Chapter Seventy-Five: Journeying East

In the blink of an eye, the calendar turned to the third month of Winter Year. The Block Kingdom’s national strength continued its steady ascent. Although the unique attributes of Winter Year posed challenges, the food stores still showed a reassuring upward trend.

It was the first day of March. The sky was clear and boundless, the Mother Sun finally emerging after her long absence—a truly beautiful day. Mo Fangyuan decided to take advantage of the fine weather to head out and see if he could coax a few more people back to the kingdom.

There was no other way. As the kingdom developed at an ever-quickening pace, those who understood knew: beneath prosperity, all kinds of problems began to surface. Prosperity and progress were both propped up by resources, and without them, everything would collapse. And it was manpower that produced those resources.

In this era of underdeveloped technology, the only way to increase output was to throw more people at the problem. The more hands at work, the more resources produced. The population issue, which had temporarily eased during the kingdom’s earlier development, now grew severe again—threatening to worsen further.

Even after the Block Kingdom implemented regional collectivization, the fundamental issue of a small population could not be changed. A skillful cook cannot make a meal without rice. With so few people, the potential ceiling was fixed; no amount of reform or adjustment could break past the limits of natural development. The last “big brother” who dared challenge that had already vanished.

This problem gave Mo Fangyuan quite a headache. From years of playing city-building and strategy games, he knew well: at the start, population was always in desperately short supply—he’d wish every citizen could bear a hundred children. Later, there would be too many people, and he’d be vexed by all the problems that stemmed from overpopulation.

For the current predicament, Mo Fangyuan had little recourse. Winter Year was so cold that no refugees would brave the elements to wander near the Block Kingdom and be taken in by him. This was no online game! No one would stand out there in the cold, layered with negative buffs, just waiting for you to recruit them. That would be suicide!

After much thought, Mo Fangyuan realized the only way to quickly boost the population was to go out and “recruit” people himself. He was quite adept at this—he’d done it often, and the results were remarkable; one successful trip could sustain the kingdom for a while.

“Then let’s go seek out those displaced compatriots!” Mo Fangyuan made this decision the previous night.

He began preparing the necessary supplies: wool, food, blocks, and, of course, manpower.

Because Zhang Lingyun needed to inspect the Black Forest to increase the chances of success for next year’s Operation Break Lock, for the sake of the bigger picture, Mo Fangyuan decided not to bring her along this time.

He was rather disheartened that his little “warmer,” who could stick to his side and play lovely sounds, wouldn’t be joining. Still, the Block Kingdom had grown stronger and now boasted real fighting power. Mo Fangyuan’s own Field Army would accompany him on what would be their first operation since their founding.

Though it was just a simple “recruitment” mission...

The Field Army consisted of seven soldiers. Small in number, perhaps, but in any village, they would be a formidable armed force, enough to guarantee a lifetime of peace and safety. Not to mention, these soldiers were experienced in battle and knew well how to defeat monsters.

Clad in iron armor and wielding iron weapons, they were armed to the teeth. Working together, they were invincible; should the need arise, they could always use their fishing rods to make a quick escape.

Once Mo Fangyuan realized the strategic value of fishing rods, he spared no effort in teaching the soldiers everything he knew, all his hard-won experience. Now, mastering the fishing rod was a required skill for every new recruit and a daily practice for every veteran.

As a result, many Block soldiers had surpassed their teacher, their mastery of the fishing rod outshining Mo Fangyuan’s own. This gave them extraordinary mobility and evasive abilities—appearing and vanishing like ghosts—leading to a record of zero casualties under Mo Fangyuan’s reign.

“Soldiers! This will be your first operation since the founding of our army! Your whetstone! Don’t let me down!” Mo Fangyuan had originally wanted to call them “comrades,” but he worried that overusing the term might attract the wrath of the Harmonious Light, so he settled for “soldiers.”

“Yes, sir!” Their response thundered, echoing Mo Fangyuan’s earlier rally to the defense battalion. The commotion drew quite a crowd.

“Good! Forward march!” Mo Fangyuan found the whole scene oddly amusing.

The soldiers spread out, forming a protective ring around him and began to move.

As they passed the stables, Mo Fangyuan cast a longing glance at the pregnant mares inside. He would have loved to ride a horse for this mission—it would be much faster.

But horses were few and precious; each one was a kingdom treasure. If he lost one out there, he’d have nowhere to cry. Besides, he couldn’t ride the pregnant mares—what if one gave birth on the march?

“Wait! I could ride the stallion!” Mo Fangyuan thought, only to recall its gaunt frame and listless eyes when he’d seen it days before. Poor creature.

“Better not.” The benevolent king decided to let the stallion rest a while. Once the young mares grew up, then he’d ask for its service again.

“Let’s move on!” With some regret, Mo Fangyuan led the group eastward. If the stallion possessed any wisdom, it would surely be grateful. Mo Fangyuan believed as much.

Heading east to the great river basin was his plan for this recruitment trip. As for why he chose the east over the west or north, Mo Fangyuan had his reasons.

The west was already emptied of people by him—there was no surplus value left at all. No point in going there.

As for the north, except for a patch of desert, Mo Fangyuan had never visited the villages there. The population was higher, but... Mo Fangyuan preferred caution.

Yes, caution.

The north was under the watchful eye of the Skeleton King’s forces—aggressive and powerful. Mo Fangyuan was no match for them, nor did he wish to attract the Skeleton King’s attention.

Compared to the Skeleton King, the Zombie King of the east was far more agreeable. Mo Fangyuan had often wondered what the Zombie King would look like in human form.

But the main reason was the eastern forests. With forests, the blockfolk villages could gather wood for fuel and warmth, surviving Winter Year’s bitter cold. Mo Fangyuan and his Field Army would also be less likely to be spotted among the trees.

Thus, he chose the east.

The northern villages, short on firewood, could not compare to the more populous and resilient eastern settlements. By Mo Fangyuan’s reasoning, the Zombie King was honest enough in normal times, and even more so in the cold of Winter Year.

Mo Fangyuan liked honest folks—so dependable that they didn’t even mind being backup suitors for gold-diggers!

Mo Fangyuan, Zhang Lingyun, and Lin Ye had explored part of the great river basin before, mapping out some territory. They had slept together there, bathed together, and seen each other naked...

Even as king, Mo Fangyuan still considered them his brothers. But times had changed; Zhang Lingyun and Lin Ye were different now, only Mo Fangyuan remained the same.

“Alas!” Mo Fangyuan sighed, his heart heavy with longing. Gone were the days when they could sleep, bathe, or play in the woods together...

“Form up and keep moving!” He didn’t know how long the good weather would last, but he knew speed was now essential.

Collecting himself, Mo Fangyuan gave the order to proceed.

With their fishing rods, the Field Army moved much faster than Mo Fangyuan ever could on foot alone, covering in half a day what used to take him a full day.

The great river basin was vast; last time, he and Lin Ye had only explored a small part before being chased off by a zombie village. Their gains had been meager.

But now, with soldiers at his side, Mo Fangyuan was undaunted. This time, he planned a big haul—intending to sweep up all the villages in the southern and western plains of the river basin!