Mercenaries and Adventurers

Zhao Ji told Captain Proka about his capture plan.

First let people reinforce the route from the shore of the swamp to the small island. After the route is reinforced, they will bring in the custom-made deep wooden barrels and clay pots with lids, and put three or four on each island. indivual. Specifically, some deep pits for burying barrels and clay pots were dug in the center of the island.

These deep pits are arranged in the center of the island, leaving an open space in the center. Later in the evening, Zhao Guitar will hunt a few slime monsters and place the slime monster's corpse in the center of the island.

After that it's just waiting. Slime monsters will congregate and wander around dead slime monster corpses. As long as there are enough of them, slime monsters will drop into barrels and clay pots.

Zhao Ji, who was watching from a distance, would venture in and put the lids on the wooden barrels and clay pots.

Repeat this, until the daytime dawns, the slime monsters will hide from the sun and the sun will disperse. And Captain Proka can return to the city with the captured slime monster barrel and jar.

Captain Proka nodded after listening to Zhao Ji's plan, indicating that there is no problem. In the next engineering work, Keir should protect the team members working in the swamp first. He came to coordinate the overall work and protect the safety of the camp. The craftsmen of Punica took their hands to cut wood first, and then led them to bury wooden barrels and clay pots on the small swamp island.

Zhao Ji nodded to show that he understood.

For the next whole afternoon, Zhao Ji drove away some wild swamp animals in the swamp, some dangerous animals such as swamp water snakes, large stinging mosquitoes and sharp-toothed worms that like to eat meat.

The snake repelling stick that had not been used before also came in handy. Zhao Ji asked the craftsmen of Punica to make one on the spot. Occasionally, when the workers were strengthening the tree path, they found a green swamp water snake. Zhao Ji rushed over to use the snake driving stick to lift the swamp water snake to the open space, and then chopped the swamp water snake to death from the head with a long sword.

The body of the water snake was taken for dinner by the workers, but Zhao Ji didn't want to eat it. The main reason was that he felt that the animals in the swamp in the south of the city lived on the excrement of Kendall City. Zhao Ji felt a little disgusted when he thought about it. If he had no choice, Zhao Ji would never eat those things.

Mosquitoes in autumn are also a headache. Although the people of Kendall City live by the river, they all have the means and experience to deal with mosquitoes. But, that's an ordinary mosquito. The big wild mosquito in the swamp is not an ordinary thing. It is as big as two knuckles, and the thick and long sucking tube can feel painful and itchy just looking at it. Zhao Ji specially collected some swamp plants, crushed them and distributed them to everyone who came to the swamp, asking them to smear the juice of these things on every surface of the body that leaked out.

Some people aren't too happy about smearing these weird-tasting grass juices. But after being bitten by a wild mosquito in the swamp, he begged Zhao Ji to get them some grass juice to repel insects.

As for the sharp-toothed worms that like to eat meat, fortunately, this thing is relatively small and has no mobility. After Zhao Ji caught one and showed it to everyone involved in this operation, everyone put on tight leather boots or wooden shoes, and everyone tied up the opening of their trouser legs with fine hemp rope.

Although hindered by these things, the whole team moved very quickly. Everyone who came here seemed to have been fully fed by the Fick family with benefits before. They worked hard on logging, transporting, and laying. Zhao Ji himself also looked at the agreement of one silver coin for each slime monster, and worked hard. play its part.

The Punica craftsman was sweating profusely. While he was directing the loggers, he had to run to the swamp to bind the trunks and branches that would be laid on the tree path. After finishing these yesterday, he still has to instruct his cousin Captain Proka to lead the team to make lighting items.

Because there needs to be enough light at night to judge whether slime monsters have fallen into wooden barrels and clay pots.

Therefore, it is necessary to specially make a batch of lighting items to provide assistance for the capture operation at night.

Originally, this job was to be done by the craftsman of Punica, but he really couldn't leave now. Captain Proka can only be in charge of this.

Some lighting items that have been made were brought by Zhao Ji to the small island in the swamp. This thing was similar to the torch he had lit before, but it was obviously much better. The entire lighting item is in the shape of a torch, about one meter high, with a sharp thin tree trunk underneath, and a cross cut is specially split on it.

Because it is a newly cut tree, the whole trunk is still elastic for the time being, and thick branches are filled in the split place horizontally. The branches were stacked up to the top and filled with pieces of tattered burlap soaked in grease.

Zhao Ji dug a small deep pit with a dagger on the island, then inserted the lighting torch into it, and fixed it with moist soil. On each small island, Zhao Ji arranged three lighting torches in a triangle.

Wait until all the trees and trails between the islands are reinforced. Zhao Ji and Punika craftsmen led their hands to carry wooden barrels and pottery pots along the tree path to the small island in the swamp.

Wooden barrels are okay, but pots made of clay are still very heavy. Each clay pot required four people to carry it along the swaying tree path, and Zhao Ji also carried a clay pot.

Why did Zhao Ji ask Punika craftsmen to prepare heavy clay pots even though there were lighter wooden barrels?

The main reason is that Zhao Ji doesn't know which container can effectively capture slime monsters. After all, slime monsters have highly corrosive acid, and wooden barrels may not be able to withstand acid erosion. In order not to let the capture plan fail, the craftsmen of Punica specially prepared a batch of several clay pots.

"Hey, hey, everyone, be careful where you step, and step on the right place before you step. Don't step on the air. Hey, hey." Zhao Ji reminded other people who carried things while lifting a corner of the clay pot three people.

The only response to him was tired panting and a simple answer.

After a whole afternoon of busy work, everyone was already very tired, and everyone lost the momentum and vitality they had at the beginning.

Zhao Ji was so busy going in and out that he didn't have any more strength. He decided that later on he'd have to start gathering energy for the night's catch, and he'd have to rest for a while.

Each small island is evenly arranged with three traps, two wooden barrels, and one clay pot. The pits for these things had been dug in advance by other hands with shovels. The Punica craftsman directs the hands to carefully place the pot upright into the dug pit. In the short time since these pits were dug and put into clay pots, a lot of water had already accumulated in these pits.

When digging the pit, some people said that there were many black vine-like arm-thick root systems of unknown plants in the pit. As a result, when Zhao Ji rushed over to look at it, the things said by the hands were gone, and they were all shrunk into the wet and soft soil.

Zhao Ji secretly guessed that it might be the root system of the weird plant that he saw during the full moon. But tonight is not a full moon, and this is not the center of the swamp, so Zhao Ji doesn't care about that.

After comforting the frightened workers, Zhao Ji said that those things may be some aquatic plants with well-developed roots in the swamp. As for why they shrank, it must be because they are afraid of the brilliant power of the sun, so there is no need to be afraid.

Except for this kind of thing, the whole operation was completed smoothly.

After all the wooden barrels and clay pots were buried, Zhao Ji placed the lids of these things left by the craftsmen of Punica on the edge of the exit of the swamp, and returned to the camp on the west side of the swamp.

After an afternoon of exhaustion, all the people gathered in every corner of the camp either leaning or lying down. The Punica craftsman even lay down in the carriage of the donkey cart and fell asleep.

Captain Proka, who did not participate in the direct labor, was still full of energy. He was preparing dinner for everyone. He also asked Keir if he would like to have a portion too, and Zhao Ji asked what to eat? Captain Proka replied that it was new wheat bread with dipping sauce. There were three kinds of dipping sauces: soybean paste, meat sauce, mushroom sauce, and a pot of chicken and vegetable soup with extra salt.

As soon as Zhao Ji heard that there were quite a lot of types of sauce, he also felt that his body was a little lack of salt and fatigue, so he ordered a portion.

As dusk came, the whole camp was filled with the smell of food. Captain Proka didn't talk about his skills, but at least his cooking skills were obviously very high. As soon as Zhao Ji tasted the salted chicken and vegetable soup he made, he couldn't stop. His body directly controlled his hands to send the vegetable soup to Zhao Ji's mouth.

After working hard all afternoon, my body sweated profusely. At this moment, I needed salt supplementation.

