Chapter 610 Where there are mines, there is Wesson’s army
"Can you climb up?"
"No problem! There is no way for a layman to climb straight up and down. You have to climb diagonally."
Zickel geared up at the foot of the cliff. This nearly 400-meter-high cliff seemed difficult to climb, but there was a way up diagonally.
Metzger patted him on the shoulder and said: "Work hard, don't be afraid of falling, we will catch you."
Zirkel nodded, tightened his backpack, did warm-up exercises for a while, and started climbing.
He suddenly jumped onto the almost vertical rock wall, stretched out his hand to grab a bulge, and clung to the stone like a gecko lying on the wall.
Several magicians at the bottom of the cliff were ready to catch people immediately if they fell.
Zikkel followed the route he had chosen under the cliff, sometimes turning left and sometimes right. The howling wind had no great impact on him, and it took him half an hour to climb to the platform halfway up the mountain.
More than ten minutes later, the walkie-talkie in Metzger's hand rang: "Company Commander, can you hear me?"
He immediately replied: "Yes, the sound is very clear."
Zikr said: "Company Commander, I have an intelligence report."
Metzger was shocked. This was clearly the highest level of information. He immediately walked aside, lowered his voice and said, "Just tell me."
After Zickel's report, Metzger's eyes widened and he immediately said: "Start installing the rope ladder as soon as you have a rest. This matter will be kept confidential and I will report it immediately."
The area of this platform is about the size of a football field. There are several large rocks at the back of the mountain. They fell down at an unknown time and are piled together.
Zickel took out several large bundles of relatively thin ropes from his backpack, tied one to the two largest rocks, then connected several bundles of ropes end to end, and finally lowered them down the mountain one by one.
The length of the rope was sufficient, and Crom immediately tied the winches and hangers that had been packaged separately to the rope in batches and asked Zikr to pull up.
This winch is made of steel and connected with screws and nuts. Because we were worried about losing it during transportation and installation, we shipped twice as many screws and five more screwdrivers.
Zirkel installed the chassis of the winch and hanger, chose a flat and solid ground, drilled holes in the ground with a magic drill, and then fixed the chassis with expansion bolts.
After the entire winch was installed, he coiled part of the rope and pulled on a thicker, stronger, and heavier rope.
The next step is to arrange the safety rope, then hoist Zobel, and fix the ladder sections to the cliff with expansion bolts.
Metzger and Crom's team climbed up the ladder and hoisted various materials to set up observation posts and radio stations.
Metzger asked Zickel: "Where?"
Zirkel pointed to the falling rock and said: "Behind the falling rock."
There is a gap as wide as a person between the falling rocks and the cliff, and there is a cave behind it.
Metzger went in first with a light in one hand and a pistol in the other, followed by Zickel.
"Hiss..."
Metzger gasped.
This is a mine. After walking more than ten meters, the rock wall of the cave ahead is covered with light blue magic crystals.
"You have done a great job!" Metzger patted Zikker on the shoulder. "This is an unfinished magic crystal mine. It may have been abandoned due to the war. It is exactly what we need."
The Wesson Army's air guns, mortars and implosion machines all use wind magic crystals as energy sources. With this mine, the logistical pressure is greatly reduced.
Zikr said: "Company commander, do you think the other side of the mine will be at a lower level?"
Metzger took out a piece of paper towel from his pocket, rolled it into a strip, lit it, then held it flat to reduce the impact of breathing, and carefully observed the direction of the flame.
"There is no wind coming out of the depths." He frowned, "Maybe it was blocked by a landslide at the other end, and the vent was blocked for too long."
"There is no rush now. We will wait until the main force arrives later to install some ventilation equipment, otherwise the poisonous gas in the depths will suffocate people to death."
"You can place your campsite at the entrance of the cave without being blown by the wind."
After he went out, he called Chrom over and told them not to go too deep.
There is air exchange near the cave entrance, and there is no air flow deep inside, so there may be poisonous gas.
