Chapter 171: Dragon, Elephant, Tiger, and Ox

"Gao Hu, how many people in the army have reached the strength-refining level now?" "Young Master, eight hundred people have broken through to the first layer of strength-refining, among whom three hundred have reached the second layer, and sixty-five have reached the third layer."

In the main tent, Su Fan asked a deputy general directly. This person had come with him. He had been forcibly taken as a disciple by Zhang Jiao and then arranged to develop believers in Xuzhou; he had no courage to resist.

Life is like being raped; if you can't resist, you can only choose to accept it. Su Fan naturally could only choose the latter.

However, although he couldn't resist, he wouldn't really follow Zhang Jiao to the end. Knowing that the Taiping Dao Yellow Turban Rebellion was a dead end, he wouldn't accompany Zhang Jiao to his death.

This world, although not a historical plane, still had a certain similarity to history and the *Romance*.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion failed, and then the whole world would fall into an era of warlords competing for hegemony. This time, Su Fan wasn't sure whether he should participate.

Because even he didn't have much certainty. After all, this was no longer a historical plane.

In a transcendental world, what one ultimately needs to look at is personal martial prowess. If you possess the martial power to suppress the world, perhaps the chance of successfully seizing the world is greater.

Of course, if you have a sufficiently powerful military force, it's not impossible to conquer the world.

At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Overlord Xiang Yu was absolutely the strongest person, but he was still defeated by Han Xin, which shows that personal martial power can be restrained by the military formations of the Military School.

It's just that Su Fan didn't have Han Xin's ability to command troops.

But whether he wanted to compete for hegemony or not, Su Fan still developed for a wave. With fifty-plus thousand believers, he organized an army of fifty thousand.

One in ten is not high, because among these fifty thousand believers, half were strong men. If it were other Qu Shuai like Guan Hai, they would probably have raised an army of two hundred thousand directly.

Among the fifty thousand troops, Su Fan focused on cultivating his personal guards.

Martial artists have three realms of nine layers of strength-refining: strength-refining, internal strengthening, and Qi energy.

The strength-refining realm is the easiest to practice. As long as there is a basic pillar technique, even the most stupid person can be promoted to the strength-refining realm.

At the peak of strength-refining, one can strike with a thousand catties of force.

The internal strengthening realm is different. From outside to inside, it strengthens the internal organs, increases blood Qi, and finally, Qi energy is the bursting of Qi and blood, and Qi energy is born on its own.

Su Fan naturally wanted to cultivate a personal guard camp at the peak of strength-refining.

In the Datang world without military Qi, a powerful personal guard camp could erupt with very strong power, often winning against the strong with the weak on the battlefield. In this world, it goes without saying even more.

Su Fan didn't understand the military formations of the Military School and couldn't exert the greatest power of the army, but if facing an ordinary army, he wouldn't fear them.

Those with the inheritance of the Military School are even rarer than the Confucian School.

To train troops, one naturally needs a large amount of grain. Fortunately, the current Shenhan is not the Earth plane; its area far exceeds Earth, estimated to be about ten times larger.

There is enough wasteland in the wild. Although monster beasts appear in the wilderness, with a large army, generally no monster beasts dare to appear.

After all, this is not the Main World. The monster clans of the Main World are no worse than the human race. In the Shenhan world, the monster clans can only hide in the deep mountains and old forests.

Su Fan came to Donghai Commandery, made salt, and at the same time, used the "Summoning Wind and Rain" technique, which made a contribution.

With this spell, plus the agricultural technology of later generations, it created the situation where Su Fan's tens of thousands of believers were not short of grain.

And he even had the ability to relieve Guan Hai.

Spending resources to cultivate personal guards—after more than half a year, Su Fan felt there should be some results.

He hoped Gao Hu could give him a satisfactory answer.

Gao Hu was Su Fan's family general. As a direct descendant of the Guangling Gao Clan, although Su Fan was forcibly kept by Zhang Jiao, the Gao Clan didn't completely leave Su Fan alone.

They still sent some people for Su Fan to use.

Gao Hu was one of them. Although the Gao Clan didn't have the inheritance of the Military School, they still had some martial arts.

Gao Hu was no more than thirty years old and had reached the peak of Qi energy, only half a step away from Qi energy turning into gang, becoming a powerhouse at the refining gang level.

Once he becomes a refining gang expert, it will be different, like a carp leaping over the dragon gate. Placed in the Gao family, his status would be no worse than those direct disciples.

In a world where great power belongs to oneself, more importance is attached to strength. Here, there is no such thing as civil officials discriminating against martial generals.

Just kidding, the orthodox literati of the Confucian School—they can all kill enemies on horseback and govern the world off horseback. Many experts are both civil and martial, practicing both refining the body and refining the soul, it's just that literati focus on the divine soul.

Martial generals, on the other hand, rarely involve refining the soul.

Gao Hu, as a member of the Gao family, Su Fan naturally trusted him, and the most elite forces would all be handed over to him to control.

For the personal guard camp, besides throwing the basic pillar technique passed down by the Taiping Dao and the new Three Yang Pillar Technique he deduced with the help of the evolution space to Gao Hu, he didn't care about anything else.

Most of his time was spent on cultivation. Otherwise, how could he have recovered to the Foundation Establishment cultivation in this year and more?

Gao Hu didn't disappoint Su Fan either. In just this short time, more than eight hundred people had reached the strength-refining level.

At the first layer of strength-refining, the physical quality is roughly equivalent to those top-tier athletes on Earth.

At the second layer of strength-refining, I'm afraid the strength is equivalent to the boxing champions of later generations, or even stronger.

At the third layer of strength-refining, with a thousand catties of giant force, placed in the ancient times of Earth, that would be an unparalleled warrior.

However, in this world, the strength-refining realm is only the beginning of martial arts. Placed in an elite army, they are just ordinary soldiers; even the lowest squad leader would find it hard to compete.

This is already the limit of strength, with tendons and bones all tempered.

And internal strengthening is from outside to inside, tempering the internal organs and strengthening blood Qi, which is much more difficult.

After more than half a year of special training, Su Fan didn't expect anyone to reach the internal strengthening realm. After all, these people are ordinary farmers, unlike those scholar clan disciples who have had medicinal soups and baths since childhood, with tendons and bones tempered since childhood.

At twelve or thirteen, those who reach the peak of strength-refining are everywhere.

Those who reach internal strengthening at adulthood are also not few. Just like the Gao family of the original body, most of the disciples of his generation practiced martial arts, and almost all who reached adulthood reached internal strengthening. It's just that Qi energy is very difficult.

After all, martial artists at the Qi energy realm, placed in the Feathered Forest Guard of Shenhan, could serve as military commanders.

"Within half a year, reaching strength-refining is also not bad. With eight hundred as the number, establish the personal guard camp, and Gao Niu, you will be the commander of the personal guard camp."

"Okay! Young Master!"

Ox, Horse, Dragon, and Elephant are the family generals of the Gao family. Among them, Dragon and Elephant are already refining gang martial artists, guarding the Gao family, while Ox and Horse were brought here by Su Fan.

Both are ninth-layer strength-refining martial artists. Of course, before coming out, both had only reached the seventh layer of strength-refining.

It was also because they took the blood Qi pills provided by Su Fan and received his guidance that the two were able to break through. ===== CHAPTER 172 =====