Jiang Yi said very seriously, evidently very concerned about the news in this regard.

Zong Shen's eyes lit up upon hearing this, revealing an interested expression on his face.

In the current development of the territory, what is the most precious?

Population is definitely ranked first, especially farmers, who serve as the basic labor force and are considered a valuable asset and alternative resource.

If one has enough farmers, the daily collection of basic resources alone would be a considerable number.

And by using training books, farmers can be fully trained into soldiers; compared to training books, farmers themselves are even more precious.

Currently, most Lords have more soldiers than farmers, still in the initial development stage focused on armed expansion.

Zong Shen is no exception; he has more soldiers than farmers and has over twenty training books that remain unused because of the insufficient number of farmers in the territory.

Rapidly accumulating population helps the territory's development quickly get on track.

Transforming from an illegal settlement into a legitimate town with complete features like farming, breeding, trade, and personnel circulation.

As for command, Zong Shen is not worried. If he can truly receive the villagers of Odu Village, there must be some heroic-level talents among them, just like how the Dogman Chief commands the Kobolds.

Moreover, the accumulated materials and wealth within the village are also hugely attractive to the Lords now.

"Interesting, thank you for the information."

"Here is a set of iron for you. You can take it to the [Market] to sell and exchange for some urgent materials."

Zong Shen waved his hand boldly and directly took out a set of iron, stacked it in front of Jiang Yi.

A set of iron is 1000 pieces, which is exactly the maximum capacity of one storage grid.

Seeing such a large amount of iron piled up on the ground all at once looks substantial.

Jiang Yi was stunned; this is not a small number. Usually, when collecting, three to four stones are needed to obtain one piece of iron.

Zong Shen still has more than fifty thousand pieces of iron in hand, so giving a thousand to Jiang Yi is not much.

But for Jiang Yi, it means something different; at the ratio of 1 to 2.5, this set of iron is equivalent to 2500 pieces of basic resources like wood, stone, and hemp. Even if you don't exchange it for basic resources, you can trade it for other materials.

These thousand iron resources are definitely a big gift.

Zong Shen saw that Jiang Yi was not accepting it and added with a generous tone.

"Take it; you won't be shortchanged rolling with me."

Hearing Zong Shen say this, Jiang Yi then accepted these iron resources, gaining a deeper understanding of Zong Shen's strength and wealth.

To casually give away a thousand iron resources without blinking, how wealthy must Zong Shen's fortune be?

After Jiang Yi accepted the resources, he seemed to remember some more information and quickly added.

"I've seen similar situations on the [World Channel], where some Lords have gained a lot of benefits because of it."

"Besides rescuing the village, if during the process you cooperate with the expeditionary army sent by native forces, it's easy to gain affinity with the natives. Once the affinity reaches a certain level, you can spend Continent Dinars to recruit a certain number of native troops."

"Of course, some Lords have also cooperated with those heretics, the church, bandits, and roving bandits, but this often leads to suppression and expeditions from the natives."

"In addition, there are not only farmers but also a small number of heroic-level figures among the village natives."

Jiang Yi shared all the information he knew about the native villages with Zong Shen in one breath.

The Lord actually has a lot of freedom; they can cooperate with the Kingdom Forces of the natives or engage with the evil forces wandering around. The choice is basically in the hands of the Lord themselves.

Regarding the situation of Odu Village, although most Lords would think of taking advantage of the chaos during the natives' expedition, it can't be ruled out that a small number of Lords might choose to cooperate with the Calamity Raven Church.

After all, even a squad of Bang City Army from Boss Bang was destroyed by the Calamity Raven Church.

This shows that this heretic force is not just an insignificant entity but strong enough to rival the regular army of the natives.

Now perhaps Lentates Giant City above Boss Bang needs to dispatch the Knight Order or an expeditionary army to deal with the Calamity Raven Church.

The territory of a Giant City is vast, and the mobilization of the regular army, even if done day and night, would take several days to arrive.

Before the major battle breaks out, now is the best time to explore the situation.

Zong Shen already had plans in mind; since he was free today, he decided to make a trip to Odu Village.

"I want to head out now to check the situation in Odu Village."

"The Burrow's refresh intensity is due in an hour. My soldiers will stay here and help you clear out the Burrow Monsters."

Zong Shen thought for a moment and told Jiang Yi his decision.

"The Burrow Monsters are rampant outside, and it might be dangerous for you to go alone.

"How about I accompany you? I know where Odu Village is and can guide you."

