abnabooks Chapter 65: Shock
Chapter 65: Shock
Dodo received the news in the early morning.
The wolf rider scouts he sent out rushed back to the temporary camp overnight. When they dismounted their dire wolves, they staggered, and the expression on their faces made Dodo's heart skip a beat.
This scout was an old wolf rider who had been with him for almost ten years. He had robbed human caravans and fought with goblin heroes from other tribes, and he had never seen such an expression on his face before.
"Chief, the Earth Dragon Tribe is gone."
The bone cup in Dodo's hand stopped in mid-air.
"What did you say?"
"The Earth Dragon Tribe has been breached by humans. Those despicable humans even built a city wall at the canyon pass, and there's an arrow tower in front of the wall."
The scout gestured a height, raising his hand above his head, but it wasn't enough. He then stood on tiptoe and reached up a little further. "It's at least thirty meters high, and there are many holes in the watchtower."
Dodo put down the bone cup and stood up.
He didn't believe it. The Earth Dragon Tribe had occupied that canyon for more than ten years. He had tried to annex it several times but failed. Although that old man, Benbo Hammer, only had one arm left, the canyon pass was easy to defend and difficult to attack. A frontal assault would require at least a thousand men.
He didn't believe that humans could breach the Earth Dragon Tribe in such a short time and even build city walls and arrow towers at the pass.
"lead the way."
When Dodok personally led his personal guard to the outside of the Earth Dragon Canyon, the sun had just risen over the eastern ridge. They hid behind a hill, a full kilometer away from the Earth Dragon Canyon. He looked up and saw the arrow tower.
The towering arrow tower, with its dark entrance, made him afraid to imagine how many soldiers and equipment were hidden inside.
He suffered heavy losses when he attacked a city wall that was only six meters high, let alone a city wall this high.
With goblins' short bows, they probably wouldn't even be able to shoot an arrow up the city wall, let alone suppress human archers.
There's no need to fight at all.
"Notify the tribe to migrate southeast immediately; they cannot stay here."
The goblin hero of the wolf riders was stunned for a moment.
"Chief, shall we not visit the other tribes?"
"Go to hell!" Dodok mounted the wolf, glancing back at the arrow tower one last time. "The toughest tribe, the Earth Dragon Tribe, is gone. Can the rest hold out?"
Ron was unaware of Dodok's decision to migrate.
He was standing on the first city wall at the canyon pass, watching Old Hall's oxcart procession kick up a trail of dust as it came from the direction of the main city.
The second city wall is now complete. Tomorrow, we'll build a smaller arrow tower on the second city wall, and then we can leave.
As for the third wall, it can be built on the next visit. Hilden will need to collect building materials first, since such a large wall would require a huge amount of sand and gravel, even if it were all made of solidified sand and gravel.
Old Hall jumped off the oxcart, looked up at the arrow tower, and remained silent for a long time.
The young master is becoming increasingly inhumane.
Such walls and castles, let alone an attack, could scare away a large number of enemies.
Clearly, old Hall, who didn't understand Chinese architecture, mistook the arrow tower for a castle.
Old Hall didn't realize what was happening until Ron came right in front of him.
"Young Master, the resettlement work in the main city has begun. The newly rescued prisoners are being transported in batches, and Moriel is sorting and settling them. The volcanic ash from De Gea territory was delivered on time this morning, and the grain trade quota for Harland territory has also been expanded." He paused, "but the territory's population is approaching six thousand, and the grain reserves are only enough to last for twenty days."
"The ground potatoes in Harvest Town will be harvested soon," Ron said. "The first batch of grain can be transported back to the main city in ten days. First, help me build the arrow tower on the second city wall, and then we can go back."
Old Hall nodded.
By the evening of the following day, the arrow tower of the second city wall was also completed.
The blue brick walls gleamed with a pale blue luster under the setting sun, complete with crenellations, parapets, and gable walls.
Behind the city wall, catapult positions were reserved, which could cover the entire buffer zone between the first and second city walls.
Old Hall stood at the foot of the city wall, looking up at the fortification that stretched from one side of the rock face to the other, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
"Young master, at this rate, the third city wall can be completed in three days."
"No rush." Ron stepped down from the city wall, dissipating the remaining energy of the transformation spell at his fingertips. "The planting area behind the third city wall needs to be leveled first. Let Tang En transport the harvested rock potatoes back to the main city first. Food is more urgent than the city wall."
The three thousand newly rescued prisoners were transported to Ashwood territory in three batches.
Mrs. Moriel has always been in charge of the resettlement of people.
Her method was simple: all prisoners were first kept in a temporary quarantine camp outside the city for two days to bathe, remove parasites, and be checked for infectious diseases.
Two days later, the healthy individuals were categorized by gender and age. The men were assigned to reclamation and construction teams, while those with special talents were placed separately. Among the women, the strongest were selected first, and the rest were then categorized and placed separately.
This time, the sanitary fertilizer workshop did not use a lottery system. Mrs. Moriel selected a group of older women from the new prisoners who were physically weak but clean and tidy, and assigned them directly there.
She canceled the lottery process because she believed it would give those who didn't win a sense of complacency, which she didn't want; she wanted obedience.
Three men who had tried to incite other prisoners to escape during quarantine were dragged to an open area outside the quarantine camp by Fanta's militia and disposed of in front of all the new prisoners.
There was no public execution; they simply bound his hands and feet with hemp rope and left him on the city wall to be exposed to the midday sun.
By the next morning, the two corpses had stiffened, while the third was still alive. When it was dragged back, its lips were cracked like a dried-up riverbed, and it never uttered another word.
Mrs. Morrill stood at the gate of the quarantine camp and addressed the third group of prisoners arriving: "Ashwood doesn't support idlers, nor does it kill indiscriminately. Those who can work will have food and shelter. Those who can't work..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but simply turned her head to the side, drawing everyone's attention to the two corpses on the city wall that hadn't yet been collected.
No one dared to ask what would happen to the third, still-living person.
They bowed their heads, lined up, and followed the strong women to their respective workshops and reclamation areas.
With the settlement of these prisoners completed, the total population of Ashwood Territory officially exceeded eight thousand.
Construction on the eighth pit building began that day. Ron had just returned from Harvest Town and rested for half a night. He got up in the early morning to use his Conversion Technique to dig the foundation.
There are never enough houses, but every time a new building is completed, Mrs. Moriel always manages to find a new batch of homeless people from some unknown corner and squeeze them in, then tells him, "My lord, it's still not enough."
Nowadays, every time a pit-house is built, a section of adobe houses has to be demolished. There aren't many pit-houses left, mainly because the city is too small.
The city area is only about 100 acres, while each pit building occupies almost one acre of land. Moreover, a certain distance needs to be left between the houses. Therefore, if we want to accommodate such a large population, we can only build the houses outside the city.