The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 98 Nothing is a coincidence

"bang bang bang"

"Click. Click."

This is the sound of officials cutting down trees.

They weren't looking for firewood; they were cutting fresh branches.

Having learned from the wolf attack two days prior, we were very cautious as soon as we entered this dense forest.

Zuo Wenkang then proposed to the officials that each member of the Zuo clan, regardless of age or gender, should be provided with a wooden stick.

He said:

"Not to mention the wolves and tigers in these mountains and forests, who knows if there are any refugees causing trouble outside Tongguan Pass in the Qin region?"
Anyway, wooden sticks aren't iron weapons. As long as we can protect ourselves, we can lend a hand to the officials in critical moments.

As he spoke, he pointed in the direction of his wife.

The officials: "."

They didn't really want you exiles to have any weapons, but they couldn't resist the help of the pork beauty!

After three months of living together, the Zuo family did not attempt to flee or rebel against the court.

Wooden guns, no, wooden sticks, these things are really good.

In case of danger, the sharpened end can provide some protection.

When you get tired from climbing hills and slopes, you can also use it as a hiking pole.

At worst, once they leave Hangu Pass, order them to be burned as firewood.

This stick is truly versatile; it's excellent!
Ever since.

Less than an hour after turning onto the path, a large group of people were searching all over the mountains and forests for a type of hardwood—the mulberry tree.

Once you find it, start chopping like crazy.

The machete that the old Taoist priest gave them came in very handy.

Before long, bundles of mulberry tree branches, each about five feet long and as thick as a baby's arm, were returned.

Zuo Wenkang directed his cousins ​​to help peel the bark and remove the thorns from the fresh wood.

Then it was delivered to Gan Minglan.

Gan Minglan, the most skilled knife user among them all, has now transformed into a tool for sharpening.

Even if someone has the right tools, it still takes a lot of effort to whittle a point out of this hardwood.

But someone else is different.

A level 5 wood-type ability user, she can mold and shape any plant, whether dead or alive, into whatever she wants.

In no time at all, a sharp spearhead can be whittled out.

After fiddling with it for a while, the sharp point gained an even stronger murderous aura.

Zuo Chixia was assigned by his master to assist his master's wife.

He was very curious about this slightly fragrant but unremarkable wooden stick:

"Master's wife, how is this wood different from other types of wood?"

"It's called the mulberry tree, and some people also call it the stone-piercing tree because the sharp thorns on its branches can pierce through stone. Its wood is very hard, and it has a very slow growth cycle, requiring more than a hundred years to be used for furniture and bows."

"Wow, it can be used to make bows and arrows? Master's wife, do you know how to make them?"

Zuo Chixia is not very confident in the power of the wooden spear, and only feels that the bow and arrow are the real weapons.

His master's wife shook her head: "Everyone has their own expertise. All I know how to do is butcher pigs!"

In Zuo Chixia's eyes, his master's wife was omnipotent.

How could you not know how to make a bow and arrow?
Gan Minglan handed him a wooden spear she had just whittled, saying, "Try it. A wooden spear is just as deadly as a bow and arrow!"

Zuo Chixia hesitated, thinking that the sharp wooden point was just a bluff.

I rubbed it on my finger, and it bled immediately.

"Wow! It's so sharp!!!" the onlookers exclaimed.

Immediately, a group of teenagers all lingered around Gan Minglan and refused to leave.

They lined up, watching her peel one skewer before snatching it away.

Their commotion, sometimes accompanied by cheers, along with the sounds of logging, quickly reached the neighboring gold mine. What the old Taoist priest in the ancestral temple didn't know was...

The gold mine at Qihuling only had a very thin sand vein, which the villagers dug up in just a few months.

Now, following the vein's direction, they've found a large gold mine on the neighboring mountain.

Coincidentally.

That mine was located at the end of a narrow path that the officials deliberately avoided.

Fifteen minutes ago, the other side had already sent someone to the end of the alley to inquire about the situation.

The officials still logging were dressed in bright, eye-catching uniforms.

The other party glanced around, roughly counted the heads, and then ran back to report:
"Master, something terrible has happened! The government officials have entered the mountains! There are dozens of them! They are currently clearing a path through the mountains, and they are probably heading this way."

"What? Where did these officials come from? Didn't they say that all the officials and soldiers of Nanhe Prefecture were killed by the refugees?!"

The man surnamed Wang, who was addressed as the boss, changed his expression drastically upon hearing the words "officers".

"Their accents are not like those of people from our Nanhe Prefecture. Besides the officials, there were also several frail scholars who came with them."

Mr. Wang frowned and muttered:
"A frail scholar? Could he be a student from some academy traveling for study? What academy would have such an air, needing government officials to escort him?"

It's impossible to find out in a short time.

The gold mine has an extremely high gold content; the opening they dug was as big as a room.

Even a blind person passing by could see that something was wrong here.

It's too late to cover it up!

Wang Dongjia pondered for a while, then turned to the guards standing at the cave entrance and said, "Go and call all the brothers from the mine and the metallurgical workshop here."

As for why they were called up, everyone knew perfectly well.

Wang Dongjia is different from other mine owners.

Because the gold mine here was first discovered by the villagers.

The villagers, by presenting gold ore, found the owner of this underground bank.

He provided the villagers with digging tools, took charge of security and logistics, and even found a metallurgist to teach them metallurgy.

According to the agreement between him and the villagers, the villagers would receive 40% of the gold refined from these mines.

The two parties agreed to distribute dividends once a year at the end of the year.

Therefore, the villagers consider themselves one of the owners of this gold mine.

Anyone who tries to stop them from getting rich, no matter who they are, will be fought to the death.

Two quarters of an hour later.

More than 500 strong men, armed with sharp weapons, quietly lay in ambush near the gold mine, their eyes fixed on the end of the path.

To their surprise, they waited for half an hour.

The other party simply stopped halfway, hesitating to move forward.

It's not that we're afraid to move forward.

The first batch of boys, including Zuo Chixia, who were already half-grown, to receive the wooden guns couldn't stay idle at all.

They found a rabbit hole nearby.

After being surrounded from several sides, the rabbit that darted out of the burrow was quickly killed by the wooden spear.

Every shot drew blood, yet the wooden splinter remained completely unharmed.

Upon seeing this, men, women, and children all insisted that each person be provided with a wooden gun before leaving.

Each one of them, red-faced and vehemently defending themselves:
"What? I'm not young anymore. Can I use a wooden stick as a walking stick?"

"Even the kids have wooden guns, so we old folks can't stand not having something in our hands!"

"What's wrong with the young woman? If we had had a gun like this when we were killing the wolves, we wouldn't have let so many men get hurt!"

"."

In the very end, the four-year-old chubby boy asked his mother to whittle a small wooden gun for him.

Gan Minglan, the tool person who whittles wooden guns: It's endless, there's simply no way to finish whittling it all.
(End of this chapter)