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Chapter 247: Darkness is renewed

The rain of several days washed away the blood stains on the earth, but it could not wash away the blood that permeated the air or the stench of copper in Mt. Kibi. biquge.info The summer day after the rain is even hotter, and the sun in the sky is like a huge fireball, quietly hanging in the middle of the sky, embracing the earth with its blazing flames. There was not a single cloud in the sky, nor a cool breeze on the ground, and the wind from the Seto Inland Sea had disappeared without a trace by the time it first came ashore. Everything on the earth groaned in pain in the steaming heat, and the rushing river of the Oda River once again died down and stopped rushing. The center of the Kibiyama Copper Mine, outside the Sasamu tunnel, is currently experiencing the scorching exposure of the summer sun.

Yoshida Masanari looked up, the sky was cloudless, the sky was shining dazzlingly, he hurriedly lowered his head, rubbed his eyes, sighed, wanted to spit but found that there was no moisture in his mouth, so he had to add dry lips and said: "It's not raining just now, the weather is even hotter, and it's so hot that it's almost dying!" As he spoke, he shook the armor on his body, he was already sweating in the armor, and his head was constantly sweating, and he kept asking his companion for water to take a sip.

Atsutaro Kiyokawa stood in the shade of a tree that was tired of leaving, and replied: "If it weren't for this timely heavy rain, I'm afraid that the rice in the field would be lost, and Heshou City is becoming more and more in crisis, but His Highness ran to the Samu Tunnel to do something, do you know?" ”

Yoshida Masanari raised his head and glanced around, leaned over, and said in a low voice: "I heard that it is related to copper mines, well, Qinghe-kun, do you know Tang Song's copper mines?!" ”

Atsutaro Kiyokawa was noncommittal, just quietly listening to Yoshida Masanari's words.

Yoshida Masanari squinted his eyes and looked at the bottomless cave in front of him, he didn't sell Guanzi anymore, and he didn't have the strength to sell Guanzi, and said honestly in a low voice: "You know that His Royal Highness has developed a copper mine in Tangsong, that is, in Zhongshan, you only know one and don't know the other, I didn't understand why His Highness wanted to mine copper, although copper is valuable, but it is far less valuable than gold and silver, and it is not as practical as iron. But they were all small-scale traders and peddlers, and even if they mined huge quantities of copper, it would be useless. Later, after serving as the commissioner of Yuanchao Mountain City for a period of time, he discovered the trick, it turned out that there was a way to extract silver ore from the copper mine, and His Royal Highness seemed to have mastered this new technology and applied it to the Tangsong copper mine. ”

Since the Song Dynasty, the Wa Kingdom has exported large quantities of copper to China, which has also become the main overseas trade activity of the Wa State. China is a copper-poor country, but copper coins are the main currency in China, and most of the raw materials of China's copper coins come from the Japanese country. From the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the copper used in a large number of copper coins in China came from the Wa Kingdom, and it was not until the middle and late Ming Dynasty that a large amount of silver was used and the history of large quantities of copper imports ended. One of the main reasons for China's reduction in the use of copper coins was that the Edo period was running out of copper and had to restrict exports.

The Mimura family began to accumulate enough money and grain to start preparing for China's prestige by mastering the main source of the Yoshioka copper mine, and the Mimura family excavated copper mines, passed through the Murakami naval army in the Seto Inland Sea, and then sold the copper ore to the Ouchi clan at a low price, and the Ouchi clan transported the raw materials for casting copper coins to the Ming Dynasty with the "exploration trade" certificate in his hands, and then obtained copper coins that could be circulated.

In this cycle, the Ouchi clan got the lion's head, the Murakami navy got the intermediary fee, and the Mimura clan got the hardship fee, and they were all happy, which can also explain why the Murakami navy had their territory and stronghold in China, and it was so close to the Mimura clan, and the source was the copper mine.

The princes of the Wa Kingdom did not want to directly do the matter of minting copper coins by themselves, and they did not have to go around so complicatedly, but also through the black hands of the Ouchi clan, they also thought about directly using copper ore to cast copper coins, the process technology is not up to par, that is, in fact, it is because they don't buy each other, you cast yours and I cast mine, you use the copper coins you cast to spend with me, it is not worth it, I use the copper coins I cast to spend with you, it is also worthless, and it is not worth it.

And it is difficult to guarantee that these princes will not be killed by the retainers tomorrow, and it is difficult to guarantee that they will not be swallowed by other princes, who still has the heart to rectify the currency, it is better to directly use the copper coins of the Celestial Empire, at least the copper coins of the Celestial Empire are recognized by everyone.

Of course, there is also a currency that is a hard currency, and even those Nanban merchants who have just landed in the Wa Kingdom and the merchants of the Celestial Empire who have been doing business in the Wa Kingdom for a long time recognize this currency, that is, gold and silver. In terms of region, the hard currency in Kanto is gold, while in Kansai it is silver, and whoever made several major gold mines in Kanto, Kai's Takeda, Echigo's Uesugi, Suruga's Imagawa, and Mitsunoku's Date all relied on gold mines to develop; Kansai mainly produces silver mines, the world's largest silver mine production area Iwami Ginzan, whether it is the Ouchi clan, or the Izumo Niko clan, or the Yasui Mori clan who is eyeing the tiger, all saliva three feet, and Ikuno Ginzan is to make the Yamana clan achieve a temporary hegemony.

