While in his hand, the blade of the Ringed-Blade Sword also flashed a red edge.
"Roar! Die!"
Accompanied by Shi Qiang's ferocious shout, the Ringed-Blade Sword swiftly swung at the leader of the bandits, aiming for his neck.
"Boom!"
The leader of the bandits was immediately sent flying, directly in the direction of Long Chen.
Quick on the draw, Long Chen didn't hesitate and swung his Blood Drinking Blade directly in the sky, drawing a beautiful arc.
The leader of the bandits' head separated from his body in an instant.
It turns out that Shi Qiang's lethal strike had been narrowly blocked by the leader of the bandits, but due to the immense force, he was sent flying. Long Chen's follow-up strike was perfectly timed.
This time, it happened to be a bargain for Long Chen as he directly collected a head.
"Ding! Congratulations on successfully killing the level 25 leader of the bandits, gaining +580 experience points."
"Ding! Congratulations on leveling up to level 12, gaining 5 attribute points to freely allocate!"
Long Chen: .....
All points allocated to stamina.
After the recent battle, Long Chen was out of breath and realized the importance of stamina.
Happiness came too suddenly; he wasn't prepared for it!
So, he quickly cast a grateful glance at Shi Qiang.
But Shi Qiang didn't mind and waved it off.
Because the local NPCs mainly rely on daily practice and training to improve their various attributes, killing these bandits is only a way to hone their martial skills, without the concept of leveling up by defeating monsters.
So Shi Qiang naturally didn't mind Long Chen taking his head. On the contrary, he was very grateful for Long Chen's follow-up strike, and his favor towards Long Chen, who had both strategy and courage, increased even more!
"Ding! Team Leader Shi Qiang's favorability towards you has increased to 72."
In addition to this, Long Chen found a skill book in his system backpack, rated as D-level, and ten taels of silver more.
This was probably a drop from the monsters, but this time, it was a skill book.
Returning his gaze, Long Chen noticed that the remaining bandits, who saw their leader killed, had lost all their courage and were fleeing in all directions.
Long Chen immediately shouted, "Those who surrender won't be killed! Those who surrender won't be killed!"
Upon hearing this resounding voice, the panicked bandits dropped their weapons and surrendered.
Seeing this, Shi Qiang gave Long Chen a thumbs up.
At this moment, a soldier came forward, knelt on one knee, and joyfully said, "Report! Our side lost thirteen of our brothers, while the bandits lost fifty-eight, and thirty-one bandits have surrendered!"
"Good! Very good!"
Team Leader Stone Qiang said with a smile.
In war, there's no avoiding casualties; the only difference lies in how many people die. If they had charged in as Li Wu and he originally planned, they might not only have suffered heavy casualties but also failed to breach the fortress gate!
It's worth noting that in this operation orchestrated by Long Chen, the bandits' bamboo arrow tower didn't come into play, and a lot of their fire oil wasn't utilized either.
So, it was Long Chen who played the primary role in the success of this operation!
Shi Qiang walked up to Long Chen, patted his shoulder, and said, "Jue Ming, you are indeed amazing! Hahaha, we owe our victory to you. So, go and search the bandits' camp or warehouse; there should be many treasures inside. Take anything other than the merchant's goods as a token of gratitude for your help."
Long Chen's starry eyes lit up.
These bandits were typically involved in robbing on the river during their daily activities, and this bandits hideout was considered medium-sized, so there were probably many treasures.
"In that case, I'll be happy to oblige!"
Long Chen smiled, clasping his hands, and then walked into the bandit leader's tent.
If it weren't for him knowing that Shi Qiang's favorability towards him was as high as 72, meaning he could pledge loyalty at any time, he wouldn't dare to agree so rashly.
After all, people's hearts are unpredictable, and who knows if Shi Qiang would set a trap for him intentionally!
But now, Long Chen naturally had no need to worry about this. They were like brothers; he couldn't imagine Shi Qiang would play such a trick.
Entering the bandit camp.
As expected, Long Chen found some treasures that made him ecstatic.
On the table lay a pure white token with three big characters on it: "Village Founding Token."
This was an absolute treasure in the early stages of the "Great Lord" game and was very difficult to obtain.
If Long Chen had the intention to auction it, he could easily sell it for tens of thousands of dollars in the real world.
With the Village Founding Token, he could establish a village, open up his own territory, and become a minor lord.
However, the Village Founding Token could only be used to establish a small village and required a large amount of resources to do so.
According to Long Chen's observations, he would need 500 units of wood, 200 units of stone, and 200 displaced people.
Well!
It seemed like there was much work to be done in the future, and he would need a lot of resources to establish a small village.
Wood and stone were manageable; he could buy them from the market or hire peasants to find these resources.
The issue of displaced people was also easy to solve because they were in a period of Yellow Turban Rebellion, and there were countless refugees.
But the key to solving all these problems lay in money and food!
As long as he solved the issues of money and food, all the rest would be manageable!
Thinking to this point, Long Chen quickly searched the bandit leader's tent.
Half an hour later.
Long Chen looked satisfied, with a deep blue cloth belt draped over his shoulder.
It shimmered with silver and even had a few flashes of gold.
There were several large chests here, all filled with copper coins gleaming with a bronze light.
There were tens of thousands of them.
But Long Chen didn't take them all. He only took silver and gold coins, the type of currency that was easy to carry and had high value.
As for the rest, he left it for the soldiers and the local authorities!
And these silver and gold coins would be enough for him to buy food and materials to build his village!
Truly a belt that kills and burns!
"How is it? Jue Ming, did you have a harvest?" Team Leader Shi Qiang asked with a grin.
Long Chen approached, handed a substantial gold coin, and blinked a few times.
After receiving the gold coin, Shi Qiang was slightly surprised. It seemed he hadn't expected Long Chen to be so generous.
After a pause, Shi Qiang patted his chest and said, "In the future, if you need help, don't hesitate to call me!"
"Good!"
"I plan to establish a village. Would you be willing to become the captain of the village guard for me, my brother?"
Long Chen seized the opportunity and extended an olive branch.
Without much thought, Team Leader Shi Qiang nodded in agreement. His favorability towards Long Chen was already at 72, so he didn't take long to make the decision.
Long Chen felt relieved.
Now, the day for him to establish his own territory was getting closer...
Just at that moment.
A soldier hurriedly ran over, knelt on one knee, and loudly reported, "Report! A bandit has escaped while our brothers were searching for goods!"
"What!?" Team leader Stone Qiang was furious.
...
Xia Cai County, Jiujiang Commandery.
Deep within a hidden river.
There stood a massive river fort within a lush, dense forest.
Outside the river fort's entrance were eight or nine river boats, their hulls wrapped in animal skins.
Four or five slender men stood at the fort's gate, holding long spears.
Their eyes gleamed with coldness as they kept a vigilant watch on their surroundings.
Suddenly, from the thick reed bed in the distance, there were rustling sounds.
Several of them couldn't help but grip their long spears tightly, lean slightly forward, and take on a predatory posture.
In the blink of an eye, a battered river boat swayed as it approached the fort.