Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 381 - 237 Battle and Peace

Chapter 381: Chapter 237 Battle and Peace

Li Hongyun felt somewhat bewildered as he stepped out of the inn and onto the streets of Cen Bridge Inn.

At this point, Cen Bridge Inn was in complete disarray, with many merchants who had stayed at Cen Bridge Inn plotting their escape to the south.

A multitude of carriages and boats were all blocked at the gates of Cen Bridge Inn or at the ferry crossings, with everyone’s faces betraying a high level of anxiety.

"Make way, make way!"

"Whose goods are these, blocking the way with worthless items! If no one claims them soon, I’ll have them all thrown into the water!"

"Let’s see who dares to touch our master’s belongings!"

"You, a mere bumpkin, dare to rebel? Give him a beating!"

Such disputes were erupting at every exit leading south from Cen Bridge Inn, involving different merchants and some more influential gentry, sparking conflicts here and there.

If the parties involved were of similar status, perhaps compromise could be reached by each side stepping down a notch, but if the disparity in status was significant, someone would likely suffer right there and then.

"Clear the way, the County Magistrate is here!"

After a tumultuous uproar, it seemed the County Magistrate’s carriage had arrived and, after much difficulty, finally managed to clear the critical road to the capital in the south, and the jammed boats at the ferry started to show signs of movement.

However, the chaos and resulting disorders clearly added a layer of anxiety to this small city, once prospered due to the Qi Dynasty’s founding Emperor Taizu’s Dragon Rise.

Li Hongyun checked his pockets and found that, as an outlaw, he still had quite a bit of money on him, not only a lot of Copper Coins but also some pieces of Silver.

In the Qi Dynasty, Silver was still rare, and the common people seldom had the opportunity to use it. However, outlaws often traveled far and wide, needing to carry a significant amount of wealth, so it was enough for Li Hongyun to enjoy a few comfortable days at Cen Bridge Inn.

Of course, the so-called comfort was relative to the living standards of that era; from a modern person’s perspective, life in ancient times was in no way "comfortable."

Li Hongyun arrived at the largest restaurant in Cen Bridge Inn, planning to eat while casually inquiring about the jianghu’s view on the recent Jin invasion. He might also pick up some information related to the clearance objectives of the game.

So far, the instance had not given any hints about the conditions for clearance, and Li Hongyun speculated that since there were four different starting locations based on identity, their clearance conditions might likely be different as well.

And their different clearance conditions might be located near their birthplaces.

Cen Bridge Inn was initially an important transportation hub, with many outlaws coming and going from the north and the south.

The Qi Dynasty itself favored literature over martial arts, but the jianghu spirit among the common people was still very strong.

This was partly because the Liang Dynasty, previous to the Qi, suffered from prolonged turmoil during its final years, maintaining a certain martial culture, such as that of Qi’s founding Emperor Taizu being a martial arts expert; on the other hand, although the official policy of the Qi Dy n a st y in the court was to place literature above martial arts, the practice of martial arts among the common people was encouraged.

The reason for this was that Qi faced border troubles from the north, and because the market economy among the common people was relatively developed, leading to the emergence of profit-driven martial arts organizations, which the Qi Dynasty supported to some extent as part of their lackluster foreign warfare efforts, attempting to offset the threats from abroad as much as possible.

Li Hongyun had understood all this before, but it was only now, upon seeing the prosperity of Qi’s jianghu firsthand, that he truly appreciated the depth of it.

"So the Qi Dynasty itself is quite a contradictory empire...

"The founding Emperor Taizu started with a military coup, so guarding against other military figures usurping the throne became the primary concern of governance, and emphasizing literature over martial arts became a centuries-old national policy that never changed;

"The policy of emphasizing literature over martial arts led to external threats and the resulting surplus of idle soldiers and the need to pay considerable annual tributes;

"The external threats also led to the Qi Dynasty’s support for civilian martial arts organizations, which, while playing a significant role in resisting foreign aggression and leaving behind many heroic tales, also objectively fueled frequent peasant uprisings in various places. For instance, the Rebel Army of late included many martial arts masters, each with their own nickname...

"It’s as if there was an initial problem that led to continuous patchwork solutions. Although the house seems to have all its holes barely plugged, when winter comes, winds somehow seep through from all directions...

"It appears as if there are no problems, yet it seems that problems exist everywhere."

After officially entering the historical slice of the Qi Dynasty, Li Hongyun would subconsciously compare it to the Sheng Dynasty.

And the comparison showed that in the mid to late stages, they were all lacking in the same way, afflicted with the same terminal illnesses of a decaying empire.

But the biggest difference was that at least the Sheng Dynasty had a thriving start: with Emperor Taizu’s rise from obscurity, his expulsion of the Northern Barbarians, and the Emperor’s several personal expeditions to the Desert North. At least in the initial historical segment, players could feel the vigor and flourishing growth.

Yet in the Qi Dynasty, there seemed to be something lacking from the very beginning, an element of suffocation.

Soon, the stir-fried chicken Li Hongyun had ordered was served.

The Qi Dynasty was a time of great development in food culture, not only introducing stir-frying in iron pots but also methods like hot pot. Although meat options like pork, beef, lamb, and chicken were available, the prices remained high. For instance, beef and lamb were still considered extremely expensive ingredients, and the common diet still mainly consisted of chicken, duck, and pork.

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