They walked on the mountain for a day and killed countless small animals, which became their lunch at noon.
Finally, they arrived at the mountain stream with a light brown stream in the evening. The stream gushed out from under a rock and flowed down for about a hundred meters before flowing into a crack in the ground.
With the test results from the Black Pool, Ren Baqian was more confident this time. This must be the other kind of brine that he had found.
Ren Baqian continued to dip his finger in the water and licked it. Although it was poisonous, this amount wasn't harmful.
Similarly, it was salty and bitter. It tasted even worse than the Black Pool, causing him to shudder. Then, he delightedly dipped his index finger in the water and licked his middle finger.
"Not bad, it's a little sweet." Ren Baqian nodded.
"How is that possible?" Na Gu didn't believe it and wanted to try it.
However, there were people who acted much faster than her. A few students copied Ren Baqian's actions and dipped their fingers in the water to lick them. Their faces twitched like dried orange peels.
"Liar!" Tong Lan pointed at Ren Baqian and accused him.
"Eh? Don't you think it's sweet? "Ren Baqian was surprised. "Does this water taste different in different people?"
As soon as he said this, the other students also tried it. Then, their faces twitched.
Pairs of hateful eyes were cast on Ren Baqian.
"Science is like this. No matter what others say, it can't compare to trying it yourself. Not only do you have to try it, but you also have to think about why. "Ren Baqian put on a kind face and guided them patiently.
"You are obviously lying to us to try it," Tong Lan said disdainfully. Her eyes kept looking around to see if there were any wild fruits.
Then, her eyes lit up. She jumped seven or eight meters away and plucked a bunch of wild fruits that were as big as red cherries. Then, she proudly put it into her mouth.
"You will know my painstaking efforts in the future." As Ren Baqian spoke, he threw a piece of White Rabbit Creamy Candy into his mouth. The expression on his face immediately relaxed.
"Get some water," Ren Baqian said. This time around, he took more than 20 bottles. If this brine was as he thought, he had to test the ratio of it with the black brine. There was no harm in bringing more.
After all, it was a bit further away from here.
After the guard filled the bottle with water, he looked at the sky and asked Na Gu, "Is there a place nearby where we can spend the night?"
"The shortest way is half a day's journey. We wasted too much time on our way here," Na Gu said.
"Then let's see if there's a suitable place around here. Come back in an hour and hunt some prey along the way, "Ren Baqian said to the guards. Most of the guards immediately dispersed, and some of the students followed suit.
"Can the Black Pool and this place really produce edible salt?" Na Gu asked after the guard left.
"It should be possible." Ren Baqian didn't sound too confident. "So your village might not need to hunt in the future."
"If we don't hunt, what are we going to eat?" Na Gu felt that Ren Baqian was talking nonsense. Even if they could get their hands on salt, they wouldn't be able to eat it.
"In the future, there will be a salt factory in this mountain that belongs to the Ministry of Works and the royal family. You can choose to work in the salt factory. That way, you won't need to hunt so hard. Of course, you can also continue to hunt, but I'm afraid you will have to travel very far. With so many people, the prey will definitely be scared away. Alternatively, you can apply for compensation and move your village to another place. "
"Oh!" Na Gu nodded.
Ren Baqian looked at her and thought that she would have a bigger reaction. After all, their village had always been here.
"Will there be salt to eat in the future?" Na Gu asked. She seemed to be more concerned about this issue. After all, in her opinion, there were countless prey in the mountains. Even if they couldn't hunt it today or tomorrow, they would be able to hunt it the day after. They wouldn't starve to death.
She didn't think that the development of a salt factory would affect the village. However, she knew that there would be no strength without salt.
"Yes!" Ren Baqian nodded.
If there wasn't enough salt here. Then they would hunt to the coast of the Yun Nation. There would definitely be salt there.
"That's good!" Na Gu said happily.
"Sir, can salt really be produced here?" the two officials from the Ministry of Works asked loudly with faces full of disbelief.
It was only now that they realized why Ren Baqian had brought everyone to the mountains.
Ren Baqian took a closer look at the two of them and recalled their identities. Their presence was too low, and he had almost forgotten about them these few days.
"Yes!" Ren Baqian nodded. "However, we still have to go back and study the specifics."
"Great, this is great!" The two of them said repeatedly. Salt was a knot in everyone's heart. For so many years, there had been no solution and it had always been in the hands of the merchants from the other three nations.
Now that they could actually produce salt here, the two of them were really excited.
After a while, all the guards returned. One of them found a suitable place. It was a corner between two mountain walls, and they only needed to pay attention to the beasts on the other two sides at night. There was also a protruding rock above that could shelter them in case it rained at night.
Ren Baqian brought everyone to have a look. It was already good enough that they could find such a place in such a short time.
Next, everyone dispersed to look for prey. The animals in this area were considered unlucky. Even if they went into a hole, they would be caught by a few students.
When the sky turned dark, everyone returned. They had caught a dozen small animals that looked like deer and were called dwarves. More than 40 fat animals that looked like mountain rats were strung together. There were also two pythons, a flower bear … and a number of wild fruits.
Ren Baqian saw the innocent panda that died unjustly and went up to give it a kick.
