The World Online

In the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo made another trip to the barracks to help the troops do a class change.

In the square of the barracks, the troops were already lined up. Ouyang Shuo directly went into the class change chamber, placing his hand on the door and activating the class change sequence.

“System notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for activating the class change room. Intermediate barracks can change commoner into rank one militia for 10 silver. It can also change class of level 10 militia to rank 1 soldier, average class change cost of 1 gold. Please choose a class change method!”

“Class change 1st rank soldier!”

“System Notification: Class Change method confirmed, please choose number!”

“100 people!”

“System Notification: Please choose class change direction. Can choose either infantry, sailor or cavalry. The cost of which are 50 silver, 100 silver and 150 silver.”

“I choose infantry.”

“System Notification: Class change confirmed, deducted 50 gold from player Qiyue Wuyi.”

After the 100 soldiers had finished their class change, Ouyang Shuo checked the stats of the infantry.

Name: Tie Dan

Identity: Infantry Squadron First Squad soldier

Occupation: Infantry

Level: Rank 1

Combat Power: 12

Consumption: 2 units food/day

Skill: Basic Slash

Equipment: Basic Knife, Basic Armor, Basic Shield

Evaluation: Most basic unit, if you want to use them well and better, apart from strict training, one needs better equipment.

In Earth Online, infantry could be divided into knife-shield soldier, sword-shield soldier, spearman, axe-throwing soldier, javelin-thrower, long bowman and short bowman etc. There were also light and heavy infantry. When changing their class, Ouyang Shuo had chosen the basic sword-shield soldier.

As compared to cavalry, the stats of the infantry were weaker, hence their class change cost were only a third. Their combat power was 3 times less and it came primarily from the difference in equipment.

After paying the money for the class change, he only had 80 gold left in his pocket, being in a financial conundrum. It seems like the right time to ask his forces to hunt some bandits to earn some money.

He called General Shi, Lin Yi and the various sergeants into the meeting room, openly saying, “Generals, the year is already over and it’s time for us to loosen our bones. This time, the land area of our territory expanded by 100 square miles and there will definitely be new bandit camps. My orders is to find them and destroy them. I am not afraid to tell you all that the territory is having monetary problems and whether we can solve them depends on your performances.”

His words made their bloods boil, especially Zhang Daniu and Zhao Sihu who were crazy fighters. Both of them had broken through to rank 8 elite soldiers on the eve of the new year and they were now only a step away from rank 9. The battle in the squadron between sergeants had already became stale and they hoped that this battle could help them break the bottleneck and rank up.

Zhang Daniu and Zhao Sihu walked out at the same time and said loudly,” Sire, the mission to destroy the bandit camps you can rest easy. We promise we will complete it.”

Ouyang Shuo nodded his head and said, “The morale is high, that’s good. Starting from now, you must expand your search range and search inch-by-inch, find them and immediately report to me. This time, I will lead you out by myself.”

“Yes!” The generals said in unison.

Walking out of the barracks, passing the commercial street again, the various shops were open for business. After all the game was different from real life such that there was no new years holiday.

Just as Ouyang Shuo had entered the Manor, the secretary of the Resource Division Du Xiaolan entered the office.

She respectfully said,” Sire, I got something to report.”

Since the last test, Du Xiaolan was punished by Ouyang Shuo for 3 months. This meeting, she seemed especially careful.

“Sire, I counted the grains in the granary and found that we had only 2000 units left. We are having a problem and need sire’s help.”

Ouyang Shuo patted his head, these few days he was so busy and had forgotten about buying grain. If it wasn’t for the 10s of thousands of grain gained from the bandit camps, all the grain would have been used up and the town would have been in a famine. “Relax, get some people and follow me to the market.”

Ouyang Shuo left the manor and went to the Intermediate Market. He opened the trading platform and directly spent 50 gold, buying 50 thousand units of grain. This batch of grain wouldn’t last for long. When the town upgrades to a grade 2 town, he would have to purchase some more.

