Chapter 159 Before the War
In the afternoon of that day, the entire Yishan City began a large-scale mobilization.

The eight C-type battalions assembled and set out as soon as they received the order, with Yishan City and Kelun Fort as the dual centers, each responsible for clearing out the crazy puppets in one direction. At the same time, there were four B-type battalions following behind as a support team in case of any accidents.

Scouts have been sent out three hundred miles away, and the news coming in from all over is that a large number of crazy puppets are moving unusually.

These crazy puppets originally hid in abandoned towns and deep mountains and forests, and had almost no activities on weekdays. Only occasionally hunters or adventurers would encounter a few of them when they entered the mountains.

But now, they have emerged from nowhere, and some of them have appeared on the plains and roads.

On many important roads, scouts only needed to ride their horses to a hill and look down from a high place to see the gathering groups of crazy puppets. Many of them had formed large groups of more than a thousand.

In addition to the crazy puppets, the strange beasts in the mountains and forests also made movements. These strange beasts with low intelligence were also driven by the You Clan. Although they were not as powerful as the crazy puppets, once a beast tide formed, they would still be a serious threat.

Historically, the logistics and support channels between cities were often cut off due to the obstruction of large numbers of beasts. When two armies were fighting, the You Clan would often drive these strange beasts to the front, causing great impact on the human troops fighting in the field.

Many camps in the wild were destroyed by the overwhelming herds of beasts.

Orders were sent one after another from the west camp of Yishan City to all directions by running messengers. More and more people were mobilized.

First, all the adult men in Yishan City’s noble families, merchant groups, and martial arts schools were urgently recruited. Then, all military leave was cancelled.

Su Daoyu, Lin Shuo and others received an emergency order to enter the camp at noon. As disciples of the nine major sects in Beijun, they will set out with other people from the sect in the evening, forming hunting teams to attack and clean up the refugee camp.

This will be a brutal war. All refugees will be driven away. All bandits, demon cultivators, and aliens within sight will be their targets.

Not long after, Su Daoshan and others received orders from the camp commander Zhai Ling and rushed back to the Dingying Camp located in the garrison fort in the south of the city.

Today, the official organization of this Dingzi Battalion is the First Battalion of the Yishan City Militia Dingzi Battalion. The received order is divided into two parts. One part is responsible for the security and order maintenance of Yishan City, and the other part is an auxiliary force, responsible for rescuing the wounded, protecting logistics supplies and cleaning the battlefield.

For a moment, looking down from the air, the entire Yishan Plain looked like a swarm of bees whose nest had exploded.

On the road, troops were being mobilized from other nearby counties and cities, and in the military camps, troops were marching in all directions, followed by countless civilians driving carts. Flags fluttered in the wind, and the sound of horses’ hooves was deafening.

Hundreds of scouts were sent out like hawks to gather intelligence for the large army. There were also small teams of martial artists from various sects, riding their horses and galloping past. Everyone had a look as hard as steel, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.

The garrison fort in the south of the city was also a busy scene.

As soon as Su Daoshan walked out of his barracks, he saw his attendant Wang Tong jumping off a carriage and waving at him, “Young Master.”

Su Daoshan looked carefully and saw that in addition to Wang Tong, there were many familiar people from Sujiabao following behind.

Among these people were the stewards and servants of the Su family, the farmers in the fort, the coachmen and the shop assistants. Among them, Su Daoshan also saw Pingting’s father and third brother.

“What are you doing…” Su Daoshan paused.

“The army has called up everyone in the family. Most of the others are in the camp west of the city. Our team was sent to follow your camp, young master.” Wang Tongdao.

Everyone saluted and greeted Su Daoshan, looking a little embarrassed. Everyone’s eyes were focused on the military emblems on the chest and arms of Su Daoshan’s uniform.

Su Daoshan looked at the carriages driven by the crowd and nodded. Now that troops were deployed everywhere, the logistics capacity was extremely tight. The vehicles of the noble families and merchant groups in the city were basically requisitioned. Obviously, Wang Tong and his men were also one of the logistics transport teams assigned to various places in the army.

However, this is a good thing for them. The army is urgently recruited and the money given is quite a lot. After one trip, one day is equivalent to three days of normal work.

“Okay, you guys follow the military’s instructions. If there’s anything you can’t solve, come to me or Master Feng.”

As soon as Su Daoshan finished speaking, he heard someone calling out, “Daoshan, this way, hurry up.”

The person who greeted him was Xue Long, the deputy commander of the Dingzi Battalion. Su Daoshan had just come out of the barracks and was about to go to the battalion headquarters for a meeting.

“Did you see that?” A young man named Qiu Rui said excitedly as he watched Su Daoshan walk towards the battalion headquarters. “The second young master’s military rank is now a second-class private!”

After returning to the camp this time, the military rank reported by the camp commander Zhai Ling for Su Daoshan had been approved. Now Su Daoshan is the squad leader of the first squad of the first flag, and the military rank emblems on his chest and upper arms have also been changed to second-class armored soldier.

This military rank might not be considered a big deal among the disciples who have already left the sect. But when the eldest young master Su Daoyu came back this time, he was already a first-class soldier.

But everyone knows that the young master has been training in the Mohu Sword Sect for four years. Now he is not only the master’s personal disciple, but also qualified to go out. There is no other person like Su Daoshan who has been promoted to a second-class warrior before officially entering the sect.

“Of course,” Pingting’s third brother Shi Yong said, “I heard from Qing’er that the second young master had made great contributions in the camp before. He even rescued several young masters and young ladies from the Yue family and the Lin family.”

As Shi Yong spoke, he looked so proud that everyone else was jealous.

Everyone knows that the Qing’er that Shi Yong mentioned is Pingting. She is the second young master’s personal servant. Now Pingting is in charge of all the affairs of the second young master’s yard, including the finances. In the future, she will inevitably become a concubine.

With this relationship, the Shi family is in great luck. These days, everyone heard that the matchmakers almost broke the door of the Shi family, just to find a partner for the bachelor Shi Lao San. The girls who want to marry into the Shi family can line up from the east to the west of the fort.

As a result, even the little brats of the Shi family now have a different status among the children in the fort. In the past, the big and the small, they all followed behind others and were often bullied. Now, look around the fort, which unlucky child dares to provoke them?

Who doesn’t know that Sujiabao can be what it is today and everyone can live a stable life, all thanks to the second young master?
“That’s right.” Someone next to him interrupted, “Didn’t the Yue family and the Lin family send big gifts before? However, I heard that the second young master is not that simple in the army. Do you know that yesterday, the two brothers, the eldest and second young masters, had a fight with the disciples of the sect in the west of the city… It is said that in the end, even Mr. Han from the Fiery Army spoke on the side of the second young master.”

“Ah, really?” Everyone became interested and asked.

“I only heard about this matter…”

Su Daoshan walked quickly across the central training ground and entered the north hall of the battalion. In the room, the battalion commander Zhai Ling, the deputy commander Xue Long, as well as five flag officers and twenty squad leaders were all present. Seeing Su Daoshan coming in, everyone greeted him warmly.

Other people in the army might not know it yet, but those present knew it better than anyone else that the young man in front of them had become famous in the front army tent.

Although Su Daoshan had a holiday these days, Zhai Ling and Xue Long were not idle. Han Luheng had called them to the camp and asked them about Su Daoshan’s situation in detail.

After the two answered truthfully, Han Luheng didn’t say much, but just gave them a few light reminders, asking them to pay more attention to the safety of their subordinates and to maintain good relations with the local noble families on weekdays. But even a fool could understand the implication of his words.

The most important thing is that at the end, Han Luheng personally patted them on the shoulders and encouraged them.

Although Han Luheng did not give a single definite answer, Zhai Ling and Xue Long knew that after so many years of hard work in the army, they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and their life trajectory had completely changed. They were no longer the losers who were squeezed out of the main force and sent to the militia.

When this matter is over, even if he cannot rise to prominence, at least he will be guaranteed the position of commander of a B Battalion.

The people in the room were all old brothers of Zhai Ling and Xue Long. They shared the same fate. How could they not be enthusiastic when they saw Su Daoshan?

Seeing that everyone was present, Zhai Ling called them to the table covered with a map and said in a deep voice: “Everyone knows the order issued by the army before. Without further ado, let’s assign the tasks now.”

“The first and third flags are responsible for cooperating with the city guards to ensure the public security of Yishan City. They patrol and guard every day, and focus on checking suspicious persons. Now is a critical moment, and the troops in various places are complicated. We must be careful of the demon cultivators who take the opportunity to sneak in and cause trouble. The exorcism formation is the key target of prevention.”

