Iron Powder and Spellcaster

[Wasteland, where gold is buried]

The tranquility of the valley was broken again, and the uninvited guests came and came again.

This time is not like last time, only three knights sneaked in. This time, Winters led all the men and horses and drove into the valley openly.

The Golden Horde Guards of the Chihe tribe have posted sentries widely outside the valley to intercept any herdsmen and hunters who may appear.

The Tiefeng County envoys set up camp in the valley. The hoardings and curtains of the six carriages were removed for the first time since they left Tiefeng County. It was also the first time that Winters' men saw the true identity of the "mysterious cargo":

Furnaces, crucibles, molds, refractory bricks, blast boxes, prefabricated lifting machinery...

Seeing a familiar guy, a goldsmith who had repaired a horseshoe suddenly felt a sore nose.

…

Long before setting off from Tiefeng County, Winters, Bud, and Mason had repeatedly discussed "How can we safely recover the Golden Man?"

The three of them unanimously agreed: just exposing the location of the Golden Man would mean huge risks to the weak mission;

The wasteland is always a hostile land. The best way to deal with the gold people is to reach a deal with the Chihe tribe and exchange the gold people for gold or goods of equivalent value;

If the above plan cannot be realized, the person who withdraws the money should be detained and... destroyed on the spot with the understanding and protection of the Chihe Department.

That's right, it's destruction.

The golden man worshiping the sky can only be used as gold in Plato. Apart from being used to show off his martial arts, it has almost no attached value.

Rather than walking around the wilderness with an eye-catching golden statue, it would be better to simply destroy it and remelt it into gold bars to take home.

During the negotiation process with the White Lion, Winters found that the White Lion was not interested in the Golden Man, but he also realized that the White Lion did not mind providing some reasonable help in destroying the Golden Man.

In this way, the fate of the most sacred objects in the Hed tribe was decided.

…

When the tarpaulins of the last two carts were lifted, they were filled not with tools, but with some kind of black-gray stones.

"Stone?" Someone was puzzled.

How many trucks of tools are the mysterious cargo that we worked so hard to transport? And stones?

The blacksmith from the mission stepped forward, picked out a black stone, weighed it, and turned back with a smile: "What stone? It's obviously coal!"

"Coke," Balian said softly.

"It's coke." Winters walked into the crowd of spectators holding a cane, and nodded slightly to Balian with approval: "Processed coal."

Worried about not being able to find enough fuel in the wilderness, Winters even traveled thousands of miles to bring two loads of coke. He was so well prepared that he would not leave Heard Moor until two tons of gold were in hand.

Winters walked to the front of the crowd and glanced at his subordinates: "Have you seen enough excitement?"

"[Scattered monosyllabic words of submission and approval]."

He smiled: "Then let's work!"

"[a suddenly combative monosyllabic word expressing submission and approval]!"

Just do it.

Charles led the men to find the wooden piles and excavated them immediately; Pierre led the men to unload the trucks and start assembling the crane; the blacksmiths and goldsmiths of the mission were busy setting up the furnace.

Winters did not say publicly what he was digging, but those who lived through the Battle of the Wilderness already guessed it.

As for those who joined after the first founding of the army, even if they knew nothing about the existence of the Jin people, they knew just from the mysterious attitude of the tribunes that the things underground had a lot of background.

Although the sun has set to the west, everyone is very motivated to race against time.

Only Vashika, with his head wrapped in white cloth, approached Winters: "What are you trying to dig for? Centurion?"

Because he is a wounded person, Vashika can just be lazy.

"You... have no impression?" Winters laughed dumbly.

Vashika felt aggrieved: "I fell that day..."

…

On the day of hunting in Qingqiu, Vashika fell from his horse and hit the back of his head. Fortunately for his life, he only needed more than a dozen stitches and a long sleep, but he was still alive and kicking when he woke up.

However, the fall was not without any sequelae. At least he could not remember anything about the day of hunting in Qingqiu.

Afterwards, Vashika felt regretful when he learned that the blood wolf was galloping around Qingqiu and was invincible. He also learned that the other companions followed the blood wolf and stole the limelight.

Every time he thought of his friends bragging about how they would show off their talents in Qingqiu, but he had no impression of them at all, Vashika's heart ached with pain.

So in the past few days, Vashika has been asking in a roundabout way what happened on that day of hunting in Qingqiu. However, Pierre was tight-lipped, and his friends were unwilling to talk in detail, and his father scolded him severely.

After much deliberation, only the first-hand information from the parties involved is the most credible. Therefore, Vashika will get close to Winters whenever he has time recently, hoping to get something out of him.

…

Winters recalled carefully - the gold medalist, the gold buryer, and Vashika were all present. I fell down on the day of hunting in Qingqiu, so I didn't forget everything about what happened before, right?

He looked at Vashika's happy expression and the white cloth wrapped around her head, and suddenly felt a little distressed. Because Vashika fell very hard that time, and if he was a little unlucky, he might have lost his life.

But another thought kept popping up in his mind: "This kid probably fell silly... No, he fell even more silly."

"You can remember it when you see that thing." Winters said as softly as possible: "Vasya."

Vashika nodded desperately. He actually didn't understand what the centurion was talking about, but he was flattered by the centurion's tone.

Balian was installing the bellows when Winters called him aside.

"The people from the Akagawa tribe brought the ore samples." Winters said, "Let's take a look."

The two took their horses and rode slowly out of the valley to the camp of the Red River tribe.

Winters recovered much faster than Kaman expected. He can already walk with a cane, but his limbs are still sore and weak, and his movements are stiff and uncoordinated.

Therefore, Carman strictly prohibited Winters from riding a fast horse. If Winters had not refused to ride in an oxcart at all costs, Carman would not have even allowed him to ride a horse.

