A temporary passage was left in the middle for the workers to use while mining; tomorrow he'd seal off all these roads completely.
Everyone worked away in full swing.
Han Huohuo inspected the nearby dense woods. The ground inside was pitted and uneven; clearly, running up the mountain from the thicket wasn't very reliable.
Worried the soldiers might shamelessly use fire attacks, Han Huohuo had the workers cut down all the dead grass near the camp and chop away the closer trees.
Then he drew large amounts of water from the well into huge wooden barrels — emergency water, ready to put out fires at any time.
A few hours later.
The stronghold's defensive works were basically complete.
A stone mountain, cliffs on three sides, the surroundings cleared bare, an impregnable stronghold revealed in the middle.
The gate faced the only road up the mountain, paved with spiked barricades.
This little slope's one drawback was that the grade wasn't steep enough — he couldn't set up rolling stones either, and Han Huohuo had no rolling-stone production now. He'd toyed with the idea, but in the end, with no good option, had to give it up.
No regret. You do what your conditions allow.
Once the preparations were roughly done.
Han Huohuo opened the forum and got in touch with Wang Dali.
"Dali, let me teach you a way to make money — want to hear it?"
"Huh? Big bro Han, of course I'm willing to hear about making money! Tell me, how do I make money?"
"Brother, your line is on the very front, so your word carries the most authority. Didn't you observe the enemy camp across the way? All this information is intel — you can sell intel!"
"Ah, intel can be sold too?"
"Of course! In this world, intel is the most valuable thing! How could you just tell people for free? You've got to charge."
"...But how do I sell intel? I'm not much of a talker either."
From his earlier contact with Wang Dali, Han Huohuo knew the kid was surely semi-literate and didn't grasp the economics involved. He'd come prepared, and gave a chuckle.
"Brother, I'll write up the intel for you in a moment. And don't sell it too dear — the key with this stuff is high volume, cheap and plenty. Five wood per copy will do; more and people won't buy."
"Aiya, big bro, you'll even prepare it for me? You really are like family to me!"
Wang Dali was deeply moved.
Han Huohuo quickly sent Wang Dali a prepared intel report. "Take a look — is the content right? If there's no problem, you can start hawking it. Don't worry, I'll act as your shill and guarantee you sell it!"
Wang Dali took the intel and looked it over. The content was very detailed, describing the soldiers' troop types, formations, and attack methods. The troop types were certainly right; there were just some skills he didn't even know about, but Han Huohuo did. Big bro Han really was an impressive man.
And at the very end were a few lines of countermeasures.
"...Because the soldiers are all infantry, the number-one defensive weapon is the spiked barricade. A stronghold with spiked barricades and one without are in two completely different states — this is an essential defensive installation..."
That was the private cargo Han Huohuo had slipped in — and of course, it sounded perfectly reasonable.
Having read Han Huohuo's military treatise, Wang Dali was utterly awed. Big bro could not only write but analyze the battle situation. After reading it he was already a little stirred, and was about to go search online for where to buy spiked barricades...
"Brother, hurry and go sell the intel first — earn some resources before anything else," Han Huohuo urged him.
"Right, big bro, I'll go sell it now."
The guy really was earnest. He immediately went online to hawk it, but everyone was half-skeptical, and only a few people traded for a couple of copies.
Wang Dali wasn't famous, and lots of people hadn't even seen it!
Han Huohuo also pretended to buy a copy.
"Ah, brother Dali, I recall your stronghold's at the very front of the Hundred-Thousand Mountains — only you can see the soldiers' main camp. This intel is so detailed; I really must thank you for putting such important intel up for sale."
"Big bro, you're too kind!"
The moment Han Huohuo spoke up, the whole network was instantly stirred. No one cared what Wang Dali said, but Han Huohuo was different.
The hero who annihilated the barbarians, the scumbag who picks on old ladies and won't take responsibility — Han Huohuo's fame was immense.
Everyone turned to look.
"Huh, isn't this that Han Huohuo who only likes old ladies? He says this intel is reliable?"
