Chapter 737 - 527: Making the Best Use of People (Part 2)

"Military Lord!"

"Military Lord!"

The soldiers on the training field quickly spotted Qin Tian’s figure. They all halted what they were doing, rapidly formed up into ranks, and snapped a standard salute toward Qin Tian.

Qin Tian gave a slight nod and instructed calmly, "Continue training."

"Yes, sir!"

The soldiers answered in unison, then swiftly returned to training mode.

Perhaps because Qin Tian was present, their movements became even more precise, and they trained with more effort than before.

After a quick look over the first training field, Qin Tian led the three of them to the second one—this was the exclusive training ground for more than five thousand Barbarian Warriors.

They had barely approached when a completely different atmosphere rushed toward them.

Compared to the neat orderliness of the previous field, the scene here was undoubtedly far more chaotic, more like a boiling gladiatorial arena.

The Barbarian Warriors were bare-chested, bronze muscles taut in the cold wind, grappling and trading blows with each other at will. Shouts, the dull thuds of muscle colliding, and the air-blast booms from surging Spiritual Energy intertwined into something rough and feral.

"Whoa, this is way livelier than just now!" A trace of surprise and curiosity flashed in Kane’s eyes, and he couldn’t help sighing.

The scene was messy, but with his eye, it wasn’t hard to see that these Barbarian Warriors’ bodies were frighteningly strong, their Qi and Blood so vigorous it seemed about to overflow.

Even without deliberately using Spiritual Energy techniques, just relying on this brute strength, their combat power was absolutely not to be underestimated.

Xue Wuyang and Zhou Ziming also keenly picked up on this. Both of them slightly furrowed their brows, carefully observing what was happening in the field, yet remained silent.

As soon as Qin Tian appeared, Terreda, who had been directing training off to the side, immediately stopped what he was doing, wiped the sweat from his face, and jogged over:

"Boss!"

"Terreda, how’s the training coming along?" Qin Tian asked with a smile.

"Pretty good!" Terreda nodded hard, a touch of pride in his tone. "The brothers are full of drive, not afraid of hardship or fatigue, they’re all improving fast!"

Qin Tian smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Good. Then keep at it. I’m just taking a few people around for a look."

"Yes, sir!" Terreda cast the few of them a curious glance, then threw himself back into directing the training.

Qin Tian led the three men around the Barbarian Warriors’ training ground once, then once again used spatial transfer. In an instant, they were back in the meeting room from before.

"You all saw the training fields just now. How did they feel to you?" Qin Tian sat back in the main seat, swept his gaze over the three, and asked.

Kane spoke up first, grinning as he said, "Not bad. Whether it’s the regular soldiers or the Barbarian Warriors, they’re all training with a lot of spirit. Pretty interesting to watch."

Xue Wuyang pondered for a moment, then said in a steady tone, "The overall foundation is acceptable, but there’s still room for improvement."

Qin Tian’s gaze then shifted to Zhou Ziming, who had been silent all this time.

Zhou Ziming lifted his eyes. His tone was flat, yet openly filled with disdain: "A bunch of trash."

The moment he said that, Kane’s eyes went wide in shock, his face full of disbelief. He had never imagined Zhou Ziming would dare, right in front of Qin Tian, to so bluntly belittle Qin Tian’s subordinates.

Even the corner of Xue Wuyang’s eye couldn’t help twitching.

Qin Tian, by contrast, remained calm, showing no sign of anger.

"So what you mean is, neither group is worth your time?"

"That’s right." Zhou Ziming spoke without the slightest reservation, his tone not softening in the least. "It’s just one bunch of trash, and another bunch of even worse trash."

"You really are... honest to a bit of an extreme." Qin Tian shook his head helplessly.

In that moment, he finally understood why that second-generation heir had gone after Zhou Ziming so hard, even going to great lengths just to throw him into prison.

With a mouth this unrestrained and a personality that shows no regard for anyone’s pride, anyone would find him intolerable.

But Qin Tian had always had a generous temperament, and he also understood that for Xue Wuyang and Zhou Ziming, who had both served in the Royal Space Fleet, whether it was the local soldiers at Ice Extreme Pass or this group of freshly out-of-the-wild, untamed Barbarian Warriors, they all looked like irregular troops in their eyes, naturally unworthy of their regard.

"Enough. I know perfectly well what level they’re at. It’s precisely because of that that I specifically called you here." Qin Tian shifted the topic and turned his gaze to Xue Wuyang, his tone turning serious. "From today on, those Barbarian Warriors are your responsibility to train. I’m giving you three months. I want to see them reborn, turned into a regular army that can fight hard battles. Can you do it?"

