I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

Between the two mountains, the slope is very gentle, not steep.

The road in the middle was also wider than I had imagined.

If you only use large rocks, even if you hit the target with one strike, it will take time for them to roll down the gentle slope and onto the road, and you can only inflict a little damage on the enemy.

When Zhao Ningning and her group climbed to the top of the mountain and looked back, they saw that, just as Jiang Song had said, there was an extremely steep slope behind them.

It's almost at a right angle; how is that any different from a cliff?!

Wen Zike glanced at them and said, "If all else fails, I can use my lightness skill to carry you down."

Zhao Ningning: "You can bring one young master Wen, and you can also bring seventy or eighty people. Let's think of another way."

However, Wen Zike's words gave Zhao Ningning an idea: even if all else fails, climbing down the mountain by rope is also a viable option.

However, for large items like horse-drawn carriages, we have to make some compromises.

The heavier the object, the harder it is to lower it down.

The group then returned home.

Back home, Zhao Ningning sighed, resting her chin on her hand, "If only the terrain were right, we could put some stones up there and smash them down, and everyone would be driven away."

"If that were really possible, these people wouldn't have been guarding the pass for so long." Ning's mother patted Zhao Ningning's head. "It's okay. Either we wait for the other teams to attack together, or we can go around the mountain, or we can be lowered down. We'll get through eventually."

Zhao Ningning nodded, sighed, and returned to her spatial dimension.

Inside the space, Zhao Qi was searching through the files he had downloaded on his computer.

Upon seeing Zhao Ningning enter, Zhao Qi greeted her.

Zhao Ningning nodded and complained to her brother, "If only we had bombs, we could just throw a couple of grenades over there."

"But making bombs requires saltpeter and sulfur. Charcoal can be burned, but the first two can't be found here..." Zhao Qi put down his computer. He was also searching for a solution.

"Sigh, if all else fails, let's try making a catapult and see if we can throw the stone over there." Zhao Ningning sighed, reached into the refrigerator, took out a can of cola, and opened it to drink.

With a "whoosh," Zhao Ningning had an inspiration.

"I have a crooked idea," Zhao Ningning said.

"Tell me quickly!" Zhao Qicai didn't believe it. Whenever his sister came up with a crooked idea, her mind was always sharp, and they were all good ideas!

"The reason a bomb explodes is because it propels things out of the way," Zhao Ningning said, taking a sip of her cola. "Look, there's carbon dioxide in it, so it makes a 'hissing' sound when you open the bottle."

"But we can't collect carbon dioxide." Zhao Qi scratched his head and continued to press, "Have you already figured something out?!"

Zhao Ningning snapped her fingers. "Yeah, I've got it!"

"The reason why the other side of the mountain we went to today is so steep is because I see signs of it being dug out."

"Other mountains are green, and even on rocky mountains, trees will grow where there is soil."

"But this mountain is sparsely covered with low shrubs, and the rocks on it are not right either."

As she spoke, Zhao Ningning took out the stone she had picked up that day from the entryway. "This is what I found. I suspect it's limestone!"

Zhao Qi's hands flew across the keyboard as he typed a few words, finding relevant information in a geography book he had downloaded!

Opening the document, the stone in the attached picture has the exact same texture as the stone in Zhao Ningning's hand!

"Since we don't have the conditions, let's create them. We can make lime bombs!" Zhao Ningning placed the stone in Zhao Qi's hand.

Zhao Qi gripped the stone, recalling his chemistry classes in junior and senior high school. Indeed, the teacher had said that it would produce gas and release heat when it came into contact with water!

"Since we're just waiting anyway, why don't we give it a try?" Zhao Ningning laughed. "There's no harm in trying."

Zhao Qi collected the information and took it out of the space.

Limestone is just stone; they need to build a kiln to burn the stone into lime before it can be used.

After hearing this, Ning's father felt it was highly feasible and immediately took his two children to see the village head.

The village head only knew that lime could be used to build houses and make traditional Chinese medicine, but he didn't know that lime could be used to make weapons!

He didn't know what the "bomb" Zhao Lao Er was talking about was, but just hearing Zhao Lao Er's description made the village head feel a surge of excitement.

"If this works out, we won't have to be afraid of those people anymore!" The village head, not wanting to hold Zhao Ningning's hand, took Zhao Lao Er's hand instead and said, "Zhao Lao Er, you're truly blessed to have such a clever daughter!"

"Hahahaha..." Ning's father chuckled dryly. He was quite lucky! He was so old and already taking advantage of his younger sibling.

"Young..." Ning's father originally wanted to say "young mind," but then he remembered that the village head across from him was even older, so he changed his words and said, "Kids' minds work really well. How about this, let's make a little bit to try it out first. If it works, we'll make it!"

