Chapter 134 Black Courtyard
Meng Ge and his party returned to Vaes Dothrak in the middle of the night. During this time, except for a few pauses, they had been walking non-stop for several hours.
After entering the Holy City, everyone immediately dispersed to rest, but before dawn, they were summoned again.
It was Kaa's bloodriders who woke everyone up. Under their guidance, everyone walked forward along the narrow slopes.
I didn't meet anyone along the way, and I didn't hear any strange noises. There was only the light of the torch in the hand of the armored warrior, leading the way like a will-o'-the-wisp.
The further you go, the wider and gentler the slope becomes. There are no forks or buildings on either side of the road, and the ground under your feet is extremely flat, with no weeds or potholes.
It was obvious that the place they were walking on was a very important road that had been carefully cleaned.
They walked like this for about forty minutes, heading straight towards the west of the city. If we look at the straight-line distance, it was probably about two miles.
As the group of people walked faster and faster, their spirits became tense in the silence, and they felt like they were being peeped.
Sometimes you can hear, or think you hear, scattered footsteps that are not echoes coming from both sides of the road.
Soon after, they came to a brightly lit, open and vast place, with a wide arch standing in front of everyone's eyes.
The warriors guarding the door were also Kaa's bloodriders, but they were dressed very differently. They were covered from head to toe in black scale-like tower-shaped armor, making their entire bodies look extremely tall.
They lined up in a row, holding a huge two-handed sword in their hands, and stood there silently. The only eyes exposed were as dark as the abyss, seeming to say that no one was allowed to enter.
Everyone stopped in unison and looked around.
Office Officer Ofo showed a questioning look and looked at the Blood Guards who were responsible for guiding the way. Seeing that they were all silent, he didn't know what to do and turned around and said to everyone:
"I didn't know this place existed at all. You should all be the same as me. It's best for us to stay here and wait. You know what I mean!"
Hearing this, Nohat nodded seriously and looked at the armor on the gatekeeper with interest.
Bachelor Bass Potter's curiosity made him want to look inside. Behind the arch, he discovered a light-filled stone mansion.
After a while, there was still silence all around. However, a faint knocking sound came from the house not far away: dong dong, dong dong.
Although the sound was short and slight, it became very obvious in the open place. Everyone listened attentively. When the echo disappeared, they continued to hear the continuous banging sound of bang, bang, bang, clang.
The bachelor seemed to be very familiar with this sound. He nodded frequently to the rhythm of tapping and said with an excited smile:
"Unless my ears are broken, this must be the sound of a hammer."
"That's right." Ofer rubbed his tired eyebrows, tilted his head and glanced at Bass Potter, and said in a low voice: "The paper on Qohor's forging technology is your proud work."
"I know what this is about!"
The bachelor stretched his body indifferently and showed Nohat his right prosthetic limb that was almost the same color as his skin. Then he glanced at the armor on the guard and muttered:
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"I haven't seen this kind of forging work since the day I left Qohor."
"Only the most elite blacksmiths of Qohor are able to bleed color into the metal rather than paint the surface."
At this moment, a faint light lit up from the east, and a group of cavalry galloped from a distance. Their footsteps disturbed a lot of dust on the ground.
Meng Ge reined in his horse in front of everyone. He reached out and waved away the tall guards in front of the door. He greeted the three bachelors first and then said:
"Don't waste time at the door, hurry in! There are some genuine things in here, which is our only hope to solve the blockage of Panshi River."
Then they passed through the archway and entered the gleaming mansion. As they entered the courtyard, the beating became more intense, and a warm, warm air rushed toward them from within.
What caught everyone's attention was the swirling gray smoke. They were floating in the air in groups, or falling to the ground and running around, not knowing where to hide. It was a bit of a strange atmosphere.
A gentle breeze blew in the distance, and the fog veil was rolled up, revealing dark brown sand pits.
Meng Ge noticed the puzzled expressions on Ofer and Nohat's faces, and explained:
"This is the general workshop I created. There are ten locations throughout Vaes Dothraki. They are mainly responsible for mining, smelting, forging weapons, and developing and manufacturing new military equipment. I will build similar workshops in the future. Produces various utensils and handicrafts.”
"What you are seeing now is part of the smelting process. The temperature required for ironmaking is very high, so wood with higher burning heat must be used to make carbon. The smoke is emitted by the carbon burned in the covering soil. "
As the words fell, the smoke was slowly blown away by the wind, and everyone saw the entire courtyard clearly for the first time. It was surrounded by painted black walls, and there were many earth-covered sand pits on the ground, like neatly arranged tombs.
They also saw three obscure black stone doors on the wall, one directly opposite them, and one on each side.
All this made Ofer and the others feel a little dizzy. Their thoughts could not help but drift back to the black-armored warriors outside the door, to the mines on Iban Island, and to the era of the Dothraki.
Everyone kept blinking and fell into silence, feeling that even the smoke here had become priceless.
Mungo led them to carefully bypass the earth pit in the courtyard and walk to the stone door opposite, while pointing to the left and right:
"Behind the door on the left is smelting and forging. The sound you hear now comes from there. It is very dangerous inside, so you should not go in to visit."
"On the right is the military equipment workshop. The craftsmen here can make siege towers, wheeled battering rams, catapults, giant crossbows and many other siege equipment. They are now imitating the crossbow of Mir that shoots three crossbow arrows at a time, and want to make further improvements to the crossbow machine to shorten the archer's stringing time."
Soon, everyone stood in silence in front of the stone door opposite. Ofer thought of the scene when Kao and he met at the Sarn River. Everything seemed to have happened thousands of years ago.
As Mungo slowly pushed open the stone door, they gradually woke up and looked behind the door, eager to explore the secrets here, but they saw that the whole place seemed to have been looted and burned.
The ground was covered with pits of varying sizes, scattered with rubble and many animal carcasses, as well as broken gun handles, round shields and armor. Black blood and charred soil were mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish one from the other.