Chapter 555: Only I Have My Own Law Chapter 555 Expanding Space

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Chen Heng was addicted to training troops, and naturally the more subordinates the better. Chen Yi supported him expanding the proportion of native soldiers, and without thinking much, he went to recruit soldiers with great enthusiasm.

Xijiang's field army now numbered about five battalions, barely enough for half a Class B division—not many by hearsay, but counting nearly 20,000 Martial Arts Hall student reserves and over 30 Divine Art Knights, their military strength was truly considerable. Expanding further would actually exceed defense needs.

Through the Passage, soldiers from the West Continent could not only appear directly in Jiangning City Center, but anywhere Chen Yi set out from—including Xijing.

Under these circumstances, expanding troops beyond defense needs meant a great deal, far more than just an increase in strength.

It was just that no one had noticed yet.

News of recruiting refugees spread quickly, and native soldiers riding riot armored vehicles frequently appeared in the slums and near refugee camps to show off their might, and public order in the district quickly improved.

The West Continent's native troops were not as easy to talk to as the Inspection Teams organized by Martial Arts Hall students; once conflict arose, their first reaction was to open fire, resulting in considerable casualties. Regardless of the reason, they often did not start cleaning up the battlefield until no one could stand up, and their behavior was little different from fighting a foreign war.

Dayang, who was also responsible for public order, secretly encouraged this practice and denounced the merciful Martial Arts Hall students as "feminine benevolence," transferring them all out of the Observation Force. Without a decisive force, using 20,000 people to control 2 million within a 400-kilometer radius—what difference was that from courting death? Among these refugees were not a few deserters defeated on the front lines; for unconditioned Earthlings, even with a pistol, they could not defeat a trained West Continent Light Infantryman within 100 meters.

Without strong deterrence, Xima Market would be paralyzed first; even now, the tense atmosphere within the market had greatly increased.

When had refugees from the front-line areas ever seen so many supplies? On ordinary days, their favorite places were the Wharf District and Xima Market.

Piles of metal ingots stored in the open, 10-meter full metal long spears, 3-meter horse-slaying sabers, 8-meter elephant-slaying sabers, 12-meter three-pronged double-edged blades, grain sacks just right to sling over one's shoulder and flee with, bundles of colorful, soft, comfortable clothing, and food stored in iron cans and glass jars—what they wanted most was the cans, not the food inside.

The public market could not stop the influx of refugees; merchants' businesses were affected, and public resentment naturally arose.

Xima Market's business was booming; the so-called public resentment was that of the great clans of the various states, especially the large city-states along West River. Doing business in Xima Market cost a great deal, and they had not enjoyed good days for long before being blocked by a group of damned lowlifes. Seeing this, Yi Yaer took the opportunity to pressure the Water Dragon Temple, demanding they quickly approve Chen Yi's Grand Knight title.

The Water Dragon Temple remained silent for two days, then approved as promised—arguably the fastest Grand Knight conferral speed in history. The immense prestige Yi Yaer gained from this also helped his reputation within the temple.

A fifty-meter-high altar was built at the end of the canal.

Every Grand Knight investiture was a grand event, but Chen Yi's investiture attracted even more attention due to Xijiang's unique status. The gentlemen from Earth still looked on with curiosity, while the West Continent people present were filled with fear.

A city-state like Malacheng had a total of three Grand Knights—not only powerful figures within the state, but also figures who could speak at the temple altar. Since Grand Knights often led only their personal guards on distant assignments, their authority was something the temple had to guarantee; refugees from anywhere held them in fear.

After Yi Yaer presided over the ceremony, Chen Yi issued his first Grand Knight order.

The five battalions of field army, long prepared, all entered wartime status, patrolling back and forth in several key areas.

Chen Heng boarded a helicopter and accompanied Chen Yi on a turn in the sky, casually asking: "In our Xijiang City-State, isn't there also a Grand Knight Silva? Issuing orders in his name could buy us several more days."

Chen Yi suddenly smiled and said: "Big Brother, this is the process of establishing authority; how can it be easily entrusted to another."

Liu Xinyu also said: "Crimes within the Xijiang City-State will be punished in the name of Grand Knight Chen Yi and Your Excellency the Divine Art Knight; newly arrived refugees will immediately understand who is in charge within Jiangning City."

Chen Heng feigned sudden realization.

Many others also suddenly realized.

However, understanding what was going on did not mean being able to replace Chen Yi, or even gaining the slightest bit of West Continent political power. Obtaining either a Grand Knight title or Divine Art Knighthood was not achieved overnight; with the precedents of Xi Tan and Xi Rong, other families would think twice before acting.

November passed in silence, and when the canal excavation project was nearing completion, the Zheng Family's Third Son first tentatively applied to become a Fourth-Rank Clerk.

