The World Online

*Note: “King Zhou of Shang” should not be confused with “Zhou dynasty / Zhou”

The savanna was now a pile of dry wood, a slight spark could ignite the whole.

The flame had yet to burn in the savanna, the market outside of Friendship City had quietly flourished.

These few days, there would be anonymous pastoralists bringing in a large quantity of sheep herds, pelts, and even Qingfu horses to the market, intending to use these goods to exchange foods and ironworks from Friendship City.

Foods were fine, but ironworks were controlled items. Friendship City’s magistrate Zhou Haichen dared not make his own decisions, immediately sending a letter to the main base, requesting for instructions from the territory lord.

Ouyang Shuo’s strategic purpose was to drag and involve the nomadic tribes into a war. That way, he could reduce the threat towards Friendship City and also profit from the war.

These anonymous secret buyers, needless to say, was of course representatives from the tribes, mostly from the middle-sized tribes. One could easily understand the reason for the acquisition of foods and ironworks by the tribes.

Therefore, in his replies, Ouyang Shuo denoted that ironworks could not be traded directly, but he would release the restriction on iron ores and allow them to be freely traded in the market.

Ouyang Shuo wasn’t worried at all that selling the iron ores to the nomadic tribes would feed the wolves to his own detriment. The growth of nomadic tribes were far less than the speed of the development of Shanhai City. One couldn’t say for sure that after the settlement in the savanna, Shanhai City might already have the strength to crush them all together, so what would these little iron ores matter in comparison?

Last month, while Jiu Duanxian was leading the team to draw the map of the territory, he found another iron mine 20 kilometers out in the west. The Material Reserves Department had already arranged workers and miners to excavate the new mining field.

The new iron mining site was only 10 kilometers away from the riverside of Friendship river.

Hence, the iron ores would be transported using a combination of land and water, first with the wooden-ox horse to the riverside, then shipped back to the dock of Shanhai City.

Shanhai City now have no worries over their stocks of iron ores.

Ouyang Shuo also denoted in the reply that when tradings with the nomadic tribes, foods would be sold at twice the market price, which was 20 coppers per unit; iron ores at 3 times the market price, which was 300 coppers per unit.

Ouyang Shuo wasn’t taking advantage of the nomadic tribes.

First off, the prices of foods were now seeing fluctuations. In estimation at the end of August, it would then soar high and keep on rising. If he now traded foods at the market price of 10 coppers per unit, he would then deficit from the tradings.

As for iron ores, iron ores were originally controlled items, in order to sell it, of course he would increase the trading price. Shanhai City wasn’t a living Lei Feng1, it wouldn’t be a free porter for the nomadic tribes.

Ouyang Shuo had already shown his courtesy and generosity by not charging them any tariffs.

Upon receiving Ouyang Shuo’s permission, Zhou Haichen was filled with with great enthusiasm and energy. Friendship City and the Material Reserves Department worked hand in hand to transport iron ores to the dock of Friendship City and sent it for trading at the market.

August 10th, Xunlong Town promotion bandit siege test.

Ouyang Shuo was not there to watch the battle, but he stayed in the his territory to handle government affairs.

At 6 PM, a burst of system announcements rang in his ears.

“System announcement: Congratulations to player Xunlong Dianxue for becoming the 10th lord of a grade 1 City territory; Special reward of 400 merit points!”

“System announcement: Congratulations to player Xunlong Dianxue for becoming...”

“System announcement: Congratulations to player...”

Such system announcements would not spike any interests among the players, but following it was another system announcement, and it caused an uproar.

“System announcement: China has successfully promoted 10 city territories, triggering the campaign system. The second battle - The Battle of Muye, officially commences after 3 days. Friendly tips: The Battle of Muye is a non-mandatory campaign task, only those with a town level territory are eligible.”

In comparison to the first battle - The Battle of Zhuolu, players were now more familiar with the battlefield. The first battle had proved to the players that the battlefield was a game of gambling that followed the law of jungle.

For the strong forces like Shanhai City, no doubt they would profit and benefit the most from it. But for the ordinary players, the efforts would not be worth if they were to partake in the battle. Their troops, little in number and low in quality, couldn’t direct the course of war, but would end up being the cannon fodder instead.

Some ambitious lords brought a hundred soldiers into the war, ending up losing them all only to receive a pitiful amount of a hundred merit points. Their investment and return were completely out of proportion.

Therefore, whether to partake in the event or not, that relied on the different views of different people, as the saying goes: The benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom.

As of now, the townships in China had exceeded 1000 in number. No one knew how many lords would be willing to participate in the war in the end.

Of course, to the members of the Shanhai Alliance, that wasn’t a question at all.

Xunlong Dianxue was receiving the congratulations from his allies in the alliance channel when the system announcement was made. He was shocked and said jokingly: “Dang! This Battle of Muye, is it triggered by me? Things like this, shouldn’t the system reward me with some stuff?”

“Puffed up brat!” Siege Lion was irritable.

“Haha, small lion, you are just jealous of me.” Xunlong Dianxue rarely acted differently from his usual calm self.

“......” Siege Lion sent a line of periods to denote his silent expression.

“Oh yeah, finally it’s time to earn some merit points.” Mulan Yue was the happiest, she was troubled with getting more merit points lately.

