Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 322 So Zhong will disappear, right?
"I have been an official for decades, and I have never seen such a brutal and treacherous villain! He deserves to be killed! He deserves to be killed! He deserves to be killed—"

Looking at Zhang Xianzhong being taken away, Fang Yizao was still furious.

His eyes were wide open, his breathing was rapid and irregular, his chest heaving violently, and every breath seemed to be a struggle with the air.

The blood vessels in his neck became more and more obvious due to the violent fluctuations in his emotions. They seemed to be expanding to their limit and could burst at any time.

The staff beside him felt that something was wrong, thinking that the governor was so angry that he was confused. They quickly brought a cup of hot tea to Mr. Fang and then stroked his back to calm him down.

Seeing that Fang Yizhao had no reaction, even his breathing rhythm became intermittent, as if something hard was stuck in his throat.

Other officials also realized the seriousness of the problem and gathered around. Some patted their backs to relieve their anger, some put their hands together and prayed for the protection of the Buddha, and some even quietly recited mantras in an attempt to use the "metaphysical power" that they themselves did not understand.

"Let me go!"

Zu Dabi, a martial artist, did not hesitate to beat around the bush. He held a glass of wine in each hand and poured it on the governor's face without saying a word.

If one glass of wine doesn't wake the governor, then two glasses.

"what!"

Stimulated by the two glasses of wine, Fang Yizao looked around as if waking from a dream, and then he realized that he almost went astray and it was Zu Dabi who saved him.

Although he disliked Zu Dabi in every way, he had to accept this favor of "waking up and saving his life" and bowed respectfully to the other party.

After a small episode, the guests wanted to leave one after another, but were stopped by Fang Yizao.

To prevent the news from leaking out, all guests attending the meeting today must stay overnight for a few days until Zhang Xianzhong is safely sent away.

The reason, of course, was to discuss the people's livelihood issues in Liaodong. Even Zhang Xianzhong stayed "voluntarily".

Fang Yizao quickly changed into clean clothes, and then moved to a private room with more than ten important civil and military officials to discuss the issue of "reducing the power of the vassal states."

The most critical issue at the moment is that Zhang Xianzhong has been brought under control, but he still has several generals under his command who command tens of thousands of soldiers.

"He Lusi, Dong Mengde, An Lushan, Huang Chao, Zhao Kuangmang..."

The staff repeated the stories of influential Beiwei army generals one by one, but Fang Yizao felt that something was wrong the more he listened.

Except for the first one He Lusi, why are the following ones all weird names?
When he thought about it carefully, he was shocked to find that the names of these people were all rebels and usurpers in ancient times!
Dong Zhuo and Cao Mengde. An Lushan during the An-Shi Rebellion. Huang Chao, the mass murderer at the end of the Tang Dynasty. Even Wang Mang, who usurped the Han Dynasty, and Zhao Kuangyin, who usurped the Later Zhou Dynasty.

Good heavens, it turns out that all the powerful generals of your Beiwei Army are "rebels"?
Even the commander-in-chief of the Beiwei Army, "Zhang Xianzhong", is exactly the same as the deceased leader of the Western bandits, "Zhang Xianzhong".

Is this a coincidence, or a deliberate mistake?
Also, what was the number of the main force of the Beiwei Army? Why were there just over 30,000 people when they went abroad, and still more than 30,000 people when they came back, or even more?

Others are exhausted from fighting and suffer heavy casualties, but your Beiwei Army can still absorb a large number of troops and increase its strength while fighting, right?
Putting aside this strange detail, the main force of the Beiwei Army, more than 30,000 soldiers, was stationed around Liaoyang, and the remaining garrison troops were scattered throughout Liaodong.

The best example of weakening a "strong town" is Yuan Chonghuan killing Mao Wenlong.

After killing the people, the former selected four deputy generals to divide up the people of Dongjiang Town, then walked away, leaving Dongjiang Town in a state of confusion.

By the time Dongjiang Town came to its senses, it had already fallen into a turmoil over the leadership.

These Dongjiang lieutenants were disobedient to one another, repeatedly causing mutinies and internal strife, exhausting their own vitality and being firmly controlled by the imperial court. In the end, a shocking bloodbath ensued over a chicken...

Although Fang Yizao did not intend to kill Zhang Xianzhong, the example can be learned.

Considering the considerable influence of the second-in-command, He Lusi, it would be best to find a reason to lure him over as well.

In order to avoid any further complications, He Lusi was also brought to the governor's office tonight and placed under house arrest in the name of "urgent military affairs" and "summons from Marshal Zhang", leaving the Beiwei Army completely leaderless.

As long as Fang Yizao paints a few more big rosy pictures and makes promises to some of the third and fourth in command, he can generally stabilize the Beiwei Army.

