Chapter 399: Building a City

Found a treasure.

Standing on the watchtower at the northwest corner of the camp, Wu Tie watched the busy Huang Lang, laughing until the creases on his face showed.

Huang Lang had served as Prefect of Lang River Commandery for many years; before taking the post, he had gained experience in various civil offices in the commandery, accumulating rich administrative experience. With his ability, even if he truly took charge of a prefecture, he would be competent.

Not to mention, the present Great Marsh Prefecture……

Heh, a mere Great Marsh City with a population of over two hundred thousand is hardly enough for Huang Lang to play with.

Thousands of women were organized; they set up stoves below the camp, with one big iron pot after another steaming rice, stir-frying dishes, boiling soup. The aromas of rice and dishes made the city's intermittently hungry and full folk drool.

No one knows what method Huang Lang used, but the few hundred officials and clerks in the city with administrative experience were organized, given fresh clothes, fed and watered, after which Wu Tie's staff began operating in earnest.

Thick stacks of paper were spread on the wooden table; dozens of staff members wrote furiously, registering the information of the laborers who came to sign up.

Huang Lang then brought a few staff members versed in Metal System Techniques, took a pile of iron from Wu Tie, and directly used craftsmanship to make identity tokens for those laborers, also embedding a few minor seals within them.

For each laborer's information registered, an identity token was issued; the seal inside directly recorded their true likeness, noting a trace of their blood and spirit.

These laborers' daily work output, tasks done, and whether they slacked were all meticulously recorded inside; when distributing food and wages, the tokens' data were followed exactly, leaving no omission.

Huang Lang was a seasoned hand; the Great Jin Divine State had specially developed seal techniques for managing laborers. Those who had only trained in some rudimentary civilian cultivation methods could only violently smash these identity tokens; trying to decipher the profound seals inside was impossible.

After registering and receiving their identity tokens, the laborers happily ran to the stoves, each receiving two large bowls—one of rice, one of dishes—and could sit nearby to eat and drink heartily.

Food was unlimited, eaten until full.

After eating, they could also bowl a fragrant meat soup and gulp it down happily; these famished laborers ate until they belched, their bellies bulging abnormally.

Wu Tie watched these people devouring food as if their lives depended on it, then thoughtfully gazed at the dense farmland outside the city.

"How is the yield of these crops?" Wu Tie pointed to the fields outside the city.

"The yield is extremely high; here the temperature is high, humidity heavy, soil fertile, and all crops produce abundantly." Huang Yu, dressed in a minor soldier's uniform, stood properly beside Wu Tie.

"Just that, nobody dares to meddle with these fields." Huang Yu swallowed a mouthful of saliva… although already full, looking at the lush crops in the distant fields, he inexplicably felt hungry.

Really, he was scared of being hungry.

"Oh? Why? Are these fields all owned?" Wu Tie looked at Huang Yu in surprise.

"The Black Phoenix Army's fields, the Black Phoenix Army's land—all fields outside the city belong to the Black Phoenix Army; whoever dares to move a grain of their rice will have his head chopped off and buried in the field as fertilizer." Huang Yu's body trembled slightly, his gaunt face showing a hint of fear.

"The Black Phoenix Army… they let you work their fields for a few melons and dates, enough not to starve but never to fill your belly." Huang Yu muttered, "Moreover, the fields are limited; with over two hundred thousand people in the city, it's impossible for all of them to farm for the army—only over a thousand live inside, and the fields are too many for them to maintain."

"So, if you want to eat your fill, you must go to the mountains and forests to find something edible—gathering wild vegetables or hunting… but these mountains and forests are dangerous; even a Chonglou Realm cultivator could perish there, let alone a Life Pool Realm." Huang Yu looked up at the sky, shook his head, and said, "I don't even know if my two old servants are alive or dead."

Wu Tie stroked his chin.

Without realizing it, fine stubble had grown on his chin, feeling prickly to the touch.

Black Phoenix Army, interesting, interesting.

Wu Tie had thought the fields outside the city were reclaimed by the residents themselves; he never expected they all belonged to the Black Phoenix Army. In that case, aren't the lives and deaths of the city's populace entirely at the Black Phoenix Army's whim?

"What is Qian San doing leading people out of the city? Do they have mines out there?" Wu Tie continued asking Huang Yu.

"There are mines, several of them, said to be rare veins, but no one knows exactly how many or where." Huang Yu's face twitched as he muttered, "Rumor has it that many people inside the city have disappeared—taken by them to dig ore."

