Chapter 255: Preparing for War
For the following day and the month after, the guards did nothing but fight in groups day after day. At the start, multiple experts would leave the stage very early on in this exercise, but as one day took another fewer and fewer experts were injured early on. This allowed the battles to become increasingly difficult and desperate. Everyone wished to prove that they were without a doubt better than everyone else. Seeing their progress, Hui Yue was very satisfied with the performance of the guards, and these guards soon started to understand what it was like to be an army, at least an army of five.
After having fought each other for quite a while in their small groups, Hui Yue looked at the many experts who were fighting with everything they had and with a nod of his head he decide to commence the second stage of the training.
The following day Hui Yue made the entire army split into two groups instead of the normal five man teams; there were now two armies against each other. The result was very much like what it was when they started their first group fight almost a month ago many ‘casualties’ happened at the beginning; however, as the days went by, fewer and fewer became incapable of continuing the practice. The fighting became more and more desperate and at the end, only a fraction of the experts had left the battlefield. The majority were still battling back and forth refusing to give in, but also capable of holding on. Seeing this, Hui Yue was finally satisfied.
Leaving the training grounds, Hui Yue did not return to his room, as he had done all the other days; instead, he headed down the familiar path towards Wan Qiao’s chambers. A smile was on his face, and his eyes were shining blue with a serene gleam, something that made anyone who looked him in the eyes slowly calm down.
*Knock* *Knock*
The door slowly opened and inside was not only Wan Qiao but also Lord Pan. For some reason, Hui Yue was not surprised to see that the lord was there together with Wan Qiao. With a respectful nod to the older man who was seated at a table to the side.
Seeing Hui Yue enter, Wan Qiao’s face sprouted a genuine, warm smile. A smile which showed just how happy she was to see this younger man. The last many days Hui Yue had paid her no visits, nor did he seemed as though he had anything to speak with her about. The Queen of Shenyuan was worried why she was not being updated on what was happening.
As a Lord of the Forest, Wan Qiao knew exactly what was going on with the training and she, just as all the other lords, were taken aback by the training Hui Yue was giving the army. Although they understood why, they never expected Hui Yue, instead of marching straight towards Siban, would actually spend the time to prepare the entire army for war.
Hui Yue smiled as he saw the genuine happiness on Wan Qiao’s face and he moved to the table where he pulled out a chair and sat down. Some might have considered his behavior rude or brash, however Wan Qiao saw it differently. She too sat down at the table, the two lords and the one human boy were now all seated together.
“They are ready,” Hui Yue said with a smile. “I cannot train the army any better than what I have; they are performing exceptionally well now. I will believe that the number of casualties we will have will be a record low.” He continued, and his words caused great joy to flash in Wan Qiao’s eyes.
“I am not planning on going through the tactics with the lords,” Hui Yue continued, “So what I am trying to say is that we need to prepare for war now.”
The smile on Wan Qiao’s face turned sinister and even Pan Long was turning bloodthirsty, Their sharp teeth were revealed in their smiles, and Hui Yue could not help but sigh slightly. He had managed to change the Kings and Emperors into soldiers, however he had done nothing to the Lords of the Forests. All of them were still bloodthirsty cultivators who preferred normal duels against the other party, fighting one on one until someone won. This was how the Saints would be fighting and because of this, Hui Yue had not bothered with trying to train them as soldiers.
Having said what he had to say, Hui Yue waited for a while expecting Wan Qiao to say something, but she said nothing. Her face was just one big smile, and her eyes were glued to Hui Yue. The young man understood instantly that although this whole war was Wan Qiao’s idea, the entire responsibility had been pushed onto his shoulders. It was up to him to prepare for war. He had to sort all the logistics out as well as the army. Reaching this conclusion Hui Yue could not help but sigh as he shook his head. Even in ancient China no one would expect one individual to deal with every single aspect of a war, but after considering it, Hui Yue frowned as he realized that although he had brought knowledge with him from his old life, this was indeed not ancient China. This was a whole new realm. It might have a lot of similarities but there were many differences as well such as cultivation, and the humans and the beasts were completely different.
Thinking about the logistics of getting provisions for the entire army, Hui Yue could not help but feel yet another headache coming his way.
“I will need help,” He finally said before standing up. Although Hui Yue expected to see Wan Qiao and Pan Long annoyed with his request, both of them shone with happiness instead. It seemed as though they waited for Hui Yue to allow them to join.
