Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 24: Political Power Emerges from the Knife
[The Beggar Army became famous in Shangcheng County, and 300 destiny points were received]

As soon as Li Mu sat up from the bed, he saw the system prompt reflected on his retina.

Before he fell asleep, he heard the players stationed in the village mention the "battle to break into the village". The supplies seized from the village would be transported back at a certain time.

This is all thanks to the players going back and forth online and offline, the efficiency of information dissemination is much higher than that of the 800-mile express delivery.

He didn't expect that rewards would come to him while he was just sitting at home.

Look, the reward for taking over the village occupation award was also received yesterday: [Successfully controlled the surrounding villages, and 900 destiny points were received]

Li Mu judged that no matter what the players did to win battles, gain reputation, or occupy territory, he would be able to obtain indirect benefits.

The reason why it is indirect is that Li Mu sent dozens of players to escort the hostages back home and take over the village.

A total of twenty-seven villages were willing to surrender and handed over 25 dan of wheat, % of their harvest, which was stored in the newly built granary in the village.

However, the destiny value generated by the twenty-seven villages was less than twice that generated by Yangjia Village at that time.

Either he did not conquer them personally and the reward was discounted, or these villages were not convinced in their hearts and only regarded Yangjia Village as another bandit force like "Black Wind Village".

No matter what, it is a cause for celebration to have successfully obtained 1200 life points.

This time, the casualties in killing the evil slaves of the Gao family and attacking Gaojiazhuang were negligible. After several life-and-death battles, even the newest players can learn some killing skills.

Some players' spontaneously formed teams are gradually taking shape, and players who act independently in teams will be more powerful in the future.

Considering that the casualties this time were not great, Li Mu did not leave any resurrection reserves and used all 1200 life points to summon players.

He was not worried about not having any merit rewards for the players. After all, merit points were just a special "game currency" for players. Some commodities and special coupons were enough to recover the "merit points" in the hands of the players.

[45 beginner players, one pair of 8x binoculars]

In the end, I really couldn't get out.

Fortunately, the number of summons by players was much higher than the last time when two thousand Life Points were summoned, and they even came with a pair of eight-fold binoculars.

Including the players who have not been summoned yet, Li Mu already has a combat force of 150 people.

He was not surprised that "military combat" accounted for the largest proportion. After all, the late Ming Dynasty environment was an absolutely realistic Mount and Blade game for players, and combat was naturally the first choice.

There are not many people who choose production and construction, scientific research, and village development.

The only thing that seems strange is the player who chose "free man".

In particular, some of them had saved enough money to buy "outbound exploration coupons", but they insisted on staying in Yangjia Village to engage in production and construction. Some even went to surrounding villages to serve as "village cadres" to experience ancient poverty alleviation.

Then why not choose the corresponding focus and get bonus rewards?

It's a strange feeling. It's like, although workers can get full attendance bonus if they come to work on time, they also go to work and leave on time, but when it comes to getting paid, they don't have to be fully present at all.

The main theme is: I don’t want you to think of me, I just want to be willful and free.

Li Mu also had to admit that this group of "free men" were extremely motivated. They were eager to do tasks such as building houses, repairing mansions, setting up workshops, forging weapons, etc. They were even more hardworking than Palu.

They helped to build the "Glass Workshop", "Paper Workshop", "Gunpowder Workshop", "Charcoal Workshop", "Soap Workshop" and so on.

As long as it was mentioned in Baidu's "Must-Haves" list for time travelers, they worked day and night. If they were short on materials or funds, they would come to Li Mu with a clamor to approve funding and manpower. Faced with these endlessly energetic players, Li Mu was happy to let them contribute to his work, providing them with whatever they needed.

Yangjia Village, which originally had a population of about 100, exceeded 300 people after the hostages from Heifengzhai and refugees from the south joined in.

In this chaotic world of conflict, if one wants to achieve great things, the first thing to do is to establish one's own regime to ensure peace, or in other words, "build high walls, store up food, and slowly become king."

There are only a few important factors in developing one's own strength.

A continuously growing population, enough territory to feed the workers, peasants and army, an army that matches its strength, and gunpowder and steel to strengthen the army.

At present, if we want to increase the population, we mainly rely on the influx of refugees. However, in the late Ming Dynasty, the northern region suffered from drought every year, and the Jiannu army would invade and rob from time to time, so there were countless refugees fleeing famine.

As long as the task is marked and the player mentions it to the refugees, saying there is a village to be developed here, the refugees will come spontaneously to find a way to make a living.

There is no shortage of land either.

There is still a lot of arable land in the major valleys of the Dabie Mountains. Moreover, crops like corn, which was called "foreign wheat" by the people of the Ming Dynasty, were introduced to the Ming Dynasty earlier than sweet potatoes and potatoes. The earliest record was in 1511, and it is also easier to grow in mountainous areas.

Gunpowder and steel are not difficult to obtain. Wherever there are mountains, there are mines. The powerful and common people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty have long since explored the shallow mineral deposits. Li Mu just needs to follow them and dig with them.

At worst, the seized gold and silver can be used to buy pig iron and gunpowder materials.

Although these two items are important military weapons and are under government control, it is well known that in ancient times such bans could only apply to ordinary people, but could not prevent the powerful and wealthy.

As for the most important army, Li Mu does not intend to rely entirely on players.

He positions players as elites, secret agents, death squads, knights, and guerrillas, but not as the main soldiers who require stability and loyalty. They will go offline, act weird, or even do some dangerous things for fun.

Therefore, he planned to recruit ordinary people and train an elite army that would be directly under his command, mentally stable, and more loyal.

So the villages around Yangjia Village became Li Mu's recruitment grounds.

……

At Li Mu's command, the players stationed in other villages completed basic communication online and offline.

On this day, dozens of villages received news that Mr. Li from Yangjiazhai was recruiting "house servants".

The people gathered around the notice and discussed it. Most of the villagers could not read a single word and could only rely on the "village representative" sent by Mr. Li to help explain.

The gist of the notice was that bandits and robbers had been rampant recently and the area was unstable. In order to protect the property and personal safety of the villagers, Mr. Li decided to use his own money and food to recruit a group of local militiamen in the name of servants to protect the area. They would be treated well and given weapons.

"Huh? Mr. Li's servants have to practice every day?"

"There will be another martial arts test in thirty days. If you don't meet the requirements, you will have to go home."

"That's right. You'll be given three meals a day, and once you pass the assessment, you'll become Mr. Li's servant. They'll give you five stone of flour as a settlement allowance, and one ounce of silver per month! That's about the same salary for a soldier who eats food, right?"

The farmers watching shook their heads and counted the benefits of being a servant. They would get money and food every month, and if they succeeded, they could even provide for their family. That was five stone of white flour, which was enough to feed the whole family for half a year if they lived frugally.

The more the villagers thought about it, the more they felt that this was a good job, and they all went to their respective "village representatives" to sign up. If there were no resident players in the village, they would go to Yangjiazhai to sign up on their own.

For a time, not only the villages controlled by Yangjiazhai signed up enthusiastically, but even ordinary villages in the surrounding areas came to join in the fun after hearing the news.

(End of this chapter)