Chapter 800: Progress on the Slurry Road! (1/2)

Around seven or eight hundred kilometers to the southwest of Wushang were mountains, a land of lush forests and precipitous cliffs. There were no roads here, yet starting from two months ago, more than one hundred people had traversed the area, cutting down thorns and brambles as they ventured deep into the mountains.

No one knew what they were up to, only that they had spent more than a month opening up a path through the mountains. And then they had begun to dig as if searching for something.

”Everyone, work hard! Lord Marquis has decreed that if we can find that lu ore, everyone will be richly rewarded! From that moment onward, all of you will be able to drink and eat as you please! This is a rare opportunity that might not even come up once in a thousand years!

”Don't be discouraged, don't be dejected! If Lord Marquis says it's here, then it must be here!

”Those of you who participated in the war of the southwest know that Lord Marquis has always been a god-like figure. He has never lied. If everyone works well, Lord Marquis definitely won't let you down!”

A thirty-some-year-old supervisor was standing on a large rock, his booming voice ringing through the mountains as he exhorted the workers.

”Milord!”

As the digging continued, a panicked voice came from outside. A bare-chested man of some thirty years ran toward the supervisor, almost tripping over himself in his haste.

”There are lots of people outside. You need to go and take a look.”

”What?!”

The astonished supervisor quickly jumped down from the rock.

”Just what nonsense are you babbling? There's no one but us in this place.”

”Milord, I'm not lying. Go and see for yourself.”

The bare-chested man had a panicked expression. Meanwhile, their conversation had quickly attracted the attention of all the other workers. A few moments later, there was a thunderous rumbling and a cloud of dust as horsemen began to ride up the road these workers had opened up.

The supervisor felt suffocated as he looked at the massive cloud of dust. From the rumbling of the hooves and the size of the dust cloud, there were at least one thousand people in this group of outsiders.

Just who are these people? There's no one else in these mountains but us. Could it be some nearby group of bandits?

This was the first idea that came to the alarmed supervisor.

Bandits and brigands were the tyrants of the Silk Road to the west, and if someone had appeared here, there was an eighty to ninety percent chance that they were bandits from a nearby mountain.

Could it be that we made too much of a stir and attracted these bandits?

The supervisor's mind was overcome with his worries.

”Lei Peng?”

At this moment, a thunderous voice rose from the cloud of dust. As the confused supervisor was still trying to understand what was going on, a muscular and swarthy hand clutching a token was thrust out of the cloud of dust.

”Yes!”

Lei Peng was flabbergasted, but he immediately recognized the token. Only one person in all of the Great Tang would use this token.

But why did Lord Marquis send them over? It's not the appointed time yet.

Despite his questions, Lei Peng was now much more relaxed.

”The battle on the western lines has concluded. Lord Marquis has decreed that the mining of the lu ore should be hastened.”

As the dust settled, an armored horseman rode out. His expression was grim, and a mustache sat atop his lips. He appeared to have some status, and as more and more figures continued to ride up behind him, one could see that he truly did have more than one thousand people with him.

”But we've been digging for more than a month now and still haven't found any lu ore. Isn't it a little too much to begin expanding the work force? What if… it could just be wasting manpower and resources, and we would be greatly disappointing Lord Marquis.”

Lei Peng was a little nervous.

Although he had been encouraging the workers this entire time, he really didn't know if this lu ore the marquis spoke of actually existed.

These mountains were thick with greenery, and nobody knew which of these mountains actually had this lu ore, or perhaps if the entire range had no lu ore at all. If that really was the case, then wouldn't they have just wasted their time?