With this map, Su Man and Ao Xi finally had a clear idea in their minds.
There were no special markings on the map for this section of the road, so it should be safe. As for the guard just now, he must have been chasing the fleeing man, otherwise there would be no guards on this section.
Poor guy, he was caught even though he ran all the way here.
On the way, Su Man kept observing the two mountains around her. Just as the waiter said, the two mountains were slightly reddish and had a lot of foxtail grass growing on them.
While Su Man was observing the terrain, Ao Xi suddenly stopped and pointed at the stream in front of him. "There will be guards after this."
Su Man nodded, "Be careful."
...
Following the map, the two men avoided two waves of patrolling guards.
But the deeper they went, the more frightened Su Man became.
In just this short journey, they had seen four or five waves of guards, each wave with no less than ten people.
This is still on the periphery, and we don’t know how many people are inside.
After they once again avoided a patrol of masked men, Ao Xi did not move forward. He stopped and pointed at the hill next to him.
While the two teams of masked men were changing shifts, Ao Xi took Su Man and others and jumped to the middle of the mountain.
The two of them lay on the mountainside and looked down. The scene below made Su Man gasp.
Sandwiched between two mountains is a low cave. Although the situation inside cannot be seen clearly, the outside is crowded with people.
Some were working, while others were scolding with whips and sticks.
Watching those people carrying things out of the cave, one shoulder pole at a time, the sound of "ding", "clang", "ding", "clang" continued. Combined with the red mountain, it was rich in walnuts and peanuts...
"It's iron ore!" Su Man said suddenly.
Ao Xi's eyebrows frowned, "What did you say?"
"There are iron mines in Huangkou County."
Su Man said firmly, "The red color of the mountain isn't due to any evil spirits, but rather to the presence of iron ore. That's why the crops grown here aren't very productive, but walnuts and peanuts are excellent, as they are plants that can absorb iron."
Ao Xi understood the first part quite well, but the latter part was completely confusing. "What element?"
"Iron."
"Iron what?"
Su Man: “…”
Now that the reason is clear, it is obvious what Fang Qingshan and the others are going to do.
Su Man pointed to the basket of iron tools that had just been lifted out of the ground and said, "If we're not mistaken, they should be making weapons now."
Privately manufacturing weapons is a capital crime, no wonder Fang Qingshan is so nervous.
But what are they going to do by making weapons?
"Oh, it seems this bastard is even more cunning than we thought. With Master Zhou, the former Grand Canal Governor, he could easily transport these weapons to the Western Regions and then bring back the treasures under the guise of Master Zhou taking a concubine."
"I'm afraid they're not just after the treasure." Su Man narrowed her eyes. "It's useless for ordinary people to have so many weapons. They must be nobles from the Western Regions, or even the royal family."
The two looked at each other and said in unison, "Rebellion."
But Su Man still couldn't understand one thing. Even if Fang Qingshan wanted to rebel, who would he support?
At this time, Su Man suddenly thought of another thing.
Fang Junye's fiancée is none other than the daughter of the Qi Wang family. Could it be that...
"ah!"
A scream attracted Su Man's attention. It turned out that someone had overturned a bamboo basket underground, and the arrowheads inside were scattered all over the ground.
The guard raised his whip and lashed at the woman, again and again. "Damn it! You just spilled the water, and now you spilled the basket too! You did this on purpose!"
“…”
Even from such a distance, Su Man could see that the guard was hitting the woman very hard, but the woman didn't even beg for mercy and struggled in pain on the ground.
The guard wanted to make an example of her and beat her until her skin was torn and flesh was exposed. The woman could not bear the beating and stood up to run away, but was grabbed by the guard's hair.
“Where are you running to!”
The moment the woman's face was revealed, Su Man was stunned. This...
After all, she is a sister from the same mother. Even though she couldn't see clearly, she still recognized Xia Luoran.
Why is Xia Luoran here? Wasn’t she thrown down the mountain by Honggu? How could she appear here?
Ao Xi, who was standing by, didn't realize it was Xia Luoran. Seeing Su Man staring down, he thought Su Man wanted to save people, so he whispered, "Be patient for now, our goal is to save more people."
Su Man was shocked in her heart, but she didn't show it on her face. "I know, and there are so many guards here, and you are alone. It's too risky."
As he was speaking, several guards came up from underground carrying wooden barrels. They knocked on the barrels with their ladles and said, "It's time to eat!"
As soon as he finished speaking, people inside and outside rushed out hurriedly, fearing that they would have no food if they came too late.
Without chopsticks or spoons, they grabbed the rice in the bucket and scooped out the soup with their muddy hands. Soon the soup became turbid.
But no one despised it, and no one complained, because this was their only meal of the day, and if they didn't eat, they would starve to death. Everyone was desperately trying to get forward, and a few skinny, half-grown children couldn't even squeeze in.
Two of them were able to use their nimbleness to squeeze in and catch some of the fallen debris, but the boy on the outside couldn't squeeze in no matter what.
Not only that, his steps were unsteady and anyone who bumped into him would knock him off balance. Even after everyone had finished eating, he still hadn't gotten a single bite.
Fortunately, one of the people holding the bucket and licking the edge was familiar with him and shouted to him, "A Song, hurry up, there's still some here."
Hearing the name, Su Man looked in the direction of the young man. Yes, Asong, is that him?
...
The clanging sounds, accompanied by shouting and cursing, continued until night.
The moment the guard shouted "Go to sleep", everyone collapsed to the ground and didn't move.
As soon as someone lay down, snoring began to sound, and they didn't even have the energy to find a comfortable place.
The same was true for Asong. Although he had a fever, he still did his work during the day and his physical strength had reached its limit.
His lips were cracked and bleeding due to lack of water and high fever. When he swallowed, it felt like swallowing a mouthful of frosted glass, which stung his throat.
In the haze, he seemed to have a hallucination, his body rose into the air and flew in the sky.
Up and down until it lands.
"Ason? Wake up, Ason?"
Who is calling him?
Asong wanted to open his eyes and look, but he tried for a long time before he could open his eyes a little. Everything in front of him was blurry and he could only see a figure.
"Dad, is that you? You came back to save me..."
“…”
Seeing that Asong kept talking nonsense, Su Man stood up and said, "No, his fever is too high. If he doesn't get medical treatment, he might not survive the night."
Ao Xi looked at the sky and said, "Let's go back to town first."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
