shanhai City General

【Occupation】：Special-class Officer

【Loyalty】：80 points

【Leadership】：75

【Strenth】：98

【Int】：50

【Politic】：25

【Specialty】：Power：increases party's attack by 20% ；Evil Blood Aura：increases party's morale by 40%；Earth Shaker：increases party's defense by 20%

【Technique】：《Tiger Si Huang Jing》

【Equipment】：Bronze Armor

【Description】：Famous general of the Shang dynasty，Ancestor of the Qin dynasty，famous for his strength. He is able to wrestle with rhinos and brawl with tigers and bears.

Although he was a Special-class Officer just like Shi Wansui, he lacked proper equipment. But this did not matter anymore as Ouyang Shuo planned to craft better armor and weapons for him. Moreover, Ouyang Shuo planned to get him a proper ride in order to equip him with something good.

The rewards that Di Xin gave to Ouyang Shuo did not end here. Di Xin personally handed a damask pouch to Ouyang Shuo and said, "In this dynasty, we believe in gods and demons. We pray to them for protection. In this sack, there are five incense pills that comes from the condensations of our daily prayings. It is really precious, as it has an immense effect on all sorts of temples. I gift it to you now. Use it wisely."

Di Xin's words surprised Ouyang Shuo, as he did not expect that there would be such exceptional items when he came to accept his rewards.

Not only that, Di Xin continued, "Come, follow me. The final rewards I prepared for you are outside of the hall now."

Ouyang Shuo followed Di Xin to the outside. He was very curious about the reward. What kind of reward requires one to head outside? In his mind, he guessed that the reward must be something that was extraordinarily big to be awarded to someone outside the hall.

As expected, Di Xin pointed to a huge bronze vessel and said, "Fan Ding, the symbol of power. I now grant you this to exalt your extraordinary achievements."

Ouyang Shuo took a look at the vessel. This Ding appears to be in rectangular with four legs. It stood on the ground with a lid and two handles. On the body of Ding, were carvings of various godly animals that looked extremely realistic.

Although he did not know the usage of the vessel, it did not stop him from stowing it away. He bowed and thanked Di Xin for his generous rewards.

Then, Ouyang Shuo and his elite guards headed outside of the palace and his party joined him. After that, they teleported away through the portal.

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Chapter 210 - Battle of Muye (12)

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

When Ouyang Shuo walked out of the portal, a system notification rang beside his ear.

"System notification: The Battle of Muye has ended. Historical figures from Shang dynasty and Zhou dynasty will now be generated into the game's progress. Players are now free to explore this."

After that, another system notification quickly followed, and it shocked the entire world.

"World notice: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for becoming the first marquis in the world. The title of Lianzhou Marquis is specially granted to the player. The player is rewarded with 20,000 reputation points, and the capital city with jurisdiction over the player's city will give them their rewards."

Ouyang Shuo knew that Gaia would only reward the first 10 players that advanced to marquis with a special title. After the top 10, they would only get an ordinary title with no special title. Although the special title from Gaia had no extra benefits, it was still an honor that was enough to drive people crazy.

In the Alliance channel, Bai Hua and the others that had returned one step earlier than Ouyang Shuo congratulated him one by one.

"Oh my god, boss! You're so cool! Another first in the world for you!" said Gong Chengshi with admiration.

"Wuyi Ge Ge, Lian Zhou Marquis by Gaia! You're making us Lianzhou lords seem useless. Without prior knowledge, people will actually think that we are your vassals," Mulan Hua complained about Gaia's bias.

"Wuyi, when do you plan to raise your Shanhai City into Shanhai Prefecture? Please don't go too far ahead of us," said Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang jokingly.

"You two should work a little harder. I am sure that the two of you will have a chance if you work harder." Both Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang were first class count. If they received massive gains in the next campaign scenario, there would be a very great chance for them.

"Thank you, but I still want to thank you for your help us in this campaign scenario," said the smiling Bai Hua. She was clearly satisfied with the rewards from this campaign. Bai Hua knew that although Zhang Liao was way better than Lin Yi, Ouyang Shuo still asked Zhang Liao to help her. Hence, she really appreciated his help a lot.

"Yeah! There will always be achievements if we follow our alliance lord!" said Xunlong Dianxue.

"All hail our alliance lord!" said Gong Chengshi playfully.

Among all of them, only Feng Qiuhuang did not show much interest.

During the campaign, Ouyang Shuo had already informed Feng Qiuhuang about the information that Wufu divulged, and they had an in-depth discussion already. When Feng Qiuhuang learned about this news, she felt abandoned and extremely helpless for a moment.

Fortunately, Ouyang Shuo was there to calm her down. He told her that no matter what, she was still the lord of Fallen Phoenix Town and this was an unchangeable fact. Even if her clan members did not trust her anymore, if someone had to leave, it would definitely be her clan members and not her.

For this matter, Feng Qiuhuang was not fighting alone, as she had Shanhai Alliance's full support.

With the comfort of Ouyang Shuo, Feng Qiuhuang managed to calm her emotions down. She had decided that after this campaign, she would confront her clan members. If they could not have a mutual trust, there was no need for them to be together anymore.

After a small celebration, Ouyang Shuo closed the alliance channel. He said that he was busy as an excuse.

A total of 3,000 men followed Ouyang Shuo into the campaign, and only 2,500 of them came back alive. The division that suffered the heaviest lost was naturally the mountain barbarian heavy infantries. They were the ones who stood firmly on the frontlines and fought directly with the enemies. Although they had the upper hand, in order to achieve something, one would always have to pay a price.

In the end, 300 were killed among the 1,000 heavy infantries.

Considering the special characteristics of these mountain barbarians, Ouyang Shuo ordered the Military Affairs Department to recruit the barbarians from Qiushui Town and Friendship Town into the Mixed Regiment. Whereas for the City Defense Division, they would recruit locals.

This move was actually Ouyang Shuo's decision to declare the classifications of his army. Field operations like the Mixed Regiment and Vanguard Unit belonged in the first rank and had a higher position than the City Defense Division. The second rank included all parts of the City Defense Division, while the third rank belonged to the those like reserve army and the Langshan defense army that had no proper organization.

In the future, when the time was right, salary and equipment would also be dispatched according to the classification of Shanhai City's army. Those who were in the first rank would have priority access to these supplies.

Then, Ouyang Shuo ordered all the army divisions to return to their own camp. After that, he brought Jiang Shang and E'Lai back to his lord's hall.

On the way, Ouyang Shuo pointed to the schools in the city and explained the situation to Jiang Shang. Then, he tried asking Jiang Shang, "Tai Gong wants to live in seclusion, and I am absolutely fine with that. If you don't mind, why not settle down in the school of the city? They have a peaceful and harmonious academic environment there. It is a perfect place for Tai Gong. What do you think?"

Ouyang Shuo suggested this because first of all, he wanted Jiang Shang to lecture in these schools and cultivate talented pupils for him. Second and last of all, he did not want Jiang Shang to settle in the forest outside of the city, as that would cut off all chances for Ouyang Shuo to recruit him.

However, Jiang Shang did not show much interest in this matter. He kept quiet and expressed no opinion about Ouyang Shuo's suggestion. Luckily, upon returning to the main map, the game system had automatically corrected these historical figures. Therefore, like Fan Zhongyan and the others, Jiang Shang now had a deeper understanding of the game. He no longer limited himself to his own era, so he now has a wider view of all things. The rise and fall of a kingdom now had less impact on him too.

Ouyang Shuo did not feel dejected too. He brought the duo to the lord's hall and ordered the secretary to ask all the division heads to come here as there were important guests.

After greeting each other, Ouyang Shuo asked Fan Zhongyan to entertain Jiang Shang. He also ordered Fan Zhongyan to bring Jiang Shang around the schools for a walk before deciding where to settle down.

"General E'Lai, what kind of weapon do you like to most?" asked Ouyang Shuo.

E'Lai happily smiled and said, "Other than dagger axes and spears, I've never tried any other weapons before."

His words surprised Ouyan Shuo. Then, he suddenly remembered that in history, Dian Wei had used a pair of steel halberds. A halberd was the combination of dagger ax and spear. Come to think of it, maybe E'Lai would have no problem using halberds.

