Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 457 Establishment of Jinyang City, Allied Planning and Military Expansion Reform
The tenth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, the tenth day of the eighth month

Just as Xia Huiwu's competition was in full swing.

In the westernmost part of Jinshan Town, within the jurisdiction of Yinhe Valley—or more precisely, in the far north of Yinhe Valley—Jinyang Village, the closest village to the Bone-Eroding Path, has also undergone a tremendous transformation.

Ding ding... Bang bang...

It was nighttime, and the entire Jinyang Village was ablaze with fire.

A quick glance revealed at least a hundred giant coal stoves scattered throughout the village, all running at full capacity. A few stoves without melting pots were sending flames shooting more than ten meters into the air, demonstrating the intensity of the fire.

Around those giant coal furnaces, iron ore was piled up like mountains, and thousands of shirtless, strong men wandered among them, forging, melting, and molding iron... They were busy and having a great time. The whole village was filled with the sounds of pile driving and iron forging.

"The molten iron in furnace No. 7 is ready! Quickly bring the pile molds!"

"The barracks' metal plates are ready. Someone come and carry them away, quick!"

"Only twenty iron stakes are left for the north wall. Don't slack off, brothers, put in a little more effort, and it will be completed in five days at most."

…………

About five kilometers north of Jinyang Village, a giant city wall, constructed from 20-meter-high iron piles and stretching 15 kilometers from east to west, is almost complete. Only the middle 200 meters are left to be fully joined.

Thousands of craftsmen were scattered throughout the city wall, some carrying huge stones to fill it, some pouring molten iron to shape it, some using machinery to reinforce it, some wielding giant hammers to drive piles, and some pulling iron chains to erect piles. Under their skillful and concerted efforts, the city wall became more and more complete and already had a magnificent appearance.

Not far to the south of the city wall, an old man, accompanied by six middle-aged people and more than a dozen young men and women, was looking up at the towering city wall in front of them, their eyes filled with shock and unfamiliarity.

"How long has it been? Less than two months, and the city wall is almost finished?"

"You don't even look at how many people were involved. The entire Yinhe Valley has 23 village-level camps, 72 large and medium-sized camps, more than 40,000 Digging Realm laborers, plus more than 2000 Cold Resistance level craftsmen transferred from the Nine Towns, and 15000 Allied soldiers assisting and cooperating. In addition, there are more than 100,000 people from the Nine Towns who are specifically responsible for transporting iron ore. The total manpower and resources mobilized are at least more than 200,000. With so many people divided into two groups, working day and night in shifts, they have hardly stopped. It's really not unreasonable to say that it was completed in two months!"

“Since the beginning of June, at least 30,000 people have been arriving at Jinyang Village to prepare for the cold. I’ve never seen so many in my entire life!”

"In such a short time, only the nine towns could have built such a magnificent city in the southern foothills region."

"Jinyang has really been established as a city? I feel like I'm dreaming."

…………

"It's true, it's really true! Our Han family is really going to be rich! Haha!"

The elderly man at the head of the group, dressed in a yellow summer robe, was none other than Han Peng, the former leader of Jinyang Village. Upon hearing the explanations from his eldest son Han Qi and second son Han Fu, he could no longer contain the wild joy in his eyes and interrupted them with a loud laugh.

The family members' clothing was quite different. Han Qi and Han Fu were wearing light blue cotton coats, which were clearly in the style of Jinshan Town; while Han Peng and the others were wearing summer clothes made of better fabrics.

The reason is simple: Han Qi and Han Fu had been staying in Jinyang Village for the past two months, while the family head Han Peng and the other second and third generation members had just returned from Xiacheng.

The clothes they were wearing were clearly bought in Xia City.

"Dad, what do you mean when you say we're going to be rich?"

The six middle-aged men present were all second-generation members of the Han family. Four were Han Peng's sons, and the other two were Han Peng's nephews. They were arranged from oldest to youngest as follows: Han Qi, Han Fu, Han Chao, Han Yue, Han Gan, and Han Jiu.

