Lord of Hyranza

Although he didn't have any good ideas yet, Suldak ordered the kobold slaves to relocate the mining camp to a flat hillside next to the lava waterfall.

Although there is thick smoke billowing here, the pungent sulfur smell is everywhere, hot lava rivers can be seen everywhere, and occasionally there will be salamanders crawling out of the mine, which seems very dangerous, but those who want to mine the upper reaches of the lava river Sulfur mines, you must camp here, so you can save at least a few kilometers of walking along the river of lava every day.

Chapter 654 Winter Mountain Village

After the sulfur on the stone walls on both sides of the lower reaches of the Lava River was mined by kobold slaves, it became imperative to open up new mining areas.

Lava River Waterfall is located on the south slope of Pustou Mountain, about five kilometers away from the foot of the mountain. The area at the foot of Pubun Mountain has a gentle slope, and it flows upstream along the Lava River. Only near the Lava Falls, the slope of the mountain suddenly changes. It becomes steeper, and a cliff nearly 80 meters high is formed here at the lava waterfall. The rolling magma flows down from the top of the cliff along the river of lava. Just like the Xiangba in front of the giant elephant, the magma flows down the top of the Xiangba. As the magma gradually cools, the river channel piles up higher and higher.

There is an umbrella-shaped platform 50 meters away from the waterfall. Standing on the platform, you can still feel the heat wave coming from the lava river. The sulfur smell here is a bit pungent, dry and hot, but for kobold slaves, But it is an excellent camping place, and the environment here will not affect their lives.

Especially in winter like this, the volcanic ash near the pustule mountain is still flying all over the sky.

For the kobold slaves here, it is a rare good season. The north wind from the ice and snow tundra crosses the Ziqing Mountains, crosses the Majaro Mountains along the blazing plains, and blows along the Pagros Mountains to Bena Province , The volcanic ash mixed with heavy snow falls down, which can completely cool down here.

It is very simple to build a shed in Pustule Mountain. You can carry some shale fragments to pile up the wall. If you are worried that it will not be strong, you can use pozzolanic cement to fill the stone gaps between the shale. There is no need for a roof, just build a shed with a wall Put a few logs on it, and then spread the dustproof cloth on the top of the shed, and you can build the simplest temporary shed.

These timbers and dust-proof cloths were all brought up from the sulfur mines at the foot of the mountain. In addition to piles of sulfur mines, there were also bags of miscellaneous grains and a few smoked pork legs. Kobold slaves can all eat a meal of stewed pumpkin with diced ham and multigrain cake, which is almost the best reward for kobold slaves.

Suldak discussed with several village supervisors, but they couldn't come up with any good ideas, but the kobold slave leader suggested to Suldak that he could lead the kobolds to dig a rocky step on the cliff. A rock wall step that turns back and forth seven times is completely embedded in the cliff.

The face of the kobold slave leader is full of wrinkles. From the front, it looks like a sharpie, with a half-burned candle on top of his head. He can speak a lot of simple imperial languages. Although the tone is a bit special, it is completely Communication is not affected.

He used a burnt black stick to draw confusing sketches on the rocky floor.

Suldak and five village supervisors squatted aside, listening carefully to the introduction of the kobold slave leader. Several villagers in Wall Village lived in a barren land except for the few years of military service. , They had limited knowledge, and when they heard that the kobold slave leader had come up with such a feasible plan, they all felt that they could give it a try. After all, digging rocks was not a difficult task for kobold slaves.

It's just that Suldak felt that such a project was a little too big. A rock wall tunnel that turned back and forth seven times would probably take many days to dig, and it would inevitably require a lot of hard work.At present, if the kobold slaves want to dig the sulfur mines in the upper reaches of the lava river, they can only go around the side of the cliff and walk seven or eight kilometers longer to climb to the top of the lava waterfall and go to both sides of the river to collect sulfur mines.

Suldak sat on the boulder outside the temporary camp, frowned and looked at the red lava river in the distance. Some volcanic ash mixed with snow grits fell into the magma, and immediately turned into wisps of black gas, which drifted away with the wind.

