As a lord, I was forced to farm

Chapter 959 Placement Secret Realm
At this moment, Wang Zhuo, the Director of the War and Treasury Department, stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, we have now captured 130,000 soldiers of the Da Ce Army and 150,000 soldiers of the Da Zang Army. We have also seized 50,000 warhorses, armor, and more than 230,000 pieces of weaponry..."

Although Da Su suffered losses in this battle, overall it was a profitable one, and a huge one at that!
For example, those warhorses—among these 50,000 warhorses, quite a few are Wind Spirit Horses!
If you were to buy it with money, it might cost spirit crystals!

Even though many warhorses were killed or wounded on the battlefield due to the indiscriminate nature of swords and spears, with proper treatment, there were still 20,000 to 30,000 warhorses available for the Great Guard.

"No wonder it's Da Ce Province, which monopolizes the Wind Spirit Horses." Thinking of the handsome Wind Spirit Horses that can travel a thousand miles a day, Jiang Ran couldn't wait to go to the horse farm to take a look.

The confiscated religious artifacts were also quite impressive.

Especially the magical artifacts on the two mortals who have undergone metamorphosis.

The Twin Star Shattering Spear in Wu Han's hand is a mid-grade Saint-level magic weapon, but unfortunately, one of them is broken. I wonder if any weapon refiner can repair that spear.

The Ancient Yue Horse-Slaying Saber in Xiong Songbai's hand is also a mid-grade Saint-level magic weapon.

After Jiang Ran emerged from seclusion, these confiscated magical artifacts came into her possession.

She kept the magic weapons of Heaven-level or higher with her, and placed those below Heaven-level in the county's armory.

"Your Highness, what should be done with those prisoners?"

Historically, there have generally been several practices in dealing with prisoners of war.

The first option is to end it all, the cruelest approach: kill them outright. This saves the prisoners from rations, eliminates a portion of the enemy city's able-bodied men, and weakens the city's strength. However, this method is inhumane and would leave the city with a reputation for brutality.

The second, ideal solution is to absorb these enemy soldiers into our ranks and incorporate them into our army. However, these people will inevitably have families far away, making incorporation extremely difficult. They might even betray us on the battlefield someday.

The third option, and the most realistic one, is to treat it as a strategic asset. This involves having Da Ce and Da Zang buy it back with money.

Jiang Ran naturally chose to sell these people.

The ministers immediately began discussing how much resources and money to exchange for these prisoners of war. "How much should we sell them for?"

"I think we should use tiered pricing. Those cultivators with high cultivation levels or high-ranking generals should be priced higher. For example, cultivators in the Spirit Refining Realm should be able to exchange at least five strong and healthy Wind Spirit Horses, right?"

In the market, such a Wind Spirit Horse is worth at least 100,000 spirit crystals.

"What if those two provincial capitals refuse to ransom these prisoners of war?"

"Then we'll assign them to labor service. There's a shortage of manpower everywhere in the county! For building the palace, city walls, and workshops... we can either send them to the Illusion Lake Secret Realm to collect Illusion Stones, or to the Auspicious Antelope Secret Realm to farm!"

The group discussed the issue of prisoners of war for three days and finally decided to send Rabbit Stone, who had reached the Sea of ​​Consciousness Realm, as the envoy to negotiate between the two places.

Time flies, and half a month has passed in the blink of an eye, ushering in December.

Negotiations between Dasu and the two provinces were extremely difficult.

It wasn't until the end of December that they managed to reach a price acceptable to both parties.

Rabbit Stone returned to report, "The Da Ce and Da Zang sides mean they don't want ordinary people."

Of the 280,000 prisoners of war, at least 200,000 were ordinary people without any cultivation.

"Hiss, these territories are really ruthless. Aren't they afraid of chilling the hearts of their people?"

