After the night tour army arrived at the Iron Cliff Fort, they first failed to negotiate, and then they were at a loss in the face of the terrain that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. I'm afraid we'll have to prepare for a protracted battle here.

I had just returned to my camp and was about to lie down for a while when I heard a noise outside. One of the voices I heard was Shi Xun. He was one of the chiefs I had arranged to guard the captives.

Being disturbed by them made me lose my sleepiness and simply got up and went out to check what was going on.

The 100 captured Iron Cliff Fort Yin Xiu were gathered together, their hands and feet tied, and tonight it will be my eighth battalion to take care of it. For safety reasons, I assigned three Shi to guard, one of which was brought by Shi Xun. However, he has always had a short temper, and seems to have had some quarrel with his captives.

I walked over and shouted, "What are you yelling about? Shut it all up! ”

Shi Xun hurriedly came up and reported to me: "These unsightly remnants of the defeated generals, when they are prisoners, they still think they are masters, they want this for a while, and they want that for a while, why should I serve them?" ”

But one of the captives hurriedly retorted: "We are not soldiers, just ordinary people who farm!" You can't fight without treating the captives as human beings! ”

I turned my head to see that the captive was an old man with a white beard, who must have been at least seventy years old. However, the age of Yin Xiu is not easy to judge on the surface, and maybe it is even older. Because the old man has practiced Yin Gong, even if his hair is completely white, he has a strong physique, and his speech is full of energy.

I asked him, "What are you going to do?" ”

The white-bearded old man complained: "We haven't eaten or drunk for several hours since we were arrested. You don't want to give me something to eat, at least some water to drink, right? We're dying of thirst! ”

"Where is the water around here?"

"Now, there it is!" The old man stretched out his hand and pointed that there was a well not far from the field reclaimed by the Iron Cliff Fort, and there were several large snails tied to it. "Those big snails have buckets full of water on their backs, and you can bring them over enough for us to drink."

That's not too much to ask. So I ordered two soldiers to fetch the cattle and bring water for the captives to drink.

I said to the white-bearded old man, "You can drink water, but the rations are rationed. If you want to eat, you'll have to wait for the logistics to send you extra. ”

The old man nodded and said, "I understand, it's okay to have a cup of saliva first." ”

When the captives saw that I was talkative, some of them began to beg, either because they wanted to go to the toilet, or because the rope that bound their hands was too tight, and after a long time, the blood would not pass and they would die. Another captured soldier was bitten by a hellhound, and if he was not healed, he was afraid that he would have to bleed to death.

I was a good man to the end, so I asked the soldiers to solve it one by one, and called the military doctor to bandage the wounded soldier's wound. The captives thanked each other with a look of gratitude. I sat down and struck up a conversation with the white-bearded old man, who was the most talkative, and wanted to take the opportunity to find out what was going on inside the Iron Cliff Castle.

"What do you call the old man?"

"This military master should not be so polite, the old man's surname is Peng, you can call me Lao Peng!"

"Okay." I nodded, and asked as casually as possible, "Old Peng, tell me first, what is the name of your castle master?" ”

"His name is Li Hongtai, and we all call him Lord Li Castle."

"Where is the Lord of Li Castle from, and why did you build an Iron Cliff Fort here?"

"We don't know where Lord Libao is from. However, I have heard that he was originally a merchant specializing in refined iron ore. Perhaps it was because he knew how to prospect for ore and beneficiation that he found a good iron ore in such a remote place and built a Yin City. ”

"Where is the refined iron ore, why can't I see it?" I asked pretentiously, moving on to a slightly more sensitive issue.

Lao Peng didn't seem to notice it, or didn't think about it, so he pointed in the direction of the Iron Cliff Fort, and said: "The mine is inside the fort, it has been dug very deep, deep underground, and you can't see it outside." In addition, in addition to the iron ore concentrate, there is also a smaller secret copper mine, which is next to each other. ”

"Understood." I continued to ask the topic again, "With these two mines, I'm afraid that Lord Libao has made a lot of money over the years, right?" ”

"That's nature!" Lao Peng didn't have a proud expression on his face when he said this, but was a little disdainful, "Otherwise, where would he get the money to build such an impregnable castle?" ”

His reaction caught my attention, at least to show that Peng was not one of those die-hards. So, the question I asked below was more direct.

"Is Lord Libao's cultivation very high?"

"No, no, I'm afraid his cultivation is similar to mine, just enough to mix in the underworld."

"Then who will lead the troops to defend the city for him?"

"His son fights hard!"

"What kind of cultivation is Li Zhan?"

"I heard that now I have cultivated to the fifth level, and it is the highest cultivation in the Iron Cliff Castle!"