The kobold leader and five village supervisors stood aside, its dark nose opened and closed with breathing, it lowered its eyelids, took out a piece of eggplant stick from its bosom, and set it on fire against the steaming dark river , Put it in your mouth and smash it, the spicy smoke from the eggplant stem seems to be the best enjoyment for the kobold leader.

Suldak wants to build a steel cable on the cliff, so that sulfur mines and kobold slaves can quickly slide down the cableway, but if you want to find a qualified steel cable, you must go to the blacksmith workshop in Bena City to order , cannot solve the immediate problem at all.

"Dak, Dak!"

A man's voice came from far away...

Before Suldak could stand up, the village overseers standing aside excitedly ran towards the bank of the lava river, and the kobold slave leader also looked there, and saw Luke standing on a piece of volcanic rock in the distance Up, waving towards this side.

Then strode across the rocks emitting black smoke, and quickly ran towards the platform.

"Oh, Luke, why are you here?"

Suldak walked up to Luke, stretched out his fist and bumped him, and asked with a smile.

Before that, Luke and Charlie took turns managing the sulfur mine. Charlie led the craftsmen to build villas for Karl’s manor. Luke was always in charge of the mine. Luke was given a long vacation, and many young people in the village took advantage of the autumn to marry brides. There was no reason for Luke to eat volcanic ash in the sulfur mine.

Luke tugged at the mask on his face, and said with a smile: "I went back to the village for a few days, and followed the road repair team in the village to repair the cement road along the direction of the pustule mountain. Today, the cement road has been repaired to the foot of the mountain here." , Of course I want to come and see you, look over there..."

Luke pointed to a thin black line on the distant horizon...

Obviously, there is at least a dozen kilometers away from the cement road built by Luke.

Suldak was halfway up the mountain. Although the view here was wide, if you want to see the kobold slaves building roads in the distance, you have to carefully distinguish them.

"How many kobold slaves did you bring to repair this road?" Suldak recited a rune language, and his eyes became clearer before he could barely see clearly.

Luke laughed and said, "Almost all the kobold slaves in the village have been mobilized! With this smooth concrete road, it doesn't take two days to get to Bump Mountain from Wall Village by four-wheeled truck."

"You did a good job. It will be much more convenient to transport sulfur ore in the future." Surdak looked back from a distance and jumped off the huge volcanic rock. "We will not only build the road from Wall Village to the volcano, but also build concrete roads between natural villages in the barren land."

It is very easy to build such a concrete road in the northern part of the barren land full of volcanic ash. You only need to gather the volcanic ash scattered in the wilderness to build a roadbed, spread a layer of volcanic ash and sprinkle a layer of water, and then use stone rollers to compact the road surface. , No other treatment is even needed, there is volcanic ash everywhere here, and road repairs are as simple as repairing pond stalks in rice fields.

It is close to the pustule volcano, and the volcanic ash has covered a large area of ​​land. If you want to build such a cement road in the southern part of the barren land, you will inevitably need to use a large number of four-wheeled carriages to transport the volcanic ash, and mix some lime into the volcanic ash. Powder, to ensure that rainwater can quickly condense into strong concrete.

After Luke came, Suldak finally had someone he could negotiate with. For the rocky cliff of the Lava River Falls, Luke suggested to build a solid rope ladder with ropes, and tie a layer of hard oak on it. board, so that the road leading to the top of the cliff can be quickly repaired.

However, such a rope ladder can only be regarded as a temporary solution at best, and a permanent passage will be built in the future. Since Pustule Mountain has now become the territory of Suldak, Suldak feels that it is necessary to build a bridge on the bank of the lava river. While building a road, as for the rock cliff of the waterfall, Suldak finally decided to rely on the rock wall and build a plank road with wooden brackets with oak, leading to the cliff top of the waterfall.

