The World Online

Before Gu Xiuwen left Shanhai Town, Ouyang Shuo gave him 200 gold to use for class changes for the two newly established navy squadrons.

As the water bandits’ combat ability was higher than militia, they were able to jump past being a militia and directly change class to navy soldiers. Every soldier’s class change cost was 1 gold.

In Earth Online, the general didn’t have the right to change class for the soldiers, the permission lay in the hands of the lord and the heads of the subordinate territories. It acted as a restriction, preventing the generals from expanding the scale of the army on their own.

After the meeting, Ouyang Shuo went to the Intermediate Market and sold the 8 building blueprints that he couldn’t use for 40 gold. Subsequently, he spent 200 gold to buy an Advanced Barracks building blueprint. Ever since he had set up a proper army, the expenses of the military had been increasing. In the blink of an eye, he spent 400 gold on the military.

_3rd month, 1st day, 9am, Shanhai Town meeting room._

Ouyang Shuo’s heart was only thinking about levelling up. A white light shone and in the middle of the meeting room, the golden heartstone rose up from the ground. He placed his right hand on it and instantly, a system notification sounded out.

“System notification: Checking Shanhai Town upgrade requirements…”

“Requirement 1: Population reached 2000 upper limit, requirement met!”

“Requirement 2: All basic building structures are completed, requirement met!”

“Requirement 3: Lord is at least a 2nd Class Viscount, requirement met!”

“System notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi’s Shanhai Town for meeting all requirements, would you like to level up?”

“Yes!”

On the heartstone, a golden light burst forth into the air and exploded in midair, turning into a golden luster and spreading in all directions, stretching to the corners of the territory before disappearing.

“System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for becoming the first player in China to rise from grade 1 town to grade 2 town, rewarded 1100 merit points!”

“System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi…..”

“System Notification: Congratulations…..”

5 days after Di Chen’s Handan city rose to a grade 1 town, Shanhai town had become a grade 2 town. The leader of the Chinese region gave a feeling that he would not be touched.

“System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for rising to grade 2 town. Lord’s Mansion has been upgraded. Randomly chosen 3 grade 2 town basic buildings, player can choose one building.”

“System Notification: Random selection completed. Vegetable farm, textile mills, pharmacy, please choose!”

“I choose textile mill!”

“System notification: Building is automatically built, request player to view it.”

A white line shone and the golden heartstone slowly sank back down into the ground. Ouyang Shuo checked out the stats of Shanhai Town.

Territory: Shanhai Town (Grade 2 Town)

Lord: Qiyue Wuyi (3rd Class Duke)

Title: The World’s First Town (Increases town fame by 20%)

People Sentiment: 90

Security: 90

Territory population: 2000/5000

Flow rate of immigrants: 50 * (1 + 50%) = 75 / day

Territory area: 500 square kilometers

Territorial characteristics: 50% increase in attracting migrants, 20% increase in attracting special talents, 50% increase in crop production, 25% increase in production capacity of residents, 20% increase in military promotion, 10% increase in talent breakthroughs.

Affiliated Village: Beihai Village (Grade 3 Village)

Treasury: Four Seas Bank

Territory Resources: Basic logging camp, intermediate quarry, basic mining field

Territorial Army: Cavalry Squadron, Infantry Squadron, Navy Squadron

Territory Industry Properties: Northern Salt Fields(2000 mu)

Political index: 45/100 (determines administrative efficiency and relationship with the people)

Economic index: 40/100 (determines trade prosperity and ability to pay taxes)

Cultural index: 35/100 (represents the degree of educational development and quality of life of residents)

Military: 45/100 (indicates military strength and morale)

Infrastructure: Lord’s Manor; residential small homes; public bathrooms; village granaries, cemetery

Agricultural Construction: Simple farmland; pigsty; cattle pen; goat pen; mill; mulberry field, orchard

Commercial buildings: Intermediate market, intermediate blacksmith, basic grocery shop, advanced woodshop, advanced hospital, advanced martial arts dojo, special tailor shop, basic pottery kiln works, wine workshop, food shop, meat shop, cloth shop, advanced kiln

Cultural Buildings: Village ancestral hall, village private school, Lianzhou College

Military Buildings: Intermediate Barracks, stone outposts, stables, weapon workshop, arsenal

Special Buildings: ferry, wharf, intermediate shipyard

Secret Buildings: Mazu Temple (sealed), the Recruitment Hall

List of Basic Construction Buildings:

Relay Station: Provide a place for visiting officials or messengers to stay, replenish items, change horses.

