Iron Power And Sorcerer

Iron Power And Sorcerer Chapter 358

2021-10-31

Chapter 358 Trading (Part 1)

[wasteland, where the gold is buried]
The valley The tranquility is broken again, and the uninvited guests return.

This time, unlike the last time, only three cavalry sneaked in. This time, Winters led his team into the valley just and honorable.

The Golden Horde Guards of the Chihe Department have set up sentries on the periphery of the valley to intercept possible nomadic hunters.

The envoy of Tiefeng County set up camp in the mountain within the valley. The hoardings of the six carriages, the blankets have been removed for the first time since they left Ironpeak, and Winters' men are seeing the "mysterious cargo" for the first time:

The furnace, the crucible , molds, refractory bricks, bellows, Crane prefabricated parts...

Seeing the familiar guy, a goldsmith who has repaired horseshoes has a sour nose for no reason.

 …

Long before leaving Iron Peak, Winters, Bud and Mason had repeatedly discussed “How can we safely recover the Golden Man?”

The three of them unanimously agreed: just exposing the position of the Jinmen would mean a huge risk to the weak mission;
Primordial was always a hostile land, and the best way to deal with the Jinmen was The plan should be to reach a transaction with the Chihe Department to replace gold or equivalent goods with gold people;
If the aforementioned plan cannot be realized, the gold people should be withdrawn under the premise of obtaining the understanding and protection of the Chihe Department. And on the spot... Destroyed.

That's right, destroy.

The golden man in Palatu can only be used as gold, except that it can be used to boast of martial arts, it has almost no added value.

Instead of walking around wasteland with a striking golden figure, it is better to destroy it and remelt it into gold bars to take home.

During the negotiation process with the White Lion, Winters found that the White Lion had no interest in the sacrifice of the Golden Man, but at the same time he realized that the White Lion did not mind providing a reasonable point for destroying the Golden Man. s help.

The fate of the holy things of the Heard tribes is thus decided.

 …

He lifted the tarpaulins of the last two carts, which contained not tools, but some kind of black-gray stone.

"Stone?" Some people are puzzled.

How many trucks are the mysterious goods that have been laboriously transported? And stones?

The mission's blacksmith stepped forward, picked out a black stone, weighed it, and turned around with a smile: "What stone? It's obviously coal!"

"Coke." Berian said softly.

“It’s coke.” Winters walked into the crowd with a cane and nodded approvingly to Berrian: “Processed coal.”

For fear of not being able to find it in wasteland With enough fuel, Winters even brought two trucks of coke a long way. He was so prepared that he would never leave Heard wasteland until two tons of gold were in his hands.

Winters walked to the front of the crowd and glanced at his subordinates: "Enough of the fun?"

"[A sporadic one-syllable word of obedience and approval]."

He smiled: "Then go to work!"

"[A one-syllable word of obedience and approval suddenly full of fighting spirit]!"

Just do it.

Charle led the people to find the stakes and dig them up immediately; Pierre led the people to unload the truck and set about assembling the Crane; the blacksmiths and goldsmiths of the mission were busy setting up the furnace.

Winters has not publicly stated what is being dug up, but those who have lived through the Great Wasteland have already guessed.

As for those who joined the army after the first army was founded, even if they knew nothing about the existence of the Jin people, just by looking at the mysterious and secretive attitudes of the tribunes, they knew that there was a lot going on in the underground.

Although the sun is already in the west, everyone is very motivated to race against time.

Only Vashka, whose head was wrapped in white cloth, leaned in front of Winters: "What are you going to dig? Hundred-Men Commander?"

Because it was a wounded, so Wasika can be dignified just being lazy.

"You... don't remember?" Winters smirked.

Washika was quite aggrieved: "I fell that day..."

...

On the day of Qingqiu hunting, Vashka fell off a horse and fell. back of the brain. He lost his life, but after a dozen stitches, he slept for a long time, and then he jumped up and down again.

But the fall is not that absolutely does not have repercussions, at least on the day of Qingqiu's hunting, he remembered that does not raise.

Shika learned that the blood wolf was invincible in Qingqiu, and learned that other partners followed the blood wolf to the limelight, and the intestines were regretful.

Every time she thinks of her friends bragging about how to show their talents in Qingqiu in the future, but she has no impression at all, Vashka's heart throbs.

So in the past few days, Wasika has been beating around the bush to find out what happened that day of Qingqiu's shooting. However, Pierre was tight-lipped, and his partners were reluctant to discuss in detail, and his father even scolded him fiercely.

After thinking about it, only the first-hand information of the parties is the most credible. So Vashka has been leaning over to Winters whenever she has time recently, hoping to get something out of it.

 …

Winters recalls carefully—the gold-winner, the gold-buryer, and Vashka were all present. Qingqiu fell down on the day of hunting, so he didn't forget everything before, did he?
He looked at Vashka's happy expression and the white cloth wrapped around his head, and suddenly felt a little distressed. Because Vashka fell very hard, she was a little bit unlucky, and may have lost her life.

But he kept coming up with another single thought: "This kid probably fell stupid... No, he fell even more stupid."

"Seeing that thing , you can remember." Winters whispered as softly as possible: "Vashya."

Washka desperately nodded, he didn't really understand what Hundred-Men Commander was talking about, but Hundred-Men Commander's tone flattered him.

Berrion was installing the bellows, and Winters called him aside.

"The people from the Chihe Department brought ore samples." Winters said, "Let's take a look."

The two took their horses and rode slowly out of the valley, Go to the camp of the Chihe tribe.

Winters recovered much faster than Kaman expected. He can already walk with a cane, but his limbs are still sore and weak, and his movements are stiff and uncoordinated.