“Wuyi, which faction do you plan to chose this time?” Bai Hua asked.

In the Battle of Muye, also known as “King Wu’s rebellion against the Tyrant Zhou”, The King Wu of Zhou led the alliance and raged the final war with the Shang dynasty in Muye. The ruler of Shang dynasty, King Zhou of Shang, Di Xin, conquered the Li tribe to the northwest and Dongyi to the southeast, although victorious in all the battles, his bellicose inclination to engage in wars of aggression at will had exacerbated social and class conflicts, and eventually led to the fall of the Shang dynasty.

These were the words that described the Battle of Muye.

However, Ouyang Shuo held a different opinion after reading and researching. In his eyes, the battle was excessively embellished by the Confucians, the rebellion of Zhou against Shang, and the death of King Zhou of Shang were perfect model examples of the crime of rebellion against the ruler and regicide. There were simply no justice and righteousness at all.

The Battle of Muye was bloody, bitter, and tragic, it wasn’t anything like it was recorded in the historical book. It was a war, a rebellion by the people of Zhou relying on their lofty morality and won the war with “no blood on the men’s swords”, and after the battle, the Zhou armies slaughtered, burned and plundered the land of Zhaoge. There wasn’t the slightest image of gloriousness.

The only reason they were beautified in the historical book was because of the cultural dominance and ideology of Confucianism. The originator of Confucianism, Confucius, praised the Confucian Six Arts highly. This included the two systems and ideologies practiced by Zhou dynasty, namely: etiquette and music. Therefore, in the world dominated by Confucianism, the Confucian would beautify and embellish the Zhou dynasty into the embodiment of justice, righteous and benevolence.

Hence, they would of course not allow any truthful recordings on the battle that “justified the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven”, the Battle of Muye, a war that flooded the land with blood and the drowned the people in their tears.

It was the same as to why they obliterated King Zhou’s historical contribution and then demonized his actions.

No matter what the truth was, Ouyang Shuo, out of consideration for his own interests and benefits, declared his selection of faction: “I will choose to side with the Shang dynasty.”

“Eh?” Mulan Yue was surprised.

Bai Hua immediately asked: “Wuyi, are you trying to change history?”

“That’s right!” Ouyang Shuo directly answered.

In the first battle - the Battle of Zhuolu, Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang had used their own blood and flesh to teach the lord players a lesson, the difficulty to change a historical battlefield’s ending.

Yet, at times like these, Ouyang Shuo caught everyone off guard with his decision, puzzling everyone before him.

“Wuyi, are you sure?”

Ouyang Shuo of course did not dare to boast too much. “Regarding the actual battlefield conditions, no one knows how Gaia will deduce them. Hence, if you are talking about me ascertaining the battlefield’s victory, I can’t guarantee it. Although I have done my homework, it is still an uncertainty as for whether it works or not.”

What Ouyang Shuo said was the truth.

In his past life, he had never partaken in the Battle of Muye. He only knew a little about the battle.

“Homework?” Bai Hua was acutely aware of his words. She asked in curiosity, “Wuyi, you mean, you knew of this battle before hand?”

Ouyang Shuo laughed and shook his head. “Of course not, I am neither God nor an immortal. Through the Battle of Zhuolu, one can easily tell the battles chosen by Gaia must be the most significant or important battles from an era or dynasty. Think about it, after the three sovereigns and five emperors, it then comes down to the Shang dynasty. During that period of time, which battle can be more significant and important than the Battle of Muye? Therefore, I took a daring guess that the next campaign chosen by Gaia would be this. I wasn’t sure before, which was why I kept it to myself up until now.”

His words were half true and half false. He pointed out the sequence and pattern on how Gaia would choose the campaigns, and at the same time concealed the fact that he only knew because he had reincarnated.

Bai Hua was then lifted from her doubts. She smiled and said: “Wuyi, I have faith in your decision and shall choose the Shang dynasty.”

“I will listen to brother Wuyi.” Mulan Yue the inwardly evil girl of course wouldn’t let go of her biggest backing, if it wasn’t Ouyang Shuo, she would had never taken such a big prize back from the Battle of Zhuolu.

Ouyang Shuo laughed and shook his head again, “My words are the same, there are no obligations for allies to stand together in the same faction. I have only one request, keep my decision a secret among us. I do not wish that Chun Shenjun and the others all choose the opposition because of my existence.”

His words made everyone laugh. The reason was simple, if they chose the same faction as Ouyang Shuo, there was no doubt that position of player representative would be given to Ouyang Shuo. This of course would not be something they would like to see.

“I personally think that it’s wiser to follow your footsteps.” Feng Qiuhuang said next.

“Follow the big brother, and there will be meat to feast on.” Siege Lion’s words made a simple conclusion.

Only Xunlong Dianxue was left in the end. This fellow acted smart and chose a different faction the last time, wasting the ability of a great general like Qin Qiong, and his outcome was far worse than Bai Hua’s.

Having bitterly paid the price, he finally learned his lesson and said, “I will follow the big brother.”

1Lei Feng 雷锋 : a selfless and modest model citizen in China, subject of a nationwide posthumous propaganda campaign.