Dozens of puffs of black smoke drifted into the air from inside the village, and a number of oxen could be seen struggling to move outward with goods covered in straw.

In addition to the ox carts that carry goods out of the village, you can also see ox carts and plate carts carrying charcoal and iron ore towards the village. On the hill behind the village, you can already see that the trees have been cut down and the mountain has been dug into potholes.

Looking at this scene, Zhao Hu raised his eyebrows, and he didn't blame the location of the mining village in this place, not to mention anything else, at least it was a long distance away from the mine, and he was not afraid of any disaster that would destroy the village due to mudslides.

What also made Zhao Hu a little happy was that looking at the black smoke rising from the clouds, it was obvious that this mining village not only had a factory for smelting pig iron, but also a shop for striking iron, which means that after owning this village, there was no need to worry about weapons and equipment.

It's just that Zhao Hu is also a little puzzled, such an important village is actually independent? Impossible, right? Not to mention how much money you earn, just because you can make weapons, there shouldn't be any lord who will give up this place!

While Zhao Hu was thinking about this, the mining village finally discovered this army that emerged from the dense forest! For a while, the noisy warning sounded immediately, and the ox carts that were about to be carried away hurriedly prepared to turn around and return to the village.

It's just a pity that the materials carried are too heavy to turn around smoothly, and in the hurry, the axle stick broke, which directly blocked the passage. Those who drove the ox carts had no choice but to run quickly towards the village with a wail.

As for those who brought charcoal and iron ore into the village, they had long since left their ox carts, carts, and burdens and ran into the village alone. The village didn't care that there were so many supplies parked outside, and directly closed the village door, and then hundreds of soldiers carrying samurai* swords and spears walked up to the wall.

"Sure enough, it's a mining village, and the equipment is really good." Zhao Hu nodded with satisfaction, and then waved his hand, and the team that had already received the order immediately divided into six teams, quickly bypassed the village, and rushed to the mining village behind the village.

Needless to say, Zhao Hu has the idea of arresting people first. Looking at the rapid response of the mining village, Zhao Hu was satisfied that he deliberately shuttled from the dense forest, if he followed the village road, I am afraid that he would gather a group of people for this mining village to come back, and it would be a little difficult to break the village at that time.

The rest of the people around Zhao Hu naturally went to clean up the barricades, charcoal and iron ore were nothing, but the ox carts that were transported out, after removing the straw, they could see that they were actually pieces of pig iron, and the pig iron carried by these ox carts alone was worth two or three hundred yuan!

When the two money and grain clerks excitedly informed Zhao Hu of the news, Zhao Hu couldn't help frowning, one is that the benefits generated by the mining village may be far beyond his imagination, and the pig iron that is transported away casually is worth two or three hundred guan, how can it exceed the trade volume of tens of thousands of guan in a year, right?

The second is that this mining village is not simple, because with such huge benefits, it is impossible not to be seen, and if it is seen, it will naturally not allow him to be at ease.

Maybe the Linhe Temple knows the inside story of this? So the tribute who received a hundred catties of pig iron a year was so aggrieved that he didn't dare to say anything? That's why you gave yourself all the land from the other side of the river to Tokai County?

It should be, Linhe Village is the head snake of this land, and it is also the lord recognized by the world. Although the mining village is arrogant with its own strength and financial resources, and even the matter of paying an annual tribute of 100 catties of pig iron has been made, in any case, the annual tribute is an annual tribute, which represents the recognition of the sovereignty of Linhe Village.

So in this case, Linhe Village doesn't know the output of the fishing village, and it is normal to not know the output of the tree village, but this hundred catties of pig iron is absolutely abnormal, but this is abnormal, people directly pinch their noses and admit it, and they have not called friends to ask for reinforcements to fight.

It seems that there is a problem with his previous guess in the tree village, maybe Linhe Village knows that the yield of the tree village is very high, but compared to the mining village, it is completely pediatric, but the mining village can't handle it, so he doesn't care about it, and he takes the opportunity to give away so much land when he encounters the opportunity.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hu woke up to the fact that such a civilized world cherishes land very much, no matter how poor and dangerous it is, it will not give up the hereditary land, unless there is a force that makes Linhe Village helpless, so that Linhe Village is eager to throw the land out, so as not to cause trouble.

And this force is definitely not the power of Donghai County, because people are here to loot, not occupy, Linhe Village has been like this for so many years, where will they give up the land because of Donghai County!

"! It seems that the biggest trap is in this mining village! Poor I haven't even learned the power of a samurai! What kind of forces control the mining village? actually forced Linhe Village to be willing to throw away the land, but not willing to touch it? What a fucking nuisance! Zhao Hu touched his chin and thought.