Upon hearing Han Peng say that the Han family was about to prosper, Han Qi and Han Fu, who had stayed in Jinyang for two months, immediately understood and their expressions brightened slightly.
However, Han Chao and the other members of the Han family, who had just returned from Xiacheng with Han Peng, were all a bit confused. The third brother, Han Chao, even couldn't help but ask.

Among the young members of the third generation of the Han family, a handsome young man dressed in black summer clothes immediately stepped forward. The young man exuded a strong sense of confidence and smiled at Han Chao, saying, "Father, Jinyang will be established as a city under the control of the Allied Forces. From now on, it will be the common territory of the Nine Towns. People from all the camps in Yinhe Valley will definitely move here one after another."

Our Jinyang Village has 60,000 to 70,000 people, making us one of the first residents of this city. Moreover, the Han clan has long been part of the Great Xia Dynasty. The allied forces will definitely rely on our Han clan to govern this place. Perhaps in the future, our Han clan will even get a share of the benefits of governing Jinyang City. This is what Grandpa meant by "prosperity," right?

The young man in black was none other than Han Li, the second disciple of Lu Yang, the most outstanding third-generation descendant of the Han family and the guardian of Dongling.

"Third brother, you're so old, yet you're not as insightful as Li'er..."

Hearing his grandson's words, Han Peng's face was full of praise. He couldn't help but scold his third son, Han Chao, before nodding and continuing, "On the sixth day of the eighth month, before setting off from Xia City, Commander Liu summoned me alone. He personally guaranteed that when Jinyang was established, nothing in our village would be touched. No matter how the city changes in the future, the land, houses, and other private property of our Han family, including all the other villagers, will always belong to us!"

"Commander Liu? Father, could it be Liu Yuan, the commander of the Great Xia Cloud Dragon Army, one of the six commanders of the allied forces?"

Han Qi, the eldest son who had stayed in Jinyang for two months, heard the title of Commander Liu and hurriedly asked his father for confirmation. When his father nodded, his expression changed slightly.

Han Fu, the second son who was also staying in Jinyang, couldn't help but exclaim excitedly upon learning that it really was Liu Yuan: "The commander-in-chief of Jinyang's city construction this time is Commander Liu. Since he promised Father, it must be true..."

He paused, turned to look at the village behind him, and continued, "After Jinyang expands, its total area will be 150 square kilometers. Our village will occupy about 15 square kilometers, which means that one-tenth of the city's area will belong to our village of more than 60,000 people!"

The impact of simply saying "developed" is obviously not as great as specific data. When Han Fu mentioned 15 square kilometers, one-tenth of the city's area, everyone in the Han clan reacted instantly, their faces filled with excitement.

"The entire Yinhe Valley has at least 400,000 people, which is basically equivalent to the final total population of Jinyang City. In such a huge city, our Han family occupies one-tenth of the land. No matter what business we do, we can easily become rich. That's great, that's great, hahaha..."

As Han Peng spoke, he became increasingly emotional.

He is 83 years old this year and only has the strength of 18 manes. It is definitely hopeless for him to break through to the Manifestation Yang level. If he is lucky, he can live for at most ten years.

For someone like him, who is halfway to the grave, being able to leave such a huge fortune to his descendants is something he could laugh in his sleep.

Of course, wealth is only a means to ensure a family's long-term survival in the Ice Abyss; the most crucial factor is whether there are successors.

Thinking of this, he turned to look at his grandson Han Li, his expression becoming even more excited.

His grandson, Han Li, is not yet 25 years old, but his strength has already reached 17, which is far higher than the average strength of the second generation disciples who are only slightly over 10. He is even close to catching up with his grandfather. Moreover, he achieved a good result of 79th place in the youth group in this year's Nine Towns Martial Arts Tournament, which is 20 places higher than last year.

Such a virtuous grandson has long surpassed the category of having a successor; even surpassing his master is not enough to describe it. Han Li's future potential is far greater than that of him and the second generation of the Han family.

