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Chapter 287: The Astonishing Number of Horses
Chapter 287: The Astonishing Number of Horses
September 25th, 2017
On the grasslands, after a brief day of rest, Lu HaiKong and the Black Gale Legion embarked on their journey to clear out the 'Horse Bandit Camp' locations.
Lu HaiKong surprisingly enjoyed this nomadic lifestyle, and with nothing much happening at the Fort, he was also preparing for the trade with Ye Junru. So, he happily joined the Black Gale Legion in their mission.
The Horse Bandit Camps and similar training grounds like the 'Fort' and 'Flow Camp' were categorized by levels.
Small Horse Bandit Camps had a few hundred bandits, medium-sized camps had around one to two thousand, and large camps had over five thousand bandits.
However, there was only one large Horse Bandit Camp within a three-hundred-mile radius, and Lu HaiKong intentionally left it for last.
Lu HaiKong led the Black Gale Legion, starting from the smallest camps and working their way up. This process essentially replicated the training methods used for the Elite Guard, but the Black Gale Legion was far more powerful.
Especially since Lu HaiKong had arranged for a large supply of crossbow arrows to be sent from the Fort to the Fu Clan Tribe. With ample arrows, the Black Gale Legion's combat strength far surpassed that of the Elite Guard, allowing them to clear out camps much faster and with greater ease.
Another advantage was that the Horse Bandit Camps didn't rely on geographical advantages. Lu HaiKong's forces had already assembled, and those bandits didn't care about the strength disparity. They charged forward recklessly and were easily eliminated by the far superior Black Gale Legion.
Clearing out a small Horse Bandit Camp was usually a swift affair, as the Black Gale Legion vastly outnumbered and outpowered the bandits in individual strength.
Even when facing medium-sized camps, the Black Gale Legion's combat efficiency was remarkable. They utilized their speed advantage and the long-range capabilities of their crossbows to kite the bandits, thinning their numbers. Once the enemy forces were significantly reduced, the Black Gale Legion charged in and swiftly eliminated them.
This simple yet effective tactic allowed the Black Gale Legion to conquer a medium-sized camp with minimal casualties.
However, this tactic wasn't without drawbacks. The extensive use of crossbow arrows during battles significantly reduced the number of horses Lu HaiKong could obtain afterward.
Initially, a small camp could yield over four hundred horses, but with the use of crossbows, they only got two to three hundred. The situation was worse for medium-sized camps; after using crossbows, getting a few hundred horses out of over two thousand was considered a success. This was because medium-sized camps had bandits strong enough to inflict casualties on the Black Gale Legion, necessitating the heavy use of arrows.
In such cases, many horses in medium-sized camps perished during the battles.
Despite this, the rewards from clearing out Horse Bandit Camps were still substantial.
Moreover, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of Horse Bandit Camps on the grasslands. Even if each camp only provided a hundred horses, it would still be enough to fulfill the trade with Ye Junru.
As Lu HaiKong calculated the potential gains from clearing out these camps, he found it almost unbelievable. With dozens of camps, they could easily obtain tens of thousands of horses. It felt like a windfall, leaving Lu HaiKong a bit dazed, as if the world had become slightly surreal.
In reality, the leveling points in the Horse Bandit Camp were different from those in the Mountain Bandit Camp. Their refresh points were not fixed, and they could accumulate. For instance, the small Horse Bandit Camps refreshed once a month, with only five or six appearing each time. However, regardless of whether these camps were eradicated or not after a month, the grassland would still generate five or six new Horse Bandit Camps.
The same applied to medium-sized camps, but their refresh cycle was every two months. Only the large camps required the previous large Horse Bandit Camps to be eliminated before new ones would appear.
There were no outsiders of foreign tribes on the grassland, at least not in the Lu HaiKong region. Under such circumstances, these leveling points accumulated for nearly a year and a half, resulting in dozens to hundreds of Horse Bandit Camps.
In other words, after clearing these dozens of camps, Lu HaiKong could only expect a few small Horse Bandit Camps to refresh each month, yielding a maximum of two to three thousand horses.
Lu HaiKong had not yet grasped this pattern, nor did he need to at the moment. For him, it was enough to focus on the immediate opportunity at hand.
For several consecutive days, Lu HaiKong led the Heifeng Legion across the grassland, clearing Horse Bandit Camps. They managed to clear six or seven camps in a day, and sometimes even eight.
These camps were primarily small Horse Bandit Camps, but despite their limited numbers, the Heifeng Legion could easily handle them. By clearing these small camps, Lu HaiKong ensured a stable income, earning three to four hundred horses each time. With the accumulation of camps, the number of horses became quite substantial.
To improve efficiency, Lu HaiKong had the Fu Clan Tribe's Xiongnu follow behind the Heifeng Legion to handle logistics and support. With their assistance, Lu HaiKong was able to clear six or seven Horse Bandit Camps in a day.
Within seven days, Lu HaiKong and the Heifeng Legion swept through all the Horse Bandit Camps discovered by the Heaven's Eye, except for the large camp.
In the 1619 version, they captured a total of 5 small Horse Bandit Camps and 5 medium-sized camps, acquiring 25,000 horses. As these horses were gradually sent back to the mountain camp, Wang Jun, the greedy lord, couldn't help but see these warhorses as a financial windfall, grinning from ear to ear.
As the manager of the ranch, Wang Shou's hair was turning gray with worry. The mountain camp's ranch was not very large, and the number of livestock it could raise was limited. The ranch was already nearly saturated with several thousand cattle and sheep, and now Lu HaiKong had sent over so many horses that Wang Shou struggled to care for them all. There wasn't enough grass for them to eat, and additional food had to be brought in from the mountain camp.
Wang Jun was aware of this issue, but he wasn't overly concerned. Besides the five thousand horses already pre-ordered, the Wang Family's sales channels had opened up. As long as Li Xiong put in some effort to establish one or two more channels, selling these 20,000 horses should be relatively easy.
Once these 20,000 horses were sold, the mountain camp's finances would be significantly improved.
However, Wang Jun's optimism was a bit premature...
(End of Chapter)
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