"I'll take some kobolds to cut down oak trees on Pagros Mountain. We can also repair the concrete road there. As long as we connect the pustule mountain and the southern foot of Pagros Mountain with a concrete road, we can do it in the future. There is a steady stream of free wood, so you won’t have to go to Oak Ridge to cut the miscellaneous wood there every time you use wood.” Luke offered to share some tasks and said to Suldak.

"Alright," Suldak said.

Nearly a thousand kobold slaves gathered at the sulfur mine, putting considerable pressure on the entire supply line of Wall Village.

At least fifteen bags of miscellaneous grains are consumed every day to fill the stomachs of these kobold slaves. The sulfur mine currently cannot accommodate so many kobold slaves. Luke takes this team of kobold slaves to continue to build the concrete road to Mount Pagolos South foot.Otherwise, there would be no smooth concrete road, and it would be very difficult to transport the timber from the southern foot of Pagros Mountain to Pustule Mountain, given the current road conditions.

However, for the time being, the river of lava still needs to build a rope ladder and cableway with ropes.

Suldak had been busy at the sulfur mine for two full days before he built a simple linen rope ladder. Kobold slaves lined up neatly to climb to the top of the cliff. There are several times more downstream rivers, and the temporary cableway that was originally built has become the most convenient way to transport the sulfur ore down the mountain from the middle of the mountain. This is what Suldak did not expect.

……

Aphrodite was still on the mountain road between Constantinople and Hailansa city, admiring the snow scene among the mountains along the way.

Suldak was going to leave Bump Mountain temporarily and return to Woer Village to take a look. In order to prevent the red dragon Iser from starving, Suldak transported nearly ten boxes of red crystals to the treasure chamber, and told the red dragon Iser Hall himself intends to go away for a while.

Looking at the red dragon's reluctant eyes, he put his huge head on the platform, looked at Suldak pitifully, and was about to close the door of the treasure chamber, Suldak suddenly had some inexplicable emotions in his heart, but He immediately realized that the other party was a young red dragon, not a cat or a dog that he raised casually, but a dragon.

It was already the seventh day after Suldak rode back to Wall Village on his horse. On this day, Aphrodite also entered the boundary of Hailansa City with the carriage company's convoy.

Riding a horse into Wall Village, the market at the entrance of the village seemed a bit sluggish, but there were still villagers running to the stall. Apart from a few villagers from Wall Village, there were also a few merchants in the market at the entrance of the village, who sold groceries. The owner of the grocery store, the tavern owner who built a simple open-air tavern, and an adventure group also temporarily stayed here in Wall Village.

Several villagers of Wall Village saw Suerdak coming in from the outside on horseback, and they all stood up and greeted Suerdak.

Suldak just waved his hand casually, then crossed the sluggish market at the entrance of the village and entered Wall Village.

Looking at the well-organized row of small buildings in the village, on the flat steps in front of the small buildings, there are always some elderly people in the village sitting on deck chairs, basking in the warm sun in this winter, and their bodies are covered with thick felt. Blanket, eyes squinting, looking comfortably at the blue sky and white clouds in the distance, this is the first time that I don’t need to worry about the food stored in the winter is not enough, and I no longer need to go to the snow to find those sea-buckthorn fruits buried under the snow, There is no need to worry about the heavy snowstorm that will collapse the roof. There is no need to worry about these, not at all.

The upstream reservoir is still storing water, and the stream in the village has been dry for an unknown amount of time. Is it a month, two months... or three months?In short, after the Harvest Festival, there was no water in that stream, and all the spring water was accumulated in the cistern.

Nowadays, whether the villagers wash their clothes or get drinking water, they will go to the square in the village. There are five faucets here, all of which are the cleanest spring water on the mountain. Women are still accustomed to squatting under the faucets. Row, while washing clothes in the cold weather, while chatting loudly, the children also gathered in the village square to play hide-and-seek games, and the village square was very lively.

The house next to the carpentry workshop was originally a children's home, but now there are a few brand new four-wheeled carriages outside.

