Star Tycoon

Chapter 128 Tax on Extinction of Offspring

Tian Ersan sat panting in the farmhouse, the angry chirping of sparrows outside reaching his ears.

Wang Guodong said with concern, "My lord, you've finally arrived! Those sparrows outside have been running rampant for the past three months!"

Tian Ersan hadn't expected the sparrows to be so rampant, and he quickly checked all the intelligence he had gathered recently.

Besides the sparrows occupying farmland, the declining public morale, and the incident of finding money, there are a few other pieces of information.

A refugee passed through this wretched village, sighed, and left.

The local area's attractiveness to migrants has decreased by one percent.

A heavy rain last night reduced movement speed by 20% within 24 hours.

[With winter approaching this month, grain yields in all farmland are expected to decrease by 10%.]

3－5月为春季，6－8月为夏季，9－11月为秋季，12－2月为冬季
On the last day of the year, a trader arrived at this wretched village. He decided to stay for only 12 hours and then leave. Time remaining: 1 hour.

Upon seeing the last notification, Tian Ersan quickly and cautiously looked out the window.

"Won't the merchants get bitten to death by sparrows while they're out trading?"

Tian Ersan became concerned about the safety of the traders.

Wang Guodong quickly said, "No, those sparrows only attack the people here."

Tian Ersan was furious; these sparrows were running rampant!
They ate my wheat and then tried to bite my butt!
Tian Ersan touched his buttocks; they still hurt a little.

However, there is no major problem for the time being.

Do you know how to kill those sparrows?

Tian Ersan looked at Wang Guodong and his wife and children.

The loyal Wang Guodong replied, "A few more soldiers will do. Even the worst militiamen can kill a sparrow in two shots."

Tian Ersan had a military camp, but it was never put to use after it was built.

What is required for conscription?

“Food, iron, and people.” Wang Guodong reminded him, “Once you join the army, you can’t come back to be a farmer. Even if you are disbanded, you will only be given a small amount of food and iron, and then you will be gone.”

Tian Ersan asked, "Do you want to join the army?"

Wang Guodong hesitated for a moment, then looked at his wife and children.

“Clang!” Wang Guodong answered in a deep voice, without hesitation.

Tian Ersan could clearly sense his thoughts; he didn't want to join the army.

"I'll let Wang Ernong join the army; that guy is too useless as a farmer."

Tian Ersan's words brought a relieved smile to the faces of Wang Guodong's family.

"We will obey our lord!" Wang Guodong's popularity soared.

Tian Ersan is kind on the outside but ruthless on the inside. Although he is sometimes inhuman, he will definitely sacrifice Wang Ernong between Wang Guodong, who is loyal to him, and Wang Ernong, who is always lazy and shirks his duties and loses the support of the people!
I just made the choice that any normal person would have made.

Wang Guodong's popularity soared to 100. He then reminded Tian Ersan, "My lord, if people join the army, the houses will be empty and will no longer occupy the original population."

Tian Ersan asked curiously, "So you mean the house can be lived in by other people, right?"

Wang Guodong nodded, then whispered a reminder: "It's the same as being dead."

Without thinking it over, Tian Ersan carefully watched the outside world after deciding to let Wang Ernong join the army.

The sparrows nearby had already flown back to eat the wheat; the merchant seemed to be outside the farmland area.

Tian Ersan asked, "Where is that merchant?"

Wang Guodong replied, "In the city."

In the city?

Tian Ersan realized that it must be the location of the barracks.

Resource buildings are all located outside the city, while military buildings are all located inside the city.

Farmhouses should be considered buildings outside the city; currently, all the farmhouses are located near farmland.

After locating the merchant, Tian Ersan quietly left the farmhouse.

Once outside, I ran quickly, across vast open spaces, towards the flat, wide expanse of black earth and gray sky.

All the open spaces that the run passed through will become fertile fields, city walls, fortified villages, farmhouses, and all sorts of city buildings that should have existed in the future.

After running for more than ten minutes, Tian Ersan saw a fat man wearing a hat.

The fat man had a black name above his head: Trader.

As soon as Tian Ersan ran up to him, the merchant sized up the poor boy.

"I'm about to leave. Do you want to do business? If not, I'll be going."

Behind the merchant was a carriage, the carriage of which resembled a boat canopy and appeared to be carrying many things.

Tian Ersan quickly replied, "Doing business! What do you need?"

The merchant smiled but didn't say anything.

The store interface quickly appeared in front of Tian Ersan's eyes.

Grain purchase price: 15 copper coins per cubic meter; possesses: 8 cubic meters.

Timber purchase price: 30 coppers per cubic meter; Owned: None
Soil purchase price: 50 coppers per cubic meter; Possessions: None
Stone purchase price: 80 copper coins per cubic meter; Owned: None
Metal purchase price: 140 copper per cubic meter, holding: 1 cubic meter (1500)

Meteorite purchase price: 1000 copper, currently holding: 6
When Tian Ersan saw the meteorite, he suddenly remembered that a meteor shower had previously damaged one of his farmlands and reduced his grain yield.

It turns out that anything that lands on your own property belongs to you!

