Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 204: You are asked to fight against bandits, but it is either windy or rainy

Li Mu took out a handkerchief to wipe his nose and mouth, then opened the curtain and looked at Xinyang in the distance. Thirty thousand soldiers and militiamen had surrounded the city of Xinyang.

Hundreds of tents stretched out like a scarf around the city walls, and Li Mu briefly recalled playing Mount & Blade II before his time travel. He stood on a mound, bow and arrow in hand, watching his carefully trained auxiliary soldiers roar as they charged towards the city walls...

Li Mu quietly watched from afar a small team holding white flags approaching the gate of Xinyang City. This was the third time he had sent a team to persuade people to surrender.

You have to perform a full set of plays, and you can't repeat a few routines.

The bandits abandoned the city and fled. The bandits were defeated and captured. The "enthusiastic masses" rioted inside and outside...

As soon as the main army arrived, the city walls opened and surrendered. The officials in the court would only think that the bandits were vulnerable and would urge Li Mu to recover more lost territory.

If too much territory is taken over, there will not be enough players to seize the grassroots level, and the "airborne officials" appointed by the court will be undermined, and the grassroots government affairs will be taken back by the Ming Dynasty officials and gentry.

Then for Li Mu, wouldn’t it be a waste of effort to suppress these bandits?
So he was active when he should have been, and captured a city in two and a half days, announcing to the world that he was not a "warlord" who only raised the wind and rain to suppress bandits.

When the proof is complete and the other two government armies have not yet been defeated, it is time to show that attacking the city is not easy, and send some newly-minted players to practice attack and defense.

As for how the players defending the city replenish their manpower?

Li Mu directly dug tunnels or sent new players into the city at night, and both sides accumulated offensive and defensive experience in the battle.

The intensity of the battle was not high, the number of deaths on both sides was strictly controlled by the "chief director", and there was no need to sacrifice ordinary soldiers, which could be said to kill two birds with one stone.

The Qihuo Army captured Nanyang and Xiangyang and earned him 20,000 life points, and summoned a total of 700 players.

As soon as these young men came to "Late Ming Dynasty", they embarked on a "fierce" offensive and defensive battle, and they all exclaimed that this game was too real.

Sometimes they are the Black Flag Army fighting side by side, sometimes they are soldiers and bandits who exchange identities, or sometimes they are the rebels who share the same hatred and fight against tyranny.

Players who love to play and act have used their intelligence and talents to create countless heroic, tragic and sorrowful stories that are "epic and moving".

When both government armies were defeated, the long-dormant black dragon woke up from the top of the mountain. It twisted its winding body and tightly grasped the city of Xinyang in its arms.

Finally, after being beaten and persuaded several times by the Black Flag Army, Xinyang City decided to surrender.

Led by Wang Han, the guards came to General Li barefoot, half naked and covered with thorns.

Wang Han begged Marshal Li to spare the volunteers who had "followed the bandits" and let them return to their hometown to farm. He was willing to die as an apology and take all the blame.

Wang Han's acting skills were superb, with a sad yet resolute expression on his face, like a loyal and brave general who was willing to sacrifice his life to save the soldiers and civilians from the suffering of war. He was neither humble nor arrogant, which made Li Mu stunned.

Most of the soldiers who came from lower classes couldn't help but feel sympathy. Some of their direct subordinates, and even Guo Zinu, who had just joined the Black Flag Camp, wanted to persuade the commander to recruit these surrendered soldiers.

Li Mu couldn't help but secretly give a thumbs up and awarded Wang Han 20 acting merits.

Wang Han was so happy that he almost couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth.

Fortunately, this actor has a strong self-cultivation, and the curve of his mouth was suppressed as soon as it rose half an inch.

Just as General Li was about to hint to his direct subordinates to make the first move, the rear army lieutenant general Wu Zhongxian started to make noises, "These bandits have taken up arms and are now soldiers. Even as bandits, they are rebelling. General Li, you must not let them go back to the mountains! How about I do it for them and kill them!"

Li Mu turned his head and looked, his piercing gaze was like two sharp arrows shot straight into Wu Zhong's heart, causing the latter's eagerness to kill the enemy to wither in an instant.

