"Captain, I know you're loyal to your Commander. It's just that the situation is critical right now, those fierce beasts are like crazy, they come to attack us every once in a while, and their strength is stronger and stronger every time, and the number is more and more every time, if it goes on like this, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold it!"

Captain Pan was about to say something, but his expression suddenly moved and he looked out of the door.

I saw a white shadow fluttering in, but it was a carrier pigeon.

This carrier pigeon is a common communication object used by the escort team to transmit military information, so the guard next to it does not think it is strange to see it.

"Could it be that the Commander has sent a new order?"

Captain Pan had a thought in his heart, and while removing the note tied to the pigeon's leg,

Only halfway through it, the corners of Captain Pan's eyes jumped slightly, and a strange look flashed on his face.

When he finished reading it, he shook the note to pieces, and then touched his chin and pondered in the hall.

Seeing Captain Pan's appearance, the guards on the side cautiously probed: "Captain, did the commander give new instructions?"

Asked by the guard, Captain Pan woke up from his contemplation and hurriedly said, "Yes, the Commander told us not to be anxious, he will personally lead the team over soon." ”

Hearing this, the guard breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and said, "If the Commander can really come, then we will be saved." ”

Captain Pan nodded slightly, and then asked as if unintentionally, "How have the traces of the fierce beasts outside the mining area been detected in the past few days?"

"Report to the captain, it's almost done. The beasts that attacked us had come from the Savage Forest on the west side of Brokenridge Mountain. ”

"Well, there are a lot of fierce beasts in the area of the Savage Forest, and I think it should have come from there. However, I think the traces of this fierce beast need to be investigated more carefully, if there are not enough people, you go back and call Lao Wang, and the new Ye Fan, go and investigate again this afternoon, and you will be responsible for this matter!"

"Yes! The subordinates are going to say hello to them. ”

"Okay!

After the guard left, Captain Pan was the only one left in the hall.

At this time, he bowed his head and said to himself: "How did this newcomer Ye Fan offend the commander? The commander actually asked me to kill him personally, and don't let outsiders suspect that I killed him." It's really incomprehensible, he's just a new guard, why does the commander take such care of him? No matter, since it's the commander's intention, then I'll kill this kid. Hey, this kid deserves to be unlucky, he dares to offend the commander, no one is to blame!"

On the other side, Ye Fan, under the leadership of Lao Wang, entered the mining station.

Along the way, Lao Wang enthusiastically introduced the situation of the mining area to Ye Fan. The area of the mine is not small, there are three guard camps stationed in it, and there is also a miners' camp.

About one hundred and twenty guards and more than five hundred miners. These miners were all ordinary people recruited from the vicinity of Fengyan City, and the mining of those minerals depended on these miners.

However, this northwestern mine is located in the Broken Ridge Mountains, near the Savage Forest, and is often harassed by some fierce beasts.

When encountering those fierce beasts, these are ordinary miners, and they are naturally not opponents. Even if it was a first-order fierce beast, they could deal with it.

So there must be guards to be stationed.

Of course, these guards are not only to defend against the fierce beasts that come to harass, but also to prevent some local forces from snatching these minerals.

The Xie family attaches great importance to this mining area, not because of the ordinary iron ore produced in this mining area. And because of the iron ore concentrate produced under the veins.

Ordinary iron ore is refined, and what is obtained is only ordinary iron.

This iron can only be used for civilian use, but it cannot be refined into a warrior's weapon.

This is because ordinary weapons made of iron are difficult to withstand the vitality of the warriors, and they can easily burst.

However, the iron essence refined from iron concentrate can withstand the transportation of vitality.

Therefore, the weapons used by the warriors will be mixed with iron essence. The quality of a weapon depends on the amount of iron mixed in it.

It's just that iron ore concentrate is very rare, and not every iron ore vein is generated, only in the depths of large iron ore veins, so iron ore is generally more valuable, and the price is dozens of times that of ordinary iron.

The Xie family is a big family, there are many disciples, and there are naturally many weapons needed, so this iron essence is an indispensable item for the Xie family.

However, what the Xie family is most concerned about is that among those iron concentrates with a small number, there will be a very small amount of dark iron concentrate production.

The dark iron essence extracted from this dark iron concentrate is one of the indispensable materials for refining most spiritual weapons.

Just like Ye Fan's Ice Sword and Fire Flame Sword, it is mixed with a small amount of Xuaniron essence.

This dark iron essence is also very precious, usually speaking, a catty costs about 10,000 gold coins.

When Ye Fan came to the camp where the guards were stationed, along the way, he had a general understanding of the mining area from Lao Wang's words.

"Brother Wang, you said that the dark iron essence is so precious, how much can this mining area produce in a year?"

Ye Fan was still very curious about the Xuantie Essence, and he also wanted to get a few pieces and sell them for some money.

"Hehe, little brother Ye Fan, this Xuantie essence is very precious and very rare. In our large mining area, we can only mine more than 300 catties of dark iron concentrate a year, and these more than 300 catties of dark iron concentrate can only be refined more than a dozen catties. Moreover, the refined dark iron essence is kept in the hands of the three captains, and our ordinary guards have never even seen a shadow. ”

"You can only get a dozen catties a year! This dark iron essence is really rare!"

Ye Fan sighed, and secretly said that the Xie family spent so much manpower and material resources, and the Xuantie essence they got every year was not much.

"Yes, Brother Ye Fan, you should also know that the production of this dark iron concentrate is actually related to the golden vitality between heaven and earth. The more abundant the gold vitality, the easier it is for the veins in that place to form dark iron concentrate. ”

"That's just as well!"

Ye Fan still knows a thing or two about the reason for the production of dark iron concentrate.

At this time, Lao Wang said again: "In fact, there are two rich ore points in this Broken Ridge Mountain vein, one is our mining area, and the other is the old mining area. The old mining area is much larger than our new mining area, and it is also rich in minerals, which used to produce thirty or forty catties of dark iron essence in a year, but then because of a strange thing, the dark iron mine was abandoned by the Xie family, and this abandonment is more than ten years. ”

"Abandoned?" Ye Fan showed a curious look, "Could it be that the dark iron concentrate inside has been mined?"

"That's not it, I heard that the dark iron concentrate is abundant in it, and the output is steadily increasing every year. ”

"Then why was it suddenly abandoned?"

"Hey!! Actually, I didn't believe it when I first heard it. After all, this happened more than ten years ago, and no one knows whether it is true or not. ”