Chapter 332

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Dayang had studied subversion, but only studied it; as for how to actually do it, he knew no more than Chen Yi. When Standard Bearer Liqi refused his extra ten conch shells, Dayang hesitated even more.

Chen Yi, however, sat before the fence like an old manor lord, drinking rich Sri Lankan red tea, eating New York Lower East Side walnut pie, and watching Yun Shisan patrol and select among a group of bear-like brawny men.

It must be said, the West Continent was truly a land of unique advantage; abundant food meant even slaves could eat their fill, truly making the land-poor Chinese people jealous. To some extent, this place had conditions surpassing America—cowboys drove wild buffalo along the railway all the way to New York, eating wild buffalo along the road, saving even the effort of herding.

Of course, for slaves, don't imagine there was anything good in the food, but whether it was leftovers or thick soup boiled from the cheapest sweet-potato-like root vegetables in the forest, at least they wouldn't go hungry.

The slaves inside the fence might not want to be slaves, but they were always willing to go out to work, because going out might mean eating better things, escaping the abuse and forced labor of the camp officers, escaping the possibility of being cannon fodder, and perhaps even a good chance to run away.

Two young men riding Sand Beasts jumped down from their mounts from afar and walked into the Slave Camp, also pretending to be hired slaves.

They were local knights; when hired, they didn't even need to pay a deposit, nor did they need to go to the small "window" for minor hiring nearby to pay, so they could observe Chen Yi and the others from the side.

The handsome youth among them rubbed his fists together, almost wanting to rush up and fight.

The big-bearded man instead calmed down, but was full of killing intent, saying: "Their status in the West River Water Fortress is not low; we must find a reliable method."

"If we ambush and kill them inside the camp, would anyone dare help the Jiangning people?"

"But they wouldn't help you either." The implication was that the big-bearded man also had no certainty of victory. The previous attack had cost them soldiers and generals, and even Combat Skill Level knights had suffered casualties; if the West River Water Fortress could be flattened, someone would have done it long ago.

The handsome youth's momentum instantly weakened, saying: "No wonder it's a Slave Camp..."

"Shh..." the big-bearded man corrected: "It is Sir Caldwell's camp."

The gentlemen of Ma La don't care about any 14th Light Infantry Battalion; what they care about is Caldwell.

The handsome youth snorted, saying: "The money-grubbing Caldwell."

"Without the position of Grand Knight dangling before him, he naturally only cares about money," the big-bearded man thought in his heart, but did not say it out loud; instead he said: "We wait for the slaves to come out, then see the situation and decide."

After speaking, the two hired four slaves and hurriedly left.

Yin Senyong had noticed them long ago, always maintaining a faint fighting qi on his hand, ready to strike at any time; seeing them leave now, he finally relaxed slightly.

Being in a foreign land, all kinds of precautions must be taken. A family knight who could thrive in a foreign country, whether returning home or entering service, would achieve no small success, and the most important point among them was precaution.

"Those two people, do you know them?" Yin Senyong asked Maduke as if bored.

"Nobles from inside the city, who they are I don't know."

Yin Senyong smiled, then asked: "There are quite a few more slaves in the camp now, right?"

"Just over 2000 more, prepared losses." Maduke hehehed; those who understood understood, those who didn't just took it as hearing a shadow.

The 14th Light Infantry Battalion actually had more than 220,000 slaves; accumulated over the years, plus war slaves captured or bought to make money, Sir Caldwell maintained at least over 300,000 slaves. Only thus could he maintain good relations with some old clients and continue making money during the Temple War—at that time, not only would prices rise, but slave prices would also rise.

At this time, Yun Shi had finished selecting people and came over to report: "500 slaves, sir."

Yin Senyong walked over with a smile-not-smile, accompanying Chen Yi to look; they were mostly fellows who seemed honest or silent.

Chen Yi nodded and said with a smile: "They seem like some... well, I'll take these people, Dayang, you stay and hand over with them."

From the perspective of the "Honesty" faith requirement, saying a few evaluative words wasn't wrong, especially adding the word "seem," but if one could avoid saying it, one wouldn't. Being a Holy Knight was like being an official; the more careful, the more formidable. Of course, if it was one's nature, then one would be truly invincible with a golden body.

They said they would leave and left, but left over 5000 copper coins, making Standard Bearer and Maduke's hearts move.

"They are not locals; hiring slaves, if they are not returned, we will lose everything." Standard Bearer Liqi licked his tongue. As subordinates of Caldwell, they naturally liked money. But this liking had to be based on not harming Caldwell's interests.

Liqi dared not directly take the money, but suggested: "Sir Dayang, how about I find another batch of slaves for you to choose from?"

Dayang knew this money was not for buying slaves, but was his public relations fund, and had to be spent.

So he thought hard, finally gritted his teeth, and said: "Can I see your camp's commanding officer?"

"Sir Caldwell?" Liqi looked covetously at the sack on the ground, considered for a while, and said: "Alright, you have that qualification."