Even if some of the generals were unruly, he would just use their strength to his advantage, stir up internal strife within the Beiwei Army, and take one or two of the weakest Beiwei Army generals as his "dogs."

In this way, not only would Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty be completely stabilized, but his own power would also increase, and he might even be appointed as a prime minister.

As for how to implement the plan, that is a detail that should be discussed by the staff and the civil and military officials.

Fang Yizao is more concerned about the distribution of benefits after taking control of the Beiwei Army.

Once the huge but loose Beiwei Army collapses, the benefits that will emerge will inevitably be huge.

The newspapers all said that the Beiwei Army extorted a million dan of grain in Korea. Could the profits they plundered in Liaodong be less?
Fang Yizao said that he was the mastermind of the "feudal reduction" plan, and was very angry with Zhang Xianzhong. He asked for at least 10,000 acres of land as compensation, and tens of thousands of taels of silver as a snack.

A group of the governor's staff also wanted to get some land and shops, and just build a family business that would last for three generations.

The military commanders had a simpler mindset: they were content with being assigned to a garrison with fertile land. They expressed their apathy, stating that half of the military settlement burden would be used for military supplies, and the rest would go into their own pockets.

The Zu family seemed much greedier. In addition to wanting military settlements in the Shenyang area, they also wanted 10,000 war horses.

You should know that the Beiwei Army defeated the Jiannu, wiped out the Jiannu's base Hetuala, and almost completely swallowed up the Jiannu's elite. As a result, the Beiwei Army trained tens of thousands of cavalry day and night.

Now with more food supplies from North Korea, there is no pressure to raise a large number of war horses.

After a series of wars in the nine frontiers, the shortage of war horses in each town has become increasingly serious, and it is just right to rely on the spoils captured in Liaodong to replenish them.

Even if the Zu family army cannot finish it all, they can sell it to other towns and make a profit from the difference.

Fang Yizao immediately refuted Zu Dabi's wishful thinking, saying that one should not be too greedy. At least thousands of horses should be sent to each town to comfort the soldiers. He secretly wanted to get involved in the horse selling business.

Zu Dacheng immediately compensated his second brother. The quota of war horses could be reduced, but the Beiwei Army's coastal salt fields could be divided into ten for his family.

Speaking of salt drying, everyone exclaimed in unison, "How dare the Beiwei Army smuggle salt? Their crime is even greater!"

He then heartlessly distributed the salt fields in southern Liaoning, as if scolding the Beiwei Army would make him feel at ease.

……

"Zhang Xianzhong" was placed under house arrest in a room inside the government office. It was extremely dark and there was not even an oil lamp to illuminate it.

The doors and windows inside the house were nailed shut with wooden boards, isolating them from all news inside and outside. Only a little silvery moonlight leaked in through the holes in the window paper, illuminating the dark environment inside the house.

There were more than ten elite soldiers outside. Their voices gradually faded away, leaving only the occasional crackling sound of the campfire for warmth.

The environment in the room became increasingly quiet. Zhang Xianzhong could clearly hear his own breathing and even the subtle movement of his blood vessels.

After all, he overestimated the integrity of these civil servants and his own luck. He always felt that bad luck would not befall him, and that he was paralyzed by the gaming mentality that he would not die.

Because "offending" the Beiwei Army would bring greater benefits, these insects became bolder and attacked them in groups.

The so-called loyalty and treachery, right and wrong, are nothing but whitewashed words for the distribution of interests.

Zhang Xianzhong looked around and the dark environment was exactly the same as the situation of the Beiwei Army.

If Zhang Xianzhong was a silly and playful person and did not log off to inform his teammates, no player would know that the commander of the Beiwei Army had been placed under house arrest and that the civilian officials had already taken action against the Beiwei Army.

It was as if at this moment, he truly had the power to decide the life and death of the Beiwei Army.

Of course, this is just wishful thinking on the part of those who enjoy entertainment.

Relying on the Beiwei Army's rich combat experience and tight organization from bottom to top, even if the enemy takes the initiative to attack, the Beiwei Army can form a communication network and an iron-like organization the moment they are attacked, and even have the righteousness of self-defense and counterattack.

The so-called Marshal is at best a military adviser, and it makes no difference whether he is there or not.

However, Zhang Xianzhong was not a fun-loving person after all, and he could not let go of this group of stupid players.

Although they are astringent, tyrannical, cruel, and like to kill their wives and children, tear up treaties, backstab lords, commit genocide, carry out purges, and generate electricity using biological materials in various games, everyone knows that they are good young people in reality.

He summoned the game's Legion interface, clicked Create Legion, and nominated himself as "Legion Commander." In just a moment, a light blue window grew from small to large, looming in the center of his field of vision.

