Chapter 316: Coordination

He had originally thought it was just an ordinary class, an ordinary Grotto-Heaven.

However, to his surprise, the True Knowledge Dao Resonance started to stir, as if it had sensed something special, yet it couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"Why is this happening?" A hint of confusion arose in Li Qi's heart.

Was it because of this Grotto-Heaven? This feeling was somewhat indescribable.

It was similar to when he encountered the second wisp of True Knowledge, where True Knowledge sensed something very important.

But this time, it was only a slight reaction, not as intense as last time.

Then, perhaps he needed to be a bit more serious.

The previous teacher had said that if he failed this class, he wouldn't need to come again, so he definitely had to pass.

First, he set aside those strange feelings and focused on the test. He would deal with it after the test.

Then, Li Qi looked at the number of people recorded in the Grotto-Heaven.

Five thousand regular soldiers, ten thousand auxiliary soldiers, and thirty thousand laborers.

Fortunately, they were all round numbers.

But... were these soldiers all living people?

What was going on?

Li Qi turned his gaze to his soldiers. He could feel that these people all had vibrant lives and Spirit Souls.

However... they were not of the Human Race, but some kind of humanoid race.

Their bodies were covered in scales, faintly revealing some...

Dragon Qi?

Li Qi couldn't say for sure.

It was completely different from the True Dragon's aura, but it had a similar taste.

What kind of trick was the Human Dao playing? What kind of thing was this?

Upon closer inspection, besides having scales on their bodies, these soldiers also had vertical pupils, and each was about ten feet tall, extremely burly.

The regular soldiers were all Ninth Rank, but there seemed to be no low-ranking officers, only a single existence similar to a deputy general, who was also Ninth Rank.

This deputy general was stronger than the others, but not to the Eighth Rank level.

The remaining auxiliary soldiers all possessed cultivation, with a centurion for every hundred men, and the centurion was Ninth Rank.

The remaining laborers all practiced rudimentary cultivation methods, and occasionally some could reach the level of auxiliary soldiers. Everyone was estimated to have over six to seven hundred catties of strength.

When Li Qi landed on the ground, he saw these soldiers immediately kneel on one knee: "Greetings, General!"

Their voices were lively, and he could feel the aura of their Spirit Souls.

They were indeed living people.

It seemed they lived within this Grotto-Heaven... 'people' who existed solely for Imperial Academy students to learn military strategy.

Li Qi felt a little uncomfortable.

He had experienced the prosperity of the Human Dao and the convenience of being a part of it.

But no matter what, he couldn't get used to this kind of thing.

All these conveniences and prosperity were built upon a large number of consumables, just like fuel.

It was the constant burning and loss of life of this fuel that maintained the operation of the Human Dao's vast machine.

demon beasts were like this, and these soldiers, of an unknown race before him, were also like this.

This was the fundamental logic of the Human Dao.

All things in the world exist for humans. Humans not only dominate all things but are also the value of all things in the world. Humans are the essence and core of the world.

Nature is generated by humans, a product of human activities. The objective world belongs to humanity. If something doesn't belong now, it will definitely belong in the future.

Mineral veins formed underground should naturally be mined by humans.

Wild boars, wild cattle, wild sheep, and such, should naturally be domesticated by humans. If not, then they should be tamed until they can be domesticated.

The fur on animals' bodies grows for human fur coats, not for their own warmth.

All things, if they cannot be used by humans, are useless.

This is the Human Dao.

Even Li Qi himself had some of these characteristics.

Only after cultivating Shaman Dao did he realize something: "Milk should originally be drunk by cows."

Before, Li Qi had always subconsciously believed that milk should be drunk by humans, that milk was a product placed in supermarkets for people to buy, used for calcium supplements, sleep aids, face masks, and so on.

He had never thought that milk was actually food for calves and should be given to newborn calves.

This subtle influence on concepts is the Dao's arrangement of the world.

No matter what, Li Qi found it difficult to accept the Human Dao's worldview, but unfortunately, there was nothing he could do; it wasn't something he could decide based on his likes or dislikes.

From the perspective of Shaman Dao, milk has its own place, which is 'food for calves.' There is no need to break its natural position.

This breaking does not mean that humans cannot drink it, but rather that milk, which is drunk by calves, is completely transformed into something drunk by humans.

