Chapter 11

  "I've been admiring famous generals and studying military strategies, I can be considered diligent, but this matter... " Han Hu laughed loudly: "However, the toad ridge was defeated by us once, where did three hundred mountain bandits come from? Huang San yuan is just talking nonsense out of fear. Since Xuan Zhi has a dream of leading troops, let him indulge in it."

  "The lord of the city is wise and discerning, even a single hair can be seen clearly. With Lord Xue, half a river is also at ease."

  "General Xue Jun doesn't have to worry, nothing big will happen." Han Hu sat down with a thud: "I'm tired, let's go back and sleep. Flower, grass, help me up."

  Behind him, a pair of twins like jade porcelain lifted Han Hu off the ground. Xue Banchuan said: "Young Master is preparing to send troops, there are many things to arrange, can't the city master just ask?"

  "Never mind, I don't think about anything now, just thinking about getting close to young girls. Xue Junshi, I really don't understand why you don't mess with women? Otherwise, I'll let Hua Ercao accompany you for a night and let you taste their flavor?"

  Xue Ban-chuan's face turned red: "I don't dare, I don't dare."

  "Haha, you dare to, I also can't bear to part with it." Han Hu sat down and patted his shoulder: "Who doesn't hope to be stuck to the silky skin of a young girl, sniffing the youthful scent on her body? But this blessing is not something that anyone can have. If Xue Jun has tasted this flavor, he will find that there's nothing else in life worth paying attention to."

  Xue Ban-chuan's waist was very low, Han Hu sat humming a small tune towards the back hall, flowers and grasses on both sides accompanied him, with a pure appearance like just-washed rape flowers.

  ……

  "...So you're saying Blackstone City doesn't have a standing army?"

  Hedgehog village, inside the earthen house, Cheng Dairen furrowed his brow in puzzlement. In order to understand the situation with Blackstone City, he naturally had to ask Su Qing. But not asking wouldn't know, and upon asking, he came to realize that some things were indeed different from what he thought.

  "Standing army? Blackstone City has over 20,000 households, how can they afford to maintain an army of 5,000 men?"

  "What about fighting? Where do soldiers come from? If someone comes to attack the city, what can be done without an army?" Cheng Dalai was even more perplexed.

  "When troops are deployed, they can be drawn from military households. If it's a large-scale siege, all the able-bodied men in the city will have to go into battle."

  In fact, the world still widely adopts the military household system, where descendants inherit a military position and are temporarily drafted when troops are needed. As for whether this person can fight or not, no one cares at all. For example, in Blackstone City, with a population of around 100,000, it is impossible to maintain a standing army of 5,000 people, and there are only a few hundred guards responsible for the safety of the city lord's mansion and internal security.

  "It's really a backward system." Cheng Dairen let out a long sigh.

  "Left behind?" Su Qing's eyebrows furrowed slightly: "Implicitly, you know of a more advanced system?"

  "There isn't any, there isn't any."

  Cheng Dalai waved his hand, at least he was also a liberal arts student, and knew that the production relationship is determined by the productive forces. With the current yield of 200-300 kilograms per mu, it is fundamentally impossible to support a standing army. The 200-300 kilograms are still in good years, but heaven has unpredictable winds and clouds, and if the heavens do not rain or continuously rain, the grain fields will be empty.

  So even if he knows many more advanced systems, they may not be suitable for this world.

  "In fact, Xue Banjiang of Heishi City had once planned to train a standing army, but the cost was too high and the matter was dropped." Su Ying.

  "Xue Ban Chuan?" Cheng Da Lei asked.

  "He was the military advisor of Han Hu, who indulged in pleasure and leisure. All major and minor affairs within the city were managed by Xue Banquan... He is truly an extraordinary person."

  Cheng Dali nodded and quickly memorized the sentence. Looking at his serious frowning face, Su Qing's mind wandered, this really didn't seem like a mountain bandit.

  "Run away, Blackstone City's army is coming, at least one or two hundred men, you only have four people."

  "No, it's five. Lin Shaoyu has woken up." Cheng Daire stood up: "My plan is to block 500 people."

  He felt a sense of belonging to the Toad Village and would not allow anyone to destroy it. He had not rested well for several days, thinking about how to deal with this crisis. In the meantime, Xu Shenji provided a lot of help to Cheng Dali.

  Every time he racked his brains to think of a defensive plan, he would ask Xu Shenji: "What does the military advisor think of this plan?"

  If Xu Shenji said that this plan had a 70% chance of success, then Cheng Dali would know that there was only a 30% chance. If Xu Shenji said that the plan would definitely succeed, then Cheng Dali would have to force himself to push it down from scratch. Later on, he even developed psychological shadows towards Xu Shenji and didn't dare ask him about any ideas he had thought of with great effort.

  He left the earthen house and saw Lin Shaoyu standing in the yard, with an expression on his face that changed from cloudy to sunny, as if he wanted to say something but hadn't figured out how to put it into words.

  Cheng Dali took another look at Lin Shaoyu's information and suddenly found that after this incident, Lin Shaoyu had actually leveled up.

  Name: Lin Shaoyu (Outstanding young adventurer)

  Age: 20

  Skill: Wave-Cutting Spear

  Hidden attribute: Young man who aspires to be a great hero

  This is indeed a blessing in disguise, Cheng Dairen smiled and walked towards the other party. As Cheng Dairen approached, Lin Shaoyu's face became even more embarrassed, stuttering: "D...d...".

  Cheng Dairen rushed towards him with his own hand outstretched: "For our ideals!"

  Lin Shaoyu's pupils constricted, excitedly clenching his fist: "For our ideals!"

  Cheng Dali awkwardly withdrew his hand and could only clench his fist in the same way. Then he said to the people around him, "From now on, Lin Shaoyou will join us at Frog Island, everyone will call each other brothers, Xu Junshi, bring out the map, let's discuss it again."

  Xu Shenji held the map of the system reward, spread it out on the wooden table in the courtyard, and smiled: "What plan does the master have again? Wanting to let old me take care of it?"

  Cheng Dairen couldn't help but glance at him, his eyes falling on the Qingniu Mountain map. As for what they gained this time, apart from gunpowder, it was this Qingniu Mountain topographic map. With this, he wouldn't be completely in the dark about the surroundings of Qingniu Mountain anymore. However, Cheng Dairen didn't have much confidence in the accuracy of the maps in this world. For some important locations, he still had to see them with his own eyes to confirm.

  Every time he unfolded the map, Cheng Dalai couldn't help but be shocked. The mountains and forests within a radius of fifty miles around Qingniu Mountain were actually occupied by fifty or sixty mountain bandits, with the largest having over three hundred people, and the smallest... well, even the five-person stronghold of Ha Ma Zhai was not smaller than them.

  It's really an era where bandits thrive.

  Cheng Dalai sighed and said to Xu Shenji, "Military advisor, there is a crucial task on your shoulders right now. This matter is of great importance, and your personal safety is tied to the security of our entire mountain stronghold."

  "So important..." Xu Shenji blinked: "Or should I change someone?"

  "This matter requires a military strategist, you go to Fei Hu's lair." Cheng Da Lei pointed to a place on the map: "Find Gao Fei Hu."

  "Fei Hu Village!" Xu Shenji's eyes turned black and he almost fainted.