Black Wolf Sets Out

Black Wolf Cavalry, Human Grade Red, a special troop type with the traits of Northern Di Barbarian Cavalry: iron-blooded, united, tenacious, resolute, mad, and loyal.

Fortunately, the worst of the soldiers Jian Shang had recruited were Elite Personal Guards, while the rest were battle-hardened veterans. Any one of them could hold their own in fierce combat.

With recruits like these, it would not take much time to train them into the special troop type known as Black Wolf Cavalry. The main task was to drill into them wolf-like traits: keen noses, vigilance, ferocity, mobility, determination, and resilience.

However, finished Black Wolf Cavalry required more than troop quality, combat strength, and mentality. They also needed wolf-shaped helmets, black armor, cloaks embroidered with black wolves, warhorses, and other equipment. Lingping County was too small a place to outfit them completely.

More importantly, Jian Shang was out of money. For now, he could only train them into an army and slowly fill in the gaps later. At present, each man only had a scarf embroidered with a black wolf. Ordering more than two hundred black wolf scarves had cost just over two gold.

Three days flashed by amid the intensive training.

During those three days, Jiang Yao, Jian Shang, and the others did not go out again. They threw themselves wholeheartedly into training, familiarizing themselves with their respective weapons and learning military drills.

Jian Shang in particular seized every second of those three days to practice spear, saber, staff, horsemanship, and other techniques. He also focused on cultivating the Cloud Dragon Nine Transformations, advancing it to the realm of "Entering the Hall." His combat power rose by another 8 points, reaching 45. On the battlefield, such strength was enough to rival a regional general.

Likewise, no matter how many enemy soldiers Jian Shang killed now, it would be difficult for his combat power to increase further. Unless he killed enemy generals, completed special missions, or earned great merit, he would have to rely on system rewards.

"Name: Jian Shang----[Military Officer]

Merit: 218;

Fruition Rank: Commoner, unranked;

Prestige: 220, beginning to emerge;

Command: 23, Combat Power: 45, Intelligence: 13, Politics: 21.

Total Internal Energy: 3360 (proficiency of cultivated internal art * grade = ?)

Cultivation Techniques:

Cloud Dragon Nine Transformations, Realm: Entering the Hall, 372/999;

Basic Spear Technique, Realm: Thorough Integration, 43728/99999;

Northern Di Horsemanship, Realm: Thorough Integration, 31933/99999;

Basic Saber Technique, Realm: Thorough Integration, 3847/99999;

Northern Di Saber Technique, Realm: Thorough Integration, 8273/99999;

Northern Di Horsemanship, Realm: Thorough Integration, 28371/99999;

Wind-Sweeping Staff Technique, Realm: Thorough Integration, 4837/99999;

Mount: Northern Plains Biao;

Weapons: Pear Blossom Wrought-Iron Spear, mid-grade weapon; Wrought-Iron Bow, mid-grade weapon;

Special Troop Type: Black Wolf Cavalry (Incomplete), Human Grade Red, 0/10000 (Merit), Number: 206.

Wealth: 76 gold;"

Other than his internal cultivation art, which was truly too difficult to cultivate and had only reached the third realm of "Entering the Hall," all his other techniques had advanced to the fifth realm of "Thorough Integration." To advance further, he would need one hundred thousand proficiency. That was by no means easy.

Worth mentioning was that Jian Shang's attribute panel now had an additional category: "Military Officer." Opening it displayed the attributes of native inhabitants under Jian Shang's command, arranged according to rank.

Jiang Sheng, retired centurion, unranked, Chief Commander of the Black Wolf Cavalry special troop type; Command: 38, Combat Power: 37, Intelligence: 36, Politics: 29, Morale: 73, Merit: 5;

Ma Qiang, retired centurion, unranked, Deputy Commander of the Black Wolf Cavalry special troop type and Commander of the Elite Personal Guards; Command: 34, Combat Power: 39, Intelligence: 13, Politics: 15, Morale: 87, Merit: 3;

Luo Sheng, retired company commander, unranked, captain of the Black Wolf Cavalry Spear Riders company...

Bai Li, retired company commander, unranked, captain of the Black Wolf Cavalry Axe Riders company...

Le Yun, retired company commander, unranked, captain of the Black Wolf Cavalry Mounted Archers company...

Yu Wen, retired company commander, unranked, quartermaster of the Black Wolf Cavalry special troop type...

