Chapter 214: The South Wind Rises

When he had run out more than twenty meters, the explosive detonated; a series of loud bangs made everyone's scalp tingle, and then they saw stones splashing at Tiekuangshan, with massive boulders falling to the ground one after another.

That Slave was still running with his head covered, shouting "ah, ah" at the top of his lungs, terrified that a stone might land on his back and crush him to death; he did not dare to look back again.

As for the people on Baifeng's side, they were all so frightened that they crouched on the ground; only Baifeng remained standing there, his eyes fixed on the location of the mine, wanting to see the effect of the explosion after the dust settled.

The dust drifted for quite a while before dispersing, and when Baifeng looked, there was already a huge pile of stones on the ground, which he estimated would be enough for them to use; Baifeng felt very pleased, as from now on, their tribe would have Gunpowder to help with mining and clearing paths.

That Slave had already run to Baifeng's side and, seeing the scene after the Bomb had exploded, immediately knelt on the ground again, kowtowing crazily toward Baifeng and praising the Tribal Chief's divine power.

The other tribesmen only then reacted, realizing that this was the Heavenly Thunder released by the Tribal Chief; one by one, they followed suit and knelt on the ground, muttering praises to the Tribal Chief in a daze.

Baifeng did not explain anything, only telling them to get up and go over there quickly to see if the fallen ore was enough for them to transport this time; if it was enough, they should load it onto the carts and pull it back to the Battalion.

Judging by the time, they could not return today and would have to set up the camp more thoroughly here to make do for the night. Taking advantage of this time, Baifeng could also load the Bomb again to blast more ore, which would make it more convenient for them when they came to collect it later; otherwise, it would be too troublesome for Baifeng to have to run here every time.

Now the tribesmen did not dare to speak much, as the Tribal Chief had just performed such a terrifying feat, so they all ran to the ore at top speed to pick and choose; the air was filled with a strange smell they were not familiar with, and those stones were stained black by something, which could be scraped off by hand to reveal something like the ash in a fire pit.

They chose the smaller pieces of ore to load onto the carts because the large stones were very strenuous to lift and took up space, making them less convenient than the small ones; furthermore, after the large ones were hauled back, they would still have to be smashed into powder before they could be put into the furnace to smelt Iron, otherwise, such large chunks would likely not burn through for a long time.

Baifeng also walked over to inspect; up close, he could see the power of the Explosive more intuitively. The cracks they had not yet had time to widen were now large enough to put the Explosive into, and many new cracks had been blasted open, as if the Stonemason had no work left to do now.

Taking advantage of the moment, Baifeng directly loaded the second wave of Gunpowder, and after they had cleared away the ore, he had that Slave go to light the fire again. This time, the tribesmen beside Baifeng had gained experience and were no longer panicked, instead staring at the mine with great anticipation, hoping to see the scene of the Heavenly Thunder explosion with their own eyes, as they had all been too scared to crouch on the ground and dare not look carefully last time.

Once they had used up all the Gunpowder they had brought this time, the ore Baifeng had blasted was enough to last for a very long time; even if they didn't come back to collect more for half a year, it would be completely sufficient, as their productivity had not reached the level of producing a certain amount of Iron per month, and their consumption of Iron Ore was naturally not that great.

After resting for a night in their temporarily built camp, they prepared to set off as soon as the day broke, hauling a full load of Iron Ore back to the Battalion. The tribesmen talked on the road about the scene of their Tribal Chief releasing the Heavenly Thunder, feeling that even after returning to the tribe, they would have something to boast about to the other tribesmen; they even felt that apart from them, no one else had likely seen the Tribal Chief release Heavenly Thunder.

Afterward, Baifeng did not make any more Bombs, only mixing some Gunpowder to store in Pottery Jars, because they had no place to use Bombs for now; even if enemies came, it would be in time to make Bombs temporarily.

The weather had turned warm, but the people of Baifeng's tribe were still waiting for precipitation; without precipitation, it would be difficult for them to sow seeds. The overall moisture during last Winter was not that high, so the soil moisture was very average; to grow good crops, they had to wait for a Spring rain.

During this time, they were preparing the fields, tidying up the farm tools, and dividing their work areas. Now, countless farmlands had been reclaimed, waiting for one more plowing; there were also some wastelands that needed the Slaves to reclaim as a source of food for these people.

The yield would certainly not be as good as the land Baifeng and the others had cultivated before; whether it was the fertilizer applied or the Wild Rice straw returned to the fields, the land had already been nurtured, while the newly reclaimed wasteland would certainly have a very low yield.

This year, they must also bring more cattle into the field. The few cattle used last year could continue to be used this year; having gained experience, they should be much easier to control this year. Although a year had passed, their temperaments were naturally better, and those cattle, along with the second-generation Xiaoniu, were raised separately from the first generation, so their temperaments had become much more docile.

In their plan for this year, they could probably bring out more than sixty head of cattle to attempt plowing; it was just unclear how many of them would reach the level of being usable, but as long as there was one more head of cattle, the overall plowing efficiency could be greatly improved.

Toward the evening of this day, the south wind rose, and the air became much more humid. Baifeng knew that the rain was finally coming, so they prepared everything; it might rain at night, and once it rained and the ground was ready, they would have to start racing against time to plant.

By the time night fell, the rain began to patter down, accompanied by bursts of Spring thunder, which made his mood much more relaxed.

In the morning, the rain was still falling, and it didn't stop until the afternoon; however, the ground was too wet to plant now, so they had to wait until tomorrow. By this time, everyone was no longer so anxious, as the rain that was supposed to come had arrived, and it wouldn't hurt to wait a little while longer.

It was just that the Slaves didn't know the situation. Seeing everyone in a hurry, they didn't realize that although they had reclaimed wasteland during the Winter, they hadn't been in a hurry then, so they hadn't been pushed too hard; they didn't know how much torture the upcoming Spring plowing would put them through.

Spring plowing was the thing all tribesmen looked forward to most, and also the thing they felt a lingering fear of whenever it was mentioned; those few short days could drain all their energy, and they felt it might take more than ten days to recover from the fatigue.