Chapter 194

The battle merit assessment of the Military Realm is synthesized from multiple aspects.

First is the recording items carried by the army, such as Mirage Pearls, which can record who killed the enemy; soldiers submit them to their sergeants, sergeants submit them to officers, and so on, reporting layer by layer.

Second is the Yin Spirit statues carried by the army, that is, the Star Lord of Calculation; during wartime, the Star Lord of Calculation in the Marching Hall will lead a group of wandering spirits to patrol the battlefield and calculate individual battle merits.

Third is the direct monitoring by the Military Realm; for example, during the Yuncheng period, the Military Realm could directly monitor every move, and how many were killed could be calculated directly.

The above three are the main statistical methods.

The calculation speed is also very fast; basically, the results come out on the same day.

There are also many things that cannot be directly obtained or seen.

For example, Zhao Xing led people to cross the Flame Mountain and blow up Full Moon City; how many people died? It's unclear, and there is no direct record.

This requires time and multi-party verification.

First is the situation reported by the spies originally planted in Fire Dragon Pass; on the Fire Demon tribe's side, the spies naturally know how many people died.

Second is to ask the Star Lord of Rebirth to check the number of Yin souls at the original site of Full Moon City; during this period, they also have to send letters to the Yin Realm to check if there are any extra alien souls.

All of the above only calculated the battle merits for cutting off heads.

Blowing up cities, breaking passes, forcing surrenders, etc.—these cannot be accurately quantified, so people have to judge them.

The Hundred Soldiers Tower of the Military Realm will calculate the actions of a certain person or a certain team based on the deduction of the [Creation Plate], judge the subsequent impact, cross-audit, and the big shots will reach a consensus opinion, thereby increasing or decreasing the battle merits for each army and each person.

Therefore, the battle merit assessment of the Military Realm, except for cutting off heads which has the most intuitive judgment method, cannot be calculated by oneself; one has to wait for the results from above.

After breaking the city, Zhao Xing stopped after cutting down six Rank 7s.

Cutting down one Rank 7 is only one thousand to four thousand points.

As for cutting down Rank 8s, it's only one hundred to four hundred points.

Master Zhao was used to large amounts and disdained to compete with his brothers for these small amounts; after cutting down six Rank 7s, he didn't continue to pursue.

There were too many people on his side—hundreds of thousands of people screaming and rushing through the pass to cut off heads—while the Fire Dragon Pass garrison, at most, only had forty or fifty thousand, not enough to go around.

Zhao Xing didn't go to cut down Rank 8s or Rank 9s either, because in this situation, a high-rank person killing a low-rank person is considered stealing merits from soldiers; the battle merit assessment given by the Military Realm would be greatly discounted, and some extreme auditors might not give any battle merits at all.

In addition, the soldiers would also feel dissatisfied.

It's a thankless task.

"The bulk of my battle merits is still from stealing back the Earth Fire Lotus, planting the Earth Fire Lotus, and blowing up Full Moon City; just these are quite a lot."

Zhao Xing washed his face and ordered two Spirit-Walking Straw Men to carry him as he leisurely walked back.

At this time, Liao Rulong, Wen Shaoyang, Xia Jing, and Jiang Ming had all ordered their troops to shrink back, with only a small number of teams still pursuing and killing ahead.

It wasn't purely for pursuit, but to scout the situation in the plains inside the pass while pursuing, preparing for the move to the Qinggang war zone.

Now, summoning the commander-level generals was to ask them one by one and then register some merits that could not be directly calculated.

Inside the Marching Hall, it was a scene of joy; when the people were mostly gathered.

Liao Rulong began to question and verify the 'battle merit points' one by one:

"In this battle, my unit was the first to climb the South City Pass, so we should be credited with the first merit for breaking the city!"

"I wonder if the brothers from the friendly forces have any objections?"

Xia Jing and Jiang Ming shook their heads, indicating they had no objections.

It was indeed Liao Rulong who took the lead, rushed onto the south city wall, and even attracted the suppression of Yue Haisheng, but he stubbornly withstood the pressure, causing the pressure on the pass and the north city wall to decrease.

No one had any objections to taking this 'first merit for breaking the city'.

