16: Beggars' Congress

The forum was lively.

One after another, Lords upgraded or their Main Camps upgraded.

Most Lords hid their information, only a few chose global announcements, and scrolling messages occasionally flooded the screen; everyone was used to it by now.

Looking at the regional data, over a hundred Lords in the Ten Thousand Mountains had already disappeared on just the second day, likely due to various accidents.

Hmm, one of them was taken out by himself!

The initial stage was the most dangerous; sometimes, a Lord encountering a fierce wolf in the wilderness could accidentally be bitten to death.

Based on the information in the chat, Han Huohuo judged that almost all Lords were strong and healthy adults, some younger, some older, with more males than females, and absolutely no elderly, weak, sick, disabled, or children, so it was still a relatively fair world.

Seeing that the black stone was about to reach 50 again.

Han Huohuo planned to build another charging station, then recruit 30 more workers, and focus all his efforts on developing the economy!

Just as he was preparing to build the charging station.

[Warning: A troop of Barbarians has lost the goods from Wanqing City and is exploring within the Ten Thousand Mountains. Their location is uncertain, and their combat strength is extremely high. All Lords, please be careful!]

Holy crap!

The system is quite user-friendly.

Is this considered a mobile Barbarian revenge legion?

So, whoever encounters them is unlucky?

The Ten Thousand Mountains area is vast; encountering Barbarians is a low-probability event. Han Huohuo didn't think his luck would be that bad; how could he coincidentally encounter this troop of Barbarians?

A one-in-a-hundred-thousand chance, from a mathematical perspective, is basically negligible.

He didn't take it seriously.

The private chat lit up again. He saw it was the Lord Zhu Yiming, not far away.

"Da Ge, coming over for a meeting?"

"A meeting?"

Han Huohuo was a bit confused. What was going on? Why would someone call him for a meeting? Could it get any more ridiculous?

"Da Ge, there's an abyss crystal mine here, a rare mineral deposit. The nearby Lords have fought over it several times, battling to the death, and many people have died. Everyone feels that snatching it like this isn't the way, so someone has gathered the Lords within the area to discuss cooperation. Your territory is also within the range. Do you want to come and get a share?"

"No, not interested!"

Han Huohuo refused flat out.

He felt these guys had water in their brains. Rare ores were certainly precious, but they weren't very useful in the defense battle seven days later. Couldn't they at least survive the seven days before considering rare ores?

Only three words could describe these Lords: too greedy!

Seeing those strange paper cranes in the sky, didn't they feel any tension? This kind of magical power was unimaginable before.

How could they be so slow-witted?

A bunch of delicate flowers raised in a greenhouse, who fundamentally didn't understand the dangers of this world. These guys were doomed sooner or later.

Han Huohuo was very pessimistic. He now suspected how many Lords would ultimately survive the bandits suppression seven days later.

After being refused flat out, Zhu Yiming didn't pester him further.

Not long after, Zhang Xiaoping on the watchtower suddenly called out to him, "King, there are six units acting strangely nearby. Do you want to come up and take a look? These units are a bit odd."

"Coming!"

Han Huohuo used both hands and feet to climb the watchtower. Zhang Xiaoping handed the binoculars to Han Huohuo, his expression a bit strange: "These people are acting weirdly, gathered together, it looks like... they're having a meeting."

Han Huohuo took the binoculars and looked, feeling very speechless. It really was the Lords having a meeting, and they were quite fast. It hadn't been long since he finished talking, and these guys were having a meeting? And of all places, they had to come to his doorstep to have it?

He saw six teams, all led personally by the Lords. It was like a beggar's convention, because everyone was wearing rags, these Lords didn't look much different from beggars.

Homeless people fighting over priority sorting rights at a garbage dump.

A bunch of idiots. If he were to sneak attack their Main Camps now and smash the crystals, they would know what hit them!

Han Huohuo maliciously speculated in his heart.

About clothes.

Although they had only been in this world for two days, other Lords were different from Han Huohuo. They personally went hunting, logged wood, and mined stone, so their clothes were already in tatters.

So far, no Lord's territory had started textiles, and the cultivation of cotton and flax hadn't been activated yet.

So it wasn't surprising that everyone looked like beggars now.

