Chapter 27: Desperate Development
“Okay! Since you all are not speaking after watching for so long, I’ll also not talk nonsense with you all. Lord Perfect Zhang’s intention is very clear. Twin Dragons Village is your territory. Such a small village doesn’t enter our eyes. However, the original horse resources must be handed over to Hibiscus County. If there is no objection, then quickly sign this agreement. I also have to report on my task.” That messenger said with a tone that didn’t allow any objection. This point, however, was specially instructed by Zhang Han. As long as Twin Dragons Village sign the agreement and hand over the original horse resources on time, the other things didn’t matter. Hibiscus County had enough things like iron ores and gold.
Shi Hao didn’t want to give up original horse resources. After finally learning that there were original horse resources in his own territory, how could he easily give up? But what else could he do other than giving up? If he insisted on it, then the only hope was Zhang Yang of Tranquil Water Village. Unfortunately, Zhang Yang’s position was obviously inferior to Zhang Han. At this stage, he could only make every possible effort. He had no other choice.
Shi Hao said in all smiles: “Honorable messenger, please rest and let me discuss with everyone in the village. I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer.”
“Humph! I’ll give you some time. Let me see what tricks you have.” Considering it was already late and it was inconvenient to leave, that messenger casually lied on the Council Hall’s two chairs. These two chairs were the seats of Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao. Such insult from the messenger made people gasp. But that messenger obviously didn’t think of other places to rest. He just came here.
After Feng Tianhao walked out, he mounted a war-horse. There was another war-horse in his inventory, which was specially reserved for Zhang Yang’s use. Feng Tianhao ran wildly all along the way and brought Zhang Yang back to Twin Dragons Village overnight.
When the sky was slightly bright, Shi Hao, Zhang Yang and others came to the Council Hall. When this messenger saw Zhang Yang and found that Zhang Yang wanted to help Shi Hao, although he was a bit surprised, he also wasn’t worried. Zhang Han’s instruction was not something that Zhang Yang could change at will.
The messenger said: “Village Chief Zhang, you seem to have a good relationship with Village Chief Shi. But in any case, I’ll not speak nonsense. The sky is already bright, Village Chief Shi, quickly sign the agreement and give it to me. I have to return and report back to Lord Perfect Zhang. The distance is not close, don’t delay my departure.”
Zhang Yang was very displeased upon seeing the messenger’s behavior. Zhang Yang was also a person with some reputation within Divine and Mighty Alliance. This messenger, however, was a common NPC, and he actually dared to look down on him like this. It was not like Zhang Yang could do nothing about this matter. Zhang Yang’s means was Divine and Mighty Alliance’s rules! Divine and Mighty Alliance’s rules stipulated that no one could forcibly seize the resources of other members. If you want to occupy more resources, then you must formally apply for a competition to resolve the matter, just like the competition of Zhang Yang and Wang Ling.
Zhang Yang said: “Messenger, you should return and report back to Lord Zhang Han. Tell him that these original horse resources are already mine. Tranquil Water Village and Twin Dragons Village have cooperative relations. If Lord Zhang Han must get the original horse resources here, then act according to the rules of Divine and Mighty Alliance. Don’t violate the rules!”
The eyes of the messenger became dull. No one could violate the rules of Divine and Mighty Alliance. Zhang Yang’s words were a great move. This time, this messenger was miserable! He was just a common NPC that could be replaced at any time. He also didn’t have any special skills like those historical NPCs. If he returned failing to obtain the original horse resources, then Zhang Han would blame him for certain. At the least, he wouldn’t be able to escape dismissal. Under helplessness, that messenger left Twin Dragons Village in dejection.
Afterward, Shi Hao, Zhang Yang and others discussed in the detail in Council Hall.
Shi Hao flatly said: “Village Chief Zhang, I’m grateful for your help. Merely, Zhang Hal’s strength is not something we can handle.”
Shi Hao’s worries weren’t without reasons. They shouldn’t think that if Zhang Han went to apply for the competition, it would just be like the battle between Zhang Yang and Wang Ling. Zhang Han was a calm and very experienced veteran. With the power of Zhang Han, he should be able to influence the competition plan to some extent. At that time, if a competition like ‘both sides build a main camp and see whose main camp would be preserved until the end’ was held, then Pei Yunaqing alone couldn’t stop those well-equipped and well-trained soldiers under Zhang Han when they rush up in a crowd.
Perhaps, someone would say that this was unfair, but in reality, this wouldn’t be regarded as unfair competition. In this game, just being able to have a chance to compete was already very fair. After all, as long as there was a chance, there was still hope of turning over the situation.
Zhang Yang said: “I know a bit about Lord Zhang Han’s temperament. Lord Zhang Han will not be as shameless as Wang Ling. If Lord Zhang Han was truly determined to take original horse resources of Twin Dragons Village, then I’m afraid Twin Dragons Village wouldn’t have survived up until now. Therefore, I don’t think Lord Zhang Han will fuss about these things anymore. Of course, Lord Zhang Han doesn’t care doesn’t represent that Twin Dragons Village is completely safe! There is a person who is stronger than Lord Zhang Han with a very bad temper. I think Twin Dragons Village’s real threat is him!”
Shi Hao’s heart was truly in a mess. He felt relieved when he heard that it was very unlikely that Zhang Han would make a fuss about it, but Zhang Yang said that there was still a danger. This was truly torture. Shi Hao asked: “What do you mean?”
