Chapter 582: Jier's Attack Plan

Jier returned very quickly. On the way, he encountered some long-haired lynx Beastmen who were out and about, but Jier discovered them ahead of time through the Shadow Bird in the sky, so he had Big Nose lead him around those Mao Mao.

By the time he found Xueya Site, Xueya Site had actually already used a rope to build a suspended sleeping bed between the tree branches and was snoring away.

Jier hid the Silver Plate and climbed up nimbly, shaking the other person: "You guy, you dare to sleep like this? Aren't you afraid of rolling over and falling down?"

Xueya Site was particularly alert when shaken awake, but upon hearing it was Jier's voice, he proudly patted the rope tied around his waist: "Don't worry, I haven't lived enough yet. See? With the rope tied on, it's very safe!"

Afterwards, both of them climbed down the big tree and sat squatting on the ground, facing away from the Defeated Soldier Jiedian, and began to talk in low voices.

"How is it on your side?" Xueya Site asked.

"What do you mean 'how is it'?"

Jier did not understand what he was asking.

"I mean inside the Jiedian, how are the situations of those Villagers? Their condition, their level of hunger? And the casualties?" Xueya Site asked curiously. He could only peek at the situation of the Jiedian through the Telescope all day today, but he couldn't see the state of the Villagers clearly. After all, most Villagers only came out of the Mine to hand over Mineral Ore, walking in a hurry, and would carefully shrink back into the Mine after getting food.

Jier let out a breath: "It's passable, I suppose. Those Defeated Soldiers, in order to rely on the Villagers to dig for Mineral Ore under the Mine, haven't made things too difficult for the Villagers, but they have set a harsh condition. They limit the Villagers' rations, only accepting Mineral Ore from the Villagers in exchange for food to maintain survival. And it takes quite a lot of Mineral Ore to exchange for a small amount of grain. Through this, those soldiers also use food to lure the women among the Villagers, using their bodies to get food. It can be considered trampling on the dignity of the Villagers."

"How detestable! Those soldiers really deserve to die!" Xueya Site cursed.

"Many people, for the sake of a bite to eat, can only endure it, from physical exhaustion to mental humiliation. What's worse is that the Villagers have spontaneously banded together, creating some cliquish groups. They possess young labor, preemptively occupy good mining tools, and rely on their numerical advantage to occupy better mining tunnels. This leads to them having more grain in their hands, thus occupying a significant advantage inside the Mine, while some Villagers in poor condition can only rely on what is at hand to struggle to survive." Jier rubbed his head in distress.

Xueya Site also realized that this situation was very troublesome, because even if they rescued the people later, the fact that these Changmai Cunzi Villagers were hostile to each other could not be changed. Once the Human Mind is scattered, they can never form a complete Cunzi again.

Even if the Villagers don't say it later, there will still be a powerful, invisible barrier between them.

Xueya Site was quite troubled by this, but Jier saw it more openly: "Don't worry about this. After all, this is Bata'er Jiaoshi's trouble; let him scratch his head over it. These are his people, his Church followers, after all. We just need to rescue the people."

Xueya Site smiled sheepishly: "But after all, having walked this path, the relationship with Bata'er Jiaoshi has become so familiar, one has to consider more for him."

Jier laughed and scolded: "You aren't a professional Church Priest; you lack the experience and relevant prestige, so it's hard to handle these troubles. Perhaps things that look complex and troublesome to us are not even issues in the eyes of Bata'er Jiaoshi, and he could solve them easily?"

"That's true, too." Xueya Site held his chin with his hand and muttered to himself.

Next, Jier told him about some of the situations he discovered after entering the enemy Jiedian today. This included the situation of each house inside the Jiedian, the deployment and number of soldiers, the internal relationships, and the situation inside the Mine—especially the situation inside the Mine, which made Xueya Site's spirits lift.

"Jier, I knew you were reliable! You actually made those Villagers have spirit in just one afternoon! And you were even able to direct the long-haired lynx Beastmen on the enemy's side right in the heart of the enemy! It's truly amazing. If it were me, I'd probably still be running around right now, trying to unite the Villagers."

He said self-deprecatingly: "And most likely not very smoothly, because no one would listen to an outsider like me. By the way, what is your secret? Tell me quickly, let me learn a trick too!"

Jier extended a finger, the first finger: "By bestowing favors, I made sure I had a small handful of my own people at my side—at least temporarily, they were Villagers on my side. This made me no longer a lonely outsider in the eyes of the other Villagers, but an insider supported by some people. This way, they couldn't just drive me away through simple xenophobia!"

