Chapter 24: The Threat of Azure Dragon Village

The stronghold located to the northwest is named [Qinglong Fortress]. It is primarily composed of soldiers and warriors, with very few elderly, weak, women, or children. It is a very strange stronghold; in the beginning, it treated his Qingyun Village quite well, but gradually, for reasons unknown, it has become insatiably greedy, with its demands becoming increasingly harsh and frequent.

Qinglong Fortress, Qinglong Fortress... Could it be *that* Qinglong Fortress?

Lin Mu thought of a regional plotline from the Kuaiji Commandery in Yangzhou from his previous life.

Could it be that rebel Qinglong Fortress?

In his previous life, there was a hero in Kuaiji Commandery named Xu Zhao, courtesy name Wenjian. He was a native of [Shanyin Commandery City], the seat of Kuaiji. Driven by immense ambition, he raised an army to rebel against the Great Han Dynasty, declared himself king, and called himself the King of Jiangdong! He even renamed Kuaiji Commandery to the Kingdom of Jiangdong!

This was also a system regional campaign plotline that took place in the Kuaiji Commandery of Yangzhou. Similar regional plots occurred in many other provinces; this was how the system encouraged players to participate, allowing them to experience the cruelty of a world where war fires connect the horizon and battlefields are drenched in hot blood, helping players gradually adapt to the visceral brutality of a mythological world.

The regional plotline occurring in the Kuaiji Commandery of Yangzhou was known as [The Rebellion of Xu Zhao].

Xu Zhao was a third-rate historical general. Even for a third-rate general, players were unable to resist him; they had to rely on the forces of the government, acting merely as cannon fodder while the government officials reaped most of the benefits. However, the decaying government was bullied like stray dogs by even a third-rate historical general, eventually being driven out of the capital, Huiyin City.

Lin Mu was very familiar with this plotline and had even sketched it as a significant stroke on his own blueprint. He intended to reap massive profits from this regional plotline.

Through Gao Hai's intelligence, he knew that Qinglong Fortress possessed 120,000 men. Excluding logistics personnel, there were 100,000 elite troops. According to the intelligence Gao Hai had gathered, 80,000 of them were Tier 3 soldiers, and about 20,000 were Tier 4 soldiers.

Hearing such intelligence, Lin Mu guessed that this Qinglong Fortress might just be a hidden military depot cultivated secretly by Xu Zhao. There must be other "Qinglong Fortresses"; when the regional plotline truly triggered, Xu Zhao could claim to command a million elite troops!

Even if that was an exaggeration, there would still be hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers; otherwise, half of Kuaiji Commandery wouldn't have fallen when the plotline commenced.

In the game, Kuaiji Commandery was roughly as large as the total area of all the southern provinces of China, which showed the sheer scale of Xu Zhao's influence.

As Lin Mu listened to Gao Hai's intelligence, he plotted incessantly in his mind. He felt a slight sense of dread; 100,000 elite troops was nearly half the military strength he had possessed in his previous life.

After Gao Hai finished speaking, the system's notification rang in Lin Mu's ears

"Ding!"

"—System Notification: Lord Lin Mu, do you accept Gao Hai's request—[The Threat of Qinglong Fortress]—to resolve the difficulties facing Qingyun Village?"

Lin Mu pondered for a moment and responded firmly, chanting in his heart: "Accept!"

Aloud, Lin Mu said, "Very well, I accept your Excellency Gao Hai's request. I will help you through this crisis and eliminate the threat of Qinglong Fortress!"

"Good, haha! Thank you, Village Chief Lin Mu, for helping us elderly, weak, and disabled people," Gao Hai said happily. Finally, someone was sharing the oppression in his heart. He felt a slight sense of anticipation for this "Outsider" to perform some miracle; even if he failed, the worst that could happen was his stronghold surrendering to Qinglong Fortress.

