98: Chapter 98 Level 2 General's Mansion, Shield of the Empire

There is no need to elaborate on the current most scarce resource; the iron ore stockpile has already plummeted to its lowest point after constructing two new buildings.

Given that almost all subsequent upgrades will require steel, this stockpile level is truly too dangerous.

Furthermore, the smelting ratio of iron ore to steel is 2:1; it takes two units of iron ore to smelt one unit of refined steel.

If he wants to quickly upgrade the Generals Mansion and the Imperial Armor Camp this time, he will still have to trade resources with England.

Apart from iron ore, the stockpile of command points is also not optimistic.

The command points obtained during this round of the Nations Hegemony Tournament were not much.

Even with the double experience bonus and having personally joined the fray to provide support multiple times.

The command points Su Yang obtained through combat barely broke through twenty thousand.

Adding the command points distributed based on the final lord rankings, the total was forty thousand.

After researching two important technologies, less than thirty thousand remained.

These command points are definitely not enough to support the massive amount of summoning and upgrading that follows.

It can be said that this is the time Su Yang has been most short on command points since entering the Forbidden Ground.

They need combat, they need large-scale combat!

They must find the Bug Swarm Tide led by the special Tyranid Warrior.

Defeating that Bug Swarm Tide will not only yield a large amount of command points but may also provide the key technology to unlock liquid fuel.

After considering the current resource situation of the territory, Su Yang roughly planned the direction for these three days.

First, obtain iron ore to smelt steel, then step-by-step summon general units, new troop types, and upgrade/expand the army.

In between, intersperse battles with the Zerg as conditions allow, and try his best to explore alternative methods for liquid fuel.

Other upgrades with stricter requirements, such as the Heavy Equipment Battalion and Foundry, will be temporarily placed after these upgrades.

With the plan finalized, Su Yang directly opened the lord interface and sent a private message to Elizabeth.

"Lord of Dragon Kingdom: I need to trade for 500 units of iron ore"

Soon, Elizabeth replied to the message and sent over the iron ore.

"Lord of England has completed the payment: 1000 units of iron ore"

"Lord of England: This is a free gift on behalf of the people of England, in gratitude for the assistance of the Dragon Kingdom during the Nations Hegemony Tournament"

"Huh!?"

Su Yang was somewhat startled.

1000 units of iron ore, given for free!?

Isn't that a bit too generous!

Without a second thought, he clicked accept, then replied.

"Lord of Dragon Kingdom: 1000 units of iron ore is not a small amount, are you sure you want to gift it all?"

"Lord of England: It is indeed not a small amount, but resources can only exert their maximum effect in the Dragon Kingdom"

"Lord of Dragon Kingdom: Thank you"

After thinking for a moment, Su Yang typed two words on the interface.

In fact, his intervention to support England was not to save England or anything like that.

The main purpose was to avoid receiving a debuff himself.

Of course, he knew that this 1000 units of iron ore from the Lord of England was not entirely out of gratitude.

The main purpose was likely to further solidify the Alliance between the two countries.

After demonstrating powerful combat strength in the Nations Hegemony Tournament, many lords in the Alliance began to bypass England and send him messages.

Elizabeth must have foreseen this, so the 1000 units of iron ore, besides being an expression of gratitude, also served to demonstrate the benefits that could be gained from maintaining a stable Alliance with England.

In fact, even if she hadn't gifted it, Su Yang had no interest in other lords.

What he wanted from Alliances was not to befriend the strong, but to secure resources.

There are not many countries like England that possess explosive production capacity, and those few lords all have great ambitions.

England is just right; they neither slack off nor have overwhelming ambition, making them a perfect ally at this stage.

After reluctantly accepting the 1000 units of iron ore, Su Yang discovered that the previously scarce resources had suddenly become abundant!

This is a whole one thousand units of iron ore; if he had to produce it himself, it would take at least a week!

It seems that the investments made in the early stages all have their rewards.

After receiving the iron ore, Su Yang did not linger and directly put 600 units into the smelting center.

The current smelting efficiency of the smelting center is a maximum of 200 units of steel per day.

Starting the smelting now, he would be able to produce 100 units of steel by tonight.

At that time, he will be able to upgrade the Generals Mansion and check General Meng Tian's skills.

Although this is the second time summoning a general-level unit, Su Yang's anticipation for General Meng Tian has not diminished in the slightest.

He wonders what kind of enhancements this general, known as the First Warrior of China, will bring to the territory.

With the iron ore input, the smelting center immediately began to operate.

A rumbling, humming sound constantly emanated from it.

Su Yang closed the interface and rubbed his temples.

The Nations Hegemony Tournament, which had kept him awake for two consecutive days, combined with the recent high-intensity thinking, made his brain start to feel groggy.

He wonders if he will be able to unlock an Artificial Intelligence in the future to handle these things.

Seeing that the weather was getting cooler, Su Yang lifted the territory's alert status and had General Li Xin lead the soldiers back to the camp to rest.

It seems that this group of bugs does not intend to come; he will let the soldiers have a meal and rest first, and then fight them to the death after summoning General Meng Tian tonight.

General Li Xin led the main force back to the camp, leaving only a portion of the garrison on the city walls.

Although that special Tyranid Warrior can avoid detection through its stealth ability, the main Zerg force cannot.

Once they launch a full-scale attack, they will definitely be detected by the scanners first.

After giving the garrison some further instructions, Su Yang returned to the lords residence, preparing to take a short nap.

...

After a 12-hour sleep, when Su Yang walked out of the lords residence again, the sky had changed from slightly bright to slightly dark.

"The sky, slightly bright, you sigh softly..."

After a 12-hour nap, Su Yang felt refreshed and full of energy.

He felt that if he were to take two blades to the front line now, he might even be able to kill a couple of Zerg.

While humming a song, he took a large lamb leg, roasted until it was sizzling with oil, from Armored Elite Warrior Chen Wu.

Armored Elite Warrior Chen Wu is quite observant, always picking the biggest one for him.

While gnawing on the lamb leg, a new problem emerged.

That is, after expanding the army, the food reserves within the territory must keep up.

Currently, there is less than two weeks' worth of food left in the territory, and if he wants to expand the army, this number will shorten even further.

It is time to have the Scout search for more special plants to see if they can trigger the planting technology in the Shennong Creation Institute.

If the farming production capacity is high, he won't have to worry about food problems in the future.

Spending a quarter of an hour finishing the lamb leg, Su Yang arrived in front of the Generals Mansion and opened the interface.

It is time to do some real work.

With a flicker of his mind, Su Yang directly put the newly produced 100 units of steel into the Generals Mansion.

[Steel - 100 units]

[Copper Ore - 50 units]

[Level 2 Generals Mansion upgrading...]

What skills will the Shield of the Empire, General Meng Tian, possess?

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