Chapter 11 "Thirty-Six Kings of the Wilds? So many?"

Erguotou was also surprised by Hu Ma's words.

They had been invigorated by taking down the Three-Headed Flood Dragon King, but the sudden news of so many Kings of the Wilds created a new wave of pressure.

Before becoming a Reincarnator, Erguotou hadn't really counted how many Kings of the Wilds there were. He just felt that after Senior Longjing fired those seven arrows from the City of Wrongful Deaths, kings seemed to spring up everywhere overnight.

Never mind those who had claimed titles and had strong armies under their command. Even bandits on the mountain, with only twenty or thirty people, dared to declare themselves kings, seize a temple as a palace, and even steal Old Liu Wu's wife from the village to be their queen, and his sister as a concubine.

In such a situation, it was impossible to distinguish between Kings of the Wilds and mountain bandits. Who would bother to count?

"Claiming kingship isn't that simple."

Seeing his surprise, Hu Ma smiled and said, "I don't know how many people are crushed to death by the very word 'king' after claiming it."

"Of course, they die in different ways. Some are targeted by those with a true king's destiny and killed by soldiers sent after them. Others die in accidents, or are killed by their own subordinates. In short, the faster one claims kingship, the faster one dies."

"We were focused on Shangjing and didn't pay attention. The past few months were the most chaotic, with soldiers and bandits intertwined, causing a bloody massacre."

"Those who died in this conflict, or were subdued by others, had false destinies. Only those who bear the title of king and survive until the day the Ten Clans' incense leaves the capital are considered true Kings of the Wilds."

"I only understood this after looking at the treasure seal left by Old Lord Mei. There are only thirty-six people in the world who have claimed kingship and haven't been crushed by it."

"If choosing an emperor is a chessboard, these thirty-six are the pieces, sharing the mandate of heaven equally."

"Of course, just now, there is already one less of the thirty-six Kings of the Wilds, and his mandate has come into my hands."

"As long as these thirty-six compete for the world, and one of them eventually ascends the throne, the mandate of heaven will be complete. At that time, even the mandate on Yang Gong's body will have to be handed over to me."

"..."

The Ghost Walker sect learned a wide variety of things, knowing a little here and hearing a little there. Although Erguotou hadn't paid attention to this before, he roughly understood after listening to Hu Ma's explanation. He nodded and said, "That sounds like a big job."

"Do we have to protect the Grain Preservation Army and kill all the remaining thirty-four Kings of the Wilds?"

"..."

"No need for that."

Hu Ma smiled and said, "They won't be idle either. Although most Kings of the Wilds are propped up by others, even puppets who can sit in that position are not simple characters."

"They will also have a mutual sense, destined to fight, devour, and compete for each other's territory and troops. Who knows how many will be left in the end!"

"It's like big fish eating small fish, and small fish eating shrimp. It just depends on who grows into a behemoth first, and who allies to protect themselves."

"Judging from the mandate of heaven, the Grain Preservation Army is still weak. Even with the capture of Huzhou and the alliance of the Gunzhou White Armor Army and the Guazhou Iron Barrier Army, their strength is only considered middle-to-lower among the various Kings of the Wilds dominating the world."

As he spoke, he waved his hand, put away the Town Heaven Treasure Seal, and sighed, "Now that we've taken Huzhou, the show has just begun."

"The real significance of killing the Three-Headed Flood Dragon is just to let the world know that the Grain Preservation Army is supported by us, and that the Bright King was chosen and supported by us."

"Of course, it's also to let the Reincarnators see if the person we chose is worthy of their attention and support!"

"..."

"We could have called for help or even assigned tasks in our Natal Spirit Temple."

Hearing this, Erguotou looked up at Hu Ma and said, "But now we're taking the path of you asking the Reincarnators for help, and then supporting this Grain Preservation General to become a king, sending troops, and letting them make their own decisions."

"Honestly, what you said at the beginning has destined many to help you. Why don't you contact Tie Guanyin and Miss Red Wine, who is best at organizing people, to coordinate..."

"..."

"That would be worse."

Hu Ma understood Erguotou's meaning and slowly shook his head, saying, "I also know that many people are willing to help me."

"But the Reincarnators are carefree and unfettered. We can't find someone who can completely satisfy them, so why force them together?"

"I've already sent a request to the Reincarnators, and I believe they won't ignore the suffering of this world. Now, what I want them to see is another question."

"I want them to know that the people of this world are worth helping."

"..."

As the two of them discussed, they saw the Grain Preservation Army cleaning up the affairs in the city. They didn't care, so they just took Old Abacus and went to find a family in the city, stuffed them with some silver, and asked them to make some food.