"If that doesn't work, let's use the backup plan!"

The village head nodded and called over the few reliable men left in the village.

Zhao Ningning looked around and saw that everyone in the circle was a familiar face.

Apart from the young master of the Shang family, Xi Dashun, and the two from the Zhao family, everyone else who was thirteen years old or older came.

Zhou Jian also arrived.

"The town isn't suitable for building earthen kilns. Let's find a place closer to town and build them there."

"You guys are stronger, so take turns going up the mountain to collect stones. The rest of you stay with the team."

This was a serious matter, and the village head dared not repeat what happened to the old man Xi. After assigning tasks, he gave the villagers a warning.

Half of the Wen family members also came to help.

Those who remained only knew that the village head had ordered them to collect bricks in town.

I know nothing else.

When the men who had been called away for questioning returned home and were questioned by their families, they would only vaguely say that they had gone up the mountain to find stones.

The villagers assumed that the village head was preparing to let them break the deadlock using the "stone attack" method.

Wang Xiufeng and Li Si rode their horses and found a place to stay within an hour—a little far from the town, about seven or eight miles away, but close to the mountain where the stones were quarried.

It was a deserted little village with a few rooms, just enough for everyone to stay in.

Wang Licun's team and Jiang Song's team immediately moved their things over to settle down. They spent the whole morning arranging helpers, finding a place to stay, and moving over. At noon, everyone drank some water and then started doing their own work.

The village chief accompanied those going up the mountain, while the village head oversaw those going to the town. With both sides working simultaneously, the villagers collected all the bricks needed for the kiln in just one day.

The next day, they began building earthen kilns in the village. Zhao Qi found information about kiln construction on the computer, made it into a document, and transferred it to Ning's father's phone. Ning's father secretly memorized it and gave instructions while the kilns were being built in the village.

The villagers wondered to themselves: They had never heard of anyone in Wangli Village knowing how to make this kind of thing before!

Granny Qian wondered to herself, "When did my second son become so capable? Could it be... could it be that he was hiding his talents at home all this time?!"

No wonder! No wonder he wanted to separate the family and sever ties!

After severing ties with their family, they managed to secure food and even befriend influential people in the county! That's how they managed to afford to treat their second son's leg!

Later, when they fled the famine, the second son also used the money to buy the carriage! He was not someone who "saved a benefactor" and was forced to give money by the benefactor!

Later on, every single thing that happened on the road was inseparable from the shadow of the second son's family.

It's all because of the second son and his family! They're a cunning bunch! They deliberately hid their abilities to make her easily agree to sever ties with them, preventing her from benefiting from the situation!

Once she understood this, Granny Qian trembled with anger.

But there was nothing she could do about her anger. At this moment, the villagers surrounded them, and Zhao Lao Er calmly explained to the villagers in the center why they had to build it this way and why they had to leave a hole there.

This is nothing like the honest, kind, and filial Zhao Lao Er who was so quiet you wouldn't utter a word!

—Since you can't benefit from this, you shouldn't expect to have an easy time either!

Granny Qian stared at Zhao Lao Er with malice, but no one noticed her thoughts.

The villagers bombarded him with questions, giving Ning's father a headache, so he made an excuse and slipped away.

After he left, the villagers chatted while they worked.

The bricks used to build houses in Fengning County are purchased from specialized brick kilns. These kilns are secret techniques passed down through generations; otherwise, if a kiln is fired, the outer layer might overfire while the inner layer remains unfired, resulting in a waste of materials.

The villagers didn't know why the village headman had them build kilns, but he said it was related to whether they could safely pass through the checkpoint.

When it comes to matters of life and death, the villagers care extremely much.

A group of people, regardless of age or gender, all came to help build the kiln. The weaker children helped carry bricks one or two at a time, while the stronger ones went directly to mix the yellow clay.

Jiang Song and his team came to help, and in a day, a limestone kiln was built.

The outside was covered with a thick layer of yellow mud for insulation, and firewood was lit inside to bake it.

After baking overnight, the earthen kiln was almost dry. Following the instructions of Ning's father and Zhao Qi, the villagers first burned a kiln full of charcoal.

When the fire was halfway through, it started to rain again. The village head was afraid that it was acid rain, so he told the villagers and Jiang Song to take shelter from the rain, leaving only two people to hold umbrellas and keep an eye on things next to the earthen kiln.

The flames in the earthen kiln consumed all the dry firewood. Seeing that the fire was almost enough to turn the wood into charcoal, Zhao Qi immediately ordered his men to block the ventilation holes and observation holes with yellow mud.

It was drizzling outside. After sealing up the earthen kiln, they went back.

