Chapter 514
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Chapter 514: The Royal Expedition
Outside the capital of Xia Kingdom
Lin Jiang had decided to lead a royal expedition. His party was small, consisting of only fifty elite guards, one hundred civilians, and three hundred slaves for logistical support.
In that era, this was a strong force. All fifty guards were professional warriors, and the civilians were also trained in combat skills part-time.
Of course, if Your Majesty leads the way in person, not only will the people here join, but Lin Jiang will also gather people and horses from different tribes. Some tribes may have as few as eight or ten people, while others may have thirty to fifty people. Depending on the size of the tribes, reaching nearly a thousand people is definitely possible in the end.
"Yun, are all the roads outside the capital city this bad?"
After leaving the capital city for dozens of miles, the road becomes very difficult to traverse, or you can say there is barely a road.
"Your Majesty, outside there are no established roads. Roads are created as more people walk on them."
Yun replied. He was the head of the business and intelligence in Xia Kingdom, responsible for gathering various information about Xia Kingdom.
Now, the territory of Xia Kingdom is already very expansive, stretching at least seven to eight thousand miles. With such a large area, having only a few hundred thousand people, one can imagine how vast and sparsely populated it is, making it difficult to have established roads. Roads are formed as people travel.
"In that case, make a note of it. Xia Kingdom’s development plans must include roads in the future, suitable for horse-drawn carriages to travel on."
Lin Jiang commented. Rome wasn’t built in a day. After all these years, with Xia Kingdom having only a few hundred thousand people, grand infrastructure projects are out of reach for now. We have to take it step by step.
However, a plan must be put in place. Lin Jiang plans to wait until the population reaches over a million before embarking on large infrastructure projects. It may take a century or two to thoroughly transform the environment of Xia Kingdom.
At the current rate of population growth, it’s easy to have millions of people as long as there is enough food. People in this era marry very young, around thirteen or fourteen years old. There are at least a few thousand newborns every year, and in a few more years, the population can grow exponentially.
Moreover, as medical technology advances, the infant mortality rate will decrease, and the death rate of pregnant women will also come down.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Yun respectfully replied, Yun, who was personally taught by Lin Jiang, held a blind admiration for him. Lin Jiang’s words were more effective than royal decrees.
Because there was no road, the army’s progress was very slow. As more tribes joined along the way, the pace slowed down even more. Lin Jiang decided to send people ahead to clear the way, cutting paths through mountains and building bridges over water, creating a rough path.
The troubled tribe was about five to six thousand miles away from the capital, the exact distance unknown. Yet, it took Lin Jiang and his men almost three months to travel there and another couple of months to send back the news, nearly half a year had passed.
So, when Lin Jiang and his team arrived, they saw a desolate tribe that had been burned, likely taken over by enemies.
"Your Majesty, this tribe is called Bird, with over a hundred and thirty people, including twenty warriors…"
Yun explained to Lin Jiang the strength of this tribe from the side. With over a hundred and thirty people, including twenty skilled warriors, they were quite powerful. Even a normal tribe of four to five hundred people wouldn’t be a match for them.
Because their weapons are different, most tribes either use stone weapons or bronze weapons, but Lin Jiang has started to introduce iron weapons to the tribe. Due to limited production, not everyone has one, but at least three or four iron weapons can be found in the tribe, as recorded here.
"Casualties are unavoidable, Yun. Send someone to scout, I need to know where the enemy’s territory is."
Lin Jiang remained indifferent. People always die when a tribe expands. The Xia Kingdom loses people every day, but new people are born or merge in. If no one died, the Xia Kingdom’s population would have exceeded two hundred thousand long ago.
Three days later, Lin Jiang learned the enemy’s location and went with his people to a mountain outside the enemy’s tribe to oversee. From a distance, a huge tribe appeared before Lin Jiang.
The tribe was indeed big, with even a earthy city visible in the middle, surrounded by low mud walls and grass huts.
The entire tribe was located beside a river on a flat and fertile plain, in a very favorable geographical position.
"Your Majesty, what should we do?"
"Rest overnight, we will launch a strong attack early tomorrow."
Lin Jiang said calmly. He felt a bit dreamy, but sometimes it’s okay to be confident and crush the opposition.
