Chapter 59: Total Mobilization

Li Ji’s proposal was tempting, but the difficulty of the whole plan was also quite large. Mo Xiaobai dared not make a conclusion lightly, so he looked up at Li Guang and asked, “General Flying, what is the chance that you can enter and exit a Beast Territory safely?”

“If it were in the past, the chance would be about one in ten, but since I joined my Lord’s banner, I feel my Martial Arts have improved greatly. To break through one or two Beast Territories, I have at least a six or seven in ten chance.”

Li Guang’s answer made Mo Xiaobai nod slightly.

He knew what Li Guang meant. Now Li Guang enjoyed Mo Xiaobai’s own Talent bonus and the Attribute enhancement from the Martial Temple blessing, making his initial Martial Arts value a full fourteen points higher than his half-baked starting level.

85 Martial Arts points, versus 99 Martial Arts points.

These two are not even in the same league!

If we also consider Li Guang’s strange Characteristic, which greatly lowers his Commander stat while boosting his Martial Arts value even more,

Then Li Guang can now easily break through the SSS limit of Martial Arts and reach 100+ Martial Arts points.

At that level of Martial Arts strength, let alone in Huaxia, one would be hard-pressed to find a few Generals in the history of the entire Plane who could match him in a one-on-one duel.

“The Beast King in an ordinary Beast Territory is usually a Level 70 Boss, with stats around the S rank. Li Guang definitely has the strength to kill a Beast King now, but inside a Beast Territory, there is not just one Beast King.”

“The legend of Zhao Yun charging in and out of Changban Slope seven times remains just a legend. Even a tiger entering a wolf pack faces life-threatening danger.”

Mo Xiaobai still hadn’t decided whether to choose this path, but he knew he could not hesitate anymore. As a Lord, he could be ignorant, he could know nothing, but the one thing he could not do was waver.

If it works, then it works. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t.

He had to make a call!

“Maogong, order the entire Territory to enter a war readiness status.”

“General Flying, go to the Rattan Armor Barracks and select ten Rattan Armor Soldiers to accompany you to scout the surrounding Beast Territories. If you find anything, immediately have the Rattan Armor Soldiers report back to Daming Village.”

“Jianli, go and select 60 adult villagers to join the Drill Ground and gather 100 Village Soldiers.”

“This battle is the most important one for Daming Village, so please give it your all.”

Mo Xiaobai finally decided to take a gamble. If they didn’t fight, dragging things out until today, tomorrow, or the day after would result in the exact same situation. It was better to start war preparation now.

“I am willing to die for my Lord!”

Seeing Mo Xiaobai’s serious expression, Li Ji and the other two also bowed their fists and replied in unison.

“Go and prepare. I will also go to the Market to see what supplies I can buy and secure the best logistical support for you.”

After dividing the tasks, Mo Xiaobai did not waste any more time. He walked out of the Baron’s Manor with the three Great Generals of the Territory, and the four of them headed off in different directions.

Mo Xiaobai, being a combat level five Lord, could not expect him to pick up a sword and draw a bow now. Fortunately, Mo Xiaobai had no money, but he did have dozens of Gold Coins that he could take out.

Having money in his pocket was Mo Xiaobai’s greatest asset!

Walking into the Market, Mo Xiaobai had just opened the trading panel when he noticed that the prices, which had risen a short while ago, were slowly dropping back down.

“It seems that after last time’s bandit sweep, those Lords with the strength to upgrade to Village Level 2 are mostly ready with enough resources.”

“You guys keep struggling at Village Level 2, but Lord Baron here will not hang around with you anymore.”

Thinking about the reason for the price drop, Mo Xiaobai smiled at the corner of his mouth and immediately started placing orders.

The main supplies he needed to buy were timber and stone.

The timber could be given to carpenters to make bows and spears; the stone could be piled up to serve as rolling stones for guarding the Territory.

One Gold Coin.

Five Gold Coins.

Ten Gold Coins.

