Ferry Crossing

The bandits suffered devastating losses, with only their leader escaping, wounded. The end-of-month grain raid at Little White Village, meticulously planned, concluded in victory for the players. Without needing any orders from Zhan Xiaobai, the players immediately began clearing the battlefield. From the bodies of a dozen bandits, they astonishingly collected over a hundred copper coins and a level-10 broadsword. The copper coins, as spoils of war, were divided among the players, while the broadsword was delivered to Zhan Xiaobai.

As he marveled at the “wealth” of the bandits, Zhan Xiaobai also felt helpless at the disparity in strength between the two sides. If only he commanded a hundred-strong cavalry, he could amass a fortune just by eliminating bandit groups. He toyed with the broadsword, noting its level-10 designation and +3 attack bonus—quite a decent weapon—before handing it casually to Sword Tyrant. “Let this broadsword go to the player who contributed most to the battle,” he said.

Sword Tyrant nodded and accepted the weapon.

The five military observers from Great Qi Village could not help but sigh with admiration, flattering Zhan Xiaobai as they followed him. “We’ve always heard Elder Qiushui of Little White Village was remarkable, but only now do we realize how extraordinary she is. To command a force of two or three thousand players with such ease—if it were us in Great Qi…”

“Ha, we’d be hard-pressed to assemble even a thousand, let alone command them. We can’t compare at all!”

“We should come to Little White Village more often in the future if we have the chance.”

Zhan Xiaobai, Sword Tyrant, and the others burst out laughing. The player observers from Great Qi Village were truly amusing. Judging by their tone, it seemed they were tempted to join Little White Village themselves. But their affiliations were in the way, and with Great Qi and Little White being “neighborly” villages, such a move was unlikely in the short term.

Qiushui smiled warmly. “You flatter us, brothers from Great Qi. I dare not take credit for the safety of our village. The true merit belongs to Brother Bai, Sword Tyrant, Young Hero, Ah Fei, and all our brothers for working together wholeheartedly.”

Wutong, too, could not resist exaggerating the victory.

Zhan Xiaobai waved his hand with a smile. “Let’s not flatter each other among brothers. Now that the bandits have been beaten back, I doubt they’ll make any large moves for at least a month. Otherwise, most villages in the realm wouldn’t withstand such frenzied assaults. This makes the coming days especially precious. Once you return to Wutong Village, focus on rebuilding and recruiting farmers as fast as you can. If you run into trouble, come here and find Sword Tyrant directly—he’ll do his best to help.”

Wutong replied with a laugh, “Rest assured, Brother Xiaobai. I won’t repeat those rookie mistakes this time.”

After bidding farewell to the military observers from Great Qi, the players from Little White and Wutong Villages held a night-long celebration. Out on the fields beyond the village, they kindled bonfires to mark the successful defense. There was no fine wine or sumptuous food—just some wild game roasted over the flames, a simple gesture of festivity.

The farmland totaled fifty acres, and in just a day, the NPC farmers had harvested all the grain.

Li Ah San reported to Zhan Xiaobai, “Lord, only a tiny portion of our fields was trampled or damaged. Since we added a little river fertilizer, the yield reached thirty-nine jin per acre, and we’ve harvested a total of 1,950 jin of grain. Additionally, we can purchase over a hundred fish daily. But if we recruit two hundred farmers at once, we’ll need six thousand jin of grain a month. The deficit is quite significant…”

Without hesitation, Zhan Xiaobai replied, “Increase fish procurement, and aim to have all two hundred farmers recruited by February first.”

“I’m afraid there won’t be enough fish in the river…”

“If fish near the village aren’t enough, range farther—fish the whole river if you must.” Zhan Xiaobai patted Li Ah San on the shoulder. “I know there are many difficulties, but for the future of our village, we must do everything possible to accomplish this task.”

Seeing Zhan Xiaobai’s resolve, Li Ah San quickly agreed and said no more.

In the following days, both Little White Village and Wutong Village urgently recruited farmers, hoping to raise their populations to the maximum before the next planting season. Having the greatest possible number of NPC farmers was critical for sowing grain at the start of the new month.

Meanwhile, though the grain had been harvested, the farmers had no time to idle; they were set to chopping wood.

Zhan Xiaobai himself spent time at the blacksmith’s workshop.

The disabled veteran, working as the village blacksmith, was busy day and night, hastily forging over twenty sets of crude iron plows—tools that would greatly aid the farmers in tilling the fields.

Crude iron plow: Level 1 farm tool, increases a farmer’s plowing speed by five percent.

Watching the old veteran happily absorbed in his work, Zhan Xiaobai couldn’t help but ask with curiosity, “Old friend, with your blacksmithing skills now, what kind of weapons can you produce?”

The disabled veteran replied cheerfully, “My lord, this is just basic blacksmithing. I can only make the simplest farm tools and crude iron weapons with a +1 bonus. But soon I’ll level up—five or six days more and I’ll reach intermediate blacksmithing. Then I can forge +2 iron swords and broadswords. If I keep forging, in about a month, I’ll reach advanced blacksmithing—then I can make +3 weapons and armor. Our warriors will never have to go into battle wearing mere cloth again.”

Zhan Xiaobai nodded. By next month, they’d be able to use +2 iron swords. Though still not ideal, it was certainly an improvement over bronze blades. “I’ll do my best to provide you with iron ore. Just focus on forging, old friend.”

Whenever he had spare time, Zhan Xiaobai also visited the village carpenter.

The carpenter had been working himself ragged, laboring day and night to craft all manner of wooden tools.

Zhan Xiaobai inquired if the carpenter was satisfied with life in the village.

The carpenter grinned. “More work, more pay—of course I’m satisfied. Oh, and Village Chief, I’ve already advanced to intermediate carpentry, and I’m working toward advanced. Last time, you had Old Li ask about building boats at the ferry. I think I can build a few two-man boats now without any trouble.”

Delighted to hear of the carpenter’s progress, Zhan Xiaobai nonetheless was dissatisfied with the boat size. “Two people is too few. What about rafts—how many can they carry?”

“I can make large wooden rafts that hold up to eight people,” the carpenter answered, “but these aren’t as stable as boats. They’re prone to capsizing in fast currents and are harder to maneuver.”

Zhan Xiaobai laughed. “It’s only for crossing a small river—it won’t capsize. Let’s make large rafts for now; that’ll speed up transport. If you’re free in the next couple of days, I’ll have Elder Ah Fei take you to the riverbank to build a ferry—how does that sound?”

“Absolutely, I can go right away,” the carpenter replied eagerly.

Zhan Xiaobai summoned Ah Fei, instructing him to gather a few brothers, the carpenter, and some farmers, and head to the riverbank to pick a good spot for the ferry. Ah Fei accepted readily and led the group out.