Chapter 71: Mysterious Item, a Three-Seven Split for Farming
Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Mysterious Item, a Three-Seven Split for Farming
"Don’t let a single one escape!"
"Commanders, lead your teams. Conduct a dragnet search."
"Take inventory of the supplies. Don’t release the captured villagers just yet."
"General Zhao, I’ll have to trouble you again. Take some men and wipe out the stronghold where they keep their livestock!"
General Zhou issued his orders methodically.
Countless torches lit up the night sky, illuminating the mountain pass brightly.
The main force moved in, conducting a carpet search for any who had slipped through the net.
This hidden mountain pass, home to Taohua Village, was now under the complete control of Flame Camp, from the inside out.
By the time the sky showed the first pale light of dawn.
The dust had settled.
In Taohua Village’s largest bamboo building, several Commanders, the two Generals, and the Queen were all gathered.
General Zhao reported on the battle first.
The Slave Capture Team, from their leader down to the lowest stable hand, numbered thirty-eight in total.
Ten had been killed or wounded by Tang Wen in the Lakeside Forest. The remaining twenty-eight were all captured.
As for Flame Camp, aside from two unlucky Hunting Captains who had gotten too close to the Queen’s battlefield and suffered minor injuries from the shockwaves of her power, everyone else was completely unharmed.
It was a battle of the strong against the weak—an utterly overwhelming victory.
Every member of the Slave Capture Team had been captured.
Their years of accumulated wealth were now spoils for Flame Camp.
When General Zhao finished his brief report, all eyes turned to the head of the room.
The Queen was holding a silver-white cube in her slender, jade-like hands, turning it over and over to examine it.
Noticing their gazes, she tossed the cube in her hand to General Zhou, who caught it and looked at her in confusion.
The Queen said, "I was bored earlier, so I interrogated their leader. He confessed that it was because of this silver cube that he offended a powerful expert in Ganshan City known as the ’Mountain King.’ He had no choice but to flee here."
General Zhou examined the object in his hand repeatedly but couldn’t make anything of it. He passed it to Zhou Bing.
At the same time, he asked, "This thing seems very hard. What makes it so valuable?"
Zhou Bing couldn’t figure it out either and passed it to Tang Wen.
The Queen spread her hands. "In Ganshan City, many factions know it’s valuable, but no one knows *why* it’s valuable."
"Could they have been tricked?"
The Queen shook her head. "I doubt it. I just squeezed it with all my strength, and it wasn’t damaged in the slightest. It must be some kind of treasure."
Everyone nodded slightly. In the Queen’s hands, even a steel plate was as fragile as a paper airplane in a child’s grasp.
The silver cube wasn’t large, about the size of a small Rubik’s Cube.
It was cool to the touch, seemingly made of some kind of metal, yet it was very light.
He squeezed it hard in his hand and, just as expected, couldn’t leave a single mark.
Tossing the object to General Zhao, Tang Wen commented casually, "It seems you can’t even leave a fingerprint on it. It must be something good."
After everyone had passed it around and examined it, they lost interest, and General Zhou put it away for safekeeping.
"There’s one more thing. This place, Taohua Village—we can’t give it up."
Taohua Village had several thousand acres of flat, fertile fields.
It was this land that had sustained generations of Taohua Village’s inhabitants.
"Where do they get the water to irrigate their fields? From a well?" Tang Wen asked shrewdly.
General Zhao gave him an appreciative look. "A well. But I went to see it. It might be connected to a subterranean river."
"So that means even when a great drought comes, they can still draw water from the well?"
"Correct. According to the old farmers here, their well is always full of water, even during severe droughts."
"Excellent! A few thousand acres isn’t much, but it’s a guaranteed harvest."
"This trip was really worth it. I checked the granary; it’s completely full. Enough to feed over a thousand people for three years."
The various Commanders chimed in one after another with good news.
Tang Wen then added, "That Elder Ya, the one who raises the Blood Crows, surrendered on his own. We searched his room and found many Potions. From some of his books, we can confirm that besides being a Beastmaster, he’s also a skilled Pharmacist."
A Pharmacist?
Flame Camp was remote, and most people there had no concept of what a Pharmacist was.
Tang Wen continued, "If we can hunt Martial Master Level Mutated Beasts, he says he can use their bone marrow and internal organs to concoct medicine. The Potions can strengthen the body, increase stamina, and have many other effects."
"For real?" The look in everyone’s eyes changed.
"We’ll have to test it to see if it’s true." It was the first time Tang Wen had ever heard of such a thing himself.
General Zhou’s brow furrowed. "Pharmacists are usually honored guests of major powers. How did this Elder Ya, being both a Beastmaster and a Pharmacist, end up falling in with a Slave Capture Team? Keep a close watch on him! Something about this is strange!"
Tang Wen nodded. "I suggest we don’t let any of the items we confiscated from the Slave Capture Team circulate."
"Agreed," General Zhao added. "Except for the gold and silver."
Everyone burst into laughter.
The Slave Capture Team had murdered, robbed, and trafficked people to survive to this day, amassing a small fortune.
Now, it was all theirs.
Every Commander and Captain who participated in the battle would get a small share of these spoils.
「That morning.」
General Zhou had all the imprisoned villagers released. Then, in front of them and the captured members of the Slave Capture Team, he had the team’s leader hanged!
"Thank you, Her Majesty the Queen! Thank you, Lord General!"
The old village chief of Taohua Village led the others in kneeling, weeping with gratitude.
They waited until the Slave Capture Team’s leader had drawn his last breath.
General Zhao personally helped the old village chief to his feet and said kindly, "From now on, you people of Taohua Village belong to our Flame Camp."
The people of Taohua Village fell silent.
The old village chief nodded hastily. "As it should be, as it should be."
General Zhao added, "You can continue to live here, or you can move to the camp. The Queen and the army will protect you."
The old village chief was a man of some experience. After confirming that these people were different from the previous bandits...
He asked cautiously, "If we farm in the future, will we have to turn over a portion of the grain?"
General Zhao turned his head slightly, not looking at him. "A seventy-thirty split."
The old village chief breathed a sigh of relief. ’Thank goodness, thank goodness. That’s not too much to ask.’
"Someone’s escaping!"
Coincidentally, at that very moment, a Martial Artist from the Slave Capture Team broke free of his bonds.
He sprinted toward the rock face, apparently intending to climb the cliff and escape to freedom.
"Tang Wen! Kill him," General Zhao ordered.
Tang Wen raised an eyebrow, glanced at the villagers, and acted without hesitation.
A sonic boom thundered.
The villagers’ legs trembled.
BANG!
The escaping Martial Artist’s head exploded like a watermelon.
THUMP. THUMP.
A group of villagers’ knees went weak, and they collapsed to the ground.
To the villagers, whose strongest among them was merely a Martial Disciple...
Tang Wen’s move was like a miracle!
General Zhao spoke in a voice just loud enough for every villager to hear, "If you wish to make a living by farming in the future, the camp will provide you with tools. If you live in the camp’s Outer City, you will never have to pay rent. Oh, and seventy percent of the grain you grow must be handed over to the camp."
The old village chief, who had just gotten to his feet, swayed and nearly fell to his knees again.
Fortunately, General Zhao gently supported him.
The old chief forgot to thank him, his eyes vacant, his mind echoing with a single thought: ’Seventy percent... seventy percent... seventy percent is theirs!’
The women and children turned to look at Tang Wen, their eyes filled with shock and reverence.
Seeing the old chief hadn’t recovered from the shock, General Zhao could only say, "The one who just acted was Commander Tang. After you join the camp, you can learn martial arts. When that time comes, you’ll have the chance to become as powerful as Commander Tang Wen!"
"Huh? Really? My lord, do we have to pay with grain to learn martial arts?"
Hearing the old man’s form of address, the corner of General Zhao’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t correct him. He said, "Your village’s situation is special. For the current batch of children, there’s no need to pay with grain. They can learn for free for three years."
After all, since they had taken over their village, Flame Camp had to offer some compensation.
The old village chief thought for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "If I may ask, how many years did that lord who just acted train?"
A strange look came into General Zhao’s eyes. "Tang Wen? Hmm, he hasn’t been training for long. Less than three years... only less than three years!"
Hearing such a confident answer, the old village chief felt greatly reassured.
’There are still quite a few children left in our village, a good hundred of them. If in three years, or maybe a few more, they could all become as strong as that young man... that would be wonderful!’
’By then, we probably wouldn’t have to hand over seventy percent of our grain from farming, right?’