"Old folks, children, those without strength for work are not wanted; otherwise… anyway, in this city, every few days a batch of people disappears." Huang Yu lowered his voice carefully.

"Let's get to work, let's get to work!" Huang Lang grabbed a small bronze gong, striking it hard while shouting loudly.

The first batch of nearly ten thousand laborers had eaten and drunk their fill, and many had been resting off to the side for a while.

Huang Lang loudly called out, urging them to start work quickly.

"According to the commander's plan, this city will be built upon the foundation of the existing earthen wall." Huang Lang roared, "Those who practice Five Elements Techniques and know earth techniques, step forward—everyone, step forward. Today's first task is to raise the foundations of the entire city."

Out of the nearly ten thousand laborers, only a scattered few hundred stepped forward.

The others chatted and laughed, either squatting or standing aside to watch the spectacle.

Those exiled and sent to the Great Marsh Prefecture may include some wrongfully accused or framed, but the vast majority are no good.

The ruffians brought by Li Er Haizi still had the grit to join the prefectural army and give it a shot… but most of them are slippery, lazy gluttons, rotten to the core.

Wu Tie's senses were extremely sharp; when he had just been registering down below, he heard everything clearly.

Five Elements Cultivation Method is the most basic, most common technique; any laborer who cultivates basically follows the Five Elements Grand Dao and knows a few Five Elements Techniques.

Earth System Cultivation Method is even easier to grasp than Five Elements Techniques, the most common of all.

Among the nearly ten thousand laborers below, at least three thousand plus practice Earth Cultivation Method, and everyone knows the basic moves of Earth System Techniques.

When registering and coming to eat meat and drink soup, these fellows were very enthusiastic.

But when Huang Lang called them to work… of the over three thousand who had trained in Earth Cultivation Method, only a few hundred stepped forward.

"There's not a decent person in the Great Marsh Prefecture!" Wu Tie laughed, slapping his palm, then loudly said, "Li Er Haizi, what did I just tell you?"

Clad in a set of fish-scale light armor, Li Er Haizi, whose looks gave a feeling of a monkey wearing a hat, burst out laughing: "Commander, sir, you just watch… this bunch of nobody's brats, I'm the one who can handle them!"

Two or three hundred ruffians who had just joined the prefectural army laughed "hahaha," grabbed whips mixed with steel wire, and charged into the crowd of fed laborers, lashing them wildly.

No matter what cultivation method you practice, whether you know earth techniques, whether you're tall or short, fat or thin, young or old—if you ate Wu Tie's food and drank his soup yet still dare to be lazy and slick, heh heh!

The whips cracked 'pak-pak' as these fed ruffians, eager to show off before Wu Tie, swung them like windmills.

The ruffians daring enough to join the prefectural army were also the strongest cultivators in Great Marsh City, the most brave and ruthless; they put in their strength, and a whip lash would often leave a deep bloody mark.

In just a few breaths, two or three thousand laborers were whipped to the ground rolling, each howling in pain.

Moreover, a few who relied on their strength roared, grabbed stones from the ground, and hurled them at the prefectural army soldiers.

Wu Tie sneered from the watchtower top; Li Er Haizi gave a strange laugh, pointed with his right hand, and dozens of sword qi shot forth, instantly beheading those bold fellows.

Heads rolled, staining the ground's large puddles red.

The scene suddenly fell into dead silence.

Huang Lang lightly tapped the small bronze gong, smiling as he looked at the dumbfounded laborers: "Hey, if you won't listen to good advice, you'll suffer… is our commander a soft-hearted person?"

"In short, you lot of cheap bones, work hard and you'll eat and drink your fill; slack off… heh heh!" Huang Lang beamed, "Those vast fields outside the city desperately need fertilizer."

Among the laborers who hadn't yet registered, many turned and left.

Even more retreated while shouting, "I won't serve anymore, I won't serve anymore… isn't it just one full meal? We fellows, aren't we missing this bite?"

Wu Tie lightly waved his hand, Li Er Haozi leapt into the air, and showered down several hundred sword auras from midair, directly slaughtering the over a hundred retreating laborers.

"Run? Can you even run?" Wu Tie said coldly: "One sentence—I am now the army lord of Great Marsh Prefecture. Whether you follow or not, you must follow. Now I declare that Great Marsh Prefecture is under military control; you all must obey me and work hard, or else… die!"

Huang Lang chuckled and said: "You kids are just mischievous. Hurry up, hurry up and register your background details clearly, then work hard for the army lord… There's meat to eat, rice to eat, you can eat your fill—what else could you be dissatisfied with?"

"Ah? All good, hurry up and register, hurry up and eat your fill, then get to work!"