"Sir, although this thing is a little unpalatable, we can't find much to eat in such a short time," the guard said with a face full of grievance. He had an expression that said, "Sir, just make do with it." Furthermore, there were so many other prey. Even if this thing was unpalatable, it wasn't for you to eat.
"Forget it, hurry up and deal with it. Leave the bear paw for me." Ren Baqian stared for a long time and finally sighed.
The panda was a national treasure on Earth, but in this place, it was an animal that didn't taste good and could be found everywhere. Other than acting dumb, it didn't know how to do anything else.
Of course, its attack power wasn't weak and was similar to that of a bear.
Next, he found a place near the mountain wall to rest and watched as the guard started a fire. The other guards and some of the students brought the prey to a nearby water source to deal with it.
Two hours later, Ren Baqian used two wooden sticks to hold four bear paws and flipped them over the fire. The aroma of the barbecued meat and seasoning drifted out.
However, it wasn't just the bear paws in his hands. The other meat that was being roasted over the fire was also emitting a similar aroma.
Ren Baqian waited for the bear paw to cool down a little before taking a bite. The taste was average and not very fatty. It was even worse than pig's trotters. He immediately lost the desire to continue eating. He threw the bear paws to someone else and took two dwarf beast legs to gnaw on. The taste was much better.
As the moon rose higher and higher, the howls of wild beasts could be heard from afar. Occasionally, the sound of animals running in the forest could be heard.
Everyone wasn't worried about wild beasts attacking them. If they really came over, they would have a midnight snack.
Unfortunately, they didn't get a midnight snack. Instead, they got a downpour.
The weather in the mountains changed abruptly. From the moment the first drop of rain fell on their faces, the rain continued to pour. In less than a minute, more than half of the fire had been extinguished. Everyone shrank under that huge rock.
"Look after the top, don't fall." Ren Baqian exhorted again and again. He was afraid that if the soil loosened, the huge rock would smash him into a meat patty.
"Don't worry, Sir." Shi Hu turned his head. His face was drenched in rainwater.
Many guards stood outside, shielding Ren Baqian and the students from the wind and rain.
It rained for four hours. The guards outside were almost completely drenched.
Early the next morning, Ren Baqian and the rest ate some wild fruits to fill their stomachs before setting off on their way back.
It rained last night and the mountain path was much more difficult to walk. Especially since the leaves were covered in water. By noon, everyone's bodies were wet and dry.
It wasn't until night time that everyone returned to the stronghold with their stomachs rumbling. They had almost wiped out the remaining rations in the stronghold.
The hunting team that had gone out had yet to return after two days. If they didn't return tomorrow, everyone would probably starve.
After resting for a night, Ren Baqian drove most of the guards out to hunt the next morning. All the students went to the riverside to fish with their fingers.
As for himself, he basked in the sun in the stronghold.
At night, the guards who had been driven out to hunt returned with game. The two hunting teams also returned with game shortly after. Finally, everyone didn't have to go hungry.
At night, Ren Baqian brought the two types of brine back to Earth and got the laboratory to test and find out the ratio.
By the time he returned to Dayao, he was completely at ease. There were no longer any problems with salt production.
Just as he turned on the radio, he heard the furious voice of the empress.
"Li Qianqiu, how many more days before you arrive at Yusheng City?"
"Your Majesty, my vanguard will arrive tomorrow."
"Wait for the entire army to arrive before attacking and killing them all," the empress said coldly.
"Yes!" Li Qianqiu replied in a deep voice.
Ren Baqian's heart skipped a beat. Did something happen to Yusheng City? Could it be that the city had been breached? How could it be so fast? Dayao was really ferocious.
After listening for a while, he finally understood that Yusheng City had indeed been breached. Furthermore, a Great Xia sect had dug a tunnel directly into the city. Afterward, a large number of practitioners from the Great Xia sects entered the city through the tunnel and set fire everywhere. Outside, there were 100,000 Great Xia soldiers attacking ferociously.
In just half a day, the city was breached.
Less than 300 of the 2,500 soldiers had retreated, and 5,000 of the 40,000 civilians had died in battle.
Yes, they had died in battle.
The ordinary civilians of Dayao also had considerable fighting strength.
However, it was still difficult for untrained civilians to affect the overall situation when faced with 100,000 Great Xia soldiers and numerous experts from the Great Xia sects.
In this battle, the Great Xia army suffered more than 10,000 casualties, while Dayao's losses were more than 2,000 soldiers and 5,000 civilians.
The ratio of casualties between both sides had reached two to one, which was already terrifying for Dayao.
One had to know that Great Xia currently had more than 500,000 soldiers at the front line, and there were still 200,000 soldiers in Great Xia ready to set off.
The entire military strength of Dayao, including the new recruits who were still in training, was only 110,000. The current confrontation with Great Xia consisted of 30,000 soldiers from the Protectorate of the North, 8,000 soldiers from the Protectorate of the Center, and 1,200 winged cavalry warriors led by the empress. There were only 50,000 soldiers.
So far, after the two battles at Ziyue City and Yusheng City, the Dayao army had already lost more than 6,000 soldiers, while the Great Xia army had lost less than 70,000 soldiers.
Among them, the Great Xia sects had played a huge role.
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