Chapter 9: Complications Arise

Your Majesty! Xu Zheng did not even know how far he had run, appearing out of breath, and said: "To the north, to the north, enemy activity has been detected!"

Nearly a hundred feathered arrows were released with the twang of the bowstring, whistling as they soared into the air, followed by a second wave after the first, in a continuous succession of waves

The system soldiers are merely a command in the mind; the issue is that Liu Yan has also brought soldiers from Jin, so that call is certainly to be made

It is getting closer, closer and closer...

The distance from Buqi City to Liu Yan's occupied territory appears to be only 70 kilometers on a flat map, but a straight line on a map does not reflect the actual distance traveled, which is definitely more than 70 li. The nearest county town to Liu Yan is called Gui County, which is 30 kilometers away. The largest family in Gui County is the Xujia family of the Di ethnic group.

Liu Yan gathered 50 swordsmen, 80 spearmen, and 50 archers. They stopped after moving approximately 3 kilometers to the north

Out of necessity, Liu Yan attempted to cultivate the land using system farmers, and then handed it over to the Jin people. However, a strange occurrence took place: the cultivated farmland could be transferred to the Jin people, but soon the fields would be overrun with grass, growing at a rate faster than it could be cleared.

Reinforcements! We must have reinforcements!

Most of the Hu people were shouting "Ambush in the Middle", while some were inquiring about the number of enemy troops, creating a very chaotic situation on the scene

Xu Zheng paused to catch his breath, finally feeling less out of breath. The problem was that he could not understand why Liu Yan did not inquire about the situation, but instead stood there in a daze. He couldn't help but call out, "Your Majesty?"

Liu Yan was simply going crazy, thinking he had found a way to cheat, only to realize he was wasting his time

Two moving red dots, with the majority being pursued by the minority. If the direction does not change, they will definitely collide with Liu Yan's settlement within two hours

Your Majesty, we have only just established our stronghold with great difficulty. When they arrive, even if we manage to repel the invading enemy, there will inevitably be destruction!" Lu Tai, with a worried expression, hesitated and then suggested, "Why don't we take the initiative to strike and catch them off guard? Even if we fail, we can buy some time to wait for the new recruits to finish their training, and we can still carry on with the defensive battle.

The group being pursued was led by a young girl riding fiercely at the front, while the remaining twenty or so people seemed to be protecting her

In this era, there were no stirrups. Even for the Hu people who grew up on horseback, facing a sudden tug on the reins that caused their warhorses to change direction, it was inevitable that the knights would fall when their horses reared. Among the Tuoba Xianbei, four out of about twenty riders were shot down and fell from their horses, while thirteen others were thrown off balance, leaving only six riders who continued to gallop forward, but they would soon have to come to a halt

When the first wave of arrows emerged from the grass, Tuoba Xiu was taken aback, followed by a surge of fear in his heart, and he hurriedly urged his horse to take evasive action

A small group of red dots consists of approximately twenty individuals, while another pursuing group of red dots has nearly one hundred. One commonality is that all are mounted on warhorses

Not only the Tuoba Xianbei, but also another group of Hu people advancing at a speed of approximately ten meters per second exhibited the same scene. The difference lies in the fact that the latter group of Hu people is larger in number, and consequently, the number of those who were struck by arrows and fell from their horses is naturally greater

Xu Zheng quickly gathered his troops, nearly one hundred Jin soldiers, all seasoned veterans who had been on the move with Liu Yan for four months. By the time they assembled, Liu Yan had already led the system soldiers on their way, leaving them to hastily follow behind.

"How can that be possible?" Tian Shuo immediately became agitated and said, "Our combined forces amount to only 1,500 men. Although nearly 300 of them are absolute elites, the enemy will not be fewer than 5,000! If we take the initiative and suffer a defeat..." As he spoke, his face turned pale, and he looked at Liu Yan, fearing that the sovereign he had just pledged allegiance to would be angered.

Liu Yan originally intended to rapidly amass troops, but he later restrained himself. Even with sufficient resources to recruit soldiers, he could only produce 179 swordsmen, which had no absolute impact on the battlefield. Furthermore, due to the cessation of gold mining, the supply of gold units was also insufficient. He was contemplating a strategy that would leverage the advantages of his unique abilities to determine the outcome of this war; however, this required the recruited Jin soldiers to play a supportive role.

Amidst the chaos, a unified sound of footsteps emerged, so remarkably synchronized that it caused all the Hu people to fall silent. Each person turned their head towards the source of the sound, as if they could also sense the grass being continuously flattened, a strong threat approaching.

The women of the nation are being violated day and night, and often killed and cooked for consumption. Anyone with a sense of blood and honor would inevitably harbor thoughts of killing the oppressors. However, when Liu Yan saw the system page displaying a population of 321 out of 500, he couldn't help but furrow his brows, instantly feeling a sense of desolation akin to "the desire to kill the oppressors, yet powerless to change the situation"

Therefore, it is not sufficient for Liu Yan to simply bring people back; it is also necessary for those individuals to genuinely acknowledge Liu Yan's position of authority from the bottom of their hearts.