One night passed quickly, and the next morning, Lin Jiang appeared in front of the tribe with his people, with nearly a thousand people lined up.
The fifty guards, well-trained, stood like spears on the side, the civilian crowd also maintained a certain formation, but the slaves and tribal warriors were in chaos.
The commotion soon alerted the enemy, and shortly after, the enemy also appeared. As the home team, they deployed more people and horses, possibly two to three thousand, but they were mostly disorganized, with a variety of weapons, mainly bronze weapons.
"Advance"
With a wave of his hand, Lin Jiang ordered the fifty guards to lower their long spears and advance together.
"Charge, charge"
About one to two hundred meters away, the enemy took the lead in charging, rushing out in disorderly fashion without any formation. Seeing this, Lin Jiang knew they were in control, as his fifty guards could easily break through them.
Amid the charge, the enemy was also in great confusion, some were thrusting their spears, some stopped to shoot arrows, while those behind were pushing forward, causing some of them to fall before the battle even began.
"Stop, archers ready"
Lin Jiang saw that they were only about forty to fifty meters away. He waved his hand, and some of the hundreds of civilians took out bows and arrows, while some of the guards in the front rows also took out bows or crossbows.
A round of arrows shot out, causing enemies to fall in front. After shooting three rounds, Lin Jiang ordered to continue charging.
What followed was a one-sided slaughter, especially with the fifty guards, who barely showed any martial skills. With just one swift move, they defeated the opponents.
"Truly extraordinary, to have such skilled fighters."
Most of the enemies had already broken down, but there was a small group still fighting fiercely, with strong martial skills. Two of Lin Jiang’s guards were killed, and one of them even had the power of an Innate Martial Artist.
"Captain of the guard, capture him!"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Lin Jiang, as the captain of the guard, immediately flew out. This captain of the guard had been with Lin Jiang for over ten years, and had almost reached a high level of strength. He was usually very humble.
The captain of the guard flew to the person’s side and swung a sword. Internal strength was attached to the blade, forming a blade ray. The person tried to defend against it, but was sent flying.
"Uncle"
"Father"
Soon Lin Jiang heard some exclamations. His eyes lit up as he recognized the pure ancient language of Yun State, the language of cultivating immortality.
"Don’t kill him, capture him alive."
Lin Jiang immediately shouted loudly. The captain of the guard who was about to strike with his sword heard this and instead knocked the man out with the blunt side of his weapon.
"Attack, seize the enemy."
Lin Jiang directed the others to continue the attack. The enemy forces were already in disarray, fleeing in all directions, abandoning their camp. The troops from Xia Kingdom began capturing a large number of prisoners, although many managed to escape.
Lin Jiang approached the skilled warrior and examined his clothing, which was made of exquisite silk. This piqued Lin Jiang’s curiosity further. Although Xia Kingdom also produced silk, it was not as refined as this. The enemy must have inherited this from ancient times.
"Your Majesty, this is the enemy’s weapon, very powerful. My sword is damaged."
The captain of the guard took out the person’s weapon to show Lin Jiang. Lin Jiang took a quick look and recognized it immediately. It was a precious artifact, maybe even a spiritual treasure, but it had lost some of its powers.
"I’ll give this to you as a reward."
Lin Jiang casually said, which greatly surprised the captain of the guard. A precious sword like this was very valuable in the Xia Kingdom, worth more than a hundred slaves.
Lin Jiang ordered the guards to restrain the other horses. Then he charged into the enemy’s tribe. In the center of the tribe, there was a mud fortress with square walls, about two hundred meters on each side. Some nervous people were standing on top of it, and one of them shot an arrow at Lin Jiang, but he easily deflected it.
"Break!"
Lin Jiang rushed straight to the gate of the fortress. With a swift strike, his fierce inner power surged out, causing the color of the sword in his hand to change.
"Crash!"
The sword aura shattered the fortress gate, leaving all the enemies on the wall stunned.
"A celestial being!"
"He is a fairy."
Someone shouted out, Lin Jiang saw this scene and smiled, but in the next moment, he led people into the earth city to completely conquer this tribe.
Many of the people Lin Jiang brought were from the new generation of the Xia Kingdom, already accustomed to the language of the Xia Kingdom. They didn’t understand the enemy’s words so they had no reaction, just followed Lin Jiang’s orders and stormed into the earth city.