It is precisely for this reason that Han Peng has already foreseen that when his grandson Han Li grows up smoothly and takes over the position of family head, the Han family will surely become famous throughout the southern region and rank among the famous families of the Great Xia Dynasty.

"Grandpa, we have things to do and can't stay up too long."

Han Peng's reverie was interrupted by his grandson Han Li's words. He immediately realized what was happening and nodded to everyone, saying, "Alright, now that you're all back, go help out in the village. I also need to take Li'er to the military camp to visit Commander Liu. Qi'er, lead the way. Everyone else, you may leave!"

They had just returned from Xia City. As soon as they arrived, Han Qi informed them that Liu Yuan wanted to see them. They had indeed been delayed for quite some time at the North City Wall.

The expansion of Jinyang was so large that it almost completely changed the terrain around the village. The grandfather and grandson couldn't even recognize all the roads, let alone know where the military camp was located. They had to ask Han Qi to lead them to find it.

Han Qi, who stayed behind in Jinyang, knew the way well and led the two men northwards through the village, explaining things to his father as they walked:

"The Allied forces only gradually arrived at the end of June, totaling 15000 men. Thanks to their help for a month in July, the city's construction efficiency improved significantly. However, they were transferred away ten days ago and are now stationed in temporary military camps next to the Bone-Eating Road..."

In fact, Han Peng and his grandson Han Li already knew a lot about the Allied forces in Xia City without Han Qi's introduction. However, since Han Qi had actually come into contact with the Allied forces, the two of them listened without interrupting.

After the alliance meeting at Chuishan, the nine towns jointly contributed men to form an alliance army of 30,000 men, known as the Nine Towns Alliance Army.

The Allied forces were divided into six battalions, each with 5000 men. Each battalion had a commander and two deputy commanders responsible for daily troop command and security. Their main targets were the two major warlords and all other foreign visitors.

The first to third battalions were stationed in Yinhe Valley, Jinshan Town, which is their location;

Battalions four through six were stationed in the Dongchuan area of ​​Beishuo Town.

"The First Battalion of the Allied Forces is commanded by Liu Yuan, with Hou Quan and Yuwen Yong as deputy commanders; the Second Battalion is commanded by Bei Shuo Huang Lin, with Jin Shan Shangguan Yan and Yang Qu Cao Tiansheng as deputy commanders; the Third Battalion is commanded by Jin Shan Shangguan Ning, with Wu Chuan Ye Yiping and Long Gu Long Wenyan as deputy commanders."

Upon hearing his uncle name the commanders and deputy commanders of the three battalions, Han Li raised an eyebrow and asked with curiosity, "The commander and deputy commander of the first battalion are all from Great Xia, while the second and third battalions are a mix of people from various towns?"

Han Qi deliberately revealed the hometowns of the commanders and deputy commanders of the Second and Third Battalions. Seeing the curiosity on his father Han Peng's face, he immediately smiled and said, "To put it bluntly, the Great Xia is still the strongest..."

Before forming a fixed allied force, the Great Xia Dynasty made clear regulations that, regardless of whether the soldiers sent by each town were regular soldiers or not, they must at least have the cultivation level of the Cold Resistance level.

A total of 30,000 people were sent from the nine towns. If the number was distributed equally, that means each town would have to send at least 3,000 people in the cold-resistant category.

It's no exaggeration to say that even the three strong northern towns wouldn't easily produce more than 3000 Cold-resistant level troops. Not to mention Jiangxia and Muyin towns, which haven't recovered their strength yet, and Chuishan, which just had a mutiny. These three towns currently only have around 4000 Cold-resistant level troops at most. If they could take 80 or 90% of them to form a coalition army, the three towns would have no need to develop anymore.

Therefore, it is simply unrealistic to distribute the number of people equally.

"Of the 3 Allied soldiers, the Great Xia directly contributed 1, the three northern towns jointly contributed 1, and the remaining 1 were shared by the five towns."

