Chapter 223: We’ll Discuss It Another Day

The largest residence in Shengle City had once belonged to a Deputy General appointed by the Helian Clan, a position roughly equivalent to a Roaming General in the State of Yan.

But before the Helian Clan began preparing for war against Yan, that general had already taken most of his troops west.

He never returned.

Nor had there been any news of him.

Most likely, he was dead.

Far too many Jin people had died during those ten days of bloody fighting, and the front had stretched for a thousand li. Recovering the bodies had been impossible. No one knew how many corpses had ended up feeding the vultures.

A dead man’s residence was considered inauspicious.

But neither Zheng Fan nor the Demon Kings under him cared about such things. Back in Tiger Head City, they had lived in the freshly bloodied “haunted house” left behind by the Hyena Gang.

Besides, taking ten thousand steps back, their own group included a zombie, a vampire, and a demon child.

Even the finest feng shui in the world would be wasted on them.

Inside the newly cleaned main hall, Zheng Fan reclined against a cushion in the seat of honor, slightly elevated above the others.

Below him, six Demon Kings sat in a circle.

There were no outsiders present.

They even poured their own tea and refilled their own cups.

It wasn’t that there was no one in this world they could trust. It was simply that the matters they were about to discuss were easier to talk about freely without outsiders present.

Zheng Fan rubbed between his brows, picked up the teapot, and took a long drink straight from the spout.

They finally had territory of their own.

It wasn’t large.

It wasn’t wealthy.

It wasn’t impressive.

It was merely some remote little corner of the world.

But at least they had finally made a beginning.

From here onward, everyone could take charge of their own responsibilities.

So this wasn’t really a victory celebration.

It was more like a meeting to divide the spoils.

What surprised Zheng Fan was that the Demon Kings all seemed to be restraining their urge to “lick” him.

They were like starving men suddenly presented with a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast, yet somehow all of them had become reserved and civilized.

After their previous heart-to-heart conversation, Zheng Fan felt that at least on these matters they could be frank with one another.

Last time, he had raised a cup of tea to the Demon Kings.

Then everyone had advanced together.

This time, Zheng Fan had not deliberately played any tricks either.

If everyone’s strength could rise smoothly along with his own advancement, why wouldn’t he want that?

He had even repeatedly hypnotized himself in his own mind:

“I trust so-and-so.”

“I have high hopes for so-and-so.”

“I believe in so-and-so.”

But none of it seemed to work.

It was as though an invisible threshold stood in the way, blocking the process by which he helped the Demon Kings recover their strength.

The Demon Kings present had noticed this as well.

After entering Shengle City, they had already waited an entire day, yet none of them had experienced any reaction.

According to what had been said last time, the Master shouldn’t be keeping them in suspense anymore.

So everyone had begun to suspect that perhaps the problem wasn’t with any particular person.

Perhaps it was with the act itself.

Surely the recovery of their strength hadn’t somehow become disconnected from the Master’s own advancement?

If that were really the case, they would be screwed.

Fortunately, everyone could still wait patiently a little longer.

Because last night, the Master had not slept.

They had entered the city at night, swept through it, established defenses, reorganized the troops, and cleaned the residence.

Although entering the city had gone extremely smoothly, with both Shengle City and the Yan army cooperating and everything proceeding quickly, tidying up afterward was still an unavoidable step.

So, tonight, everything depended on Siniang.

They would know the result tomorrow morning.

If Siniang’s “divine arts advanced tremendously” tomorrow, then everyone else could simply put in more effort too.

At least the goal would be visible ahead, and the road would remain bright.

If even Siniang couldn’t… then they would have to investigate which part of the process had gone wrong.

Still, one matter was one matter and another was another.

They could wait and see which way the wind blew regarding their strength.

But the things that needed doing tonight still had to be done.

The subject of this meeting was Shengle City’s five-year development plan.

The Blind Man chaired the meeting.

“Li.”

“I’m here.”

Fan Li scratched the back of his head. He seemed a little embarrassed at being called on first.

“I’ll start with the area you’ll be responsible for.”

“I get to go first?”

Fan Li looked flattered.

He even seemed a little moved.

“Mm. We’ll get the least useful person out of the way first, then slowly move on to the real business.”

“…”

Fan Li.

Fortunately, Fan Li had a good temper.

Otherwise, he would probably have picked up the axe beside him and split the Blind Man in half.

“Li, you’ll be responsible for construction. The city needs to be expanded, the moat needs to be dug again, and new barracks need to be built. All of that falls under you.”

“Got it.”

Fan Li’s brain was a strange thing.

Call him clever, and most of the time he wasn’t.

Call him stupid, and every now and then he would suddenly say or do something that made you stare at him in alarm.

A man like that was safest when dumped onto a construction site.

Besides, he ate more than anyone else.

If he didn’t work, who would?

They certainly couldn’t let all that food go to waste.

Moreover, Fan Li was actually highly skilled at carpentry.

His specialty differed from Xue San’s. Xue San was good at making small, intricate objects, while Fan Li specialized in larger structures.

In the old comic storyline, he had even possessed his own private domain: a palace constructed from mutilated human torsos.

“Make sure the work is completed properly, both in quality and quantity. Understand?”

“I know.”

“Mm. Once the reconstruction is finished, set up a smithy and forge weapons.”

No one objected to Fan Li’s assignment.

And so it passed pleasantly enough.

