Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 522 Unexpected Gains

San Francisco, this place name has Spanish characteristics at first glance.

There are many such place names in the Americas, such as San Juan, Santa Fe, Santiago, Santa Cruz, etc., but if there is a holy word in front of the place name, it proves that these places were once Spanish colonial strongholds.

San Francisco is also a Spanish colonial stronghold, and it is quite famous in later generations because it is San Francisco.

Of course, this is not a big city at this moment, it is just a small colonial stronghold at this moment, and this colonial stronghold has already been recovered by the Sioux people.

Now, it belongs to the Sioux Lakota Tribal Confederation, which is the Sula Country.

Hu Yafei, director of the Ministry of Industry, held up his binoculars and glanced at this place with a strong exotic style, feeling a burst of emotion in his heart.

He really didn't expect that one day he would be able to travel to this foreign land thousands of miles away. A year ago, he was still a candidate preparing for the exam.

At that time, he didn't expect that he could be named on the gold list, because he had only studied science for less than three years, and he was not very good at all subjects, but he had a strong interest in prospecting.

Before the start of the examination, he still thought that prospecting was just a personal hobby, and he could not take it as a skill.

Perhaps, he likes the feeling of exploring everywhere.

Or maybe, he likes the sense of accomplishment after finding the mine.

In short, he only regarded it as a personal hobby.

Perhaps, if he fails to succeed after repeated trials, he will become a tourist like Xu Xiake who travels the world.

Unexpectedly, the last question of the science examination is related to prospecting, and "On Mining" seems to be about prospecting.

What is even more unexpected is that when he talked about this prospecting, he was on the gold list, and he was soon appointed as the head of the Ministry of Industry, in charge of prospecting.

This is not the first time he has come out to prospect.

However, he used to explore ore in the East Ocean area, and this is the first time he has come to America.

This time his main task is to explore iron ore and coal mines.

And he was in charge of the area on the west coast of Sula Country.

In fact, prospecting is not necessary, and asking is actually a way. Hearing that the tribes here can't even refine bronzes, he decided to ask first.

Perhaps, the tribesmen here have seen iron mines and coal mines, but they don't know them and don't know their uses.

Thinking of this, he put down the binoculars, and said to Wang Shunfeng, the ceremonial officer at the side: "My lord, please ask the people in the tribe here if they have seen dark red stones or black shiny stones."

Wang Shunfeng nodded slightly, and then asked: "Master Hu, do you mean that they may have seen iron mines or coal mines?"

Hu Yafei nodded again and again: "Yes, iron ore and coal mines may be open-air, or they may be squeezed out during an earthquake. They don't even know how to refine bronze. It's normal to see iron ore and coal mines. .”

The Spike warship quickly docked at the pier, and the Sioux tribal warriors staying here were very enthusiastic. They all rushed to the pier, dancing and dancing, and almost jumped on the boat to meet them.

Seeing this, Hu Yafei couldn't help being surprised.

Are these people too enthusiastic?
It's not that he has never seen people from Indian tribes. They are indeed enthusiastic, but this is the first time he has seen such enthusiastic people.

Seeing this, Wang Shunfeng didn't find it strange at all. He explained with a smile: "The colonial strongholds here were originally built for them, and we also sent them weapons, food, and daily necessities. Every time I come here, they will drag me to eat beef."

Wang Shunfeng was originally responsible for transporting the supplies here. As soon as the pedals were set up, he skillfully directed the sailors to carry bags of grain and daily necessities off the boat, and then he took Hu Yafei to the pier , eager to communicate with the tribal warriors here.

After asking a few words, he said with joy on his face: "They don't seem to have seen shiny black coal, but they said they have seen dark red stones, and there are many, many, almost all over the mountains and plains."

When Hu Yafei heard this, he couldn't help being pleasantly surprised and said, "Oh, you can ask them where they are."

This dark red stone is likely to be iron ore, and other stones are generally not dark red.

Wang Shunfeng asked a few more questions, then pointed to the river in the distance: "They said that you can see it if you walk east along the river bank for four or five days from here."

Walking along the river bank for four or five days is about two hundred miles.

They had carts, so of course they didn't have to walk along the river bank for four or five days.

Hu Yafei immediately clapped his hands and said: "Master Wang, please ask them to send a guide, we will go and have a look now."

This is naturally no problem, the tribal warriors here are all vying to be their guides, let alone one, there are ten of them.

Soon, they set off with two guides.

After the Spike warship entered the river, Hu Yafei took out a compass with a serious face, staring at the pointer on it from time to time.

This is a compass specially made by the Ministry of Industry. The magnet inside is different from ordinary compasses. If there are large metal veins nearby, the pointer of the compass will vibrate non-stop.

Sure enough, the Spike warship sailed eastward along the river for about two hours, and the needle of the compass faintly trembled.

This proves that there must be a vein nearby.

At this time, the two Indian guides also pointed to the mountains not far from the river bank and shouted for joy.

Hu Yafei looked up, and sure enough, the mountains there were all dark red, which could be seen without a telescope.

This luck is too good, to find a large open-pit iron mine within less than half a day after traveling here.

Hu Yafei quickly ordered the sailors to find a suitable place to tilt the bow of the boat to the shore, and then called the crowd to jump ashore with their tools, and walked quickly to the dark red mountain.

This place really looks like a large open-pit iron mine, because there are no forests nearby, and the mountains are almost bare, full of dark red stones.

It is very possible that the bottom is full of mineral veins and there is no soil, so it is difficult for big trees to take root.

Hu Yafei excitedly led a group of more than ten people to the bottom of the mountain to take a look, and he was stunned.

This doesn't seem to be iron ore!

Stones are rarely dark red, but this is not absolute, like unweathered red sand, soil and stone are dark red.

He picked up a palm-sized stone and looked at it carefully, and then slammed it hard on a nearby stone a few times.

Sure enough, both stones cracked.

This is not iron ore at all, but a stone similar to red sand and soil.

impossible!

Hu Yafei took out the compass and took a look. The pointer was clearly shaking, which proved that there must be a large metal vein nearby, otherwise it would not be possible to have such a big impact on the magnetic field.

He picked up another stone and looked at it carefully, and couldn't help trembling.

Because he remembered a passage handed down from ancient times.

There is Dansha on the top, and gold on the bottom.

There is a stone of kindness on the top, and copper and gold on the bottom.

There are mausoleum stones on the top, and lead, tin and red copper on the bottom.

There is ocher on the top and iron on the bottom.

Dansha seems to refer to dark red stones. It may have been so easy to find gold in ancient times, because there were not many people looking for gold everywhere at that time.

This is also confirmed in many ancient books.

For example, when I dug the ground for more than ten feet, I saw a lei pair of fenzi stone, which is brown in color and black at one end. It is a stone accompanied by gold. There must be a gold horseshoe. .

For another example, a gold nugget, that is, a cave mountain or a hundred feet, is seen with a gold stone, its stone is brown, and one end is blackened like a fire.

Brown is also the color of dark red!

It is very likely that there is a gold mine below, and it is very likely that it is a large vein!
(End of this chapter)