Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

As dawn broke, a thin veil of morning light draped Guangning City in a hazy gray.

On the high platform in the city center, Li Xunyi, dressed in a faded white scholar's robe, was thin but his spine was ramrod straight. He held a roll of yellow hemp paper in his hands, his withered fingers trembling slightly.

At his instruction, several soldiers struck a gong to summon the troops and civilians.

The clanging of gongs broke the morning's tranquility, waking the sleepy-eyed commoners and idle players from every corner.

Soon, a dense crowd gathered below the stage. The people looked fearful, whispering among themselves, wondering what major event had occurred.

Li Xunyi cleared his throat, unfolded the yellow hemp paper in his hand, and read it aloud word by word in an extremely sorrowful tone.

"I hereby inform the soldiers and civilians of Guangning that the Tartars have besieged the city for a long time, harboring wolfish ambitions and intending to starve us to death..."

His voice was old and hoarse, carrying a convincing sorrow.

"...The city's grain reserves are less than one-tenth. In order to fight the Tartars to the death and to protect the clothing and culture of our Chinese nation, General Chu, the garrison commander, hereby issues the 'Grain Conservation Order'!"

"Effective immediately, the food rations of everyone in the city, regardless of whether they are soldiers or civilians, heavenly soldiers or heavenly soldiers, will be reduced by 30%!"

"The government office will set up soup kitchens, providing two meals a day, with thin porridge to fill our stomachs, so we can overcome these difficult times together!"

The moment the order was given, the audience erupted in chaos.

The faces of the war-torn people of Guangning were drained of color, turning ashen. The word "lack of food" was more devastating to them than the scimitars of the Tartars.

"How could this happen? Didn't we just win a great victory a few days ago?"

"Good heavens! How are we supposed to live like this?!"

Suppressed sobs and desperate whispers spread like a plague among the crowd.

The players mixed in with the crowd were completely bewildered.

"What the hell is going on? They're deducting my wages? I haven't even had a chance to enjoy the credit I earned yesterday from manual labor!"

"A 30% reduction? What's the point of fighting then? Are we just going to go to the battlefield hungry and throw our lives away?"

Just as the players were getting angry and preparing to cause trouble, a golden light flashed wildly across all the players' forum interfaces.

Qian Lele posted almost instantly.

[Shocking! Sweatshop! Unscrupulous GM withholds employee rations, leaving them starving! Is this a sign of distorted humanity or moral decay?]

Hundreds of comments instantly appeared below the post.

"Rainbow Cat is right! We protest! We want to eat!"

"This game is so realistic! It even simulates famine!"

"Damn it, I'm deleting my account. What's the point of starving just to play a game?!"

Just as the forum was filled with lamentations, Wang Han's post, like a stabilizing force, was instantly pinned to the top.

[Shut the fuck up! This is all a show! The main plot!]

[Post content: You bunch of pig-brains, don't you think about why the BOSS is doing this? There's a traitor in the city! This is all an act for the traitor! Now, everyone, listen to my command! Immediately! Right now! Show me your best acting skills and act out a refugee who's about to starve to death!]

[Whoever acts the most convincingly and manages to fool the NPCs the most, I'll personally send you a 1000 RMB red envelope after the story ends!]

[All guild members, obey this order! This is a command!]

Wang Han's post instantly awakened all the players.

Yeah! With a boss as powerful as him, how could he possibly be short of food!

This is a hidden plot point! It's time to test your acting skills!

In an instant, the entire player community's style changed abruptly.

The lamentations on the forum turned into exchanges of performance experiences.

"Brothers, I'm an expert at acting! I used to be an extra in Hengdian!"

"The essence lies in one word—'despair'! It exudes a sense of utter despair from the inside out!"

"I suggest that when dinner is served, we go straight to the soup kitchen and grab some! That would be more realistic!"

So, as soon as the porridge shed at the government office was set up, and Wang Erniu personally took charge to supervise the first pot of porridge being cooked, an Oscar-worthy "spectacle" officially began.

The porridge was so clear you could see your reflection in it, with a few grains of rice floating in it.

