Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 332 What?
After the fourth watch bell rang three times, a waiter in an inn suddenly opened his eyes.

Hu Santong got out of bed, opened a secret compartment under his feet, and took out a jet-black nightgown.

When he climbed out of the back window of the inn, he deliberately put on a three-barrel mask.

He climbed onto the roof skillfully. The roofs of Laizhou City glowed a blue-gray color like fish scales in the moonlight.

As he crouched over the tiles, he could hear the subtle sound of his boots hitting the roof.

He participated in more than a dozen battles, large and small, and his last one was killed in the bandit suppression campaign in Denglai.

Now that he had just resurrected and returned to Shandong, he heard that Zhang Xianzhong was determined to die, and a chaos sweeping the world was imminent.

He knew that no matter how the Beiwei Army planned its anti-Ming strategy, they would have to set foot in Shandong. He simply stayed and waited for the arrival of the army, playing the role of an ordinary citizen and satisfying his desire to act.

It's like eating a lot of meat and fish all the time, you always have to have some vegetarian food to change the taste.

Now he is a shop assistant during the day and a hero who robs the rich and helps the poor at night. Occasionally, he can also inquire about military intelligence, perform special tasks, and earn merit points.

Of course, he wasn't the only one carrying out a special mission tonight.

After crossing three streets and alleys, three cat meows suddenly came from Jishidiang in the west. Hu Santong concentrated his body, skillfully jumped off the roof, and followed the cat's meows to the locust tree at the entrance of the alley.

Three people squatted on the tree, one person lay down under the tree, and two people were standing or squatting on the left and right eaves. Everyone wore the same "mahjong mask", a bamboo, a stripe, a bank...

The moonlight slanted across the streets, casting a silvery glow. Hu Santong glanced at the way everyone stood and suddenly felt it was so strong that he couldn't help but raise his hands to take pictures.

Seeing their teammates raise their hands to take pictures, the other players suddenly felt a strong desire to perform. Their originally ordinary standing postures became cool, like heroes discussing heroes late at night.

The temporary team leader jumped down from the locust tree and sneaked into the dark alley, and the others followed closely behind, keeping a distance of half a person between them while maintaining a close pace of advancement.

"Everyone is here."

"Exactly nine people. Not one less."

"The special mission hasn't changed, right?" Hu Santong asked, trying to lower his voice.

"Nothing has changed. We're still raiding the county government offices and Zhang Dianli's house. Robbing the rich to help the poor is just a pretext. What we really want is the local tax and labor service records."

"I remember that Laizhou City is a city that includes the prefecture and the county, so the household registration books of the government office also need to be sorted out, right?" Another player joined in the conversation in a low voice.

"That's another team's mission. We're only responsible for the county government."

As the team leader raised his fist to signal for a stop, any words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat and stopped coming out.

When the patrol soldiers holding torches left the main street, the team leader quickly led his teammates into another dark alley.

Zhang Dianli's residence was not far away, and Hu Santong and his group arrived at their destination after crossing four streets.

The nine-man team quickly half-surrounded Zhang Dianli's residence. Hu Santong grasped the short knife behind his waist with his backhand, and his fingertips stroked the edge of the scabbard.

"Go!" The captain turned around, revealing nine masks, and took a horse stance with his back against the courtyard wall.

The best-skilled one, "Sanwan", ran over in two steps and climbed up the wall with a push of his feet.

However, "Sanwan" did not climb over the wall as expected, but returned to the ground along the same path.

"What's going on?" Jiujo asked in confusion.

"There's something going on in the house—" Sanwan raised his wrist, as if to warn that a big fish had taken the bait. "There are torches inside, and it looks like they're moving. The whole family has been alarmed, and they seem to be in a hurry."

"Huh? Who's moving in the middle of the night?"

"Could it be that the officials of Laizhou were planning to abandon the city and flee, so they secretly packed up their valuables in the middle of the night?"

"Very likely! This way we don't have to extort money, and they'll just collect the valuables themselves."

"Since everyone is awake, let's use the second plan to break into the room."

"Okay." Hu Santong and others nodded, and immediately changed the formation surrounding the mansion. The four of them leaned against the stone wall, waiting for their brothers to take over.

The first person rushed to the top of the wall and acted as a sentry to scout out the movements.

After he found the loophole of the people in the house moving, he immediately turned his head and shouted, "Charge!"

With a shout, Hu Santong and the other three rushed forward a few steps, rushed into the house nimbly, and then dodged nimbly with the help of mule carts.

It was not until the servants who were moving the goods walked out of the house that they realized that there were several strangers in night clothes in the yard.

"Old..." Just as a servant was about to scream, Hu Santong stepped forward quickly, pulled out a dagger, and held it against his neck, the blade almost cutting through his skin. "Shut up if you want to live!"

