Among the five basic buildings of a second-class county, the theater would be automatically generated. The Mountain and River Altar, the Crop Altar, and the Calendar Altar could be built as long as one had the blueprints. The most troublesome was probably the Chess Hall. They needed chess players, and this required luck.
Tier 2 County Infrastructure Building: Every blueprint sold for 500 gold.
It was already very difficult to obtain such architectural blueprints from the Rogue Bandit Camp, including the basic architectural blueprints of the grade-1 counties. Because this kind of cultural building basically had no fate with the bandits. Therefore, the Mixed Brigade didn't get any usable building blueprints from the previous operation to suppress the bandits.
As a result, just buying the blueprints for a Tier 2 County required 2000 gold coins.
The population limit of a tier-two county was raised to 50000. Based on the spawning rate of refugees in Shanhai County, it would theoretically take 100 days for the county to reach its maximum population again. Therefore, Ouyang Shuo had to plunder the population through other channels.
Of course, for the other lords, there was still a huge hurdle before they could advance to a Rank 3 County, and that was the restriction of nobility. Apart from Ouyang Shuo, Lord Chunshen, Feng Qiuhuang, Zhan Lang, and Bai Hua were still only Second Rank Earls. Among them, War Wolf and White Birch were only able to become second-class earls by relying on the merit points awarded when they were promoted to a first-class county.
Advancing from a second-class Earl to a first-class Earl required 12 Merit Points. It was practically impossible to obtain so many Merit Points on the main map. Therefore, they were still a long way from becoming first-rank earls.
In other words, even if Lord Chunshen and Wolf Warrior used the players to fill up the population of the territory and quickly upgraded the territory to a second-class county, it would stop there.
It was conceivable that the competition for the next battle mission would be even more intense.
The restriction of nobility also came into play on the suzerains who had recently been promoted to rank one towns. From start to finish, the system did not reward these Overlord players with Achievement Points every time their territory was promoted. They could only earn Achievement Points by suppressing bandits. It was truly a drop in the bucket.
Therefore, if they wanted to upgrade to a second-class town, they would have to go through a lot of obstacles.
The pyramid effect was beginning to show. The importance of the title also began to attract the attention of the lords.
The territory of a second-class county covered an area of 5,000 square kilometers, while the Lianzhou Basin covered an area of 240,000 square kilometers. In other words, Shanhai County occupied 1/48th of the Lianzhou Basin. If the vast land occupied by the nomadic tribes was deducted, the probability of Shanhai County bordering other territories was very high.
As expected, on the second day after Shanhai County was promoted, Song San came to Ouyang Shuo's office.
"Sir, there is important military information."
Ouyang Shuo's spirit shook as he quickly said, "Speak!"
Song San organized his thoughts before saying, "Last month, the investigation mission that Sir assigned to the Military Intelligence Division has already made progress. After the territory was promoted, the few territories that were originally a distance away from us are now at the edge of the new territory. "
"Tell me the details!" Ouyang Shuo said calmly.
"Here!" Song San continued, "This batch of territory is distributed on the east and west sides. There are five village-level territories bordering us on the west side and three on the east side. These villages, they Villages are are all third-level villages.
"How are the defenses of these villages?" Ouyang Shuo's killing intent had already been aroused.
"These level-three villages have a maximum population of 1,000 people. They have one to two platoons of garrison troops. Most of them are the most basic saber and shield soldiers, and some are even militia. Most of them are Sword and Shield soldiers. Some of them are even militia. "Song San understood what Ouyang Shuo was trying to say.
"Then don't hesitate. Get rid of them." Ouyang Shuo made up his mind. He looked at Song San and said, "We will hold an emergency military meeting at four in the afternoon. You and Leng Qian will attend."
"Understood."
After Song San took his leave, Ouyang Shuo called for Clerk Bai Nanpu and asked him to inform the Military Affairs Division Chief Ge Hongliang, Mixed Brigade Commander Shi Wansui, as well as the five Battalion Commanders of the Mixed Brigade to attend an emergency military meeting at the Lord's Mansion.
At four in the afternoon, in the Lord's Mansion.
After Song San and Leng Qian finished reporting on the players' territories on the east and west sides, Ouyang Shuo said, "How can we allow people to sleep next to us? These territories must be eradicated. What does the military have to say about this? "
"What else can we say, Sir? Leave this to the Mixed Brigade. I promise they will do it well." Shi Wansui shouted before Ge Hongliang could say anything.
Ouyang Shuo frowned and scolded, "What are you doing? Are you trying to rebel?"
If the five Battalion Commanders were not present, Ouyang Shuo's words would have been more severe.
Ouyang Shuo realized that ever since he was promoted to Brigade Commander, Shi Wansui had been looking down on Ge Hongliang. How could Ouyang Shuo not be angry?
