Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 124 Everything is ready, let’s get started [Three in One]

Although everyone was very motivated, bow making was, after all, a craft with complicated processes and tedious procedures.

Casting the bow body, forging the bow arc, drilling holes and grooves, stringing the bow, and measuring tension, no matter which one, requires extreme care and meticulousness.

The more anxious you are, the easier it is to make mistakes, which will result in material waste and be counterproductive.

Those people who practice archery outside can be enthusiastic, but the same cannot be said for those who make bows. Although they are enthusiastic, they still need to be serious and meticulous, and must ensure the yield of products and avoid unnecessary losses.

It is not difficult to string the bow and measure the tension. Mu Dong has successfully stringed thirty-six iron-frame bows and has extremely rich experience. Basically, as long as the bow body is ready, he can string the bow in less than half an hour.

The most difficult process in bow making is casting the bow body.

Firstly, blacksmithing itself is a difficult, tedious and time-consuming task;

Secondly, there are only seven people in the entire camp who have forging capabilities, and three of them have to be assigned to mine. With only four people doing forging, the efficiency is naturally extremely limited.

Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and Zhao Long had just started forging. Although they had improved a lot in the past ten days, they could only make one bow at most in one night.

Xia Hong has more experience than the other three, and his basic strength is also higher, so his forging efficiency is naturally faster, and he can forge three in one night.

The four of them together could cast six knives a day, while the three Yuan Cheng people in the mine could only mine 1200 kilograms of minerals a day using a toothed chisel, which was only enough to cast four knives.

As long as the progress of iron ore is almost lagging behind, Xia Hong will take Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan to the mine to take over mining from Yuan Cheng and the other two.

His mining output can now reach 800 per day; Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan are slightly stronger than Yuan Cheng and the other two, so their mining efficiency is naturally slightly faster.

Yuan Cheng and his two companions could only produce 1200 to 1300 kilograms a day using a rat-tooth chisel, but if the three of them went down there in a day, they could produce up to 1800 kilograms.

They went downstairs to take over mining, and Yuan Cheng and the other two went upstairs to take over forging. In this way, there was almost no jam in the progress of bow making, and it went extremely smoothly for several days.

The seven people only rested for one or two hours every day. Under such an overloaded operating state, the efficiency of bow making naturally increased steadily.

In particular, the forging skills of Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan and Zhao Long improved rapidly during this process. From one sword a day in the beginning, they could produce one or two more swords a day later with the cooperation of the three.

On the first day, six pieces were finished;

On the second day, six handfuls were finished;

On the third day, seven pieces were finished;

…………

On the seventh day, eight pieces were finished;

………………

On the ninth day, the sky was just getting light.

In the valley, everyone who had practiced archery all night now looked tired and were returning to the cabins one after another, preparing to go to bed.

Shi Ping came down from the second floor with a happy look on his face. After leaving the wooden house, he hurried towards the mine.

Clang…clang…clang…

After walking more than ten meters into the mine, crisp chiseling sounds came from the front.

Shi Ping quickened his pace and saw Xia Hong and the other two who were mining. He immediately bowed and said excitedly, "Leader, we had six finished products yesterday!"

Keng...

Six?

Xia Hong thought he had misheard, so he stopped and looked at Shi Ping.

Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan on the other side also stopped and looked at him.

Being stared at by three people, Shi Ping was a little nervous, but he still nodded and said:

"There are six swords. Lord Zhao Long forged one first, and then the three Lords Yuan Cheng took turns to forge them. As of now, six swords have been forged."

"Zhao Long's forging skills are improving very quickly!"

Xia Chuan, who had already stopped, couldn't help but praise him when he heard this.

Xia Hong nodded, but after thinking about it for a moment, he immediately understood.

During this period, if we were to ask who made the most bows, it would definitely be him, but if we were to ask who took the longest time to forge them, it would be Zhao Long.

