Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Please get up, please get up…” Yan Liqiang quickly stepped forward and pulled Situ Feixing up by his arm before returning to his seat again.

Situ Feixing cupped his fist at Yan Liqiang and looked at him with his unwavering gaze. “From now on, my men and I shall obey only you, my lord!”

“Fu Changde mentioned you before, but he wasn’t really informed of your current circumstances.”

“You can ask me anything you want, my lord! I shall tell you everything I can!” Situ Feixing spoke without hesitation. When he saw Yan Liqiang throw a glance at the stairs, he continued assuring him, “Don’t worry, my lord. When I came up just now, I already informed the manager to temporarily seal off this floor. There are people guarding downstairs, so the people dining downstairs will not come up here!”

“Alright, then allow me ask you a few questions. How many men do you have now?”

“People claim that I have more than ten thousand men under my command, but there are only about eight thousand of them!”

“Eight thousand men isn’t that small of a number. That’s enough to make three battalions!” Yan Liqiang nodded in approval. “How’s the battle prowess? How many of them are cavalrymen?”

Situ Feixing replied confidently, “Among the eight thousand, a little more than five thousand are cavalry while the remaining three thousand are infantry. They are not inferior to the Gan Provincial army in terms of battle prowess. Nearly everyone from the infantry knows how to ride a horse and is capable of fighting on horseback!”

“A five-thousand-strong calvary, good!” Yan Liqiang was secretly surprised by Solo Cloud’s battle prowess when he heard that Situ Feixing had five thousand cavalrymen. “How do you manage to feed so many of them?”

“I gradually gathered them over the time. My men and I stay around Mount Wumeng where the Feng and Gan Provinces meet the Dark Ram Tribe’s territory. It is an unregulated area that is part of Mount Qiyun. The Gan and Feng Provinces don’t bother to care about it and the Dark Ram Tribe can’t do anything there. There are a few vast plains at the foot of Mount Wumeng — that’s where we collect tolls from caravans and escort agencies. We are also breeding horses there.

“From time to time, I lead my men over Mount Wumeng and fight on the Dark Ram Tribe’s territory. If they invade the Great Han Empire’s plains, then we shall do the same to their plains. At the same time, we also keep an eye out for Shatu caravans. We also control a huge copper mine and a small silver mine in Mount Wumeng. Just like that, we manage to earn about ten thousand taels of silver a year. With this money, I gathered a troop of soldiers and built up a five thousand men cavalry. All this just for the hope of recovering the Gulang Plains one day and exterminating all those dogs from the Shatu Seven Tribes to avenge my dead brothers!” Situ Feixing spoke murderously.

Situ Feixing was quite determined, and he was indeed a rare individual. While Yan Liqiang was secretly impressed, he continued to ask, “What’s the background of your men? Are they completely reliable?”

“Most of my men are descendants of the Qiyun Protectorate’s former members that were driven out from the Gulang Plains by the Shatu people. These people are extremely loyal to me and they are always waiting to go back to the Gulang Plains. Some are part of the brigands and bandits which I’ve taken in while some are people who aren’t satisfied with leading a mediocre life so they requested to join Solo Cloud due to its reputation. But there aren’t many of them, only about two thousand in total. They are scattered across the northwestern regions, but are still under my control. Although some of them are bandits, they are quite loyal. They will not dare to try anything funny unless they are under extreme circumstances. Apart from that, I have several hundred from the Dark Bandits, but they obey my commands!”

“The Dark Bandits?” Yan Liqiang asked in astonishment.

“The Dark Bandits are people who escaped from the Dark Ram Tribe. Their territories haven’t been that peaceful as there are always conflicts between the tribes. The situation is grim and the strong prey on the weak. The Dark Bandits are made up of the survivors from the losing tribes of the internal strife among the Dark Ram people, wanted criminals, or the people who are being hunted. They couldn’t continue living in the territories of the Dark Ram Tribe so they took the risk of crossing Mount Qiyun to escape.”

“I see, I didn’t expect people from the Dark Ram Tribe to be among your followers, I guess that’s… erm… rather unusual!” Yan Liqiang nearly said ‘quite international’, but managed to quickly correct himself in time.

