Jiang Jin thought for a moment and shook her head. "The project is too massive; it's not worth it."
Xia Chanyi was a little worried. "My Lord, shouldn't we send more people to the iron mine and the brick kiln?"
"Yes, and if there are any finished products, transport them back to the city as soon as possible over the next two days." Based on Jiang Jin's estimation, it would take at least two days for Qu Zhao to dispatch troops here, which meant they were basically safe for the time being.
Just in case the Qu Zhao forces laid siege to the city, the safest approach was to transport all the goods back first. After all, a siege could easily last for a year or two.
Of course, given the freezing temperatures in Gefeng, a siege during the long winter was impossible, otherwise they would freeze to death.
However, it was only early October now, still a month or two away from the coldest weather. If they were really besieged for two months, it would be hard enough to endure. She had to be prepared for a protracted war.
Fortunately, the iron ore dug in the mining area was transported back every few days, so the stockpile at the mine wasn't very large.
The same went for the brick factory. The fired bricks were never enough; they were transported back to the city as soon as they were out of the kiln.
They had burned a lot of charcoal, though, and along with the timber cut for making furniture, building houses, and forging weapons, it was all transported back the next day.
Jiang Jin sent a considerable number of soldiers to these two areas and also provided enough food and water for two months, preparing for the possibility of a siege cutting off communication between the two sides.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Jiang Jin lay on a large tree on Yilan Peak, watching the busy commoners in Gefeng City and the residential area that was about half built.
Now that the city had iron ore, once the weapon workshop was built, they could consider mass-producing weapons.
Furthermore, she planned to create the Dragon Feather Crossbow and the Eight-Ox Crossbow.
The Dragon Feather Crossbow was a repeating crossbow improved upon the Divine Arm Bow. It had a range of up to five hundred meters, high accuracy, and internal mechanisms that could pierce heavy armor with immense power.
The Eight-Ox Crossbow, also known as the Three-Bow Bed Crossbow, had a range of up to 1,500 meters and could fire three arrows simultaneously, including the heavy stepping-stake arrows. It was absolutely a lethal weapon for long-range attacks and sieges.
As for firearms and other thermal weapons, it wasn't that she didn't want to make them, but it was too difficult with the current technology.
She had to at least train artisans first and improve smelting and related technologies.
However, with the Dragon Feather Crossbow and the Eight-Ox Crossbow—two lethal weapons that could crush this era—even though she had few people now, she still had the power to fight.
Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly saw two cavalrymen galloping towards the city gate in the distance.
Her heart skipped a beat. She took out her binoculars from her spatial storage and looked over. They were indeed her own cavalrymen, likely the two stationed at Dajin Mountain.
Her mind raced, and she quickly realized that the Qu Zhao forces must have made a move.
Just as she was about to go down the mountain, she remembered something and stopped. Given the height of Yilan Peak, if something really happened, she would see it earlier here than on the city tower.
She was no longer in a hurry to go down. Anyway, with capable people like Zhou Sui and Yao Ji currently in Gefeng City, her presence didn't make much of a difference.
Adjusting the magnification of her binoculars, Jiang Jin looked further away and, sure enough, saw billowing dust.
They really came, and judging by the extent of the dust, there should be quite a few of them.
After waiting a little longer, she finally saw the mighty army of Qu Zhao soldiers.
She did a rough calculation. Good heavens, there really were a lot of them. She didn't know if there were ten thousand, but there were definitely at least eight thousand.
She had to admit that Qu Zhao moved quite fast, assembling an army of nearly ten thousand men in just two days.
Looking closely again, she finally spotted Qu Chou and Qu Xiang riding horses at the front of the troops, with a strange man between them.
This man looked to be in his forties or fifties and had a burly build. Judging by his position, his rank should be even higher than Qu Chou's.
Wait, the ones walking at the very front seemed to be... Han commoners!
She fine-tuned the binoculars again and, sure enough, saw Han commoners with their hands tied behind their backs at the very front of the army. There were even many children among them!
