Unknown Knight

After the bandage was completed, Kress arranged the front and rear scouts, and the caravan continued to set off back to Suno. Around two o'clock in the afternoon, the front scout Desevi came back to report that the slave hunting team was coming this way. Aix hurriedly asked everyone to form a car formation, and the women, children, the elderly and the weak drove the pack horses to the depths of the nearby woods to hide, and asked someone to notify Fatis behind to return to the caravan.

About a quarter of an hour later, the slave hunting team appeared in front of the chariot formation. They were scattered in a long and loose formation. Their morale was very low and they all looked dejected. It was estimated that they would be scolded by Ramon when they returned to Tiha City.

The leading slave hunter rode his horse up to Aix with a look of disdain on his face. He leaned over and stared at him fiercely, saying:

"That girl did go forward? You didn't hide her?"

Seeing his look, Axe really wanted to shoot him to death with a crossbow arrow, but he also knew the consequences of falling out. The other side was all in armor. Even if he could shoot a few of them and let the rest escape, it would be troublesome. He also wanted to make money from this trade route in the future. Ramon was not easy to mess with. It was said that he had dozens of slave hunters on horseback wearing armor. It was better not to tear the face at the moment. Thinking of this, he ignored the expression of the slave hunter leader and replied coldly:

"We have nothing to do with that girl, why should we hide her? I still have business dealings with Boss Ramon, so I can't do anything to offend him."

After hearing Aix's explanation, the slave hunter leader thought he was afraid, so he went even further and said:

"In that case, do you dare to let me search?"

Aix got angry when he heard this. He made a gesture and everyone in the caravan raised their crossbows and aimed at the slave hunters. This posture frightened the slave hunter leader and his men. He had to stand up and pat his horse to calm it. Aix looked at him coldly, and waited until he had stabilized the horse before he slowly said:

"The goods on this truck are related to the food and drink of our hundred people. Outsiders are not allowed to touch them, so please don't bother with it."

After saying that, he went straight back to the crowd and ignored him.

The slave hunter leader was extremely angry after being defeated. He rode on his snorting horse and paced back and forth in front of the chariot formation several times. His face was livid and he fiercely scanned the entire chariot formation, feeling like a wolf about to pounce on its prey. Obviously, he knew that if he attacked forcefully, he would get nothing good. Without saying any more nonsense, he snorted and led his team away on horseback.

After the slave hunters left, Aix was still worried. After all, they had mounts and could come and go like the wind. So he asked Desevi to ride a faster horse to see if they had really left and not come back to kill them. After Desevi came back to confirm that there was no risk, the caravan continued to move forward.

At night, the caravan camped in a village called Jerborg, which is located on the border of the Kingdom of Nord and the Kingdom of Swadia, and is situated next to the pass between two mountains. This geographical location means that two-thirds of the days a year are windy here, and it has also given rise to the local economy, which relies on wind-driven mills. There are four or five tall mills on the highlands in the distance, and there is an endless stream of carts from the surrounding villages coming to grind flour.

It was still early and the caravan could go a long way. They chose to stay here to observe the structure of the windmill. He led the carpenter he bought and visited several mills. The carpenter patted his chest and said it was not difficult to build. Aix asked the carpenter how to turn the wind power into a water-powered millstone driven by a waterwheel. The carpenter thought about it and said it was no problem. He had made a waterwheel before. After hearing this, Aix felt relieved and went back. In the evening, he spent 10 silver coins to buy a stone millstone through the village chief and made room on the truck to load it and take it away tomorrow.

The reason for this was for his big project - the snow salt business. He had already thought of a place to secretly process snow salt in his mind these days. It was the settlement of bandits in the Black Forest not far ahead. There was a stream in that valley, where a dam could be built to place a waterwheel, and the millstone could be driven by water power to grind the refined salt blocks. Aix had thought it through. The place where snow salt was secretly produced was the best. The valley was a closed valley. As long as the entrance was guarded, it would be difficult for outsiders to know the situation in the valley. Moreover, the valley was deep in the Black Forest, and it was difficult for outsiders to find it. Even if there were hunters or bandits nearby, they could be driven away by the armed caravan, and some traps and mechanisms could be dug. The surrounding villages could spread some terrifying information about bandits killing and eating people. He thought it would be possible to keep it secret for at least a few years.

