reax;
Ang Lee took a few steps forward and walked to the entrance of the cave. He looked inside carefully and realized that it was very dark inside. He couldn't see what was inside at all.
The opening of the cave wasn't very big. It was only big enough for one person to crawl in. Because it was too dark inside, the situation inside wasn't very clear either. Therefore, it was a little scary.
"The cave entrance is too small. Continue digging and make it bigger. At least it should be big enough for people to walk in with their backs straight."
Ang Lee was worried that if the cave entrance was too small, there wouldn't be enough oxygen inside. Therefore, he requested for the cave entrance to be bigger so that more air could enter. Only then would it be enough for people to enter.
"Yes, General."
Dozens of new soldiers began to widen the cave entrance with tools in their hands.
Ang Lee looked at the new soldier standing at the side and asked, "Did you find this cave entrance?"
"Yes, General. A few of us originally planned to climb up from here to collect herbs. However, we stepped on a big rock and made a big hole. We dug casually and realized that the hole was getting bigger and bigger, so we quickly reported it to our superiors."
Ang Lee nodded and took a few steps back. He carefully observed the surrounding terrain and suddenly made a new discovery.
He suddenly felt that this East Cove Canyon wasn't a masterpiece of nature. Instead, it was filled with traces of man-made carving.
At least, this valley wasn't originally this big. It was artificially expanded. The area near the cave was the part that was expanded.
"Did you guys notice that the East Cove Canyon was artificially expanded? It wasn't originally this big."
Ang Lee looked at a few of his confidants and expressed his opinion.
The confidants obviously didn't notice this problem and hurriedly looked around.
"The cliff here is very unusual. It does look like it was artificially excavated. It's just that it's been a few years and the traces are covered by trees and vines."
"Yes, at least the entire south side of the valley has been excavated before."
"I didn't expect this valley to be artificially excavated. But why did they excavate a valley here? Was it to seek refuge or to live in seclusion? Or was it because of this cave?"
"Could it really be a treasure cave?"
The generals also started to gossip.
Ang Lee looked at the recruits who were digging deep into the cave and said softly, "Whether it is a treasure cave or not, we will know when we go in later."
The new soldiers dug with all their might. Very quickly, the hole that was originally only three feet wide was expanded by several times. More sunlight was able to enter the cave and the situation inside was much clearer.
"Big Brother, the rock walls inside seem to have been blackened by the fire. It seems like someone used the fire to cook here."
Li Kunxiong guessed.
"That's impossible. Even if you start a fire to cook, it shouldn't be so dark. It looks like a fire."
"If there really was a fire, someone inside must have been burned to death. Even if the body is gone, the bones must still be there."
When Ang Lee saw that the cave was big enough, he ordered, "Light the torch and go in to take a look."
A few recruits were ordered to light torches. Ang Lee picked up a torch and led the way into the cave.
"Big Brother, be careful. The situation inside is unclear."
Ang Lee said disapprovingly, "It has been so many years. What kind of danger can there be? Follow me."
Under the lead of Ang Lee, the generals raised their torches and slowly walked into the cave.
At this time, the cave had been ventilated for a long time. Therefore, Ang Lee was not worried about suffocation. Moreover, they were still holding torches. As long as the torches were not extinguished, it meant that there was enough oxygen inside. There was no need to worry about suffocation.
Walking into the cave, Li An discovered that the space inside was much larger than he had imagined. The straight passageway was at least twenty feet wide and ten feet tall. In order to increase the weight of the passageway, the ceiling was carved into an arc.
The walls here did not have the natural color of rocks. Instead, they were smoked black. It looked as if there had been a fire. People walking inside would feel a sense of oppression. Because it was isolated from the outside world, the air inside was very cold. Outside was hot in summer, but inside the passage was cold in autumn.
The passage was about a hundred steps long. After walking through the passage for a hundred steps, what appeared in front of Ang Lee and the others was a huge space with a radius of twenty feet. At the top of this huge space, there were actually seven rays of light, making the whole space not too dark.
In other words, this space was ventilated with the outside world. People could definitely survive here.
However, the scene in this space shocked Li An and the others. Numerous white skeletons were lying on the ground in a disorderly manner. It was a rather horrifying sight.
