Chapter 551: Different Villagers, the Furnace and the Bellows, Discovering Each Other

Woof, woof!

At the edge of the forest outside the Jiedian, Jier was listening to the Spirit Dog, Big Nose, tell him what it had barely managed to overhear.

"They started arguing? And blaming each other? They are afraid of the Southern Mountains? The side with more people is accusing the side with fewer people of being wrong to enter the mountains? Blah blah..."

Jier scratched his head, feeling that although Big Nose looked like a smart Shepherd Dog, he still couldn't overestimate its intelligence. Although Big Nose could understand human language, it still couldn't grasp the deeper meaning of human speech, nor could it retell what it had heard to him after listening.

After listening, Jier could only understand one thing: that Knight's subordinates and the manager of the Jiedian were not on the same side.

They had a quarrel and were blaming each other.

That was enough for Jier.

Moreover, from what Big Nose recounted, Jier keenly realized one thing.

It was that the enemy seemed to have not yet waited for the arrival of that so-called 【Messenger of Flame】; this was a key point.

If that person came, regardless of whether they were male or female, their strength, or their status, it would be a terrible thing for Jier, because the Changmai Village Villagers in the Mine would be useless, and those immoral Defeated Soldiers would definitely kill all the Villagers in the Mine.

And if that person hadn't come yet, then he and his men still had time to Scout and prepare to attack this place. They still had time.

"Since those people haven't waited for the other party in the trade, can I impersonate them? Anyway, these people can't prove I'm not, right?"

Jier had a sudden whim and came up with a bold idea.

But this idea was hard to say; after all, the Scouting inside the Jiedian hadn't been done yet. He still didn't understand the situation of the Villagers, their specific numbers, casualties, hunger levels, fatigue levels, etc., as well as the Villagers' desire to resist.

In the subsequent battle, not to mention having these Villagers help fight, whether they could safely guard the entrance and exit of the Mine was also a key point.

As long as the Villagers were made to retreat back into the Mine before the battle and hold the entrance and exit of the Mine to the death, then he wouldn't have to fear the Defeated Soldiers using the Villagers as hostages to threaten him, and he could fight with his hands free!

By then, even if his Warriors were at a disadvantage in the battle, he himself could find a way to fight hard and alone annihilate this group of remaining dozens of Defeated Soldiers.

As for that Knight Hate in the Jiedian, he smelled so bad that Jier didn't think he could still fight, and it was even possible he could die at any time due to a lack of proper medical care.

Before he came, he was too worried about not being a match for a real Knight, but clearly, reality wasn't that difficult. His previous experience leading a Refugee Team of hundreds through the chaotic Southern Province counted as the game's hard mode, while the other party leading two hundred people through the Southern Mountains—that wasn't hard mode, but the game's Hell mode.

Looking at the result, being able to survive and successfully lead people out while suffering severe burns was already quite capable.

"But it's a pity, he risked his life to lead his men out of the Southern Mountains, but these men aren't loyal, huh."

Jier gave a dissatisfied hum.

He then let Big Nose head toward the few wooden houses on the east side of the Jiedian. Additionally, from outside the fence, one could see a downward pit not far from a Furnace on the east side, from which dirty male Villagers would emerge from time to time, carrying pitifully few pieces of Mineral Ore in wooden boxes on their backs.

And some Defeated Soldiers guarding the entrance and exit of the Mine would disdainfully weigh the quantity and weight of the Mineral Ore, then use a small shovel to scoop a tiny bit of wheat grains from a Grain Bag nearby, and amidst the Villagers' pleas, pour the meager wheat grains into the other's dirty hands without giving a single bit more.

The poor Villagers had to carefully cup these wheat grains and shrink back into the Mine.

Their whole family lived in the tunnels inside the Mine; on the surface, only those Defeated Soldiers could set up Tents to live in, and all the Villagers could only live in the Mine.

How they lived and how they allocated living space was something the soldiers didn't care about at all.

After a while, the Villager who had just exchanged Mineral Ore for food brought their family out of the Mine. Right next to the entrance and exit of the Mine, there were a few iron pots set up for cooking; there was plenty of fuel for cooking.

When the Defeated Soldiers built the Jiedian, they had cleared all the Forest inside and around the Jiedian, so while there wasn't much of anything else, wood for fuel was free and plentiful.

The family carefully started a fire and then poured in the clean water they had carried out from the Mine. There were places to get water inside the Mine, although it wasn't in the same direction as where they mined; fortunately, it wasn't the same direction. If the underground water vein and the mineral vein were in the same direction, that would be terrible.

The entire Mine might be flooded, and this Mine would have to be abandoned.

After the fire was lit under the iron pot and the clean water was poured in, while waiting for the water to boil, the elderly and children in the family—those who couldn't work—carefully sandwiched the meager food between two flat Stone blocks, repeatedly crushing and grinding them, trying to grind the dry, hard wheat grains as much as possible.

And these crushed, scattered wheat grains, when poured into the iron pot, could turn half a pot of clean water into a meal that barely allowed the family to fill their stomachs with water.