As expected, the non-direct generals "airdropped" by the court liked to butt in without authorization. Did they really think that the "system of senior and junior ministers" could restrain Li Mu?
Besides, even if these surrendered soldiers were really bandits, who had they harmed?

The "bandits" killed some evil gentry and soldiers who deserved to be killed, distributed land and taxes equally, and won the love of the people.

Instead of recruiting them into his army, he broke his promise to surrender in Kaesong and ordered the killing of the surrendered soldiers. Does he still want to keep his reputation and the support of the local people?
"Palm mouth."

As soon as Li Mu finished speaking, "Li Wu" beside him immediately came forward, tilting his head left and right, fiddling with his fingers and making crackling sounds.

The soldiers of the Black Flag Battalion nearby quickly clamped onto Lieutenant General Wu's arm. The latter was filled with resentment and anger, "What are you going to do!"

"Li Wu" raised his hand without any nonsense and slapped Wu Zhong in the face. There was a pleasant crisp sound, and the powerful force made Wu Zhong's head buzz, followed by several rounds of heavy slaps.

Li Wu seemed to be participating in a "slap contest", except that he was the one slapping others individually.

Slap after slap made Li Wu's meridians feel relaxed, which was even more pleasurable than mocking the commander-in-chief and Zhu Ming under the city of Nanyang.

What a pleasure!

It was not until Wu Zhong's face was red, swollen and purple, and the Right Army Lieutenant General Fang Guoxing also jumped out to plead for mercy, that Li Mu added seriously, "Remember this, there is only one leader in the Black Flag Battalion, and I decide whether to kill or capture him!"

"That's right. The commander-in-chief hasn't said anything, why are you, a mere lieutenant general, making such a fuss?" Li Wu deliberately moved his five fingers in front of Wu Zhong, as if he was savoring the pleasure of the slap he had just received.

"My subordinate realizes his mistake."

Although Wu Zhong apologized with a fist, resentment slowly grew in his heart. He turned his head to look at Li Wu, who was taking advantage of the power of others, and his eyes turned cold.

"All surrendered soldiers from Xinyang will be incorporated into the militia and strictly disciplined. Anyone who dares to violate the law will be executed on the spot!" Li Mu announced loudly. "If anyone is dissatisfied with my decision, tell them to come to me! Enter the city!"

Soldiers quickly took over the city's defense streets, granaries, and treasuries. Li Mu led hundreds of players, rarely seen in public, into the government office, dressing them in clerk uniforms to facilitate their future command of the county government. In the Shanggu area, where Li Mu had been deeply involved, he had infiltrated and planted four hundred county and village officials. The four newly recovered cities in southern Henan also had four hundred player officials.

In addition to some ordinary clerks temporarily selected through the "Begging Army and Civil Service Examination", it is more than enough to completely control the six areas in southern Henan.

You must know that since ancient times, imperial power has not extended below the county level, and it was considered good enough if the prefecture and county governments could indirectly control the countryside through local celebrities and gentry.

At present, Li Mu has dispatched hundreds of cadres to control the county and village grassroots. Not to mention the Ming Dynasty's imperial power going to the countryside, it is even a question whether the county magistrate's decrees can get out of the yamen.

If you draw the boundaries of the six prefectures and counties on a map, you will find that this place is bordered by the Huai River to the north, backed by the Dabie Mountains to the west and south, and blocked by the Shi River, a tributary of the Huai River, to the east. It is a natural place for armed separatism.

According to the farmland population of the six areas, the total urban and rural population is about 800,000, and the cultivated land is more than 9 million mu. If we include the "Yingshan Camp" settled by Li Mu and the people in the mountainous valleys secretly controlled by him, the total population has reached one million.

With more territories under actual control and a wider coverage area of ​​the indirect control corps, it is time to develop a new level of land and air transportation to shorten commuting time.

Railways on land, airships in the air.

Airships are easy to deal with. Hydrogen has already been put into production, so there is no pressure to build a few flying airships. It’s just that the power system is difficult to solve.

