Without waiting for Liu Jinqiu to finish speaking, Guan Yeqi, the head of the housekeeper, walked into the house, and as soon as he entered the door, he looked at Lin Yuan and asked, "How do you know that Lu Dao is not silver?" ”

Lin Yuan replied with a smile: "The difference between silver and white copper is so big, how can others not know it." ”

Guan Yeqi was followed by an old servant, and when the old servant heard this, he couldn't help but cry and said, "Master, you just give in and send the silver to the Fengtian Prefect." ”

Guan Yeqi frowned, and said angrily: "Hmph! Even if Lao Tzu loses his head, he doesn't take money to flatter these corrupt officials. ”

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "In that case, why does the master of the house take the white copper as silver to give it to the prefect?" ”

Guan Yeqi sat on the chair helplessly, and said: "It's because the prefect is too tight, I made this decision, our housekeeper has saved a lot of silver, but some time ago, General Lin Yuan led the troops to fight with the Japanese, we donated most of it, and there is not much silver left, and the rest of the silver can't be moved. ”

Liu Jinqiu spoke: "Didn't someone send silver to Mr. Guan?" How can you be short of silver? ”

Guan Yeqi asked, "Who sent me silver?" ”

Liu Jinqiu said with a smile: "Mr. Guan, don't think that we don't know the way, the silver in your house can't be earned by selling bronze utensils anyway, as for who gave you the silver......" Liu Jinqiu said and pointed to the sky with his finger and said: "It is the silver given to you by this God, if the guess is right, there are a lot of associated silver mines in the copper mines mined by your family, and your housekeeper has accumulated a lot of silver by relying on this!" ”

Lin Yuan saw that Guan Yeqi's eyes moved obviously, and he knew that Liu Jinqiu had said that it was a secret, and Liu Jinqiu said: "I not only know that your copper ore is associated with silver ore, but also know that you have used the amalgamation method to extract silver, and you are short of silver now, I am afraid it is because your silver ore is about to run out." ”

Guan Yeqi looked at Liu Jinqiu in surprise, and asked with a stammering mouth, "Are you...... How did you know this? "Copper ore is often accompanied by a variety of ores, including silver ore, which is naturally not hidden from metallurgical expert Liu Jinqiu, the modern gold and silver production method is mainly cyanide method and other methods, and in ancient times there was only one, that is, the amalgamation method, so Liu Jinqiu also knew the smelting method of the housekeeper.

Liu Jinqiu said with a smile: "It's okay to hide this from others, but it's not okay to hide it from me." ”

Guan Yeqi stood up, gave a deep salute, and said: "This master, I can't hide it, after our ancestors mined copper ore in the mountains, they found that there was silver ore in it, and it happened that our ancestor knew that Lu Dao soaked silver ore with mercury, which can form mercury paste, and then through further processing, silver can be made." "Our ancestors said that this silver is a gift from heaven, and if you use this silver for your own pleasure, you will be punished by heaven, so we left our ancestors to teach that these silver can only help the people, so we stewards for more than ten generations do not dare to use this silver privately."

Liu Jinqiu nodded and smiled: "When you made silver, how did you do it?" Guan Yeqi said: "Just mix mercury and silver ore together, mercury paste will naturally form, and the remaining stones will be thrown aside......"

Liu Jinqiu stretched out his hand and said, "Slow! This is the place where I have a way to increase the yield of your silver, do you believe it? ”

Guan Yeqi asked, "Do you have any clever ideas?" ”

Liu Jinqiu said with a smile: "You go and get some sulfuric acid, mix the silver ore with the sulfuric acid, and after the silver ore is almost melted, soak it with mercury to get mercury paste." ”

Originally, when the amalgamation method extracted silver, it could only extract silver in the ionic state, and could not do anything about the silver in the compound state, but after adding sulfuric acid, the silver in the compound state in the ore became in the ionic state, so it could be extracted by the amalgamation method.

