Volume One, Chapter 19: A Bountiful Harvest

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"... As long as Fei Shang can hold off Liu Yihu, this battle might still be won! The only fear is... that guy teaming up with Liu Yihu!"

Watching Fei Shang and Liu Yihu fight fiercely, their strength evenly matched, Lin Xuan withdrew his gaze from the two and looked up toward Liu Yan Shi perched atop the fortress gate of the Lion-Tiger Stronghold, his expression grave.

But Lin Xuan’s worry was somewhat exaggerated. Liu Yan Shi was still busy commanding the bandit archers within the stronghold to harass the soldiers from Lin’s village; he had no intention of leaving the gate.

After more than ten minutes passed without Liu Yan Shi making a move, Lin Xuan finally exhaled in relief.

“In that case, all troops—attack! Today, we must capture the Lion-Tiger Stronghold!” With Lin Xuan’s order, the fifty soldiers guarding him as his escort squad quickly joined the fray.

The arrival of these fifty soldiers immediately tipped the scales of victory in Lin Xuan’s favor.

“Scoundrels! Take this from your grandpa!”

Once Liu Yan Shi’s morale-boosting skill faded, no one could stop Fei Shang. His great saber danced through the air, each slash leaving a wound on Liu Yihu.

Seeing this from atop the gate, Liu Yan Shi had no time to hesitate and quickly dismounted.

Swinging himself onto his horse, Liu Yan Shi was followed by the remaining fifty bandit archers inside the stronghold. Though aware that their stronghold was doomed today, none of them showed fear.

At this moment, all the bandit archers discarded their bows, brandishing large sabers with bloodthirsty gleams in their eyes.

“Open the gates!” Liu Yan Shi tightly gripped his iron halberd and shouted at the two bandit minions guarding the gate.

Outside the stronghold, Liu Yihu and the remaining twenty or so bandits had gathered together. Though covered in blood, Liu Yihu’s eyes still burned with battle fervor as he stared at Fei Shang.

Suddenly, the gate behind them swung open.

Fei Shang looked up to see Liu Yan Shi, holding a dark iron halberd, charging out from the stronghold on horseback.

Behind him were dozens of bandit archers wielding large sabers, their faces set in expressions of readiness to die.

Nearby, Lin Xuan witnessed the scene simultaneously. When his gaze landed on the battle horse Liu Yan Shi rode, a sharp gleam flashed through his eyes.

“Goodness... another spirit-level warhorse!”

Two spirit-level warhorses and a spirit-level weapon!

Lin Xuan had truly not expected the Lion-Tiger Stronghold to be so wealthy! These three items alone could offset today’s losses.

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While Lin Xuan pondered this, Liu Yan Shi had already engaged Fei Shang in combat.

With a sharp smack on the horse’s flank, Liu Yan Shi’s black warhorse leapt over Liu Yihu and the bandit minions blocking the way and landed before Fei Shang.

Wielding his iron halberd, two of Lin’s soldiers fell before they could even react.

In the next moment, Fei Shang quickly responded and blocked several more attacks.

“You dare to kill in front of your grandpa? You’re begging for death!” After blocking Liu Yan Shi’s assault, Fei Shang spun around and thrust his blade toward Liu Yan Shi’s chest.

But Liu Yan Shi hastily retracted his halberd, blocking the blade’s tip.

Meanwhile, Liu Yihu, who tried to assist, was restrained by Liu Jie and several soldiers from Lin’s village.

If Liu Yihu were at full strength, Liu Jie and the others would be no match for him. But after his battle with Fei Shang, Liu Yihu couldn’t even unleash half his power.

In contrast, Fei Shang faced two three-star generals in succession with ease.

While fighting Liu Yan Shi, he did not neglect to command his soldiers to focus on eliminating the bandit archers.

After more than ten minutes, the battle finally ended.

Liu Yihu was ultimately killed by Liu Jie. Seeing Liu Yihu’s death, Liu Yan Shi sought to trade lives but was slain by Fei Shang as well.

Lin Xuan felt somewhat regretful at the outcome. He had hoped to capture Liu Yihu and Liu Yan Shi alive, just as they had recruited Chen Zeyu, A Di, and Liu Jie, so they could be persuaded to surrender.

But after reflection, Lin Xuan accepted the reality. He knew that without a significant difference in martial strength, capturing Liu Yihu and Liu Yan Shi alive was nearly impossible.

Fortunately, among the bandits, more than ten archers were taken prisoner.

[Bandit Archer]: Jiang Xiaofei
[Territory]: Lion-Tiger Stronghold
[Strength]: 51 (Weapon +1)
[Power]: 56 (Basic unit, 10% power bonus)
[Equipment]: Common-level large saber / Armor: none / Protective gear: none / Accessories: none / Mount: none
[Note: Only bow-type units or generals with archery-related skills can equip bow weapons.]

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Of the nineteen bandit prisoners, thirteen were archers. Lin Xuan valued these thirteen highly.

After instructing Liu Jie and a detachment of soldiers to guard the prisoners carefully, Lin Xuan led Fei Shang and the others into the Lion-Tiger Stronghold.

They spent over an hour thoroughly ransacking the stronghold.

After more than an hour, sitting in a chair inside the stronghold, Lin Xuan looked over their gains, grinning from ear to ear.

Materials: over 30,000 units of iron ore, over 50,000 units of timber, and more than 20,000 units of grain.

Money: a total of over 5.48 million copper coins, including gold, silver, and copper.

Equipment: 77 common-level longbows, 92 common-level iron swords, 97 common-level large sabers, plus Liu Yan Shi’s common-level iron halberd and Liu Yihu’s spirit-level weapon—the Flame Saber with +3 strength.

Mounts: 13 common-level warhorses and 2 spirit-level warhorses.

Finally, they secured several building blueprints and equipment forging plans. There were three building blueprints: two for beginner iron mine constructions and one for city walls.

The equipment forging blueprints included common-level iron sword, long saber, and the longbow forging blueprint required to unlock the new unit—beginner archers!

Upon obtaining the longbow blueprint, Lin Xuan received a system notification:

[Congratulations! Detection confirmed you have obtained the Longbow Forging Blueprint. The Beginner Barracks has unlocked a new unit—Beginner Archers!]

[Beginner Barracks]: Currently able to train Beginner Infantry and Beginner Archers.

[Training costs]: Beginner Infantry—500 copper coins, 20 units of grain, 10 units of iron ore; Beginner Archers—common-level longbow, 20 units of grain, 10 units of iron ore.

Archers, infantry, and cavalry—these are the three fundamental unit types as described by the virtual panel, and they comprise the entire roster recruitable from Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Barracks.

According to the initial introduction from the virtual panel, beyond these three basic units, there exist special units.

Some of these special units are advanced forms of the three basic types, while others fall outside these categories entirely.