A Realistic Mount & Blade Game

In the dimly lit stairwell, Zhang Caidong led his Swadian recruits to a position near the window.

He held a nail-studded club stained with sulfurous blood and raised his old fan-shaped shield, nodding to the Swadian recruits behind him: "Wait here for my command."

Behind him, the ten Swadian recruits gripped their one-handed axes, swallowing nervously as they looked at Zhang Caidong, their faces resolute.

They were clearly prepared for battle.

‘Crack!’

As Zhang Caidong opened the security door, a wave of darkness and thick gray mist poured out.

From within came a sound like the flapping of wings, accompanied by strange, cackling noises.

It was clear that a considerable number of undead or abyssal monsters resided within.

“Go, go, go!” Behind Zhang Caidong, the ten Swadian recruits charged forward without hesitation, raising their one-handed axes and old shields, shouting as they went.

Amidst the sounds of axes hacking and the sharp, terrified cries of the creatures, a recruit covered in dark red blood emerged, nodding to Zhang Caidong and saying, “Approximately twelve Lesser Demons, all dealt with.”

“Well done.” Zhang Caidong nodded, turning and entering the room.

He looked at the Lesser Demon corpses littering the floor, a smile playing on his lips.

Although these Swadian recruits were just newly armed peasants, their combat prowess had improved significantly with training, showing a quick understanding of tactics and suffering minimal injuries.

There were few lightly wounded, and no serious injuries at all.

Zhang Caidong was quite satisfied with their fighting ability. In his experience, newly armed peasants possessed little combat strength, and simply not scattering in the face of the enemy was a victory.

Low morale, poor equipment, and extreme timidity meant they needed extensive training to become truly effective, barely-competent cannon fodder on the battlefield.

Yet these Swadian recruits actively charged into battle, unafraid of injury or death.

They were remarkably warlike, or perhaps supremely confident.

Coming from a powerful empire, even as peasants, they possessed an unwavering confidence that filled them with courage.

“I can’t imagine how powerful your nation must be,” Zhang Caidong said, looking at the Lesser Demon corpses in the room, unable to suppress a sigh of admiration.

“Our kingdom is incredibly powerful. The entire continent will bow before us. We used to be an empire, and if not for the conspiracy that led to the empire's division, we would still be just as strong.”

The Swadian recruits didn't elaborate, simply giving a general overview of the Swadian Kingdom's background.

Of course, in the Mount \u0026 Blade: Warband world, the empire was centered on Calradia, unlike the much larger map of the Mount \u0026 Blade II: Bannerlord world.

Therefore, the background story focused on the Swadian Kingdom unifying the other five kingdoms in the area.

As for the Calradia region in Mount \u0026 Blade II: Bannerlord, it only constitutes the westernmost territory of Vlandia.

Vlandia eventually evolved into the Calradia of the present day, at least according to the background story.

However, it's important to remember that this is the background story of Mount \u0026 Blade II, and shouldn't be applied to the Mount \u0026 Blade: Warband world.

Although the two worlds seem to be related, they each have their own independent evolutionary paths.

“Truly powerful,” Zhang Caidong nodded, hearing the Swadian recruits’ proud tone.

He could tell that even though the Swadian recruits didn't want to reveal too much about their world, their words and actions revealed that their kingdom was indeed quite strong. After all, being able to provide standardized equipment to everyone was something many small kingdoms couldn't achieve.

Moreover, these soldiers had clearly undergone uniform military training. Although they seemed somewhat clumsy and their movements were awkward, after this period of coordination, it was evident that they were assimilating and mastering the content of their military training.

This indicated that the kingdom not only possessed standardized equipment but also uniform military training that reached the lowest levels.

The human kingdoms that Zhang Caidong knew were not like this.

He had even heard a Gnoll he once owned say something about how the vassal's vassal was not his vassal. When going to war, they would simply summon their own vassals, and those vassals would summon their own vassals.

Then, they would all rush forward in a chaotic mess, only needing to ensure that their own direct troops and noble troops didn't break ranks to avoid losses.

After all, the Gnolls and the Lion Principality had a long and bitter history of conflict.

They were quite familiar with the human troops' tactics, given the deep-seated hatred between the Gnolls and the Lion Principality.

“Brother Zhang Caidong, Brother Zhang Caidong, how’s it going on your end?” As Zhang Caidong pondered, footsteps approached, and a Blue Star human executive, followed by his Swadian commoners, came over excitedly.

“Oh, I’ve taken care of everything here. What about you?” Zhang Caidong nodded, glancing at the familiar Blue Star human executive, and waved him over, indicating that they could leave together.

“I’ve finished on my end too.” The Blue Star human executive smiled as he walked out with Zhang Caidong, followed by the Swadian recruits and Swadian commoners, all heading to the small plaza outside the residential complex.

The small plaza was already crowded with people.

These were all the people who would be coming over later. The Blue Star human executives, ten each day, had now gathered a force of 40 Blue Star humans, forming the Spirit Realm Commander unit.

Behind these 40 Blue Star humans were 400 Swadian commoners waiting, all under the command of these 40 Blue Star humans as followers.

