The small town of Tulsi was not big. There were only a few dozen families in the town, and there were about 500 townspeople. Most of the people in the town made a living by hunting, and most of them were hunters. The town belonged to Baron Maud, and the baron's taxes were just above the food and clothing line of the people. After paying the taxes, there was still a certain amount of money left. It couldn't be said to be rich, but it could be considered a carefree life. The baron had always ignored the town near the edge of the territory. Apart from the fact that the old father of the tax collector would appear in the town every spring, it was very difficult to see the adults in Storm City at other times.
However, this year seemed to be an exception.
Not long ago, a group of soldiers entered the town and brought the baron's recruitment order. All healthy men above 15 and below 50 in the town had to join the army unconditionally. Hearing this news, people were a little flustered. Storm City had conscription all year round, but most of them were voluntary. This kind of forced conscription was still an exception. Under the mayor's mobilization, dozens of people in the town were forcibly recruited.
Every day, he had to train in an open space outside the town and was not allowed to return home until dusk. And next month, they had to follow the army to Storm City. At that time, they would already be true soldiers.
People began to inquire about the reason for the sudden conscription in Storm City. Soon after, they found out that the forced conscription was not only in Tulsi Town. The same thing happened in several other towns under the jurisdiction of the Storm City Council. The men were gathered, given weapons, and trained. Some even said that they would have to go to war soon.
War!
Storm City had not heard of such words for nearly a decade. This was located at the border of the empire. Even though Storm City was already in the upper middle class of the few Sir territories nearby, it was still a barren land for the empire's numerous noble families. No great noble was interested in sending troops to the border, let alone war.
As for Sur City not far away, or the other Sir territory in the Bloodstone Wilderness, they did not have enough strength to compete with Storm City. Over the years, they had been suppressed by Storm City, which made the people of the territory somewhat proud.
But now, war had actually arrived on this land. There was no more terrifying news than this.
In the evening, many women gathered outside the mayor's house. The old mayor sighed and opened the door to let them in. When the women arrived at the house, they asked the mayor to intercede with the adults of Storm City and ask the army to at least let their sons return. The reason was very simple. All the young men in their families had been forcibly conscripted by the army, and their families were almost unable to sustain themselves.
Men were the most important labor force in a family. Now that there was no man in the family, no one plowed the land, and no one went into the mountains to hunt. Sir Maud didn't pay any allowance for it, which made it difficult for every family to make ends meet.
Facing the angry women, the mayor could only promise to go to Storm City to take a look at the situation in the next few days. He would talk about the specifics after he returned. Only then did the women let go of the poor old mayor. Watching them go back, the mayor sighed heavily. How could he be willing to do that? His favorite grandson was also undergoing training outside the town. The mayor's heart ached at the thought of this.
The training outside of town had just ended. After a day of tough training, the recruits' mental and physical strength had been squeezed clean. Their instructor was very satisfied. The men of Tulsi Town had good stamina. As long as they trained and learned the necessary knowledge, they would barely be able to go to the battlefield. However, when he thought of the army that had returned from Sur City, the officer's expression did not look too good.
He had never thought that the two main forces of Storm City, Fury Thunder and Gale, would return miserably, and even Commander Mogu would be captured.
This was definitely a great humiliation!
No soldier was willing to see the army he served lose, so the officer was assigned to Tulsi to train recruits. He did his best, hoping that these soldiers who had walked out from under him would shine on the battlefield. He was very strict, and could even be considered harsh. Once a recruit did not do well, not only would he be punished, he might even be beaten up.
The officer believed that this was the only way they could remember the mistakes they had made and not make them again.
Before dispersing, he counted the number of people and suddenly found that one of the recruits was missing. Wook, the 16-year-old grandson of the old mayor. That slippery kid always failed to complete the amount of training he had set up. The officer had a deep impression of this kid, so when he counted the number of people, he immediately noticed that the boy was not in the crowd.
"Who saw Wook?" He said sternly and locked his gaze on a few half-grown boys who were always with Wu Ke.
The boys' eyes flickered, and the officer pointed, "Five lashes for each of you. This is the punishment you deserve for not reporting. If you don't say it, beat me to death. My subordinates are not allowed to desert. "
The wolf-like soldiers rushed into the crowd and dragged the boys out. Without any explanation, he whipped them. A few men in the crowd were their fathers, and they rushed out angrily. He also subdued the soldiers and gave them a few lashes. Before the five lashes were finished, the youngest boy was already crying and shouting, "I'll say, I'll say. Wook ran away. He said he couldn't stand this kind of training. "
"Damn it!" The officer roared, "Find him and bring him back. If he refuses, execute him on the spot! "
A moment later, a few soldiers pulled a vicious dog with fangs under its lips and left the camp. The sound of dogs barking rang out in the forest. Not long after, the soldiers found Wook in a cluster of bushes. The naive boy still hoped to escape the calamity by hiding in the forest, but unfortunately, he was still found by the dog's sensitive nose.
