The barracks still hadn't changed — only the Catapult Barracks and the Cudgel Barracks.
If any Lord hoped to hold his camp on these Ancient-Era troop types, it seemed rather unrealistic; he'd have to obtain some stronger barracks blueprints.
Last night, while the mechanical wolves were hunting, a blueprint had finally dropped.
It was the Longbowman blueprint, the most sought-after at present.
【Longbowman Barracks Blueprint】: lets you build a Longbowman Barracks and train longbowmen.
【Build】: 200 wood, 100 stone, 20 iron ingots.
Han Huohuo had no use for it himself. He already had Floaters — an unmatched unit at the same tier, far stronger than longbowmen — so there was no need to train longbowmen at all.
Other Lords, in the early game, relied almost entirely on longbowmen to fend off attacks.
In the Hundred-Thousand Mountains, beggars often wandered about. These beggars could be recruited, but they and the refugees basically had no special skills. Their greatest use was as the most ordinary workers and farmers, or to be trained into troops.
What Han Huohuo needed were talents with special skills, like the three Liu brothers or the Zhang brothers.
Or — should he sell this blueprint?
Just as he was wavering, he remembered he still had a treasure chest unopened.
Back at the Main Base, he saw Liu Long and Zhang Xiao'an measuring out the ground in his little courtyard.
"Huh? What are you two doing?"
"Chief, Liu Long said it's inconvenient for you to share a toilet with everyone, so he dragged me here to make a separate toilet just for this little courtyard of yours — connect the drainage, run it straight to the septic tank, very simple."
"Nice! Nice! You two carry on!"
Han Huohuo hadn't much cared about this sort of thing, but since his subordinates had brought it up of their own accord, naturally he wouldn't object.
He entered the central Hall of Righteous Assembly, passed through the covered walkway on the left, and between the hall and his bedroom found a small courtyard — not big, just over ten square meters. Liu Long had already set up a stone table in the middle, with some tea things on it, and a few bamboo chairs arranged around it.
The three Liu brothers were, after all, workers who'd come from a great household, with refined standards for quality of life — they'd let Han Huohuo enjoy a great household's treatment ahead of schedule.
Han Huohuo sat in a chair and opened the treasure chest.
A brilliant light shot out of the box. Han Huohuo nearly lost his grip and fumbled to clutch the box tight.
A treasure had come out — a real treasure!
【Mythic-Grade Wonder Blueprint: White Tower】
Holy crap!
He just casually opens a chest, and a Wonder blueprint drops? Are you serious?
Looking at the White Tower's stats, Han Huohuo was even more astonished.
【White Tower】: Mythic Wonder
【Function】: all troop types trained from barracks gain one tier; during a siege defense, all defending troops gain 20% health and 20% attack.
【Build】: 1,000,000 wood, 1,000,000 stone, 50 Abyss Crystal, 50 Radiance Gem, 50 Sea-of-Fire Sulfur, 50 Ice-Land Mercury.
These stats were too broken!
This resource requirement was too broken as well!
Normal troops came out of the barracks at Tier 1, and the more battles they fought, the higher their level rose.
Veterans and recruits were not the same thing!
But once this building was up, troops would come straight out of the barracks as veterans — too incredible!
Especially on defense, a 20% boost to all health and attack was an invincible attribute.
One glance showed the build requirements were too absurd; this simply wasn't a building the Ancient Era could afford.
He put the blueprint away — wait until resources were abundant later.
Beside him, Liu Long and Zhang Xiaoping were clinking and clattering away building his private toilet. Han Huohuo felt a bit awkward sitting in the courtyard, so he stowed the blueprint and went out to stroll around the camp beyond the Main Base.
The moment he stepped out, he heard some commotion at the camp gate.
Han Huohuo hurried over and saw three beggars blocking the gate, pleading with Liu Qiang to take them in.
Hard times, the realm in chaos, the common folk displaced — that was why the Hundred-Thousand Mountains were thick with bandits, and the world full of wandering beggars, each one famished. Give them just a little food and they'd slave away for you.
Because Han Huohuo's development didn't rely on manpower, he hadn't gone recruiting these refugees, yet here these refugees were, blocking his own stronghold's gate.
Whoever heard of begging your way up to a mountain chief?
Because Liu Qiang had Han Huohuo's order not to accept refugees, he was about to drive them off.
But Han Huohuo stopped him.
"Let them stay!"
The three beggars were still standing there dazed when Liu Qiang hurried to tell them, "Aren't you going to thank our Chief for the kindness of taking you in?"
"Thank you, Chief!"
Han Huohuo had suddenly changed his mind because he'd noticed that among the three farmers was a young woman, with a decent figure — a waist a little slimmer than a water bucket, and she looked healthy enough...
Don't get the wrong idea!
Hua Mulan, a female general, stuck in a place full of male bandits, would always need a maidservant.
And the watchtower needed people to rotate shifts too!
Later, when things got busy, the smithy and the craftsman's workshop would need helpers as well — work the mechanical workers couldn't do. A stronghold couldn't be all robots; it still needed some people.
The three beggars knelt and kowtowed in thanks to Han Huohuo.
He checked the three's stats, with particular attention to the female bandit.
【Female Bandit】: Cuihua
【Stamina】: 60/100
【Combat Power】: Strength 2, Defense 2, Endurance 5, Intelligence 4.
【Traits】: None.
【Food Consumption】: one unit per day
【Loyalty】: 50
The other two male bandits were named Li Chao and Xiao Yuan, both bandits without any traits, and their stats were poor too.
Han Huohuo tossed the two male bandits to Zhang Xiaoping to help him guard the watchtower, telling him to make sure the camp had someone on watch around the clock.
Zhang Xiaoping was instantly overjoyed!
Then he had Liu Qiang take Cuihua to serve as Hua Mulan's maidservant. Since it was a General's Manor, it couldn't be without a single servant!
To make Hua Mulan lose face was to make the Lord lose face!
Everyone was happy.
Liu Qiang had just started toward the General's Manor with Cuihua when Han Huohuo suddenly stopped him again.
"Liu Qiang, from now on use your own judgment on recruiting — no need to ask me. First, make sure there's no overstaffing, and make sure no department's work is affected.
Also, if you come across anyone with a special skill, bring them for me to take a look."
It was the first time Liu Qiang had received such broad authority. Deeply moved, he hurried to cup his hands. "Chief, how could I dare disobey? I will surely not fail your high expectations!"
"Go on. Take Cuihua over to General Hua first."
"Yes!"
Look at the names — Hua Mulan, Cuihua. Quite a match.
Whistling, he continued inspecting his camp. Everywhere thrived and flourished, and a surge of pride welled up from his chest.
The heroes of the realm — behold this very day!
He wanted to compose a poem, but after straining for ages he couldn't squeeze out a single word. Forget it — yours truly was never the literary type, no need to force it!
Mountains, you're so damned cold!
The autumn wind rose!
The Lord's great banner snapped and flapped in the autumn wind. Han Huohuo was filled with heroic spirit, thinking: when will my banner be planted across all of the Hundred-Thousand Mountains, and I become the true king of bandits here!
At the thought of every peak in the Hundred-Thousand Mountains flying the flag of Black Wind Stronghold, a vast dark sea of them — how magnificent that would be — Han Huohuo got so excited his nose nearly bled.
Hot-blooded, exhilarated!