Because there were only three toothed chisels, once the iron ore was insufficient, he would only bring Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan down, leaving Zhao Long there. So for eight consecutive days, the six of them took turns mining, but Zhao Long was the only one who stayed there to forge iron, and his skills naturally improved rapidly.

"How many iron bows are there in the camp now?"

While Xia Hong signaled Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan to bring the iron ore over, he turned around and asked Shi Ping about the number of iron-framed bows.

"In the past eight days, a total of 49 have been shot. Add the 36 previously and the 11 already in the camp, and now there are 96 iron bows."

"Teng Jiao spine, how many meters are left?"

"Twenty-seven meters."

【资源：木42102煤560铁188银0金0】

When we entered the mine, the iron resources were already exhausted.

In one night, the three men mined a total of 1880 kilograms of iron ore.

There are already 96 iron-frame bows.

After thinking it over in his mind, Xia Hong asked Shi Ping:
"How many iron arrows do we have now?"

All weapon-related supplies were originally managed by the camp supply department. Xia Chuan was busy during this period, so Shi Ping was in charge of all these matters. When he heard Xia Hong's question, he immediately gave an answer.

"There were 550 before, plus the 500 the leader made five days ago, so now there are a total of 1050."

Arrows are different from bows. It is not difficult to forge arrow blanks, and the sharpening process can be done by woodcutters, so the forging efficiency is very high. Five days ago, when Xia Hong learned that there were not enough iron arrows, he immediately started a furnace.

He was responsible for forging the arrow blank alone, and then called on twenty or thirty people to polish it together.

In two or three hours, 500 iron arrows were made.

"One bow needs 50 arrows, which means there are not enough arrows!"

Xia Hong's expression darkened slightly. Thinking about the iron ore in his hand, which was only enough to shoot 600 arrows at most, he felt helpless.

If you do the math, you'll know that during this period of time, the seven of them have been almost squeezed to the limit in terms of both their bodies and iron ore.

Fortunately, I was lucky in mining, otherwise I would not be able to keep up.

During these eight days, there were two groups of people. His group mined for four days, Yuan Cheng's group mined for three days, and there was one day when all seven people came down to mine.

With the system in place, he knows exactly the total amount of mining.

His team mined 7920 kilograms of minerals in four days.

The Yuancheng group produced less, with a mining volume of 3850 kilograms.

On the day when seven people were mining at the same time, they mined 2300 kilograms.

In other words, the total amount mined in eight days was 14070 kilograms, plus the remaining 3300 kilograms, a total of 17370 kilograms.

Forty-nine bows weighed 14700 kilograms, and 500 arrows were shot in between, which weighed a total of 2500 kilograms, making a total of exactly 17300 kilograms.

The mining volume and consumption volume just matched each other. During these ten days, almost as soon as the iron ore was mined, someone would take it to the furnace for forging. That's why Xia Hongcai said that both his body and the iron ore were almost squeezed to the limit.

"We already have enough iron bows. We don't need to make more. We can use fewer arrows, but too few is not good. Daybreak is coming soon. Let's go back and have a good rest during the day. After nightfall, the seven of us will continue digging. The rest of the iron ore will be used to make arrows."

"Yes, leader!"

Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan both breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the voice.

Although the physique of the Diggers is superior to that of ordinary people, they are not made of iron. In the first eight days, they only slept for one or two hours a day. The rest of the time, they were either mining in the cave or forging iron upstairs. They had already reached their limit.

They finally had four hours of rest, so they cherished it. They immediately dropped their chisels and returned to the cabin to rest.

Xia Hong was no exception. He went upstairs and took a look at the iron room. Knowing that Yuan Cheng and the other three had gone to rest, he quickly returned to his room to sleep.

Although the four hours passed in a flash during the day, Xia Hong and the other seven people had a good night's sleep and recovered most of their energy.

Xia Hong didn't delay and took the six people directly down the mine.