But what I am more concerned about is the yellow sheep pen near the stream in the lower reaches of the village. In addition to a large piece of land surrounded by the sheep pen, there are nearly 50 or [-] horses in it, and there are more than [-] single horses in another pen. Camel.

When Suldak intercepted and killed the desert bandits last time, he captured a lot of camels, but not so many.

The group of women finally saw Suldak, and their laughing and laughing voices became louder. Natasha, who was mixed in the crowd, stood up from the crowd under the squeeze of the village women, her face flushed with shame. , but still walked up to Suldak very bravely, looking at Suldak with big watery eyes, with watery tenderness in his eyes.

Suldak didn't speak, and looked at Natasha intently. When she approached, he bent down and stretched out his strong arms to catch Natasha in his arms, let her sit in front of the saddle, and held her softly with both hands. waist, rode the horse and ran towards the home upstream.

There was laughter and loud whistles from the square behind. A group of children chased after the horses, and they didn't stop until they saw the gate of Suldak's house in the distance.

Suldak held Natasha's slender waist with one hand, jumped off the horse, let Natasha lean on the wall at the door, held her delicate and beautiful face, and gently licked her Soft lips.

Natasha also responded enthusiastically at this moment...

Until Little Peter's voice sounded under the two of them: "Mom, what are you doing?"

Natasha was like a panicked rabbit, struggling to leave Suldak's arms.

Suldak wiped his mouth, bent over and hugged little Peter in his arms, and led Gu Bolaima into the yard with the other hand.

Chapter 655 Winter Mountain Village 2

Life seems to always change inadvertently, but there are always people who like to trace the beauty of the past along the road of memory.

The yard was cleaned very clean, and there was almost no residual snow. In the stable, there was only a black and white cow grazing in a wooden trough. Suldak led the horse into the stable. The old resident was very dissatisfied, and kicked the horse's hooves restlessly. The cow was grazing quietly, and didn't care about the clown-like performance of Gu Bolai's horse.

Rita came out when she heard the movement, and quickly helped Surdak unsaddle the horse so that it could stay comfortably in the stable, and kept stroking its head to make it quiet.

"Going out for so long this time?" Rita poured a basket of fodder into the trough, then brought a bucket of water over, and said to Suldak.

Suldak hugged little Peter, stood by the pillar next to the stable, and said to Rita: "Um, I went to Bena City, and I went to the sulfur mine on Pubbump Mountain to do some things. The road from Er Village to the sulfur mine has been repaired, and I can take you for a walk when I have time, so that I can see my territory."

Rita looked north, with a hint of awe in her eyes.

For many people in Wall Village, Bump Mountain is considered a dead place. The black sky above covers a large area of ​​barren land, and the volcanic ash is sealing everything up. There is no water source in the desolate and dry place. The gray rock iguana can't get close to the edge of the volcano, and the sea buckthorn grass and the thirsty phoenix are buried in the volcanic ash, slowly turning into dead branches and rotten leaves.

Rita curled her lips, and said with some disdain: "What's so good about Pustule Mountain, where middle-aged people are covered by a black sky, and the sky is full of volcanic ash, there is no man's land in the barren land, no one can be there In life, if we didn’t have face masks, I’m afraid we wouldn’t dare to go in, I heard that the mountains over there are full of fires?”

Rita's eyes are long and full of curiosity.

Suldak hugged little Peter, followed behind Rita, and said, "There are rivers of lava everywhere, some are exposed outside, and some are lurking underground. It's hot everywhere, but it's not like what you said. It’s so exaggerated, it’s really not very livable, compared with those, Wall Village is simply a paradise.”

Rita followed Surdak with an empty wooden bucket. She was not tall, and she wore the jacket that women here often wear in winter. She had a well-proportioned and vigorous figure. Chi Shuiba said with some emotion: "Yeah, the Wall Village looks like a paradise now. I kind of forgot the taste of multigrain pancakes."

Little Peter, who was stuck in Suldak's arms, said to Rita who was following with a childish expression: "Auntie, if you are going to Pustule Mountain, remember to take me with you."

