Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 358 - 231: The New Affiliated Identity_2

Chapter 358: Chapter 231: The New Affiliated Identity_2

After putting on his new armor, Zhao Haiping mounted his warhorse and left the Orderer’s fortress.

Outside the fortress, players were also busily engaged in construction work.

The first project was the fortress walls of the Orderer’s fortress.

After upgrading to flintlock guns, Divine Arm Bows, infantry armor, bed crossbows, and new artillery, many large pieces of equipment were installed on the walls by the players responsible for construction.

For instance, at this moment, the walls had been planned with numerous shooting holes, with cannons placed in between.

In addition to these, a small number of bed crossbows and trebuchets were also arranged.

This was mainly because players had to consider the cost-effectiveness of the equipment. Although cannons were very powerful, both the cannons themselves and their ammunition were relatively expensive, while bed crossbows and trebuchets were cheaper to produce.

Especially the trebuchet, whose ammunition was the readily available bricks and stones from the city, and it had an extremely long range, which might play a surprising role in the future.

The money saved, of course, had other uses.

For example, starting to plan other cities; or, building a navy for the players.

After conquering the previous historical slice, players could now use construction points to purchase sea lizard ships of different sizes.

These sea lizard ships had already played a significant role in the Battle of Niuzhu.

The initial concept of the Orderer’s fortress had already reserved a place for the navy.

The fortress was surrounded by water on three sides and encircled by mountains on one side, especially on the south and north, where the slopes were steep and the mountains plunged directly into the water, making it easy to defend and hard to attack.

On these two sides, the players had reserved naval docks. After the warships were berthed, troops could be directly transported through the city walls, creating a three-dimensional defense system on the waterways.

In the future, players would be able to continuously transport troops to various corners of the battlefield through warships and also bombard the enemy directly from the water with cannons.

At this time, the construction of the naval docks was in full swing.

Zhao Haiping initially wanted to leave the fortress to stroll around the plains outside, hoping to encounter some bandits or barbarian soldiers to earn some money, but as soon as he left the city, he felt as though he had hit an invisible wall, stopping him.

Then, a rumble came from the distance!

The terrain outside the fortress began to undergo drastic changes.

The ground split open, some areas rose, while others lowered, with water streaming in.

The landscape underwent earth-shattering changes in a short period of time!

Of course, this change only occurred in those nearly untouched and undeveloped areas by the players. The original area of the Orderer’s fortress remained largely unaffected.

Clearly, this was the new plan of Li Weiyi and other players.

After the violent shaking of the terrain, the second location suitable for building a city appeared.

Originally, Li Weiyi and other players had considered two different plans: one was for two cities to defend each other, while the other was three cities in a triangular defense formation.

However, managing three cities required too much dispersion of manpower, resources, and finances.

Thus, in the end, the players chose to build just one new city and try to make it as sturdy as possible.

Once the terrain was fully formed, the invisible walls around disappeared, and Zhao Haiping could continue riding freely in the wilderness.

...

Inside the Orderer’s fortress, many players noticed that everything seemed to become more ordered.

Many still thought it was just their imagination, but when they approached the City Lord Mansion, they noticed clear changes from before.

Next to Beichen, there was a scruffy middle-aged man.

This middle-aged man was constantly handling governmental affairs, consulting with players, replanning Linyuan City, or finalizing the construction plans for the new city.

This was the chancellor Wang Wenchuan, appearing in spirit form!

After passing the "Words Left Unspoken" historical slice, Wenchuan’s spirit was activated. Unlike General Deng Yuanjing, he could only be summoned in non-war states.

So, Wenchuan’s role was mainly to help players sort out the domestic issues of the Orderer’s fortress.

As the fortress grew in size and the number of NPCs increased, its affairs naturally became more chaotic.

Although players like Li Weiyi had some planning for the city, their focus was mainly on defense strategies, and they weren’t much involved in the internal governance of the city.

As for Beichen, he was just a clone of Meng Yuan, purely a tool.

In name, he was the City Lord, but in reality, he was a mere figurehead, mainly responsible for collecting players’ opinions and suggestions on behalf of Meng Yuan.

Now, with Wenchuan’s arrival, the internal affairs of the Orderer’s fortress were well-organized, and orderliness started to emerge.

As time passed, not only would this state be maintained, but there was room for further improvement.

Wenchuan’s talents, after all, were those of an experienced chancellor who managed to make great achievements in governing a county in his youth, impressing both the emperor and officials. Now, managing a city was well within his abilities.

...

Outside the city, on the open ground, there were many players like Zhao Haiping on patrol, looking to earn money by fighting monsters, and also many players who had just received flintlock guns.

At this moment, thousands of players were training with flintlock guns in the wilderness.

Li Hongyun and several players who had participated in the Battle of Niuzhu had naturally become their "instructors," teaching them from the basics of how to load bullets into the flintlock guns to necessary combat elements such as formation tactics and marching steps.