Metzger reported the situation to Eugene, who immediately reported it to Frederick. Frederick was studying primitive iron-wood structure containers in the city of La Cobriga. After receiving the news, he didn't even eat, and he immediately took turns driving to the front line with Tony.
Later, someone asked a question: Is there a Wesson Army where there are mines, or is there a mine where there is a Wesson Army.
Frederick also thought about this problem on the way.
When Frederick arrived, Eugene had already arranged for people to install a lot of ventilation equipment in the mine.
That is to pull over the light engines and propellers of the Air Force Experimental Brigade and motorcycles, and then find a way to build a shelf to blow air inside.
The person walking at the front is carrying a chicken coop with a rope tied around his waist. If the chickens in the cage become impatient, they will immediately retreat. If someone falls, the people behind him will immediately pull them out.
The surveying and mapping team followed behind, constantly calculating the distance, angle and drop of the mine tunnel, and making a full-scale model out of clay.
This matter was not hidden from Grand Duke Suarez, but he did not say anything else. He only said that he would let Wesson's army conduct the survey first, and he would let others look through the pile of old papers.
The large force has not yet arrived at the fortress area, so Eugene came first with the frontline headquarters and was also responsible for survey matters.
Frederick climbed onto the platform, first shook hands with Crom and everyone in his class to express condolences, and then encouraged Zikkel before entering the tent next to the mine.
The rocks in front of the mine have been removed and you can go in directly.
The tent was not big, and it was almost full of Eugene and the technicians of the surveying and mapping team. Frederick was a little crowded after entering.
"How is it?" Frederick asked, "Is there a lot of ore?"
Eugene said: "Reporting to the principal, we speculate based on the direction of the existing mine tunnel that the other end of the mine tunnel is at the foot of the mountain on the back side of the mountain. It is initially judged that it is buried by a landslide."
"According to Mr. Dennis's exploration, this is a rich mine with extremely high mining value."
"Sir Dickson found traces of the road on the back of the mountain and will soon be able to find another entrance."
"We found a few gold coins scattered in the mine, and Princess Penelope recognized them as the currency of a pagan country about five hundred years ago."
Frederick nodded, went down to the mine to take a look, and shook hands cordially with every officer and soldier participating in the survey.
When he reached the deepest point and asked about the mental state of the two chickens, Eugene ordered everyone to evacuate through the intercom.
Eugene said to Frederick: "Your Excellency Dickson found the location of the mine, which was covered by a collapsed mountain. He wanted to cut the passage."
Frederick scratched his head, "Good guy, I sent the sword master here to control the market, but I didn't expect it to turn into mining."
He communicated with Dixon through a large walkie-talkie. The mountain collapsed on the opposite side was close to 100 meters.
Frederick ordered him to cut an inverted trapezoidal passage with a gentler slope to avoid secondary collapse.
After more than ten minutes, a strong air flow blew out of the mine, and the surroundings were filled with the smell of decay, which was quickly blown away by the strong wind.
An hour later, Dixon, who was supposed to be on the other side of the mountain, walked out of the cave and reported to Frederick: "Commander, the mine has been opened."
Frederick asked him: "How is the road inside? Can the artillery be pulled up and an artillery position built?"
Dixon replied: "I'm afraid this won't work. The road in the mine tunnel below has been deliberately destroyed. There are obvious defenses along the way. Magic crystals have formed in many places."
"If we use drastic methods to open the way, it is likely to trigger a chain explosion of magic crystals, and half of the mountain will fly away."
Frederick nodded and told him to take a good rest.
He had already thought about it and was going to tell Archduke Suarez that he could use this mine as a mortgage to build the railway.
At the same time, he looked to the west and could see the woods and castle in the distance.
"Eugene," Frederick said suddenly, "prepare some medicines and easy-to-sell goods for me. I'll go and have a look tomorrow."
Eugene glared at Metzger and said to Frederick: "Principal, this is too dangerous."
Frederick smiled and said: "It's okay, I will run back if I see something is wrong."
(End of chapter)