Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 344 Five-Star Mercenaries
Looking at the list of newly naturalized mercenaries, Li Wei smiled slightly and immediately issued a series of orders.

With the increase in population, some are assigned to departments like engineering teams, some are responsible for miscellaneous tasks, and some are used to expand the army!

The territory's main base will be expanded to six squads again, with three squads patrolling and sweeping outside, and three squads guarding the territory and conducting daily training.

With this wave of new recruits, the riverside fortress can be expanded to five squads. Javier, Sith, Pol, and Joslin will lead three squads to patrol and fight around the area, while the other two squads will patrol and guard the fortress and conduct daily training.

"Tsk tsk, a population of less than 1200, yet they've managed to produce 220 full-time soldiers!"

Li Wei himself felt crazy, but he was confident in his actions because he was in charge of 400 acres of farmland all by himself.

Otherwise, wouldn't these four hundred acres of farmland require fifty or sixty strong laborers?

The two hundred acres of land at the northern fortress require ten strong laborers and ten robust women. In addition, anyone with a farmer's card will go there to swipe their destiny card or something when they have nothing to do.

This is about making choices; if you want to settle down and develop, you have to pay a price.

Actually, Li Wei was more interested in taking advantage of this quiet time to scout out Duke Hanbing's territory, or to take a stroll around the territories of Zhao Kewu, Socrates, Hathaway, and Ron.

As a night ranger and a fairly good scout, it's a major drawback that I can't utilize my strengths.

But Li Wei's current wealth and overall strength allow him to do this, allowing him, as a core figure in the territory, to stay at home and do nothing at crucial moments, ignoring everything else and focusing solely on cultivating his own land.

Yes, you can't get the Farmer's Fate without this advantage.

"Ok?"

Li Wei suddenly had a thought, and a few lines of information arrived late the next second.

[Zhao Kewu, the pioneer number 1, is known for his benevolence, courage, and resourcefulness, making him a model pioneer. Therefore, Han Tong, the pioneer number 12, chose to submit and recently led 300 free citizens and a large amount of supplies to settle in Zhao Kewu's level 2 territory, successfully bringing the territory's population to over 1,000.]

[Socrates, the pioneer number 2, was known for his benevolence, courage, and wisdom, making him a model pioneer. Therefore, Sanders, the pioneer number 9, chose to submit and recently led 350 free people and a large amount of supplies to settle in Socrates' level 2 territory, successfully bringing the territory's population to over a thousand.]

[Ron, the pioneer number 4, is known for his benevolence, courage, and wisdom, truly a model for pioneers. Therefore, Schneider, the pioneer number 15, has chosen to submit and recently led 58 free men and a large amount of supplies to Ron's territory.]

The camp of Pioneer Kim Tae-hee, number 13, was recently breached by a legion of superhumans sent by Duke Frost. Pioneer Card is missing, and 186 free citizens of the territory have either been killed in battle or captured.

-

Good grief, these guys finally made it to the front, but two unlucky guys snuck in behind them.

He also said that the Ice Duke had been quiet lately because he had been busy launching attacks around the world, probably plundering human camps.

It's inevitable. The world is so big that there can't be only these current survivor camps. There must be many more survivor camps further away.

For a moment, Li Wei frowned slightly, feeling a little impatient, but he quickly suppressed it, knowing he couldn't act rashly.

His territory is currently in seclusion to hone his internal skills. Liang Yuzhi is stationed in the territory, he is stationed in the riverside fortress, Thomas, the rock man, is stationed in the 349 base, and Zhao Xuanxuan's group and Javier's group are farming and developing in the east and west directions.

We must not act rashly.

Whether it's Zhao Xuanxuan or Javier, their current farming and development is all on the edge of the territory, roaming on the plains with no view of the terrain. With the support of Ah Dai and his hundreds of underlings, they are not afraid of ambushes at all. Their cavalry and chariot formations are highly mobile and unstoppable. Even if there are Nepalese cross-borderers lurking in the shadows, they would not dare to face them directly.

But if you leave this open plain and go to the mountains or the complex terrain of street fighting, you're really asking for death. You'll be tortured to death or slaughtered.

In fact, he had been feeling the watchful gaze of the people on the south bank of the river for some time now, and Liang Yuzhi had also mentioned it in a letter.

How could those Nepalese possibly swallow the anger of their camp being wiped out and at least five of their companions being killed?
That scruffy-looking man must have had other ways to prolong his stay.

He urged Li Wei to leave, and that was it.

"Therefore, I need a truly powerful person to take charge of the river fortress for me. Next is a month-long off-season for farming, so I can't really stay here forever."

Taking a deep breath, Li Wei remotely opened the Three-Star Tavern using his Prestige Card. The mercenary information inside was updated significantly, no longer showing one page for every hundred people, but a large page covering a thousand.

From top to bottom, they are five-star mercenaries, four-star mercenaries, three-star mercenaries, and two-star minor mercenaries.

