Ang Lee and his group walked all the way to the top of Jie Mountain. Along the way, they found a large amount of tungsten ores. This seemed to be enough to prove that the entire mountain was filled with tungsten ores. According to the manpower and current technology of the two clans, they wouldn't be able to mine it all in ten thousand years. In this way, this remote mountainous area would become a wealthy mountain village. The living standards of the people here would be greatly improved. In the future, the situation of children being naked would never happen again.
Standing at the top of the mountain, they could see the beautiful scenery around them. This feeling of looking down on the mountains was very wonderful. The stones under their feet were tungsten ores. This feeling was even more wonderful.
These tungsten ores were very important to the two clans. After mining these ores, their living standards would be greatly improved. However, the scenery here was also very beautiful. It wouldn't be good if the environment here was damaged because of mining. Not only did they have to mine the tungsten ores here, but they also had to take into account the environmental issues. Both of them had to be paid attention to.
Ang Lee felt that there was no need to dig down from the top of the mountain bit by bit. They could dig from the bottom of the mountain. Digging a tunnel would kill two birds with one stone. First, they could dig out a huge amount of tungsten ores. At the same time, they could dig out a path to build better roads in the future. This kind of killing two birds with one stone wouldn't cause too much damage to the environment. After all, digging a tunnel at the bottom of the mountain would only damage the vegetation near the two exits. The vegetation on the mountain and the top of the mountain wouldn't be damaged at all. The appearance of the entire mountain wouldn't change if one didn't look carefully.
After digging a tunnel, when the tungsten ores were used up, they could dig a few more tunnels. After the tunnels were dug, they could dig horizontally. They could dig the entire Jie Mountain into an underground hideout. The interior of the mountain was well-connected. It would be good for tourism in the future.
"Not bad, not bad. There are enough tungsten ores here. It's enough to keep the two clans busy for tens of thousands of years. Haha!"
Ang Lee said happily.
The Zhan Clan and the Lang Clan were naturally very happy. However, they didn't know how to smelt tungsten ores. All of this depended on Ang Lee.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. Our clansmen have already started the preparations. Everything needed to smelt tungsten ores will be ready in one or two days. Assistant Minister Li, please stay for a few more days."
The patriarch of the Zhan Clan said.
When the clan leader of the Lang Tribe heard this, he was a little stunned. Ang Lee had actually left everything to the Zhan Tribe to prepare. Then what should the Lang Tribe do? This bowl of water was not balanced!
"Assistant Minister Li, what should our Lang Tribe do to prepare?"
The leader of the Lang Tribe asked.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "The smelting blueprints that I prepared last night have all been given to the Zhan Clan. They are already preparing. Your people should prepare with them. This way, the work can be done faster."
After speaking, Ang Lee looked at a piece of empty land in the distance and said, "Look, this piece of empty land at the foot of the mountain is not small. What do you think about building a tungsten ore smelting workshop here?"
The two clan leaders naturally nodded together, agreeing with Ang Lee's decision. After all, there were very few flat open spaces in the Jie Mountain. It was not easy to find a suitable place to build a smelting workshop.
The patriarch of the Zhan Clan said, "Assistant Minister Li is wise. We also think that this location is the best. However, this piece of empty land is completely under the jurisdiction of the Lang Tribe. This seems to be …?"
The patriarch of the Lang Tribe hurriedly said, "Now, the smelting workshop is jointly run by our two clans. What does it matter whose jurisdiction it is under? It's just that it will be slightly more convenient for our people to go to the workshop in the future. It will save us a lot of walking. "
Obviously, both clans hoped that the smelting workshop would be in their own territory. After all, if the smelting workshop was under their jurisdiction, it would give them more rights to speak. When there was a dispute in the future, they would be more proactive.
The patriarch of the Zhan Clan said, "That's right. It's the same no matter whose jurisdiction it is. As long as the harvest is divided equally, haha!"
This piece of empty land that could be used to build a smelting workshop was not big. However, the population of the Zhan Clan and the Lang Tribe was not large. If the smelting workshop was too big, they would not be able to use it. A small stream flowing for a long time was the best plan.
"Oh right, smelting tungsten ore requires coal. You don't have coal here, but the Lu Tribe produces it in large quantities. You have to go to the Lu Tribe to buy coal, or use the tungsten ore that you will produce in the future to exchange."