Liao Rulong nodded with satisfaction and bowed toward a certain direction in the Marching Hall; wisps of sandalwood incense filled the hall, and the phantom of the Star Lord of Calculation stood within the incense smoke.

This was for the various armies and generals to corroborate with each other; the main generals of this level would chat first to see if everyone agreed, so as not to wait until the Military Realm's judgment came down and someone had objections and requested a review, which would look ugly.

"The defense of Fire Dragon Pass—this is another battle merit point."

"The Sea-Suppressing Army and the four lurking teams all have great merits for the city walls and the underground mechanism array."

"According to our previous agreement, the time of action was the same, so we won't count these time differences, only looking at the effect of the destruction caused."

"This section will be left to the Star Lord and the Military Realm to judge; do you all agree?" Liao Rulong asked.

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

Wen Shaoyang and Jiang Ming spoke first.

Xia Jing hesitated for a moment and also nodded: "Agreed."

Come to think of it, he had only just learned that Zhao Xing had blown up Full Moon City, causing the magic array in the southern section of the pass to be severely damaged.

And this guy Liao Rulong was very cunning; he had let Zhao Xing's unit arrive inside Fire Dragon Pass ahead of time, under the guise of: scouting the path.

This allowed Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie's teams to have more preparation time than the other three teams.

Without these two and a half days of preparation time, how could he have grown so many firecrackers to blow up Full Moon City?

What made Xia Jing even more dumbfounded was that the turncoat he had originally bought off had been directly intercepted by Zhao Xing.

Originally, this guide should have been his own person!

If Pang Guangyao hadn't led the way for Zhao Xing, just the journey from crossing the mountain to finding Full Moon City would have wasted more time.

With Pang Guangyao, they were able to avoid the mountain-patrolling teams in advance and also knew which path was safer for marching.

However, Xia Jing only hesitated for a moment and did not object.

It wasn't that Xia Jing was broad-minded and didn't care, but that Zhao Xing had also helped him many times, and their relationship was quite good.

If Liao Rulong hadn't mentioned that Zhao Xing was in the team, and it had only been Chen Shijie, Xia Jing would have been anxious.

Just as Zhao Xing said, there was no difference between joining him or joining Xia Jing; even if it was a bit of a fake-out, the merit for buying off the spy still had a share for him, Xia Jing.

The subsequent discussions were a bit trivial, basically disputes over some merits in the cooperation of the people below after breaking the pass.

For example, two commanders both killed a Rank 7 in the underground at the same time.

First, there was no Mirage Pearl record, and second, there were no priests carrying Yin Spirit statues in the surrounding teams.

The commander of the Black Armor Army said he killed him, and the commander of the Sea-Suppressing Army said he delivered the fatal blow.

Although the battle merit for a mid-stage Earth Fiend realm expert is only 2000 points, it doesn't seem like much to the main generals.

But for the people below, these merits are a lot.

Perhaps this time is the greatest merit they have ever achieved.

So they have to fight for it, and they have to fight until there is a result.

But these things had nothing to do with Zhao Xing.

He didn't lead a team; after breaking Fire Dragon Pass, he was free to act.

His merits were quite clear.

That afternoon.

Zhao Xing's merits were refreshed.

Originally, his battle merits, before going to steal the Earth Fire Lotus, were over 486,000, ranking outside the top five hundred on the Rank 7 battle merit list.

Now that he received the reminder from the Earth Mirror, he immediately took it out to look.

[Divine Might Army Zhao Xing: Lower Rank 7]

[Battle Merits: 1,068,421]

[Pacify Barbarians Battle Merit Ranking: 5421]

[Rank 7 Battle Merit Ranking: 69]

"Awesome!"

"It hasn't even been half a year since the fighting started, and I've already broken one million battle merits!"

Zhao Xing smiled happily.

In his previous life, when had grabbing merits ever been this smooth?

"It really is a wish fulfilled." Master Zhao was so moved he almost shed tears.

In his previous life, his luck was terrible; in a big dungeon like Pacify Barbarians, he was either fighting Baboke of the Yan Guang Royal Court or being cut down by Liu Tianning while serving as a Transport Commissioner.

Now it's great; in a few months, he's grabbed a million battle merits.

Zhao Xing looked carefully; the Military Realm had a brief explanation of his battle merit evaluation.

