CHAPTER 108: CHAPTER 108: INVALIDS—ALL DAYAN’S SOLDIERS ARE SICKLY DOGS

But for ten work points, it’s definitely worth fighting for.

You must know, right now, each work point before was worth half a pound of grain, and that’s a full five pounds of grain, enough for a family’s meals for a month.

As for the brazier, Pei Shu’er had someone make it ready.

When the oil extraction instrument was finished, Pei Shu’er asked Grandma Yu about the oil extraction process.

Then Pei Shu’er realized it wasn’t as complete as she knew, so she only helped with the oil extraction.

Once the tea oil was extracted, Pei Shu’er extracted again, fifty pounds of tea seeds yielded fifteen pounds of tea oil, she was very satisfied.

But even with fifteen pounds of tea oil, so many people using it wouldn’t last long.

It seems she has to go up to the back mountain again to see if there are any extra oil tea trees.

However, Pei Shu’er didn’t specifically ask anyone to look, they searched as they planted fruit trees, even setting up fences around the area.

The people on the deserted mountain saw the third house folks doing this and had no objections.

Because they didn’t have the strength to plant trees on the back mountain anymore, firstly they had no seeds, and secondly, they didn’t have enough time for hunting and foraging.

Just as they were casually looking for oil tea trees, they found a large patch of them when they crossed the summit.

This was three times larger than what Tang Qingning initially found.

The men and women picked tea seeds for three consecutive days until all were picked clean, and the tea seeds amounted to 200 pounds.

Calculating the previous oil yield, they anticipated sixty kilograms of tea oil.

Pei Shu’er happily led everyone home, then continued sun-drying for oil extraction.

The oil extraction process was constantly adjusted, Pei Shu’er secretly added some tea oil from her storage, and now the oil yield reached eighty-five pounds.

She couldn’t add any more, it would be too absurd.

A near fifty percent oil yield.

But these people didn’t care about the oil yield, they only knew that the oil tea tree was a good thing.

That night, Yinxing and Honghua used tea oil to make dinner, even though it was the same dishes, the quality of the oil improved the taste.

This excellent tea oil made the food taste incredibly good.

A single bite, even with ordinary ingredients and ordinary preparation, left a lingering fragrance.

Even the picky Young Master couldn’t help but eat an extra bowl of rice.

Pei Shu’er, happy with the result, led the search for more oil tea trees.

But after searching the entire back mountain, they found those two large patches and a few scattered ones, yielding only five pounds of oil after picking.

So everyone returned to their daily routine of planting fruit trees.

Meanwhile, the third house folks started clearing the back mountain, gathering and burning poisonous plants.

Otherwise, if the kids running wildly across the mountains accidentally ate them, they’d regret it no matter what.

The dying trees were also cleared by the third house, replaced with fruit trees in their original spots.

If the land was suitable for cultivation, it was cleared for planting.

Anyhow, the entire back mountain was overturned by the third house people.

The mountain was almost completely planted with crops or fruit trees.

They wanted to overturn more, but unfortunately, although the back mountain’s vegetation was denser than the deserted mountain, it wasn’t excessively dense.

The back mountain was nearly picked clean of wild fruit.

Carrying hoes and ready to head home, they suddenly heard a rumbling in front.

The plains had gone to war.

It was the first war they saw since arriving at Gulan Mountain.

The plains were about ten kilometers from the deserted mountain, and standing on the back mountain summit gave a clear view of the plains’ battle.

Currently battling were the Dayan and Dazi forces, most of Dayan were infantry in red armor, with "Yan" written boldly on their backs.

Dazi, mostly cavalry, had infantry too, but their cavalry numbers were noticeably more than Dayan’s.

Each warrior was fierce, like wolves on the plains.

During the fight, Dazi’s vigor was significantly better than Dayan’s.

No one spoke, silently watching the fierce clash on the plains from the mountain summit.

As the war heated up, the initially light-hearted atmosphere became serious.

Even if exiled to the border, they were still people of Dayan, with deep love for this land.

They hoped from the heart that Dayan would win.

Not only because they were people of Dayan, but also because they were in the most dangerous borderland.

If Dayan lost, the military camp might move back.

Then, their deserted mountain at the rear could turn into the frontline.

Their long-time efforts would be destroyed.

Another change in survival location would reshuffle everything, and they wouldn’t always have the advantage.

Among the exiles were generals and commanders.

But mostly, they were ordinary, powerless common folks.

They didn’t want war nor to become cannon fodder; war victory or defeat would mean nothing if they died.

Tang Zan glanced once, then uninterestedly withdrew his gaze.

"Let’s go, hungry now."

After saying this, Tang Zan walked ahead.

As he left, others followed him.

Because they left early, they didn’t see Dayan’s disastrous defeat.

The battle was almost a landslide victory; Dayan’s soldiers were already weak and positioned in the worst spot in the Gulan Mountain Range.

This mountain range was resource-poor, soldiers didn’t have enough food, not to mention fighting.

Even the horses were inferior to Dazi’s.

The river in the plains was called Blue River; one side had the resource-starved Gulan Mountain Range, the other the fertile Dian Nan Mountain Range.

Dazi was located in the Dian Nan Mountain Range.

They lived here for generations, familiar with it.

Knew where to find food, where to set traps.

Thus, in fights between Dayan and Dazi in Gulan Mountain, Dayan had more losses than wins.

Of course, another major reason was Pei Shu’er and others’ crime of exile.

The Prince Zhan Mansion embezzled military funds, leading to Dayan Army in Gulan Mountain having no pay, soldiers starving and ill-equipped, resulting in a one-sided battle.

This was known to everyone in Dayan.

Hence, the Prince Zhan Mansion faced today’s fate, either exiled or detained, waiting for execution.

Many said the Emperor was merciful, giving the Prince Zhan Mansion a break.

After all, many border soldiers signed against the Prince Zhan Mansion.

Those people really hated the mansion that embezzled military funds.

They fought hard at the front, trusting their once leader who stabbed them in the back.

No one didn’t hate.

Obviously, there were loyalists of the War King, early placed in the Gulan Mountain military camp, so the third house’s days were not so hard.

At this moment, Dazi chased Dayan soldiers across the plains like livestock, slaughtering them like beasts.

They ran while shouting joyfully.

"Dayan soldiers are too weak; even my son is better."

"Sickly, sickly, Dayan people are sickly."

"Dayan’s demise is near."

"Once we break Gulan Mountain, we’ll march north to stab the Emperor’s nest."