A sudden voice rang out, shouting: "Han Army—Charge!!!"

A sudden chaos ensued, with the sounds of human groans mingling with the neighing of warhorses, causing the grass thicket to come alive in an instant

The Central Plains region has a sparse population, resulting in a truly desolate appearance everywhere in this era, with weeds taller than people growing abundantly. There are hardly any roads, so in order to make progress, one must both push and tread to forge a path.

The displayed numbers of the Jin people seeking refuge are visually appealing, with a row of green numbers 16879 that is pleasing to the eye. Those are the individuals who have become subjects of Liu Yan, represented as green dots on the map, but there are still 12322 people who have not yet become subjects.

After thorough investigation, the number of various tribes and mixed barbarians summoned by the Qiang people will indeed not be less than 5,000 troops after merging, and the actual number may be even greater. After all, the Qiang people are currently the dominant power in the Central Plains, which gives them a natural advantage in gathering mixed barbarians.

The Qiang people are already preparing for military action. Considering their current habit of a slower pace of life, it will take them two to three months to mobilize, which means that real action will not occur until summer.

With a preliminary strategy in place, Liu Yangguang dispatched scouts to survey the terrain surrounding the city of Qicheng

The thunderous sound of hooves can be heard from afar in the wilderness, occasionally accompanied by the neighing and cries of horses, as they move at a rapid pace

Liu Yan's attention was entirely focused on the map. After exploring for so long, he was already able to discern the scale from the map. Believing the moment had come, he shouted: "Release the arrows!"

Liu Yan's energy has always been consumed by construction, and he did not check the map in his mind until he heard the alarm of an attack. Upon hearing it, he instinctively checked the map and after searching for a short while, he finally spotted two red dots.

The pursuers were shouting, and Liu Yan began to piece together the situation. The person being chased was called Tuoba Xiu, who seemed to be a princess of the Tuoba Xianbei or something similar. The pursuers resembled the Xiongnu Tiefu tribe.

Summon the personnel. Liu Yan roughly knew how many people the other side had, but could not glean more intelligence from the map: Follow me.

In order to increase the population, the system needs to construct houses. The houses built by Liu Yan can definitely accommodate more than 500 people, yet the displayed population production limit remains stuck at 500. It is precisely because of this that Liu Yan believes the golden finger has flaws, and they are significant flaws

A person is mounted on a warhorse, their body able to emerge from the grass. It can be seen that the attire of the two groups is quite similar, primarily consisting of animal skins and sheepskin coats, with only a few dressed in linen garments

Due to the overly complex environment, visibility is severely limited; even if one knows there are people ahead, it is difficult to see them with the naked eye. Ordinary individuals can only rely on their ears to listen for sounds, but Liu Yan can observe from the map in his mind, leading his troops to hide in the grass, arranging them in formation, waiting for the enemy to stumble upon them. He has always understood one thing: if the map in his mind is utilized properly, it will undoubtedly be the most extraordinary advantage.

Liu Yan possesses a golden finger, yet in many respects, he is not omnipotent. For instance, he can utilize maps, but what he sees now are merely two moving red dots, making it impossible to discern which race or faction they belong to. Furthermore, once the medium providing visibility is removed, the map will once again fall into the mode of "fog of war".

Xu Zheng was brought over with his men and was assigned to a support position. He was also aware that compared to Liu Yan's elite soldiers, his soldiers, who had been trained for less than a year, lacked combat effectiveness and were somewhat inferior in morale. He could only look enviously at those elite soldiers who followed orders without question, secretly sighing to himself and thinking that he must rigorously train the soldiers under his command.

There are not as many as 300; the precise numbers are 12 scouts, 60 swordsmen, 111 spearmen, and 51 archers, totaling 234 system soldiers. Lü Tai and Tian Shuo and others do not know what system it is, and only regard those soldiers as Liu Yan's tribal armed forces

Here it comes

Tiefu actually refers to a Han person who becomes the son-in-law of a foreign tribe, and then this Han individual establishes their own clan or tribe. The Hu people generally refer to such a power as the Tiefu tribe.

In terms of agriculture, Tian Shuo has at least served as a county magistrate, possessing sufficient experience in directing people to cultivate farmland; however, in Liu Yan's view, it is still too slow

A system farmer requires only about ten days to cultivate ten acres of farmland, while nearly fifty Jin people take at least a month to cultivate the same area. The difference in work efficiency is striking, highlighting not only the super efficiency of the system farmer but also the inefficiency of the Jin people

Xu Zhengyi replied: "Certainly!"

This is a form of restriction

Next, Liu Yan's task was to arrange the division of labor in production, reallocating the system farmers who were cutting timber to primarily mine for gold, while the timber cutting work was entirely handed over to the Jin people who had been taken in