Ang Lee did a rough count. There were more than a thousand skeletons. As for the reason why these people died here, Ang Lee and his subordinates naturally did not know.
"General, there are more than a thousand skeletons here, as well as the wreckage of weapons. It seems that there was a bloody battle here."
"That's right. There are two corpses hugging each other tightly. The dagger in one of the skeletons' hands is still there. It's stabbed into the heart of the other skeleton. It was a battle."
"Nothing. There was actually a battle here. Was it a vendetta or a robbery for treasure?"
Ang Lee gently shook his head: "We have no way of knowing what happened here. However, if we wipe off the black ash on the rock wall, we might be able to get some answers."
As he spoke, he pulled out the dagger at his waist and scraped off the black ash on the rock wall.
"Golden stone, could it be a gold mine?"
The moment Ang Lee scraped off the black ash on the rock wall, everyone's eyes lit up.
The golden rock wall immediately made everyone associate it with a gold mine. Moreover, only if this place used to be a gold mine would it be better to explain why there were people fighting here. Fighting over the mining rights of the gold mine might be the best reason.
"People die for wealth, birds die for food. It seems that the skeletons here were all for the gold mine."
Ang Lee gently shook his head and sighed.
"Big Brother, there's a skeleton here, and it's holding a piece of gold in its hand."
Li Feiyu forcefully pried open the fingers of one of the skeletons and took out a small piece of glittering gold.
Ang Lee took the small piece of gold and found that it was a piece of molten gold with an irregular shape. It seemed to have just been taken out of the furnace and had not yet been cast. This seemed to prove that this should be a gold mine. Moreover, there were smelting facilities.
There were six passageways around the hall, each leading in six different directions. Due to the poor lighting, it was impossible to see what was in these six passages.
Ang Lee took a few steps in the hall and felt that he had stepped on something. He bent down and squatted down to pick up the thing under his feet.
"Residue of burning kerosene and coking coal."
Ang Lee was no stranger to these two things and recognized them at a glance.
Coking coal was used to smelt gold and was an important material for purification. But what was kerosene for? It was also used to smelt UU2.
No, someone deliberately lit the kerosene to completely destroy this mine.
Ang Lee quickly made a new judgment and slowly stood up.
"Let's split up and see what else is here."
Ang Lee softly gave the order. His trusted subordinates split into groups of two or three and went to different tunnels to see what was inside.
"Big Brother, this burnt thing seems to be a furnace. Back then, our White Wolf Village had one. It belonged to Blacksmith Zhang in the south of the village."
Li Kunxiong held a torch and found an important big thing from an inconspicuous corner.
Ang Lee quickly walked over and took a closer look. It really looked like a furnace. Although it was badly damaged, the general appearance was still there.
"That's right. There's a furnace and a piece of gold. This is enough to prove that there is indeed a gold mine inside."
Ang Lee felt that he had found a big treasure and was very excited.
"Big brother, our White Wolf Village's Blacksmith Zhang's smelting furnace is placed in the courtyard. A small shelter will do. They actually placed the smelting furnace in the cave. It seems like they did it to prevent others from discovering it."
Li Kunxiong speculated.
Ang Lee smiled and nodded lightly: "That's indeed possible. However, Blacksmith Zhang placed the furnace in the courtyard to make it cooler. The situation here is the same."
"Big Brother is right. This cave is indeed very cool. It's much cooler to smelt gold here than outside."
The corners of Li An's mouth curled into a smile as he calmly waited for his trusted subordinates to return.
"General, it's a mine. The rock walls are shining with golden light. It's undoubtedly a gold mine."
"General, one of the tunnels that we checked is also a gold mine."
"General, ours is also the same."
The five groups returned one after another and found gold mines. This made Ang Lee even more certain that this was an abandoned gold mine. Moreover, it clearly had value to continue mining.
"Big Brother, why haven't Shouyu and Erniu returned yet?"
The five groups returned one after another. After a while, Li Feishuang and Erniu still had not returned.
"It seems that they have made a bigger discovery."
Ang Lee knew that the two would not encounter any accidents. They must have been delayed by something important.
"Big Brother, let's go take a look."
The generals were no longer afraid and were instead filled with curiosity.
