Chapter 54

A king-level commander appeared in the lord’s mansion. The person had good features and wore a saber around his waist.

Zhou Yafu, son of Zhou Bo, was the founding general of the Western Han Dynasty. He led the Han army, ending the civil war of the Han Dynasty in just three months, also known as the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, which was caused by the Emperor Wu Liu Bi. The story of the Xiliu Camp was known to many lords in Eastern Han, who knew that Zhou Yafu’s rule over the army was fairly strict.

It was generally believed that within Western Han, Han Xin, Wei Qing, and Huo Qubing were the top commanders, followed by Zhou Yafu and others. After all, Han Xin, Wei Qing, and Huo Qubing were too well renowned, which made the other generals in the Western Han Dynasty seem way less noticeable.

Zhou Yafu was not good at politics, was too talented for his superiors, and often confronted Emperor Han Jing. He did not have a good end: He had vomited blood and died.

In short, this was a man who had an ability to lead in battles, but also possessed a bad temper. In history, there were quite a few people who insisted on various rules and theories, but not many who had achieved success.

[Name]: Zhou Yafu

[Talent]: King-level (General)

[Rank]: 40

[Experience]: 0/100000

[Role]: Western Han Dynasty Chariot General, Grand Marshall, Prime Minister, Tiaohou

[Loyalty]: 80

[Command]: 87 (upper limit of 94)

[Strength]: 57 (upper limit of 69)

[Intellect]: 70 (upper limit of 71)

[Politics]: 31 (upper limit of 39)

[Charisma]: 51

[Phase]: 155 (stubborn)

[Level of Favor]: 50

[Equipment]: Refined Han sword, sophisticated leather armor

[Characteristic 1]: Govern the army (S-level characteristic, morale decline rate -50%, troops will not fall into chaos easily when encountering unfavorable situations such as an ambush, fire attack, water attack, and siege)

[Characteristic 2]: Cutting the food supply (S-level characteristic, the success rate of sending surprise soldiers to cut off the enemy’s food passage is greatly improved)

[Characteristic 3]: Perseverance (A-level characteristic, self-armed attack power -10%, defense power +30%)

[Special Arms]: Could recruit the Xiliu Camp of Han Army (the sixth-order infantry of the Han Dynasty, at a maximum number of 10000)

Chu Tian glanced at Zhou Yafu’s initial attributes. The command, a maximum of 94, was close to that of an imperial-level commander, but he was still out-shined by the glamour of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing.

This was a general who was good at defense and cutting off the food supply. When the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion was put down, he had adopted tactics such as clearing the field and cutting off the enemy’s food channels.

If Zhou Yafu was given an elite infantry and allowed to defend as much as he could, he could repel the opponent, contain their main force, and finally defend and counterattack.

However, Zhou Yafu seemed a bit stubborn. It was hard to tell if this was a good quality to have in a subordinate. Hua Mulan was aloof and private, not talking much, but she was still easier to get along with than Zhou Yafu.

In Chu Tian’s view, every hero, military commander, and civil servant had their own purposes, depending on how the lord used their talents. In the future, he would let Zhou Yafu temporarily command the infantry in Xia Town, but stop him from participating in any political affairs, lest he create any problems.

Besides the policy of “separation of soldiers and peasants,” Chu Tian also deliberately implemented “separation of soldiers and politics,” so that military generals could not serve as ministers of the interior. The generals only took care of marching and fighting, leaving the logistics to the civil officials.

“Greeting the lord.”

After Zhou Yafu was recruited, he took the initiative to salute Chu Tian. This stranger would be his lord in the future.

“I will have a wooden house set up for you by the Level 3 school yard, please live there first. Xia Town is recruiting a large number of elite light infantry; there should be 600 elite light infantry by December. You’ll be responsible for training the light infantry,” Chu Tian briefly explained the situation, appointing Zhou Yafu as the infantry commander in Xia Town.

