Chapter 94: Calming the Miners

According to the intelligence, the third gold mine was a newly discovered one. Not only was it new, it was also exceptionally rich; the ore yielded there contained a far higher proportion of gold than usual.

Du Long led his men to disarm dozens of the mine guards on the spot. After ordering Sun Lin to take charge of the mine garrison, he immediately set off with his men for the treasury.

In places like this, the gold extracted from the mine was usually smelted into bars and stored in the vault until enough had accumulated to be transported away in a single haul.

The first two mines had been deserted, and their vaults stripped clean. Du Long had gained nothing from them. But this third mine was still guarded, and since Fan Liangnas had even tried to annihilate Du Long’s several hundred men in Twin Ravine, it was obvious that they held great hopes for this last mine.

Before long, the group arrived outside the vault doors, the only entrance and exit to the entire treasury. Six guards stood there in a panic, clearly shaken by the news that the lord’s private troops had arrived.

Guarding the treasury was an immense responsibility. Without orders, they dared not leave their posts.

“I am Du Long, lord of Prosperous Plow County! This gold mine is now under my control. Why are you not laying down your weapons and surrendering at once?” Du Long shouted at the six guards, waving his hand to have the private army surround the area.

After a brief exchange of whispers, the six men knelt at once and declared their willingness to submit. Du Long then had the soldiers beside him confiscate their weapons.

When the enormous lock on the vault door was finally opened, everyone was stunned by what lay before them. Inside the treasury stood two small mountains of gold, each several meters high.

“My goodness, so many gold bars! Du Long, you’ve made a fortune this time!” Su Jinbao cried out in amazement.

“Heehee, with so many gold bars, Du Long, after all the trouble we went through to follow you into the Beast Forest, are we all getting a share?” Du Caini asked with a sly smile.

Du Long glanced at his friends, then thumped his chest and laughed. “Of course! It wasn’t easy for you to make this trip with me, so each of you will receive a hundred gold bars as a gift!”

With that promise, the young heirs, though none of them lacked money, were still thrilled. Judging by the size of those bars, each one could easily be minted into over a hundred gold coins; a hundred bars meant ten thousand coins.

For these noble youngsters, who received only a hundred or two gold coins a month as pocket money, Du Long’s generosity was more than enough to delight them. Of course, Su Jinbao, the local rich boy, remained the calmest of the lot. Clearly, ten thousand gold coins was pocket change to him, though he was still very pleased with the outcome.

Du Long did not even enter the treasury. Instead, he ordered the door locked again, personally stored the vault key in his spatial ring, and left dozens of Du family retainers behind to guard this vital place. Only then did he lead the others to the main building of the mine fortress.

There, in the main hall, he began questioning the guards, supervisors, and mine managers in batches. From the interrogations he learned that, beginning a few days earlier, Fan Liangnas had been transferring the personnel of the first two mines, along with all the gold extracted from them, to this location. No wonder the vault had contained three mountains of gold.

Normally, they shipped out a batch of gold every three to five months, and this time they had been nearly ready for the next transport. But then Du Long, this iron-blooded lord, had arrived—sweeping away the corrupt officials of Prosperous Plow County, and swiftly sealing off all major roads throughout the county to investigate the transport teams carrying privately mined gold.

Because they did not understand the full situation in Prosperous Plow County, Fan Liangnas did not dare move such a huge quantity of gold out, so he had transferred it all here to the site of the third mine.

According to his original plan, once he sent out fourth-rank magical beasts to wipe out Du Long and his several hundred men, the county would surely descend into chaos. Then he could seize the opportunity to move the gold away.

Unfortunately, he had never imagined that the ones annihilated would not be Du Long’s force of several hundred men, but rather his own three hundred-plus people.

Worse still, Du Long had acted with ruthless decisiveness. Under the flawless all-around surveillance of the ring spirit, he had wiped out every one of those three hundred men. Not a single one made it back alive to the third mine.

If even one of them had returned last night, then the guards here, together with the hundreds of miners transferred over from the other two mines, would almost certainly have fled together and emptied the vault.

Precisely because of that merciless strike, every ounce of gold stored here now belonged to Du Long.

After an entire day of interrogation and the detention of all direct members of the Fan family, Du Long began preparing to pacify the several hundred miners. With such skilled laborers in hand, many troubles could be spared.

He soon learned that the miners’ treatment had been abysmal. The Fan family did not regard them as human beings at all. They toiled day after day under backbreaking conditions, and if their movements were even slightly slow, they would be whipped.

They were never fed enough, and never kept warm.

In short, they were miserable people with no protection whatsoever. Once they collapsed from exhaustion or fell ill, the Fan family would simply throw them into the Beast Forest. For ordinary humans, entering that place was practically a sentence of certain death; they would become food for the many low-rank carnivorous beasts there.

At the small square of the mine fortress, several hundred ragged miners had gathered. Du Long stood with his friends on a raised platform and looked down at this crowd of people who were even more wretched than beggars.