If a steam engine is used, it is difficult to control the direction and speed of the airship. Many brave men in history have tried this.

But if he wants to use an internal combustion engine, the technical threshold is too high, and with Li Mu's current technical reserves, it will be difficult to overcome it in the short term.

Of course, when encountering difficult problems, there will always be someone with ideas to offer suggestions.

A big shot suggested that they could start with the diesel engine. Early diesel engines could use peanut oil, and the technical threshold was not too high. It could be overcome by spending some time and money.

Anyway, as long as the airship can control the wind direction and speed, and can be loaded with "bombs" to form combat effectiveness, it will be fine. If you don't have the technology, don't even think about replicating the 20th century Zeppelin airship.

So the airship project was decided, and Li Mu poured a lot of money and personnel into the "land and air" project, and the bonus rewards were also raised to higher than those for cadres.

Another high-investment project is railways.

The technical difficulties of early railways were not high. The first version of the high-pressure steam engine and some technical difficulties were successfully overcome during the six months that Li Mu was away from home.

The basic technology at the forefront indicated that a real steam locomotive should have been born, but the cost of laying railways was extremely high.

At present, the price of steel is not as cheap as it was during the period of technological explosion, and the steel production in the main base is not high.

Professionals among the players looked up the cost of railway construction in the late Qing Dynasty, and then searched through a large number of high-quality papers and converted it based on the purchasing power of silver in the late Ming Dynasty.

It is estimated that one kilometer of railway will cost at least 8,000 taels of silver. If it passes through a complex road surface, the cost can reach up to 30,000 taels of silver.

Of course, this was an early cheap railway and cannot be compared with modern railways.

If Li Mu wanted to build a railway line across six prefectures and counties, it would cost at least two million taels of silver, including miscellaneous additional expenses.

According to Li Mu's strategic vision for the future and the players' urgent need to shorten their journey.

Li Mu had to build at least two main roads, one leading north to Runing and the other leading south to Hankou. The total cost of the two roads would be at least four or five million taels of silver.

At present, he actually controls six areas, and the annual agricultural tax, commercial tax, salt tax, and trade profit total only one million taels of silver, and even this has to be deducted for maintaining stability, military expenditure, scientific and technological research and development, and war reserves.

Even after deducting money, they couldn't save much silver in a year, and they had to rely on the wealth left by the princes and dukes to survive.

In addition, 40% of the hundreds of thousands of taels of military salary given to him by the court every year was "naturally" eaten up.

Li Mu was really "thankful" to this group of people. The 40% corruption rate was lower than the previous 60%.

It seems that his reputation as a "favorite in front of the emperor" played a role, and corrupt officials had to give him face and embezzle less.

Li Mu thought that building a railway usually takes a long time, at least one or two years, and at most four or five years, so it’s better to start construction soon than later.

As for the funding gap for railway construction, we can raise funds from the society.

Forty thousand shares were issued at a price of one hundred taels of silver per share for people to purchase, and Li Mu only paid a part of the money but held 51% of the shares.

Whether it is a player, a middle- or lower-class commoner, a rich farmer, or a middle- or lower-level merchant, everyone can purchase. Each person is limited to one share, and a maximum of five people are allowed to purchase one share together.

Li Mu's move was to use the interests of the railway to bind all the middle and lower classes to stand with him. Even if there were changes in the world one day, the middle and lower classes who were deeply bound by interests would stand firmly on his side.

After all, if corrupt officials in the imperial court seized the railway, they would definitely take back everything that belonged to the Zhu family.

In addition, the identity of the investor must also be "politically reviewed". Anyone from an official or gentry background, or from a middle or upper-class landlord family is strictly prohibited from purchasing, and cannot entrust others to hold shares on their behalf. Once discovered, all share profits will be confiscated.

Of course, ordinary people don’t know what railways are, nor do they know how they can make a profit.

This requires Li Mu to find a way to do publicity and persuade ordinary people to invest boldly.

Li Mu was bored in the yamen, thinking of propaganda strategies, when he suddenly heard someone report that the soldiers were fighting.

(End of this chapter)