At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 519: Exploration and Discovery of Silver Mines
Xu Aimin walked in the already prosperous Starting City. After three months of purchasing prisoners of war and slaves, and attracting Mayan tribesmen from the surrounding areas, the Starting City already had more than 20,000 people. Following him were the chief clerk Chen Mai, the military governor's office Sima Zhang Yang, and the military officer Liu Yun.

"Now the population of Starting City exceeds 2. Is the food we brought enough?" Looking at the Mayan tribesmen coming and going around, Xu Aimin said with some concern.

Before coming to the New World, he was worried that the population of the New World was insufficient and it would be difficult to complete the progress of development, but he never expected that the population density of the New World would be so high. He just took out some food and got 500 Mayan laborers. This is dozens of times higher than the natives in the Nanyang region. According to the situation of the messengers he sent to explore the various Mayan city-states and large tribes in the past few months, there may be 600- million people near Zhongyinzhou, and the population density is almost the same as that of the border counties of the Han Dynasty, and several times higher than that of the desert. The population of the entire continent may have exceeded million.

This made Xu Aimin doubt his own history books, which said that primitive society had low productivity and could not feed a large population. During the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period, the world's population probably did not exceed one million. The Maya, who did not even have bronze ware, had a population density almost equal to that of the Han people. This was simply unscientific.

Chen Mai said: "Our fleet brought 20 dan of grain. I have also purchased a large amount of grain from the major Mayan city-states in the past three months. The nobles of Maya love our Han silk more crazily than the people of the Western Regions. One piece of silk can be exchanged for hundreds of dan of grain. I have exchanged silk for 10 dan of grain, which has been stored in the warehouse. At the same time, the fishing team can bring 300 dan of fish meat every day. As long as the population does not continue to increase, the grain reserves of the Governor's Office are enough to consume for a year."

Xu Aimin said: "We still need to reclaim more land to consolidate our foundation. If we can reclaim a million acres of land in the starting city, our Northern Yinzhou Governor's Office can be considered to have taken root in the New World."

Chen Maidao said, "This requires a large number of manpower. The New World is good in every way except that there are no large animals. It takes more manpower to cultivate the land. If we hadn't given these Mayan natives iron tools, their efficiency in cultivating the land would have been even lower with their wooden and stone tools."

The Maya had a high grain production capacity, but their farm tools were very primitive. They had no draft animals, plows, hoes, shovels or other farm tools. They only had the simplest wooden sticks and stone axes. The pointed hardwood sticks were used to poke a hole in the soil, and the seeds were scattered in the holes and then stomped down. The stone axes were used to chop trees, clear land and clear weeds. This was a perfect interpretation of primitive civilization. Even the Han Dynasty's slash-and-burn farming was more advanced than this.

However, reclaiming a piece of wild land is dozens of times more difficult than cultivating land. What is even more frustrating is that they brought advanced iron tools, but they still had plows but no cattle or horses, so they could only use manpower. The only thing that made Chen Mai thankful was that although the Maya were in the Stone Age, they were also an agricultural nation. They did not need to be taught how to farm, and the local potatoes and corn had extremely high production capacity. In order to increase food production capacity, Chen Mai only experimentally planted a small amount of rice, wheat and other crops to see if the crops of the Han people could adapt to the New World. Most of the land was planted with potatoes and corn, and now these crops have sprouted.

At this time, Zhang Yang said, "There is a shortage of manpower everywhere. We need manpower to build kilns, shipyards, logging sites, city construction and warehouses. This time, our Northern Yinzhou Governor's Office brought millions of dan of goods, which all need warehouses to store. As long as these goods are transported down, the fleet can return to the Han Dynasty to transport supplies for our Northern Yinzhou Governor's Office."

"I think that the starting city should give priority to the development of handicrafts. The New World has its own unique crops, and the grain yield is particularly high all year round. The major city-states of Maya are not short of grain. The ten thousand pieces of silk in our warehouses are equivalent to one million stones of grain, but Maya is extremely short of handicrafts. Various iron plows, sickles, farm tools, wheelbarrows, carts, and even transport ships. As long as we make these, we can exchange them for agricultural products at a very high price. This is more efficient. It will take three or four years to see results in reclaiming one million acres of land, but trading one million stones of grain does not require too much manpower. We only need to ask carpenters to build some wheelbarrows, flatbed carts and other handicrafts that Maya lacks."