Han Qi's tone was filled with shock, but after he finished speaking, he found that neither his father Han Peng nor his nephew Han Li showed the slightest surprise.

He lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then quickly understood the reason. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Father, you've been in Xia City for so long. Have you ever estimated how many Cold Resistance level cultivators there are in Great Xia?"

Upon hearing this question, Han Peng fell silent for a moment, then gave a wry smile and said, "Let's put it this way! Xia City is just as lively during the day as our Jinyang Village is at night."

"this…………"

Han Peng's simple description caused Han Qi's pupils to shrink sharply. After a moment's thought, his expression instantly turned blank.

"Our Great Xia sent 10,000 men, so they directly divided their own people into two battalions, all under the command of their own people?"

Upon hearing Han Peng's question, Han Qi immediately snapped out of his reverie and shook his head, saying, "That's not how it is. In July, I was in charge of delivering the food to the military camp. I learned from chatting with the soldiers that the number of people in each town of the Allied Six Battalions was fixed, almost evenly distributed across the nine towns."

The entire reorganization was disrupted, and the land was to be distributed equally among the nine towns?
Upon hearing this, Han Peng fell into thought, seemingly sensing something.

Han Li reacted even faster than him. His eyes lit up slightly. Seeing that his grandfather was still thinking, he said softly, "It is correct to distribute the nine towns equally, but the Great Xia has 10,000 soldiers, which is the largest number. Even if they are distributed among the six battalions, each battalion will have more than 1,600 people. In other words, the soldiers of the Great Xia will make up the vast majority in the six battalions."

The three towns of Jiangxia, Muyin, and Chuishan now follow the lead of the Great Xia. If we include the 1000 men scattered among the various camps of the three towns, that makes 5,000 men in each camp. The Great Xia actually accounts for more than half of them, which means…”

"Regardless of who the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the Sixth Allied Battalion are, in reality, the Great Xia Dynasty has the final say!"

How could Han Peng not have realized it? He picked up his grandson's words, his expression suddenly changed, and his understanding of the allied forces became clear in an instant. He shook his head repeatedly and said, "It's not surprising, it's not surprising. Let's not talk about the three towns of Jiangxia, Muyin, and Chuishan. Whether it's the three northern towns or the two towns of Yangqu and Longgu, the reason why the five families agreed to form an alliance was that they all had the intention of relying on Great Xia to resist the two major warlords. Even if they saw through Great Xia's intention to divide its forces, they would not, and dared not, refuse."

The problem is that once such a coalition is formed, it's hard to say who these soldiers will ultimately listen to after a long period of time.

Han Li immediately saw through his grandfather's thoughts and shook his head, saying, "There are many ways for each town to control these soldiers: military supplies, salaries, cultivation resources, and if all else fails, they can control their families. If Great Xia really wants to turn all these soldiers against their will, I'm afraid it won't be that simple..."

After pondering for a moment, he continued, "Rather than saying that Great Xia wanted to turn the soldiers of the Five Garrisons against each other, I think the greater intention was to enhance the combat effectiveness of the allied forces. Having one party in charge is conducive to uniting the morale of the army and getting the soldiers to work together towards a common goal. Besides, Great Xia is the leader of the alliance, so it is only natural that the allied forces should be led by Great Xia."

Hearing his grandson's insightful words, Han Peng nodded repeatedly, his face full of admiration, and a slight sense of aging rose in his heart.

Although he is old, in terms of experience, he is probably not as knowledgeable as his grandson who can freely enter and leave Xia City.

"Father, we've arrived! The military camp is just ahead!"

Although the three were talking ahead, they never stopped walking. At Han Qi's prompt, the grandfather and grandson looked up and their expressions became slightly solemn.

Several hundred meters to the north, south of the entrance to the Bone-Eroding Pass, fifteen pitch-black military tents, each a hundred meters in diameter, stand silently in the snow, arranged in a ring.