"Village Chief Lin Mu, do not be too hasty; we need a good plan. However, we fear that Qinglong Fortress will notice anything unusual about our village, so we cannot provide any material assistance to you. But if it is intelligence, we will provide it to you without reservation. I hope you can understand our predicament," Gao Hai said, acting as if he were in a great bind, offering only intelligence and so-called moral support.

Lin Mu saw through the trickery. Gao Hai simply wanted Lin Mu to conquer Qinglong Fortress, but he himself was afraid that if the attack failed, it would implicate Qingyun Village. He was playing both sides, straddling two boats. As expected of a chieftain leading such a massive stronghold, he was quite calculating.

*But I like it. As long as you can openly issue a subjugation quest, I will conquer it through force. When that time comes, I can take the moral high ground and subdue you with ease.*

Lin Mu did not know Gao Hai's thoughts, but he was currently facing a Qinglong Fortress with 100,000 elite troops. What should he do?

Lin Mu's mind raced with plans.

Lin Mu did not linger. After asking Gao Hai for a clever youth who was familiar with the mountain paths, he purchased some urgently needed supplies for his territory in Qingyun Village before returning home.

He needed to go back and discuss this with Chang Yin and Feng Zhong; after all, one was a Divine Strategist and the other a Divine General—extraordinary individuals.

In truth, seeing Gao Hai's expression, Lin Mu knew that this so-called "subjugation task" was just something he had casually issued to Lin Mu. Gao Hai didn't take it very seriously; everyone knew the massive gap between a large stronghold and a newly established village.

Lin Mu pondered for a while, recalling the attributes of the God-tier Village Building Order, the divine skills of Feng Zhong, and many other things. Gradually, his restless heart calmed down, and a confident smile began to appear on the corners of his mouth.

...

Lin Mu's primary purchase from Gao Hai's stronghold was salt, as his territory was severely lacking in it.

His territory currently had no salt pans or harvestable salt mines, making salt, a vital necessity, extremely important.

Gao Hai's salt was priced at 100 copper coins per unit, where one unit equaled one jin. Lin Mu only had about 3,000 copper coins in his pocket. After buying 20 units, he used the remaining money to buy some seeds, such as rapeseed and vegetable seeds. Once he returned to his territory, he could arrange for farmers to plant these crops, providing a basic solution for the territory's oil and vegetable needs in the future.

Once he had more money, he would come back to buy more salt and other goods. Lin Mu browsed the Qingyun Village market and found many more supplies he desperately needed, secretly resolving to sweep the place clean once he was wealthier, as he wouldn't be able to complete the [Threat of Qinglong Fortress] task in the short term.

On the way back, Lin Mu set off for the village accompanied by Xiao Hu and the clever youth.

In Qingyun Village, Lin Mu had already repaired the weapons and equipment that had suffered significant durability loss, making them ready for battle once again.

On the return journey, both Lin Mu and Xiao Hu had leveled up past level 10. Xiao Hu reached level 12, while Lin Mu hit level 10 exactly—the requirement to change his class to a General—but he lacked a cultivation technique.

The process of changing classes to a General was the same for both players and NPCs, requiring three basic conditions: reaching level 10 or above, possessing a technique of Yellow Grade or higher, and having an available slot.

The [Junior Barracks] had three slots for changing classes to a General, the [Intermediate Barracks] had ten, the [Advanced Barracks] had fifty, and the highest level, the [Drill Ground], had one hundred.

The [Junior Barracks] could train 100 soldiers, the [Intermediate Barracks] could train 1,000, the [Advanced Barracks] could train 10,000, and the [Drill Ground] could train 200,000. The [Drill Ground] was the ultimate level for barracks-type buildings; unless one possessed special blueprints, it could not be upgraded by an ordinary architect.

Lin Mu had not yet obtained any items like cultivation techniques from monster drops. He wondered if Feng Zhong had found any. On his end, killing beasts yielded no equipment or items, causing Lin Mu to once again complain about the extremely low drop rates in the game.

(End of Chapter)