Li Wei didn't even glance at the numbers two, three, and four below; he didn't need them. What he needed were five-star mercenaries. There were a total of twenty-four of them, but this wasn't limited to the provinces of Ver, Dusson, and Kader, or even the capital. These were the four major territories of the Kingdom of Locke, and all mercenaries could be hired there.

The prices of these five-star mercenaries vary, with some costing 5000 gold coins per month, some costing 3000 gold coins per month, and others costing 1000 gold coins per month.

Li Wei even immediately spotted the name of Poison Scorpion Li Yue among them. This was quite normal; it wasn't the time to start the mission. She needed to support herself, acquire various equipment, and so on, all of which were quite expensive. She had to survive, after all.

In addition, this was also their previous agreement: Li Yue would choose to become a mercenary, and when Li Wei did not hire her, she would work as a mercenary in other missions, receiving payment monthly, which would not cause any delays. When Li Wei hired her again, she could re-enter the mission world.

So there was no reason for Li Wei to hesitate, and he directly chose to hire her. However, Li Yue's hiring price was only 2000 gold coins, which meant that even among five-star mercenaries, she didn't seem to have much of an advantage.

The moment the hiring was successful, Li Wei immediately invited Li Yue to join his territory and become a staff officer.

It wasn't easy; the family finally managed to reunite.

-

At this very moment, in another territory, Zhao Kewu sat in his three-star tavern, his face a mixture of emotions. On the list of recruited mercenaries, the name of Poison Scorpion was grayed out.

Unavailable for recruitment!

He clearly recruited them first!

Scorpion was supposed to belong to their department. A few years ago, he had given Scorpion a gift and exchanged a few words with him. He thought their relationship was pretty good. So, you've really succumbed to the tyranny of General Li Wei?
A surge of anger flashed through Zhao Kewu's heart—an unnamed rage, as those who know, understand. Although he had never had any particular feelings for Poison Scorpion and knew that she was vicious and ruthless, she was undeniably beautiful and had an unparalleled figure. Since no one else could win her over, he didn't care.

But now, damn it, in what way am I inferior to that Li Wei?
"call!"

Zhao Kewu quickly calmed down and slapped himself. This attitude was unacceptable; it would make him look like a villainous scoundrel.

If he couldn't recruit the Scorpion, he could recruit other five-star mercenaries. In the past two months, he didn't recruit those pretentious academy mercenaries at all; he only recruited five-star mercenaries. He offered them great benefits as territorial advisors and promised to terminate their contracts after three years. These were all tacit unspoken rules.

The effect was immediate. With two five-star experts at his disposal, he was bold and daring in everything he did. Last month, the Ice Duke wanted to launch another attack, but he was utterly defeated and gained more than twenty universal gold cards out of thin air. It was awesome!
If it weren't for their limited strength, even one of the Nepalese cross-borderers mixed in would have been left behind, which made Zhao Kewu grit his teeth in hatred.

He also wanted to kill a nun, and he also wanted to issue a worldwide announcement!
But it doesn't matter. He has ample resources. As long as he keeps recruiting five-star mercenaries, constructing special buildings, avoids reckless actions, and doesn't provoke General Li Wei again, he can secure second place once he stabilizes the situation.

Even if he comes in second, he's still a viscount!

Territory development is about looking to the future and taking a long-term view. You, Li Wei, started from scratch, what do you have to compare with me?

"Grass!"

Zhao Kewu slapped himself twice more to bring himself back to his senses and ask himself why he kept having such thoughts.

Jealousy, hatred, and envy—these negative emotions can cloud his judgment, make him lose his mind, and blind him to greed.

Why compare yourself to Li Wei? The world is big enough to accommodate both of us!

And that scorpion is eighty years old, eighty years old! Without supernatural power to support her, she's just a white-haired old woman, ugh!

Moreover, Li Weineng started from scratch and developed to where he is now. Isn't there anything worth learning from him?

Pride leads to failure, and jealousy can distort one's very being.

Are you planning to ignore every single word of my father's teachings?

"Li Wei is my idol! Li Wei is my idol!"

Finally, after some mental preparation, Zhao Kewu's eyes cleared up. His temple was completed, but unfortunately, there wasn't a single suitable one among the thousand free people in his territory. It would be strange if there was one!
The special nature of temple priests is obvious to all. Even with so many prerequisites, it's impossible to cultivate them even months ago.

So you just need to wait patiently for six months. After six months, you can apply again. At that time, your territory will be promoted to level 3 territory, and you will have more and greater advantages, especially the ability to revive free citizens. This is very important for managing free citizens and improving their cohesion.

However, from now on, we can't expand any further. We need to seize the time to train the free people and strengthen the Knights Order. He has already strengthened the Knights Order to ten slots, ten Earth Knights, equipped with excellent warhorses, as well as fine weapons and armor. In open and flat terrain, they can annihilate two five-star experts!
All we need to do now is defeat the Ice Duke's attacks wave after wave; we absolutely must not try to fight him anymore.

Because so far, the person who is most hated is still Li Wei.

(End of this chapter)