Chapter 26: The Lord's Second Step

Hearing Feng Zhong's bravado, Lin Mu felt a surge of pride. Indeed, with the divine-grade attribute bonuses of his territory, the aptitude of his subjects was one tier higher than others. Consequently, once they transitioned into soldiers, their martial attributes would be more formidable, and their growth potential would be elevated by an entire grade. A thousand soldiers with Tier 6 aptitude, once they reached Level 30—the peak of Tier 3 soldiers—would possess combat power comparable to Level 40 soldiers (the peak of Tier 4) in the Azure Dragon Fortress. Against Tier 3 soldiers, a single one of them could likely take on a hundred without issue.

With Feng Zhong's abilities as a Divine General, he could actually train these soldiers to reach Level 30 in less than two months.

In the interim, Lin Mu checked the 100 soldiers in the territory's barracks. Their levels had basically reached Level 24. As expected, with his powerful specialty in military training and the tenfold training speed, his soldiers matured at least ten times faster than others. Combined with the various territory bonuses, it was truly as advertised.

"Good! Feng Jin is indeed a God of War. With you in our True Dragon Village, we can withstand thousands of troops!" Lin Mu said passionately to Feng Zhong.

Standing nearby, Chang Yin looked at the confident Feng Zhong and then at his composed lord, Lin Mu, feeling equally elated. "Very well, let Feng Zhong handle these matters. They are merely a hundred thousand ants! My Lord need not worry. However, I suspect your goal, My Lord, is to take both the Azure Dragon and Qingfeng Fortresses into your possession, right? You won't leave a single enemy soldier behind!" Chang Yin spoke with even more bravado than Feng Zhong, guessing Lin Mu's true intentions.

*Haha, I love it when my subordinates are this badass. It makes me look even more legendary! Hahaha...*

"That's right. We have just established our village, and the number of subjects in the territory is very small. Although the divine-grade territory attributes mean the aptitude of newly spawned refugees is slightly better, the daily numbers are still too low. The Yinglong Valley is vast and the land is fertile; it requires massive amounts of manpower and resources to develop. If we rely solely on the subjects spawned by the mere camp, even after the world falls into chaos, we will still only have the population of a small town. That is far from my ultimate goal. Therefore, we must seize every opportunity to increase our territory's various resources—including human resources!" Lin Mu stated firmly.

A force of 100,000 elite troops might have been a significant pressure for Lin Mu's previous power, but with his current territory's foundation—having a Divine Scholar to manage the territory with no logistical worries, and a Divine General to train soldiers and defend the land—he truly had nothing to fear!

Influenced by Feng Zhong and Chang Yin's contempt for the enemy, Lin Mu felt it too. *Yes, it's just a hundred thousand soldiers. I will encounter far more in the future. The battlefield of the lords' hegemony involves millions or even tens of millions of soldiers fighting. To be afraid of a mere hundred thousand is truly pathetic!*

Not much time had passed since Lin Mu's rebirth. The memory of his small territory was still vivid, as if it were yesterday. The influence of the invincible lords from his previous life's era of hegemony also unconsciously affected him. In his subconscious, he had been influenced by the peerless presence of certain invincible lords, which was why he had been so cautious—even choosing to develop in seclusion when establishing his village.

*It seems I am still not grand enough,* Lin Mu thought lightly to himself.

In his past life, during his university years, he was just an ordinary casual player, barely making ends meet. After graduation, because he had obtained a Village Building Order, he unexpectedly established his own territory, which brought him to the attention of several major factions and guilds. Eventually, while seeking investment support, he was "recruited" by his university goddess, becoming an elite member of a guild with a fixed salary but zero freedom.

Later, through his strength, he caught the eye of the high-level management and was titled one of the so-called "Eighteen Divine Generals" of the guild. In reality, preceding the Eighteen Divine Generals were empty titles like the "Twelve Kings" and "Four Emperors." They weren't true high-level leaders, but rather important errand boys and cannon fodder.

The reason Lin Mu was recruited by the university goddess was more importantly because he had a secret crush on her, making it easy for him to serve her.

Thinking back, it was truly laughable.

Later, he inadvertently offended one of the "Twelve Kings," a Sword King, who framed him and had him kicked out of the guild. All his possessions were confiscated, and the so-called agreement was rendered void. The territory he had acquired by chance changed hands, even though his ownership had been more nominal than real.

With his resilience, he started over from scratch, arriving in Dongye County, Kuaiji Commandery, Yangzhou, to rebuild from a primary village. Using his experience, he developed it into a county-level city. The bitterness and blood shed during that process were immense, but he also deeply realized how wonderful it was to have freedom, even if he had lost much.

Lin Mu did not wish to dwell on that betrayal. The former goddess had begun to blur and fade from his heart...

Recalling the past, Lin Mu began to face himself properly, cultivating his character and his way of doing things.

As his thoughts wandered through the heavens and earth, many things slowly became clear to him!

...

"My goal is very clear: I want everyone in Qingfeng and Azure Dragon Fortresses!" After hearing Feng Zhong's heroic declaration, Lin Mu made his decision after careful consideration.

