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Ships from Yunzhou were among the first to set out, but they arrived at the rendezvous point the latest. The reason was simple: Yunzhou is the most remote of the seven provinces along the river in Jiangnan.

The meeting point was in Nanyang City. When they arrived at the port, Weichi Feihu stood at the bow of the ship, his eyes widened at the sight of the endless expanse of cloud-like sails, filled with wonder like a country bumpkin visiting the city for the first time.

It wasn’t that he had never seen a naval fleet before.

Due to his father’s favor, he had his wish to see the sea fleet fulfilled at a very young age.

The one his father had taken him to see was the mightiest of the Eastern Sea—the Black Dragon Guard.

At that time, they were conducting naval drills with more than a thousand Black Dragon Sailing Ships and crew including helmsmen and miscellaneous soldiers, totaling over five hundred thousand navy personnel.

The massive scale of the event, with black sails blotting out the sky, had left a profound impact on him at that age!

But even the memory of that couldn’t compare to what was before him now!

The reason was the difference in the ships!

The ships of Jiangnan were larger; just the length of the dragon bone was 24 meters, with most ships equipped with three masts, though there were exceptions with four.

The towering prows and stern decks looked like castles floating on water even from a distance, exerting a great sense of oppression. The key was that there were so many of these ships, with almost no end in sight!

"Why doesn’t Yunzhou have these kinds of ships yet?" Weichi Feihu asked.

He had seen them a few months earlier—called the Water God—a prototype made by students from the Engineering Yellow Institute among the four institutes of Lyuzhou.

After several improvements, it was said that every Provincial Government Office had started building such shipyards, leading to a recent shortage and value increase in dried big timber. ..

"The water in Yunzhou is shallow, incomparable to other provincial offices. Moreover, the export volume of goods from our Yunzhou is not as much as other provinces, and many merchants can’t afford such fine ships," came the reply.

Di Yun, sipping his drink and gazing enviously at the ships, clicked his tongue in admiration, "Impressive, as soon as I get to Lyuzhou, I must get one for my men!"

"There seem to be a lot of people on the big ships..." observed Weichi Feihu as he looked at the busy figures on the ships.

"Indeed, there are many!" laughed a soldier with the last name Yang. "This time around, over two hundred thousand warriors from the seven provinces of Jiangnan have been called up, excluding the shipwrights and helmsmen who followed the merchant ships. This is a big operation. It’s said that we’re going to fight in the West Sea. The number of warriors in the Warrior Army participating in the war, including those from Lyuzhou, will probably exceed three hundred thousand. If you also count the logistic troops and sailors on board, this time... it’s a million troops going into battle! "

"Really?" Weichi Feihu immediately clenched his fists in excitement.

He had always dared not even dream of a war with a million soldiers. Last time, following Lord Duke of Qin into battle for military exploits, he ended up fleeing in disgrace. This time, he was determined not to face the same outcome.

Di Yun, however, seemed a bit stunned.

A million soldiers?

He was an old-timer who had made his way up from Lyuzhou. He remembered when he first enlisted, Lyuzhou’s Warrior Army was no more than ten thousand strong.

They even had to divide forces to support other provincial offices. Back then, his own few squads would be lucky to have a thousand soldiers each, and they’d often quarrel red-faced over an extra two hundred or so!

Just a short year later, had they really grown to this scale?

He knew that Yunzhou had left half of its forces behind. Presumably, the other provinces had done the same, which meant that Lord Chen Qing currently had a million soldiers ready to go into battle and still had another million to secure the territories they had conquered.

Such a feat, put into the context of any other power, seemed nearly impossible, didn’t it?

Looking at the magnificent fleet before him, Di Yun once again felt confident in his choice. Lord Chen Qing would surely spread the beauty and prosperity of Jiangnan across the entire Central Plains!

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Meanwhile, in Lyuzhou City, the stout Zhou Haitao was terribly busy, to the point of desperation. The tasks he had compiled had kept him awake for three days and nights. Now dizzy and seeing double, he felt as if even the pen in his hand was multiplying into four or five.

The mass troop dispatch from seven provincial offices had gathered more than two hundred thousand able-bodied warriors, not to mention the auxiliary forces and civilian workers.

The preparation of provisions, consumption of ship supplies, and various maintenance data had left over a hundred civil officers in Lyuzhou seeing stars.

Even the scholars and Martial Judges from Wei Gongcheng’s underworld bureaucracy had been conscripted, helping with the accounting in the Provincial Government Office.

Watching the busy crowd, Wei Gongcheng wore a wry smile.

Ever since Fourth Elder Shen took up his post as City God of Nanyang, Zhou Haitao had become his closest confidant to talk with.

Now the man was being worked to the bone.

Even if Chen Qing hadn’t ordered him, how could he refuse the urgent plea for help from his friend?

But he had plenty of his own problems to deal with.

Things were no longer like before when he was the only City God within Chen Qing’s sphere of influence.

Now, new City Gods had been enthroned in all seven provinces along the Jiangnan river, and most of them were from the Shen Family, who seemed to have a particular interest in the position of City God.

The late Tenth Elder Shen had become the City God of Yunzhou, Ninth Master was the City God of Yangzhou, and the tall and mighty Fourth Elder Shen had voluntarily recommended himself and became the City God of Xiangzhou.

It was said that Second Elder Shen had also secured his place as the City God of Nanming Prefecture.

The Shen Family appeared to be set on creating an underworld dynasty!

This was not good news for him...

