Section 086: Hiring Villagers

Upon hearing that villagers were needed for hire, the wandering players were immediately intrigued and began to chime in:

"That’s easy to handle. We only need one villager each while we go out to level up. Mayor Li can take the rest," said one player readily.

"Exactly. Too many villagers just get in the way. We have to keep an eye on them while fighting monsters. It would be best if you took them all," added an impatient player.

"I wonder if these villagers get fed while they work," a more honest player asked.

Li Zhan smiled and replied, "Rest assured, they will not only be fed but will also receive a wage of twenty copper coins each."

When the players heard about the twenty-copper wage, their interest grew even more. During the process of killing monsters to level up, players rarely found copper coins; only hostile NPCs dropped them, and those NPCs were generally of a higher level than these players could handle, with very limited drops. Most of the money in the players' hands came from the gold provided by the system at birth or from the resources converted after abandoning their tribal chief status. As for the skins, meat, and items gathered by the villagers, the quantities were often so large that sometimes they couldn't sell a single item even after setting up a stall at the market all day. Essentially, the players' current financial situation was all outflow and no inflow. Hearing that there was a wage to be earned, it would be a lie to say they weren't moved.

Faced with the players' enthusiastic recommendations, Li Zhan selected twenty villagers to bring back to the town. The villagers were also pleased; on one hand, they could earn copper coins for their master and demonstrate their value, and on the other, gathering with so many of their own kind gave them a long-lost sense of belonging.

The wooden fence surrounding the town was a square, with each of the four sides corresponding to the east, west, south, and north. Li Zhan divided the twenty villagers into four groups of five, assigning each group to one side of the fence. He instructed them to collect the dismantled wood in a central location, promising that the group that finished first would get to rest first. He also announced that the town would provide meals at noon and in the evening, consisting of sorghum rice, fish stew with wild vegetables, and berries.

Thrilled by this generous treatment, the villagers cheered. As soon as Li Zhan gave the order to begin, they sprinted to their respective sections of the fence, working busily and happily.

Li Zhan watched the villagers work with a smile. Ruoyan walked over, stood beside him, and watched for a while before saying happily, "I never expected that our tribe's ordeal would turn into a blessing. If not for this series of events, it would have been quite an achievement if the Yanhuang Tribe could have upgraded to a town by now, wouldn't it?"

Li Zhan felt the same, nodding as he said, "Indeed. If not for these events, even if we had reached the Feudal Age, our finances would surely have been stretched thin. We wouldn't be in a position like this, with over two thousand extra gold coins and more than one hundred and fifty new villagers in town. It’s just that this attack caused Zhou Min and the others quite a bit of suffering. By the way, how are they doing?"

Ruoyan replied, "Zhou Min’s condition has stabilized, and she is resting under Zhang Chong's care. She just finished a bowl of egg custard, and her complexion is already looking a bit rosier. The three female villagers have no serious injuries and will be able to work after today. The missionary wasn't hurt either, though he keeps grumbling about his ruined clothes. I just finished making him a new set, so he should be happy now."

Li Zhan nodded, turned his gaze toward the town hall, and said to Ruoyan, "Let’s go inside the town hall to talk. Ever since the upgrade, I haven't had a chance to look at the changes in detail. Besides, your title of tribal chief should be updated as well."

As they spoke, the two walked side by side back to the town hall.

The architecture of the town hall was more organized than before. In front of the entrance were two well-manicured lawns where bees and butterflies danced. The main structure remained two stories tall. The ground floor was a living room, with sets of tables and chairs arranged symmetrically. A small room was partitioned off at the far end of the living room to house a staircase. The second floor was divided into several rooms, including an office, a lounge, and a reception room. The warehouse remained in the basement, with twice the capacity of before; each resource type could now hold up to ten thousand units. Once that limit was exceeded, additional warehouses would need to be built.

After entering the office on the second floor, Li Zhan first went to the south-facing window, opened it, and looked out at the settlement. He could see villagers clearing a plaza nearby, dye workers busy at their sheds further away, and beyond that, the farmlands and logging camp. Satisfied, Li Zhan smiled, turned around, and sat in the chair behind the desk, touching and observing everything with a sense of wonder.

Ruoyan sat in a chair beside the desk. Seeing the "Tribal Chief" title above her head, Li Zhan quickly opened his "Mayor" options, selected "Appoint Deputy Mayor" under the "Personnel" tab, and moved the cursor over Ruoyan. Her title flickered and changed from "Tribal Chief" to "Deputy Mayor."

After upgrading to the Feudal Age, a town could have up to seven partners in management: one mayor, two deputy mayors, and four assistants. The mayor held the most comprehensive functions, followed by the deputy mayor, while assistants held the fewest, usually handling daily administrative tasks.

Sensing the change in her title, Ruoyan smiled faintly at Li Zhan. She then opened her notepad and set it to "Visible to All," placing it between them. "This is the villager census I’ve compiled. I have primarily reallocated the garment production staff."

The mayor's interface allowed for viewing general town statistics, such as the total number of villagers and their general skills. However, details regarding which specific post each villager held required manual tracking.

On Ruoyan’s notepad, it read:

Villager Census:
Total Villagers: 436
Farmers: 125
Fishermen: 6
Hunters: 5
Assistant: 1 (Zheng Jun)
Craftsmen: 7
Trainers: 2
Builders: 5
Lumberjacks: 94
Stone Masons: 6
***
Cotton Farmers: 78
Dyeing Workers: 4
Spinners: 16
Weavers: 42
Production Workers: 24

After reading it, Li Zhan couldn't help but admire Ruoyan’s attention to detail and patience. Although the table didn't contain much text, counting every single person one by one was a true test of endurance. He didn't know about others, but for him, seeing all those numbers already made his head spin.

The two chatted about other town matters for a while until someone knocked on the office door. Li He entered and said to Li Zhan, "Mayor, Old Zhang, the horse trader, has arrived. He’s brought us a few more wild horses."

Last time, after Old Zhang sold five wild horses to Li Zhan, they had agreed that if Old Zhang caught any more, he should bring them to the Yanhuang Tribe, and Li Zhan had made some concessions on the price to give Old Zhang a better deal. Wild horses were rare and hard to come by; it had been nearly a month since Old Zhang last visited, and he had finally caught more and brought them directly to Li Zhan.