Next, the Blind Man turned toward Xue San.

“San’er, personally train a group of scouts and spies. Remember: scouts and spies, not assassins.”

Scouts and intelligence agents would have broad uses in future wars.

They were also Xue San’s specialty.

The reason the Blind Man specifically warned him not to train assassins was, first, because it would take too much time and consume too many resources.

Second, at least for now, there weren’t many situations where assassins would actually be useful.

And if they truly needed one, they could simply use Xue San himself.

“How many men do I get?” Xue San immediately asked.

He was different from Fan Li.

For Fan Li’s work, mobilizing civilian laborers would be enough. The Demon Kings were hardly short of money or valuables now. With money in hand, construction work wasn’t difficult.

But Xue San knew perfectly well that his manpower would have to come from the army.

“How many do you want?”

Xue San raised one hand.

“Five hundred.”

A’Ming chuckled from beside him.

“What are you trying to build, the Huaxia Dragon Group?”

“None of your business!”

The Blind Man turned toward Zheng Fan, signaling for him to make the decision.

When the Demon Kings held a meeting, they still had to give Zheng Fan some sense of participation.

Otherwise, the Master might fall asleep.

That would be far too disrespectful.

It was the same reason even a speech simple enough for an elementary-school student to read still had to be delivered by the leader.

But this wasn’t merely about giving the Master something to do.

Zheng Fan had campaigned for a long time now and had experienced quite a few battles.

He had spent time beside Li Fusheng.

He had also spent time beside Tian Wujing.

To put it unpleasantly, even a pig raised under those conditions ought to have learned enough to grunt out a few of the Thirty-Six Stratagems.

“San’er, one hundred. Just one hundred,” Zheng Fan said.

“No, Master, I—”

“Barbarian troops, Jin troops, Yan troops, the Tufa contingent—even those thousand Jingnan troops. If you see someone you want, pull him into your unit.

“All told, between regular troops, surrendered troops, auxiliary troops, and everything else, we’re nearly at five thousand men.

“You choose.

“Pick whoever you want.

“Later, once our foundation is thicker, you can expand again. Cook according to the size of the pot. For now, we’ll start with this.”

“Yes. Master is wise.”

Xue San accepted the decision.

Zheng Fan looked toward the Blind Man.

His fingers tapped lightly against the tea table.

“Continue.”

The Blind Man nodded.

“A’Ming, you’ll be responsible for opening several small workshops. Soap, perfume, things like that.

“We handed those businesses to the Sixth Prince before. But now that the Sixth Prince’s enterprises have been surrendered to the state treasury, there’s no longer any need for us to worry about patents or business rights.

“We’ll simply start making them again.”

A’Ming asked, “Won’t the imperial court blame us?”

“The emperor is far away. Besides, after Yan conquered half of Jin, its territory expanded too quickly. Part of the food and funds for the garrisons has to be raised locally.

“We’re simply relying on our own hands to keep ourselves fed.

“So long as the Emperor of Yan doesn’t personally issue an order blaming us, even if the Ministry of Revenue wants to complain, we have the Marquis of Jingnan above us.”

“Fine.”

A’Ming agreed.

“A’Cheng, you’ll be responsible for the troops.”

Liang Cheng nodded.

The army was currently a complete hodgepodge.

A force that had originally numbered a little over a thousand had inflated like a balloon and suddenly become five thousand.

If it wasn’t properly reorganized and brought under control, serious problems would inevitably emerge.

But with Liang Cheng handling it, there shouldn’t be much trouble.

Zheng Fan had always felt that the reason Liang Cheng seemed inferior to the Marquis of Jingnan was simply that the two had completely different stages on which to display their abilities and entirely different foundations to work with.

If they were truly placed on equal footing, it was hard to say who would win or lose.

“As for me, I’ll have the several dozen people from the Wen Clan enter the yamen first.

“We’ll begin by registering the population.

“First Shengle City itself.

“Then the surrounding region.

“Finally, we’ll move into the savage settlements inside the Tianduan Mountains.”

This was a massive undertaking.

Essentially, they were registering everyone’s household.

“Siniang, you handle money and provisions.”

“Fine.”

Siniang accepted the responsibility.

“Master, this subordinate has finished arranging matters. Please correct anything inappropriate.”

Of the Seven Demon Kings, everyone except the Demon Child, who wasn’t suited to working openly, now had a responsibility of their own.

“All right. We’ll leave it like this for now.

“But I have one request.

“Build a bathing pool in the rear residence first.”

He had wanted to soak in a bath for a very long time.

“That is only proper,” the Blind Man agreed readily.

“Mm. Then that’s settled.

“Oh, right. I advanced to the Seventh Grade.

“I won’t hide anything from you. I don’t know why none of you recovered any strength.”

That was an extremely frank attitude.

The Blind Man smiled.

“Master, there’s no rush. You should rest first. We can discuss it another day.”

The other Demon Kings, except Siniang, all spoke together.

“Master should rest first. We can discuss it another day.”

“Heh. Now that’s strange. You lot used to be more anxious than anyone. Why have all of you suddenly turned vegetarian?”

The Blind Man replied, “Master, some matters are urgent and others can wait. We proceed one step at a time and do things one step at a time.

“We were too impatient before.

“This subordinate believes Master should rest first and consolidate your cultivation realm.

“It’s getting late, Master.

“Let us discuss it another day.”

[End of Chapter 223]