Chapter 503: Nighttime

The place where Baifeng discovered Saltpeter, even in such fine weather now without the obstruction of wind and Snow, would still take them five or six days of travel to reach, and the trees along the way were quite dense, making it impossible for carts or anything similar to pass; everything had to rely on a person's own two legs.

There was also a more serious problem, which was that the forest had not been explored, so no one could be certain how many fierce beasts were there; perhaps packs of wolves and fierce tigers were everywhere.

Therefore, Baifeng sent a relatively large number of Soldiers this time and also carried many Bombs; even if they could not kill those wild beasts, they could still scare them away through the noise.

The team set off smoothly; this time Lu was leading the team, and there was also the Artisan Litian from the Ministry of Works, who was the most familiar with Saltpeter, because the Saltpeter currently used by Huaxia was basically produced under his leadership, and he was responsible for this aspect of Saltpeter production in Huaxia.

They brought enough tools, and several craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, who were Litian's apprentices, also went along just to assist Litian in determining whether that place was truly a Saltpeter Mine.

After several military operations, Lu could already be considered a successful Leader; plus, he had grown older over these years and had become very steady. Now, Lu was already the father of three children and was long past the reckless young man he once was.

A team of nearly three hundred people could be said to be very luxurious, and besides the craftsmen who made Saltpeter, there were also Artisans who could build houses. If that place really was a Saltpeter Mine, according to Baifeng's intention, they were to start building houses right on the spot; it was necessary to have people stationed there, though Baifeng did not tell them about building a town, just in case it made them feel uneasy.

The team traveled by ox cart to Lema City and then set off from Lema City, but the direction was not toward the northwest, but directly north; they would not even pass by the original Kexiaozhan.

Everyone did not know what they would encounter on the road, so the further they were from the city, the more careful everyone became, to avoid running into any formidable wild beasts.

Fortunately, in the first few days of the journey, nothing happened. As they traveled further, they encountered many wolves and lynxes, but they just looked at the team from afar and then left directly; they knew these humans were not to be trifled with and were not a good choice for food.

Later, they encountered a family of brown bears, but the brown bears were also not interested in them, perhaps because they saw the team had many people and were somewhat wary; the mother bear took her two cubs and left straight away.

On the road, they also took the initiative to attack and killed many prey. After all, with a Weapon in hand, if you don't go and get some meat to eat, wouldn't it be a waste? Plus, everyone didn't have many opportunities to eat meat usually; the meat they ate the most was the produce from the river, and over a long time, they naturally got a bit tired of it. The meat of birds and beasts was everyone's favorite.

It wasn't until the fourth night that Lu, in his sleep, heard the heavy footsteps of a wild beast. In an instant, he woke up from his dream, but he didn't make any big movements; he just lay there quietly, eyes open, listening carefully.

Because there was a spring not far from where they were talking, they had camped there for the convenience of getting water, and they were prepared to meet the wild beasts. However, this sound was perhaps a bit too loud. This inexplicably made Lu think of elephants; if there really were elephants here, then even with many people, they would likely face a disaster.

But the Soldiers on night watch had no movement, which made Lu somewhat uneasy. Logically speaking, if there was such a big commotion, they should have already issued a warning, and the Soldiers of Huaxia would not fall asleep while on night watch; even if one or two slept, there were so many people on watch, it was impossible for them all to be asleep.

After lying there for a while, Lu still heard the footsteps not far from there, so he couldn't lie still anymore. He tried his best to keep his movements small, then quietly slipped out of the Tent, wanting to see what the situation was.

Then he saw those Soldiers on night watch were not asleep, but were nervously looking into the distance.

In order not to scare them, Lu whispered, "Hey, what do you see? Why is there no reaction? I heard the sound."

The Soldiers on night watch saw that it was Lu who had gotten up. One of the Soldiers, after glancing into the distance, tiptoed to Lu's side and said, "General Lu, we just discovered a team of rhinoceroses and a group of wild boars. Although they make a lot of noise, they are still some distance away from us, and they are heading for the spring, not toward us, so we are keeping a close eye on them. As long as they don't come over, there is no need to disturb everyone's rest."

Only after hearing this did Lu feel slightly relieved, but he still got up, went over with that Soldier, and squeezed in to watch; he had never seen a rhinoceros before.

He saw that in the darkness, there were several wild beasts with bodies larger than oxen and horns on their noses, rooting on the ground, appearing to be looking for Grass to eat. Although the sound of them walking was relatively loud, Lu now knew that the sound that made him feel annoyed was coming from that group of wild boars.

Looking over, there were about a dozen or even twenty wild boars, at least half of which were piglets, but there were three wild boars whose size was ridiculously large, and the noise was made by them. While eating, they kept grunting incessantly, and their feet were not idle either. The wild boars and rhinoceroses just ate and walked peacefully, heading all the way toward the spring.

Lu also didn't understand why animals as huge and with such high combat power as elephants and rhinoceroses were actually herbivores and not carnivores. If it were based on their attack power, even bears and fierce tigers would not be their match.

Lu didn't understand, so he stopped thinking about it; anyway, there would be people who would think about it, such as Changle. He only lamented now that it was a pity it was night and the visibility was poor, and the Soldiers were all resting; otherwise, they could have easily surrounded and hunted these wild boars and the like and been able to eat meat for a long time.

If they could also kill a rhinoceros, just handing that horn over to the King would probably earn a reward.

After watching for a while and confirming there would be no danger, Lu gave a few instructions to the Soldiers on night watch, then dragged his exhausted body back to the Tent and fell asleep as soon as he lay down. Now he didn't care about the noise of the wild beasts; as long as he knew he was safe, that was enough.

The Soldiers in other Tents might have also woken up, but everyone was just waiting; if they didn't wait for the wild beasts to attack, they would continue to sleep.