"Lurking in Fire Dragon Pass, bringing back Earth Fire Lotus seeds, gained 30,000 battle merits."

"Opening the volcano, leading the Agricultural Officer battalion to cultivate Level 5 Earth Fire Lotuses, gained 450,000 battle merits."

"Blowing up Full Moon City, plus the Divine Might Army's pass-breaking reward, a total of over 100,000 battle merits were distributed."

"I originally thought giving three or four hundred thousand battle merits would be about right, but I didn't expect they actually gave nearly six hundred thousand."

For bringing back seeds, Yu Ziqi, Chen Shijie, and Long Xiao all got about twenty or thirty thousand battle merits.

The Military Realm doesn't look at how much risk you took; it only looks at the effect.

Bringing back Level 3 or 4 Earth Fire Lotus seeds and getting twenty or thirty thousand battle merits per person is already considered a lot.

Because Earth Fire Lotus seeds are just seeds, only Level 3 or 4.

But the merits for cultivation and planting were given as 450,000!

Although Dong He also participated, and there were thousands of Agricultural Officers who contributed to the planting and cultivation of the Level 5 Earth Fire Lotuses.

But undoubtedly, Zhao Xing contributed the most!

It also happened that he caught up with the Military Realm releasing a mission related to fire-repelling materials.

Coupled with the fire-repelling magic robes and their effect on breaking Fire Dragon Pass, the battle merits given to Zhao Xing personally were particularly high.

As for breaking Full Moon City, this was also a big chunk, plus the Divine Might Army was the main force in breaking Fire Dragon Pass.

Adding everything up, it was nearly 600,000 battle merits!

You have to know, during this period, there were no opportunities to grab major merits, except for the Divine Thunder Army in the west, which broke through Yang Qilin's first line of defense, which counted as a great victory.

The main forces of the Black Armor Army, the Tiger Flood Army, the Blazing Sun Army, etc., in the north were still in a stalemate.

While the vast majority of the troops in the Fire Demon tribe war zone were in a window period, Zhao Xing had grabbed nearly 600,000 battle merits.

Precisely because of this, his ranking skyrocketed in an instant.

On the Rank 7 list, he was directly ranked 69th, and on the overall list, he was in the top five thousand!

Nowadays, in the entire Pacify Barbarians battlefield, there are over 60,000 Rank 6 officials, and even more than a million Rank 7s.

Being able to rank 69th, he was naturally happy!

"As long as the Military Realm implements a phased ceasefire, I can redeem these battle merit rewards," Zhao Xing thought to himself.

With a million battle merits, what kind of rewards could there be?

First is the title; Zhao Xing previously had no title at all, but now with a million battle merits, he could jump 10 levels: three levels of Baron, three levels of Viscount, and three levels of Count.

If the war ended now, he would have reached the threshold for being granted the title of Marquis.

Of course, it would be the lowest-level Marquis, with only food-tax fiefs but no feudal land.

So, with a million battle merits, how many food-tax fiefs could he have?

According to the rules set by the Military Realm: 10 battle merits equals 1 mu of low-grade land.

A Rank 9 soldier, by beheading one armored Rank 9 alien, can obtain one mu of square land. (A mu of square land in the Zhou Dynasty is thirty paces long and wide, about 200 square meters).

Zhao Xing now has a million battle merits, so logically he could obtain 100,000 mu of low-grade land.

But in reality, the imperial court generally doesn't give low-grade land, because that is purely an insult; the yield of low-grade land is too low.

So a conversion must be carried out.

The conversion between low, middle, and high-grade land is decimal, meaning Zhao Xing could now obtain a thousand mu of high-grade fertile land, but generally, it would be a reward with a percentage of high, middle, and low-grade land.

But this is only the reward for granted land; rising to Marquis will also have a portion of food-tax fiefs.

According to the minimum standard for a Marquis, Zhao Xing could also have a food-tax fief of one thousand households, meaning they find a place for you, and in this place, one thousand households farm for you every year; the land tax handed over by these thousand households all belongs to you.

As long as you don't make mistakes, the food-tax fief can be inherited, and your descendants can continue to eat from it.

A Marquis of a thousand households is the lowest grade of Marquis in the Great Zhou.

Now Zhao Xing has already reached this minimum standard.

