"Hei————"
"Ha————"
"Kill!!"
"..."
During the Qin Dynasty, the population density of Kuaiji Commandery was very low. Even by the end of the Western Han Dynasty two hundred years later, the population was only about one million. Although there were no household registration statistics at this time, Roy estimated the entire Kuaiji Commandery now had at best two to three hundred thousand people—and this was for an entire commandery. If narrowed down to Wu County in Kuaiji, the population was even sparser.
"Continue!! Don't stop, keep training!"
Seated on his black steed, Roy shouted loudly at the soldiers ahead.
"Yes!! General Xiang!"
"Hei————"
"Ha————"
"..."
Roy acted like a military instructor, riding back and forth on his horse as he watched the soldiers train until drenched in sweat.
There were about two thousand soldiers before him—this was already the maximum number of professional soldiers Roy could gather from Kuaiji.
This future land of Gusu was practically a wilderness in this era. Although Kuaiji was vast and sparsely populated, farming techniques during the Qin Dynasty were not advanced, and many agricultural tools had yet to be invented. It could be said they relied entirely on nature for survival. Most soldiers of this era were simply farmers who could pick up weapons when needed—true professional soldiers were extremely rare.
In this era of scarce resources, even if Roy wanted to conscript more soldiers, he couldn't. It would cause food shortages. Gathering these two thousand able-bodied men, providing them meals for professional military training, and even paying them military wages was already the limit for Kuaiji Commandery.
Many years had passed since the First Emperor unified the six states. Even the once-invincible Qin army had grown lax in training. Moreover, the First Emperor had gathered all weapons of the realm in Xianyang, and now with the Second Emperor's extravagance, the entire Qin Dynasty was on shaky ground.
Most armies at this time were essentially farmers—many likely didn't even have proper weapons and could go to battle with just wooden sticks. Even an army of a hundred thousand might only have a few thousand truly elite troops; the rest were just filler, capable of winning battles but unable to withstand defeat.
So even if there truly were an army of five hundred thousand, as long as you could break just one-tenth of them, the entire force would descend into chaos and collapse completely. Capturing a hundred thousand or so wouldn't be difficult at all.
In war, the greatest casualties always come from the stampede of a routed army.
Such is the nature of warfare today. All Roy could do was train two thousand true elites. With these two thousand as his core, and wielding his peerless strength, he could spearhead into enemy formations like a sharp blade. Toppling tens of thousands with just two thousand men was truly a simple task.
"If it weren't for fear of future historians feeling like they were writing fantasy novels, why would I even need to train soldiers? I could single-handedly crush an army of a million—now that would be an unparalleled myth through the ages!"
Roy sighed inwardly. For the sake of future historians, he had gone to great lengths.
He hadn't come here to conquer the world but to seek the trials of human order.
If Roy truly wanted to dominate the world, forget his personal might—capable of unifying China alone—just the knowledge in his mind would suffice. If he wished, he could advance technology here in Kuaiji. Nothing too exaggerated, of course. While others still wielded wooden sticks and bronze weapons, simply equipping his troops with iron weapons and paper armor would make them invincible.
No matter how brilliant your military strategists were, against the gap in technology, they could only flee in panic.
To better fit this era, Roy hadn't even invented stirrups—a common tool for time travelers.
"Ah, it's not easy for me either. Since I can't advance technology, all I can do is play around with the chaos of Chu and Han."
Roy lamented before refocusing and resuming his inspection.
Currently, the Xiang clan was secretly recruiting soldiers in Kuaiji, amassing an army of around ten thousand. For a place like Kuaiji, this was pretty much the limit. Truly, Kuaiji was no land of destiny—its population, culture, and prosperity couldn't compare to Guanzhong in the slightest.
But in the late Qin era, with rebellions erupting everywhere, refugees were plentiful. When the time came, a single call would gather an army of a hundred thousand. After some basic training, they could be thrown onto the battlefield.
Though it would be the common people who suffered, Roy had no choice. This was history—the correct progression of human order. Across two thousand years of Chinese history, countless wars had shaped its civilization and culture in blood and fire. Even if Roy could stop the conflict between Chu and Han, it would be meaningless. Nationwide wars would still be countless in the future.
