Chapter 510: Mine

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The two of them fell to the ground and saw that there were thin men in ragged clothes inside. They did not react to the commotion they made.

Ding Yi scratched Hu Cheng’s palm a few times and told him that he wanted to stay and watch for two days before finding an opportunity to escape.

Hu Cheng agreed with Ding Yi’s idea. The two of them secretly communicated with the secret guards and discussed how to deal with it.

Less than two hours later, the people in the cave were woken up. Hu Cheng and Ding Yi were also driven by the guards with whips. They followed the team of miners and walked forward in a panic.

In front of a dozen tall iron-forging furnaces, were more than a dozen dark and thin black-faced men mechanically pulling the blowers. Every so often, two guards stood with whips in their hands and long sabers hanging from their waists.

If the miner was a little slower, a whip would land on him. Those people did not dare to resist and could only grit their teeth and speed up.

Suddenly, a miner pushing a wheelbarrow stopped. His body swayed a few times before he fell straight down. The supervisor cursed and walked up. He raised his whip and whipped him. At first, the man twitched a few times, but after a while, there was no movement.

The supervisor bent down to take a look and dragged the miner towards a cave. The others silently quickened their movements.

Ding Yi and Hu Cheng looked at everything in front of them and thought to themselves, No wonder these miners were so honest. They couldn’t have been so insensitive when they first arrived. They must have been beaten up for a long time before becoming like this.

More than a dozen furnaces were being refined day and night. Fiery molten iron flowed out of the groove non-stop. How much pig iron had the Cheng family refined? Hearing the faint sound of hammering iron in front, he thought about how many weapons the Cheng family had refined all these years.

The further they went, the louder the clanging sound became. When they turned the corner, they saw a few rows of burning furnaces. There were thirty to forty blacksmiths sweating as they forged ironware.

After a while, they reached the depths of the valley. The miners stopped, picked up their tools, and walked to the foot of the mountain to start digging iron ore.

The supervisor pointed at the wicker basket, hammer, and shovel on the ground and looked at the two of them. “The two newbies, take your belongings and go over there. Open that piece fully before you can rest.”

Hu Cheng and Ding Yi glanced at the place the supervisor had pointed out. They obediently picked up the wicker basket and walked to the foot of the mountain. They picked up the shovel and started working.

Dirt and gravel were chiseled out, shoveled into the wicker basket, and loaded up the cart. The supervisor asked Ding Yi to push the wheelbarrow and follow the miners to where they sifted the iron sand. None of the miners talked to each other along the way. They worked in obscurity.

There was a large pool where the ore was sifted. On three sides of the pool were cliffs. The stream flowed down the cliff to rinse the ore. A dozen miners kept sifting and washing the ore. There were also miners moving the ore back and forth with wheelbarrows. Ding Yi realized that there were the least supervisors here.

After working non-stop for two hours, the two of them were already starving. Seeing that the two miners beside them had also slowed down, Hu Cheng asked him softly, “Brother, when will we have food to eat?”

The miner glanced at him and shook his head silently. The supervisor raised his whip and shouted, “Hurry up. If you don’t want to work, we shall drag you into the cave and let you rest for the rest of your life.”

Ding Yi and Hu Cheng thought of the miners who had been dragged into the cave just now. That was right! They could rest forever after they died.

The miner quickened his movements. Hu Cheng turned to look at the supervisor. “Manager, I’m hungry. Give me something to eat!”

The supervisor walked up to Hu Cheng and pointed his whip at him. “On account that you’re new here, I’ll let you off today. I’ll tell you the rules today. Work for four hours at night, rest for two hours, and you’ll be given two steamed buns. If you want to eat again, you will have to wait another two hours. During the day, you have to work harder. You can only rest after finishing the work arranged. Hurry up, or my whip won’t recognize you.”

When Hu Cheng heard this, he calculated. Damn it, they only slept for two hours a night. During the day, they had to finish the work arranged before he could rest. This was treating people as livestock. No, they were worse than livestock.

The two of them gritted their teeth and took the steamed buns. They were each distributed two hard mixed grain steamed buns before being chased back to the smelly cave to rest.

After the miners were asleep, Ding Yi lay there and calculated the number of supervisors. He realized that there were no less than a hundred supervisors in the valley. There were also guards on the mountain. There were the most supervisors and guards from the furnace to the mining area. The only place that had lax controls was the sieving pool.

Ding Yi felt that with his martial arts, he could easily escape. He just didn’t know if Hu Cheng could escape. Had the people sent by Shopkeeper Chu followed them? Had they sent the news back? If they had already received the news, his planned escape with Hu Cheng escape would definitely alert the enemy…

In the Yuezhou Prefecture’s capital, the team delivering the decree had already arrived. Magistrate Feng and the Cheng family’s Eldest Young Master, Cheng Shan, brought the officials and a group of country squires from the Yuezhou Prefecture to welcome the team delivering the decree at the city gate.

Magistrate Feng and Cheng Shan glanced at Zhou Jia, who was smiling warmly.

They smiled and went forward to bow. “Greetings, Imperial Envoy Zhou.” Zhou Jia smiled and went forward to help him up. “Lord Feng, don’t stand on ceremony.”

Cheng Shan also smiled and bowed. After everyone exchanged pleasantries, the team carrying the decree moved into the Yuezhou Courier Station. Magistrate Feng smiled and said to Zhou Jia, “Lord Zhou, there’s a welcome banquet at the Intoxicated Immortal Restaurant tonight- When you have rested well, I’ll send someone to pick you up.”

Zhou Jia rejected, “Thank you, Lord Feng. Please thank everyone for their kindness. It’s really a long journey. There’s no need for the welcome banquet!” “Lord Zhou, everyone is sincere. Please do me the honor.” Magistrate Feng bowed.

Zhou Jia nodded. “Alright! Prepare it casually. Don’t be extravagant.”

Magistrate Feng agreed respectfully. “Senior Zhou, rest. I’ll take my leave.”

The courier welcomed Zhou Jia and the eunuch into the courier station. After arranging their residence, he left. The eunuch tidied up and went to the Cheng family to deliver the decree.

Zhou Jia looked at the people serving in the courtyard and said to Ruyi, “Let them go back. I have you and the guards. I don’t need them to serve me.”

Ruyi looked at them. “Did you hear Lord? You’re not needed here. Go back!”

“Master, we were sent by the courier station to serve you. If you chase us back, Master will…

Ruyi looked at them arrogantly. “If I tell you to leave, leave quickly. Someone, chase them out.’

The guards stepped forward and herded them away..

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