Courtyard House: A System Connecting Two Worlds, Resources for the Nation

"Chen Xiao?"

"exist!"

"Those people over there...are they mining?"

Zhou Feng pointed to the busy figures at the foot of the mountain, and Chen Xiao nodded in the direction of his gaze: "Judging from their posture, they should be mining copper."

Zhou Feng remained silent for two seconds.

Then he slapped his thigh: "Damn it, this is my ore! These bastards are stealing my ore!"

Chen Xiao: "..."

Tie Jianguo, who had already gotten out of the car, stood outside the window and asked sheepishly, "Boss, this mine isn't even in our hands yet, so how did it become yours?"

Zhou Feng turned and glared at him: "I said it's mine, so it's mine. All the resources on this island, I announced yesterday, belong to me. They're mining on my territory, what is that if not stealing?"

Tie Jianguo shrank back under the glare and didn't dare to say another word.

White Wolf quietly added from the side, "The leader is right, first come, first served."

Chen Xiao nodded in agreement, then jumped out of the driver's seat and gestured to his subordinates behind him.

"All units, prepare for battle!"

The subordinates, whom they had trained for some time, immediately dispersed and took cover.

Bai Lang and Tie Jianguo each picked up their automatic rifles and checked their magazines.

Liu Xiaohai jumped out of the driver's seat and climbed into the tank at the back. The engine started with a deep and powerful sound, and the cannon slowly rotated, aiming at the direction of the mine.

The official from the Maritime Trade Office also dismounted, trembling as he hid behind the troop transport vehicle, clutching a pen and paper for translation, ready to speak at any moment.

Zhou Feng stood at the front, hands on his hips, and grinned as he looked at the Japanese who were still digging in the distance.

"Let's go," he waved his hand, "to collect my ore."

The team began to advance.

The tank was started and slowly drove towards the mine.

The twenty-odd men spread out in a fan shape, gun barrels pointing forward, their steps steady.

The commotion was quickly detected at the mine.

First, a few Japanese soldiers who were standing on high ground to keep watch spotted the tank, stared wide-eyed for two seconds, and then suddenly turned around and shouted down.

The mine erupted in chaos. The Japanese miners who were digging, carrying ore, and smelting copper all stopped what they were doing and looked up at the slowly approaching steel monster.

Some people were shouting, some were running, and some were pulling knives out of the shed.

An official from the Maritime Trade Office shouted at the top of his lungs, "Drop your weapons! Do not resist! Otherwise, you will be killed on sight!"

His voice echoed through the empty valley, but the only response he received was an arrow shot towards him.

The arrow didn't even reach their location; it began to fall halfway down and became lodged in the dirt road ahead.

Rather than saying this arrow was lethal, it was more accurate to say it was designed to amplify the taunting effect!

Zhou Feng raised an eyebrow: "Alright, another one who doesn't appreciate kindness."

Before he could finish speaking, Bai Lang and Tie Jianguo had already pulled the trigger.

Da da da da—

The sound of automatic rifles rang out in the valley, making people's eardrums tingle.

Those Japanese soldiers who charged towards them with knives hadn't even taken a few steps before they were mowed down by bullets.

Some people were shot and rolled down the hillside, while others were hit by bullets and flew backward, crashing into the Japanese soldiers rushing towards them.

The gunfire lasted for less than half a minute before it stopped.

There were more than twenty corpses on the hillside, all of them those who had charged over with weapons.

It was clear that their attire was different from that of ordinary miners; they carried knives at their waists, making them seem like members of the warrior class in the village.

As for the actual miners, they were all lying on the ground, their hands covering their heads, trembling, some even burying their faces in the soil.

Seeing this, the officials from the Maritime Trade Office quickly shouted again, "Lie down and don't move! Those who obey won't be killed!"

The few Japanese men who were still alive but still clutching their knives hesitated for a moment, then finally threw down their knives and lay down as well.

The tank slowly drove to the foot of the mountain, its cannon barrel turning and aimed at the shacks.

Zhou Feng then stepped out from behind Chen Xiao and the others, and slowly walked to the kneeling people.

The miners lying on the ground were all thin and bony, with dark skin, wearing tattered burlap clothes, some of them barefoot on the gravel.

"These are them." Zhou Feng turned to Chen Xiao and said, "From now on, this mine is under our control, and these miners are ours to employ. Give them food and shelter as they should, as long as they don't die. Anyone who dares to slack off or cause trouble..."

His gaze swept over the trembling figures still lying on the ground, and before Zhou Feng could speak, Chen Xiao added, "Send them to see those warriors."

Zhou Feng nodded and waved to Chen Xiao, signaling him to arrange for his men to take over the mine.

Bai Lang and Tie Jianguo each led a few men to begin clearing the corpses on the hillside, dragging the surviving warriors aside to guard them separately.

The officials from the Maritime Trade Office squatted on the ground, speaking in broken Japanese to the miners who were lying down. They were saying that they had a new master and that as long as they worked obediently, they would be fine.

As the miners listened, the expressions on their faces slowly changed from fear to bewilderment, and then from bewilderment to cautious relief.

They looked up at Zhou Feng, then lowered their heads again. Who dared to voice their opposition?

The corpses of those samurai are still dripping blood!

Zhou Feng found a clean rock to sit on and watched his men take over the mine in an orderly manner.

First, they cleaned up the shacks and cleared out a few slightly more decent rooms to serve as a temporary command post.

Next came the inventory of supplies.

Although the mine was not large, it had a lot of tools: picks, chisels, hammers, and shovels, which filled several sheds.

There were also a few simple copper smelting furnaces, with unburnt charcoal and copper slag still remaining in the furnace chambers.

Chen Xiao walked up to Zhou Feng, holding a copper ingot in his hand, and handed it to him to look at.

Zhou Feng took it and weighed it in his hand. It was quite heavy, and its surface had a dark red luster. Although its purity was certainly not comparable to that of industrially produced copper in later generations, it was already quite good for the smelting level of this era.

"We don't need their junk. I'll go back tonight and bring you some equipment from this world."

Unlike these Japanese pirates, Zhou Feng and his group only needed to focus on mining. As for the smelting and other processes, they could simply bring the ore back to their own world and complete them there!

Chen Xiao responded and turned to make the arrangements.