Imperial Crown

Raven suspected that he had a bad mouth.

Because the next morning, just after Raven had breakfast and was still calculating the funds for building the academy for Anno, Poirot came to ask for a meeting.

"Baron, the gray dwarf..." Poirot coughed when he said this.

Raven sighed helplessly in his heart: "What happened again?"

These clowns would give Raven some "surprises" at any time. He couldn't help turning his head to look at the workshop outside the window.

The workshop was still there and was not blown up.

"It's not the Riverside Workshop, it's the Gray Mountain Mine!" Poirot suppressed his cough and said hoarsely.

Raven turned his head and looked at the other side. Fortunately, it seemed that there was no explosion: "Is it a landslide?"

At this time, Poirot finally took a breath and smiled: "It's not a problem, Baron, a new vein has been discovered in the Gray Mountain Mine! Magic vein!"

"Oh, magic..." Raven paused, blinked and asked: "Magic vein? Which one?"

On the continent, there are many kinds of ores containing magical elements, which are collectively called magic veins. Each one has a wide range of uses and high value. The star iron and iron core mentioned earlier are one of them.

"You will know if you go and see it yourself!" Poirot said: "I can't say for sure, but the scene looks... beautiful!"

This aroused Raven's curiosity: "Okay, let's go together."

Just got more than 150,000 gold coins, which can be withdrawn soon, which greatly alleviated Raven's financial difficulties, but this does not mean that Raven is not short of money.

Don't forget that in addition to the construction of his own territory, Raven also undertook the construction of Anno's college, which is a gold-eating beast that is not much worse than Raven's new castle!

I don't know what this mineral vein is and how much it can produce.

The Gray Mountain Mine is not too far from Eagle Town. About an hour later, Raven took Poirot to the Gray Mountain Town under the mine by carriage.

This was the first time Raven came to investigate in person after receiving the Gray Mountain Mine. Raven was a lord, not a mining expert, and his major in his previous life was not civil engineering.

Although productivity was not high in this era, a mine that had been operating for hundreds of years did not need laymen to guide it.

The best example is the Gray Mountain Town where Raven was located.

Gray Mountain Town, also known as Widow Town.

The overall scale is not large, with only more than 3,000 people. Most of them are stone houses. The building materials are locally sourced, all of which are waste ore with extremely low iron content in the mine. Over the years, the iron in it has been oxidized and corroded, turning into large patches of rust red.

From a distance, the whole town is dark brown, like a coral on land, and the streets paved with broken iron slag are the blood vessels of this coral.

This is a town that relies entirely on the Gray Mountain Mine. Apart from the necessary leisure places such as the tavern, most industries revolve around the mining industry.

For example, ore screening.

Most young and strong people will work in the mines. In addition to women, the elderly and the weak are involved in this industry. The number of people who make a living from this is not less than that of miners.

Ore screening is also an experienced job. After screening, the ore needs to be manually divided into three grades: high grade, medium grade, and low grade.

The iron content of high-grade iron ore is about 65% to 70%; the medium grade is about 40% to 65%; the low grade is less than 40%.

Among them, the high-grade iron ore, when it was controlled by the Wharton family, that is, the family to which Judra belongs, would be transported directly to Iron Furnace Town, but now it will be transported to Eagle Town.

Medium-grade iron ore is usually sold and can also earn a certain profit.

As for low-grade iron ore, it is difficult to smelt and lacks commercial value, so it is handled by Gray Mountain Town itself.

Due to the high impurity content, it takes multiple steps to smelt barely usable pig iron, so the smelting furnace is almost non-stop day and night, making the sky above the entire Huishan Town shrouded in a layer of haze all year round.

A typical resource-based town.

The person who received Raven was the Huishan Town Government Officer Peng Bei, a middle-aged man in his forties.

Like this town and all the people living here, he is honest, calm, and down-to-earth, with indelible gray and black marks on his skin.

"How is it, are you used to the implementation of the new decree?" Raven asked.

Peng Bei rubbed his hands: "To be honest, I'm not used to it."

Poirot glanced at him, obviously thinking that this man was a little ungrateful.

Raven didn't care, but continued: "Tell me more about it."

