Chapter 155: Ten‑Thousand‑Person Project

I've discovered a pattern: an A-rank spin wheel mostly yields construction tasks, while B-rank gives all sorts of things. Still, A-rank is the better deal—this has given me plenty of work on the imperial road, hahaha~

The King crossed his arms and laughed wildly, struck a pose and came back, then eagerly clicked to claim the reward, and immediately a pop-up appeared for the construction side quest.

【Side Quest: Build a road connecting all of Youzhou.】

Official subsidies: all raw materials; all tools and equipment;

＜Youzhou Full Territory Transportation Planning Map＞；

On-site technical supervisor NPC x1 (to be reclaimed after task completion); specialized technical personnel x8000 (to be reclaimed after task completion);

Logistics supplement: recruit local Youzhou manpower x8000;

Estimated construction period: three months (ninety days);

Task supplies: work uniforms x8000; meals x8000×90; wages x8000】

The King exclaimed: 'How can there be so many people! Eight thousand! Is Youzhou going to get rich?!'

Bai Ze: 'The whole territory, this imperial road will definitely connect straight to the neighboring prefectures; you, Youzhou may seem empty, but the land is truly vast.'

The King first brought up that planning map, and indeed the solid white line marked the imperial road connecting the surrounding prefectures and counties, with major roads reaching Fuyang, Bingzhou, and Yizhou. To go to Chang'an, one can simply head south along the imperial road to Yizhou; the road runs straight, saving considerable time.

Another eight thousand households—this time, after recruiting the laborers, it's half the families' turn!

The King was overjoyed—what did White Brother say? To get rich, first build roads; with the imperial road and easier travel to surrounding areas, fish catches can be sold to the non-coastal Bingzhou and Yizhou!

Besides, when he returns to Chang'an, before leaving Youzhou territory he won't have to eat dirt anymore, thanks to a wide, straight road!

The King's dream upon first arriving in Youzhou is about to come true—people traveling within the prefecture no longer have to waste time on bumpy roads.

The King, with a dreamy expression, clicked open another side quest;

【Side Quest: Build the city wall of a subordinate county.

Please, Your Lordship, select the county where you want to build the wall, so as to generate the next-step planning task chain.

Select now? Yes / No】

This requires the King to make a choice first—see which county he puts this good thing on—once he decides, the system will then calculate the specific task data based on the map.

The King felt a bit embarrassed—aside from the most important, most populous capital Youzhou City, all other counties are of equal status, and the King treats them impartially.

Who should get this sweet date first? He still has to choose it manually himself.

The King opened the full topographic map and studied it seriously: 'Smaller counties can wait; first take care of the big ones. To protect the most populous area, choose Tongshui County; to choose the one closest to the border outside Youzhou City, choose Pingkang County. Which one should I pick?'

Bai Ze lazily chuckled, 'Don't you have an answer? Of course pick the one near the border. Tongshui lies south of Youzhou City; enemy troops wouldn't fly straight over Youzhou City to attack Tongshui. Instead, Youzhou City is as solid as gold and bronze, while Pingkang to the west could be chosen as the entry point.'

The King sighed, 'Ah! This is the choice of the auspicious beast Bai Ze; if other counties have objections, let them come find you, hahaha~'

Bai Bei Guoxia Ze: ……

There's sure to be a lot of drama, huh!

The King selected 'yes', and a semi-transparent gray square frame appeared on the map, which he dragged to place above Pingkang County.

In the next instant, a new pop-up appeared;

【Pingkang County has already been selected as the target mission.

Side Quest: Build Pingkang County's city wall.

Official subsidies: all raw materials; all tools and equipment;

On-site technical supervisor NPC x1 (to be reclaimed after task completion); specialized technical personnel x2000 (to be reclaimed after task completion);

Logistics supplement: recruit local Youzhou manpower x2000;

Estimated construction period: three months (ninety days);

Task supplies: work uniforms x2000; meals x2000×90; wages x2000】

The King clicked to accept the side quest, but the result only allowed him to move the wall's position, and the option for 1.5x construction speed was gone.

'No 1.5x boost? I don't mind if other counties' walls are as tall as the capital's!'

Bai Ze was speechless—'Is that something you care about or not?'

'Obviously they don't have that budget.'

The King snorted twice, turned his head, and got excited again—'Ten thousand households! We're going to get rich!'

'Once these two tasks are done, Youzhou's per-capita savings will shoot up! We only have a total of twelve thousand households!'

Bai Ze looked at the King with a kindly expression as he rejoiced for the people, but little did he know the King would add: 'Now that we have money to spend, right? Now that we have money to buy seeds, right? The days when I won't have to spend my own money are just around the corner, right?!'

Bai Ze: ……

Such an honest King.

The honest King showed his other side the next morning at court, proving he wasn't as simple as he seemed.

'I have newly planned two infrastructure projects: I want to repair the imperial roads within the territory, and with a little spare change I intend to first build a city wall for Pingkang County, which is closer to the border. Although we've had a year of peace, we must always keep a sense of crisis. We have a deep grudge against the Eastern Xianbei; according to reliable intelligence, they have not abandoned revenge. When Youzhou rests and recuperates and there's profit to be made, the wolf‑hearted northern barbarians will surely come south at any moment!'

The atmosphere in the hall shifted, and the officials all echoed in agreement—it was excellent.

'This time I plan to recruit ten thousand laborers, with a three‑month schedule, to be finished before I return to Chang'an, so I can leave with peace of mind. Other rules remain the same, but this round of hiring opportunities is only for the families of those who enlisted this time in the Flying Eagle Guard.'

Prime Minister: …… Knowing the recruitment isn't complete yet, your move is quite high.

'Commander Zhang, haven't we still not recruited enough "qualified" people?'

'Your Highness, are we still recruiting? …But the ten thousand laborers are too much for the Flying Eagle Guard to handle.' At the very least, on paper they can't digest it—you said three thousand in the court assembly. Although many in the room secretly know there's some slack, no one has actually said it outright.

'I know: prioritize the newly enlisted Flying Eagle Guard; if numbers are still short, we'll supplement with families of the Imperial Guard Battalion, and this time we won't recruit externally.'

'Yes!'

Zhang Tu felt that the remaining three‑thousand shortage would probably be made up shortly.

Not counting food and clothing, just twenty‑seven taels of silver—even in the whole Great Jin, that's a large sum ordinary people would find hard to refuse.

An ordinary family having ten taels of savings is already quite well‑off in these times.

Youzhou is a border region; originally, able‑bodied men could not escape the fate of conscription. Now, if they refuse the voluntary conscription incentives, wartime will bring forced conscription.

In the past, many people evaded military service and became bandits; now, any bandits of noticeable size in Secluded Prefecture have been completely wiped out by the Great King—at most only minor skirmishes that never amounted to anything are still barely hanging on.

If you could be open-minded about becoming a professional soldier, it would be a way out.

If trained well, the chance of survival on the battlefield would greatly increase. In peacetime, the professional soldiers are supported by the Great King; if there's good fortune, the whole family can benefit, something other border prefectures don't have.

The Great King's wish is actually simple: he wants to recruit people early and get them trained early, hoping to effectively reduce casualties. When war comes and forced conscription happens, the quality could be unpredictable.