62: Harvesting resources

"Kill them all!"

Under the bright morning sun, a bloody slaughter was underway.

Rehn commanded the Cavalry Squad from the periphery, slaughtering the Goblin tribe before them.

Wielding an enchanted longbow, Rehn started by shooting dead the Goblin chieftain, who was only Bronze Rank, while Ross and the others beside him drew their bows and arrows, killing several Goblin shaman priests.

What followed was a one-sided massacre.

The Goblin tribe before them had about seven to eight hundred Goblins, but they were powerless against the charge of the fifty-strong Cavalry Squad.

Goblins are inherently weak in combat; even a well-trained human Militia member could easily defeat a single Goblin one-on-one, and the probability of Professionals emerging among Goblin groups is also very low.

This race relies entirely on numbers to win, and their favorite tactics are usually swarm attacks and ambushes.

But now, they were the ones being ambushed. As for swarm tactics?

Ross alone could kill dozens of Goblins in a single charge. With fewer than a thousand Goblins, they were almost all killed before they could even attempt any swarm tactics.

The smell of blood spread everywhere, saturating the earth.

Rehn watched the slaughter expressionlessly, occasionally raising his longbow to kill Goblin warriors who tried to fight back.

Soon, the Goblins began to scatter, thoroughly terrified by the Cavalry Squad.

The remaining two hundred or so Goblins started fleeing in all directions, but their speed was no match for the Cavalry Squad on horseback, and they were quickly caught and cut down.

Watching a few Goblins running farther away, Rehn called back Ross and the others.

"Come back. What we do next is the real task."

Destroying a Goblin tribe was no big deal for Rehn, not enough to make him travel all the way here.

"Search thoroughly!"

Soon, Rehn got the answer he wanted.

"Lord, we found something!"

Several warriors brought over a crude solid wood chest. Opening it revealed it was full of white crystals.

"salt mine?"

Ross and the others beside him immediately recognized the items before them.

"Is this the location of the salt mine in Rock Crystal Territory?"

Ross looked toward the Goblin cave not far away.

"Go and bring over all the salt ore those Goblins dug up."

Rehn already knew the answer in his heart, showing no surprise, and ordered the warriors to continue moving the salt ore.

Taking a piece of salt ore from the chest and holding it up to the sunlight, the salt ore was crystal clear. The quality of the salt ore from Rock Crystal Territory was very high; this dug-up salt ore could be consumed directly.

Such high-quality salt could fetch a good price even in Rage Bear Fortress. In the past, Rock Crystal Territory made a lot of money each year by selling salt to the Salak Merchant Guild.

From the beginning, Rehn had planned to take some resources from the four Baronies in the north to supplement his territory.

He knew well that the Alien Tribes in the wilderness were constantly eyeing human resource points.

Whenever humans showed signs of weakness or they felt their own strength had increased, they would try to occupy human resource points.

Whether it was the salt mine of Rock Crystal Territory or the Iron Mine of Black Iron Territory, these mining sites would soon be occupied by Alien Tribes if no humans held them.

And what Rehn wanted was for these Alien Tribes to occupy these resource points, mine them for a while, and then, before the new Barons arrived, he would preemptively harvest these Alien Tribes, taking all the resources they had mined.

This plan became much simpler after Rehn obtained the spatial ring.

Originally, Rehn planned to start the harvest at the end of winter and beginning of spring next year. He had estimated that the new Barons would arrive at the earliest in early spring next year.

After all, the process of granting titles each time is tedious and time-consuming. By the time the territories were divided, it would be winter. In winter, those new lords would not come to their fiefs for construction, and the four northern territories, which had been completely destroyed, had no conditions for survival or residence in winter.

So, the end of winter and beginning of spring was the best time for harvesting.

But unexpectedly, Rehn's plan encountered changes so early, with the new Barons arriving much sooner.

He could only come to harvest earlier.

Soon, chest after chest of salt blocks were brought out.

"Lord, that's all!"

There were twenty to thirty chests of salt ore in total, each weighing about seven to eight hundred pounds.

"Too little!"

These few dozen chests of salt ore were the entire output of the Goblin tribe. Clearly, this tribe had not occupied this salt mine for long.

"Everyone, enter the mine and dig for salt. We only have half a day; dig as much as we can."

Rehn stored all the salt ore before him into his spatial ring, then took out mining tools for everyone. He had prepared them in advance.

The spatial ring had also been emptied, just to hold this salt ore.

Ross and the others were somewhat at a loss. None of them had mined before, and suddenly being told to mine left them unsure how to proceed.

