It was now the second day, and most Lords already had several workers each.
By the third day, everyone's workers would probably reach a dozen or twenty. That was the general case; the occasional lucky Lord who got a large amount of food early would develop even faster, and the gap with himself wouldn't be so wide!
His own mechanical workers were limited by recharging time — thirty workers was already the ceiling.
Automation was more advanced, but when the conditions weren't in place, it wasn't necessarily faster than manpower! Especially in the early days of a technology, all you could say was that its future potential was enormous.
Potential didn't equal immediate productivity.
Han Huohuo thought the problem over calmly.
There were two roads to break the deadlock now.
One: while using mechanical workers, also go gather food himself, then recruit a large number of workers, so mechanical and ordinary workers labored together.
Two: rapidly amass a thousand iron ingots, upgrade the Mecha Workshop, and see whether it had a recharging facility, so he could quickly scale up production.
The first road was steadier; the second was risky. A thousand iron ingots was no small number, and if there turned out to be nothing in the upgraded Mecha Workshop to improve charging efficiency, he'd have wasted far too much time.
He wavered for a long while!
In the end Han Huohuo steeled himself. Damn it, I've come to this world — I've got to take a gamble sometime. If I'm going to bet, I'll bet big. I refuse to believe an SSS-grade building could be so lame!
Going for it — yours truly will scrape together a thousand iron ingots first!
Han Huohuo, his mind set hard, simply sent all thirty mechanical workers to mine iron ore!
A single mine could support at most thirty workers laboring together.
This maximized iron ore output!
Although the three Liu brothers had already joined Black Wind Stronghold, Han Huohuo didn't put them to work right away. Instead he had them all rest first; their Stamina and Loyalty were both in a worrying state at the moment.
Finally he sent Gou San out hunting with the Mechanical Wolves.
The Mechanical Wolves were absolutely loyal to him, so there was no fear of that turncoat Gou San inexplicably making off with the giant wolves.
With Gou San sent away, Han Huohuo found the stronghold suddenly much more peaceful. Turned out that kid was the one who talked the most.
Smelting iron ingots required a smithy, and he already had a blacksmith, so the smithy had to be built. The workshop, too, had to be built alongside it.
【Smithy】: smelts iron ingots; makes weapons and armor.
【Requirement】: needs a blacksmith to operate
【Build】: 200 wood, 100 stone.
【Confirm building the Smithy?】
"Confirm!"
【Workshop】: makes tools; makes furniture.
【Requirement】: needs a craftsman to operate
【Build】: 200 wood, 100 stone.
【Confirm building the Workshop?】
"Confirm!"
Wood -200, Stone -100
Wood -200, Stone -100
As the resources dwindled, a smithy and a workshop appeared on the open ground. Because it was a basic smithy, the furnace burned charcoal, so black smoke rose from the chimney.
Luckily, no one came around to check on the environment in this era — a little black smoke and nobody cared.
As these buildings rose from the bare ground, the once-desolate camp finally looked to have some scale to it.
A few hours later, the three Liu brothers had rested well. Their Stamina recovered, their Loyalty climbed to 55, no longer affecting normal work.
All the mechanical workers were mining iron ore.
Iron ore +1
Iron ore +1
......
Suddenly the clink and clang of hammering iron rang out from the smithy. Liu Hu had entered and started working.
Iron ore -1
Iron ingot +1
Iron ore -1
Iron ingot +1
Liu Hu worked briskly. He could smelt iron ingots faster on his own than thirty workers could mine the ore. Han Huohuo relaxed — at the very least, ingot production was efficient enough that output wouldn't bottleneck at the smithy.
Liu Long entered the workshop and began forging some furniture to Han Huohuo's requirements.
Wood -5
Wooden bed +1
Wood -3
Wooden table +1
Wood -1
Chair +1
......
Liu Qiang helped carry the furniture Liu Long made into the Main Base, setting up the wooden bed and arranging the table and chairs.
This guy was very considerate.
Using a ceramic kettle made in the workshop, he boiled water, found a bit of wild tea leaf, and brewed Han Huohuo a cup of hot tea.
When Han Huohuo cupped the hot tea in his hands, he nearly teared up.
Damn it, after a whole day as a savage, it really was rough. Yours truly is finally living a somewhat normal person's life!
