The Lord's Empire

“Your Majesty! We’ve finished researching Taming!” After Zhao Fu gave those orders, Bai Shan ran over with an expression of joy on his face.

When Zhao Fu heard this, he felt quite delighted. After waiting for so long, the Research Workshop was finally showing some results. He nodded and headed over to the Research Workshop, and there, he saw a few Scholars and a new stone stele.

When the Scholars saw that Zhao Fu had arrived, they respectfully retreated to one side. Zhao Fu walked up and placed his hand on the stone stele, and some information was transmitted to his mind:

[Tamer]: F+ grade Military. Description: Receives the ability to tame wild beasts. Effect: Receives skill [Taming].

Seeing this, Zhao Fu brought two villagers to change their profession to Tamer and then ordered people to catch some wild ducks and geese to tame.

Right now, the Great Qin Village severely lacked people. There were many things to do, so they had to use many of the Goblins to make up for their lack of people. As for exploring the crack, they were waiting for the stairs to be constructed before going in again.

After going west of the Great Qin Village, Zhao Fu went to have a look at the newly-constructed Gnome Village. The Gnomes all lowered their heads respectfully and retreated to one side. Zhao Fu found five Mechanics Scholars and instructed them to start researching ballistae.

After returning to the Great Qin Village, Bai Shan came up and asked, “Your Majesty, what would you like us to research next?”

Zhao Fu had almost forgotten that the Scholars didn’t have anything to do now that they had successfully researched Taming. There were simply too many matters to take care of, and Zhao Fu started to feel somewhat overwhelmed. After he thought for a moment, he replied to Bai Shan, “Start researching teleportation channels!”

Teleportation channels were absolutely necessary. If the Great Qin Village could successfully research teleportation channels, they would make going from village to village more convenient, and Zhao Fu also needed to be able to visit a main city. Right now, they had nowhere to spend the money they had earned, so he wanted to go to a main city to see what they could buy.

After receiving his orders, Bai Shan took his people and returned to the Workshop to start researching.

At this moment, someone came up to report that they had discovered a Human Village about five kilometers north of the Great Qin Village.

Zhao Fu immediately took some people to have a look. He wanted to determine if it was an ordinary village or a village of bandits. However, no matter what it was, Zhao Fu wanted to gain some more villagers from this village. Relying on the summoning each day was too slow, and the Great Qin Village greatly lacked villagers.

An hour or so later, they arrived at the Human Village. They stood on higher ground and looked down at the village, and Zhao Fu inwardly muttered, “Outlander villages can’t compare to human villages at all.”

For defense, the village had thick wooden boards as walls, and there were people on alert patrolling around. As soon as there was an enemy attack, they would immediately sound the alarm. The guards were also densely gathered because their village was in the wilderness. Because of this, they were constantly surrounded by danger, so they had to focus on defense.

The village had around 400 people. There were around 60 elderly and children and around 160 women. The other 200 or so people were men, making the village seem more like an ordinary village than a bandit village. Moreover, most of the guards had leather armor and iron sabers, so the village was much more prosperous than the Great Qin Village. After all, the Great Qin Village was still using weapons made of Iron Wood, and the soldiers only had 10 or so sets of leather armor.

Most of the soldiers were Militia, but a few of them held bows and arrows and a few others held shields, though they did not have the corresponding profession. Archers, Shieldbearers, and Cavalry needed to be researched or unlocked when a village leveled up. Intermediate Villages could unlock Shieldbearers, Advanced Villages could unlock Archers, and Towns could unlock Cavalry.

Right now, those who were holding bows and arrows and shields were relying on their own efforts and skills. They did not have the profession stats or skills, making them half as effective as those with a profession.

If Zhao Fu could conquer this village, he would be able to instantly gain the numbers he needed for the Great Qin Village. However, if he brought his people and attacked, he would be facing solid defenses and enemies with twice his numbers, so he would definitely lose many of his soldiers and most likely suffer defeat.

It seemed that they would not be able to take care of things through fighting, so Zhao Fu turned and said, “All of you go and hide for now. Bai Qi and I will go negotiate with them!”

Zhao Fu and Bai Qi headed to the entrance of the village, and the guards immediately called out in a loud voice, “Who are you people?”

Bai Qi was about to reply, but Zhao Fu signalled him to stop and said, “I’m the Village Chief of the Great Qin Village, a nearby village, and I’ve come to visit your village. Could I trouble your Village Chief to meet with me?”

The guards immediately went to report this matter, and after a while, the gates opened as a fair-skinned youth walked out and smiled at Zhao Fu, cupping his hands respectfully as he said, “Father invites you in!”

Zhao Fu returned the courtesy, after which he and Bai Qi followed the youth to a building. After walking in, they saw a white-bearded elder sitting down. When the elder saw Zhao Fu and Bai Qi, he stood up and smiled as he gestured with his hand for them to sit down, and the serving ladies brought some tea.

“I never thought that this village would receive such distinguished guests. I apologize for our poor hospitality,” the elder said apologetically.

Zhao Fu calmly smiled as he replied, “Village Chief is too courteous. Our village has not been here for too long, and we’ve only just discovered your esteemed village and come to visit. We’re quite late in doing so, so we hope you don’t hold this against us.”

The Village Chief felt quite surprised. “This old man was feeling quite curious why a village had suddenly appeared near us. So you’ve only been here for a short period of time. In the wilderness, dangers lurk everywhere, and it’s hard to find a place of safety.”

Zhao Fu nodded and was just about to say something when a youth walked in with a serious expression, reporting, “Village Chief! The Wild Wolf Village’s people have come demanding food again.”

The elder’s expression became serious and apologized to Zhao Fu and Bai Qi before leaving with the others.

“Your Majesty!” Bai Qi said as he turned to look at Zhao Fu.

Zhao Fu nodded and they followed the Village Chief outside. They saw 10 or so vicious-looking people standing there, and a big, dark-skinned, and ugly-looking thug roared, “Damn old man, hand over your food!”

The fair-skinned youth became furious and was about to step up to say something but was held back by the elder, who ordered, “Give them the food!”

The villagers complied with the elder’s commands and brought out 10 or so sacks of food and placed them at the entrance of the village.

The thug laughed with satisfaction after seeing so many sacks of food and called out, “You’re quite a smart one, damn old man.” After speaking, the thug ordered the others to carry the sacks of food and left.

When the fair-skinned youth saw them leave, he coldly harrumphed. Zhao Fu went up and asked what had just happened, and the situation was explained to him by the Village Chief.

This village was called the Li Family Village, and the Village Chief was called Li Youcai, while the fair-skinned youth, his son, was called Li Wen.

The Wild Wolf Village was a bandit village about eight kilometers away from the Li Family Village. The Wild Wolf Village had around 300 people, but as a bandit village, it essentially did not have any women, elderly, or children, and most of the 300 or so people were men. They were all bandits, rogues, and thugs, and they had quite a decent fighting force.

If the Wild Wolf Village wanted to attack the Li Family Village, with their solid defenses, the Wild Wolf Village would still lose many people. The Li Family Village was also afraid that the bandits would pillage and destroy their village, so they had maintained a non-aggression pact. However, the Li Family Village needed to hand over a certain amount of food every month.