AWB Chapter 400: Tips for Mining
Chapter 400: Tips for Mining
Zhao Qiaoniang opened the wooden box directly. The first thing that caught her eye was several bound drawings, which were kept very neatly.
Unfold one of the pictures, and you will see that the complex architectural structure is outlined with fine lines, and every proportion and every detail of the mortise and tenon are clearly marked.
From the traditional mortise and tenon structure diagram to the unique bracket design, all of them demonstrate exquisite woodworking skills.
There are also some handwritten notes next to it, with vigorous handwriting, recording the key points in the construction process, material selection experience, and insights into different architectural styles.
For those who delve into carpentry and construction, these are undoubtedly invaluable treasures.
Zhao Qiaoniang smiled and said, "Cui Ya, take all these things to the little carpenter. He will definitely like them."
Cui Ya nodded quickly. If the little carpenter saw these things, he would definitely be very happy.
Below the blueprint, there was a leather-bound book with the words "Secrets of Mineral Discovery" written on the cover.
Open the book, and you will see simple drawings of various mountains and terrains on the inside pages. There are special marks on the direction of the mountains and the winding places of the rivers.
The book records in detail the method of determining the direction of mineral veins by observing natural phenomena such as terrain, vegetation, and soil color.
It also lists the characteristic clues of different minerals on the surface, such as the fact that plants near a certain mineral will appear in strange colors.
Between the lines, there is a summary of experience in exploring mineral veins.
Zhao Qiaoniang picked up the notebook and blew away the dust on it. As she turned the pages of the diary, a dusty past slowly unfolded.
The owner of the notebook is a rich kid who has been fascinated by mountains and rivers since childhood and has traveled all over the country.
His family has been engaged in the carpentry industry for generations, and their superb skills are well-known far and wide.
Their family also had the secret of finding minerals passed down from generation to generation. With this secret, the owner of the notes actually found several mineral veins during his travels.
By chance, this secret was discovered by someone and the news soon reached Shen Chongshan's ears.
Shen Chongshan was a ruthless man who would do anything to achieve his goal. Upon hearing the news, he immediately sent people to arrest the entire family of the owner of the notes.
Under coercion and inducement, the owner of the diary was forced to reveal the location of a tin mine.
The reserves of this tin mine alone are enough for Shen Chongshan to squander for a while.
Shen Chongshan wanted to trap him here and continue to make him spit out information about other mineral veins, but when he learned that his wife and two sons were killed by Shen Chongshan, he despaired.
He finally died of starvation.
Zhao Qiaoniang sighed and put the secret of finding minerals aside. She didn't have time to read it now.
They were quite fast and brought all the tin ore back to the camp in one night.
But how could so much ore be stored in the camp? In the end, Master Bai asked Huangmao to take more than 200 people to send the ore back to the mountain stronghold first.
There were still so many miners. Madam Bai looked at them and said, "Are you sure you want to go back to the village with me? If you do, then let's go back together!"
The miners nodded quickly. Some of them had families with them and wanted to return to the village to farm.
A large number of them wanted to stay and serve in the army. One of the men mustered up the courage to step forward, his voice earnest and a little nervous:
"General, please take us in! We are young and strong, and we want to do something for our country.
Don’t look at us as skinny and weak now, that’s because we didn’t have enough food to eat in the mine.
As long as we can eat, we can definitely fight!"
Huo Jun glanced at the group of miners and frowned slightly.
The miners were all skinny and had sunken cheeks.
As long as these people take proper care, they will recover quickly.
Moreover, during his brief previous contact with them, Huo Jun discovered that these miners were surprisingly strong.
He looked up and saw thousands of miners standing there densely packed.
Most of these miners are young and strong. If they can join the army and undergo training, they will definitely become a force that cannot be underestimated.
Gu Dongyang searched for a while and hurried over to report:
"There are 6960 miners in total, which is quite a large operation.
About 1500 of them planned to return to the mountain stronghold, and the remaining 5400 were willing to join the army."
Master Bai stroked his beard and asked, "Huo Jun, what do you think?"
Huo Jun scratched his head and said, "I welcome them to join, but we can't afford to support so many people."
Master Bai laughed and said, "What are you afraid of? The most important thing for you now is to change your mind. Do you really plan to continue following Shen Chongshan?"
Huo Jun snorted coldly and said, "I didn't know what kind of person he was before, but now I want to strangle him to death. How could I possibly let him fool me again?"
Master Bai sighed and said:
"Then the most important thing for you now is to develop yourself. Only when you are strong enough can you scare Shen Chongshan.
Otherwise, if he tells you to fight the Huns, you have to go.”
Huo Jun sighed: "That's exactly what I meant!"
Lin Wanwan was exhausted that night. When she arrived at the military camp, she fell asleep immediately.
When they woke up again, the camp was filled with the aroma of food. Madam Bai hugged Lin Wanwan and said, "Little girl, get up and eat!"
She wiped Lin Wanwan's face, then wiped her hands and said, "Today's lunch is chicken stewed with mushrooms. This pheasant was caught by the pacifiers. They really miss you."
Lin Wanwan held the pacifier and gave it a kiss, and the pacifier shook its head.
Milk tea translated: "Oh! It's all saliva. Wanwan, can you please not kiss me? I'm so shy."
Lin Wanwan glared at the pacifier and started eating lunch.
The pheasant mushroom soup exudes an enticing aroma, with porcini, king oyster mushrooms, morels, and some wild vegetables.
There is also a bowl of pumpkin porridge, the pumpkin is cooked into a mush, and it blends perfectly with the soft and glutinous rice porridge.
Lin Wanwan ate a bowl of porridge and drank two bowls of pheasant soup, and she felt extremely comfortable.
Mrs. Bai hugged her and said, "Let's go to the town today and see if there are any fields for sale here. I plan to buy some farmland here as well."
Now that they have money again, there is no point in keeping it. They have to support more people, not only the private army in the village, but also the regular army.
You have to buy more farms and stockpile more land.
Besides, more than 20 boxes of official silver and dozens of silver notes were found in Shen Chongshan’s military camp. We definitely cannot do without them.
Mrs. Bai asked the blacksmith to melt all the official silver. Last night, Liu Yanshi and the entire blacksmith shop were working overtime to catch up with the work.
The blacksmith was speechless and said, "Not only do we make weapons, we also have to melt gold and silver. This job is really tiring!"
Liu Yanshi smiled and said, "The old lady said that as long as we finish the work tonight, we will give each of us one or two taels of silver."
"What? How much? One tael of silver. Damn it! I used to work in a blacksmith shop and I couldn't even make that much in a year! I'm done."
"Bah! I worked so hard to run the shop for a year, and I only made a few taels of silver.
"You think it's so easy to run a blacksmith shop? The shop alone makes more than 10 taels of silver a year. Oh! I won't say more." said the blacksmith shop owner.