A wooden fence was erected around the camp, and many soldiers patrolled the area. The camp had only one entrance and exit, located on the south side, directly in front of them. In the very center of the fifteen giant military tents stood a temporary wooden building, five stories high and over twenty meters tall, topped with a black flag. The front of the flag bore a large gold character "向" (Xiang), while the reverse side displayed the character "盟" (Meng).

The character "盟" is easy to understand, meaning allied forces, but what does the character "向" mean?
"Towards?"

Han Peng turned to look at Han Qi with a puzzled expression.

Han Qi hurriedly replied, "This flag was only hung up five days ago. I asked the soldiers, and they said that the alliance leader has appointed a new Grand Commander surnamed Xiang, who is in charge of the three battalions of troops and responsible for the defense of Yinhe Valley."

"It's Xiang Fuhai, the former lord of Ba Shang who joined the Great Xia Dynasty!"

Han Peng immediately realized that the only person surnamed Xiang qualified to command 15,000 soldiers in the three battalions of the Allied Forces was Xiang Fuhai.

"Sending a Xianyang-level expert to command the army directly—what a bold move!"

As Han Peng sighed, he had already followed Han Qi to the entrance of the military camp.

As they approached the entrance to the military camp, Han Peng and his grandson were still a little uneasy, because the hundreds of armored soldiers on duty at the gate were all at the Cold Resistance level. At a glance, they found that half of them had strength that they could not fathom.

The unspoken rule in Ice Abyss is that if you can't see through someone's strength, it basically means that the other person is stronger than you. Only in very rare cases is it because the other person used some special concealment method.

In military camps, basically no one hides their strength.

So the answer is clear: more than half of the hundred-plus guards are stronger than the grandfather and grandson.

It should be noted that the two men, one with 18 manes and the other with 17 manes, possessed strength that would have been enough to make them virtually invincible in the old Yinhe Valley. Yet now, they were even inferior to the gatekeepers of the military camp. The grandfather and grandson were not only uneasy but also filled with complicated feelings.

However, as he approached the entrance to the military camp and saw a young man dressed as a leader among the soldiers guarding the gate, Han Peng's expression immediately relaxed.

"Lieutenant Li, it's your shift today!"

Han Qi was even more direct, stepping forward to greet the young man.

The armored youth looked up and saw Han Peng and his two companions. A smile immediately appeared on his face, and he cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Chief Han has returned from Xia City..."

After saying that, he looked at Han Li behind him and asked with a smile, "Han Li, your results in this year's martial arts competition were pretty good, right? What place did you get?"

The young captain on duty was none other than Li Hu, the former deputy leader of Jinyang Village.

At the end of the eighth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, Li Hu and Yang Zhong were sent by Lu Yang to Jinyang Village to keep an eye on Han Peng and prevent him from defecting. When the two arrived in Jinyang Village, Han Peng knew that they were people of the Great Xia Dynasty. As Han Peng’s sense of belonging to the Great Xia Dynasty deepened, he simply appointed Li Hu as his deputy leader.

With the arrival of the Allied forces and the establishment of Jinyang as a city, Li Hu and Yang Zhong were able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and no longer needed to remain in hiding. At the end of June, when the Allied forces arrived, Liu Yuan casually found an excuse to recruit the two into the Allied First Battalion. Li Hu, with his strength of 31, managed to get the position of Imperial Guard Captain and led an elite scout battalion under his command.

Han Li was Lu Yang's apprentice. He had known Li Hu since the Dongling period, and they had a pretty good relationship. Hearing his question, he immediately replied with a smile, "Hehe, 79th place, Brother Hu, not bad, right?"

"Wow, I thought you wouldn't even make it into the top 100!"

Upon hearing Han Li's ranking, Li Hu immediately nodded and offered a word of praise.

Han Li was taken to Xia City by Lu Yang last year, which can be considered as establishing himself there. He then returned to Xia City and stayed for half a year, so he is now a true citizen of Great Xia. With the Saint Mark and a strength of 17 manes, it is not an exaggeration to say that he can enter the top 100.

