Du Zhongxiao was handling official business in the yamen, and Master Cui hurriedly came in from the outside and said, "Yun Juan, two people came outside, saying that they found iron ore in Fangcheng Mountain in the north, which is extremely grand. ”

Hearing this, Du Zhongxiao hurriedly stood up and said, "Quickly invite them in!" ”

Now that everything is difficult in the field, Du Zhongxiao urgently needs a big project to stimulate it, and the most important thing is to get more funds from the third division. The Jingxi Road Transit Division's support for field work is mostly grain and farm tools, and there is very little cash. Without money in hand, there is no way to do many things. The most expensive thing for the imperial court to pay for is mining and metallurgy. It is better to be gold, followed by silver, and copper is also good, but there is really none, and the money is barely there.

As long as the money is good in his hand, Du Zhongxiao can exchange grain for money and get funds. There is cash in it, and many things are easy to do.

Wuyang must have a big mine, but Du Zhongxiao doesn't know where it is. Judging from the records of ancient books and the relics left by predecessors, the most likely is in Fangcheng Mountain and Rongqi Mountain. These two mountains are the watershed of the Huai River and the Han River, at the junction of the state and county, in fact, it is far away from Wuyang, but it is closer to Yexian and Fangcheng. This made Du Zhongxiao very confused, whether he would find a mistake.

After a while, Master Cui took Yang Dalang and Quan Erlang to come and came forward to salute.

Du Zhongxiao looked at the two of them and asked, "Where did you find the seedlings?" How do you know if it's a big mine? ”

Yang Dalang said: "Back to the officials, the little ones are in Fangcheng Mountain and have found iron ore. First of all, I found a mine left by my predecessors, and the small one personally explored it, although the mine was abandoned, but the mine was not hollowed out, and a stone was taken everywhere in it, which was a good mine. Around the cave, the little one explored for a few days and found a few more seedlings, several miles away. According to this estimate, there is no doubt that it will be a big mine. ”

Du Zhongxiao didn't know anything about prospecting, and when he heard that the radius was several miles, he felt that it was not small, but he didn't know how much ore there was and how much iron could be produced.

After thinking about it, Du Zhongxiao asked: "Since you have explored so carefully, you should be able to see whether that iron ore is good to dig?" ”

Yang Dalang said: "Back to the official, this matter is difficult to say. The seedlings are exposed, and they are not buried deeply. However, the trend of the veins is difficult to see, some are buried shallowly, and some are deep into the ground along the seedlings. In the end, I don't know until I dig it. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded and asked about the background of the two.

Yang Dalang said, arched his hand: "Official, the small family heirloom iron-striking skills, the ancestors have a recipe for exploring the pulse, so I found this big mine." This one is Quan Erlang, who moved in to pull the fiber box. Thanks to his help, he was able to find the iron ore here. ”

The prospecting formula, in fact, is the knowledge of prospecting, which is not exposed, and Du Zhongxiao did not ask. Is this prospecting method useful? Certainly useful. However, its value should not be overestimated, and many of them are simple lessons learned, much cruder than official prospecting methods. How large is the mine found, and how difficult it is to excavate, it is best to transfer people from other iron supervisors to carefully explore.

All the inquiries were understood, and Du Zhongxiao said: "Tomorrow, I will send a few people to follow you to Fangcheng Mountain to check the ore veins found." If it is really a big mine, there will be a heavy reward. It's not a big mine, and I can't grieve you. ”

Quan Erlang on the side heard that he was going to enter the mountain, and he couldn't help but cry out in his heart, and said with his hands crossed: "Official, there is something in the small family, and I can't enter the mountain." These days, the mining tray is wrapped and spent, and please send some reward money to buy some grain and rice to satisfy your stomach. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at Quan Erlang and recognized it as the slender man he had seen in Kaifeng City, and the embroidery was particularly conspicuous. Du Zhongxiao had a bad impression of this person, and he was too lazy to keep it, so he said to Master Cui: "Master Book, take ten yuan to him, it will be counted as a reward." ”