He quickly turned to the Ge Hongliang and said, "Director Ge, go to the Armory Division and ask them to craft General E'Lai a pair of halberds. Also, ask them to specially make armor for the general. Seek his opinions on both armor and weapons, make sure that the general has no problems using them."

"Yes, my lord!" said Ge Hong Liang.

For E'Lai, Ouyang Shuo had already made some arrangements for him. However, it must be postponed until the expansion of the territory's army. Hence, for the moment, Ouyang Shuo arranged for E'Lai to stay in the army camps in the city so that he could get used to the environment.

After arranging the duo, Ouyang Shuo finally had the chance to take a look at the items that Di Xin had awarded to him. He first took out the damask pouch and poured out an incense pill to check its stats.

【Incense Pill】: The condensation of daily prayers to gods and demons, Increases the temples' incense upon usage.

Immediately, Ouyang Shuo associated this item with the hidden structure, Mazu Temple, that was still sealed away. He needed incense pills to break the seal on Mazu Temple.

Then, Ouyang Shuo got up and headed outside of the hall. He took out the vessel to take a look at its stats.

【Name】: Shang Ding ( Platinum Class)

【Stats】: Divine Protection (Increases the defense of territory by 20%), Supremacy (Increases the majesty of the lord by 20%), Omnidirectional Suppression (Increases the combat prowess of army by 20%).

【Description】: This is a high end Shang dynasty Fan Ding. A symbol of power and might, it can be used for rituals.

Ouyang Shuo sucked in a deep breath upon seeing this. He had never thought that this Shang dynasty vessel would be a platinum class item that had such incredible stats. Especially the Omnidirectional Suppression; increasing neither the attack nor the defense of the army but all aspects instead.

Until now, in terms of every aspect, Shanhai City's army was already leading and way ahead of all the armies in the other territories. This made Ouyang Shuo extremely excited and happy.

In his mind, he planned to build an altar in front of the temple of the Yellow Emperor, Huang Di, to place the Shang dynasty vessel. Then, Ouyang Shuo put the vessel back into his inventory and headed over to the Mazu Temple in the north on his Qingfu warhorse.

The north gate's drawbridge was now completely removed. A total of three stone arch bridges were also completed. Through the bridges, one could reach the north region, and if one looked ahead, he or she would be able to see the prosperity of the commercial streets.

The biggest theatres, taverns, and restaurants were all located in the commercial streets where there was a high level of competition. As for the woodworks and blacksmiths, they were no longer fit enough to remain in the commercial street. Instead, they were now placed in the inner circle of the commercial district.

The theatres had their own crews, as the game system generated all of them. According to Bing'er, the dramas played in the theatres were extremely good to watch. However, up until now, the poor Ouyang Shuo never had the chance to take a look at it.

The current commercial street included all sorts of service shops and became the place with the highest consumptions. Even in the night, the streets were still light up brightly, and high-density crowds still walk around it.

However, Ouyang Shuo naturally had no intention of taking a look and going shopping around the streets. He straightforwardly turned left and headed into the residential area.

Although quite some time had passed, the construction of residential areas that occupied the largest acres in the city had not even passed one-third of the progress. All the paths around the residential areas were layered with blue stones, and the paths separated the housing areas into different neighborhoods. In order to ease the management, the Administration Department had elected an individual as the head to represent a neighborhoods.

Mazu Temple was built on the riverbanks of the inner city river.

When Ouyang Shuo rushed to Mazhu Temple. The elite guards that followed him immediately blocked off all access to the temple, restricting people from entering. As for those who were inside the temples, the guards also nicely asked them to exit the temple.

This was not Ouyang Shuo trying to show off his power as the lord, but to keep the secret of the incense pills. These pills were not suitable to be seen by ordinary people.

Ouyang Shuo asked his guards to secure the temple entrance and headed inside himself. The Mazu Temple now had already expanded quite a numerous times. Its size was now five to six times its original size. The temple was also separated into three sections.

Ouyang Shuo walked to the front of the statue of Mazu and took out a pill. As expected, the system notification rang.

"System notification: Incense pills to break the seal of Mazu Temple have been detected on player Ouyang Shuo. Do you want to use it to lift the seal? Friendly tips: Maximum of one pill can only be used on the temple, repeated attempts will have no effects."

"Yes, use it."

The pill flew away from Ouyang Shuo's palm and turned into a white ray. Then, it flew into the statue.

"System notification: After the enchantment of the pill, the power of the Mazu Temple has been greatly increased. Current progress of seal breaking is 60%.

Ouyang Shuo sighed. In the end, the seal could not be lifted away in one shot.

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Chapter 211 - Battle of Muye (13)

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

After leaving Mazu Temple, Ouyang Shuo headed toward the Chenghuang Temple and the Temple of Earth.

As he could only use the pills on Mazu Temple once, there were still four of them left now. Ouyang Shuo wanted to check and see what kind of effects these pills would have on the other temples too.

First, he arrived at the Chenghuang Temple. He took out a pill. As expected, the system notification rang again.

"System notification: Incense pills have been detected. Do you want to use it?"

"Yes, use it!"

In a flash, the pill turned into a ray of white light that entered the statue of the Chenghuang.

"System notification: Chenghuang's statue has been enchanted by incense pills. The Chenghuang Temple has derived a special characteristic ——【Myriad Observation】(Decreases the crime rate of the territory by 30%).

Therefore, Ouyang Shuo concluded that these pills were used to derive special effects from temples. Then, he continued to the Temple of Earth and used another pill.

"System notification: God of Earth's statue has been enchanted by incense pills. The Temple of Earth has derived a special characteristic --【Prosper Harvest】(Increase the harvest of all crops by 10%).

Finally, Ouyang Shuo arrived at the Yellow Emperor, Huang Di's, Temple. The result let Ouyang Shuo down, as the pills did not affect on the temple. Then, he guessed that:

1 - The temple had been set as the ancestral hall and needed to maintain its purity, causing the pills to have no affect on it or,

2 - The temple has been fully upgraded, leaving no room for further upgrades.

Again, Ouyang Shuo did not feel dejected. He stored the remaining two pills and planned to use it on the Temple of Literature and the Temple of Military that would appear when Shanhai City advanced to grade 3.

In the afternoon, the royal family sent an envoy to Shanhai City, representing the imperial court to officially confer Ouyang Shuo the title of Lianzhou Marquis. After receiving the notification, the Cultural Division immediately prepared the things needed to welcome the court messenger.

The envoy took out the royal edict. Under the lead of Ouyang Shuo, the generals and strategists of Shanhai City received the edict.

"Under the fortune of the emperor, player Qiyue Wuyi arrived in the wilderness. Appointed with huge hope and missions, he overcame obstacles, crushing the evil forces and achieving outstanding merits. Now, he is granted with the title of Lianzhou Marquis to show the emperor's gratitude."

"Thank you for the king's gracious," said Ouyang Shuo.

The rewards from the court contained four items.

The first was the seal of the Lianzhou Marquis. The seal shone with golden rays, and it weighed approximately 300 grams. On the top of the seal was the word 'King (王)' and on the bottom were the letterings Lianzhou Marquis.

The seal would replace the lord's credential, and it became the personal credential for Ouyang Shuo.

The second item was the panorama map for the entire State of Lian. The map contained every single little detail, from rivers and hills to all sorts of resources like mines.

The gifting of this map to Ouyang Shuo did not mean that the entire state was now his fief. It could only be said that Ouyang Shuo had become the titular of the state.

The third item was the feudal lord robe. The robe was used for various occasions such as performing rituals.

The fourth item was the Dan Bow and Arrow that represented the Lianzhou Marquis authorization of conquest. In truth, it was just a bow and a red arrow. However, this meant that Ouyang Shuo was authorized to launch any campaigns within the State of Lian.

The above four items were the symbol of Ouyang Shuo's title and the acknowledgment of his current position, which separated him from the other ordinary players. He became one very important lord in the wilderness.

Among these items, the map and the bow and arrow were immediately placed in the Yellow Emperor Temple for worship.

Other than these four items, the court also awarded Ouyang Shuo with silk, jewelry, gold, horses and a luxury carriage.

After awarding Ouyang Shuo, the court messenger accepted some money as tips from Xu Shuda. Then, the court messenger immediately returned to the court without any further ado. The court's award to Ouyang Shuo had made the entire territory extremely happy and excited.

