Solve One Problem First

Beside Gao Family Village, an enormous pond appeared, over a hundred feet long, fifty feet wide, and eighty feet deep.

The water in it was all modern tap water, crystal clear and sparkling.

The villagers, trapped in a drought, had not seen water this good in years.

"Water! It's water!"

"Heavens, such a huge pond full of water!"

"It's clean water!"

"Is this... a gift for us?"

"I can't believe it."

"Long live the Heavenly Deity!"

Li Daoxuan lowered his head and looked at Gao Yiye. "Yiye, tell everyone that from now on, I'll refill this pond every day. They can draw water from it for their daily needs or to irrigate their fields."

Overjoyed, Gao Yiye hurriedly kowtowed in thanks, then turned to the villagers and loudly announced Li Daoxuan's "divine decree."

The villagers immediately cheered. "Now we don't have to fear the drought!"

"We have water to farm with! Wonderful!"

"The seeds we've been treasuring can finally be put to use."

"What are we waiting for? Hurry home and get buckets!"

"What's the damn rush? It's too hot right now. What crops could we plant? We have to wait until early autumn."

"Ah, true. I got excited too soon."

The villagers were beside themselves with joy, so dizzy with excitement that they nearly forgot where to start.

The women's eyes lit up instead. With this much water, they could wash their clothes and bathe! They had spent more than half a year filthy and stinking. What woman could stand that? They had to hurry and fetch water, at least enough to fill their water jars first.

By now, San Shier had been frightened completely awake.

He glanced up at the sky, where nothing was visible now, then looked at the pond before him. It was undeniably real.

What he had just seen was not a hallucination from getting up too abruptly. An invisible, shapeless force really had created a pond out of thin air, then hung a waterfall in midair to fill it.

If anyone dared claim this was not the work of an immortal, he would be the first to jump up and give them a resounding slap.

While he was still reeling, Gao Yiye spoke beside him. "Third Master, the Heavenly Deity has something to say to you."

San Shier snapped to attention and hurriedly bowed deeply toward the sky. "What are your instructions, Heavenly Deity?"

Li Daoxuan said, "You're the County Magistrate's Secretary, aren't you?"

Gao Yiye hurriedly relayed his words. (From here on, assume she continued relaying everything.)

At the mention of this, San Shier pulled a mournful face. "The day before yesterday, this humble one spoke up for the common people and urged the County Magistrate not to collect taxes. I angered him, and he swept me out the door. He no longer employs me. This is called [drawing fire upon oneself]."

Li Daoxuan said, "Oh, so you've lost your rice bowl?"

San Shier kowtowed. "Er... well... indeed... this is called ["

"Shut up! You're annoying me." Li Daoxuan said irritably, "Don't you realize how irritating you sound? No wonder the County Magistrate swept you out the door."

San Shier froze. "..."

Li Daoxuan said, "I thought that, as a Secretary, you could read official documents at the county offices and bring news to Gao Family Village. Now it seems you're not much use."

Hearing this, San Shier's heart stirred. What does the Heavenly Deity mean? Could it be... he had intended to take me into his service? Working for an immortal is a blessing earned through several lifetimes of virtue. I mustn't miss this opportunity. Even if I have to cling to him shamelessly, I must stay by his side as an errand runner.

He hurriedly said, "This humble one is useful! I am useful! Though I no longer work at the County Yamen, I'm clever and quick-witted, and I can write and calculate. If the Heavenly Deity has any more complicated tasks, the villagers here certainly... ahem... entrusting them to me would be more reliable. This is called ["

He was just about to sum it up in four words when he remembered that the Heavenly Deity found him irritating. He hurriedly shut his mouth, braking so abruptly that his face twisted.

Li Daoxuan was amused by the sight. "All right! I can't think of anything for you to do just now. Return to the County Seat for the time being. Keep your eyes sharp and stretch your ears wide. Ask around about what's happening nearby. If there's any important news, send someone to inform Gao Family Village. When I need you to do something, I'll send word."

San Shier prostrated himself, pressing his forehead to the ground. "This humble one obeys."

Only after observing every courtesy did he get up and head toward the County Seat.

Li Daoxuan thought, I still haven't found a way to expand my field of view. The Scenery Box is locked over Gao Family Village, so I can't see what's happening outside. With this man called San Shier, I've effectively gained a pair of eyes outside the Scenery Box. Hopefully, those eyes will prove useful at a critical moment.

He turned his attention back to the village. All the villagers were busy.

The young, strong men were digging away in the fields. With a large pond, they now had the confidence to grow crops. Though they had to wait until autumn to sow, their restless "farming hearts" could no longer be restrained. They would dig an irrigation channel ahead of time.

Li Daoxuan nodded. Good. The villagers' ability to sustain themselves had been activated. He would still have to support them for a few months, but once they began farming in autumn, the cost of feeding the entire village would start to fall.

If he could help more villages in the same way, he could save many people from starving to death.

Next, he began tackling the second problem: "When I'm not beside the Scenery Box, the villagers need to be able to protect themselves."

He thought back over the history and military forums he often visited, along with historical novels.

His first thought was to equip all forty-two villagers with weapons, but he immediately realized that this was not feasible for now.

Leaving aside whether buying firearms in modern society would get him hauled off by the police to eat prison meals, suppose he could obtain a gun legally.

Even the world's smallest gun, the Swiss Miniature Pistol, was fifty-five millimeters long.

If he put it in the box, it would become two hundred times larger. What the villagers saw would be a gigantic pistol eleven meters long.

How were they supposed to use that?

Who could carry an eleven-meter-long pistol around to blast enemies?

Another possibility was to commission "super-miniature weapons," but the weapons would have to be only a few millimeters long. Only then would enlarging them two hundred times make them one or two meters long, allowing the people in the box to use them normally.

Clearly, with the manufacturing techniques he knew of, nobody could make a gun only a few millimeters long. Ordinary swords and sabers would do little to improve the villagers' fighting strength.

Li Daoxuan's only solution was to teach the villagers to make their own fire lances.

But given the technical capabilities of the forty-two little people currently in the Scenery Box, never mind making fire lances-even producing a high-quality blade would be difficult. They could only forge crude tools such as woodcutting blades and kitchen knives.

He could forget that route for now and reconsider it later.

Perhaps there was only one way to protect the villagers in the short term...

A "fortified residential stronghold."

This was the most common means ancient villagers used to protect themselves. Hunkering down inside a sturdy fortress could fend off raids by most bandits and robbers. The most representative structure was the "Hakka Walled House."

This was also something Li Daoxuan could make in the real world. He only needed to build a structure resembling a Hakka Walled House at a 200:1 scale, place it inside the Scenery Box, and have the little people move in. They would be far safer than they were now.

This was entirely achievable.

It would just... cost a teensy bit of money.