NEC Chapter 90: The Ready Guard, Nails That Couldn't Be Planted

The old scribe's work was very solid. He had fished out an eleven-person team of excellent quality from the prisoner camp for Chen Mo.

This was another industry insider tip that only someone well-versed in the unspoken rules could grasp.

The military systems of the southern nations all inherited the traditions of the Sky Empire from its peak period. That is, twelve people formed a basic squad unit, one hundred twenty people formed a company, and so on.

Of course, each country might have different names. For example, the Emerald Duchy called twelve people a "group," one hundred twenty people a "battalion," one thousand two hundred people a "formation," and twelve thousand people an "army."

So, a twelve-person "group" was a minimum threshold. Taking away "one group" of people from the prisoner camp versus taking away a few individuals involved completely different levels of scrutiny, reporting, and review.

By controlling the threshold at eleven people, the old scribe had a word with the camp inspector and brought the people out directly.

In theory, by bringing in someone else, they should be able to pick another eleven, but the old scribe earnestly said that having enough people was sufficient. One shouldn't take advantage too excessively, otherwise it would inevitably invite resentment.

Chen Mo deeply agreed.

The benefit of purchasing prisoners of war was not only that they had no qualification to negotiate with their master's side, but also the very low price.

When redeeming this batch of prisoners from the prisoner camp, on the surface, the seriously wounded were wounded, the sick were sick, the disabled were disabled, and the weak-minded were weak-minded.

Just based on student Chen Mo's noble character of saving the duchy placement rations and proactively solving the employment problem for disabled people, if not for having a couple of Silver Armor mixed in, the duchy should have awarded Chen Mo a medal by rights.

It was precisely because of these two sick and disabled Silver Armor that Chen Mo ultimately still paid a sum, nine gold coins.

Three gold coins went to the prisoner camp's official accounts as redemption fees.

As for the other six, you'd better not ask, and even if you asked, he couldn't tell you.

Just this little money wouldn't be enough for Chen Mo to hire people of the same level from the mercenary guild for even one month.

Moreover, the biggest difference from hiring people from the mercenary guild was that those from the mercenary guild were employees, while those redeemed from prisoner camps were slaves.

Not to mention not having to pay wages, whether to give them food to eat was entirely up to the master's whim.

After all, everyone pulled from the prisoner camp carried magical restrictions.

These things were crafted by first-turn auxiliary enchanters and made into magical scrolls, divided into master and secondary scrolls, coming in pairs.

After opening the secondary scroll, it would create a spiritual energy shackle close to vital points inside the controlled person's body, while the master scroll's function was to detonate this spiritual energy shackle.

Of course, it could also be removed, but due to the intricate spell model, theoretically this thing was like a key and lock. Without holding the key, one could often only resort to forcible breaking.

The danger was extreme.

With this coercive control method, it really wasn't a big problem if the slaves occasionally went hungry for a meal or two.

Of course, if you insisted on working people to death, you'd have to sleep with your eyes open at night. After all, magical restrictions were actively triggered, not passive defense. If someone really wanted to perish together, they could still draw their blade when you weren't prepared.

The old scribe's eye for selecting people was quite sharp, exuding two words from head to toe: suitable.

Among these eleven who had just been prisoners of war and were now Chen Mo's slave attendants, besides the minotaur being Silver Armor level, there was another Silver Armor warrior.

This was an old Silver Armor warrior named Lynn, with a nickname recorded in the registry: Old Limper.

Lynn was already over forty, covered in injuries and ailments, with a disabled right leg. When he walked, one foot was deep and one shallow, looking exactly like a swaying broken bellows.

Two particularly prominent nasolabial folds on his cheeks were deep and long, like knife cuts and axe chops, almost cutting out the lower half of his face separately. This belonged to inherent bitter features plus acquired dejection.

No matter how you looked at it, he should have no hope of advancement in this lifetime.

But the old scribe had taken a liking to him at first glance.

"That bull," the old scribe nudged his mouth toward the minotaur's direction and lowered his voice, "his brain is too straightforward. He's excellent as a charging fighter, but won't do as a leader!"

"The team still needs an experienced old soldier with enough strength to maintain control, to help you arrange things on the road and save you a lot of worry."

"However," the old scribe changed his tone and warned, "this type of old-timer is very cunning! If you're too polite to him, he might pull some deceptive tricks on you. Remember, you need to discipline him from time to time to let him know his place!"