In addition, Zhao Xing will also be granted a scattered rank and a merit rank; these are varied, such as the Public Discussion Grand Master, which is the eleventh level of scattered rank; once you get this scattered rank, you are qualified to offer advice to the state government.

Continuing to rise to the [Court Discussion Grand Master] level, you can even write directly to the Emperor to offer suggestions related to the country.

What other functions does it have? First, once you have a scattered rank, even if you sometimes have no official position, you can still upgrade your cultivation.

Second, you can openly discuss state affairs.

The promotion of merit ranks is also varied, but it boils down to two words: more money.

It will increase the salary of the soldiers while they are alive, and even after retirement, the pension is linked to this.

Here, we can take the grandfather of Tian Hou as an example.

Tian Shan's grandfather reached the level of a Rank 2 official, but his merit rank reached the forty-fifth level.

Only one grade lower than the highest forty-ninth rank. His annual salary, converted into the general points of the Military Realm, reached a staggering twelve million!

Even after retirement, he could still receive 6.34 million every year.

Tian Hou's father lived for about another two hundred years after receiving this merit rank.

Although this merit rank disappeared after death, while alive, he still accumulated a staggering family fortune.

So when Lu Bang introduced Zhao Xing to Tian Hou and said he was 'quite wealthy', that wasn't a joke.

The family is truly rich, and it's proper, clean money.

Of course, in this period, even merit ranks are not so easy to upgrade.

But there are plenty of scattered ranks; as long as you reach Rank 4, you are basically qualified to write to the Emperor and have it reach the heavens.

It's just that there are no real practical benefits.

However, the war is not over yet, so these battle merit rewards will not be redeemed immediately.

If the final victory is won, the rewards will be upgraded by one grade.

If the battle is lost, then wait for the rewards to be deducted.

So when will the titles be conferred?

Zhao Xing remembers that in the eighteenth year of Jingxin, there will be a phased conferring of rewards.

Because this is the first time Emperor Jing considers ending the low-to-mid-level military training and starting high-end warfare.

However, certain rewards will be redeemed immediately as long as the battle merits reach a certain threshold.

That is the qualification to transform into a Yin Spirit.

"The life soul resides in the womb, while the heaven and earth souls are often outside."

"To transform into a Yin Spirit, one must first collect the heaven soul into the temple; otherwise, if you die later, it will be difficult to summon your soul," Zhao Xing pondered.

The heaven soul is called the 'Rebirth Soul'; he now has a million battle merits, and the imperial court will send a Yin Spirit to question him.

At that time, Zhao Xing can choose to give up the merit rank and scattered rank rewards brought by the 'million battle merits' and seek a 'posthumous name'.

"Insurance is still necessary; the heaven soul is useless for my cultivation, and even the convergence of the three souls in the Great Dream of Spring and Autumn actually has nothing to do with the Rebirth Soul; it's mainly the 'causal' soul."

The heaven soul is the mark that everyone leaves between heaven and earth.

Below Rank 1, no one can see the existence of the heaven soul.

Even if one wants to cultivate the earth soul, that is a matter for the Rank 3 Primordial Soul realm.

The Great Dream of Spring and Autumn currently cultivates the life soul; only the causal soul occasionally converges, which can provide warnings, but the heaven soul doesn't actually play much of a role.

Residing in the temple is actually safer.

"In case I kick the bucket, I can still summon the life soul and earth soul through the heaven soul and be resurrected as a Yin Spirit."

"This insurance is still worth buying."

The battle merit assessment of the Military Realm ended on September 20th.

Even if there were some scraps, they had nothing to do with Zhao Xing.

And the three armies were also resting in Fire Dragon Pass.

Because Lu Yuanwei's Divine Thunder Army hadn't broken through Yang Qilin's second line of defense, this army of theirs wasn't in a hurry to move west.

Liao Rulong's unit, Wen Shaoyang's unit, Xia Jing's unit, and Jiang Ming's unit added up to only 150,000 people.

And that was counting the personnel in the supply city behind.

The manpower mobilized by the Golden Feather Royal Court, with various tribes and the Fire Demon tribe, guarding the Qinggang mining area, was at least four million!

Naturally, they had to wait for Lu Yuanwei to strike first.