Rita walked up with a smile, scratched Peter's nose with her little finger, and said with a smile, "If you can guarantee that you won't cry even when fire rains down on your head, then I will take you along."

Little Peter nodded vigorously believing it was true, and said childishly, "I'm sure I won't cry..."

There are two wooden figures by the fence in the yard. There are shallow knife marks all over the oak wooden figures. It seems that little Peter insists on practicing basic swordsmanship every day. There are two archery targets hanging on the wall next to the wooden figures. There are also a few messy feather arrows stuck on it.

Just outside the yard, you can see the fifth-level reservoir, which is covered by thick snow, and layers of dams are built on top of the head. The dams and mountains are integrated in the snow, which looks very magnificent.

Suldak walked into the house with little Peter in his arms. Old Sheila was sitting on the rocking chair by the fireplace, warming herself by the fire with her eyes slightly closed, with a thin blanket covering her knees, and she seemed to be asleep.

Natasha has already brought a plate of steaming broth to the dining room, and she has put two hard wheat cakes next to the fireplace, so that the wheat cakes will become fragrant and crispy after toasting. , I still remember that when I returned to Wall Village last summer, the whole village was starving, and the thatched hut of old Sheila’s house leaked very badly. Fortunately, spring is always a dry season, and it was not affected much.

At that time, apart from some miscellaneous grains, there seemed to be only a little chestnut noodles in the house. The hard life slowly disappeared from the appearance of this man who lowered his head and gnawed on wheat cakes in silence, and he also changed from an apprentice knight He was promoted all the way to become a noble baron. Although this title is not yet hereditary, it is already the only one in Wall Village, which does not even have a canonized knight.

Today, he still guards here silently, guarding Wall Village and this barren land.

Natasha sat down on the chair next to Suldak, watching him eat tenderly, Little Peter climbed into Natasha's arms, and Natasha looked at Suldak with a dusty face, covered in dust. They were covered with volcanic ash, so they said to him, "I'm going to boil some bath water..."

Although there is already a cook at home, Natasha still likes to do everything by herself. She and Rita are the kind of hard-working women who are used to it.

Natasha was wearing a long cotton dress with a belt that cinched her waist very slenderly. She wore a sweetheart-neck sweater made of woolen wool that was very close to her body. Her milk-white neck and collarbone were all exposed. Her long blond hair was covered with a handkerchief. The back of her head was tied into a ponytail, perhaps because she hadn't seen her for a long time, but Suldak felt that Natasha's back was also extraordinarily soft.

After filling the stomach, the body also relaxes.

Suldak was lying in the warm bath. He closed his eyes and felt the rippling water around him. His perception rippled along with the ripples of the water, which gave Suldak a very wonderful feeling. Then The sleepiness from the journey welled up, and he rested his head on the edge of the bath...

Thinking about how to tell his family about his proposal at the Marquis Luther's Mansion in Bena City, Suldak felt that it was difficult to tell the truth when he faced Natasha. Maybe he should talk to old Sheila first. Let's discuss it, but he doesn't want to face old Sheila alone. When those eyes stare at him, he always feels a little guilty.

Then he began to plan to form a cavalry battalion in winter no matter what. Whether it was horses or cavalry, it was an urgent matter to be resolved immediately.

Hearing the sound of rushing water, Suldak woke up suddenly from his dream, and found Natasha squatting outside the bath for some reason, her face flushed with shame, she lowered her head and dared not say: "Did I take you away?" woke up?"

Lying in the bath, Suldak wiped his face with his hand, raised his white chin with his index finger, licked her bright red lips, and said gently: "If you didn't wake me up, I might Will sleep until tomorrow morning..."

Natasha pressed Suldak's dishonest hand, and whispered to him shyly: "Don't stay here, Uncle Brett is still waiting for you outside, it seems that he has something to discuss with you, Andrew and Samira I heard that you are coming back, and you are all waiting outside!"