Zhang Yang obviously wanted to play the scissors gap between industry and agriculture, but Chen Mai retorted: "The Mayans' food supply is not unlimited. We can buy food from them once or twice, but we can't buy food from them indefinitely."

Zhang Yang thought for a while and said, "We can first exchange farm tools with the Mayans to help them increase their food production capacity. We can then trade handicraft products for food to feed the population of the starting city. This way, division of labor and cooperation will be more efficient, and the starting city can feed more people."

But Chen Mai immediately refused, "Before my Han Dynasty has gained an advantage in the New World, iron tools cannot be handed over to the Mayans on a large scale. We should not have the intention to harm others, but we must be on guard against them, not to mention that we are outsiders. Now we have a close relationship with the Mayans, and who knows when there will be a conflict of interest and a fight. I would rather face the Mayans with stone tools than the Mayans with our farm tools in their hands."

Xu Aimin thought about what Chen Mai said and said, "We will temporarily reduce the number of people we take in, and the ratio of workers to farmers will be 1:4. The efficiency of reclaiming land cannot be reduced."

There is nothing in the New World, and all facilities have to be built bit by bit. Now Xu Aimin faces a myriad of things every day. He now admires his father very much, wondering how he can manage such a huge country and yet be so leisurely.

Then Xu Aimin looked at Liu Yun and said, "As for education, please ask General Liu to pay attention to it. We need to let Mayan children wear Chinese clothes, speak Chinese, and understand Chinese characters. At the same time, we need to speed up the night school and teach more Mayan people to speak Chinese."

Xu Aimin attached great importance to the education of the New World. The children of the surrounding Maya can study in the elementary schools of the Han people for free, and they can also get a school uniform and a meal at noon. Now the elementary schools in Qishicheng have taken in thousands of Maya children, and there are dozens of Han teachers teaching them. And it is not just the children who need to receive education, the Maya who come to Qishicheng to work also need to go to night school to learn Chinese. And because of the shortage of manpower, these teachers have to teach Maya children during the day and teach Maya adults Chinese at night.

Liu Yun said helplessly: "Maya's children are quite efficient in learning, but Maya is a dullard and it's hard to enlighten her."

Xu Aimin said: "It's enough to understand simple commands. In addition to education, Liu Canjun also pays attention to the intermarriage between Han and Maya. This is the top priority of our Beiyinzhou Governor's Office at this stage. As long as people get married in the starting city, regardless of whether they are military or civilian, they can get a house to live in in advance, and these people will be given priority for land. If a Maya marries a Han person, their parents and brothers can get Han household registration, can join our Beiyinzhou Governor's Office to join the army, and can get land and houses in the starting city. Only when the Han and Maya get married can everyone get along well."

Liu Yun heard this and said confidently: "The people of our Han Dynasty are tall and strong, and richer than the Mayans. Many Han people have already married Mayi women."

This is the same as the later generations. Compared with the Mayans, the Han people who were able to come to the New World were generally treated ten times better than them. In addition, these soldiers grew up after the founding of the Han Dynasty. They lived in an era of extremely abundant materials. Their bodies were not lacking in various nutrients when they were growing up. They were taller and stronger than their fathers. No matter how high the yield of potatoes and corn was, it could not change the fact that this was a primitive country. Their people were generally taller than the Han people. Every Han man on this continent was tall, rich and handsome, which naturally attracted Mayan girls from the mainland.

Compared with the Han people, the life of even the tribal leaders of the Mayans is not as good as that of ordinary Han people. Otherwise, why are so many Mayan tribal leaders reluctant to leave once they arrive in the starting city? It is because the living conditions here are too good, which is more comfortable than their days as chiefs.

Hearing this, Xu Aimin said happily: "If this marriage policy continues, in less than ten years these Mayans can all become Han Chinese."

This marriage policy is the advanced experience of the Han Dynasty in Southeast Asia. The islands such as Ryukyu, which were the first to be civilized by the Han Dynasty, now have no indigenous people. All the locals are Han people, with the blood of Yan and Huang.