"I can. I’m confident."

Xue Wuyang didn’t hesitate in the slightest. For an old soldier with over twenty years of service, who had climbed from the grassroots all the way up to fleet regiment commander, training a force of a few thousand really didn’t count as anything difficult.

He had long seen that, although these Barbarian Warriors were still wild and undisciplined, they had excellent foundations and plenty of grit. The training difficulty was indeed higher than for regular soldiers, but to him, it was still within controllable bounds.

As long as he drafted targeted training plans and enforced strict discipline, remaking them within three months was no hard task.

"General, what about me?"

Kane stepped forward half a step, his tone carrying clear excitement.

After being cooped up in prison for more than a year, he’d been itching to move, desperate to find something to throw himself into.

Qin Tian considered it briefly. "You, just go back to what you’re best at: put together a Mercenary Corps for me."

This decision wasn’t something he came up with on the spot; he had just gone over the power structure under his command in his mind.

The Shadow Division, under Li Qi’s control, was in charge of Intelligence gathering and covert operations; the Barbarian Battle Group was the main combat force, responsible for expanding territory and frontline assaults.

Yet the more he thought about it, the more he felt he was missing a flexible, mobile force.

Some missions, if handed to The Shadow Division, would be making a mountain out of a molehill and wasting covert resources; if given to the untamed, relatively simple-minded Barbarian Warriors, he’d worry they’d overlook details and cause problems.

And Kane just happened to have experience forming Mercenary Corps. Putting him in charge of building such a unit couldn’t be more appropriate.

More importantly, as the large-scale development of Mingwang Planet advanced, the Ice Extreme Pass jurisdiction would inevitably see a huge influx of Mercenary Corps in the future.

These Mercenaries could boost the local economy and take on all sorts of odd jobs, but their complex backgrounds and profit-driven nature also made them a built-in risk.

To control this force, he needed his own people embedded in the Mercenary Realm to monitor and guide it, and Kane’s Mercenary Corps was perfectly placed to serve that role.

"A Mercenary Corps? That’s my specialty!"

The instant he heard his assignment, Kane’s eyes lit up and his energy surged. He thumped his chest and guaranteed, "General, you can relax! Back in the day, I was a rising star in the Mercenary Realm. In just half a year, I pushed a Mercenary Corps from nothing up from the lowest F level to C level, just one step short of the B-level threshold! Just give me a few reliable people, and I promise I’ll get a unit on its feet fast!"

"I’ll make sure you’re fully staffed." Qin Tian said solemnly.

Even though Kane’s track record looked impressive, Qin Tian couldn’t say he trusted him completely.

He planned to place a few trusted people at Kane’s side. This wasn’t about being overly suspicious; it was simply the most basic way a superior should handle his personnel.

He already knew where the manpower would come from: pull one or two members from The Shadow Division who were good at Intelligence work and coordination, then select a few from Zuiyu who had Mercenary or real combat experience. The remaining slots would be left for Kane to recruit freely.

This would also be his first test for Kane.

If he couldn’t even handle something as fundamental as forming a team, Qin Tian would have to reevaluate Kane’s capability and whether he was worth entrusting with greater responsibilities.

"As for you..."

Qin Tian’s gaze turned to Zhou Ziming, who had remained silent, and his tone eased a notch. "You’ll stay by my side for now, get familiar with things first. As for what you’ll specifically do, we’ll decide later."

Not assigning Zhou Ziming a concrete role wasn’t because Qin Tian didn’t value him. On the contrary, Qin Tian regarded him even more highly than Kane and Xue Wuyang.

What he had never lacked under his command were fierce generals who could fight; what he lacked were commanding talents who could handle overall planning on their own, even true marshals.

Zhou Ziming had graduated top of the Conducting Department from one of the Empire’s elite military academies, and had proven himself in the Space Fleet’s staff department. His intellect, strategic vision, and command talent were absolutely top-tier among the Empire’s younger generation.

His only flaw was that overly arrogant, sharp-tongued personality.

But in Qin Tian’s eyes, that wasn’t a big problem—for true talent, one had to show a bit more tolerance.

Having Zhou Ziming follow him was so he could see Qin Tian’s core team with his own eyes, understand Ice Extreme Pass’s situation and its future trajectory. Once he fully integrated into this environment, Qin Tian would then push him into the role of adviser. Only then could his top-tier abilities truly be put to use, planning the grand layout and helping Qin Tian win battles from a thousand miles away.

Hearing this arrangement, Zhou Ziming simply said, calmly:

"Understood."

There was no change in his expression; as for what he was thinking inside, no one knew.