"Then... how many troops?" Ma Kui could not contain himself and pressed the question.
[Centipede-Insect Daoist] tapped his gaunt fingers against the tabletop, producing soft taps.
"The Prefectural City's standing garrison amounts to just over twenty thousand, even counting every last man. As for the counties below, the larger garrisons have four or five thousand, and the smaller ones around three thousand.
"That sounds like a lot, but which of the passes, mine veins, spirit fields, and earth-vein nodes doesn't need troops stationed to guard it? After scraping men together from here and there, tell me, how many could we spare?"
A trace of viciousness flashed through Ma Kui's eyes, and he said urgently, "Prefecture Lord! Once they put down deep roots, uprooting them will cost us even more!
"You've received reliable confirmation yourself. They don't even have a Dharma Nascent Soul cultivator. They're nothing but clay chickens and tile dogs!
"Though I am of meager ability, I am still a Dharma Nascent Soul True Lord. Give me twenty thousand troops, and I will sweep through them like rotten wood and withered grass, grinding them to dust!"
Centipede-Insect Daoist lifted his drooping eyelids slightly and glanced at him. "Twenty thousand will suffice?"
"Twenty thousand will be more than enough!"
"Good! General Ma, you truly have spirit!"
Centipede-Insect Daoist's voice abruptly rose a little, only to sink back into its original low register an instant later.
"But I bear a heavy responsibility in holding the Prefectural City. Should anything happen to it, neither of us will have a place to be buried. Therefore, I will give you forty thousand troops!"
"F-forty thousand?" Ma Kui froze, almost believing he had misheard. "Prefecture Lord, where will these forty thousand troops come from?"
"Hmph."
Centipede-Insect Daoist snorted coldly, his withered fingers sliding across several