"Iron ore?"

Li Ji frowned deeply and said, "Li Mu, are you mistaken?" I have been dealing with the Turks for many years, and I have never heard of iron mines near the court of the Turks, how is this possible? If the Turks had iron mines, they would not be short of iron tools. ”

"It's normal for my stepfather not to know, this news is still just my speculation, but it's not far from ten."

This location painted by Li Mu, in his previous life, was called "Baiyun Obo". Baiyun Obo, also known as "Baiyun Bogdu", which means "rich sacred mountain", is a holy place where the northern nomads have lived for generations, not only the Turks, but also the Khitans and Tatars who have set up royal tents here.

The first time Li Mu heard about this place was in his junior high school geography class, when he was talking about the distribution of mining areas in China, he deliberately pointed out the Baiyun Obo mining area. The Baiyun Obo mining area is mainly distributed in iron-fluorine-rare earth comprehensive deposits, which are rich in iron, fluorite and rare earths. Especially for rare earths, the rare earth stock in the Baiyun Obo mining area exceeds 100 million tons, accounting for one-fifth of the world's total, and enjoys the reputation of rare earth capital in the world.

The so-called "rare earth" is not really "soil", but is a general term for 17 metal elements such as lanthanides, scandium and yttrium in the periodic table. Rare earth is known as "industrial gold", because of its excellent optical and electromagnetic physical properties, can be composed of different properties with other materials, a wide variety of new materials, its most significant function is to greatly improve the quality and performance of other products. For example, the special steel used to build aircraft carriers, the titanium alloy plates used by space shuttles, etc., are inseparable from rare earths.

It is also a natural catalyst, and in the petroleum and metallurgical industries, rare earths are also indispensable.

Rare earth oxides are essential raw materials for the production of different grades of superconducting ceramics, piezoelectric ceramics, conductive ceramics, dielectric ceramics and sensitive ceramics. It can be understood in this way that rare earth is like a vitamin of the human body, although it is not used much, but it is absolutely not okay without it.

In the era of the Tang Dynasty, the role of rare earths was almost zero, and Li Mu hardly needed it. Even in Li Mu's previous life, before rare earths were widely used, the Baiyun Obo mine was mainly developed as an iron ore. Li Mu also took a fancy to the value of iron ore, so he made the idea here.

One of the characteristics of the iron ore in the Baiyun Obo mining area is that most of the iron ore here can be mined in the open pit. This is the decisive reason why Li Mu chose this place, in this era, there is no large-scale equipment, drilling and underground mining are not at all qualified, only the mine that can be mined in the open pit is the real mine.

As for the problem of depletion of mineral deposits, Li Mu was not worried at all. Now Datang is full, and there are only more than 10 million people. This number, in his previous life, was the population of a municipality. With such a few people, even if every household is equipped with swords, guns, swords, halberds, it won't be much needed at all. There are many restrictions here, and it is not his previous life, and the places that can be reached are all iron products.

But these words are not something that can be said to Li Ji, because there is no way to explain it, so Li Mu made up a story for this.

"Father-in-law, for a while, I couldn't figure out one thing. That is the Turks, obviously lacking iron tools, and my Datang Dynasty also explicitly forbids it, not to export iron tools to the Turks, but why do the Turks still have iron tools to use? Even if it is smuggling, I have calculated, there is definitely not such a large amount. Then there is only one possibility, and that is that the Turks still have their own source of iron. ”

"I traced the history of the Turks again, and found a record in a wild history of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The book records the birth of the Turkic Khanate, and there is a sentence that says this. The Turkic Department was once a vassal of the Rouran Ministry and provided iron tools for the Rouran Department. ”

"This account makes me scratch my head. Where did the Turks get the iron tools to supply to the Rouran Ministry? To that end, I did some more research. ”

"It was this survey that blew my mind."