Fourth-Rank Clerk was the lowest civil official position in the Xijiang Public Office, with a monthly salary of over a thousand yuan, equivalent to an ordinary government clerk. However, this position was by default divided between Chen Clan Martial Arts Hall students and West Continent natives. Since the families entered the West Continent, more or less some of their juniors had entered the Martial Arts Hall for further study and thus obtained a minor official post, but no one had ever skipped the Martial Arts Hall to apply directly.

Yu Weichao naturally immediately notified Chen Yi and devised several versions of rejection plans.

However, the express reply returned was just the two words "Grant him."

"Agreed?" Yu Weichao sat in his office and suddenly fell into deep thought.

When the news spread, the various Chen Clan families were overjoyed.

These families all rose through politics; their understanding of and love for politics far exceeded ordinary people's imagination. A life without any political power was enough to drive them mad in half a year.

If they were not given a chance to participate in politics, they would probably go crazy.

Even if Chen Yi wanted to create a family enterprise, he could not cast aside these core Chen Clan families. In fact, the Chen Clan was actually more built by these collateral branch families. They were both natural allies of the Chen Clan and friends of the Chen clansmen built over many years; the relationships were complex and close.

Unless the West Continent maintained its current scale, Chen Yi would need their support—once the canal was completed, it would inevitably attract more scrutiny; at that time, reorganizing Chen Clan power was very important.

A week later, the Zheng Family's "Third Son" smoothly entered the Xijiang City-state Public Office and became an honorable Fourth-Rank Clerk with a monthly salary of 30 copper coins.

The next day, countless application letters flew to the Public Office like snowflakes.

Not only the younger generation, but many uncles and aunts also hoped to obtain a minor official post in the Xijiang City-State.

According to Chinese tradition, when the Xijiang City-State expanded—undoubtedly it would expand in the short term—the present insignificant minor officials would become great dignitaries of a region.

Some could not help but already look forward to the prospect of Colonial Governor.

Chen Yi smiled and let it be, leaving it to Yu Weichao to arrange. Generally speaking, the gentlemen and ladies who could enter the Chen Clan's door were at least elites of the time; let alone serving as clerks in some aspect of the Public Office, even managing the Public Office posed no problem of ability.

Correspondingly, the Martial Arts Hall System students also became nervous; for a time efficiency greatly increased, and the progress of the canal plan also accelerated considerably.

It was also thanks to the canal excavation project that so many refugees could be accommodated. And the number of refugees continued to increase day by day. The Passage Committee determined the passage tonnage contribution based on each family's retention of migrant workers; adding 2 million people meant adding 200,000 tons of supplies. From any angle, it was not too difficult.

Food was mainly provided by the Li Family and Liu Family food companies. They originally supplied the temple war front lines, producing 100,000 high-calorie military rations per week; now, aided by a series of construction waves, production increased again and again to the level of 500,000 rations. Non-portable cooked food supply was easier, with raw materials all made from West Continent natives. The Li Family also established factories directly producing starch from plants; not only could common ferns be converted into starch and glucose, but many wild root vegetables and fruit plants could be used, with quantities expanding as the factory scale grew.

Although shortages caused by population growth led to rising costs, increased sales enabled factories to rapidly go into production; the Li Family soon shifted its focus to food production and, through Chen Yi, signed an agreement with Bishop Yi Yaer.

During the Temple War, Light Infantry and Heavy Infantry were more used for garrisoning and occupation; cavalry, especially Heavy Infantry Regiments with Combat Knights as core officers, were the main force of war.

The main limitation on how many cavalry the Temple could organize for the battlefield was logistics capacity. Basically, no matter how much food Xijiang City-State provided, they could consume it all, and the price was naturally satisfactory.

In this cycle, Chen Yi quietly returned to Jiangning and secretly convened a Xijiang Association meeting limited to first-tier affiliated enterprises.

The conditions for first-tier affiliated enterprises of the Xijiang Association were strict; those who remained to this day were all firm followers. After Chen Yi reiterated the confidentiality requirement, he said: "This order is mainly about ships and tonnage. I need to rent a large number of ships and ship tonnage; any two-year lease anyone signs can be unconditionally marked up 15% for me."

A free 15% was very attractive; in a moment, someone asked: "Regular lease or bareboat?"

"Either is fine."

Ship transportation was essentially leasing at its core. There were three models internationally: regular lease is ship rental by the month; bareboat means the shipowner provides only the ship without crew. The third model is the familiar voyage charter—charging by the ship's voyage.

After the canal was established, it not only meant increased passage transport capacity, but also greatly increased throughput at Jiangning Port; ship tonnage shortage was only natural.

Even if Chen Yi could not use that many ships, selling the leases was still very profitable.

……(To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian. com); your support is my greatest motivation.)