However, he only dug for half a day and mined about ten pieces of iron ore, weighing about four hundred kilograms. In the second half of the night, he handed the ratchet in his hand to Zhao Long and left.

Less than an hour after being out, Xia Hong came back with a serious expression.

"I'll go make the iron arrows first. You guys continue digging. Once you find the iron ore, send it up immediately. We can make as much as we can in one day. The rat swarm is still moving south. We can't delay any longer!"

Upon hearing this, the six people realized that Xia Hong had just gone to the northern slope of the mountain again. Their expressions suddenly became serious, and they turned around and sped up the mining.

Xia Hong did not delay any longer. He collected all the iron ore that everyone had mined and walked out of the mine with a heavy face.

During the first nine days, he certainly did not just stay in the camp to make bows. He would go to the north slope of the mountain every other day to check on the things of the rat group.

Following the migration nine days ago, the rodent group migrated south twice, and the distance was even greater than before, exceeding 400 meters.

The valley is less than two kilometers away from there, which means that the range of the rodent group's activity is only more than one kilometer away from the camp.

There is not much time left for them.

At the entrance of the wooden house, more than one hundred loggers in the camp were still practicing archery madly as usual. Compared with twenty days ago, the camp was obviously much more spacious now. There were ninety-six iron bows. Although it was not enough for everyone to have one, it was still more than enough for practice.

"Meet the leader!"

"The leader is here."

"Meet the leader!"

…………

"Just keep practicing, don't worry about me."

Xia Hong stretched out his hand to tell everyone not to worry about him. He stopped and looked for a while, with a hint of satisfaction on his face.

At the 100-meter target, you could hardly see anyone shooting off target, all of them were ten rings.

The hit rate for the 200-meter target is also 100%, but the number of people with ten rings is not too large for the time being.

Compared with nineteen days ago, these people's archery skills have obviously reached a much higher level, which shows that basically no one of them was lazy during this period of time.

It's normal, after all, it's a life-threatening matter.

These people all knew that the group of rodents was nearby, and they also knew why Xia Hong wanted them to improve their archery skills. If they were still lazy, they would be too ambitious.

Without disturbing everyone from practicing archery, Xia Hong went straight to the second floor.

Before going to bed yesterday, we had stored up 1880 kilograms of iron ore. In the half day after waking up, the seven of us dug more than 1100 kilograms, totaling more than 3000 kilograms.

"These three thousand catties can produce more than six hundred iron arrows. Adding the existing ones, there are a total of 1650 arrows. Fifty arrows are definitely not enough for each bow. Even if we reduce it by 2880%, and each bow is equipped with thirty arrows, we still need to prepare 1230 arrows at least. We still need 6000 arrows. Each arrow weighs five catties, which means we need more than catties!"

In the first nineteen days, Xia Hong's main task was to settle accounts.

There is no way, because Da Xia is not strong enough and does not have enough resources. What’s worse is that the speed of mining is so slow.

"More than 6000 kilograms. Fortunately, there is hope. The six people in Xiachuan can mine about 1500 kilograms a day. With me, it can reach 2200 kilograms. The arrow-making speed is very fast. If the iron ore is gone, I will go down and mine with them. It shouldn't take more than three days!"

Compared with the production process of bows and arrows, it is much easier.

Xia Hong only needed to make the arrow blanks and leave the arrowheads to the others to polish. They had already made them once before, and it only took more than two hours to make 500 arrows.

Upon learning that Xia Hong wanted to make arrows, Mu Dong immediately called the people in the workshop and had them all ready. After he forged an arrow, someone would immediately take it over and start polishing it. In this way, efficiency was instantly maximized.

Six hundred arrows were made in less than three hours.

Seeing that the mine had not yet delivered iron ore, Xia Hong went down again; after accompanying Xia Chuan and six others to dig for two days and storing nearly 4,500 kilograms of iron ore, he came up and practiced 900 shots in one breath. After finishing the practice, he went down again.