Ouyang Shuo ordered Zhi Su to store the rewards from the court in the storage of the lord's hall. Then, he took a portion of the gold away and left some for the expenses of the lord's hall.

By the time they finished dealing with these matters, it was already the evening. After his dinner with Bing'er, he returned to his room and continued his meditation. After migrating, meditating at every night had become Ouyang Shuo's new habit.

Gaia 1st Year, 16th of the 8th Month, Shanhai City welcomed another advancement.

Ouyang Shuo walked into the meeting room and quietly said the command for territory advancement in his heart. After a white light flashed across the entire room, a golden stone heartstone rose up from the middle of the room. He placed his hands on the heartstone, and the system notification rang.

"System notification: Checking for the requirements for territory upgrade…."

"Requirement 1: Reaching the population limit of 50,000 people, requirement met!"

Because of the 'lightning' operation and the players who had settled down in the town, the population of Shanhai City had rapidly increased. It had met this requirement around a month ago.

"Requirement 2: Building all basic structures of the town, requirement met!"

The only problem for the grade 2 city was the chess clubhouse. However, this problem was solved when an elderly who loved chess in reality arrived in the town and temporarily took over the position of the dean of the chess clubhouse.

"Requirement 3: Reaching the title of 1st-class count, requirement met!"

God knows how many players were frustrated with the requirement of reaching 1st-class count. According to the reports, quite a number of cities like Danyang City, Red Blood City, and Handan City had reached the grade 2 city. Unfortunately for them, there was still an incredibly long way to go before they reached grade 3 city.

"System notification: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for meeting all requirements for advancing Shanhai City into a grade 3 city. Do you want to upgrade?"

"Yes, upgrade!"

On the heartstone, a ray of golden light rocketed upward upon his confirmation and exploded in the skies. Then, it transformed into a golden halo that spread through the entire territory before disappearing.

"System notification: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for becoming the first player to advance his city into a level 3 city. Now rewarding him with 2,200 merit points."

"System notification: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for becoming the first player to advance his city into a level 3 city…."

"System notification: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for becoming the first player to….."

It was a matter of course that Shanhai City would advance to grade 3, so this no longer attracted the interest of other players anymore. However, Ouyang Shuo's title advancement to Lianzhou Marquis was still the most trending topic.

"System notification: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for advancing his territory into a grade 3 city, now randomly generating three grade 3 city basic structures. Please pick one as your reward."

"System notification: The three random structures have been generated. They are the brothel, the watchtower, and the Temple of Military. Please choose wisely!"

"Choose the brothel!"

"System notification: The selected structure is now being generated. Player can view it at will now"

Another white light flashed across the room and the heartstone slowly sunk into the ground. Then, Ouyang Shuo checked the stats of Shanhai City.

【Territory】: Shanhai City (grade 3 city)

【Owner】: Qiyue Wuyi (3rd class marquis)

【Title】: World's first city (Increases territory fame by 30%)

【Morale】: 95/100

【Security】: 94/100

【Territory population】: 50,000/100,000

【Refugee spawn time】: 300 per day

【Territory area 】:10,000 sq km

【Territory specialty】: …. (Omitted)

【Political index】: 68/100 (affects administrative efficiency, related to morale)

【Economy index】: 60.100 (affects prosperity of trading, related to tax)

【Cultural index】: 65/100 (affects education, related to residents character)

【Military index】: 60/100 (affects military power, related to stability)

【Affiliated territory】: Beihai City, Qiuhui City, Friendship City

List of basic structures :

【Brothel】: Place for adult entertainment. Requirements to build: Geisha, brothel's building blueprint, 8,000 units of wood, 4,000 units of jade brick, 5,000 units of stone. Time to build: 10 days. (Note: The structure has been generated).

【Watchtower】: A watchtower that uses drum and bell to send out warnings. Requirements to build: Watchtower building blueprint, 8,000 units of wood, 8,000 units of jade brick, 10,000 units of stone. Time to build: 10 days.

【Temple of Literature】: A place for the worshipping of past generations of wise ministers and strategists. Requirements to build: Temple of Literature building blueprint, 8,000 units of wood, 8,000 units of jade brick, 4,000 units of stone. Time to build: 10 days.

【Temple of Military】: A place for the worshipping of past generations of mighty and powerful generals. Requirements to build: Temple of Military building blueprint, 8,000 units of wood, 8,000 units of jade brick, 4,000 units of stone. Time to build: 10 days.

【College】: Place for education. Requirements to build: College building blueprint, 10,000 units of wood, 10,000 units of jade brick, 8,000 units of stone. Time to build: 15 days. (Note: Similar structure Xinan University is present, cannot be built repeatedly).

Compared to a grade 2 city, a grade 3 city's population limit and land occupied were doubled. According to the current refugee spawning time, it would take another 167 days to reach the limit of the current population.

Of course, in order to reach grade 1 prefecture, one would never succeed if they only met the basic requirements. Every time a territory wanted to advance from a village to a town, a town to a city, or a city to a prefecture, the territory would need to face a series of strict tests.

For example, to advance into a town from a village required the territory to meet certain numbers in its political, military, education, cultural and economic indices. To advance into a city from a town, the territory must have a certain point of defensive and military power. However, Ouyang Shuo had no idea about the requirements to advance a city to a prefecture yet.

Prefectures belonged to the category of higher ranked territory. Naturally, players would not post anything about the advancing requirements on the forums anymore. Therefore, as an adventurer-type player in his past life, Ouyang Shuo only knew a little bit of the entire picture.

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Chapter 212- Forcing the Emperor to Abdicate

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

Out of the five basic buildings required for a grade 3 city, the brothel and the college had already been built. He still needed the clock tower, the Confucius Temple, and the Military Temple.

It had to be said that the brothel in the game centered around the entertainment value of the civil servants. The girls there were selling their art and not their bodies, so they were mostly singers and dancers.

For the building blueprints for grade 3 counties, each of them was sold for 1000 gold. As the market had already removed the function of buying blueprints, Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to send three thousand gold over to little aunt and ask her to purchase it for him. Then, she could send it over to him to save the 10% sales tax.

At this stage, basic buildings stopped being the bottleneck that prevented territories from upgrading.

While Ouyang Shuo was upgrading, he still paid attention to Di Chen and the others.

As expected, the upgrading of Shanhai City had once again provoked the other territories. That afternoon, Di Chen, Chun Shenjun, Zhan Lang, Feng Qingyang, Sha Pojun, and Wandering Magic announced the merger of Handan, Chunqiu, and Blood Metal Alliances, forming the Yanhuang Alliance.

The Yanhuang Alliance didn't have a leader—all seven of them shared the leadership. Just as Wufu had said, they excluded him from the alliance. Based on sources, if Xiaongba didn't protect Wandering Magic, they would also remove her. As the old man had said, they needed to maintain the purity of the alliance.

Yanhuang Alliance had overtaken the Shanhai Alliance and became the top alliance in China. Compared to the Six Tyrants of Handan at the start of the game, their strength was stronger now. The name of the alliance showed their ambition. They wanted to be the flag of the Chinese players and be the leaders.

As the China region welcomed this huge change, many players—especially the lord mode players—didn't know what to do.

Bai Xiaoshen pointed out that the formation of the Yanhuang Alliance represented the splitting up of the rich and the commoner player groups. As the representatives of both parties, Yanhuang Alliance and Shanhai Alliance were bound to be enemies that fought to the death to be the leader of the China region.

His viewpoint had gained the agreement and acknowledgment of many players.

As for which party was stronger, it was hard for one to tell. Based on overall strength, the Yanhuang Alliance was stronger. But the existence of Shanhai City was a mountain that the Yanhuang Alliance couldn't overcome, enough to make up the difference in strength. After the migration, the position of Shanhai City had gained the recognition of everyone, and it was unassailable.

In two consecutive battles, Shanhai Alliance had won, and Di Chen had lost badly, which was the best indicator. Especially after Ouyang Shuo was named the Lianzhou Marquis and had reached a peak.

Many commoner players left messages in the country channel. They asked Qiyue Wuyi to come out to make a stand. He naturally wouldn't listen to such request. He wanted to fight, and the best way was to let the results do the talking.

