Yuanshan County, Shanxian County. △￠，

It has been a while since the Songjiang Army put up notices and recruited talents. The notices in front of the city gate cave were exposed to the wind and sun, and were drenched in a light rain, and the ink has become a lot blurred, and many of them have been tattered, and even torn off by passers-by.

Naturally, this sensational event has long had no impact in this small city.

The people here are still repeating their monotonous and boring daily life.

"Sure enough, it's still the same as before."

Slowly driving into the carriage in the city, Huang Chen lifted the curtain of the car window and looked outside at his hometown. Although he had only been away for more than a month, this familiar and friendly taste still made him smile on his face. Of course, what made him even happier was the mission entrusted by the War Readiness Agency.

Although he didn't think that there would be iron ore in that small place in Shanxian County, since the director of the War Readiness Administration personally came to the door, Huang Chen naturally would not miss this opportunity. Because the work was not too busy, he easily took a month's leave and volunteered to act as a guide for the prospecting team, hoping to make a great contribution to it.

Under his guidance, the convoy of the Ankang Chamber of Commerce slowly turned into the north of the city and entered the Huang family.

An ordinary baron's house is inconspicuous in Dengzhou, but in a small place like Shanxian in Yuanshan County, it is already a local force that can be counted. Although some were surprised why Huang Chen had just returned to his hometown as soon as he took office, after seeing Huang Chen's attitude towards these chamber of commerce colleagues, the Huang family still warmly entertained them.

Even the baron, who was already fifty-five years old, came forward in person.

In order to find the iron ore as quickly as possible, the Ankang Chamber of Commerce came with as many as forty or fifty people this time. In addition to the disguised members of the Chamber of Commerce, the coachmen, and the personnel of the Military Intelligence Service who escorted them, there were at least twenty of them, who were used as the main force of prospectors. Thereinto. There is also a talent like Zhu Xingwen who is familiar with the characteristics of iron ore veins and has helped develop several iron mines and coal mines in Tiannan County.

"Father, the reason for this trip is ...... like this"

Huang Chen briefly introduced the situation to the baron, and when he learned that the search for iron ore was arranged by the governor of Songjiang and the director of the War Readiness Administration personally came to the door to ask for help, the old baron's cloudy eyes immediately lit up.

He's a little nobleman, he's been in office for too long!

"Listen, Chen'er. You're doing a great job! The old baron has not praised Huang Chen like this for at least ten years: "This is definitely an opportunity for our Huang family, I will order to go down and use a qiē manpower of our Huang family to help the Songjiang army find iron ore!" ”

Huang Chen was worried that he would take so many people without authorization, and returning to Huang's house to rest and settle down temporarily would attract his father's anger. Unexpectedly, the old baron's attitude made him feel much more at ease. Seeing that the old baron immediately wanted to greet someone, he hurriedly said, "Father." The director of the War Readiness Administration, Mr. Ma, said that it must be kept secret. ”

The old baron moved and nodded.

Since it's meant to be kept secret, many people can't use it. But after all, the Huang family is the head snake in the local area, and I dare not say that there are more than ten or eight people who can be relied on, and they can still take out their hands.

After resting here at the Huang family for a night, the team that had been driven for ten days was much more energetic. Because of the guarantee of the War Readiness Administration and the Ministry of Industry. Zhu Xingwen held back his strength and wanted to find the iron ore as much as possible and get the reward promised above. rejected the warm hospitality of the Huang family. At noon on the same day, we began to march towards Crooked Head Mountain.

Accompanying him, in addition to the more than 20 people in charge of prospecting, there were also nine people sent by the Huang family to help.

Among the nine people, there were several local blacksmiths, and there were also hunters who were familiar with the terrain of Crooked Head Mountain. One of them, Zheng Wei, is said to have found what looked like iron ore in Crooked Head Mountain a few years ago.

This made Zhu Xingwen very excited.

Before coming. Although the map and markings are given above, the circle does not seem to be large, and it is at least a dozen miles away when it falls on the ground, and no one dares to guarantee that there will be no error. If they don't have a guide who is familiar with the terrain, they can go into the mountains on their own and find it slowly. Ten days and half a month can find any traces is already fast. From this point of view, the local local snake Huang family has indeed helped a lot.

Walking on a somewhat rugged path, the group carried prospecting tools and crude maps on their backs, and spent more than a day entering Crooked Head Mountain.

It is said to be a small mountain, but in fact, the highest height is only 500 meters above sea level, and many places can be regarded as undulating barren mountains and mountains. Comparing the map, Zhu Xingwen and the others first walked all the way over the place Zheng Wei said. If iron ore could be found directly there, they wouldn't have to spend a lot of time digging in the mountains.

The prospecting methods of the feudal era were generally relatively simple, and they were judged more by luck and experience. For example, iron ore with magnetite can affect the operation of the compass, or the magnet can also react when you hold it. For example, iron ore buried in shallow underground layers is more likely to attract thunderstorms, and trees are frequently struck by lightning on rainy days. Some of the more experienced masters can also tell by the color of the guò soil.

