Chapter 305 - 266: Village Defense Battle (2)
Chapter 305: Chapter 266: Village Defense Battle (2)
This time, all 780 logs of wood were cut in Penglai Village, further expanding its open space.
The output from smelting was also very high.
This all came from melting down the Black Armor.
The material Loss from smelting was high, but the process was very fast.
It was much faster than smelting from Iron Ore.
[3-Day Basic Material Consumption]
[Wood] 940
[Lumber] 130
[Iron Ingot] 94
[Food] 1450 kg
Essentially, all the Consumption in the past few days was for construction; building houses also required a small amount of Iron Ingots.
In just three days, they had consumed 1450 kg of food.
For a population of 342, this was quite a lot.
That averaged out to 1.5 kg of meat per person per day.
But then again, everyone was working diligently, and the physical exertion was immense.
Besides, everyone was working about twenty hours a day and definitely needed a lot of food to replenish their energy.
Although these female villagers were all delicate, Class Flower Level women, they worked like a troop of burly Beastman laborers.
This comparison made their high food Consumption easier to accept.
Fortunately, they had plenty of food at the moment and could last for a while longer.
Peach Blossom Village had 22 plots of Farmland.
Two of them were Experience Fruit Fields, and twenty were wheat fields.
They all required only twenty-five days to fully mature and had extremely high yields.
They were already nearly halfway grown; in a little over ten days, they could all be harvested.
They could probably harvest about 10,000 Experience Fruits.
At a rate of one per person per day, that was enough to feed the entire population until the next harvest cycle.
The wheat fields could yield about 130 tons of wheat grain.
Milled into flour, that would come out to about 100 tons.
The caloric content of pure flour was similar to that of meat.
If they harvested these 100 tons of flour, it would be enough to feed the entire territory for over half a year.
Even with the new villagers arriving every day, it would last for several months without issue.
Although the diet would be monotonous, it was more than enough to ensure their survival!
And this was only the Farmland in Peach Blossom Village.
Later, they would develop large tracts of Farmland in Penglai Village, and the amount of grain harvested then would be enormous.
’In that case...’
’The food problem is already solved?’
’Just like that? It’s that simple?’
’When the time comes, I can use this massive amount of grain for Trade. It looks like I have the potential to become a major Grain Merchant.’
’Of course, it would be dangerous for me to show my face. Even if I sell the grain, I’ll have to go through others, like the Zhao Family...’
’Or I could just possess some woman and sell the grain through a proxy.’
’Just like when I had Gu Qing sell those Silk Stockings.’
Zhao Chi hadn’t been idle at night these past couple of days either.
The two points of Genes he recovered each day were completely absorbed by those three women, never lasting until morning.
Not counting what had been used before.
Gu Qing had now absorbed and stored nine points, Tang Ruan had six, and Qi Yue had three, for a total of eighteen points.
Genetic Enhancement allowed them to temporarily gain 50% of Zhao Chi’s Attributes.
As his Attributes had been greatly enhanced, the Effect when these women used it had now become Power +3, agility +3, Movement Speed +3, and Perception +5—a significant boost.
Unfortunately, the Duration was rather short, only five seconds.
It could only be used as an ultimate ability with a limited number of charges.
’It would be great if I could provide them with more of my Genes.’
’I wonder if Gu Qing has a solution.’
’I’ll ask her later.’
Just as Zhao Chi was thinking this, he suddenly received a piercing alarm.
[Warning! Warning!]
[Urgent Clan Summons]
[Zhao Shizhang: All Lords are to proceed to the North Gate of Stream Village immediately! I repeat, immediately!]
There was trouble!
Those three words immediately flashed through Zhao Chi’s mind.
There was no other possibility.
It was most likely an invasion.
Zhao Chi immediately called out to a few Female Soldiers passing by:
"Quick, go notify Gu Qing and Tang Ruan! Tell them to prepare for battle! Just like we drilled, leave only a skeleton crew in Peach Blossom Village. The rest are to be on standby in Penglai Village!"
"Yes, my Lord! We’ll notify them at once!"
The Female Soldiers clutched their weapons and scattered to carry out his orders.
Zhao Chi immediately returned to the Great World and rushed toward the North Gate.
The Zhao Family’s territory was in the southeast of Stream Village, so Zhao Chi usually entered and exited through the East Gate.
The North Gate was in the Xiao Family’s territory.
Along the way, Zhao Chi saw many other Lords from the village rushing out and gathering at the North Gate.
People from every household poked their heads out, looking nervously toward the north.
"Zhao Chi, hop on! I’ll give you a ride!"
He turned his head to see his fifth clan brother, Zhao Jing.
He was driving his small, cargo-model Spiritual Energy Vehicle.