"Get the hell into line! One bowl per person! Anyone who dares to take more, I'll chop him up!" Wang Erniu roared at the long line, waving a large ladle.

Just then, Shi Dali, shirtless and revealing his muscular body, was the first to rush to the porridge stall.

Instead of grabbing the bowl, he grabbed Wang Erniu's collar, his large, copper-bell-shaped eyes glaring bloodshot.

"Wang Erniu!"

He roared with all his might, spitting all over Wang Erniu's face.

"I charged into battle with the general the day before yesterday, I shed blood for you, I even broke my leg for you!"

"You're giving me this to drink?"

Shi Dali pointed at the thin porridge in the pot, his expression a mixture of grief and indignation, as if he had suffered a great injustice.

Wang Erniu was stunned by his shout, then flew into a rage. These lawless heavenly soldiers were here to cause trouble again!

Just as he was about to lash out, he saw a large group of players behind Shi Dali, all of them pale and listless, staring at him with eyes that seemed to say, "We're starving."

Is this...is this someone who's really starving?

For some reason, Wang Erniu managed to suppress his anger.

Before he could speak, Xiao Ran, carrying a spear, walked over with an icy expression.

She didn't look at Wang Erniu, but only glanced coldly at the pot of porridge before turning and leaving.

A passing NPC guard captain couldn't help but step forward and ask, "Miss Xiao, wouldn't you...won't you have a bowl?"

Xiao Ran stopped and turned around, looking at him with the eyes of someone looking at a dead man.

"What's the point of fighting if we don't have food to eat?"

After saying that, she left without looking back, leaving behind only a solitary and resolute figure.

At this point, the surrounding NPC soldiers and civilians were completely convinced.

Even these fearless "heavenly soldiers" who could kill Tartars as easily as cutting melons and vegetables suffered from low morale and even considered retreating due to lack of food.

Guangning City is truly doomed!

An atmosphere of despair, like a thick fog, enveloped the entire soup kitchen.

Inside the study of the garrison commander's residence.

Chu Ze listened quietly to the report from the guards outside the door about the "chaos" in front of the soup kitchen.

His face remained expressionless.

"General, Lord Su requests an audience."

"Let her in."

Su Qingying walked in quickly, carrying a thick stack of bamboo slips.

She placed the bamboo slips on the table and, without any further ado, began her report.

"General, as you instructed, after a night of data screening and comparison, we have preliminarily identified three suspects."

"The first one is Zhang San, a fur merchant. His household registration shows that he has five people in his family, but his food consumption in the past month has only been 70% of that of a normal family of five. However, according to the descriptions of the neighbors, he is plump and has a ruddy complexion, and is definitely not a person who lives frugally."

"The second one is Li Si, the clerk of the armory. His accounts are flawless, but there is one strange detail. Last month, he applied for three cans of kerosene, claiming it was for lighting when checking the accounts at night. But for those three days, it rained heavily in Guangning City, and the armory closed early, so there was no one on duty at night."

"The third one is the old Taoist priest who sweeps the floor at the City God Temple. He came here from the interior three years ago and has almost no record of consuming any supplies. He survives each day on just a few steamed buns given to him by believers. But he..."

Su Qingying paused for a moment, then lowered her voice even further.

"His spirit is wonderful. It's impossible for an old man who has been starving for a long time to have such a vigorous spirit."

Chu Ze listened quietly, his fingers tapping lightly on the sand table.

Su Qingying's abilities exceeded his expectations.

These seemingly insignificant details were precisely captured by her from a massive amount of data.

Just then, a barely perceptible golden light pierced through the wall and entered Chu Ze's brow.

It's news from Qin Jue.

[Target: Zhang San. After the "food conservation order" was issued, he neither went to any soup kitchens nor returned home. Disguised, he quietly entered the kitchen of the Yue Lai Inn, the largest restaurant in the city.]

[Yuelai Inn closed down two weeks ago.]

Chu Ze's fingertip stopped on the small miniature model on the sand table that represented "Yuelai Inn".

A cold smile finally appeared on his face.

The fish have started looking for food.