What Ouyang Shuo didn't expect was the establishment of the Yanhuang Alliance to go against Shanhai Alliance.

Feng Qiuhuang panicked in the alliance channel, "Wuyi, my family is forcing me to leave the Shanhai Alliance to join the Yanhuang Alliance. They want me to give up my position as lord. The big bosses of the Yanhuang Alliance have all come."

Ouyang Shuo coldly laughed. Those fellows really thought that they could do anything that they wanted in the game? So arrogant. "Feng Wu, don't worry I'll teleport to Fallen Phoenix City straight away."

"Ok, I'll wait for you at the teleportation formation," Feng Qiuhuang heaved a sigh of relief.

Fallen Phoenix County, lord meeting hall.

Feng Qiuhuang suddenly stood up, "Let's stop for a while. I'll go receive someone before giving you an answer."

"Who are you receiving?" asked Feng Tianlie. This person was Feng Qiuhuang's brother.

Feng Qiuhuang didn't bother about him and said a simple sentence, "Qiyue Wuyi." Then, she turned and left the lord's manor.

It was like it had a certain magical element. The moment his name was mentioned, the hall fell silent. Especially the Feng clan members who remembered that Feng Qiuhuang had such a backer.

"Hei, isn't he just a stupid brat? See how you all are so scared," the one that spoke was a 60 year old man. He looked arrogant; he was Sha Pojun's Grandfather, Grandpa Dao.

"To be able to get such results, that brat should have some talent," Di Chen's Grandfather laughed as he said this. However, his words had a feeling of elitism.

After 10 minutes, Ouyang Shuo followed Feng Qiuhuang and walked into the meeting hall.

Ouyang Shuo looked around and judged the situation. Not only did all the people who ran the big powers come, even the younger generations like Di Chen had come and were sitting behind their elders.

Such a group, it seemed like they wouldn't stop till they got what they wanted.

Ouyang Shuo was imposing and had an awe-inspiring aura. Toward this group of people, he didn't feel scared at all, and he calmly sat down beside Feng Qiuhuang.

Earth online was a stage for common players to make legends. The earth had become a thing of the past, and the past glory had ended. A new planet, a new world. Who would rule that? Really, no one could tell.

"Brat why are you here?" Grandpa Dao said.

In truth, he wasn't as rash as he looked. He knew that if his side wanted to gain a footing, they needed to rely on other strong powers. Today was a good opportunity for him to act as a bad person to show his worth, so how could he miss it?

Ouyang Shuo's eyes turned frigid, as he looked toward Qiuhuang and asked, "This person is?"

Feng Qiuhuang looked at Grandpa Dao with disgust, "He's Sha Pojun's Grandfather, Grandpa Dao."

"Grandpa Dao. May I ask what are you here for? If I remember correctly, this isn't the Asura City that has just upgraded."

"Stupid brat. We are here to get justice for the Feng clan. Such a useless person like you, what right do you have to appear here?" Grandpa Dao didn't expect Ouyang Shuo to not care about his status and fumed.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head and looked around. Then, he said to the older generation, "I am the Shanhai Alliance leader, you people have invaded Fallen Phoenix City. Naturally, I must step up. On a personal level, Feng Wu is my friend, and I can't sit aside and watch her get bullied. Hence, I have more right to be here than any of you present. What do you say, Grandpa Dao?"

Grandpa Dao was stunned, and he didn't know what to say.

"Qiyue Wuyi, this is our family matter. You are an outsider, so please don't step in," a member of the Feng Clan tried to help Grandpa Dao get out of this embarrassing situation.

"Since it's a family matter, what's up with all of them?" Ouyang Shuo pointed at Grandpa Dao.

"They are friends of the Feng Clan. Naturally, they can appear here."

Feng Qiuhuang couldn't take it much longer and bluntly said, "Wuyi is also my friend. And since you all pushed me to this step, it means that you all didn't see me as a member of the Feng Clan. I, Feng Wu, officially announce that I'll leave the family and I have nothing to do with the Feng Clan from this day on."

"You, you this rebellious child!" Grandpa Feng was furious.

Ouyang Shuo remained silent; her decision was something he had expected. This strong woman that her family distrusted had waited for such a day, driving her to seize the chance and make the bold move of directly contacting Ouyang Shuo.

Feng Qiuhuang didn't bother about their scoldings and continued, "And also, Qiyue Wuyi has the right to represent me."

To play the long game with this bunch of old men, Ouyang Shuo didn't have the confidence, so he decided to be quick to prevent trouble, "'ll make it clear. Not only will the Fallen Phoenix City not leave the alliance, Feng Wu will also not let go of her position. One cannot deny how much she contributed to this city. Enough talk. What compensation do you want before you agree to leave Fallen Phoenix City? Say it straight and stop wasting time."

"Young man, you dare to utter such big words?" Grandpa Feng was still furious.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head, "Grandpa I'm not talking on impulse. The Feng Clan splitting up is bound to happen. To put it bluntly, if she isn't willing to give up her lordship, there's also nothing you can do. Don't think that the Yanhuang Alliance can really rule the whole of China."

"What? Are you challenging us?" Di Chen's Grandfather couldn't help but retort.

Ouyang Shuo coldly laughed, "I could make you lose all your forces in the Battle of Muye. I can do it again. Old grandpa, this isn't Earth. One must speak with strength."

"Young man, don't be too arrogant. A little victory doesn't mean anything," Di Chen's Grandfather was still angry about the defeat at the Battle of Muye. At such a moment, he couldn't back down.

"Speak your conditions," Ouyang Shuo didn't care about the war of words.

Grandpa Feng looked at the others and said, "if you want us to leave, it's simple. Give us a one-time payment of 50 thousand gold for us to use to build a new territory."

Ouyang Shuo shook his head, "Grandpa I hope you guys use some sincerity. For Fallen Phoenix City to have this day, it is all because of Feng Wu. To put it bluntly, the only thing you all did was give her a silver village creation token."

"You, are speaking nonsense." After Ouyang Shuo exposed him, the Grandpa Feng became embarrassed and angry.

Ouyang Shuo continued, "Last offer, 20 thousand."

They were actually very happy with this price. In truth, the various powers had prepared a backup for the Feng Clan. They had promised to provide them with a black iron village creation token.

Hence, for them to build a new territory, what they lacked was money. And 20 thousand was enough to upgrade one to the city level.

"21 thousand and it must be paid upfront." These words were typical bargaining.

Ouyang Shuo looked at Feng Qiuhuang and knew that this was already the best outcome, "Deal, I'll pay you 10 thousand first. As for the rest, I'll pay it when you all leave."

"Good!"

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Chapter 213-Nirvana

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Nora

Three days later, the whole situation with the Feng Clan finally came to an end.

The Yanhuang Alliance provided a black iron rank village creation token to Feng Wu's brother—Feng Tianlie. This action allowed him to set up the Fengxiang Village. All of the clan members who lived in Fallen Phoenix City left and moved over to Fengxiang Village.

Out of the core members, apart from Feng Qiuhuang's best friend, Qing Luan, the families of the rest like Zhu Que, Hei Tian'er and Xueyan, forced them to move over. After Ouyang Shuo learned of this news, he removed the three of them from the alliance channel.

The moment Feng Tianlie created Fengxiang Village, the Yanhuang Alliance took it in right away as a new member.

In a moment, the Fallen Phoenix City had lost a lot, losing 10 thousand of men, which caused the territory to enter a half-handicapped state. They also owed Shanhai City a huge debt now.

To gather enough cash, Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to gather the profits from the first half of the 8th month. The 8,500 gold that he had, in addition to the 14,000 gold from before, totaled of 22.5 thousand gold.

Ouyang Shuo loaned 20 thousand gold to Feng Qinhuang. Naturally, this sum was paid through the Four Seas Bank branch in Fallen Phoenix City.

This 20 thousand gold had a loan length of two years. Each month would add interest, and she would have to pay 1,418 gold. This was same the treatment as Xunlong City. The gold that was paid every month would automatically be placed in the Four Seas Bank's funds to be further loaned out.

With such a method, Fallen Phoenix City and Xunlong City could both borrow the funds they paid back to build their territory. The price they paid would be the Four Seas Bank slowly controlling their economic ability.

