121: Chapter 114: Preparation before Childbirth!_2 121: Chapter 114: Preparation before Childbirth!_2 The harvest was indeed enormous; within half a month, the population of Lyuzhou City had doubled.

The two thousand Tiger Guard Army soldiers who left the city rescued almost thirty thousand people, and this was just in half a month.

Watching the increasingly bustling Lyuzhou, Zhou Haitao felt more and more at ease.

He was also thankful that he had listened to the advice of his superior and brought his father and blood brother to Lyuzhou early.

As for his father and the two legitimate elder brothers borne by his father’s favored concubine…

well, they could only fend for themselves.

“Sir, more and more people want to join the Tiger Guard Army these days.

Should we recruit them or not?” Zhou Pangzi, who was greeted by the men on the street from time to time, also did not forget to mention the teas that those men had treated him to, asking brazenly.

“I thought you were concerned that there were too many people to support?” Chen Qing looked at the chubby man with amusement.

“How could that be?” Zhou Haitao said with a laugh as he rubbed his hands, “Just with the insects produced by the Mountain God, we could sustain another ten thousand easily.”

Chen Qing just shook his head with a smile, “You’re far off the mark…”

The fat worms provided decent quality protein, enough to nourish ordinary people, but for the Tiger Guard Army soldiers of the War God class, it was still far from sufficient.

They needed to catch up with logistics as soon as possible.

Only with enough Spirit Soil to cultivate Spiritual Rice could they fully nourish the vitality and blood of the Tiger Guard soldiers.

Moreover, with the merit gained from killing the living dead, the efficiency of their promotion to Second Level Tiger Guard would increase rapidly.

Now that half a month had passed, among the three thousand Tiger Guard troops, fewer than fifty had been promoted.

Obviously, besides individual talent, insufficient nutrition was also a major reason.

And if the Tiger Guard Army couldn’t collectively get promoted, Xu Hu’s rank would also stagnate, preventing the recruitment of more warriors.

“How is the recruitment of agricultural workers going?”

Zhou Haitao scratched his head with some difficulty, “Sir, the Tiger Guard Army is currently too high-profile.

All young men with some strength are now keen to join the army, showing less interest in land distribution.

However, the newly arrived refugees are somewhat better; most haven’t witnessed General Xu Hu’s prowess first-hand and are still looking forward to land distribution.

But once they hear that they have to work on Daqing Mountain, quite a few are still afraid, leading to difficulty in recruitment…”

Indeed, nobody had expected that the logistical base Chen Qing talked about would be located in Daqing Mountain!

That place, once deemed unlivable and avoided even by lumberjacks, had become the most crucial logistical site in the plan.

At the beginning of the cultivation, many were dubious because, despite Daqing Mountain’s lush vegetation, the fertility of the soil was unknown.

Furthermore, the mountainous terrain was uneven without any decent flat land.

How could it become a site for logistical grain production?

But ever since a great tree became the Spirit of Daqing Mountain, the task of reclamation became incredibly easy.

As long as one believed in the Mountain God, the vines covering Daqing Mountain would assist in cultivating the land.

As for the issue of flat land, the terraced farming method innovated by the superior amazingly solved the years-long problem of large-scale farming on mountainsides!

This made many who saw the current state of Daqing Mountain marvel, but the popularity still wasn’t high due to safety concerns.

Although the government had repeatedly advertised that Daqing Mountain was under the protection of the Mountain God and just as safe as Lyuzhou City, the number of people willing to take the risk was still limited.

Upon hearing this, Chen Qing nodded, “Continue to organize new refugees to tour Daqing Mountain and publicize the new benefits.”

“New benefits?” Zhou Haitao asked curiously, “What benefits?”

“You announce it like this…” Chen Qing smiled and said, “Any farmer who contracts land on Daqing Mountain will be given priority to a house in the newly planned residential area of Lyuzhou.”

“A house?” Zhou Haitao was stunned, “Are you serious, sir?”

Now that the daily meals of most refugees were secured, coupled with the daily propaganda about the blessings from the underworld institutions, the panic in many people had been somewhat alleviated.

However, worries still existed.

After all, everyone was a refugee from other places.

Lyuzhou now looked immensely promising, providing food and being protected by the Gate Deity, Mountain God, and having a War God General like Xu Hu.

Ordinary civilians, wealthy households of the past, and esteemed scholars all wanted to stay in Lyuzhou.

But…

how could they stay?

Although everyone was temporarily occupying some houses, they all knew that those weren’t theirs; they were, after all, just rootless wanderers.

And once they had a house, it meant that they would become bona fide new residents of Lyuzhou.

This benefit was sure to move people’s hearts, but Zhou Haitao was puzzled, “Sir, are there enough houses?”

Although the superior had previously purchased a large amount of real estate in Lyuzhou, most of them were shops facing the streets.