But upon seeing Rehn himself take tools and lead the way, they all shut their mouths and followed Rehn into the mine.

The mining speed of dozens of Professionals was faster than that of hundreds of ordinary miners. Coupled with the fact that the mine in Rock Crystal Territory was large and easy to excavate, Rehn and his team were highly efficient.

When the time reached afternoon, Rehn called everyone to a stop.

He collected all the mined salt ore, which had already filled the spatial ring.

"Alright, it's about time. Let's go to the next location."

Exiting the mine, Rehn called over the Wasteland Wolves wandering nearby.

"Ross, lead the team and follow the Wolf Pack. It will take you to the Iron Mine area in Black Iron Territory. After eliminating the Alien Tribes there, continue mining. I'll return to the territory to unload this salt ore and then catch up."

"Yes, Lord!"

Ross looked at the Wasteland Wolves before him. Rehn's methods left him in awe.

Rehn, riding Reck at full speed, was much faster on the return journey. He arrived back at Red River Territory just as night fell.

After storing all the salt in the warehouse, Rehn intended to return immediately.

But as he passed by the dock, it suddenly occurred to him that the territory's fishing boats might also be used to transport some cargo. However, when he found Kent to inquire, he discovered that a fishing boat could only carry about a thousand pounds of cargo, which was far too little.

"The fishing boats are still too small!"

Rehn looked up at the cargo ships brought by Rex not far away. One of the ships was currently empty; after Rex's cargo was unloaded, that ship was left empty, now waiting at the dock to return with its companions in a few days.

Rehn pointed at the cargo ship not far away and said, "Kent, can you operate that kind of cargo ship?"

"Yes, Lord. If it's just one ship, we have just enough manpower now. Two ships wouldn't work; we don't have that many people who know how to operate them."

Kent gave a definite answer.

"Excellent!"

Rehn leaped onto the cargo ship, found the ship's captain watching over it, and immediately used his authority as a Baron to commandeer the ship, ordering everyone on board to disembark and rest at the dock.

The captain was initially reluctant, fearing he couldn't bear responsibility if anything happened to the ship.

But after receiving Rehn's guarantee to return the ship unharmed within three days and being given a gold coin, the captain happily returned to the dock to rest.

"Kent, take the people and sail the ship to the dock at Black Iron Territory and wait for me."

"Yes!"

The dock at Black Iron Territory was the northernmost stopping point on the Red River. Further north, the width and depth of the Red River greatly diminished, making it unsuitable for ships to pass.

Meanwhile, near the Iron Mine in Black Iron Territory, Ross was leading his men to eliminate a Kobold tribe.

Kobolds were slightly stronger in combat than Goblins because this Alien Tribe knew some blacksmithing techniques. Their weapons were much better than those of Goblins, and some Kobolds even wore armor-like iron protective gear.

But this was still not enough to qualify them to oppose Ross.

The strongest in the tribe was only a Kobold chieftain at high Bronze Rank.

At the start, Ross led the Magic Wolf Knights in a charge that brought them right before the Kobold chieftain, then beheaded it with a single sword strike.

The number of Kobolds was smaller than that of Goblins, with only about five hundred Kobolds. After losing their chieftain, they resisted for less than a quarter of an hour before despair set in.

The human warriors before them were like gods of slaughter, covered in blood, efficiently and swiftly taking their lives. They tried to flee but found their two legs couldn't outrun the four-legged warhorses of the humans.

"We surrender!"

"We surrender, human warriors."

The remaining Kobolds threw down their weapons and knelt to surrender.

An elderly Kobold spoke in human language that Ross could understand, continuously shouting surrender.

"Stop!"

Seeing the Kobolds surrender, Ross immediately called a halt to his men who were still killing.

"What's wrong, Vice Commander?"

Eric threw away the Kobold head in his hand and looked at Ross in confusion.

"They surrendered!"

"So what if they surrendered?"

"Don't forget our mission!"

Ross reminded Eric, then looked at the Kobolds kneeling on the ground.

"Do you truly surrender?"

The elderly Kobold hurriedly responded to Ross.

"Yes, human warrior, we are willing to surrender."

The old Kobold looked up and saw the terrifying, blood-covered face of the Magic Wolf, which scared him into lowering his head and trembling on the ground.

"Good, I accept your surrender."

"However, for me not to kill you, you must work for my master!"

"Now, all you lowly creatures, get into the mine and dig for my master. If any of you dare to slack off, I'll cut off your heads and feed them to my Magic Wolves."

Knowing they wouldn't die, the Kobolds quickly returned to the mine and began digging diligently.