Because Jiang Sheng, Ma Qiang, Luo Sheng, and the others had merely been hired by Jian Shang, they were not considered his retainers, even though their battlefield careers had been directly bought out. Thus, only morale was displayed rather than loyalty. Jian Shang could not see much other information either, such as prestige traits, cultivated techniques, spell skills, and so on.

Moreover, because Jian Shang was a commoner with neither rank nor grade, Jiang Sheng, Ma Qiang, and the others, who had originally possessed military posts and merit, automatically became retired soldiers and unranked commoners.

When morale fell below 60, they could easily desert and become fugitives. When morale fell below 30, they would definitely desert at the first opportunity, and might even turn their blades against him.

As for the merit category, it referred primarily to the contributions they made to Jian Shang as their lord. They were responsible only to Jian Shang, not to the Great Qin Empire, and this was also the main basis for promotion within Jian Shang's faction.

Once the three days were up, Jian Shang did not dare remain any longer and immediately led the army out.

Jian Shang only had 76 gold left, and he still needed to buy grain, uniforms, and other military supplies. Even if he pinched every penny, staying in Lingping County's military camp cost more than ten gold a day. If he remained two more days, he feared he would not even be able to afford food.

Jian Shang had Quartermaster Yu Wen purchase three large carts of grain, cured meat, uniforms, and other military supplies. He also assigned ten Elite Personal Guards and ten Mounted Archers to Yu Wen as subordinates, responsible for escorting and protecting the logistical supplies at the rear.

Jian Shang, Jiang Yao, and the other seven rode at the front. Jiang Sheng, Ma Qiang, and the others led nearly two hundred Black Wolf Cavalry behind them, while Yu Wen led twenty Black Wolf Cavalry and ten logistics soldiers, escorting the supplies at the very rear. The entire army possessed twenty-five warhorses.

As they marched out of Lingping County in a grand procession, they made quite a spectacle, drawing many native inhabitants and players to crane their necks for a look.

"Little Ji, I'll have to trouble you!"

The moment they left Lingping County, Jian Shang politely instructed Shi Ji.

According to the arrangements made before departure, Shi Ji would temporarily serve as captain of the scout squad. Jian Shang had even assigned ten Mounted Archers to him. For this reason, Jian Shang had bought another sixteen warhorses, one each for Jiang Sheng and the other five leaders, as well as the ten Mounted Archers.

Now, Jian Shang had truly been beaten back to his original state. All his wealth had dwindled to a little over 8 gold. If he gained no other income, once the supplies in those three cartloads meant to last a month were used up, Jian Shang would have to worry about the most basic issue of putting food on the table!

One had to know that the basic monthly rations for just over two hundred Black Wolf Cavalry cost three gold. If they ate even slightly better and added some wine and meat, the expense would multiply severalfold.

For the first time, Jian Shang felt the hardship of not knowing how expensive firewood, rice, oil, and salt were until one ran a household. He also came to understand the difficulty of raising an army.

"We're brothers. Why be so polite? I should be thanking you for letting me enjoy being a leader!"

Shi Ji replied with considerable excitement. With a wave of his hand, the ten Mounted Archer scouts stepped out and followed Shi Ji away with a whistle, taking charge of scouting the road ahead.

Hearing Shi Ji say that, Jiang Sheng frowned, but in the end, he said nothing.

After all, Jian Shang currently held no military post or official rank, so none of the leaders had grades. Jiang Yao and the others had not been assigned specific positions either. Jian Shang treated them as brothers of equal status. There was nothing inherently wrong with that, but in the eyes of Jiang Sheng, Luo Sheng, and others from regular military backgrounds, it was somewhat chaotic and lacking in propriety and discipline.

"What are you showing off for? You're just a little scout!"

Watching Shi Ji lead the troops ahead with envy, Shi Jin, his older cousin, muttered sourly.

"You can't put it that way. Scouts are an indispensable establishment in every force. They should even be the most elite members of every force, because the life and safety of the entire force are entrusted to them. If the scouts make one careless mistake, they could very well lead the force into a trap and bring about the annihilation of the entire army. Though our scale is still small and we are not yet a regular army, scouts are just as important. Barbarians are running rampant now. If we fail to scout properly and get surrounded by them, we'll be in danger!"

Jian Shang, Jiang Yao, and the others merely smiled and said nothing. Jiang Sheng, however, who held himself and others to strict standards, straightened his expression and rebuked him solemnly.

*********

The new month had arrived, and it was September 1st—the day school began!

On behalf of all you brothers and sisters, Shadow wished every student success: may those in middle and high school see their grades rise step by step, and may university students win the favor of lovely ladies, with peach blossoms blooming everywhere... :)