Of course, at least that's how these Blue Star humans felt. After all, they had already established a contract and had soul anchors, creating a superior-subordinate relationship with these humans.

According to traditional thinking, what else could this be other than a relationship between a commander and followers?

So, they were all trapped in a cognitive bias, thinking that as long as they controlled these followers, it would be equivalent to controlling their lives, and they would basically be unable to betray them, and the consequences of betraying them would be quite severe.

After all, no follower wants to return to that prison-like realm. If they couldn't escape from that prison-like astral plane, they would helplessly watch their minds being trapped forever in stone-like bodies.

Therefore, these Blue Star humans were quite at ease with the Spirit Realm Humans they possessed. They would talk to these Spirit Realm Humans about anything, not even afraid of them hearing it.

"Good, it seems everyone is alright." Zhang Caidong said, smiling as he watched these Blue Star humans chatting and laughing together.

However, as his gaze swept over these Blue Star humans, he could clearly see that they were actually forming groups of twos and threes, each with their own small circles, not entirely together.

Even when these Blue Star humans were chatting with each other, some resentment could be seen in their eyes.

Obviously, these small circles also had their own interests. The groups disliked each other, and within some small circles, there was even undisguised resentment.

Clearly, these small circles themselves were full of dirty tricks.

"As expected of Sister Shen Mu, with just a simple move, she created conflicts between these high-level managers and middle-level managers, turning their originally united relationship into a freezing point." Zhang Caidong was well aware of this because he knew that this was a change brought about by Shen Mu.

Previously, those middle-level managers bypassed the high-level managers one by one and submitted the list, allowing Shen Mu to grasp the names of everyone and even proactively promoted these middle-level managers, allowing them to become Spirit Realm commanders according to their own wishes.

Being able to become a Spirit Realm commander without going through the recommendation of those high-level managers was equivalent to depriving those high-level managers of a major personnel arrangement.

"Personnel is politics, this saying is really true. I didn't expect Shen Mu to look so young, but his methods are so skillful." At this moment, a trace of fear appeared in Zhang Caidong's eyes.

Previously, when Shen Mu destroyed the Diesel Company, he had already developed a sense of awe for this young man. Now, seeing his almost advanced political skills, he felt even more emotional and a little admiration.

There was no other way, because what he did before was really too smooth and too decisive, directly interrupting the process of these Blue Star humans wanting to collude and merge into a single iron plate that was impenetrable.

Now, Zhang Caidong himself felt a little embarrassed. If he were to discuss something with these Blue Star humans, he estimated that whether it was the high-level or middle-level managers, some people would definitely not agree with him, after all, their personnel power was not in his hands.

Not agreeing meant not agreeing. At most, they might be ostracized in normal times, but this kind of ostracism was not a problem for them as long as they could gain the approval of Lord Shen Mu.

"Forget it, I won't think about these things." Zhang Caidong shook his head at this moment and walked towards those Blue Star humans who had gathered together.

When those Blue Star humans saw Zhang Caidong walking over, they all ended their respective judgments and stood in formation.

They also sent a few leading high-level managers to Zhang Caidong's side to report on their search of the community.

"Yes, well done." Zhang Caidong nodded, listening to these people reporting on the battles against the undead monsters they found in different community units and the casualties, listening to everything clearly.

They were training troops, and at the same time, they were accumulating their points. After all, Lord Shen Mu had clearly stated that as long as they could lead these human soldiers to gain combat experience and merits, they could return to Shen Mu's side and be promoted again.

Moreover, their promotion already had a very clear comparison, that is, Zhang Caidong's current equipment as a level-2 troop, Swadian Militiaman.

There were shields, spiked clubs, spears, and hunting crossbows.

It could be said that he was a very versatile type of soldier.

In addition, the Swadian Recruits with long-handled scythes behind him were indeed much stronger than them.

Therefore, they were all working hard, wanting to quickly accumulate combat experience and points, and then exchange them from Lord Shen Mu for the opportunity to be promoted.

"So, what's next, Brother Zhang Caidong? Are we going to another community next?" At this time, some male human executives suggested, after all, there were still large areas of buildings outside the area where they were located.

And some undead monsters were also hidden in these buildings.

"Then let's go." Zhang Caidong nodded, looking at these Blue Star humans who were already full of fighting spirit, and after pondering for a moment at the Swadian civilians behind him, he spoke again: "However, in the afternoon, everyone should maintain their physical strength. If possible, tonight I want to take everyone to the darkness to see if we can solve some of the monsters in the darkness. After all, the number of undead monsters in these buildings is really too small, and our speed of obtaining points and combat experience is too slow."

"Go to the darkness to fight those undead monsters?" These Blue Star humans looked at each other, and they didn't see fear in each other's eyes, only a little eagerness to try.

Now their self-confidence was indeed quite inflated, just going to the darkness to fight those undead monsters.

Relying on themselves and these human followers behind them, could they not solve those zombies and skeletons, these low-level undead monsters?

Moreover, even if they couldn't solve it, they could retreat back to Deherim in time, after all, Deherim had complete defenses.

And there were patrol teams protecting the border.

Everything looked very safe.

(End of this chapter)