Chapter 29

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation

Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“Ding! Congratulations to the player for winning first place in the Eastern Han region. The emperor of Dahan will reward all meritorious officials with 800 points of merit, 200 taels of gold, and a Special Hero recruitment order!”

Chu Tian received a notice as soon as the event was over. The first-place rewards in the Eastern Han region were more generous than he had expected.

The 800 points of merit helped promote Chu Tian from a third-ranked Zanniao to a fourth-ranked Bugeng.

The 200 taels of gold were equivalent to 2000 taels of silver!

If the first two rewards were not too luxurious, the third reward more than made up for it.

Special Hero recruitment order — a truly priceless treasure!

[Name]: Special Hero recruitment order 

[Effect]: Could randomly recruit a Special Hero.

The description was simple, but a more careful perusal showed how priceless this item was.

This item recruited not ordinary heroes, but historical heroes, who were renowned characters. It could be a military commander or strategist, a civil servant, a geisha, an assassin, a physician, a craftsman.

The ranks of the recruited heroes were also random, ranging from Silver to Saint. They could be as high as the Three Heroes of Early Han Dynasty, the legendary Xiang Yu, or they could be Zhao Gao, Zhao Kuo, or Qin Gui on the low end.

In short, this was an item that required luck.

Xia Tianliang in Xiaozhu Village was also stunned, probably tallying her rewards too.

After a while, she smiled bitterly, “The 72nd winner in Langya District only gets 20 taels of gold, 100 merits, and a gold-level recruitment order. What is your reward?”

“A Special Hero recruitment order.”

Chu Tian quickly calmed down after his excitement. It was not as if he had never seen a Special Hero. Hua Mulan was a Special Hero, and a renowned one at that.

“Special… Hero!”

Xia Tianliang looked very surprised. Special Heroes were special because of their scarcity. Supposedly, there were only a few to tens of thousands of Special Heroes in the entire Eastern Han region. The number of lord players was a thousand times that of Special Heroes, so it was impossible for each person to have a Special Hero.

“If you recruited a general like Han Xin or Wu Qi, then you could win all of Langya City!”

Xia Tianliang looked at Chu Tian fervently, or rather, she looked at his Special Hero recruitment order.

No matter who was recruited, they would be a Special Hero. Since they were a Special Hero, of course they would be different from an Ordinary Hero.

“You are too idealistic. Even if you had a powerful commander, it is useless unless you have enough soldiers. Remember the saying, ‘When Han Xin ordered soldiers, the more the merrier.’ Even the guards of Langya City alone are not people we can afford to provoke in the early stage. There’s also the Yellow Turban general Zhang Kai. If he had 20,000 Yellow Turbans, they could raze our two villages.”

Chu Tian knew that in “Feudal Lords,” in order to prevent players from decimating the princes of the Three Kingdoms in the early and mid-stages, the game had set up differences in levels and strength. Even if a lord recruited someone like Han Xin, Han Xin’s level must be increased, and tens of thousands of troops must be allocated to him at the same time.

The best strategy for the player lord in the early and mid-stages was not to offend the princes of the Three Kingdoms, but to annex the surrounding lords, participate in epic battles, accumulate strength, and wait until they had the ability to fight against the princes of the Three Kingdoms.

Obviously, these were not things that Chu Tian, who currently had only 1,500 people in this village, should be considering.

That’s right, the population of Xia Village had soared from 800 to 1500 during this period.

Due to the Yellow Turban catastrophe, more than half of the surrounding villages had been destroyed. The villagers from the destroyed villages then became refugees and merged into Xia Village, which was still stable.

After the catastrophe, Xia Village had sacrificed a total of 12 light cavalrymen, 17 elite light infantrymen, and 70 local soldiers. The influx of refugees not only supplemented Xia Village’s loss, but also created a profit.

“Do you want to use the Special Hero recruitment order or sell it?”

“Of course, I’ll use it.”

If he could get out of “Feudal Lords,” this special recruitment order could be auctioned for at least one million earth coins.