Construction Requirements: Basic stableman, relay station building blueprints, 1500 wood, 800 stone.

Construction time: 3 days.

Vegetable Field: Grow crops.

Construction Requirements: seeds, 400 wood, 200 stone.

Construction time: 2 days.

Medicine Garden: Grow medicinal ingredients.

Construction requirements: herbs, 400 wood, 200 stone.

Construction time: 2 days.

Pharmacy: Shop that sells medicine.

Construction requirements: Pharmacy building blueprints, 800 wood, 200 stone.

Construction time: 2 days

Textile Mill: Place where textiles are created.

Construction requirements: Textile mill building blueprints, 1800 wood, 600 stone.

Construction time 3 days.

Bank: An organization that settles monetary matters.

Construction requirements: Bank building blueprints, 2000 wood, 1000 stone.

Construction time: 3 days

Alchemy Workshop: Smelting workshop, working on various items and jewelry. Construction requirements: Alchemist, Metal Workshop building blueprints, 1500 wood, 1800 stone. Construction time: 3 Days

Out of the 7 basic buildings for a grade 2 town, the vegetable farm and medicine garden did not need building blueprints. The textile mill and bank had already been built. The remaining relay station, pharmacy, and alchemy workshop blueprints had already been obtained when they plundered the water stronghold, hence Ouyang Shuo did not need to purchase any more building blueprints.

Out of the 7, the most annoying one was the alchemy workshop. An alchemist was a rare occupation in China and it was usually done by priests and it was difficult to find a professional alchemist. In his last life, there was a territory that was stuck at grade 2 town for three months as the lord was unable to find a professional alchemist. Shuo hoped that with the specialty of Shanhai Town that he would have a chance to get a professional alchemist.

Of course, the system wouldn’t be so bad. Normally if the other upgrade requirements had been met and only one special talent was lacking, in at most a month he would appear.

That unlucky guy in the last life had used the lowest level of village building token and had an immigrant rate of 50 a day, taking nearly 2 months to get to the 5000 full population. It took him another month to get that alchemist.

Even a town like Shanhai town which had an insane immigrant rate needed 40 days to reach the max population, quite a long time.

When Shanhai town upgraded, his two allies, Bai Hua from Consonance Village and Mulan Yue from Mulan Village, both sent their congratulations and well wishes.

Ever since making the alliance, Ouyang Shuo had been keeping in contact with them and discussed methods of running the territory and the progression of each other’s territories.

He knew that ever since he taught them the method to raise a village to a town, Consonance Village was now very close to upgrading and in just two days could do so. As Mulan Village had weaker basics and fewer connections and resources, its progress was slower and it still needed about half a month.

To tell the truth, this upgrade, apart from increasing the population cap and expanding the land space, didn’t really affect the town. The administrative structure was already built and various businesses were starting to open; what was needed was patience and time.

In contrast, a deeper danger was walking step by step towards the town of Shanhai. As the territory progressed, the requirements for gold and resources would increase. In the early stages, Shanhai Village could survive easily with the 100 gold from the beginner quest. Now, hundreds and thousands of gold were being spent in no time.

In contrast to him, the various financial powers had already gotten over the tough times. As various gold farming groups had started to form up and flourish in the wilderness, the powers could use real credits to buy up gold to build their territories. The only reason why there was no notification was because they were affected by the upgrade requirements of their territories. Once they got past them, their territories would grow tremendously. Ouyang Shuo guessed that after his actions today, Di Chen might forcefully raise Handan town to a grade 2 town tomorrow.

Hence, if Shanhai town wanted to continue keeping this lead, it needed to open up new money-making avenues. But this wasn’t easy; apart from bandits and raiders, every business and field needed time to grow. Furthermore, the amount of raiders and bandits were limited, and they couldn’t be relied on to solve the problem.

Facing so many challenges, Ouyang Shuo had to keep calm. After upgrading the town, he didn’t call for a meeting with the various directors and secretaries, and instead sat alone in his office thinking of a method.

*[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