Chapter 84

Chen Hai drank a bowl of thin porridge to the last drop, and at that moment, Zhou Jingyuan ran over.

Chen Hai had just returned and was eager to enter the Snake Den Palace to practice in seclusion. He had only had a brief meeting with Zhou Jingyuan and had not had the chance to inquire about the more specific recent situation in the Medicine Garden.

Zhou Jingyuan was currently in charge of managing two iron mines and one refined iron smelting plant in the Medicine Garden. He had over 300 slave laborers under him, and the plant could produce nearly 100,000 pounds of refined iron each month, supplying the casting plant in the Medicine Garden. Although he had not yet entered the Spirit Opening Realm, as a direct subordinate of Chen Hai, he was also one of the management members of the Medicine Garden.

"From now on, the affairs of the East Garden will be entrusted to you, Brother Zhou," Chen Hai said after understanding the situation in the Medicine Garden. He called Rong'er, Juan'er, and two servant women into the room and required them to follow Zhou Jingyuan's arrangements from then on.

Even though Su Zilin was a slave by origin, she had entered the Spirit Opening Realm and was qualified to participate in the management of internal affairs.

Chen Hai had always been suspicious of Su Zilin. Although she had not directly placed spies in the East Garden, and the four servant women and maids had clean backgrounds, Su Zilin's arrangement of Rong'er and Juan'er, who were already in their mid-teens and had somewhat alluring figures and appearances, to serve in his room, clearly had other intentions.

If Chen Hai could not resist the temptation and took these two girls into his room, although others could not say anything, the "charge" of being lustful and lecherous would be hard to shake off for the rest of his life.

Chen Hai could not and had no excuse to drive these two girls away, but he would not let Su Zilin or Chen Su have any more opportunities to interfere in the affairs of the East Garden. Now, he had to clearly entrust everything to Zhou Jingyuan.

"Sure thing!" Zhou Jingyuan agreed readily. He did not think that managing the affairs of the East Garden would be beneath him; rather, it was a clear indication that Chen Hai always considered him a direct subordinate.

Chen Hai's injuries were basically healed in three or four days, and a faint, sharp light appeared in his eyes, which was the most obvious sign of entering the Spirit Opening Realm. Chen Hai's entry into the Spirit Opening Realm, combined with the basic formation of the internal power distribution in the Zhao Ting Hou Mansion, meant that his position as the "young lord" was basically stable.

Following Chen Hai, Zhou Jingyuan knew he would have a bright future. Even if Chen Lie had not yet decided between Chen Hai and Chen Zhang who would be the future Ting Hou heir, this did not affect anything. No one would be preoccupied with such matters.

Chen Lie was in his prime and had the hope of entering the Dao Dan Realm in recent years. Once Chen Lie entered the Dao Dan Realm, he would have a lifespan of 200 years. Even if Chen Hai and Chen Zhang both entered the Ming Qiao Realm, they would not live longer than Chen Lie. At this point, rushing to compete for the position of Ting Hou heir would only make Chen Lie unhappy and have no other significance.

This was also a key reason why internal conflicts in newly rising forces were usually mild.

As Chen Lie's status improved, the Zhao Yang Ting Hou Mansion could gain a large amount of benefits from the outside world, and the share that the direct subordinates could receive would increase significantly each year. If there were intense internal struggles at this time, it would be both foolish and stupid.

Chen Zhang's mindset was somewhat unbalanced, mainly because Chen Hai's image had changed too quickly. From being a negligible and discarded waste, he suddenly became someone who could match Chen Zhang. Chen Zhang could not possibly feel comfortable about this. However, if Chen Zhang were smart, he would not provoke Chen Hai at this time.

After all, at this point, Chen Lie's will decided everything in the Zhao Yang Ting Hou Mansion. Even if Chen Zhang could bring Chen Hai down, losing Chen Lie's favor would not be beneficial.

Under Chen Lie's protection, no one dared to say their wings were hard enough to fly on their own.

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Upon learning that Chen Hai's injuries were basically healed, Chen Su and several other managers also came to pay their respects.

Chen Su and others were responsible to Chen Zhang or Su Yuan, but as the young lord, Chen Hai was currently the highest-ranking person in the Medicine Garden. Even in the Ting Hou Mansion, he was on par with Chen Zhang, Sun Gan, Su Yuan, Xie Quan, and Chen Yu. Therefore, any matters, big or small, naturally had to be reported to Chen Hai.

Even if some matters could not be decided by Chen Hai, they still had to inform him.

The resources that the Zhao Yang Ting Hou Mansion could occupy were far beyond what Chen Hai had previously imagined.

For example, 2,000 slave laborers were bought from Yulong Mansion for less than 20,000 pounds of refined copper; the two iron mines managed by Zhou Jingyuan had veins that extended beyond the Zhao Yang Ting, but they still belonged to the Zhao Yang Ting Hou Mansion, and other forces were prohibited from mining in these veins.

The armor and weapon shops spread across more than 40 cities in the western river region. Once the news was announced, over 100 Xuan Yuan Realm craftsmen came to join. Although the Ting Hou Mansion had invested nearly 100,000 points of sect merit in the joint operation of the armor and weapon shops, the mines, smelting plants, and casting plants in half a year, it had already achieved a balance of income and expenses. Last month, there was even a surplus to subsidize the construction of the Medicine Garden and the disciples' cultivation...

Without the support of the Ting Hou Mansion, Chen Hai and his group would not have been able to achieve this, even with ample time. After all, they could not break the monopoly of the aristocratic families in various regions. The initial establishment of the armor and weapon shop in Mengyi City also relied on the Chen family's name to reduce local exploitation.