No salt, no oil, just this dry, half-pot of Wheat Porridge—no, it wasn't even worth calling it Wheat Porridge, just thin soup.

Yet this thing had to feed the whole family.

The half-grown child stared hungrily at the contents of the pot, while the elderly person sat weakly on a Stone block to the side, slowly waving a hand at the young person who was also hungry.

But how could they not let the elderly eat?

In the end, the two elderly people could only drink a small bowl of thin soup, and the young person who had to keep working didn't eat much either; instead, the two eleven or twelve-year-old teenagers gulped down all the remaining thin soup.

They were still hungry after finishing, but the middle-aged head of the household carefully took out the Leather Bag from their chest, carefully felt the weight of the Leather Bag, and shook their head with regret.

After this family finished their 'meal', they basked in the sun on the surface for a while longer, and before the soldiers looked over frequently to drive them away, the family took the initiative to retreat back into the Mine.

Jier let out a breath; he had seen the whole scene from the treetops outside the Jiedian.

"Damn it! The Villagers probably can't hold on much longer."

Jier said through gritted teeth.

He hadn't expected that some of the Villagers in the Mine had already become like this; a family of nearly ten people, was that handful of wheat grains enough to survive on?

His Refugee Team had never restricted the people's food even at their most difficult times, and these Defeated Soldiers clearly still had plenty of food, so why didn't they give the Villagers a little more?

It was obvious even if you thought about it with your heels that only after the Villagers were full could they dig out more Mineral Ore.

People being this hungry meant they could only dig out a little bit of Mineral Ore at a time; this was a vicious cycle. The hungrier they were, the less they could dig, and if they couldn't dig, they couldn't get more food, and without food, people were even hungrier.

But Jier thought again, considering the Metal Ingots filling the house to the west that Big Nose had scouted, and the fact that the Furnace on the east side was still operating, perhaps for the Defeated Soldiers, they had already obtained enough metal resources, and as long as the Villagers in the Mine could just barely sustain themselves, they didn't care.

And keeping the Villagers hungry was also conducive to their subsequent operation of executing these Villagers.

Hungry Villagers simply couldn't resist the butcher knives of the Defeated Soldiers.

Thinking of this, Jier let out a stifled breath.

Big Nose soon returned, and with dog barks that only Jier could hear, it told Jier the news it had seen.

"The first house on the east side has a lot of metal trinkets? Oh, that is the stuff the enemies are wearing, right?"

Jier understood; the first wooden house on the east side should be a place where the enemy soldiers maintained their Armor plates and repaired their weapons and equipment.

It was unknown how these Defeated Soldiers managed this; did they carry a set of portable maintenance tools when they traveled through the Southern Mountains? Or were those maintenance and production tools originally present in this Mine?

If it were the former, one could only say that these Defeated Soldiers were still very professional; although they were all immoral scum, their military preparations were sufficient.

And if it were the latter, then Jier could only say that the enemy from the neighboring country was truly bold.

Not only were they secretly and illegally mining in a remote part of the Southern Province of the Saint Hors Kingdom, but they were also smelting the mined Mineral Ore on the spot and producing the weapons and equipment needed by the soldiers on a small scale.

Fortunately, the war broke out early, and the enemy had voluntarily abandoned this place early; if the enemy had been allowed to prepare for another year or two, this war would probably have been even harder to fight.

Last year's disastrous defeat wouldn't have been just a matter of the Southern Province Noble Coalition retreating one or two counties, but a crisis where they might have been pushed by the enemy all the way to the Province Capital.

However, considering that currently it is only the strength of a single province of the Saint Hors Kingdom engaging in battle against the entire strength of a neighboring country, it is hard to say whether it would be good or bad if the enemy actually reached the Province Capital of the Southern Province.

When the time comes for the Saint Hors Kingdom to assemble its national military strength, with a population and territory ten times that of the enemy country, wouldn't the enemy be the one to face the destruction of their nation instead?

One must know that the Saint Hors Kingdom is vast; it is said that the Western Province alone has a cavalry force numbering in the tens of thousands, the Beibu Xingsheng has been fighting the North Three Kingdoms for years, and although the Northwest Province is small in area and population, the Knights there all possess long-term experience in fighting and slaughtering Magic Beasts.

The Eastern Province is even more critical; the Royal Capital is located there, and it has the highest number of Nobles and Knights. Because it borders the Empire, a large number of landless migrants from the Empire have settled there, and its population is greater than that of all other regions of the Kingdom combined.

When the time comes for the Saint Hors Kingdom to conscript hundreds of thousands of soldiers at once, no matter how good at fighting that Kingdom in the south is, what will they do then?

Jier's thoughts drifted a bit too far, and he sent out Spirit Dog again, letting it continue to Scout.

At this moment, Jier saw Villagers walking out of the Mine; although these people were exhausted, their physical condition was much better, and each of them was even muscular and sturdy from days of mining.

