Chapter 354: Black Water
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
North Sea, Secluded Capital Mountain. It was now known as Fang Mountain.
"Lord, Fang Mountain and its surrounding 35 miles of land are all under your control!"
An elderly man kneeled before Fang Yuan and reported respectfully.
"Oh? Then tell me, how much wealth do I have here?"
Fang Yuan fiddled with a black steel dagger as he asked nonchalantly.
Wei stood beside Fang Yuan with a steel spear on her hand. She was now donned in cloth. Behind her, there were hundred over slaves.
Although they were slaves, they were specially chosen by Fang Yuan from prisoners of war from each division. They were well built and skilled in fighting; with just some slight training, they would be extremely useful.
They were able to purchase all these thanks to King Xi's rewards.
After Fang Yuan was granted the title of Lord, King Xi rewarded them with riches. Even these slaves had to be approved by the higher authorities or else they could not be easily amassed.
The nobles in Xia Country felt King Xi treated this outsider extremely well.
In actual fact, this was very normal. Furthermore, Fang Yuan had received instructions from Xi to build an army to prepare to fight with the survivors of Jiuli in the mountain ranges in the southern area.
To this Realm Alliance's Elder, Fang Yuan, who was a dream master from the Realm Alliance too, was his real ally.
Since that was the case, what else could be said?
"Reporting, my Lord!"
The elderly man quivered as he felt pressured. His voice trembled as he reported, "Near this mountain, we have three small divisions with a total population of 10,000. There are 2,500 acres of farmland and over 1,000 soldiers that can be trained!"
Realistically, everyone was a soldier. If not for agriculture needs, 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers could be trained, however, that was unnecessary.
"2,500 acres of farmland? That seems like a very low yield... at least its supplemented by hunting..." Fang Yuan thought to himself.
Fang Yuan stroked his chin and ordered, "Bring over the leaders of the three divisions to accept my authority as their head. Order them to offer me prey and fresh flowers as a symbol of submission! If they don't agree, I will enslave their whole division!"
"Yes, Lord! Your orders will definitely be fulfilled!"
The elderly man clenched his teeth and answered.
"Yuan... this entire mountain and its surrounding areas are all ours?"
Wei was excited at such a sight and her face turned red. She continued, "Such a big piece of land granted to us! We can even relocate the entire Xiangyang Tribe here..."
"Relocating a tribe is not so easy! Of course, if the tribe here does not surrender to me, I guess I will have to do that!"
Fang Yuan intentionally said that out loud such that word would spread which would put pressure on the three divisions.
Fang Yuan walked a few rounds and chose a spot beside a small river on the flat ground, he then said, "We shall camp here tonight, also... prepare to determine a few plots of land for us to lay foundations to build rows of wooden houses! Oh, right... we have to make some bricks! We can't always rely on straw huts!"
Fang Yuan felt it was very novel as it was as though he was playing some sort of primitive civilisation game.
Not before long, the elderly man brought three men over.
"My dear Lord, we are the division leaders of White Mountain, Black Water and Xuan Du, here to pledge our loyalty!"
The three uncivilised looking division leaders brought along animal hides, fresh flowers and other gifts to display their sincerity.
"Hmm, as your Lord, from today onwards, all items that you hand over to Xia Country will be collected by me... Also, I want each of you all to bring over 300 men from your division to be placed under my command!"
As told by Xi, there was an upheaval in southern Jiuli. Hence, Fang Yuan had to quickly build up an army in order to suppress them.
"This..."
In one division, there were only a few thousand people, 300 men would be one-tenth of its population. Furthermore, they had to be strong men, thus, the three division leaders were naturally hesitant.
"Rest assured, under my military training, food and weapons will be provided by me!"
Fang Yuan waved his hands.
"Since that's the case, we will be willing!"
As that was the new Lord's first command, the three division leaders could only clench their teeth and accept it.
"Very good... follow me and survey this Fang Mountain!"
Fang Yuan nodded his head and walked towards the mountain, "What are the specialities that could be found near here? Or are there any dangers around here?"
"Of course there is!"
One of the division leaders replied, "Inside the Secluded Capital Mountain, there are all sorts of black coloured feline beasts, they are extremely strong and vicious! They always attack our divisions and devour our people!"
"Black coloured... beasts?"
Fang Yuan thought about it after he heard what the division leader said.
As the group of them continued, they arrived at the periphery of one of the divisions.
There was a large plot of farmland which was enclosed by a fence. Inside it was some small beasts. Evidently, they were influenced by Xia Country and the people in this division learnt how to rear animals too.
"Lord, this is White Mountain Division!" One of the division leaders stepped out and proudly exclaimed.
"Leader!"
Suddenly, a young hunter ran out from the forests. His body was stained with blood and he exclaimed, "We encountered a black leopard! It chased after us and ate many of our people!"
"What? Quickly prepare to guard against it!"
The division leader was appalled and grabbed his weapon tightly. He then looked towards Fang Yuan.
