Chapter 232
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Chapter 232: A Bit of Heartache
[System notification: Congratulations to player ‘Luo Ji’ for comprehending the skill ‘Recruit Defectors.’]
[System notification: Congratulations to player ‘Luo Ji’ for acquiring special troop unit ‘Surrendered Soldiers × 177.’]
Luo Ji had no time to mind the system notifications in his mind.
This battle went much more smoothly than he had imagined.
This was truly thanks to Wang Luzong’s self-destructive actions.
If that guy hadn’t intended to use those soldiers as cannon fodder, he probably wouldn’t have been able to recruit them so easily.
Those were living, breathing people, not mere NPCs.
If you used them as cannon fodder, it would be a miracle if they still followed you.
At the same time, in that situation, they either had to be cannon fodder and charge to their deaths, or surrender and have a chance to live.
The soldiers were not dumb, and they knew how to choose.
Without further thought, Luo Ji waved his hand.
“Liu Meng, you will continue to guard Mirror City and receive the surrendered soldiers.”
“Luo Cheng, gather 100 cavalrymen to form a pursuit force and follow me out of the city to chase them down!”
“This time, we will kill Wang Luzong!”
Due to Wang Luzong’s act of using his soldiers as cannon fodder, Luo Cheng clearly had no goodwill towards him.
Of course, he had no objections to Luo Ji’s order, but he still felt a bit strange.
“Didn’t you say not to kill him?”
“Originally, I didn’t plan to kill him, that’s right. However, I will now teach you another lesson, and that lesson is that ‘plans change.’”
Originally, Luo Ji had no intention of killing Wang Luzong directly in this skirmish.
But the main reason was that the enemy had protected his life very well, making it difficult to kill him.
Under this premise, he formulated a relatively long-term plan, shifting his focus directly to the second round of invasion.
But who would have thought that Wang Luzong would suddenly self-destruct?
He would even send a unit to attack the city gate to their deaths, just to figure out his troop deployment.
This gave Luo Ji an opportunity, allowing him to tear open a gap in one fell swoop, creating a chance to kill the opponent outright.
If he had the chance to eliminate him now, what was there to hesitate about?
Moreover, as an experienced player of Bronze rank, Wang Luzong’s civilization development should be quite good.
The fact that he possessed bronze weapons at least proved that he had mineral resources.
Luo Ji had already made up his mind.
He would swallow Wang Luzong’s civilization whole and then spend a month rapidly digesting it.
By then, the scale and strength of his civilization would surely increase significantly.
Even if he faced other Bronze players head-on, what then?
As thoughts raced through his mind, the cavalry unit, filled with a murderous aura, roared out of Mirror City, chasing directly in the direction Wang Luzong had fled.
The thundering hooves in the distance made Wang Luzong’s face change drastically.
“Cavalry?!”
“How could they be so fast?”
“Everyone, hide deep in the forest!”
The cavalry unit personally led by Luo Ji arrived swiftly.
The weight of his Mingguang armor seemed to have no impact on Red Hare’s speed.
Upon approaching the forest area, Luo Ji made a simple gesture, and the cavalry unit behind him immediately split into two, beginning to search around the periphery of the entire forest.
Wang Luzong, with a grim face, hid deep within the forest with his archer and halberdier units, crouching low and cautiously avoiding the rapidly passing figures.
He did not want to engage the enemy at all now.
Although considering troop strength alone, he still had a chance to fight, the key was morale.
The defection of the shield-axemen and heavy shield units had dealt a devastating blow to the morale of his troops, directly dropping below the acceptable line and entering a ‘low morale’ state.
Now that the pursuers had arrived, morale plummeted even further.
If it dropped any more, his forces would be in disarray.
How could they fight like this?
Charging forward would simply be suicide.
However, looking on the bright side, he did not come away empty-handed this time.
At the very least, he confirmed the enemy’s defending troop types and the existence of cavalry.
The lost troops could be considered intelligence fees.
With this mindset, Wang Luzong cautiously led his remaining forces deeper into the forest.
On the other side, after a fruitless search, Luo Ji’s lips curled into a cold sneer as he listened to his subordinate’s report.
“Hiding in the forest and not coming out?”
“Do you think this will allow you to escape?”
This forest was the only path from Mirror City to Giant Wood Tribe.
Therefore, to facilitate movement and resource transportation between these two locations, he had long cleared a relatively wide road.
But his ultimate goal was to completely remove this entire forest and establish a transit stronghold, similar to a relay station, in the cleared area.
Then, while expanding the size of the Giant Wood Tribe, he would connect the territory of Mirror City with the Giant Wood Tribe.
To put it plainly, Luo Ji’s biggest project at the moment was to consolidate all the sub-cities in this area into one.
This way, he could completely exclude invading players from this region.
Of course, this was a massive undertaking, likely even larger than his city walls, so he was not particularly urgent about it.
Following the principle of not wasting anything, he had the logging team and construction team simultaneously cut down trees and expand the size of the Giant Wood Tribe.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Now, he would probably have to add fuel to the fire, in every sense of the word.
Luo Ji waved his hand, and the cavalry behind him immediately understood.
They all unfastened the leather bags hanging from their saddles.
Then, while riding their horses, they poured the liquid from the leather bags along the periphery of the forest.
This was not water, but fire oil, which Luo Ji had previously instructed people to extract from animal fat.
Knowing there was a forest here, and also knowing that forest terrain was unfavorable for cavalry operations, how could he not have any precautions?
“These reserves are really gone in an instant.”
“It’s a bit of a heartache…”
Watching the bags of fire oil being spilled, Luo Ji let out a meaningful sound.
Ordinary animal oil and vegetable oil were certainly not rare, but this fire oil was highly refined fuel, limited in quantity.
For now, it was only used as military supplies, forbidden from sale and private extraction.
Occasionally, the Armament Forging Department would submit a report to request some for use as a combustion aid.
The reserves he had painstakingly accumulated were almost 80% to 90% gone in one go.
Luo Ji’s words about it being a “bit of a heartache” were truly not false.
“Leader!”
Hearing Luo Cheng’s voice, Luo Ji nodded.
He was always merciless towards his enemies.
He licked his fingertips, felt the wind direction, and then said, “The wind is just right. Light it.”
Without hesitation, Luo Cheng, having received the order, quickly drew out his flint, blew on it forcefully, and the tiny sparks immediately burst into flames, igniting the entire forest.
“Dry weather, beware of fire and candles…”
The fire spread rapidly.
Looking at the forest that quickly turned into a sea of flames, Luo Ji inexplicably thought of this phrase.
“I demand that you repay the cost of this fire oil with your entire civilization.”
