Intensive Training

With the near-miraculous success of the first bandit suppression operation as a foundation, the registration site nearly spiraled out of control when Ye Weian announced the upcoming next operation.

The number of soldiers and militia members applying to join is more than ten times that of before.

The once quiet recruitment area was now packed with people, and there were even shoving and pushing among themselves to get a spot in the front row.

The soldiers also had their own considerations:

The worst thing for a soldier is to follow the wrong commander, end up as cannon fodder, or die an inexplicable death.

"Following the adults means you'll get meat to eat, and following the adults means you'll save your life!" This simple idea is deeply rooted in the minds of the rank-and-file soldiers.

Adding to the rumors about being "favored by the gods," everyone felt that Lord Ye Wei'an might actually be a chosen one of some deity walking among humans, and following such a "chosen one" was surely the right thing to do.

Not only the lower-ranking soldiers, but even the self-proclaimed noble knights within the territory, no longer stayed at home and watched as before.

Some clever people have already started asking around for connections.

Some brought fine wine to Volodya, while others fawned over Kane. Some even begged to become Grand Knight Morey's disciples, hoping to squeeze into the next expedition roster.

These people don't lack the bounty; what they value is the elusive "breakthrough opportunity."

After all, ordinary people don't have a system like Ye Wei'an's that allows them to directly allocate skill points.

In this rigidly hierarchical world, improving one's strength requires not only long-term training and the trials of life and death, but is also subject to the elusive influence of innate talent.

If you don't have the talent, no matter how hard you try, it won't help.

Many knights have been stuck at their current level for years, even decades, and the threshold for breaking through seems like an insurmountable barrier. You can imagine the anxiety in their hearts.

Ye Wei'an is the one who can break the shackles of talent.

Seeing Kane, who was originally inferior to them, advance further, and seeing those greenhorn recruits who hadn't even grown their hair yet become formal professionals, these knights became envious.

Since you've already reached the limit through hard work and talent, why not follow this lord who is favored by the gods and try to seize that sliver of opportunity?

With so many candidates coming to participate, Ye Wei'an no longer had to accept all comers as before, and now had the confidence to be selective.

Ye Wei'an was always clear about his purpose in suppressing the bandits—he was training troops for future expansion.

When it comes to training troops, you naturally have to train your own troops.

Therefore, he timely announced the admission requirements:

To join the next bandit-suppression team, one must pledge allegiance to him and follow him to expand the frontier.

This requirement was like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the feverish enthusiasm of many people.

For landless peasants who had no fixed abode and were so poor that they had nothing left but their lives, and for artisans who had no assets, following a promising nobleman to explore the frontier was a ladder to heaven that could change their fate.

But for the original soldiers and knights of Firefall Territory, this was a huge gamble.

Most of them were "superior people" in the territory, with families and some assets.

For many who were content with the status quo, the risk of abandoning the stable lives they had built up over generations and leaving their families and businesses for that wasteland inhabited by humanoid races and monsters was simply too great.

Even opportunities for breakthroughs cannot erase the risks.

Isn't it nice to just stay in my hometown and be a freeloader?

However, after a brief period of wavering and retreat, quite a few people ultimately remained.

Ultimately, more than two hundred soldiers and a dozen or so formal knights (Lv.3 and above) accepted the terms.

These knights were all sensible men.

In their view, Ye Wei'an's series of actions after returning to Firefall Territory proved that this "young master" was no ordinary person.

In Firefall Territory, at best they could only be hereditary instructors or patrol captains, and that would be the end of their lives.

But if they follow Ye Weian to the frontier and establish real territory, they will become the future Jianxun nobles, and their family crests will be moved up another page in Cormier's history books!

As for the lower-ranking soldiers who were willing to follow, their thoughts were much simpler—following a noble lord who was favored by the gods, could lead everyone to victory, and could also make everyone stronger, what was there to hesitate about?

Faced with such a surge of enthusiasm for joining him, Ye Weian, while pleased, also had to calm down and begin to strive for excellence.

This selection was not due to a lack of financial resources; after all, after looting the Zantalin Society's stronghold, he had enough assets and wealth to support large-scale expansion.

