Infinite Professions

Chapter 347 - 181: The Attack

"It’s finally finished!"

Under the afterglow of the sunset, Lu Xuan wiped off his sweat, looked at the village surrounded by high walls ahead, and then at the people behind him who were carrying rice grains just like him, finally feeling a sense of relief in his heart.

Two days. In just two days after Wang Liu left, Little Huang Village had harvested over a thousand acres of rice in a hurry, and the village, under the relentless efforts of hundreds of strongmen and a group of young and strong laborers working day and night in shifts, built high walls on all four sides.

Inside the high walls, at the four corners, there were four high tower corner towers covered with sharp wooden stakes to prevent enemies from climbing, making the village look less like a village and more like a fortified military town.

A dock fortress, also known as a dock wall, is typically funded and constructed by local clans, wealthy families, or local powerful forces. It is surrounded by walls on all sides, with doors opening front and back, a watchtower built inside, and corner towers at the four corners, resembling a small city, making it easy to defend and hard to attack.

Due to the unrest of previous dynasties, continuous bandit threats from civilians, and Hu Barbarian harassment at the borders, the Court has struggled to maintain peace, while the Government Office has gradually lost its ability. Therefore, local powerful forces frequently form villages and build docks to seek self-preservation.

Although the previous dynasty is now history, changing a nation’s character is difficult, and building dock fortresses has become customary among local powerful forces. The new dynasty cannot easily change it by force and can only turn a blind eye, tacitly approving their actions.

However, constructing dock fortresses involves significant resources, and not everyone has the capital for it. Generally, they are only seen in towns; village constructions, while not unheard of, are extremely rare.

In just two days, Little Huang Village has built such a dock fortress, which can only be described by two words—miracle!

Only the honored existence of Divine Beings, beyond the reach of mere mortals, could accomplish such an astonishing feat.

The construction of the dock fortress and previous events greatly boosted the spirit of the people in Little Huang Village, solidifying their faith in the Land God. Now united, they prepare to resist the bandits and no longer offer them a single grain of rice.

Lu Xuan led the crowd, carrying the harvested rice into the village, arriving at the threshing ground to find another brick fortress.

Outside fortress, inside fort!

This inner fort uses the Land God Temple as its core, encompassing the original threshing ground, with high brick walls surrounding it on all four sides, brick tiles covering the dome, securely protecting the Land God Temple within. The interior is spacious, with a water well and stored grain, allowing the elderly, women, and children to retreat inside in case of a bandit attack.

This prevents the bandits from breaking the outer fortress, resulting in the slaughter of the elderly, women, and children and desecrating the temple and the Divine Beings.

Lu Xuan and others brought the rushed harvest of rice, which was received within the fortress and threshed without removing the husk, stored as grain in the warehouse.

When everything was finished, it was already late at night, but no one complained, only feeling the joy of harvest and the peace of being protected.

"Tomorrow marks the deadline agreed upon with Black Wind Village!"

In the household, Song Wen hadn’t yet slept, gathering the people of the Song Family, especially Song Wu and Song Ying, the two strongmen leaders: "The three-day agreement, for both them and us, might just be a delayed tactic. Those bandits may not come as scheduled, so we must not let our guard down, especially at night. Patrols must be strict."

"Understood!"

"Don’t worry, big brother."

"The two of us will take turns patrolling and definitely won’t let those bandits seize any opportunity."

Song Wu and Song Ying assured with a firm chest pat, allowing Song Wen to relax a bit, sending everyone off, and he also went to bed to rest.

These two days exhausted him significantly, supervising kiln construction, brick burning, and secretly following the instructions from the dream to concoct the mysterious substance called "cement," working tirelessly without a moment’s rest, losing several pounds.

Now that the dock fortress was completed, he was able to relax; as soon as he lay down, he felt a wave of drowsiness, quickly leading him into a deep sleep.

In such manner...

"My son, wake up quickly!"

However, barely moments into sleep, he heard a voice erupt like a thunderclap.

Song Wen abruptly woken, finding himself already in the temple, the Divine Being enshrined in the temple speaking: "The bandits are coming, wake up quickly, order everyone to act according to plan!"

The words echoed heavily, like thunder.

"Whew!!"

Song Wen awoke, already returned to the present world.

"Master, what’s wrong?"

His wife beside him, also awakened in surprise.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, the bandits are coming!"

Song Wen couldn’t spare any explanation, hurriedly getting dressed and rushing outside to sound the gong.

On the other side...

Dark night, gusty wind, clouds obscuring the moon.

"Hyah!"

From within Little Yellow Mountain, suddenly the sound of horse hooves echoed, more than ten riders burst forth from the mountain path.

The mountain path was narrow, strewn with uneven rocks; even walking was difficult, let alone galloping horses.

Yet now, these more than ten riders traversed it as if walking on flat ground, as though the pits, rocks, and brambles were nonexistent.

Behind the riders, flames appeared, many bandits followed carrying torches, silhouettes unknown in numbers of people and horses.

Black Wind Village Chief Liang Erjiang was also among them, though he held no torch, nor was there a horse beneath him; instead, he ran with great leaping strides within the mountains, keeping pace with the riders, eyes filled with apprehension.

Black Cloud Village!

Little Yellow Mountain stretched for hundreds of miles, with many bandits residing and mountains scattered with villages.

Their Black Wind Village was located at the end of the mountain range, known alongside Black Mountain Village and Black Cloud Village collectively as Three Black Village.

As Black Wind Village Chief, he’d roamed Jianghu for decades, ultimately refining True Qi through accumulated hard work, not the best among the bandits of Little Yellow Mountain, but ranked as first-rate.

Even so, he remained immensely apprehensive towards the riders ahead, feeling a hint of fear.

Because they belonged to Black Cloud Village, but weren’t the original inhabitants of Black Cloud Village.

Fifty years ago, a group of horse bandits roamed into Qinghe County, slaughtering villagers, looting rampantly, eventually attracting Government Soldiers to encircle them.

This group of horse bandits couldn’t withstand the Government Soldiers, scattered and defeated, but the bandit leader escaped, seized the foundation of Black Cloud Village in Little Yellow Mountain, and became the new Black Cloud Village Chief.