"Wow, it's delicious." Zhao Ji exclaimed, and everyone else also praised Captain Proka's superb cooking skills. Zhao Ji then took a piece of bread made of fresh wheat, tore it open, skewered it with clean branches, put it in the campfire and heated it briefly, then took it out and dipped it in soy sauce.

Soybean paste is just plain soybean paste, which is a paste of mashed soybeans and a few other things that have been pickled in salt. It tastes ok, without the taste of other soy sauces that have been left for a long time. Zhao Ji asked Captain Proka; "Is this bean paste freshly made? I don't think it has the stale taste of other old bean paste."

"Yes, this batch of bean paste was made after I returned to Kendall City, and the two meat sauces and mushroom sauce are also the same. How is it? Not bad, Punica?" Captain Proka gulped down the soup Go back, and ask the Punica Artisan.

"It's not bad, but if you feel satisfied with this, then you have to go to the best tavern in the city to try the meal there." Said the Punica craftsman who was also chomping on the bread and dipping sauce.

"Huh? Humph! I'm not bragging. I've been traveling all these years. Not to mention my martial arts skills, I have learned a lot. At least I have eaten all the food in half of the empire's provinces. You won't believe it when you tell me about some food. How delicious! Punica, just staying in Kendall City, nothing will improve, and your leatherworking skills will never improve." Captain Proka faced the Punica craftsman Rebutted to.

Zhao Ji ignored the bickering between the two, and tried the meat sauce again. Sure enough, this meat sauce is very delicious, and many people are scrambling to dip the meat sauce. Zhao Ji squeezed in and dipped a large lump of meat sauce on the bread, spread the meat sauce evenly on the bread, and bit into it, Zhao Ji could feel the aroma of fat in his mouth, and then the elasticity of the meat particles. The sauce is soft and tangy, and the meat is even and full. With the natural fragrance of the new bread wheat, the whole person squinted his eyes in satisfaction.

When Zhao Ji came back to his senses, he had already eaten all the bread. I wanted to eat another piece of bread with meat sauce, but it turned out that all the meat sauce had been divided up by everyone. Captain Proka even turned the jar of the gravy upside down, and there was nothing left.

Zhao Ji thought that anyway, he still had barbecue steaks and beer with him, so he could secretly eat them in the swamp later. So stop eating now.

Returning to his bedding, Zhao Ji seized the opportunity to take a rest while it was still dark at dusk.

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After squinting for a while, Zhao Ji felt that it was getting dark, so he got up and got ready.

At this time, the Punica craftsman came over and said to Zhao Ji: "That guy Puluoka just kept preventing me from coming over to wake you up, saying that you must accumulate enough energy before the battle? Keel, it's getting dark now Now, the capture should start, right?"

Zhao Ji glanced at the Punica craftsman and said: "I have been tired for so long in the afternoon, so I don't need to accumulate more energy now. Is it you or me who will catch it later. That's all right, you all will stay in the camp tonight Just rest, all the preparations have been completed perfectly before. According to my plan, let’s see mine next!”

Zhao Ji stood up, sorted out his equipment, and stuffed the barbecue steak and beer into his clothes grandiosely, taking advantage of the poor light of the campfire in the camp.

After getting an affirmative reply from Kiel, the craftsman of Punica returned to the crowd and told the others that they could have a good rest tonight. Captain Proka was sitting on the top of the donkey cart, and when he saw that Kiel was about to set off, he threw something over for him.

Zhao Ji caught it, and it was soft. Looking through the firelight, it was an unknown fruit with milky white skin the size of a fist.

"That thing is called Sunshine Flower Fruit. It's not a plant fruit, but a flower of a certain plant. As long as it is squeezed, it can flow out a dazzling plant juice. Keel, if you are in danger, lift it up and squeeze it If I see it, I will go and save you." Captain Proka pointed to the strange thing he threw to Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji smiled. In fact, he didn't need this thing to ask Proka for help. Based on his ability and experience, the swamp in the south of the city is just like his house, you can get in and out when you want. There is no need for others to rescue.

But this is also someone else's kindness, so it's okay to accept it for the time being, just put it on the edge of the swamp in a while. After all, this thing is not small, unless it is packed in clothes, it is not easy to carry.