Chapter 372: Chapter 294: Can’t Let You Go Astray

“It’s really you,” Han Yuning said, a little surprised.

“How did you know I had arrived, Instructor? I was actually planning to visit you, but you came first,” Chen Xing wiped the dust off the stone bench before inviting Han Yuning to sit down, “I’ve just arrived here and haven’t had time to tidy up, please don’t mind it.”

“Someone told me,” Han Yuning said, quickly cautioning Chen Xing, “I think there might be someone watching you.”

Chen Xing pondered for a moment, “It’s no trouble.”

“Well, I’ve warned you. The person who informed me is a Beast Tamer in the military, someone I’ve seen but am not very familiar with,” Han Yuning explained.

Feeling somewhat emotional, Han Yuning continued, “I thought you would come, but I didn’t expect you to arrive so soon.”

Seeing a familiar face in a foreign land, and one that had been a great help to him, Chen Xing had a long and happy chat with his mentor, Han Yuning.

Chen Xing mainly shared amusing stories from school, while Han Yuning talked about the local Mercenary Corps.

There was some confidential intelligence that Han Yuning couldn’t disclose openly, so she selected some suitable content to share with Chen Xing.

“I had imagined many scenarios before the war began, thinking it would be a tough fight, but… Jiu Chi City turned out to be even more ruined than we expected,” she said.

“Jiu Chi City used to be called the little overlord of the northwest. Now, only the words ‘little overlord’ are left,” she added.

“Really?” Chen Xing was surprised. In the reports he had seen before, Jiu Chi City had been portrayed as a powerful enemy.

“It’s true. The recent battles made me realize something: any strong force without external threats will face the greatest danger from within,” Han Yuning said with a complex expression, “I’m very relieved that Great Xia still has powerful adversaries reminding us at all times.”

“It was also through a captured Beast Tamer from Jiu Chi City that I learned a truth: the actual military funds reaching the hands of the lower-level Beast Tamers is less than one quarter,” Han Yuning revealed.

“Less than one quarter?” Chen Xing’s eyelid twitched.

This was the military after all; throughout history, countless emperors have proven one thing with their heads: you can default on anyone’s money, but you must never shortchange the soldiers’ pay.

The fact that Jiu Chi City had not collapsed could only mean that the power of the top Beast Tamers was enough to deter those below them.

“Yes, and Jiu Chi City has strict rules. Residents must join the City Guard Army and serve for at least five years upon reaching adulthood. And if they don’t want to serve, they have to pay a hefty fine. It’s said that in Jiu Chi City, there’s a saying: ‘A true man doesn’t join the army; only Beast Tamers from poor families join the City Guard Army,” Han Yuning explained.

Chen Xing suddenly understood why the strength of Jiu Chi City was inadequate.

The quality of the troops was poor, and with such low military funding, there was no money to buy resources—how could the strength of Beast Taming possibly improve.

And with so little money, how could the City Guard Army of Jiu Chi City remain loyal? To put it bluntly, with such meager pay, what life would they be willing to sell?

“But what I mentioned only applies to the mid and lower-level Beast Tamers. The upper-level Beast Tamers in Jiu Chi City are living large, and a significant portion of the military funding has been embezzled by them. Their strength is not weak; many are high-level and transcend ranks, but they can only fight when the wind is at their back. It’s hard to get those high-rankers to fight desperately,” Han Yuning shared.

The war intelligence Han Yuning shared with Chen Xing was very helpful.

Afterwards, Han Yuning left, and Chen Xing escorted her to the gate.

Then, Chen Xing called over Zhao Guangming.

“Old Zhao, you heard what Lord Gu said yesterday. What do you think is an appropriate salary to offer those retired veterans if we were to recruit them?” Chen Xing asked.

Zhao Guangming found the question challenging, as there was no mention of this in the intelligence reports.

“I think we can first check the prices in Stone City, and then decide,” Zhao Guangming suggested reasonably.

If the price is too low, it would not only make it difficult to report back to the City Lord’s Mansion, but it might also be hard to recruit people.

But if the price is too high, their funds are limited.

Currently they were using funds allocated by their superiors, and every penny had to be accounted for.

Chen Xing nodded, Han Yuning’s words had served as a reminder: they were not from Stone City, nor were they Beast Tamers from Fentian Domain.

If they wanted to recruit locals to fight their own, they definitely needed to offer an appropriate price.

Otherwise, why would anyone risk their lives for them? It was all for the money, after all.

The two took to the streets, and by this time, the sky was no longer bright, and the city was cooler.

There were more shops open in the city than before.

Many of them had a monster’s head hanging outside, indicating that the shop purchased monster materials.

Other types of shops could be found throughout the city, such as Beast Healing shops, monster material processing shops, hotels, pubs, shops of pleasure, and hot spring reception centers…

“This feels different from Longbei City, there’s more of a wild sense of freedom here,” Zhao Guang observed, overwhelmed.

“Why do you act like it’s your first time in an Exotic Region?” Chen Xing wondered.

“How could this be my first time?” Zhao Guangming quickly retorted, “I’ve been to Exotic Regions several times before, but this is my first time in Stone City.”

Several times…

That confirmed it, the second-in-command of their team had about as much experience as him.

He guessed that Ning Yi and Zhou San in the team had also seldom visited Exotic Regions. He remembered that both had shown signs of suffering from “teleportation” sickness when they first used the Teleportation Array.

But though they were all fledglings, Chen Xing wasn’t too worried.

No big deal!

How many times one had been to Exotic Regions didn’t mean much.

After a few more days, they’ll get the hang of it.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep