Shane Freak
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Chapter 832: Planning
🕑 Added 2024-07-04 08:07:27 +0000 UTCImmortal Path Space : Table of Content/Chapter List
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While Wang Hong and his brother were talking, they hadn't even taken a few bites when the table full of delicacies and fine wine was already devoured by Little Peng.
As a Spirit Beast at the Soul Transformation stage, Little Peng had a massive body and naturally had a big appetite. He swallowed everything in one gulp, and the food on the table was not nearly enough to satisfy him.
Wang Hong was about to reprimand Little Peng when he sensed through his Divine Sense that his subordinates, the other ministers, had all arrived. He decided to have two maidservants prepare another large feast.
As his subordinates came to pay their respects, it had been a hundred years since they last met, so there must be many things they needed to report. It would be convenient to discuss matters while eating.
Soon, Xu Lun, Chen Xiaofeng, and others arrived one after another. After they paid their respects to Wang Hong, they were invited to take their seats at the banquet.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on emerging from seclusion. Please, everyone, raise your cups and drink!" Xu Lun took the lead and toasted.
After Wang Hong and his subordinates had a few cups of Spirit Wine, they began to report the situation of the past few years to Wang Hong.
Wang Yi had already mentioned the general situation earlier, in short, the Human Clan was not having an easy time. They were the weakest in terms of strength and faced great external pressure.
Of course, there was also good news. For example, although the army of Great Chu Immortal Nation had lost over a million soldiers, their overall strength had not declined much.
After more than a hundred years of battles, the soldiers of Great Chu Immortal Nation had rapidly grown through the tests of life and death. With the support of abundant resources, everyone's strength had been improving rapidly.
In the past years, there were over a hundred newly promoted Soul Transformation stage experts, in addition to the original sixty-plus Soul Transformation Cultivators. After deducting the deaths of over twenty people, Great Chu Immortal Nation still had over a hundred Soul Transformation experts.
There were also many Nascent Soul and Golden Core stage cultivators who had emerged. Among the over four million soldiers, even the weakest had reached the Foundation Building stage.
The position of commanding a small team of five people in the army was all held by Golden Core Cultivators. As for the commanders of the hundred-person squads, they had already reached the Nascent Soul stage.
Meanwhile, Chen Xiaofeng, who led the Ministry of Works, had achieved great success in recent years. The ministry had trained a large number of talents, and the refined products produced each year contributed a vast amount of resources to Great Chu Immortal Nation.
After listening to everyone's reports, Wang Hong pondered for a moment and said, "Luo Zhongjie, continue recruiting new soldiers and expand the army to eight million people. At the same time, gradually allow some of the older soldiers to retire from the army."
"I shall follow your orders!"
Luo Zhongjie promptly agreed. Over these years, the army had suffered significant losses, and among the remaining soldiers, if they only had a cultivation level of Foundation Building, their life expectancy would not exceed two hundred years.
The previously recruited batch of soldiers, if they haven't made any breakthroughs in their cultivation, should also be getting old by now. It would be better to let those nearing the end of their lifespan retire and enjoy their senior years.
However, with this approach, the number of new recruits would need to increase significantly. Fortunately, the academies were now spread throughout Great Chu Immortal Nation, and there were abundant graduates every year. The source of soldiers was not a concern.
"Chen Xiaofeng, in the upcoming period, your Ministry of Works can devote all efforts to refining giant crossbows and bolts. Keep them stored in the warehouse for the time being and refrain from selling them externally."
"Your Majesty, we currently have no issues with manpower for refining giant crossbows, but we lack materials."
Chen Xiaofeng said with a hint of difficulty. The spirit wood required for refining giant crossbows in the Little Yuan Realm was not abundant. Although there were large-scale plantings happening across Great Chu Immortal Nation, they hadn't reached a mature and usable state yet.
With the current scale of the Ministry of Works, the existing materials were simply insufficient to support full-scale refinement. They wouldn't produce many finished products, which wouldn't have a significant impact on the millions-strong army and the overall war situation.