Xia Hong is like a tireless machine. Of course, it's not just him. Xia Chuan and the other six people, and even Mu Dong and others who are only responsible for polishing, are the same.

Seeing how crazy they were, the more than one hundred lumberjacks in the camp dared not slack off when practicing archery; ordinary people, in addition to practicing, were also doing what they could.

Everyone in the entire camp seemed to be holding back their energy.

At nightfall on the third day, the last batch of 300 arrows was completed. Xia Hong still did not leave the iron smelting room. Instead, he called Shi Ping and asked him to go to the mine to notify Xia Chuan and the other six to stop mining and deliver the last batch of iron ore.

Shi Ping left the blacksmith room with more than 300 arrows, but after a while Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan and six others, who were soaking wet and looking tired, walked in.

"Huh...Brother, do you have enough iron arrows?"

Xia Chuan put the bag of iron ore in his hand next to the furnace, exhaled sharply, and sat down on the ground.

The same was true for the five people from Luo Yuan behind him.

"That's enough. You must be exhausted after these three days, right?"

Xia Chuan and the other six didn't need to answer. The tiredness on their faces was the answer.

For three consecutive days, they even ate in the mine. They only took an hour's rest every day and slept directly in the mine. You can imagine how tired they were.

"No need to dig anymore. You five, go and rest first!"

A trace of fatigue flashed across Xia Hong's eyes, but looking at the more than twenty pieces of iron ore that Xia Chuan had just put down on the ground, he forced himself to cheer up and let Luo Yuan and the other four go to rest first.

The five men were already exhausted, and upon receiving Xia Hong's order, they immediately got up and went back to their rooms to rest. Only Xia Chuan was left in the blacksmith room.

"Brother, is something wrong?"

Obviously, Xia Chuan also wanted to rest, but he knew that since Xia Hong wanted to keep him, there must be something wrong, so he asked first.

Xia Hong nodded and asked, "How many logging professionals are there in the camp now?"

Although Xia Chuan has been mining during this period, Shi Ping and other people in the camp support center will report the situation in the camp to him in a timely manner, so he must be aware of it.

"There are already 212."

Hearing this number, Xia Hong's tense nerves immediately relaxed a little, and a long-lost look of excitement gradually appeared on his face.

When the construction of the new house started, there were 140 lumberjacks in the camp. Later, 18 of them were lost due to accidents when they went out. Now, less than two months have passed, and the number has suddenly increased to 212.

"It seems that we are not the only ones who feel the pressure brought by the rat swarm. The people in the reserve force have also been training very hard during this period."

Xia Chuan nodded and said with a smile, "Another reason is that they all want to try out the bow. There are enough iron bows in the camp now, but only those in the Woodcutting Realm can practice them. Plus, there is an archery competition every ten days, so they naturally want to participate more urgently."

Xia Hong's eyes lit up slightly when he heard this.

Well, humans are social animals. The atmosphere of archery practice is so strong throughout the camp. Plus, there are contribution value rewards for the archery competition. Those in the reserve force who cannot participate will of course try to make a breakthrough as soon as possible.

Following this line of thought, could the camp add more weapons competitions in the future? This would be of great help in improving overall strength.

No, now is not the time to think about these things.

Xia Hong suppressed the thoughts in his mind, looked at Xia Chuan, and talked about business.

"You should also go and rest later. Once you are rested, we will start selecting people. We will select the ninety-six people with the best archery skills. We will start the action tomorrow night."

Xia Chuan nodded when he heard this, and his expression suddenly became solemn.

The camp had been operating at full capacity for more than twenty days, all for the group of rats on the north slope of the mountain. Now that all the preparations had been completed, the next step was to face them head-on.

"Brother, are you only going to select ninety-six people? Or are you going to let the other woodcutters..."

"It's no use!"

