Chapter 81: Bringing the Villagers to Surrender

Li Zhan was also considering this problem. Hearing Feng Xing address him, Li Zhan replied offhandedly:

"What do you think? Is there a good method?"

Feng Xing glanced at the corpse of Sincere Lover lying on the ground and replied:

"My meaning is simple: either we don't do it, or we do it thoroughly. After this blow, Sincere Lover will certainly harbor a deep hatred for us. These villagers must not be left to him, giving him a chance to make a comeback. The best method now is for our five tribes to directly accept these villagers."

The three chieftains—Waiwai Radish Strips, Thunder Dragon, and Wind Bell—had also come over by now. Upon hearing Feng Xing’s suggestion, all three nodded in agreement. Li Zhan also felt this was an excellent idea. It not only prevented Sincere Lover from having a chance at a comeback but also strengthened their respective tribes (towns), achieving two goals at once.

Li Zhan nodded and said, "Let’s follow your method. You can take full charge of the subsequent work."

Feng Xing responded and walked straight toward the villagers. Sincere Lover's body had already vanished, and the villagers were at a loss. Seeing Chieftain Feng Xing walking toward them, they each displayed looks of fear and involuntarily shifted their feet backward. Feng Xing stopped and shouted to the villagers:

"Sincere Lover attacked my Danyang County tribe and whipped the captured villagers; he deserved to die. Although you are villagers of the Sincere Tribe, every debt has its debtor; we will not hold you accountable. On the contrary, we invite you to join us. I, along with the three chieftains and one town mayor behind me, each govern a tribe or town. Based on your personal preference, stand beside the chieftain or mayor you wish to join."

After Feng Xing finished speaking, the villagers stared at him and the others, including Li Zhan, with wide, surprised eyes. They looked at one another for a long time without reaching a decision. In their tribe, a slight mistake usually resulted in a whipping, making them silent and cautious. Although many were eager to try Feng Xing's proposal, no one had the courage to be the first to step forward.

Waiwai Radish Strips, standing behind, grew impatient and shouted, "You have no choice now but to surrender, otherwise, you will be killed!"

The villagers, upon hearing this, rushed toward the five chieftains (mayors) and stood beside them based on their personal preferences. The result left Li Zhan feeling quite awkward: out of over two hundred villagers, two hundred gathered around him, while only twenty or so straggled toward the other four chieftains. Even those twenty, seeing their companions standing with Li Zhan, hesitated and began drifting over as well.

Thunder Dragon shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Alliance Leader Li, your title as a town mayor is truly effective."

Li Zhan laughed as well. It was good that these villagers followed him, but the four tribes had helped him greatly, and he could not be so cold-hearted as to hog them all. He turned to the villagers around him and said:

"Everyone, do not all stand by my side. Yanhuang Town has just been upgraded, and housing and land are currently very tight; we cannot accommodate so many people at once. Although the four tribes have not yet upgraded, after mining so much gold, upgrading will be a matter of time. Please separate and seek out the chieftains you prefer."

Guided by Li Zhan, the villagers looked at one another. Those on the periphery reluctantly spread out a bit, but those in the inner circle continued to stare fixedly at Li Zhan, showing no intention of moving.

At this point, there were still 150 to 160 villagers gathered around Li Zhan, while only about twenty were around each of the other four chieftains. Li Zhan did a rough count and shook his head: "This won't do, it's still too many. Everyone, please spread out more."

As he spoke, Li Zhan squeezed out of the crowd and stood further away. Unexpectedly, the villagers immediately swarmed behind him, sticking to him like shadows. Feng Xing and the others laughed:

"Mayor Li, I think let it be. These villagers all want to follow you. If we force them over, their loyalty will inevitably be very low. Not only will their morale be low, but they might even seek opportunities to escape. When you return, Mayor Li, just put aside the upgrade to 'Private Ownership' for now and focus on building housing. It won't be too late to upgrade 'Private Ownership' once the housing requirements are met."

"Private Ownership" was a livelihood option. Once a town upgraded to it, the villagers would form a concept of private property. At that point, besides a significant increase in work efficiency, the villagers' requirements for housing would clearly rise, and they would become dissatisfied with the old form of five people sharing one room. In the long run, this would lower loyalty. The ideal housing allocation was two to three people per room.

Li Zhan looked at the longing gazes of the villagers around him, sighed helplessly, and had no choice but to agree.

By this time, the sky was bright, and the sun had leaped above the horizon, casting a golden glow over everyone's faces and bodies. The villagers of the four tribes around the gold mine were still working intensely. Militiamen on the perimeter guarded the villagers while also keeping watch over the piles of gold.

News of a tribe being attacked always traveled fast, especially since the Sincere Tribe was the strongest in Jiujiang County and possessed an open-pit gold mine, making it a focus of wandering players. By now, wandering players who had received the news were rushing toward the Sincere Tribe from all directions with their own villagers, congregating at the dilapidated tribe center and along the road between the gold mine and the dock.

The wandering players gathered at the tribe center led their villagers to dig for resources everywhere, hoping to make a small fortune through reselling. Meanwhile, those wandering the road between the gold mine and the dock led their villagers to crawl on their knees, carefully searching for gold dropped in the grass or sand; every time they found a bit, they and their villagers would cheer and dance for a long while.

Some greedy wandering players stood near the gold mine, watching the yellow, gleaming gold piled like a small mountain, swallowing their saliva in envy, wishing they could rush up and grab a handful. Alas, "Empire" had long since established a rule: wandering players could not attack NPCs; if NPC soldiers attacked wandering players, the players could not even defend themselves, only passively endure the beatings. Furthermore, because they were in a state of war, they could not log off.

This rule was designed to protect the interests of the vast number of chieftains (mayors) without guild backgrounds, allowing them to develop in peace without the support of numerous players. Of course, chieftains (mayors) could not arbitrarily order their soldiers to attack wandering players, especially in areas outside the range of their tribe (town).

Because the villagers of Yanhuang Town wore cotton clothing, and Zhao Ming and the others wore leather armor, they quickly attracted a large crowd of onlookers. These wandering players circled them, clicking their tongues in wonder and envy. The quick-acting ones immediately posted screenshots they had taken into the "New Discoveries" section of the game forum, causing an immediate uproar. Subsequently, more players opened new threads in "New Discoveries," posting their own screenshots and attaching their own analyses and evaluations.

The entire game forum became caught up in a wave of discussion regarding the new clothing and leather armor. While people were amazed and envious, they were invisibly providing an excellent, unconventional advertisement for the clothing and leather armor of Yanhuang Town.

As time passed, the number of wandering players grew. Except for the tribe hall guarded by Thunder Dragon's militiamen, the tribe center was completely occupied by wandering players and their villagers. These players led their villagers to dismantle houses, destroy walls, and dig through everything, leaving no corner untouched. At the gold mine, due to over-extraction, the ground had already sunken deep, and every time the villagers collected a bit of gold, they had to climb up and down, which was very laborious. Li Zhan and the four chieftains discussed it and felt it was time to retreat.

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out among the group of players to the east. Li Zhan and the others looked toward the sound and saw a squad of militiamen rapidly approaching from within the crowd.