Chapter 643: Chapter 415: Thoughts
With Xiaomi leading the way, it took less than an hour to reach where Wei Ziang and the others were previously trapped.
The entrance of the valley was still stained with dark brown blood, but due to several rains, there were signs of the blood being washed away.
It was believed that given enough time, the blood would be completely washed clean.
At this time, Xiaomi was almost supported by the stretcher carried by several soldiers, her brow furrowed tightly, sweat dripping from her forehead, looking very uncomfortable.
"General Song."
Wei Ziang finally ’couldn’t stand it’ and called out to General Song.
"It’s not far ahead, let’s go, let Xiaomi return first."
General Song turned his head, "Lord Xie, what do you think..."
Xiaomi indeed didn’t look well right now, her face pale, as if she’d just recovered from a serious illness.
Lord Xie slapped his forehead, "Ah, my eyesight. Quickly, a few people come, take Miss Jiang out of the Stone Forest. Right, weren’t there two spare stretchers prepared? Bring them over, have a doctor examine Miss Jiang after getting out, she mustn’t fall ill."
The stretcher was brought quickly, and without fuss, Xiaomi lay down directly.
"Then I’ll trouble you all, the iron mine’s location is less than 500 meters ahead, keep going, the young man knows."
After that, Xiaomi was carried out. There were over a thousand people entering the Stone Forest, walking in pairs, and the line stretched over a mile.
Lying on the stretcher, Xiaomi conjured some Spiritual Power, slightly disrupting her pulse to avoid giving herself away in front of the doctor later.
On the other side, Wei Ziang was also lying on a stretcher, the siblings acting very convincingly.
As expected, after another 500 meters or so, Wei Ziang’s eyes suddenly brightened, "We’re here, just ahead, that stone was placed there by me as a marker."
Marks of digging on the ground, at that time solidified with tools by the two of them and disguised by rain, were completely unnoticeable.
The stone was indeed placed by Wei Ziang as a marker.
Several strong men quickly rushed past Lord Xie and General Song, holding shovels that appeared out of nowhere.
One person lifted the stone away, and the others were ready to dig.
Someone asked Wei Ziang for confirmation, "Chiliarch Wei, is it here?"
Wei Ziang nodded affirmatively, "It’s right there, I dug just over three feet initially and found it."
"Alright then, Lord Xie, you all step back... damn, this ground is too hard!"
With a shovel, dust flew everywhere, but only a layer of the surface was peeled off.
Wei Ziang reminded, "You need to wet it first, it’ll be easier that way."
Lord Xie signaled to the back, "Have everyone bring the water bags over."
Everyone entering the Stone Forest carried water pouches.
The strong men first shoveled out an area, so water wouldn’t flow everywhere when poured.
The Stone Forest ground was very dry, and after being wetted, it quickly absorbed the water, making the shoveling much easier.
They took turns at the task, and soon dug a hole nearly a meter deep.
Turning around, Lord Xie was about to say something to Wei Ziang when suddenly came the sound ’clang’, followed by shouts, "We’ve struck it!"
The men were instantly excited, and General Song and Lord Xie jogged right over.
In just a few moments, the person standing in the pit unearthed a piece of black-brown, hard material.
Following that, he tapped it with the shovel in his hand, feeling it like a treasure.
"It’s iron ore! Definitely iron ore! Lord Xie, quickly write a report to the Emperor, this is iron ore!"
The person in the pit shouted excitedly, while the others squatted by the edge, some even lying down, stretching their hands to touch the exposed ore.
General Song and Lord Xie couldn’t get through at all.
But they overheard the discussions, confirming that this was indeed iron ore!
Excitement caused Lord Xie’s face to glow red, "First, send someone to West Origin Pass to inform Marshal Wei, have him dispatch an army of a hundred thousand to encircle the entire Stone Forest tightly."
"You all stay here, I’ll immediately return to the city to report this to the Emperor."
"General Song, you head to the barracks, mobilize all the garrisoned forces in Lishi City to surround the Stone Forest, make sure no one gets close!"
Lord Xie swiftly assigned tasks, then waved his hand, not even giving Wei Ziang a chance to react, and quickly left the Stone Forest.
Wei Ziang lay on the stretcher, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, from now on, this Stone Forest and the iron mine had nothing to do with them.
As they left the Stone Forest, the doctor had just finished examining Xiaomi, her pulse was irregular but it wasn’t a big deal, no need for medication, just a rest would do.
Lord Xie briefly instructed the two of them and had someone send them back to Lishi City.
From now on, even as the ones who discovered the iron mine, they were not to easily approach it.
On the carriage, Xiaomi asked about Wei Ziang’s situation and learned that fifteen thousand troops were to be dispatched to guard the Stone Forest, and she somewhat understood.
The Xu Yu Dynasty temporarily did not intend to seize territories of other nations, but similarly, they would not concede an inch regarding this iron mine!
Xiaomi disassembled the hand crossbow and put it back into space, "If I had known, I wouldn’t have taken it out, didn’t even get a chance to show it off."
This hand crossbow was intricate, she originally wanted to show it off to see if it could catch the craftsmen’s eyes, and the Mitsubishi bayonet, this thing’s lethality should not be underestimated.
The hand crossbow aside, if the Mitsubishi Military Dagger could be mass-produced and armed on the army, surely the attack power would greatly increase.
Wei Ziang smiled, "It doesn’t matter, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."
In fact, the daggers and crossbows didn’t concern him much, what he was thinking of were firearms.
Xiaomi was right, during this time while being hidden for recuperation by Xiaomi, he had read through all the geographical books.
What Xiaomi didn’t know was that he also read some weapon books from Xiaomi’s world.
Warships, planes, aircraft carriers, rockets, etc.
While unbelievable, he also set his gaze upon some personal weapons, like a pistol?
As luck would have it, there were history books in the space too, which he also read.
Then he took a liking to one thing — the musket.
Listening to Xiaomi’s chatter beside him, his thoughts had flown far away.
He knew that the things in Xiaomi’s space mustn’t be taken out for outsiders to see.
But simply leaving them there unused seemed wasteful to him.
Perhaps they could find a way to let those things see the light of day again?
Like Xiaomi said, the world is so big, how could they only focus on this small piece of land?
"Brother, brother?"
A hand waved back and forth in front of him, Wei Ziang reached out and caught it, "What’s up?"
Only then did he realize the carriage had stopped.
Xiaomi sighed, "What are you daydreaming about, you didn’t respond when I talked to you."
Wei Ziang smiled, "I’ll tell you when we get back."