nel at the design institute increased to 200! The second phase is expected to be completed within the year."The third stage is when the design institute expands to over 500 people and establishes a so...Early in the morning, Yang Lin felt inexplicably uneasy.

After the meal, he, with the women, assembled all the newly forged parts into a crossbow.

With this latest batch, we now have seventeen crossbows and three hundred arrows!

Xiao Qi, Xiao Ba, and Xiao Jiu finally had their own crossbows. The rest were put away by Yang Lin in a cabinet.

Crossbows are extremely lethal and will eventually be equipped to the guard force.

However, the guard unit was just recently established. Equipping them with such powerful weapons right now might not be a good idea.

Yang Lin plans to distribute this batch of crossbows gradually after a period of time.

Xiao Jiu held the ledger and reported on yesterday's progress.

Yesterday, the tofu factory produced 500 blocks of tofu and 300 kilograms of bean curd. They sold ten buckets of medicinal water. The tofu skin has already been made, and the bean paste and soy sauce are still fermenting.

The brick kiln produced three thousand bricks and five hundred tiles. Of these, one hundred and eighty were scrapped, and the green bricks were not yet the right color.

The cement kiln produced 120 barrels of cement, Gao Dazhuang said that today's output could still be increased.

The construction progress of the new furnace in the smelting workshop has reached more than half, and Shunzi Uncle guaranteed that it would be completed in three days.

"As for the workshop, all the tools and materials for papermaking are almost ready. But Jing said that there are still some problems with sourcing raw materials and details, and he needs some more time."

The new recruits hauled coal back from Old Black Mountain three times yesterday. However, the downhill path hasn't been fixed yet, so land transport is still quite slow. But once it's loaded onto ships, it only takes less than an hour to get here.

"On the road repair front, the section at the east end of the village has already been repaired for over a hundred meters. At most, in two days, the road at the east end of the village will be finished..."

Meanwhile, on the main road outside the village's east gate, Black Tiger led his bandits, galloping wildly and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Tiger Brother, the front is Mount Village!" The Second in Command shouted.

"Black Tiger coldly said: 'This Yang Lin has some skill, don't be careless. When we charge into the village later, grab anyone at random and ask about Yang Lin's whereabouts. We'll directly catch him off guard!'"

"Yes!"

The bandits shouted loudly.

However, just as they had almost reached Mount Rely Village, they saw at the village entrance many villagers wielding shovels and picks, all gathered at the road.

"Stop!"

"What's going on Did the news leak out"

The black tiger frowned.

They came all the way from the county town without stopping at any villages along the way, just to avoid alerting anyone.

It seems like the other party was already prepared and waiting for them.

At first glance, there were at least forty or fifty commoners holding tools!

Although they kill without mercy, each with blood on their hands, if so many commoners rebel, they would have a hard time.

The third-in-command said, "Tiger Brother, I feel like they aren't waiting for us. They seem to be repairing the road."

"Road construction"

The Black Tiger clamped his hand down on the reins, frowning as he stared ahead.

Well, look at that!

Those roads behind the people were obviously wider and smoother, with compacted yellow earth as a base and a layer of sand on top. They were even better than the roads in the county town!

The villagers were waiting there, they probably just saw them and stopped.

Damn, it turns out they're repairing the road. Gave me a fright!

"What in the world is this mountain village doing Why are they building roads out of nowhere"

The bandits were all very surprised.

Black Tiger, however, said coldly: "Since there is someone here, I might as well ask about Yang Lin's whereabouts."

"Yes!"

The bandits galloped on horseback, continuing their advance.

At this moment, the villagers repairing the road were also observing the bandits, discussing them in hushed tones.

"Could it be bandits"

"No way, Yang Lin caught so many just the other day. Would bandits dare to come to our mountain village" "That's right! We've seen bandits before, but never ones riding horses!"

"That's right, even the fastest messengers at the county office wouldn't have this many horses. I think it's most likely soldiers from the prefectural government."

"Oh oh, here they come, make way, don't let them collide!"

The villagers didn't know who these people were and just stared at each other in bewilderment.

Not until the Black Tiger arrived with his men and the villagers felt the aura of banditry emanating from them, saw their fierce attire, did they realize something was amiss. Fear and unease crept onto their faces.

The second-in-command rode his horse, cracking his whip with a "crack!" and stammered, "We...we are the heroes of Black Wind Mountain. Today we...we came here not to rob or plunder, we only want Yang Lin!"

He stuttered when he spoke, but no one dared to laugh.

"Listen up, you all, damn it! Listen carefully and tell me where Yang Lin is. I'll guarantee your safety and that nothing will happen to you!"

A pair of sinister eyes scanned the crowd.

The villagers were dumbfounded.

He really is a bandit! He's the most domineering Black Wind Mountain bandit in Jianghe County, as legend has it!

And he even came to look for Yang Lin!!

The villagers looked at me, I looked at them, and none of us spoke.

"Hee hee."

He Black Tiger stepped forward, sneered, and said in a cold voice, "Don't you speak Do you really think I'm a vegetarian"

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his whip.

"Slap!" A whip struck an old man beside him.

The old man was struck by the whip and stumbled back several steps.

"Whoosh!"

The black tiger drew his sword and slashed at the old man.

"Ah—!"

The old man cried out in pain, collapsing to the ground. Blood seeped through his thin clothes as his body convulsed twice before falling still.

Silence reigned supreme!

The villagers all widened their eyes, their gazes filled with anger and fear.

Liu Laohan was one of the few people in the village who had lived to sixty years old. As a result, he was killed by bandits

At this moment, the villagers were all dumbfounded and instinctively retreated backward.

No one expected these bandits to be so ruthless!

Seeing the villagers afraid, the black tiger was very satisfied. He shook the blood off his knife and coldly spoke, “Now can you speak”

However, the villagers only retreated and still no one spoke.

Although they were afraid, would they betray Yang Lin and reveal his whereabouts

They can't do it!

"Ho ho, so you're still a man of your word Not bad, grandpa likes that!"

"In that case, when we get to the village, I'll ask each one of them myself! I want to see if Yang Lin comes out before I kill all of you!"

At this moment, a young villager suddenly cried out, "Everyone run, quickly go back and report to Yang Lin!"

As soon as the young man finished speaking, he turned and ran back.

The villagers awoke like from a dream and rushed about.

"Run Ha ha, I'll see how far you can get!"

The black tiger remained calm and collected, drawing an arrow from a bag on his horse's back.

Drawing back his bow and aiming at the young man who was desperately running into the village, Black Tiger's lips curled up into a cruel smirk.

"Whoosh!"

Right after the arrow left the bow, in a blink of an eye, the young man who was still running desperately stumbled and fell to the ground.

The bandits, as if they had expected this all along, burst into laughter……he man in fine clothes pulled out a larger silver piece from his sleeve and slapped it onto the counter."These papers, we want them all! Go back and tell your master to come see me tomorrow!"The man i...