Between A Rock And A Hard Place
Lu Cijian frowned and said coldly, “Earn silver? I’m afraid you want to stage a rebellion.”
The Dragon Mountain Range is only a day’s journey from the Capital. If weapons are hidden here and a team of men are ambushed, they might directly attack the Capital.
He guessed the mastermind’s plan was like this, but later discovered an iron mine on the mountain, so he changed his mind and decided to mine.
As soon as these words came out, Wang Jinbao and Zhao Xiaonian’s legs went weak.
After a long while, Zhao Xiaonian tentatively said, “If, if someone really wants to rebel, will we, we miners be implicated?”
They were all forced to mine, not voluntarily. If they were to be accused of rebellion, they would be dead for sure.
Judging by what these two people said and did, they seemed to be Imperial Court officials.
These two people wouldn’t arrest them and behead them just because they helped with mining, would they? That would be so painful!
Jiang Yimian saw that he was quite scared and his speech was stuttering. She deliberately nodded, “That’s right, you are accomplices. If you don’t want to be imprisoned, you must listen to us and make amends for your crimes.
If you do well, I might consider letting you off, wouldn’t you say so, A’ci?”
Jiang Yimian smiled until her eyes narrowed, looking like a cute little fox.
Lu Cijian just helplessly hummed, not exposing her joke.
Seeing this, Zhao Xiaonian thought it was true and nodded repeatedly, “I, I will definitely listen to you, and I, I will never suspect that you are bad people again.”
As long as he wasn’t beheaded, he would do anything.
Wang Jinbao, on hearing this, was relieved. Since they could joke about mining, it seemed that there shouldn’t be any big deal about being forced to mine on the mountain.
Rebellion is a capital crime that implicates nine generations. He didn’t want his family to be beheaded because he was forced to mine on the mountain.
Just as they were talking, the tightly closed door was opened from the inside.
A strong man came out, quickly closed the door, looked at the five people who were slacking off, and said angrily, “What are you doing? Hurry up and crush the stones. We don’t have enough materials here, and Master is cursing!”
Those few people laughed and comforted, “What’s the rush? Come on, let’s rest for a while.”
“Did you hear what the patrol team said when they returned? More miners ran away.”
“Tsk, what a bunch of overconfident fools. Where can they run to on this mountain? It’s laughable.”
“That’s right, they are all idiots.”
“Hey, do you think those people will run to our place?”
“If they do, that’s great. Leading Zhang and so many patrol team members are here, and there’s Master who’s forging iron inside. Anyone who dares to come here will definitely die.”
The strong man glanced at the five people and said angrily, “What’s with you? You’re so idle, come with me to burn iron.”
Upon hearing this, the five immediately waved their hands, “We’re not going. It’s scorching hot inside, we’ll crush stones.”
Having said that, they quickly entered a nearby cave.
Jiang Yimian and Lu Cijian exchanged glances and whispered, “That smelting cave must have an exit. Let’s go from there.”
From the crack in the door that flashed by just now, she heard the sound of forging iron. Besides smelting iron, they must also be making weapons.
In order to avoid being discovered by too many people, the weapons must also be transported out from that cave.
Lu Cijian nodded and crouched down.
Jiang Yimian carefully helped Jiang Dazhuang down from his back and handed him to Wang Jinbao.
Zhao Xiaonian cautiously glanced at the patrol team constantly walking back and forth, then at the strong man, and whispered, “How do we get past? There are more than twenty patrol members over there, and there must be many people inside the cave. I heard that Leading Zhang is also there.
That man is very capable. Brother Zhao said that he used to be a soldier on the battlefield, and he can easily fight ten men.
There are only five of us, and one is seriously injured. We might be caught as soon as we go out.”
Even without anyone injured, with only five of them, they wouldn’t be able to get out smoothly.
Now they are really between a rock and a hard place.
Jiang Yimian simply said, “In a while, we will take out those people outside, and you will take the opportunity to enter the cave and run outside.”
Zhao Xiaonian unconsciously swallowed his saliva and said nervously, “Will, will that work?”
He thought this method was so unreliable.
There are more than twenty people outside, and these two can take out more than twenty?
Are they not bragging?
Wang Jinbao also hesitated, and after thinking for a while, said, “There are probably people blocking the cave entrance. Even if we go out, we will be caught quickly.”
At that time, forget about running away, they will be directly killed.
Since so many secrets are hidden here, they will definitely not let them know.
Lu Cijian simply said, “Don’t worry, someone will meet us outside. Remember to light this when you get out.”
As he spoke, he handed a small bamboo tube to the other party.
More than an hour has passed since they went up the mountain. If Song Er hadn’t successfully arrived with people, then his years in the Ink Pavilion were wasted.
Wang Jinbao nodded, crouched down, and carried Jiang Dazhuang on his back.
Zhao Xiaonian picked up a stone from somewhere, held it tightly in his hand, vigilantly watched his surroundings, and looked fierce, but his legs were trembling.
Jiang Yimian and Lu Cijian seized the opportunity and dashed out of the corner.
The strong man was startled by the sudden appearance of the two, and before he could shout, Jiang Yimian knocked him unconscious with a hand chop.
The oil lamps in the cave were instantly extinguished by the pebbles thrown by Lu Cijian.
The originally dim light suddenly disappeared, and the surroundings were plunged into darkness. The patrolling men were immediately panicked, and strangely said, “What’s going on? Why did the oil lamps go out?”
“Who knows, quickly find the tinder.”
The patrolling men were frantically searching on their bodies, and immediately became chaotic.
After Jiang Yimian and Lu Cijian adapted to the darkness, they directly charged into the patrol team and quickly knocked everyone unconscious.
Wang Jinbao and the others groped in the dark and found the innermost door, carefully opened it, and went straight inside.
Jiang Yimian and Lu Cijian followed closely behind.
Entering the cave, they found that the space inside was extremely large.
There were huge smelting furnaces at the entrance, and beside them, masters were vigorously hammering red-hot iron or cooling it in water. Various steps were complicated, yet done with great skill.
Everyone in the cave was busy, and waves of hot air accompanied by the pushing and pulling of the bellows kept spreading throughout the cave, making people dizzy.
The flickering flames shone on everyone’s faces, making it difficult to see clearly, and for a moment, no one noticed that several people had sneaked in.
Zhao Xiaonian was so frightened that he lightened his steps, supporting the person on Wang Jinbao’s back and quickly walking towards the inside of the cave.
Jiang Yimian and Lu Cijian paid attention to the movements of those around them while carefully avoiding being discovered.
As they were looking for a way out, a loud horn suddenly sounded outside, penetrating the entire cave.
Instantly, everyone who had been busy with their own tasks stopped what they were doing and looked around.
Someone shouted, “Alert! Enemy invasion!”
The next second, someone noticed the group who had been running, and shouted, “There, they’re trying to escape, catch them!”