Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Open-pit Salt Mine
Valen’s face was full of panic, "Yes, Master Lynn, they are all villagers from Tabola Village."
"To reduce our target, we split into two groups, each searching for a village to settle in. Ten days later, whether we find one or not, someone will be sent to the appointed location to inform..."
"If they haven’t found a village to settle in yet, I’ll bring them over. I believe that with Master Lynn being so magnanimous, he would certainly be willing to accept them..."
Seeing the sincerity in Valen’s eyes, Lynn nodded, "Valen, I trust your character!"
Especially since Valen had a character loyalty of as high as 80%↑.
Valen’s face relaxed, his character loyalty even increased by 2%!
"Thank you for your discernment, Master Lynn."
Lynn asked, "How far is it from here to your appointed meeting point?"
Without any hesitation, Valen answered, "About four hours’ journey..."
Lynn nodded, "Go to the kitchen and take some barley bread to eat on the road. I’ll wait here for your return."
Hearing Lynn’s words, Valen left the village full of gratitude.
With the grain in the barn, even if Valen brought back more than twenty refugees, he could still sustain them.
Lynn needed labor, a large amount of labor.
Whether paving roads and building bridges, or clearing wasteland, all require a large labor force.
Without a few hundred people, even if there was a gold or silver mine, Lynn couldn’t handle it.
...
Indeed, 80%↑ character loyalty was not just for show.
Valen did not disappoint Lynn.
At dusk, Valen returned.
Behind him were twenty-five healthy men and women!
Unhealthy ones?
According to Valen, their village is far from here.
Those who were unhealthy might have fallen behind halfway during the escape.
That’s quite normal.
Valen approached Lynn, speaking with great respect.
"Master Lynn, these are all villagers from Tabola Village, like us, they came here seeking a safe refuge to escape from danger."
Seeing that Master Lynn did not blame him at all, Valen quickly looked at the twenty-five people he brought, "This is Master Lynn, the Lord of this land."
Everyone shouted in unison, "Master Lynn."
Lynn glanced over them.
Their faces were dusty and thin.
Obviously, they hadn’t eaten enough for a long time.
Lynn called Kuisi to prepare them dinner.
Instantly, their gaze towards Lynn was filled with light, as if they were seeing their own parents.
The village population increased once again.
Now there were forty-seven people!
Apart from Markel and two other boys and girls, there were forty-four people capable of labor!
Each population increase required the expansion of log cabins.
When eight residential log cabins were completed, the village already had close to thirty log cabins.
A small village had already been formed.
An increase in population is good.
But Lynn found that he lacked oxen and plows!
This meant Lynn had to let these newly joined villagers use iron hoes and cross pickaxes to till the land.
The speed was slow, but still much better than when he used a flint axe, digging hoe by hoe!
Lumbering in the forest continued, wood was needed to build log cabins, warehouses, and so on.
...
In the green wheat field.
Lynn was squatting and inspecting the wheat on the ridge.
It had reached the stage where the seedlings changed from sprawling to upright growth.
Two tender green leaves, full of life energy at first glance.
The period from seedling to tillering was still at least a month away!
The planting industry’s cycle was indeed too long.
As Lynn was inspecting the seedlings in the wheat field, Kuisi walked over the ridge and came to his side.
Seeing Kuisi panting, Lynn asked, "What’s going on?"
Kuisi took a deep breath, calming her breathing.
She spoke steadily, "Master Lynn, the raft workers found a salt mine in the forest!"
Lynn’s eyebrows instantly raised, "A salt mine?"
Kuisi nodded, "Yes, Master Lynn, a salt mine!"
"While they were logging, they saw a wild deer. At first, they wanted to follow it and hunt it, but before escaping, they found it licking white stones..."
"They tried licking it and found it salty!"
Lynn’s interest was piqued, "Take me there."
Animals lacking salt in their bodies would lick salt-containing rocks.
But that didn’t necessarily mean it was a salt mine.
Kuisi acknowledged.
The two walked towards the nearby forest.
Passing open spaces, they trekked over three thousand meters into the forest.
Lynn stood before a patch of white rock.
Under a layer of decomposed soil and dead leaves, there was clearly a layer of white salt mine!
[Large Open-pit Salt Mine]: Formed by salt crystals of ancient seas or salt lakes, with a high sodium chloride content.
Looking at the string of characters in front of him, Lynn’s eyebrows raised.
Salt mine!
An open-pit salt mine!
And a large open-pit salt mine!
Lynn took an axe from a villager’s hand and walked around the edge of the open-pit salt mine.
After a few minutes, he hadn’t completed the perimeter of the salt mine’s surface!
The surface area was at least over a hundred square meters, and the thickness unknown!
If it had a thickness of over ten meters, the reserves of this large salt mine could reach tens of millions of tons!
Lynn felt like he was about to soar.
Salt!
Be it for humans or animals, they must consume a suitable amount of salt.
To replenish salt, ensuring normal body function.
Salt was everyone’s essential consumable, with vast demand!
In daily life, preserving food was done mainly through salting, an indispensable ingredient for curing meat, fish, and vegetables.
On the battlefield, soldiers’ food supplies needed salt to preserve meat, and in tough marching and combat environments, it supplemented electrolytes lost through sweat.
Even the Six Great Empires considered salt as a currency medium, used for trading other essentials like food, cloth, and metalware etc.
It was evident.
The importance of salt!
Now, a large open-pit salt mine was in front of Lynn.
...
What Lynn needed to consider now was how to extract the open-pit salt mine.
An open-pit salt mine, whether economically or politically, was enough to make many lords recklessly want to fight for it.
In his village, besides Red possessing some combat ability, others were just ordinary farmers!
It’s impossible to guard this open-pit salt mine.
But not mining...
Guarding an open-pit salt mine waiting for death?
Bandits were rampant, the Great Lord was inactive, and the outside situation was increasingly complex.
If you stretch your neck, it’s a knife, and if you shrink it, it’s also a knife.
Lynn steeled his heart, deciding to take a gamble!
For him to quickly develop now, he must have more and faster ways to earn money.
Brewing workshops were one of the money-making industries.
But nowhere near as fast as the salt mine!
There was no need to worry about the shelf life or transportation. Not even a little rain could affect the salt mine.
The only danger came from other lords or the Church...
However, Lynn could secretly sell!
By the time they noticed, he’d have thousands of troops and horses!
If worst comes to worst, he’d present Marquis Duca’s territory charter.
...
Returning to the log cabin.
Lynn pondered how to conduct the excavation.
The distance from the village to the open-pit salt mine was not far, just about three thousand meters...
Excluding the four at the brewing workshop and three children,
everyone else could be devoted to the excavation of the open-pit salt mine.
However,
to transport the salt mine back to the village, a road capable of accommodating ox carts and horse carriages must be built!
With that in mind, Lynn had made up his mind.
He wanted the whole village to rally and excavate the open-pit salt mine!
Lynn called Kuisi, asking her to gather everyone in the open space in front of the log cabin.
With puzzled expressions, everyone looked at Lynn standing at the cabin’s entrance.
But they dared not say anything, waiting quietly.
Lynn took a deep breath and spoke to them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, before the summer plowing, you can temporarily put aside your work."
"You will be divided into three groups: the first group for logging, the second for paving with stone, and the third for mining salt!"