Pembe walked in front, lowering his head: "It's great that you are willing to pay us wages. Everyone in the town, from young men to old men, is grateful for your generosity."

"But you stipulate that we can only work ten hours a day, and we have to wear a cloth covering our mouths when we go down the mine. It's really..."

At this point, Pengbei laughed unskillfully: "After all, everyone wants to make more money."

Limiting working hours and paying miners are actually the same purpose, so that they have money in their hands and time to spend it, instead of spending all their energy in the mine, so that the economy can flow and become active.

Raven paused, looked at the smoke, and suddenly asked: "How old are you this year?"

Pembe replied: "Forty-seven, Baron."

Raven continued to ask: "How many men of your age are left?"

"This..." Pengbei was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly: "Six or seven out of ten of my age are dead."

"In our Gray Mountain Town, a man who has lived over fifty is considered to have lived a long life, so it is called the 'Widow's Town'."

"Ore is the lungs of the earth. Our men mine ore and are cursed by the earth. Therefore, our lungs will gradually wither, suffocate and weaken and die..."

pneumoconiosis.

It will cause pulmonary fibrosis in the sick person, who will first lose the ability to work and eventually suffocate to death.

A disease that is common in all types of mines. In fact, before Raven traveled through, if protective measures were not in place, many workers would still be infected.

What's more, in this era, what about the miners who have been squatting in the mines all year round?

Lei Wen did not intend to correct Peng Bei's ideas. Without a complete scientific system, they would not understand even if he told them. He chose a more acceptable statement: "I have known this for a long time, and I will tell you The mask is a sacred talisman that can filter out the curse in the earth. "

"After all, I am a magician!"

As he spoke, two syllables came out of Raven's mouth, and flames were already beating in his palms.

If Raven said these words as a lord, Pengbei might not agree, but the magician was completely different.

Since the mysterious and powerful magician says he can resist the curse, then... maybe it can really be done?

Peng Bei clenched his fists: "Lord Baron, don't worry, if anyone dares to take off the mask privately or throw it away secretly, I will kick his ass!"

While talking, Raven had followed Pengbei outside the mine.

This mine is located halfway up the mountain. A piece of the mountain has been cut flat, and there are several dark mine pits on the cliff.

Now these mines are all blocked and guarded. The miners gathered in the open space. When they saw Raven's arrival, they immediately began to salute at a loss.

This was the first time many of them had seen a noble man come to this smoky place.

Raven had no idea of ​​giving a speech. Paying them wages and letting them know who paid them was much more useful than ten thousand speeches.

There are three mines in the Ash Mountain Mine. The place where the gray dwarves discovered the new mineral vein is in the No. 1 mine that has been excavated for the longest time. Under the leadership of Pembe and Poirot, Raven walked into the No. 1 mine and set an example. Face mask.

After hundreds of years of mining, the depth of the mine has reached nearly a hundred meters. It is extremely dark inside and the colder it gets as you go down. Even with Peng Bei leading the way, it still took nearly half an hour to find the gray dwarves. location.

Suohei's voice echoed in the mine: "Hey, now that we are prosperous, I think we can at least open our bellies and drink ale for three years, no, five years!"

Then came Buvier's excited voice: "No, I won't spend money on food and drink. I want to save a sum of money and open a jewelry store of my own! I want the name of 'Grey Hammer' to be resounding." The whole continent!"

"If it's really that valuable, I can give you endless ale, Sohei." Raven turned the corner and wiped the ash off his head: "As for Bowell's jewelry store, I'll invest in it!"

"Lord Baron!"

"My Lord Baron."

The two gray dwarves saluted one after another. Their skin color suited the environment in the mine very well. Even with the torch shining, except for the two pairs of dark red eyes, they could only barely make out their outlines.

Raven was not going to beat around the bush: "Where is the new mineral vein? Why didn't I see it?"

"Come with us, Lord Baron." Suohe picked up the torch and walked ahead.

"Hey, when it comes to prospecting, we have to be our dwarves!" Bowell explained as he walked: "We were originally invited to guide the construction of the mine, but we unexpectedly found a surprise! Look at this!"

As he spoke, Bowell snatched a piece of broken ore from the cave wall.