"Very well, then I leave the arduous task of soldier training to you, Feng Jin! Additionally, I will trouble you to handle the territory's affairs, Yuanjian! Currently, the territory has no brewery and no wine to drink; otherwise, I would certainly treat you both to ten large bowls of wine! Haha..." Lin Mu said, his mood significantly lightened.

"Haha, My Lord, it's a deal! You owe us a drink. I love drinking more than anything, so don't be stingy when the time comes!" Feng Zhong said boisterously, though his tone made Lin Mu feel as if something "bad" (in a fun way) was about to happen.

"No problem! I'll treat you to ten bowls of the finest nectar!" Lin Mu promised with equal passion, though he would later deeply regret this promise—but that is a story for another time.

"Chang Yin must come too!" Lin Mu pulled Chang Yin into the pact.

"Thank you, My Lord! I will certainly arrive as promised," Chang Yin chuckled.

"Scholars are always so formal. Hmph, I'll make sure to drink you under the table!" Feng Zhong joked.

"Alright, Feng Jin, go back to training the soldiers. Do not neglect our territory's Elite Program; try to ensure the soldiers' original aptitude reaches at least Tier 5!" Lin Mu instructed.

"Yes, My Lord!" Feng Zhong replied respectfully. The joking was over; now it was time to work. He turned and headed to the barracks to train the troops.

After watching Feng Zhong leave, Lin Mu inquired about the territory's development status with Chang Yin. The two discussed the territory's growth, and Lin Mu shared some of his advanced modern theories with Chang Yin. Chang Yin was very intelligent and quickly integrated these ideas with the current social situation to improve the territory's various efficiencies.

In *Mythical Three Kingdoms*, many modern theories used by players were not recognized by the system—meaning they were not acknowledged by the laws of the mythical world—and thus provided no system efficiency bonuses. However, if a clever NPC understood the principles and gained the recognition of the world's laws, it could greatly enhance the territory's efficiency. Later, many strategist-type players collaborated with NPCs to manage territories, establishing private schools, academies, and institutes to train NPCs and players, which also gained system recognition. It was a form of innovation, though it hadn't fully developed yet.

Recognition by the laws of heaven and earth was a vital, ironclad rule!

Lin Mu was currently contemplating whether to recruit management talent from reality, but he suppressed the thought, realizing he needed to remain hidden and could not leak any of his personal information. Although the "Ten Great Divine Strategists" and "Ten Great Divine Generals" from his past life were very attractive to him, they conflicted with his current plan, so he set them aside for now.

The reach of many factions in reality was very deep, and real people were full of uncertainties. He must not lose the big picture for small gains!

After discussing with Chang Yin for a long time, Chang Yin went to work, and Lin Mu headed toward the blacksmith shop. He had a major task to accomplish!

Arriving at the bustling blacksmith shop, he saw that it now employed 5 senior blacksmiths, 17 intermediate blacksmiths, and 59 junior blacksmiths. The shop's level had upgraded to a Senior Blacksmith Shop, occupying an area of 5 *mu*, making it quite spacious and high-end. Compared to the crude primary blacksmith shop, the difference was massive—like the gap between a wealthy elite and a commoner!

Lin Mu found the head senior blacksmith and began hauling out all the weapons from the warehouse.

Lin Mu was shocked by what he saw. The weapons and equipment in the warehouse were piled as high as mountains; if he hadn't cleared them out, he wouldn't have had room to store anything else.

With his inventory slots completely filled, Lin Mu rushed toward the Primary Trading Market. His grand plan was to sell weapons.

*Haha, I love it when they're piled high like mountains!*

From his conversation with Chang Yin, he had learned that the territory's funds were running low and they were becoming strapped for cash. They needed liquid income, and this operation was intended to earn copper coins.

Currently, there were no more than 15 player territories in the Huaxia region. Lin Mu didn't know the global situation, but based on the Huaxia region, there were likely very few villages established worldwide.

The Primary Trading Market had been completed many days ago, but he had been too busy to attend to it. Since none of his current subjects were clever enough to be entrusted with such an important matter, he had to do it himself. Having neglected it for a few days shouldn't be a problem. He only had so many weapons and equipment because of the iron ore rewarded by the system, and the number of blacksmiths was also due to the influence of the divine-grade territory attributes. Other players likely didn't have such advantages.

He was very much looking forward to the harvest from this trading market. This was the second step of his territory building. The first step was obtaining the Divine Village Building Order to establish the village; now, he was gathering wealth and capital to develop his territory.

Step One: The dragon rises from the abyss—establish the territory!

Step Two: Build high walls and store vast grain!

...

The Primary Trading Market could connect to the county-level trading market, which was the only link between his territory and the outside world.

Lin Mu took stock: he had a total of 1,337 ordinary iron swords, spears, and sabers. As for ranked weapons reaching the Yellow Grade, there were three main types: [Black Iron Refined Steel Spear], [Black Iron Refined Steel Saber], and [Black Iron Refined Steel Sword]. These were mainstream weapons and would be very popular in the market.

There were 2,500 Yellow Grade weapons in total. This was because Lin Mu had specifically instructed Chang Yin to have the blacksmiths focus on manufacturing those three types of weapons; all other production was merely to meet the territory's own needs.