Battle Royale of the Sinners

April 2nd.

WM and SW convenient stores officially opened today. The people, who had attended yesterday demonstration, dragged their friends into the shops.

They were awestruck by the sight of the shop interior.

When they got inside, they were greeted by the female staffs who were standing behind the cashier bar. Behind them, luxurious glass bottles lined up on the shelf behind the staffs.

At the side of the cashier counter, large sacks which contained various kinds of spice were presented for the shopper to see.

In the middle of the shop, various items had been lined up beforehand on several lines of long shelves. Each shelf contained a specific type of wares and daily tools. Vegetables and food were on the stall sections while water, wine, and other cheap beverages were on the side shelves. Each product has a small piece of price-tag paper on it.

"My word …"

"Holy moly …"

The first visitors did not know what to do when they got inside.

"Please take a look around. If you wish to buy something, please take it to the counter. The price of every item is listed on the shelves and on the product itself. If you have any question, feel free to ask me."

One of the female staffs greeted them with a charming smile. These staffs were hired back in February and were trained by Hua Shi. They knew what they should do to the first time customers.

"Umm, what is this shop?"

A curious merchant dropped by to observe.

"This is a supermarket. We are selling everything that is on the shelves. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

Another staff answered the merchant.

A spy from the Yuan family also mixed with the crowd. When he noticed the bottles behind the staffs, he asked.

"What's inside those bottles? Tea?"

"No, it is the "Whiskey" that young master Zhang had made. We are selling it for 3 gold for a small bottle, 6 gold for a medium size, and 10 gold for the big bottle. You can get the discount price if you have the citizen token."

The spy was shocked when he heard "Whiskey". He knew about the whiskey that Te Langpu had won the auction.

The others who had participated in the auction was also astonished. A couple of curious wealthy men bought a small bottle right away to test it out. They opened the bottle and took a sip.

"Mm! Such exquisite taste!"

"So this is the whiskey!"

The two wealthy men that tasted the whiskey looked at the big bottles in reluctant. One of them made a decision and bought another big bottle (1 liter) of whiskey.

Because of the action of the two wealthy men, it triggered the crowd psychology. When one person took action and showed the others the positive result, the passive onlookers usually copied the predecessor by using the same action.

By seeing the men successfully bought something, the others followed suit. They picked up a few things on the shelves and walked to the counter to pay for it. Some tried to take the items and walked away without paying, but they were stopped by the security guards at the entrance and inside the shop. Some asked the staffs if there was a certain item, which they were guided to the shelves or the staffs would pick the items for them.

All shops filled with customers within 30 minutes. The staffs behind the counter soon became busy.

…

Tong observed the shops and nodded in satisfaction.

With the foundation of this business model, other shops and stalls around the city would copy this setup and it should spread among the other merchants.

The factories that he built in February bore the fruits. The blacksmiths learned the glassblowing and glass making techniques. Although the glass bottles they made were rough and were full of impurities because they lacked silica sand and proper tools, the bottles were still in acceptable quality.

Carpenters were imparted with new furniture designs, which would bring them more customers.

Jobless women were recruited and trained to be the miscellaneous staffs within the shops or clerks in the city hall which would reduce the number of unemployed citizens in the city.

Ronin scholars were also hired as teachers for the workers. They would teach them to read and write, so they could read the announcements and news on the signboards around the city. Once the numbers of literate people increased, Tong would open a school to the public.

On the other hand, newly recruited men without profession skill were given to Zhou Cang to train them into either city garrisons, securities for shops, or reserve soldiers.

The gold in the hands of Tong would return back to the people to circulate the cash flow among the citizens and boost the economy of the city. Once his people had a stable income, their quality of life would increase, and their happiness would follow.

The people's happiness was Tong's primary goal for this year as he aimed to get back as many lifespans possible from the Soulmate Mission. Tong had invested a portion of his lifespans into the food, spice, salt, whiskey, and others. He had to get some of the lifespans back for the future use.

…

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**Soulmate Mission No.2**

The chaos is about to begin! You know what will happen in the future, right?

It's about time that you develop a good base to prepare for the upcoming disasters.

Clear Condition:

- Occupied Ye City and Julu City. Other cities are optional.

- Protect the cities from the invaders until the time limit runs out.

- Make at least 50% of your citizens happy.

- Zhang Tong and Hua Shi must participate in this mission together.

Failure Condition:

- One or more of the cities is not under your control when the time limit exceeded.

- Zhang Tong or Hua Shi did not participate in this mission.

Clearing Reward:

- 100,000 Lifespans for completing the main objective.

- 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general.

- 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier.

- 10,000 Lifespans for each city controlled. The reward is given annually.

- One shopping ticket for each city controlled. The reward is given annually.

- One Lifespan for each happy population each year. The reward is given annually.

- One shopping ticket if more than half of your population is happy. The reward is given annually.

Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A.D.

Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified and one of you will die.

System Note: As usual, you have to kill the soldiers or the generals yourself to get the reward.

*********************************************

…

The current population of Julu was a little over 150,000, referred to the registry of the people who had made their identification token at the city hall.

Each happy citizen would return Tong one lifespan. If one hundred thousand people were satisfied to live under Tong and his father's rules, Tong and Hua Shi would get 100,000 lifespans back by the end of the year. This had not included other benefits from occupying a city.

Despite all of his past achievements, Tong was not content with only the stability of the domestic of Julu. Now, he was eyeing on the city of Ye where Zhang He and Ju Shou was at.

'Now that the domestic situation has been improved. I'll stop making any further improvement to let the people digest the change. It's about time I expand my troops and plan for the expansion!'

The current number of city garrison was now 20,000 men, and outside the city, 30,000 new soldiers were being trained. Combined with the original troops of Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang and Bo Cai's 12,000 men, Tong had 62,000 soldiers stationing within Julu territory.

'I want to house more troops, but I think my uncles, Zhou Cang, and Bo Cai probably cannot handle it anymore. I need more capable generals to handle this massive army … Right! I forgot about the invitation! How are Zhao Yun and Sima family? I need to ask Lu Zhi! Oh, wait. Lu Zhi in the history can lead troops, too! I can make him a general when a crisis happens. Hehe!'

Tong returned to the government hall to look for Lu Zhi.

…

At the courtyard of Lu Zhi, a stern middle-aged man sipped the hot tea from the cup in his hands. On the opposite side of the wooden round table, Lu Zhi was there, conversing with the man in front of him.

"If I have heard that you arrived here last week, I could have welcomed you myself. At least, you should have sent me a letter to notify me beforehand."

The man shook his head and said.

"To begin with, it was my fault. I want to see how this Zhang family operates the city. I can't let them know my presence or my evaluation of them will be off."

Lu Zhi sighed while he still had a wry smile on his face. The man in front of him was Sima Fang, courtesy name Jiangong.

He was the father of the future Wei Empire renowned strategist, Sima Yi.