"The Commander-in-Chief already informed me. Follow me, and I'll take you directly to the main building of the military camp to see the Commander-in-Chief..."

Although they were acquaintances, which saved them from questioning, Li Hu still made the three of them undergo the routine check at the entrance and exit.

The so-called routine inspection was simply a passageway coated with solidifying oil.

Li Hu led the three through the passage, skillfully bypassing the military tents, and headed directly towards the main building in the very center of the military camp.

………………

Inside the central hall on the fourth floor of the main building of the military camp.

Liu Yuan sat in the main seat, with six people seated below him: Hou Quan, Yuwen Yong, Zhou Yuan, Hou Tong, Meng Yi, and Wang Yuan.

"The Yunjiao, Longwu, and Longyuan armies have been assigned to three battalions, with no changes to their organization. As for the remaining two thousand men from the Beizhao and Xiongwu armies, there's no other way but to divide them into three groups and distribute them among the three battalions. This time, we'll have to trouble Commander Hou and Commander Meng..."

Upon hearing Liu Yuan's words, Hou Tong and Meng Yi both bowed slightly.

"There's nothing we can do about their lack of ability; it's their own fault for not putting up with things properly."

"We lost the marching competition, what else can we say? We deserved to be scattered."

Upon hearing Hou Tong and Meng Yi's words, the other four, along with Liu Yuan at the head of the table, couldn't help but laugh.

The five of them couldn't help but laugh whenever the topic came up.

Of course, corresponding to the five people were the frustrations of Meng Yihou and Tong.

In this formation of the allied forces, the Great Xia Dynasty contributed a total of ten armies, and five of them were assigned to the Yinhe Valley.

The formation of the six battalions of the Allied Forces was proposed by Yuwen Tao, the Director of the Military Affairs Department. This included completely reorganizing all the soldiers of the nine garrisons and distributing them equally among the six battalions, so that the people of the Great Xia would constitute the absolute majority in each battalion. This was also Yuwen Tao's idea.

According to Yuwen Tao's plan, if their five armies of five thousand men were to be divided into the first to third battalions of the allied forces, then the soldiers of two large armies would inevitably have to be split up.

Every soldier in the Great Xia army has been together since its founding. Who would want to be separated for no reason?

When they set off from Chui Mountain some time ago, the five armies had been arguing about it, as none of them wanted to be split up. Seeing that the dispute could not be resolved, Liu Yuan proposed an idea: the five armies would have a marching competition, and the two armies with the slowest speed would be split up.

If we're talking about combat strength, then needless to say, none of us need to compare ourselves with the Yunjiao and Longwu armies. But when it comes to marching speed, that's a different story. From Chuishan Town to Jinshan Town, it's all unfamiliar territory for the five armies. Moreover, all the soldiers in the five armies now have the Cold Resistance level of cultivation, so there's no significant advantage.

This comparison reflects the results of everyone's daily marching and training.

Liu Yuan's suggestion was unanimously approved by everyone.

And so the competition began.

The final result was that both Kita-Showa and Yuu-Machi came in last place.

That's how the current situation came about.

Seeing Meng Yihou Tong's gloomy face, Liu Yuan smiled and said, "You two don't need to be discouraged. How about this? I, the commander, will give you a little inside information..."

He paused for a moment, and when he saw that everyone was looking at him, he continued mysteriously, "In April of this year, before Si Cheng and Yuwen Sizheng went into seclusion, I heard them discussing the expansion and reform of the army."

Military expansion and restructuring!

Upon hearing this, Hou Quan and the others below were immediately taken aback and looked up at Liu Yuan, waiting for him to continue.

Many people had a premonition that the Great Xia Dynasty was going to expand its army and reform its system, especially the commanders who led the troops; their premonition was the strongest.

The number of people in Daxia who are in the cold-weather category has increased too fast in the past year!

This can be seen from the fact that six new armies were added at the end of last year: Steel Mane, Golden Sword, Golden Eagle, Zhenwu, Yingwu, and Zhaolong.

