Next to a small stream, Jiang Xuan led thirty warriors and tourists guiding the way, riding a black wind rhinoceros up the stream, looking for malachite.
This forest is in the northwest of the Teng Tribe, about a day's journey from the Teng Tribe. Because of the sparse vegetation, the hunting routes of the Teng Tribe warriors do not pass through here.
"Are you sure this is here?" Jiang Xuan couldn't help but ask after walking for a long time.
The tourist was sitting on the back of another Black Wind Rhino with a Vine Tribe warrior. He heard Jiang Xuan's question and replied: "It must be here, I won't remember it wrong."
"Okay, then keep going and find the place where you picked up the stones."
The group continued to move forward for about half an hour when suddenly there was a loud sound of running water ahead.
They walked over and took a look, and saw a cliff in front of them. A small waterfall fell from a height of seven to eight meters and hit the small pool below, making a roaring sound.
The tourist's eyes lit up, he pointed to the pool and said: "That stone was picked up here, I remember it very clearly!"
Jiang Xuan perked up and said, "Go over and have a look."
Jiang Xuan and others got off the back of the Black Wind Rhinoceros.
The tourist took Jiang Xuan to the edge of the pool, then pointed to the shallow water and said, "That stone was picked up here."
Jiang Xuan took out the palm-sized piece of malachite from the big pocket of his animal skin coat.
This piece of malachite is the one that tourists take to the trading area for trading. It is oval in shape and has a very smooth surface, like a pebble.
This is more in line with what tourists said.
In addition to manual polishing, such smooth stones can only appear in places that have been washed by running water for a long time.
Jiang Xuan raised the piece of malachite and said to the soldiers: "Everyone spread out and look for this green stone."
"Yes!"
The Vine tribe warriors agreed, and then went to the water pool and near the water pool to look for malachite.
Jiang Xuan and the tourist also went to the waterside to search carefully, hoping to find more malachite in the same place.
The stream is so clear that you can see the bottom at a glance. There are some small fish swimming in the water, but the big fish cannot be seen.
Not long after, Jiang Xuan suddenly saw a little green among the rocks under the water, and he felt happy.
He reached out, crossed the cold stream, turned over the rocks, and touched a green stone larger than a palm.
"Crash..."
Jiang Xuan picked up the stone and took a look, and immediately became happy.
"It's malachite. There really is malachite in this place!"
This piece of malachite is larger than the one picked up by tourists, but it is broken and not round, but the patterns on it are equally beautiful.
Seeing that Jiang Xuan had found one, those soldiers accelerated their search, hoping that they could find such a beautiful stone soon.
One of the soldiers was rummaging hard in the water. Suddenly, he found a different stone, so he quickly took it out of the water.
However, after picking it up, he was disappointed by the appearance of the stone.
This stone is pitted and uneven, and looks very poor. Most of the surface is dark brown, with only a little green on it, and it is completely different from the green color of malachite.
"I'm so happy."
The soldier was disappointed and prepared to throw the stone away.
At this moment, Jiang Xuan happened to see the ugly stone and was attracted to it.
"Wait..."
The soldier was throwing the stone away when he saw the leader walking over quickly, so he stopped and looked at him doubtfully.
"Show me."
Jiang Xuan stretched out his hand, and the soldier had no choice but to hand him the stone.
Jiang Xuan took the ugly stone, turned it over and observed it for a while, then held it with both hands and broke it hard.
Jiang Xuan is a four-color warrior. He is so strong that he can break ordinary stones directly.
However, this ugly stone did not make the crisp sound of a broken stone. Instead, it became bent, and the cracked surface showed a purple-red metallic luster.
"Natural copper, this is natural copper!"
Jiang Xuan became excited, with an expression of surprise on his face, even more excited than when he saw Malachite.
The biggest difference between copper and iron is that there is relatively high purity copper in nature, that is, simple copper. After being picked up, it can be directly forged into utensils without smelting.
However, elemental iron does not exist in nature. Iron ore can only be smelted first and then forged into iron tools.
It is precisely because of this that Jiang Xuan is so excited.
He has never tried smelting copper himself, and he is actually a little bit embarrassed in his heart, not sure whether it can be smelted.
But if you pick up enough natural copper, you can directly make it into various bronze wares.
Of course, although pure copper utensils have better ductility, their hardness is too low, so they can only be made into utensils such as copper bowls and copper pots, but not weapons.
The warrior who picked up the natural copper and almost threw it away looked at Jiang Xuan's ecstatic expression and felt a little at a loss for a moment.
He asked cautiously: "Chief, is this stone also a treasure?"
"Of course it is a treasure. In my eyes, it is even more valuable than these two pieces of malachite!"
The soldier said awkwardly: "I almost threw the baby away like a broken stone."
Jiang Xuan smiled and said: "It doesn't matter. You don't know natural copper. It's normal to treat it as broken stone. Keep looking."
"Okay."
The soldier lowered his head and started searching again, even harder than before.
Jiang Xuan shouted to the other soldiers: "When you encounter strange stones, pick them up and pile them on the shore."
"Yes!"
The soldiers agreed and then continued to search.
After searching for a while, another soldier found a piece of malachite and raised it excitedly.
Another soldier discovered a blue stone. Jiang Xuan felt that it looked like azurite, but he couldn't be sure because he had only seen pictures of azurite in his previous life, not the real thing.
In the next half day, people discovered malachite, natural copper, and stones suspected of azurite.
Based on these ores, Jiang Xuan concluded that there must be a copper mine in this place!
Because these malachite, natural copper, and stones suspected of azurite cannot appear here out of thin air.
The most likely possibility is that there is a copper mine nearby, and part of the ore fell into the water and was washed into the pool by the flood.
As they worked hard to find copper ore, the sky gradually became dark.
Jiang Xuan could only give up the search and build a temporary shelter with the soldiers to spend the night.
With thirty black rhinos around and a bonfire lit, it was relatively safe for them to spend the night in the wild.
Many warriors of the Vine Tribe eat night mushrooms and have certain night vision abilities.
When it gets dark, various animals in the forest also come out.
The soldiers took their weapons and hunted several wild beasts and some big bugs nearby for dinner.
Jiang Xuan had been in a state of excitement that night. He was guarding the pile of stones, feeling like he was guarding the future of the Vine Tribe.
Metal utensils are so important. Without metal utensils, many jobs simply cannot be carried out.
With metal utensils, the Vine tribe will enter a stage of rapid development, leaving tribes with similar strength far behind.
That night, all the soldiers took turns to keep vigil. This place was relatively desolate and there were very few large beasts. The night was relatively peaceful.
Early the next morning, Jiang Xuan led the soldiers to search around the pool again, hoping to find the exact location of the copper mine.
Only by finding copper mines can we smelt copper on a large scale and make copper utensils. The few pieces of malachite and natural copper we picked up alone are not enough.
However, the copper mine is buried underground, and the ore they picked up now was washed up from nowhere. It is not easy to find the location of the copper mine.
Jiang Xuan and the others searched near the pool for a long time, then climbed from the nearby hillside to the top of the waterfall, followed the stream upstream, and searched for a while, but still found nothing.
Jiang Xuan realized that searching this way was not an option because they had a few manpower and only brought two digging tools, which was too inefficient.
"Go back first and find someone."
To be continued...