Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 88 Surprise
The iron mine under the name of Zhang Qianhu is located in today's Wugang City, less than forty miles away from the county seat, and it takes an hour to get there by riding a horse.There is a large iron mine here with a reserve of [-] million tons. It is the largest iron mine in Henan Province and one of the top ten iron mines in the country.However, with the current technology, it is very difficult to find and mine all the iron ore. Most people don't even know that there are so many iron ore here.When Yang Menglong arrived, he saw a lot of miners with bare upper body, covered in mud, and only a few white teeth left on their bodies, going in and out of the mine pit, the sound of clanging was non-stop, and there were baskets of miners from time to time. The ore was carried out and poured into the open space. A few guys guarded there, picking out the ore with picky faces, throwing the bad grade aside, and handing over the good ones to their subordinates. Naturally, someone swung a sledgehammer These ores are smashed, then repacked, weighed, put into storage, and wait for buyers to come to pick up the goods.Thanks to the efforts of these miners, the vegetation on several mountains has been completely destroyed, and there are holes everywhere, just like termite nests.This is the most primitive mining mode, which is not only inefficient, but also damages the environment.

At the foot of the mountain is a simple shack, which is where the miners live.

"Little General Yang, this is Foreman Wu. He is in charge of all the affairs of the iron mine." Jiang Zheng took Yang Menglong to the shack area, and a strong middle-aged man greeted him early.He has strong muscles, a typical man who relies on his strength to eat.He also came with a few shirtless men, with thick bones and joints, well developed muscles, and a very strong appearance. In fact, this is just an illusion.Miners work very hard. The heavy physical labor has polished them to a strong body, but due to insufficient nutrition, their blood will soon be boiled dry, and they will start to bend their backs at the age of 30 at most. , The vitality will be exhausted around the age of 40, and those who can live to the age of 50 are considered old age, and those who can live to the age of 60 are called old birthday stars.That Foreman Wu may be treated better because he is a foreman, and he is still healthy. When he saw Yang Menglong Natou, he bowed: "Villain Wu Shan, my lord!"

Yang Menglong became more and more upset, why did he always worship?He frowned and said, "Get up, forget it this time, and get out of here if I beg you the next time we meet again! I'm not dead yet, what are you begging for!"

Wu Shan was taken aback and kowtowed repeatedly: "The villain is guilty, the villain is guilty!"

Yang Menglong was furious: "Don't pray again after you've been called out? You're getting more and more enthusiastic about praying, right? Since you like praying so much, kneeling here and praying is good enough!" After speaking, he walked quickly to the mine.Wu Shan was so overwhelmed by his training, he knelt there and looked at Jiang Zheng as if begging for help.

Jiang Zheng helped him up and whispered: "Mr. Yang doesn't like others to bow when they meet. According to the customs in his hometown, a man cannot kneel down casually unless he is paying his respects to his elders after he reaches adulthood."

Wu Shan wanted to cry but had no tears. Where did this lord come from? Why are the customs in his hometown so weird!Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he quickly ran over and shouted: "My lord, the villain definitely doesn't mean that, the villain absolutely doesn't mean that!"

Yang Menglong ignored him, went to a pile of ore and squatted down, picked up a piece of ore and looked at it over and over again.The ore is heavy and diamond-shaped, with a slight luster in the black lacquer. It seems that the grade is not bad.Wu Shan came over to flatter him and said, "My lord, this ore is one of the best in Nanyang. The quality of the iron produced is excellent, and it can be easily refined into refined iron, so it is very popular."

Yang Menglong asked: "How much iron sand can you mine every year?"

Wu Shan said: "There are always three or two thousand stones... The ore is very good, but there are too many messy things, and it is very troublesome to remove them!"

Two or three thousand shi, that is, more than 30 jin, this kind of output is too shabby, but judging by the pride of this man, it seems that this result is not bad.Yang Menglong couldn't help laughing. I don't know how he would feel if he told this man that in the 21st century, Tangshan, China alone has a total annual steel production of [-] million tons.It is estimated that his expression will definitely be very exciting.He put down the iron ore and asked, "What are there? How do you deal with those messy things?"

Wu Shan said: "It's all piled over there. Look, there are several piles!" He pointed to the right, where there were several hills piled up with various ores, and miscanthus even grew on some of the piles. How long has it been there.

Yang Menglong walked over quickly and rummaged among the hills.It seems that this dedicated Foreman Wu really treats these associated mines as rubbish, heaping them together in a random manner, making him dizzy just looking at them.However, thanks to CCTV, thanks to the chemistry teacher, and thanks to the almighty Du Niang, he even guessed about these ores, but he was able to get a few of them.Look, this alluring golden yellow stuff is the pyrite ore that can kill people. Many superstitious people who believe in turning stones into gold use it to refine gold. As a result, gold is not refined, but refined Sulfuric acid came out, and the furnace was burnt out; this one that looks like a tetragonal crystal is pyrolusite, this one is rare earth, this one is... look at the sharp edges and corners, look at the bluish-white color, if it is not Phosphate rock, he ate this pile of ore!
Slow!