“Yes.” The first flag chief, Lu Hao, and the third flag chief, Ma Bo, both responded cautiously.

The others exchanged glances and glanced at Su Daoshan with a half-smile, understanding each other tacitly.

Not to mention the third flag, the first flag stayed in the city to patrol the security, obviously thanks to Su Daoshan. Although cleaning the battlefield and logistics support were not very dangerous, it was still worse than being in a heavily-armed city.

Now that we are in the Dingzi Camp, we can ignore everything else but must protect this kid Su Daoshan.

Otherwise, if Wei Zhifei comes one day, or even someone from the Tang family comes to ask, and finds out that the guy who saved Tang Moer is gone, that would be a lot of trouble.

Anyway, in this war, not to mention the loss of Su Daoshan, even if the entire Dingzi Camp was lost, it would not have much impact. Everyone was very clear about their own position.

He’s just a handyman.

“The second and fourth flags, led by Xue Long, will head to Liuxianghe Town to connect with the Sixth Battalion of the Northern Regiment, responsible for battlefield cleaning and logistics transportation. The fifth flag will be at Jiulipo between Liuxianghe Town and Yishan City, responsible for building a transfer station.”

“Yes!” Xue Long and several flag chiefs responded in unison.

After assigning tasks to each flag, Zhai Ling gave detailed instructions on some key points and task details.

Su Daoshan just listened with a dull expression throughout the whole process, looking serious and somewhat shy of showing his timidity as a rookie who had just taken on such an important task. When asked questions, he only answered some conventional ones and didn’t say anything more.

Su Daoshan was very clear about everyone’s attitude towards him. The current arrangement was just what he wanted – his martial arts level of the seventh rank was just enough to kill the enemy among the warriors. Even if he had extraordinary skills, it would not be of any use in a war of this level.

The last time he encountered the ghost demon in the dust storm, it reminded Su Daoshan that in front of a real strong man, he was not even as good as an ant. If it weren’t for the fifth-grade Tang Mo’er and he happened to have the talisman that could restrain the ghost demon, he would have died on the spot.

Therefore, for safety reasons, it is better to stay safe as long as possible.

After the meeting, when they returned to the barracks, Yue Shifeng, Yue Zhen, Lin Xuan, Lin Xian, Lin Yu and other children of noble families surrounded them.

After Su Daoshan was promoted to the rank of military commander and became the captain of the First Squadron of the First Flag, Zhai Ling simply transferred Yue Shifeng, Lin Xuan and others to the First Squadron. Together with the guards from the three great families including Feng Ting, the First Squadron had become a reinforced squadron of forty people.

Neither the children of the noble families nor the others in the camp were surprised by this.

The main combat force of this T-shaped camp is mainly the warriors of several major families in Yishan City. And the children of the aristocratic families are the core of this camp. Now that Su Daoshan has become the leader, it is only natural to put Yue Shifeng, Lin Yu and others in his team.

After hearing Su Daoshan’s explanation of Zhai Ling’s arrangement, everyone looked happy.

No one is a fool, and being able to endure hardship does not mean that one likes it. Being able to stay in the city is naturally better than sleeping in the open air.

Moreover, the dust storm battle a few days ago also made these ignorant young people experience the cruelty of war. Many of the arrogant ones on weekdays have become more restrained now that they have returned.

As they were talking, a guard from the Su family came over and said that someone from Han Gu was looking for Su Daoshan.

When Su Daoshan came out of the garrison fort, he immediately saw Meng Qiaofu, Xie Xunbai and Fan Caiyi, who were waiting by the roadside with their horses.

Su Daoshan stepped forward to greet him. Xie Xunbai looked him up and down with a half-smile, then waved his hand and said, “Let’s talk somewhere else.”

The four of them walked down the roadside slope, passed through a small forest, and came to an abandoned farm.

As soon as he stopped in an open space, Su Daoshan suddenly had a premonition of extreme danger. The hair on his body stood on end, he kicked his feet, and jumped out with a backflip.

Almost at the same time when Su Daoshan jumped backwards, Fan Caiyi suddenly appeared at his side in a mist, and punched him with a lightning-fast fist, almost brushing his nose.

The punch missed, Fan Caiyi snorted coldly, and moved quickly like lightning.

clap clap clap!
Amid a series of explosive sounds of energy, in an instant, Fan Caiyi had already attacked with seven punches and four kicks.

(End of this chapter)