Han Huohuo did less manual labor, so his clothes were relatively well-maintained. Compared to this group of beggars, he was as clean as a Young Master from a landlord's family.

He could see very clearly through the binoculars, even seeing several Lords spitting as they fiercely argued together.

"Keep a close eye on them for me. If these guys make any move or approach our stronghold, notify me immediately!"

"Yes, Boss!"

He wasn't interested in watching their meeting, but he had to guard against a sneak attack.

Han Huohuo climbed down the ladder.

After thinking about it, he didn't use the resources in his hand. Originally, Han Huohuo planned to build another charging station and recruit thirty more mechanical workers, but he was influenced by this group of idiots.

Who knew if these guys, after their meeting, would get a crazy idea and team up to attack him?

Keep the resources for now!

Better safe than sorry.

After their meeting, he would see the situation and then decide whether to produce Floating Turret to defend the city or build charging stations and more workers to speed up production.

The beggar's convention lasted a full hour before these guys finished discussing how to jointly mine this abyss crystal deposit.

After the meeting, they retreated separately. They clearly had no special intentions towards Han Huohuo's Black Wind Fortress.

In reality, these Lords were just a bunch of little sheep, not brave warriors at all, let alone having the demeanor of a hero.

The alert was lifted, and Han Huohuo immediately built a charging station and then recruited 30 workers.

The number of workers soared all the way to over 120.

30 collecting black stone, 30 collecting iron ore, 30 logging wood, 30 collecting stone, and 5 mechanical Giant Wolves hunting.

In the camp, 4 Floating Turret were patrolling.

In this world, for any mine, 30 workers collecting was already the limit. Any more would need to queue up and wouldn't increase efficiency.

120 workers was already the limit of current collection efficiency! More workers would be useless.

Unless he went to occupy someone else's mine!

Or develop other unmanned mines further away.

As for nearby mines, there was only a wood mine and a stone mine at Shuanglong Mountain. He would have to wait until enough black stone was collected before going there to build charging stations and warehouses and start production.

Besides that, there was another problem.

The level 2 Main Camp had a limit of only 200 units. Han Huohuo had currently used up nearly 150 slots.

He couldn't recruit only workers with the remaining slots. What if enemies came?

Han Huohuo decided that before upgrading, most of the slots would be used to recruit Floating Turret. In large-scale battles, mechanical Giant Wolves were just meat shields, troops for blocking city gates; there was no need to recruit too many. But Floating Turret were definitely the main force on the battlefield.

Especially in city defense battles, ranged units like Floating Turret were even more powerful.

After planning everything, Han Huohuo returned to the Main Camp to rest.

Liu Qiang poured him a cup of tea.

Han Huohuo drank his tea, his mood gradually relaxing. He suddenly remembered something and asked Liu Qiang: "When you first mentioned Monks, you seemed very flustered. Are the Monks of the Great Qian Dynasty very powerful? I have some free time now. Could you tell me about the combat strength of the Great Qian Dynasty's army so I can be prepared?"

"Yes, King! Let me tell you, Monks are extremely powerful. You must not take them lightly."

"Please teach me, sir!"

Han Huohuo stood up and bowed respectfully. Liu Qiang repeatedly said he didn't deserve it.

"King, the most basic troops of the Great Qian Dynasty are Shield Soldiers, Pikeman, and Archers. These are all called Tier 1 units. However, even these Tier 1 units can fight three or four of our ordinary banditss without losing ground. They are extremely fierce."

Han Huohuo was greatly shocked: "The Tier 1 units of the Great Qian Dynasty are this fierce? Then what tier are the Rattan Armor Soldiers?"

"Reporting, King, Rattan Armor Soldiers are Tier 2 units, skilled at summoning wild wolves, and are extremely difficult to deal with in field battles or defensive battles. The Great Qian Dynasty also has another Tier 2 unit, which is the domesticated Royal Griffons. Although they are not as troublesome as Rattan Armor Soldiers, they can fly, ignore the obstruction of city walls, and their bodies are very large. Once their numbers increase, they can block out the sky during a siege."

Just Tier 2 units were this terrifying. Han Huohuo couldn't even imagine how a mob of rabble could defend their stronghold when facing an attack from such elite imperial troops.

Originally, he was full of confidence, possessing powerful mechanical armaments, but hearing Liu Qiang say this, he felt a bit apprehensive again.