A secret room? Interesting.
Lu Yuan looked at Caoyuan.
"How big is this secret room?"
"It's said to be embedded in the underground rock formation. We can't estimate its full size, but it's not a small one."
"Interesting... Alright, you go gather the employees with stamina later. Form teams and set off as soon as possible. After Hart knows the outcome of this battle, he'll likely abandon the branch camp directly and transfer the valuable supplies inside. Our actions must be before that."
"Understood! Also..."
Caoyuan hesitated.
"About that, Executive Officer, how should we handle the prisoners of war?"
Lu Yuan: "They attacked Red Iron Town, so hand them over to the Town Chief for disposal."
Caoyuan: "They probably won't survive... Those people claim they were forced to become Raiders and that their crimes don't warrant death."
Lu Yuan smiled.
Crimes don't warrant death?
"That's simple. Take me to see them."
In the Town Chief's office courtyard, Lu Yuan saw the prisoners of war squatting with their heads in their hands against the wall.
"My deputy told me that some of you were forced to become Raiders. Those who fall into this category, raise your hands."
Everyone raised their hands.
"That's right! Sir! I was originally an honest villager, but then I was sold as a slave to the Stormwind Gang. I had no choice!"
"Me too!"
"I used to run a caravan, but then the Stormwind Gang robbed me. They forced me to kill people, and I had to join! Master, you must uphold justice for us!"
"The Stormwind Gang forced me to kill... kill my whole family! Yes! Kill my whole family!"
Lu Yuan looked at these Raiders expressionlessly.
"It is Red Iron Town that will sentence you. The outcome may be labor, or it may be execution. I don't care. But if it is execution, I will have the execution squad make it clean with guns.
"For those who were forced to join, I will have your respective villages come claim you. If the villagers confirm your story and forgive you, then that's that; if they cannot forgive you and resort to lynching, I will no longer fight for your privilege of execution by gun.
"Now, one last chance. Those who plan to return to their village to accept identification, raise your hands."
All hands were lowered.
If lynching was used, it would definitely be death by a thousand cuts until everyone vented their anger, followed by the most painful death imaginable.
These people had some idea of what kind of people they were.
The light in the prisoners' eyes disappeared, their expressions vacant, like breathing corpses.
"Handle it this way from now on," Lu Yuan said to Caoyuan, "Cangyuan has no obligation to reform them, nor the resources to do so, and especially no spare energy to investigate who is lying."
"Understood."
............
Seeing that Lu Yuan had arrived at the Town Chief's office, the Town Chief hurried over.
"Respected Executive Officer, thank you! Thank you for saving the town!"
Lu Yuan waved his hand.
"No need to thank me. I said before, the Stormwind Gang is a threat to Cangyuan's future development, and I must eliminate them no matter what. This attack provided a good opportunity; everything is just part of the cooperation we discussed before."
He was consciously trying to test and cultivate the contract awareness of these natives, preventing them from having the illusion that local values could be applied to future cooperation terms.
Even if Cangyuan helped Red Iron Town, it's not enough for you as Town Chief to just say a few words of thanks to be considered 'knowing gratitude and repaying kindness'.
If you want to maintain a cooperative relationship, then show visible sincerity.
"However, your militia performed very well this time. Their spirit and quality are quite compatible with Cangyuan. You should be proud of them."
"Of course! All of us think so," said the Old Town Chief.
"By the way, have you told the townspeople about Oasis City hiring the Stormwind Gang to attack the town?"
The Town Chief's throat twitched.
"Not yet..."
If this matter is officially confirmed, it will be impossible for Red Iron Town to continue submitting to Oasis City. Otherwise, the townspeople will definitely drag him down from the Town Chief position and beat him up.
Lu Yuan smiled.
"I think it's better to tell them as soon as possible."
The Town Chief knew this was not a suggestion.
"Of course! But as you know, the town's water, electricity, oil, and even food all come from Oasis City, especially the bulk of industrial water and electricity. If they are cut off, alloy production will be difficult to sustain. Currently, we need to purchase 1.8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, and the convoys delivering water and oil have to come every four or five days..."
Li Star also has 30 days in a month, averaging 60,000 kilowatt-hours per day, which is less than expected.
The player camp currently has 550 square meters of solar panels and corresponding metal hydrogen energy storage devices, which can generate 2000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day at low cost under strong sunlight.
No fuel is consumed during this period.
Those five 3D printers, if they produce solar panels at full capacity, have a daily output of 180 square meters.
In other words, considering the speed of Cangyuan's production expansion, it won't be long before a solar power station can be built near the town to meet daily electricity needs. The only problem is that this kind of power station is laid flat on the ground and is easily damaged by armed forces.
Therefore, clearing the nearby Raiders is very necessary.
If Cangyuan takes over Red Iron Town's energy supply in the future, it means a large amount of capital has been injected, which also means...
Lu Yuan's next plan was already taking shape in his mind.
"What are the town's reserves of water and food?" he asked.
Town Chief: "Only enough to last about two weeks. We don't have extra money to stockpile supplies. The metal purchase price offered by Oasis City doesn't support this idea at all!"
Lu Yuan: "It's alright, it's enough."
Town Chief: "Enough?"
Lu Yuan: "First of all, City Lord Ke'er doesn't know what happened here yet. He won't easily abandon a colony that provides him with more than half of his metal supply. He won't cut off the power immediately. When is the next water delivery caravan coming?"
Town Chief: "In the next two or three days."
Lu Yuan: "So they will see the damaged houses in the town then. I need you to feign that the town has been looted."
Town Chief: "No problem, but what then?"
Lu Yuan looked in the direction of Oasis City.
"Let's be frank, Mr. Town Chief. In the next month, Cangyuan's strength will increase rapidly. I will completely solve these two problems before the food and water reserves run out; in addition, Red Iron Town should increase metal production, and Cangyuan will definitely buy it all and offer a satisfactory price."
Outside the town, Caoyuan quickly formed a group, loaded the trucks, and struck while the iron was hot, preparing to take down the Stormwind Gang's southern, eastern, and northern camps one by one.
Victory Male God: "Let's go, let's go, set off, set off, this is awesome! Haven't had enough fun yet!"
Old Man Emitting Black Smoke: "The mission is expected to last seven or eight hours. You can briefly go offline in between to use the restroom and eat. Can you guys hold on?"
"Definitely! Hurry up!"
Seeing them ready to go, the militia and some villagers gathered around.
"Squad leader, are you going to eliminate the remaining Stormwind Gang? Why didn't you call us? We want to go too!"
Caoyuan looked at them with a righteous expression.
"The battle in Red Iron Town is over. Those who need to rest should rest, those who need to recover from injuries should recover, and for the rest, spend time with your families."
"But our families... well, they're following behind."
"Yeah, you should have said earlier that you were going to fight the Raiders," a middle-aged man said, "If I had known, I would have sent both my sons to participate in the militia training!"
Caoyuan's mood was a little complicated, and he didn't say anything.
At this moment, he had long forgotten that these people in front of him were "NPCs".
"The children's ideas have been fully discussed with us," an old man said, "They have all grown up and will be responsible for their own decisions. We all understand and are very supportive."
"Right! We are their parents. As an outsider, you may not realize what this means to us. You didn't see how many neighbors came to thank us just now! Let them go with you!"
Black Smoke patted Caoyuan's shoulder.
"Take them with you. Just consider them a few extra hands for loading. If there are heavy weapons in the enemy camps, just have them hide behind and not show their heads."
Caoyuan nodded.
"Alright then. Those who are injured stay behind, everyone else, hurry up and get in the truck!"