In March, the epidemic ~ situation in Qingzhou slowed down, and all parts of Dengzhou were not affected.

Li Congyan was very surprised when he heard the news, and sent someone to secretly inquire and learned that Shen Tan, the envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, ordered to kill the epidemic, and put the people infected with the plague in Qingzhou in a centralized manner, and then burned them all on the spot. It is said that almost every family in Qingzhou wears filial piety, which is miserable.

Li Congyan was very angry when he knew the reason, he never imagined that there would be such a heartbroken person, and when he was about to make Shen Tan write down the Pinglu Festival, when he led the army out of Dengzhou, he would kill this Shen Tan!

With the dissipation of the Qingzhou epidemic~ situation, Li Congyan ordered the restoration of the Dengzhou border and ordered Li Ren and Li Wei to lead their troops to withdraw to Dengzhou City. The trade routes, which had been blocked for a month, began to recover, merchants and people from all over the country rejoiced, and the business affairs in Dengzhou began to be active again.

On the tenth day of the first month, Li Congyan called Wu Conghan and began to inspect all parts of Dengzhou with a group of mining workers.

During this inspection, Li Congyan prepared to delineate some mineral deposits in Dengzhou, and all of them were mineral deposits that had not been announced to the public in the previous mining bidding meeting.

According to the knowledge and insight of later generations, Li Congyan found two mining sites in Dengzhou, a copper mine and a silver mine, according to the geographical map at this time.

Of course, the specific location of these two mineral deposits is not known, Li Congyan only found the approximate range, and this time he took a group of mining workers to inspect the place, just to determine the specific location of these two mineral deposits.

Northwest of Wendeng County.

Li Congyan and Wu Conghan looked out from the heights, and behind them were more than a dozen mining workers, and in front of them were continuous mountains.

"Lord, there is Zhengqi Mountain over there, which is rich in timber and mountain goods, but I have never heard of copper mines in the mountain?"

Li Congyan only inspected the place in Xuancheng to the outside world, and did not explain to everyone that he was here to look for mines, but only when he came here, he explained his intention to Wu Conghan and others.

"This copper mine has never been mined, and the reserves are not very large, so you have not heard of it."

Wu Conghan was a little puzzled when he heard this, and said secretly in his heart: "How did the Lord know?" ”

Li Congyan saw the clue and said with a smile: "Don't guess, I am watching the sky at night, and when I see the colorful glow here at night, I know that there is a copper mine in the mountain!" ”

Everyone burst into laughter when they heard this, and Wu Conghan said with a smile: "The Lord is a great talent, and it is natural to know this. ”

After talking for a while, Li Congyan beckoned everyone to ride their horses into the mountain, and after more than an hour, everyone came to the southern foot of Zhengqi Mountain, which is the approximate area demarcated by Li Congyan according to his memory, and this range is also the approximate location of the Wendeng Copper Mine in later generations.

Li Congyan looked around, and then said to the group of hundreds of workers: "Let's take a look, the copper mine should be in this area." ”

"Whoa!"

More than a dozen miners immediately dispersed, only to see people with hammers and pickaxes clanging, constantly tapping in the surrounding rocks, and carefully identifying the stones that were knocked down. A team of new army soldiers who followed was also helping, constantly removing the rubble that was in the way, or assisting hundreds of workers to clean up the scene.

Li Congyan and Wu Conghan sat in place and waited, and after a while, those hundred workers had not found the copper mine, and they couldn't help but be a little anxious.

"Lord, is there really a copper mine in this area?"

"Yes!"

Li Congyan asked with a smile, "What, don't believe me?" ”

"No, no, at the previous mining bidding meeting, my subordinates have already seen the great talent of the master. It's just that it's been so long today, why haven't you found the vein yet? ”

"Hehe, don't worry if you don't find it, prospecting is not such a simple thing. These hundreds of workers are all inlaid heads by you, can't you still trust them? ”

After a while, a hundred workers suddenly shouted excitedly: "Copper! It's cuprite! ”

Everyone was taken aback when they heard the news, and many hundred workers ran over one after another, only to see that the hundred workers were holding a stone in their hands, which was mixed with red copper ore!

"Found it!"

While everyone cheered, Li Congyan and Wu Conghan also strode over, and the hundred workers who found the copper mine first pointed to the mountain in front of them excitedly, and said: "Lord, please look, the copper mine is in this mountain!" ”

As he spoke, the hundred workers also stepped forward to board a big rock, pointed to the trend of the mountain and said: "If I am not mistaken, the copper mine should follow the texture of these mountains and rocks to the east and gradually go deep into the ground!" ”

Li Congyan nodded, but the copper mine here was a cuprite mine, which was completely consistent with his memory, so he asked, "What is the copper content of this copper mine?" ”

Several hundred workers discussed in a low voice, and everyone fiddled with the ore for a while, and then the hundred workers who found the copper mine said: "Qi Li Thorn History, this copper mine has a large reserve, but as far as this ore is concerned, every 100 catties of ore can produce about eight catties of copper. ”

"That's eight percent copper?"

Li Congyan was overjoyed in his heart, this is already a copper-rich mine, and he has found a cornucopia this time!

"Immediately mobilize people to open mines here, and when I go back, I will mobilize troops and horses to block this place within a radius of ten miles. The copper produced in the mine is melted and cast into copper ingots on the spot, and I will send troops to escort it back to the treasury of the Assassin's Mansion every month. ”

"Whoa!"

In this era, copper is equivalent to money, although this matter is very taboo, but Wu Conghan thought that there would be a treasure in the Assassin's Mansion in the future, and he could even use this copper mine to mint money privately, and his heart was excited.

