Chapter 106
Chapter 106
It was not until noon the next day that they returned to Black Pine Valley.
As soon as Xiao Che arrived, he learned that Jin Bao had discovered an iron deposit.
Without even stopping to rest, he immediately asked Jin Bao and Old Han to lead him there so he could see it for himself.
Jin Bao happened to be tired of drawing. Her slender wrist felt ready to break. She knew everyone needed the map, so she had kept working despite her exhaustion and discomfort.
Now she finally had an excuse to play for a while.
“Yay! Baby finally gets to go out with Daddy! Let’s go!”
Jin Bao eagerly grabbed Xiao Che’s wrist and tried to run.
Xiao Che bent down, lifted his daughter into his arms, and pinched her little cheeks, which had finally filled out a little.
“You’re trying to run out without your coat? Be careful, or you’ll get sick and have to drink bitter medicine.”
Jin Bao did not want to drink that black, murky medicine, so she hurried off to find her mother and get dressed.
Only after Jin Bao was bundled into a round little ball again did Xiao Che take her out of Black Pine Valley.
Old Han was not the only person accompanying them this time. Xiao Jingmo and Xu Huaijin came as well.
They rode sleds to a mountain northwest of Black Pine Valley.
It was the same place where Jin Bao and Old Han had tumbled from their sled the day before.
It had not snowed overnight, so the marks from their fall still remained on the ground.
“Daddy, look! Red rocks! They can be turned into big knives!”
In her vision, Jin Bao had seen the red rocks become iron and the iron become great sabers. She remembered the entire process.
Xiao Che had seen iron mines in the Southern Frontier, but those belonged to the imperial court.
He did not have anyone under him who specialized in iron deposits. Otherwise, they could have conducted a rough survey to determine the size of this one.
With this iron deposit, their chances of fighting their way back had increased considerably.
The group followed the slope down to the bottom of the hollow.
Xiao Che’s eyes brimmed with delight, and his hands were trembling. He picked up a piece of broken stone and ran his fingers over it again and again in excitement.
“Iron ore! It truly is iron ore! My daughter really is our family’s lucky star.”
Xiao Che lifted Jin Bao and seated her directly on his shoulders.
“If only we knew how large this iron deposit is.”
After walking several zhang along the cliff, Xiao Jingmo stopped and turned back.
He looked up at Jin Bao. “Little Sister, can you see how large the iron deposit is on the map in your mind?”
Jin Bao tried to locate it in her mind.
“No. Baby can see that this whole mountain is this big – but Baby can’t tell if all the rocks inside can be turned into knives.”
Xiao Jingmo nodded without disappointment. Judging from Jin Bao’s gesture, the mountain was not small.
Even if it proved to be a large iron mine, they could only gaze at it helplessly for now. They lacked the manpower to extract the ore.
Every person they had was already assigned to a task. Even the dogs in the valley had jobs, let alone the people.
Lin Fengchun needed to make paper, and Xiao Jingmo had allowed him to select three people to focus solely on helping him.
Xu Huaijin was responsible for constructing the valley’s homes, and most of the residents had been assigned to build shelters.
If they diverted some of those people to mine the ore now, construction of the shelters would be delayed indefinitely.
They truly wished they could split every person into eight.
Xiao Che had clearly thought of the same problem.
“I wonder how far your eldest brother has traveled. The markers we left only reach the edge of the forest. Once he enters, I’m afraid he won’t be able to find this place.”
Xiao Che was thinking of his eldest son, Xiao Jingxing.
Xiao Jingmo’s eyes shifted as he immediately understood why his father had suddenly mentioned his eldest brother.
“Father, do you want Eldest Brother to make a trip to the Southern Frontier and contact the Xiao Family Army?”
Xiao Che nodded. “That’s right. We must begin extracting the iron as soon as possible. We also know nothing about the situation outside. It seems I’ll have to leave the mountains tomorrow, both to gather information and to find someone skilled in smelting iron. No one here possesses that expertise.”
More importantly, they were running low on food.
Feeding over a hundred people consumed an enormous amount each day. Even if they rationed the game they had hunted, it would probably last only another two weeks. They still needed to find a way to obtain grain.
A trip out of the mountains appeared unavoidable.
Xu Huaijin, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke. “Valley Master, do you remember Zhao Hu, the man who was crushed to death beneath the building back at the Garrison?”
Of course Xiao Che remembered. Zhao Hu was the man who had been crushed after Jin Bao pushed the building down on top of him.
“I remember. What about him?”
“Zhao Hu had a brother named Zhao Lei, who brought him grain at regular intervals. Once, I happened to overhear them speaking. Zhao Lei delivered military provisions to a town east of the Garrison. Two thousand soldiers are stationed there, and I heard they are also operating a mine, though I don’t know what kind. If the Valley Master intends to leave the mountains, you might as well investigate the area. Perhaps you will discover something useful. And if we can raid their grain stores, we will have nothing more to worry about.”
Xu Huaijin’s words reminded Xiao Che of the town. He had been planning to make a move against it for some time, but Lu Dachang’s pursuit had forced him to hide in the forest. Now that Lu Dachang had been badly wounded, he would not return to Black Pine Forest for at least a month or two.
This was the perfect opportunity to act.
If they wanted grain, that town was undoubtedly their best option.
It was the closest target and possessed ample stores.
Most importantly, Xiao Che also wanted to learn what kind of mine those people were operating.
By the time they returned to Black Pine Valley, night had fully fallen.
Cooking smoke already curled through the valley, and several bonfires burned near the stream.
Men chatted nearby while the women gathered around the fires to cook.
The valley was vast enough to house a thousand people.
On the first day after bringing everyone here, Xiao Che had searched the entire valley.
Aside from the cave’s hidden entrance, there was no other direct way for people to enter.
That applied only to humans, however, not wild beasts.
For that reason, patrols took turns guarding the valley every night.
Since the permanent residences were not yet complete, they had cut down trees and built simple shelters throughout the valley.
As long as they had enough timber, they could put up more than a dozen of these shelters in one day.
They crossed two logs at an angle to form a triangle with the ground, buried their ends in the soil, and constructed matching frames at the front and back. A horizontal beam was laid across the top like the ridge of a roof. Then they split logs in half to fill the gaps on either side and covered them with pine branches.
With that, a simple wooden shelter was complete.
It resembled the little huts farmers built in their fields for keeping watch.
Each shelter could sleep five or six people.
The men and women slept separately. In the past two days, they had already built more than a dozen shelters like these.
As the Valley Master, Xiao Che had a shelter of his own.
Xu Huaijin had also arranged for a separate meeting shelter to be built.
Inside stood a newly made wooden table and benches crafted by the carpenters.
Xiao Che carried Jin Bao directly into the meeting shelter.
He would leave Black Pine Valley the next day. They needed detailed plans for whom he would take and how the affairs of the valley would be managed during his absence.