Although the shopkeeper of the auction house was a rather unscrupulous businessman, Chu Tian sold the drawings anyway, reluctant to expend too much effort in dealing with the drawings of the camp for Yellow Turban soldiers. He received a unit of silver in return.
Chu Tian asked, "Shopkeeper, do you have architectural drawings here?"
The shopkeeper of the auction house kneaded his little beard, showing off his seniority. "Our auction house is the largest one in the entire Langya Nation! There are no drawings that we do not have!"
"How about drawings for Grade 6 cavalry camps?"
Hua Mulan's special arm, the Iron Hawk Reconnoiter, was a Grade 6 cavalry. If Xia Village had a Grade 6 cavalry camp, they could recruit the Iron Hawk Reconnoiter right away.
Also, local soldiers and Yellow Turban soldiers were both Grade 1 infantry. Grade 6 cavalry could utterly destroy Grade 1 infantry, making Xia Village stronger.
If the auction house had drawings for Grade 6 cavalry camps, Chu Tian would purchase it at any cost.
Right after Chu Tian spoke, all the players in the auction house, as well as the shopkeeper, were stupefied.
This man truly was something. He asked for drawings for Grade 6 cavalry camps just like that! Before owning a Level 3 village, what feudal lord was capable of feeding a Level 6 cavalry?
The shopkeeper of the auction house suddenly became a little awkward, coughing softly to disguise his abrupt change in demeanor. "Indeed, we do not have those. Not even Langya City has a Grade 6 cavalry camp. Perhaps Xiapi City, where Lord Tao Qian resides, has a Grade 6 cavalry camp. Besides, those drawings are not for sale."
Chu Tian did not want to make things difficult for him either, so he asked instead, "What's the highest grade of cavalry camp drawings that can be found in your auction house?"
The shopkeeper stuck out three fingers.
"How many units of silver?" Chu Tian inquired.
"A thousand."
A commotion ensued among the players in the auction house. A mere drawing for a Grade 3 cavalry camp cost a thousand units of silver, which was equivalent to the price of 50 ordinary horses!
The shopkeeper seemed smug at the moment, explaining, "Cavalries aren't affordable to ordinary feudal lords."
Chu Tian refused to give up. Without drawings for cavalry camps, the horses in Xia Village would be useless. "What about drawings for Grade 1 and Grade 2 cavalry camps?"
"A Grade 1 cavalry camp drawing costs 20 units of silver, while a Grade 2 drawing costs 100 units of silver."
Expensive. Very expensive indeed.
They hadn't even begun recruiting cavalries, the mere drawings for cavalry camps an exorbitant purchase, let alone the costs required for building the cavalry camps, buying horses and equipment, monthly wages, and so forth.
Unless they were in a grassland region, owning troops would always come with a high price.
Should he buy a drawing for a Grade 1 cavalry camp?
Chu Tian checked the money he had brought with him. He had left 50 units of silver back in the village, and brought some taels and a bag of copper coins on the journey. Added together with the rewards received from killing bandits along the way and the one unit of silver from selling the Yellow Turban camp drawing, he had 101 units of silver altogether.
There was no hope of buying a Grade 2 cavalry camp drawing. If he purchased it, there would only be one unit of silver left, which was far from what he needed to purchase other drawings.
"How about infantry camps?"
"That can be discussed. Not only does our auction house have infantry camp drawings for Grades 1-3, recently, we even obtained a Grade 4 infantry camp drawing. We have clearly marked the prices for your perusal- 5 units of silver for Grade 1 infantry camps, 25 units for Grade 2 camps, 250 units for Grade 3 camps. As for the Grade 4 infantry camp drawing, it costs 2,500 units of silver. Whoever can afford the highest price wins the item."
"2,500 units of silver!"
The players present were left flabbergasted.
If they hadn't been trapped in the game, the rich ones could exchange their earthly currency for silver from other players. However, now that all the players were trapped in this world, they had to earn the currency of this world through their own efforts.
No one could gather 2,500 units of silver in just seven days, not unless dozens of village chiefs formed an alliance and utilized the precious capital from their villages. Only then could they afford a drawing for Grade 4 infantry camps.
That being said, hardly any villages would sacrifice their own future in exchange for a Grade 4 infantry camp drawing. Even if they succeeded in building a Grade 4 infantry camp, they would not have any money left to recruit Grade 4 infantrymen.