Considering that Chen Mo's journey east to Vast Sea Territory would be long and the terrain winding, the old scribe had selected five ranger scouts for him.

According to his explanation, under equal conditions, scouts could discover enemies first while guards could only defend against enemies, one active and one passive.

The more scouts, the more initiative.

As long as they could discover enemies in advance, they could fight if they could win, run if they couldn't win, and prepare to surrender in advance if they couldn't even run.

Then he gathered four more warriors, and this core small team was complete.

"So, when can I set out?"

Chen Mo was already somewhat impatient. His own territory, domain to roam freely, vast world with great potential!

The old scribe chuckled, "Sir, please don't be hasty."

Having Lynn lead the prisoner squad away first, the old scribe unhurriedly began tallying things up for Chen Mo.

"This journey is quite long, especially the last stretch before entering the Saltwater Flats, all rolling yellow sand. The preparations must be thorough."

"You need sufficient tents, preferably double-layered thick beast hide that's been tanned, various sizes and specifications. You also need to prepare thick ground mats and thick blankets, otherwise when the temperature drops at night, people can't stand it."

"Horses are too delicate and the fodder burden is heavy. It's better to get more durable pack beasts. If you encounter people selling desert giant beetles on the road and the price is right, add some. Those things are tough, can carry heavy loads, and aren't picky eaters!"

Chen Mo had never even heard of desert giant beetles and could only note it down first.

Then the notes kept accumulating.

"Sand sleds and carts must be sufficient, these break down quickly."

"Pack saddles, halters, ropes should all be prepared in double portions, especially ropes: hemp rope, grass rope, leather rope, magic rope, the more the better, you'll need them."

"You need to prepare food for people too. This trip of yours might take months or even years. If you don't want to be cheated by those black-hearted fellows around there, bringing more grain when you go is always good."

"If you really encounter something you urgently need to buy, grain works better than gold coins!"

The old man spoke slowly, but covered everything in detail without omission.

"Glowstone torches for lighting, weapons and leather armor for guards, crossbows and arrows, magic beacons, alarm flares, medicine and bandages, oh and animal medicine too, you should bring some of everything."

"Incense for repelling insects, hoods and scarves for sand protection, eye shields for glare protection, wear-resistant boots, you should buy more of these... such a large group traveling, cooking utensils and eating utensils are essential, fuel must be prepared yourself, and tools like hammers, chisels, saws, and axes, three sets is the minimum..."

Chen Mo rubbed his somewhat swollen head, "How about you help me prepare everything, sir? Rest assured, I absolutely won't let you work for nothing!"

The old scribe quickly bowed sideways, "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. Actually, helping you handle these things is only proper, but because all this inside and out will definitely cost quite a bit, some masters don't trust outsiders to handle such arrangements. This old man was also afraid you might misunderstand..."

Chen Mo slapped his chest, "Money is not a problem. Just tell me how much to prepare, and I'll send it to you shortly!"

"This depends on your specific requirements. How about this, I'll go back and make you a list. You choose, and after you've chosen, I'll help you arrange it. How does that sound?"

"Good, good! Let me ask one more thing, is there any possibility that if I pay more, the earl could assign you to help me for a while?"

The old scribe's eyes narrowed into slits, obviously very pleased by this suggestion.

"Oh my, sir, you flatter me! This old bag of bones is stiff and hard, really can't withstand the wind and sand torment of the Saltwater Flats."

"Since you lack a steward and scribe, I'll help you look around and bring someone for you to see!"

With the conversation reaching this point, Chen Mo was quite satisfied and returned with the deputy city guard's convoy.

The old scribe watched the dust raised by the convoy disappear into the distance before turning around, his figure disappearing into the dark archway of Iron Ridge Pass.

This stronghold that the Emerald Duchy coalition had just captured was now in high alert, a scene of extreme vigilance.

In the rolling hills to the west, large numbers of scout rangers could be vaguely seen shuttling back and forth. Besides small-scale cavalry on the ground, aerial patrol troops in small groups had also joined the battlefield.

The Emerald side inherited the tradition from the Resting Moon Dynasty, using expensive but individually powerful griffin knights. These big fellows with wingspans exceeding four meters were covered in scale-like armor pieces that faintly glowed blue during gliding, the wind element flowing on the surface of their magical armor.

These ace cavalry closely monitored every movement on the battlefield and constantly fed information back to the Emerald coalition's command post.