After sending off the last batch of players, Ouyang Shuo stood beside her. Strangely, she did not look sad. Instead, she had a look of relief and freedom.

Looking at the setting sun, she suddenly turned around and revealed a bright smile toward Ouyang Shuo. That smile contained the look of a finally liberated girl with a new lease of life.

In an instant, Ouyang Shuo saw the proud phoenix rise from the ashes as if it had undergone a nirvana rebirth.

In that instant, he finally heaved a sigh of relief.

"Aiyo, why do I feel like I'm being used?" Ouyang Shuo pretended to be unhappy.

Feng Qiuhuang turned around, "You're a man, so don't bother about such small details. I'll repay you."

"How will you repay me?"

"How about I give you myself?"

"Cough cough," Ouyang Shuo choked and said in embarrassment, "Big miss, please don't make this kind of joke. You will scare people to death."

"Why? Are you feeling guilty? Relax, I won't tell Song Jia," Feng Qiuhuang laughed.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head, "Stop! How are we even going to continue as friends if you act like this?"

"Aish, do I really have no charm?" Feng Qiuhuang was originally just joking, but her pride took a hit when she saw his reaction. In such areas, girls were quite sensitive.

Ouyang Shuo raised his hand and surrendered, "You fans will kill me if I dared to say that the top beauty in China has no charm."

Ouyang Shuo said this because not long ago, China's top 10 beauties leaderboard was released and it gained much recognition and agreement.

Feng Qiuhuang, who took first place, gained many new fans in an instant.

She giggled, "It is good that you know."

As Ouyang Shuo left, Feng Qiuhuang shouted from behind him, "Wuyi, thank you!" Ouyang Shuo didn't turn around and simply waved his hand. He turned into a white light, as he disappeared from the teleportation formation.

"Sister, Qiyue Wuyi is a total blockhead. He actually didn't care about your charms," Qing Luan was fighting for her Sister. While the two talked, she had stood at the side and listened on.

Feng Qiuhuang shook her head, "It seems like he's a loyal guy. You didn't join in the Battle of Muye, so you haven't seen his girlfriend, Song Jia,she's also a total beauty." There was a tinge of loneliness to her voice. What woman didn't hold a little thirst?

……

Handan City.

"Grandpa I don't understand."

"What don't you understand?"

"I don't understand why we let Fallen Phoenix City off so lightly. Couldn't we have extorted more from Shanhai Alliance?"

"Do you think that it was not enough?"

"Of course it's not enough. They spent 20 thousand on a silver village creation token and had used it for half a year, so it's worth it. How can it be considered crushing them?"

"Ah, you only look at the surface. Didn't you see that the price of grain on the market has started to soar and that the grain in the territory granary is about to run out?" Di Chen's Grandfather looked at him with a little disappointment.

"Grandpa, your meaning is?"

"20 thousand gold is not a small sum. Even if Shanhai City has so much money, this amount is probably all the movable gold they have on hand. Their population is the highest in China, so they require the most grain. Once the grain prices rise, and he doesn't have enough money, what can he do?"

Di Chen understood and sucked up to his grandfather, "You understood everything!"

……

After Ouyang Shuo returned to the territory, he ordered a military meeting.

He said straightforwardly, "As the territory upgraded again, the main camp population has broken 50 thousand. We have the ability to expand the military once again."

As for expanding the military, the various leaders didn't have an issue. Shanhai City's last expansion was three months ago when the territory became a grade 1 City. At the grade 2 City level, it didn't have any large scale changes. Hence, now would be a right time to expand the military.

Based on his reasoning, he wanted to reorganize the military structure once and for all to prevent constant restructuring, which would affect fighting strength and morale.

Ouyang Shuo swept across the room and said, "I've decided to officially build the first division. There will be five regiments and a brigade under it, so a total of 13.5 thousand men."

They were shocked, as they didn't expect their lord to initiate such a huge change. One must know that Shanhai City only had a Mixed Regiment now. It was a large leap to directly add four regiments and one brigade.

Military Affairs Department Ge Hongliang bit the bullet and said, "Sire, based on the population of Shanhai Alliance, it's not enough to have a division. Shouldn't we just build one or two regiments first before building a division when the time is right?"

Ouyang Shuo shook his head "Director Ge, please relax. We don't have to fully complete the building of the division straight away. If nothing goes wrong, we will focus on the first division at the city stage.

Ouyang Shuo's words cleared all their doubts. A grade 3 City had a population of 100 thousand. With the addition of the affiliate territories, if was enough for a division.

After they came to a common understanding, Ouyang Shuo announced the organization of the military, "The Mixed Regiment at the west camp in the city will become the first regiment of the division, and Shi Wanshui will continue to be the colonel. The vanguard unit in the north camp will have an additional two cavalry units and form the second regiment."

"Lin Yi!"

"Present!" Lin Yi stood out.

"I appoint you as the colonel of the second regiment. You are in charge of its building."

Although he had an inkling he might be chosen, Lin Yi still very emotional after Ouyang Shuo appointed him as a colonel, "Thank you, sire. I won't let you down!" A colonel needed an intermediate general, so Lin Yi fitted the bill.

Ouyang Shuo nodded and continued, "At the east side of Qiushui City, set up the east camp. They'll be in charge of the east defense and the fitting of the territory. Similarly, the east camp will form the 3rd regiment and the arrangements of the units will be similar to that of the east side. They will have two heavy infantry units, one cavalry unit, one spearmen unit, and one archer unit. The original Qiushui cavalry unit will be in this third regiment and be its third unit."

In truth, when setting up the Qiushui cavalry unit, he had already created the groundwork for the east camp. At the start, he had separated the cavalry unit from the Qiushui City city protection unit and belonged to a fighting unit.

Ouyang Shuo turned around and looked E'Lai, who was attending a military meeting for the first time. Ouyang Shuo smiled and said, "General E'Lai, you will be the colonel of the third regiment and the General of the east camp."

"Yes, sire!" E'Lai stepped up and bowed.

No one disagreed with his appointment, so his fame was evident.

"Because of the uniqueness of the heavy armored infantry, we must choose elite mountain barbarian soldiers. Hence, the 3rd regiment can only choose from the reserve squad to build a spearmen and archer unit. The two heavy armored infantry units will be temporarily delayed. When the time is right, they will be built." E'Lai had just arrived at Shanhai City, so he didn't understand the situation too well. Ouyang Shuo felt that E'Lai needed an explanation.

E'Lai nodded and expressed that he understood.

"As for the 4th and 5th regiments, they are temporarily pushed back and won't be built in the near future," Ouyang Shuo said helplessly. The lack of intermediate generals made him powerless, and no one else could take up the role of colonel. He looked around and said solemnly, "Now I'll promise all of you something. The general that can reach intermediate rank will be appointed colonel. May all of you work hard. Don't disappoint me."

Zhao Sihu and the others revealed shame on their faces. Being unable to help their lord was the same as not doing their job.

Ouyang Shuo continued, "I will temporarily take the role of major General. The lord's guards will be upgraded to the guards unit, and Wang Feng will be their major," Ouyang Shuo looked over to him, "Wang Feng!"

"Present!"

"Although the guards unit needs to expand, the standards must not drop. I don't expect you to do so straight away, but try to extract the essence and the elite. Do you understand?" Ouyang Shuo didn't want the trump card in his hand to be weakened because of the expansion.

"Understood!" Wang Feng said solemnly.

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Chapter 214 - Luosha

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

After he finished announcing the reorganization of the Shanhai City 1st division, he continued his military expansion plan.

He looked toward Pei Donglai and said, "Beihai Naval fleet will expand two units and reach the organization of a regiment. The colonel role will be handed over to you."

"Yes sire." Pei Donglai knew that the goal of expanding the naval fleet was to attack the pirates on Yue'er Island.

"General Wang!"

"Present!" Wang Yuanfeng stepped out.

"The god machine unit will expand an additional unit. At the same time, the general must guide the affiliate territories to at least have a crossbowmen squadron to help the city protection unit." Ouyang Shuo planned to place arcuballistas in the affiliate territories.

"Yes sire!"

With that, the new round of expansion of Shanhai City had ended. The new addition of 2 cavalry units for the 2nd regiment, the spearmen, archer units of the 3rd regiment, and the 2 units of the Beihai naval fleet, 1 unit for the god machine unit, and the cost for class change was 3250 gold.

