Qing Prefecture's Demon Suppression Division, External Affairs Hall.
Gray tiles and white walls stood before them, and the lacquer-red gates stood open. Figures came and went, all with hurried expressions.
Shen Yi silently observed his surroundings.
Though they were all dressed in black brocade robes, more than sixty percent had no cloud patterns on their cuffs.
Their average age was around forty.
Their auras were indeed those of the Initial Realm, but they seemed somewhat unsteady. They had barely managed to cross that threshold.
Were these the Demon Suppression Captains Butcher Zhang had called the "medicinal bath soakers"?
By contrast, the few who occasionally passed by wearing cloud-patterned robes were younger, and their gazes were sharper.
"There are three thousand men in the Inner Battalion and over eight thousand in the Outer Battalion. That's only a little over ten thousand brothers in all, responsible for the safety of Qing Prefecture's twelve commanderies and 342 counties."
The beggar came over, sounding somewhat rueful.
"Besides the 2,500 Inner Battalion martial artists needed to guard Qing Prefecture, that averages out to one county for every twenty men. So our teams generally match that number. When a Vice General goes out on a mission, he usually brings around twenty Captains. Even if they encounter an unavoidable crisis and every last one of them, himself included, falls in battle, the losses won't be too great."
After listening to their conversation for a while, Shen Yi had learned the beggar's name.
Seeing how accustomed Ma Tao seemed to this, Shen Yi couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
It seemed that being wiped out to the last man was perfectly ordinary in his eyes.
From the looks of it, anyone who wanted to become a Vice General and lead a team alone had to be at least a