Just as Niu Yang breathed a sigh of relief, Xiao Jing suddenly turned his head, his eyes glinting darkly as he spoke.
"Da Liu Town won't refuse us entry, will they?"
"No, absolutely not! If anyone dares to treat the 'benefactor' of our Da Liu Town like that, I'll be the first to make them pay!"
Niu Yang, whose survival instinct was off the charts, declared with an air of righteous indignation.
"That's good…"
After a terse reply, he paid no more mind to what Niu Yang was thinking.
With Zhou Cang's decisive victory over the Yellow Turbans, the fate of Da Liu Town was sealed. No one could change the outcome now.
Regardless of what Niu Yang or the town's yet-unseen mayor thought, who would dare disobey his orders in the face of his military might?
If they dared to disobey, weren't they afraid the 'Yellow Turbans' might rise again and come seeking revenge?
'Sigh, I have to admit, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Yellow Turbans make for a really convenient scapegoat!'
Xiao Jing thought, a smile creeping onto his face.
...
"Haha, General Zhou, well done!"
Xiao Jing greeted him with a smile as he saw Zhou Cang returning with his troops.
"Does the greatest credit for this battle belong to General Zhou?"
Zhou Cang shook his head, responding calmly.
"I don't deserve the credit. The greatest honor for this battle belongs to Commander Li!"
Li Ye? The greatest honor?!
Xiao Jing looked in surprise at Li Ye, whose face was flushed red with excitement.
'I have some recollection of this Li Ye. His strength is only Tier Two. How could he possibly defeat a Tier Four Yellow Turban leader, let alone take his head?'
Seeing the confusion on Xiao Jing's face, Zhou Cang gave a wry smile. Commander Xu, on the other hand, looked rather sullen and spoke with some frustration.
"After General Zhou and I split up, everything was going smoothly. But then I was ambushed by the Yellow Turban leader in their main camp. After a long struggle, I finally fought my way out. I was just about to kill the leader when he managed to seriously wound me and escape…"
"And then, Commander Li accomplished a great feat and beheaded the Yellow Turban leader!" Zhou Cang added with a smile.
"I was just lucky. The credit belongs to Commander Xu. If it weren't for him…"
Li Ye gave a bashful smile and waved his hands dismissively, showing no arrogance for having accomplished such a great feat.
"Haha, you all have credit!"
Xiao Jing observed his generals' expressions and, with a laugh, moved the conversation along.
After a brief reorganization, Xiao Jing dispatched men to Da Liu Town with orders for them to throw open the gates and welcome the 'Royal Army' into the city.
Meanwhile, it was time for the much-anticipated task of sorting through the spoils of war.
However, it seemed these Yellow Turbans were either too poor or hadn't had the chance to plunder any villages yet.
After searching the entire Yellow Turban camp, Xiao Jing had only managed to find less than 20 gold.
This made Xiao Jing purse his lips in disdain. 'As expected of a peasant army. They're dirt poor!'
On the other hand, he did find nearly 500 pieces each of weapons, armor, and farm tools. The quality wasn't very high, though. The vast majority were White-quality, with only a few being Gray-quality.
Of course, Xiao Jing's most pleasant surprise was finding a staggering 330,000 units of grain in the Yellow Turban camp.
'Holy cow! One unit of grain is 15 copper coins. 330,000 units is almost 5,000,000 copper coins—that's nearly 500 gold!'
'Most importantly, this grain couldn't have come at a better time. The food shortage at Barren Mountain Village can finally be eased!'
He thought to himself, an unconscious smile spreading across his face.
'Since I've found grain from the Yellow Turbans, I can adjust my strategy for Da Liu Town slightly!'
With a shift in his thoughts, Xiao Jing turned his attention to the other spoils of war.
The rest were miscellaneous items, but two basic construction blueprints among them caught his eye.
[Name]: Small Wooden Arrow Tower
[Quality]: White
[Max Durability]: 100
[Garrison Capacity]: 5
[Effects]: Increases garrison's vision range, Defense Power +2, Attack Range +20%.
