Chapter 43: Scout Sentinel

"Alright, General, you win. Jin concedes defeat."

The eagle-eyed archer Jin Fangyan spread his hands in a gesture of utter helplessness.

"Yet I am completely alone and penniless. What on earth could you possibly hope to win from me?"

Indeed, despite the wager, he had no idea what he could possibly lose.

Initially, that bet was just a reckless whim of Su Yao's, and Jin Fangyan had never truly believed that Su Yao's meager force could possibly conquer the sheer precipices of Yellow Reed Fortress. Besides, had he won the bet, he likely would have been dead anyway, so he hadn't given the stakes a second thought.

To think that the wager would actually be collected now felt deeply ironic.

To this, Su Yao's choice was simple:

"Such a stroke of fortune? Then you shall pay with yourself."

"Huh?"

Jin Fangyan froze, failing to grasp the situation. He was a prisoner of war. According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, unpardoned captives were reduced to government slaves, and their disposal was entirely at the whim of the commanding officers. What was the point of taking such a roundabout approach?

True enough, he had never taken the so-called public trial assembly seriously, dismissing it merely as a foolish stunt by an arrogant young man.

"This humble one is already a condemned slave. If Your Excellency has any commands, just give the word."

Such was the limitation of his ideology; he could not possibly comprehend the mindset and methods of a modern gamer like Su Yao.

"A slave? No, making you a slave would be a terrible waste of talent."

Su Yao attempted to unlock the function for recruiting NPC teammates:

"I want you to become my subordinate—not a regular soldier like Cheng Lian and the others, but someone like Wang Ling.

A scout and sentry. That will be your post."

As a game centered primarily on warfare, legion combat was naturally of paramount importance, and the troops led by players naturally featured many special positions to be unlocked alongside ordinary soldiers.

For instance, Wang Ling had initially been assigned by Su Yao as the quartermaster and guide.

The quartermaster was an essential position for any troop, serving as the key to maintaining unit morale while also unlocking statistical and systematic functions. It was a crucial, foundational role; as long as one's literary and arithmetic skills passed muster, the vast majority of people could handle it.

The guide unlocked the mapping of regional terrains. A qualified guide ensured one would not lose direction even when marching in the dark. As a local, Wang Ling performed quite competently in this role.

Meanwhile, the scout and sentry position was an advanced role, placing high demands on a recruited teammate's reconnaissance and horsemanship attributes.

However, the corresponding bonuses provided were also quite considerable. Not only would it unlock a tactical mini-map with varying levels of detail based on the teammate's attributes, but most importantly, it enhanced the commander's perception of danger and allowed for the detection of hidden mechanisms and traps.

As a Xiongnu eagle-eyed archer with the "Eagle Eye" trait, Jin Fangyan was clearly the absolute best candidate for the scout and sentry position, and Su Yao had already set his sights on him.

"You mean you want me to be your household retainer?"

Jin Fangyan struggled to make sense of it. Coincidentally, he actually knew about Wang Ling's situation.

Because the two of them were fellow wretches who had been coerced into joining the war, they had chatted for a while after the battle. It was then that he discovered this so-called quartermaster was not part of the official Han military establishment, but merely Su Yao's personal staff retainer—one who even received a quite generous monthly stipend allocated directly by Su Yao.

As much as three thousand coins!

One had to know that an adult male could live very comfortably consuming just one *shi* of grain a month, while three thousand coins during peacetime was a high salary capable of purchasing a hundred *shi* of grain.

Not to mention comparing it to the maximum two or three hundred coins monthly stipend of ordinary laborers, even Cheng Lian, a squad leader, only received fifty *shi* worth of grain per month.

Considering Su Yao's monthly stipend of three hundred *shi* as a garrison captain, it meant he was spending two-thirds of his monthly income just to support Wang Ling and Jin Fangyan.

"Is it really alright for Your Excellency to spend your own money to support people like this?"

Jin Fangyan had seen with his own eyes that this young captain had converted all his personal property into military provisions before setting out. It could be said that he currently had almost no personal assets, and with such reckless spending, Jin Fangyan couldn't help but worry about the man's financial situation.

"Don't worry, a big windfall is coming right up!"

How could Jin Fangyan know that, for Su Yao, money had only one purpose—recruiting troops, buying horses, and acquiring equipment.

It was true that Su Yao could currently be described as penniless. In order to accept this special quest and borrow troops from Zhang Yang to recruit a suicide squad, he had spent every last bit of the spoils he had previously farmed from mobs.

Yet he believed that once this pass-sealing mission was successfully completed and the over two thousand Xiongnu raiders were completely wiped out, the subsequent rewards would certainly justify his investment.

"I am deeply grateful for Your Excellency's generous treatment, but I presume you know that I still have a mission to fulfill."

"You refer to Yuvuro, right? Rest assured, once this battle is over, I will naturally help you handle Yuvuro's matter."

Before the operation, Su Yao had already gained a general understanding of the history between Jin Fangyan, Chanyu Qiangqu, and Prince Yuvuro.

The reason this eagle-eyed archer was willing to assist them in disguising themselves for a surprise attack was precisely because Su Yao and his companions had agreed at the time to help him coordinate and resolve this issue after the war.

This was also the very reason Su Yao had initially stated that their interests were aligned.

Now hearing Jin Fangyan bring the matter up again, Su Yao knew this was likely the NPC's subsequent personal questline. For now, he would simply shelf it in his mind, and naturally handle it along the way when the time was right.

Having received Su Yao's promise, Jin Fangyan dropped to one knee, pressed his right hand against his chest, and saluted:

"If Your Excellency does not break your word, this Jin will willingly give his life in service to the General!"

Upon securing Jin Fangyan's allegiance, Su Yao immediately assigned him into the system, paused for a moment, and then heavily patted Jin Fangyan on the shoulder:

"Hah, I didn't expect you to actually be quite useful."

"Huh? What?"

"Follow me, we have uninvited guests at our door."

On Su Yao's newly unlocked mini-map, a small cluster of red dots outside the city was glaringly conspicuous. These people had arrived even earlier than anticipated.

"What? Wait, hold on, stop, put me down—"

Poor Jin Fangyan had no time to react before he was hoisted up by Su Yao as if he were a little child. With a series of flying leaps, they vaulted rapidly through the air and landed upon a massive tree within the mountain forest outside the city.

"What the hell? Are you even human?!"

Jin Fangyan clutched his head with both hands, his worldview suffering a tremendous shock.

Compared to the physical ordeal of being dragged along this entire journey, the psychological trauma was far more severe. Was becoming his subordinate truly a task of such extreme difficulty?!

When he was being dragged to jump down from a city wall over three zhang high, he had already mentally prepared himself to part ways with this mortal world.

Who would have thought that they would land safely in a pile of hay—and come out completely unharmed?!

How was that possible? Could a mere pile of hay cushion a fall from a height of over three zhang?

More importantly, why on earth was there such a pile of hay out of nowhere right beneath the city wall?

Naturally, Jin Fangyan had no way of knowing that Su Yao had specifically ordered his men to place it there right after waking up, preparing it so he could move around quickly without having to open the city gates.

Without wasting any more words, ignoring Jin Fangyan who was still reeling from the mental shock, Su Yao pointed toward the Hu scouts in the forest ahead:

"Forty scouts, eagle-eyed archer. Shall we make a wager on whose head count is higher?"