Zhou Yan laughed and immediately rode his horse to the blacksmith's shop in Da Zhou Country. He then summoned all of them, including Qi Wu Huai Wen (Qi Wu), Gan Jiang, Mo Ye, Ou Ye Zi, Pu Yuan, Xu Fu Ren, Zhang Jiu Ya, Tao Hong Jing, Liu Wu Ming, Li Ping Sheng, and Tao An Gong.
He then summoned a few more tailors and made arrangements for them.
He also told them to wait patiently and prepare to forge equipment, and arranged for a hundred soldiers to guard the place.
Afterward, Zhou Yan went to the iron mine outside the city and summoned two thousand miners, ordering them to start extracting ore immediately. Fortunately, there were many mine carts, so he didn't have to build them himself.
Zhou Yan thought for a moment, then summoned another hundred soldiers. He ordered them to summon their mounts and tie the mine carts to the mounts. Once the ore was extracted, it would be pulled back to the city for forging equipment.
After completing all these arrangements, Zhou Yan quickly went to the border city. He then summoned a thousand soldiers and ordered them to garrison the border city.
Zhou Yan also told them, "Once you reach the border, immediately recruit soldiers locally. Offer generous terms. All they need to do is stand on the city walls. They don't need to do anything else, just keep the city gates closed and defend. There are absolutely no enemies who will attack now."
"Yes, Lord." The thousand soldiers immediately began to leave for the border cities of Da Zhou Country.
Da Zhou Country had six border cities, and only five needed to be garrisoned. Since Zhou Yan was currently in one of the border cities, he didn't need any soldiers there. Each city would have two hundred soldiers, along with some recruited personnel, who would stand on the city walls. The purpose was to confuse people from other countries.
As for Zhou Yan himself, he rode his mount alone towards the enemy's city.
In the outside world, those who witnessed this scene were all stunned.
"What is this person doing?"
"He's not planning to attack someone alone, is he?"
"He has just started summoning soldiers, and he's already going to attack someone. Is he trying to catch them off guard?"
"He hasn't even summoned a single soldier yet!"
"Holy cow! This guy's guts are incredible, but perhaps this guy can indeed catch them off guard."
"This guy hasn't even dispatched many soldiers to his own country's border cities, and he's directly going to attack others."
"The soldiers he summoned actually have mounts!"
"And the mounts are not ordinary mounts. Their speed is too fast. If they were prepared, my god, it would be a complete sweep!"
...
Everyone was shocked. No one expected Zhou Yan to take an unconventional approach and start attacking others right from the beginning.
The current students were still understanding the overall situation of their countries, collecting ore, forging equipment, and summoning soldiers to defend their cities. No one was thinking about attacking others.
The soldiers they summoned had no weapons, so how could they possibly attack others?
Because of this, no one expected Zhou Yan to launch a proactive attack.
They could even imagine the situation of the student who was about to be attacked. This would indeed catch them off guard.
However, once the other party reacted, Zhou Yan could at most capture one or two cities. Could he really capture all of their cities?
But, many people realized the purpose of Zhou Yan's actions. Even if he could only capture one city, he could summon another two thousand people, which would be an advantage in the early stages.
"Which country is Zhou Yan attacking?" someone asked.
"It seems to be a student from Sheng Yang Academy."
"That student from Sheng Yang Academy, I wonder if he can react quickly."
"Their soldiers haven't even reached the city yet. My god, I can imagine that city will be quickly taken by the opponent."
"Isn't this equivalent to giving it away for free?"
"No one expected Zhou Yan to do this, did they? If it were you, you wouldn't have thought of it either."
"This is too unexpected. This student is truly not simple."
...
The teachers of Sheng Yang Academy naturally saw the situation on Zhou Yan's side. The critical point was that fate was cruel; the country of one of their students was Zhou Yan's target.
Moreover, their student had started summoning soldiers directly in the imperial palace, and his soldiers did not have mounts. They were currently traveling to various cities on foot.
Compared to the speed of Zhou Yan's mounts, the difference was too great.
They could even imagine that by the time those soldiers reached the cities, the cities would have been occupied by the enemy.
Thinking of this, the faces of the Sheng Yang Academy teachers collectively darkened.
What kind of twisted logic was this? Someone was playing by the rules from the start, and the direction of attack was their Sheng Yang Academy.
The teachers of Sheng Yang Academy already harbored resentment towards Zi Wei Academy, and now with Zhou Yan's actions, their resentment towards him deepened.
Crucially, all eyes were now focused on Zhou Yan's side.
After all, other students were discovering resources, while only Zhou Yan's side had initiated an attack. Naturally, all attention would shift here.
The teachers of Sheng Yang Academy felt that their academy would lose face first, losing a city at the start. Where would they put their pride?
Even Han Li, Leng Yue, and Chu Luo Yan were dumbfounded by Zhou Yan's actions.
"This Zhou Yan truly has a peculiar way of thinking, playing by the rules. He's likely to take the first city," Han Li also laughed.
If Zhou Yan could capture the first city, it would be a matter of great pride for their Zi Wei Academy.
"Do you think this kid's target is just one city?" Leng Yue looked at Zhou Yan, seemingly discovering that Zhou Yan had other plans and was not attacking randomly.
"Oh, what are Teacher Leng Yue's insights?" Han Li asked curiously.
"Let's look at the map." Leng Yue unfolded the virtual map in front of her and zoomed in on Zhou Yan's location, saying, "Da Zhou Country, where Zhou Yan is currently located, is surrounded by enemies."
"Look at the Qing Dynasty country that Zhou Yan is currently attacking. If he can destroy this Qing Dynasty, he will reduce the number of enemies from one direction. He might even not need to garrison soldiers in two border cities."
"Although the Qing Dynasty that Zhou Yan is attacking is not without enemies, look at the other borders of that Qing Dynasty. There is a huge river."
"For enemies to attack, they must cross the river, and that's assuming their enemies have boats. As soon as the enemies cross the river, the Qing Dynasty will definitely discover them and can make preparations in advance."
"The geographical location of this Qing Dynasty is excellent. They only need to focus on defending against Da Zhou Country where Zhou Yan is located. Even the Qing Dynasty's resources are quite good. As long as they develop well, they can gain a significant advantage."