[Materials Required]: 10 silver, 100 wood.
[Uses]: 8/10
[Description]: A nightmare for low-tier troops.
This blueprint was for the same wooden arrow tower Xiao Jing had seen outside the Yellow Turban camp.
It was precisely because of this tower's 'increased vision range' effect that Zhou Cang's forces had been exposed so quickly, alerting the Yellow Turbans.
The archers in the tower had been subpar and hadn't posed much of a threat to Zhou Cang, but that wasn't because the tower itself was weak. Rather, it was because the vanguard of Zhou Cang's forces was the Wind Cavalry.
'Don't forget, the Wind Cavalry has a trait that 'negates weakness to archers,' which was a hard counter to the archers in the tower.'
'A decent building. It boosts vision, adds Defense Power, and increases attack range. And best of all, it still has 8 uses left. Nice! Very nice!'
Although it was only White-quality, the fact that it could be used eight more times was a pleasant surprise for Xiao Jing.
After all, every blueprint Xiao Jing had found so far was single-use, disappearing after one construction. But this one could be used eight times, meaning he could build eight identical towers. How could that not be a wonderful surprise?
'If Da Liu Town had possessed this kind of wooden arrow tower, would they have had such a hard time dealing with the Yellow Turbans?'
Xiao Jing shook his head. A moment later, however, a smile returned to his face as he looked at the next blueprint.
[Name]: Basic Training Ground
[Quality]: Gray
[Effect]: Soldier Training Effect +8%.
[Materials Required]: 20 silver, 50 wood, 150 stone.
[Description]: Unleash your youth, pour out your sweat...
"Excellent!!!"
'This is a godsend! With this training ground, soldiers will gain experience and level up faster, allowing the army to be combat-ready much sooner. Excellent, excellent!'
Xiao Jing nodded slightly.
A training ground was a fine building. Soldiers could gain experience through regular training, but the gains were small and progress was slow—far slower than killing enemies on the battlefield. The main advantage was its safety.
With the training ground's +8% training effect, the army of Barren Mountain Village would become combat-ready much more quickly.
Putting away the two blueprints, Xiao Jing looked towards Da Liu Town in the distance.
Just then, Zhou Cang sidled up to Xiao Jing and, making sure Niu Yang wasn't paying attention, whispered,
"My Lord, most of the Yellow Turbans escaped, but a good number surrendered to us—I estimate over 2,000 of them. How should we deal with these people? Should we send them back to Barren Mountain Village quietly?"
'2,000 people?!'
Xiao Jing's pupils contracted sharply. He quickly recovered and replied in an equally low voice.
"Send the civilians who were forced to join the Yellow Turbans to Barren Mountain Village. Have Elder Guo take care of them; he'll know how to settle them properly."
"As for the Yellow Turbans who were true criminals…" Xiao Jing paused, a ruthless glint in his eyes. "Incorporate them into a cannon fodder unit. Future battles won't always be this easy. We might have to lay siege to a city one day, and I can't bear to send our own good lads to die…"
"Your insight is brilliant, My Lord! However, among the surrendered Yellow Turbans, there are quite a few Yellow Turban Strongmen. I'm worried they might stir up trouble if they're all grouped together…" Zhou Cang said, concerned.
"How many?"
"Nearly 200 of them. If you include the regular Yellow Turban fighters, there are over 700 in total!"
"That many?! In that case, you'll take command of this cannon fodder unit for the time being. With your reputation, I doubt those Yellow Turbans will dare to try anything."
"As you command!!"
With that, Zhou Cang slowly withdrew to deal with the prisoners.
Xiao Jing continued to gaze at Da Liu Town in the distance. He took a deep breath, a smile spreading across his face.
His power grew with every battle. Including the captured Yellow Turbans, his fighting force now numbered over a thousand.
'What could Da Liu Town possibly use to resist him?'