While he was the first City God and Lyuzhou was where Chen Qing began, this place’s population paled in comparison to the other six provinces.

Moreover, with the Shen Family members everywhere, they’d be supporting each other with various joint policies, making it harder for him to compete for the position of City God in a more senior city in the future.

My goal isn’t Lyuzhou. Chen Qing had promised that if given the chance, he could choose another location for the best-developed underworld administration in Jiangnan.

Of course, I don’t wish to stay in Jiangnan forever. I’m hoping that one day I’ll become the City God of the Capital City, and then I can see for myself the faces of those Wei Family members when they come to my underworld...

So, these days, I’ve put a lot of effort into my work, all to build up a good reputation and attract higher-quality people to Lyuzhou. Only when the population increases will the underworld of Lyuzhou prosper.

Yet at this critical moment for boosting performance, I have to be dragged away by this fatso to serve as a strongman.

"My heavens, why on earth does his shipyard in Yangzhou need eight hundred thousand in Incense Silver? The scale of the one in Nanyang City is only six hundred thousand!"

"Transportation costs are high..." Wei Gongcheng rolled his eyes.

"How can Yangzhou’s location compare with Nanyang?

There are countless mountains around Nanyang, and there are over a dozen successor mountain gods, producing twice as much high-quality divine timber as Lyuzhou.

Naturally, the cost is different from that of the plains of Yangzhou. "

"Even so, that’s too much... and they are constantly urging us for more people. The disciples from Huang Academy can only go on internships in such numbers each year, where am I supposed to create more people for him?"

Wei Gongcheng fell silent upon hearing this.

Now that various industrial products like cannons, ships, and sewing machines have been successively developed by the academies, everywhere is vying for the disciples of Huang Academy, and they are now even more sought-after than the Array Masters and Rune Masters of the Mystic Character Institute.

The Governors of several regions would love to come to Lyuzhou and snatch away our people.

But there are only so many disciples Huang Academy enrolls each year, where are they enough to meet the demand?

If this continues, it’s only a matter of time before the other seven states establish their own Yin Yang Academies similar to Lyuzhou’s.

This is not what Wei Gongcheng wished for.

The Yin Yang Academy of Lyuzhou produces magician talents, which will attract more and more scholarly youth here in the future.

The stronger the education, the more high-quality population it will attract.

Both the teachers and successful businessmen will relocate to Lyuzhou because of Lyuzhou Academy.

Since Lyuzhou is already at a disadvantage in terms of population, if Wei Gongcheng wants to outdo the City Gods from the Shen Family, he has to aim for quality.

Even if there is a shortage of people outside, Wei Gongcheng is not planning to remind Chen Qing to open branch academies elsewhere.

Such matters should be delayed for as long as possible!

"By the way, what’s with all this fuss Old Chen’s making this time?" Zhou Haitao complained while looking through various accounts. "It’s just the withdrawal of the Princess Royale from Nanming Prefecture, isn’t it? Is such a big show really necessary?"

"Not to mention that the undead of Nanming Prefecture are most likely to be taken away by the Princess Royale herself, even if there were undead all over the place, would we need so many people?"

"You don’t understand..." Wei Gongcheng shook his head and smiled.

"Nanming Prefecture is the Jiangnan Gateway. After the Princess Royale leaves, we will have to bear the threat from the West Sea ourselves. Moreover, Princess Chang may pose a threat to us in the future. It’s not excessive to station a large force at such a strategic location! "

"The terrain of Jiangnan is complex, and there are many waterways. We don’t need to worry about logistical support and provisions at all, so no matter how many soldiers are stationed, we can afford to maintain them."

"Only we can afford it..." Zhou Haitao tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Given the current drastic increase in soldier numbers, if it weren’t for the diligent mountain gods of the various regions, and the frequent high-yield grain production, we’d have collapsed already.

"That’s true..." Wei Gongcheng nodded, as nowadays, the most popular disciples in the academy are from the Engineering Yellow Institute.

Next in line are the disciples of the Immortal Farmer from the Mystic Character Institute, whose collaboration with Immortal Farmers has produced high-grade crops that are key to feeding the millions of soldiers in Jiangnan!

You should know that Chen Qing’s million-strong army does not include militia; these are genuine warrior soldiers.

Under the Imperial Court, only by harnessing the power of a hundred billion Central Plains peasants can an army of a million barely be maintained.

Normally, even being able to support two hundred thousand high-quality soldiers in Jiangnan alone would be considered excessive.

Chen Qing is able to drastically increase soldier numbers; indeed, it’s only under his management model that this can be maintained.

But it’s hard going for logistical staff like Zhou Haitao, who are in charge of record-keeping.

After all, every time a high-grade crop is harvested, they need to record how much soldiers of that rank can eat, energy production, yield reliability, cost-effectiveness, nutritional enhancement for the soldiers, and the price paid, among other things.

With over a thousand mountain gods and more than a hundred thousand Immortal Farmers scattered throughout Jiangnan today, along with the constant research of the Farming Institute disciples, Zhou Haitao and others are often so busy recording the explosive output of agricultural products that they can barely touch the ground.

"I’ve told the boss so many times to expand enrollment, but he just can’t bear to..." Zhou Haitao shouted in exasperation.

"It’s not that he can’t bear to... it’s that there aren’t that many scholarly youth..." Wei Gongcheng looked outside and scoffed. "Today, those gentlemen from all over Jiangnan are still waiting on the Imperial Court... for a restoration of order!"