Chapter 178: Sudden Wealth in the Midst of Chaos

Inside the Projection Hall of Daming Village.

After a period of adaptation, Guo Jia had now become more adept at using the Forum.

“My Lord, those families have fallen into complete chaos.”

Scanning the posts by Players in cities across the Great Han Dynasty, Guo Jia shook his head and smiled: “Those Hypocritical Noble Families have now shown their true colors. I have taken advantage of the chaos to insert 30 Black Cloth Guards with different identities into major Prefecture Cities. We have finally made the first step in the preliminary layout of the Dynasty’s Prefecture Cities.”

“Fengxiao is indeed trustworthy. Intelligence on the major Prefecture Cities will be one of your main focuses along with Ziyang. Although their value is not obvious at the moment, they will be of great use in the future.”

Mo Xiaobai also saw the information on the Forum. Because the major Noble Families had suddenly turned against each other, Players who used to complete tasks for each family directly became victims of the struggle. The clever ones who ran away quickly were just fine, at most they had to abandon some tasks in progress. Those not smart enough were caught and thrown into the dungeons. Unless they committed suicide inside the jail, they certainly could not get out for a whole month.

This was just the tip of the iceberg of the chaos. At this moment, the great families were vying against each other in private struggles, suppressing other Noble Families on their own turf. This directly caused the Great Han Prefecture Cities to become turbulent.

Whether it was housing prices or daily goods prices, they changed every day.

Mo Xiaobai, holding a handful of Gold Coins, originally wanted to stir up trouble in the Prefecture City, but unfortunately, buying property in a Prefecture City was just as troublesome as dealing with Traveling Merchants. Even if the Prefecture Government lowered the price by another two tenths, they would not choose to sell to Players.

This was the law of the Great Han Dynasty. Even if Mo Xiaobai knew the Chief Clerk, it would be useless.

Since he could not get personally involved, besides remotely controlling Fatty Cheng, Mo Xiaobai could only watch the show on the Forum. The turmoil of the Great Han Dynasty had also become a hot topic among Huaxia Players.

However, this state of watching the show did not last long. On the ninth day after several messengers left, someone finally returned.

They not only returned themselves but also brought a caravan from a Noble Family behind them.

Seeing the Cui Family caravan arriving with the messenger soldiers, Mo Xiaobai greeted them with a big smile.

These people were here to give him gifts, so he naturally wanted to treat them well.

“My Lord, I am Cui Yun. My eldest brother is the current head of the Cui Family.”

As they entered the Daming Village territory through the pass, Cui Yun immediately asked: “I wonder how my useless nephew is doing now?”

“He is doing very well. You can rest assured. Your Lord Baron will not mistreat him; he is provided with good food and drink every day.” Mo Xiaobai chuckled and waved his hand, indicating to Guo Yuan to store the items the Cui Family had brought in the warehouse, before taking Cui Yun into his Baron’s Manor.

Seeing Mo Xiaobai unceremoniously accept the gifts they brought, Cui Yun’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

When had the Cui Family ever given such gifts to others?

However, he immediately thought that if Mo Xiaobai dared to accept the Cui Family’s things, it must mean his nephew was fine.

In any case, it was not the time for the Cui Family to turn against Daming Village. Since he had brought the gifts, they were meant to be given away, whether early or late, it was the same.

However, Cui Yun did not know that the recent incidents were actually pushed by Mo Xiaobai himself.

If he had known, even if all the gifts on several carts were thrown into the Daye Marsh, not a single wheel would be left for Daming Village.

When Mo Xiaobai had someone bring Cui Yi out from the Drill Ground, the uncle and nephew reunited in the Baron’s Manor. Mo Xiaobai smiled and said: “I did not tell a lie, did I? Look at your nephew. After staying with me for a while, he has not grown weak at all; instead, he looks even more well-fed.”

“Thank you, My Lord, for your care. I will take my nephew back to Jizhou today.”

Seeing that his nephew indeed looked a bit fatter than before, Cui Yun thanked him and immediately spoke to Cui Yi: “The Family Head already knows about the trouble you caused in Daming Village. He specially sent me to take you back. Do not you pay your respects to the Baron first?”

“Cui Yi thanks the Baron for his care.”

Cui Yi was suppressed by his third uncle. Although he was unwilling, he still bowed his head to Mo Xiaobai. He emphasized the tone when saying the word “care,” clearly showing that he had indeed had a very “good” time recently.

“Haha~ You are too kind. If there is an opportunity in the future, please feel free to come visit often.” Mo Xiaobai grinned. He did not know exactly how He Chun had punished these Noble Family members these past few days, but he knew He Chun had given them a hard time.

After seeing off the Cui Family uncle and nephew, who did not want to stay in Daming Village for long, Mo Xiaobai turned and walked towards the warehouse. Seeing Guo Yuan instructing villagers to unload the cargo, he immediately approached and said:

“This windfall is quite nice, isn’t it? Has Zini organized it clearly?”

“My Lord, the gifts sent by the Cui Family this time are truly heavy. Among them, there are no less than 30 Gold Coins alone. In addition, there are some scarce resources for the Territory, such as 100-times-refined Refined Iron that even the Blacksmith Workshop cannot currently forge. The Cui Family sent a whole box of it.”

Seeing Mo Xiaobai approach, Guo Yuan immediately smiled and reported each counted item: “Besides that, the most urgent need for Daming Village is this box of blueprints, totaling as many as six sheets.”

Six blueprint Items?

Mo Xiaobai became very interested upon hearing this. He took a small brocade box from Guo Yuan. Upon opening it, he indeed saw a stack of blueprint Items.

Among them, three Territory Building blueprints were for the Stable, the Restaurant, and the Dyeing Workshop. The other three were a Territory Expansion Map, a Military Armament: Single-Arm Crossbow blueprint, and a Military Armament: Refined Iron Long Spear blueprint.

“The Cui Family is truly interesting. They even sent me two Military Armament blueprints.”

Mo Xiaobai stroked his chin and smiled, then took out the Military Armament blueprints: “I will take these to Maogong. Zini, you arrange for people to build the rest, especially the Stable. Flying General’s makeshift one was indeed a bit too shabby.”

“My Lord, do not worry. Yuan will make sure everything is arranged properly.”

Guo Yuan nodded in promise at the right moment. He had not expected that his Lord’s casual layout could bring such surprises. He was already impatiently wondering what gifts the other families would bring when they came to Daming Village to pick up people.

And this question was soon answered.

Less than a day after the Cui Family left Daming Village, the Zhang Family also sent people!

Although the descendants of the Marquis of Liu’s descendants did not inherit Zhang Liang’s supreme wisdom, their generosity was equally impressive. They immediately offered a Ru Kiln building, a Territory Building Copy Card, and several other resources, plus no less than 50 Gold.

Mo Xiaobai kept the Copy Card for now and handed both the gold and the building Item to Guo Yuan. The latter accepted them with a beaming smile. With these things, the development of Daming Village would undoubtedly become faster.

In the following ten days, people from the other families came one after another.

Although their generosity was not as lavish as the Cui Family or the Zhang Family, they all brought some sort of “ransom.” Even the Wang Family chose to “redeem the person” rather than leading soldiers to attack.

First, there was no order from the Prefecture Government. Second, the chaos among the Noble Families had already arisen. For many families, consolidating their power in their own Prefecture Cities was far more important than fighting a small Lord in a remote mountainous area.

Thus, after gradually collecting the “ransoms” from the six families, the population of Daming Village finally reached its maximum of 5,000.