“Sir, we’re just letting those Yun Zhong County soldiers surround us like this?”
Wei Chou quickly followed Lin Mu Yu into the large tent as he spoke with a look filled with rage, “We’ve adopted a tactic of surrounding Fire Axe Mountain and not attack, but now we’ve also been surrounded. We can’t get supplies sent from Silver Fir City, we are in the same position as Swordsmen Hall on Fire Axe Mountain, we have to quickly solve this sir!”
Lin Mu Yu suddenly turned around with eyes filled with killing intent as he said, “Wei Chou, think about it. Why are Bai Lao’s people helping Swordsmen Hall like this?”
“This…..”
Wei Chou was stunned as he carefully asked, “Sir isn’t suspecting that the Cangnan Province governor Hu Tie Ning is cooperating with Swordsmen Hall, right?”
“It’s not certain they are cooperating, but their interests definitely align.”
Lin Mu Yu raised his head and gave a sigh as he said, “If there isn’t a large mutual benefit, Hu Tie Ning wouldn’t need to drag these people in, not hesitating to break of all face with the capital’s armies. This only means that he wants to use force to protect Fire Axe Mountain, meaning that the Swordsmen Hall headquarters on Fire Axe Mountain is hiding a secret he doesn’t want us to know!”
Wei Chou seemed enlightened, “Sir, if it’s like this…..We need to adapt.”
“Un.”
Lin Mu Yu nodded and asked, “How much supplies do we have?”
“We can last two days with our supplies, but we don’t have enough water.”
“Then dig out a few wells. We are on low land, other than on Fire Axe Mountain, it isn’t hard to dig out some water.”
“Yes!”
“Also…..”
“What else is the, sir?” Wei Chou turned to look at him.
“Help me prepare a set of Swordsman Hall rogue clothes. I’ll search Fire Axe Mountain tonight and see what kind of secret it is hiding for Hu Tie Ning to do all of this.”
“Sir, this is risky, perhaps there is…..”
“Don’t try to persuade me, I have made my decision.”
“Yes, sir!”
In the night, a cold wind blew over Fire Axe Mountain.
“Sha, sha…..”
With a rustling sound, gourd vines came down from the cliff. Lin Mu Yu tightly held a gourd vine and climbed the northern cliff wall of Fire Axe Mountain with the ability of his martial spirit. This cliff was not a normal kind of steep, it was truly a natural vertical defense. There was no need for the rangers on Fire Axe Mountain to guard this place, after all, it was not a place where normal people could climb up.
The night was incredibly cold and there was a faint layer of frost on Lin Mu Yu’s brow, but there was a smile in both his eyes. He was wearing the clothes of a rogue which was completely green. He was hanging several hundred meters in the air, climbing up using the vines of his gourd. It was a good thing his gourd came from him and completely worked with his body, so there was no worry that the thorns on the vine would pierce him. When Lin Mu Yu’s hand grabbed the vine, the surrounding thorns would quickly disappeared, which looked very mysterious.
“Shua!”
Softly jumping up, he fell onto the top of the Fire Axe Mountain’s cliff. His Dragon Spirit Sword was wrapped in a black cloth on his back. Lin Mu Yu was very familiar with the Swordsmen Hall, so there was nothing to fear as he quickly walked through it. Not far away, there were several rogues guarding the northern side of the mountain.
“Who is it?” One of the rogues quickly raised his bow.
Lin Mu Yu quickly raised his hand as he said with a smile, “Don’t draw the bow brother. I had diarrhea and was too embarra.s.sed to take care of it above, so I came to the cliff to take care of it. We’re all friends here!”
Under the moonlight, the rogue saw his clothes and couldn’t help smiling as he said, “d.a.m.n, you scared father. Brat, you are a bit unfamiliar, are you new?”
“Yes, I came just a month ago.”
“No wonder you look unfamiliar. Which team are you in?”
This question surprised Lin Mu Yu, but it was a good thing he was vigilant. He said with a smile, “I came with sir Iron Ranger Luo Shan, I’m currently following him as his guard.”
There were at least over a hundred Iron Rangers on the mountain and their members frequently changed. These rogues wouldn’t know every one of them, so this lie was very solid!
“Oh, so it was a brother brought by sir Iron Ranger. Come, come, come, want to drink some wine to warm up your body?”
“Many thanks big brothers, but I need to go back immediately. Sir Iron Ranger was injured in the battle today, so I’m responsible for nursing him!”
“Alright, alright, it’s hard on you brother!”
Smoothly pa.s.sing this test, Lin Mu Yu moved through the forested mountain and he saw listless rangers moving through the forest one by one. It seemed like with losing their supply of water and being defeated twice, they had lost their morale. It was a pity Hu Tie Ning had interfered, otherwise the Dragon Courage Camp would have captured this Fire Axe Mountain with little casualties in just two-three days.
At this time, there was a group of rogues holding torches that appeared in front. They were escorting around twenty commoners through the hallways, directly heading to the cliff on the other side. One of them raised a whip and scolded in a drunken voice, “Move faster. d.a.m.n, wasting an entire day’s time, watch how father peels off your skin!”