Cui Shu was a little embarrassed when he heard this: "Yun judged, I just listened to what they said when I found the ore vein, and I haven't checked it yet, how can I pay a reward?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "There is also a Yang Dalang here, who will go into the mountain with us." If it is a lie, it will just fall on him. ”

Quan Erlang was overjoyed when he heard this. Although with Yang Dalang looking for minerals, Quan Erlang didn't know anything. I only saw Yang Dalang pick some stones and come out, saying that there was iron, and I don't know if what he said is true, and I haven't seen it tried it, but I actually muttered a little in my heart. As long as the reward is in hand, the future will have nothing to do with him, regardless of whether Yang Dalang has really found the mine. I took the reward money and entered Beijing with Gao Ji'an, as long as the prince recognized his relatives, he would soar in the future, who would care about these people. As for the money he borrowed from his brothers before leaving, he had long been forgotten by Quan Erlang.

This Yun judge, since he met in Kaifeng City, he has said something rebellious, and Quan Erlang has always been weak-hearted. Being able to take the money and leave early is exactly what he wishes for.

Master Cui had no choice but to let the officials take ten yuan and hand it over to Quan Erlang.

Quan Erlang carried the ten rewards he received, found a gold and silver shop in the town, and exchanged them for silver ingots. Seeing that it was not early, I hurried out of the town. He only wanted to enter Beijing with the prince, and from then on he would be prosperous and rich, and he would not wait for a moment.

Ignoring Quan Erlang, Du Zhongxiao arranged a place for Yang Dalang in the yamen, found Tao Seventeen, and asked him in detail about the iron mine.

made meritorious contributions under the city of Beizhou, Tao 17 was also promoted, and did not return to Xiangzhou, and came to Tangzhou with Du Zhongxiao. Originally, he commanded the artillery under the city of Beizhou, and it was best to stay in the army and continue to operate the artillery. It's just that he is not a military member, and the forbidden army is squeezed out, and no one keeps him.

Listening to Yang Dalang talk about the exploration of iron ore, Tao Seventeen said: "When I was in Xiangzhou, I also saw those iron miners. All of them are open according to the foot of the mountain, and some iron ore is easy to mine, and the ore will come out when you dig a hole in the ground. Some are not easy to mine, follow the veins, and dig deep holes to enter. Listening to what Yang Dalang said, the mines in Fangcheng Mountain are like the first kind, and they are not difficult to mine. ”

Du Zhongxiao asked Yang Dalang in detail about the size of the current mine, and said: "As you said, that mine is not big, even if the hole is all iron, there is not much. Even if you find a few more ore seedlings, how do you know that it is a big mine? ”

Yang Dalang said: "Back to the officials, the mine has veins, and it winds underground along the terrain. The small ones found several ore seedlings are all connected together to form a vein. This vein is several miles in circumference, how can it be small? ”

Du Zhongxiao couldn't think of how the ore veins could be seen, so he didn't ask anymore, and asked again: "You said that it is a good mine, according to your estimates, how much iron can be smelted out of ten catties of ore?" What is the grade of this mine? ”

The grade of iron ore Du Zhongxiao still roughly remembers, if the memory is correct, fifty or sixty percent should be high-grade ore, and thirty or forty percent of the grade is very low. There are a lot of iron ore in China, and the distribution range is also very wide, but the grade is too low. Newly found ore, if it is high-grade ore, it is good, if it is low-grade, I am afraid that the value is not high.

Yang Dalang said: "Huiguanren, the small discovered veins are all black magnets. This mine is excellent, and there is a lot of iron. ”

There is a lot of iron, how much, Yang Dalang can't say. This is related to the form of iron ore, related to the ore content, and related to the smelting method. This is a profound question, how can he, a small country blacksmith, explain it clearly.

Du Zhongxiao knows that magnetite, the grade should not be low. The magnetite is ferric tetroxide, and if you roughly calculate the atomic weight, you will know that it is the highest-grade iron ore, and you will feel a lot more relaxed.