Without wasting words, Zhao Chi leaped on.
They quickly arrived at the North Gate.
A large crowd had already gathered there.
Besides the Lords from the various families, there were also many Martial Artists who fought for them, totaling more than 700 people.
Outside the North Gate, nearly 1,000 people had surrounded them, and more were still gathering.
Judging by their dress and appearance, they were undoubtedly the Resistance.
In the middle of the Resistance fighters sat an extremely burly middle-aged man, smoking and sneering at the growing crowd of villagers.
After a short wait, the various families had mostly arrived, and the four Clan Leaders gathered together.
Xiao Family Patriarch Xiao Qiaoao announced in a loud voice, "General Zhou, the leaders of the four great families of Stream Village have all arrived. You can state your demands. We can negotiate anything. As long as your terms aren’t too excessive, we will do our best to accommodate you."
Qi Family Head Qi Hengying nodded and added, "General Zhou, everyone here in Stream Village has long heard of your great name, Zhou Hua. We know you are all heroes. If a real conflict were to break out, both of our sides would surely suffer heavy losses. That would only benefit the nobles. Why don’t we value peace above all? What do you say?"
"Heh heh."
The Resistance leader, Zhou Hua, let out a cold laugh.
He threw down his cigarette and stood up.
Cracking his neck, he strode forward.
He stopped just one meter from Xiao Qiaoao.
The men of the Xiao Family immediately took a step forward.
Xiao Qiaoao held up a hand and waved them back.
The Xiao Family members stepped back.
Zhou Hua said, "Clan Leader Xiao, I’m not an unreasonable man. Our brothers are resisting the nobles for the sake of everyone in this city. You’d agree with that, right?"
"Yes. Resisting the nobles is a righteous cause, General Zhou," Xiao Qiaoao nodded.
"You think so too, don’t you?" Zhou Hua turned to look at Qi Hengying.
Qi Hengying nodded. "Of course."
Zhou Hua laughed. "If you two old codgers think so, then I assume all the little pups under you think so too, right?"
At these words, all the nearby Lords glared at him with fury.
Liu Family Patriarch Liu Xuanqi spoke up. "General Zhou, watch your tongue."
"My tongue?" Zhou Hua raised the blade in his hand and sneered. "Fine, I’ll watch my tongue. But don’t expect my blade to be so polite."
Zhao Shizhang said, "General Zhou, peace is precious. You haven’t even stated your conditions yet. Perhaps we can agree to your demands. We can go our separate ways, and both sides can preserve their strength. Wouldn’t that be for the best?"
Zhou Hua burst into laughter.
"How did you old fossils get so spineless? I have conditions. Now listen up."
Zhou Hua’s gaze swept over the crowd.
"First, 100,000 Gold Coins. Your families must have scraped together a pretty penny over the years, right? If you don’t have enough cash on hand, you can pay with items or personnel instead.
"Second, I’ll be taking three hostages from each of your families to join our ranks. And you will publicly announce that you’re joining the Resistance. This will stop you from running back to the nobles and preying on your own people later.
"Well? My demands aren’t too high, are they? Pretty reasonable, I’d say.
"Don’t you dare tell me you can’t meet them.
"You wouldn’t want me to lose face, would you?"
After hearing his terms, the Clan Leaders couldn’t help but exchange looks.
Xiao Qiaoao said politely, "Our families will need to discuss this matter. We ask that General Zhou rest for a moment."
Zhou Hua laughed. "Fine. I’ll give you twenty minutes. If I don’t have your answer by then, I’ll take it as a refusal, and you can’t blame my brothers for what happens next. Your money or your lives—choose!"
With that, Zhou Hua returned to his wooden chair to wait.
Several women immediately gathered around to light a cigarette for him.
The four Clan Leaders sighed inwardly and huddled together.
Qi Hengying gave a bitter smile. "Well, gentlemen? What are your thoughts?"
Zhao Shizhang sighed. "What is there to think about? We’ll spend the money to avoid a disaster."
Xiao Qiaoao sneered. "Spend the money? I’d call this being skinned alive! Our entire village doesn’t have 100,000 Gold Coins, even if we pool everything."
Liu Xuanqi said, "100,000 Gold Coins is certainly no small sum. But if we can substitute with items and personnel, it shouldn’t be an issue. It seems we have no choice but to get skinned."
Xiao Qiaoao said, "So, you’re all agreeing to the first condition?"
Liu Xuanqi retorted, "What? Does Clan Leader Xiao disagree?"
Xiao Qiaoao snorted. "I agree, too. I’m just not sure how we’re splitting the cost. You can’t expect us to foot the largest part of the bill again, can you? A matter like this should be split evenly among our families!"