He extended his second finger: "Secondly, I displayed my violence! I directly caused chaos and showed my violence, which exceeded that of others, making them realize that I am not to be trifled with. This way, I can provide physical security for the Villagers standing on my side, and it can also deter some guys with bad intentions. Many people are good at causing destruction and slandering others, but if you let them stand out and really fight with fists and feet, they aren't very capable."

Finally, he extended his third finger: "Through slogans, I established a tiered victory method with managed expectations. First, through internal resource integration, I let everyone eat their fill. Even if I only had everyone take out their own food and didn't do anything else, it let everyone eat their fill. Once they were full, even if they were eating the grain they had stored, this feeling of satiety reduced their hostility toward me."

"In addition, I then led them to confront the long-haired lynx Beastmen. To them, it was a completely unattainable task, but I had full confidence in succeeding from the start. And after successfully reaching an agreement with the long-haired lynx Beastmen, they won again. Immersed in one victory and joy after another, no one dared to oppose me or dared to open their mouths to oppose me anymore."

"And finally, when the long-haired lynx Beastmen brought over an endless supply of Wild Chicken bird stew, every Villager who ate their fill became my most loyal supporter. If I told them to go east, they wouldn't dare to go west. Whatever I told them to do, even if they had doubts in their hearts, they wouldn't refuse."

Xueya Site listened, dumbfounded. He didn't expect that in just one afternoon, Jier had done so many things and completed, link by link, tasks that would have taken other people quite a long time to finish.

Integrating the Villagers, negotiating with the Mao Mao, collective mining, and using Mineral Ore to exchange for the large amount of game the Mao Mao had hunted.

The moment all the Villagers were full and well-fed, Jier's status among the Villagers became incomparably stable, because no one dared to stand up and say they could do better than Jier. After all, if someone said that, why didn't they do it earlier? Instead, they let the Villagers suffer so much.

"Then what about next?" Xueya Site asked the key point.

Jier tapped his forehead with his finger, took out paper and pen from the small Backpack behind him, and by the faint light emitted by the Hunting Sword, he drew out the situation of the enemy Jiedian and its surroundings.

While Jier was drawing the map, Xueya Site also told Jier about some situations he had discovered through the Telescope today.

"Very interesting. Internal conflicts among the enemies? We can try to detonate them. Actually, there is also something at the long-haired lynx Beastmen's place. With just one sentence, we can make those alien Beastmen fight the Defeated Soldiers—the kind that sees blood."

Jier pondered the two hidden mines within the enemy that could be detonated at any time. At the same time, he had two things on his side that could cause weakening and damage to the enemy. One of them was the Poison Mushroom Powder that had been very useful in the Battle of Changmai Cunzi. This thing was very easy to use; as long as the enemy soldiers ate it, they would vomit and have diarrhea, ensuring their original combat power would be less than half—no, not even thirty percent.

The other was a mechanical trap he had gotten from a Bandit Group when he was leading a Refugee Team a long time ago. It was a box; as long as it was opened, it would project a large number of sharp metal objects into the sky, and after these sharp metal objects fell from the sky, they would bring fatal death to a large area.

This thing had been used before, but Jier had asked the Merchant in Dorn Town to reload and maintain it so that it could be used again at any time. This thing counted as a killer move. Originally, it was a trap that Merchants carried in their cargo to give Bandits a hard time when transporting goods in high-risk areas, but taking it out now to tidy up those greedy Defeated Soldiers was not bad either.

"We still have to call Bata'er Jiaoshi and the others. It just so happens that the enemy has carelessly opened the gate of the Jiedian; it's their bad luck. Originally, I thought that gate would need me to break it open personally. Since they are so careless, that's perfect. Let the Warriors send death to them as a thank-you gift for opening the door to welcome us!"

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Afterwards, Jier finished drawing the map, and after considering it properly, he said to Xueya Site: "First, I will have my Spirit Dog, Big Nose, carry my letter, having Bata'er Jiaoshi and the Warriors start traveling here after dawn. Big Nose will guide them all the way here, to this position."

Jier pointed to a Forest area directly opposite the gate of the enemy Jiedian and said: "Hide in advance at this position. Do not light fires, do not gather, and only eat some of the remaining dried meat to maintain strength. Wait until tomorrow night to wait for my signal to launch the attack."

Xueya Site was startled: "Attack the enemy at night? Won't this cause chaos where it's hard to distinguish between friend and foe?"

Jier's mouth curled up: "No, because by the time tomorrow night comes, the enemy will already be in chaos. By then, what will greet them will be a mess, while they will be the only organized team. At that time, under the leadership of the Priest, the Warriors will kill any enemy soldiers they encounter and drive away any alien Beastmen. Until the entire Jiedian is cleared out. Completely annihilate this group of Defeated Soldiers!"

"What about me? Jier, my mission! You didn't forget me, did you?" Once Xueya Site heard that the Warriors' mission was already set and was simple and direct, he became anxious; he had also prepared for battle.

