Chapter 82: Favor with the Flow

"On guard!" Lei Long shouted to the militiamen.

Including Zhao Ming and the four other swordsmen, all the militiamen raised their weapons and stood in formation, facing east. Because they were tasked with protecting the villagers and the gold, and with so many wandering players eyeing the gold greedily, they could not easily abandon their posts.

The surrounding wandering players, seeing that a real skirmish might be about to break out, quickly retreated dozens of meters, clearing a wide space to wait for the free show.

The crowd of wandering players to the east soon parted. A detachment of militiamen ran quickly to the gold mine and stopped, with four men stepping out from the ranks—they were the leaders of the four "Colony" tribes, including Knight Who Hits Walls.

Ever since the incident where he was humiliated, Knight Who Hits Walls had secretly built a barracks and trained twenty militiamen immediately upon returning to his tribe. However, he had not expected Li Zhan to avoid a counterattack after being assaulted; feeling frustrated, Knight Who Hits Walls had logged off that night, drank himself into a stupor, and collapsed into bed. When he logged on this morning, the other three tribal leaders were waiting anxiously in his tribal hall. Upon seeing him, they immediately informed him that the True Heart tribe had been conquered by a coalition of five tribes from Danyang County. Upon hearing this, Knight Who Hits Walls was so excited he could have jumped for joy, and his first reaction was to lead his militiamen and the three other leaders to see for himself.

Seeing Li Zhan standing across from him, Knight Who Hits Walls smiled and cupped his hands in a salute. "Town Mayor Li, you kept your cards very close to your chest."

Seeing it was indeed Knight Who Hits Walls, Li Zhan smiled and replied, "Circumstances forced my hand; I had no other choice."

The two laughed heartily. The surrounding tribal leaders and wandering players looked at each other, confused by the cryptic conversation, unable to fathom what it all meant.

After a brief consultation with Lei Long, Li Zhan walked over to the four men and said, "You have come at just the right time. The True Heart tribe has long oppressed your four tribes, occupying vast amounts of resources for nothing. Now that we have successfully conquered the True Heart tribe, there are large quantities of grain and timber in the tribal hall, in addition to gold and stone. We will be taking the gold and stone, but you may take the food and timber to compensate for your losses. Furthermore, although this gold mine is deep underground, it still has a reserve of two to three thousand units; you may as well take over its management."

There were about four thousand units each of food and timber in the tribal hall. Because the distance was great and his own village did not lack such resources, Lei Long had already told Li Zhan during their earlier discussion that he only needed the gold and stone, and that the food and timber could be left behind. As for the gold mine, the deep location made mining exceptionally arduous, and neither Li Zhan nor the four leaders wanted to spend more time there for fear of complications. Thus, in front of the crowd, Li Zhan performed a favor that cost him nothing—he gracefully took what he wanted while gifting what he was too lazy or unable to take to Knight Who Hits Walls and the others.

Knight Who Hits Walls and the three leaders were naturally delighted by Li Zhan's "generosity." After repeatedly expressing their gratitude, the three leaders scrambled to add Li Zhan as a friend. They had heard that the Yanhuang village’s clothing production required cotton; two of their tribes already grew cotton, and the other two had begun trial plantings under the orders of True Heart Lover, which would soon reach a decent scale.

The three leaders were not foolish; they could see that Li Zhan was the central figure among the five leaders. By adding him as a friend, they could not only secure a market for their cotton but, more importantly, forge a connection with a powerful village. If their tribes were threatened in the future, they would at least have a contact to turn to for help.

Upon learning that all three tribes had cotton, Li Zhan was more than happy to add them as friends to ensure a steady supply for his village. Since his friend list function was still disabled, he copied the three leaders' information onto a notepad to add them later. He also introduced all the leaders to one another, letting them swap information; after all, the friend list could hold up to ten thousand people, and adding four more wouldn't hurt, but might prove useful in a critical moment.

After copying the information, Li Zhan thought for a moment and asked Knight Who Hits Walls to add "Pig Is Spelled Backwards" as a friend. Through the friend function, he instructed Pig Is Spelled Backwards to immediately hire ten cargo ships, offering a high price of one gold coin if necessary to get the ship owners to bring their vessels to the True Heart tribe's dock, so that the two hundred or so surrendered villagers near the dock could be transported back to Danyang.

A short while later, the cargo ships escorted by Zhang Feng and his archers returned after unloading the gold at the village. The villagers of Yanhuang village stopped mining and worked together to load the gold onto the ships. Once finished, Li Zhan did a rough tally: there were about one thousand units (bringing the total to about twenty-two hundred, including what had been unloaded earlier). Li Zhan took six gold coins from the pile and gave them to Zhao Ming, who had captured True Heart Lover, and the militiaman from the Waiwai tribe; the two were overjoyed to receive a reward of three gold coins each.

Soon after, the other four cargo ships returned. The villagers of the three tribes and Lei Long’s militiamen immediately busied themselves loading the gold and stone. By the time the four ships were fully loaded, the ten ships temporarily hired by Pig Is Spelled Backwards had arrived. Li Zhan ordered both the newly surrendered villagers and the original ones to board the cargo ships, while the soldiers remained on the fishing boats to depart from the dock.

As the five fishing boats and fifteen cargo ships reached the middle of the Yangtze River, the five leaders stepped out onto the decks and waved goodbye to Knight Who Hits Walls and the other three leaders, who were standing on the dock. The villagers of the four tribes had already arrived at the True Heart tribe and, under the protection of the militiamen, were enclosing the tribal hall and the gold mine with wooden fences to prevent the wandering players from looting them.

...

It was already midday by the time they returned to the territory of Danyang County.

Upon entering the Han River, Li Zhan stopped briefly at a civilian dock. He remembered that the village was low on grain, and with the sudden addition of over a hundred villagers, he had to purchase some supplies. At the same time, he could repay the shipping fees advanced by Pig Is Spelled Backwards and take the opportunity to have the "Blurred Blueprint" in his pocket appraised. Ever since his failed attempt at appraisal in Danyang City, Li Zhan had kept the blueprint on him, almost forgetting it; he feared that if he didn't get it identified soon, it would be worn to shreds.