Shennong Dao Master
Chapter 367 - 23: Military Merit Acquired, Can Farming Also Lead to Becoming a Marquis?!

Chapter 367: Chapter 23: Military Merit Acquired, Can Farming Also Lead to Becoming a Marquis?!

"You guessed it right." Zhao Xing nodded with a smile.

"It was really stolen?!" Han Bing’s expression, usually deadpan, showed clear signs of shock.

"How could a Seventh-Rank defense Netherflame Warship be breached?" Wang Ji was also taken aback.

"Zhao Xing isn’t stupid, how could he fight head-on? Of course he seized the chance to ambush when the enemy was off guard... He’s really good at that." Han Bing said.

"Han Bing, how can you slander someone’s good name?" Zhao Xing retorted, "How can you call a Military Minister of Agriculture Officer’s action an ambush? Their spell range isn’t as big as mine. You can’t blame me for ambushing them."

"Exactly. Do you even understand the Military Minister of Agriculture Officer’s duty?!" Wang Ji fumed, "You saw that, Mr. Zhao, that was exactly how he slandered me earlier."

"..."

"What are you guys chatting about? It’s so lively, I could hear you from far away." Long Xiao jumped down from the Netherflame Warship.

"Greetings, Captain Long."

"Greetings, Mr. Long."

Han Bing and Wang Ji greeted him in unison.

They were noticeably more polite toward Long Xiao.

"We were guessing how this Netherflame Warship came to be."

Long Xiao said, "This. On the way here, Zhao Xing discovered a group of aliens ambushing Zhenhai Army’s city. I followed him to check it out."

"It was a group of Sha Clan, but Zhao Xing and I took care of them."

Wang Ji asked doubtfully, "Such a big Netherflame Warship, did the defending commander of Zhenhai Army’s city just give it up?"

Long Xiao snorted, "The defending commander of the Zhenhai Army... Forget it, better not mention."

He remembered that Zhao Xing and Chen Lu were already brotherly friends, so it was best not to say more. But in Long Xiao’s heart, Chen Lu was just an inept fellow.

"In any case, he suffered significant losses. If it hadn’t been for us, his body would be cold by now. So he didn’t feel right taking a share of the spoils. Zhao Xing, being kind-hearted, gave him a tenth."

Zhao Xing shrugged, "In the warzone, the more friends you have, the more paths you pave."

Without Chen Lu, getting this Netherflame Warship over here could have taken who knows how long. A back-and-forth of moving people would have produced too many uncertainties.

Giving Chen Lu a tenth was just a part of the storage, not a tenth of ownership in the Netherflame Warship.

Nowadays, Zhao Xing had achieved some success and started to learn from Old Chen to become an angel investor.

As for Chen Lu, it was just convenient to help him.

The war against the barbarians had attracted many strong and talented individuals from Great Zhou. Zhao Xing planned to invest in these future rising stars, which was a crucial part of his future plans.

"Let’s go in and talk." Long Xiao said.

"Mr. Wang, arrange the personnel to take over the Netherflame Warship. This thing is ours from now on." Zhao Xing said, "Also, the people sent by Chen Lu, give each a bit of hard-earned money according to their rank."

"Alright." Wang Ji rubbed his hands together, "I’ll handle it personally."

He couldn’t wait any longer. He had only sat in a Fifth-order Warship once before, and he hadn’t even entered the core cabin.

Zhao Xing said he could use it, and he was happier than getting a wife.

The Netherflame Warship had an exotic style to it!

Wang Ji had seen a lot, but this was something new to him.

"Be careful once on board. If someone breaks a part, I’ll eat them alive!" Wang Ji hollered. The parts for this thing were much harder to replace than Great Zhou’s warships.

...

"City Number Ninety-Two was built to county-level specifications."

"Initially, only half of it was constructed, but yesterday expansion of the outer city started, planning to make the original part the inner city."

"Here’s the list of main officials. The Engineering Department has the most people, followed by the Minister of Agriculture, and the number of Martial Artists was originally substantial too, but with Liao Rulong’s continuous drafts, the military department now has fewer people than the Minister of Agriculture. Priests and strategists are the fewest."

"This is the list of officials from each department."

On the way to the City Lord Mansion, Han Bing introduced the situation of City Number Ninety-Two to Zhao Xing.

The city was small, but all five departments were complete.

The five departments combined had around five thousand people in total.

Among them, Mechanical Masters and the Minister of Agriculture made up seventy percent, Martial Artists twenty percent, and Priests ten percent.

Strategists were just a few and could be ignored.

As for strength, it was neither good nor bad.

The list Han Bing provided included the training records of officials from each department.

For those who completed training with an excellent rating, except for Wang Ji and Han Bing, there were none.

There were thirty-five with a good rating. Among them, ten were rated good plus, but they were not from Zhao Xing’s class.

In short, compared to the Cloud City period, the overall number had increased by about double, but the number of talents had decreased.

But this was normal, as the strong ones had been drafted by Liao Rulong for the front lines.

Of course, this didn’t mean the Supply City was weak.

The overall skill level was higher than during the Cloud City period. After all, the rank mattered. The combined number of Secondary Seventh Rank officials from all departments exceeded fifty.

Liao Rulong’s aggressive tactics weren’t without brain though. Even without Zhao Xing, the defense level of the Supply City was much higher than that of Chen Lu’s city.

If the Sha Clan chose to ambush the Divine Might Army’s City Number Ninety-Two, they might not even need Zhao Xing and Long Xiao to act to drive the enemies away.

Now Zhao Xing was the main commander of City Number Ninety-Two, but he actually didn’t have much to consider.

"The expansion of the outer city can follow Wang Ji’s plans, no need to change." Zhao Xing said, "The other three departments’ heads, have them come over for a meeting, we can briefly discuss the progress of their tasks."

"However, the tasks of the Minister of Agriculture Supervision need some adjustments."

"Alright, how would you like to modify them?"

To immediately change the direction of the Minister of Agriculture Supervision’s tasks implied that Han Bing, the main official, hadn’t done well before. It was only because it was Zhao Xing; if it were someone else, Han Bing would have cursed them.

"Let’s discuss it after the meeting later. I still need to handle things on the Netherflame Warship." Zhao Xing said, "You’ll know later."

"Alright, I’ll make arrangements." Han Bing got up and left.

Long Xiao sat in a chair, eating fruit, watching Zhao Xing make arrangements.

He wasn’t part of the martial officer sequence of City Number Ninety-Two. After a brief rest, once the Yin God from the divine temple transmitted the front line’s location, he would go find Liao Rulong’s main forces.