As he expected, he was now under violent house arrest, which meant he was in combat mode, as the rules allowed players to form wartime legions.

Gamers from miles around quickly flocked in, and the number of legion members continued to rise.

Until the total number of people exceeded 300, a ball of fire that was only visible to players enveloped Zhang Xianzhong's entire body, just like a game character upgrading, and he successfully became the legion commander.

The number of people in the legion continued to rise, and small team leaders were born under the legion, and people began to speak in Zhang Xianzhong's ears.

"What's going on? Zhang Xianzhong, you still have the time to organize a legion in the middle of the night?"

"I just logged off and asked, haven't the border garrisons detected any Tartar invasion?"

"Oh, I understand. Zhang Xianzhong, you want to broadcast the conversation live with voice, right? Tsk tsk..."

"If you have something to say, just say it. If not, I'll disband the legion. Don't you know that sending voice messages costs merit points?"

……

The chattering was full of language coherence, as if the team leaders were all in the same place.

"I've been placed under house arrest by the Liaodong Governor. These thieves will soon attack the Beiwei Army..."

As soon as these words were spoken, several captains quickly exploded, clamoring to become the King of the Great West, Huang Chao, and to kill all the thieves. Although they were indeed treacherous ministers, everything they had done so far was an act of loyalty. They were thinking of mistreating loyal ministers before they even started a rebellion.

Should good people be pointed at guns?! My uncle can tolerate it, but my aunt can’t!
Although it is more economical to directly notify the user offline, the message Zhang Xianzhong wants to verify must be faster.

He glanced at the current legionary strength, 2195.

Although the number is still rising, the rate of growth has slowed significantly.

This is probably the current number of online players around Liaoyang. There should be seven or eight thousand people, but there are fewer people during the night time of the game.

Unless it is a "copy battle" arranged in advance, players will not easily disrupt their life plans. It is not surprising that there are not many players who can be dispatched at the moment.

Taking out his usual charcoal pencil from his pocket, Zhang Xianzhong drew the garrisons of both sides on the table.

Under the moonlight, he could clearly see the strength comparison between the two sides, and he couldn't help but frown.

The Guanning Army was basically stationed in Liaoyang and Shenyang, while the main force of the Beiwei Army, which had just returned to the country, was concentrated in the south and east of Liaoyang City. The remaining Beiwei Army was scattered throughout Liaodong and was out of reach.

The Beiwei Army only had a few hundred players stationed in the city, plus thousands of Liaodong soldiers.

Once a conflict broke out, the Beiwei Army would not be able to capture the city in the first place, or even defeat the Guanning Army garrison outside the city.

If a fierce fight breaks out now, unnecessary losses will be huge.

Unless we take the time to coordinate and arrange each unit to keep a close eye on a part of the Guanning Army and strike each enemy unit quickly and accurately, the losses of the army and civilians can be minimized.

There is still some time before dawn, which is just enough time for players to complete troop deployment.

What we lack is a reason to take action, a reason to silence the people.

The voices of the captains eager to rebel were still ringing in his ears, but Zhang Xianzhong appeased them one by one.

His house arrest was just a one-sided statement. The soldiers and civilians who did not know the truth just thought that he was drunk and was drinking in the government office.

If the brothers stormed into the government office, at least the label of mutiny would remain, unless there was an absolutely sufficient reason...

Suddenly, the upper right corner of Zhang Xianzhong's vision flickered, like the fragmented effect caused by a video freeze.

Although this detail was small, it was enough to attract Zhang Xianzhong's attention.

This shouldn't happen. This game has been running smoothly until now, so how could it have frame drops and lags?
Zhang Xianzhong reached out and clicked on the task list in the upper right corner, and an eye-catching dynamic window popped up.

Main missions, battle zone missions, bonus missions, side missions, special missions...

The first four tasks are normal, only the last special task is burning with flames.

Zhang Xianzhong clicked on the "Special Mission" as if possessed by some mysterious force.

Five preconditions that had already been seen came into view: digesting Liaodong for at least three months, and guiding people back to southern Henan for more than a month...

Almost all options have been met, except for the one of righteousness, which is still empty, just like four out of five lamps are shining.

But the gray option soon lit up, as if ignited by a spark, one word, two words, until all the words were burning.

Burn, let them burn!

For a moment, all the screaming voices of the players disappeared, and Zhang Xianzhong seemed to hear a strange system sound echoing in his ears.

He turned around suddenly, but saw only an empty dark room with no one in it.

When he focused his attention on the special mission again, the flames of text disappeared, replaced by several new lines of words -

"Fill in the last crucial piece of the puzzle and receive 50 points of honor."

Zhang Xianzhong was slightly stunned after seeing the reward.

These are fifty honor points, not ordinary merit points, and are the only proof of how much territory can be granted overseas.