Ouyang Shuo had only 2250 gold on hand and had a 1000 gold shortfall. It was 10 days until the end of the month, and to use profits from the territory was too late. This sum could only be obtained from raiders.

Ouyang Shuo ordered the 3rd regiment to be the priority, followed by the Beihai Naval Fleet and the god machine unit, while the 2nd regiment would be pushed back. At the same time, the 1st and 3rd regiments would be in charge of the east and west exterminations of raiders.

Considering that the 3rd regiment was just built and the organization wasn't complete, Ouyang Shuo made the 3 city protection units to help them, appointing Shanhai City protection unit major Zhao Sihu as the temporary deputy of the Eastern camp.

As for the 2nd regiment, they were positioned at the north camp and couldn't quickly be moved. The situation in the plains was more and more intense. Friendship City's trading market was also becoming famous, and the trades had been doubling and proliferating. It was because of that that it needed the 2nd regiment to prevent the tribes from having other thoughts.

Ouyang Shuo's strategy towards the plains was to wait, see, and adapt to changes.

After ending the military meeting, E'Lai was the only one that stayed.

This general was wearing the Buren armor that the Armory Division had made for him; on his back was a halberd made of elite iron. Compared to his look in the Battle of Muye, he looked fiercer and more powerful.

"General, what issue do you have?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

E'Lai laughed and said in embarrassment, "Sire, I saw a horse and was wondering if sire was willing to gift it to me."

Ouyang Shuo froze. "Didn't the Military Affairs Department assign you an elite Qingfu horse? Is general not pleased with that horse?"

"That's not it." E'Lai shook his head. "A few days ago when I was walking around the territory I saw a pair of beasts and instantly adored them."

Ouyang Shuo didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "The beasts you refer to are they the Nian beasts?"

"Yes yes yes, it's the Nian beast. Director Zhu told me that it was you that tamed it."

In truth, the 2 Nian beasts had already stayed in Shanhai City for half a year. Last month, they gave birth to a pair of baby beasts, one male, and one female. On the surface, they were different from the Nian beast, slowly starting to awaken the bloodline of the qilin, looking similar to the qilin of legends.

The newly born beasts became Bing'er's playmates. She often ran to the back mountains to play with them. It was weird that the fierce Nian beasts were caring and gentle with her.

Sometimes, the pair were willing to follow Bing'er outside the territory to the plains. This made it that other than Xue'er and Blackfang, there was a new pair of little beasts following her around.

All the kids in the territory including Er Wazi worshiped Bing'er. Bing'er had now become the queen of Shanhai City, having a bunch of little followers.

Now for E'Lai to suddenly raise up the topic to Ouyang Shuo to pick the Nian beasts as mounts made Ouyang Shuo very curious. "General, can you tame the Nian beasts?"

E'Lai laughed. "As long as sire agrees, I have 90% confidence."

"Ok, I agree." Ouyang Shuo decided to let E'Lai try.

Ouyang Shuo was thinking that instead of letting the Nian beasts spend their days on the back mountain, why not do something purposeful like fight and battle? As long as the baby beasts were there, the specialty and buffs that the beasts brought wouldn't disappear.

E'Lai had good taste. If he were able to take them, they would be much better than elite Qingfu horses. They also brought two such strong skills.

As he was very curious, Ouyang Shuo got up and brought E'Lai towards the back mountains.

After rushing there, the Nian beast family was having their meal and enjoying the feast that the Resource Division had sent them.

Under Ouyang Shuo's permission, E'Lai slowly walked towards the Nian beast. He chose the fiercer and stronger male beast. Seeing him get close, he looked alert and unhappy that it was disturbing his meal, roaring as a warning.

Ouyang Shuo took the chance to cancel the contract with the Nian beast to allow E'Lai to tame it.

"System Notification: Player Qiyue Wuyi has canceled the contract with the Nian beast, as it has given birth in Shanhai City, it still is the protector beast of Shanhai City."

The moment Ouyang Shuo broke the contract, anger swept across its eyes, but when it looked at the two baby beasts, it's fierceness disappeared. It was evident that the Nian beast had regained its fierce and brutal personality.

"Nian~" it roared out again, this time appearing more anxious.

E'Lai didn't have any fear and made a brutal expression, staring straight at it before making wild beast shouts, seemingly communicating with it.

This seemed like the method E'Lai was going to use to take it. In legends, E'Lai could capture tigers and leopards alive.

Being challenged by E'Lai, it appeared more restless. It was initially sitting down, but now it stood up, its tail straight up as it took an attacking stance. It roared towards E'Lai, revealing its sharp teeth.

E'Lai didn't retreat and instead advanced, his hands moved like lighting and grabbed onto both horns, he head-butted the Nian beast, wanting to compete with the beast in strength.

The Nian beast was part of a small number of fierce beasts so how could it take such a challenge? Especially its horns which were signs of pride. It buried its limbs on the ground and forced its head forward, wanting to pierce E'Lai with its horns.

Unexpectedly, although the Nian beast was strong, E'Lai wasn't much weaker. He stepped onto the ground, the enormous strength causing him to sink down but not slip backward. Ouyang Shuo predicted that E'Lai was using some technique to change the direction of the power forcefully.

It didn't expect E'Lai's adaptation. The Nian beast didn't expect the human in front of it to be so strong to be able to compete with it. This provoked it even more as it roared and roared, its strength increasing. E'Lai's legs could visibility be seen to sink down.

Luckily at the crucial moment, he used his strength to jump out from the ground and do a somersault. Grabbing onto the horns of the Nian beast and changing positions, his body turned mid-air and he landed, sitting on the back of the Nian beast.

How could the Nian beast take such humiliation? It immediately jumped and flung itself right and left trying to get E'Lai off its back.

Unfortunately, E'Lai stuck onto its body like glue, and no matter how it struggled, it couldn't get him off. Seeing E'Lai's movement, Ouyang Shuo was reminded that the Bajiquan's laying on the mountain looked very similar.

What followed was a battle of attrition.

The Nian beast, with its back facing E'Lai, was running around in the back mountain, struggling with all its might. Before it reached its goal it wouldn't stop. Sometimes, it even bumped into the trees and flung itself onto a rock.

Unfortunately, although E'Lai was injured, he wouldn't let go and stuck to its back.

Two hours later, the intense workout had ended. What was worse was that the Nian beast had just eaten and such jumping around made it feel very uncomfortable.

In truth, E'Lai was already at his max and was relying purely on resilience.

At the crucial moment, E'Lai's knowledge and experience came into play. He knew that the Nian beast had recognized his ability and as long as it gave him a chance, it would be able to be tamed.

Er Lai released his grip on the right horn and softly rubbed its head saying, "Nian beast, you are so strong and so fast but have to stay on such a small mountain. I, E'Lai, cannot bear to see you like this. Why don't you follow me to war?"

The Nian beasts were very smart and could understand human words. Hence, after listening to his words, the Nian beast stop struggling.

Seeing the situation, E'Lai was delighted, patting its head. "Okay, from today onwards you will be called Luosha. Together we will rule the battlefields."

"Nian~" The beast gave out a high-pitched roar.

E'Lai seemed like he could understand what it meant and was elated.

Ouyang Shuo stood to the side and smiled. He couldn't imagine how majestic it would look for E'Lai to ride Luosha on the battlefield, giving the enemies so many nightmares.

Riding on the Nian beast, E'Lai rushed over to Ouyang Shuo's side and jumped off, saying excitedly, "Thank you sire!"

Ouyang Shuo nodded. "Congratulations general, for getting a good mount. The Armory Division will help build a set of armor for Luosha in order to protect it."

"Thank you, sire!" E'Lai was really on cloud nine.

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Chapter 215- Acceptance

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

After E'Lai tamed the Nian beast, they left the back mountains and went towards the Military Affairs Department. In the next week, he would finish the construction of the Eastern camp and the 3rd regiment. Ouyang Shuo had already given the appointments of various majors to E'Lai and Ge Hongliang.

In the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo called the director of Internal Affairs Tian Wenjing into his office to discuss about the mountain barbarians.

