The World Online

On October 14, Ouyang Shuo received the premium blueprint and reply letter from his little aunt Lin Jing.

Ouyang Shuo first threw the premium shipyard building blueprint to Bai Nanpu in the office next to his, instructed Bai Nanpu to deliver it to Beihai City, and demanded Beihai City to immediately upgrade the shipyard.

He then returned back to his office and opened the letter.

In the letter, his little aunt Lin Jing said that she had contacted the leader of Rattlesnake mercenary group, Black Mamba, and that he was very interested to see what Ouyang Shuo had to offer when he arrived at Shanhai City.

Ouyang Shuo nodded. Sure enough, Shanhai City was now a giant no one could look down on. He immediately wrote a letter to invite Black Mamba over to Shanhai City tomorrow to discuss their cooperation.

Since he still had some free time, he took a trip to the military factory located on the outskirt and retrieved a batch of military grain pills for the upcoming naval battle.

In order to increase their success rate, the shipyard followed Ouyang Shuo’s request and was now upgrading the 25 Meng Chong warships of the Beihai navy fleet with naval rams and inner metal plates.

As for the trump card, it would naturally be the alchemical oil. Ouyang Shuo would very much like to see how the wooden ships of the pirates would perform when faced with the fire arrows of alchemical oil.

The following day, Black Mamba arrived on time and was welcomed by Ouyang Shuo in the hall.

Along with the mercenary leader were two other gentleman. After the introductions, they were Viper and Cobra. Ouyang Shuo knew very well that only the core members of Rattlesnakes could embrace the name of a venomous snake.

While Shanhai City only had Ouyang Shuo who was accompanied by the director of Military Affairs, Director Ge Hongliang.

“What is it that the Lian Zhou Marquis would like seek from the Rattlesnakes?” Black Mamba was straightforward.

Ouyang Shuo understood their doubts and worries. If he didn’t clear them off and they remained wary, the cooperation would never continue on as he planned. Ouyang Shuo nodded and said, “As the saying goes: A straightforward person does not resort to insinuations. I know very well that you are mercenaries in the real world. I am here today, inviting you over with the hope that you can return back to your destined role.”

Black Mamba’s sights congealed, his bad foreboding came true.

In truth, being mercenaries was not a big deal, especially after the occurrence of the interplanet migration, there was simply nothing more to hide. What Black Mamba was wondering was how Ouyang Shuo had found out their identity.

Ouyang Shuo made the conversation clear. He didn’t want both parties to be tangled on their respective identities.

Black Mamba was also an extraordinary man. After Ouyang Shuo had spoken clearly, he stopped hiding and said, “You are indeed worthy of the name of Lian Zhou Marquis. I am now very curious, what kind of cooperation can people like you have with us?”

“Simple.” Ouyang Shuo explained. “I hope the Rattlesnakes can send over a team of instructors and be stationed in Shanhai City. They will assist Shanhai City in training an elite special operation force. How is that?”

His idea was simple. It was to implement the tactics and strategies of modern warfare to the armies of an ancient era. It would be hard and difficult; the idea was whimsical, and it required the help of professionals.

Rattlesnake was one of the best international mercenaries. The elites of the elites. Their combat capability and combat tactics were comparable to the special forces.

Black Mamba was stunned. He was shocked but the whimsical idea of Ouyang Shuo. This was the advantage of a layman. Because he was clueless about the industry, he dared to propose such a mad idea.

Of course, the high understanding of the game played an important role too. From Ouyang Shuo’s point of view, there weren’t so many restraints and rules. While others saw Earth Online as a game, he simply looked at it as the real world.

Ouyang Shuo didn’t find it weird at all implementing modern knowledge in this world of the ancient era. He was completely a pragmatist to the marrow of his bones.

Black Mamba and the others were stuck with the usual set of inertial thinking. In their heads, the game was in the end only a game and it should not be related to the brick and mortar real world. Since the theme of the game was the ancient era, they would play along and adapt themselves to the general affairs of the ancient era.

Ouyang Shuo noticed that a bright white light flashed in the eyes of Viper who was standing behind Black Mamba. It seemed like he was excited by the whimsical idea of Ouyang Shuo.

The members of Rattlesnake mercenary group were all true mercenaries, so there were no need for them to go through special training anymore. Their thoughts and actions would unconsciously drift towards the ways of special forces. Maybe they didn’t realize it either, but the ways of special forces seeped deep through into their bones and had became a part of them.

The idea Ouyang Shuo proposed was a stimulus to the war activists; it was difficult and challenging. But it was in their bones that they feared no challenges, rather, they enjoyed the challenges. The more challenging it was, the more exciting it was as well.

Black Mamba, as the leader of Rattlesnakes, was the perfect lead example. But at the same time, he was also the most sober man. Although his blood-boiled heart pumped in great excitement wanting to comply to Ouyang Shuo’s idea, his cool-headed mind was constantly reminding him to fight for the benefits of the mercenary group.

He suppressed his excitement and became the master of his own emotions. He calmly asked, “The idea Lian Zhou Marquis proposed, it is indeed interesting. But, what are the prices are you willing to pay?”