When Mo Xiaobai had used up more than twenty Gold Coins in a series of purchases, a particularly special resource selling box appeared before his eyes.

Phosphate Ore!

“Someone has discovered an open-pit phosphate mine inside Dang Mountain?”

“It seems Dang Mountain still has many resource outputs that even we don’t know about.”

Muttering a brief comment, Mo Xiaobai did not hesitate and bought it immediately.

Although the price was higher than that of ordinary Iron Ore, who cared? Mo Xiaobai needed this item now. With the Phosphate Ore, Mo Xiaobai’s confidence in defending Daming Village and upgrading to Village Level 3 increased significantly.

After a round of purchasing, Mo Xiaobai only stopped when the Gold Coins left on his person were reduced to just thirty.

Stepping out of the Market, Mo Xiaobai glanced around the Territory. Li Ji had already started leading villagers to carry resource materials out of several storage rooms.

The sounds of training from the Drill Ground could also be clearly heard by Mo Xiaobai.

Li Guang and the Rattan Armor Soldiers were nowhere to be seen, so they must have left the village and gone into the mountains.

At this very moment, the war machine of Daming Village was fully activated, and all Territory Citizens were contributing their strength to the upcoming battle.

“First, let’s take out the Phosphate Ore. After all, it is a dangerous item.”

Walking into the storage room, Mo Xiaobai immediately spotted the sealed bag marked with the words “Phosphate Ore”. He picked it up and weighed it in his hand; it was quite heavy, weighing more than ten jin.

He had bought all ten units of Phosphate Ore available on the entire trading interface, so the several bags together weighed at least a hundred jin. After storing the bags in his own space, Mo Xiaobai did not disturb Li Ji and walked by himself toward the Dong Family Courtyard.

Arriving at the Dong Family Courtyard, Dong Zhen was reading a book in front of the yard.

Seeing Mo Xiaobai approach, she gently put down the bamboo scroll in her hands: “My Lord, has something happened in Daming Village?”

Although Dong Zhen’s attention was always on her medical classics, she was not deaf or blind, so of course, she could see that Daming Village today was very different from usual.

Everyone was working with tension, and the atmosphere of an approaching storm filled the air.

“I am preparing to upgrade the Territory again, and the next step is to fight a battle against the wild Beast Territories.” Mo Xiaobai nodded with a smile. Since he had decided to do it, he would not show any sign of cowardice or worry. He walked forward and said, “So, that is why I came to ask Miss Jun Xin for help?”

Hearing that Mo Xiaobai was preparing to upgrade the Territory, Dong Zhen showed no emotion and nodded, asking: “What can this humble maiden do for My Lord?”

“I want to tinker with something a bit dangerous. If I get injured or poisoned, Miss Jun Xin must save my life in time.” Mo Xiaobai spoke as a joke, but his words were not actually a joke.

Phosphate Ore is truly toxic, and the thing he wanted to make was also considered a high-risk item at the moment.

Borrowing a small wooden basin from Dong Zhen’s house and filling it with more than half a basin of water, Mo Xiaobai took out the sealed cloth bag and took out the pieces of Phosphate Ore one by one to put them into the water.

“My Lord, what are you going to do?”

“This is Phosphate Ore. Once it gets too hot, it is extremely easy to ignite, so I must cut it into small stone pieces. I can only do this underwater.” Mo Xiaobai explained briefly, then took out a small knife and began to carefully cut the Phosphate Ore under the water.

This was a nerve-wracking and delicate task, but fortunately, Mo Xiaobai had done it more than once in his past life, so he felt quite familiar with it.

However, even with his skill, it was not easy to turn the entire ore block into fragments. Mo Xiaobai worked hard for half an hour, but there was hardly any reduction in the Phosphate Ore inside the bag.

Dong Zhen watched from the side for a long time, seemingly unable to bear it any longer. She took out a wooden basin herself and said: “This humble maiden is also quite curious. Would My Lord mind if I give it a try?”