Ouyang Shuo invited him to sit. "The military is expanding, so we need many elite mountain barbarian warriors to build the heavy armored infantry units. However the nearby mountain barbarian tribes have been used up. Based on how I see it, we need to travel farther into the mountains to get their trust. The mountain barbarians are important assets, and our policy must be maintained.

Tian Wenjing nodded and said, "I understand sire's meaning. Tomorrow, I will rush to Xuanniao tribe and ask them to act as a middleman to help us visit the various tribes and pass gifts to show our sincerity."

Seeing Tian Wenjing really understand what he wanted, Ouyang Shuo was touched. "It's been tough on you."

After that, both of them discussed specifics of the operation until 5 PM before ending the conversation. One could see how much focus and importance he placed on the mountain barbarians.

……

8th month, 21st day

Receiving Ouyang Shuo's invitation, Song Jia and Song Wen came to Shanhai City.

The Battle of Muye let Song Wen feel Ouyang Shuo's strength and influence. When he went home, he thought about it and decided to personally follow his sister here to discuss further cooperation.

Ouyang Shuo didn't hold any grand welcoming ceremony, and just brought them directly back to the lord's manor.

One the way back, although Song Jia was curious about Shanhai City, she didn't ask. During this visit, she had already decided to move over.

The meeting room was arranged based on rank and power so it was good to welcome guests there. He brought both of them to the guest room, and a servant brought them drinks before going away.

"Brother Song must stay here for a few days and allow me to show you around." Ouyang Shuo laughed.

Song Wen laughed. "Since you asked, I can't decline." He took a mouthful of the tea, and his eyes brightened as he exclaimed, "Good tea!"

"I didn't expect brother Song to know about tea, unlike me."

Song Wen waved him off. "I don't know anything about tea. It's old grandpa Song who often drank tea at home so he would drag me along, and after a while I learned a bit."

Ouyang Shuo nodded. "Since it's like this, before brother Song leaves, can you bring some tea leaves for grandpa Song? It also counts as a little gift from me. This tea is called white tea and is a famous tea in Guangxi. We managed to find a wild tea garden nearby to make such a tea."

"Thank you. My grandpa treats tea like his life. It's so hard to find good tea here. To find something like this, he had been nagging at me. This is such a huge favor." Song Wen was delighted.

Song Wen was the heir to the family, so his business skills and interpersonal skills were great. During the Battle of Muye, he had developed a friendship with Gong Chengshi and Xunlong Dianxue. His motive was to remove the distance and the obstacles between them and Tianshuang Town to allow them to join the Shanhai Alliance.

His actions actually worked. After the battle, Ouyang Shuo discussed with them through the alliance channel about Tianshuang Town and didn't face any obstacles.

In addition to the fact that they were going to accept Wufu, Ouyang Shuo wanted to suggest to invite Tianshuang Town at the same time. As expected, they were both approved.

And that was thus the reason for this trip.

After accepting Wanshi Town and Tianshuang Town, Shanhai Allaince now had 8 members, the same as Yanhuang Alliance.

Yanhuang Alliance's actions were what made Ouyang Shuo decide to accept the 2 new territories.

Of course before officially accepting Wufu, Ouyang Shuo did some investigations. If he was a spy sent by Di Chen, then they would be in a lot of trouble.

The results of the investigation made him less worried. Combining the results with what he remembered in his last life when Wufu didn't join any camp, only then did he totally not worry.

Song Wen's visit obviously wasn't to reminisce about the past. During the Battle of Muye, he understood that Ouyang Shuo liked to build branches of the Four Seas Bank in his allies' territories.

Before he came, he had discussed about this matter with his father and grandfather. They all came to an agreement that for Tianshuang Town to achieve their goals, they needed to rely on others.

What they worried about was whether Shanhai City had enough money to support so many branches running at the same time.

Especially with the situation with Fallen Phoenix City, forcing Ouyang Shuo to pay 20 thousand gold. Hence, Song Wen wanted to investigate some things.

In truth, just as he feared, Shanhai City's finances were very tight, and even the money needed to expand the money was only obtained from raiders.

However, all this was temporary. As long as Ouyang Shuo sold the grain that he had accumulated, he would be able to get large amounts of cash and support the expansion of the Four Seas Bank.

To let Song Wen relax and not worry, Ouyang Shuo revealed the Langshan mines to him. Upon hearing that Shanhai City had such a gold mine, Song Wen heaved a sigh of relief.

Seeing the two of them decide official matters, Song Jia was restless.

Ouyang Shuo naturally saw her being bored, shaking his head in amusement and calling for the servant.

"Sire!"

"Invite third Miss here, and tell her that we have an important guest."

"Yes!"

A while later, Bing'er followed behind the servant and walked in. "Brother, who came?"

Ouyang Shuo waved to Bing'er. "Baby, bring sister Song Jia to walk around the city okay?"

It has been close to 3 months that Bing'er had stayed here and had long became a local. With her being Song Jia's guide, it was more than suitable. Song Jia knew that Ouyang Shuo had a sister and that he treated her like a treasure, just that she didn't have a chance to see her.

To be able to see her today, she was so cute and well behaved, making Song Jia adore her straight away. Seeing her expression, Ouyang Shuo couldn't help but shake his head. Be it her, Sun Xiaoyue, or little aunt, they all couldn't resist her charm.

Bing'er agreed and said sweetly, "Beautiful sister lets go, Bing'er will bring you to play. The territory has so many fun places and Bing'er knows them all."

Her words made Song Jia swoon. She didn't care about Song Wen and Ouyang Shuo, walking with Bing'er out of the guest room.

Ouyang Shuo looked at Song Wen and both of them laughed out loud.

Although he had came into contact with Song Wen many times, Ouyang Shuo still felt that Song Wen had the aura of a prince. In addition to the thing with Song Jia, Ouyang Shuo didn't hide anything and told him all about what he learned during the territory building.

In truth, how to manage residents, building industries, government structures and finance policies, Song Wen didn't need any tips. The Song family's financial group obviously had people to help him. What he needed was how to make use of the main territory to help the affiliate territories, and how to hold resident events to raise the cultural index, etc.

Of course if Ouyang Shuo could tell him how to open up financial channels, that would be good.

Unfortunately the Beimu saltpans was the highest secret of Shanhai City, so Ouyang Shuo wouldn't reveal it. Additionally, Tianshuang Town wasn't close to the sea so there was no use telling him.

Ouyang Shuo didn't forget to remind him to pay attention to grain prices. As a business family, they were very sensitive to market prices. Unfortunately they weren't familiar with the game and so they couldn't predict the change in grain prices through analyzing the entire Chinese region.

After hearing his analysis, his expression got serious. In truth, someone had already reported about it to Song Wen. Recently, the prices of grain of the market increased slightly. As it was a slight increase, however, he didn't pay much attention to it. Only after hearing Ouyang Shuo say it did he find that it was actually very serious.

When Song Wen bought Tianshuang Village, it was already the end of the 3rd month. When he just received it, he didn't know anything and was busy getting familiar with it. Hence, he didn't pay attention to small things like agriculture land reclamation. Waiting until Qingming festival to plant their first season of crops was already too late.

Hence, they got most of their grain from the market while producing very small amounts. As their territory population was low, it wasn't much of an issue. Ever since they rose to a town, and also built affiliate territories, the population increased, making them feel a little pressure.

On that day, to hear Ouyang Shuo say that the prices of grain was going to increase, Tianshuang Town's small financial income wouldn't be enough to sustain it.

Luckily, Tianshuang Town and agreed with Shanhai City to open a branch of the Four Seas Bank, and both agreed to open operations by the end of the 8th month with a starting sum of 4000 gold.

The both of them didn't only talk about territory matters and also talked about fun things in life. During the casual conversation, they also talked about some interesting and embarrassing things about Song Jia, making them burst out in laughter.

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Chapter 216- Dream Pavillion

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

At night, Ouyang Shuo held a feast at the Sangu hotel to welcome the siblings.

As this was a family feast, Ouyang Shuo invited Yingyu, Qing'er and Sun Xiaoyue, and of course the little brat Bing'er too. She followed Song Jia for a day and was now already so close to her. At the table, she insisted on sitting beside Song Jia, not bothering about her brother.

