Back to Ancient Times: Planting Potatoes 21: Dry Well (2)
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墨書 Inktalez
A sudden "knock, knock" echoed from outside the window. The mute blacksmith pressed his soot-stained face against the window frame, gesturing with his fingers in strange signs—first pointing to the sky, then to the ground, and finally drawing a pentagram on his chest. 0
 
Lin Dahe followed him into the cellar behind the blacksmith shop, where the musty smell mingled with metallic rust hit them like a wave. The blacksmith moved aside a pile of scrap metal, revealing a hidden compartment. Inside were five neatly arranged steel chisels, three rock hammers, and several threaded iron pipes—clearly mining tools manufactured by the Ministry of Works from the previous dynasty! 0
 
"This... this is..." 0
 
The blacksmith suddenly tore open his collar, revealing a prominent "工" emblem tattooed on his chest. The system immediately identified it: [Armory Bureau Craftsman Mark from the Era of Revelation]. The blacksmith then pointed to a wooden box at the back, which surprisingly contained half a barrel of well-preserved black powder! 0
 
"Boom—" 0
 
A thunderous sound suddenly rolled in from the direction of the Western Mountains. The two rushed outside to see the night sky illuminated by an eerie orange glow—it was coming from the Zhou family's mine! 0
 
On the threshing ground before dawn, over twenty able-bodied men took turns swinging hammers. Steel chisels struck limestone, sending sparks flying, but their progress was agonizingly slow. Lin Dahe wiped his sweat and suddenly remembered the "Soil Softening Agent" formula rewarded by the system. 0
 
"It needs an acidic solution..." He stared blankly at the quenching pool in the blacksmith shop when a flash of inspiration struck him, "Vinegar dregs! Aunt Wang's homemade vinegar residue!" 0
 
By the evening of the third day, this tunnel over a hundred paces long had taken shape. Villagers reinforced the ceiling with wooden planks while women and children formed a long line passing fragments of rock. The Mad Old Woman sat at the tunnel entrance spinning thread, humming an off-key tune as her spindle cast shadows on the rock wall that slithered like a snake. 0
 
"The spring should be thirty paces directly west." Lin Dahe examined the rock layers with a torch when he suddenly heard Cui Xiaoman's sharp voice behind him: "Who?" 0
 
Deep in the tunnel, pairs of green glowing eyes flickered past—it was Zhou family's treasure-hunting rats! These creatures had their claws covered in black powder, clearly there to sabotage their efforts. 0
 
"Quick! Block them!" Lin Dahe shouted just as the ground shook violently. Debris rained down from above as a distant rumble of collapse echoed. 0
 
"The mine has been breached!" A one-armed veteran crawled in, covered in dust. "The Zhou family deliberately collapsed the old passage!" 0
 
Before anyone could react, shouts from officials came from the tunnel entrance: "Those who mine without permission will be punished with one hundred lashes!" 0
 
The torchlight illuminated the county magistrate's official robes in a purplish hue. This lean old man held Lin Dahe's drawn tunnel map and twirled his goat beard: "The Western Mountain is a royal mining vein; you all..." 0
 
"My lord!" Zhou Liangzhang suddenly pointed at fresh chisel marks on the rock wall. "This is an attempt to steal silver ore!" 0
 
The magistrate squinted at those glimmering rock layers and suddenly sniffed: "Niter?" He abruptly turned to Lin Dahe, "Illegally refining gunpowder is punishable by extermination of nine generations!" 0
 
The Mad Old Woman's spinning wheel fell silent. The elderly woman trembled as she rose, her gnarled fingers pointing at the jade pendant hanging from the magistrate's waist: "So white is the snow... so red is the plum..." 0
 
The magistrate froze as if struck by lightning. The sheep-fat jade bore an engraving of snow-covered plum blossoms! The Mad Old Woman suddenly began singing an odd nursery rhyme: 0
 
"Snow flower paste, red plum blossom, 0
Fat and big are mice in government granaries..." 0
 
"Dad eats heart, mom eats paws, 0
Leave a tail for the county office..." 0
 
The magistrate's face turned pale instantly; he stumbled back two steps: "You... you are..." He suddenly bellowed, "Back to the office!" 0
 
Zhou Liangzhang tried to intervene but received a slap from the magistrate: "Get away! I won't wade into this murky water!" 0
 
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  • Amy
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