An Lushan, the person in charge of the Iron Dog Ridge project, couldn't spare the main manpower, so he sent him to take a few craftsmen and more than 30 subordinates to fight the front station.

Seeing Zheng Peng coming, An Lushan trotted up to catch up: "Young master, I finally waited for you to come." ”

After Zheng Peng dismounted, he looked at An Lushan, nodded and said, "I haven't seen you for some days, my complexion is much better, let's get used to it." ”

During this time, in order to find out the situation of Tiegou Ridge, and in order to show his face in front of the young master, An Lushan followed the craftsmen and subordinates to climb up and down, survey the terrain, try to open the mine, and was tired half to death every day.

Some people can't eat fat with big fish and meat every day, and some people gnaw their heads every day and grow fat, An Lushan belongs to the latter, as if drinking water can also grow meat, wandering outside on weekdays, and the skin is tanned, because after the treatment is good, there is wine and meat every day, and it is getting fatter and fatter.

Many people don't like fat people, they think that fat people are a burden and can't work, An Lushan also has a heart diet, but it has no effect.

Fortunately, when he said "complexion", the young master's tone was a little ridiculous, and An Lushan heard that the young master was joking with himself, and the reality was not dissatisfied.

"Habits, it's all thanks to the young master." An Lushan said respectfully.

Zheng Peng walked forward and asked, "Has this iron mine been figured out?" ”

"I have roughly figured it out" An Lushan hurriedly said: "The small one has turned this Iron Dog Ridge back and forth many times, and the experienced craftsman has seen it, by the way, he has also played more than ten small mine holes and dug a lot of samples, young master, the knowledgeable blacksmith said, this is a rich mine, as long as you dig down less than a zhang to get iron ore, the ore has a high iron content, General Cui is really generous, such a good iron ore, say send it." ”

Cui Xiyi is a "humanoid gold ingot" who can walk with a ingot, and he looks at money very lightly, Zheng Peng can say to him "because of money", hearing An Lushan praise him, Zheng Peng opened his mouth and echoed: "It is indeed a refreshing person, go, take me to see the iron mine." ”

"Young Master, please come here."

Iron Dog Ridge looks from afar, like a sitting dog, which is also the origin of its name, said to be Lingnan, in fact, it is a huge, like a round hill like a mountain, the mountain is sparsely wooded, some iron ore is still exposed on the ground, Zheng Peng also followed An Lushan to drill into the mine to see, and finally nodded with satisfaction.

This is a hematite with large content and high quality, and Zheng Peng also dug up a sample as a souvenir.

An Lushan's eloquence is good, and he is very good at observing faces, sometimes Zheng Peng can guess Zheng Peng's mind with a look or a little hint, take the initiative to explain, and when he accompanies Zheng Peng down the mountain, he pats his heart and says: "Young master, rest assured, as long as the manpower is in place, you can exchange these iron ores for money in two months at most." ”

"Money?" Zheng Peng waved his hand and said: "The iron produced by Tiegouling is not sold out, and it is all kept for your own use." Land"

"For personal use? Young master, this is an iron mine, producing tens of thousands of catties of iron, can you use so much? An Lushan said with some surprise.

If you don't want to use some iron, you can mine a mine by yourself, even if you have money, you can't toss like this.

Zheng Peng explained: "I believe you have also heard the rumors, I want to build a new road, I need to use a lot of iron, this mine, it is estimated that it is not enough." ”

An Lushan was a little surprised, and he didn't believe it in his heart, but he immediately said: "Young master, don't worry, the small one will definitely dig well, and it must meet the needs of road repair." ”

What the young master does, An Lushan doesn't care, what he cares about is how to do a good job of the task that the young master gave him, for An Lushan, his appearance is not good, his family background is also humble, and he can't do martial arts, what can reflect his own value is to complete the task.

And do it well.

After suffering so much, it is rare to meet nobles, and An Lushan is to seize this opportunity even if he dies.

Zheng Peng sat on a stone on the side of the road, beckoned An Lushan to sit down, and asked: "An Fatty, you have been here to investigate for so long, tell me, if this mine is handed over to you to take care of, what are you going to do?" ”

When running the restaurant, An Lushan ran a good business, and the business volume and interests have made great progress, but the restaurant had a good business, and doing well can only be regarded as the icing on the cake.