Earl Liuyun of Cloudmist Domain had already changed into casual clothes and leaned somewhat wearily against a reclining chair left by some previous city guard, his eyes still unable to help but gaze long at the huge military map on the wall.

His gaze rested on the Crystal River.

The old scribe entered the main tent and quietly waited beside him for a while. Only when another stick of incense had burned out and he carefully went to replace it did the earl turn around.

"All finished?" The earl's voice carried a trace of hoarseness, his gaze still not leaving the map.

The old scribe carefully moved the remaining incense aside, waved his hand above the newly lit incense stick, inserted it properly, stepped back a few paces, and only then began to answer, "Half the business is done. I've selected the guard personnel for him."

Earl Liuyun frowned slightly, "Did you plant any sand?"

"Couldn't plant any!" The old scribe lowered his head, "That kid looks like he doesn't understand much, but his eyes for reading people are very sharp. I put in three nails, and he picked them all out."

"Oh?" The earl immediately became interested and sat up halfway, "What happened?"

The old scribe brought back a section of magical slate recording.

This was a necessary process for selecting people from prisoner camps, to prevent anyone from abusing their position for personal gain and deliberately releasing important enemy figures.

Under normal circumstances, this document would only remain with the prisoner camp inspector and be submitted to the duchy after some time. However, with the earl's influence, copying a magical image wasn't difficult.

The earl stared intently at the magical image. Chen Mo quickly asked each person a few simple questions, all of which the old scribe had already asked once and recorded in detail.

"What's your name?"

"Where is your hometown?"

"What tier level are you?"

"Do you know what I'm selecting you for? Can you be obedient?"

After asking, Chen Mo pointed with almost no hesitation and said to the old scribe, "This person, I don't like!"

The magical image had no progress bar function and could only be played completely from beginning to end or stopped midway and restarted from the beginning.

The earl watched it three or four times, even changing two crystal stones, but couldn't see any clues.

Chen Mo just pointed so directly: take this one, don't take that one.

Several people that even the earl couldn't detect flaws in despite the old scribe's guidance were just casually pointed out and discarded by Chen Mo.

The earl put down the slate and went through it again in his mind, still feeling somewhat incredulous, "Just like that, all the nails were pulled out?"

"Yes. After he finished selecting, I went back to check again. Besides our own nails, there were other territories' unexposed spies, spies left by Greenspine, and even one who was a minor divine knight from Mistmoon..."

"I suspect he has some detection tool or spell on him, otherwise it's impossible for his judgment to be so sharp."

In fact, if the old scribe had put in more people of other races at the time, Chen Mo would have been completely blind.

The device on his chest was called a "Humanoid Creature Micro-expression Analyzer." After two module upgrades by East Xia, its analysis precision was now extremely high.

But if you put a fishman in front of the analyzer, even if you burned out the chip, it couldn't read what this big-eyed bubble fellow meant.

The earl laughed self-deprecatingly, "Indeed someone with backing. How could he be so easy to deal with!"

"By the way, you said earlier that half the business was done. What's the other half?"

The old scribe explained about Chen Mo entrusting him to purchase supplies and recommend a steward, "Mainly to ask for your instructions, should we still try to plant nails among the support staff?"

"Forget it, forget it!" The earl waved his hand, "Among prisoners, you can explain that it's normal for there to be mixed fish and dragons with some ill-intentioned people, but if people you arrange separately get exposed, that would be too embarrassing."

"Paven told me clearly: don't get too close, but don't offend either."

"However, there is one thing that needs to be investigated thoroughly!"

"In Cloudmist City, exactly who is providing him support? Where does his endless stream of money come from?"

Where it came from, the various forces in this situation who were paying attention to Chen Mo could more or less guess some of it. It must be coming from the Sky Empire.

This point was known by Marquis Zircon of the Greenspine Kingdom and Earl Liuyun of the Emerald Duchy.

A few high-ranking members of the Mistmoon Divine Court, who had close relations with Greenspine, had heard some whispers, and individual Resting Moon nobles with close ties to Emerald had also heard something.

Even the Sky Empire's spies distributed across this land who had infiltrated the management levels of various countries had heard that some unknown force from their homeland had sent a reckless fellow who had openly intervened in the southern situation and even gained the right to establish a domain.

Several intelligence agencies that didn't report to each other had all begun cursing while conducting self-investigations and seeking instructions.

So many people knew, who didn't know?

That's right, it was the person involved himself. Chen Mo didn't know!

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