The negotiation between the Ge Tribe and the Lu Tribe went smoothly and they quickly reached a cooperation agreement. After all, the relationship between the two tribes was relatively good, which was the premise for them to reach a cooperation agreement quickly. Moreover, there was no help from Ang Lee. The two tribe leaders settled the matter by themselves.
After the successful negotiation, the Lu Tribe leader ordered his people to dig coal in the coal mine. After they were done, the coal was sent to the copper workshop of the Ge Tribe. Because the Ge Tribe was in urgent need of coal and it took time to mine coal, the first batch of coal was only two carts, which was two thousand kilograms of coal. Although it was not enough, more coal would be delivered in an endless stream. There was no need to worry about fuel shortage. The Ge Tribe and the Lu Tribe had common interests. In order to obtain precious copper ingots, they naturally would not choke each other in terms of fuel.
The Ge Tribe, the Lu Tribe and the Jiang Tribe all had their own unique resources. However, it was obvious that the Ge Tribe's copper mine was the most valuable and would certainly be the richest one in the future. The Lu Tribe, which had a lot of coal, was the weakest and would certainly be the poorest one among the three tribes in the future. But even so, the Lu Tribe would not make things difficult for the other two tribes. After all, it was the other two tribes that had discovered the mines, which made the Lu Tribe's coal useful. They could use the coal to exchange for iron ingots of the Jiang Tribe and copper ingots of the Ge Tribe, which would greatly improve their living standards.
"One has iron ore, the other has copper, and we only have coal. Comparisons are odious!"
After the patriarch of the Ge Tribe left, the patriarch of the Lu Tribe sighed helplessly. Although their tribe's life would be much better from now on, the gap between them and the Jiang Tribe and the Ge Tribe was obvious. The price of coal was far less than that of iron ingots and copper ingots. This was an unchangeable fact. Therefore, they could only hope that they could find mineral resources in their own territory. In addition to digging coal and planting crops, their tribe would also divide part of their strength to search for possible minerals in the mountains.
After transporting the two carriages of coal, the Ge Patriarch directly went to the copper smelting workshop that was under construction. As the patriarch, he was very concerned about the construction of the workshop. He knew better than anyone how valuable copper ingots were. The copper coins that they usually used were made from copper ingots. Of course, they didn't dare to secretly make copper coins. If they were discovered, then they would be beheaded. But no matter what, copper ingots were very valuable. There was no mistake about this. The discovery of a copper mine in their territory meant that they would be much wealthier in the future. They would no longer have to live in poverty.
They would no longer be poor. In this world, no one wanted to live a poor life. As long as there was a choice, everyone was willing to live a rich life. Therefore, there was a saying that people would die for wealth and birds would die for food. This sentence fully reflected people's urgent pursuit of wealth. In order to get money, many people dared to do anything. For money, it was not a problem to do things that went against one's conscience.
In many people's view, money was always the most important. It was worth sacrificing everything for money. Even if it went against one's conscience, they would not blink their eyes. There were so many people who would commit crimes for money. Since ancient times, there were so many that it was uncountable.
The copper mines in the Ge Tribe's territory were all left behind by their ancestors. In their view, as long as it was in their territory, it should belong to them. No one else could touch it. Otherwise, it would be a great violation of their own rights.
The copper workshop was in a state of intense preparation. Two hundred Ge clansmen were busy, and more than a hundred people were mining nearby. Some of them would run back to their own homes after mining. Because of this, the patriarch could only scold them and tell them to put the copper ore nearby. Copper ore was only valuable after being smelted into ingots. Copper ore that wasn't smelted was worthless. At least, they didn't know who to sell it to, and they couldn't use it themselves. But after being smelted into ingots, they could use it normally and sell it easily.
"The progress is still too slow. We need to speed it up."
The Ge Tribe leader was not very satisfied with the speed of the work and said.
