When traveling traders came again, Wu Hui's camp had basically bid farewell to tents and turned into simple wooden houses. There was also a considerable amount of unprocessed bronze ore piled up.

Ore cannot be sold for much money. Unless it is very rare, you have to refine it into metal ingots to make it valuable.

But Wu Hui still sold it. After all, they were short of money to buy grain and other daily necessities. They couldn't continue to sell firewood.

Half a month had passed since the last traveling merchant arrived, and only seven refugees had joined the camp. It was okay, not too few. The key was that there was a carpenter among them, which made Wu Hui very satisfied.

The craftsmen take the lead, and in the future when the scale is large, they can set up assembly lines.

Standardization and assembly line are the basis of industrialization. Even if it is just preliminary industrialization, it can definitely take off with the territory.

Now, they are still in the difficult stage of selling raw materials. They don't even have the right to negotiate prices.

After making all these arrangements and waiting for Lucas to come back, Wu Hui will go out personally to inquire about the surrounding environment. Generally speaking, the lord of a city also has a great influence on the surrounding wilderness camps.

They may provide asylum and collect taxes, or plunder your fuel and resources, or they may ask you to join their troops and serve as cannon fodder.

Small camps do not have much choice and can only choose to accept it under the pressure of force.

Wu Hui spent money to buy a map of the surrounding area. It was very rough, but it roughly marked the distribution of forces such as darkness, light, and embers. In most towns, the light sect is a formal religion, while the dark sect is a cult. In a few places, the reverse is true.

As for the Ember Faction, they are mainly lords from various places and people walking in the wilderness.

It can also be simply understood as centrist.

The centrists are the most miserable. They don't know what is right and can only swing between the two sides.

Lucas, who came to Blackstone City with a traveling merchant, began to look for opportunities to make money as a mercenary in the city. He also did similar things before moving, although Blackstone City was somewhat different from the Twilight City where they originally lived.

There are differences, but the essence of mercenaries has not changed.

Get money and do things.

Lucas has no talent for building camps, and his combat ability may only be about the same as Wu Hui's now. That's why he came out to work first, while Wu Hui was building the camp at home.

There are still one hundred and thirty-eight days until the firewood is exhausted.

Of course, there is no technical content to manage a camp with thirty or forty people.

"You want to join our exploration team?" A knight in black armor looked at Lucas, who was holding a rusty iron sword and covered in rotten leather armor: "Um..."

He began to think about how to tactfully persuade this guy to quit, but his team members were not so polite: "Hey, country boy, don't think you can just join in this matter if you have money. What we need is real combat power!"

Lucas frowned: "I want to fight you one on one to prove my fighting ability."

Captain Knight: "Yeah, that's fine. Vincent, come on. You all should be careful, it's best not to get hurt."

"Don't worry, I will keep him from getting hurt, but it will hurt." Vincent walked up to confront Lucas with his sword: "Come on, boy, look at you, you look like a naked girl in a tavern

, a little precaution——"

Before he could finish his taunt, Lucas had already swung his sword, easily knocking off Vincent's weapon, and struck him in the neck with another sword. He stopped firmly.

Vincent looked at the sword that was only two centimeters away from his neck. He felt weak in his heart and backed away repeatedly while yelling.

"How?" Lucas asked, looking at the knight captain.

"Very good." The knight captain nodded: "The spoils during the exploration process will be distributed according to merit, and the commission from the exploration will be divided equally. Welcome to join the Blackstone Knight Investigation Team."

Lucas works hard outside to earn money.

Wu Hui is also trying to smelt bronze, which is indeed not difficult to smelt. The melting point is relatively low among metals, so early civilizations entered the Bronze Age after passing through the Stone Age.

But it's not that simple to make a professional weapon.

He needs craftsmen, a large number of craftsmen. Even if there is no way to create industry for the time being, he must maintain the handicraft industry.

Agriculture still needs time to be productive. Industry doesn't even have a bud. It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, and it's hard for Wu Hui to solve all the problems in the camp right away.

It seems that now, the only way to build a camp is through commercial trade.

Business trade requires start-up capital, well, there are three ways. One is to sell firewood again, the other is to wait for Lucas to come back from work, and the third is to go out and rob.

It is better not to sell firewood until the end. This is the foundation of the entire camp. Lucas will come back from working sooner or later, and he also needs to choose some targets to grab.

What he wants to rob most is the slave merchant. After robbing the money and food, he will have the population, but slave merchants are usually very good at killing them. So he can only settle for the next best thing. See if there are other suitable targets.

If ordinary traveling merchants can't rob them all, fewer people will come here to do business. If you encounter a group of hunters or thieves in the wilderness, you're not sure who will rob whom... It depends on your luck.

Waiting seems to be the only thing Wu Hui can do. Going out for hunting or other activities is a drop in the bucket for development. By the way, he makes metal equipment at home with the only craftsman - a carpenter.

If possible, he wanted to arm the peasants so that they could at least be somewhat protected against foreign invasion. He was not a professional militia instructor and did not have the ability to quickly train peasants into warriors.

So all Wu Hui can do is wait. Wait for the refugees to arrive, and wait for the various constructions in the camp to be gradually improved.

Wait for the power in his hands to become stronger. Then think about how humans should deal with the darkness.

But the firewood is constantly being consumed. Is there really time for him to wait? How many years will it take for him to grow to the top?

The initial goal was to grow the camp to two hundred people, with a doctor's school, a blacksmith's shop, and a small army.

Of course, the most important thing is to upgrade the Sun Tower.

As long as they obtain enough industry and have the ability to make money, they can buy firewood in large quantities. They will no longer have to migrate all the time. At that time, they will also organize exploration teams to collect people from the surrounding areas and explore the distribution of firewood.

The current population of the camp is 47, including 30 males and 17 females. There are 6 minors and 1 craftsman. There are no intellectuals except Wu Hui. There is no fighting force except Wu Hui. The capital reserve is 3 gold coins and 60 silver coins. It can buy about forty people a month.

of food.

There are 800 servings of firewood left, and I consume about 8 servings a day. There will be no problem after using it for a few months.

According to the grain reserve, if one person uses one portion a day, there are still 300 portions left, which can only be eaten for a few days. There is still one month left before the crops mature. The medicine will be slower.

A total of several hundred pieces of bronze ore were mined. One piece costs about two copper coins, and metal ingots can be sold for close to one silver coin. So it is better to build a smelting workshop first. If this is not possible, you will have to spend money to buy a blacksmith slave.
Chapter completed!