Chapter 40: War is Merit

  The next morning, Li Zhēn went to Fúshì Wéi Bǎo with the attendants arranged by Zhōu Féi. Of course, this fortress has now been renamed Shénzhōu Wéi Bǎo and serves as Li Zhēn's residence in Língzhōu County.

  After strolling through the entire courtyard, Li Jing sighed at the extravagance of the aristocratic family and didn't linger. He hastily headed towards the pasture on horseback.

  Although it had been less than half a month since leaving the grassland, when Li Zhēng returned to the grassland, he always felt as if he was in a different world.

  It feels like I've been away for a long time.

  This is his home, where his roots are, and here, it's always more comforting than outside.

  This time Li Jing returned to the grassland, bringing back all the Qingjia warriors and cavalry, while leaving behind other warhorses and light cavalry in Lingzhou under the command of White Wolf.

  The number of Qingjia warriors is too small, if there are hundreds or thousands of Qingjia warriors, equipped with first-class armor, breaking through the enemy lines and capturing the commander would be easy. Li Zhong had no doubt about this point.

  The eight green armor warhorses are all seeds and must be brought back to the pasture for breeding.

  Hand over Qing Jia's warhorse to Ma Nuo and have him take good care of it. Only then did Li Zheng speak with Zhao Wu.

  "Congratulations on your triumphant return!"

  Zhao Wukou bowed and saluted, his face radiant with glory.

  As a house slave, Zhao Wu's fate is now tied to Li Zhuang's. They rise and fall together. The higher Li Zhuang climbs, the more status Zhao Wu has; if Li Zhuang falls, Zhao Wu will be left with nothing but his dead bones.

  Zhao was overjoyed.

  Li Zhong this time rescued Fu Xie, not only completing the predetermined goal, but also gaining a huge extra harvest. Nowadays, the whole Lingzhou is Li Zhong's call. The seventh-grade official in front of the Prime Minister's gate, Zhao Wu as Li Zhong's close minister, naturally rose with the tide, unlike before.

  Li Zheng burst out laughing and said: "I didn't expect you'd also know how to flatter."

  Zhao Wu smiled and said: "I am telling the truth."

  Li Zheng slightly nodded and changed his words to ask about the changes in the pasture over the past half month.

  Zhao Wu did not dare to be slow and immediately reported one by one.

  The development of the pasture was extremely rapid, but in just half a month, the changes were not very obvious. Of course, there were also gains. The biggest one was that several mineral deposits were discovered in this mountain range again.

  Due to the discovery of new mines, a considerable number of people were again put into the pasture for the mining and related projects.

  But this is just the beginning, and the new mine has not yet been put into production. The efficiency of the forging center has not been improved yet.

  Secondly, during this half-month period, Zhao Wu recruited more than a thousand refugees, causing the population of the pasture to increase significantly, and the labor force was temporarily sufficient.

  Furthermore, the land reclamation has not stopped. To the west, along the banks of the great river, more than 200 mu of land have been opened up and manpower has been arranged to plant melons, fruits and vegetables.

  As for the development of new pastures, it has not yet been settled. In this mountainous and hilly area, no grassland comparable to Shen Zhou Grassland has been found so far. Of course, some small areas with good environments, although not suitable as pastures, are being planted with alfalfa.

  As Zhao Wu explained the various affairs of the pasture in an orderly manner, Li Zheng nodded secretly while also feeling relieved at Zhao Wu's growth.

  Although the pasture is not large, there are many things to deal with. Managing such a pasture still has a great role in training one's ability.

  "Uh-huh,"

  Li Zhong smiled and nodded, saying: "You handle things, I naturally feel at ease. The next development of the ranch will still focus on these several directions, no need to change for now. However, the scale of the hunting team must continue to expand."

  As he spoke, Li Zhēn recounted some of the troubles they had encountered on this trip, then said: "The number of Qingjia war riders is really too small. If there were enough numbers, it would not be necessary to rack one's brains to devise a plan; a straightforward and direct crushing victory would be the best approach."

  "Moreover, this campaign is mostly in mountainous terrain, and the green armor cavalry's war horses are not adapted to fighting in mountains."

  "Also, because I left in a hurry this time, I didn't bring Blue Bird, and conveying military information is also very troublesome."

  Li Zhong had already thought of a plan for these three aspects during this war, and now that he's back, he's preparing to put it into action.

  "The Green Armor Warhorse relies solely on self-reproduction, which is too slow. We must capture more Green Rams to synthesize while breeding and raising them at the same time, using a two-pronged approach to quickly increase the number of Green Armor Warhorses."

  "It's not just the green cavalry, other types of cavalry are also the same. Therefore, the task of the hunting team is very heavy, and it is necessary to quickly expand the scale."

  Zhao Wu nodded repeatedly as he listened from the side.

  "Kamuka brothers have taken people out hunting and haven't returned yet. Your Majesty, don't you think it's better to wait for their return before doing this?"

  Li Zheng shook his head and said, "First recruit a batch of young and strong men skilled in hunting from the grassland people. When Kamu returns, hand them over to him directly."

  "Ah!"

