The house was ready, but the tin-can house was completely empty, without a single piece of furniture.
The village chief carried a large bundle of dried straw inside to serve as a makeshift bed for Li Da. He even lent him an old quilt.
Gao Yiye then brought him a large bowl of rice topped with chicken and cabbage, allowing Li Da to enjoy a hearty meal.
While the villagers helped Li Da settle in, Shan Shi'er reported everything that had happened in Chengcheng County.
The news of Wang Er's rebellion did not surprise Li Daoxuan. What surprised him was how quickly it had erupted. After hearing the full account, he did not have much to say. He thought of the innocent people who had died in the chaos and sighed.
Night fell completely.
Li Daoxuan took another sheet of iron and temporarily sealed the unfinished half of the gate opening. One by one, the villagers returned to their homes to rest.
The diorama box entered its non-static frame mode.
There was nothing more to see.
Li Daoxuan turned his gaze away from the box and glanced out his own window. Shuangqing City was also shrouded in night, but unlike the darkened village, the modern city was alive with light. Neon signs glowed. Buildings shimmered. Nightlife was just getting started.
He sat back down at his computer and clicked on Cai Xinzhi's QQ avatar.
"Old Cai, how is the progress on my Hakka walled-house model?"
The reply came quickly.
"Nowhere near finished. We are still putting up the frame. How could it be done so quickly? Ask me again in a month."
Li Daoxuan: "..."
That was true. The walled-house model really was a major undertaking. He could not rush it.
He opened the history and military forum he often visited and posted another anonymous thread.
"If you traveled back to the late Ming Dynasty and already had a sturdy fortress, firearms, and iron armor, solving your basic security problems, what would be the second thing you would do?"
The replies appeared almost immediately.
Reply 1: Pick up more girls! Do not let the good ones go to waste, and do not pass up the bad ones either. Put them all into all eighteen kinds of positions.
Reply 2: Moderator, get in here and ban the idiot on the first floor. I have been putting up with him for ages.
Reply 3: Kill them all! Wipe out the Eunuch faction first, then the Donglin faction. Exterminate Li Zicheng's band of rebels, wipe out all the Wild Boar Skins in the northeast, kill anyone who disobeys me, and kill everyone who crosses me. Then I will lead a bunch of obedient followers, establish a new country, and sweep across Europe and America!
Reply 4: If you have no great ambitions, do what the first-floor poster says. If you have grand ambitions but nothing but shit in your head, do what the third-floor poster says. But if you genuinely want to resist the Qing, save the country, and lead the Chinese nation to sweep across the world, then you need to treat worthy people with respect and recruit every kind of talent you can find.
Use capable people from the Eunuch faction. Use capable people from the Donglin faction. Make use of talented people among the rebels. Even the people on the Wild Boar Skin side may have useful skills.
The more capable people you have at your disposal, the greater the things you can accomplish.
Reply 5: The fourth-floor poster is talking nonsense! Why would I use that trash? I will build my own team from scratch.
Reply 6: Starting with children? How many years will it take before they grow up and can help you? The Ming Dynasty will fall in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. Will you still be hiding in some mountain valley, working as a private tutor by then?
Reply 7: Then forget building a team. Raise some lolis instead. They will not take many years to become fit for consumption.
Li Daoxuan: "Damn it, what an idiot. You are back again?"
The discussion came to an end, and the moderator locked the thread. If the conversation continued like that, Li Daoxuan was afraid he might get called in for tea by the authorities.
He carefully read through the earlier replies. After thinking it over, he still felt that the fourth-floor poster had made the most sense.
There was no need to look too far ahead. Even his own little village, with only a few dozen people, was desperately short of manpower. They did not even need to be particularly talented. They just needed more people.
The men could cut down trees, haul timber, and repair the city gate. The women could cook, wash clothes, and take care of miscellaneous chores. The village needed people for practically everything.
Just as he was thinking this, faint voices rose from the diorama box. It sounded as though many people were talking at once, their voices blending into a noisy hubbub.
Li Daoxuan turned to look.
Now there was something to see.
Several hundred people had gathered outside Gaojia Village. They were pushing carts of various sizes and carrying torches as they made their way along the yellow-earth road.
They had presumably come intending to enter Gaojia Village. But the village was now surrounded by a gigantic wall made of Lego bricks. In the pitch darkness, with only moonlight and torchlight to see by, they had very little visibility. They could not even find the gate.
The hundreds of people stood there bewildered, whispering among themselves. Their murmuring was the noise Li Daoxuan had heard moments earlier.
Intrigued, he leaned over the diorama box. At a glance, he spotted a tall, burly man standing at the front of the group.
It was Wang Er of Baishui.
Earlier that day, Wang Er had launched his rebellion, killed County Magistrate Zhang Yaocai, opened the granary, and seized the government grain. He had loaded it onto the carts behind him, fled the county seat, and traveled more than thirty li to reach Gaojia Village.
Wang Er was getting anxious.
He knew that government troops could arrive at any moment, so he wanted to repay Gaojia Village's kindness as quickly as possible. But this strange village had somehow acquired an enormous wall out of nowhere in the blink of an eye, leaving him unable to find a way inside.
Wang Er first told the people around him to settle down. Then he drew a deep breath and shouted toward Gaojia Village.
"People of Gaojia Village, can you hear me? I am from the neighboring Wangjia Village. I am Wang Er of Baishui! I once stole your water, but you held no grudge against me. Instead, you gave me a great deal of flour. We have come today to repay your kindness. I have got grain now, and I have brought you two cartloads of it..."
"People of Gaojia Village! Can you hear me?"
Li Daoxuan could not help chuckling.
Wang Er of Baishui was actually a decent fellow. After seizing the government grain, he had immediately come to repay the favor. No wonder he could become one of the leaders of a peasant uprising. Anyone who could inspire a large group of people to risk their lives for him must have considerable personal charisma.
"People of Gaojia Village..."
Wang Er shouted a couple more times. Then a dark figure appeared atop the wall.
It was Gao Chuwu.
With his usual guileless expression, he called down to the people outside.
"Oh? So you are the thief who stole our water."
Wang Er felt a little embarrassed. Fortunately, the night was so dark that, with only moonlight and torchlight to see by, no one noticed his face turning slightly red.
"Yes, that was me. But this is not the time to talk about that. Please open the gate. I will give you two cartloads of grain, and then I will have to leave right away."
Gao Chuwu was simple-minded. He was the sort of person who could not make a decision on his own unless someone gave him instructions.
For the moment, he had no idea what to do.
Li Daoxuan took half a second to think it over.
Of course, they could not accept the two cartloads of grain. Nor could they allow Wang Er and his people into Gaojia Village.
The peasant uprising was still in its early stages. The situation across the realm remained relatively stable, and the imperial court still maintained considerable control.
If Gaojia Village became entangled with Wang Er and his followers at this point, it would bring serious trouble upon them.