During the feast, Sun Xiaoyue was looking a little weird. Only then did she know that Ouyang Shuo had a girlfriend. This was naturally noticed by Song Jia. As women, they were very sensitive to such an area. It was Ouyang Shuo who was usually very sharp but this time he made such a rookie mistake to invite Sun Xiaoyue to the feast.

After it ended, Ouyang Shuo arranged Song Wen to rest at the inn. As for Song Jia, Ouyang Shuo had already ordered Zisu to clean up the eastern courtyard to get it ready for Song Jia to rest.

Returning to the lord's manor, Yingyu and Qing'er said goodbye and went back to their courtyards. Ouyang Shuo ordered Zisu to bring Bing'er back to wash up and let the little brat rest early.

Nowadays, Zisu had taken over what Ouyang Shuo used to do, being in charge of telling stories to Bing'er. She obviously wouldn't tell any stories with princesses and white knights, but instead she told her stories like the journey to the west, making that little brat engrossed in it.

After spending so long with Zisu, Bing'er started to rely heavily on her. Zisu took very good care of Bing'er and made Bing'er treat her as a motherly replacement. The mother-daughter relationship between those two was very deep.

In the calm night, Ouyang Shuo brought Song Jia across the long walkways and into the east courtyard. The layout was similar to the main courtyard, and it was exquisitely designed. Ouyang Shuo didn't hire a maidservant for her and let her pick one for herself. Hence for today, Banxia would serve her and familiarize her with her room.

The pure moonlight shines onto the patio. Song Jia wasn't sleepy and requested Ouyang Shuo to accompany her to admire the skies. Banxia brought tea and fruits for them before going back to arrange the room.

Song Jia laid on Ouyang Shuo's shoulder. "Blockhead?"

"En?" Ouyang Shuo guessed that there was something on her heart.

A look of fear and anxiousness appeared on her face as she mumbled, "Blockhead, I don't want to be your burden."

Song Jia had imagined that Ouyang Shuo was good in the game but she never expected that he would be so incredible. In the Battle of Muye, she witnessed firsthand him leading the troops with such elegance and style, making her look on in awe.

Following beside him, someone who was so ideal, be it the quiet and elegant Bai Hua, the graceful and dignified Feng Qiuhuang, or even the cute and petite Mulan Yue, they were all lords of many people. They were his allies, friends and strong shields to help him out in times of trouble. She could only stand aside and not be able to help. This made Song Jia, who was always prideful and never liked to lose, feel really out of place, especially as Ouyang Shuo had prepared so many valuable gifts for her.

Ouyang Shuo could understand her feelings. The difference in his ability in reality and in game made her unable to react all of a sudden. In reality, she was the princess of the Song family and had the backing to chase and flirt with Ouyang Shuo. With such a background and power, she could chase whomever she wanted and love whomever she loved.

Unfortunately, a big change made all of this disappear.

The Song family financial group who ruled over Lingnan could only struggle to survive in the game. On the contrary, the ordinary Ouyang Shuo had underwent a huge change, becoming the center of attention of hundreds of thousands of players. This big change wasn't something someone could adapt to in a short while.

Ouyang Shuo hugged her and said gently, "Silly girl, things are not as complicated as you think it is, let nature takes its course. Additionally, didn't you want to build a sect to become a sect leader to many? If you really manage to do so, you will be doing me a huge favor."

"Will a sect really help you?" Song Jia's eyes flashed across with a little emotion.

Ouyang Shuo nodded. "Well of course. Our guard captain is also the direct disciple of the dojo head. If a person practices martial arts and joins the military, it's a huge advantage. Even if he doesn't fight, he can investigate for intelligence, assassinate, be a bodyguard, etc. He will also have an innate talent."

"Good, I'll start recruiting nominal disciples tomorrow." Song Jia had done much research for building a sect. Out of the 4 main points of cultivation, what she lacked was 500 nominal disciples.

"This is the Song Jia that I know!" Ouyang Shuo said happily.

Song Jia tenderly punched him. "You only know how to make people happy."

The two of them continued confiding in one another. Mainly it was Ouyang Shuo describing his experience in game, how he finished village quests, how he built Shanhai Village, how he faced the monster siege, and how he built the Shanhai Alliance...

Song Jia was totally engrossed in his stories, as if she had gone through the entire experience together with him and was filling up a lost memory. The Ouyang Shuo in front of her slowly became the guy in her memory, combining with the past once again and now there was no distance between them.

The night was dark, the moon hung in the sky, and everything was quiet, the only sounds being the crickets at the corners.

Ouyang Shuo asked her to rest early, while he returned to the main courtyard and started cultivating.

……

The next day, Ouyang Shuo brought Song Wen to tour Shanhai City. Compared to the grand and advanced Shanhai City, Song Wen felt that Tianshuang Town was a primitive little village. It was lacking so much.

Song Jia immediately did what she said she would and asked the guards for help, pasting notices of recruiting disciples at the north and west gates. Player sects could accept both players and also NPCs.

Song Jia's notification was very powerful and attractive.

"You want to fly up walls? You want to travel the world with one skill? You want to get famous with one blade? The paladin of a generation Jiaqi Rumeng who has both the and the two martial arts, is recruiting disciples. There's a limited number of slots so please contact the lord's manor manager Zisu."

Song Jia was very smart, using the name of the lord's manor to hire people, raising her reputation by a lot.

After pasting the notification, Song Jia didn't slack and instead asked Ouyang Shuo to arrange some guards to follow her out of the city to find a suitable place to build her sect.

Ouyang Shuo wanted her to build the sect inside the city so she didn't need to travel so much. However she didn't want to rely on him so much and she said that a sect which wasn't in the mountains wasn't a proper sect.

Ouyang Shuo was helpless and could only follow what she wanted.

In the afternoon, Song Wen returned to Tianshuang Town. As Song Jia was still outside, she didn't see him off making him laugh bitterly.

At night, when it was near to dinner time, only then did Song Jia return.

"How was it? Did you find a suitable place?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Song Jia shook her head with sadness. "'No. The west side of the territory is basically forests and there wasn't even hills, let alone mountains."

Ouyang Shuo nodded his head. "Tomorrow I'll follow you to the east side. The is a mountain region there, so there will be something suitable."

"Great!"

When eating dinner, Yingyu laughed, "Big brother, shouldn't the east courtyard also have a name?"

Ouyang Shuo nodded and looked at Song Jia. "Yingyu is right, what do you want to name it?"

Song Jia was excited and said, "How about Dream Pavilion?" She looked at Ouyang Shuo with eagerness.

Of course, he agreed.

Yingyu giggled, it was rare for her to see Ouyang Shuo so gentle.

"Sister Dream, tomorrow will you find time to come to the tailor shop? I'll help you sew a few shirts." Qing'er, that little girl, started to launch her garment attack.

Song Jia's eyes brightened. "Great, I've always heard about how good your skills are. Seeing all your dresses, I felt so envious." Song Jia was really jealous. Yesterday Bing'er had showed off all her dresses. Dresses were something that girls couldn't resist.

Qing'er smiled slightly. She wasn't too close to her, so she wasn't as playful as when she was in front of Ouyang Shuo.

Ouyang Shuo seeing Bing'er sit beside Song Jia, said, "Baby, there's still a week before school reopens. You cannot be so naughty. Look at how wild you have become in such a short time."

Bing'er laughed in embarrassment. That little brat knew that she had played too much during the holidays. Combined with not doing any holiday homework, she was really crazy.

"I know." Bing'er gave a lovely nod, sighing like an old man. "Haiz, Bing'er wants to grow up fast."

"What does this have to do with growing up fast?"

"After I grow up I can be like sister and brother not needing to go to school." Bing'er's words made a lot of sense.

Ouyang a Shuo nearly fainted. This kid used to love going to school, however with just one holiday even her heart became wild.

"You, ah, so playful." Ouyang Shuo said helplessly. "From tomorrow onwards I'll invite a teacher to teach you Chinese when you aren't going to school."

Bing'er frowned. "Brother please don't, okay?"

"You think?" Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to bring out the elder brother position.

The little brat was smart and knew that he was going to be angry, so she didn't dare to rebut him anymore turning to Song Jia and saying pitifully, "Sister~"

Song Jia naturally doted on Bing'er and was nearly touched by her little shining eyes, however she couldn't override Ouyang Shuo's rights as a brother, causing her to shake her head, which made Bing'er depressed.

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