"The good news is that I was able to find out quite a bit about the surrounding situation."
The sixth brother was somewhat smug.
It was only after Lao Liu's words that it became clear that they were indeed in a mountain valley.
It must be hidden in a ravine halfway up the mountain, and no one knows how it was hidden; no one has discovered it.
But beyond this point lies a dense jungle, and without a guide, no one would ever discover this place.
The bad news is that this place is a dense forest of towering trees, or rather, a deep, old-growth forest.
This is why the villagers never discovered this place.
The bad news is that there's only one road here, meaning that if the enemy ambushes someone near this road, it will be very difficult for anyone to escape.
Moreover, this terrain is destined to be easy to defend and difficult to attack, which means that if Chuwu leads his men to attack this place, the casualties will be really heavy.
The reason the other party dared to do this was because the terrain was too good; there was only one road leading up and down the mountain.
No wonder they dare to be so arrogant; as long as they stay hidden in the mountains, basically no one can get up there.
This is a problem, since they certainly won't go out if they discover danger, and the two of them don't have the ability to sneak out right now. If they can't sneak out, they can't inform Chu Wu.
It will be difficult to figure out how to coordinate the team then.
Ouyang Zhenyu was pondering that he was now on the verge of going bankrupt.
This time they're really going all in, but it's clear that the foreign aid they thought they'd get is now out of the question.
Without outside help, relying solely on these villagers who have been captured here...
Most of the able-bodied men died in the last mining accident, so it's estimated that only these five are left.
The others were either very old, very young, or women.
The number is not bad, with more than 100 people.
However, these 100-plus people really didn't have much fighting power.
It should be said that many able-bodied men were lost in the process.
However, Ouyang Zhenyu was puzzled: could it be that there were only twenty or thirty able-bodied men?
That's impossible. Based on the population ratio of each village, if there are more than 100 elderly, weak, women and children, there must be 70 or 80 strong laborers.
Although I didn't see anyone in the last mining accident, I learned from chatting with the miners during the day that there should only be twenty or thirty people underground.
But they didn't know where the others had gone. Could there be some hidden place here?
It seems we can only observe; they have ten days left.
The two of them ate some compressed biscuits and drank some water for dinner. Lao Liu needs to rest well, but he's going to suffer starting tomorrow.
If he goes to mine like this now, it really won't be of much use.
The next day, as soon as it was light, I was sent out to work early, just like always.
Ouyang Zhenyu and Lao Liu arrived at the meeting point together.
The other three strong laborers were standing there when the overseer waved his whip and told them to hurry up and get to work.
Today's task was even more demanding than yesterday's; it felt more like it was assigned to 50 people than to five.
The five men entered the cave without any supervision.
He reported the results of their communication last night in a low voice.
“Xiao Jiang, I went back yesterday and talked to everyone in our cave. After they ate the biscuits, they decided to work together.”
The three of us are currently contacting these households.
Almost everyone agrees!
If you add them all up, there should be over 80 people.
Chen Laosan looked a little excited.
"What's going on with the other 20-plus people?"
Ouyang Zhenyu wasn't afraid of them not participating; what he feared most was that even if they didn't participate, they would still tip them off.
That would be worse.
"Those 20-odd people did not come back."
Chen Laosan said in a low voice,
"There are still 28 people who haven't agreed, and they haven't come back in the last few days."
We don't know where they went.
Every month or so, there are always a few days when twenty or thirty people are missing from our place. I heard they're going to transport goods.
Ouyang Zhenyu fell into deep thought after hearing this. Transporting goods?
What goods are being transported?
By the way, he still doesn't know what kind of stone is being mined from the bottom of the mine.
What are these stones used for after they're mined?
Ouyang Zhenyu had already checked it.
It's definitely not a gold mine, because if it were, the refining process wouldn't be this dangerous.
"This ore is refined into saltpeter!"
Ouyang Zhenyu was stunned when he heard this. Something was wrong!
The nitrate extracted from this substance is a chemical; it's a substance used in explosives.
To be precise, it's impossible for anyone to go to such great lengths for such a chemical mine.
You have to understand that kidnapping so many villagers from three villages is no small matter; if it gets discovered, it could lead to serious trouble.
If it were a gold mine, Ouyang Zhenyu could understand that these people were driven by profit.
But this kind of ore seems completely unrelated.
No matter how much he didn't understand, he realized why the refining site was so dangerous; if it exploded, this stuff could really turn into explosives if one wasn't careful.
While they were discussing this, they heard cursing coming from outside.
"Hurry up, hurry up! Why haven't you eaten?"
Now let's get to work right away.
This project needs to be expedited and must be completed within five days.
"Hurry up, you sons of bitches, you hear me? If you dawdle any longer, I'll show you why the flowers are so red!"
Immediately following was the sound of a whip cracking, and at the same time someone cried out in pain.
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