Zhao Hu summoned several warriors from the fishing village and the tree village to ask them about their understanding of the mining village, but to Zhao Hu's surprise, they all only said that the mining village could produce pig iron and make weapons, and the number of people was only about 500.

As for whether the business is good or not, how much pig iron is produced, and how many weapons are built, it is not clear at all, and even whether there are really 500 young people, they have only listened to the businessmen who have entered the mining village.

And there is a strange place, that is, they want to buy samurai * swords nearby instead of going through merchants, but they are directly rejected by the mining village, saying that they can't destroy the market, and the procurement personnel they sent only stayed in the mining village for a while, and they were persuaded to leave the mining village without even staying overnight.

Zhao Hu continued to touch his chin, needless to say, there are really a lot of weirdness in this mining village.

"Who's here?" The village gate opened, and a middle-aged man dressed as a blacksmith walked out and shouted and asked.

Although the middle-aged blacksmith looked a little nervous in his movements, he looked very calm when he looked at his eyebrows. How so? It's that he is afraid that he will be cut down as a messenger, but he is not afraid of the hundreds of troops on his side, this is the mentality that only has the confidence to know that his own backer is here!

Zhao Hu's thoughts flickered, because he didn't know anything about the situation behind this mining village, and he originally wanted to directly conquer the mining village, but after perceiving so many doubts, he dispelled it.

So he directly walked out a few steps and shouted: "I am Zhao Hu, the lord of the entire territory on the east bank of the river in Linhe Village!" Don't tell me that Linhe Village didn't inform your local lord, it's been replaced by me Zhao Hu! So you should know what I'm here for! ”

"Huh?!" The middle-aged blacksmith was stunned for a moment, obviously he didn't expect that the person who came with the military might actually be the new lord! It's just that what makes Zhao Hu's heart chuckle is that when this middle-aged man hesitated, a trace of hideousness flashed in his eyes.

Zhao Hu's mind turned, and he directly waved his hand and roared very imposingly: "Go back and inform the leader of your mining village!" I am outraged that you have ignored me, the new lord! Now I'm going to make your statement!

Willing to surrender or to destroy! I am a very talkative man, and if I am willing to surrender, the amount of tribute will be doubled! I want you to continue to enjoy your old days! But reparations must be made for crimes of contempt for the lord! As for destruction. It's even simpler! Everyone speaks directly! ”

With Zhao Hu's words, all the soldiers present stomped their feet and roared angrily: "No! ”

The uniform movements and shouts made the middle-aged man a little vigilant and hesitant, but when he thought of something, his expression became relaxed again, and he just made a look of panic and said: "Lord Lord, forgive the sin, the villain will go and report to the headman!" With that, he saluted and ran quickly back to the village.

While waiting, Zhao Hu sent out nearly 100 soldiers. also came back one after another, but it was different from the capture of Shucun so smoothly, so many people went out, but only a dozen or so young people came back. It is said that there are many tunnels in the mine, and if you are not careful, you will get lost, and they are worried about the battle situation on Zhao Hu's side, so they dare not go too deep and delay. After catching a dozen miners who didn't have time to escape, they returned.

"Ask them for information, the most important thing is the iron ore production and pig iron production of this mining village, the number of weapons and the number of people!" Zhao Hu ordered directly.

"Yes!" Several of the team members immediately went to make the so-called inquiry. And the samurai of those fishing villages and tree villages were also busy helping out.

After a while, several team members came back to report: "Lord, the other party is just a coolie fixed in a tunnel to mine, and he doesn't know much about it, but according to the words of his companions, this mining village can produce more than 100,000 catties of pig iron a year, only a lot more."

The exact details of the weapons manufactured are unclear, but some people have witnessed a merchant taking away three ox carts of samurai* swords at once. As for the population that may be much higher than estimated, it is said that there are dozens of people in a single mine, and there are far more than 20 caves in this mining village. ”

Speaking of the back, the faces of several teams also tightened, and they who have experienced cultural education naturally know what these numbers represent.

Obviously, the master's attempt to conquer the mining village failed this time, and maybe he even mentioned an iron plate. Not to mention anything else, there are at least more than 300 samurai swords in three ox carts, and there are more than 2,000 miners in 20 mines!

With such a huge disparity in numbers and equipment, no matter how good your side is, you can't compete with it! I just hope that the lord will not be annoyed and angry, otherwise it will be very troublesome.

Zhao Hu saw that there was no change in the planting space, and knew that the mining village had not surrendered to him, so the data obtained would not be displayed. But Zhao Hu was very calm, he had already clearly informed the mining village of what he said before, and the reason why he would bring troops here to find bad luck was because your mining village did not recognize himself as a lord first, and also said that he only needed to double the tribute to make them the same as before.