Wu Tie played the bad guy, Huang Lang the good guy, and a group of selected aides stood aside beating the drum, as the registration work continued to proceed in an orderly manner.

Among the nearly ten thousand laborers, all those who cultivated earth techniques and knew earth magic stepped forward one after another; the bloody reality told them that this prefectural army lord before them seemed—not at all like the previous few!

Everyone else brought their own retinue… this bare‑pole commander, why doesn't he play by the rules?

Several thousand laborers lined up in a row, starting from the east side of Great Marsh City and, following Huang Lang's orders, simultaneously cast their spells. The ground writhed slightly, the surrounding earth veins surged, and a stretch of land over ten li long and several zhang wide quickly rose up.

These laborers had low cultivation and weak strength, so the earth techniques they cast could not affect too large an area of land.

But their numbers were many, and under Huang Lang's organization and management, their work effect was not bad either.

More and more laborers completed registration, and more and more laborers joined the work.

Raising the foundations of the entire city, using spells to dig the preset drainage channels, then using spells to reinforce the foundations, turning the soft soil into hard rock.

Layer upon layer of earth techniques were applied, and the rock formed from the soil became increasingly solid and sturdy.

Then the laborers who cultivated metal techniques stepped forward, wielding the tools distributed by Wu Tie, copying the gourd‑ladle pattern, they inscribed one after another large rune on the solid rock foundation and dug out a series of neat formation lines.

Huang Lang really is talented.

And Wu Tie's mastery of martial power allowed his talent to be fully exerted.

The laborers were like sheep, while Li Er Haozi was like a vicious dog, leading hundreds of sheepdogs and daily forcing these laborers to work themselves to death.

Wu Tie was not stingy either; he generously took out the supplies originally meant to feed the prefectural troops, letting these laborers eat plenty of fish and meat every day until their bellies were round.

They are all cultivators, and many are body cultivators, with extraordinarily strong physical functions.

With sufficient grain, wine, and meat supplies, in just three to five days these laborers all became ruddy‑faced and developed noticeable muscular bulges.

Wu Tie even personally supervised the work each day, selecting from the hard‑performing laborers several hundred who were good‑looking and whose offenses were not too serious, and bestowing upon them pills that increase cultivation.

These pills are very precious; many can directly increase bodily cultivation, and they were originally precious rewards for meritorious soldiers in the prefectural army.

These laborers' cultivation levels are all low, with many of them at the Sensing the Profound Realm.

Having received these spirit pills originally meant for high‑ranking Chonglou Realm or even Life Pool Realm officers, the fortunate ones selected by Wu Tie saw their cultivation soar; in just a few days someone broke through Chonglou Realm, and even consecutively shattered several Chonglou shackles.

Their cultivation methods are of too low a grade, so the difficulty of breaking through is extremely low, making it really easy for them to raise their cultivation.

Under the intimidation of Li Er Haozi and his gang, and under Wu Tie's generous rewards, these laborers were each like they'd been injected with chicken blood, giving their all in daily labor. The vigor they displayed in work made even the Black Phoenix Army soldiers stationed in the city feel alarmed.

What's more important is that continuous heavy rain, high heat and humidity caused a large amount of weeds to grow in the fields outside the city.

The fields needed weeding, and the Black Phoenix Army soldiers certainly couldn't do these chores.

They needed to rally the laborers to go out and weed the fields, and with such a vast expanse of farmland outside the city, obviously tens of thousands of people would be required to finish it quickly.

But the able‑bodied people inside the city, those who could work, had already been voluntarily or involuntarily drafted by Wu Tie into the construction crew.

The remaining old, weak, sick, and young were happy to go earn a meal, but the Black Phoenix Army was not happy about that!

On the sixth day since the city‑building work began, early in the morning the laborers had just gathered to have breakfast and start work, while over four hundred Black Phoenix Army soldiers left to guard the city formed neat ranks and marched to Wu Tie's camp.

"Huang Lang, today you don't need to start work… building a city, what city are we building? This broken‑down place—is building a city even useful?"

A Black Phoenix Army colonel shoved Huang Lang hard, almost scattering his old bones.

"You all, follow me. In the fields outside the city, you have two days to clear all the weeds, each person getting three sweet potatoes a day—enough to fill you up." The Black Phoenix Army colonel waved a small whip and lashed hard at a laborer's shoulder.

"Hurry up, hurry up, what are you dawdling about here? Hurry, go out and work!"

"Listen up—just clear the weeds; whoever dares to damage a single crop, I'll skin him alive!"