Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 8 People's Hearts Are Food
The villagers were silent, the burning firewood crackled, and several large pots were emitting billowing white steam.

Li Mu looked around and saw the villagers' confusion, doubt, fear, panic, and pale and thin appearance.

To fight the bandits, forty players are almost enough, but if the bandits split up into small groups to harass the villagers, the villagers will still be lambs to be slaughtered.

What's more, players always have to go out to explore, and when they log off and leave, the villagers must learn to protect themselves.

There are two surnames in Yangjia Village, Yang and Chen, and there are at least thirty able-bodied men in the village.

If bandits broke into the village, they would be able to bravely organize a resistance and repel the bandits with ease.

Unfortunately, they could only kneel on the ground and beg for mercy, hoping that the bandits would show mercy and leave them some food.

He could understand. After all, ordinary people only have one life, and once they die, it is gone forever.

But Li Mu lived in troubled times for eighteen years, and on the day his family was destroyed and his loved ones died, he deeply understood that he should not leave his fate to be decided by others.

He raised his head and shouted to all the villagers around him—

"Now that the Ming dynasty has run its course and a new dynasty is about to be established, the world is in turmoil. I cannot bear to see the people suffering, so I have come to save them from danger and to liberate them from their plight.

Yesterday, I saw that the villagers in your village were kind and suffered greatly from the harassment of vicious bandits, so I used a secret technique to summon spiritual soldiers from outside the domain to repel the bandits.

Although the bandits have retreated, their forces are still there. If I send spiritual soldiers to attack them, Yangjia Village will be left unguarded. The spiritual soldiers can protect you temporarily, but not forever.

Therefore, I have specially recruited you all to form a militia for self-defense."

Li Mu paused and saw the villagers looking at each other. Although they did not dare to talk openly, the embarrassment and awkwardness on their faces were obvious.

Li Mu knew why the villagers were so resistant. After all, those who formed the militia had to participate in military training every day.

The higher the training intensity, the higher the daily calorie requirement.

The villagers, who usually have to save money on food, would never dare to easily touch such a big project as "military training". They would collapse on the ground after practicing for a while.

A normal laborer can eat one liter of grain a day without protein and fat, and an ordinary soldier can eat one liter and two he of grain a day. A soldier at the border needs to prepare one liter and five he of grain a day.

The small village does not have the spare energy to train soldiers, but Li Mu does.

As the first village "conquered" by Li Mu, he had long regarded the villagers as his subordinates, giving them food to replenish their bodies and forming a militia, which was a small part of his future plan.

Li Mu raised two fingers pretentiously, as if chanting a spell, and pointed at the utensils on the ground one by one, "Food!"

The villagers were all startled, and then looked around, looking for the strange sight of the spiritual soldiers crawling out of the ground yesterday.

However, the villagers did not see any strange sights, but they heard strange sounds.

The sound was like grains of quicksand falling from the sky, landing in a container such as a porcelain jar, then hitting the wall of the jar, echoing inside the jar, making a rustling sound.

“Ahhhhhhhhh! Got it!”

A woman suddenly screamed in surprise and rushed to the rice jar, watching the golden rice overflowing with joy, as if a miser saw a pile of gold ingots coming out of a treasure bowl.

Yang Er looked at the ground in disbelief, and saw an inconspicuous straw bag gradually bulging.

He subconsciously reached out to pinch it.

The familiar yet unfamiliar feeling returned again. Yang Er had not seen such rich millet for a long time. The full feeling was like the collision of dry lips and clear water.

Wen Pan couldn't believe her eyes. She picked up a handful of food and sniffed it.

It was indeed the real food she had been dreaming of for many days.

"Millet? Millet. It's millet! It's really millet!"

Yang Er and Wen Pan looked at each other and laughed. They hugged the straw bag tightly, and tears fell from the corners of their eyes.

The villagers carefully stroked the corn that seemed like an illusion but was so real, grain by grain. It was no longer dry and bitter firewood, no longer mud that clogged the stomach and intestines, and no longer astringent weeds that made the mouth dry.

They finally have enough food to eat!

The adults in the village fell into a state of collective frenzy, crying and howling. The suffering of fleeing famine for thousands of miles seemed to have become a dream, a painful, real dream, but a dream that could be buried deep in their hearts.

The old village chief also cried for joy. As a down-and-out scholar, he always kept up the airs of a scholar, but today he also went crazy for once, and cried like a madman while holding a wooden basin.

The Taoist priest came down the mountain and not only drove away the bandits for them, but also used his magic to create food for them.

The Taoist priest is indeed an otherworldly master who is proficient in earth-related subjects. Not only can "potato soldiers" emerge from the ground, but even the crops grown in the ground can be transformed.