At first glance, this is no different from ordinary iron ore. It is dark red and looks like bricks, and is much harder than bricks.

But if you look carefully, you will find that there are tiny iron beads embedded in it, but if you wipe it with your hands, they will disappear immediately.

Lei Wen said: "In addition to the iron element, it seems to be rich in water element."

"Yes, Lord Baron." Suohe licked his lips: "When these miners from the Gray Mountain Mine dug here, they felt that there might be underground water nearby, causing the underground river to back up and destroy the mine, so they did not dare to continue digging, but they But I don’t know what kind of treasures are buried here!”

"Here we are, Lord Baron!"

After squeezing through a slightly narrow cave, Raven breathed in the rich water vapor!

Even his eyebrows and hair were wet, and the torch in his hand was immediately extinguished.

but.

The mine did not fall into darkness. As far as the eye could see, it was a mist of mist. It didn't look like it was underground, but like it was stepping into the sky.

There was an aqua-blue luster in the clouds and mist, like blue lightning flowing through it, or like blue lights under the fog, like a dream.

The water element comes alive like never before!

"Mist ore vein?!" Raven blurted out.

"The Baron is really knowledgeable!" Buvier, who originally wanted to shake his book bag, immediately became more honest: "Yes, this is the Mist Mine that produces the second-level ore 'Mist Iron'. After our preliminary investigation, this The veins extend at least three kilometers underground, enough to be mined for hundreds of years!”

Misted iron, a second-level water-attributed ore, if cast into ingots, the price per pound will usually be between sixty-seven and eighty-five gold coins, which works out to one hundred and forty per kilogram. Eight to one hundred and eighty-eight gold coins.

In addition, it has a chance to be accompanied by a third-level water-attributed crystal "Lightless Crystal". A fist-sized crystal can be sold for at least three to five thousand gold coins.

"What is the estimated output?" Raven asked the most concerned question.

Sohei said proudly: "If we leave it to the gray dwarves, there are a hundred good guys who guarantee you a daily output of at least six thousand pounds of raw ore! But after all, this thing requires technology. If you leave it to your miners, even with our training, it will take at least three hundred people to achieve the same efficiency."

This output is actually not small. The mist iron itself is extremely strong, difficult to mine, and requires special professional skills.

If it is smelted later, about one pound of mist iron can be extracted from about one hundred pounds of raw ore.

In other words, it is about sixty pounds of mist iron per day, equivalent to twenty-seven kilograms, which can generate a value of four thousand three hundred gold coins every day!

Almost instantly, Raven made up his mind - half for his own use, and the other half directly sold on the Deep Blue platform, and he could get a net revenue of about 60,000 gold coins every month!

In this way, Raven had a fairly stable source of gold coins, which also gave him more confidence to quickly build a new castle!

"Very good! Next, you leave a few gray dwarves to guide the miners in Gray Mountain Town on how to mine, and then withdraw when the output is stable."

"As for your reward..." Raven rubbed his chin and saw the expectant eyes of the gray dwarves: "I will give you two choices. One is that I will give each of you a reward of 50 gold coins now."

"Second, from today on, you will invest in my iron smelting industry as a whole. For every set of armor you cast for me, you can get five silver coins; for every weapon you cast, you can get two silver coins!"

This sentence immediately caused a chaos. Some gray dwarves jumped up and down to ask for gold coins, while others clamored for dividends. As they argued, all kinds of dirty words began to fly all over the sky, and there were even signs of fighting.

"Baron, please wait a moment, we need to reach a consensus!" Sohei shouted.

Raven shrugged, he was used to this situation: "I'll wait for you outside, remember not to damage my mist iron!"

He turned and went out.

Ten minutes later, Sohei and Boweier, covered with footprints, appeared in front of Raven. They looked at each other, and Boweier said: "Baron, let's choose the second way!"

Raven's eyes showed satisfaction: "Very good!"

Slaves may not need human rights, but they must need money.

Raven gave the second option, which was to tie the interests of the gray dwarves to themselves. From now on, they are no longer just working for Raven, but for themselves!

"Then what are we waiting for, Baron, time is money!" Boweier rubbed his hands.

Raven said: "Let's go, I just happen to have something to find you."

...