Chapter 205: Untitled

After determining the location and shape of the Triumphal Arch, construction began. Besides checking the progress every day, Su Lun also went to the Trap Camp training ground outside the city.

After a week of training, those Divine Spear Guards were ready to attempt merging with the Trap Camp light spheres. Four Divine Spear Guard soldiers sat cross-legged in separate quiet rooms. Su Lun took out the light spheres from the Tiger Tally and selected merge.

After the merge started, virtual images of the four Divine Spear Guards appeared before his eyes. Above their heads, there was a progress bar showing that the merge was in progress. Looking at those progress bars, it would take at least an hour to complete the merge. Su Lun took out a bottle of rum and poured a glass. He drank while waiting for the merge results.

The merging process was not smooth. Just ten minutes after starting, one Divine Spear Guard’s virtual image showed merge failure. The light sphere directly left their body and returned to the Tiger Tally. Although Su Lun was mentally prepared, he was still frustrated that one was eliminated in less than ten minutes.

The merging continued. The remaining three Divine Spear Guards all lasted over half an hour. Then, two of them soon showed merge failure. In the end, only one Divine Spear Guard successfully merged with the Trap Camp light sphere and advanced to become a Trap Camp soldier.

[Trap Camp: Current number 1/700. After undergoing a brutal selection from excellent spearmen, they successfully advanced to become Trap Camp soldiers. They possessed stronger physiques and attacks. “The will to break through the enemy formation, no retreat even in death.”]

Trap Camp soldiers had many talents, including basic ones like Strong, Tough, Iron Bone, and Agile. They also gained a Trap Camp exclusive talent: Trap Formation.

[Trap Formation: The will to break through the enemy formation, no retreat even in death. Trap Camp soldiers are unaffected by morale. Their defense increases by fifty percent, and their attack power increases by twenty percent. Additional effect: Fight to the Death. Fight to the Death: As long as the general does not order surrender, the Trap Camp will fight until the last soldier. After activating Fight to the Death, Trap Camp soldiers’ attacks are enhanced, but their defense is reduced.]

After successfully advancing to the Trap Camp, Su Lun still needed to equip them with new gear. According to the system’s requirements, all Trap Camp soldiers needed to be equipped with full-body iron armor. Their weapons were spears or long-handled war blades, and they also carried a shield. Additionally, all Trap Camp soldiers were equipped with crossbows.

It could be said that the equipment of Trap Camp soldiers was a significant improvement compared to before. With only one Trap Camp soldier now, equipping them was easy to solve. However, when the number of Trap Camp soldiers increased, these equipment would again become a huge expense.

Fortunately, the growth of the Trap Camp was slow, so Su Lun had plenty of time to prepare.

After successfully advancing to the Trap Camp, Su Lun appointed that Trap Camp soldier as the commander of the spearman unit. The other Divine Spear Guards served as deputy commanders. Su Lun planned to expand the spearman force to three thousand.

In fact, according to the standards of the Florence Kingdom, raising a spearman force of over ten thousand was not difficult. The Florence Kingdom could simply hand out a spear and provide minimal training to call someone a spearman. The strictly trained spearmen of Zhenbei City could truly be called elites.

The spearmen of Florence were essentially cannon fodder for consumption. Zhenbei City did not have that many people to expend, so Zhenbei City’s army could only follow the path of elite troops.

After successfully advancing one soldier to the Trap Camp, Su Lun went alone outside the city. He still had one Reinforcement Token left unused. Su Lun had been waiting until the Trap Camp was trained before using it.

The last time he used the Reinforcement Token, he had a guess in his mind, which was why he had waited until now. Arriving outside Zhenbei City, Su Lun found an open area, then took out the Reinforcement Token and selected use.

A flash of spiritual light passed, and the Reinforcement Token disappeared. Then, a system prompt sounded in his ears.

“Ding! Host used Reinforcement Token. A squad of soldiers is about to arrive.”

A spatial gate opened, and then a squad of soldiers walked out from the spatial gate. Similar to the effect of the last Reinforcement Token use, this time, what appeared before him were also Spirits of War wearing armor and carrying weapons.

What made Su Lun even more ecstatic was that besides two squads of forty spearmen and archers, there was also a soldier clad in heavy armor, holding a spear and shield, with a crossbow and long blade at their waist. Compared to the surrounding soldiers, this one was clearly much stronger.

“Trap Camp! This time, I really hit the jackpot!” Su Lun said excitedly.

The last time he used the Reinforcement Token, Su Lun only recruited spearmen and archers. At that time, he had his innate spearman military token and the later obtained archer military token. He had a guess in his mind back then. Now, after obtaining the Trap Camp military token and successfully recruiting a Trap Camp soldier, using the Reinforcement Token again actually recruited a Trap Camp soldier.