"The fifteen armies outside are crossing the river by following our Divine Might Army."

"We are crossing the river by following Lu Yuanwei, this son of destiny."

Zhao Xing looked at the fifteen miscellaneous armies outside the pass and couldn't help but smile.

"What are you laughing at? Take this!"

Xia Jing unleashed a Finger of Breaking Origin, which whistled toward him.

Zhao Xing turned around; Xia Jing's fingertip stopped in front of his chest, the vital energy dissipated, and curling his fingers into a fist, Xia Jing hammered Zhao Xing's chest hard.

"Good for you, Zhao Xing, your battle merits have already broken a million; we fought to the death, and we don't have as many as you."

Zhao Xing smiled slightly: "Thanks to Brother Xia's care."

"You actually used my name to recruit people; recruiting is one thing, but why did you have to swear an oath?" Xia Jing whispered. "It makes it hard for me to arrange other positions for Pang Guangyao now."

"Your fame is great," Zhao Xing said. "If I said 'I am Zhao Xing of the Divine Might Army', who would know? People would probably turn around and leave, having no idea who I am."

"That's not my fame being great," Xia Jing sighed. "It's my father's fame."

Xia Jing's battle merits were also over 800,000.

This time, his spy sent back the military strategy and defense map, so the pass defense array didn't even put up a decent resistance because all its weaknesses were bombed.

However, although they won, Xia Jing was clearly still a bit unhappy.

Zhao Xing knew what Xia Jing was thinking and immediately said: "You will sooner or later surpass your father's achievements."

Xia Jing waved his hand and said: "Surpassing my father, I'm afraid that's a bit difficult. As long as I don't disgrace him, that's enough."

He clearly didn't want to talk more about this and changed the subject: "It's different now; your fame has probably already spread!"

"You now have a million battle merits, reaching the threshold for a third-grade Marquis; have you thought about what reward to exchange for?"

"I plan to give up the merit rank and scattered rank rewards and seek a 'posthumous name'," Zhao Xing said.

Xia Jing nodded; having this choice wasn't surprising.

In fact, many qualified martial generals would choose this way.

After all, in the concepts of this time, becoming a Yin Spirit meant one could truly coexist with the country, be worshipped by future generations, and live forever in the Yin Realm.

"If I had a million battle merits, I would also grab such a spot," Xia Jing said. "I just don't know how many more battle merits can be grabbed on the way to the Qinggang mining area."

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and said: "Don't worry, there will be enough for you to cut."

Just as they were about to chat a bit more, suddenly the token on Zhao Xing's body trembled.

"Zhao Xing, the transport building ship is almost here," Liao Rulong's voice came from the token. "Come down quickly."

"I'll be there immediately."

Zhao Xing said something to Xia Jing and immediately rode the clouds down the pass wall.

The transport ship of the Transport Department is called the Flying Dragon Building Ship.

It is a Level 6 warship; normally, the Flying Dragon Building Ship is only ten times larger than the Level 5 Dragon-Head Building Ship.

But the Transport Department's building ship is a special version; its size is fifty times larger than a top-grade Level 5 warship.

A proper 'Fat Dragon Building Ship'.

It looked like a small city flying in the sky.

This behemoth didn't take the usual path either, traveling directly through the ten-thousand-meter gale layer.

When it landed, it was as if a great mountain had fallen inside the pass.

The Transport Commissioner of the Pacify Barbarians battlefield is an Upper Rank 6.

But their status is unique; when they see people, they automatically raise their status by one rank, which can be treated as equivalent to a Rank 5.

When Liao Rulong saw the Transport Commissioner 'Lu Tingzhi', he had to perform the salute of a subordinate.

"Subordinate Liao Rulong, greets Lord Lu."

"Commandant Liao, please rise quickly." Lu Tingzhi avoided this salute and reached out to help up Liao Rulong, who was bowing and cupping his hands: "We are both Rank 6, where does the distinction of superior and subordinate come from?"

It's good to win a battle; even the main officials of lucrative posts like the Transport Department are very polite.

"Congratulations to Commandant Liao, congratulations to the Divine Might Army, for taking down Fire Dragon Pass; now you are famous throughout the entire Pacify Barbarians battlefield."

