Volume 1: Wild Beasts, Changes Begin Chapter 40: Convenient Protection
【Martial Arts Character Template:
Progress towards starting a new crossing: 4%.
Note: When the host is in the main world, killing mutant creatures or humans with special powers can accumulate a progress bar.
Summary: Considering that this is the first time that the host has accumulated the progress bar on his own, a month of special protection will be given to facilitate the host's accumulation of progress. The timer begins. 】
In the Changluo Marquis Mansion, Fang Yunhan was pondering the information refreshed by the martial arts character template after killing the vicious dog.
Over there, Fang Pingbo had regained his composure and was dealing with the bodies of the three guards who had died, arranging compensation and sending them home. Fortunately, although the other dozen guards were injured, they were not in danger of life. If they rested well, they would recover in about two or three months.
Fang Yunhan went to see the guards, secretly used his internal energy to seal the acupoints to relieve their pain, then returned to his room to circulate his internal energy, running it through the eight extraordinary meridians dozens of times. He stood up and practiced boxing, and then carefully checked whether there was any radar map in his mind that specifically showed the location of monsters.
Finally it was confirmed - nothing had changed.
"That's weird. What exactly does this special protection do?"
…
The Great Qi Dynasty divided its vast territory into 15 states, which were divided into prefectures and counties. There were 49 prefectures in total, more than 1,200 counties, and a population of tens of millions.
There are a total of eighteen counties in Donghai County. Seven days after Changluo Hou was attacked by a vicious dog in Qingyu County.
In the mountains and forests of the westernmost county of Donghai County, a team of soldiers were searching carefully in the forest.
The uniforms of these officers and soldiers were rather peculiar. They wore an exceptionally capable leather armor and had a sword on their waist, but it was only a short sword. In their hands they did not hold a spear, but a weapon that looked like a long iron pipe.
They are the Musket Battalion from Donghai County.
In Donghai County, under normal circumstances, the garrison has about 10,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, and 3,000 navy. The musket battalion, with only 500 people, is the one that consumes the most resources among all the garrisons. The bullets and targets consumed in daily training alone cost nearly 300 taels of silver every three months.
This is because after they became proficient in using muskets, live-fire shooting became less common during daily training. When they first started to replace the new muskets, the training intensity was relatively high, and more than 600 taels of silver were consumed in a month. However, the combat effectiveness they demonstrated was definitely worth the money they spent.
"Report! Commander, the forests in this county have been searched and it has been confirmed that there are no large mutant beasts. All the larger dogs raised by people in the county have also been taken to the county government for centralized management."
"Yes." Yu Qingcong, the commander of the Musket Battalion, nodded, turned around to say goodbye to the local county magistrate, and then galloped away with his men.
A large group of yamen runners stood beside the county magistrate, watching the soldiers from the Musket Battalion leave.
A constable sighed, "That's the Musket Battalion. The wolf killed seven or eight of us before, and we couldn't kill it with bows and arrows. I didn't expect that when they came, only two people could solve the problem, and they searched the entire county so quickly ."
"What a pity! The bodies of the strange beasts were also taken away." The county magistrate looked at the last few carriages in the column of the musket soldiers and muttered in a voice that only he could hear, "What a pity! Not a single one was left behind."
Those are all strange beasts. Although they don't look like any of the myths or legends, we can find a few doctors to check whether they are poisonous. Then we can eat them or make them into pills, which will definitely be very nutritious.
The county magistrate felt quite regretful when thinking about the benefits of eating the various exotic beasts described in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas".
On the other hand, Yu Qing returned to the military camp in just over two hours after they left the county. As the commander of the musket battalion, he first dismounted to report to the highest-level patrol general of the Donghai County military.
However, when he arrived at the place, Yu Qingcong found that not only was the patrol general Song Bi Da here today, but even the governor of Donghai County, Qin An, was also in the tent. He hurriedly bowed and saluted, saying, "General Song, Governor."
The general and the prefect did not need to stand up from their seats, but they bowed slightly in return.
The Great Qi was known as a country of etiquette. In addition to offering sacrifices to heaven, gods, ancestors, and respecting close relatives, teachers, and the dead, even ordinary people did not have to kneel when they saw the emperor. When subordinate officials saluted, their superiors had to respond slightly to be considered complete etiquette.
Normally, when a general of such a high rank meets a local governor, he would always be more polite. However, the atmosphere in the tent was a bit heavy today. After Yu Qingcong came in, the patrol general Song Bidada did not try to be humble and let the governor ask first, but spoke directly.
"Commander Yu, have all the issues in Linlin County been resolved?"
"Yes. There were large mutated wild animals in Linlin County, including a bear, a wolf, and a large dog used by a wealthy family in the county to guard their yard. They have all been shot and killed, and there are no casualties among our troops."
Yu Qing secretly glanced at the governor before continuing, "The bodies have been brought back, but it seems that there are also weasels that seem to be mutated in the area. The county government said that they can handle it on their own. After a little consideration, I returned first."
"Thank you for your hard work." Song Bi Da said, "But your musket battalion may have to work harder in the future. You need to gather the ten groups that were originally separated and regroup into four groups. Set off today and go to Pingshan, Bailang, Huiyou, and Qingyu to cooperate with the local yamen runners to search for and kill these mutated creatures."
At this time, the governor Qin An said: "Pingshan can reduce the number of people as appropriate, and Qingyu should increase the number."
After hearing this, Song Bi Da hesitated and nodded.
Yu Qingcong said: "Yes. I will prepare it right away."
After Deng Qingcong left, Song Bidada stood up and walked to the wooden frame where the map of Donghai County was hung. He looked at the new traces on the map and frowned in thought.
Ever since the falling of the star two months ago, some strange rumors have begun to spread among the people. A month ago, the first incident of a black bear growing horns and eating people in the street occurred on the west coast of Da Qi. After that, there have been so-called monster attacks in various parts of Da Qi.
However, after investigation and research by the government, it was discovered that most of these so-called monsters had undergone inexplicable mutations after the fall of the stars. Therefore, the government generally did not call them monsters, but called them - mutant creatures.
"Yu Pian": "异" means strange. "Guangyun": "异" means bizarre.
The word "living things" is taken from "Zhuangzi: The World of Man", and is used to refer to living birds and wild beasts.
The so-called "mutated creatures" refer to animals and birds that have undergone mutations and have acquired strange abilities.
So far, no human mutations have occurred, but among all animals, the number of mutations is higher in creatures that are originally larger in size, such as bears, wolves, tigers and leopards, or innately cunning creatures such as foxes and weasels.
To date, including the three that Yu Qing just reported from the report, a total of seventy-six mutant creatures have been discovered and killed within the territory of Da Qi. The number of mutants in the wilderness that has not yet been taken care of will be even greater than this.
However, starting seven days ago, some sightings of mutant creatures in Donghai County indicated that there may be at least ten mutant creatures in the eighteen counties, approaching the east.
"Why is this happening?" Song Bidada muttered to himself as he looked at the movement trends of the mutant creatures summarized on the map.