But the problem was that all players trapped in the world of “Feudal Lords” could only survive in these troubled times by strengthening themselves.

Good things must be kept for one’s own use, not to mention that this was the number one reward in the Eastern Han region!

“Then use it quickly, I want to see what hero it is.”

Xia Tianliang was even more eager than Chu Tian. There were less than ten Special Heroes in the entire Eastern Han region.

“But you have to keep Xia Village’s Special Hero secret. Can I trust you?” Chu Tian asked, looking at Xia Tianliang.

“Of course, I will not reveal the secret. Xiaozhu Village is next to Xia Village. We’re in this together. And since there will soon be a new hero on the list of heroes in the Eastern Han region, people with discerning eyes will understand that this was the number one reward.”

Xia Tianliang’s intelligence made Chu Tian speechless.

When the “Trails of the Yellow Turban” event ended, and the rewards were tallied, a hero would be added to the list of heroes in the Eastern Han region, which was very likely a reward earned by the top player in this event.

It seemed as if this hero did not need to be hidden like Hua Mulan. The hero leaderboard did not display the name of the lord, preventing the lord from being besieged due to having a certain hero. No one knew who Hua Mulan served; all that was known was that she was currently ranked first in the Eastern Han region in strength… If anyone guessed, they would think it may be Xia Tianliang in Xiaozhu Village. Or people could speculate that Hua Mulan was under Chu Tian’s command based on the fact that Chu Tian was first in the event in the Eastern Han region.

Of course, this was just speculation.

Chu Tian immediately used the Special Hero recruitment order upon Xia Tianliang’s urging.

Since he was ranked first in the event, Chu Tian was not afraid of people suspecting that he had a Special Hero.

“Ding! Used one Special Hero recruitment order. You will gain the allegiance of the imperial civil minister — the reformer Li Kui.”

“Ding! Achievement system SS-level achievement — the “Warring States Reformers” launched. During the Warring States period, rituals collapsed, a hundred schools of thought contended, and the seven heroes contended for hegemony. To allow the country to prosper and strengthen the soldiers, the talents of the seven countries worked hard. If the player collected these seven reformers: Wei State’s Li Kui (Li Kui Reform), Chu State’s Wu Qi (Wu Qi Reform), Qin State’s Shang Yang (Shang Yang Reform), Korea’s Shen Buhu (Shen Buhu Reform), Qi State’s Zou Ji (Zou Ji Qiwei King Reform), Warring States’ Zhao Wuling King (Hu Style Cavalry Shooting), and the Yan State’s Le Yi (Le Yi Yanzhao King Reform), the player will receive special rewards.”

Chu Tian was completely stunned. An imperial civil minister?!

And a particularly difficult achievement — a SS-level achievement, the “Warring States Reformers.”

This achievement required the collecting of seven renowned figures of the Warring States period.

Maybe only a few knew of Korea’s Shen Buhu, but Wu Qi, Li Kui, Shang Yang, King Zhao Wuling of Hu Style Cavalry Shooting, and even Zou Ji were all people who were seen in textbooks!

Never mind collecting all seven Special Heros, just having a Wu Qi would make Chu Tian overjoyed.

A civil minister appeared in Xia Village. He bowed to Chu Tian, “Li Kui at the lord’s service.”

“No need for pomp and ceremony.”

Chu Tian was very satisfied with Li Kui, having no room for any other emotion. This was the minister of Wei, who had helped the Wei State become the ruling state in the early Warring States period.

In “Feudal Lords,” the imperial rating was the best affirmation of Li Kui’s reform. Similarly, Li Kui’s political attributes should also be very high. “Feudal Lords” was a game world after all. It still depended on the bonuses brought by the hero. In order to balance their strengths in different areas and avoid being decimated by a powerful civilization like the Eastern Han region, the military commander data of some weaker civilization areas, such as the Dongying region or the Goryeo region, would even be falsely high.

Chu Tian looked at Li Kui’s panel.