"Akagawa seems to have no interest in mining iron ore." Winters held the saddle tightly, trying to maintain his balance, and said casually: "It always feels a little abnormal."

"Ore needs to go through many processes before it can enter the smelting furnace. If it is just rough mining, one hundred parts of pure iron cannot be smelted. Steel can be sold far away, but iron ore is not worth traveling far away to buy. So it is famous Iron smelting towns are all near large mines. When the ore veins are exhausted, the towns will decline."

Although Balian remained taciturn, when discussing iron smelting with Winters, he was very knowledgeable and full of words: "The chief of the Chihe Tribe must have decided that it is impossible for you to put the smelting plant in the Chihe Tribe. It’s our territory, and the ore is not worth traveling to far away places to buy, so we have a cold attitude.”

Winters asked: "Water transportation is also not possible?"

"I don't know." Balian answered honestly: "But I guess not. Because in the mining towns I know, even if water transportation is convenient, there will be no businessmen from hundreds of kilometers away to buy crude minerals."

Winters caught an unfamiliar word: "Rough ore?"

"It's ore mined from the mines, mixed with stones."

"Coarse ore is not worth transporting it over long distances." Winters was never afraid of showing his timidity in front of experts. He asked curiously: "Are there any fine ores?"

"Corresponding to coarse ore, blacksmiths generally call it concentrate." Balian explained carefully: "If the processes such as selection, roasting, crushing, sifting and even [sintering] are handed over to the Red River Department, it can be directly obtained from the Red River Department. The river department buys the concentrate. The concentrate may be worth transporting it long distances by water."

"When you were not in Tiefeng County, a Mr. Leo visited me - he was a very shrewd businessman." Winters said thoughtfully: "He said, 'Only things that are profitable enough are worth trafficking long distances. , the freight cost when the grain is sold two hundred kilometers away is more expensive than the grain itself."

"That's the truth, Your Excellency."

"But you didn't bring it up right away." Winters sighed: "There must be something wrong."

"There are indeed some..."

"Tell me. You don't think it's possible, so I don't have much hope either."

"Concentrate is only one step away from wrought iron. If you get the concentrate, you can smelt wrought iron using an earthen furnace." Balian said seriously: "As far as I can see, it's not that the Hed people don't know how to make iron. On the contrary, Their craftsmanship is exquisite.”

Winters recalled the weapons and armor captured from Hed tribes. Although most of them were old, there were also new ones. It also reminds me that the usage rate of iron tools in the Chihe tribe is much higher than that of other tribes-poor small tribes still use stone arrowheads and bone arrowheads, but everyone in the Chihe tribe already uses iron arrowheads.

"I think." Winters smiled: "The Chihe tribe may have been secretly mining and smelting iron."

Bellion pondered for a moment: "Qingqiu is surrounded by red soil, and there really is a 'Red River' in the Red River Department. It is very likely that there are shallow iron ore veins. It is best to ask the local residents whether there were iron ore in the past. ? Or are there traces of iron smelting from the old days?"

"The Hurd tribes are moving around, how can there be any local residents?" Winters laughed. After laughing, he still took a serious attitude: "I have asked the people in the Badlands tribe. At least in the past few decades, there have been no local residents. I've heard that there are 'iron hills' in the upper reaches of the Red River. As for further ahead, no one knows."

"There is a possibility that after the former Hed people mined the shallow veins, they were unable to mine the remaining veins, and they were abandoned and forgotten over time. So no one has heard of it, and no one remembers it."

Winters wrapped the reins around his fingers: "Assuming this is the case, where did the Akagawa tribe get the technology to mine deep mineral deposits?"

Balian didn't answer. He had a vague feeling that this was not a problem.

"Don't worry anymore!" Winters stretched himself on the horse and said with a smile: "Even if you have a map in a war, you still have to see the terrain with your own eyes. You can't see it on the spot. You and I can think about it here, and it will break our heads. It’s no use. Hehe, the Red River Department won’t let us explore on the spot, but I just want to see what’s there.”

The two rode for a while, and when they came out of the valley, the world suddenly opened up.

Balian took the initiative to speak: "Your Excellency, in fact, many places know that there are mineral veins, but no one is mining them. Either because the mineral veins are too barren, or because mining is too difficult, or because transportation is too inconvenient."

"Like Iron Peak Mine?"

"It's like the Tiefeng mine. Unless the bar iron price is too high or the veins elsewhere are exhausted, the Tiefeng mine is not worth mining because it is not cost-effective."

Winters took a long breath: "If there is profit, we will mine. If there is no profit, we would rather waste it. In the final analysis, it is all business."

Balian was silent for a long time and then asked: "What is not the case? Your Excellency."

Winters laughed loudly and stabbed Changfeng gently: "There are still some things that are not right."

…

Against Father Carman's every medical order, Winters galloped to the camp where the Red River Palace Guards were stationed.

Although the Golden Horde Guards were ordered by White Lion to protect the Tiefeng County mission from being disturbed, they did not camp in the valley and had almost no contact with the Tiefeng County mission.

From the beginning to the end, the people of the Chihe tribe never stepped into the valley - this was another order from the White Lion.

Therefore, negotiations and exchanges were all conducted at the palace guard camp outside the valley.

The two archery officers who came to deliver the ore greeted Winters one behind the other.

The archer standing in front is a typical Hed man. Long-term exposure to wind, food, and open air has caused his exposed skin to become horny, giving it a unique texture.

Although the person standing behind was wearing wasteland clothes, he didn't look like a Hurd.

"Lord Batu." The archery officer, who was not like a Hedian, spoke in common language with a bit of Monta accent: "What do you think of the conditions of the White Lion King?"

[The day is not bright yet, and the day has not passed yet...]