"It is all relying on the majesty of the imperial court that we could have such meager merits," Liao Rulong said modestly.

But this was indeed true; Great Zhou's war against the Southern Barbarians had always had a great advantage in weapons and equipment so far.

"I heard that an extraordinary Agricultural Officer appeared in the Divine Might Army; I wonder where Zhao Xing is?" Lu Tingzhi asked.

Liao Rulong immediately introduced him to Lu Tingzhi: "This is Zhao Xing, the Nine-Section Captain of my Divine Might Army."

"Subordinate pays respects to Lord Lu." Zhao Xing saluted respectfully, but he was muttering in his heart: how did he run into this guy?

Lu Tingzhi lived until the early period of Emperor Wu.

This guy's most glorious moment was being the Transport Commissioner of the two states of Haizhou and Daoyuanzhou, a Rank 2 high official!

When he was corrupt in his previous life, this master was the backer of his backer.

He was also the first Rank 2 high official that Liu Tianning beheaded.

"Indeed a young talent! Please, no need for formalities!" Lu Tingzhi's expression was very appreciative.

"Many thanks, Lord Lu." Zhao Xing was neither humble nor arrogant, and he didn't flatter Lu Tingzhi.

I didn't have a choice before, but now I want to be a good person... Zhao Xing thought to himself; in this life, he didn't intend to have any dealings with Lu Tingzhi.

In fact, if there was a chance, he would also like to borrow Lu Tingzhi's head to get a promotion.

After the routine pleasantries.

Zhao Xing followed the generals onto the building ship.

The arrival of the Transport Department was mainly to provide supplies to the three armies and exchange for some needed materials.

In addition, it was for Zhao Xing, the genius who had already reached a million battle merits.

According to custom, the Transport Department had to make a trip to ask Zhao Xing if he wanted to exchange for a Yin Spirit spot.

If he wanted to exchange, he had to do it as soon as possible; otherwise, if he died later, the heaven soul wouldn't know where it was, and the cost of summoning the soul would be even greater.

"Subordinate is willing to give up the merit rank and scattered rank rewards of the million-level battle merits and seek a position as a Yin Spirit," Zhao Xing stated his attitude.

"Good, then you can just go to the Star Lord of Rebirth Temple to pray," Lu Tingzhi said. "There will be priests to guide you on what to do."

"Yes."

The building ship was very large, and there was a palace inside, which was the Star Lord of Rebirth Temple.

The specifications of this palace were much higher than the temples in the supply city.

To have Zhao Xing's heaven soul reside in the temple, at least a Rank 3 split soul of the Star Lord of Rebirth had to be there.

Zhao Xing cast aside all distracting thoughts and entered the palace.

A priest led him to burn incense, worship, and pray.

It was no different from praying to gods usually, except for an extra process that required Zhao Xing to contribute a drop of blood as a medium for inviting the heaven soul to reside in the temple.

"Pfft!" This drop of blood was poured into the burning bronze furnace.

"The ceremony is complete; Lord Zhao can rise," the priest said.

That's it?

Zhao Xing didn't feel anything at all.

"Thank you, True Lord of Rebirth."

After bowing again, Zhao Xing stood up and left the True Lord of Rebirth Temple.

Subsequently, he checked his panel.

He found that there was indeed a record on it:

[Jingxin Calendar Year 17, September 20th; Heaven soul resides in the temple, obtained the position of Yin Spirit. After death, can transform into a Yin Spirit body.]

"Heaven soul resides in the temple, insurance has been bought," Zhao Xing smiled. "Now I can let go and do things."

He was just about to go down the building ship when he suddenly stopped his steps again.

"Huh?"

Zhao Xing turned his head in confusion and stepped back a few steps.

His gaze fell on a young man sweeping the floor in the 'Divine Weapon Hall' of the Transport Department.

"This face looks a bit familiar."

Zhao Xing pondered for a moment and walked into the Divine Weapon Hall.

At this time, there were many officials coming and going to exchange things; seeing Zhao Xing enter, someone immediately came to greet him.

"Lord Zhao, are you here to exchange for divine weapons?"

"Just looking around." Zhao Xing pointed to the young man sweeping the floor. "The Divine Weapon Hall itself is a treasure, spotless; why is there someone sweeping the floor here?"