After all these Spirits of War walked out of the spatial gate, they immediately formed ranks. The leading Trap Camp soldier took a step forward: “General, the spearman squad and archer squad have all arrived.”

Su Lun, who already understood the background of these soldiers, nodded and then led them back to Zhenbei City.

…

With the addition of the centaurs, Su Lun specifically allocated an area in Zhenbei City for them to live. At the same time, Su Lun was already preparing to build a town fifty miles east of Zhenbei City. This area had flat terrain and lush water and grass, making it very suitable for grazing. He planned to build a city here specifically for the centaurs to herd and reside in.

The Centaur Tribes used to follow water and grass to live. But after joining Zhenbei City, these centaurs would adopt a semi-nomadic system. Every year after the harvest in Zhenbei City, the remaining stems and leaves would be mixed with some grain bran to make feed for breeding. The Centaur Tribes would use the city being prepared for construction as their center for nomadic herding.

This semi-nomadic, semi-settled breeding method could raise more livestock and also reduce the mortality rate of livestock in winter. In the past, the Centaur Tribes suffered heavy livestock losses every winter due to cold and lack of food. After changing the nomadic method, they would herd following water and grass in summer, and return to the city when snow covered the ground in winter.

The city had many livestock pens with good insulation and stored a lot of silage. This way, the livestock would not only not die but might even gain weight. Zhenbei City was now under construction every day, and soldiers were undergoing strict training. Such high levels of physical activity required daily meat consumption.

It could be said that Zhenbei City’s current food consumption was very high. The previously stored dried meat and salted fish were almost used up. Now, with the addition of the centaurs, Zhenbei City’s future meat supply would no longer be tight. After supplying meat, the centaurs would also obtain many other living supplies.

After the centaurs joined Zhenbei City, Su Lun clearly understood their standard of living. They could only make some crude iron tools, and their cloth was low-quality hemp, the kind that pricked the skin when worn. Their only seasoning was salt, and food was also very scarce. Even tea was only brought to them in recent years by the Flamingo Caravan.

The centaurs liked tea very much. The centaur tribes, who ate meat year-round, needed tea to relieve greasiness and aid digestion. Now, even though Zhenbei City provided them with grain, their fondness for tea never changed.

The northern climate was not suitable for tea growth. The tea in Karlt City was also transported from the south. The nobles of this era liked to add milk and honey to their tea. Now, with white sugar from Zhenbei City, they also added white sugar. The brewed tea resembled the milk tea Su Lun drank in his previous life, but it tasted even better—at least the milk here was purer.

After the centaurs joined Zhenbei City, Su Lun placed large tea orders with the caravans coming for trade. The price of tea in the Florence Kingdom was relatively cheap, but when it reached the Northern Wilderness, the price increased by at least half.

If sold to the previous centaur tribes, the price would double again. Even so, Zhenbei City needed to allocate funds every month to buy tea.

After joining Zhenbei City, the centaurs’ quality of life directly improved by two or three levels. They no longer had to wear prickly coarse hemp cloth, no longer had to endure exposure to the elements every day, tea was no longer a luxury, and food became much more abundant.

When the centaurs first joined Zhenbei City, their loyalty was between 65 and 70. A week after joining Zhenbei City, the centaurs’ loyalty had generally reached seventy-five, with many centaurs’ loyalty exceeding eighty.

The Centaur Tribes were at their most prosperous with nearly ten thousand members. After a major battle, they were left with less than four thousand. Many young adults were casualties, so now there were mostly women, children, and the elderly among the centaurs, with less than a thousand adult males.

Su Lun’s original plan was to conscript a thousand centaurs to form one heavy cavalry unit and one light cavalry unit. That would have taken all the young adults among the centaurs. Su Lun naturally could not do that.

After considering the centaurs’ situation, the conscription number was changed to four hundred: two hundred heavy cavalry and two hundred light cavalry. For the heavy cavalry, Su Lun intended to equip these centaurs with a full set of iron armor—not the previously mediocre quality iron armor, but the heavy armor used by the Red Dragon Heavy Cavalry Regiment of the Florence Kingdom.

Two hundred sets of heavy armor for centaur cavalry were very valuable. Just one such iron armor weighed nearly two hundred pounds. For two hundred sets, at least forty thousand pounds of iron material would be needed. However, the destructive power of these heavy cavalry was absolutely astonishing. Their effect in breaking through enemy formations was even stronger than human heavy cavalry.

Of course, if talking about the strongest heavy cavalry in terms of formation-breaking effect, centaurs probably only ranked in the top five. The first place went to the Lesser Dragon Heavy Armored Cavalry. Those were the real iron tanks. As a type of lesser dragon, whether in load-bearing capacity or impact force, they were unmatched by other heavy cavalry. Moreover, some lesser dragons even inherited dragon breath.

However, the number of Lesser Dragon Heavy Armored Cavalry was very small. All together, there were less than two hundred, but no one dared to underestimate them.