Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 458 The Chaotic Army (Bonus Chapter 1010 for the Alliance Leader's Monthly Ticket Recommendation)

[Friendly reminder: Team mode will be very helpful in getting you through the most difficult early stages, but you don't need to all crowd into one area. You need to manage your own camps and armies, but you can also trade and exchange goods, and request support from your teammates. If you want to start a campaign, please be careful; the relationships between you are more fragile than those of a loving family. Also, because of the infamous reputation of the rebel faction, joining it will automatically reduce your reputation in the chaotic world by 10.]

[Friendly reminder: In chaotic times, reputation is the most luxurious thing, more precious than gold.]

[Friendly reminder: In the Ascended Continent, there are only two common currencies: the standard gold coins of the three major kingdoms and the barbarian gold coins. The exchange rate between the two is 10:1.]

-

Holy crap, so we're all traitors and rebels?

Li Wei chuckled inwardly, finding it quite exhilarating. But upon closer reflection, it made sense. Before any unified empire rose to power, there was always a period of chaos, and those who created chaos were nothing more than treacherous officials and rebels!

Other functions are useless; he can only view the map of the ascended continent. Li Wei thought for a moment and started to view it. The next second, everything went black. It wasn't the kind of blackness that comes with unconsciousness, but rather a blackout similar to the screen in front of him going black. Good heavens, he couldn't see anything at all.

How big is this map?

It truly lives up to its reputation as a large map that incorporates dozens of planets.

Li Wei stared wide-eyed for a long time but couldn't find where he was, so he silently chanted "shrink, shrink" three times. Finally, the huge black map turned into a square black frame with a side length of one meter.

He then successfully located Tyrant William. Old Deng had already entered the Ascended Continent. In the lower left corner of the map, there was a skull the size of a grain of rice. If you didn't have good eyesight, you wouldn't be able to see it.

Li Wei's gaze locked onto this spot, and he silently counted to zoom in and out. Instantly, the map unfolded smoothly and continued to expand.

Eventually, the entire map transformed into a giant cube with sides of ten meters, but only a corner of the map was actually displayed.

Now, the skull and crossbones symbol of Tyrant William is finally very conspicuous, surrounded by various colored blocks of purple, gold, blue, white, black, and gray, but it is actually still a kind of map fog.

The purple block occupies the largest area, is the most eye-catching, and is the most central. It is undoubtedly prepared for players who start with the Tyrant. So, can we still choose the map?

As Li Wei was thinking, sure enough, in just a short while, two more skull icons appeared on the map, and then another one appeared. Good heavens, Tyrant William and the three dukes had all entered the arena.

Meanwhile, some golden tiles were constantly lighting up and going out, clearly indicating that the fifteen Marquis players were choosing a map. Interesting, they were trying to stay away from the Tyrant player by selecting a map at the start of the game to avoid being wiped out in the first wave, right?

Haha, interesting. I originally thought all the lords of the Kingdom of Locke were allies, but wow, they've completely reshuffled the deck and started a battle royale mode.

"Since all three kingdoms are like this, then the Necromancer tribe must be really awesome, because the Necromancer tribe seems to not need to be broken down; it is exactly the same as it was before."

"No way, are they playing the roles of northern barbarians in a chaotic era? Like the Xiongnu in the early Han Dynasty, the Turks in the early Tang Dynasty, or Zhao Da and the Khitan?"

"Tsk tsk, the difficulty of this mission is outrageous! Fortunately, the large-scale invasion by the Neanderthals will not be triggered for another ten years."

As Li Wei was thinking, a faint light suddenly flashed from the Chaotic World Development Card in his hand.

[Jiang Xinran, the former Marquis of the Kingdom, who started the story as a treacherous minister, has extended a team-up request to you. Due to your very close relationship in the past, the strong economic ties between your territories, and your actions of taking sides over the past six months, everyone knows you are Jiang Xinran's lackey, and there are even vicious rumors claiming you are her lover. You can no longer escape her influence, so as the plot unfolds, you must join her camp. You cannot pretend to be innocent like a pure white lotus; everything has a cause and effect.]

[Note: The original code name of Marquis Jiang Xinran was Night Owl, but this code name was originally the name of a court mage in the Kingdom of Ancient Locke. Due to the destruction of the Kingdom of Locke, her code name Night Owl was erased.]

[You have joined Jiang Xinran's faction. Your current faction is the Treacherous Rebels Faction. Your joining reduces the faction's reputation by 10, and your current faction's reputation by 50.]

The other teammates in the current faction are: Jiang Xinran, the faction leader (similar to the head of a family); Lu Ziming, the former deputy chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Wel Province, who started as a ruthless official; Black Wolf, the former chief executive officer of the Logistics Department of the Wel Province, but because his code name was erased, he is now Fred, who started as a treacherous minister; and David, the former seventh son of the Duke of Wel, who started as a treacherous minister.

[Friendly reminder: You are all a bunch of traitors with a very poor reputation. You need to do something to salvage your reputation. Reputation is a golden signboard in chaotic times, and it may have a special and wonderful use.]

[Friendly reminder: When you're in the same faction, all members can share the map.]