“Reporting to my lord! All the miners below have assembled. A total of six hundred and seventy-nine!” A quick-witted youth sent by Old Fu hurried up onto the platform and respectfully reported to Du Long.

The young man was named Fu An, though everyone called him Little An. He was Old Fu’s distant cousin’s son, only twenty-three, yet he had already followed Old Fu for five or six years. Gifted in bookkeeping and administration, he was also the man Du Long had chosen to oversee all three gold mines.

Nodding, Du Long strode to the front of the platform, fixed his bright gaze on the miners below, and said loudly, “I am Du Long, the newly appointed lord of Prosperous Plow County! This time I led my forces into the Beast Forest to root out the illegal private mining of gold, and that brought me here!”

“My lord, we are wronged! Most of us were kidnapped here by a group of black-clothed men, and then forced to mine gold day and night. We had no choice at all. Please, my lord, do justice for us!”

“My lord, please do justice for us!”

“...”

No sooner had Du Long revealed his identity than the miners, who had been terrified only moments before, dropped to their knees in a mass, each and every one crying out that they had been wronged. The scene descended into chaos.

Lowering both hands in a calming gesture, Du Long raised his voice. “Everyone, quiet down first and listen to me. I know your situation. In the matter of this private gold mine, you are all victims as well. Therefore, I will absolutely not punish any of you. On the contrary, I will do my utmost to help you.”

“First, starting today, I am taking over these three gold mines. I need a great many miners to continue the work here. Of course, I, Du Long, will not treat you the way those heartless private mine owners did. In addition to making sure everyone has enough to eat and warm clothes to wear, each person will receive between two and five gold coins in wages every month. The exact amount will depend on your monthly performance!”

“Second, if any of you do not wish to stay, I promise that in two days I will send you out of the Beast Forest, and each of you will also receive five silver coins for travel expenses.”

“Now, does anyone have anything they still do not understand? If so, you may ask right away!”

Du Long announced his decision loudly, but perhaps because these miners had suffered abuse here for so long, they simply could not believe what he was saying. Not a single person dared step forward to ask a question.

Seeing this, Du Long could only follow the ring spirit’s advice and shouted, “I know! You must not be able to believe what I am saying. Then let this be so: whoever dares to be the first to ask a question will be rewarded with ten gold coins!”

“My lord, are you truly saying we will be paid two to five gold coins a month? And if we no longer want to work, may we leave at any time?”

After waiting a long while, one miner finally gathered the courage to voice the doubts in his heart.

“Ha! Good question! Someone, reward him with ten gold coins first!” Du Long said at once, keeping his promise the moment someone dared speak.

Little An promptly had a pouch containing ten gold coins delivered over, and many of the miners looked on with envy at the lucky man.

When the miner took the pouch with trembling hands and confirmed the contents, he immediately dropped to his knees with a thud and shouted, “Thank you, my lord! Thank you for your generosity!”

“Haha, you deserve it!” Du Long laughed. “Now let me answer your question. The monthly wage of two to five gold coins is absolutely real! The more you work, the more you earn. From now on, there will be a wage plan that will surely satisfy everyone.”

“As for whether you stay or go, you all know this is the Beast Forest. It is not easy to come and go here under ordinary circumstances. We cannot simply dispatch a large escort every time someone decides they no longer wish to work.”

“So I have decided to sign labor contracts with all of the miners. Each contract will be valid for one year. That means after one year, you may choose freely whether to stay or leave, and at that time I will arrange for you all to be escorted out together!”

With that assurance, the miners immediately began whispering among themselves in excited discussion. To be honest, most of them were poor commoners from Prosperous Plow County.

Two to five gold coins a month was an enormous temptation. Just one month’s pay would be enough to feed an entire family for a year.

If they could collect a full year’s wages, several dozen gold coins would be enough to make them the richest people in their village. By then, marrying a beautiful wife and building a fine house at home would be no problem at all.

“My lord! May I ask whether our wages will be paid once a year, or once a month?” Another miner, unable to contain his excitement, finally asked.

“All miners’ wages will be settled and paid within the same month, without exception! In addition, I have made a new decision: every miner will receive annual leave each year. During the New Year holiday, you will enjoy a full month of leave, so that everyone has the chance to go home and celebrate the New Year. Of course, anyone willing to stay and continue working during the holiday will receive double pay!” Du Long announced loudly, following the ring spirit’s advice.

No sooner had he spoken than some people could no longer restrain themselves and shouted that they wanted to stay. In the Great Heaven Empire, celebrating the New Year was a deeply cherished custom. Being able to go home for the holiday after a year of hard work, with one’s purse full, was the dream of many.

With this condition in place, it was likely that after their New Year leave, the miners of these gold mines would gladly come back to work—and would even introduce more relatives and friends to labor for Lord Du Long.

Ha ha, with the New Year approaching and the holiday travel rush underway, I wish all readers a Happy New Year!