This kind of behavior fundamentally changes the position of a thing and completely alters its meaning of existence. Shaman Dao believes this would disrupt the already perfect world and is a destruction of 'natural.'

natural, does not refer to flowers and plants, but refers to all things in the Universe, from ancient times to the present.

Realizing this difference again, Li Qi even felt that his own miniature heaven and earth was somewhat sluggish.

The conflict between Human and Shaman Dao was starting to intensify.

He closed his eyes and silently recited the箴言: "The source of the Great Dao, its source is truly real. Nothing does not receive it, nothing does not accept it, nothing does not pass through it. It extends boundlessly and permeates infinitely. Therefore, it is said to be connected to the One, and all matters are complete..."

He was trying to reconcile the two sides using the Dao of Dao Sects.

Existence is reasonable. Nothing does not receive, nothing does not accept, nothing does not pass through. Humans and Shaman Dao are merely different choices... The Great Dao is ineffable. All of these are contained within the Great Dao, and in essence, there is no conflict...

While trying to quell the turmoil within him, Li Qi spoke to the people around him: "Please rise, everyone, and tell me the specific situation. I assume you know something?"

All the soldiers stood up.

The leading deputy general stepped forward and cupped his hands to Li Qi: "General, we received a divine decree to come and obey your orders. However, supplies, provisions, and other items... still need to be prepared by the General."

"Hmm, I already know your numbers, but what are your appetites like? How much grain do you need per day?" Li Qi nodded, then asked.

Perhaps the deputy general wasn't here for the first time. Upon hearing Li Qi's question, he immediately presented a silk scroll.

Li Qi took it and found that everything was written very clearly on it.

Five thousand regular soldiers, to maintain sufficient combat power, each needed ten catties of fine grain, two catties of meat, and half an ounce of salt per day.

If training was required, not only meat but also sufficient spiritual items needed to be consumed to replenish inner Qi.

To maintain an elite force, at least one training session every three days was required. If it was just to prevent combat power from dropping too severely, then it was one training session every ten days.

During wartime, with a large consumption of inner Qi, the regular soldiers' spiritual item replenishment might even reach at least ten wisps of inner Qi per person per day.

Ten thousand auxiliary soldiers required half the amount, but if training was needed, consumption would also increase, and it would be similar during wartime.

As for the laborers, it was enough for them not to starve; two to three catties of grain per day was generally sufficient. However, if laborers needed to do heavy work or long-distance travel, they would eat more, sometimes even double.

But meat and spiritual items could be omitted for them.

However, if they were made to work without being fed, non-combat casualties might occur.

In addition, there were many other data, too numerous to list.

For example, the load capacity of laborers, their movement speed, and so on.

Because if too few laborers were sent to transport grain and there was too much grain, the speed would slow down, which would then consume more time, roughly equivalent to consuming more grain.

But if more people were added, they would also eat more. What was the optimal solution?

To maintain combat power, was it training every three days or every ten days?

Looking at it this way, pre-march preparations and logistical reserves were indeed a technical skill.

This was not just simple calculation, but a whole set of optimized overall planning algorithms.

How to achieve the optimal solution was an important lesson for the Military School of Thought!

It wasn't just a simple problem for you to solve, but many problems combined into a practical issue, and then you had to find the optimal solution.

Even if it wasn't the optimal solution, it had to be above the passing line to ensure that 'when troops are raised, the territory is not impoverished,' thereby preventing 'victory in war but defeat for the nation.'

After reading it, Li Qi pondered for a moment, then looked at the deputy general and said: "I've seen the consumption, but where should these supplies be allocated from? What are the sources of resources?"

The deputy general immediately presented another silk scroll and said to Li Qi: "General, this is our country's topographical map, which includes specialties, taxes, and granaries. However, I hope the General allocates them appropriately. If a certain area is excessively conscripted, it might provoke a popular uprising, leading to more harm than good."

Upon hearing this, Li Qi took the silk scroll from the other party's hand and looked again.

He found that a map was drawn on it, depicting a nation divided into more than a dozen states. Each state had different specialties, different populations, and in critical moments, able-bodied men could be forcibly conscripted, but doing so would inevitably cause social unrest.

Li Qi noticed that the population within it was surprisingly small.

The people from more than a dozen states combined amounted to less than a million, meaning each state only had tens of thousands of people.

Li Qi examined it more closely and saw that the scale was quite absurd.

This Grotto-Heaven was small.