Six meteorites yielded exactly six thousand copper coins, enough to build an academy!
But if he sold it, wouldn't he lose money? Tian Ersan hesitated for a moment.

If I were to sell it, the price would clearly be too low, and I would definitely lose money.

But if we don't sell, we won't have the money to develop.

It would take me a very long time to save up six thousand copper coins. Is the time I'm wasting worth it?
Tian Ersan quickly and resolutely looked at the merchant.

"Six meteorites for sale!"

Just as he chose to build a barracks instead of an academy, Tian Ersan also had to consider the present moment more often.

Barracks may not need to be built, but they cannot be absent.

We won't sell the rest of the grain and ore for now; we don't need those copper coins. The most important thing right now is to improve our military strength and wipe out the sparrows!

[Transaction successful! The trader drove away satisfied, deciding to return in a while with some basic items.]

Your relationship with the trading merchant is rated at: 1.

[Affection level starts at 10. Each successful transaction involving a high-value item increases it by one point. Exceeding 100 points advances to the next level. The higher the level, the more items are available to choose from, and the more frequent the interactions become.]

Tian Ersan only sold six meteorites before the merchant drove off in his carriage, giving him no chance to buy anything else.

Looking at his balance of over six thousand copper coins, Tian Ersan went to the barracks first.

[Level 1 Barracks]

Can train soldiers

The higher the technology level, the more types of soldiers can be trained.

The higher the barracks level, the more soldiers can be trained at the same time.

A Tier 1 barracks can hold 100 soldiers.

Currently trainable unit type: laborers
Laborers: Farmers who have undergone simple training can have a greater load-bearing capacity.

Next tier of unit: Volunteer Army (currently untrainable)
Volunteer Soldiers: A basic unit with basic combat abilities, requiring Level 1 training skills.

Tian Ersan discovered that things were not simple at all.

“Once you join the army, you can’t go back. Civilians are also soldiers. In other words, if we put people here, they can only be used for military purposes.”

Seeing that conscription was not feasible, Tian Ersan had no choice but to first establish the academy as an option.

"Build an academy!"

A large number of copper coins flew out of Tian Ersan's body and flew towards a place several kilometers away.

Tian Ersan ran over quickly, and it took him more than ten minutes to reach the location of the academy.

[First-Class Academy]

Important buildings for studying various technologies
The higher the level of the academy, the more technologies it can research.
Currently available research:
Planting Techniques: To increase grain yield by 10%, 100 copper are required.

Harvesting Technology: Automatically harvests resources and stores them in the warehouse; requires 1000 copper.

Logging Technique: Continuous harvesting of wood, requires 2000 copper.

Digging technology: Continuous harvesting of soil requires 2000 copper.

Quarrying Technology: Continuous harvesting of stone requires 2000 copper and is at level 1 in mining technology.

Smelting technology: Continuous metal harvesting requires 2000 copper; quarrying technology level 1.

Training Technique: Increases training speed by 10%, requires 1000 copper, level 1 barracks.

Construction Technology: Allows you to build more buildings and upgrade to higher-level buildings; requires 1000 copper coins.
Tian Ersan is severely short of money!
"When the nest is overturned, how can the eggs remain intact?"

Tian Ersan decisively collected taxes, collecting a month's worth of taxes from several men.

After collecting a thousand copper coins, Tian Ersan selected the troop training technique.

[Training techniques: Under research, 59 minutes and 59 seconds required]

Seeing that it would take about an hour before it started, Tian Ersan took out his phone and began to check.

There's no cell phone signal here, and I can't see any messages in the group chat; it's like the internet is down.

Tian Ersan walked into the academy. The main gate could be pushed open, and once inside, he found that the space was very large.

It looks like it's only about 20 square meters from the outside, but once you enter the courtyard, you feel like you've entered a spacious courtyard, with a grand, antique-style hall in front of you.

Tian Ersan continued walking inside. The room was very empty, with only a bookshelf with the words "Training Techniques" written on it.

Inside the house, a phantom image appeared: under the supervision of a man dressed as a military general, a martial arts instructor dressed as a leader led a group of men dressed as farmers to stand outside a golden wheat field, assuming a horse stance and practicing their fists and feet.

The image was surrounded by floating gas, and white, smoke-like runes slowly landed on the bookshelf with the training techniques written on it, transforming into a thin, illusory green book.

Tian Ersan was amazed when he saw it, and he trained with the people in the picture, swinging his fists and kicking his legs, practicing simple fighting and stick techniques in a very methodical way.

An hour later, the image disappeared, and only one book, "Level One Training Techniques," remained on the bookshelf.

Tian Ersan walked out of the academy and ran briskly to the barracks.

[Military Force: Requires 1 available population, 100 jin of food, 30 jin of iron ore, and 30 minutes of training time.]

When the population is insufficient, a target can be specified.

Currently available options:
Wang Bomin, Popular Support 66
Wang Ernong, Popular Support 41
Wang Hejin: Public support 70
Wang Guodong: Public support 80
The will of the people is clearly revealed in everyone.

Currently, only four people are eligible to join the army; the rest are not eligible for military service, including older men, women, and children.

After some training, Tian Ersan suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"Tax collector Wang Ernong, one year!"

(End of this chapter)