Fortunately, Sanwan's inference was correct. People who moved late at night would not lock the door, and it could be easily opened from the inside.

Sanwan quickly opened the door and let all his teammates in. After the last person entered the yard, he took out a wooden stick and inserted it into the door bolt.

Although the Zhang family had more than ten people, including dozens of servants and maids, and should have had the strength to resist the thieves, they had no choice but to surrender after the sudden attack of nine armed "robbers".

They were tied up with ropes and placed in the corner of the house, with their own smelly socks stuffed in their mouths. Only Zhang Dianli was allowed to speak.

Seeing dozens of his family members tied up, Zhang Dianli thought that something was wrong and begged the hero for mercy, saying that he could take as much gold and silver jewelry as he wanted from the cash box and he promised not to report it to the police.

Hu Santong brought a suitcase and sat down, glancing at Lao Zhang's wife and children. His wife and concubines could play a mahjong table and a half, while his three daughters and the young boy huddled together, trembling. "Someone paid us to come to your house to look for something."

"what?"

"The tax and service records of your Zhang family, passed down from generation to generation."

"what?"

Zhang Dianli was shocked when he heard this, and thought to himself that it was no wonder that these bandits could enter the mansion and ignore the valuables and luggage in the yard. It turned out that they were bandits hired by a wealthy family.

The tax and service register is the lifeblood of the household clerks. Without it, they have no idea how fertile the land is, which households to collect taxes from, and how much to levy. They are even less able to manipulate the system.

I guess some master wanted to place his confidant as the household clerk so that he could control the county's tax revenue, or he planned to offer him to the rebels who were about to attack him?

"Whoever invited you here, no matter how much money he offers, I will pay double! No! Triple!"

"He offered fifty thousand taels."

Hu Santong made up a huge figure based on the prices he had seen when playing the role of a low-class person, which shocked Zhang Dianli on the spot.

"Ah?" Zhang Dianli thought to himself, this is really not a fabrication?
Fifty thousand taels of silver is enough to provide food and clothing for several generations. He worked hard for most of his life but still couldn't save enough.

Could it be that this is the hero's hint of a life-saving reward, and if he can't come up with 50,000 taels, his entire family will be killed?

But even if he sold his entire family, he still couldn't raise 50,000 taels of silver. At this moment, there was a sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets in the house. Soon, two players came out and shook their heads, "We didn't find it."

"It's useless to waste time searching. This guy who eats must be hiding it on him."

So a group of people stripped Zhang Dianli almost naked, leaving him only in his underwear, but they still didn't see any sign of the bottom book.

"Stop talking nonsense and tell that old fellow to hand over the records." Wu Tong seemed a little impatient. He took advantage of the situation and pulled out Zhang Dianli's young concubine and pushed her to the edge of the table. "Do you believe that I married her in front of you?!"

Seeing that Zhang Dianli was in pain but still able to endure it, Hu Santong saw through his flaws and said, "You are useless. They say women are like clothes, brothers are like limbs, and concubines are even more like rags. You can throw them away when you are tired of playing with them. You have to do this..."

As Hu Santong spoke, he grabbed the boy and held him like a fat orange cat. Although the cat had a smelly sock stuffed in its mouth, it still groaned when the dagger was put to its throat.

Seeing that his "only seedling" was facing a life-and-death threat, Zhang Dianli finally panicked. His tense and calm expression only lasted for a moment before he completely collapsed.

"Please spare my life! This is the only lifeline of my Zhang family..."

"Haha, it's true. You had a son in your old age, and you treasure him so much that even your wives and concubines don't treat him as well as you. Hand over the records obediently, otherwise—"

Hu Santong adjusted the position of the short knife, aiming accurately at the boy's crotch, and with a fake move he almost stabbed it into the middle of the leg.

"Ahh! No! You absolutely can't do that! I say! I say!"

Zhang Dianli felt as if his life was threatened by the tip of a knife, and he revealed all the hiding places of the secret book like pouring beans.

"Hmph, you won't cry until you see the coffin." Wu Tong pushed the concubine away angrily and punched Zhang Dianli three times with his fist.

"Good man, you've hidden treasures here, this one, that one, damn, you even hid one in the toilet..." The players opened the secret compartment in the corner of the wall and took out the books, while turning back to curse the old guy.

Seeing that he had obtained dozens of "tax and service registers" and also picked up some portable gold and silver jewelry and banknotes, the boss immediately announced his withdrawal.

"What should we do with these people?" Wu Tong pointed at the "prisoners" huddled together, the murderous intent in his heart swaying like a candle in the wind.

Looking at the group of people with yellow logos, Jiutiao waved his hands. "We've checked everything beforehand. This old fellow has never killed anyone except for taking bribes. There's no reward for killing them, and they'll even have their reputation and merit points deducted..."