With the continuous increase in Lyuzhou’s refugee population, the properties held by the government might not be enough.

There were plenty of vacant houses, but those were not owned by the government.

Occupying them without permission could lead to conflicts if the owners returned, presenting a difficult situation to resolve.

“Don’t worry about that, just focus on publicizing it,” Chen Qing waved his hand, “You go ahead with the registration, I’m heading to Daqing Mountain.”

Zhou Pangzi nodded, about to say something, but when he turned around, there was no trace of Chen Qing.

He felt instantly gloomy: this guy was getting more elusive by the day.

How had he not noticed before that this kid had such mystical abilities?

Now, Liu had become the master of the underworld, revered by all as the City God, the man they had taken in had become General Hu Wei, casually allowing his subordinates to master divine skills of immense power, and even the seedling in the backyard had become the Spirit of Daqing Mountain, now exuding great majesty.

And himself?

Zhou Pangzi pursed his lips, “I won’t always just be handling logistics, will I?”

———————————

Inside Daqing Mountain, Chen Qing, using the art of Shukuchi, traveled for nearly a quarter of an hour.

He seemed very leisurely along the way, but as he neared Daqing Mountain, the contentment on his face disappeared, and he vanished on the spot in a blink.

After his disappearance, a shadowy figure appeared at the spot.

The figure looked towards Daqing Mountain, clearly hesitating, but ultimately decided not to follow.

Instead, it turned its head and rapidly returned towards Lyuzhou City.

“You guessed right, someone indeed followed you.”

After entering Daqing Mountain, a person appeared behind Chen Qing—it was Murong Yunji.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Chen Qing rolled his eyes, “Since the Emperor is worried about that fox, he would naturally have someone follow it, and now in Lyuzhou, besides that fox, the one they’re most concerned about is me, of course, they would also have someone tail me.”

“You Central Plains People really do like to overthink things…” Murong Yunji pursed her lips, then looked around, “Are you sure it’s safe here?”

To be honest, this place didn’t look safe at all, although the guy had been titled as the Daqing Mountain Spirit by imperial decree.

From her senses, the Mountain Spirit of Daqing Mountain was not much stronger than the one from Nan Mountain.

Relatively speaking, with a thousand members of the Tiger Guard Army, Xu Hu, and the Gate Deity in Lyuzhou City, it seemed much safer than this haunted place, right?

Wei Gongcheng, who had followed along, was also puzzled.

He hadn’t expected that the so-called logistics base Chen Qing mentioned would be Daqing Mountain.

How could this place ensure safety?

If the living dead attacked, how would they defend?

Was the plan to rely solely on the Tiger Guard Army?

The combat strength of the Tiger Guard Army was improving day by day, which he had witnessed.

A Tiger Guard, now familiar with their strength, had five to six times the vigor of an ordinary person and had the ability to harden their skin.

Even in the wild, one could take down a dozen living dead, truly valiant.

But to use them to tough out the living dead in Daqing Mountain seemed to him like a waste of military strength.

Daqing Mountain had several entrances, and to fully guard them, at least two thousand Tiger Guards would be necessary.

Now, to rescue other places, three thousand Tiger Guards were already insufficient, let alone spare more troops here.

Not to mention his next move was likely to provoke direct attacks from even more terrifying beings.

“I also think this might be too risky?” Wei Gongcheng offered his candid opinion.

“As of now, this is the safest place within the range of Lyuzhou,” said Chen Qing, looking at Murong Yunji, “If you use your Divine Wind to its full potential and snatch that fox here, how confident are you?”

At these words, Murong Yunji snorted coldly, “Of course, a hundred percent!”

But after a pause, she continued, “But as you’ve seen, those people could kill Number Two, they must be top-notch experts.

Even if I can momentarily snatch your so-called fox here, how can we avoid their pursuit?”

“All you need to do is snatch it here, don’t worry about anything else,” Chen Qing said, looking towards Chen Ying, who was pale and sweating profusely as she hurried over.

“How well did you learn?”

Chen Ying swallowed and shook her head, “It’s too complicated.

If we act tonight, I’m not a hundred percent confident!”

“You’re pretty dull.” Chen Qing frowned, “So how confident are you?”

Chen Ying instantly got angry and clenched her teeth; ever since she joined the Yin Yang Academy, no one had called her stupid!!

“Seventy percent!” Chen Ying reluctantly expressed a number that made her somewhat uneasy.

However, Chen Qing’s brows furrowed tightly.

He had studied computer programming and was very sensitive to probabilities; to him, seventy percent assurance wasn’t much different from fifty percent…

“Can you allow me two more days to learn before taking action?” Chen Ying quickly said, “I would have a greater chance by then.”

“We can’t wait…” Chen Qing shook his head, “The fox won’t last that long, and…

Wang Ye is almost here!”