"Come back with us!" The soldier pointed his gun at him and said expressionlessly.
Wook shouted, "No, you'll torture me to death. Even if I don't die, what about in the future? I still have to go to the battlefield. No, I don't want to go to the battlefield. I don't want to die. "
"The officer said that if you don't go back, you'll be executed now."
"Is that so? In that case, it's better for you to die! "Wook pulled out a dagger and rushed forward crazily. Looking at him, a look of pity flashed in a soldier's eyes. He let go of the rope holding the evil dog. The evil dog immediately pounced forward and started fighting with Wook. Another soldier beside him calmly raised his rifle and shot Wook in the back when he turned over.
The gunshot rang out three times in a row.
Wook fell to the ground and his neck was bitten by the evil dog. He felt his body gradually turn cold. The boy missed the old days so much. Unfortunately, everything could not go back. As the soldier coldly pulled up his leg and dragged him down the mountain, Wook suddenly saw a youth of his age appear in the forest in front of him. The youth's silver head flowed with a faint luster under the moonlight that passed through the gaps in the leaves.
Behind him, a giant snake appeared from the shadows and stopped behind the youth, quietly watching all of this.
Then, the darkness attacked heavily.
After Wook and the soldiers disappeared, Allen patted Bai's head and said, "Let's go. Let's go to the other town and take a look."
Bai lowered his head and let Allen sit on it. Then, he swam gently through the undulating ground of the forest. In Allen's hand was a sketch of the terrain, indicating key information such as Tulsi Town, its population, garrison, and so on. That night, Bai advanced sixty to seventy kilometers in Mo De's territory and passed through three small towns. The information of these towns was recorded on Allen's sketch.
Another day passed.
As night fell, Allen opened his eyes and crawled out of a tree hole. Starting in the afternoon, Allen had been practicing Origin Energy. He continuously provided a portion of the generated Origin Energy to the heart to strengthen this important organ, hoping to have more chances of winning when advancing to the Awakened Realm. Thus, after the long Origin Energy training ended, the increase in Origin Energy was very limited.
However, during this process, Allen's Origin Energy had an extra solemn aura.
He called for Bai, and Wang Snake brought him on his way. More than an hour later, Allen saw the lights of Storm City.
Storm City was located at the foot of a continuous mountain range. There were very strange minerals in the rocks of this mountain range, which would reflect the moonlight at night and show a faint blue fluorescence. Therefore, this mountain range was called the Deepblue Mountain Territory. The other side of the Deepblue Mountain Territory was adjacent to the coast. The sea breeze that blew all year round passed through the mountain territory and into Storm City. As a result, the wind blew endlessly all year round for the people in the city.
This was also the origin of the name Storm City.
From afar, Storm City was about twice the size of Sur City. The back of the city relied on the Deepblue Mountain Range, and on the other side was a towering defensive wall, protecting the entire city. There were arrow towers with spires on the defensive wall, and two black turrets attracted Allen's gaze.
High walls, heavy artillery, and a certain amount of troops. If he wanted to take down such a well-defended city from the front, the price would definitely be high. Allen silently recorded all of this and said, "It's a pity that we can't enter the city. Otherwise, we would have a chance to figure out their troop deployment and the number of troops."
The speaker didn't mean it, but the listener was interested. Bai, who was lying on the side with his big head, opened his eyes and raised his head to arch Allen. Allen looked at it in surprise, "You have a way?"
Bai tilted his head and rolled his eyes, as if blaming Allen for underestimating it.
Allen was both angry and amused. He patted its head and said, "Then I'll leave it to you."
Bai nodded, turned around, and swam into the forest.
At this moment, in the City Lord's Mansion of Storm City, Mo Gu was pacing back and forth in his office with his hands behind his back, looking very irritated. At this moment, there was a knock on the door. Before he could agree, his son Joey strode in. He said in a deep voice, "Father, there's news of Mr. Roger."
"How is it? Has Roger's Slave Hunter Corps set off?" Roger asked.
Joey sighed and said, "Mr. Roger's reply was that we were a step too slow. Before we received the news, his Slave Hunter Corps had already left, so they were unable to support us. "
"What?" Mo De punched the table.
Joey probed, "Why don't we transfer Dick over?"
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