In fact, the work of the Ge Tribe members was not slow at all. The progress of the copper smelting workshop was also not slow at all. However, the Ge Tribe leader's consideration was naturally different from the ordinary people. He considered that Ang Lee could not stay in the Ge Tribe for too long. If the copper smelting workshop was built too slowly, it was very likely that Ang Lee would leave before the workshop was finished. And in that case, who would they turn to for help if there was a problem during the smelting process? They had to build the workshop as soon as possible and start the smelting process as soon as possible. In this way, when there was a problem, they would have to ask for help in time so that they would not fall into a passive situation.
"Ge Tribe leader, this is already not slow. Why don't we call the people from the other tribes? The more people there are, the faster the work will be!"
The Ge Tribe leader nodded and said: "Then why don't you hurry up and call people? This is too slow. We will let Assistant Minister Li see our strength as a joke. Call all the people you can to come and work."
In order to speed up the construction progress, the Ge Tribe leader was going all out. He wanted to mobilize the strength of the tribe to build the copper smelting workshop. The Ge Tribe leader was very clear about the importance of this workshop. It was the key for the Ge Tribe to go from being poor to rich. In the future, the Ge Tribe would rely on this workshop. They did not even need to farm anymore. They could use all their manpower to smelt copper and obtain the greatest benefits.
Of course, it was impossible to not farm. They were all farmers, so they had to do nothing but farm. There was not a lot of busy farming time, so it did not take up too much time and would not affect the normal operation of the copper smelting workshop.
In just half a day, the first complete set of copper smelting equipment was successfully completed. More smelting furnaces were still under construction. Since they were going to smelt copper, the output naturally had to be higher. Therefore, many smelting furnaces had to be built, and the area needed was also very large.
Now, the first set of smelting furnaces had been built. According to the technical text written by Ang Lee, the Ge Tribe members had already started smelting. In the absence of Ang Lee, they had already started working.
After all, in the text written by Ang Lee, the description of smelting copper was very detailed. Almost all the details were emphasized. According to the text, they could smelt copper without Ang Lee's personal guidance.
"Can you really do it yourself?"
The Ge Tribe leader seemed to be a little worried about his own people. These people had never smelted copper before. It was hard to guarantee that there would be no problems with the text written.
"Don't worry, Ge Tribe leader! Assistant Minister Li has written very clearly beside the picture. As long as you follow it, there shouldn't be too much of a problem. "
The Ge Tribe members seemed to be very confident. They were not worried at all that they would mess things up.
"Alright then! Then you can try it yourself. However, you must be serious and careful. You must not mess things up. "
The Ge Tribe leader said seriously.
"Don't worry, Tribe Leader. We will not mess things up."
The Ge Tribe members started smelting very confidently.
Smelting copper was much easier than smelting iron. Since ancient times, no matter which civilization it was, they would enter the Bronze Age first. Then they would enter the Iron Age. Copper was always discovered by each civilization first. This naturally showed that smelting copper was relatively easier.
The Ge Tribe members lit the coke brought back by the Tribe leader and started to preheat the furnace. Because it was very difficult to light the coke directly, dry grass had to be used to ignite it first. After the coke was ignited, the temperature would be stable and there would be no need for dry grass.
The clansmen in charge of the smelting were very serious. They did everything according to Li An's instructions. They didn't act on their own initiative at all. Every detail had been fully considered. If they still couldn't smelt the copper ore, then it could only mean that Li An's writing was wrong.
"Hey, they are good! They have already started smelting. This is better than the Jiang Tribe members. They can be taught. Haha! "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Ang Lee was originally here to guide the Ge Tribe members in smelting copper. He did not expect that the Ge Tribe members had already started smelting. This made him very satisfied. This could save him a lot of trouble.
"Without the personal guidance of Assistant Minister Li, I don't know if they can do it."
Chen Long said.
He didn't seem to have much faith in the aboriginals. He felt that these remote aboriginals were all lowly people with low IQ. How could they easily learn advanced smelting techniques? Without Li An's personal guidance, how could they do it well?
Ang Lee was also not sure if these Ge Tribe members could really understand the technical information he had written. If they misunderstood, then they would definitely face the fate of failure. But Ang Lee still hoped that they could succeed. After all, this could save him a lot of trouble.
