Starting with choosing a wife, creating the most powerful Xia

Seeing the village chief's expression as if he had seen a ghost, Chu Xuan knew he should start making connections.

But he didn't reveal anything; he just nodded solemnly.

“Wuming Village does indeed need an army. Although Wuming Mountain is my territory, sometimes it's just a name without substance. There are countless bandits within a radius of eight hundred miles, and I absolutely cannot manage them all by myself. The village must have sufficient self-defense capabilities.”

"I see. What you say makes a lot of sense."

Hearing this, the village chief was still somewhat skeptical, but he accepted it to some extent.

After all, compared to rebellion, resisting bandits was a more plausible reason. He and the villagers were all worthless lives; if they died, they died. But the village chief felt that Chu Xuan had a bright future ahead of him and wouldn't act so recklessly.

So he nodded in agreement.

Chu Xuan drew on the paper: "There's also the matter of hematite. Afterwards, you should arrange for a few trustworthy people to go down the mountain to purchase some mining tools. I will have A Leng go with you."

"While you're at it, make a few sets of armor and swords too."

Chu Xuan had his own reasons for saying that.

Because of the hardships they had endured in the past, the people of Wuming Village were not in good physical condition and were far inferior to those meticulously trained soldiers. Now, if we want to equip them with combat power as quickly as possible, we can only work on their equipment.

But the village chief shook his head with a wry smile: "Lord Chu, don't be ridiculous. Swords and knives are relatively easy to obtain; we can have people dress up as guards of a wealthy family, which isn't impossible. But you want armor? Who would dare to do such a life-threatening business?"

According to the laws of the Great Xia Kingdom, armor is a military supply and civilians are not allowed to possess it. Violators will be beheaded. Therefore, naturally no one in the civilian population dares to take on the business of making armor.

However, this law is somewhat meaningless. Each of the forty-eight vassal kings had dozens or even hundreds of sets of armor. Some of the bolder ones even secretly possessed bows and crossbows, yet the court never investigated them.

It's just something used to control subordinates.

Although A Leng is not from the Great Xia, she has the most experience in the martial arts world among the three women and knows a few underground shops. If you add more money, someone will definitely do it.

Chu Xuan comforted him, saying that he should listen to A Leng when the time came. Although the village chief hesitated, he thought that if his village had armor, what bandits would dare to come in the future? So he nodded.

The last thing is about the development of hematite.

Although those are all natural iron ores, they are not usable as soon as they are mined. From mining to smelting, refining, polishing, and so on, there is a series of continuous processes to be done.

Therefore, setting up an ironworks was imperative.

Chu Xuan was also thinking of recruiting some skilled craftsmen. He would have his own iron ore, and after refining it, he would hand it over to the craftsmen in his village. They could make whatever they wanted, instead of having to consider every detail like they do now when they need to make a few suits of armor.

After discussing the approximate location of the ironworks, the two decided to stay in Hanyang.

This is indeed a nice place. The valley is shaded, with roads leading in and out on both sides, and it is well concealed all around, making it difficult for ordinary people to find.

When Chu Xuan summoned Zhou Meng and told him about transforming the place into an ironworks, the latter was completely dumbfounded.

Okay, okay, this is how you play, right?

You came to rob a bandit like me, you stole the silver, you took the warehouse, and you even took the man. Now you don't even plan to leave behind the place where my Hanyang Gang has been passed down for many years?

Zhou Meng was completely devastated. He had been worried that if he surrendered to Chu Xuan, he might be punished by the former chieftain in the underworld. Now, the entire Hanyang Gang was gone.

Logically speaking, Chu Xuan shouldn't have acted this way. After all, one should leave room for maneuver in one's actions so that one can meet again in the future.

But Zhou Meng glanced at his bulging waist and realized that the truth was now in Chu Xuan's hands.

So, heartbroken, she "voluntarily" gave up her village.

Meanwhile, when Chu Xuan returned home and told A Leng that he was going to take people down the mountain to buy supplies, the latter's reaction was somewhat awkward.

Ah Leng was originally a barbarian, with three-dimensional features and a high nose bridge. Her eyes, which were like autumn water, sparkled and were lively. But at this moment, they seemed to be covered with mist. She looked at Chu Xuan with a wronged expression. Just this expression alone was enough to leave people speechless.

"Um... it can't be that serious... it's just going down the mountain to buy some things, aren't you very familiar with the area?"

Chu Xuan glanced to the side guiltily.

Ah Leng persisted, grabbing his arm and accusing him.

"You didn't remember me when you went out to have fun, but now that you need to get things done, you remember me? Husband, how can you be like this?"

"Isn't Chen Xuening free anyway? Let them go!"

Finally, he added the sentence "retaliation".

"Fine, if you don't want to go, then don't go. I'll find someone else."

Although the soft warmth on her arm was quite intoxicating, Chu Xuan had a headache at the moment. He covered his forehead, pulled her hand away, and said helplessly.

The nameless village is now on the right track, but there are still many things that Chu Xuan needs to worry about.

For example, as far as he knew, the Great Xia Dynasty didn't have any tools for smelting iron. They would have to come up with their own ideas, draw up blueprints, and then find someone to make them.

In addition, we need to find someone to train them. Otherwise, we have the equipment, but no one knows how to refine it. Are we going to let Chu Xuan handle all the hematite in the entire nameless mountain by himself?

Forget it, black powder is important, and the current demand isn't too high, so Chu Xuan can manage it on his own.

But if hematite mine does the same thing, he won't be able to do anything else. Even if he works in shifts all year round without a break, he still won't be able to finish!

Hearing this, A Leng pouted and gave Chu Xuan a resentful look.

She sighed inwardly, wondering why she had married such a blockhead. Did she mean she didn't want to do it? She just wanted him to coax her a bit, and if he coaxed her, she would go.

Unfortunately, Chu Xuan was oblivious to romance, so A Leng had no choice but to accept it.

"Is it not okay for me to go?"

He then went out to prepare the horses.

At that moment, a loud shout came from outside the door, the sound echoing over the nameless village.

Chu Xuan went outside and took a look, a smile appearing on his lips.

One carriage after another entered the village, and the villagers, one by one, curiously went forward to watch the spectacle, only to be immediately terrified.

Led by several young men, a total of twelve carriages entered, and what they carried on the carriages was a towering amount of snow-white silver, as tall as mountains!

No wonder the villagers were so surprised.

Let alone several thousand taels of silver, even a few hundred taels would be an enormous sum in Wuming Village!

Apart from Lu Yongyuan, who else has ever seen so much silver?

Under such tremendous impact, they even subconsciously ignored other supplies.