Hu Santong said, "Let's retreat quickly. Get the things and confirm the mission reward first, so as not to alert the patrol team and have to fight a bloody battle..."

Several others also agreed with the "don't kill" suggestion. "I'm still waiting to earn more merit points to buy advanced exploration tickets. Some people have already reached the new world."

"Is this true? I thought that video was made with special effects."

"Really? Over forty of our brothers have already arrived in North America. I heard they've already built a village. It's truly a major milestone in pioneering history! Their names will definitely be recorded in the history books!"

"Ah, that's not right. Didn't the video say there were over 500 people setting off with the balloons and sailboats? How come there are only about 40 left?"

"The environment in the New World is incredibly 'harsh'. There are Yin attacks, Spanish colonists, and the danger of food shortages, not to mention the abundance of wild animals. A one in ten survival rate is already very high."

"We can only work hard to accumulate merit points and team up to buy a battle flag. Once we get the flag over, we can just use a suicide jump to cross thousands of miles without any need for sea or air transportation."

"Then you have to prepare food reserves first, otherwise if thousands of players suddenly appear in a short period of time, you will have no choice but to eat dirt to feed yourself."

"What should we call the New World colony established by us Chinese?"

"I don't know what it will be called, but I know that the first village will definitely be remembered in history."

"Alright, stop talking nonsense and retreat immediately."

Hu Santong turned back and picked up the two smelly socks on the ground and was about to stuff them into Zhang Dianli's mouth.

The latter found that the group of "bad guys" were about to leave and close the door of the house. He immediately realized that something was wrong and hurriedly whimpered and called out to Santong's back. Then he struggled and jumped with his legs together, and finally attracted the other party's attention at the moment when Santong closed the door.

"what do you want to say?"

Santong took off the smelly socks stuffed in his mouth. The man's words were filled with a foul smell. "Please spare my life! The government troops are going to set the city on fire! They will start before dawn. If the whole city is on fire, my family will be tied up here and there will be no one to rescue us. We will surely perish in the sea of ​​fire! I beg you to spare my life!"

"what?"

Santong immediately called over his brothers who were about to leave.

After some inquiries, everyone finally found out the whole story.

It turned out that the governor of Denglai knew that he could not defeat the Beiwei Army, so he wanted to use the method of clearing the countryside to delay the Beiwei Army's progress. Now he was even more crazy and wanted to burn down the entire city of Laizhou and use refugees and ruins to hinder the advance of the Beiwei Army.

As a clerk, Zhang Dianli originally did not know the truth. It was only because a relative who worked in the government office overheard the secret that he told his whole family.

If he didn't have connections, his whole family would have been kept in the dark and would have been burned to ashes by the spreading fire.

"Are you sure it's true?!" Hu Santong stared intently into Zhang Dianli's eyes, and the latter nodded heavily. "If you guys don't believe me, you can go to a few streets and alleys and take a look. The houses are all piled high with firewood..."

"Laizhou City is almost entirely made of wood. They're going to burn all the people in the city to death!"

"What a scoundrel! To stop the Beiwei Army, he actually dared to set fire to the city?!"

"There's nothing these crooked officials wouldn't dare do. In history, they even dug up the Yellow River to flood Kaifeng in order to combat the peasant army, causing disasters to plague the southeastern part of the Central Plains for several years."

"Deserve to die! Deserve to die! Deserve to die!"

"Now is not the time to argue about whether to kill or not. Quickly report the intelligence to the brother troops. I remember there is a vanguard unit stationed near Laizhou, right?"

"It's midnight now, and offline it should be afternoon, and everyone is busy doing things."

"It's okay. There must be some players on rotation in other time zones. And at this critical moment, there should be quite a few brothers who can go online."

"You might unexpectedly trigger a new special mission by accident—the rewards for this kind of mission are often the most generous."

Jiujo stretched out his right hand, a determined smile on his face. The others also stretched out their hands and placed them in the middle, like building a pagoda.

"Mission objective: do your best to save the people in the city!"

"Oh oh oh!"

The nine people pressed their right hands heavily and then dispersed.

Some people fell on the spot to pass on information, some took the tax and service records and went ahead, and some went to meet up with another team.

Hu Santong and his brother Wutong, who had just "awakened", stayed at Zhang Dianli's house and waited until the brothers had dispersed a little before untying the Zhang family's old and young.

Wutong looked around and saw that the fear in their eyes was no longer there. "Haha, we are clearly the 'rebels', but we have to stop the government troops from burning the city. Who is the righteous and who is the rebel?"

"The government troops are about to burn the city. What can we do?" Hu Santong stroked his beard and thought. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, as if he had thought of something. He turned to look at Zhang Dianli and asked, "Do you have a gong at home?"

(End of this chapter)