Therefore, Kaman strictly forbids Winters to ride fast horses. If Winters said nothing, he would never ride an ox cart, Kaman would not even allow him to ride a horse.

"The Chihe Department doesn't seem to be interested in mining iron ore." Winters held on to the saddle tightly, trying to maintain his balance, and said casually, "It always feels a little abnormal."

"Ore has to go through a lot of processes before it can enter the smelting furnace. If it is only rough ore, one hundred parts will not be able to smelt one part of pure iron. Steel can be sold far away, but iron ore is not worth buying far away. So famous The iron smelting towns are all on the edge of the big mines, and the mines are exhausted, and the towns will decline.”

Although Berian is still reticent, he is very knowledgeable when discussing iron smelting with Winters. There are endless words and words: "The chief of the Chihe Department should think that it is impossible for you to put the smelter on the site of the Chihe Department, and the ore is not worth buying far away, so he will be indifferent."

Winters asked: "Nor water transport?"

"I don't know." Berian answered honestly: "But I guess not. Because as far as I know, even if the water transport is convenient, it will not be possible. There are merchants hundreds of kilometers away who come to buy rough ore."

Winters catches an unfamiliar term: "Rough ore?"

"It's mined from the pit, mixed with stones ore.”

“Coarse ore is not worth long-distance transportation.” In front of experts, Winters has never been afraid to show his timidity, and he asked curiously: “Is there any fine ore?”

“ Corresponding to the rough ore, the blacksmith is generally called the concentrate." Berian explained carefully: "If the picking, roasting, crushing, sieving and even [sintering] processes are handed over to the Chihe Department, you can directly get the ore from Chihe. I'm buying concentrate. By water, the concentrate might be worth the long haul."

"I was visited by Mr. Leo when you were not in Ironpeak—a very shrewd businessman. "Winters looked thoughtful: "He said, 'Things with high enough profit are worth the long-distance transportation, and the freight is more expensive than the grain itself when it is sold two hundred kilometers away.'"

"That's the truth, Your Excellency."

"But you didn't bring it up first." Winters sighed: "There must be something wrong."

"There are some..."

"Tell me. You don't think it's possible, and I don't have any hope."

"The concentrate is only one step away from wrought iron. If you get the concentrate, you can use an earthen furnace to smelt it. Wrought iron." Bellion said solemnly: "As far as I can see, the Hurds are not incapable of making iron. On the contrary, they are very skilled."

Winters recalled the capture from the Hurds. of weapons and armor, although most of them are old, there are also new ones. I also think that the usage rate of iron tools in the Chihe tribe is much higher than that of other tribes - the poor tribes still use stone arrowheads and bone arrowheads, and everyone in the Chihe tribe already uses iron arrowheads.

"I think." Winters laughed: "The Chihe Department may have been secretly mining and smelting iron."

Berian pondered for a moment: "Around Qingqiu is full of Laterite, there is really a 'Chihe' in the Chihe part, and there may be shallow iron ore veins. It is best to ask the local residents if there was iron ore in the past? Or if there are old iron smelting relics?"

"The Heard tribes move around, how can there be any local residents?" Winters laughed heartily, and after laughing, he still took a serious attitude: "I have already asked the people of the Bad Earth. At least recently several For decades, I have never heard of an 'iron mound' in the upper reaches of the Chihe River. As for the further advance, no one knows."

"There is a possibility that after the former Hed people had mined the shallow ore veins, Unable to mine the remaining veins, it was abandoned and forgotten over time. So no one has heard of it, and no one remembered."

Winters wrapped the reins around his fingers: "Suppose it is In this way, where did the Chihe Department come from to mine deep mineral deposits?"

Berion didn't answer, he vaguely felt that this was not a problem.

"Don't worry about it!" Winters stretched his back on the horse and said with a smile, "Even if there is a map in war, you still have to look at the terrain with your own eyes. You and I are thinking here that you can't check it on the spot. , it’s useless to think about breaking your head. Oh, the Chihe Department doesn’t let us explore on the spot, but I want to see what’s there.”

The two rode another section of the road and went out After Taniguchi, Heaven and Earth suddenly became enlightened.

Berrion took the initiative to speak: "Sir, in fact, many places know that there are ore veins, but no one is mining them. Either because the ore veins are too barren, or because it is too difficult to mine, or because the transportation is too inconvenient ."

"Like Iron Peak?"

"Like Iron Peak. Unless bar prices are too high or veins are depleted elsewhere, Iron Peak is not It's worth mining because it's not cost-effective."

Winters exhales one breath saying: "Mining if there is profit, and waste if there is no profit. In the end, it's all business."

Berryon After a long silence, he asked, "What's wrong? Your Excellency."

Winters laughed and stabbed Chang Feng lightly: "There are still some things that aren't."

…

Disobeying Father Kaman's every doctor's order, Winters galloped to the camp where the Chihebu palace guards were stationed.

Although the Golden Horde Guards were ordered by the White Lions to protect the Iron Peak Mission from being disturbed, they did not camp in the mountains within the valley and had little contact with the Iron Peak Mission.

From the beginning to the end, the men and horses of the Chihe Department never stepped into the valley—this was another order from the White Lion.

Therefore, the negotiations and exchanges were conducted at the Gongwei camp outside the valley.

The two archers who came to deliver the ore, one after the other greeted Winters.

The archer standing in front is a typical Hurd. The long-term wind meal and camping made his exposed skin keratinized, showing a unique texture.

Though the people standing in the back are wearing wasteland costumes, they don't look like the Hurds in any way.

"Lord Batu." Unlike the Hurd archers, it turned out to be a common language with a little Monta accent: "What do you think about the conditions of the White Lion King?"

p>

[天不亮，一天就还没有过去……]