They were dressed in rags, looking panicked and terrified, driven forward by the Qu Zhao soldiers. If they moved even slightly slower, they were viciously whipped by the soldiers.
Jiang Jin's face turned cold. Were the Qu Zhao people planning to use the Han people as cannon fodder?
This kind of tactic was very common on the battlefields of the barbarians. They drove Han commoners to block the front, so whether they fought or not, the morale of the Han army would be somewhat affected.
Today, Xia Chanyi was guarding the south gate. Seeing the two galloping cavalrymen, she knew something major had happened. "Lower the drawbridge, open the gates!"
When Zhou Sui, Yao Ji, and the others hurried to the city tower, they could already faintly see the billowing dust in the distance from up there.
"Where is the Lord?" Looking at the distant dust, his expression was serious.
Dong Si ran over at this moment, still panting a little. "I asked around; they said she went to the pass."
Zhou Sui furrowed his brows. "She hasn't returned to the city yet?"
Just as Dong Si was about to reply, a soldier ran over to report, "The Lord is on Yilan Peak. She won't be coming back for the time being."
Jiang Jin had taught the soldiers a set of flag signals, a method of communication using flags to relay messages.
Yilan Peak wasn't far from Gefeng City to begin with, and it was even closer to the north gate. So when she waved the flags, the guards at the north gate quickly noticed it. After receiving Jiang Jin's message, they hurried over to report.
Zhou Sui was a little worried, fearing that if Qu Zhao really besieged the city, Jiang Jin wouldn't be able to return even if she wanted to.
However, thinking of her abilities, he relaxed again and began to ask about the situation with the Qu Zhao soldiers.
The scout from Dajin Mountain quickly replied, "There are over eight thousand men, and hundreds of Han commoners at the front of the army."
Xia Chanyi cursed angrily, "Despicable scoundrels!"
Zhou Sui, Yao Ji, and the others didn't show much change in their expressions. They were used to this kind of thing. The question now was how to handle it.
Zhou Sui asked, "Could you see clearly if they are refugees or commoners from Zhou County?"
The soldier shook his head. "It was too far to see clearly, but there are children."
Zhou Sui looked grave. He waved his hand, dismissing the two soldiers.
"Go back and comfort the commoners in the city," he instructed Dong Si.
Dong Si nodded and left quickly.
He was actually very worried about Jiang Jin, but he also knew that worrying was useless now; it was better to do something practical.
The soldiers were ready. For a moment, it was dead silent on the city wall. Everyone stared straight ahead, the atmosphere tense.
Before long, they finally saw the Qu Zhao army, as well as the Han commoners being driven in front of them.
The Qu Zhao army was very cautious, stopping about two hundred meters away from the gates of Gefeng City.
Soon, a general came forward and shouted, "Listen up, Han people in the city! Open the gates immediately and come out to welcome our Qu Zhao army in, or else we will kill all these Han commoners."
Obviously, the Qu Zhao forces also knew there was a problem inside the city gates. Although they didn't know what the problem was, the unknown was the most terrifying thing. They didn't dare to enter the city rashly now.
Zhou Sui's face darkened. He had thought the Qu Zhao army was going to use the Han commoners to clear the way, but he didn't expect them to use them as a threat to affect the morale of the Jinyang Army.
Xie Nanxiao's eyes were practically spitting fire. He turned his head and glanced at Zhou Sui.
Zhou Sui nodded at him.
Xie Nanxiao stepped forward and shouted, "Are you Qu Zhao people only capable of playing such underhanded tricks? Such behavior is truly despicable. If you are men, fight us fair and square!"
The Quzhao general sneered coldly. "It is you Han people who are truly shameless! Heaven knows what treacherous methods you used to seize our city. I will not waste my breath on you. If you do not open the city gates within a quarter of an hour, I will kill ten people every five breaths until every last one of these commoners is dead."
With that, he stepped forward and hoisted up a six- or seven-year-old child, who was emaciated to the bone yet had a severely distended belly.