Manganese ore?Phosphate?Pyrite?
He suddenly went crazy and pulled up in the pile of ore, and the soil and gravel flew in all directions, and he did not hesitate to cut his hand several times.Jiang Zheng was taken aback and called, "Little General Yang, what's wrong?"

Yang Menglong grabbed three pieces of ore, and said decisively: "Look for them, look for them like them!"

Wu Shan frowned and said: "These ores are useless. They must be picked out when making iron. If they are mixed in, it will affect the quality of iron..." He was telling the truth, pyrite The sulfur content in iron is frighteningly high. If there is too much sulfur in iron, it will be useless at all; let alone phosphate rock, it is a waste of fuel; The steel produced is soft and brittle, and can be cracked with stones. The smelters regard these miscellaneous ores as deadly enemies, and remove them as soon as possible during ore dressing, otherwise the quality of the iron cannot be guaranteed.

Yang Menglong didn't bother to talk to him and continued to look for him.Everyone worked together, and found three small piles of the same ore without much effort.The current situation is very clear. There is a large amount of manganese ore and phosphate associated in this iron mine. As for the pyrite, it may be associated, or it may be mined from another mine.Of course, there are many other ores in it, but they are not needed now, so let’s pile them here first.Yang Menglong stopped, looked at the piles of miscellaneous ore and took a breath, my God, this is simply a mountain of gold and silver!He grabbed the iron ore and manganese ore and handed them to Wu Shan, asking, "Where did you find these two ores?"

Wu Shan took a look at the phosphate rock, pointed to several pits with overgrown weeds, and said, "It was mined there. After the iron ore is mined, only this kind of useless stone is left. "

Yang Menglong asked anxiously, "Are there many such stones?"

Wu Shan said: "There are a lot of them, but no one wants them." Pointing to the phosphate rock, "This kind is also available in abandoned mines, but it's of no use."

Yang Menglong said rudely, "Take me to see it!"

Wu Shan had no choice but to lead the way.A group of people climbed up the mine, lit torches, Wu Shan led the way, Yang Menglong followed, and got into the mine.The mine pit is low and low, and it is easy to get bumped if you don't pay attention. The air is turbid, and there is a musty smell of rotten wood, which makes people very uncomfortable. The most terrible thing is that there are many places where you have to crawl in on your knees. It's hard to imagine how hard it is for those miners who crawl in and out like dogs.Yang Menglong couldn't care about it at all, and kept digging into it, so everyone had to risk their lives to accompany the gentleman, and followed him to be a land father-in-law.After climbing two or 300 meters, the mine pit became wider and brighter. Obviously, this place was once an enrichment point. The miners emptied the ore inside. Under the firelight, many crystals in the mine pit emitted charming bright light. , exceptionally beautiful.Yang Menglong stopped suddenly, grabbed the fire and carried it to shine on the wall of the pit. With the light of the fire, everyone saw a lot of greenish-white phosphate rocks. Yang Menglong pulled out a small piece and looked at it again and again, just like appreciating antiques.Wu Shan said: "This mine was abandoned two years ago. There is a lot of iron ore in this location, but as we continue to mine, there is less and less iron ore, but more and more of this kind of stone. If we continue to mine, we will lose money." , had to give up."

Yang Menglong pointed a torch at the mine pit that continued to extend inward: "Is it full of this kind of ore?"

Wu Shan said, "Yes, it's all this kind of ore."

Yang Menglong laughed loudly: "Great, I finally got my fertilizer, hahahaha——" He laughed so happily, if the mine pit was not too low, he would definitely do several somersaults.

Wu Shan was at a loss: "This thing...can be used as fertilizer?"

A flash of inspiration flashed in Jiang Zheng's mind: "Sir, could this be the phosphate rock that you never forget?"

Yang Menglong nodded happily: "That's right, that's right! You are so stupid, you don't know how to pick up the phosphate rock right in front of you!"

Jiang Zheng and Wu Shan are very wronged, and they have never seen it before. How do we know that this is phosphate rock?What an injustice!
I changed another pit and drilled in again, and there was still phosphate rock in it. It seems that there are quite a lot of phosphate rock in this mine.Yang Menglong was overjoyed and made a fortune, this time he really got rich!
What made him the happiest was that when he climbed over the col with Wu Shan, he inadvertently saw that the rock on the opposite mountain was showing a lovely golden yellow under the setting sun, which was clearly a pyrite mine!Fortunately, the source of raw materials for refining sulfuric acid has also been solved!

There are so many surprises...

(End of this chapter)