"No, I'm going to the military camp in the war zone!" Long Jianye said with a grimace.
Su Fan was also taken aback. So the other party wasn't here to剿匪营 (jiǎofěi yíng - bandit suppression camp). However, since he was already here, he couldn't let him go.
"What war zone? The bandit suppression camp is definitely better than being in a war zone. Do you think the bandit suppression camp is located in the rear because its strength is not good? Wrong! It's because we are too strong. If we are stationed in the rear, we can provide support at any time if there are problems on the front lines. Do you think you can just walk in?" Su Fan said to Long Jianye with a serious expression.
"Is... is that so?" Long Jianye asked doubtfully.
"Of course! We are the elite troops. Do you know what special forces are? As a resident of Beiling City, you haven't even heard of the bandit suppression camp?" Su Fan asked Long Jianye, his eyes darting around.
Su Fan was certain that Long Jianye had never known about the bandit suppression camp before, otherwise, he wouldn't have come here. As for the reason why a Beiling City resident didn't know about the bandit suppression camp, Su Fan guessed there were two possibilities. One was that Long Jianye had been away from home for a long time and had only recently returned, so he didn't know about the bandit suppression camp. The other was that Long Jianye was lying and was not from Beiling City.
But it didn't matter. Su Fan wanted this person, regardless of who he was, as long as he could contribute.
"Uh, of course I've heard of it. Special forces bandit suppression camp, I came for the reputation of the bandit suppression camp," Long Jianye said with a dry laugh. Special forces? Elite troops? It sounded very impressive. In this kind of military camp, he should be able to gather more useful intelligence than on the front lines.
Su Fan smiled slightly. He had already determined that Long Jianye was not from Beiling City; the lie he casually told was not seen through. If he were a Beiling City resident, he would never have answered like this.
"Go and train with the soldiers. There will be an operation in a couple of days, and you should be able to participate," Su Fan said to Long Jianye. He arranged for him to join the team for training.
Su Fan continued to sit outside the city gate to recruit soldiers. Since he was idle, he might as well see if he could recruit another exceptional person like Long Jianye. However, Su Fan was overthinking. Although he recruited a few people throughout the day, they were all ordinary individuals who could only be trained as new recruits.
Su Fan was a bit troubled. With only about a hundred people, it would be impossible to suppress the bandits. Warfare involved losses. After a few more battles, these people would probably be depleted. Moreover, there were several large bandit strongholds around Beiling City, with dozens of people, and some even with thousands. Could the soldiers of the bandit suppression camp fight ten against one? Su Fan shook his head.
He found Li Changmin and told him about his troubles.
"Is your excellency troubled by our lack of manpower?" Li Changmin asked.
"Yes, with the current scale of a hundred people, it's too difficult to clear out the surrounding bandit forces," Su Fan sighed.
"I can recruit some people. Some brothers couldn't stand the changes in the bandit suppression camp before, so they all chose to leave. I am confident that I can get them back," Li Changmin said to Su Fan after some thought.
"How many can you recall?" Su Fan's eyes lit up as he asked.
"About a hundred should not be a problem," Li Changmin said to Su Fan. He had observed Su Fan for a few days and could see that Su Fan genuinely wanted to strengthen the bandit suppression camp and engage in the business of bandit suppression. Li Changmin fully supported Su Fan.
"That's great!" Su Fan was suddenly overjoyed. A hundred people would directly double the strength of the bandit suppression camp. Moreover, these hundred people were all former brothers of the bandit suppression camp. After being recalled, they wouldn't need much training and could go into battle directly.
"Recall them as soon as possible, let them get familiar with life in the camp, and in the next step, we will take action against Jiguan Mountain!" Su Fan said excitedly. The reason why it was difficult to recruit soldiers now was largely due to the former reputation of the bandit suppression camp. As long as they won a few battles and the reputation of the bandit suppression camp improved, allowing people to see the difference, Su Fan believed there would still be many ambitious individuals willing to join the army.
"If your excellency really wants to lead troops to suppress bandits, I can shamelessly go to the war zone to borrow some troops," Li Changmin said to Su Fan with gritted teeth after a moment of thought.
"Borrow? Would the front-line war zone be willing to lend us troops?" Su Fan asked doubtfully. The front lines must be short of troops when fighting a war, so how could they have spare troops to lend them?
"Your excellency may not know, but the war on the front lines is not intense now. The enemy has suffered repeated setbacks, and our side's war situation is not tense. Many troops are idle. If I go, I should be able to borrow quite a few people." Li Changmin had many former colleagues on the front lines, and if he asked, they should not be stingy.
"No hurry. If you can recall those hundred people, two hundred people will be enough for now. There's no need to waste food," Su Fan was not in a hurry to have Li Changmin borrow troops. The bandit suppression camp did not have much military supplies now, and supporting too many people at once would be a strain. It was better to clear out some bandit strongholds first.
"Then I will go and do it," Li Changmin excused himself from Su Fan and went to work on recalling the soldiers.
Su Fan returned to his room and began to study the map of the mountain strongholds. He was wondering if he could steal some elite monsters. He was still equipped with level thirty gear. With his current strength, he could even instantly kill a level forty elite monster. As long as he wasn't discovered, he could instantly kill an elite monster and then use the Bagua Token to teleport back, without anyone knowing.
Su Fan thought about it and felt it was feasible. If Su Fan paired his skills well, he might even be able to instantly kill a level forty boss. He could start with Liu Lian Wang Fan to control the target, then use Lin Zhen Mo Qiang to increase damage, and then use Ying Wu Zhan to stack the Liu Lian Wang Fan passive. Finally, he would use Lei Ting Wan Jun. Su Fan could deal hundreds of thousands of damage with one strike, so killing a level forty boss was not impossible. Long Jianye, a level forty-five elite, only had thirty-five thousand health. Even if a boss had double that, Su Fan's combo would be enough to instantly kill it.
He decided to act immediately and began searching on the map. Finally, he found a suitable mountain stronghold.
Lei Hu Zhai (Thunder Tiger Stronghold). The stronghold was not large; it was one that had only recently entered the Beiling City territory. There were less than fifty people in the stronghold, and the defenses were lax, making it very suitable for Su Fan to act alone. The information stated that this stronghold was newly established. The leader was a bandit who had fled here and later slowly gathered followers to build this stronghold. It was not well-known in the vicinity of Beiling City, considered a minor group, only slightly stronger than Shui Huo Zhai (Water Fire Stronghold).
Su Fan immediately rode his horse towards the coordinates on the map. Su Fan took two hours to reach his destination. Along the way, Su Fan passed through the hinterlands of many bandits, but upon seeing him in his military uniform, they all abandoned their intentions.