Rules

A flash of white light appeared, Su Mu emerged beneath a gray sky.

Beneath his feet was a massive floating platform, its edges suspended in mid-air. He looked down and froze for a moment.

Below lies a vast, breathtaking territory.

From the air, the entire territory is an irregular oval shape, spanning thousands of miles from east to west, and its north-south depth is endless.

A rough estimate puts it at least in the millions of square kilometers.

The territory has plains, hills, rivers, forests, and scattered towns and villages.

The densely packed settlements, like chess pieces on a chessboard, are scattered across the vast land. Smoke rises simultaneously from hundreds of directions, converging into a thin mist under the gray sky.

Su Mu narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping from the territory to the surrounding area.

Beyond the territory lies a vast grassland.

Deep in the grassland, some moving lights can be faintly seen. Those are the camps of nomadic tribes, who live by water and grass, and are constantly on the move.

Their horses galloped across the grassland at an astonishing speed, kicking up dust that rolled like yellow dragons on the horizon.

As Su Mu was watching, a stream of information appeared in his side view.

[Third Stage - Territory Defense]

[Initial Soul Power: 1,000,000]

[You can use Soul Power to construct buildings, embed cards, and set up class systems. The dungeon will officially start once Soul Power is exhausted or after confirmation.]

[Assessment Objective: Protect the survival of the inhabitants within the territory. Territory size: 4 million square kilometers; Initial inhabitants: 100 million.]

[The assessment ends when the population decreases to 50% (50 million).]

Settlement rules: If a territory resident survives for more than 30 years, the base coefficient is 1. For each additional year of survival after 30 years, the coefficient increases by 1.

The base score is 100. For every remaining 1% of residents, the base score increases by 100. Final score = base score × coefficient.

[Time Flow: Ten minutes outside the instance equals one year inside the instance.]

[After the Soul Power usage phase ends, candidates will no longer be able to directly intervene in the instance; they can only observe it from an outsider's perspective.]

After the information stream ended, a huge analysis panel appeared in front of Su Mu.

On the panel, detailed information about the surrounding forces is displayed one by one.

First, there are three nomadic kingdoms.

The first one was called the "Azure Wolf Tribe," whose territory was located in the northeast, occupying the eastern part of the grasslands, and had a population of about two million.

Their warriors ride on a type of horse called a "wildhorse," which is large, has long limbs, runs extremely fast, and has amazing endurance, able to maintain full speed for half an hour without slowing down.

The warriors of the Azure Wolf Tribe grew up on horseback, possessing superb archery skills and adept at guerrilla tactics.

They never confront their enemies head-on, but instead use the wildebeest's mobility to constantly harass, cut off their supplies, and plunder, appearing and disappearing like the wind, making them difficult to catch.

The second one is called the "White Eagle Tribe," located due north of the territory, with a population of about 1.5 million.

Their wildebeest are slightly smaller, but more agile and adept at traversing mountainous and hilly terrain.

The warriors of the White Eagle Tribe prefer to operate at night, often taking advantage of the moonlight to raid border villages, looting and leaving without lingering in battle.

The third is called the "Crimson Tiger Tribe," located in the northwest of the region, with a population of approximately three million.

This is the most powerful of the three tribes, with the largest number of wildebeest and the fiercest warriors.

Their tactics are more sophisticated; they can carry out large-scale encirclement and entrapment, and they can also use the method of luring the enemy deep into their territory to wear them down. Intelligence indicates that the Crimson Tiger Tribe once defeated 100,000 infantrymen from the Central Plains with 30,000 cavalry in a battle, while suffering fewer than 3,000 casualties themselves.

These three tribes share a common characteristic: they have no fixed cities, no baggage trains, and no logistics.

All supplies were obtained through plunder. They would seize whatever they could find, loot and leave without lingering.

Su Mu's territory happens to be located at the intersection of these three grasslands.

The territory is bordered by continuous mountain ranges to the west and south, forming a natural barrier.

However, it is bordered by grasslands on the east, north, and west sides, with a long and flat border that offers no natural defenses.

A major river runs east to west through the territory, along with two tributaries running north to south, and vast fertile plains. This is the core grain-producing area of the territory, and also the most densely populated region.

The last page of the intelligence panel is an assessment of the territory's military strength.

There is currently a standing army within the territory, with a strength of approximately one million.

This army is well-equipped, well-trained, and possesses considerable frontal combat capabilities.

The problem is that this army has extremely poor mobility.

They relied mainly on infantry and heavy infantry, with fewer than 50,000 cavalry, and their horses were far inferior in quality to the wildebeest of the steppe.

Historically, territorial armies and steppe tribes have clashed many times.

Each time, the territory's army was constantly on the move, exhausted by the guerrilla tactics of the steppe cavalry.

Steppe cavalry never appeared on the front lines; they would only harass territorial armies from the flanks when they were marching, cut off their supply lines, and raid camps at night.

They would wait until the territory's army was exhausted and its formation was broken before they would surround them from all sides and strike a fatal blow with lightning speed.

The intelligence panel displayed a shocking record of the last major battle.

The territory mobilized an army of 200,000 to march north, penetrating three hundred miles into the grasslands.

As a result, they were cut off from supplies, harassed, and exhausted by the 30,000 cavalry of the Crimson Tiger Tribe, and were eventually surrounded on their return journey.

The 200,000-strong army was almost completely wiped out, with fewer than 30,000 surviving.

After reading this, Su Mu remained silent for a few seconds.

He suddenly felt that the script was very familiar.

The Central Plains and the Xiongnu.

Agricultural civilization versus nomadic civilization.

Infantry and cavalry.

Cities and grasslands.

Isn't this just like what I read in history books in my past life?

Xiongnu, Turks, Mongols...

Nomadic peoples used the mobility of their cavalry to freely choose breakthrough points along the long border, looting and then fleeing.

Although the Central Plains dynasties had a million-strong army, they were exhausted by the long border.

You guard the east, he attacks the west.

You chase after him, and he runs away.

You retreat, and he comes again.

Historically, the methods used by the Central Plains dynasties to deal with nomadic peoples have remained largely the same.

Marriage alliances, paying tribute, and building the Great Wall.

Su Mu's gaze fell on the three words "repair the Great Wall".

A huge card pool interface appeared in front of him.

The moment the card pool opened, a blinding golden light exploded before Su Mu's eyes.

Neatly arranged SSS-level cards stood in front, each radiating a dazzling light.

A wide variety of SSS-level combat cards are available, including area-of-effect, pursuit, control, and burst damage types.

There are also SS-level support cards, A-level reconnaissance cards, B-level trap cards... a dazzling array that can make your head spin.

Su Mu completely ignored the first page.

He opened the search bar and typed in "architecture".

The page redirects, and rows of building cards appear before your eyes.