"You will notice that beside the Sabre Tooth Tiger Beast Hall, there is a new building." Xiao Qiao continued, as Dom looked ahead and saw the familiar looking Beast Hall type building, with a different symbol on the front of it. Xiao Qiao smiled and continued, "General Subutai was slightly impatient and decided he couldn't wait any longer for your arrival to decide."
Dom turned to Subutai who grinned at him wildly, before he headed towards the new building with a proud walk. Xun You shook his head as he and Dom followed behind Subutai as he pushed open the new Beast Hall doors. The layout was similar to the Sabre Tooth Tiger Beast Hall, with a barn like structure with multiple different pens laid out across the room.
Subutai pushed open one of the pen doors, where a Wudang Warrior was currently sat on the floor with two giant wolves. The Warrior was one of the Heavy Wudang Warrior's and was scratching the belly of one of the wolves, whilst the other was licking his face. They seemed like giant puppies, but Dom recognised them instantly.
"Did you ask Meritamen?" Dom asked as he looked at two very similar Wolves to his wives.
"She is aware." Subutai replied with a grin, "We now have hunting dogs!"
"They are a bit more deadly than a hunting dog. But they will be a great addition to our forces." Xun You explained in a more measure voice, "As discussed a while ago, if we received another beast hall, then we would use them for the Dire Wolves. We are pairing them up with the Wudang forces which are being split across Tomoe and Tomyris's armies."
Dom nodded in agreement, whilst the Dogs could potentially become a mount for his smaller units like he had with the Sabre Tooth Tigers and the Titanaconda's, Dom could see these as a partner for his Archers and Heavy Infantry from the Wudang Flying Army Warriors Hall. The Wudang Warriors were excellent hunters and creators of traps, who were well suited for unknown and dangerous terrain. Dom checked the systems stats to see the similarities to his other halls.
[Dire Wolf Beast Hall of Riverside
Beast Hall Grade - S
Spawn Rate - 2 Animals Per Day (Can be upgraded with Village Growth)
Spawn Type - Dire Wolf
Beast Hall Level - 1
The Beast Hall is for none standard creatures that can be tamed and trained, domesticating something that wouldn't normally be domesticated. This is a rare building type and the necessary creature must be tamed and placed within the Beast Hall by the Town itself. Creatures within the Stables can spawn their own kind through natural means.
Beast Hall can be upgraded with the appointment of a skilled Beast Tamer]
"Some of the Wudang Warriors have asked for Sabre Tooth Tigers as well, but I am happy keeping them as our elite Cavalry, with the Dire Wolves as our scout and behind enemy line forces." Subutai explained, "Within two weeks we can have nearly thirty of these and can have them dispatched to the front lines."
"What about Meritamen's three?" Dom asked, wondering if his wife had signed off using her gift as a military asset.
"They are currently based in the Palace rear and are part of her Guard unit. She has mentioned dispatching one with Lady Sun, but that is still up for discussion." Xiao Qiao commented from the side as she signalled for them to leave.
"Did we have other options to choose from?" Dom asked as they left the Wudang Warrior with the two Dire Wolves.
"The normal creatures, including the ones Crassus has purchased. There was however one strange addition, which I believe it linked to Centurion Hector." Xun You explained, "It was called a Josephoartigasia monesi or a Giant Pacarana."
"A Giant Pacarana?" Dom asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Gan Ning mentioned that when he and Centurion Hector found Centurion Linos, he and his unit were fighting against giant rodent like creatures. We believe it is them." Xiao Qiao replied, "However, that does mean that there are more alive and most likely within the tunnel systems or the Red Woods."
"We do believe that they fought against us due to fear and not out of intention to hunt, but we can't guarantee that." Xun You added, "So I have sent word that each Civilian group must have a small defensive force with them."
"I think that is a sensible idea." Dom agreed as they began walking towards the Town Centre where the Shang Yang, Xun Yu and Hatshepsut were waiting for him. "Was there any other findings in the new Underground Ancient City?"
"Nothing from a Military perspective, Zenodotus is still there and a lot of the rooms are extremely damaged and very ages like they were in the original Underground Ancient City." Xun You replied, "He said he will bring everything once he has finished excavating the second abandoned town, and followed the lead from Centurion Hector. He was just as exited as Subutai about finding the Beast Hall Cube."
"He found a Cube and not an building to be exchanged?" Dom asked, cubes were a much more interesting source of new buildings rather than excavating which left a lot to hope. His key wish was more Town Centres from the excavations so he could have locations with a civilian population across the Kingdom to aid in it's growth.
"It was found in the tomb like vault." Xun You explained, "Crassus will be very happy with the amount of gold and jewels found, but there was also some ornate weapons, armour and this cube. The weapons and armour are all much too large for us to wear or wield and they will be sent to Ou Yezi as materials."
"If the quality is high, he can make the different Heroes personalised weapons based on their preferences." Subutai smiled, "I think it would be a great way to reward those that perform well."
"Tomoe, Gan Ning and Tomyris especially." Dom agreed, "They have performed the most out of our Military Heroes, however Liao Hua, Sun Ce and even Zhao Yun are adding to that list slowly."
"We'll get a preference from all of them and see how Ou Yezi gets on, just because they are made doesn't mean they should get them straight away." Subutai laughed, "If any of them are of the quality of your Zhan Lu, then other Lords and Kings will be very jealous."
