"But if we buy people from other cities, we will immediately have a larger population."

Ye Feng frowned immediately: "Buy people?"

"Yes, buying people. Commoners and serfs are the private property of the city lord, so of course they have the right to buy and sell them. And this kind of thing happens often, just not on a large scale."

Chen He paused for a moment before continuing, "For example, a city lord might visit a friend in another city and meet a beautiful girl there. He would then pay to buy her and bring her to his own city. There are far too many examples like this."

"But large-scale buying and selling of commoners and serfs has not happened. After all, other cities are not short of people. City lords are already struggling to feed so many commoners and serfs in their own cities, so why would they actively buy more commoners and serfs from other cities?"

Chen He's words make a lot of sense.

However, Ye Feng was somewhat resistant to the method of buying people.

The night wind came from the mortal world, from a civilized world, and the buying and selling of people was, in his view, utterly despicable.

“Isn’t it inappropriate to buy and sell living people as commodities?” Ye Feng pondered for a moment before finally speaking.

Chen He said earnestly, "Ancestor, you are too kind and too benevolent. In the eyes of those city lords, commoners and serfs are probably not even worth as much as commodities! And you should think of it this way: those commoners and serfs are living in dire straits in other cities. When we pay to buy them and bring them to Silla City, we are helping them. This is doing a good deed."

"As long as we can give those commoners and serfs a better life, then this is feasible, a good deed, and we have a clear conscience."

Night Breeze was persuaded by Chen He.

After all, Chen He's words made a lot of sense.

Especially the words "having a clear conscience".

So Ye Feng made the decision: "Alright, then we'll take a two-pronged approach: on one hand, we'll buy civilians and serfs from other cities, and on the other hand, we'll search for settlements of refugees."

"Yes, Ancestor!"

Rowling nodded emphatically, a smile still on her face.

Night Wind suddenly asked again, "But from which city should we buy people?"

Luo Lin and Chen He exchanged a glance, and then they both answered in unison, "Jiang Xia City!"

Jiangxia City was indeed the wisest choice.

One reason is that Jiangxia City is the closest to Silla City, so it would be more convenient and faster to buy people and transport civilians from Jiangxia City.

On the other hand, it is because Xinluo City and Jiangxia City have already established a cooperative relationship, so it is more convenient to buy people from Jiangxia City.

"Luo Lin, you must immediately depart for Jiangxia City and discuss this matter with Jiang Zhengzhong, the city lord of Jiangxia City," Ye Feng said.

“Yes, Ancestor, but how many people do we need to buy?” Rowling asked.

Ye Feng said without hesitation, "Buy three thousand first, and we'll talk about it if it's not enough."

“Okay.” Rowling nodded happily.

Chen He said, "Ancestor, let's set off together. I can protect her on the way, and there should be refugee settlements in the wilderness near Jiangxia City."

“Then you can all travel together,” Ye Feng said.

Without any hesitation, Chen He and Luo Lin immediately left Xinluo City and headed to Jiangxia City.

After Chen He and Luo Lin left, Ye Feng started to busy himself with his own things.

On the table in front of Ye Feng, there were sheets of blueprints.

Each drawing contains a part, and the dimensions of these parts are clearly marked.

If all these parts are manufactured according to the blueprints, they can obviously be assembled into a complete mechanical device!

"Will it actually work out? I'm actually starting to look forward to it," Ye Feng muttered to himself, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Just then, the maid Luo Xiaotong came running in from outside.

"Ancestor, Ancestor, Miss Luo Qing requests your presence at the blacksmith's workshop!" Luo Xiaotong said quickly.

Blacksmith's workshop?

Could it be that Luo Qing has overcome the difficulties of the net-like spirit gathering array?

Ye Feng immediately set off for the blacksmith's workshop. As soon as he entered the workshop's courtyard, he saw Luo Qing, who was covered in dust and looked disheveled.

Moreover, the blacksmith's workshop has undergone a complete transformation.

In the center of the blacksmith's workshop stood a large iron furnace, over three meters tall, which was now glowing red-hot and radiating an astonishing heat wave.

However, there was no firewood or coal around, which is enough to show that the fuel for this large iron furnace was not firewood or coal.

Moreover, there were array circuits on the large iron furnace, and a faint blue light was flowing and fluctuating within these circuits. As a result, the large iron furnace emitted spiritual energy fluctuations, and these spiritual energy fluctuations were quite strong.

Not only the large iron furnace, but also the entire underground of the blacksmith's workshop was emanating very obvious fluctuations of spiritual energy. Ye Feng could even clearly feel the surrounding spiritual energy gathering towards the blacksmith's workshop.

Ye Feng released his divine sense and discovered a formation buried underground beneath the blacksmith's workshop.

No, not just one.

It's sixteen!

The sixteen spirit-gathering arrays are connected in parallel to form a very complex net-like spirit-gathering array, also known as the spirit net!

The surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth is gathered by the spiritual network!

The spiritual network continuously gathers the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and supplies it to the large iron furnace. As a result, the array on the large iron furnace is activated, using the spiritual energy of heaven and earth as fuel to raise the temperature inside the railway.

This is absolutely perfect teamwork!

Without a doubt, Luo Qing succeeded.

She did not disappoint Ye Feng's expectations!

"Ancestor, you've arrived! Come and see! I designed this giant iron furnace myself, and I set up the array on it myself!" Luo Qing said excitedly, jumping up and down with joy.

As Ye Feng strode over, all the blacksmiths around him bowed in respect.

"May Your Lordship be well!"

The blacksmiths greeted him in unison, and Ye Feng waved his hand before turning to Luo Qing and asking, "I've discovered that you've successfully recreated the net-like spirit-gathering array and even buried it underground to supply this large iron furnace with spiritual energy from heaven and earth."

“Yes, that’s it!” Luo Qing said with a smile.

"I'm curious, why did you bury the spirit-gathering array underground? If there are problems with the spirit network in the future and it needs to be repaired or modified, wouldn't it be very troublesome to dig up the ground?" Ye Feng asked.

Luo Qing said, "Yes, Ancestor, it is indeed quite troublesome, but there is no other way. There are many blacksmiths working here in the blacksmith workshop. They need to move around and carry things. If the spirit net is laid on the ground, it will hinder them. They may also accidentally damage the spirit net while working."

"So after thinking it over, I think it's better to bury it directly underground. Even if it's more troublesome to repair or modify it later, at least it won't affect its use in normal times. And look, Ancestor, I've marked it on the ground. If any of the spirit-gathering arrays in the spirit network malfunctions, we just need to dig up that area and repair that spirit-gathering array."