After observing for a while, the village head realized that the rain here wasn't the acid rain from a few days ago; it seemed more like ordinary rain.

When I woke up the next day, the rain had stopped and the sky was bright and clear. The gloomy sky of the past few days was swept away by this sudden rain, and the wild grass and trees that were covered with acid rain were also cleaned by this rain.

The village head couldn't wait to go and see the earthen kiln. He touched it and found it was completely cold. He quickly called on the people who came to see the kiln to open it together and cut out the charcoal inside.

Except for a small amount in the center that wasn't fully burned, the charcoal inside was burned perfectly!

The logs were charred in their entirety; when two logs were struck together, they produced a sound like jade rings clashing.

It's good charcoal!

The village head never expected that the charcoal would be burned so easily!

After the charcoal is burned, the next step is to burn limestone.

Following the instructions in the book, Ning's father filled the bottom with wood and charcoal, placed limestone in the middle, and then filled the top with more charcoal. Since the kiln wasn't completely filled, he covered it with some more wood before starting to burn firewood underneath.

It's not raining today, and the villagers know that the heavens will no longer send acid rain, so many people went out to find supplies for their own homes.

The information Zhao Qi found said that it would burn for two days, and during those two days, someone in the village stayed around every hour to add fuel to the fire in the earthen kiln.

It will burn for two days, and then we have to wait for it to cool down.

The village head was so anxious that he was restless. He was afraid that the lime would not be burned properly, and he was also afraid that if it was burned properly, the lime bombs would not work.

If they cannot launch a direct assault, they will have no choice but to risk being hoisted down one by one from the mountaintop.

On the bright side, there are members of the Wen family in their group, and the Wen family members have said that they know light-footed kung fu and are willing to cover the rear.

Eight days have passed since the preparation to build the kiln was completed and the limestone was fired. During these eight days, Jiang Song was still in town keeping watch over other teams.

Unfortunately, there were only two or three passing groups, each consisting of a dozen or so emaciated, starving men.

Jiang Song didn't dare show his face. He hid behind the wall and saw that two teams were arguing on the main road. One team killed the other team and then started a fire on the ground to roast meat.

He was incredibly lucky to have encountered a team like Wang Licun.

After the earthen kiln cooled down, the village head immediately called Zhao Ningning over.

The idea of ​​using lime bombs was proposed by Zhao Ningning, as she was the one I trusted most.

Zhao Ningning touched the burned limestone. The originally grayish stone had been burned into a grayish-white color after being fired in a large fire.

When placed on the ground and sprinkled with a little water, the quicklime slowly cracks, eventually releasing a huge amount of heat and increasing in volume!

Wielding the hot steam rising from the quicklime in front of her, Zhao Ningning nodded and said, "Lord Village Head, the limestone is ready!"

"Good! Good! Good!" the village head exclaimed three times, then hesitated for a moment before patting Zhao Ningning on the shoulder. "Zhao Ningning, you are truly a lucky star for Wangli Village!"

"You flatter me!" Zhao Ningning said modestly, then called her brother Zhao Qi to fill a basket with burnt quicklime. They needed to keep a distance from people when making quicklime bombs, otherwise it would be dangerous.

After they left, the village head instructed the others, "Let's fire another kiln!"

Meanwhile, Ning's mother helped Zhao Ningning move the limestone aside and asked worriedly, "Ningning, this isn't very safe. You two need to be careful!"

She didn't say Zhao Ningning couldn't do it; she always supported what the children wanted to do.

With no one around, Zhao Ningning called out "Mom!" and comforted her, "It's okay! If things get really bad, I can always hide!"

Ning's mother placed the limestone on the ground and pulled Zhao Qi to stand aside, watching Zhao Ningning tinker with it.

Zhao Qi hasn't been idle these past few days either; he's been helping Zhao Ningning make bamboo tubes.

The bamboo tube must have a lid and be able to be sealed.

The cylinder walls should have both thick and thin sections, and several of each thickness should be made to facilitate Zhao Ningning's comparative experiments.

Zhao Ningning first took the thickest and thinnest limestone, weighed the same amount using a borrowed scale, and filled the bamboo tube with it.

Measure the same amount of water into a cup, pour it into a bamboo tube, quickly throw the bamboo tube far away, and then slip into the space to observe.

A few seconds later, the thickest bamboo tube popped open with a "pop," and bubbling white liquid flowed out of the tube.

"This thickness won't work." Zhao Ningning wasn't discouraged; she tried the thinnest bamboo tube possible.

Add water, put the lid on, and discard.

Through repeated trials, from small quantities to large quantities, from thick to thin, Zhao Ningning finally figured out a perfect ratio.