Ouyang Shuo had well understood the needs of Rattlesnakes. The offering price was something they could not resist.

“I am willing to pay with God-arm Crossbows, with this number.” Ouyang Shuo lifted up 5 fingers.

“50?” Black Mamba was a little unsatisfied.

Just as Ouyang Shuo thought, as the mercenaries, the God-arm Crossbows were the best cold-weapon for them. 50 God-arm Crossbows were close to Black Mamba bottom line expectation.

“No.” Ouyang Shuo shook his head, “500 of them.”

*Hiss.. Even with his immense control over his emotions and remaining calm all the time, he still couldn’t help but to take in a breath of cold-air to calm his heart.

500 God-arm Crossbows, that was sufficient to fully equip the entire Rattlesnake mercenary group. Basing on the current market price, the total value would not be less than 8000 gold, and the supply in the market was unstable too.

“Alright!” Black Mamba slammed on the table as he stood up in excitement. “The Lian Zhou Marquis is truly generous. The Rattlesnakes accepts your terms and the deal is sealed. Rest assured, the best instructors of the Rattlesnakes will be sent over to Shanhai City.” Ouyang Shuo’s generosity earned Black Mamba’s recognition and his approbation towards the cooperation.

Ouyang Shuo nodded. This was exactly what he wanted.

Then next thing they needed to do was to expand further discussions on the details of the cooperation.

The agreements included that the Rattlesnakes would send over 10 core members including Viper and Cobra to station in Shanhai City and assist Shanhai City with training a special forces.

In the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo invited Black Mamba, Cobra and Viper over to Restaurant Sangu for a banquet.

On the table, Black Mamba raised his cup of Three Flower Wine, smiled and said, “Shanhai City is truly worthy of its name as the World’s First City. It really opened my eyes.”

Ouyang Shuo nodded, smiled and said nothing.

After the banquet, Black Mamba returned back to Jian Ye while Viper and Cobra stayed back.

To train a special force, the first thing that needed to be done was to select the appropriate candidates. Only the best of the best could join the training. Needless to say, the first thing that came into Ouyang Shuo’s mind was the Guards regiment. The whole of regiment would be joining the training.

But at the same time, in order to avoid the gossips and unpleasantness from the other units, Ouyang Shuo had decided that all of the 5 regiments from the 1st Legion could recommend a squadron of soldiers to participate in the screening. While the 3 city defense regiments of Shanhai City, Qiushui City and Friendship City could recommend 50 soldiers to the screening.

Other than that, Ouyang Shuo had instructed the spies of the Military Intelligence Division to join in as one of the abilities of the special forces was scouting, and that was exactly what the Military Intelligence Division needed.

After knowing the situation, all 3 heads of Military Intelligence Division had requested to join. The words Ouyang Shuo spurred on them were still ringing in their ears. Now that they had the opportunity to receive specialized training, of course they wouldn’t miss it.

Seeing that the intelligence gathering workload was not as heavy as before, Ouyang Shuo approved their requests.

Therefore, the total number of candidates had reached 3,250 in number. Ouyang Shuo did not set any slots. He would be leaving it to the instructor’s jurisdiction. They would decide who stayed and who left.

After the candidate selection, it would establish a proper specialized training base.

The training camp would be placed in the outskirts. Qiushui City was located beside the woods, so it was a good option. In the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo led Viper and Cobra to the southern suburbs of Qiushui City.

Under the professional advice of the two mercenaries, they had chosen a piece of woodland. It was special because it had a pond, making it an ideal source of water. It could also be utilized in certain training programs.

Other than that, there would be another naval training base in Beihai City.

Ouyang Shuo had specially invited Sun Xiaoyue over. Under the suggestions of Viper and Cobra, Sun Xiaoyue drafted the architectural building blueprint, and handed it to the Construction Division.

The training base required many professional equipment and facilities. There were some modern facilities such as high pressure water guns that couldn’t be achieved under the existing condition, so they could only look for alternatives.

To establish a qualified training base and to realize the whimsical plan, Viper and Cobra would have to make use of their specialized knowledge finding alternatives and improvise the existing conditions to meet the required standard of facilities.

Not only that, but the establishment of the base would require the coordination between Construction Division, weapons workshop, woodworking workshops, and the others.

The complexity and importance were to the point that Ouyang Shuo personally asked the master of weaponry, Liu Mo, to slow down the research of Research Institute No.7 and come over to cooperate with the Rattlesnakes in perfecting the training facilities.

For the establishment of the training base, Ouyang Shuo had thrown in all of his resources and funds.

His full support encouraged the enthusiasm of Viper and Cobra. At 4 PM in the afternoon, the other 10 instructors from Rattlesnake arrived, and immediately submerged themselves into the preparation work.

The candidate selection and training base establishment would be synchronized. The candidates recommended by the units would also have to go through a series of internal screenings. Before the completion of training base, Viper and the others would commence a round of physical fitness tests in the western outskirt of Shanhai City. This would also be the first round of screening selections.