It could be said that the various industries in the mountain village were still incomplete and unbalanced. Apart from farming and logging, which were constantly expanding, the other industries were developing very slowly. There were many industries such as mining, smelting, medical, animal husbandry, etc. Until now, no suitable talents had appeared and were in a state of stagnation.
Talents in these industries were very scarce. Apart from a few who could be recruited through missions, they could only wait for the system to refresh the corresponding talents! Yang Rui was aware of a few of the missions to recruit professional talents, but he had not encountered any corresponding mission clues, so he could only wait.
After meeting with Carpenter Lu Ming, Yang Rui had Wang Hai follow him to select another sixty people with higher combat strength. They were given to Wang Tao in the inner valley and Li Hong in the outer valley to level up so that they could quickly become Tier-1 militia and expand the size of the soldiers. Chen Ping and Chen Li were currently leading soldiers to clear the mountain bandits and guarding the beginner checkpoint in the outer valley.
Currently, the number of Second Grade soldiers in the mountain village had reached eighty people. However, they were stopped halfway up the mountain by the mountain bandits and were unable to achieve anything. Yang Rui was very clear that facing the beginner checkpoint at the mountainside, they would not be able to achieve their goal by force!
The beginner checkpoint was five to six meters high. Without the aid of siege weapons, Second Grade soldiers would not be able to climb it! If they were to directly attack the checkpoint itself, who knew how long it would take to destroy the 100 durability of the checkpoint with their bare hands! Most importantly, there were a dozen archers on the checkpoint. If they were to shoot from above, the soldiers would probably all die before the durability of the checkpoint decreased!
"My lord!"
"My lord!"
Just as Yang Rui was at his wits' end, Chen Li and Chen Ping brought a group of soldiers back to the outer valley checkpoint.
"My lord, after clearing out the mountain bandits today, we obtained a total of eleven basic spear skill books, ten short spears, and 1200 copper coins. However, we are still unable to break through the beginner checkpoint at the mountainside. My lord, please advise us. "Chen Li reported.
"Hmm, the checkpoint is indeed a little tricky..." Yang Rui muttered. "... We cannot be too hasty."
"Yes, my lord!" Chen Li replied and seemed to have thought of something else. "My lord, at the mountain bandit checkpoint today, a little shepherd boy was rushed out along with the spearmen in the checkpoint...
... "
"Oh? Shepherd boy? Quickly bring it over for me to see. "Yang Rui thought to himself, Sure enough, whatever I want comes true! This "Shepherd Boy Mission" was one of the few missions that Yang Rui was familiar with. He never expected this "Shepherd Boy" to be spawned from the bandit level!
Soon, Chen Li brought the Shepherd Boy over. This child was very cute. He only had three tufts of hair on his head and a bamboo flute that was unique to Shepherd Boys hung on his waist. He looked very cute. However, when the Shepherd Boy saw Yang Rui, he began to hide and had a look of fear.
"Come, have a roasted sweet potato." When Yang Rui saw the Shepherd Boy's expression, he took out a piece of "A pint of incense" specially made roasted sweet potato from his backpack and handed it to him.
The Shepherd Boy was still a child after all. Although he was timid, he was unable to resist the fragrance of the roasted sweet potato. After a slight hesitation, he took the roasted sweet potato and began to eat it in big bites. As he ate, he stole glances at Yang Rui. He looked even cuter!
"Eat slowly. Uncle still has a lot of it here!" Yang Rui took out another piece of sweet potato and waved it in front of the Shepherd Boy. "However, after eating the sweet potato, you have to tell uncle where you came from!"
"Little Boy... Ah woo...
From... Uh... from the Gourd Valley opposite the mountain! "As the Shepherd Boy wolfed down the sweet potato, he vaguely answered Yang Rui's question.
The Gourd Valley opposite the mountain? Could it be that the mountain village was located in was not the Gourd Valley!? Could the "Gourd Valley" that appeared on the bandit suppression scroll be referring to something else? The Shepherd Boy's answer stunned Yang Rui. If there was a valley opposite the mountain, that would be very unexpected! It was never shown on the minimap!
"Gourd Valley? Gourd Valley? " At this moment, Wang Hai, who was standing to the side, repeatedly repeated the name that the Shepherd Boy mentioned. His face revealed a pondering expression.
"Could it be that Elder Wang Hai has heard of the Gourd Valley before?" Yang Rui noticed Wang Hai's abnormality and immediately asked.
"Reporting to Fiery Sun Village Chief, there is an old man in the Gourd Cave who seemed to have heard about it from the previous generation a long time ago. However, it happened so long ago that I can't recall the whole story at the moment," Wang Hai said slowly after racking his brain for a while.
"Then the mountain village should not be in the Gourd Valley?" Yang Rui asked.
"The valley where the mountain village is located does not have an exact name. However, due to the Black Dragon Swamp, the ancestors were used to calling it the Black Dragon Valley...
"Wang Hai briefly explained as he pondered.
"Oh, so it's like that..." Yang Rui saw that Wang Hai did not seem to remember any clues and muttered to himself, "Then it seems that the mountain village is not in the Gourd Valley. No wonder the bandits did not come down the mountain to deliver supplies. It seems that they have another place to get rice...
"
"Ah! Village Chief Blazing Sun, this old man remembers! Thank goodness Village Chief reminded me! "At this moment, Wang Hai suddenly had a look of realization.
"I remember when this old man was still very young, a few children who were herding sheep in the mountain village went missing. No one could find them no matter how hard they tried. The entire village searched for three days without any news. Just when the villagers thought that the children had either been eaten by wolves or starved to death, they came back on their own.
These children kept saying that they had accidentally walked into the Gourd Valley and that someone had given them food. Everyone did not believe them. Only a few elders in the village did not say anything. Now it seems that the Gourd Valley really does exist! "
Wang Hai's gaze looked into the distance as his thoughts returned to the distant past.
"Oh, so that's how it is!" Yang Rui nodded his head and seemed to be deep in thought. He thought to himself that this shepherd boy's mission was not as simple as a normal shepherd boy's mission!
Following that, his gaze gradually turned towards the shepherd boy who was eating the sweet potato. He realized that he had already finished the sweet potato in his hand. Hence, Yang Rui handed over another sweet potato. This time, the shepherd boy did not hesitate to take it.
As such, the shepherd boy burped after eating three or four sweet potatoes. Although he was still eager, he could not eat anymore.
"There are still a lot of sweet potatoes. You can eat them whenever you want." Yang Rui rubbed the shepherd boy's head, "Come, now tell uncle how you came here."
The shepherd boy was still very timid, but he did not object to Yang Rui rubbing his head. However, when he heard Yang Rui's question, his eyes welled up with tears. It was as if he had thought of something sad. After a while, the shepherd boy burst into tears.
Yang Rui naturally had to coax him again. It took him a lot of effort to calm the shepherd boy down. He slowly began to speak while sobbing.
"… When I was herding the sheep, the little lamb was mischievous … ran to the small mountain. There were … bad people on the small mountain. I was very scared … When I turned around to go back, I was squeezed by them … to this side." The shepherd boy stuttered as he finally gave a general idea of what had happened.
"Then how did you know that the people on the small mountain knew bad people?" Wang Hai took the opportunity to ask.
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