The Wooden Boxes they carried on their backs were filled to the brim with Mineral Ore, and there were quite a few of them.

When they dumped out the Mineral Ore they were carrying, they even piled up a mound of ore half a person high on the ground.

Facing these "big clients," the nearby Defeated Soldier had smiles on their faces; the large baskets of Mineral Ore were weighed, and then a whole bag of grain was handed to the other party, and the two sides could even share a few laughs.

"What is going on?"

Jier could not understand the situation; he muttered to himself, feeling that he might have underestimated the situation at the Mine.

"Why couldn't the family before get this Mineral Ore? But these young people can? Have some sturdy farmers joined forces? But what about their families? Have they abandoned them? Or are they all dead?"

Jier guessed wildly.

At this time, Spirit Dog ran back and informed Jier of the situation in the second wooden house on the east side.

Woof, woof!

"Hmm, a half-empty room? There are many Wooden Boxes inside? Do you know what is inside the Wooden Boxes?"

Jier asked Spirit Dog.

Woof, woof!

"Tools, huh? Oh, the tools in the hands of those Villagers. So that's how it is; those inside are the tools left behind by the people who were secretly mining before."

"Very good, only the last wooden house is left, go take a look quickly." That last wooden house was very close to the Furnace, and faint, rhythmic shouting could be heard from it from afar.

Jier sent Spirit Dog over to see what exactly was going on in this wooden house.

Yamila was currently in the last wooden house on the east side of the Jiedian, draped in a Magic Cloak that could turn her invisible, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the many men inside the house.

She could not bear to blink, because this was the location of the bellows providing strong airflow to the Furnace next door, and the male Villagers working here were all stripped completely naked, their bodies covered in beads of sweat left behind from their labor.

Those beads of sweat rolled off their bodies, trickling down all the way until they finally dripped onto the dry ground.

"Heave! Ho!"

"Pull the bellows!"

"Heave! Ho!"

"Put your strength into it!"

"Heave! Ho!"

"You and me!"

"Heave! Ho!"

"Eat your fill!"

These young Villagers working hard shouted short chants, their bodies bare as they pulled the huge wooden levers with force, while another group next to them pushed the huge wooden levers in synchronization.

This caused the sturdy bellows, the size of half a room, to continuously suck in air from the opening, and then, following the movement of the internal mechanism, send a large amount of air through wooden pipes to the Furnace next door.

The pipe in contact with the Furnace had also been changed from wood to a brick-and-stone material fused with the Furnace; these materials were not afraid of the high temperature of the Furnace, and through the internal structure, they sent a large amount of fresh air into the combustion chamber at the bottom of the Furnace, baking a large amount of charcoal to release more heat, thereby melting the iron ore in the metal Furnace above.

It takes quite a while for the scattered particles of iron ore to melt into molten metal; at this time, the air provided by the bellows must not stop, and the charcoal fuel at the bottom of the Furnace must not stop either—one end must continuously provide charcoal, and the other must clear out the burnt charcoal ash in a timely manner.

And at the top of the Furnace, someone still had to take a huge risk to push the stirring mechanism, allowing the molten metal in the Furnace to be fully heated and the impurities to be separated.

At the end, the three openings at the top, middle, and bottom of the Furnace were opened one by one; first, the light impurities at the top were poured into a chute to the side, flowing into an Earth Pit nearby.

And after the impurities were poured out, the middle opening was opened, carefully controlling the molten metal here as it flowed along a clean chute into Earth Pits of uniform size; once one was full, the movable chute was immediately shifted to let the continuously flowing molten metal pour into another Earth Pit of the same size.

One batch of qualified molten metal could roughly fill ten Earth Pits; once they cooled down, they would be ten heavy Metal Ingots.

The heavy impurities at the very bottom of the Furnace needed to be poured out through an opening at the very bottom, likewise into a waste Earth Pit nearby.

These light impurities and heavy impurities were not qualified finished products; only the molten metal in the middle was barely usable iron material.

In fact, these things still contained a large amount of impurities, but as long as these Metal Ingots were transported away, re-refined, or processed by Craftsmen, they could be used to forge weapons and equipment.

When Spirit Dog poked its head into this room, it and Yamila were both startled; neither could see the other, but Yamila, as a Magic Apprentice, possessed quite precise magic perception. Although she could not clearly perceive Spirit Dog, the Spirit Dog composed of the Divine Power of the Agricultural God, she could still perceive the energy anomaly in the surroundings.

"What is going on? Something came? But, but I didn't see anything?"

She looked around alertly; besides the many naked men who excited her, there was nothing that looked abnormal.

But she still carefully pinched her hands inside the Cloak into a gesture to activate her Combat Magic bracelet at any moment; with the gesture set, a single short command would be enough to unleash quite fierce Combat Magic.

As for Spirit Dog, it was much simpler; after discovering the situation, it just sniffed its nose and easily found Yamila's location, and the intuition of a Spirit Dog let it know that the invisible enemy at that location was a woman and was very dangerous.

Although she would not cause it any harm, she was still very dangerous.

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