Great Song: You Feed Me Rice Porridge and Pickles Every Meal, Yet Expect Me to Enlist?

After transmigrating to Youzhou, one of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun in the Great Song, Zhao Chen is forced by circumstance to become the leader of a band of mountain bandits. But in these chaotic times, even bandits can barely scrape by, and his men are fed up. “Following Zhao Chen means going hungry nine times in three days!” Just as despair sets in, Zhao Chen binds to the Popularity System. Every new follower provides a hundred popularity points a day, which he can exchange for plain rice porridge and pickled mustard greens! “Come one, come all! Our stronghold is recruiting! Join us and you’ll get unlimited porridge and pickled mustard greens at every meal, no matter your age or gender!” “Boss, take me in! My grandpa was a remnant of the previous dynasty, my dad’s a rebel, and I’m a bandit through and through!” “Boss, a bunch of rebels showed up outside and said they’d make you a prince of the highest rank. I’ve already chopped them down!” “…” The Jurchens are eyeing the realm hungrily. If you enlist, you’ll get coarse grain at every meal, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get enough to eat. But you’re certain to be sent off to fight as cannon fodder! But as a bandit, you get porridge and pickled mustard greens on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, cold skin noodles and pork-stuffed flatbreads on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and all-you-can-eat barbecue on weekends. And you want me to enlist?