Chapter 656

The old village head, Brett, was sitting in the living room. He was resisted by the northern rebels in the summer. He suffered some injuries. Although his leg injury has healed now, once he gets old, it is difficult to leave when he picks up a walking stick. opened.

He was stroking the yew-wood cane in his hand, chatting with old Sheila about trivial matters in the village.

This winter, the head of Bright Village no longer has to worry about the villagers not having enough to eat and the roof of the house they live in was blown off by the snowstorm, but there are still many trivial matters. It is probably because there is some spare money in hand, the house can withstand the wind and snow, and the granary at home is full of wheat. Population boom.

Many villagers used to have insufficient food and clothing. At that time, they had to worry about getting enough food every day. Instead, everyone would be polite to each other. At that time, no matter who was in trouble, they could extend a hand to help.

But now everyone is free at once, and they all escape the cold winter by the fireplace in the house. Except for two meals a day, there is only something to do in bed after nightfall. Life becomes boring and there will inevitably be some grievances and conflicts. Every day The noisy ones were either family disputes or conflicts among neighbors, which made the old village head Brett a little tired of coping.

At this time in previous years, the men in the village didn't know which forest farm they were transporting wood in!

'A group of idlers who are bored, they must find something to do. That's how the old village chief Brett thought.

It's just that with the arrival of winter, the earth is blocked by ice and snow, and there are not many things that can be done in winter.

This is also the reason why Village Chief Bright couldn't wait to find Suldak.

Seeing Suldak coming down from the second floor wearing a set of clean leather armor, old Sheila raised her head, looked at Suldak with her cloudy eyes, and looked at Suldak calmly: "Oh ,You're back!"

"I saw you sleeping just now, so I didn't wake you up!" Suldak walked down the stairs, stood beside old Sheila, and hugged her.

"I'm going to see little Peter, you can talk here!" Seeing Suldak rushing over, old Sheila stood up tremblingly and walked slowly towards her room.

Suldak sat opposite the village chief Brett, and asked the old village chief, "Uncle Brett, is everything okay in the village recently?"

"Fortunately, once everyone is free, there will always be someone who seems restless." After the old village chief said this, the quarrels among the boring villagers emerged in his mind, and he smiled indifferently , those boring quarrels have been resolved under my own suppression.

Village Chief Brett asked casually, "Did you go out this time and everything went well?"

Suldak glanced at Andrew and Samira who were waiting on the side, and said casually: "I have gained a lot from going out this time, that is, the establishment of the militia battalion and cavalry battalion needs to be completed as soon as possible. The news is that there may be some actions on the Bena Province tomorrow spring, and some frequent mobilization of barracks in various places. The law and order in the barren land is already very bad. The line of defense is even more fragile. I want to arm the militia in the barren land as soon as possible. This part of the ordnance will come from the city of Hailansa. The soldiers may have very strict requirements on the physical strength, skills and tactics of the villagers. The militia battalion has developed a group of archers, as long as they can hold a bow and crossbow, they can build an effective defense system in each village."

He paused, and then said: "According to the order of the upper echelons of Bena Province, I have to prepare a cavalry battalion in a short time. As for the cavalry, I want to go to the villages to recruit. The biggest difference between the cavalry battalion and the militia battalion That is, I need some veterans with rich combat experience, whether they can ride horses or not is secondary, but they must have rich combat experience, Uncle Brett, do you think I can recruit enough men in the barren land?"

"Ah, is there going to be a war?" Hearing what Suerdak said, the old village head asked in surprise.

Suldak shook his head slightly, and said, "That's not true, but the plane wars have never stopped. I will be stationed on the plane with the army next year, and I'm afraid I will stay there for a while."

"You want to recruit some cavalry. There should be some people in our village who are capable, but definitely not too many."

Only then did the old village head know that after becoming a nobleman, he still has the responsibility to defend the territory of the empire. In fact, everything has two sides. Being able to participate in the war of the plane is also an excellent opportunity to earn military merits, and it seems that this mission It's not difficult, it's just a plane garrison.