The real bottleneck lies in transportation capacity and logistical support.

Frontier development is not a picnic; it is a desolate, hostile, and extremely difficult-to-supply area.

Ye Wei'an was well aware that he had to prepare for the worst-case scenario of having no output for at least six months.

This means that he needs to prepare at least six months' worth of food, winter clothing, medicine, and the most basic farm tools and building materials for everyone in the team.

Given the current transport capacity available to Firefall Territory and the muddy transportation conditions on the frontier, the transport capacity of supplies has reached its limit.

A large population can sometimes become a burden that drags down the entire territory and leads to its destruction.

Just then, Lady Serena also found Ye Wei'an and begged him to show leniency.

Seeing that a large number of young and strong men and elite forces in her territory were about to follow this "stepson" to distant places, she felt an unprecedented sense of panic—if everyone left, Firefall Territory would become an empty shell.

Going with the flow, Ye Weian conducted further screening.

Ultimately, he kept the number of accompanying soldiers to 150.

These 150 men were all elites among elites, not only possessing excellent physical qualities, but most of them had also proven their courage through previous battles.

These 150 professional soldiers, along with their accompanying families (the proportion of those who brought their families was not high due to the dangers of the frontier), plus the landless peasants, craftsmen, and voluntary followers recruited earlier, brought Ye Weian's pioneering team to a total of 800 people.

For a pioneering noble family that is merely a baronial family and not an heir, an "initial population" of eight hundred is already an extremely rare and exceptional configuration.

Even when the second sons of many viscount families went to explore, they could only bring two or three hundred men with them.

It is worth noting that Ye Wei'an accepted almost all of the dozen or so knights who wanted to serve him, and did not refuse any of them.

In Ye Wei'an's view, ordinary soldiers are not difficult to train; they can be recruited directly from young people.

As long as they have a solid foundation and fighting spirit, and with the help of his system and battlefield command, they can quickly train a group of fierce soldiers after a few bloody battles.

But these knights were different.

They are valuable "mid-level officers" with basic tactical skills and experience in leading troops.

According to the system, it takes a full 900 experience points to level up from Lv.1 to Lv.3, which means that you have to personally kill at least 9 Lv.1 professionals.

This can't be put together in a short time.

In order to train an elite force, the only option left is to put the bandits through some tough times.

For the next two weeks, Hurek Forest near Firefall became a nightmare for the Zantaring Society.

Ye Wei'an wasted no time. He led this newly formed army like a precise scalpel, accurately harvesting the cancer in this forest.

He launched attacks in all directions, and within a radius of a hundred miles, any stronghold of the Santalin Society, whether it was an ordinary outpost or a camp that had been established for many years, suffered devastating blows.

In this clearing operation, the intelligence network that the Zantalin Society was so proud of completely failed.

Although some bribed Purple Dragon soldiers in the area attempted to send messages via covert signals, the messengers were often intercepted and killed by scouts led by Clayb before they could get very far.

Occasionally, a tip-off would be successfully delivered, and by the time the rioters received the message from their informant and prepared to leave, Ye Wei'an's iron cavalry would have already blocked all their escape routes.

The Zantallinn mob was completely stunned.

With the help of the minimap, Ye Wei'an was always able to accurately bypass the enemy's warning lines and directly strike at the opponent's weak point.

"Damn it! How did he know we were here?"

This is the sentence that the leaders of the strongholds heard most often before they died.

Their bunkers, traps, and ambushes were as laughable as children playing house in front of Ye Wei'an.

Most strongholds didn't even have time to organize a proper resistance before their gates were blasted open by a precise barrage of fireballs or arcane missiles, followed by a horde of soldiers eager for battle, who pounced on them like hungry wolves.

After half a month of bloodshed, Ye Wei'an uprooted the power of the Santa Forest Society within a radius of a hundred miles of Firefall Territory.

The stench of blood lingered in the forest, and the surviving members of the Zantarim Society began to flee in droves. Rumors circulated among them that a mad nobleman had appeared in Firefall Territory, and anyone who attempted to establish an illegal order in that land would be utterly wiped out.