[Friendly reminder: Don't even think about leaving your faction unless you're willing to pay the price of -50 reputation. Even traitors won't tolerate you, which shows how bad your character is. However, if the faction leader does something wrong that damages the faction's reputation, you can impeach them and elect a new faction leader. If any faction member is killed, the remaining members can hold a vote to disband the faction. Alternatively, when you become the faction leader, you can directly decide to disband the faction without any reputation loss.]

[Friendly reminder: Jiang Xinran has established a faction of treacherous officials and rebels, and she has received 500 faction contribution points.]

[Friendly reminder: You have gained 100 faction contribution points]

-

Goodness, reputation has become the darling of this version.

Did the Nine Star Council plan this by watching too much Romance of the Three Kingdoms lately?
Li Wei inwardly scoffed, but he also knew that a good reputation was extremely important in chaotic times. At that moment, a faint light flashed on the Chaotic World Expansion Card, it was Night Owl, oh no, now it was Jiang Xinran, sending a message in the name of the faction leader.

[Faction leader Jiang Xinran issued an order that all members of the faction must choose their starting location. As a result, other faction members will not be able to choose their starting location. All starting locations will then be within a radius of 500 li from Jiang Xinran's starting location. This order consumed 100 faction contribution points.]

-

Well, that saves us the trouble of choosing a starting location.

Just click "Follow P City to meet up".

Then there's no need to look at the map. After closing the map, Li Wei immediately summoned his second aunt, Hathaway, Li Yue, Zhao Xuanxuan, Thomas, Javier, Zhao Qingshan, Sith, Paul, Jocelyn, Duan Bowen, Mark, Chekhov, Kidman, Liu Huan, and Hank to discuss matters.

These are all mid-level core members of the territory who are willing to stay.

Of these, Javier, Sith, Paul, Jocelyn, and Duan Bowen are the five remaining River Knights. Of course, the loss of River Knight status for Javier, Benjamin, Santiago, and Grant means that four more River Knights can be promoted and appointed, so the loss is not too great.

Zhao Qingshan is a top-notch engineer. He remained unmoved by Nelson and Lenos's various attempts to recruit him, which is commendable.

As for Chekhov and his three companions, they were all former half-goat mages, and now they have all become second-order spellcasters.

Now that the situation has changed drastically, Li Wei didn't stand on ceremony and directly shared the relevant information. After all, in this era of great change, there's no need to think about the ways of nobles and lords. We're all from the same background, so it's better to share what we have, open our hearts to each other, and be more honest.

"That's the current situation. We'll be entering the Ascending Continent in eleven hours, but logistics will be extremely important because our territory will continue to operate normally for 100 years under the protection of the Nine Star Council. This is crucial. So, I've decided that you, Second Aunt, will take charge of the territory. You can go there once the situation on the Ascending Continent has stabilized."

"Okay, I'll watch the house."

My second aunt had calmed down by this time.

Then Li Wei looked at Hathaway, who said directly, "Don't look at me. I've already thrown away my barony. Who cares about this damn baron? I'm following you. Also, I've already demolished my one-star mage tower. You need a spellcaster to accompany you. Once we have a suitable and stable territory, I can build a mage tower within a month."

"Good! Zhao Qingshan, Javier, Sith, Jocelyn, Duan Bowen, Chekhov, and Liu Huan, you will accompany the army to the Ascended Continent this time. Pol, Kidman, Hank, and Mark will stay behind, along with 10 heavy cavalrymen and 40 heavy infantrymen. All the second-line garrison soldiers will also remain—"

At this point, Li Wei paused, because this time, the second-line garrison soldiers had the most defections, with nearly five hundred running away. In total, over a thousand people had fled Li Wei's territory. Damn it, Tyrant William's move was too ruthless.

However, the foundation of the Blazing Territory has not been affected. North of the Blazing City, there are still tens of thousands of acres of high-quality farmland that can be cultivated and planted, as well as high-quality mines that can continue to be mined.

There are even thousands of sets of enchanted armor and weapons that have been removed.

These are all very important resources in chaotic times: food, weapons, and soldiers. To be honest, this is a very good start.

Finally, everyone discussed and decided on the specific personnel composition for the expedition to the Ascended Continent.

Li Yue commands the Blazing Flame Legion, which currently has a total strength of 500 men, 150 of whom were recruited from second-line reserve soldiers.

Li Weina formed a guard legion with 305 guards, which he personally led.

Zhao Qingshan led 50 four-star craftsmen, along with Zhao Xuanxuan's 30 four-star blacksmiths, 10 four-star chefs, and 20 warehouse managers skilled in material storage and classification, thus forming the supply battalion. Zhao Qingshan was the commander, and Zhao Xuanxuan was the deputy commander.

Hathaway, Chekhov, and Liu Huan form a spellcaster team.

Thomas served as the front-line bodyguard for the spellcaster squad.

Unfortunately, although Thomas is sometimes as wise as a master, those are conclusions he can only reach after long and quiet thinking. His reactions are too slow, making it too inconvenient to send him to the front lines to fight mobile warfare or guerrilla warfare. Li Wei doesn't need Thomas to be in the front line right now. It's not too late to send him to the front when there is an important battle to be fought.

Therefore, it would be more beneficial to give it to the spellcaster team.

Inspiration + insensitivity: a very good combination.

Also, Li Wei plans to upgrade to a five-star farmer soon, otherwise he is a little worried that he will not be able to deal with the new situation.

Because the Ascended Continent is definitely a world with low magic+, or even medium magic-.

(End of this chapter)