Zhang Yang and Shi Hao were very close. Zhang Yang told everything he knew about it without reserve. As it turned out that although Zhang Han was the Perfect of Hibiscus County, he was not the highest-grade historical NPC in Hibiscus County. The highest-grade historical NPC in Hibiscus County was Wei Wentong!
Wei Wentong was S grade historical NPC, whose profession was knight. Wei Wentong was the ninth great expert during the period of Sui and Tang Dynasties in history. Wei Wentong’s skill in Flower Blade had reached the acme of perfection. In >, Wei Wentong also loved broadswords. He had a group of powerful assault cavalrymen, which was his treasure. And his special skill was named Wei Fiery Dragon.
[Skill Name: Wei Fiery Dragon]
[Skill Grade: historical NPC’s skill, no grade classification]
[Skill Type: Passive, no consumption]
[Weapon Restriction: Broadswords]
[Current Rank and Mastery: Level 1, 50/100]
[Skill Effect: After using two effective attacks in succession, you can release an ultimate and critical-hit would occur; however, the critical-hit damage would be changed to 120]
Wei Wentong’s damage output was very high. When the level of his skill improved further, the critical-hit damage would even reach 300. Moreover, it was a critical-hit after two successive attacks. Such a terrifying damage output was basically a three-hit-kill move.
Zhang Yang frowned and sighed: “Wei Wentong is also a top outstanding personage. His strength truly is up to the mark, but he is also known for his like of wine, lecherousness, violent nature and greediness. I guess that he will definitely come to compete! At that time, you can use my name to fight. Merely, I will not be able to help Village Chief Shi anymore.”
Zhang Yang had already done his best for Shi Hao to achieve this step. Shi Hao also understood this. He sent Zhang Yang off more than ten miles away from Twin Dragons Village and returned to the village. Upon seeing the Twin Dragons Village was developing further, Shi Hao made up his mind. In any case, he must not lose.
Wang Fu stepped forward. He also had heard the words of Zhang Yang. He said: “Lord Village Chief, although Lord Cui Yuanqing (Pei Yuanqing) is strong, our soldiers might not be able to compare with Wei Wentong’s troops. In the following period of time, Lord Village Chief should whole-heartedly train Twin Dragons Village’s troops. As for the other affairs, I will deal with them properly. Since we are thoroughly clear about the positions of the valuable resources like original horses, gold and iron ores (thanks to the person who wrote that anonymous letter), we must send people to extract them fully.”
Therefore, Shi Hao started an insane plan to strengthen the army for this period of time. In Shi Hao’s strengthen army plan, there were a few key elements: expanding troops, training troops and equipping troops.
First, in order to expand the troops, Shi Hao actually put up a high-pay soldiers recruitment notice even in Tranquil Water Village. The population of Tranquil Water Village was several times larger than Twin Dragons Village. Moreover, many fighters, knights and archers of Tranquil Water Village had not joined the army. They all chose to hunt to make a living. These people were all the supplement for Twin Dragons Village’s military strength. Zhang Yang didn’t mind this. In any case, these people wouldn’t move even if Zhang Yang instructed. If he could move them, then they would have already joined the army. Therefore, Shi Hao could recruit them.
Secondly, in order to train the troops, Shi Hao quickly built a military camp in Twin Dragons Village depending on Tranquil Water Village’s supply of more cheap goods and materials. In >, in addition to hunting monsters all around, there was another good method to train soldiers. That was to use military camps. In the military camp, you can not only train soldiers, but also improve the soldiers’ experience, skill proficiency and battle techniques. Even the commander training the army would gain a lot of experience. After the military camp was built, Shi Hao personally supervised and trained the soldiers every day.
Finally, in order to equip soldiers, including the matter of providing soldiers with better gears and skills, Shi Hao made Feng Tianhao, Pei Yuanqing and Li Yi go separately and frantically kill field BOSSes as well as elite monsters. Like this, not only their level would rise quickly, but they would also obtain a lot of skill books. These skill books were given to Tranquil Water Village except those that were useful for Twin Dragons Village together with a few extra original horses. They were exchanged for a lot of goods and materials so as to upgrade Twin Dragons Village’s level. Now, Twin Dragons Village had already become a level 2 village. Moreover, many original horses had been converted into war-horses, and they had also obtained Assist Items Cast skill. The expenditure of so many resources had made Twin Dragons Village’s financial resources almost empty. However, the current military strength of Twin Dragons Village had also made substantial improvement.
In addition, there was another very crucial point! After this period of hard training, the skills of everyone in Twin Dragons Village had improved, reaching level 2 skills. Naturally, everyone’s level had also increased a lot. The key figures including Shi Hao had already reached level 12.
But when the strength of Twin Dragons Village was still improving, one day, someone suddenly appeared. And this person was the one who had exposed Twin Dragons Village’s resources to Zhang Han by writing a letter.
“Village Chief, there is a man at the gate requesting to see you!” On this day, Shi Hao was notified by a subordinate. Shi Hao temporarily stopped the training program and let soldiers train by themselves. He then went to the gate and saw a person. This man had concealed his name, so Shi Hao couldn’t check it. Just by observing that person’s equipment and operation speed, he estimated that that person was a knight. That person’s height was about the same as Shi Hao, just a bit taller.