After reading the letter, Ye Li couldn't help but sighed and said to Ding Si and Qian San, "This is really troublesome. The two groups of bandits under our command now only have about 900 people, plus the 3,000 elite soldiers who will arrive soon, there are only about 3,900 people.
If I want to form a team of 10,000 people, I'm still short of at least 6,000 people. Where can I find so many people
Even if I recruit soldiers in Dongfang County, with the total population here, even if the city is built and some outsiders are attracted, I can only recruit 2,000 soldiers at most. How can I fill the gap of 4,000! ? "
Ding Si glanced at Ye Li and said, "Master, even if the city is built, it is basically impossible for you to recruit 2,000 people. After all, this is a new city, and not many people will be willing to serve as soldiers here.
I think we need to consider the issue of soldiers from other aspects.
For example... There are still many indigenous people outside the border. Some of them live in tribes. If we can start with these tribes, we may be able to gather a lot of people. "
Ye Li was stunned when he heard Ding Si's words, and said, "Can we go outside the pass to recruit people?"
Ding Si nodded and said, "In fact, this place used to be considered outside the Great Wall, and the residents here were considered natives of outside the Great Wall, but now it has become the territory of the Tang State, and these people are considered Tang people.
It’s not that we don’t have the ability to move our territory outside the Great Wall, but because the current power of the imperial court is not enough to defend a larger territory. Once the sphere of influence exceeds the limit of what the military can control, civil unrest may occur.
There are still large areas of unowned land outside our Dongfang County that have not been occupied. This is also because the surrounding countries do not have the strength to advance for the time being.
So it’s actually no big deal for us to recruit soldiers from outside the Great Wall now. When we have enough military strength, we will move the sphere of influence of Dongfang County further outward and annex those indigenous forces whose soldiers we have recruited. Then they will all become Tang people, and our conscription will be reasonable. "
After hearing Ding Si's words, Ye Li finally understood that this was actually possible.
After thinking for a while, Ye Li said, "Then our first goal now is to build the military camp. After it is completed, Qian San, you will be responsible for leading people to investigate the situation outside the surrounding areas."
Ye Li made some arrangements casually.
For the next three days, Ye Li stayed in the manor to practice, until suddenly Ding Si came to report that a powerful monster appeared in Dongfang County and slaughtered a village.
Ye Li was immediately shocked and asked, "How come there are still monsters in Dongfang County!?"
Ding Si said: "There is a place called Black Mountain Ridge in Dongfang County, which has always been an area where monsters live. However, the number of monsters is not large, and their strength is not strong. I have inquired about it. Over the years, there have not been many monsters attacking human settlements.
This is the first time a village has been massacred by a monster like this! "
Hearing Ding Si's words, Ye Li frowned and said, "What monster did it? Have you investigated it?"
Ye Li asked.
Ding Si shook his head and said, “Master, I just received the news and haven’t checked it out yet, but it is said that this monster has a cultivation base above the Divine Appearance Stage and is a giant mountain black-scaled tiger.
I heard from Bashan that this giant mountain black-scaled tiger also appeared in the history of Dongfang County, but it always stayed deep in the Black Mountain Range and rarely came out, so there was almost no record of it hurting anyone."
Ye Li raised his eyebrows when he heard that. If this monster really had a cultivation level above the Divine Appearance Stage, then he would have to investigate it himself.
After all, even Ding Si and his men could not deal with this monster. If they were attacked by the monster, they would almost certainly die.
After thinking for a while, he said to Ding Si, "Tell me the exact location of Black Mountain Ridge, and I will go and investigate it myself. Also, mark the location of the village that was massacred on the map for me."
Hearing Ye Li's words, Ding Si hurriedly took out the map and began to point out the information about Black Mountain Ridge and the massacred village to Ye Li.
However, before he could finish, another guard from the manor came in and reported that there was news that a second village had been massacred near Black Mountain Ridge.
Such news stunned the two men. In such a short period of time, two villages were massacred. The situation was obviously very urgent.
After asking about the location of the village, Ye Li asked Ding Si to mark them all out. Then, without waiting for Ding Si to lead the horse over, he took big strides and galloped out.
Ye Li, who has mastered the pulse of the earth, can run long distances at an astonishing speed, faster than a galloping horse, and the amount of physical energy he consumes is not that great.
The earth seemed to have a special power that could help Ye Li, making every step he took as fast as thunder.
Following the instructions on Ding Si's map, Ye Li moved towards the Black Mountain Ridge at the fastest speed.
He didn't know why this demon beast in the divine stage suddenly rushed out from the Black Mountain Range to slaughter humans, but he knew that if he continued to allow the demon beast to kill, the people in his Dongfang County would become panic-stricken.
In a county full of crises, people will move out quickly and it will be impossible to keep people there.
It took Ye Li nearly two hours to finally arrive near Black Mountain Ridge. He first rushed to the second village that was massacred. Almost all the people here were killed. Only a few people escaped death because they hid in time.
Seeing a young man covered in blood and crying, Ye Li walked up to him and said, "My dear brother, I am the new lord Ye Li. I came here specifically for the matter of monsters. I wonder if you can tell me about the situation here!?"
Hearing Ye Li's words, the young man wiped the tears from his face, then looked at Ye Li and said, "Lord... Lord, you... you are finally here. Almost all the people in our village were killed by that beast.
I was just storing vegetables in the cellar, so I escaped death, but my family... were all... killed by that beast!!!"
As he spoke, the young man burst into tears again.
Ye Li frowned, took a look at the bloodstains, dilapidated houses, and broken corpses all over the village, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.
“Don’t cry yet, do you know how that beast appeared, and where is it now!
Don't worry, I will find it and kill it to avenge you!"
Ye Li spoke again.
When the young man heard Ye Li's words about avenging them, he suppressed his sadness and stopped crying, saying, "Lord... Lord, that beast suddenly came in from the west of the village, and we don't know why it attacked us.
After slaughtering a lot of animals in the village, it went straight east. I don’t know if it went to another village.
I... I feel like that huge monster seems to be very angry, and I don’t know why..."