It was only six or seven hundred li across, and Li Qi could run a round trip in just a few hours. The so-called 'states' were actually not much different from the county towns of Baiyue, nowhere near enough to constitute a nation.

With tens of thousands of people per state, and a total population barely reaching one million, how could such a Grotto-Heaven cultivate so many Ninth Rank cultivators?

Li Qi's focus was different from others. He didn't immediately look at things like specialty goods, money, or grain, but rather focused on the population ratio.

This was just a Ninth Rank Grotto-Heaven, which meant that the strongest individuals that could be born here were only Ninth Rank.

That's why there wasn't a single Eighth Rank among those regular soldiers.

But... there were five to six thousand Ninth Rank cultivators.

In other words, assuming these were all the Ninth Rank cultivators in this Grotto-Heaven, then roughly one Ninth Rank cultivator existed for every twenty thousand people.

For a Ninth Rank world, what a terrifying proportion of Ninth Rank cultivators was this?

Even in the world, Ninth Rank cultivators were one in a thousand. In a Ninth Rank world, it was good to have one in the entire world.

Back in the Earth Oil Realm, with over a hundred million people, there were only two Ninth Rank cultivators, and both followed unorthodox Human Dao cultivation methods.

This wasn't right. What had the Human Dao done in this world?

Li Qi frowned and asked: "How many people of your level are there in your homeland?"

The deputy general was slightly surprised to hear this.

No general had ever asked such a question before.

However, his long-standing obedience made him immediately reply: "We have already reached the Ranked level, naturally we are the strongest among the strong, all one in ten thousand."

"However, the remaining people must guard their homes. If the General forcibly conscripts them into the army, it might lead to a void in the rear, and also increase the logistical burden."

The deputy general said cautiously, fearing that this new general would prepare to conscript others.

Some generals had done so before.

Li Qi, however, ignored him and silently stroked his chin, falling into deep thought.

Ninth Rank cultivators were one in ten thousand, which meant that this nation of a million people had ten thousand Ninth Rank cultivators!

What a joke!

In the major cities of the world, Ninth Rank cultivators were only one in a thousand.

How could this Ninth Rank world be so capable!?

There must be something fishy going on, or perhaps, these were just actors? Were they actually brought in from the outside?

It didn't seem like it.

The eyes and gazes of these people were those of natives.

"Show me your cultivation method. Perform it once." Thinking about this, Li Qi looked up and said to the deputy general.

"General... time is urgent. We only have one hour to plan... If the planning is insufficient, I'm afraid—" The deputy general was a bit anxious.

"I am planning. I told you to perform your cultivation method." Li Qi emphasized again.

The deputy general had no choice but to perform his cultivation method.

He only hoped this general wouldn't be too unreliable.

If he was unreliable... this nation would likely not escape the calamity of war.

As he began to perform his cultivation method, Li Qi also began his own deductions.

What was he deducing?

Of course, the objective function!

Wasn't this just a multi-objective function problem!

First, draw a function graph, then solve for the optimal solution of each single-objective problem. Take all the optimal solutions of the single-objective problems as expected values, and seek the point within the feasible region closest to the expected solution as the optimal solution for the multi-objective optimization problem.

It looked very complex, with many variables, and many things acting as constraints, but in practice, there was only one thing to do:

'From multiple objectives, select 'raising supplies and military provisions without affecting stability' as the main objective based on importance, and then convert other objectives into constraints.'

Then, the multi-objective optimization problem could be transformed into a single-objective problem.

As long as sufficiently reasonable and relatively important objective weight coefficients were set, and then brought into the multi-objective function... the problem would be easily solved.

As mentioned, this kind of thing tested the method of calculation.

Well, sorry, Li Qi's mathematical foundation was actually quite good.

While watching the deputy general perform his cultivation method, he deduced and calculated the function, seeing how to obtain the optimal solution for raising military provisions.

One hour?

More than enough.

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On the other side of the desk, Li Lieqi was rubbing her fists, leading a squad of soldiers who looked like barbarians.

The matter of raising military provisions was familiar to her. In fact, to give her experience, her family had once sent her to a Ninth Rank world to lead troops in battle and experience military life firsthand.

Raising military provisions and arranging logistics were not difficult for her.

She quickly and skillfully arranged and deployed things, and had already begun to rally morale:

"As you say, the people of the Southern Kingdom plant five grains and harvest in autumn," Li Lieqi said loudly:

"Then we Northerners should also go south to harvest according to the season! They are our planted five grains!"