A few days later, more than 1,000 catties of cuprite powder were all put into the furnace.

Set up the charcoal and pour the burning sake and the fat of the elk boar.

Brother Lin threw the torch into the stone furnace, and the flames rose to the sky, and the smell of the burnt animal oil soon spread.

By the time the open flame fell, clusters of pale blue flames had risen from the charcoal in the furnace.

The temperature of the furnace also rises suddenly, making it impossible to get close.

Qin Chong, Lin He and the others carefully lowered the stone lid on the top of the furnace, and Brother Chun and Lin Tie pulled up the wind boom alone.

Our metallurgy has officially started, can we succeed in this move?

As for how long it takes to smelt a furnace of mineral powder, and how many catties of charcoal it will consume, there is no previous experience and no precedent.

The only way to do this was the last successful attempt, which was to add firewood every six hours for a period of five days.

In this way, the consumption of charcoal is also a staggering figure.

Everyone has worked hard for more than a month to cut wood and burn charcoal, and the thousands of catties of charcoal produced are almost consumed by this furnace alone.

So after lighting the fire and sealing the furnace, we sincerely thanked the heavens and the earth and prayed for the protection of the Buddha and our ancestors.

He immediately plunged into logging and quarrying, without a moment's rest.

Of course, my little Inca girl is an exception.

Everyone is busy, but this little baby is as happy as the New Year.

The thick wisps of green smoke rising from the quarrying powder, the wind blowing from the basket, and the flue rising were all new things that she had never seen before.

"Ah, what is this?"

"Uncle Qin! How can this stone smoke? ”

From time to time, the Inca baby followed behind the adults, asking endless questions.

Everyone is sweating like rain, and they don't have the time to answer these boring questions of the little baby.

My little girl could only take a small bow lonely and follow Tian Bo to herd alpacas.

Since Brother Lin has entrusted me to be the head of the land, there are only eighteen brothers including me.

One person hates to be called by two, and there is no idler to send.

So whether it's logging or quarrying, I have to be in front as an example, and I don't have much time to play with the little girl.

Only when the stored meat is eaten every time, Qin Chong and I, and the three of us go hunting in Dongshan, can I bring the Inca with me.

The sky is blue, the beasts in the forest are running, and the sunset at dusk is peaceful and quiet.

After returning from hunting, Qin Chong and Guo Helmet carried the prey on their shoulders, and I carried the Inca girl on my back, and the four of us walked slowly across the meadow on the ridge.

The love of brothers, fathers and daughters, and the joy of family will be surging and fierce in my heart at that moment like a field stirred by the mountain wind.

Sometimes I open my throat and sing a song, or I recite the poetry of a sage in the wind.

And the reward is the children's voice imitated by her daughter Incas, as well as the long laughter of Qin Chong and Guo Helmet.

Laughing, I think of which celebrity again, Liu Nan'er, Shangguan Yanxi or Demir of Persia.

The end of the world is a hard journey, and these three people can accompany me all the way, and God treats me Yi Jincheng well!

A few days later, a group of uninvited guests arrived at our station.

Three indigenous shepherds are attracted by the green smoke that lingers day and night

, drove dozens of alpacas up the meadows on the edge of the river to the depths of this canyon surrounded by mountains.

It's been a long time since I've seen a living person in the world, and it's a pleasure to have a visit!

With barbecue and sake, the three foreign brothers were entertained.

Although Lin Tie and several natives belong to different indigenous states, they can still speak the same language, which makes everyone overjoyed.

The open-air feast is set up on a bluestone platform next to the wooden house, and the whole boar is roasted, the five grains and sake served in the wooden barrel, and the staple food of cassava and bud rice.

We took turns toasting the indigenous shepherds with wooden bowls.

I have never been treated with such courtesy, nor have I ever seen such elixir and food.

The three native friends were also not polite and let go of eating and drinking.

During the conversation, it was learned that the indigenous state was called Nazcana, and the current king was the daughter of the sun god, known as the Queen of Nazca.

There are about 20,000 people in the entire state, who make a living by growing bud rice, cassava, and grazing alpacas.

No trade, no trade, no different from the native nations that I had encountered before.

Maybe it was because of the first drinking in our lives, we were just slightly drunk, and the three of us were already drunk and fell asleep.

The pure character of these natives who do not know the dangers of the world and have no heart to defend against others can also be seen from this.

It wasn't until the next morning that the three shepherds woke up and remembered their alpacas.

I was shocked and ran out of the wooden house to the river, and was very moved to see that I, Guo Helmet and Qin Chong were dutifully grazing on our behalf.

Before leaving, the natives left two alpacas as a token of gratitude.

We also gave them cereal wine and invited them to come back often.