A hero-level chariot general could easily train 600 infantrymen.

Recruiting Zhou Yafu was not part of Chu Tian’s plan. However, now that Zhou Yafu was available, he certainly wanted to draft this general of the infantry department to participate in the “Yellow Turban Rebellion.”

Chu Tian thought it would be quite interesting to have the Western Han commander-in-chief fight the Yellow Turban Army at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

While only Level 40, Zhou Yafu had 87 points in Command, surpassing all the heroes of the Yellow Turban camp. Zhou Yafu’s disadvantage was his low strength, and that Xia Town had little for him to command.

“We don’t need to be in the front. Han Dynasty’s main forces are there, so there is no problem.”

Chu Tian was waiting for December, but at the same time, he was developing territories and attacking Level 3 towns. Hua Mulan’s light cavalry were still raiding nearby villages.

“The other villages around our village are either occupied or destroyed! To stay here is to die!”

The lord of a Level 3 village led a few players to scour the warehouses in a village after his own was raided, later fleeing to neutral Langya City overnight.

The minor lords near Xia Town and Lingyan Town were terrified of Hua Mulan’s cavalry. They had no room to survive and could not resist the cavalry, so they could only choose to escape.

Yunlai Village, Xia Town’s third vassal village, was officially upgraded to a Level 1 town after Hua Mulan moved a large number of people there.

After Yunlai Village was upgraded to a Level 1 town, there were vacancies for four more vassal villages.

The nearby minor lords were cleaned up and Xia Town controlled the territory of two towns and ten villages, two of which were under its own jurisdiction.

Chu Tian was now a major lord in Kaiyang County of Langya Nation.

After Hua Mulan led the cavalry, defeating the surrounding villages and returned to Xia Town, Chu Tian set up a special celebration banquet for her. He invited the town officials and major business owners to attend so as to inspire morale and encourage people.

The population, whether directly or indirectly controlled by Xia Town, had reached more than 20000 people, including more than 5000 households.

As a major lord, if he wanted to conquer some minor lords, he could send a general and a small army.

“General Hua Mulan worked hard and earned a lot of merit. She is to be paid five more taels a month and will be gifted 30 acres of fertile land.”

Chu Tian knew that he must reward merit and discipline any mistakes present in order to win people’s hearts.

Hua Mulan shook her head, “Your subordinate does not have the energy to take care of 30 acres of land.”

“Then I’ll give you five more taels in salary.”

Chu Tian couldn’t give out more silver taels at this time, and increasing salary was just a way to show his trust.

Hua Mulan’s current salary included five taels of silver a month, plus ten taels of silver added right now, for a total of fifteen taels of silver. It was equivalent to the salary of fifteen first-order infantrymen.

Using fifteen taels of silver to support a king-level military commander was actually very cost-effective. If possible, other lords would be desperate to win Hua Mulan over with fifteen taels of gold, especially since special heroes were more useful in “Feudal Lords” than in reality.

Since Hua Mulan had been working for Xia Town during this entire period, her loyalty had become 90 and her Level of Favor towards Chu Tian was now 65.

Except for Zhou Yafu, who stayed calm, the other generals in Xia Town looked excited. After all, the dream of every military commander on the battlefield was to do meritorious deeds, win territory, and earn titles.

Chu Tian offered a drink to Hua Mulan, “Keep up the good work.”

Hua Mulan’s gaze was powerful. “Wherever the sword is pointed, that would be Hua Mulan’s destiny!”

Chu Tian was waiting to say something when an announcement suddenly came up in the Eastern Han District.

“Ding! All players in the Eastern Han District, please note that the first epic battle, the Yellow Turban Rebellion, will officially begin in seven days. All players participating in the epic battle are asked to register and choose their camp and battlefield.

“Players, please choose your camp. Join the Han royals camp, help their opponent, or join the Yellow Turban camp? What kind of prince will you be?”