Chapter 95 - Choice

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Levs

After he checked the properties of the territory, Ouyang Shuo pondered for a moment.

The maximum population of a grade 3 village was ten thousand men, according to the refugee spawn rate, under normal circumstances, it would take 2 months to fully reach the maximum.

The earlier advancement of the territory upgrade increased the territory size by two times. The original third phase of the Spring Assault operation was to exterminate bandits outside of territory, but now it was extermination of bandits within the territory area. Fortunately, the Military Intelligence Division had gathered enough information and the information were still applicable.

Of the indexes of the territory, the cultural index was still the lowest. Within this period of time, the refugees which have spawned contained a few xiucai and were all sent to the Lianzhou College by Ouyang Shuo. The Lianzhou College, now under the leadership of Xu Shuda, had already progressed smoothly and it wasn’t the half-established college anymore.

In between the operation Spring Assault, the moat work was completed. The secondary structures such as arrow towers and turrets were also done and in use. The defensive system of Shanhai Town was now preliminary fully established.

As for the basic building structures, they were all system changed to a brick and wood-stone structure. Of course, as the ancient architecturals, wood was still an important material in building structures, whether it be building carvings or paintings, they were all relying on the wood.

For the 6 buildings, the pawn shop was auto generated, it did not need to be taken care of. The tea garden did not require any building blueprints but only an open field and the wild tea trees, much like the mulberry garden as before. The rest were the Taoist temple, inn, restaurant and jewelry shop, their blueprints were acquired from the operation Spring Assault few days ago, it saved Ouyang Shuo 400 gold to spend on the blueprints.

The restaurant was nothing to talk about, Shuo had long promised it to be handed to Gu Sanniang. The inn and jewelry shop were also simple, there were already related talents on standing-by, the buildings could be built anytime now.

While the Taoist temple was the only issue, it needed at least a priest to preside over the temple. In the past life, most of the lords took a simpler path, within the players’ jobs, there were priests, hence, the lords would assign a priest player to preside over the temple.

……

10 AM in the morning, Lord’s manor, mayor office.

“Sire, after a month’s time of investigation, the Military Intelligence Division had gathered enough information about the nomadic tribes and also the Qingfu horses, I am specially here to report the details.” It was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man with a persevering face, he was one of the heads, Lei Xun.

Ever since the last expansion of the Military Intelligence Division, other than the ten staffs, the 40 of them were divided into two groups, Team One and Team Two. Leng Qian held the position of Team One leader while the other team was led by Lei Xun.

Ouyang Shuo’s heart skipped a beat, “Tell me, how is it like.”

“The nomadic tribes were formed with a large tribe as the core and tens of middle-small sized tribes around it. The large tribe was called Tian Qi tribe, 30,000 tribal men, situated in the middle of the basin and held the best pasture. In the middle of the basin exists an inland lake, they call it the Shen Juan Lake, the imperial court of the tribe stood right beside the lake. The rest of the small tribes ranged from hundred to thousands of tribal men, scattering around the basin.” Lei Xun reported.

“The closest to us?” Ouyang Shuo asked.

“The closest to us, there were three, it’s to the west, middle and east of us. On the west and east are both small tribes, less than a thousand tribal men. The one in the middle is a stronger tribe, a middle-sized tribe with over 3,000 tribal men.”

“What are their relations?”

“The middle-small tribes often fought each other, it occurs because of their competition for pasture, the Tian Qi tribe would then step in and stop the war. What’s interesting is, the Tian Qi tribe, with the ultimate purpose of maintaining its throne, it would secretly suppress the middle-sized tribes and support the small tribes. As a result, there weren’t any second tribes with over ten thousand tribal men. The long-lasting suppression causes dissatisfactions between the middle-sized tribes towards the Tian Qi tribe. But given the distinct difference in strength, they could only endure the suppression. Therefore, the small tribes would usually side with the Tian Qi tribe while the middle-sized tribes formed their own alliance.” Lei Xun answered.

Shuo nodded, “How about the Qingfu horses?”

“Not so good. The Qingfu horses are normally controlled by the nomadic tribes, it is hard to find another group of wild stallions. There are only two ways we can acquire the horses, by forcing a war or by trading.” Lei Xun answered bitterly.

“If we trade, will it work?” Shuo asked in uncertainty.

“The tribes are lacking in ironworks, and more if it is the daily resources such as salts and tea leaves, hence, it is theoretically possible for us to trade with them. Of course, that is if our fists are strong enough to defend ourselves. They are nomadic tribes, predators of nature, they are aggressive, things that can be plundered, they will not trade.” A month’s work was not in vain, Lei Xun had acquired a strong understanding of the situations of the nomadic tribes.

