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

"Charge!"

"For the glory of Shennong! Potatoes! My potatoes!"

Tian Qianhe was the first to scream and rush down the city wall, her signature braid swinging excitedly in the wind.

She wasn't a soldier, but at this moment, her running speed was no less than that of Shi Dali charging into the enemy lines.

Behind her was a group of equally enthusiastic life skills players. They might not have top-notch combat skills, but their passion for building, producing, and creating was completely ignited at this moment by Chu Ze's "Extreme Challenge".

"This game is so realistic! I want to study the soil quality of the Ming Dynasty! Then I'll write several papers, publish tons of SCI papers, and become a National Outstanding Young Scientist!"

Tian Qianhe's shout instantly motivated a bunch of casual gamers.

The "Shennong Project" was officially launched the moment it was announced.

Holding the bag of first-generation high-yield potato seeds catalyzed by Chu Ze using spiritual energy, Tian Qianhe delivered her inaugural speech in the largest open space in the city.

"Brothers and sisters!" She stood on a makeshift mound of dirt, holding a fist-sized potato high in her hand, her face flushed with excitement. "They say the end of the world is a mini ice age, but now we can try to reverse that in the game!"

"For the tribe! No, for the Ming Dynasty!"

The players' enthusiasm was easily ignited. They looked at Tian Qianhe as if she were a goddess who was about to lead them to conquer a new world.

A vigorous agricultural revolution began in Guangning City in an extremely absurd way.

As expected of a PhD in agricultural science, Tian Qianhe quickly incorporated all usable land in the city, including abandoned houses, dilapidated street corners, and even some relatively spacious rooftops, into the planning map.

"Everyone, listen to my instructions! First step, create ridges!" Tian Qianhe drew clear lines on the ground with a wooden stick. "Pile the land into ridges; this will increase the area exposed to sunlight and also facilitate drainage and irrigation!"

The players obeyed orders without question. Although most of them had never even touched a hoe before, they unleashed astonishing action under the incentive of high merit points.

Soon, the "ridge-making method," which seemed extremely strange to the locals like Li Xunyi, was spread across large tracts of land within the city.

"The second step is fertilization!" Tian Qianhe announced the next step, hands on her hips.

She directed the players to evenly scatter the wood ash collected from the city onto the furrows of the field.

"This is potassium fertilizer; it will help our potatoes grow big and strong!"

Using wood ash as fertilizer is not unprecedented in ancient times.

But what happened next completely broke down the psychological defenses of all the NPCs watching.

"Potassium fertilizer alone is not enough; we also need a lot of nitrogen fertilizer!" Tian Qianhe's next order brought everyone to a standstill.

"Go! Dig out all the stock in every outhouse in the city!"

silence.

Even the most enthusiastic players were stunned.

Dig... dig for what?

In Qian Lele's live stream, the chat paused for three seconds before erupting in a burst of comments.

【？？？？？】

[Did I hear that right? The Shennong Girl wants us to shovel manure?]

[This game... is it really this serious? Does it even smell? I can smell it through the screen!]

"What are you standing there for!" Tian Qianhe roared in exasperation. "Those are treasures! They're the most efficient organic nitrogen fertilizer! Whether the potatoes can yield a thousand catties per mu depends on you!"

"Ugh..." A female player gagged on the spot.

But Shi Dali was the first to respond, roaring in a deep voice, "It's just shoveling manure! Let's go!"

With the first one taking the lead, the players' minds, clouded by merit points, once again gained the upper hand.

"Damn it, let's do it! It's just a little dirty, it's not real in the game!"

"Exactly! As long as we don't give up, there's always a way to overcome difficulties!"

Thus, a scene that could be described as a marvel of the late Ming Dynasty appeared.

Hundreds and thousands of players, pinching their noses with one hand and carrying wooden buckets with the other, rushed to various public toilets in Guangning City.

Wang Erniu, who was on patrol, happened to witness this scene. He was dumbfounded to see those "heavenly soldiers" who had been risking their lives on the city walls just a few days ago now gleefully carrying out buckets of bright yellow "gold" that emitted a pungent odor from the latrine.

"What...what are you doing!" Wang Erniu's beard was trembling as he stopped a player, his large, round eyes filled with confusion and anger.