It was also a good opportunity to see the Grain Preservation Army's ability to handle government affairs after capturing Huzhou City. Sweet Potato Burn didn't join them; she was with her sworn sister, having fun in the city.

Collecting the corpses in the city, dispersing the defeated soldiers, entering the government office, counting the household registers and grain, and even lighting incense in the temples, counting the manpower, and issuing pensions, were all enormous tasks that required specialists to sort out.

Fortunately, there were many capable people in the Bu Shi Niu (Those Who Don't Eat Beef), which could barely handle it. However, the Grain Preservation Army was now showing a huge weakness.

That was the lack of scholars and officials willing to join them.

The affairs of various places urgently needed people to arrange, but only the aristocratic families could cultivate such talent. However, the Grain Preservation Army had not yet reached the point where those aristocratic families would recognize them.

In short, they lacked officials.

But being an official was also a skill, and most of the Grain Preservation Army came from rural areas, so there weren't many people with that ability.

At the same time, in the Huzhou City government office, Bright King Yang Gong, along with Military Advisor Tiezui Zi (Iron Mouth), Logistics Officer Xu Wensheng, and various Jianghu figures and advisors, were discussing important matters:

"When we take a place, we have to arrange people to manage it."

"We lack people, which is a big problem. Bu Shi Niu is already looking for virtuous people to voluntarily join the Bright King, so there's no need to rush this."

"But now that we've left Mingzhou and made a name for ourselves, we should think about how to seize the world."

"The Grain Preservation Army now has Mingzhou and Huzhou. The Guan Prefecture in the north was wiped out, but many people have moved there, mostly our people, who are already sowing seeds, cutting blood food, and repairing the city."

"The Gunzhou White Armor Army and the Guazhou Iron Barrier Army are also our allies. Establishing a foothold is not difficult, but the most difficult point is that our terrain is not good."

"Mingzhou is located in the heart of the Central Plains, with no barriers to the east, west, and north. Only the Old Yin Mountain is behind us, so we don't have to worry about the rear. But it's easy to shrink in Mingzhou. If we want to attack, one Old Yin Mountain is not enough. It would be better if we had a few more mountains..."

"..."

Someone listening frowned and said, "Isn't Huzhou said to be a good place?"

Tiezui Zi shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying, "Huzhou is a blessed place for the Three-Headed Old Flood Dragon. It can advance into Gunzhou and Mingzhou, and retreat back into the water to save its life. But it's not for our Grain Preservation Army."

"If a strong enemy attacks, we'll retreat back into the water."

"So this battle only counts as winning a reputation and having a good place to train our navy."

"But the Grain Preservation Army is already attracting attention as soon as it leaves Mingzhou. A strong enemy might attack tomorrow."

"..."

Everyone nodded and said, "Then where should we take next?"

Military Advisor Tiezui Zi pointed to the table. The table was pieced together from several tables, covered with rice, pulled in different directions to represent the terrain, and with small flags stuck in it, with the names of various forces written on them.

This was Bu Shi Niu's masterpiece, though it was made of rice, it was called a sand table.

Military Advisor Tiezui Zi pointed to a place and said, "Go southwest and take Tengzhou, then we will have the entire Dongshan Road, with the Old Yin Mountain behind us, with water and official roads. Then write letters to the Iron Barrier Army and the White Armor Army, and the three armies will form an alliance, giving us a place to advance and retreat."

"Moreover, when we were preparing to send troops from Mingzhou, I had already sent scouts over there."

"I heard that Tengzhou is poor and only has small bandits. It can be said that it will be easy to capture. Now we just need to rest and find out the route, and then we can send troops north!"

"..."

Everyone listening felt relieved and had no objections. Finally, Bright King Yang Gong ordered to immediately seize Tengzhou.

From then on, everything was smooth sailing. The remaining tasks were to train soldiers, decide who would stay to guard Huzhou, and who would take care of Mingzhou. This was why it was necessary to become a king before sending troops from Mingzhou.

Every time they took a place, they had to appoint officials to guard the territory. If they didn't become a king, they wouldn't have the qualifications to appoint officials, and it would be difficult to manage the government.

However, just as the arrangements in Huzhou were finalized and the Grain Preservation Army was discussing when to go to Tengzhou, a scout came to report with a frightened expression:

"Strange, strange!"

"We were ordered to go to Tengzhou to scout the route, but at night, we dreamed of a giant with a snake wrapped around his waist, carrying two mountains, saying that he was going to Shangjing. The journey was long, and he was tired from walking here, so he wanted to rest here and then continue."

"When we woke up from the dream and looked at the place, it was originally flat, but two big mountains had grown overnight."

