As the two passed by a copper mine outside Luoyang, a group of people were slowly coming out of the mine with a dozen wagons.

Each carriage was pulled by four scarred horses, and it looked extremely difficult, and it was obvious that the cart was loaded with heavy loads.

In front of the convoy, a man riding a tall horse led the way, followed by two cavalrymen wearing heavy armor, with a blue pennant on the horseback, with the word "Liu" written on it, the man who led the way was full of beard, holding a golden gun, the head of the gun was downward, leisurely but majestic, with a serious face, looking at his simple and light, but meticulous dress, at first glance he was a battle-hardened general.

On the road, there were quite a few refugees in ragged clothes and thin faces, and when they saw the convoy approaching from a distance, they hurriedly hid in the jungle on the side of the road, and secretly poked their heads out to watch the convoy pass by.

The fat dragon hurriedly pulled Zhen Mingku, flashed to the side of the road, away from the official road.

Seeing Zhen Mingku's puzzled face, Feilong explained in a low voice: "Those are official errands, specializing in transporting ore, most of the mines outside Luoyang City are the fiefs of some royal relatives, and most of the ore produced in them flows to the royal military forging factory and the Mint Division, salt and ore are all controlled products of the government, and cannot be bought and sold privately, but can only be sold by the government." ”

"Why are there so many refugees here?"

"Those people are coming to the mine to find work, the mine is the only place where you can find work without the recommendation of others, but it is a hard-working job, one is careless, buried in the mine, you can only blame your own life is not good, and no one cares about their life or death, but this work is not something that anyone can do, you have to endure the whipping of the overseer inside, you can't meet the standard of the mine and can't get paid, the overseer doesn't treat them as people at all, when my wife was still there, in order to feed them, I also worked here for a while, Then they got sick and died, and I didn't do it anymore. ”

Looking at the refugees who were waiting for the convoy to pass and immediately poured out of the woods, Zhen Ming was silent for a while, turned his head and asked, "The Weichi blacksmith shop is not an official camp, where is there so much iron ore?" ”

Feilong said mysteriously: "There are people in the court who are easy to do, the mining gang originally had interests with the government, and also helped the royal guards forge weapons, of course, they have privileges, if the common people dare to smelt ore and mint coins privately, they must be sentenced to rob the family." ”

Zhen Mingbitter frowned: "If there is no ore, wouldn't it be impossible to refine alloys?" ”

Fat Dragon smiled: "Actually, don't worry, here, as long as there is silver, anything can be bought, as long as you give these guards some silver, you can buy as many ores as you want, many people rely on this method to buy copper ore and mint private coins, but it is a felony to mint coins privately, once they are caught, they will be connected to the three clans, so these people are usually people with strong backers behind them, and they collude with the guards of the mine to share their interests, and many people have made a fortune by this method." ”

Zhen Ming asked bitterly: "How much ore can you buy for ten taels of silver?" ”

"A few hundred catties," Feilong replied, and then asked with some puzzlement: "Brother Zhen, in fact, why do you bother to find the materials yourself, and let the miners in the blacksmith shop help you find it?" ”

Zhen Ming said with a wry smile: "The protection of intellectual property rights is very important, and I don't want the patents I have worked so hard to develop to be abused." ”

Feilong was confused: "Intellectual property? What is it? ”

"You don't understand."

……

After returning from the mine, Zhen Mingku gave Feilong ten taels of silver, and asked him to go to various metal mines outside Luoyang City every day to bribe the guards guarding the mine, and secretly carry some back.

The tungsten ore field was originally a government gold mining field, and tungsten ore was only one of the associated mines, but because no one knew what kind of ore it was, it was used as waste residue and used for landfill.

Even if it is slag, it is not something that ordinary people can use privately, and Feilong spent nearly five taels of silver to secretly buy back dozens of kilograms of wolframite from the guards of the mine.

Zhen Ming worked hard to grind these ores into powder and took them to the Weichi blacksmith shop, so that those craftsmen could find a way to refine it, but unfortunately, the best furnace in the blacksmith shop had nothing to do with this ore.

The tungsten ore slag that had just been taken out of the furnace showed no signs of melting, and this was the sixth smelting failure.

The pillar walked up to him at some point, and looked at the waste scum with a gloating expression: "Look at what our master craftsmen have developed?" Tut-tut, I want to smelt before the temperature is reached, isn't this whimsical? ”

Zhen Mingku did not feel a trace of displeasure, but asked very humbly: "Pillar, what is the maximum temperature of the furnace of our blacksmith shop?" ”

"What, how many degrees?"

"How hot can a fire be when it's at its highest?"

Zhuzi looked at Zhen Mingku's bitterness with a mentally handicapped look, and sneered: "How do I know this, and no one has put their hand in to test the temperature of the furnace, if you want to know if you reach in and test it, I dare to guarantee, the fire is fully open, if the three of you blow the wind, your hand will reach in, and it will turn to ashes in an instant, and you won't even have time to feel pain, hahaha......"

After saying that, he laughed and turned to leave.

Zhen Mingku didn't care, turned to look at the furnace, and said to himself, "Could it be that the temperature of the furnace is not up to the requirements?" ”

……

In the evening, every household in Luoyang closed the door and lit oil lamps.

There are very few pedestrians in the streets and alleys in the south of the city, and occasionally people pass by, and they look like they are in a hurry.

In one of the alleys, under the window of a brick house, several figures flickered.

"Stand firm! Hit me, watch your ass, forward, forward, higher, higher, okay, don't move......"

A handsome young man in bright clothes, wearing a pearl hairpin on his head and green silk shoes on his feet, was riding on the heads of two middle-aged men dressed as servants, and whispered to them to approach the window of the house.

Looking at the young man's appearance, he was only thirteen or fourteen years old.

Finally under the window, the young man gently pierced a layer of tissue paper on the window with his hand, squinted one eye, peeked through the hole.

Through the small hole in the window, you can see that the room is a simple but unusually tidy room.

In the middle of the room was a small stone mill with a little donkey tied to it, quietly chewing hay.

Next to it is a stove, what is boiling in the pot, the mist is rising, and the smell of beans is overflowing.

On the opposite side of the stove was a small wooden bed on which a person could sleep, and several women's underwear were neatly stacked on the bed.

A faint light came from a corner of the room, and a curtain separated it into a small bathroom.

Under the light, a slender and graceful figure of a woman was printed on the white curtain, with plump breasts, straight round buttocks, and a swelling waist.