Break Out

In the meeting room, Lu Zeming moved on to the second matter.

"Second, we'll keep expanding the army. This time, we plan to recruit seven hundred people!"

He paused and looked at Tsukizaki Yuki, who seemed to have something to say.

"Speak your mind. No one in this village gets punished for what they say."

Only then did Tsukizaki Yuki venture, "Our village has just over three thousand people. If we expand the army by another seven hundred, we'll have a thousand soldiers counting the three hundred we already have. That means roughly two villagers supporting each full-time soldier, and that doesn't even include the hundred and thirty Awakened. Won't the strain on our supplies be too great?"

Tsukizaki Yuki had a point. Even in the materially abundant world Lu Zeming had known before, a population of 1.3 billion supported only two million professional soldiers—less than two in a thousand. In Flower Village, the figure would be three hundred in a thousand. It would be a miracle if their supply lines held.

Of course Lu Zeming knew the problem. He had his own calculations.

"This is only temporary. Two months at most." Lu Zeming walked to the map and planted a finger firmly on Wihara Town, the town nearest Flower Village.

"They're blockading us to starve us out. We have to do the opposite: break out. That's our only way to survive, and the only way to turn this losing position around. As for the supply strain, once we take Wihara Town, its thirty thousand people should give us more than enough to support a thousand soldiers."

"I see!" Tsukizaki Yuki flushed with excitement. "You've thought far ahead, Village Chief. I'm no match for you!"

Lu Zeming made his final announcement. "Run the Explosive Stone production line at full capacity