Such a brilliant record.
Lauren observed the black donkey's demeanor, which showed no hint of arrogance. His tone suggested he had merely accomplished a trivial task.
What's going on?!
Such an achievement, if rendered in service to the royal family of the Tatu Kingdom, could earn one a knighthood as a commander.
"Boss, did I cause you trouble?" Seeing Chen Yu remain silent for a long time, Black Donkey hesitantly inquired, feeling uncertain.
He swore to heaven that his actions were solely to meet Chen Yu as soon as possible.
In fact, this was precisely the case.
If they had bypassed those towns and city-states, it would have required a considerably longer journey. Some towns and city-states did not permit legions of tens of thousands of soldiers like Black Donkey to pass through. He wished to reach Fengqi City sooner.
Conquering the city was the most concise and effective method.
"Trouble, not really any trouble," Chen Yu shook his head.
The matter had already transpired, and pursuing the root cause was utterly meaningless. Furthermore, Black Donkey's conquest was expanding Chen Yu's territory.
The only potential issue was that the royal family of the Tatu Kingdom might dispatch troops to quash them.
Chen Yu did not care.
His relationship with the Tatu royal family was already at this point. Moreover, the royal family was currently preoccupied with its own affairs. If they truly had the surplus capacity to govern external cities, the internal strife in the various cities would not have escalated to the point where cities were seized by those holding the Xiaolian token or by larger bandit groups.
"I'm more curious how you managed to conquer them."
Chen Yu gazed at the map route, which would affect numerous cities.
"Over a hundred cities."
"Alas, don't even mention it. I'm almost embarrassed to speak of conquering them," Black Donkey waved his hand and pouted. "These cities were either already in chaos internally, or their defenders were mere trash. My men entered their cities as if walking on flat ground. They broke open the city gates and went straight to the city lord's mansion, and the city was captured. For the larger cities, I searched the granaries for resources. For the smaller cities, I didn't even search; I left a centurion and continued on my way."
"Meaning these cities are not under our jurisdiction?"
"They are!"
Black Donkey's eyes widened, and he spoke earnestly.
"Boss, didn't you hear me? I left a centurion in the smaller cities, with a thousand men under his command. For the slightly larger ones, I left a general, and then in this location, this location, and this location..." Black Donkey pointed to three points on the map route, dividing the line segments evenly. "In these three cities, I left my subordinate generals, each leading twenty thousand troops to expand outwards. Any problem in any of these cities can be resolved by them in the first instance. The line I conquered belongs to our Free City."
"How many troops do you have?!" Chen Yu was stunned.
Leaving a thousand men in small cities, ten thousand in larger ones, and twenty thousand under each general. Calculating this way, Black Donkey had left over two hundred thousand troops to garrison the cities.
"My legion has three hundred thousand men."
"..."
"That doesn't include the reserves," Black Donkey licked his lips. "There are twelve thousand reserves. You called me in such a hurry that they haven't even been trained yet. I've now handed them over to Er Gou."
"Where did you get so many soldiers?"
"Recruited."
"Our Free City only has a population of over a million. You've recruited three hundred thousand soldiers and twelve thousand reserves. Are you trying to die?!" Chen Yu glared and cursed, "Are the people in the city not going to live? Are you raising so many soldiers to rebel? Are Kuka and the others in a similar situation to you?"
"I don't know about that."
Black Donkey shook his head and shrugged.
"Since we separated, we've barely seen each other. I don't know how many soldiers they have, and even if I asked, they might not tell me. Anyway, I have this many soldiers. And I have no intention of rebelling against you, so don't blame me. I don't recruit all my soldiers from our city; I also recruit from the surrounding towns. My legion offers good welfare and benefits, so they are willing to join me."
"How good are the benefits?"
"Upon joining the corps, they receive a basic salary of 5 silver coins per day. Seventy percent of the proceeds from missions are kept by them, and I retain thirty percent for camp construction." Black Donkey pursed his lips and spread his hands. "As you know, I've never been interested in wealth. Keeping that stuff is useless, so I give it all to them."
Not to mention, Black Donkey's welfare and benefits were truly excellent.
Chen Yu could not even provide that.
"Boss, how do you plan to handle those cities?" Black Donkey moved closer to Chen Yu. "It's not that I think it's a drain on my legion's manpower, it's just that those people don't know how to manage cities. What I've had them do is coordinate resources and then divide them uniformly. This works in the short term, but it's not a long-term solution."
"Did you conquer the cities on this line?"
"No."
Black Donkey shook his head and said with narrowed eyes.
"I was in a hurry to find you, so I didn't have time to deal with those dilapidated cities. But these cities are no different from those that already belong to us. This one path I've taken directly cuts off their connection to the royal city. If you want them, Boss, I can send a message to my subordinate generals, and within half a month, these cities will be taken!"
"No need to be so hasty."
Chen Yu shook his head, but he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Having too many cities was indeed a problem.
He hadn't even properly dealt with the cities on the Fengqi City side, and Black Donkey had already conquered a line of cities for him. Although these cities were difficult to manage, Chen Yu had no intention of giving them up.
According to the planned strategy, these were the cities Chen Yu intended to conquer.
Earlier, Chen Yu had mentioned to Little Devil the need for resource transfer, which required completely clearing the route between the Free City and Fengqi City.
Black Donkey had inadvertently accomplished this task for Chen Yu.
He had no reason to refuse them.
Besides, in times of chaos, who would complain about having too many cities?
"Continue to execute your plan for these cities as before, coordinating resources and then standardizing the methods," Chen Yu murmured softly. "While this method may not be sustainable in the long run, it can be maintained for the time being. I will consider the solutions for future matters, so you don't need to worry about it."
"Understood."
"Thank you for setting up camp here with your men tonight. Do not enter Fengqi City."
"Boss, what do you want me to do?"
Although Chen Yu said nothing, Black Donkey immediately grasped the deeper meaning.
"Lauren, give him the location of the camps you investigated." Chen Yu glanced sideways slightly. Lauren paused for a moment and then silently handed the investigated location to Black Donkey.
The moment he grasped the information about the camps, Black Donkey gave Chen Yu a knowing look.
"Received. I will absolutely handle it well for you, Boss."
"Do you know what to do?" Chen Yu raised his eyebrows. Black Donkey grinned and said, "After following you for so long, don't we have this much tacit understanding? My legion is a group of bandits who coincidentally entered the territory of Fengqi City. We rob for wealth but do not kill. All the camps will be razed. If you want to survive, report to Fengqi City. If you dare to wander in the wild, I will deal with you."
"Understood."
Black Donkey said nothing and raised his hand to pat his chest twice. Everything was understood without words.
This was precisely why Chen Yu wanted to keep a few people who had followed him previously by his side. These people had climbed up from the bottom with him; they had the tacit understanding that was needed, and they were much easier to work with than the staff in Fengqi City.
"Boss, I will definitely handle things for you, but can you get me some of your hand-sliced canned food?"
"Doesn't Free City export canned food daily? Isn't it the same if you eat that?" Chen Yu was astonished. Black Donkey shook his head. "It's not the same. Your hand-sliced ones feel different from those produced in our city. You haven't been here for some time, and I've been longing for it. Boss... please slice one can for me."
Black Donkey swayed Chen Yu's arm.
Looking at this old comrade who had been with him since the early days, Chen Yu shook his head with a look of helplessness.
"Alright, I'll slice it for you!"