Huo Gang's excitement was felt by the people around Huo Gang, but Anno and Wu Ping didn't quite understand why Huo Gang was excited, could it be because of these craftsmen? It's possible, because even they know the importance of craftsmen.

But it's not enough to have craftsmen, you must also have raw materials, otherwise, it will be difficult for a good woman to cook without rice!

Two hours was not a long time, and when the time was almost over, to Huo Gang's surprise, two cavalrymen rushed back, and the two cavalrymen dismounted directly near Huo Gang, and then quickly ran towards Huo Gang.

"General Qiqi, when we were returning to the Montenegro checkpoint, we met several families on the way, they said that they were escaping from the world, but because the heavy rain last night caused the mountain near them to collapse, and the place where they lived was destroyed, so they wanted to take refuge in us, and their subordinates have sent someone to send them here behind."

Huo Gang's face instantly became weird, and he nodded and said, "How many people are there?" ”

"There were 27 people and five families, and according to their own accounts, they lived at the foot of the Qilian Mountains, about 100 miles south of Yangguan."

"Very good, good job, send someone to send them over."

"Yes!"

The two cavalrymen turned around and left, Huo Gang had already guessed in his heart, this was probably where the limestone veins were located.

Huo Gang waited for less than half an hour, and this small group of people had already been sent over by several cavalrymen.

Huo Gang asked people to bring them over as soon as possible, these 27 people are old and young, a total of five families, they are not afraid when they see Huo Gang, but they bent down and saluted as soon as possible: "I have seen the general, I will ask the general to take it in." ”

"Of course, it's okay to take you in, as long as you follow my rules here, you can live here." Huo Gang said seriously, he had already seen that there were some sheep and horses following them, and there were no cattle, but the sheep were not small.

"Thank you, General, in addition, there was a landslide on the mountain peak where we live, and some of the stones that came down from the collapse seem to be different from ordinary stones, I don't know if it's a mineral, I brought some, I don't know if it's useful to the general." The middle-aged man who took the lead said seriously.

"What's your name?" Huo Gang asked.

"Back to the general, my name is Tian Zhong, my ancestors are stonemasons, and we have been stonemasons for generations, and we fled from Liangzhou." Tian Zhong replied seriously.

Huo Gang reached out and took the stone handed over by Tian Zhong, although Huo Gang was not an expert in this area, he could also recognize that this thing was the most common calcite in limestone veins.

Sure enough, this is the limestone vein that the spirit of the Jade Gate said.

"Yes, it did work for me." Huo Gang nodded very dryly, "Since your whole family is a stonemason, in this way, your future residence will be arranged here, but I may ask you to help mine some ores, because these ores are very useful to us." ”

"At the general's command." Tian Zhong replied very simply.

To be honest, at this time, Huo Gang was also a little unclear about whether Tian Zhong and the others really escaped or what was going on.

However, Huo Gang couldn't ask these questions directly, so Huo Gang put this question on the back of his mind for the time being, and he needed to take a look at this limestone vein.

"It's getting late today, let's go and see this vein together tomorrow." Huo Gang simply ordered, and if there are some problems that are not clear, let go for the time being.

"Yes, General!"

"Come on, bring them to Mr. Wu, let Mr. Wu arrange a place for them to stay, and inform Yang Lao Wu that Anno is here." Huo Gang thought about it and said directly.

"Yes!"

Ten minutes later, Huo Gang met Yang Lao Wu and An Nuo.

"General!" The two men arched their hands.

"That's right, tomorrow I need all your stonemasons to come with me, and besides, let those who are proficient in pottery also go with me. In addition, Yang Laowu, you are familiar with Ake City, let me ask you, can you buy iron in Ake City? Huo Gang was also not polite, and said directly.

Huo Gang's attitude made Yang Lao Wu and An Nuo a little happy, because Huo Gang's attitude showed that Huo Gang treated them equally.

"Back to the general, you can buy iron in Akcheng, but it's expensive, and the quantity you can buy is not much, if we need it in large quantities, it is estimated that it will be difficult, general, do we want to buy iron?" Yang Lao Wu asked tentatively, "If you want to buy iron, I know a merchant from Gaochang Kingdom, and you can get a relatively low price." ”

"No, we don't buy iron, you say, if I want to buy the slag from iron smelting, can I buy it?" Huo Gang asked with a slight smile.

"Huh? This...... Everything is garbage, what do we want to do with that? Yang Lao Wu was a little confused.

Huo Gang smiled, it is true that the slag left over from ironmaking is, to a certain extent, garbage in this era, and there is no place to dispose of it.

But for Huo Gang, this thing is a treasure, because it is one of the necessary materials for cement.

Modern Portland cement, if the industrial method is adopted, Huo Gang can't do it now, but the soil method to make cement, it is very simple.

To put it bluntly, it is mixed with limestone and clay in a certain proportion, and then ground into powder, and then put into a cement cellar to calcinate mature material, which is the cement made by the soil method, which is very simple, of course, it is certainly not as strong and durable as the cement made by the modern industrial system, but in this era...... It's completely sufficient.

And if after the calcination is successful, and then part of the gypsum is mixed and added, you can get a higher grade of cement, which is good for making civil engineering, and it can also be mixed with part of the iron-making slag, anyway, it is also a waste utilization, whether this part is or not.

And these slags can also increase the strength of cement, as well as various properties such as resistance to freezing, corrosion, etc.

Many people will think that clay is not easy to find, but don't look at the Western Regions at this time with the eyes of more than a thousand years later, you must know that Lop Nur at this time is still a lake with an area of thousands of square kilometers!!

More than a thousand years later, the Yangguan ruins are almost all Gobi Desert in the middle of the Qilian Mountains to the south, but now, although most of them are also Gobi Desert, there are still some places where grass grows, but these weeds are very barren, but as long as there is grassland and the like, it is not difficult to find clay.

"Useful, so can you get it?" Huo Gang asked with a smile.

"Yes!" This time Yang Lao Wu answered categorically, nonsense, those things were originally garbage, and now they are willing to spend money to buy them, aside from the transportation costs, as long as they give enough profits, the other party has no reason not to sell!