Jiang Yi surprisingly offered to accompany him, but Zong Shen waved his hand.

"No, it's better if I go alone; it's less likely to be noticed."

"As for those Burrow Monsters, I'm actually not concerned; their movement speed is too slow."

Zong Shen casually explained, jokingly saying that he wasn't worried about the Burrow Monsters posing any threat to him. Not to mention other methods, just being able to deploy Demon Deterrence was enough to let him walk fearlessly among the Burrow Monster Swarm.

However, he naturally wouldn't tell Jiang Yi so explicitly, as the Demon's Heart was one of his trump cards.

Seeing him so confident and determined, Jiang Yi didn't insist further.

He called over Pigsy and Marie, instructing Jiang Yi to take care of Marie, and ordered the other warriors to cooperate with Jiang Yi in defending the territory.

Then, he leaped onto Pigsy's back, left Jiang Yi's territory through a gap in the barricade,

Pigsy's massive body was like a small truck, bullying its way through the Burrow Monsters in its path, then raised its four hooves and charged westward.

The Burrow Monsters tried to block its way, but Pigsy sent them flying like bowling pins.

Such a straightforward and rough way of moving made Jiang Yi, who was observing from the territory, watch in astonishment.

Odu Village was to the west of Jiang Yi's territory, which was also the southwest of Zong Shen's own territory.

At this moment, there was a golden arrow in front of Zong Shen that guided his way like a navigator, even thoughtfully marking the remaining distance.

The entire journey was a total of 33.6 kilometers, and moving at Pigsy's speed, slightly slower than a Grassland Horse, they could reach the vicinity of Odu Village in no more than forty minutes at full speed.

The Burrow Monsters along the way couldn't stop Pigsy's advance; smaller monster swarms were scattered with just one charge.

If they encountered a larger monster swarm, Pigsy would cleverly choose to detour.

Even when faced with the Flying Stone Gargoyle Swarm, Zong Shen only needed to activate the Demon Deterrence to easily disperse the entire swarm.

On the way, he passed several territories and casually took a glance; in general, they had about six or seven soldiers and four or five farmers.

The most wretched one had almost all its buildings dismantled and was hiding with his men in the Lord's Courtyard to resist.

The only Elemental Arrow Tower stood inside the courtyard, constantly shooting sharp arrows.

As Zong Shen passed by, he casually deployed Demon Deterrence, temporarily lifting his crisis.

The Burrow Challenge might affect many Lords' travels, but it couldn't stop Zong Shen.

More than half an hour later, he could see Odu Village in the distance.

The village was still several kilometers away, and to avoid being noticed by the Calamity Raven Church people, Zong Shen chose not to head directly to the village. Instead, he rode Pigsy to a small forest on higher ground nearby, observing the situation inside the village from afar.

He had used Demon Deterrence to disperse the surrounding Burrow Monsters to prevent them from affecting his observation.

From afar, Odu Village appeared much smaller than Sitanos Village. According to Jiang Yi, the total population of Odu Village should be seven to eight hundred, while Sitanos Village's population was nearly three thousand, showing a significant size difference.

Odu Village was a typical small settlement with low presence; even Traveling Merchants rarely stayed there, no wonder it became the Calamity Raven Church's primary target.

On the Endless Continent, beliefs varied greatly, with many evil and extreme churches, all collectively referred to as Heretics. Their missionary teams roamed around, often plundering indigenous villages for followers and resources.

The surroundings of Odu Village were originally flat grasslands, now dug with densely packed pits of varying depths.

These pits were meant to deal with the Knight Order, as any ground mount would be affected by such dense pits, and the Knight Order was the most agile and intimidating force within any Giant City.

Clearly, these guys had a lot of experience in dealing with the Knight Order, not the first time they've raided villages and kidnapped people.

This also indicated that these guys indeed had backings, fully confident and obstinate, daring to resist until the end.

Bang City Army generally consisted of Tier Two Soldiers as its standing army, while the Knight Order and Expeditionary Army within Giant Cities were often composed of Tier Three, Four, and even a few Tier Five Soldiers.

Their combat effectiveness was incomparable, and the strength of the Calamity Raven Church Heretics occupying Odu Village was undoubtedly on par with Giant City Level forces, which made them so arrogant, even capable of easily annihilating a Bang City Army of 120 soldiers.

Given the strength of these Calamity Raven Heretics, the Odu Village was far beyond what the current Lord could consider.

It's even possible that the Expeditionary Army and Knight Order from a Giant City would suffer losses.

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