The Da Su quoted a price of 1,000 spirit crystals for an ordinary person and 1 billion spirit crystals for 200,000 ordinary warriors. Da Ce and Da Zang, with such a large territory, couldn't even come up with an extra 500 million spirit crystals.
It's clear they don't want to redeem people; they don't value the lives of ordinary people.

“Since they don’t want to redeem themselves, let’s recruit them in batches,” Jiang Ran said. “First, send them to the Auspicious Antelope Secret Realm and let them plant trees.”

Soon, Dasu sent the people who wanted to be redeemed from the two provincial capitals to the border.

The transaction was a cash-on-delivery exchange. Twenty thousand Wind Spirit Horses and eighty million spirit crystals were delivered from the capital of Da Ce Province.

The provincial capital of Dazang offered 100 million spirit crystals and a town-level Jade Map Secret Realm in exchange.

Of course, one cannot expect the Jade Map Secret Realm used for exchange in the provincial capital to be of any great quality; it is likely just a small secret realm with little practical value.

After many trials and tribulations, Da Su finally returned with the horses, spirit crystals, and the Jade Map Secret Realm he had obtained in exchange.

Currently, Jiang Ran holds six secret realms that have not yet been placed, four of which were seized from Chaolian and Tianchen.

The other two are the Illusory Lake Secret Realm, which Wei Fengsheng and others seized, and the Cloud Tomb Secret Realm, which Da Zang compensated them for.

The Jade Map Secret Realm may change hands, or its location may be moved again after ten years.

Jiang Ran didn't hesitate for long and quickly chose the locations for the six secret realms—naturally, on the Lingze Islands.

At this moment, countless officials and common people watched with anticipation as Da Su added six new secret realms.

"May God bless my Great Su!"

"Now, our Great Su has nine Jade Map Secret Realms!"

"Moreover, one of them is a provincial-level secret realm."

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Jiang Ran flew into the air above the Lingze Islands, released her fingers, and six jade spirits with distinct styles flew out: the shimmering white star of the Illusion Lake Secret Realm, the wind and thunder sphere of the Wind and Thunder Cliff Secret Realm, the black and yellow rope of the Sinking Sand Secret Realm, the fluorescent green insect fire of the Demon Forest Secret Realm, the white mist of the Misty Ancient Town Secret Realm, and the white tombstone of the Cloud Tomb Secret Realm.

"Buzz~~~~"

"咻咻咻~~~"

"Boom, boom, boom -"

"Clatter, crash, crash -"

Several strange noises came, and everyone held their breath and looked up. They saw a flash of light, and the six secret realms, like stars, hung near Cangwu Island, opening their gates, each with its own unique style, to accommodate all living beings!

"It's open! It's open!!"

Everyone was overjoyed.

Jiang Ran looked down at the ministers who were staring at her expectantly. Thinking of their unity and contributions to Da Su, she couldn't help but feel a pang of tenderness in her heart.

"In that case, I invite all my ministers and generals to join me in appreciating the scenery of this secret realm."

Upon hearing this, Lin Sha and the others were overjoyed.

The first place you enter is naturally the Mysterious Realm of the Illusory Lake.

Upon entering the illusory lake secret realm, Jiang Ran felt a spiritual energy far exceeding that of the outside world constantly penetrating into her body.

Amidst the commotion, Yun Ang and Yao Bao also came over. The former's handsome human form attracted countless admiring glances.

Looking at the scenery of the Illusory Lake Secret Realm, Yun Mao's emerald eyes lit up. "This is truly a wonderful place!"

The sky above the Illusory Lake Secret Realm is a vast expanse of white, with no sun, moon, or clouds in sight. However, there is a day-night cycle within this secret realm.

The land area in the secret realm is very small, about the size of a small village. The shore is made of very hard black rocks, without any soil covering them, so naturally no grass or trees grow there.

Jiang Ran smiled and said, "Wei Fengsheng, Zhou Bao, and Hu Lian, you are most familiar with the Illusion Lake Secret Realm. Why don't you lead the way and tell us about what you saw and heard here?"