Ouyang Shuo could not tolerate his subordinates being so spoiled. Even a special-class general like Shi Wansui could not tolerate it. Therefore, he had to nip this flame in the bud.
Ouyang Shuo might look gentle and refined, but once he got angry, there was no one in the army who was not afraid. Even Shi Wansui was silent after being scolded by Ouyang Shuo.
Ouyang Shuo did not want to embarrass Shi Wansui and gave him a way out. He looked at Ge Hongliang and said, "Division Commander Ge, please speak!"
Ge Hongliang was well aware of the situation and felt even more embarrassed. Fortunately, the Lord still trusted him. Ge Hongliang was not like Shi Wansui, who was shrewd. Ge Hongliang collected his emotions and asked, "Does Milord have any time requirements regarding when to deploy the troops?"
Ouyang Shuo was startled and said, "We must finish the battle before the end of this month." The reason why Ouyang Shuo had set it before the end of the month was because he did not want to drag it out until July. At that time, players would die and their levels would return to zero, and all their items would drop. As the first territory to initiate a territorial war, the pressure they had to endure was too great.
Ge Hongliang nodded and said, "As the saying goes, one must first pacify the interior before resisting foreign aggression. There was still plenty of time. Then, this subordinate suggests that we first use ten days of time to wipe out the bandits in the newly added territory. July was coming, and the rice was about to be harvested. He had to first ensure that this batch of food would not be coveted by the bandits within the borders. In addition, with the expansion of the territory, the settlements would also have to move out. It was impossible to develop only the core area of Shanhai County in the territory of 5,000 square kilometers. Only by eliminating the roving bandits and ensuring the stability of the territory can we establish new settlements and open up new farmlands. "
Ouyang Shuo nodded in satisfaction. He raised his head to look at the generals and said casually, "Do you understand what Division Chief Ge said?"
"Yes!" The generals replied in unison, not daring to be vague.
"All of you are generals, not pure soldiers. It is important to kill enemies on the battlefield. However, if you want to become a famous general, you must think of war from a broader strategic perspective. You must be aware of the overall situation. Today, Division Chief Ge has taught all of you a good lesson. I hope you will remember it well. "Ouyang Shuo warned again. He did not specifically mention Shi Wansui's name.
"Understood!"
Ouyang Shuo returned to his office after the military meeting. His territory had just been upgraded, and there were a lot of things waiting for him to deal with.
Beihai County Magistrate Gu Xiuwen had sent an official letter requesting a sum of money from the headquarters to start the construction of Beihai County's first city wall. Beihai County's city wall would be built according to the standards of Shanhai County's second city wall. It would be six kilometers long, twelve meters tall, and six meters wide.
Apart from that, Gu Xiuwen also asked if he could start the construction of Beihai County's subsidiary territory.
After Shanhai County had been upgraded, the three towns were first-level subsidiary territories. They could already develop three more subsidiary territories. However, Ouyang Shuo did not agree to it.
The reason was that Shanhai County, Beihai County, Pool Town, and Friendship Town were too close to each other. Just like what Ge Hongliang had said before, they would only develop the core area. The newly added territories would not be fully developed and utilized, which would result in a huge waste.
The location of the subsidiary territories could not be moved. If it was said that Ouyang Shuo had his own strategic considerations when choosing the locations of the three subsidiary territories — Beihai County, Pool Town and Friendship Town. However, Ouyang Shuo was not prepared to do so for the second level subsidiary territory. He had to wait until the territory reached a certain scale before building the second level subsidiary territory.
Subsidiary territories could not be developed endlessly. The second-level subsidiary territory would be the limit. In other words, the territory could only develop nine more subsidiary territories in the future. Otherwise, Ouyang Shuo would not have thought of building settlements to divert the population and develop the land.
The fundamental difference between subsidiary territories and settlements was that subsidiary territories could grow and could be continuously upgraded. New refugees would spawn every day. As for the settlement, it would be how it was when it was built. Population growth could only be achieved through the reproduction of descendants.
Similarly, if the territory of other players was attacked and occupied, the territory would lose its most important growth potential and become a large settlement. The territory's Teleportation Portal would also disappear automatically.
This was also the reason why Ouyang Shuo did not go on an expedition to destroy other players' territories. Not to mention that he would have to mobilize a large number of troops, he would also have to face constant harassment from bandits along the way. Even if he managed to conquer the territory, he would not be able to get anything other than a few people. It was not worth it. The population captured by the surrounding village-level territories was not even comparable to the mountain barbarian tribes or the bandit camp. It was not a wise move.
Needless to say, the captive population could only be of use to some commoners. Those special geniuses with a certain level were loyal to their original lord, so it wasn't easy to recruit them for one's own use. (To be continued.)
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