These commoners were carrying shovels while looking thin and worn out.
Lin Mu Yu couldn’t help knitting his brows, but he didn’t think too much. He silently went forward and mixed in with the crowd of rogues, escorting the commoners together. They were working in the middle of the night, this kind of work had to be some secret people couldn’t see.
Sure enough, after pa.s.sing a small cliff, they reached a place where it was brightly lit. Over a hundred rogues were armed with swords as they guarded the cave in front and this cave led deep into Fire Axe Mountain. There were faint “ding ding dong dong” sounds that came from within the cave and Lin Mu Yu was immediately certain that there was a gold mine!
Fire Axe Mountain actually had such a large gold mine, this was too shocking!
“Go down!”
The commoners were forced down into the mine and Lin Mu Yu followed the group of rogues. He saw the torches of the rogues guarding inside and outside the cave. The entire Fire Axe Mountain seemed like it was almost emptied out and there were miners all over the wall digging for ores with hammers, shovels, and all kinds of tools.
Under the flames, those ores were giving off a faint golden glow. Although it wasn’t pure, it was indeed gold ore.
Lin Mu Yu couldn’t help taking in a breath. At this time, a rogue with a full beard looked at him and asked with a smile, “Little brother, you look unfamiliar. Are you new?”
“Yes, what is this big brother called?”
“Just call me Da Niu.”
“Ha, big brother Da Niu, are you also in charge of guarding the mine today?”
“That’s right!” Da Niu nodded. He had a greedy look as he looked at the golden ores in the carriages below and said, “If this gold is all turned into golden coins, hei, hei…..Each person here can get seven-eight wives each!”
Lin Mu Yu’s heart sank as he said with a smile, “Big brother Da Niu knows that these gold ores are being used to make gold coins?”
“Naturally.”
Da Niu waved his hand as said with a smile, “Otherwise you think that Five Valleys City’s Hu Tie Ning, that old fox would send people to help us now that Fire Axe Mountain is surrounded like this?”
Lin Mu Yu was surprised as he said, “I am new, I don’t know these rules…..You mean Hu Tie Ning wants these gold ores and secretly h.o.a.rding gold coins?”
“That’s right, what else would it be?”
Da Niu excitedly said, “Since ancient times, people died for money and birds died for food.”
“But according to what I know, the empire’s laws forbid officials from secretly h.o.a.rding money…..” Lin Mu Yu hypocritically said.
Da Niu rubbed his nose as he said, “You think that old fox Hu Tie Ning is a herbivore? This Fire Axe Mountain has been opened for a year, just the amount mined from it is already over ten million gold coins, hei…..That Hu Tie Ning is flowing with riches, otherwise how could he wantonly purchase maids, horses, and weapons!”
“He even dares buy horses and weapons?” Lin Mu Yu was shocked, but he smiled and said, “That Hu Tie Ning really is bold.”
Da Niu said with a smile, “Of course. The Cangnan Province military has a total of one hundred and twenty thousand soldiers and the sharpest troops among them are the seventeen thousand soldiers of the Flying Mount Camp led by general Long Qian Lin under Hu Tie Ning. It’s said that the horses of the Flying Mount Camp are all fine horses from the western territory, their weapons are all made from famous artisans, being made of profound iron, humph……In the entire empire, is there an army that could match them?”
Lin Mu Yu secretly laughed. Perhaps his own Dragon Courage Camp could match them?
But this Hu Tie Ning really is too bold. He actually dares collude with Swordsmen Hall to mine gold ores from Fire Axe Mountain, his courage is enough to cover the sky!
Lin Mu Yu let out a deep sigh before saying, “I wonder how many gold coins we’ll get. How much money does it need to take a good wife now!”
Da Niu smiled, “Relax. That’s right, what is you name?”
“Lin Zhi.”
Da Niu patted Lin Mu Yu’s shoulder and said with a smile, “Little brother Lin Zhi, the Great Envoy has promised us that after we have finished ‘moving’ the gold ore in Fire Axe Mountain, each brother will receive at least one thousand gold coins as compensation, hei……It’s quite cheap to get a wife now, one hundred gold coins is enough. You are still young, you’ll have no problem getting five wives, ha, ha, ha……”
Lin Mu Yu gave a shy smile, “Big brother Da Niu is joking, I haven’t been with anyone before…..”
Da Niu: “……”
At this time, there was an excited voice that came from the mine, “Reached it…..We’ve reached it…..”
“Reached what?” Lin Mu Yu was stunned.
That voice from the depths quickly responded. They were laughing as they said, “Sir Gold Ranger, we’ve reached white diamond ore. Quickly tell the Great Envoy, we’ve finally reached the white diamond!”
Lin Mu Yu was stunned. He immediately went down with the other rogues and using the light, he found a group of miners standing there. At the bottom most layer of the mine, there were firm stones that were mined out and each one seemed like they were made of crystal. This was the legendary white diamond?
White diamond, what difference did it have from normal diamond?
The people of this world didn’t admire diamonds, but they seemed to admire white diamonds. Those white sparkling crystals, just what use did they have?