Quan Erlang hugged a chicken leg, his cheeks bulging, and gnawed endlessly.

Qian Yuan raised his hand and said, "Eat, eat, Erlang let go of eating." In my village, I raise hundreds of chickens, one a day, which is enough for you to eat for a few years! When you have had enough to eat and drink, you will go with me into the mountains to see where there are seedlings. ”

Quan Erlang swallowed the chicken in his mouth vigorously and said, "Outside, Yang Erlang and I went into the mountains to explore the mines that day, and they were all in the mountains not far from Qingliang Temple. Later, I heard that craftsmen from Xiangzhou had unearthed ore seedlings in other places, and one of them was not far from Zhuangzi. ”

Qian Yuanwai nodded again and again: "Okay, good, I have also heard that five or six miles south of Zhuangzi, there is a good iron mine, but it is buried deeper." It was a master from Xiangzhou, who happened to see the ore seedlings and sent someone to dig them, and then he was sure that there was an iron mine. However, the iron ore here is not in the mountains, and if the imperial court opens a furnace here to smelt iron, it must choose this kind of place. I'm a grass people, how dare I fight with the court? Or go to the mountains and choose a remote iron ore to start a furnace. ”

Quan Erlang bit a piece of meat from the chicken leg and said, "Outside, forgive me for being disrespectful, you want to make a lot of money, you are too timid to do this." The opening of mines by the imperial court is nothing more than letting the people mine and smelt iron, and the official collects iron classes, and its team of iron supervisors is like this. If you don't hurry up and occupy it, it will be occupied in a few days. The mutton in your mouth is about to fly when you look at it! ”

Qian Yuanwai held two large walnuts in his hands, and said with a smile on his face: "What you said is good, it is to my liking." However, I heard that the imperial court was going to transfer the army of the fiber to open the mine, how could the people be allowed to occupy it privately. ”

Quan Jiro shook his head and stopped talking. He just came to help, and when he found the mine and got the reward, he went to Beijing with Gao Ji'an and the prince.

Qian Yuanwai was full of smiles, squinting slightly, and looked at Quan Erlang. Seeing that he can dig up money in his hometown, how can he be willing if he doesn't make a lot of money. Quan Erlang is right, if you don't mine the nearby mines, you won't be able to eat enough to go to the mountains. However, the location of this mine is really good, and I have to leave my hometown for several years, so I don't dare to do it directly.

According to the meaning of the money clerk, it is best to have a local tyrant from another country to grab this mine first, and he is the head of the snake, and the benefits are naturally indispensable. Wait until they have a foothold, and then get involved themselves, and don't resist the government. This is their own territory, how can outsiders compare.

After dinner, when the two were drinking tea, Zhuang Ke ushered in three guests.

The three of them went to the outside of the money clerk and saluted, and said: "In the history of the next surname, these two are my brothers, and they have always smelted iron by the water in Longxing County. A few days ago, the staff sent letters to each other, and they came to defect. ”

Qian Yuan was overjoyed, hurriedly sat the three of them, served tea, and said, "With your help, my big thing will be done!" Don't hide it from the three, a large iron ore has recently been discovered near my Zhuangzi, and the imperial court wants to open an iron prison here. If you dig a stone out of the ground, you can burn it into iron, and this is not a gift from heaven to me for nothing! Heaven does not take it, but suffers the blame, I will open the furnace to smelt iron, so as to invite your brothers to come. ”

Shi Dalang said: "Outside the staff, it is not easy to open a furnace and smelt iron, and you have to look at the surrounding geography to know whether you can make money or not." ”

Qian Yuan said: "Why did Da Lang say such a thing? There is iron in the ground, it is a sure thing, otherwise why would the imperial court set up an iron prison? Since there is iron in the ground, we can make money when we dig it out, isn't that the truth? ”

Shi Dalang shook his head: "Outside, it's not so easy to smelt iron. First of all, it depends on whether there are many trees around, it is easy to burn charcoal, and iron can only be smelted with charcoal. It's better to still be by the river, and you can build a water drain to blow the wind, otherwise it will be too manpower-consuming-"

When Qian Yuan heard this, he was a little displeased: "According to my brother's meaning, you can find such a place in Longxing County?" ”

Shi Dalang sighed: "Don't hide it, it's because there is no such feng shui treasure there that I came to defect." In Longxing, we use iron sand from the river and smelt iron with coal. There is not much iron ore there, but there is a lot of carboniferous, which is different from here. ”

There are no large iron mines in Longxing, but there are many rivers there, and there is a lot of iron sand in the river, which is easy to collect and does not need to be mined. This is low-cost, but the mineral deposits are limited, and the scale is not large, so they can only barely make ends meet, otherwise why would the three brothers come to join the Qianyuan.

