World Conquest Online

"I can believe that, she is a strong woman." Dom agreed to the woman who was sat amongst the civilians, who all seemed to look towards her for leadership. She was dressed in an expensive dress and beside her was a young boy of around five years old. She was an exceptional beauty, with long black hair and a small beauty mole beneath the right side of her mouth. She wore a silken red dress and her entourage were similar in beauty. Dom asked the system to show her stats.

[Lady Xu Furen

Hero Grade - D

Hero Strength - Divination and Subterfuge

Wife of Sun Yi, the younger brother of Sun Ce and Sun Quan. When her husband was betrayed and killed, she orchestrated the revenge and capture of his killers, as well as maintaining peace in the area. Has some governance skills and has some talent in subterfuge]

Dom was surprised to see another Hero onboard, especially one he didn’t even know he had. She was the wife of Sun Yi and Dom remembered that Sun Ce was going to adopt his nephew Sun Song, the son of Lady Xu.

"Zhou Yu advised that Lady Xu should join us and could potentially be the mayor of Jia whilst we gather more Civilian Heroes." Lucius explained as he introduced the two. Her grade was close to the entry level for Heroes, but for a mayor in his outer towns he primarily needed someone who could do the daily spawns and manage the day to day.

"It’s nice to meet you Lord Lazarus, or should I call you brother in law?" She smiled politely, before looking across at Riverside as they began to pull away. "It’s a beautiful city, peaceful. Everyone seems to be working in the same direction"

"We haven’t had a week of peace since we began." Dom laughed in response, "but Riverside is a peaceful town, full of opportunity. Welcome Lady Xu, it is nice to have you here."

"Thank you, with my Son here, I feel he will be safer from the inner battles of the next generation of the Sun family." She explained seriously, "His uncle Sun Ce has offered to train him and be a father figure to him as he grows."

"I am sure that Sun Ce will do everything he can, he seems to care deeply for his family." Dom replied, as she nodded in response.

"Sun Ce was always wild and uncontrollable, with ambitions for the Sun family. However, when he died, the family became a bit more chaotic and Sun Quan was quick to suppress his siblings in the initial stages. Not Sun Yi though, he treated him well and with trust. I don’t worry for my little Sun Song, but when the next generation grows, I think they would have tried to squash him." She explained, "Now Sun Song is here and can grow up with the uncle most like his father, and his aunt who has the same burning passion."

"They have recommended you to be the mayor of our new town." Dom put forwards to her as they began making their way out of Riverside and towards Tranquillity.

"So I have heard." She replied in a exhausted tone. "Days ago I was relaxing and watching my son grow, then suddenly I am here and having to take up work. But, I will not let my husband’s memory down, nor his brother that has seemingly returned from the dead. I will make sure that Jia becomes the greatest town within your Kingdom."

"I look forward to seeing that!" Dom smiled at her, as he left her and headed to the front where Meritamen, Sun Shangxiang and Shang Yang were stood. Xun Yu and Lucius joined him as they walked past Cheng Pu and Tomoe who were still in conversation. Dom thought about Lady Xu a little more, for someone of D Grade, she had two strengths. Divination was a strange one, however he felt that with Subterfuge as a skill it was more likely that she was skilled at controlling what happened behind the scenes. Part of him felt that she could become a female version of Bagoas that he had struggled with at Tongpai Town. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"So how long to Jia?" Sun Shangxiang asked Dom as he arrived, a gentle smile on her face as she enjoyed being on the impressive warship.

"I would expect us to arrive by early afternoon, we should have a couple of hours there before we need to return." Dom explained to her.

"And then he will not be around for a day or so." Meritamen explained, as Sun Shangxiang seemed to have had this conversation with her earlier and the lack of understanding showed on her face. Shang Yang however moved the conversation on.

"Did you get any rewards?" He asked, as Lucius and Xun Yu listened in.

"We did, as well as Jia where we are heading now, we also received a Barracks for Renatus, and some housing for Renatus, a random Building and a Warriors Hall. The Warriors Hall however said it was related, so I assume it will be a unit from the Quest. We may be able to re-roll though." Dom began, however Xun Yu stopped him.

"If it is a naval unit that is spawned, such as marines, even if the grade is lower than what we have elsewhere, it would be worth keeping them." He began, "There are specific unit types that we need to increase and our Naval forces will be a continuous one for us."

"I agree with Xun Yu. We are building Trireme faster but still don’t have a natural resource to fill them." Lucius commented, "But let’s see what we receive first! Hopefully the random Building Cube will also add some new skills to our Capital. What else did you get?"

"Four regular Villager Cubes, a White Resource Cube, as well as two Wooden Tokens and two Elite Unit Blue Cubes." Dom continued, as they slowly became more excited as Dom spoke.

"Two Wooden Tokens?" Lucius asked him in surprise.

"Yeah, two Wooden Tokens." Dom replied, "I am thinking the bathhouse as previously agreed and potentially the Batavi Warriors Hall?"

"Unless you want to use one in Tranquillity or Serenity?" Shang Yang recommended, "Upgrading the Docks in Serenity may not contribute to the level up quest, but it would increase the quality of the docks there."

"We can do that manually though." Xun Yu countered respectfully. "We can upgrade any building, the bonus’s just don’t always come. The key thing for Serenity is the size of the docks, where as Riverside is the capital and the additional bonus’s are key."

"Let’s discuss this back at the Government Centre." Shang Yang replied in thought, "Our growth is becoming both more important and also more of a hinderance."