"When I last went into the secret realm, I also collected a considerable amount of materials. It should be able to support us for some time."
Wang Hong had already cultivated a lot of spirit wood for refining giant crossbows in his Space. These years of seclusion and cultivation had left it unmanaged, allowing the spirit wood to grow rampantly.
Some had even grown for tens of thousands of years. Now, most of them had been cut down and could be put to use.
He immediately took out several storage artifacts and tossed them to Chen Xiaofeng.
Chen Xiaofeng received the storage artifacts and swept his Divine Sense inside. His pupils suddenly contracted, and a delighted expression filled his face.
"Your Majesty, do you have more of this kind of spirit wood?" Chen Xiaofeng asked as he took out a massive piece of spirit wood from the storage artifact.
Wang Hong glanced at it. It turned out to be a Ten Thousand-Year Hibiscus wood that he had mixed in there.
There were quite a few Ten Thousand-Year spirit woods in his Space, and there were also around a hundred of these Hibiscus woods. This time, he randomly took out two of them.
"There are still some left. What do you need them for? It doesn't seem like they are the spiritual materials for refining giant crossbows, right?"
"While this item is not the spiritual material for refining giant crossbows, Your Subordinate is currently researching the refinement of a combat-type Puppet. The finished product should have a strength close to the later stages of Nascent Soul or even approaching Soul Transformation.
However, we are currently lacking a main material to serve as the core, and I believe this item is a perfect fit."
Upon hearing these words, everyone present was deeply moved. High-tier Puppet Refinement was not easy, and although Great Chu Immortal Nation had previously refined many Puppets, the strongest of them could only reach the early stages of Nascent Soul.
If they could successfully refine this type of Puppet now, even if it only possessed the strength of the later stages of Nascent Soul, it would still be a significant breakthrough.
"I still have some Ten Thousand-Year Hibiscus wood in my possession. Here, take it. If it's not enough, you can come and find me again." Wang Hong took out ten pieces of Hibiscus wood and handed them to Chen Xiaofeng.
Chen Xiaofeng received the Hibiscus wood with a hint of excitement. After hesitating for a moment, he looked at Wang Hong and said, "Your Majesty, I have another idea, but it also requires a large amount of spiritual materials."
"What idea do you have? Speak up. If it's feasible, we can figure out a solution for the materials."
Wang Hong was unsure of what idea Chen Xiaofeng had in mind. Many of Chen Xiaofeng's ideas were wild and unrealistic, but some of them were indeed excellent. For example, the giant crossbow he had tinkered with had made a tremendous contribution to Great Chu Immortal Nation.
"I think we can refine a Puppet Legion. We can send the Puppet Legion to the forefront and have them undertake dangerous missions. However, to refine a Puppet Legion, we also need a large quantity of spiritual materials."
"That idea is feasible. But how many Puppets do you plan to refine? And how much material would you need?"
Wang Hong supported Chen Xiaofeng's idea. After emerging from seclusion, he learned about the current situation of the Human Clan and intended to expand the army and enhance its combat power to turn the tide of the war.
That's why he had instructed Luo Zhongjie to recruit soldiers and the Ministry of Works to focus on refining giant crossbows. All these preparations were aimed at this goal.
He had already considered the concept of a Puppet Legion, but having too few would be useless, and having too many would be too costly and unsustainable.
By now, his Space had expanded to an area of three thousand mu, and the various spiritual materials, including the planted spirit wood, had matured through several cycles. The accumulated resources were not in short supply and should be able to support the construction of this Legion.
"I plan to refine a Legion composed of one hundred thousand Puppets. I'm not knowledgeable in military matters, so I need to discuss with the generals of the Ministry of War to determine the specific composition of the troops.
Therefore, an exact list of the required materials cannot be compiled at this moment."
"Good! You will be in charge of the discussions and report the results to me when ready." Wang Hong delegated this matter entirely to Chen Xiaofeng.
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Next Chapter >>Chapter 833: Gathering Resources
