Zhang Xiaoman could never have expected that he, the one who had been left behind, would actually be the first to rendezvous with the future commander.
“Future Commander, you mean to say there’s a doorway leading to the capital of the Kingdom of Sorcerers right in your house?” Zhang Xiaoman asked in shock.
When Ren Xiaosu explained the principle behind the enchanted doorway to them in detail, they were all extremely fascinated.
Moreover, this was not a unique superpower but one that was replicable through an inheritable spell.
“Future Commander, do you think I can also open this freaking enchanted doorway?” Zhang Xiaoman asked.
“Yes.” Ren Xiaosu nodded. “Anyone with a red Eye of True Sight or higher can activate it. This doorway will lead to wherever you wanna go the most.”
At the side, Black Fox calmly tried to talk Zhang Xiaoman out of it. “I suggest you better not activate the enchanted doorway now. It won’t be very nice if it opens into Triratna Alley.”
Ren Xiaosu was curious. “What’s Triratna Alley?”
Black Fox explained, “Future Commander, many young ladies need help on Triratna Alley. Zhang Xiaoman has to make a trip there twice a month.”
“Why are you slandering me?” Zhang Xiaoman roared while blushing.
As he trailed off, Ren Xiaosu slapped him on the back of the head. “Don’t go to places like that anymore. You’re already a brigade commander. Can’t you settle down and find a wife?”
Zhang Xiaoman covered his head and looked at Black Fox viciously. It was as though he was saying, “Just you wait!”
However, Black Fox ignored him and confirmed with Ren Xiaosu instead, “Future Commander, do you require all our troops in the 6th Field Division to be fully armed? How should we deal with those sorcerers?”
“Leave the sorcerers to me,” Ren Xiaosu said.
“Alright, I understand.” Black Fox continued asking, “Should we convert Stronghold 144 into a field camp or turn it into an actual forward operating base?”
“A field camp.” Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, “When there’s another war after this, we’ll totally have enough time to train new sorcerers to activate their enchanted doorways. More importantly, this enchanted doorway is in my house, so don’t break my flooring when you guys shuffle in and out.”
Black Fox said, “… Understood.”
Actually, Ren Xiaosu had also given it some thought before. According to P5092, a war with the Wang Consortium was unavoidable.
But the problem was that it was likelier the Wang Consortium would be the one initiating this war rather than Fortress 178.
When that time came, Stronghold 144 would become the main battlefield, and his enchanted doorway would become less important in that war.
Right now, the greatest significance of the enchanted doorway was that Ren Xiaosu could summon a modern army from a 1,000 kilometers away to directly deal a devastating blow to the sorcerers’ main camp in Ghent City.
The only thing that worried Ren Xiaosu was that there were too many civilians in Ghent City.
Although those civilians were not related to Ren Xiaosu in any way, he could not be so deranged as to completely disregard their lives.
If Ren Xiaosu were so indifferent, he would never have become the future commander of the Northwest.
Ren Xiaosu said to Black Fox, “As for the specific battle plan, we’ll talk again after I join up with P5092. Y’all get ready here first and ensure that you can move out at any time. On top of that, get all the equipment ready. Whatever that won’t fit through the enchanted doorway, just leave it to me to transport.”
An enchanted doorway would not open up bigger even if it were activated on a larger object. There were principles dictating the way they worked.
Under normal circumstances, the enchanted doorway could only allow one to three people to pass through at the same time. This rule seemed to be determined by the grade of the Eye of True Sight. Ren Xiaosu possessed a black Eye of True Sight, so his enchanted doorway could allow three people to pass through at once.
Zhang Xiaoman and Black Fox returned to the 6th Field Division’s military base in high spirits and started making arrangements for the field camp to be set up inside Stronghold 144.
That same night, a large number of trucks entered Stronghold 144. Meanwhile, Wang Yuexi quickly organized the staff of the stronghold’s management committee to conduct an eviction of the surrounding residents and draw up a compensation plan.
A military base to accommodate 20,000 soldiers would definitely be very large no matter how compact it was. They would definitely have to set up a cordon in the vicinity of the base and demarcate it as a restricted zone, so no civilians would be allowed to live inside the area.
However, it was not that easy to do the eviction. Wang Yuexi was so worried about this his hair almost turned white.
As there were ten residential zones around the future commander’s residence, just the compensation alone would cost a large sum. Although Stronghold 144 was rich enough to afford such compensation now, the residents might not be willing to move away.
In such situations, it would not be practical to try and run the operations from behind the scenes. Wang Yuexi would have to take the staff from door to door to evict people through the night.
Wang Yuexi said to the staff around him, “Remember to remain polite. Even if the residents are unwilling to move, don’t be rude to them.”
“Yes, sir.” The staff were all mentally prepared to fight a tough battle.
Military operations would, of course, take priority. If someone truly refused to move, they would have to be forcefully evicted.
But if things could be resolved peacefully, the Northwest Army would not want to come into direct conflict with the common folk either.
When Wang Yuexi knocked on the door of the first house nearby, a middle-aged woman opened the door in surprise. “Oh, it’s Little Wang. What brings you here in the middle of the night?”
“It’s like this: We’re evicting the residences in the vicinity for the interim. Based on our 6th Field Division’s plans, we might need to requisition your place for about a month.” Wang Yuexi patiently handed over a document. “This is our requisition plan with the specific compensation details in it.”
The woman was taken aback. “What’s the purpose of this?”
Wang Yuexi explained, “Well, it’s nothing confidential. The future commander is preparing to attack the Kingdom of Sorcerers. Have you ever heard of the Kingdom of Sorcerers? They’re the ones who’ve been harassing Fortress 178. Right now, the future commander has found a way to attack them, so he needs to turn this neighborhood into a field camp to hold the 6th Field Division. But don’t worry, they’ll just be setting up military tents on the outside and won’t go into your homes.”
“Oh, so it’s like that.” The woman smiled and said, “Well then, I’ll move out tonight to make space for you guys. Do you want me to leave the house key so the boys can go inside and take a hot shower or something?”
At this moment, someone opened the door of the house next to them. Another middle-aged woman said, “I overheard you all talking. We’ll move out tonight as well.”
Wang Yuexi was stunned. To be honest, he had expected this to be the most difficult step, but it turned out to be the simplest one.
Before the woman returned to her house to pack her things, she even said excitedly to Wang Yuexi, “Can you pass a message to the future commander for me? Tell him Auntie Li from the market says to attack those sorcerers without mercy! He has our full support!”
“Huh?” Wang Yuexi was stunned for a while. “Why don’t you guys take a look at the compensation details first? This way, everyone will also know how much compensation they will receive in the future.”
Auntie Li giggled. “It’s fine. I’ll just go live at my son’s place for a month. Why would I need any compensation? You guys worked hard to solve the food shortage and fought battles to avenge the Northwest. If we want to be compensated over such a small matter, what does that make us?”
Wang Yuexi shook his head. “No, Auntie Li, those are two different matters. Rules are rules.”
“Alright then, just pay as you see fit,” Auntie Li said with a laugh.
“How can we do that?” Wang Yuexi got anxious.
However, Auntie Li punched Wang Yuexi in the chest and laughed heartily. “Why are you being so damn polite? Don’t hold me up from packing.”
Auntie Li punched Wang Yuexi so hard it made him cough twice.
Another middle-aged woman next door said, “Little Wang, since you’re so close with the future commander, can you ask him for an autograph on our behalf after the war?”