At noon the next day, the caravan arrived at the intersection leading to the green forest bandit settlement. After observing that there was no one around, Aix led the caravan to the valley. He had previously sent Catherine to lead a team to investigate and confirmed that the valley had not been occupied by anyone else during this period.

After entering the path, Desevi understood Aix's intention and took the initiative to use branches to clear the tire tracks left by the caravan. Aix couldn't help but give her a thumbs up. This spirit of picking up the missing pieces is what the team needs most. As a leader, one must encourage it when he finds it, and others should follow suit and clean up the traces of entering the valley.

After arriving at the valley, Aix organized everyone to clean up the valley again. Since they were going to use this place as a base, they couldn't leave it messy and full of dirty things like the bandits did before. Fortunately, there were enough people now. Nearly 30 people worked together, and soon the feces everywhere disappeared. The weeds on the main road were also cleared, and the garbage and dirt in the corners of several wooden houses were also cleaned up. Before dark, the whole valley was brand new.

Dinner was eaten in the cave. After eating a bowl of Northeastern hotpot made by Catherine, the whole cave was filled with laughter. After Axe's hands-on teaching for some time, although Catherine was still unfamiliar with cooking, she had learned this Northeastern hotpot 100%. You could tell by how happily everyone was eating, especially the new members bought by Axe. They never thought that they would be able to eat such delicious meals in their lifetime. Some of them couldn't help turning around and secretly wiping away their tears.

After dinner, Aix called Fatis, Catherine, Manide and others, as well as several craftsmen, to walk around the valley. The whole valley was not very big, at most 2 to 30 acres, and the flat land was less than 10 mu, but it was enough to accommodate or people. Knowing that this would be their future residence, everyone was very concerned and worked together to plan kitchens, warehouses, leather workshops, salt workshops, toilets, blacksmith shops and other facilities, and planned a residential area near the cave.

Looking at the amount of work, if it were in the city, the total cost would be at least 2000 silver coins. Fortunately, local materials can be used. There is no shortage of wood around the valley, and the original bandits have hoarded some. There is no need for labor costs. After all, it is a house for yourself, and everyone can work together, so basically no money is needed. It's just that so many buildings need to be built. It is conservatively estimated that it will take at least 3 months. There is no rush and you can take your time. Moreover, everyone has no experience in large-scale construction. Aix plans to go to Sargos next time to call Atiman to preside over the construction. After all, his starting point is a contractor boss and he has experience. Before that, everyone can live in the original house first. The salt workshop can be roughly built first. If water power is not available, you can use pack horses to grind it first. Try to get salt as soon as possible. This is the top priority at present and the main source of food for everyone. The other important facilities are the wood processing workshop and toilets. One of them is for the needs of subsequent construction, and the other is because of urgent needs, so they must be built in advance.

After finalizing these, the group came to the entrance of the valley, which was more than 20 meters wide. Aix wanted to build a wall like the one in Tiha City to completely block the valley, but the workload was obviously too huge and it was not very realistic at the moment. In the end, they adopted the method of Fatis, who had marching experience. They first dug a deep trench, inserted sharp wooden stakes at the bottom, and then placed some branches and twigs left over from logging at the back. A few chevaux de frise could be placed on the road left in the middle. This would simply and effectively isolate the inside and the outside, and everyone agreed with it.

For two consecutive days, Aix stayed in the valley. The main reason why he did not return to Suno immediately was to restore order inside and outside. Now the main people in the valley are old brothers from Suno City, but there are more new members. Everyone speaks with different accents, and some customs and habits are not exactly the same. Aix was afraid that there would be some trouble. Fortunately, everyone knew that this was where they would live in the future. They worked with a common goal and there was no real conflict of interest. They got along very harmoniously.

Seeing that all the work was carried out in an orderly manner and five bags of snow salt were successfully produced, Aix took Fati, Manide and 15 other young and strong men and drove four trucks back to Suno City on the third day. The rest of the people were led by two female generals, Catherine and Desevi. The old, weak, women and children were mainly responsible for collecting firewood, boiling salt and grinding salt, while the young and strong were responsible for logging and guarding.

It would have taken a day and a half to reach Sunuo City, but everyone was eager to go home, especially the old brothers in Sunuo City. They earned twice as much money as usual from this business trip, and they were eager to tell the good news to their worried relatives at home. They did not even stop to eat lunch, and when they were hungry they ate some black bread while walking. The caravan arrived in Sunuo City that night.

