After capturing the outpost tower, Liu Qian ordered Chai Yi to garrison the outpost tower with 3,000 soldiers to ensure that the grain route to Tai Luo Xi was unimpeded.
Subsequently, Liu Qian and Jelena led the remaining 4,500 soldiers and 1,200 dragon spirit guards into the undulating hinterland of the Huishan Mountains.
The gray mountain range lives up to its name, as if covered with endless ash.
The steep cliffs are intertwined, and the deep river valleys are like wounds torn by the earth, narrow enough to accommodate only a few people in parallel.
The soldiers trudged through the rocks and slippery mud, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed in the dead valley, and the march was anxiously slow.
It took them three days to reach the edge of the mining area, a reverse slope at the end of a river valley squeezed by a steep mountain wall.
When Liu Qian and Jelena climbed to the top of the slope first, the scene in front of them made them breathe.
Below is a huge muddy basin,
The gray mist hung low, mixed with smoke and dust drifting over the basin.
Countless low, dirty blue canvas tents are surrounded and dilapidated.
What is even more striking is the huge ore piles all over the basin, like hills made of solidified black and dark red blood.
It was iron ore that had not yet been smelted.
Looking to the southwest of the basin, a more gray-brown majestic mountain range rises, which is where the real mineral source is.
There is no shadow of trees on the mountain, only bare rocks and gravel remain.
Countless tiny and ant-like Reese slaves wriggled over the bare mountain, digging for ore with iron pickaxes.
In the basin, countless slaves walked barefoot, hunchbacked, carrying huge baskets full of ore, or pushing dilapidated wooden carts on muddy roads.
Their eyes were empty, and they were surrounded by the scolding of the overseers and the crisp sound of whips breaking through the air.
Below the slope near Liu Qian's army is the core of the mining area, the iron-making area.
More than a dozen huge blast furnaces made of rough stone, the mouths of the furnaces spewed scorching flames, reflecting everything around them twisted and deformed, and the slaves whose skin was red by the fire were throwing ore from the mines into the blast furnace.
The air was filled with a pungent burnt smell that was disgusting.
Liu Qian narrowed his eyes and swept through this purgatory on earth with a sharp self-light.
He sent a few of the most capable spies to quietly slide down the slope and blend into the shadows and chaos of the mining area, with the goal of finding out the reality of this seemingly chaotic mining area that must have a defense system.
The wait is not long. The spies quietly returned from the most hidden corners on both sides of the mining area and brought back the news.
Except for about a thousand poorly equipped slave soldiers who patrolled and suppressed slaves, there were only working slaves in the entire mining area, and there was no other organized armed force.
In addition to slaves, slaves.
Liu Qian couldn't help but laugh: "Reese people, they really have a bit of Valyrian heritage, and they use slaves to the extreme." "
He no longer had the slightest hesitation, and decisively ordered: "Jelena, leave a thousand people, block all exits, especially the mountain road to the hinterland of Reese, don't let a single bird fly out to report the news, and the rest will follow me, eliminate the guards in the mines, and control all the slaves." "
Jelena nodded heavily.
She raised her long sword, and 4,500 Telosian soldiers rushed down the reverse slope like a torrent, following 1,200 dragon spirit guards, rushing down the reverse slope and rushing straight into the chaotic mining area.
The scene in the mining area instantly froze, and then fell into extreme chaos.
Those slave soldiers who were in charge of patrolling and were used to being lazy, when they saw the army rushing like wolves and tigers, their faces instantly faded with blood, leaving only boundless horror.
Their leather armor was tattered, and their weapons were mostly rusty iron spears or blunt knives, and they could hardly develop a decent will to resist in the face of the well-equipped and murderous Telosi regular army and the more terrifying dragon spirit guards.
After a few symbolic shouts and a few arrows fired by the slave soldiers in a hurry, the blades of the dragon spirit guards attacked and harvested lives frantically.
The cold Valyrian steel tore through the armor and flesh, bringing up a cloud of blood.
The screams were short and mournful, and then they were drowned in the earth-shattering shouts.
The battle was almost a one-sided massacre. The resistance of the slave soldiers was pitifully weak, and quickly collapsed under the shock of absolute strength and raids, and the resistance in the mining area was completely eliminated.
In the end, three hundred slave soldiers chose to surrender and were roughly tied up.
Liu Qian ordered the soldiers to quickly clean the battlefield and collect the corpses, and at the same time strictly ordered all slaves not to stop working, maintain the "normal" operation of the surface of the mining area, and kill those who violated the order.
That night, the raven of the outpost tower brought crucial news.
Scouts sent by Chai Yi found traces of large-scale army operations in the southeast direction, and the flag was a black cat.
They are rapidly advancing along the river valley towards the Gray Mountain mining area.
Cat group!
Liu Qian's eyes instantly sharpened.
He recalled the message of the cat group in the original book.
There are about 3,000 warriors under the cat group, known for their ferocity and greed, and the leader "Bloodbeard" is a notoriously ruthless character.
Looking at the mine area that had just been conquered, Liu Qian instantly formed a bold plan in his mind.
He was ready to stay in this group of cats.
Although Liu Qian's troops were far superior to the cat regiment, he was unwilling to do unnecessary consumption.
He ordered the soldiers to quickly change into the armor and clothing of the captured slave soldiers, and the remaining dragon spirit guards were secretly deployed by him in the rubble and bushes on both sides of the narrow river valley at the entrance to the mining area.
He then ordered the slaves to restore the mines to their pre-attack state, so that no one could see that there had been a battle.
In the distance, the Cat Regiment's marching procession struggled through the mud of a narrow river valley.
The regiment commander "Bloodbeard" rode on an unusually tall and strong brownish-red warhorse, which was particularly eye-catching.
He was as burly as a cow, and he was dressed in heavy plate armor.
He has long fiery red hair braided and a fiery red thick beard.
"Damn Reese bitch!"
Bloodbeard's loud scolding echoed in the river valley: "Let's come from all over the place, and before we have time to drink a sip of wine, we are going to help them defend the mining area, ah, damn it.... :"
He waved the heavy double-edged battle axe in his hand irritably.
Treasurer Will rode a crossbow horse and followed him carefully, with a smiling face: "Commander, the golden dragon of the Reese people has indeed given enough this time - you also know that those hungry wolves who smell blood on the golden field must also be on the way.
"Do you still use your accounting to remind me?"
Bloodbeard glared at him, but the anger on his face was a little foggy, and he was replaced by pride: "The slave soldiers of the Reese people are like clowns in the theater troupe, and without the courage of our cat regiment, they will most likely be frightened by the cruelty of the battlefield to wet their pants... :
3
He looked around at his team, his voice full of pride, "But Well, Reese is rich, they pay gold, and we lick blood, that's what it is... After this fight, I have to go to Reese's brothel for a few days.....
"9