Since the plains that had once been ideal for development were no longer plains at all, and no longer suitable for human settlement or growth, the group had no choice but to relocate slightly. They found a relatively flat area and began establishing a camp, ordering the Imperial Guards to cut down the surrounding trees and clear the field of view.
The good news was that all three hundred Imperial Guards were Spirit Masters. Every one of them was well-trained, individually powerful, highly disciplined, and completely deserving of their reputation.
Even compared to the central Imperial Guard of the Star Luo Empire, their quality was in no way inferior. They could be considered among the elite forces of the Douluo Continent.
The bad news, however, was that these guards had all been selected from major noble families. While they possessed all the qualities expected of Imperial Guards, they lacked even the most basic skills necessary for survival in the wilderness.
Their role was that of Imperial Guards. In their daily lives, they had all kinds of support staff and servants handling routine matters for them.
Their status was closer to noble knights than knight attendants. If they were ordered to fight or kill, they would have no problem at all. But if they were asked to handle trivial chores and errands, they were completely out of their depth.
They really did not know how to survive in the wild. Because of this, there were even several Imperial Guards who took axes to cut trees, and after cutting the trees down and piling up the wood, they had no idea what to do next. They had clearly used a lot of strength, but in the end, they had only done half the job.
They were not lazy when carrying out orders, but their worrying ability to survive in the wild greatly lowered their efficiency.
Chen Ming helplessly covered his face and personally stepped in. He began directing these Imperial Guards on how to handle raw materials, how to level the ground, how to set up camp and find water sources, how to remove possible dangers on the ground, where to place sentries, what methods should be used as patrol signals, and what signals should be sent when facing different enemies.
How traps should be dug, how wooden walls should be raised, how to make simple defensive tools like chevaux-de-frise, how to find proper firewood for fuel, where the toilet area should be, where the cooking fires should be placed, and how water should be collected.
Fire-attribute Spirit Masters could dry wood and make it lose moisture quickly. Although this kind of wood could not compare with good wood that had been naturally dried in the shade, at least it could be used.
And although this group of Imperial Guards was a little slow-headed, each of them had enough strength. Added to the help of all kinds of Martial Souls, Chen Ming led them and spent several hours before finally setting up the camp.
Although Chen Ming did not want to curse anyone, after seeing several fully armored Spirit Masters get bitten unconscious by a group of poisonous snakes that did not even count as Spirit Beasts, Chen Ming still felt a little worried about the future of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Qian Renxue and the other experts awkwardly watched Chen Ming command the Imperial Guard like he was commanding servants. Each of them had thoughts in their hearts, but none of them could say anything.
"It barely counts as qualified. If there weren't a few food-system and healing-system Spirit Masters, this would really have been hard to handle."
"This place can only count as a temporary camp. If we want to truly build a proper stronghold, we'll need to find a better place later. It has to be flat and also have a stable water source. Only then can we use it as a base and build a new foothold."
Chen Ming wiped away sweat that did not actually exist on his forehead, then turned to Qian Renxue and complained, "There is nothing wrong with bringing soldiers, but these soldiers are not suited for surviving in the wild. It would be better to use the right people for the right environment."
"That may be true, but these Imperial Guards are the face of the imperial family…" Qian Renxue felt somewhat embarrassed. She had not expected that the guards carefully chosen by the imperial family would still have such problems.
Chen Ming shrugged and said nothing more.
At least under Chen Ming's command, this temporary camp began running in a way that looked fairly proper. Chen Ming arranged shifts for the Imperial Guard and assigned them different tasks.
Faced with Chen Ming's instructions, these Imperial Guards—who had already witnessed his knowledge and status—showed no dissatisfaction whatsoever. Instead, they accepted their assignments wholeheartedly. Everything seemed orderly and well-organized…
Until Chen Ming saw a food-system Spirit Master standing in front of the cooking fire and somehow still managing to burn the rice.
"Fuck." Chen Ming covered his forehead and cursed under his breath.
There was no helping it. Since things had already reached this point, they could only adjust their plans accordingly.
Early the next morning, the old Spirit Douluo whose Martial Soul was the Thunder Fire Sword led some of the faster-moving Imperial Guard soldiers back toward the pass. They planned to bring support troops and logistics personnel over to keep the camp running.
This group of noble knights required at least a one-to-one ratio of support soldiers just to maintain their daily operations.
After being delayed for two days like this, Chen Ming was treated like a living encyclopedia, constantly being dragged around to fix whatever was lacking. Only after the support soldiers arrived did he finally manage to free himself somewhat.
In the forest, Chen Ming looked at Qian Renfeng as he walked out from a dark corner. His expression became rarely serious.
"How are things nearby? Are there still any human settlements?"
"Yes. The nearest human settlements consist of three groups, each numbering around a thousand people. These groups are made up of former Spirit Masters, some nobles, and several family-organized forces. Their capabilities aren't particularly impressive, but they can still be recruited."
"As for the common people…"
Qian Renfeng's face darkened, and he spoke in a serious voice.
"There are roughly a dozen scattered settlements formed by civilians. The largest contains just over a hundred people, while the smallest has only a few."
"Most of them are young and middle-aged adults. There are very few elderly people, women, or children. Obviously, the elderly, women, and children have already met with misfortune during this process."
"Even high-level spirit beasts would not deliberately exterminate these humans, but ordinary people simply can't survive out here."
"Low-level spirit beasts , wild animals, all kinds of dangers within the forest, shortages of food and water, and countless practical survival problems. On top of that, the main roads have been blocked. Not everyone knows about the smaller paths."
"Some wandered directly into danger, while others had no choice but to attempt traveling along the main roads..."
After making a rough calculation, Chen Ming's expression became extremely grim.
"As for the deeper regions, there should still be large human settlements."
"The entire northeastern region originally had a population in the millions. There were also many powerful Spirit Masters among them."
"But..."
"This settlement alone originally had nearly one hundred thousand people."
"Now, fewer than ten thousand are still alive."
"And this was already one of the easiest places to escape from."
...
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