At this point, in addition to the personnel used in the joint operation of the armor and weapon shops, mines, smelting plants, and casting plants, the Medicine Garden had over 2,000 slave laborers and 1,000 attached households. Chen Lie's military escort camp was also officially expanded to 1,000 people. The disciples' camp in the Huanglong Yuan Dao Academy, which was also the main reserve force of the Ting Hou Mansion's direct subordinates, was expanded to over 200 people.

The Zhao Yang Ting Hou Mansion was now a well-established force.

The 200 soldiers of the escort camp stationed in the Medicine Garden were led by Ge Tong, mainly based on the initial 30 direct subordinates Chen Hai had cultivated, and expanded by selecting strong and brave people from the attached households.

Next, Chen Hai, accompanied by Ge Tong, Chen Su, and Zhou Jingyuan, visited the mines, casting plants, smelting plants, and medicinal fields, and then went to the southern corner of the fort to inspect the training of the 200 soldiers.

These 200 soldiers were much weaker in combat power compared to the elite soldiers around Chen Lie. The proportion of those with a Xuan Yuan Realm martial foundation was less than one in twenty. In contrast, the proportion of elite soldiers around Chen Lie was over 50%, and among the subordinates led by Chen Zhang, more than 20 had entered the Spirit Opening Realm.

There was no way around this. Even if there were a batch of strong and healthy young people among the attached households, few had a Xuan Yuan Realm martial foundation. After being incorporated into the escort camp, their training time was short, making it difficult for them to achieve much. It was not that Ge Tong was not trying his best.

In the short term, Chen Lie's people were in short supply, and it was impossible to allocate the scarce elite soldiers to strengthen the Medicine Garden.

In other words, whether the 200 soldiers of the Medicine Garden could truly form an elite combat force depended on Chen Hai's efforts to cultivate them.

This was also one of the reasons why Chen Hai and Zhou Jun needed to select 30 private soldiers from the Medicine Garden to bring into the military.

Ge Tong had the important task of guarding the Medicine Garden and could not follow Chen Hai to serve under Li Xianghai. However, during Chen Hai's seclusion for cultivation, he had already selected 30 capable people for Chen Hai to use.

These 30 people, including Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi, had either already entered the Xuan Yuan Realm or were about to enter it. They were indeed an elite force, but if Chen Hai took these 30 people away, the combat power of the 200 soldiers in the Medicine Garden would be even weaker.

Now, the Huanglong Yuan Dao Academy considered the Medicine Garden a solid flank and part of the defense line. Chen Hai could not leave it as an empty shell.

Chen Su, Ge Tong, and other Xuan Yuan Realm cultivators were strong, but without sufficient troops to protect them, they could not hold out for long if strong enemies broke through to their vicinity. Therefore, the defense of the Medicine Garden had to be reasonably and comprehensively equipped to guard against various emergencies.

"I can't take all 30 of them away. If I do, you won't have anyone to use," Chen Hai shook his head and said to Ge Tong, "Qian Wenyi and the others will stay, and Zhao Shan will go with me, but the rest need to be reselected..."

"How do we select them?" Ge Tong asked with a bitter smile.

The Medicine Garden fort had 1,000 attached households. The top dozen or so promising individuals had been selected to join the disciples' camp and sent to the Huanglong Yuan Dao Academy for cultivation. The rest of the promising individuals were already among the 200 soldiers.

If these 30 people were not used and new ones were selected, they would not only fail to become a help to Chen Hai and Zhou Jun in the military but would also become a burden.

"Select from the slave laborers!" Chen Hai said, "Those who are good at archery and can hit a target from 100 paces, those who are strong and can lift a 300-pound tripod, and those who are good at riding, can all join the escort camp. They and their three generations of family members can be directly freed from or redeemed from their slave status by the Ting Hou Mansion..."

"..." Hearing this, Ge Tong was somewhat hesitant, and Chen Su directly questioned, "Young Lord, is this appropriate?"

The Medicine Garden currently had over 2,000 slave laborers, all of whom were demoted to slave status for serious crimes. Among them were rebels, bandits, pirates, and even several exiled wandering knights. In short, few of them were truly good people.

If it were not for the presence of Xuan Yuan Realm cultivators and 200 soldiers in the Medicine Garden, these 2,000 slave laborers would have caused many problems. In the past half year, many of them had attempted to escape.

The rebels from Yulong Mountain, numbering over 100,000, had all joined the He Xiang Army. If Chen Hai selected elites from the slave laborers, there would inevitably be people with ties to the rebels, and there would be unforeseen risks.

Chen Hai naturally knew there would be risks, but at this point, he had no choice but to select over 30 elites. However, he also believed that as long as they were not spies deliberately sent by the He Xiang Army, the risks of selecting elites from the slave laborers would not be too great.

The rebellion of over 100,000 refugees, even if it was part of the He Xiang Army's plot, was mainly due to the desperate situation caused by a major disaster. Many were forced to join the rebels, and even the wandering knights were mostly seeking a better future.

Now, by giving these people a good future and a good background, they could accumulate military merit under his command and even have the prospect of wealth and honor. Chen Hai believed he could win over the majority of them.

Even the exiled wandering knights, he might help them to re-cultivate.

Moreover, only in this way could he immediately select truly elite combat forces with a cultivation foundation.

Furthermore, if he, Wu Meng, and Zhou Jun could not control over 30 subordinates, they should not talk about any grand ambitions.

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