"A black leopard, interesting! I will take a look!"
Fang Yuan nodded his head and pointed at the hunter, "Follow me!"
"No!"
Although the young hunter was a warrior in this division, he was panic-stricken and flustered, "Don't go! It will kill you!"
"Huuuu!"
Suddenly, the bush rustled and a gigantic black shadow emerged from it.
It was a giant leopard that was twice the height of a human. Its pure black fur radiated with a mysterious glow under the sunlight and its mouth was dripping with blood. As it saw the White Mountain Division, a greedy look could be seen in his eyes.
"Gather the tribe! We will fight this beast!"
The division leader of White Mountain clenched his teeth and shouted, "We can't let it enter our division!"
"Let me settle it!"
Fang Yuan calmly took a few steps and appeared in front of the black leopard, "Scram, kitty!"
"Woosh!"
Fang Yuan's hand glowed with a dark light and the black leopard was stunned at once. Moments later, its huge head fell off and blood gushed out.
"This... this..."
The three division leaders were astonished.
For them, such a ferocious beast had to be trapped by all the warriors in their divisions before it could even be killed. Also, they would have suffered tremendous losses during the process. But now, the new Lord had easily sliced off its head with a wave of his arm.
Such powerful martial art skills made them speechless.
"Haha... speechless right? Yuan is the number one warrior who killed the powerful demon Wu Zhiqi, this black leopard is no match for him!"
Wei laughed and looked at Fang Yuan proudly.
"Lord!"
Moments later, the three division leaders were fully convinced and paid their respects to Fang Yuan.
"Eh, distribute its meat amongst the people in the division!"
As Fang Yuan looked at the black leopard's carcass, an idea appeared in his mind, "I want to enter the mountain to take a look!"
The three division leaders wanted to warn Fang Yuan against it as the mountain was very dangerous, but as they thought of Fang Yuan's powerful martial arts skills, they did not say anything.
...
Inside Fang Mountain.
Fang Yuan swept some vines out of the way and asked, "Other than black beasts, what else is inside this mountain?"
"There's black water that runs through the cracks of the ground which corrodes the earth! Wherever it passes through, nothing would grow!"
The leader of Black Water Division answered.
"Eh? Bring me there!"
As they arrived at a location with mudcracks, indeed, within the low-lying grounds, black water could be seen flowing through it. It was as though the black water seeped out from deep within the earth and it was extremely eerie.
"Ok, let's go back!"
After witnessing it for himself, Fang Yuan did not stay any longer and went back immediately.
Only Wei who was nearest to Fang Yuan could hear him repeatedly mumbling to himself, "It is recorded in : Within the North Sea, there is a mountain named Secluded Capital Mountain. There were black water, mysterious birds, mysterious snakes, mysterious leopards, mysterious tigers, mysterious foxes."
"Yuan, what are you saying?"
Wei was confused at what he was saying and asked him.
"Nothing much... Black Water Division leader!"
Fang Yuan laughed and continued, "From now on, the offerings from your division shall just be this black water! It shouldn't be a difficult task to collect it, right?"
"It's not difficult, of course it's not difficult!"
The division leader was stunned for a moment before he quickly replied.
"This black water looks so dirty, what do you need it for?"
Wei was bewildered at such and asked Fang Yuan after the three division leaders left.
"I'm preparing... to make weapons out of it!"
Fang Yuan smiled sinisterly, "If there were no witches here, this Secluded Capital, which is the Fang Mountain now, might even be the foundation of an empire!"
Fang Yuan had already confirmed that this black water was in actual fact, crude oil!
Of course, without an industrial system, it was useless even if they had a huge oil field. However, there were no problems utilising it for basic uses.
Regarding this aspect, Fang Yuan was not hesitant to follow in the footsteps of people in the past, for example... the Byzantine people!
Wei was even more confused as he listened to Fang Yuan.
"Gather some brass, wooden tubes and craftsmen over! I will tell them how to manufacture Greek fire!" Fang Yuan instructed.
Not bad!
This time around, he wanted to produce Greek fire.
Greek fire was a type of incendiary liquid made out of crude oil, it was also known as liquid fire as it could spit fire. Most importantly, it could not be extinguished by water!
"Although there are still some problems in producing the Greek fire, with the divine techniques in this realm and the Fire Controlling Technique I possess, these problems can be solved... In actual fact, if I was in any other mundane realm, such a power would allow me to rise up. Nevertheless, now that I can allow normal people in this realm to control flames, it would be a killer move during battles! By utilising it well, it can definitely bring us victory!" Fang Yuan pondered.
The Greek fire was not useful to Fang Yuan, however, it was extremely useful for the normal people under him.
Although it was a primitive incendiary weapon, it was already extremely powerful in wars in this early Qin dynasty time period.
Furthermore, not every person in Jiuli Division possessed divine techniques, there were many normal people amongst them too. Thus, such a weapon would be put to great use against them.