"Oh, how many are there in the fort for the fourth reconstruction?"

"I've heard it's three, or maybe four."

"How many guards does Li Zhan have?"

"He has a total of ...... under his command"

As soon as this sentence was halfway through, Lao Peng finally sensed that something was wrong, and hurriedly swallowed the second half of the sentence back, shook his head and said: "We are just ordinary people, how can we understand these city defense affairs?" ”

He squeezed a forced smile on his face, but he was clearly wary of me. When I saw that he would not answer, I did not force him, and changed the topic to continue the conversation.

"Old Peng, how many years have you been farming here?"

Since he asked about his old profession, Lao Peng's chatter couldn't help but open again: "Hey, I was a farmer when I was in the yang world." It was the lord of Libao who paid for us to go down to the underworld to reclaim new fields for him, and this year is already the eleventh year! ”

"In this way, you weren't afraid of ghosts and dared to go to the underworld?"

"I was scared. But I'm dozens of years old, and half of my body is in the coffin, since I come here in addition to having money to get, I can also learn Yin Gong to prolong my life, why don't I come? Farming is everywhere, and it's much more cost-effective for me to come here to plant than to plant in the sun! ”

"Makes sense!" I nodded in agreement, and then asked casually, "But it's not safe for Iron Cliff Fort to build such a high and dangerous castle, and to send you to the opposite side to plow the fields!" ”

"Alas, what can be done! Iron Cliff Castle is a stone castle, except for the refined iron ore and the secret copper mine, the soil on the ground is not three inches thick, how can it grow crops? Therefore, the fields can only be cultivated on the opposite side of the cliff, and the soil here is more suitable for farming! ”

"What kind of crops are you growing in this field?"

"I grow dark rice, rye, blue beans, and some strange vegetables that I can't even name. Strange to say, these crops don't need light, they can grow well underground, and they are much easier to serve than those crops on the ground! ”

"How do you count the rice and vegetables that are grown, whether they are the castle owner or yours?"

"It must be the castle master! We just take the money to work, and if we plant well, we will get a bonus, and if we don't plant well, we will deduct our wages! ”

"Is there enough food to be grown in these fields?"

"Enough!" When Lao Peng said this, he patted his chest proudly and said: "It's not me bragging, every season in the past two years has been a bumper harvest, and several large granaries in the fort are full. Even if all this season's crops are destroyed by you, the fort will have enough food for them for three years! ”

According to Lao Peng, even if the army occupied the fields outside the fort of Iron Cliff Fort after the night tour, there would be no food in the fort. If we really want to fight a protracted war, I am afraid that we will not be able to afford it.

"Where's the drinking water? No problem too? I watched Lao Peng pick up the ladle and drink water again, so I asked more.

"Ahem! Ahem! Unexpectedly, Lao Peng was suddenly choked by the water, coughed a few times, and then hurriedly waved his hand and said: "There is a deep well in the fort, cough cough!" Drinking water is no problem! Ahem! ”

I looked at his insincere expression, and I could guess that he must have been forcibly covering it up. However, Lao Peng has been tricked out of a lot of information by me in a row, and his vigilance has finally improved. When I asked other questions later, he was always hesitant and didn't answer what he asked.

I knew I couldn't ask any more, so I got up and left. Then I walked to the well in the field and checked on the big snails. Each snail has two large buckets tethered to its back, and a faucet at the bottom, which flows out as soon as it is unscrewed, and it is obvious that it is specially used to carry water.

However, a canal was dug at the edge of the well and connected to the field. Moreover, the terrain of the well is slightly higher, which means that Lao Peng and other farmers only need to draw water from the well and pour it into the canal, and the water can flow all the way into the field, without the need for a snail to carry water for irrigation. Could it be that the water on the backs of these big snails is for the people in the Iron Cliff Fort to drink?

Thinking of this, my eyes suddenly lit up, and I seemed to have grasped a clue. All I need now is someone to confirm my guess for the last time. But that old Peng was obviously the leader of the farmers, and he refused to say it, and others probably didn't dare to say it. As for the twenty captives, they could not be counted on.

"Humph! Just because people don't say it doesn't mean that ghosts don't say it either! ”

Naturally, my gaze shifted to the more than a thousand other ghost slaves who had been captured. Because the ghost containers brought by the army were not enough, the more than 1,000 ghost slaves could only be temporarily tied together with ghost ropes, one by one, and a battalion of soldiers was specially sent to guard them.

I greeted the chief of the guards, and then walked straight into the ghost slave pile and observed their reactions one by one. When the ghost slaves saw me coming, they all looked up at me, some with angry faces, some with pleading faces, and some curious and puzzled, but I didn't intend to pick them out for questioning.