"Now the road to Tengzhou is cut off, and the army cannot pass..."

"..."

"What the hell?"

Such strange things stunned not only the ordinary military leaders, but also the knowledgeable disciples of Bu Shi Niu.

There were many magical methods in the world, but two mountains growing overnight?

This was unreasonable!

Everyone became nervous and arranged for Military Advisor Tiezui Zi to personally lead several of his fellow disciples from the Bu Shi Niu Gold Character Gate to investigate. They were really shocked overnight.

On the road to Tengzhou, two large mountains had appeared, stretching as far as the eye could see, hundreds of feet high, with green pines and cypresses, and strange rocks.

They just stood there, blocking the Grain Preservation Army's path to Tengzhou.

For a moment, even Military Advisor Tiezui Zi, who had repeatedly made great achievements since joining the Grain Preservation Army, was at a loss. He had traveled the world for so many years, but he had never seen such a strange thing.

"Strange, really strange."

It wasn't just the military advisor. Hu Ma and Erguotou also heard about this and left Mingzhou to investigate the border of Tengzhou, but they separated from the scouts sent by the Grain Preservation Army.

After seeing the two mountains, they were quite surprised. Erguotou even used the Yin-Yang Two Scenery Plate to try it out, and muttered to himself, "The mountains are real mountains, and the trees are real trees, but the earth veins are not connected. It seems that they were not born from this land."

"Did something really carry them here? When will they be able to rest if they want to rest here?"

"..."

"Have the abilities of people in the know reached this level?"

Hu Ma also felt it was bizarre. After thinking about it, he couldn't think of any sect that could do such a thing with his knowledge.

His heart slightly tightened, and he slowly walked forward, reaching out his palm and touching the mountain rock.

Erguotou was frowning and muttering beside him. Suddenly, he turned his head and saw Hu Ma's action. He took a deep breath and his eyes widened.

But he saw Hu Ma just touch it and slowly withdraw his palm. He suddenly became a little nervous and worried, "What's wrong? Can't move it?"

"What the hell?"

Hu Ma felt it was bizarre when he heard this. He glanced at the mountain that was almost invisible at the top, and then glanced at Erguotou, who seemed to be expecting something, and said, "Do you expect me to be able to move it?"

Erguotou said, "You Shou Sui have great strength!"

"Is this a matter of size?"

Hu Ma took a deep look at the two strange mountains that suddenly appeared in front of him, slowly withdrew his gaze, and said, "However, in any case, it can be seen that this should be the work of someone from the Ten Clans."

"The Grain Preservation Army won a great victory in attacking Huzhou, and was just at the time to take advantage of its reputation to grow stronger. These two mountains seem to have pressed on the Grain Preservation Army's weak point."

"And only someone from the know could use such an incredible ability."

"The Tricks!"

He slowly raised his head and said, "But it's still unclear whether the Tricks Sect has set up such a problem for us because they want to fight us now, or if they have other ideas?"

The Tricks Sect had a saying of "nine false and one true". Although they were often laughed at for only making a show, it had to be admitted that occasionally seeing a real skill in their hands was always surprisingly different from ordinary spells.

So when encountering incredible things that were difficult to understand, it was necessary to suspect the Tricks Sect.

"This problem is difficult."

Erguotou was also wandering in the mountains, thinking intently. When attacking Huzhou earlier, although he was watching all the way, he hadn't been this serious.

For the Reincarnators, fighting for the mandate of heaven was also a task, but this task was a task that Hu Ma had taken, and they didn't necessarily have to protect the Grain Preservation Army.

For them, fighting the Ten Clans was the big deal.

Now that the Tricks Sect had drawn a line, breaking the Tricks Sect's magic was a major event. However, he didn't dare to underestimate the Ten Clans, and he was still a little shocked to see such a feat.

His ability and Little Brother Hu Ma's ability were not small among the Reincarnators, but now he couldn't see through the details of these two mountains. What would happen if someone else came?

"Maybe we should ask Miss Red Wine to take a look first? She is from the Tricks Sect and may be able to see something!"

As the two were discussing, they heard footsteps in the mountains. They looked up and heard a slightly surprised voice,

Hu Ma also heard the voice and felt it was familiar. Just as he was a little surprised, he saw a figure turning out from behind the trees.

She was wearing a light green dress, with a smile on her lips, and her eyes were excited and a little shy. Looking at Hu Ma from a distance, she seemed afraid to come forward.

"You..."

Hu Ma was a little surprised to meet her here. The girl finally mustered up her courage, slowly walked down the mountain, bowed gently to Hu Ma, and said excitedly, "Brother Hu, Wu He is here to thank you for saving my life..."

(End of Chapter)