Unless Roy abandoned human order, gave up everything, and stayed here forever as an eternal emperor, ruling this land for all time, could war truly be eradicated.
"But such a human society would lose all possibility, and its end would still be destruction."
Roy shook his head. He wasn't a sage—he couldn't alter the tides of history. Even a true sage couldn't reverse the course of civilization.
Prosperity brings suffering to the people; collapse brings suffering to the people. The greatest suffering in this world falls upon the common folk.
"Report!!"
A scout galloped over on horseback, kicking up a cloud of dust. Upon seeing Roy, he didn't dismount but merely clasped his fists and bowed his head, reporting, "...General, we've detected anomalies in the forest ahead. Many individuals resembling Daoist practitioners are fleeing this way in panic. It's unclear what or who is pursuing them."
During wartime, scouts were crucial, which was why Roy had intensified their training.
Roy's expression turned grave as he murmured, "...Daoist practitioners?"
Roy dared not underestimate the Daoist practitioners of this world. It wasn't that they posed any direct threat to him, but rather that they seemed to possess genuine mystical abilities.
Roy had once questioned Xiang Liang in detail and learned that it was indeed due to a prophecy from a Daoist practitioner that Xiang Liang had ventured into the Xianyang mausoleum to find him...
Of course, Roy knew this wasn't because the practitioner could see through the barriers between worlds and predict his arrival from another realm. Rather, when Roy crossed worlds, he formed a karmic connection with this one, making it possible for others to foresee his coming.
Roy even suspected that the practitioner who informed Xiang Liang likely possessed clairvoyance similar to Solomon's—specifically, future sight—which enabled him to predict Roy's arrival.
Although the First Emperor had burned books and buried scholars, causing most immortal and divine arts to be lost, fragments of secret techniques from the Shang and Zhou dynasties undoubtedly survived among the populace. These practitioners must have inherited either incomplete or complete versions of these esoteric arts, granting them their extraordinary abilities.
"All troops, assemble and form ranks!!"
Roy's command rang out sharply. Beside him, a soldier raised a military banner to signal the order. Soon, the shouts of junior officers could be heard amid what seemed like chaotic but was actually disciplined movement as the two-thousand-strong force swiftly organized into formation.
Having studied countless books and acquired immeasurable knowledge in the world of Campione, Roy was nothing short of a polymath. Military strategy came as naturally to him as breathing.
Before long, a disheveled group emerged from the dense forest ahead, their faces smeared with dirt and their appearances utterly wretched. Some were missing limbs, their hair wild and unkempt, resembling a routed army.
Among them, some carried strange compasses, while others held peachwood swords. Roy focused his gaze and confirmed that these individuals indeed had magical energy flowing through their bodies, and their ritual implements were genuine 'magecraft tools.' Just as the scout had reported, they were true Daoist practitioners—mystics wielding supernatural arts.
Upon spotting Roy and his army, the fleeing practitioners, who had been wailing and scrambling in terror, rushed toward them as if seeing their saviors, crying out, "...General, please save us!"
"There—there are monsters!"
"Bloodsucking, man-eating demons are chasing us!!"
"..."
Even without their pleas, Roy could sense the 'monstrosity' pursuing them. From within the forest surged a towering wave of blood dozens of meters high, carving through mountains and flattening woods in its path. The massive trees and churned earth were swallowed by the crimson tide, instantly pulverized into its seething mass as thunderous roars shook heaven and earth.
A faint, cloying sweetness filled the air, parching throats and setting blood ablaze with feverish heat. It felt as though one's very lifeblood was being wrested from control, drawn inexorably toward that sanguine deluge.
"This... in the late Qin Dynasty, how could such bizarre entities still exist?"
Roy stared in astonishment at the towering waves of blood, wondering if he'd somehow traveled to the wrong era and ended up in the Shang Dynasty.
But soon, Roy felt a surge of excitement—perhaps he could uncover the flaws in human reason from this anomaly.
The soldiers were utterly terrified by the blood waves that seemed capable of toppling mountains and emptying seas. None had ever witnessed such supernatural phenomena before. Had it not been for Roy's rigorous training over the past month, they likely would have dropped their weapons and fled.