“Don’t hold back, don’t hold back,” The two lords said eagerly at the same time. Their smiles had grown larger and their eyes shined with excitement. Seeing how both of them were incredibly excited, Hui Yue felt as though he would be killing this excitement when he spoke next, but even so he open his mouth and spoke.
“I need provisions for the army. I need to get the money to pay the army, and I need to get someone who can direct me on the best way to get into the Siban Empire; a guide would be preferred.”
Hearing everything Hui Yue said, their smiles did not diminish in the least. Both of them were greatly amused by these tasks, and as soon as Hui Yue stopped speaking, they raised their hands.
“I want to deal with the guide!”
“I want to deal with the money!”
The two spoke at the same time. Their hands raised into the air, and both of them looked at each other, laughing out loud. Even Hui Yue was astonished to see their behavior, but soon afterwards he too started laughing at the two experts.
“Alright, alright,” He said while still chuckling, “You can deal with those things. Let me describe better what it is I want.”
“About the money, I need to pay every soldier for their participation in the army, and at the same time, I need gold to use as an incentive. The more people they get rid of, the more gold they will get.” Hui Yue said with a serious face, “I am unable to raise that much gold,” He continued honestly, “Which means that we need to collect gold from the Lords of the Forests. Go from one lord to another and see what they will contribute. See if you can raise at least two million gold coins.”
Hui Yue knew about gold coins. He used the same coins back in the Taiyang Kingdom, and he felt as though two million gold coins was a massive amount. Paying fifty silver coins did not sound like a lot; however, despite this being only one army with every soldier just getting fifty silver this was still an astronomical amount. Also they would get more than just fifty silver. They would also be paid extra for each kill as long as they could prove that they had killed someone. It was due to this that Hui Yue requested two million gold coins. A lot of gold would be needed to pay all the soldiers.
“Two million gold?” Wan Qiao frowned, and for a moment, Hui Yue feared that he had set the price way too high.
“I can pay the two million on my own,” Wan Qiao said with a doubtful expression on her face, “We beast lords have lived for a great many years already. For us to accumulate wealth is easy so each lord should pay at least a million gold. Anyway, Pan Long you go out and milk them dry!” A sinister smile appeared on Wan Qiao’s face. “Milk them dry so that we can pay the army more. The more we pay them, the more likely we will have an army which will go berserk for the sake of money.”
Hui Yue secretly agreed with Wan Qiao, but his face was still filled with disbelief upon hearing that he would have so much funds to control. Soon a smile spread across his face, and he now knew that it would not be difficult to pay for the provisions. It would not be a problem to lure their experts into going berserk, killing their enemies swiftly and ruthlessly so that they could gain money. The real reason Hui Yue wanted it was for the sake of quickly finishing their opponents. They needed to win this war swiftly, and they needed to win it with as few casualties as possible.
“Okay, what I need you to do is to find me maps. Multiple maps, showing every single way through the forest towards the Siban Empire. I will not travel through the forest, itself; we need to travel through the roads as our group is in no way small. I will need a guide alongside the maps, a guide to help me plan the direction.”
Wan Qiao swallowed all the words that Hui Yue said, and her facial expression turned serious, but within her eyes excitement was still shining. Her job was not in any way easy, but she was finally able to help Hui Yue with the war. The war which she had been so incredibly excited about.
Seeing the two lords as eager as they were, Hui Yue chuckled as he slowly pushed the chair back and stood up. He nodded to the two lords once more.
“I am going to leave you to sort these things out for me,” Hui Yue said with a smile on his face, “I need to return to my room as I too need to prepare for the war as well.” The young man said and after a short while, he finally turned his back and left the room. With steady steps, neither rushed nor slow, the young man moved back to his room where he once more sat down in the moonlight and started shifting the Yin energy from the essence of the heavens and the earth.
While Hui Yue was busy cultivating his inner energies, Wan Qiao and Pan Long both still had great smiles on their faces as they left the room. Wan Qiao went to the library looking for maps while Pan Long went towards the rooms where many of the lords were living right now in the castle.
Night slowly descended on the castle where everyone was busy doing their own thing. Although everyone was different things, there was one thing in common. This caused the castle to never truly sleep. That thing was war. War was coming, and the beasts were busy preparing. No human knew exactly how ready these beasts were for the impending war, no human that is apart from Hui Yue.