Guan Yeqi was suspicious when he heard this, and at this moment, the old servant stumbled into the door, and said breathlessly: "Master, it's not good, Master Zhang from Fengtian Mansion is here." ”

When Guan Ye Qi heard this, his face also changed, and he said to Lin Yuan and Liu Jinqiu: "This Master Zhang is a vicious dog of the Fengtian Prefect!" It's he who repeatedly urges us to get money! Two, let's avoid it. ”

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "He came just in time. So he said to Guan Yeqi: "We're listening here, don't worry, with us here, he won't dare to do anything to you!" ”

Before the words fell, there was a big laugh in the courtyard outside the door, and after a while, I saw a thin and withered middle-aged man walking in, wearing a small tortoiseshell hat on his head, a folding fan obliquely inserted in the back of his neck, playing with two jade balls in his hand, walked to the hall, gave a deep salute, and said with a smile: "The little one is sorry for the master." ”

Guan Yeqi didn't look at him squarely, and said, "What are you doing here?" Master Zhang pulled a chair and sat down, glanced at Lin Yuan and Liu Jinqiu, didn't take them in his eyes at all, and said with a smile: "Our prefect's lord and new official took office, and the local rich businessmen and gentry all presented congratulatory gifts, but Guan Ye did not give congratulatory gifts, presumably because he felt that our prefect's eldest master was only sparse and thin, and was not enough to take on the important task of the prefect, so the eldest lord sent the little one to ask Guan Ye, did he have anything inconsiderate?" ”

Guan Yeqi sneered and said, "Let your lord use the mind of receiving congratulatory gifts on the people, and let someone naturally send congratulatory gifts!" ”

Master Zhang said with a smile: "It's unreasonable for Guan Ye to talk like this, you will use a lot of places for our prefect in the future, such as this tax, if our master increases the bronze tax by so much......

After speaking, Master Zhang sneered, looked at Guan Yeqi, and thought, "Just because you are a small businessman, you dare to fight with our government!" ”

Guan Yeqi was helpless, turned his head to look at Lin Yuan, Lin Yuan smiled and said, "This official master, let me say a fair word below." ”

Master Zhang glanced at Lin Yuan, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he said disdainfully: "What are you doing!" I talk to Guan Ye, and you have to interject! ”

Guan Yeqi thought to himself: "These two mysterious visitors have revealed my secret with one mouth, and they must be not small, they may be able to help me get out of this calamity." Who knew that Lin Yuan smiled and said: "Master Guan, this Master Zhang is right, you have to give silver to this prefect." ”

When Guan Ye Qi heard this, his face changed, and he was about to get angry, Lin Yuan smiled at Master Zhang: "You go to the guest room to rest first, drink two cups of tea, and let me persuade Master Guan." ”

When Master Zhang heard this, his face turned happy, and he said: "This master is a sensible master, or not, I will go to the guest room to drink two cups of tea, and you can persuade Master Guan well." ”

As soon as Master Zhang left, Master Guan was angry and said to Lin Yuan: "If you want to persuade me to send silver to corrupt officials and corrupt officials, you should die of that heart!" ”

Lin Yuan was not in a hurry, and asked, "Master Guan, do you know who I am?" ”

Guan Yeqi remembered that there were too many things just now, and he didn't even ask about the identities of these two people, so he asked, "Who are you?" ”

Lin Yuan took out a document from his sleeve, Guan Yeqi took it and looked at it, his face changed greatly, and he was so surprised that he couldn't say anything: "You...... You are...... Lin Yuan? "It turned out that the document that Lin Yuan showed him was the appointment letter of the Ministry of Officials, which not only had the big seal of the Ministry of Officials, but also the imperial approval of Emperor Guangxu's Zhu Pen, which read: Appoint Lin Yuan as the governor of the three eastern provinces!

When Guan Yeqi saw this document, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat after being surprised!