.....
They had soon arrived at the Town Centre, where Subutai, Xun You and Xiao Qiao had headed towards the Map Room. Zhou Yu had also been sent for as the two Senior Strategists and Subutai began preparing for their plans against Papaver. They had promised Dom they would brief him properly tomorrow, however their current priority was the Battle of Mycale that would be on Dom's next log in.
The Bellona was on route to the Shipyard for any repairs or last minute modifications, whilst the Sibylla was also on route for repairs in case it was needed. Artemisia had specified that she wished her ship would avoid any major changes, but she had accepted the installation of Ballista after seeing the damage that they had caused when used by Gan Ning's fleet against the Papaver Transport Ships under Centurion Cato.
Dom headed towards Shang Yang's office, which was now renamed as the Prime Minister's office. The elderly statesman had taken on his new role with renewed vigour and the efficiency of the whole growing Kingdom had improved since they had created the new departments and allowed more freedom in decisions, without waiting for Dom's sign off on everything.
He opened the door, finding Shang Yang sat with a small map in front of him of their claimed lands, with Hatshepsut stood beside him pointing at it. Hatshepsut was in charge of the Development across the towns and cities, primarily the land distribution and building locations. Her team was the largest and would most likely grow the most in the future as Elite Villagers promoted to low grade Heroes. Dom had high hopes for both Thucydides and Zenodotus after their recent involvements.
Sat in front of the desk, near to where Dom entered, was Xun Yu the Head of the State Affairs. He was Shang Yang's deputy and the three of them seemed to be having a positive conversation when they noticed Dom's arrival.
"See, he doesn't even knock anymore." Shang Yang teased as Dom entered. He normally did knock, but for some reason had forgot to today. Xun Yu gave Dom a knowing look, warning Dom that Shang Yang was in a strangely positive mood today which was unlike the stern statesman. "Come sit down, there is much to discuss!"
"How is everything going?" Dom asked as he sat beside Xun Yu, who passed him a plate of grapes and cheese slices that he had been eating. Dom took a couple of grapes as he looked towards Shang Yang, who nodded at Hatshepsut.
"Development of our key cities is continuing as planned. Riverside is growing daily, with new buildings and professions. Lucius informed me this morning that some of our latest arrivals from the daily spawns include Basket Weavers, a Parchment Maker and a family of Shipwrights that make simple boats out of a tree." Hatshepsut began, before being interrupted by Xun Yu who signalled for her to pause a second.
"We are noting any crafts people as they arrive and assigning them to a particular area." Xun Yu explained, "Those that have a new craft, we are creating areas for them. The Shipwrights create simple boats by carving a log of wood in to a hull and then creating an internal belly for it's users. Interesting for personal use and fishing. There was also an interesting Blacksmith that made tools, who has gone working for Ou Yezi, they are developing some improved scissors for our Shepherds."
"All these new people are bringing different aspects of normality to our Kingdom." Shang Yang smiled, "I hope that as we continue to grow, this will be a real home for everyone."
"We have also had some families arrive." Xun Yu continued, "We have had a small number of Legionary, Hoplite and even Horse Archer families arrive. Whilst not totally unexpected, it has created a slight morale boost in our forces."
"That is great news!" Dom exclaimed, happy that this was happening. If his armies families also lived in his Kingdom, they had a lot more to fight for.
"It is." Hatshepsut agreed, "They have mainly been arriving in Riverside and I believe this is due to the Military District being based here."
"So how are the rest of our towns doing?" Dom asked, realising that Xun Yu had taken them from the main subject.
"Serenity and Tranquillity are both growing faster than expected, especially Serenity as some people with trade skills have moved to Serenity from Jia. We have also had some merchant from the north settle there based on whispers heard from Crassus' agents such as Crixus." Hatshepsut explained with a smile, "Tranquillity is expanding the most out of all of our towns, as the farmlands are now reaching up to our Fort at the location of Banas's former tribe. Both Lucius and Elder Qiao have explained that they will be creating sub Villages of Tranquillity. Xun You has also ordered the building of Watch Towers until we are confident in our security."
"That is great news." Dom agreed, visualising the expanding Kingdom. He hadn't wanted to play the role of a City Builder, but he was finding it rewarding hearing the positive direction it was taking.
"Jia is steady, the population are more settled now and we are doing what we can do make them feel more integrated. Thankfully General Cheng Pu has travelled down on occasion to reassure the populace, whilst those with some bravery have migrated to Serenity." Hatshepsut continued, "The town was already of a good size, but it is stepping up it's military production with the worries of Papaver to the south."
"That is understandable, hopefully we can recruit some naval forces at Mycale and expand that defensive measure." Dom replied to the sight of nods in the room.
"Renatus is slowly growing, the naval presence that is based there has taken control of Trade across the Tongpai Lake. Su Fei has been busy creating relations with the other forces Navies and he believes he can promote Renatus as a sanctuary for those who wish to flee the growing tensions between the two northern cities." Hatshepsut continued. "Finally, Noctus. Noctus is still going through refurbishment, however it is well supplied and very much a Military Town with a large presence. Tomyris is doing a great job and I try not to interfere."
"She is an impressive woman." Shang Yang agreed, before he looked towards Dom after Hatshepsut finished. "And that nicely leads on to the reason I wanted to speak with you Lord Lazarus."