"Don't talk nonsense — Han Huohuo's a big shot. He's the one who wiped out all the barbarians back then."
"Even a big shot thinks this intel is high-value?"
"It's only five wood. Buy a copy and see — then you'll know."
"Makes sense!"
The crowd chattered away.
With the boost of Han Huohuo's endorsement, the intel sold like wildfire!
Though each copy was only five wood, sheer volume made up for it. Wang Dali was raking in payment until his hands went numb, stuffing money into a sack while weeping tears of gratitude at Han Huohuo — this big bro was so loyal!
Actually, big bro knew this intel too — in fact big bro had written it for me — yet he wouldn't sell it himself and let me sell it instead. Where could you find such a good big bro?
He'd never met so kind a person in his whole life.
Tears nearly streamed down.
Han Huohuo not selling it himself wasn't out of any great kindness, of course. The guy thought far ahead: his stronghold was deep inside the mountains and couldn't see the soldiers' camp at all. If he sold the intel, who'd believe him?
In this world information was well-developed. With a little effort anyone could look up Wang Dali's exact location — definitely a front-line stronghold, the genuine article — which vastly raised the intel's credibility!
And Han Huohuo hadn't planned to make money off this anyway. He meant to make money off what came after.
Before long, countless people had finished reading the intel and started scouring the world for spiked barricades.
Of course, Han Huohuo wasn't the only one with a spiked-barricade blueprint.
But the only one producing them until the stronghold could barely hold them, with a huge stock on hand, was Han Huohuo — because his wood was plentiful, his workshop was producing at full tilt, and his workers had been gathering wood around the clock.
The number-one supplier was definitely Han Huohuo.
Han Huohuo didn't need other resources; what he desperately needed now was black stone.
He listed the spiked barricades — one barricade for one black stone.
Everyone was baffled at this trade condition.
Few people mined black stone, and seeing Han Huohuo's strange demand drove everyone crazy. Many Lords with black stone near their homes hurried to send workers over to mine it.
Han Huohuo had pondered for a long while and finally worked one thing out: relying on himself alone to mine black stone, how much could he ever gather?
The black stone mines were so scattered, the mining as hard as climbing to heaven!
Recruiting troops needed black stone; upgrading the Mecha Workshop needed black stone too. His black stone would never be enough — so he had to mobilize everyone in the Hundred-Thousand Mountains to dig black stone for him!
There'd been no opening before, but with this crisis it became feasible.
So he wanted nothing else — only black stone.
The Hundred-Thousand Mountains' coal-diggers swiftly sprang into action. Anyone who found black stone near their home all began mining it together.
His own biggest bottleneck to growth, black stone, was crudely cracked open by Han Huohuo just like that.
Although there were quite a few Lords with spiked-barricade blueprints, the market was still in short supply. Trading with other resources was even pricier — better to go mine black stone, since one black stone bought one barricade!
On the market, a hundred wood bought one barricade.
But mining one black stone took only as long as gathering fifty wood.
In other words, Han Huohuo's spiked barricades were half the price of everyone else's — the only difference being they had to be paid for in black stone.
Who could resist that temptation!
He put the spiked barricades into auto-trade and stopped worrying about it — he just had Liu Long work overtime producing for him, until the workshop nearly smoked.
He went to the workshop first, where Han Huohuo gave Liu Long some encouragement, and Liu Long thumped his chest and vowed he'd surely complete the task.
Just then.
Gou San suddenly came in from outside, poking his head in to ask, "Liu Long, did you finish that fish hook of mine?"
Liu Long frowned, tossed a fish hook from the workbench behind him to Gou San. "Done. Don't come bother me these next couple of days — I've got a very important task and no time for you."
Gou San took the fish hook with a grin.
"Ah, Chief, you're here too?"
Only after getting the fish hook did the guy notice his boss was in the workshop, and he tensed up at once.
"Gou San? What do you want a fish hook from Liu Long for?"
"Ch-Chief... I didn't know... you were here too. I just wanted to go catch some fish, that's all."