Chapter 091: Upgrading Private Ownership

A Nation-Building Online Game

Li Zhan had gone two days and one night without rest. This time, logging off was the most comfortable sleep he had ever enjoyed.

When he logged back in, it was already around nine in the morning. The villagers had finished breakfast and were laboring at their respective posts.

The market was bustling with activity. Since this was the first day of setting up stalls, many players had personally joined in, bringing their subordinate villagers to call out from the stalls and attract customers. The nine players who had rented shops were also gradually transporting various goods from Danyang. Most of their wares consisted of daily necessities, and they were also selling items on behalf of players who had not rented stalls.

Of the market’s thirty shops, Li Zhan selected three in particularly favorable locations to serve as shops belonging to Yanhuang Village-Town. One would be an outfitting shop, mainly selling clothing and various products made by the village-town, such as leather armor and weapons in the future. Another would be a grain and provisions shop, selling grain—which the villagers under the players’ command needed to eat—as well as supplementary foods such as fish and venison. The last would be a purchasing shop. Whenever the village-town urgently needed some material, a notice would be posted at the purchasing shop announcing its acquisition.

Each of the three shops was managed by an able villager. For now, the shops were still small, and one villager was sufficient to handle each of them.

As more and more players traveled between Danyang County and Yanhuang Village-Town, the boatmen began leaving their cargo ships at the civilian dock after delivering players or goods, rather than returning empty as they had in the past. Before long, another customer would come along.

The two barracks and two archery ranges had all been built in the same area, approximately seven hundred meters south of the square that had been completed only yesterday. At present, more than a hundred players were gathered around the barracks and ranges, scrambling to register for skill training. Players disembarking from the cargo ships at the dock were still hurrying over in an endless stream.

Ruoyan stood amid the noisy commotion, her delicate brows slightly furrowed and her face full of resentment. Together with two villagers, she was registering the players. When she saw Li Zhan squeezing through the crowd, she looked as though she had spotted her savior. She hurriedly tugged him by the sleeve and pulled him to her side.

“You lazy worm, you finally logged on! If you had come any later, this crowd of players would have driven me to a nervous breakdown. All right, I need to hurry back to the village-town hall and design the swordsmen’s and bowmen’s uniforms. I’m leaving this work to you.”

With that, Ruoyan transmitted her notepad to Li Zhan through the friends channel, then parted the crowd and returned to the village-town hall.

The surrounding players stared blankly at Ruoyan’s departing figure for a moment. Then, without exception, disappointment appeared on their faces. Seeing their foolish expressions, Li Zhan gave a slight shake of his head and continued the registration work with Ruoyan’s notepad.

At present, Yanhuang Village-Town charged players the following fees for learning skills:

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Swordsmanship (learnable at Level 10): 5 gold coins.

Shieldsmanship (learnable at Level 15): 7 gold coins.

Spearmanship (learnable at Level 15; counters cavalry): 9 gold coins.

Archery (learnable at Level 12): 10 gold coins.

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Concentration (learnable at Level 17; increases the accuracy of ranged attacks): 12 gold coins.

Riding (learnable at Level 17): 15 gold coins.

The above skills must be learned within three days of the day the fee is paid. After three days, anyone who has not learned the skill must pay the fee again before attempting to learn it.

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After registering eighty players—each military building could accommodate twenty people training simultaneously—and collecting their fees, the group rushed impatiently into the barracks and archery ranges to begin their skill training. Seeing that all the places had been filled, the remaining players were somewhat disappointed. They could only continue leveling and wait for vacancies to appear before returning to learn.

Li Zhan left two villagers behind to handle the registration of subsequent players and keep track of the available places. He himself returned to the entrance of the village-town hall, opened his town-lord interface, and checked on the upgrade of “Private Ownership.” It was nearly complete.

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Private Ownership: Upgradeable during the feudal age.

Description: The villagers begin to develop an awareness of private property and a vague sense of comparison with others. They start caring about the quality of their own lives, thereby unlocking part of their latent work efficiency.

Cost: 800 gold coins.

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While walking back from the market to the barracks, Li Zhan had passed the village-town hall and taken the opportunity to begin upgrading “Private Ownership.” After a full day of intensive construction yesterday, the number of wooden houses had reached the requirement for the villagers’ housing needs after the upgrade: one wooden house for every two or three people instead of one for every five.

Seeing that “Private Ownership” was about to be completed, Li Zhan summoned several villagers and had them inform those still working that, with the exception of the few who could not leave their posts—such as the two villagers keeping accounts beside the barracks—everyone else was to gather in the square.

About twenty minutes later, all the villagers had assembled in the square, from those far away at the lumberyard and quarry to those nearby in the fields and cotton plots. Even Zhou Min had come with Zhang Chong’s support and was standing at the front of the ranks.

Although the villagers did not know why their town lord had interrupted their work and gathered them all together, one thing was certain: the town lord must have something extremely important to tell them.

More than a hundred wandering players had come along with the villagers. Seeing the villagers of Yanhuang Village-Town suddenly abandon their work and gather together, the players had no idea what was happening. Curiosity drew them to stand nearby and watch.

Li Zhan stood on the stone steps before the village-town hall, his gaze sweeping over the villagers in front of him. He smiled faintly.

At that moment, the system announced that “Private Ownership” had been successfully upgraded. At the same time, the villagers began displaying reactions that had never been seen before. Men and women instinctively left a little more distance between themselves, the female villagers deliberately straightened their clothing, and the male villagers reached up to smooth their hair, which was tangled like a bundle of straw.

Ruoyan also emerged from the village-town hall and stood beside Li Zhan.

Li Zhan addressed the crowd in a clear voice:

“Everyone, beginning today, I will be adjusting the nature of your work. While contributing to the village-town, you will also be able to earn wealth for yourselves.”

Li Zhan paused, giving the villagers time to whisper among themselves.

“Wealth? What wealth? What does the town lord mean?”

“Why are you asking me? How should I know?”

“Stop guessing. There’s no harm in doing whatever the town lord says.”

…

When the villagers fell silent, Li Zhan continued:

“The first workers whose duties will be adjusted are the lumberjacks. All lumberjacks in the village-town, come stand to my left.”

As soon as Li Zhan finished speaking, the ranks of villagers before him began to stir. More than ninety lumberjacks gradually stepped out of formation and gathered on Li Zhan’s left.

Li Zhan turned to the lumberjacks and said:

“Beginning today, your work will no longer be to cut trees without purpose. As long as you can harvest fifty-five units of qualified raw timber each day, you may spend the remaining time resting or continue cutting. If you choose to continue, the village-town will purchase each additional unit of raw timber for two copper coins. The copper coins will belong to you. They are your private property.”

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Note:

1. Raw timber: Wood that has undergone rough processing after being felled. Before it can be used, it must undergo another round of fine processing.