"Sit!"
Liu Qiang was a scholar, rather reserved. Hearing the Lord beckon him, he obediently sat across from Han Huohuo and cupped his hands in salute.
Han Huohuo was thoroughly pleased. Scholars really were cultured and well-mannered — wasn't this so much better than Gou San?
"You three are all surnamed Liu. Are you brothers?"
"We three are of the same clan and lineage. Though not of one household, we count as brothers."
"Oh, I see. I'm curious — why were you crossing the Hundred-Thousand Mountains to do business?"
"I report to you, Chief, that this is not something small folk like us could know. We three brothers are only technical hands the Wang family hired. They say the Wang family has something important to send from Wanqing City to the barbarian tribes on the other side of the Hundred-Thousand Mountains. Who'd have known the bandits here were so vicious — they wiped out the escort the moment they struck..."
Han Huohuo felt a bit awkward — wasn't that referring to his own crowd of suddenly-arrived bandit chiefs? His biggest doubt was this: he didn't believe the bandits of the Hundred-Thousand Mountains could rout so huge a caravan. There was definitely something fishy about this.
"Doesn't Wanqing City know the Hundred-Thousand Mountains are full of bandit strongholds everywhere?"
Han Huohuo remembered the system saying this world had real native inhabitants and powerful regimes. Wanting to learn more about the situation, he asked in some detail.
"Those above ought to know. I hear the Great Qian Dynasty has already dispatched a hundred thousand Rattan Armor Soldiers to Wanqing City, preparing to suppress the bandits. But the Wang family seemed terribly anxious, unwilling to wait for the court's campaign at all, insisting we risk crossing the mountains. What story lies behind it, how would small folk like us know..."
Han Huohuo's heart lurched. He'd never expected to hear about the bandit-suppression campaign — this was a matter of life and death.
But thinking it over, he found it strange again.
The Hundred-Thousand Mountains didn't mean a hundred thousand bandits — it meant a hundred thousand strongholds, a hundred thousand bandit chiefs. How could a mere hundred thousand Rattan Armor Soldiers suppress them all?
Surely one Rattan Armor Soldier couldn't take on a whole stronghold single-handed — was that even possible?
"Only a hundred thousand Rattan Armor Soldiers? Does the court look down on us bandits or something?"
"Chief, you must never think that way. These Rattan Armor Soldiers can each summon wild wolves. Every Rattan Armor Soldier, properly prepared, can summon dozens to hundreds of wild wolves — astonishing combat power, not to be underestimated!"
"Holy shit!"
Han Huohuo was floored. Rattan Armor Soldiers could summon wild wolves? Where's the goddamn logic in that?
Did anyone care about science at all anymore?
A cold sweat broke out.
Then Liu Qiang, still feeling Han Huohuo wasn't taking it seriously enough, added another line. "Chief, they're not only Rattan Armor Soldiers either. There are also spearmen and shield-bearers in support. They split their forces to strike, wipe out a portion of the bandits first, then go reinforce one another, until every last bandit is destroyed!"
Han Huohuo wiped the sweat from his brow.
It sounded too terrifying. No good — I have to forge my camp into a wall of bronze and iron before I can sleep easy. Otherwise I'll be jolting awake from nightmares in the dead of night.
Just as Han Huohuo sat there full of worry, Gou San's voice came from outside.
"Chief, Chief! I picked up a treasure chest — come take a look, quick!"
The tent's door was shoved open and Gou San burst in, face flushed red, clutching a wooden treasure chest to his chest.
Han Huohuo was surprised.
Say what you will — this Gou San was a mess from head to toe, yet he always had a bit of unexpected good luck.
Even the Mammoth Beasts hadn't managed to trample him to death back then. The guy really was a little odd — did he have some hidden Luck stat?
"Not bad. I'll mark a great merit for you. You're a backbone of our Black Wind Stronghold — keep it up!"
Han Huohuo gave him some absent-minded verbal encouragement, which moved Gou San to tears of excitement, and he respectfully presented the wooden chest.
Opening the chest, inside was a building blueprint.
【Watchtower】: can scout enemy movements within a three-kilometer range; requires a guard on duty.
【Build】: 100 wood, 50 stone.
It looked pretty good. A watchtower could increase warning time against enemy raids — a very practical building.