Chu Tian highly suspected that the auction house was overcharging its customers. The camp of Grade 1 Yellow Turban soldiers was only slightly inferior to a Grade 1 infantry camp. The auction house spent only 1 unit of silver to retrieve a Grade 1 Yellow Turban camp, yet they were selling a Grade 1 infantry camp for 5 units of silver.
"What if I were to buy a drawing for a Grade 1 Yellow Turban camp?" Chu Tian asked, wanting to confirm his suspicions.
"That'll be 3 units of silver."
Chu Tian could only look at the shopkeeper in silence. An unscrupulous businessman indeed.
After getting to know the prices of the architectural drawings, Chu Tian selected a few more drawings.
A drawing for Grade 2 infantry camps cost 25 units of silver and a drawing for Grade 1 cavalry camps cost 20 units of silver. Just a few military construction drawings had cost him 45 units of silver.
And then there was the drawing for a cottage-style private school. It belonged to the category of cultural constructions, which cost 10 units of silver. The drawings for the four basic resources, Level 2 farmlands, Level 2 minelands, Level 2 logging lands, and Level 2 stone quarries, each cost 10 units of silver. That was 50 units of silver in total.
Upgrading the resource-buildings would only result in greater reinforcement, but it would not expand the scale of production. The cultivation scale of farmlands, minerals, rocks, and timber was directly related to the population scale of the territory.
In that case, 95 units of silver would have been spent, leaving them with only 6 units of silver.
Chu Tian finally understood what people meant with the saying "spending money as if it was running water". Having been pretty rich just a few moments ago, he was now only left with a pathetic 6 units of silver right now. He really could not afford any more drawings.
Xia Tianliang of Xiaozhu Village had bought several drawings as well, but she was even poorer than Chu Tian. She could not afford military construction drawings, so all she bought were drawings for resource-buildings and economical buildings.
Chu Tian's goals of development were different than hers, however. While managing his resources, he wanted to place his focus on self-defense. His priority at the moment was to build a Grade 2 infantry camp and a Grade 1 cavalry camp in the village.
"Your Xiaozhu Village only owns a local soldiers' camp. Won't you consider purchasing a Grade 2 military construction drawing?" Chu Tian couldn't help but ask when he saw Xia Tianliang's purchases, none of which were military construction drawings.
"Well, Xia Village has a Grade 2 infantry camp and a Grade 1 cavalry camp. If Xiaozhu Village gets into trouble in the future, I'll just have to employ your soldiers to help us fend off the enemies. The military development of Xiaozhu Village can wait. Your village is just 5 km away from Xiaozhu Village. Reinforcements can definitely arrive within an hour, can't they?"
Xia Tianliang's reply was not what Chu Tian had expected.
This woman was shrewd. She had allied with Xia Village without the slightest bit hesitation, which not only resolved the threat posed by Xia Village to Xiaozhu Village, but also allowed her to borrow her ally's soldiers in the future.
After forming an alliance, feudal lords could request relief troops from one another, as long as they were willing to pay a price that their allies could not turn down.
Xia Village had a powerful hero and they just bought two military construction drawings, which made their military score way higher than Xiaozhu Village's. Xia Tianliang gave up on military contest, concentrating all her efforts on agricultural and economic development, which would allow her to employ the heroes and soldiers of Xia Village.
"Requesting for relief troops is allowed, but Xia Village's price for sending troops is very high," Chu Tian stated after a moment of contemplation. Providing protection for allies and collecting protection fees was under [diplomatic incomes] among the incomes of a feudal lord.
It seemed like a fabulous way to prosper, just by collecting protection fees from nearby players…
Right when Chu Tian was about to leave the auction house, a fat guy blocked their way out.
"You just purchased architectural drawings, so you must be feudal lords, right? I am the Vice Chairman of the Guild of Roaming Wolves, my name is Fatty," he introduced himself.
Chu Tian nodded in acknowledgement.
"The Guild of Roaming Wolves has already recruited 27 feudal lords and 230 free players. All of us are trapped in 'Feudal Lords' with hardly any chance of escaping. It is said by the beta-testing players that the Yellow Turban soldiers of Xu Prefecture come out and spoil the food from all our villages once feudal lords complete their harvests. If you join our guild, we can help each other out when the time comes."