Ang Lee opened his mouth and said.
The patriarch of the Zhan Clan hurriedly said, "Assistant Minister Li, don't worry. The relationship between the Zhan Clan and the Lu Tribe is not bad. Last night, I have already sent people to the Lu Tribe to borrow coal on credit. In the future, it will definitely not be a problem to return it with tungsten ore."
At present, all the clans in the Western Detention Area were relatively poor, and none of them were rich. They didn't have much cash on hand, so they used credit. As long as their relationship wasn't too bad, credit was possible. Anyway, the Lu Tribe had more coal than they could use. If they could exchange the coal for all kinds of metals, they could make a lot of money.
Ang Lee opened his mouth and said, "Very good. It is the best thing that your clans can unite and develop together. Now, the Jiang Clan has iron ore, the Lu Tribe has coal, the Ge Clan has copper ore, and the tungsten ore of your two clans also has tungsten ore. In the future, you can exchange as much as you want. By the way, the tungsten ore can be refined into pure tungsten ore, pig iron, or ferrotungsten alloy. Tungsten ore can be sold in the capital city, pig iron can be sold anywhere, and ferrotungsten alloy can be used to make excellent ironware. Since tungsten ore is more expensive, naturally, the tungsten ore refined from ferrotungsten alloy is the most valuable. However, the refining difficulty and cost are also higher. If the purity is not up to par, it is better to directly smelt ferrotungsten alloy, which is more expensive than copper anyway."
Ferrotungsten was an ore produced by two different metals. During smelting, it was naturally more difficult than smelting a single metal. After all, the melting points of the two metals were different. However, if one wanted to smelt an alloy of two metals, the difficulty would be lower. Furthermore, ferrotungsten alloy itself could be used to forge high-quality weapons. As long as the craftsmanship was good, it could be forged into high-quality weapons that could cut through iron like mud.
Ang Lee could casually teach the craftsmanship of ordinary metal products to the tribes along the way. However, he could not easily teach the craftsmanship of ferrotungsten alloy to anyone. After all, the quality of iron products made from ferrotungsten alloy was too high. If these guys used it to forge excellent weapons and sold them to the neighboring small countries, it would be troublesome. Therefore, Ang Lee could not easily teach the craftsmanship of ferrotungsten alloy to the two tribes. He could only teach them some craftsmanship of pig iron and copper products. These craftsmanship were enough for the two tribes.
Of course, the craftsmanship of tungsten ore was much more difficult than that of ordinary pig iron. Even if he wanted to teach the two tribes such craftsmanship, it would not be easy. It would take too much time and cost. Ang Lee did not have that much time to teach them as he was about to leave. Therefore, it was better not to teach them so as to prevent them from forging excellent cold weapons and selling them to the forces that were hostile to the Tang dynasty. Even if they did not harm the imperial court, it would not be a good thing for the people to master the craftsmanship of excellent weapons.
When they heard that the Jiang Clan and the Ge Clan also had mines, the patriarch of the Zhan Clan and the patriarch of the Lang Clan were shocked. The place where they lived was too remote, and they had not interacted with the three clans in the east for a long time. Therefore, they did not notice what had happened to the three clans recently, and did not know what had happened to the three clans. When they suddenly heard this news, they were shocked. They really did not expect that in their barren mountain area, every clan actually had mines. God was really too kind to these small clans, and had actually prepared so many mineral resources for them. If they did not make good use of it, they would really be letting down God's reward.
At the same time, because all the minerals were bulky products, if they wanted to sell them in the future, they had to be transported by trucks. Naturally, trucks had higher requirements for the road. The bigger the truck, the lower the transportation cost. The bigger the truck, the higher the requirements for the road. The rugged mountain roads could not meet the requirements of large trains. Therefore, road construction became extremely important. The importance of road construction was self-evident.
Because of the huge demand for benefits, the tribes along the way naturally had no reason to oppose road construction. In order to smoothly transport the metal minerals of their tribes to distant places for sale, they would definitely strongly support the imperial court's road construction policy. They would even take the initiative to provide help within their ability so that the imperial court's road construction process could be carried out faster.
