I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 488 - 270: The Journey, the Old General’s Charge

Chapter 488: Chapter 270: The Journey, the Old General’s Charge

"At the very least, we’ve gathered around a hundred thousand Daoist Soldiers," Gu Shanhai assessed the surrounding troops. The provincial governor had summoned all the military chiefs of the entire Liang State under the guise of dispatching troops to suppress rebels; everyone had to follow.

With various cities and a total mess, they managed to gather a hundred thousand Daoist Soldiers. This was not even all of them. Gu Shanhai could be certain that this was not their full force—they had left at least half behind in various cities of Liang State as sentinels. This also showed how vast Liang State was. Among them, Jiang Lu brought the most Daoist Soldiers, a thousand in total, though two hundred of those were Heart Demon Dao Soldiers that Gu Shanhai had contributed.

The other city lords and military chiefs brought even more fragmented forces, but each had brought at least a hundred Daoist Soldiers.

Besides these hundred thousand Daoist Soldiers, there were also thirty thousand Daoist Soldiers, which were directly under the provincial governor. These were not all the Daoist Soldiers of the provincial governor either; seventy thousand were left to guard Liang State.

Adding up all the ordinary troops assembled by various families, just the forces of Liang State alone—Daoist Soldiers combined with ordinary soldiers—totaled one million five hundred thousand.

This wasn’t the main point. The main point was that all supplies and provisions were provided by the provincial governor, showing just how wealthy he must be.

The provincial governor alone controlled about fifty percent of the wealth of the entire Liang State, just like Jiang Lu, who had to pay a hefty amount of taxes every year. These taxes were collected from various towns and villages; otherwise, how could the provincial governor afford his hundred thousand Daoist Soldiers and the many subordinates under him along with their Daoist Soldiers?

Jiang Lu not only maintained his own Daoist Soldiers. His three sworn brothers, Li Yu and Zhan Yan, as his subordinates, also had their Daoist Soldier expenses covered by him.

"Teacher, have you considered this setup?" Jiang Lu asked.

"I have, what about it?" Gu Shanhai raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback by the number of one million five hundred thousand people, but overall it was still within the scope he had anticipated.

Ordinary soldiers are easy to deal with. However many come, that’s how many will die. The Daoist Soldiers from various city estates are also just chickens and dogs when grouped, barely making an impression. If one military chief had a hundred thousand Daoist Soldiers, that would indeed be formidable. But over a thousand military chiefs have only a total of a hundred thousand Daoist Soldiers; it really is fragmented.

This was like saying two magnetic fields of two hundred fifty thousand horsepower each could match one magnetic field of five hundred thousand horsepower—it’s absurd.

The real trouble is the provincial governor and his thirty thousand Daoist Soldiers.

Out of this battle, apart from the provincial governor and his thirty thousand Daoist Soldiers, who might survive a bit longer, the rest of the one million five hundred thousand people shouldn’t count on coming back.

Analyzing from the intelligence, all one hundred and eight provinces responded, and it was also learned that the military chief occupying Si Li Province, Yong’an, had a million Daoist Soldiers of the highest quality. Besides that, he had many military chiefs under his command with a total of ten million Daoist Soldiers.

Thus, Liang State might seem large, but within the whole of Dalong, it’s just a remote and small place.

The main forces are the great families and military chiefs of other major provinces; Liang State is more about taking a bite of fat meat than actually participating in war.

Gu Shanhai had estimated before that the energy level in this world ranges from one thousand to three thousand. Without using his previous life’s World Tree form, Gu Shanhai wouldn’t even reach a thousand levels; he’d barely fluctuate around five hundred levels.

But, if the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers are completed, relying on the added boost from his Purple Mansion·Wuzhuang Temple and Spiritual Vein·Longevity Mountain’s Protecting Dao Heart Demons, he could also reach about a thousand levels. At that point, he would be part of a legion, not strong as an individual but as an entire collective.

Like with a max of three thousand levels, the strength doesn’t come from a military chief or Daoist Soldiers alone, but from the combination of both on the battlefield.

"No... nothing, I just always feel like I’m having an illusion of being a frog in a well," Jiang Lu sighed, having obtained intelligence of other provinces through various channels and feeling disheartened upon learning it.

"An illusion? Why would you think that?" Gu Shanhai smiled at this.

"I..."

"From having nothing to becoming a city lord, how long did it take you if you exclude the time spent learning from me?" Gu Shanhai saw that the young man was impacted by this realization. This was the time to bolster his confidence, "I’m not afraid, so why should you be?"

"Seeing this scene, what you should think isn’t that you are a frog in a well but that they could potentially be replaced!"

"That way, you can really handle the big scenes, instead of turning to your teacher whenever something happens. I can help you now, but what about later? Someday I won’t be here."

Gu Shanhai expressed that we must be confident.

"A great man should devour the contents of nine cauldrons and ride in a carriage with feathered and furred cover," Gu Shanhai declared a grand plan directly.

Jiang Lu, listening, was terrified; he hadn’t expected Gu Shanhai to speak so boldly. Then, after checking the surroundings and seeing that no one had noticed, he finally relaxed.

"Teacher, please don’t speak so grandly, it could lead to trouble," Jiang Lu said somewhat helplessly.

"Alright, then what do you think is a more appropriate scale?" Gu Shanhai asked teasingly.

"At least... first command a province, how about that?" Jiang Lu looked straight ahead at the leading forces of the provincial governor’s Daoist Soldiers.

"That’s possible, but you still need to work hard," Gu Shanhai was also quite satisfied with this. Humans shouldn’t aim too high.

But to become one of the warlords, one must at least have the authority of a province. Just being a lord of a single city would only get crushed.