Of course, the most direct thing is that you can pick up iron ore in the open air!

The place Zheng Wei said was roughly at the foot of a mountain on the periphery of Crooked Head Mountain. Because it's been a few years, he can't remember it himself. The crowd could only divide into five or six groups according to the place he roughly said, search for a nearby area of a few square kilometers, and then gradually spread around.

At the end of the day, nothing came of it.

Prospecting is a job that can take months or even a year or two to produce no results. Zhu Xingwen was not surprised by this, and ordered people to set up a tent before dark and prepare to camp.

This side of Crooked Head Mountain is very cold in this season. Especially in the mountains at night, it is at least six or seven degrees lower than the Daqingguan in the south. Without all preparations, it is not impossible to freeze to death outside. In addition to the temperature, there may also be some beasts that attack humans because they have no food to eat in winter. If you don't light a campfire and send someone on duty at night, you might wake up at dawn and find someone missing, and then find their body a few miles away.

In a flash, it was two days.

More than 30 people searched back and forth twice for the place Zheng Wei said. It is true that a few stones with a relatively high iron content have been found, but after looking at it, the blacksmith confirmed that this kind of stone with some dark red color is not even poor iron ore, and it is impossible to smelt and use it at all.

This is undoubtedly a little disappointing, and Zheng Wei is also a little embarrassed.

However, the experienced Zhu Xingwen was a little excited. At least he realized that the information that the governor had "gotten from the Grand Prince" was probably true, and that there was indeed an iron mine in this crooked mountain.

"Go on, it's such a big mountain, after all!"

After cheering for his subordinates, Zhu Xingwen continued to lead people into action. In order to improve efficiency, everyone was divided into two groups and explored separately at a certain distance.

………

In the blink of an eye, it was the beginning of February, and the second Spring Festival since Chen Wu raised his army was about to be ushered in.

Because the food and water prepared were used up, Zhu Xingwen and his family had to return to Huang's house to replenish supplies and rest for a while. Huang Chen had to ride back to Dengzhou in advance because it was time to take leave. However, the old baron, who knew the importance of this matter, did not change his attitude at all because of Huang Chen's departure, and entertained them with an attitude that was even more enthusiastic than before.

When they entered the mountain again, the servants of the Baron's Court prepared them with plenty of jerky, pickles, flour cakes, tea bricks, and even a small amount of cheese from the Northlands.

Just the preparation of eating and drinking for these dozens of people is a lot of money.

Zhu Xingwen received instructions from above in advance, and also received a sum of money for prospecting, so he naturally refused to accept the baron's kindness in vain. But the other party insisted on refusing to accept the money, although in the end he was forced to reluctantly report a amount, but everyone knew that the money was only afraid that he could not buy even half of the total amount of food, let alone the manpower spent in it.

Even though he knew that the old baron must have other plans, this attitude still made the people of the prospecting team very grateful.

With the adjustment of the past few days, coupled with abundant materials, the members of the prospecting team have been in good spirits again. Along the area marked on the map that had not yet had time to explore, the survey began separately.

Maybe it was the lack of progress before, and the fact that they were attacked by a pack of wild wolves not long ago, injuring several people, and the prospecting team used up all their bad luck. After several days of fruitless work, three days before the Spring Festival in 673, an important clue was found near the saddle on the west side of the mountain.

The first thing to notice was still Zheng Wei's kid.

After all, he was not as experienced and patient as Zhu Xingwen, and after many days of fruitless results, he had already begun to wonder if there was really an iron mine here. While he was complaining, he was walking in front of him when he suddenly tripped over something, stumbled and almost fell. After stabilizing himself, he was looking down at the scolding, and suddenly noticed that something was wrong, and bent down to pick up the stone on the ground.

The flattened stone was not large, but it was heavy in the hand, dark red with a semi-metallic glow.

This is?

After a few glances, Zheng Wei, who realized something, became short of breath, but he was not sure for a while.

Noticing his abnormality, Zhu Xingwen hurried over in a few steps, took the dark red ore from his hand, and looked at it carefully. After a while, I couldn't help but get excited: "This, this is ochre, it's a good natural iron ore!" ”

The so-called ochre is actually hematite in general. Among several common iron ores, it is a type with a high iron content, which can even exceed 70% at most, and it is relatively easy to smelt. If it is said that such an iron ore is occasionally encountered in other places, it cannot be regarded as strong evidence. But this place is a place delineated by the governor in advance, and with such an open-pit iron ore verification, the probability of finding iron ore in the vicinity is extremely high.

Glancing at each other, all the prospectors present were flushed, cheered up, and began to search around here to determine the real hematite vein!

Three days later, the good news that the iron ore vein of Crooked Head Mountain was determined was quickly sent back to Dengzhou! (To be continued.) )