Then Xu Aimin asked, "Zhou Ce and the others haven't come back yet?"

In addition to the troops of the Northern Yinzhou Governor's Office, there were also a large number of fleets of princes. Their mission was different from Xu Aiming's. After they came to Yinzhou, they left early and returned late every day to find the gold and silver mines his father had mentioned, and then determine the territory occupied by their own princes. Xu Aimin had not seen Zhou Ce and his men for half a month.

Chen Mai spread his hands and said, "They seem to have found a gold and silver mine. During this period, we exchanged a large number of refractory bricks from our Governor's Office. It seems that they are preparing for alchemy."

Xu Aimin was surprised and asked, "Did they find the gold and silver mine so quickly?"

Chen Mai said: "It looks like it should be."

On the other hand, while Xu Aimin was still talking about Zhou Ce and his men, Zhou Ce and his men had established a huge camp at the foot of an unnamed valley. In the middle of the military tent in the camp, a dozen white stones were placed in the middle. Zhou Ce, Cao Qiu and others looked at the stones with greedy eyes.

They only knew that the emperor said there was a lot of gold and silver in the New World, but they didn't expect it to be so abundant. The silver ore they picked up in the wild weighed tens of thousands of kilograms, and they found more than a dozen pieces of high-quality dog-head silver like this.

Zhou Ce smiled and said, "These are all natural dog-head silver. I asked Master Wu, and he said that the mountain in front of us is a natural silver mountain. The silver content of its minerals is extremely high, reaching 30% to 40%. This is something that is not seen in the Han Dynasty. Master Wu is now refining silver, and it won't be long before our first batch of silver can be produced."

After this result came out, Zhou Ce felt that all the grievances he had suffered in the past ten years were worth it. With such a silver mountain that was as rich as a country, why would he return to the Han Dynasty? He could build this place into a new Chang'an City.
Cao Qiu said excitedly, "We have made a fortune. This silver mountain has more than 3200 million catties of silver. Now one catty of silver in the Han Dynasty is 3200 coins, and million catties is billion coins. With so much money, we can buy out the Han Dynasty. My old man really did not follow the wrong person. The emperor is willing to share such a large silver mine with us. This construction is unprecedented for a saintly monarch."

Ye Zhao said calmly: "How do we divide this silver mountain? No matter how large it is, it's impossible for each of us to get a share, right?"

Cao Qiu said, "This silver mountain was discovered by a certain family general, so it should belong to my Cao State." After that, Cao Qiu took out a map, which showed the surrounding mountains and rivers. Then a big word "Cao" was circled near the silver mountain.

The second generation around him were furious and said, "Cao Qiu, you want to eat alone, aren't you afraid of choking to death?"

Cao Qiu said: "There is more than one silver mountain in the New World. You can go and look for it. It's just a matter of a few days earlier or later."

"If it's really that easy, Cao Qiu, you give up this silver mine. We brothers will find a second silver mine and share it with you." But the other second generations were unwilling to do so. The richness of this silver mountain was already visible. The Han Dynasty had been digging for more than ten years on the Treasure Island, but the amount of silver was not as much as that from this silver mine. Who could guarantee to see a second such high-quality rich mine? Naturally, they had to find a way to fight for the one they could see now.

Cao Qiu was furious when he heard this, and drew his sword and said, "Do you think I'm easy to bully? I'm also a son of a general."

A dozen other second-generations also drew their swords and said to Cao Qiu, "Do you think my sword is useless?"

The atmosphere was extremely tense, and the family guards around them also came over to protect their respective family masters.

At this time, Zhou Ce slapped the table and shouted angrily: "You want to kill each other here and let the world laugh at us. Do you still want your father to pay attention to you? If this matter is reported back to the Han Dynasty, how disappointed our father will be."

Zhou Ce's words gave them a way out, and Cao Qiu and others took back their swords.

Zhou Ce said: "We can't be inferior to merchants. Since the emperor said there is a huge group of silver mines here, there must be more than one silver mine. This silver mine belongs to our Chang'an Trading Company for the time being. When we find other silver mines, we will divide it up."

