Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
In fact, there are thirty-six strategists and seventy-two generals, which might seem to imply a bias towards military strength over literary talent.
However, the reality is quite different.
Given that this is an era of turmoil, generals are the foremost guardians of national stability, making a focus on military matters inevitable.
Yet, Lian Yun's decision does not suggest any disregard for literary talent.
The number of strategists in a nation is not limited to thirty-six; they are merely scholars. If the title were common and unremarkable, they would naturally look down upon it. Thus, having thirty-six positions makes them more competitive, prompting strategists to invest greater effort and intellect in their contributions.
While seventy-two generals may seem like a lot, they will eventually be engaged in battles, and a strong military can wage wars on multiple fronts. The competition for the position of Earth Lord is equally fierce.
Therefore, the establishment of these one hundred and eight lords creates competition within the nation and can also serve as a deterrent to external threats in the future.
In addition to this deterrent effect, another advantage is that the Throne possesses the authority to strip captives of their ranks and allocate rewards. This grants the one hundred and eight lords significant power to reward meritorious soldiers promptly during campaigns. In times of crisis, they can quickly concentrate their forces, allowing them to evade difficulties or even turn defeat into victory.
Another benefit is the increased avenues for spreading prestige.
It is important to note that the one hundred and eight lords are subordinates of Lian Yun; thus, their prestige in the Twelve Base Cities directly reflects back on Lian Yun. This arrangement greatly facilitates the actions of both strategists and generals while allowing Lian Yun to remain undisturbed by trivial matters.
For instance, when collecting Realm Power from captives, without the one hundred and eight lords, would Lian Yun have to personally gather thousands or tens of thousands of captives?
And as for spreading prestige, does Lian Yun need to personally win over every Innocent Civilian?
However, establishing one hundred and eight lords all at once requires a level of resolve that few possess.
It should be understood that the Earth Formation grants significant authority to these lords; once appointed as a lord, they have the right to establish their own nations. The defection of even one Throne would represent a tremendous loss for any state.
Typically, even among close allies, few would dare to appoint so many Thrones.
This situation is partly due to Lian Yun's good fortune in gaining the loyalty of the Yue Family Army. Most soldiers from the Yue Family Army are essentially waiting for Mu Shuai's return, making their likelihood of defection higher than anyone else's.
Knowing their loyalty to Mu Shuai allows Lian Yun to disregard concerns about their loyalty towards him.
Thus, Lian Yun decided to appoint seventy-two Earth Lords as Thrones in one go.
However, granting all seventy-two Earth Lords to the Yue Family Army seems quite unfair to those who had previously established power under Zhou Tong and Jiang Ao.
The principle of "the capable shall reside" granted them the opportunity to become Earth Lords.
As long as certain challenge conditions were established, any soldier had the potential to become an Earth Lord.
This would further ignite the passion of the lower-ranked soldiers, allowing them to endure more rigorous training and fight with greater determination. The fiercer they became, the more powerful the army's momentum grew.
Thus, the establishment of the Seventy-Two Earth Lords directly elevated the status of the Cloud Nation's military, perhaps not just by one or two levels.
Next, within the Cloud Nation, fierce ranking battles took place among the troops to seize the initial titles of the seventy-two lords. At the same time, they searched for water sources and awaited visitors from Cloud Emperor City.
Some matters did not require explanation; both Zhou Tong and Jiang Ao knew that Murong Ying would handle things well. For instance, he would send some good citizens and skilled personnel over, and he would start gathering information about other Base Cities centered around Cloud Emperor City.
In fact, some significant trends did not need to be inquired about; Lian Yun, Master Pang, Zhou Tong, Jiang Ao, and others could guess a thing or two.
For example, regarding the Innocent Civilians.
Within the Twelve Base Cities, it was likely that some people would leave the city—either to seek relatives in other cities or to find protection within the Twelve Base Cities. Some with foresight might take essential belongings and venture out to live in remote areas.
Or they might band together to establish villages outside the city.
Then there were those ambitious factions; the weaker ones would immediately cling to Major Powers or form alliances. The stronger ones, like Lian Yun's faction, would look for bases or directly occupy cities outside of the Twelve Base Cities.
After all, not everyone possessed Lian Yun's ability to change locations; why not utilize existing cities as bases? Moreover, many of those cities had manpower available for recruitment or enslavement.
In summary, although chaos had begun, unless unfortunate circumstances led to overlapping territories or unexpected encounters, major powers would not easily engage in war in the short term. Instead, they would choose to stabilize first.
Of course, there were some Heroic Leaders who took a more aggressive approach, leading elite troops on raids.
It was important to note that currently, the strongest were limited to five stones—equivalent to five hundred pounds of strength. The former strongmen were not much different from them; ability and skill were paramount.
Some fierce individuals acted like untamed wild horses, galloping freely.
Now, what Lian Yun needed to know were the locations of various factions and which Base Cities among the Twelve had established ownership.
However, with electronic communication systems restricted and unable to relay messages, information transmission reverted to ancient methods, becoming slow and almost negligent.
Thus, cautious operators who were astute and quick on their feet emerged once again as essential figures for gathering and transmitting information.
Among them, Lian Yun is quite special; the leader of the scouts is actually Black, perhaps it should be renamed White.
With a physical form, Black stands at one and a half meters tall, covered in white fur, exuding a majestic presence. Although it cannot speak human language, it understands human speech. Its speed surpasses that of renowned steeds, its endurance is remarkable, and its combat prowess is extraordinary.
Logically, it could have become a military general, but due to its leadership abilities, it can only serve as the Earth Dog Star Lord among the Seventy-Two Earth Lords.
This is not an issue of strength; rather, it is mainly due to the name being more fitting.
Additionally, Black commands a thousand Canine subordinates.
Once, canine Ghost Slaves were indeed rare among Monarchs, but there are quite a few canine Spirits. Perhaps anticipating that canines would be of great use in the future, Zhou Tong had Qian Duoduo collect them at a very low price.
Now that the thousand dogs have physical forms, their will is no longer as it once was; they are under the command of Black, the Dog King.
Almost every day, Black Capital can travel back and forth between Cloud City and Cloud Emperor City, covering a distance of over sixteen hundred miles. Even a thousand-mile steed would likely fall short in comparison.
Thus, although Black is not human but a dog, there are no objections to its position as Earth Dog Star Lord. Moreover, Black is also a trusted confidant of Lian Yun.
(End of Chapter)
Comment 0 Comment Count