After entering the city, everyone felt that the atmosphere was not right. Some people followed the convoy secretly, and after seeing that the cars were full of purchased goods, they hurriedly ran towards the city center.

Aix knew that the caravan was still being watched by Grans and his gang, and believed that the news of the caravan's successful business would soon spread throughout the streets and alleys of Sunuo. After entering the warehouse, Aix had no time to report the situation of the business to Old John, and even less time to confide his longing for Yamila, so he ordered people to close the door of the warehouse, and then everyone went to the inner room for a meeting. He warned all members again not to leak any information about snow salt, not even their own family members. If anyone leaked the information, the caravan would not only expel him, but also kill his entire family.

Seeing the usually gentle Mr. Axe with such a cold and resolute expression, everyone's heart trembled. Since Axe came to the caravan, everyone has seen his methods many times. They did not doubt the weight of Axe's words, and they also knew that this matter was related to everyone's livelihood. After a moment of stunnedness, those who understood first stepped forward to express their opinions and swear. Axe promptly gave everyone an extra silver coin and told everyone to gather at the caravan on time tomorrow morning. Then he let everyone leave, leaving only Fatis, Manide and two new members.

After eating the dinner made by Yamila, Axe arranged for Fatis and Manide to each take a new member to stand guard in shifts, and then went into the inner room to report the situation of this business trip to Old John.

From Ripolet to the attack by the outlaws, and then to Harvey's death, Old John and Jamila were filled with grief. After comforting the father and daughter for a while, he continued to talk about the valley raid and the rich spoils, and then to the commercial war in Tihar City, etc. Especially when it came to Aix going to the palace to meet King Ragnar, this almost magical scene seemed to the father and daughter, and it made them forget their previous sadness and they were amazed with excitement. Old John was very pleased and fortunate that the caravan was now led by Aix, and it would surely become more and more prosperous in the future. Jamila, on the other hand, had more admiration for Aix in her heart, and believed more firmly that he was her support and sustenance in this life.

Then Aix talked about some ideas about the snow salt business. In order to keep it secret, he planned to secretly move the families of all the caravan members to that valley. Only the warehouse would be left in Suno City as a place to distribute and transport goods, and he would only need to send a few people to guard it.

After reporting this to Old John, he agreed without hesitation. Then he listened to Old John's story about what happened in Suno City after the caravan left. Only then did Aix know the difficulties that the father and daughter had experienced. It turned out that after they left, Grans often sent people to the warehouse to make trouble, and also harassed and suppressed the families of the caravan members. It seemed that he had to drive the caravan members out of Suno City. Everyone was very angry, but dared not speak out.

What's even more infuriating is that after Grans' caravan came back a few days ago, this guy shamelessly went to the warehouse to discuss cooperation with old John, and even put forward the condition that Yamila should marry him, a 50-year-old man. He said something about the two families becoming one family, and everyone working together in the olive oil business to make a fortune, etc. This made the usually gentle and polite Yamila so angry that she wanted to fight him to the death with a crossbow. Before leaving, this guy shamelessly said that he heard the news that Aix and his party had been killed on the way and would not be able to come back, etc., which caused the father and daughter to be very worried during the time when everyone was away from home.

After hearing what Old John said, Aix looked at him and found his eyes flickering. Obviously, if the caravan was really killed outside, Old John might agree to Grans's condition in the end. Obviously, his leg was crippled, and even if he recovered, he could not continue to trade like before. The only thing he could think of was to find a stable backer for his daughter. There was no other way. This was the cruel reality. Although Aix had some grudges in his heart, he could understand.

The most important thing right now is to manage the important business of snow salt well. Aix must control all those who know about it before the information spreads. This way, he can enjoy the dividends brought by this business for a longer period of time. Otherwise, he will only be making wedding clothes for others.

Old John approved of Aix's approach and decided to mobilize everyone in person tomorrow. Anyway, the families of the caravan members were being suppressed everywhere in Suno City by Grans's men and could hardly find any other work to do. Instead of being suppressed and excluded every day and having to live with hunger and fullness, it would be better to move away. After all, these people belonged to the early lower-class residents of the town. Unlike the farmers in the countryside, they were dependent on the land for generations and had a strong sense of localism. As long as it was profitable, they would still be willing to migrate.

It was already late at night when he finished saying all this. After leaving Old John's room, Axe chatted with Manid, who was on duty, for a few more words and then went back to his room to rest.