Xia Hong shook his head and interrupted Xia Chuan, saying in a deep voice: "Even if the rats are hit by the Teng Jiao poison mist, their speed and strength are still above the level of woodcutters. Without bows and arrows, they can basically not play any role in the past. Not only will they die in vain, but they are also likely to affect other people."

Xia Hong had considered this issue before.

Apart from bows and arrows, there is no other way to harm rats at a distance, even if they are poisoned.

Moreover, apart from ninety-six bows and arrows, the remaining iron weapons in the camp were only a giant axe and five broadswords, which were not enough to equip the remaining people.

We can't let these people engage in close combat with rats, can we?

No matter if a lumberjack carries weapons or not, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with any cold beast is an act of seeking death, unless it involves a pile of human lives.

What's more, the main attack method this time is archery. It is impossible for these 96 people to shoot arrows in the back while the more than 100 people are in close combat with rats in the front. This is even more unreasonable.

"If time permits, I would also like to make more bows, but the situation does not allow it. With hundreds of bows, nearly three thousand arrows, and seven of us, as long as we operate properly, it should not be difficult to deal with those rats."

After Xia Hong finished speaking, he signaled Xia Chuan to go and rest first, and he stayed in the ironworks alone, looking down at the last batch of iron ore that Xia Chuan and six others had just brought up.

"Someone, call Mu Dong over."

"Yes, leader!"

There was someone guarding the door, and when he heard Xia Hong's order, someone went there immediately.

…………

Xia Hong tinkered in the room for the entire night, and Mu Dong was there too.

The noise in the blacksmith room did not stop until dawn.

"Give these three bows to the three Zhao Long brothers. I'm going to go get some sleep first."

"Yes, leader."

Mu Dong nodded and obeyed. Looking at the three sets of bows and arrows on the ground, his face was filled with a strong sense of accomplishment.

The three bows on the ground looked a whole circle larger than the ordinary iron-framed bows, and had several more bowstrings than before. They were obviously much stronger than the previous bows.

"Mudong, the leader is calling us?"

Soon, the three Zhao Long brothers, who were watching the archery selection on the first floor, came up immediately after hearing the news.

When the three of them entered the blacksmith room, they didn't see Xia Hong, so they asked in confusion.

But then, the three people's attention was caught by the bow and arrow on the ground.

"this…………"

Zhao Long picked up one and stretched out his hand to pull the string. Feeling the strong pulling force of the bow, his eyes suddenly lit up. He turned around and looked at Mu Dong with a hint of anticipation on his face.

Mu Dong chuckled and nodded, saying, "These three bows should be specially made by the leader for the three of you. Each one comes with fifty arrows. The leader told you to use them first to get used to them."

The three of them nodded excitedly. Zhao Hu took the bow and asked, "Where is the leader?"

"The leader hasn't slept for nearly thirty hours. He has gone to rest."

The three of them nodded when they heard this, and a touch of respect rose in their hearts.

"The leader is more tired than all of us. It's time to take a good rest."

During the past twenty days, they took turns with Xia Chuan and the other six people to do mining and forging. It was no exaggeration to say that they were exhausted.

But the most tired person has to be the leader Xia Hong.

Mining, forging bows, making arrows, not only do everything, but also do more because their efficiency is much higher than theirs.

It was precisely because of Xia Hong's enthusiasm that the six of them, as well as everyone else in the camp, were able to persevere in completing such a high-load task.

"Ninety-six bows, plus these three, are enough to give those rats a good fight. Xia Chuan is already selecting archers. We will probably go to the north slope of the mountain wall to deal with the rats at night. Let's find a place to practice first, so as not to disappoint the leader."

Mu Dong nodded and hurried downstairs.

He is also at the lumberjack level, and also hopes to pass the archer selection and go to the north slope of the mountain with Xia Hong to deal with the group of rats.

………………

When Xia Hong woke up, it was already completely dark.

Realizing that he had overslept, Xia Hong hurriedly got up and went downstairs.