Cao Qiu said unhappily, "What if we only find this one?"

He still felt that since the silver mine was discovered by his parents, it should belong to him.

Zhou Ce said: "Then we will build the vassal states around this silver mountain, and separate the silver mountain so that no one can dominate it alone."

Ye Zhao and others thought about it and found that this was the best way, so they nodded in agreement.

At this moment, a soldier came over and said, "Young Master, the time for the furnace has come. Master Wu invites all the young masters to come over."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ce and others left the tent and came to a small blast furnace outside the camp. There were hundreds of craftsmen around the small blast furnace, nervously watching the situation inside the blast furnace.

Wu Dajiang saw Zhou Ce and others and said, "My dear masters, the silver ore has been melted, and we can start the furnace now."

Cao Qiu asked: "Will the silver refined in this way have many impurities?"

Master Wu said, "I use the latest soot blowing method developed by the court. The process is to first screen and wash the silver ore, put it into lead blocks for smelting, and use the mutual melting of silver and lead to dissolve the silver in the lead. Then, smelt it again and let air in to oxidize the lead to separate the crude silver and the silver-lead alloy that can be further purified. This cycle is repeated over and over again, and finally pure silver without impurities can be obtained. This refining method almost does not waste silver. This method is used on Treasure Island."

The imperial court had a large amount of gold and silver mines on the Treasure Island that needed to be refined. The demand brought about technological advances, and the Han Dynasty invented the soot blowing method to refine silver thousands of years in advance.

Zhou Ce said: "Master Wu was hired by my father from the imperial court. You cannot underestimate his skills."

It can be said that Zhou Ce brought all the elites of the Zhou family with him when he came to the New World this time. The retainers of the Zhou family are talented people with their own expertise and specialties, and many of them are even the top talents in the court. Some are accountants who are good at calculations, some are engineers who are good at construction, and there are also people from the agricultural school, the Mohist school, the Confucian school, the Taoist school, the Legalist school, and even officers who are proficient in military affairs. Zhou Zhang got dozens of these top talents for Zhou Ce. It was the first time he knew that his father's power was so great.

Zhou Ce walked to the blast furnace and said, "Open the furnace."

At this time, an apprentice opened the furnace door, and the desired silver water with silver light rushed out and fell into the molds that had been prepared long ago. When they cooled down, a silver ingot shining with silver light appeared when poured out of the mold.

Wu Dajiang said: "Each of these silver ingots weighs 100 jin. There are 120 silver ingots here, which means 12000 jin of silver."

Cao Qiu immediately calculated: "This furnace of silver is worth more than 100 million. If I refine one furnace a day, I can earn more than billion in a year."

Then Cao Qiu said excitedly: "The Han Dynasty is not as rich as us."

The other second generations also cheered: "We are going to get rich!"

Although these people have seen money before, even these top second-generations are excited to think that they will be able to make tens of billions of dollars a year.

But at this time, Master Wu poured cold water on them, saying, "We brought the coal for silver refining from the Han Dynasty. No coal mines have been found in the New World yet. If we use wood to burn it, the efficiency will be greatly reduced. Moreover, silver mines are not developed yet. We can easily find high-quality silver mines, but once we start digging, it will require a lot of manpower and material resources. Moreover, the quality of silver mines cannot be so high. So let alone tens of billions of dollars, even if we have one-tenth of it, it depends on the construction of the infrastructure behind it."

"It takes manpower to mine silver, it takes manpower to mine coal, it takes manpower to transport, and it also takes manpower to build the refractory bricks for the blast furnace. I want to explain to all the owners first that if you want to refine silver, you even need to build the tools for mining. You need a decent set of industrial facilities and various catalysts for silver refining. Treasure Island has the support of the court, so it can go all out to refine gold and silver.

But the New World has nothing. This blast furnace will reach the end of its life in a few months. Even if we can barely build a silver refinery, we still need craftsmen to maintain these factories. Even with the assistance of the court, it will be difficult to produce results in one or two years."

Zhou Ce smiled and said, "With these silver ingots, we don't have to worry about not having money to buy infrastructure."

(End of this chapter)