“If my lord wishes to recover the Gulang Plains and rebuild the Qiyun Protectorate’s Office, just give us your command! My men and I shall definitely see things through!”

“With your men and everyone from my archery academy, or if we even double up that number, do you think we are capable of fighting the Shatu Seven Tribes and restoring control over the Gulang Plains to the Qiyun Protectorate?” Yan Liqiang asked calmly.

Situ Feixing was silent for a moment before he shook his head and answered bitterly, “The Shatu Seven Tribes have settled down in the Gulang Plains for several decades with a population of several million. With so little men on our side, we would struggle with fighting against the weakest group among the Shatu Seven Tribes, let alone the entire Shatu Seven Tribes!”

“Exactly. We don’t have enough men to fight against the Shatu Seven Tribes now to recover the Gulang Plains and rebuild the Qiyun Protectorate’s Office. There’s no way we can take the Gulang Plains back from the Shatu people even if we are all sacrificed in the battle, much less exact any revenge,” Yan Liqiang spoke with composure.

“Have you never thought of recovering the Gulang Plains and rebuilding the Qiyun Protectorate’s Office, my lord?” Situ Feixing asked.

“Of course I did!”

“Then, when do you think is the right time? I heard that your manufacturing bureau has been raking in fortune — even an annual profit of several hundred thousand taels of silver isn’t a problem. You have a soaring reputation in the northwestern region, my lord. Could it be that you are thinking of slowing assembling a troop in Gan Province with the manufacturing bureau?”

“Haha. While I wish to assemble a troop, this isn’t doable even with money. Timing and environment are both crucial factors. It’s impossible to fight against the Shatu Seven Tribes without an army of twenty or thirty thousand men. Do you think the imperial court and the Gan Provincial Governor would allow me to assemble such a big troop in Gan Province to fight the Shatu Seven Tribes?” Yan Liqiang shook his head. “The number of people I have gathered through the archery academy is nearing the limit of men I am allowed to have!”

“The Shatu Seven Tribes are now in turmoil — two tribes have started warring against each other. The Gulang Plains is in chaos. This is the best opportunity we have. If we miss this chance, I’m afraid it’ll be more difficult in the future!” Situ Feixing sighed. There was disappointment in his sadness. “If we don’t do this now, then that means we’ll never have the chance to recover the Gulang Plains again.”

“Not really!” Yan Liqiang shook his head and smiled.

Situ Feixing immediately lifted his head and looked at Yan Liqiang with his burning gaze. “Could it be that you have some other way, my lord?”

“Of course I do!” Yan Liqiang’s gaze turned mysterious. “However, it’s impossible for us to immediately recover the Gulang Plains by just relying on our combined strengths. We’ll need to involve more parties and power. We’ll only stand a chance by instigating someone else to recover the Gulang Plains!”

“Ah!” Situ Feixing gaped at Yan Liqiang. Although he considered himself to be a resourceful man, he felt that his intelligence was inadequate in Yan Liqiang’s presence. “Warring against the Shatu Seven Tribes is an extremely dangerous matter that requires huge investments. How are you planning to make someone else lead the recovery of the Gulang Plains for us, my lord?”

“It’s the pursuit of self-interest that draws people in, but it is also what wedges them apart. As long as we make it known that recovering the Gulang Plains by driving out the Shatu people is a highly profitable matter, countless will come offer me money, soldiers and food, and try to assist in recovering the area to rebuild the Qiyun Protectorate’s Office!”

Fortunately, those words came out from Yan Liqiang’s mouth. Had it been someone else from Solo Cloud, Situ Feixing would have slapped the living daylights out of him and made the person who dared to speak to him without using his brain to look for his teeth all over the floor.

“The thing that kills most people in the world isn’t some powerful martial arts or weapons. It’s money and people’s will!” Yan Liqiang looked at Situ Feixing’s unfathomable expression, then continued speaking calmly. “As long as there’s self-interest to pursue, even a blade of grass or a tree is enough to destroy an entire city or nation. I can tell you today that the Shatu Seven Tribes will be destroyed by none other than the vast green fields of the Gulang Plains. They thought they would be able to settle and grow in numbers just by occupying the plains, so they acted unscrupulously. But I’ll let them know very soon that I can turn the Gulang Plains into a weapon against them. They will become the targets of many parties…”