Qian Yuanwai was a businessman who didn't know anything about iron smelting, and after listening to Shi Dalang's words, he felt that there was some truth. After thinking for a while, he said, "In this case, Da Lang and his brother will take a break, and we will go out to see the mine in a while." ”

The land under Fangcheng Mountain is vast and sparsely populated, and the south bank of Lishui is full of wasteland, and there are no people. Because of the noise of the villagers, the iron prison selected by Tao Seventeen is located in the south of Lishui. However, recently there has been a sudden increase in the number of households in this area, and these wastelands are also occupied, and some of them seem to have taken out the title deeds.

Looking at the turbulent water, Tao Seventeen said: "Official, the iron supervisor is selected in Henan, and the advantage is that it is all idle land, which saves countless troubles. The disadvantage is that it is too close to the mountain, and when the rain surges, the mountain flood cannot be prevented, so it is necessary to dig ditches and control ditches to divert floods into the river. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "This is inevitable, where can you have the best of both worlds." However, it is located on the south bank, close to the mining place, which saves the trouble of transporting ore, and is also beneficial. This is the big iron prison, and when countless people gather, it will be empty. ”

Turning the foot of the mountain, Tao Qiqi pointed to a small mountain in front of him and said: "There is the newly discovered iron ore by craftsmen from Xiangzhou, which is extremely sophisticated and has huge reserves. It's just that there is not much exposure, and it is not easy to dig down the mountain. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at it, it was ten miles away from Lishui, except for a few mounds, the terrain was flat. Several small rivers flow out of the mountains and meander into the Li River. Everywhere there are reeds, tall willows are sparsely pulled, and there are no people.

The terrain here is open, surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is the treasure land of the construction of iron supervision. There is no one else, which saves the trouble of relocation. The only bad thing is that the coal is transported from the bottom of Ziyun Mountain, and it is necessary to cross two rivers and build bridges.

At this moment, frightened, a few pheasants and ducks flew up in the grass, and they were in a frenzy.

Tao 17 said: "This area is densely swamped and prolific with wild ducks, and you can see them everywhere when you walk in. Speaking of which, the duck eggs here are extremely famous, and they produce a lot, and after they are cooked, they are as red as Dan inside, and they are extremely firm to eat. ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "The duck eggs are pickled, but they are a good appetizer." ”

Tao Qiqi shook his head: "The officials laughed, the price of salt is not low, where are the villagers willing to buy those pickled things." ”

At this moment, I saw a dozen people in front of me, dressed in different costumes, and five people on horseback walked in front, looking around the iron-producing hill.

Tao Qiqi saw it and pointed to those people: "Official, if my guess is right, those people are local big families, and I don't know how to find out about the iron production there, and I moved my mind." I thought that the most difficult thing in mining and smelting iron was how to mine and how to build a furnace, but I didn't think that these people were the biggest trouble. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at those people, smiled and shook his head. Troublesome? What's the trouble? We all know that there is a lot of money to be made here, how can it be that no one covets it. Come or come, they can really snatch meat from their mouths, and Du Zhongxiao also admires their skills.

Su Song said: "These people were born and grew up here, who doesn't have dozens of villagers?" If you cause trouble, it's really a headache. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled: "Really? I have already checked the number of households in this area, and there are only one or two hundred households within a radius of dozens of miles. When the mining box army arrives, these two hundred households are nothing! Zirong, the iron prison we want to build here will be used by tens of thousands of people. One or two hundred households, what big waves can be raised? Don't ignore them now, when the hands arrive, they'll be all gone! ”

What a big family is strong, I feel tricky now, or because of lack of manpower. The iron prison planned by Du Zhongxiao, plus coking, steel smelting, and various steel products, will all be built with tens of thousands of households, which is more than the population of Ruzhou. When the slender man arrives, he doesn't have to do anything at all, and this person will be drowned in the ocean. They are just buzzing flies now, making a lot of trouble, and Du Zhongxiao doesn't mind cleaning up a few and making an example of chickens and monkeys.