Imperial County Magistrate

Chapter 217
"There are now a total of 8000 people digging for ore in the direction given by the miners, and the remaining 7000 people are building roads and opening up supply lines."

"Fortunately, although the Yunshan Mountains are huge, many roads are not rugged. It is expected that the supply line to our Jingguo will be formed in two months."

Ye Hongxue spoke energetically and led Zhao Kang to the soldiers who were opening the way.

Mining the Yunshan mineral veins is not something that happens overnight, and it is impossible without supplies in this mountain.

Ye Hongxue was very thoughtful.

Zhao Kang couldn't help but admire him. He was worthy of leading troops in war, and he thought about things more comprehensively than himself.

Seeing the two men arriving, the soldiers put down their tools one after another.

"See Lord Ye!"

Ye Hongxue suppressed her smile, pointed at Zhao Kang and said: "This is the Imperial Master of Qian State, Zhao Kang! This time our Jing State can mine the Yunshan ore veins together with Qian State, all because of the Imperial Master. From now on, everything Zhao Guoshi says An order that all must obey.”

"If there is any violation, military law will be dealt with!"

"No! See the Imperial Preceptor!"

All the soldiers shouted loudly and knelt down on one knee, the sound resounding throughout the valley.

Zhao Kang finally understood why the protagonists in those novels traveled through time and led troops to conquer the world.

That feeling of being the only one who has orders and prohibitions, is indeed not an ordinary feeling, it is very exciting.

"Everyone, get up and continue doing your business."

After asking everyone to stand up, Zhao Kang didn't say anything. Ye Hongxue looked at Yang Gan and others gathered behind him, slightly opened her lips, and asked, "Shall we go visit the mine next?"

As smart as she is, she has already guessed that the people behind Zhao Kang are craftsmen from the Qian Kingdom.

Zhao Kang nodded, called on Yang Qian and those from the Geography Department, and asked the thousand imperial guards to follow.

In order to keep the rivers in the valley clean, the mine was located far away from the water source, about 1000 meters away from the site.

Zhao Kang and others followed Ye Hongxue to the mine. Looking ahead, they saw countless shirtless soldiers, using shovels and wooden sticks to pry and beat on the mountain.

There is also a mountain of ore piled next to it.

There are many places on the mountain that look like pits.

Ye Hongxue pointed to the ore piled up like a hill and said to Zhao Kang: "These are the iron ore we mined during this period. The group of people over there are the blacksmiths we recruited from Jingguo. Among them, there are 100 private craftsmen. There are one hundred blacksmiths in the army, a total of 200 people.”

"Although we have a large number of people mining, the mining effect is not ideal. The rocks are too hard. What about your black powder?"

Zhao Kang nodded and smiled: "I'm taking it with me, Yang Qian."

"exist!"

Yang Gan understood immediately behind him and turned to look at the leader of the Thousand Imperial Guards: "Liu Hu, please take out the gunpowder."

In addition to escorting Zhao Kang and others, one thousand Imperial Guards had another task: transporting black gunpowder for mining. Each of them carried thirty kilograms of black powder.

A full thirty thousand kilograms.

Since Zhao Kang handed over the formula of black powder to Xiao Linglong, officials from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War have been studying various possibilities of gunpowder day and night.

To this end, the Ministry of War also established a department to convene people to prepare black powder.

Although it was only a few months, the inventory of black powder in the Ministry of War was not ordinary.

The Imperial Guards unpacked their luggage behind them, and Ye Hongxue saw that the luggage contained bamboo tube-style containers, bundled in groups of ten.

"Yang Qian, take the people from the Geography Department to explore first." Zhao Kang said.

Yang Gan did not dare to neglect and quickly summoned the people from the Geography Department.The Geography Department and the Qintian Supervisor are responsible for observing the sky and looking at the earth.

Compared to the group of guys in the Qintian Prison who watch the sky at night, the people in the Geography Department appear to be much more pragmatic.

They are mainly responsible for prospecting, geomantic omen, surveying and mapping terrain, and are called geologist.

The second item was to serve the construction of the imperial mausoleum. This time, those who followed Zhao Kang and others were the group of people who were proficient in prospecting.

A group of people followed Yang Qian and took out tools to survey. Craftsmen from Jingguo also joined them.

The two parties spent most of the day cooperating before finally reaching an agreement.

"Report to the National Master, based on the current direction of the mine entrance, Xiaguan and others have measured that the best extension is two hundred feet to the southeast and westward."

After listening to the Earth Master's report, Zhao Kang immediately asked Ye Hongxue to ask other craftsmen to stop work and lead people to the location surveyed by the Earth Master.

The mountain here is convex, and there is no place to place explosives.

Zhao Kang asked the craftsmen to use chisels to cut a crack to place the explosives.

Watching the Forbidden Army's operation, Zhao Kang clicked his tongue. He looked at Yang Qian without knowing for sure: "Can this guy do it? Don't let the mountain explode by then, and people will be hit instead."

Yang Gan smiled and said: "Don't worry, Sir National Master, since you handed over the black powder formula, people from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry have studied it day and night and have mastered the method of use."

"After receiving His Majesty's order, I also went to the Ministry of War to study for a period of time, and I have learned the explosives and blasting methods by heart."

Listening to Zhao Kang's conversation, Ye Hongxue on the side cheered up.

She had personally experienced how lethal this black gunpowder was, and quickly summoned everyone to ask them to retreat.

Everything was ready and the explosives were placed. Yang Gan took out the fire stick and lit the fuse.

A pungent smell rose, followed by a deafening loud noise, and countless rocks and soil splashed.

All the Jingguo soldiers and craftsmen who had never seen gunpowder were shocked and their eyes were blank.

Could it be that God is angry?How come it’s a sunny day and there’s thunder!

After the smoke and dust cleared, everyone stepped forward and saw a gap the size of a bucket appeared at the foot of the mountain. The splashed earth and gravel around it were still warm.

The earth master stepped forward and picked up the stone to examine it, and then carefully looked at the mountains surrounding the gap.

"The bottom is almost exposed, let's blow it up a little further."

The second explosion, this time Yang Gan used [-] kilograms, caused a violent vibration that shook the mountain. Zhao Kang was afraid that the mountain would collapse.

This time, the gap opened was even larger. After checking it, a group of earth masters happily ran to report to Zhao Kang.

"Master National Preceptor! We've discovered something!"

"Okay! Yang Gan will lead the earth masters to blow up a few more mines!"

Regarding how to mine and mine, there are many experienced masters here.

Zhao Kang doesn't need to worry about how to dig a mine.

On the first day, Yang Gan and his men blasted out seven mines. Ye Hongxue gathered the craftsmen into seven teams and began digging for ore day and night.

The first step went smoothly, and on the second day alone, about [-] kilograms of iron ore was mined.

Looking at the piles of iron ore, Zhao Kang couldn't help himself and summoned all the blacksmiths to prepare for smelting steel.

(End of this chapter)