Li Mu said seriously: "I discovered a shocking secret, and this secret is iron ore. The Turks' iron-smelting skills are not good, but they were able to provide iron tools for the Rouran Department because of this iron mine. Because the ore of this iron mine has a high iron content, that is, "iron essence" in the jargon, it is "soft iron", and it can be refined without much advanced iron smelting technology. It was precisely because of the discovery of this iron mine that the Tumen Khan was able to lead the Turkic tribe to rise rapidly under the pressure of the Rouran tribe and replace it! ”

"Tumen Khan originally wanted to pass on this secret from generation to generation, so that his children and grandchildren could not enjoy it endlessly. But God did not fulfill people's wishes, and he fell ill and died, and this secret was not passed down. Speaking of this, Li Mu paused and said, "Has my father-in-law ever heard a legend?" Legends about the Turkic royal court? ”

Li Ji frowned and thought for a while, nodded slowly, and said: "I have heard that according to legend, the Turkic royal court is located in a treasure land of feng shui, and it is also a place where Turkic dragons prosper. The Tumen Khan once had a saying that the place where the tooth tent was located was Turkic orthodoxy. It is for this reason that after the split of the Eastern and Western Turks, the Eastern Turks were generally regarded as orthodox. After the Western Turks grew stronger, they were thinking about the Eastern Expedition, which was also to recapture the royal tent-" Li Ji suddenly said, "You mean, they are for the iron ore?" ”

They may not know about the iron mines, at least I can be sure that Jieli doesn't. Ruo Jieli knew that it was impossible for him to go without action in the past ten years. In last year's war, the Turks would not have suffered without iron. Therefore, I still firmly believe in my inference that the Tumen Khan should have not passed down this secret, or his words were unknown, and only revealed the location, but not the secret of iron ore! ”

Li Ji has already understood, and he also knows how much this matter is involved. If Li Mu's inference is correct, there is really a "iron essence" mine that can be mined in the open pit at the place where the Turkic royal court is located, then it will definitely be a great benefit for Datang. For this benefit, it's worth paying any price!

"Have you told Your Majesty about this?"

Li Mu shook his head and said, "This is just my inference, there is no sure thing, how can I tell Your Majesty." When I mentioned this matter to my father-in-law, I wanted my father-in-law to take my Yu Department with him when he returned, and let them investigate on the spot, and if my inference was true, it would not be too late to report it to His Majesty. ”

Li Ji nodded approvingly and said: "You have done a very measured job in this matter, and it should be like this, if you let Your Majesty rejoice, he should remember your fault." ”

Li Mu laughed: "My father-in-law is always so cautious. ”

"What if you're not careful—" Li Ji sighed, but didn't say anything more. Seeing that it was not early and the business was over, he returned to the city. Li Mu suddenly remembered that today was the premiere day of "Dou E's Injustice", so he invited everyone to cheer.

Li Ji has never been interested in singing and dancing. Qin Qiong was the same, both of them resigned. Only Li Siwen was willing to cheer, so he didn't go back to the city with the second elder, and planned to stay for a while, and after dinner, he went back with Li Mu.

Seeing that there was still some time after dark, Li Mu was not idle, so he asked Changsun Chong to bring the first batch of students of Datang Technical School, and after reading it, he called the students to the slopes of Xishan.

After several rounds of destruction by Li Mu, there were only seventy-two students left in the first phase of Datang Technical School. These seventy-two people, regardless of their ability, are now good at work. Whether it is wall plastering, or slotting and hanging wire, all of them are presentable, although they cannot be compared with decades of old carpenters and old bricklayers, but under the evaluation of system standards, they also have the level of primary skills.

Li Mu sat down on the chair brought by Changsun Chong, flipped through the roster in his hand, looked up at everyone's worried eyes, and suddenly laughed: "What are you doing so nervously, I won't eat you again." ”

None of the students dared to answer, they had all learned to be obedient and did not fall into the trap.

"It's boring!"

Li Mu muttered, put the roster aside, and said: "All of you have behaved very well in the past few days, knowing that the principal has something to do at home, and you didn't watch the excitement, you all took the initiative to come over to help, and the principal feels very relieved." There is a way that people respect me for a foot, and I respect people for a foot. You respect me, and I respect you. Therefore, I gathered everyone here today, under the plaque of this Datang Technical School, to tell you a good news - congratulations, among you, seventy percent of you can graduate! ”

When everyone heard the phrase that they could "graduate", they were a little stunned. They understood the meaning of graduation, because Li Mu had explained it to them. They were stunned because they didn't expect that the suffering would suddenly end. They have become accustomed to working every day when they open their eyes, and it just comes to an abrupt end, which makes them very uncomfortable.

Looking at the unfinished courtyard wall, the first thought in many people's minds was: We graduated, who will build this wall!

For a moment, everyone stood still, and no one spoke.

