Section 073: Plotting, Part Two

The three people before him were all very close to Li Zhan. Feng Xing and Feng Ling had always stood on Li Zhan’s side; Zhu Shi de Nian Lai Guo Dao was unable to do without the Yanhuang Tribe for business reasons; and Yaoyao Luobotiao was one of Li Zhan’s sworn brothers besides. So when Feng Xing asked, Li Zhan gave them a brief account of everything that had happened.

After hearing him out, Zhu Shi de Nian Lai Guo Dao was the first to speak, eager and indignant. He said that, knowing Li Zhan’s temperament, this matter would never be allowed to rest. The Yanhuang Tribe itself had close commercial ties with him, and the raid on the tribe had caused him no small loss as well. There was no need for more words; whatever Li Zhan planned to do next, he should only say so. If there was any place where he could be of use, he need only ask, and he would exert every effort.

Feng Xing and Feng Ling also said that people of that sort were disgusting to look at, and a classic example of a vile and despicable man.

Li Zhan nodded. With these two tribes joining them, the odds of success for this operation had improved greatly. As for Zhu Shi de Nian Lai Guo Dao, the next stage of his plan happened to require his help.

Earlier, when Li Zhan had gone offline, he had carefully studied the official explanations concerning gold exchange and war declarations. The rules on gold exchange were as follows: each player could exchange once every three months, and each time could exchange up to three hundred gold, equal to three thousand in real currency. Gold obtained this way would be marked with a special label, and each player could possess no more than three hundred such gold. Each tribe could possess no more than one thousand; anything beyond that could not be entered into the account.

As for war declarations, in addition to ordinary wars there was also a form of joining an ongoing war as reinforcements. For this kind of midwar entry, once one side filed the initial application, the others could join at any time. Once they did, all relevant restrictions would immediately take effect, the most direct being the disabling of the friend function. The prerequisite was that the parties joining the war must already be allied, and the number of participants was calculated in increments of fifty gold, with the minimum deducted from the side declaring war being fifty units of gold. For example: if the number of troops entering midwar was fewer than fifty, fifty gold; between fifty and under one hundred, one hundred gold; between one hundred and under one hundred and fifty, one hundred and fifty gold, and so on.

Li Zhan said to Zhu Shi de Nian Lai Guo Dao, “Brother Zhu, you’ve come at the right time. I was just about to ask for your help. How much gold can you mobilize at present?”

After some careful calculation, Zhu Shi de Nian Lai Guo Dao replied that he could mobilize five hundred gold. If Li Zhan felt that was not enough, he could contact his cousin, who should be able to raise another three to four hundred.

When Li Zhan had logged off, he had already exchanged three hundred gold, and together with the tribe’s reserves, he had a total of four hundred and ten. After thinking for a moment, he said to Zhu Shi de Nian Lai Guo Dao, “Five hundred will be enough. I still have one hundred and twelve sets of villager clothing here. Take them first. The excess gold will count as money I owe you; in the future I’ll repay you with clothing.”

Zhu Shi de Nian Lai Guo Dao nodded. “No problem.”

Then Li Zhan turned to Feng Xing and Feng Ling. “With your help in this operation, our chance of success will rise greatly. For now, please return to the tribe. Do not reveal anything to outsiders so as to avoid leaking the news. We’ll contact each other through the friend function.”

Feng Xing and Feng Ling agreed, and the two left the Yanhuang Tribe as if nothing had happened.

Turning back, Li Zhan said to Yaoyao Luobotiao, “Brother, hurry back to Danyang and hire cargo ships. Arrange for them to be used after nightfall, and hire at least four. The True Heart Tribe has an open-air gold mine. In this battle, we must not only transport troops over, but also villagers, so that while the fighting is underway we can seize their gold as well. Be absolutely sure to keep this secret, even from the shipmasters. Remember that well.”

At this, Yaoyao Luobotiao sprang straight up in delight. “Don’t worry, Brother Li. I’ll handle it properly!”

Then he also bade farewell to Li Zhan and took a boat to Danyang.

After handing over more than a hundred sets of clothing to Zhu Shi de Nian Lai Guo Dao, he in turn gave Li Zhan a full five hundred gold. On sending Zhu Shi de Nian Lai Guo Dao out through the tribal gate, Li Zhan saw that most of the wandering players who had gathered to watch the excitement had already dispersed, some returning to Danyang, others going off to level up. The large and small boats once moored along the riverbank beside the tribe had now dwindled to only a few.

Returning to the center of the tribe, Li Zhan directly clicked on the tribe hall, brought up the chieftain’s orders, and decisively pressed the button for “upgrade.”

At this moment, his desire to upgrade the tribe had never been more urgent. In his heart there was only one thought: to use the military advantage of the feudal age to utterly crush the True Heart Tribe.

With a whooshing sound, the entire tribe hall flickered several times and was instantly transformed beyond recognition. The old thatched roof had been replaced with tile and mortar; the crude exterior became handsome and sturdy; the internal layout also appeared orderly. Though the overall structure was still wooden, its durability had greatly increased, rising from fifteen hundred to twenty-one hundred.

At the same time, Li Zhan’s title changed from chieftain to town mayor; Yanhuang Tribe became Yanhuang Town; tribe hall became town hall. There were more changes as well: the mayor’s command panel now contained many more drawers and options, most of them focused on civil affairs.

The villagers who were clearing away the wreckage of war had clearly also noticed the changes around them. The wooden houses, carpenter’s workshop, barracks, cattle pen and horse stable, wooden palisades, and so on—all the buildings had taken on a fresh new appearance, looking more elegant and imposing than before. Gazing at these changes before them, the villagers seemed to have forgotten their pain; they burst into joyous cheers. “We’ve upgraded!” “We’re a town now!” Even the seriously wounded villagers who had been recovering in the wooden houses came out one after another, helping one another as they looked at the scene before them, their faces alight with excitement.

Unlike the villagers’ ecstatic cheers, Li Zhan remained as calm as a still pool. Turning away from the tribe hall, he stopped in front of the barracks, clicked on it to bring up his chieftain’s orders, and once again pressed the button to “upgrade swordsmen” without the slightest hesitation.

Upgrading swordsmen required: food eight hundred, gold three hundred.

Even those three elite townships that had first advanced into the feudal age had only begun to upgrade swordsmen in succession a full week later. A township like Li Zhan’s, upgrading the tribe and upgrading swordsmen at the same time, had no second example anywhere in Empire. If it were not for ensuring that the entire revenge plan could be carried out smoothly, Li Zhan would never have gambled everything so recklessly, ignoring the many civil commands and staking all his funds solely on military affairs.

Just after he finished upgrading the swordsmen, Li Zhan’s friend function began to flash; it was a message from Ruo Yan, who was out patrolling with the militia. Since the number of observing players had already dwindled to almost nothing, and Zhao Ming and the others were all injured, Li Zhan told them to return to the tribe and rest first, while ordering Ruo Yan to lead several militiamen with lighter wounds to patrol outside. In her message, Ruo Yan said that several more people had appeared outside, claiming to be the chieftains of allied tribes. Since she did not know them, she asked Li Zhan whether they should be allowed through.