The Lord's Empire

Chapter 25: Den

Translator: MrVoltaire Editor: Modlawls123

Zhao Fu was happy that the Great Qin Village had finally leveled up. After returning to the Great Qin Village, he brought Deng Li and 36 pieces of plate armor to Wang Dawu and asked him to do some repairs on the plate armor.

Right now, the Smithy and Tailor Shop greatly lacked people. The weapons they had obtained from the bottom of the crack had still not been repaired, and now, there was also plate armor that needed to be repaired. As such, Zhao Fu had to add some more people to help them.

Afterwards, Zhao Fu re-established the Ferocious Tiger Village west of the Great Qin Village and sent a few people to manage it. Finally, he went to the Great Qin Village’s Village Hall and looked at its new stats:

Village Name: Great Qin Village (Legendary)

Level: Intermediate (24/30,000)

Village Area: 5 square kilometers.

Village Territory: 250 square kilometres.

Residents: 465/6000

Military: 216/2400

Popular Support: 80

Village Special Stats: Territory Crop Output +40%, Territory Crop Growing Time -40%, Population Limit +20%, Residents’ stats can randomly +2, Soldiers’ stats +2%, Population Attraction +30%, chances of attracting higher grade population +30%

Subsidiary Village Limit: 8

Subordinate Villages: Logue Village, Jean Village, Dorun Village, Li Family Village, Wild Wolf Village, Ferocious Tiger Village

In terms of stats, Zhao Fu was not too surprised that the village’s stats had increased by 10%. However, he was shocked to see that he could now have 8 Subsidiary Villages.

However, the population of the village was always a problem: he only had 465 residents, while the limit was 6000. Apart from the Great Qin Village, even the other villages had not been filled up. This was especially so for the Wild Wolf Village and the Ferocious Tiger Village – altogether, Zhao Fu had sent less than 20 people to those villages.

Before, the Li Family Village had been quite populated, but Zhao Fu took two-thirds of the population with him to the Great Qin Village, so the Li Family Village was also lacking people.

This made Zhao Fu sigh. However, he couldn’t expect to fill all of them in just a few days or even weeks: the development of villages took months, if not years, and they would only gradually become powerful over time. Right now, with all of the villages combined and the Great Qin Village’s special stats, he could summon 40 villagers every day.

As for the bottom of the large crack, Zhao Fu did not plan on exploring it for the time being. He decided that he would create two special teams to explore the bottom of the crack in the future.

Right now, Zhao Fu wanted to create a Mage group. Magic skills were quite rare, but they were incredibly powerful. As such, Zhao Fu planned to take some soldiers to kill magic beasts. He also wanted to tame some large beasts, such as cows, pigs, and horses. Because of their lack of horses, Zhao Fu had not been able to create a Cavalry team.

They could not do without Cavalry, the most powerful type of soldier in an era where cold weapons reigned supreme. Moreover, with horses, they wouldn’t have to run to places themselves.

Zhao Fu spent some money to obtain the Taming skill without changing professions and brought Bai Qi, Old Logue, 10 Spear and Shield soldiers, 10 Sabermen, and 10 Archers with him. Finally, after much pleading from Liu Mei, Zhao Fu could only agree to take her as well.

The Great Qin Village was in the outer region of the Forest of Horrors, and the further one went into the forest, the more magic beasts there would be. As such, Zhao Fu took his soldiers and headed west.

On their journey, the trees became larger and larger, and they seemed to pierce through the clouds. The lighting became quite dim, and the trees’ appearances were all quite strange. They would occasionally see some wild rabbits run past and make some noise.

Zhao Fu did not pay these things much mind, and he led his people onwards. Soon, he found a sow and 8 piglets looking for food.

Wild boars were animals that lived by themselves when they became mature, and unlike other animals that were usually caught in large numbers, they were quite hard to catch. If they could find a Den, that would be ideal.

Dens were like villages for animals, and they were places where wild animals would spawn. However, there were very few Dens, and they were protected by at least hundreds of wild beasts up to even tens of thousands.

They were now quite far away from the Great Qin Village, so it was impossible for them to go back just to bring the sow and piglets back, so they ended up sparing them.

Onwards!

Zhao Fu suddenly stopped as he discovered 10 or so Azure Oxen beside a small creek. Their fur was a light azure color, and they had 2 horns that gave off a metallic luster.

If they could capture these Azure Oxen, they could use them to plow the land as well as deliver iron ore, saving them a lot of manpower. As such, Zhao Fu immediately turned his attention to the herd of Azure Oxen.

However, these large wild beasts were not easy to catch. If Zhao Fu and his people rushed up to the Azure Oxen and caused them to go wild and charge at Zhao Fu and his people, things could go badly. His 10 Shieldbearers definitely wouldn’t be able to stop these 10 or so Azure Oxen.

Moreover, he couldn’t rely on Archers either. It would be fine to shoot a few arrows at them, but if the arrows hit their vitals, the Azure Oxen would immediately run away. How could someone chase after an ox that had been stimulated by pain? Moreover, if the other oxen became scared and rushed off, they would not be able to do anything about it either.

Perhaps the Archers could aim at the Azure Oxen’s legs, making it so that they couldn’t run. However, there was a chance of permanently crippling the Azure Oxen. Using crippled Azure Oxen to plow the land or to deliver iron ore wouldn’t be very efficient.

As such, using traps was their best course of action. Zhao Fu turned and told his idea to Bai Qi and the others, and they all nodded in agreement and started to set traps north of the Azure Oxen.

Zhao Fu split the soldiers into three teams, and Zhao Fu, Bai Qi, and Liu Mei took leadership of one team each. Because Old Logue was fairly old and was a Goblin, he couldn’t run very fast, so he would stay where he was and use his fireballs to make sure that the Azure Oxen ran into the traps.

Following this, they set their plan into action. Zhao Fu, Bai Qi, and Liu Mei’s teams came from the east, south, and west, moving towards the Azure Oxen. As they drew closer, the Azure Oxen sensed danger, stopped eating grass, and started to look around them.

At this moment, the three teams rushed at them but did not attack. They only loudly shouted or hit their swords and sabers against their shields, making it seem like they had a massive force. This caused the Azure Oxen to run away in fear.

The most cheerful of them all was Liu Mei, and she laughed loudly as she brandished her whip. As the soldiers clamored and rushed at the Azure Oxen from the east, south, and west, the oxen could only run north.

The three teams gradually joined together and chased after the Azure Oxen. If the Azure Oxen strayed off the path leading to the traps, Zhao Fu’s Archers used their arrows to herd them in the right direction.

Soon, the Azure Oxen rushed into the traps and their legs were tightly bound.

Bang, bang, bang, bang…

The Azure Oxen crashed to the ground, causing muffled sounds and dust to fill the air. The Azure Oxen quickly got up and tried to run, but they could not get rid of the ropes around their legs.

These ropes were two finger widths thick, and they were wrapped around trees that were at least 1 meter thick. As such, no matter how much the Azure Oxen struggled, they could not break free.

When they had used up all of their strength, Zhao Fu’s people went up to them and started to use Taming, easily netting them 16 Azure Oxen.