"It seems that some of you are a little reluctant!" Li Mu guessed everyone's reaction, and when he graduated from high school, he felt almost like this. Even the day after the college entrance examination ended, he habitually took out a set of papers to do questions mechanically, and only remembered that the college entrance examination was over halfway through. This condition, which has a technical term in psychology, is called Stockholm syndrome, which is a mental illness caused by prolonged abuse.

Li Mu narrowed his eyes and said with a smile: "It's okay if you're reluctant, I just said, seventy percent of you can graduate, and thirty percent of you can't complete your studies, you have to repeat the grade and rebuild, these useless walls are also you garbage who haven't graduated to repair, understand?" ”

Only then did the students realize that not everyone could graduate, only seven out of ten could graduate, and there were three unlucky ones who would continue to work as coolies! Realizing this result, all the students' eyes immediately lit up. Everybody's thinking is surprisingly aligned, I'm going to graduate, I'm going to never repeat a grade, I can't stay here and build walls and move bricks!

Li Mu didn't care what the students thought, and continued to say that he came up with a bad idea on a whim: "Since you want to select talents and garbage, then you have to have a set of evaluation criteria. Of course, the principal can guess your thoughts, and you must be thinking in your hearts, the principal must be going to make a decision again, and he will definitely be nepotistic again. Even those guys with Shandong Shi clan and gate valve backgrounds must be thinking, it's over, I'm definitely out of play. Li Mu glanced at the two students sent by Wei Zheng, the corners of his mouth hooked up an intriguing smile, and said, "I guessed, everyone? ”

"Students don't dare!"

All the students bowed down in unison, and at this time, even if they thought so in their hearts, they couldn't say it.

"It doesn't matter, these prejudices are going to be broken by this principal today. This principal wants you to understand that you will never have such a fair opportunity again outside of this school. ”

Li Mu waved his hand, Li Siwen held a red silk in his hand, and unfolded the red silk with Tang Guan. Li Mu picked up the pen and wrote ten departments on the red silk, which were the "Nine Bureaus and One Guard" under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"The Guangzhou Reserve Bureau, the Imperial Property Bureau, the Accounting Bureau, the Construction Bureau, the Patent Office, the Printing Bureau, the Industry and Commerce Bureau, the Salesian Bureau, the Fengchen Bureau, and the Jinyi Guard." Li Mu read it again, looked at the students, and said: "The nine bureaus and one guard of the Internal Affairs Office, I guess I don't need to explain, you all know what it does." Now, I'm giving you a fair chance, listen to them all, I'll just say it once. ”

"First of all, I need you to vote for the most convincing classmate in your heart. This persuasion can be multifaceted, such as ability, talent, hard-working, helpful, as long as you feel that he is the best classmate in your heart, you can vote for him anonymously, you can choose anyone but yourself. ”

"The top 10 selected by this vote will directly get a chance to directly choose what they want to go to the Yamen. For example, for example, the person who gets the most votes is Changsun Chong, then he can choose where he wants to go, where he wants to go, he can go wherever he wants, he can go to the Accounting Bureau, he can also go to the Printing Bureau, as long as it is the Nine Bureaus and One Guard of the Internal Affairs Office, he can go, this is the power you give him. ”

There are such things!

The students were caught off guard, some were happy, others felt it was unfair. The son of a businessman couldn't help it, and raised his hand and said, "Principal, student Cui Guangfu is brave and has something to say." ”

Li Mu bowed his head and said, "Please speak." ”

"Students think it's unfair!" Cui Guangfu said a little excitedly: "Although the principal has just been strict, voting is the most convincing one, but our background is high, even if the principal says such a election, there will inevitably be someone who is in the way of power, even if he is not convinced by this person, he will choose to vote for him, such a vote cannot represent the real idea!" ”

Li Mu didn't answer directly, but asked rhetorically: "So how do you think you can represent your true thoughts?" ”

Without waiting for Cui Guangfu to answer, Li Mu said again: "The vote is anonymous, and no one knows who voted whom." The person who votes does not need to think about power and face, he has the opportunity to follow his heart, but if he doesn't want to do it, it is also his choice. He can use the voting rights I gave it to make a bribe, to flatter, which is also an option, and it is very fair. Because everyone has such an opportunity, like you said, there are high and low births, high births, maybe you will take advantage of some advantages, you think it's not fair, but how can there be complete fairness in this world? ”