The higher the points, the larger the territory you will be granted. If you have made great achievements, you may even be granted a kingdom.

If there were no honors as a reward, he might hesitate, reluctant to give up the character image and connections he had built along the way.

But when the reward came, he had only one answer.

"Brothers, I've thought of a reason for you to start a war without any scruples," Zhang Xianzhong said. "Who still remembers the event that triggered World War I?"

"It's all in the textbooks. The Sarajevo incident, where the heir to the Austro-Hungarian emperor was shot by Serbian nationalists, ultimately triggered a chain reaction that led to the outbreak of war among the major powers."

"Old Zhang, do you want to..." Several captains instantly understood Zhang Xianzhong's intention, and some of them were crying, "No! Marshal Zhang, don't do that! We still need you to lead us in our battles!"

Zhang Xianzhong said in his heart that you really love acting and are always thinking about showing off your acting skills.

"Old Zhang, don't worry! Once we gather our forces, we can rescue you right away!"

"Zhang Xianzhong, we agreed to storm the capital and trample the nobles to pieces! Have you forgotten the oath we pledged to each other?"

"Maybe I'm just a puppet commander, but today I hope you can listen to my advice--" Zhang Xianzhong laid out his deployment and analysis, and several team leaders on the opposite side were suddenly speechless.

Brothers all know that what Zhang Xianzhong said makes sense. Only when all players are present and the troops are deployed can everyone's interests be maximized.

The squad leader's voice gradually quieted down. Perhaps they had enough of the tragic drama and everyone was busy dispatching troops...

Zhang Xianzhong sat by the window waiting for the judgment of fate.

Although he knows that he will not actually die, the role he has played for a long time has given him a deep sense of immersion, as if he is really facing the moment of death.

The silvery moonlight poured into the room through the window, like pieces of white silk.

He couldn't help but reach out to touch it. The faint difference in light and shadow reminded him of a science fiction movie, in which the male protagonist gave his daughter an important revelation in the high-dimensional world.

At this moment, he was manipulating the moonlight that was pouring into the room to control the game character named "Zhang Xianzhong". Wasn't this a kind of manipulation of the lower dimension by the higher dimension?

Time passed quickly, and the tool Zhang Xianzhong used to tell time became the number of legions.

The legion started with over 2,000 people, then grew to 3,000, then 4,000, 5,000, 6,000...

Until the voices of "Assault team in place", "The Third Infantry Retinue Legion is ready", "No abnormalities in the Zujia Army", "Players in the city have finished putting on armor"...

Zhang Xianzhong realized that it was time to set off.

The early morning hours in the game world are roughly equivalent to the evening hours in reality. It is not a one-to-one correspondence, but it can serve as a rough reference.

At this time, most soldiers and civilians were still enjoying the last moments of their sweet dreams. At this time, He Lusi shouted, "He Lusi, the deputy commander of the Beiwei Army, invites Marshal Zhang to die."

"An Lushan, the deputy commander of the Beiwei Army, invites Marshal Zhang to die."

"Dong Mengde, the deputy commander of the Beiwei Army, invites Marshal Zhang to die."

……

The same words were repeated more than twenty times by different people. Zhang Xianzhong thought to himself that these idiots usually called him "Little King of the West", "Little Zhang", and "Old Zhang", but now that they know where the benefits lie, they are willing to call him Marshal Zhang.

That's it, that's it.

One for all, one for all.

Players train a general for a thousand days and use him for a moment, so let him use his life to pave a road to glory for the soldiers.

Zhang Xianzhong pulled a tinder from his pocket, opened the lid, and slowly blew into it until the built-in spark rekindled the flame. The nailed shut doors and windows completely blocked his escape from the flames.

"I'm leaving, brothers. See you in the rivers and lakes."

Zhang Xianzhong raised his hand to take a final short video of himself before his death.

Soon, the pillows, quilts, bed curtains and screens in the room caught fire one after another, and Zhang Xianzhong was soon engulfed in flames.

The burning sensation of the flames came quickly, and with the feedback of low pain perception, it was like the scorching sun in the hot summer shining all over the body, burning, but bearable.

Zhang Xianzhong looked up and stared straight ahead, like an actor showing his final acting performance in front of the camera.

An expression of loneliness, regret and pity appeared on his face. Finally, before the fire completely engulfed him, an expression of calmness in facing death appeared so resolute and firm.

The commander of the Beiwei Army, who had been loyal to his country until his death, was mysteriously killed in the raging fire of the government office.

"When Xianzhong died, the Ming Dynasty fell" - "Old Ming History"

"Zhang Xianzhong was killed before he was imprisoned by treacherous officials" - "Collection of Ancient and Modern Truths"

(End of this chapter)