"I am excited for the Elite Units!" Meritamen stated, whilst Sun Shangxiang listened on with little understanding, having had a slight briefing from Meritamen and Shang Yang. Shang Yang she had taken an instant liking to, as he gave her the feeling of a caring grandfather, whilst Meritamen had been extremely welcoming and was trying to create an almost sister like relationship. Both Sun Shangxiang and Meritamen were of a similar age to each other and to Dom, which made their connection easier to build.

"As am I." Dom agreed, "However, both of these also had the word related in them. So I do not think we will be able to use them on our current Warrior Halls."

"That is a shame, I was excited for an Elite Horse Archer unit, or more Praetorians." Meritamen replied, whilst Xun Yu commented he wanted to use it on the Batavi Warriors Hall if possible with the hope of an Elite Emperors Guard Unit. They discussed the buildings and the many different things that were taking place across their growing Kingdom, including Sun Shangxiang in the conversation as they travelled so that she felt included.

Dom was happy to see that his three most senior Civilian Heroes and Meritamen were being very welcoming to his new wife, explaining things to her as they moved through the lush farmlands between Riverside and Tranquillity. After a while, they arrived in Tranquillity, which was growing at a fast pace since it’s founding over a month ago. There was some merchant ships docked that would be transporting food from Tranquillity up to the location where Renatus was about to be founded, as well as Mountview Fort so they could store plenty in Noctus.

Dom could see Elder Qiao stood at the docks, shouting some instructions as the Mayor of Tranquillity, whilst two young girls stood by his side. Sun Shangxiang explained that they were her nieces, both daughters of Sun Ce and Da Qiao. Dom was happy to see that they were settling in and getting in the way of their grandfathers work, something they probably would have had less freedom to do if they stayed behind. Sun Ce couldn’t be seen, nor any of the others from their family, and Dom assumed they were settling in the rest of the family in Tranquillity.

When they moved past Tranquillity, Xun Yu pulled Dom aside to have a separate conversation with him about the progress on the registration of the large number of new Civilians and Warriors. Sun Shangxiang partially listened in, whilst Lucius explained some farming techniques to her. Shang Yang and Meritamen were both also discussing something quietly, with Shang Yang pointing at different things across the water.

"As well as Lady Xu and her son, Huang Zhong’s wife and sickly son Huang Xu have arrived. They have been sent directly to the Clinic and Hua Tao is prioritising them. Zhao Yun’s pregnant wife and young son have also arrived, with a separate division of Cavalry. Agnodice has been sent for to help Zhao Yun’s wife, it would have been ideal if he had warned us in advance. We have also arranged both Generals to be given a mansion in Riverside and given a chance to settle their families in, whilst Centurions Banas and Chariovalda are helping to settle Zhao Yun’s Cavalry in with the Batavi and Sarmatian Horse Archers." Xun Yu continued, "As well as the Cavalry, which is now close to a thousand in total that has arrived, we have over a thousand archers from across Huang Zhong, Sun Ce and Cheng Pu’s units and close to two and a half thousand infantry. All of the infantry are being given chance to settle, but my Nephew and Subutai are discussing the long term plans for them."

"It still makes me laugh how you are younger than your Nephew." Dom joked, surprised and happy by the numbers he was hearing, before continuing. "How about Civilians?"

"We will have a better idea once we have returned and have visited Jia, but we are easily looking at six to seven thousand civilians in total, plus the two thousand Naval Personnel or so." Xun Yu stated, before exhaling. "It’s a monumental task to integrate all of these people, over ten thousand people, much more than when we brought the Tongpai residents. Thankfully the combination of military and civilians are primarily from different original allegiances so we won’t have any major issues there. A lot of the additional ones that have arrived are families of the Warriors that we weren’t expecting. It is similar to the situation when the Hittites joined."

"As grateful as I am that such a large number of people from my culture have joined, after speaking with Meritamen and Shang Yang, I agree that an increase in others is key to even the growing Kingdom." Sun Shangxiang commented from the side, causing the others around to go silent as she spoke. "Once my people and those from Jiangxia are settled, I think it will be key for us to follow Shang Yang’s plans of recruiting from elsewhere so their is more opportunity for unity."

"I am happy that my new student agrees." Shang Yang smiled from the side, having decided to get involved in the conversation. Dom felt there was a lot said in such a small number of words. Meritamen was also his student and was becoming more than a capable leader.

"My other worry is the disparity between our current forces and new ones." Xun Yu continued, his tone a bit more serious, "We have doubled our land Military whilst tripling our Naval capacity. Both our original Military and Navy are much better in quality, so the integration of these is key. My main worry though isn’t the numbers, but the familial impacts. A lot of the new Warriors have families here, where as our Legionaries, Hoplites, Horse Archers, Forbidden Guards and Batavi Warriors do not."

"This is something that has been discussed across all of the councils before this quest." Lucius commented, seemingly now that everyone was involved in the conversation. "Our priority needs to be looking at how we can change that situation."

"We have been purchasing and releasing female slaves, to try and create relationships for single warriors. This has been a productive step primarily for the Legionaries who seem more open to relationships, however a lot of the Hoplite were married, as were the Spartans, Forbidden Guard, Batavi and Horse Archers." Meritamen commented, "Some minor jealousy may come, but as it is not the majority I think it should be fine for now."

"I will speak with Cheng Pu." Xun Yu replied as he turned and saw that the General and Tomoe were still discussing something in the centre of the Galatea. "A lot of the new forces are his, so he should have the best thoughts on integration."

"I will arrange a senior meeting for tomorrow where we can agree some plans. You can sign them off upon your return." Shang Yang offered, with Dom nodding his head in gratitude. He primarily wanted to explore, fight and build, but it seemed a lot of his gaming time was governance.