Farmers Couldn't Appear Out of Thin Air [Please Bookmark and Recommend]

According to the instructions, if he traveled three li due north of the courtyard, he would find the stream.

Zong Shen rode the Old Travel Horse at a steady pace. It took him only six or seven minutes to spot the stream.

Although it was called a stream, it was still about one zhang wide. The water ran fairly fast, but it wasn't very deep.

Zong Shen dismounted and walked over to the water's edge.

The stream was crystal clear. Since it was flowing water, it wasn't murky, and he could see the pebbles on the bottom.

He looked upstream.

He saw that the stream flowed out of the forest far to the north.

It wound its way southwest.

The system had once mentioned a lake to the southwest, so this stream was probably one of the water sources that flowed into it.

Zong Shen wasn't surprised that there was a water source nearby.

After all, if the area lacked water, it couldn't possibly have such a vast, lush grassland.

Besides, when digging, Zong Shen had discovered that the soil here was exceptionally fertile black earth.

It was relatively moist and quite sticky.

In Earth's terms,

it was a humus-rich soil formed under the grassland vegetation of a temperate, humid climate.

This soil contained around 3% to 10% organic matter. It was unbelievably fertile.

As long as the land hadn't become desertified and the grassland hadn't gone barren, there was no way it would lack water.

That was just common sense.

However, the lords who had landed in the Gobi or the desert were in for a rough time.

He just didn't know whether they would receive some kind of compensation to balance things out.

The various rules of Lord Survival were quite fair.

Standing by the stream, Zong Shen didn't rush to collect water. Instead, he began thinking about the relationship between the environment and survival.

Then he beckoned, taking out the three wooden buckets he had made earlier and setting them beside him.

He crouched down, scooped up a handful of water, and took a small sip.

The water tasted sweet and clean, with no strange odor.

Clearly, it had flowed from a mountain spring and formed a stream after reaching the grassland.

Its quality was excellent thanks to the constant flow and the purifying effect of the pebbles.

He focused his gaze on the water.

(The water flows from a spring high in the mountains and is rich in various minerals. Its quality is quite good, but it is still recommended that you boil it before drinking.)

After checking the Strategy Module's tip and confirming it, Zong Shen began collecting water.

He filled the three buckets one by one and stored them in his Storage Grid.

He let the Old Travel Horse drink by itself farther downstream.

The three full buckets were the same type of item, so they could be stacked together. They wouldn't take up many Storage Grid slots.

That gave him 30 liters of water.

There were currently eleven farmers, two soldiers, a Black Panther, a Giant Wolf, Zong Shen himself, and the Old Travel Horse in his territory.

Those 30 liters should be enough for a day or two.

However, Zong Shen's territory wasn't far from the stream. Once he had more wood, he could make some more buckets and have Colby come collect water.

He didn't trust the farmers to travel far from home.

Their combat abilities were too low, and they couldn't defend themselves. If they ran into danger, they could easily be lost.

Thinking as he went, Zong Shen mounted the Old Travel Horse.

He rode back toward the courtyard.

In his spare time, he needed to quickly learn some of the basic things he was facing.

The Lord Survival system wouldn't answer these questions. Lords were supposed to figure them out on their own, but Zong Shen was different.

He had the Strategy Module.

Zong Shen still had no clear idea how to obtain more farmers.

His initial farmers had been given to him at the start.

Then, by clearing out the Bandit Camp, he had rescued eight more farmers.

It seemed that farmers couldn't be recruited out of thin air like soldiers.

"How can I recruit more farmers?"

When in doubt, consult the Strategy Module.

Zong Shen immediately asked the question on his mind.

(There are several main ways to recruit farmers.

The first, and most important, is to find villages, towns, or Great Cities belonging to the natives. By increasing your reputation and completing quests that improve your regional favor and reputation, you can earn the natives' trust. At regular intervals, you can then recruit people from the region. The number of people available will depend on your favor and reputation, as well as the size of the region.

The second is to visit a town's Tavern, where mercenaries and ambitious people often appear. As long as you can pay them enough or promise to help them achieve their ambitions, you can quickly attract talent. You might even come across a promising Hero.

The third is to raid native villages and forcibly Plunder their populations, though this may provoke counterattacks and suppression from native forces of all levels.

The fourth is to attack bandits, Marauders, foreign tribes, or lairs. You may be able to rescue a number of natives.

The fifth is to buy people from slave traders.

The sixth is to expand your territory. As your influence grows, people will naturally be drawn to migrate there.

The seventh is that, if you're willing to accept foreign races, you can recruit people from their lands through alliances, improving their favor toward you, or raids.

P.S. These aren't the only ways to obtain people. There are countless opportunities and powerful figures waiting for you across the continent.)

So that was how it worked!

Zong Shen immediately understood.

Farmers and other people couldn't appear out of thin air. They had to be recruited from the native forces on the continent.

That was the main source of population.

Only after acquiring a basic population could they reproduce and grow.

That would take decades of steady effort.

"What about soldiers? Can they only be recruited using Recruitment Scrolls?"

Zong Shen asked his second question.

(The soldiers directly summoned by Recruitment Scrolls come from ancient recruitment items left behind from bygone eras. There are many Recruitment Scrolls, but they're scattered everywhere, and finding one depends on luck. They were once one of the continent's main ways of recruiting troops. The unit types within them have nearly vanished from the world. Powerful Heroes and soldiers willingly entered the Different Dimension to sleep, waiting for a lord to recruit them and bring them back into this world.

Besides Recruitment Scrolls, native farmers, as the basic unit of population, can also be trained into soldiers. However, this requires specific buildings, such as the Tier 1 barracks available under [Build].

These are the most common and basic buildings for recruiting human troops. With a few materials, farmers can be trained into soldiers.

Of course, there are also many special buildings for recruiting troops. You'll have to keep exploring and discovering them!

To sum it up, you have a long road ahead. Keep at it, you rookie little lord.)

After reading the tip, Zong Shen thought more deeply about population and development.

Contact with the native forces was unavoidable if he wanted to develop.

But there was no need to rush.

Today was the first day of development after his arrival.

His territory hadn't taken shape yet.

At the very least, Zong Shen would wait until his territory had begun to take shape and could defend itself before considering contact with the native forces.