General Ulric received a reward and was overjoyed. He led his men, pulling along a bunch of instant noodles, and headed to the military camp.
The others, who had been roughing it outdoors for the past few days, cleaned themselves up quickly and went to rest.
They were fast asleep when someone suddenly shook them awake, telling them they could go collect food. Everyone woke up immediately.
"What's going on?"
The soldiers being woken up asked while hurriedly getting dressed.
"You'll see. It seems like it's for everyone who went out together this time."
Soon, about a hundred people gathered outside General Ulric's tent.
As they arrived, they already noticed the big pile of instant noodles outside and started feeling eager.
But the army has its rules. They waited in formation outside for General Ulric to come out and distribute the goods.
When Ulric's men told him everyone was there, he came out and said, "We earned this from our recent terrain scouting mission. General Yves rewarded us. Everyone can collect one box."
Cheers broke out among the group.
Ulric didn't say much more and quickly had everyone collect a box of noodles.
Soon, the whole camp was filled with the smell of instant noodles.
Ulric had a box for himself too. Once the distribution was done, he happily grabbed a bowl and had someone boil water to prepare his noodles.
Just then, the tent flap was lifted, and more than ten generals walked in.
"Ulric! We heard you got rewarded with instant noodles!"
"What's so special about these noodles?"
Ulric looked up and saw the other generals walking in. He quickly tried to hide his noodles under the table.
But someone immediately stepped forward and grabbed the noodles from him.
"Ulric, come on! Don't be stingy. Look what we brought!"
Left with no choice, Ulric started sharing with them too.
"Good timing. We brought wine and meat!"
They had gotten those from local officials and landlords when they first entered King Chen's territory. Each general had been given a share.
Everyone watched eagerly as Sophia's supplies were passed around.
But soon, they'd have their own chance to get more from General Yves.
Back where Sophia was, construction machines had been lined up and ready to go inside the transfer system.
Once it was late and quiet, she dragged a pig trough downstairs.
There was no way to fit giant machines like excavators directly into the trough, so like last time, Sophia flipped the trough upside down over the machine.
Sure enough, in no time, the excavator disappeared.
General Yves had already received her message and went out early to find an empty plot of land.
In the middle of the night, on the quiet and empty plains, a loud "boom" echoed as something heavy landed.
He didn't bring many people with him—just General Ulric and a few guards.
Even though they had prepared themselves, everyone was still startled when they saw the huge machine in front of them.
"What is this thing for?" someone asked.
When the excavator landed, Ulric and the guards immediately moved to protect General Yves. Even though they'd expected something big, the size still shook them. They instinctively wanted to push him away from danger.
Luckily, the excavator landed steadily. Their hearts pounded—if that thing had fallen on them, they'd be flattened.
They stepped aside to make space for the next machine.
As more and more excavators appeared, Ulric and his men gradually calmed down and got used to the process.
This place was right next to the military camp. When the transfer was finished, the sky was already starting to brighten.
General Yves told General Ulric, "Send people to surround this place. Don't let normal citizens come close."
Ulric accepted the order and immediately went to arrange the team.
After that, General Yves and the other generals went back to rest.
In the afternoon, when General Yves woke up, he found a computer next to him.
He already knew how to use it, so he didn't bother washing up. He quickly turned it on.
The desktop had several folders, each one named after a different type of machine.
Inside each folder, there were not only instructions on how to use the machine but also descriptions of what it could do.
After reading the instructions and uses, General Yves called General Ulric and the commanders of the four armies.
"The large tools we received last night from the gods will help us a lot with developing the land. They can also help us dig canals, build dams, and do other construction. Just one machine can do the work of one hundred people, maybe even more."
"Commander, is it really that powerful?"
Ulric and the others were shocked and very curious to see how it worked.
"Commander, can we take a look now?"
They had seen how the water tanker worked before, so now they knew where the driver's seat was.
"Don't rush. For now, each army should pick twenty people."
"Also, each army should select three hundred soldiers. Every ten days, they will take turns. We will start clearing the land around Chen County."
This plan had only been talked about secretly before. Now it was being officially carried out.
General Yves added, "There's news that Wu and Zhao are about to go to war. Wu is sending two hundred thousand troops to Zhao's border. Once the war starts, we'll begin our work."
It wouldn't take long. General Yves guessed that the war would start within five days.
After this month, winter would come quickly. By December, the first round of fighting would likely be over.
Once the real winter started, it would be hard for both sides to continue fighting.
The same goes for land development. If they wanted to clear land, the next two months were very important. After that, the ground would freeze, and it would be hard to dig.
Also, if they cleared land now, the people could start planting next year.
When the officers heard this, they were very excited.
"We accept the order."
The army commanders all got moving right away.
General Yves sent a message to Sophia. One computer wasn't enough. He needed at least four more.
He didn't hesitate. He ordered someone to bring a box of gold bars from the storage. There were twelve bars in total. Each bar weighed ten taels.
He guessed that Sophia's computers must be expensive. After thinking about it, he ordered another box of gold to be added.
Sophia had already sent the items. She guessed that General Yves might write back, so she let Ronin take two days off.
She sent him a message. "Ronin, you've worked hard these past few days. Take two days to rest. Also, help me keep an eye on the warehouse construction."
After sending the message, she transferred twenty thousand yuan as a bonus.
Ronin had just been called by his mother to eat breakfast. After washing up, he picked up his phone and went downstairs. He happened to see the transfer message from Sophia and his eyes lit up.
He quickly sent a bowing thank-you sticker to Sophia and accepted the money.
"Thank you, boss. I'll keep doing my best. After breakfast, I'll go check the warehouse."
Ronin said with energy.
After replying to Ronin, Sophia drove to the town's warehouse.
The three-story warehouse building was almost finished. Once it passed inspection, it could officially be used.