Ever since the upgrade to town, the problems of lack of grain had started to surface. If it wasn’t for having enough monetary resources, they would have been in a famine. After solving that problem, it was already 6 in the afternoon. Ouyang Shuo didn’t have time to see the two Nian beasts in the horse stables and just logged off.

In reality it was already the second day of the new year. Ouyang Shuo didn’t visit any friend and family or stroll around. He had already spent a day at the temple fair and was very tired. It was better to rest today and spend time with Xue’er and Bing’er to watch some cartoons.

The next day, the newly appointed secretary of the Household Registration Division walked into the office.

Ouyang Shuo asked him to sit and said, “So is the work at the Household Registration Division going fine?”

“Thank you sire for your trust. Everything is going fine.” Zhou Haichen said respectfully.

“That’s good, you came over today, is it because there was any good talent?”

Zhou Haichen nodded his head, smiling, “That’s right. In the population refresh, there was a scholar called Xu Shu Da, he had worked in education. I think he’s different so I came here to report.”

“Scholar? This was definitely a rare talent, you have done well. Bring Mr Fan and Xu Shuda here to my office tell them we have something to discuss.”

“Yes!” Zhou Haichen had some doubts but he didn’t ask, going out straightaway to call them.

In less than 5 minutes, Fan Zhonfyan, Zhou Haichen and Xu Shuda walked into the office. The one walking in the back should be Xu Shuda, Ouyang Shuo checked his stats.

Name: Xu Shuda (Gold)

Identity: Shanhai Town Commoner

Occupation: Civil Servant ( _jinshi_ )

Loyalty: 75

Command: 20

Force: 18

Intelligence: 45

Politics: 60

Specialty: Education (Raise education progress by 15%), Enlightenment (Raise quality by 10%)

Evaluation: A scholar, strong in education. Careful personality, deep knowledge, good personality.

After looking at Xu Shu Da’s stats, Ouyang Shuo was delighted. This was a typical education talent, his two specialties were very practical. For his upcoming decisions, he felt more confident.

After saying some nice words, Ouyang Shuo dove right into the topic, “As our population increases, private school, ancestral hall, Mazu Temple, Lianzhou college etc facilities have been improved. The culture and education in the territory have been increasing. In the past I’ve always wanted to set up a division purely for culture and education, however, I couldn’t find a suitable secretary. Until today I met Mr.Xu. Hence, I decided that under the Administration Department, to set up the Culture and Education Division and Mr.Xu will be the secretary.”

Xu Shu Da did not expect that a short time upon coming to the town that he would be placed on such importance, “Thank you sire, I won’t disappoint you!”

System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi, Xu Shu Da has been placed in importance, loyalty increased by 5.”

Fan Zhongyan nodded his head agreeably: “Congratulations sire, you got such a great talent. Taking this chance, I would like sire to relieve me of my position as president of Lianzhou college.”

“Oh? Why are you doing that? Did I do anything wrong?”

“No no no, it’s not like that. Education affects the future of our territory, it needs to be under the charge of someone good at it. The job as secretary of the Administration Department has used up most of my energy, I am unable to help keep up with the college. Hence, I recommend Xu Shuda to take the post.”

Ouyang Shuo realised his intentions and turned to Xu Shuda, “Good, since it’s like this, I will give you more responsibility. I hope that together with the professor Su Zhe, you can develop a good teaching faculty and develop our college into a structured entity.”

Xu Shu Da nodded his head solemnly,” Thank you sire, I will do my best.”

To say the truth, the Culture and Education Division added to the power of the Administration Department. in the ancient governing system, the 5 divisions under the Administration Department were once the 6 most important divisions including the military. With the Culture and Education Division now under the Administration Department, the balance of the three departments were broken.

Actually, this was part of Ouyang Shuo’s plan. He didn’t want the future structure of the government to be like the ancient structure. Living in the modern era, he was exposed to the better and more logical governing system, with this exposure, he can modify and suit it to his Shanhai Town, hence it would not be wise to follow the ancient structure.

*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes

*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap