"They are all outside the city. I didn't let them enter the city. After all, there were too many people and the target was too big." Two hundred strong men suddenly entered Xinye City. If they were noticed by the local officials and targeted by them, it would be very detrimental to our own actions. .
Deng Chen nodded repeatedly and praised with a smile: "Jingzhi is still thoughtful!"
To make a long story short, that morning, Liu Xiu, Deng Chen, Zhang Ping, Deng Yu and others took the two hundred strong men sent by Liu Yan and went to Baihe in the western suburbs.
When we arrived at the blacksmith shop on the other side of Baihe River, we met up with Lao Liu. They all sat together to review the expansion of the blacksmith shop.
Now they have two plans. One is to expand the existing blacksmith shop from one furnace to ten furnaces.
Another plan is to not move Lao Liu's blacksmith shop, but to carve out a clearing in the forest and rebuild a hidden blacksmith shop.
Both options have their own advantages. Expanding it based on the existing blacksmith shop in Laoliu saves time and effort, but it is not concealed enough and can easily be discovered.
If you want to build in the deep mountains, the concealment is very good, but it will take a lot of time to open up an open space.
Everyone discussed and expressed their opinions. Deng Yu said: "I support opening up open space in the mountains and rebuilding. The time of the uprising can be postponed, but it must be hidden and foolproof!"
Lao Liu frowned and said: "To build so many weapons requires a lot of iron ore. There are no roads in the mountains. It is not easy to transport these iron ores to the depths of the mountains and forests!"
Deng Yu said seriously: "For the sake of concealment and safety, hard work is inevitable."
Liu Xiu looked at Deng Chen and asked, "Brother-in-law, what do you mean?"
Deng Chen scratched his head and said, "The Baihe area is already very hidden. Not many people come here on weekdays." The implication is that there is not much difference between building the furnace in the mountains and building it here at Lao Liu.
Deng Yu shook his head solemnly and said meaningfully: "Not many people will come, but it does not mean that no one will come. As long as one person comes here, finds something strange and spreads the word, the consequences will be disastrous."
Deng Chen rubbed his chin, lost in thought, and did not continue to answer the conversation.
Liu Xiu turned his head, looked at Yan Guang on the other side, and asked, "Ziling, what's your opinion?"
Yan Guang smiled calmly and said, "I think Zhong Hua's opinion is reasonable."
Inwardly speaking, Liu Xiu also supported Deng Yu's opinion. He nodded and said: "Brother-in-law, I think it is safer for us to build the furnace in the mountains. Although the transportation of ore is a problem, it is easier to obtain wood. "If there is not enough manpower, we can continue to draw the best from our eldest brother to assist." As he spoke, he looked at Zhang Ping and asked him if anyone at Chung Ling had extra hands.
Zhang Ping said seriously: "Even if we transfer three or four hundred more brothers from Chongling, it will be no problem!"
Hearing Zhang Ping's reply, Liu Xiu felt more relieved and said to Deng Chen: "Brother-in-law, I think the matter is settled like this!"
"Okay!" Deng Chen had no objection. He looked at Lao Liu and asked, "Lao Liu, you should be familiar with the nearby mountains and forests, right?"
Lao Liu smiled and said, "After lunch, I can take everyone for a walk in the mountains."
"So good."
Everyone had a hasty lunch, and then Lao Liu led them into the nearby mountains and forests.
The name of this mountainous area comes from the Baihe River and is called Baishan. It covers a large area and stretches for hundreds of miles. The mountains are sparsely visited and are full of large virgin forests.
Lao Liu has lived here for several years, during which time he visited Baishan Mountain many times, so he naturally knows the environment here well.
He held a machete in his hand and walked in front to clear the way. From time to time he reminded Liu Xiu and others behind him: "Pay attention to the thorns here. The thorns are poisonous."
Hearing what he said, everyone became extremely cautious. Yan Guang asked curiously: "What kind of poison is it?"
"I don't know what kind of poison it is specifically. After the skin is scratched by the poisonous sting, it will itch and ulcer, which is very scary. Also, there is miasma in the mountains, so you can't walk around, and there are a lot of poisonous insects!"
"..." Listening to Lao Liu's reminder, everyone was speechless.
If Lao Liu hadn't led them into the mountain and allowed them to come in by themselves, it would have been really difficult for them to move forward. Of course, the danger in the mountain was also good for them, making their layout in the mountain more concealed and safer.
Yan Guang was very interested in the poisonous thorns, poisonous insects and poisonous miasma mentioned by Lao Liu, and stopped to collect them from time to time, preparing to take them back for research.
Lao Liu walked with them for two full hours. He wiped the sweat from his face, sat down on a rock, and said, "I have only walked as far as here. If I go deeper, I can't
Passed by.”
Liu Xiu took a few breaths and looked around. They were at the top of a mountain. This mountain was not big, and the space at the top was even smaller. It was difficult to build a furnace here, let alone ten.
He looked around, pointed to the foot of the mountain to the south, and asked: "Lao Liu, where is the place under the mountain over there?"
"It should be a mountain col, I've never been there."
Liu Xiu groaned, shook his head and said, "Let's go down and have a look."
Everyone rested for a while and then walked down the hillside to the south.
After a short time, everyone came to the foot of the mountain. As Lao Liu said, this is a mountain col. But what excited everyone was that the foot of this mountain col was very hidden, surrounded by winding and undulating peaks. The most important thing
At one point, a small stream happened to flow through this mountain col.
If you want to build a large number of weapons, you definitely need a water source, and the existence of this stream can just solve this problem.
It was also the first time for Lao Liu to come here. He looked around curiously and nodded excitedly, praising: "Not bad, not bad! This mountain col is really good! It is both hidden and convenient to build weapons here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu You suddenly said loudly: "There is a cave over there!"
People looked in the direction of Zhu You's finger, and sure enough, there was a cave dozens of feet away from them.
The distance was far and it was difficult to see how big the cave was. Everyone stepped towards the cave. Liu Xiu slowly raised his hand, holding the sword under his ribs, and reminded everyone: "Everyone, be careful!"
Nine times out of ten, caves in barren mountains will be occupied by wild beasts.
After listening to Liu Xiu's words, everyone also grasped their weapons in unison.
When they got close to the cave, they took a closer look and saw that the entrance of the cave was very large and the space inside was not small. It was about one to twenty meters deep. There was a lot of withered grass on the ground and some animal bones scattered around.
Zhu You drew out his sword and walked into the cave carefully. He walked around from beginning to end and confirmed that there was no hidden beast. He put away his sword, picked up an animal bone at random, walked out of the cave and handed it to him.
He gave it to Liu Xiu and said: "My lord, this cave must have been vacant for a long time."
The animal bones in the cave are obviously old and have turned black in color. They are definitely not fresh animal bones.
Liu Xiu looked down and threw the animal bones aside. He walked into the cave and turned around twice. Then he came out of the cave and smiled at Deng Chen and others: "This cave is actually suitable for human habitation!
"
Lao Liu answered: "It's also good to stock up on wood and ore!"
Liu Xiu took a deep breath and said: "This is a heaven-given land. I think we should lay down the blacksmith here!"
Everyone had no objections and agreed in unison, and the matter was settled.
By the time everyone came out of the mountain, it was already dark. Liu Xiu, Zhang Ping, Deng Yu and others did not follow Deng Chen back to Xinye City, but stayed at Lao Liu's place to help two hundred brothers build temporary homes.
Deng Chen originally wanted to stay, but Liu Xiu was afraid that her second sister would be worried, so she insisted on letting Deng Chen go back.
To house two hundred people, even building a simple thatched house is still a big project.
Liu Xiu and others worked until late at night to build the simple thatched house.
That night, Liu Xiu, like everyone else, stayed in a thatched hut.
The thatched house they built had only a roof, a floor made of hay, and no walls around it.
The mosquito bites were easy to deal with in the first half of the night. There was a lot of mugwort at Lao Liu's house, which could be lit to repel mosquitoes. But in the second half of the night, the cold air hit by the river and the temperature dropped sharply, making people shiver from the cold.
Early the next morning, Liu Xiu immediately asked Zhu You to return to the city and asked his brother-in-law Deng Chen to help buy more bedding to keep out the cold.
Liu Xiu's performance also touched Zhang Ping's two hundred brothers. He could obviously live comfortably in his brother-in-law's house, but he chose to live with people like himself and share the joys and sorrows. This alone made them jealous.
I admire Liu Xiu.
Deng Chen worked very efficiently. The next day, he sent several carts of bedding and several carts of iron ore.
People rested here for another day at Laoliu, and then entered Baishan Mountain, came to the mountain col they selected, and began to build.
Everyone first built a temporary residence in the mountain col and used the cave as a warehouse to store supplies. Everything was going on in an orderly manner.
Liu Xiu followed the others and worked in the mountain col for more than ten days. During this period, Liu Xiu wrote another letter to his elder brother Liu Yan, asking him to mobilize two hundred more soldiers.
This time Liu Yan directly sent over 300 people, led by Zhu Yun. After arriving at Baishan, they met with Liu Xiu and others.
With the addition of these three hundred brothers, their progress was much faster. In just a few days, their construction in the mountainous area had begun to take shape.
Lao Liu also closed his blacksmith shop, entered the mountain col, and directed people to build furnaces. Feeling that everything was on track, Liu Xiu left Baishan and returned to the Deng family in Xinye City.
After working in the mountain col for more than ten days, Liu Xiu was tanned a lot and became much stronger. However, in Liu Yuan's eyes, his younger brother had lost a lot of weight.
Liu Yuan took Liu Xiu's hand, looked at him from side to side, and said distressedly: "It's so hard in the mountains. I told your brother-in-law to bring you back, but he just didn't listen...
"
Liu Xiu smiled and said: "Second sister, you really can't blame your brother-in-law for this. My brother-in-law has mentioned it to me several times and asked me to go back to the city, but I didn't listen."
Liu Yuan rolled his eyes at him angrily and said, "You are so old, yet you are so troublesome!"
While the two siblings were talking, a servant came over, bowed to Liu Xiu and Liu Yuan, and said, "Madam, Mr. Liu, Miss Zijun is here!"
Deng Zijun? Liu Xiu was confused, why did she suddenly come to Deng's house?