"Don't be anxious, your mission is even earlier. Starting after dawn, wait until the Mao Mao who went out return to the Mine to rest, then you get up and set off. According to the positions of the sentries the enemy deployed outside the Jiedian that we discovered this morning, use the Heavy Crossbow in your hand to kill the six marked enemies."

Jier pulled his hand across his neck, indicating that Xueya Site's mission was equally simple and direct.

But Xueya Site reached into his clothes, took out the map of the sentry positions drawn in the morning, reached out and pointed to two of the enemies, and asked: "Then what about these two? Are we not going to bother with them? Why?"

Jier pursed his lips: "I'll tell you the truth, don't be afraid."

Xueya Site revealed a smile: "Of course I'm not afraid, because you're right next to me. What's there to be afraid of? You just beat the other side to death."

Jier couldn't help but smile. He nodded and said: "These two are not Humans. When Big Nose was scouting, he discovered their scent was wrong. I had Big Nose go up and look carefully; they are indeed not Humans, but a kind of man-eating Shapeshifting Monster that can turn into the appearance of the Humans they eat. And there are two of them."

Xueya Site shivered, and his breathing became rapid. He looked at the quiet, pitch-black Forest around him. He hadn't felt this Forest was very dangerous before, but now it seemed that danger had long been lurking in places he already knew about, only he himself didn't know.

Shapeshifting Monsters, man-eating Shapeshifting Monsters—these are the main characters of terrible legends everywhere, from mothers scaring children who like to run around, to the exaggerations of braggarts in taverns, from the small, seemingly minor setbacks in the heroic stories of Bards, to the real stories of the extinction of villages heard occasionally.

Among them, there is always the shadow of Shapeshifting Monsters.

They will change into the appearance of the girl a young farmer likes, luring the simple youth out of the village at night, letting the youth who thinks the flower of love is blooming eventually turn into screams and white bones.

They will change into the relatives or friends a traveler desires most, using wails to lure them to run out of the team, but by the time this careless person returns, the other companions cannot guarantee that the person who returned is still a Human.

They will change into the existence the heroes regret most in their hearts, taking a risk when the heroes are depressed, attempting to deal a heavy blow to the heroes.

They will act wantonly in remote and isolated villages, using constant transformation to alienate the trust between Villagers, slowly, one by one, eating all the Villagers hiding alone, and after eating all the people in one village, they will look for another small, equally remote and isolated settlement.

And this kind of terrible monster, one of them has even already crossed paths with them?

"Are they really changed by Shapeshifting Monsters? Could it be a mistake?" Xueya Site was still a bit skeptical.

But Jier shook his head: "Big Nose has already discovered the half-eaten sentries of the Defeated Soldiers; it can't be fake. Therefore, I will deal with these two Shapeshifting Monsters. When you start your action, I will also kill them both as soon as possible. If they are really as powerful as the legends say, driving them away so they don't affect tomorrow night's battle is also fine."

"That will have to do. You work hard, Jier. I'm definitely fine on my side. When scouting earlier, I already calculated the height and angle for the Heavy Crossbow to kill them, guaranteeing one crossbow bolt will kill one enemy. Besides, this job is too easy; don't give me that much of a bounty."

Xueya Site felt a bit embarrassed; after all, this was practically handing money to him. Easily taking care of six enemies meant six Gold Coins in his pocket!

Jier waved his hand: "We already agreed beforehand, one Gold Coin per enemy. These enemies are professional Soldiers and are not easy to deal with, so don't be careless. Besides, their equipment alone is worth more than one Gold Coin, so don't worry about me going bankrupt from giving you such high bounties! I am making a huge profit; just the steel Soldier Sword that each of these Soldiers carries is worth about one Gold Coin when sold. Not to mention the other weapons and equipment on them."

Once Jier said this, Xueya Site felt relieved. Since Jier did not do business at a loss, he could accept this bounty with peace of mind.

"Then you better get those six Gold Coins ready; six Gold Coins is quite a large sum of money. Back when I led teams to guard a Caravan, it wasn't easy to earn that amount of money even after a round trip."

"Then why don't you stop being a Caravan guard and join my Warrior team instead? How about it?" Jier asked jokingly.

Xueya Site was silent for a moment, but he shook his head: "I can't, sorry Jier. You are going to war on this trip, and I still have family at home. I am the support for their livelihood, so I cannot just participate in a war like this. Helping you drive the carts along the way and commanding the team is fine, but the risks of fighting in a war are too great."

"Sorry, Jier."

Jier nodded: "You are right. You still have family who need you, unlike me and those Warriors."

The two then spoke about the chaos that had broken out within the enemy's ranks.

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