Ang Lee nodded lightly: "Shouyu and Erniu must have made an important discovery. Let's go take a look."
Saying so, he led a dozen of his trusted subordinates to the left side of the tunnel.
"It's fine. There's a warehouse inside. There's a lot of things. Weapons, gold, firewood, charcoal, there's nothing missing. We're rich."
Li Feishuang hurriedly ran over with a face full of excitement.
Ang Lee was even more overjoyed and quickly said: "There's so much good stuff. Let's go take a look."
The group of more than ten people quickly ran towards the warehouse.
This warehouse was not affected by the fire. Inside, there were many large boxes. Some were made of wood, while others emitted a metallic luster.
"It's fine. Look, it's all charcoal. This is also the place where most of the items are placed."
"Yes, that's right. It's all high-quality charcoal used for smelting."
Ang Lee casually picked up a piece of charcoal and looked at it in front of the torch with an excited expression. Although the charcoal was not very valuable, it could not be smelted without them.
"It's fine. This is the smelted gold. They've all been molded. There are thirty boxes full."
Li Kunxiong picked up a box and grinned: "Big Brother, this box has fifty catties. Good boy, we're rich."
Ang Lee picked up a piece of gold and weighed it in his hand. He looked at his trusted subordinates and said softly: "It really is a piece of gold. There's enough weight. This box has fifty pieces of gold, which is five hundred taels. Thirty boxes have fifteen hundred taels of gold. That's fifteen thousand taels. Looks like it's not a small amount."
Ang Lee's eyes shone with excitement. His trusted subordinates were also deeply shocked by the wealth that had fallen from the sky.
"It's fine. So much gold. How should we deal with it? Should we hand it over to the court?"
Ang Lee hurriedly shook his head: "My Dragon Martial Army is currently lacking money. How can we hand it over to the court? Keep it all and use it as military pay and rewards. With this gold, when the soldiers perform meritorious deeds, they won't have to worry about not receiving rewards."
"Big Brother, what if the court pursues this matter?"
Ang Lee smiled and said disapprovingly: "What's there to be afraid of? I'll personally write a memorial to His Majesty. I believe His Majesty will understand the Chen Shujun's financial difficulties. Furthermore, not only do we need to keep this gold, but we also need to continue developing the gold mines here to produce more gold."
It was clear that Ang Lee knew the importance of his current position. The entire Tang dynasty was looking forward to him quelling the unrest in Cuandi. Under these circumstances, if Ang Lee continued to ask for money from the court, the court would have no choice but to find a way to raise money. Now that they had unexpectedly obtained a windfall, it saved the court a burden. How could the court refuse Ang Lee's request to keep the gold to quell the rebellion?
"General, you want to continue mining the gold mines?"
"Such a large gold mine will definitely require a lot of absenteeism. We need to ask the Luzhou Provincial Governor to help us recruit people."
"How should we calculate the wages for absenteeism? How much should our army get?"
His confidants began to consider the details of the mining operation.
Ang Lee had not completely thought about the mining operation. After all, whether it was in his previous life or this life, he had never done something like this. His management experience was almost zero. Whether to directly recruit workers or give the gold mines to the mine owner and take a percentage of the profits, these were all things that needed careful consideration before he could make a final decision.
"With so much gold, it's safe to leave it here for the time being. We need to strengthen the security at the entrance. We need to station at least fifty Dragon Martial Army soldiers here. This gold is extremely important to our army. We cannot lose it."
"General, don't worry. I will arrange it."
Ang Lee continued to walk forward and found some boxes filled with weapons. There were sabers, bows, and all sorts of other weapons. However, due to the passage of time, most of the weapons had rusted and could not be used. This made everyone feel a little regretful.
"Big Brother, these dozens of boxes of arrows have all rotted. Only some arrowheads are left. Oh, these arrowheads are all made of copper. No wonder they can be preserved so well."
Ang Lee picked up a copper arrowhead and nodded. "There should be tens of thousands of copper arrowheads in these dozens of boxes of rotting arrows. Send them all to the supply regiment to be used to make bows and arrows."
Although he did not understand why the arrows here were all copper arrowheads, these arrowheads looked like they could be used. It would be a waste not to use them.
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