When we arrived at the main hall on the second floor, where the camp held meetings, we found that it was already full of people.

The group of people at the front all held longbows and carried quivers. After a quick glance, Xia Hong immediately understood that these were the ninety-six people selected by Xia Chuan.

In addition to these ninety-six people, the more than one hundred people standing on the periphery all had looks of frustration on their faces, and it was obvious that they had not yet recovered from the frustration of losing the election.

"Leader, ninety-six people are all ready!"

Xia Hong walked to the front of the crowd, heard Xia Chuan's words, turned around and looked at the people below with a slightly stern expression.

"Normally, you are only in the logging realm and are not qualified to go out and hunt cold beasts. But the current situation is special. You all know that the group of rats is right next to us. In order to ensure the safety of the camp, we must take the initiative to attack!"

After saying this, Xia Hong glanced at the ninety-six people in front of him and said in a deep voice:
“First of all, congratulations on being selected from more than 200 people.

You are lucky to have the chance to go out with me tonight;
But at the same time, you are unfortunate.
Because that group of rats, both in number and strength, is far beyond your imagination. Although I am somewhat confident in taking the initiative to attack tonight, I cannot guarantee absolute safety.

If any accident happens, getting injured is lucky, but losing your life is not impossible, so I say that you are unlucky at the same time."

Xia Hong's eyes flickered slightly, and he found that among the ninety-six people in front of him, none of them showed fear on their faces. He asked in a deep voice: "Aren't you afraid?"

"Not afraid!"

"I'm not afraid. Even if I die for the camp, I'm not afraid."

"Yes, we have been eating the meat of the cold beasts hunted by you, the leader, and we don't contribute much on weekdays. It's not easy for us to do something for you, the leader, but we are still timid. Is that reasonable?"

"For Daxia, I am not afraid of anything."

"If I wasn't the leader, I would have died long ago. I wouldn't be able to live the life I have now."

"That's right. Thanks to the chief, I have had such a good life for so long. Even if the chief wants me to die now, I would still be willing."

"Whoever is afraid, let me go. I am not good at archery. Otherwise, it would be your turn to die for the leader!"

"That's right. My basic strength is not low, but I am not good at archery. If any of you are unwilling to go, let me take your place. I am willing to replace you."

…………

At that moment, not only the ninety-six people who were selected, but also many of the loggers who were not selected, and even some people in the reserve force, all spoke up and expressed their willingness to replace those who did not want to go.

"Okay! I feel relieved with your words."

Although Xia Hong had a rough idea of ​​how high his prestige was in the eyes of these people in the Great Xia Camp, he was still a little emotional when he heard these words in person.

All the members of the Daxia camp in front of me, these hundreds and thousands of people, trust me unconditionally, even to the extent of not caring about their own lives. Isn't this the result of my hard work over the past six months!
Xia Hong has always been a considerate person. He knows exactly how much he has contributed to the people in the camp. It would be a lie to say that he does not ask for anything in return.

What he wants in return is everyone's unreserved trust at this moment.

"I won't say any more. You just need to remember one thing. You must obey my orders for all actions you take tonight. You must also remember what you just said. Tonight, no matter who it is, even if I want you to die, you have to grit your teeth and bear it. I don't want anyone to get into trouble. Do you understand?"

"understand!"

Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, the three Zhao brothers, Yuan Cheng, and the ninety-six selected lumberjacks all looked up and answered in unison. The sound was as loud as thunder, and the eaves shook uncontrollably.

Xia Hong also felt a sense of pride in his heart, and said loudly: "Okay, you have good momentum. I haven't told you before that the contribution value of a gnat is 200 points. You ninety-six people usually don't have the opportunity to earn so many contribution points. Tonight is an opportunity. Let's see who can seize it!"

Upon hearing this, the ninety-six people below suddenly became excited.

Even Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan and the other six in the Digging Realm had their eyes lit up.

(End of this chapter)