Chapter 188: The Unlucky Scholar

A few days after Zhenbei City’s elementary school was completed, the scholars promised by the six caravans also arrived. Almost all of these scholars were people who had done very poorly in Karlt City, but after coming to Zhenbei City, each one put on that aristocratic air.

Although they were surprised by Zhenbei City’s development, as people who lived in the most prosperous city in the Northern Provinces, they were only surprised for a moment, and then they adopted a posture of nitpicking everything.

“Why are there so many goblins on the street? They stink so much, why don’t you drive these smelly creatures out?”

“Ah, gnolls! Quick, quick, protect me! Huh? What did you say? They are slaves?”

“Is this my meal? I want steak, wine, truffle cake, not potatoes and salted fish!”

“And I demand noble treatment! I want a velvet mattress, this linen absolutely won’t do! This is an insult to my noble status!”

…

By the end of the day, these scholars caused more and more trouble. One even directly approached Su Lun and asked him to arrange a half-elf maid and a Drow Elf maid for him.

Damn, even I, the lord, don’t have it this good! You must be dreaming! Su Lun directly handed all these guys over to the Drow Elves for training.

How to cure their many bad habits? No problem, leave it to the Drow Elves. Their skilled techniques could definitely train those guys to be obedient and well-behaved. As for escaping? Just think about where this place is: the Northern Wasteland. Even the nearest human city was three hundred miles away.

Those down-and-out nobles would be killed by just a few kobolds if they left the city area. So after they came to Zhenbei City, the outcome was already decided. If they obediently taught according to Su Lun’s requirements, then Su Lun would give them suitable treatment. If they were not obedient, the Drow Elves had a hundred ways to train them.

After the Drow Elves gave them some ideological education, these scholars all became much more well-behaved, and then they were sent to the school to work as teachers.

Su Lun selected thirty quick-witted young people from the territory. Most of them were grassroots employees under the City Hall. He first used the System to confirm these people’s loyalty had reached over ninety before allowing them to enter the school to study.

After studying, these people at least learned to read, passed mathematics, understood writing, and knew arithmetic. Handling affairs would naturally be much more convenient for them. Su Lun planned to train all grassroots personnel in the City Hall. Those middle management personnel also needed training, and it would be even stricter.

After several rounds of training, Zhenbei City’s administrative efficiency was sure to improve. With improved administrative efficiency, they would handle many minor matters in the territory themselves, and Su Lun’s workload was reduced by more than half.

With more time, Su Lun increased his training at the Training Ground. During this period, he had already felt his body becoming more agile and was very close to mastering those evasion techniques. After training, Su Lun often helped his two personal maids check their bodies. The half-elf maid’s body was somewhat weak, so Su Lun planned to give them some special training.

After the special training, he would go soak in the hot springs, which helped relax muscles and speed up physical recovery. Sometimes Su Lun would also call Chris over to help with massage. The Little Succubus’s skills were absolutely top-notch. After enjoying the service, Su Lun would reward her with one Plasma Cannon shot.

…

Zhenbei City entered another period of great development. Because Su Lun spent money recruiting refugees from various lords, Zhenbei City’s population began to grow rapidly again. Due to the population increase, Su Lun recruited more soldiers.

This time, Su Lun recruited a total of one thousand people. Five hundred were selected from the militia units as outstanding militiamen, and the remaining five hundred were recruited from the refugees who were physically strong.

After Northguard Keep was upgraded to Zhenbei City, the System notified him that ordinary buildings in his territory could be upgraded. However, due to time constraints, most buildings in Zhenbei City had not been upgraded. This time, because he needed to recruit more soldiers, Su Lun upgraded the Military Camp.

The upgraded Military Camp’s area tripled in size, various facilities were more complete, and most importantly, all the original attributes were enhanced.

[Military Camp: A place in the city used to train soldiers. It can speed up soldier training. Excellent trainers and good Military Camps allow soldiers to complete recruit training faster. Training Intensity +5, Training Speed +10, Discipline +10, Territory Stability +10, Prosperity -3]

The upgraded Military Camp shortened soldier training time to one month. A farmer who knew nothing could be completely transformed into a formal soldier in just one month in this Military Camp.

This time, the recruited soldiers were again divided into Spearmen and Archers. The total number of soldiers in Zhenbei City finally reached one thousand five hundred. To help the one thousand new recruits in Zhenbei City quickly become combat-effective, Su Lun had veterans lead them to clear out monsters around the Wilderness.

At the same time, to promote commercial prosperity, Su Lun also began regularly performing clearance missions on the route from Karlt City to Zhenbei City. Although these new recruits’ abilities were average, they were all equipped with shields, Iron-Reinforced Leather Armor, and spears. Then, led by veterans, they formed battle formations to deal with those wilderness bandits.

Each squad was equipped with a mixed team of half-elf and human Archers. Using this method of veterans guiding newcomers, veterans helped new recruits gain experience.

With Zhenbei City soldiers’ defenses, creatures like goblins and kobolds were simply easy targets. Those like gnolls, bugbears, and hobgoblins that had the strength to threaten the soldiers would be shot first by the half-elf Longbowmen. This way, soldier casualties were minimized, and the monsters in the wilderness had very bad luck.

Although there were some casualties, those new recruits quickly grew into veterans. If they experienced a few more battles, these soldiers would become elites.

While having the soldiers train according to this model, Su Lun began expanding Zhenbei City’s breeding farm. Zhenbei City originally had over one hundred wild oxen, over two hundred zebra antelopes, and Great Horned Deer. After several months of breeding, a large number of female animals had given birth to young.

Zhenbei City’s original breeding farm had become somewhat small. Besides these livestock, Su Lun specifically purchased some sheep and domestic pigs from Karlt City. Zhenbei City consumed large amounts of meat daily. Because the slave refugees had heavy workloads, they received some fish meat every day, while the soldiers needed even more meat.

Whether for actual combat or training, the army consumed large amounts of meat daily. Moreover, compared to pork and mutton, fish provided less nutrition and calories. During this period, the smoked meat and dried meat in the warehouse had been mostly consumed, so Su Lun began purchasing livestock in large quantities from Karlt City.