  Li Zheng nodded, his footsteps paused for a moment, and he said: "I'll go back to change my clothes first, rest for a while, and after lunch I will go to the War Rider Hall. You let the Beast Tamer's Field prepare a batch of lively mountain wildlife, such as wild wolves, wild goats, bears, etc., and also war horses, and have them transported to the War Rider Hall."

  When I returned home, little Cui and little Liu were standing by the door, looking out for me.

  With a chuckle, he pinched the two girls' rosy cheeks, and as they blushed with embarrassment, he strolled into the house. Inside, the two maids had already prepared a meal: a large bowl of fragrant stewed red jade bird, a dish of smoked sparrow meat, and some vegetables and fruits.

  The aroma of these delicacies is enough to make one's mouth water.

  Li Zheng hastily sat down and began eating voraciously.

  "It's been a long time since I've had these good things."

  Li Zheng sighed while eating.

  This time out, most of the time was spent on the march, and although the dry rations carried were nutritious, they didn't taste very good.

  When Li Zhong had eaten halfway through his meal, he suddenly remembered that the two maidservants were still waiting on him and hastily invited them to join in the meal.

  At home, Li Zhuang never talks about rules.

  After finishing dinner, I went out and exercised around the house for a bit before returning inside, entering the study and closing the door.

  Kneeling behind his desk, Li Zhēng sank his consciousness into his mind.

  In his mind, the magnificent warhorse system, with its dazzling light, displayed all the information under the touch of his consciousness.

  The four major main functions, except for the war riding skills, which are still not lit up, have no other changes. In the package, the amount of money has already exceeded 300,000.

  The options in the mysterious shop still radiate a faint glow, and it's unclear what good things have been refreshed this month.

  Only at the very bottom, a newly appeared number and a newly lit option caught Li Zhēn's attention.

  Meritorious achievement!

  Map!

  "Merit?"

  Li Zhong's mind went blank for a moment, and he recalled the helplessness he felt when he first saw that mysterious map in the store. That incredible map required merit to purchase!

  At this moment, since the achievement option has appeared, it is likely that... Li Zhēn's consciousness is completely focused on this option, and only sees a number appearing after the achievement - 17660.

  "So expensive?!"

  After seeing this number, Li Zhong was stunned. He thought of the terrain conversion diagram back then, such a powerful effect, and it only required 2,000 merits!

  However, without realizing it, Li Zhēn had already accumulated over 10,000 to nearly 20,000 merits. Where did these come from?

  Li Zhong's mind was filled with doubts, and he focused his attention on this huge number again. Suddenly, an explanation of how each stroke of merit would be accounted for appeared.

  Rescue Fu Xie safely and reward 10,000 merits

  Break through the Kingdom Army formation, reward 500 merits

  Defeat Commander Kingdom, Reward 50 Merit Points

  Defeated General Ma Teng, rewarded 5000 merits

  Defeated 4,000 pursuers from Kingdom Department, rewarded with 100 merits

  Kill General Cheng Yi, reward 500 merits

  Shedding off Liang Xing's one thousand pursuing soldiers, rewarding meritorious service 10

  Defeated General Yan Xing, rewarded 500 merits

  Burned and pursued 15,000 soldiers, burned General Yan Xing, rewarded meritorious service 1000.

  This includes all battles of Li Zhen's expedition this time.

  It turned out that this huge amount of meritorious service value was derived from the military operation to rescue Fu Xie, and it was derived from - war! And what determines the amount of merit is the impact of a particular person or battle on the overall situation of the world.

  He saw Ma Teng.

  He didn't expect that the first general to be killed under Jizhou would actually be Ma Teng! Who is Ma Teng? Ma Teng, also known as Ma Shoucheng, was the father of Ma Chao and later became a dominant force in Western Liang.

  Li Zhong had no doubt that this Ma Teng was that Ma Teng, and those 5,000 merits were not fake.

  However, looking at the data, Li Zhong found that Ma Teng's influence on the overall situation was far less than Fu Shuo! Rescuing Fu Shuo actually rewarded him with a full 10,000 merits, which is twice as much as Ma Teng's!

  It can be seen from this that Fu Xi's ability and influence are so great.

  It's no wonder that Han Sui attaches such importance to Fu Shuo, regarding him as a major threat, and dispatching so many troops to pursue him relentlessly!

  Fu Sheng may have survived this time and perhaps will add a brilliant stroke to the chaotic world of the late Han Dynasty!

  There's also Yan Xing, who's a pretty good guy. He obediently gave him two merits. This time he didn't even die, it seems like he's a pretty good ATM.

  Thus, Li Zhuang unfolded his fanciful imagination.

  If Cao Cao were killed, Liu Bei were killed, Sun Quan were killed, Dong Zhuo were killed; if Dong Zhuo's entry into the capital were changed, the coalition against Dong Zhuo were changed, the Battle of Guandu were changed. Then, how much merit would be obtained?!

  Thinking of this, Li Zhong couldn't help but salivate secretly.

  Shaking off his spirits, Li Zhēng knew that these were just empty fantasies.

  He can't do these things now.

  When he has capital, the above-mentioned people are either very powerful and difficult to deal with, or those major events have already occurred!

  It's still up to oneself after all.

  Why bother if Li Zhuo is strong enough?

  As long as he can unify the world and ascend to that supreme throne, that would be the greatest change in the trend of the world!