The names of the three indigenous shepherd brothers are very special, and Lin Tie translated them as the sons of the mountains, the sons of the rivers, and the sons of the mountain eagles.

Lin Tie's explanation is that they, the little babies of the indigenous tribes of the Southern Wilderness, have always been named after the place where they were born or what they saw and thought

To be born on the side of the mountain is the son of the mountain, and to be born on the bank of the river is the son of the river.

When the mother saw a mountain eagle flying by before giving birth, she would name the newborn baby the son of the mountain eagle.

This reminds me of the Tuoli tribe on the Daliluo River, and the deer girl in the wheat field who has passed away.

"Hahaha! Mountains, rivers, eagles! There will be a period later! There will be a period later! ”

Brother Lin laughed when he heard this, and directly said goodbye to the indigenous shepherds with the name of his hometown Nan'an County.

After Shanzai, Hezai, and Eagle Tsai returned to the tribe, they must have passed on the stone furnace of our station and metallurgy to others as a strange tale.

Soon after, the officials and natives of the Nascan Sea Kingdom, men, women, and children came one after another, as if they were going to the market or participating in the sacrifices of the Temple of the Sun.

The high gorge and deep valley, which had been quiet for thousands of years, suddenly became lively.

These indigenous, idle, are interested in everything we do.

Onlookers watched us pick up large stones and hammer them into small pieces, and then crush them into powder.

Cheng Ri followed behind us, watching everyone hum and snort as they cut down tree trunks into small pieces, and then carried them into the stone kiln one by one.

The Inca was not lonely anymore, leading four or five little babies to play happily in the alpaca herd, or teaching them how to do it in the mountains

Bent bow hunting.

The indigenous woman carrying the rattan basket on her back brought us endless cassava and buds.

An old indigenous man who sucks a burning blade of grass in a bamboo tube.

The heavy and long burnt incense reminds me of the poisonous flowers of Tianzhu Kingdom.

One day, Brother Lin and I were vigorously pushing and pulling the windswept basket.

The indigenous shepherd Boy and his companions sat on a nearby pile of rocks and stared at us stupidly.

He was intoxicated by the liquor made in the bud valley, and these shepherds would drive the alpacas over the mountains to the valley every day to beg us for drink.

At the beginning of the period, it was only three or five natives, and we would always treat them with hospitality, so that they would always go home drunk.

But now it can't be done, so many natives have come to Hulala, all of them are coming for our wine, and they can't afford to supply it.

"Big brother! I'm going to make a deal with these natives! Hehe! ”

It occurred to me that I had a bold idea that might save us from the current toil of cattle and horses.

"Deal? Hahaha! How to trade? What are we doing with other people? ”

Listening to what I said, Brother Lin, who was sweating profusely, shook his head and smiled.

"Big brother, why did you forget your identity as a businessman! As the saying goes, there is a business for people, but everything you need can be traded. These natives come uninvited, because they have a need for us, and the trade in this is also coming! ”

I pushed the basket unhurriedly and reminded Brother Lin.

"What the virtuous brother said is reasonable! The natives covet our bud valley wine, but we don't need it for them today! It would take a long time to make such a deal, but it would be better to smelt the brass out as soon as possible! ”

"How can we be needless? The eldest brother doesn't want to sit under the thick shade and drink and rest, and command a large group of guys to do things for his own family? ”

"Hey! This head is rusty for my brother! ”

Brother Lin is also an extremely smart and transparent person, and he understood what I meant with a little touch, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly and sigh.

"Yes, what the locals need is our sake. In the future, when brass comes out, they will be obsessed with copper axes and knives. And what we lack most now is manpower, why don't these young and strong natives who have nothing to do all day be used by me? So everyone has their needs, and business is successful! Big brother, you and I were born as sea and land merchants, and what we are best at in my life is this kind of transaction. Hahaha! ”

I stopped and looked at the aborigines and eagles who were having fun, and couldn't help but laugh.

At dinner in the evening, I told everyone what I thought again.

For the brothers who were already exhausted, such a clever plan could be described as a long drought and a rainy day.

If metallurgy is complete, and when the first ingots of red copper are baked, our main daily livelihood will be winemaking and hunting.

The drudgery of quarrying and burning charcoal and forging bronze tools was all done by exchanging goods for manpower, and the natives were hired and instructed to do it.

I have already thought of the price of the transaction, a copper knife in exchange for ten days of manpower for an aborigine, and the price of a barrel of potato wine is a thousand catties of gold and stone mineral powder.

Copper axes, copper ge, copper pots, and copper bowls also have their own prices.

In this way, each trades to gain what they need, and the natives can also learn a skill, and there are no losers.

The way of business lies in this!

(End of chapter)

Shang and Buddha