An Lushan had long guessed that Zheng Peng would ask him this question, and he already had the answer in his heart, and said confidently: "Young master, the location of Tiegou Ridge is remote, the traffic is inconvenient, there are more than 30 miles from here to the official road, the road is small and steep, the carriage cannot pass, and can only be carried by foot power or animal power, but the cost is too high and not cost-effective, this is why it is a rich mine, but it has not been mined." ”

Mining is much the same, Tiegouling is equivalent to an open-pit mine, it is not difficult to mine iron ore, the biggest problem is transportation, An Lushan has not yet arrived at Tiegouling to notice this problem.

"Go on." Zheng Peng motioned for An Lushan to continue.

An Lushan saw that Zheng Peng didn't mean to interject, and continued to explain: "Young master, you see, there is a small stream at the foot of Tiegouling Mountain, and we can consider using the stream to transport it. ”

Zheng Peng stood up, beckoned, and motioned to the cardinal to bring the clairvoyance she was carrying, looked at the stream at the foot of the mountain, frowned lightly, and said, "This stream is too small, less than a zhang wide and about a foot deep, isn't it a little impractical to use it to transport heavy iron ore." ”

An Lushan didn't speak, took out a drawing from his sleeve, the top was a simple topographic map, pointed to it and said: "Young master, this is Tiegou Ridge, the following one is a stream, the creek goes from here, the nearest flow through Wangniudun, Wangniudun is the nearest official road, about a mile away from the official road, the small one thinks so, from here to the foot of the mountain, you can put the iron ore in the basket by the iron cable to the edge of the creek at the foot of the mountain, the creek is not big, the water is not deep, some shallow places are only more than three inches deep, but the small ones have turned a few times, Found that the creek is relatively gentle, you can build a dam in Wangniudun where to store the water, so that the water level can be raised, this matter is small specially to find Fang Bin team leader to see, Fang team leader said that the cost of repairing a dam is not large, after the repair is successful, the water level rises one to two feet is no problem. ”

"The water level rises one to two feet, the boat is not good, but you can abandon the boat with a lighter bamboo raft, the small one tried yesterday, five people, including the small one is also sitting on it, you can drift with the waves on the bamboo row, when the time is to repair a batch of bamboo rows, along the creek forward, more than 30 miles of land, more than a dozen people can easily complete the transportation, so that you can save a lot of transportation costs, to know that people eat horses and chew, the daily cost can be a lot."

Wonderful, Zheng Peng's eyes widened in surprise on the spot, this idea is too wonderful.

Water transport is the most time-saving and labor-saving mode of transportation, in the later generations is also the most economical, the most popular mode of transportation, into the Iron Dog Ridge, Zheng Peng saw the small and steep mountain road, his heart began to mutter the problem of transportation, at that time the first thought was to build the road, but the cost is too great, and it takes a lot of time to build the road, and soon self-vetoed, and then thought of using a wheelbarrow, using a mule to transport, etc., but it feels that the efficiency is not high, but also costly, has not made up his mind.

Although I noticed the stream at the bottom of the mountain, I never thought of using water transportation because the stream was so small that it was better to say that it was a small canal.

Unexpectedly, An Lushan thought of using a sling to transport down the mountain, raising the water level by building an embankment, and abandoning the bamboo raft for the wooden boat, which not only greatly reduced the transportation cost, but also had high transportation efficiency.

In other words, he must be thinking about how to get more miners, mining against time, and then using crowd tactics, like ants moving, using manpower or animal power to transport back, but I didn't expect An Lushan to think of building an embankment and using water transportation.

A cow man is a cow man, and it can only be said that as long as it is gold, it can shine wherever it is placed.

Zheng Peng looked at the simple map drawn by An Lushan, and said with some doubts: "Why did you choose to send it to Wangniudun, isn't it closer to Fangjia Village, Fangjia Village is less than a mile away from the official road, and there are roads in the village that connect with the official road, and even the road repair will be saved at that time." ”

An Lushan immediately explained: "This matter has been asked by Liang Blacksmith, he said that iron ore needs to be smelted before it can be used, and the smelting place can not be too close to the people's houses, because it is very noisy, the smell is not good, it will disturb the people, and sometimes the smell is not good. ”

After hesitating for a moment, An Lushan added: "Wangniudun is surrounded by mountains, and the firewood on the mountain is just used for smelting. ”

"What?" Zheng Peng said in surprise: "Coal? Is there a charcoal in Wangniudun? ”