If silver can be produced in Yoshioka Copper Mountain, which was originally the main copper-producing area, how much temptation it would be for the now poor and white Date clan, and it is no wonder that Masahiro will lead more than 200 people to brave the scorching sun to come to this ravine and ravine to see the equally vicious Samumu tunnel, regardless of the fierce counterattack of the three village relatives in Heshou Castle at any time. If this news is spread, the Aki Mori clan will not only send Yoshikawa Motoharu to lead a cavalry team of more than 100 people, but thousands of troops will be prepared, even the Izumo Niko clan will not sit idly by and watch the chaos in China, and then it will not be the three-power battle of the Mimura clan, the Zhuang clan, and the Date clan, but the two-power battle between the Izumo Niko clan and the Aki Mori clan.

This news was too shocking, so shocked that Atsutaro Kiyokawa rubbed his sweat-soaked ears, glanced at the people left and right, didn't pay too much attention to them, pulled Yoshida Masanari closer, and asked in a low voice: "You mean that Tang Song Copper is mineral silver, and His Royal Highness came to Yoshioka Copper Mountain this time because of this, do you mean there?!" He pointed to the pit and opened his mouth to make a silver mouth.

Yoshida Masanari was shocked in his heart when he just set off from Heshou City, and now he has eased up, his face still can't help but flush, he nodded heavily, and said: "** Not far from ten, but this news is too shocking, I still don't dare to be very sure, Tangsong copper ore is very small, this Samu tunnel is known as the world's largest copper mine, if it can really ...... Tell me what a big deal it must be. ”

Kiyokawa Atsutaro suddenly thought of something shocking and terrifying, his face was solemn for a while, and he said in a low voice: "Yoshida-kun, don't tell others about this matter, think about it, if the Mimura family knows, will he be desperate, will the Aki Mori clan directly intervene when he hears the news, and even whether the Izumo Niko clan will be so calm." ”

It's not that Yoshida Masanari didn't think about these things, but he didn't expect Atsutaro Kiyokawa to think of these things so quickly, and couldn't help but glance at Atsutaro Kiyokawa, nodded slightly, and said: "Don't worry, in fact, Your Highness knows all these things, and the reason why you sue you is also with Your Highness's permission, do you know why Your Highness wants to tell you the news?!" His Royal Highness means that you and I will sit in Jigang Copper Mountain, you will come to sit in the town of Samu Tunnel, and I will sit in Xiaojinshan City, one outside and one inside, loose outside and tight inside, and you must control this news in Tongshan. ”

Where did Atsutaro Kiyokawa think that this would be the case, he looked at Yoshida Masanari in surprise, and suddenly asked, "If I hadn't said the last sentence, wouldn't Yoshida-kun sue me and let me be the safety of Tongshan." ”

Yoshida Masanari nodded slightly, did not answer, but said: "His Royal Highness is still waiting for us, let's go quickly!" With that, the two walked together towards the house next to the pit road.

When the two walked into the house, they happened to see that Akagi Takao was also among them, and the two didn't pay much attention, although Atsutaro Kiyokawa didn't know too much about silver, but he understood that the Tang Song Copper Mine was opened under the leadership of Akagi Takao, and it was normal for him to come, and there were two people in the house, these two people were originally the leaders of the Samu Tunnel, and they were also the retainers of the Mimura family looking for copper veins.

Zheng Heng was sitting in the center, looking at the small pile of silver grains on the table that flashed with silver light, and then looked at Akagi Takao and the other two behind the table without saying a word. Yoshida Masanari and Atsutaro Kiyokawa didn't dare to disturb Masahiro's thoughts, and stood at the door without entering.

Zheng Heng tapped the table and said, "Is the new method easy to use?!" How many people have mastered this technology now? ”

Akagi Takao replied without thinking: "His Royal Highness's method is really good, the ministers first used this method in Tangsong Copper Mountain, and selected twelve loyal people to learn new technology, practice makes perfect, has been roughly mastered, and now it is used again in Yoshioka Copper Mountain, although the output is not stable, and the number of mining people is only more than two hundred people, and the maximum scale has not yet been reached, but it can also reach about thirty or forty taels of sunrise, although it is a bit difficult to make ends meet." However, as long as the number of miners is doubled, the output can reach a balance between entry and exit, and if it increases to 1,000 people, and if a refining furnace is built, the ministers will not dare to guarantee a monthly output of 10,000 taels like Iwami Ginzan, but they can also guarantee a monthly output of more than 1,000 taels. ”

Zheng Heng shook his head lightly and said: "Very good, let's do it, as for the problem of mining personnel, it will be sent in a steady stream soon, and now your task is to train enough technicians for me, understand." As he spoke, he remembered a biography he had read in his previous life, although most of it had been forgotten. But I remember that one of them says that the melting point of copper is many times higher than that of lead, and when copper ore is burned, the first thing that dissolves from it is lead, and the lead contains silver, and as long as the first melted lead solution is poured on the hot ash, the lead will precipitate under the ash, and the silver nugget will remain on the surface of the ash.

It sounds simple, Zhengheng was originally just playing with a ticket and was the first to use it in Tangsong Copper Mine. Although the copper mine is not valuable, the silver extracted is a real benefit, although the output is not much, but the output of the Tangsong copper mine is not large, which is why Zhengheng will focus on the largest production in the Yoshioka Copper Mountain. He understood that as long as he mastered this technique and the Samumu Tunnel, he would be able to make the Date clan instantly become a huge force that was rich and rival the country, and the lack of knowledge would become a joke.

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