It was truly admirable and awe-inspiring. The village chief would never forget the two life-saving graces he received.

The old village chief knelt down heavily and bowed to the Taoist priest again and again, his kowtows making loud noises.

Even if I hit his head, it would not be enough to express the gratitude in my heart.

The other villagers also knelt down, thanking their savior from the bottom of their hearts.

The Heavenly Master might be a semi-immortal who had been practicing in seclusion on a mountain. He came down the mountain to experience the sufferings of the mortal world. Seeing that Yangjia Village was in trouble, he rescued them.

Killing people and leaving them alive, perhaps in the eyes of the Heavenly Master, is like interfering in the life and death of a group of ants, and is not worth even a word of thanks.

But the villagers don't care about any big principles. They just know that if someone is sincerely kind to them, they should repay the favor.

The Taoist priest asked them to form a militia to protect their homes and hometown. Not to mention asking all the able-bodied men in the village, even if he asked all men, women, old and young to join the battle, they would do it unconditionally!

"Let's eat!"

Li Mu waved his hand and poured the golden millet into several large pots. Soon, waves of grain fragrance emerged.

When the bowls of corn rice were handed to him, it was the first time in many years that Wen Pan had eaten a full bowl of dry rice. In the past, he had only had thin porridge at the bottom.

In addition to millet rice, there were also prey hunted by the spiritual soldiers, dried fish, and pieces of cut meat put into the pot to cook.

Seeing this, the old village chief also indulged himself and ordered several people to take out salt and sesame oil from the public warehouse so that everyone could happily eat millet rice with game.

The players working nearby also happily ran over to join the "banquet", and everyone was given a bowl of slightly simple rice.

Huang Zilong also got a bowl. Yesterday he could only chew on hard steamed bread, but today he could finally experience the taste function of the game.

Although in reality, this bowl of so-called "rice bowl" is not worth mentioning at all, it was already a very luxurious meal for the lower classes in ancient times.

A gust of spring breeze blew by, and Huang Zilong, who was sweating profusely, felt a coolness passing through his whole body. The fulfilling comfort made him feel extremely peaceful in his heart.

Working together, sharing together, enjoying together, laughing together, even as a combat player, "Huang Zilong" can feel the happiness of peace.

The old village chief came closer to Yang Er, holding his bowl. As soon as he sat down on the ground, he asked, "Have you mentioned what I told you to do last night?"

Yang Er slapped his head suddenly, "I only talked about food, I forgot everything else."

"I told you not to mention the food issue, but you still... Alas, thankfully the Heavenly Master is so magnanimous, we were able to turn a disaster into a blessing. I'll take care of your nephew's affairs..."

The old village chief did not allow Yang Er to hesitate, and led Wen Pan to Li Mu on his own.

After some polite words, the old village chief's meaning was very clear -

The Heavenly Master's body is precious and needs someone to serve and look after him. This little girl is Yang Er's niece, named Yang Wenpan, who is thirteen years old. She used to get along well with the Heavenly Master.

If Wen Pan is allowed to stay with the Taoist priest, he can send her away if he has any instructions for the villagers in the future, and the Taoist priest will not have to go himself.

Yang Wenpan shrank his head, no longer as calm as when he first met Li Mu, but felt a little shy and fearful.

Although she didn't dare to look at the Heavenly Master, she had the courage to sneak a peek at Corn Rice, and she was very brave.

Li Mu was amused by the girl's boldness and immediately responded, "Wen Pan was alert and smart when dealing with the thieves yesterday. She knew how to act and act accordingly. She's a smart kid. Stay with me from now on."

The old village chief was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately held Wen Pan's head and bowed to express his gratitude, "Thank you for your favor, Master."

"Go and serve the Taoist priest..." The old village chief gently pushed Tupan's shoulder. The latter responded softly and walked over shyly.

"Tianshi." Wen Pan didn't dare to look up at the person, but just looked at his own feet, close together, separate, close together...

"Remember—" Li Mu tapped Wen Pan's head gently, "Call me sir from now on. Here, this is for you."

Yang Wenpan rubbed his head in grievance, but when he saw the full bowl of corn rice, he smiled again.

She took the bowl and put it to her mouth. The aroma of corn, dried fish, pickled radish, and gravy rushed into her brain.

Without raising her head, she said casually, "Thank you, Master, for the food..." and then began to gobble it up voraciously.

Li Mu looked at the villagers and players eating around him with satisfaction. These people would be his future team to conquer the world...

Wen Pan didn't know about Mr. Li's great wish. She just focused on eating and casually expressed her wishes.

"It would be great if I could eat dry rice with broth, dried fish, and pickled radish every day..."

(End of this chapter)