Ouyang Shuo tapped his fingers on the table and kept quiet. According to his plan, after upgrading to a grade 3 village, the last subordinate territory would be established on the borderline between the Friendship river and Qiushui river, it would act as the bridgehead for them to conquer the basin. But with the intelligence Lei Xun had gathered, establishing the subordinate territory there would face with the risk of getting plundered by the nomadic tribes.

It was constantly bugging him, that if he were to set up the Mingguang armor heavy cavalry unit, the system given ordinary warhorses could not even bear the weight of the armors, only the Qingfu warhorses could do so. Without a bridgehead, he would not be at ease to send his troops over to the other side of the river. If they were spotted by the nomadic tribes, they could not even retreat back to safety in time.

Taking a step back, if the bridgehead was not established, it would also be dangerous if they started trading deals with the name of Shanhai Town. It would only leave Shanhai Town exposed to the hungry nomadic wolves. Just as Lei Xun had said, the nomadic tribes were aggressive, they would not spend a single coin on things that they could plunder. Ouyang Shuo was not placed in a situation of perplexity.

Since he couldn’t make the decision on his own, he then decided to listen to the opinions of the others. Shuo requested Lei Xun to be patient as he called the concierge to ask the other 4 directors over.

20 minutes later, the 4 directors came one after another. Shuo instructed Lei Xun to brief the directors and he told them his plans and thoughts, then he asked: “What are your opinions?”

“Big brother, in my opinion, at times like this, we should stop the plan for the Qingfu horses. Since the Mingguang armor isn't producing at a fast rate, it would require some time to fully equip the cavalries. The most important issue now is to upgrade to a grade 1 county. It is still not too late to come back to this matter by then.” Yingyu who expressed her opinion standing on the point of view from the Finance Department.

Fan Zhongyan continued after her, “I agree with Director Cui. The nomadic tribes are all warriors, with the existing military power we have now, we are not yet strong enough. The best solution now is to stay put and ready ourselves.”

Seeing the two directors agreeing with each other to stop the plan on the Qingfu horses, the military representative Director Ge Hongliang could not sit still anymore, just when he was about to stand up, Tian Wenjing who was beside him suddenly rose and said loudly: “My lord, I hold a different opinion!”

“Please speak!” Honestly speaking, Ouyang Shuo didn’t want to stop the plan on the Qingfu horses either. Establishing the heavy cavalry could not only enhance the military strength, but it would also be useful in a big event later on. As he heard Tian Wenjing giving a different opinion, he was excited. The emotionless director, he wasn’t usually a talkative man, but once he opens his mouth, there must be some context in it.

“I think, not only do we need to build the bridgehead, we also need to build it fast before they even notice us, quickly and swiftly we will nail down a fortress on the riverside. Otherwise, after they notice and station their troops beside the river, it will be even harder for us to conquer the basin.” Tian Wenjing said.

Fan Zhongyang reputed his opinion: “Director Tian has a point, but have you thought of it, how can we build the territory without them noticing? This is not something that can be done within days. Furthermore, even if the territory is established, how can we defend ourselves from the nomadic tribes with the limited defensive capability? I’m afraid, in the end, all of the resources would be wasted in vain.”

But Tian Wenjing was clearly prepared, he answered with great confidence: “The solutions to the questions you ask are simple. Since it will be the bridgehead, then it will naturally not follow the normal procedure of a subordinate territory. We will build it as a military fortress. The first step is naturally to build a strong stone city wall, only after the wall is built will the inner city structures come. This way, we only need to station a little amount of garrison team and it will be enough to fight off the nomadic tribes. Since the nomadic tribes are troops of open-field warfare, siege battle is something they aren’t good at, they don’t even have the basic sieging weapons.”

‘That’s right, I suggest that we station the cavalry unit as a coordination team. Along with the garrisoned team, it will be sufficient to ensure the safety of the territory.” Ge Hongliang continued on, he did not expect that Tian Wenjing would have such a profound strategic vision. Even him as the director of Military Affairs did not think that far. It was only his immediate reaction that made him repute the suggestions, his instinct tells him that if they stop the plan on the Qingfu warhorses, they would miss a good opportunity, but how to do it, he did not have a good plan in mind. Now, Tian Wenjing gave them a perfect solution to the problem.

It was not her profession regarding military affairs, hence Yingyu kept quiet and listened. Fan Zhongyan pondered too after listening to Tian Wenjing’s explanation. He said nothing and it could be taken as a silent acquiescence.

Seeing the 4 directors agreeing on each other, Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate anymore and said: “Very good, we will do as Director Tian says, tomorrow we will start the construction of the third subordinate territory.”

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