flstandardbreds Chapter 134: Natives of the Forest
Chapter 134: Natives of the Forest
Spring 1447 North Midland Forest
"Hey, hey."
"The tree is about to fall, be careful!"
With the sound of a tree stump breaking, a tree more than 20 meters long fell heavily to the ground, splashing a cloud of dust. Immediately, some people surrounded the tree, cut off the branches at the top of the tree, and chopped the tree into several pieces according to size with axes, which were then transported to the lumberyard at the foot of the mountain.
Ever since the army of the previous King of Midlan razed the area, local residents have been forced to cut down local trees in exchange for various supplies.
However, those pieces of wood that could obviously be exchanged for a lot of money were transported to the sawmill at the foot of the mountain, but what they got was only a silver coin and beatings and scolding from the timber merchant.
In order to get this silver coin, the indigenous people had to climb up the mountain and cut wood surrounded by wild beasts and mosquitoes. They were often killed by wild beast attacks or by being hit by trees that were not careful.
Several natives who were carrying trees down the mountain were walking on a small path in the mountains, and from time to time they had to observe whether there were any wild animals attacking them. However, there have been basically no attacks by wild animals in recent years. Since the nobles of Midland like hunting, they would bring their guards into the hunting grounds for hunting every few days. Coupled with fur traders and poachers, it has become difficult to see large wild carnivores in the area.
"Be careful, there is a path ahead." The leading aboriginal reminded the people behind him. Although it was called a path, it was actually a steep cliff that people could walk on, with a rushing waterfall next to it. Because no one had walked on it before, the trees on this mountain were spared from being cut down by the aboriginals. However, due to excessive cutting of other forests, the aboriginals had to choose to cut down the trees on this mountain.
After tying the wood to their backs with ropes, the group carefully moved along the mountain. Walking on this path requires extreme caution, as the ground underfoot is only wide enough to accommodate the soles of the feet, so the aborigines often accidentally fall off the cliff and are swept into the waterfall while carrying wood.
However, no one knew whether their luck was too bad this time or they were regarded as heretics by the God of Light. Just as they were moving carefully, a stone under the feet of an indigenous person suddenly loosened and fell down. The indigenous person lost his balance and slid to the edge of the cliff.
"Help!" The native hugged the stone pillar next to him and shouted loudly in panic. Hearing the cry for help from behind, everyone hurried back to save people.
"Give me your hand!" an aboriginal stretched out his hand and said to the people below. When his hand reached down, a huge weight seemed to pull him off the cliff.
"No, it's too heavy and I can't pull it up!"
"Throw away the wood!" The leading aboriginal said to the aboriginals below after seeing it.
After choosing between his life and money, the native immediately untied the rope, and the wood fell down the waterfall under the cliff. Everyone quickly pulled him up.
Looking at the washed away wood, the aboriginal looked disappointed. The leading aboriginal comforted him:
"Don't be sad, life is the most important thing. How can you transport wood without your life?"
However, when they reached the foot of the mountain and just put down the wood, the natives were greeted with angry curses from the timber merchants.
"What's wrong with you natives? You can't even carry wood. Look at the mud on the wood. How can you expect me to process it?"
The angry timber merchants cursed the natives with spitting words.
"It's just a little bit of mud on it, the bark is not broken, the main body of the wood is fine. Anyway, you will have to wash the wood and peel it when you get to the lumber mill." The leading aboriginal responded, but this attracted even more fierce rebukes from the timber merchant.
"Barbarians are barbarians. Do you know how valuable this wood is? After being processed and manufactured layer by layer, the wood sent here will be turned into valuable furniture and sold to nobles. Do you think those nobles will still buy furniture after hearing that the wood used to make furniture is covered with mud? They really don't know anything."
"You know that this wood is valuable, but you still pay us such low wages. You make so much money, but the wages we get for working so hard are just enough to barely make ends meet." At this time, an indigenous person complained to the timber merchant, which resonated with the indigenous people present.
"Yes, this money is really too little, not even enough to buy an axe."
"If you pay us more, we will definitely give you the wood in its original condition in the future."
Upon hearing that these formerly low-ranking natives dared to accuse the higher-ranking Mitlan people to their faces, the timber merchant flew into a rage and immediately slapped one of the natives:
"How dare you, lowly natives, accuse us, the Mitlan people."
"What do you mean we are inferior? Without people like us, how could your sawmill have wood? Today, someone almost fell into the waterfall while carrying wood." The leading aboriginal couldn't stand it anymore and questioned.
"Really?" The timber merchant looked at the aboriginal who almost fell off the cliff, took a closer look and asked:
"Where's your wood?"
"Uh, I accidentally fell into the waterfall..."
As soon as the native finished speaking, he was slapped to the ground by the timber merchant. Just as the timber merchant wanted to kick him to vent his hatred, the native next to him grabbed his collar and threw him out.
"Stop being so unreasonable!"
Fortunately, there was a pile of wood behind the timber merchant, so he did not fall to the ground headfirst. He was so angry that he immediately shouted:
"Someone come, there's trouble!"
Immediately, a dozen thugs came to the timber merchant and confronted the natives.
Just as the two sides were about to start fighting, an angry shout stopped their next action.
"Stop it all!"
Then, an old man wrapped in a long robe stood and slowly walked between the two sides.
"Chief, this timber merchant not only refused to pay us, but also beat our people." When the leading aboriginal told the chief, he was scolded by the chief:
"Shut up."
Then the chief said to the timber merchant:
"Sir, our people just didn't pay you the wood they were supposed to pay. You can choose not to pay, but why are you beating them?"
The timber merchant was immediately furious when he heard what the old man said:
"Why, do I have to ask you if I can beat someone up? If you don't bring me a whole piece of wood, you're going to get beaten!"
"Really? If that's the case, my people will deliver wood to other sawmills in the future." The old man looked at the timber merchant coldly and said.
"You!" Although the timber merchant felt angry after hearing this, there was nothing he could do. There were more than one timber mills here. If these natives really went to deliver wood to other timber mills, his timber mill would definitely go bankrupt.
"Okay! But these people won't get paid today!" After saying that, the timber merchant angrily entered the sawmill.
"Chief!" The leading aboriginal wanted to say something, but was interrupted by the chief:
"You guys leave and take the injured to the clinic for treatment."