However, at this moment, a lord spoke up, "Alliance Leader Ao Si, I have a suggestion, I don't know if I should say it."
"Speak quickly if you have something to say," Ao Si urged.
"Actually, we don't necessarily need to act ourselves. We can completely hire others to do it. Of course, we need to offer them something they'll be satisfied with," the lord quickly revealed his idea.
"Hire other lords to help!" Ao Si's eyes lit up at the suggestion. This idea was indeed excellent and very suitable. As long as the price and items were agreed upon, there would be no need for them to act personally.
"Who can you contact?" Ao Si had never considered this issue before and naturally had no connections. He looked at the other party.
"I know a mercenary lord. They specialize in this kind of work and are quite famous worldwide. However, what they require is very difficult to find, so we need to be mentally prepared," the other party replied.
Ao Si immediately said, "Arrange a time and have them come to my territory. No matter the conditions, we should at least listen."
Although Ao Si was not favored by the Leide family, he could still enjoy the family's resources and capabilities. Through this, he was confident he could obtain what the other party needed.
"Alright, Alliance Leader Ao Si. I believe the enemy will soon pay a heavy price," the person replied.
...
Zhou Yan was unaware that Ao Si was preparing to hire other lords to deal with him. Even if he knew, Zhou Yan would simply face any challenge as it came, defeating as many enemies as appeared.
Zhang Liang spent a long time tallying the battle losses before reporting everything to Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan listened to the approximate battle losses, nodded to indicate he understood, and that was it. Da Feng Novel Network.
War, after all, boils down to money, logistics, and consumption.
When Zhou Yan lacked nothing in terms of money, had ample logistics, and abundant reserves, knowing the general situation was sufficient.
Through this battle, Zhang Liang's capabilities had been fully demonstrated, proving how crucial a strategist was. Without Zhang Liang's strategy, their casualties would likely have been much higher.
Bai Qi and the others were indeed outstanding commanders, but when it came to schemes and stratagems, professionals were more formidable.
Zhang Liang was not suited to be the Minister of War; being a military advisor was his true calling. However, Xuan Ning had not yet considered anyone capable of replacing Zhang Liang, and the current number of soldiers in the territory was not excessive, only a few hundred thousand. This matter could be deferred.
As usual, the fallen soldiers were resurrected, and all matters of the territory were handled. Zhou Yan resumed his routine life.
The soldiers could continue hunting demon beasts for treasure chests. For now, they had no time to attack other territories. Firstly, there was no need, and secondly, they had no interest. Only if an enemy truly angered Zhou Yan would he order the annihilation of their territory.
Meanwhile, the Ao Si Alliance began contacting those mercenary lords. However, the other party was also busy and couldn't come immediately, though they did agree on a meeting time.
Ao Si was helpless and could only wait for the other party to meet him before proceeding.
For a time, both sides entered a period of brief calm.
However, at the end of the month, Zhou Yan summoned everyone back to the territory because the school trials were scheduled to begin at the start of the next month.
With the territory summoned back by Zhou Yan, he finally awaited the start of the Ziwei Academy trials.
As the head instructor Yang Junming arrived in the classroom, every student was quietly awaiting the commencement of these trials.
With only thirty days left, the new year was approaching. They hoped to achieve good results during these thirty days to return home.
Yang Junming looked at the many students and said, "You're all very curious, aren't you?"
"Yes," the students replied.
"It's good that you're curious. I won't tell you what the trial is," Yang Junming said with a laugh.
"Hiss!!!!" The students looked disgusted.
Yang Junming naturally wouldn't tell them; even he didn't know what the trial entailed. The school's trials were not something the instructors could arrange. However, they had offered some suggestions.
Whether their suggestions were adopted, they didn't know.
"Let's go, gather up," Yang Junming led the students to the plaza. Students from other classes had also gathered there.
To their surprise, besides these inner disciples, there were also outer disciples.
The students were all very curious why outer disciples were participating in this trial.
Don't mention the students; all the lead instructors were bewildered. However, they not only couldn't speak about it but also had to pretend they knew all along, acting as if they had known for a long time.
This was quite frustrating.
But this was the style of Ziwei Academy; what could they do?
This time, the one who spoke was the elder who could emit sounds without opening his mouth, the same one from last time. He asked everyone to be quiet and then said, "The trial will now begin. The rules of the trial are very simple: just survive for as long as possible."
"After all disciples enter the teleportation array, you must summon your territory within ten minutes to begin the trial. Also, there are quite a few good things in this trial this time."
Upon hearing this, the disciples were speechless. Damn, it was explained in one sentence, so simple.
However, compared to trials that involved a lot of rambling, the disciples surprisingly found this quite good.
This trial seemed a bit peculiar. It didn't specify what was inside or how long it would last, only telling them to survive as long as possible. This implied that dying inside would merely result in being teleported out.
Since there was no risk of death, there was nothing to fear.
A teleportation array appeared in front of them. The array was large, and anyone who walked into it would immediately disappear.
Ye Bufan and others approached Zhou Yan and said, "I wonder if we'll meet this time."
"That's hard to say, as the elder didn't give many details, only that we should try to survive for as long as possible. This proves that after we enter, we should face many monster attacks, and there should also be quite a few good things inside tempting us to take them."
"This means we not only need to protect our territories but also send people out to search for treasures. This trial, which seems simple, can actually test many aspects."
Zhou Yan briefly expressed his views.
"Your mind works quite a lot, doesn't it?" Luo Yushuang said upon hearing this. She hadn't thought that far.
"That's because you're stupid. Anyone normal can deduce a lot of information," Ye Bufan unceremoniously attacked his own sister.
"If I'm stupid, then why aren't you? Don't forget, we're from the same mother," Luo Yushuang retorted.
"I'll ask later if you were picked up from a garbage heap."
"You are!"
...