Ang Lee helped the tribes along the way by giving them a lot of smelting and forging techniques free of charge. It seemed that these tribes had benefited a lot, but the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty would also benefit from it. At least, the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty would not encounter too much resistance in the following road construction process. They could even get the strong support of the tribes along the way, thus ensuring that the road could be opened to traffic as soon as possible and promoting the economic prosperity of the western part of the Tang Dynasty all the way to the Eastern Maiden State.
For many people, the prosperity of the capital city and some other places of the Tang Dynasty was enough to show the strength of the Tang Empire. In Ang Lee's view, only when all the regions of the Tang Dynasty were prosperous could the Tang Empire be regarded as a truly prosperous empire. As long as there was a region where the people were not fully clothed and the children were naked all day long, then the prosperity of the Tang Empire would be unfair and not really reasonable. In order to realize the prosperity of the entire Tang Dynasty, Ang Lee was willing to travel mountains and rivers to study the people's feelings in various places of the Tang Dynasty. He also wanted to use his knowledge and ability to change the appearance of these backward regions to create a fair and prosperous Tang Empire.
"When the ferrotungsten products are smelted, we can get the most profit by selling them in the capital city. Unfortunately, it's too far away. It will take a long time to go back and forth. It's more convenient to sell them in Central Sichuan."
The patriarch of the Zhan Clan said.
The patriarch of the Lang Clan nodded and said, "Brother, you're right. Naturally, it's safer to sell them in the early stage. Let's sell them in Yizhou City. When we have money in the future, we can take a little risk and sell the products directly to the capital city."
"That's right. When we have money in the future, we can expand the sales to the capital city. At that time, our two clans will be rich."
The patriarch of the Zhan Clan said happily.
The patriarch of the Lang Clan said, "These are all things in the future. Right now, we still have to solve the problem in front of us. For example, where should we mine the ferrotungsten ores first? Should we build a better road nearby so that the mined ores can be transported to the smelting workshop as soon as possible?"
The patriarch of the Zhan Clan nodded and said, "Brother, you're right. We don't have to think about the future for the time being. It's more appropriate for us to think about the matter in front of us now. Let's study how to mine and smelt the ferrotungsten ores!"
The two patriarchs quickly reached a consensus and began to discuss together. As the location of the smelting workshop had been decided, they agreed that the first mining area must be near the smelting workshop. They definitely couldn't mine in a location that was too far away. The closer it was, the more convenient it would be for transportation. As long as they weren't fools, they would definitely mine the nearby ores first. When the nearby ores were almost mined, they would then mine the ores further away.
Ang Lee also put forward his own opinion. While they were mining the ores, they should dig a tunnel that could pass through to shorten the transportation distance between the Zhan Clan and the Lang Clan. After all, the road in Jie Mountain was curved. The direct distance between the two clans wasn't very far. However, as the road went around the mountain, it was actually very far away. As long as the tunnel was dug out, the distance between the two clans would be greatly reduced. In the future, the products that were smelted could also be transported through a tunnel that was closer. According to Ang Lee's estimation, as long as the tunnel was dug out, the distance between the two clans would be shortened by ten miles. The traffic situation would also be greatly improved. This would be of great benefit to reducing the transportation cost.
However, mining ores directly on the ground and mining ores in a tunnel would definitely be different in terms of the amount of work and labor involved. Mining ores directly would definitely be easier. Digging ores in a tunnel would definitely be more stressful and difficult. However, there would be many benefits in the future. It was a more far-sighted action.
The two patriarchs also felt that Ang Lee's words were somewhat reasonable. However, they felt that they should first mine the easy ores and earn more money. It would be safer to dig a tunnel when they had more money. After all, they were now in urgent need to improve their poor and backward appearance. Nothing was more important than improving their poor and backward appearance as soon as possible.
Ang Lee felt that the thoughts of the two patriarchs were very reasonable. People who didn't think far ahead would have immediate worries. Right now, the most urgent thing they wanted to change was not the transportation, but the living standards of their own clansmen. Only by improving the living standards of their clansmen and making their lives better would they be able to consider more problems.
Ang Lee had already seen the poverty of the Zhan Clan. The Lang Clan was even further away from Central Sichuan. If there were no accidents, they would definitely be poorer than the Zhan Clan. At least, it was about the same. For the two extremely poor clans, the most important thing to consider was to get rid of poverty as soon as possible. After improving their living standards, they would have the energy to consider other things.
Apex
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