The player patted the wooden bucket with a proud look on his face: "Reporting, Instructor Niu! We are serving the people! Fertilizing the land!"

Wang Erniu felt like his brain wasn't working properly.

He had spent half his life in the military and had seen all sorts of bizarre things, but he had never seen anyone treat excrement as a treasure and make such a fuss about it!

"Nonsense! Utter nonsense!" he roared in anger. "Get this filth out of the way! What kind of behavior is this?!"

Qian Lele's live stream title has already been quickly changed.

[The Golden Fertilizer of Guangning: The Secrets Behind the Delicacies You Don't Know!]

The viewers in the live stream were vomiting violently while showering the stream with virtual gifts.

This "scavenging" campaign finally reached its climax with the arrival of the old Confucian scholar Li Xunyi.

Upon hearing that the "heavenly soldiers" were causing trouble on the land, Li Xunyi was so angry that he trembled all over and rushed over, leaning on his cane.

"Disrespecting the five grains! Going against the seasons! It's utterly immoral!" He was heartbroken to see the players splashing those filthy things on the newly cultivated land.

He found Tian Qianhe, ready to quote classical texts from the Book of Rites to the Essential Techniques for the Common People, to teach this arrogant girl a lesson.

But Tian Qianhe didn't argue with him about the scriptures at all.

"Mr. Li, please don't be angry." She pulled the old scholar directly to a test field where potatoes had just been planted.

She crouched down and carefully dug away a little soil, revealing a small section of potato that had already begun to sprout tender shoots.

"You see, this is called 'tuber propagation.' We don't need seeds; we just need a small piece of potato, and it will take root, sprout, and grow into new potatoes. This is much faster and simpler than growing millet from seeds."

Li Xunyi leaned closer, put on his monocle, and carefully examined the unremarkable piece of potato.

It does not need to flower or bear fruit, but reproduces through its roots?

This...this is beyond his comprehension.

Tian Qianhe then pointed to the land that had been splashed with "golden fertilizer" and patiently explained, "Sir, it smells bad to you, but the crops in this field love it the most. It contains nitrogen, which is key to making the leaves grow lush and green. The wood ash we burn contains potassium, which is key to making the potatoes grow big. And there's phosphorus... In short, when these things are combined, the crops can grow quickly and well."

Nitrogen... Phosphorus... Potassium...

Li Xunyi was completely bewildered; these unfamiliar words seemed to have opened a door to a new world for him.

He can tell how the plants are growing.

Three days.

Just three days.

The fields cultivated by the players were more than the work done by the city laborers in ten days.

The carefully tended potato seedlings sprouted from the soil and grew vigorously at a speed visible to the naked eye, displaying a vitality he had never seen in any other crop.

Li Xunyi's theory based on "the words of the sages" began to falter violently in the face of irrefutable facts.

He shakily reached out and took a potato sprout from Tian Qianhe's hand, cradling it in his palm. The thick, green leaves were full of life.

His lips moved as he murmured to himself.

"It can reproduce through its roots without flowering or bearing fruit... Unbelievable, truly unbelievable..."

"This object... is truly a divine artifact!"

His usually worried, cloudy old eyes now shone with an unprecedented brilliance.

Just as the whole city was engaged in agricultural production and everyone was immersed in the boundless anticipation of a bountiful harvest, Tian Qianhe discovered a new problem.

She stood beside a potato field that was already growing well, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Although potatoes and sweet potatoes were produced in large quantities, effective grinding tools were lacking in this era. It was impossible for 100,000 soldiers and civilians to eat potatoes every day. They had to be processed into staple foods that were easier to store and consume, such as vermicelli, or mixed with a small amount of flour to make a staple food.

But this requires a lot of grinding work. Relying on manual stone mills is too inefficient.

She needs something that can grind powder automatically.

The sooner the better!

The moment this thought crossed her mind, she immediately thought of someone.

That mechanical madman who spent all day in the workshop clanging and banging, muttering "gears" and "transmissions."

Without the slightest hesitation, Tian Qianhe turned around and ran towards the workshop in the west of the city, where thick smoke was billowing.

She ran while shouting loudly.

"Gongshu Ban! Engineers! I need something that can grind powder automatically!"