"Two big carriages full of coke. The Ge Tribe members are good! They solved the problem of the fuel so quickly. Amazing! "
Ang Lee walked closer and saw the two carriages full of coke. Several Ge Tribe members were unloading the coke.
This was enough to show that the Ge Tribe and the Lu Tribe had a good relationship. They could get the Lu Tribe's coke so easily. This was done without the help of Ang Lee. This was very good.
"Assistant Minister Li."
Because almost everyone's eyes were focused on the smelting furnace, Ang Lee was not discovered until he was very close. The Ge Tribe members came forward to greet him.
"Patriarch, you got the coke so quickly. It seems that the Ge Tribe and the Lu Tribe have a good relationship!"
Ang Lee said with a smile.
The Ge Tribe member said with a smile: "It's okay, it's okay. There has never been any big conflicts. Moreover, the coke is on credit, not free. In the future, we will have to pay it back with copper ingots. Haha! "
Ang Lee nodded: "That's true! The smelting may take some time. Patriarch, let's go to the side. "
The Ge Tribe leader nodded: "Okay, Assistant Minister Li, please."
There was a small hill next to the copper smelting workshop. Ang Lee and the Ge Tribe leader stepped up.
Ang Lee called the Ge Tribe leader up because he wanted to talk to the old man about life. He wanted to kill time and brainwash the old man. He wanted to make him understand that cooperating with the imperial court was the only way out. Only then could the Ge Tribe's descendants live in a prosperous and stable environment. If they secretly competed with the imperial court, they would be digging their own graves.
"Patriarch, how many people do we have in total?"
Ang Lee asked.
The Ge Tribe leader replied without hesitation: "Assistant Minister Li, our tribe's population exceeded three thousand last month."
"Three thousand is not a small number. However, it is only the population of a small county. In the Tang Dynasty, some of the bigger counties had tens of thousands of people. The population here is still too small."
Ang Lee said.
The Ge Tribe leader nodded: "Assistant Minister Li is right. The population of our remote mountainous areas is indeed small. How can we compare with the population of the inland?"
Obviously, the people in the mountainous areas were self-aware. They knew very well that the population development of remote mountainous areas could not be compared with that of the plain areas. There were many factors that would restrict the development of the mountainous areas.
Ang Lee nodded with a smile: "Patriarch is right. The population of the mountainous areas cannot be compared with that of the plain areas. The mountainous areas are not as rich as the plain areas. There are always more poor people. The lives of the people there are more poor. But why are the people in the mountainous areas always poor, while the people in the plain areas can live a better life? What is the reason for this situation? Patriarch, have you thought about it? "
The Ge Tribe leader thought for a moment and said: "This is naturally because there are more crops in the plain areas. The roads are easy to walk on. There are stones everywhere in the mountainous areas. There are not many places to grow crops. The roads are not easy to walk on."
Obviously, the Ge Tribe leader also found some problems. Some of the major problems that restricted the development of the mountainous areas were that there was not enough land and the transportation was not developed enough. These would seriously restrict the development of the mountainous areas.
Ang Lee nodded: "Patriarch is right. There are too few good lands in the mountainous areas. The transportation is blocked. It is very difficult to have a prosperous opportunity. Therefore, the mountainous areas are always poor. The best way to change all of this is to improve the transportation. Only by improving the transportation can the Ge Tribe's goods be transported out faster. Only then can you buy the various products you need. If the mountain roads are still blocked, even if you have copper mines, it will still cost a lot to transport them out. The transportation will also be very high. After the Central Sichuan goods enter the Ge Tribe, the price will also increase. But after the transportation is improved, all of this will change. The cost of selling goods will be reduced, and you will be able to buy cheaper goods. This will only bring you more benefits and almost no harm. "
The Ge Tribe leader nodded: "Assistant Minister Li, rest assured. The Ge Tribe will definitely support the Imperial Court in building the road here. This is also a good thing for us. We will certainly not oppose it. When the time comes, we will do our best to help the Imperial Court build the road as soon as possible. Hahaha!"
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