The current 1,000-man military system is clearly insufficient.

The military designations of the Great Xia Dynasty all evolved from hunting squads. The number of military designations is definitely limited and cannot be added endlessly like hunting squads. Currently, the 21 designations are already a bit bloated. This is not conducive to the unified command of the army, as training is always done at a scale of a thousand people, and it is difficult to form the combat power that a large legion should have.

Military expansion and restructuring are both imperative!
Now that this has been determined, the most pressing issues for all the commanders of the Great Xia are how to expand the army, how to reform it, whether to merge the army, and whether to abolish existing unit designations.

Liu Yuan is the second commander of the Yunjiao Army after Xia Chuan, the chief clerk. He is Xia Chuan's confidant, and who in the entire Great Xia does not know this?

His insider information is highly credible.

Seeing that everyone's appetite had been whetted, Liu Yuan smiled and continued, his eyes slightly brightening: "Si Zheng said that Great Xia can only retain a maximum of 30 military unit numbers. That is to say, there are only nine unit numbers left now. These nine unit numbers will be determined before the end of this year."

Once 30 unit numbers are fixed, all subsequent army units will be uniformly called the Garrison Army, just like the other garrisons on the southern slope.

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces immediately filled with relief.

Liu Yuan continued, "This is part of the reform; the other thing is expanding the army."

Si Cheng said that once all 30 unit numbers are finalized, he and Si Zheng will create a promotion system for the army unit numbers. The higher the unit number, the more soldiers the army can recruit; conversely, the lower the number, the fewer soldiers there will be. Moreover, it's not just about promotion; if the performance on the battlefield is too poor, the unit number will also drop.

The formation of an allied force can be considered a test of military expansion.

The Madam has deployed a total of 10 large armies, stationed in Beishuo Dongchuan and Jinshan Yinhe Valley respectively. These 10 armies are the subjects of the first round of testing. The performance of the Allied forces over the next few years will be the evaluation results of these 10 armies, and they will all be included in the promotion assessment.

Upon hearing this, the six people below immediately became more solemn.

The Allied forces were stationed in Dongchuan and Yinhe Valley to defend against the regional warlords.

The two regional military governors of Chencang and Caiqiu are completely different from the opponents they have encountered before. It is foreseeable that if a war breaks out between these two places, it will be earth-shattering.

The performance of each army will determine its unit number and final rank, which in turn affects whether the army can recruit more soldiers.

The rank of an army, the number of soldiers, and the strength of its combat power are all superficial things. What Hou Quan and others really care about is the allocation of resources to the camp behind these things.

An army with higher combat strength will inevitably receive more attention from the camp, thus obtaining more abundant resource allocations, and these are the most important things.

Instantly, a spark ignited in the eyes of Hou Quan and the others, and they all began to rub their hands together in anticipation. Facing the possibility of an attack from the regional military governors, they felt no fear, and were even somewhat impatient.

"No need to rush. On August 25th, someone from the Bone-Eating Path will come. Then we can see just how much strength Cai Qiu, this Manifestation Yang level cultivator, really has!"

Liu Yuan's eyes flickered slightly, and he felt a growing sense of anticipation.

Cai Shiqi and the other Caiqiu people are currently being held downstairs, waiting for people from Caiqiu to arrive on August 25th.

Cai Shiqing can be killed, but Cai Shiqi, the young heir, definitely cannot be killed.

On August 25th, Cai Qiu will send someone to pack up and send the young prince and his entourage away. This will be the first time the Nine Towns Alliance has taken the initiative to show goodwill to Cai Qiu.

It all depends on the other party's attitude at that time.

"Unbeknownst to us, it's been over a year since the lord left. I wonder how he's doing now!"

Liu Yuan turned around and looked out the window at the Bone-Eating Path to the north. He suddenly remembered that a year had passed since Xia Hong's death, and his pupils couldn't help but show a hint of worry.

(End of this chapter)