If over 500 conch shells bought slaves, the knight could at least take half; meeting once was no problem.

Dayang resolutely shouldered a 250-jin sack, and after seeing Sir Caldwell, he spoke in a tactful yet firm tone: "Sir, I want to talk to you alone."

No one knew what was discussed inside; anyway, when Dayang came out, he was penniless, not even having thin coins to go home.

Over 1000 slaves formed a winding long snake; everyone was bound together with thick hemp ropes, and several civilian officers guarded them with crossbows and long spears.

Chen Yi half-reclined in the carriage, not caring about the outside situation, until they reached the Rubber Forest, when he said: "Wait."

Yun Shisan hurriedly stood up and shouted: "Stop."

The slaves stirred, slowly stopping; being in the wilderness could easily bring bad associations, and someone immediately shouted in the common tongue or Ma La dialect: "Everyone gather together, watch out for crossbows, watch out for crossbows."

Whether when they were slaves or before when they were soldiers driving slaves, they knew various ways of massacre.

Chen Yi didn't even blink.

Not long after, Sun Ruihe jumped out from the forest, carrying two packs of latex on his back, seemingly nearly a hundred jin; after he laboriously climbed onto the carriage, Yun Shisan then urged the Mount Beast forward again.

"How is it?"

"It's real rubber trees; I walked 4.3 kilometers, all rubber trees, but as for exactly how many ten thousand hectares, I need to come two more trips."

"What's the density?"

"Very few mixed trees; three to four hundred rubber trees per hectare, about twenty-five per mu." After coming to the West Continent, the first serious thing Sun Ruihe did was survey the rubber forest; how could he not be careful.

Rubber trees planted on Earth were about five hundred per mu, up to six hundred was fine. The West Continent's natural rubber trees were much thicker than Earth's Brazilian rubber trees; even at the same density, their demand for land fertility was at least double.

Chen Yi frowned and said: "After returning, write it into a report; I'll show it to the experts."

Tapping natural rubber trees wasn't a one-time thing, but a frequent behavior within the season; such a dense rubber forest might instead have weak latex production, and then its value would be low. Of course, even if it could only be tapped a few times, tens of thousands of mu of rubber forest would still be quite valuable.

"Yes."

"Let's go." Chen Yi waved his hand, while Sun Ruihe leaned against the carriage and slowly rested.

The slave column set off again; half a li behind them, the Sand Beast followed slowly, occasionally stretching out its long forelimbs to pick leaves from trees to eat.

After a while, the Sand Beast also arrived at the Rubber Forest; the big-bearded man snatched a few leaves from the Sand Beast's hand and said in a low voice: "Why are they so interested in this tree's rubber?"

"It is said the Jiangning people are skilled at making objects; perhaps they have great use."

"Great use?"

"Who knows."

"Is this place wasteland? Why not we buy it?"

"Tree resin sells for only a few coins a year." The handsome youth was somewhat unwilling to spend money, and said: "In the Elder Council, selling land is also a trouble."

The bearded man twitched his beard twice, and said: "Why not... burn it? It's just that the forest is a bit large..."

"Let's ask when we go back; if it's truly valuable, we can also make good things for the Jiangning people." The handsome youth said, patted the Sand Beast, and said: "Catch up."

Front.

The slaves, one by one, took the ship across the river, then switched to automobiles, and from the highway went straight to the West River Water Fortress headquarters; after going through various cleaning and quarantine steps, they were respectively locked into camps. No one discovered that behind them, two Noble Knights disguised as merchants.

The quarantine work at the West River Water Fortress was carried out by Jin Mian, a doctor who had been tricked into coming not long ago. He was a 40-year-old clinic doctor after divorce; his wife had taken the cash at home and the clinic's storefront. Jin Mian, unwilling to accept the predicament of starting over, came to the West Continent under Xiao Zhu's coaxing, and was considered the only general practitioner here, as well as the only specialist.

He incidentally took on two Natives as assistants; although the working environment was worse than the clinic, he very much enjoyed the striving atmosphere here, and the occasional power struggles, in the eyes of old-timers, were more like a kind of student-like competition. On the other hand, Chen Yi satisfied the West Continent people's material needs as much as possible; Wuliangye and the treasure Moutai were both on the B-grade Supply List, and he soon formed drinking-buddy relationships with Li Duo and others of the same age.

Two days later, the prison-style simple quarantine and cleaning ended. Slaves uniformly dressed in gray and bright yellow work uniforms began their hard work in the Basic Construction Group. Besides the 500 slaves selected by Shisan, the remaining 500 were not so easy to get along with; among them were some Alien Race slaves captured from distant countries, with determined expressions, full of Spartacus-like rebellious spirit.

More than thirty students of the Basic Construction Group, including Shi Nengren, all scattered about to serve as Overseers. In Shi Nengren's own words: "Back in school I fantasized that after becoming an Engineering Supervisor, I'd eat the best and drink the finest; who would have thought that now I'm actually supervising other people's little lives." (Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to come to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)