Subsequently, Li Congyan left behind a few hundred workers, as well as a team of soldiers of the New Army, which were led by the leading brigade commander.

Li Congyan led his troops to leave Zhengqi Mountain, and then turned around and rushed towards Huang County.

Fifty miles south of Huang County, there is a South Mountain, the vegetation on the mountain is luxuriant, the mountain is gentle, and it is very famous in the local area.

When Li Congyan led his troops to Nanshan, it was already the morning of the next day, and there was no time to rest, so Li Congyan led everyone into Nanshan.

Although the South Mountain is relatively gentle, most of the mountain roads cannot be ridden, so Li Congyan and others walked for an hour on foot, and finally came to the bottom of a mountain cliff.

"From this cliff as a starting point, go north and west to find mineral deposits!"

Li Congyan gave the order, and several hundred workers in the team began to act separately, and dozens of soldiers of the New Army also took action.

Wu Conghan wiped his sweat and asked, "Lord, what are the mineral deposits here, but copper mines?" ”

Li Congyan found a dead tree root, used it as a stool to sit down and rest, and then said, "It's not a copper mine. ”

"What kind of mineral deposit is that, iron ore? Or a coal mine? ”

Li Congyan said with a smile: "I'll sell it, let's ask you first, do you know what goods are used to deliver goods everywhere in Jiangnan today?" ”

Wu Conghan thought for a while and said: "There are few copper coins in the land of Wuyue, so the people in Jiangnan mostly use copper coins, gold and silver, and silk silk as money to buy and sell goods!" ”

"That's right!"

Li Congyan still remembers the historical records of later generations, at this time, with the Yangtze River as the dividing line, all the forces south of the Yangtze River generally lacked copper coins, and the stock of folk money in the south was insufficient, so they began to use gold and silver as a medium as a supplement to currency.

And when Liu Zhiyuan established the Later Han Dynasty in later generations, even the north began to use gold and silver as circulation. It's just that unlike the Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations, gold and silver at this time were not legal tender, nor did they have a fixed shape, but only circulated as precious metals.

"The Lord means, is this a gold mine, or a silver mine?"

"This should be a silver mine, and it's a very large silver mine!"

Li Congyan had already noticed this silver mine when he held a mining bidding meeting, so he made up his mind to choose an opportunity to mine it. Although there was no situation of silver coin circulation in the Tang Dynasty at this time, according to the course of history, this is also an inevitable development result, and it is better to make plans as soon as possible.

Wu Conghan didn't have so many ideas, but he was full of joy, after all, gold and silver are also wealth, and the Assassin Mansion has copper and silver mines within a few days, and there is a high probability that he will not worry about money and food in the future.

But who knew that Wu Conghan said this idea, but Li Congyan rejected it.

"You have to remember that copper and silver mines will be mined as soon as possible, but they will only be mined for a period of time in the future, and the Assassin Mansion will not mint copper coins for the time being, and will not let these silver flow into the people."

"Lord, why is that?"

Li Congyan said: "Nowadays, the foundation of merchants in Dengzhou is too thin, and the ordinary people are too poor, what will happen if the Assassin Mansion suddenly puts a large amount of copper coins and silver into the people? ”

"That's right, the money in the hands of the people and businessmen will surge in a short period of time, but it will be followed by a rise in prices, and even a pound of grain will sell for the price of ten stone of grain, and the money in the hands of the people will turn into scrap copper and rotten iron in a short period of time, and Dengzhou will also fall into the abyss of no return!"

In fact, the situation Li Congyan said is the inflation of later generations, and the money in the hands of the people is no longer valuable. And Dengzhou's plate is too small to accommodate a large number of currency shocks.

Wu Conghan thought for a while and understood the truth, and said, "Fortunately, the Lord is wise!" ”

While the two were talking, the hundreds of workers looking for silver mines also made a discovery.

Li Congyan and Wu Conghan rushed over when they heard the news, only to see that the hundreds of workers had found a vein two miles north of the cliff, and one of the hundred workers took a piece of ore and presented it to Li Congyan.

Li Congyan took it and looked at it carefully, and sure enough, it was a silver mine, so he said to Wu Conghan with a smile: "Okay, immediately arrange people to secretly excavate this silver mine." Silver was also melted into silver ingots in the mines, which were delivered once a month to the Thorn Mansion. ”

"Whoa!"

On the same day, after Li Congyan settled the Nanshan silver mine, he returned to Dengzhou with Wu Conghan overnight.

For the next few days, Li Congyan locked himself in the Assassin's Mansion to study how to improve the mining technology at this time.

In this era, mining is generally carried out by the hot and cold method. It is to burn a fire in the mine, so that the ore is heated and cracked, and then the cold water is used to stir it, and finally the ore is chiseled out by manpower.

Although this method is very backward from the perspective of later generations, before the widespread use of gunpowder, there was indeed no very good mining technology, especially for ore mines such as silver and copper.

Therefore, Li Congyan pondered for a long time, and only improved some minecart parts or hoist parts for going down the mine, which is better than nothing for mining.

"It seems that there is no gunpowder, and it is really holding your hands!"

Li Congyan remembered that gunpowder had appeared in the last years of the Tang Dynasty, but it had not yet been popularized on a large scale. At this time, Li Congyan thought of making gunpowder on a large scale, but thinking of his current strength, he still temporarily suppressed the impulse in his heart.

"It's better to wait a little longer."

On this day, the Dengzhou Thorn Mansion received two more explosive news, which made Li Congyan stunned for a while.