In times of chaos and famine, I traded one pound of rice for two royal flushes.

Qin Shaolang's gaze swept calmly across each person's face. He offered neither comfort nor threat, but spoke slowly in a tone that stated the facts.

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"My name is Qin Shaolang, and I am the owner of this place."

"I will buy you all, but I will not keep slaves in my valley."

A slight commotion arose in the crowd. No slaves? What does that mean?

"From today onward, you must remember three rules."

"First, here, if you can work, you can eat your fill. Men build houses and clear land, women spin and cook. What you build with your own hands is your own home. Anyone who dares to slack off or cheat will be kicked out."

"Second, absolute obedience to orders. My words are the rule here. Anyone who dares to disobey or pull any tricks behind our backs, I won't hesitate to let you know that the wolves in the mountains haven't had meat in a long time."

These words carried a chilling intent, sending a shiver down everyone's spine. They had no doubt that this young man was capable of doing what he said.

"Third," Qin Shaolang paused, his gaze sharpening, "Forget your past. Whether you were farmers, craftsmen, or anything else before, here you have only one identity—people of the valley. Anyone who dares to bring in outside grudges will face my ruthlessness."

The three rules are simple, direct, and imbued with an unquestionable authority.

There are no false promises, only the stark rules of survival.

However, for these refugees who had been struggling in despair for so long, these words did not frighten them; instead, they rekindled a spark of hope in the eyes of many.

If you can work, you can eat your fill.

This was the most genuine and beautiful promise they had ever heard in their lives.

After Qin Shaolang finished speaking, he said no more. He turned to Su Jin and said, "Su Jin, take the women to the stream and let them wash up. Then get them some clean clothes. The big pot in the kitchen should still be warm. Give each of them a bowl of hot porridge to tide them over."

He then looked at Chu Wu: "Chu Wu, take some men to register them. Make sure they know their names, ages, and special skills. Then take the men to the open space to the east and build them temporary shacks using tarpaulins and wood."

The orders were issued one by one, clearly and efficiently.

Throughout the valley, the machine, which had just come to a standstill, started running again with even greater power.

Su Jin responded and walked to the group of anxious women. She said softly, "Sisters, please come with me. Let's go wash up first; the children are starving."

Her voice was gentle, carrying a reassuring power. The women who had been tense relaxed a little when they saw her and then looked at Su Tang, who was equally clean and tidy beside her.

Led by Su Jin, the women, with their children, silently walked towards the stream.

Qin Shaolang, on the other hand, went straight to the craftsmen that Chu Wu had specifically pointed out.

He first walked up to the dark-faced blacksmith named Wang Tiezhu.

Wang Tiezhu was a burly man, but at this moment he looked like a child who had made a mistake, nervously rubbing his calloused hands.

"What did you play before?" Qin Shaolang asked.

"Replying to... Master, I... I can make hoes, sickles, and kitchen knives... I can also make some horseshoes..." Wang Tiezhu stammered in response.

Qin Shaolang nodded and then asked, "Can you make bellows? Can you burn the clay for the furnace?"

These two questions startled Wang Tiezhu. These were the blacksmith's core skills; ordinary people wouldn't ask such detailed questions. He quickly nodded, "Yes! I know them all!"

"Very good." Qin Shaolang didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he squatted down, picked up a twig, and started drawing on the muddy ground at his feet.

He drew quickly, his lines simple yet precise. A prototype of a furnace, completely different from those of the present era, appeared on the ground. It was taller, more enclosed, and had a strange opening on its side.

"Have you ever seen this kind of blast furnace before?" Qin Shaolang asked, pointing to the blueprints on the ground.

Wang Tiezhu and his sons stared wide-eyed at the simple diagram on the ground. They couldn't understand what it meant, but with their ancestral intuition, they could sense that this stove... was no ordinary object!

"This...this is..." Wang Tiezhu's lips trembled. He had never seen such a strange furnace before.

Qin Shaolang's voice rang out calmly: "Using it, you can refine iron ten times better than what you're using now. Do you dare to try?"

"I dare! Of course I dare!"

Wang Tiezhu practically roared it out.

His voice was hoarse with excitement, and his large, bell-like eyes were fixed on the scribbled yet mind-blowing graphic on the ground, as if trying to etch it into his mind.

As a blacksmith, nothing could stimulate his senses more than the words "better iron".

"Master... no, sir! This... this furnace, can it really produce ten times better quality iron?" Wang Tiezhu's eldest son, who was also his eldest apprentice, asked in a trembling voice behind him.

Qin Shaolang stood up, patted the dirt off his hands, and looked as calm as if he had just casually drawn a chicken.

"Ten times is just a conservative estimate."

He didn't explain much about heat accumulation, blower efficiency, or carbothermal reduction reaction. Explaining these concepts to these ancient craftsmen would be like casting pearls before swine.

He only needs to give the most direct orders in a way that they can understand.

"I don't care what method you use, I need to see the basic structure of this blast furnace within three days. Just tell Chu Wu how many people you need. As for the materials you need—yellow clay, stones, refractory clay—have others find them for you. Your task is to build it for me."

Qin Shao's tone left no room for negotiation; it was a pure command, a command based on absolute confidence.

Wang Tiezhu and his sons, far from feeling offended, were instead shaken, a long-lost surge of hot blood rushing from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads.

For countless years, they have been tending to their ancestral furnaces, the quality of the ironware they forge depending half on their skill and half on fate. They have considered making improvements, but with generations of their ancestors living this way, who knows where to begin?

And now, this excessively young new owner, with a casual stroke of his pen, has pointed them to a path they had never imagined before!

"Don't worry, sir!" Wang Tiezhu pounded his chest with a loud thud. "Don't even mention three days, two days! Within two days, even if we don't eat or drink, we'll set up this stove for you!"

"Eating and sleeping are both essential," Qin Shaolang interrupted him calmly. "What I need is a working blast furnace, not a bunch of exhausted soldiers. Go, lead the men with Chu Wu, and start planning now."

Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Wang Tiezhu was overjoyed. He led his sons and practically ran towards Chu Wu, constantly muttering words like "blast furnace" and "air intake," his expression as fanatical as a madman.