After Zhao Yan and the others climbed the bamboo building, Zhao Qu's youngest son brought up a pile of green bamboo tubes and lit charcoal in the fire pit in the middle of the room. Then he put the bamboo tube on the fire and roasted it. The rice, pork, soy sauce, etc. had been placed in the bamboo tube. He just needed to be cooked on the fire and cooked to eat.

Zhao Qu is an old man in making bamboo tube rice. He flipped the bamboo tube while baking, making the bamboo tube heat evenly. As a result, in a while, the room was filled with a burnt smell of bamboo, but it was not unpleasant. After about half an hour, Zhao Qu took the bamboo tube off the fire and distributed it to Zhao Yan and the others. When Zhao Yan opened the bamboo tube, an attractive fragrance immediately emanated from the bamboo tube. The rice sauce in the bamboo tube was yellow, and the aroma was elegant, making people feel very happy at first sight.

"This is the first time I have seen this method of making rice. It is really novel and smells very fragrant. I just don't know how it tastes?" Su Shi said, picking up the chopsticks and taking a bite. He was a foodie, and he couldn't control his mouth when he encountered novel food, so he didn't care about letting Zhao Yan taste it first.

Zhao Yan naturally would not blame Su Shi for his rude behavior. He picked up the chopsticks and tasted it. As a result, he nodded in admiration. This bamboo rice tasted flexible and permeable, and each grain of rice was a bit tough. Although the bamboo rice he ate in the hotel in later generations had a lot of ingredients, it was not as delicious as the bamboo rice with simple ingredients in front of him.

After seeing Zhao Yan eating, he nodded and praised. Cao Song and the others also tasted it. As a result, they all praised it. In fact, this simple bamboo rice may not be better than the delicacies they had before, but because it is novel and it is rare to make such delicious dishes with simple ingredients, so they feel very rare.

Zhao Yan never wastes food. He carefully finished the bamboo rice in front of him. Then he smiled and said to the old man Zhaoqu next to him: "Zhaoqutou people, go east twenty or thirty miles from you. Is there a Shilu Ridge?"

"Shiluling?" Old Man Zhaoqu was stunned when he heard Zhao Yan's words, lowered his head and thought seriously for a moment. However, he shook his head and said, "This noble man, we have already left the territory of Wuliodong twenty or thirty miles east of us, but I can be sure that there is absolutely no place like Shiluling!"

Zhao Yan said this when the old man Zhaoqu said this, but he did not show any unexpected expression. Because Shiluling was originally the name of later generations, he still didn't know what it was called? So he said patiently again: "Then please think seriously and think about it again. Is there a mountain in the east, and the mountain is full of green stones?"

"Oh~" As soon as he heard Zhao Yan say this, the old man Zhaoqu immediately showed a quiet expression on his face, and then slapped his thigh and said, "I will know if the noble man said this. There is indeed such a mountain when we walk east of dozens of miles from us. But we call it Greenhead Ridge, and the mountain is indeed full of green stones as the noble man said."

"Zhao Qutou Man, are you sure that the mountain is full of green stones?" Su Song stood up with a "scarlet" when he heard Zhao Qu's words. His face was full of excitement. Others didn't know what green stones mean, but as one of the most outstanding scientists in the Song Dynasty, combined with what Zhao Yan said before, he naturally knew what those green stones mean.

Seeing Su Song so excited, Old Man Zhaoqu was shocked again. Fortunately, he was very knowledgeable and quickly calmed down and spoke again: "It's true that they are all green stones. Some of them are very beautiful, but they were taken back by some women of our Li tribe to make jewelry. There are some in our Wuliedong."

When he heard that there were green stones on Shiluling in Wuliedong, Su Song immediately wanted to see them impatiently. Although Zhaoqu didn't know why the other party was interested in some stones, he immediately asked his younger son to find some green stones made of jewelry. At this time, Su Shi and others finally reacted, and they were shocked one by one. Even Xu Yuan, who had always been calm, said to himself: "The third brother said that there were treasures hidden here before, but now green stones were found on the mountain. Could it be a gem or..."

Thinking of the latter possibility, Xu Yuan and others couldn't help but look at Zhao Yan in shock again. Although they all knew that Zhao Yan was very knowledgeable and had almost nothing he didn't understand about astronomy and geography, it seemed that they still underestimated Zhao Yan. Now he knew so clearly that he knew where there was a mineral. It was like Zhuge Liang who could calculate and calculate.

Zhao Yan just showed an unfathomable smile at Xu Yuan and the others' shock, and did not give any explanation. In fact, he couldn't explain it. He couldn't tell them that he came here a thousand years later, and that he had a friend who worked here, so he was very familiar with it, right?

After a while, Zhaoqu's youngest son ran back, holding two jewelry in his hand, both bracelets and necklaces. Although the styles were very different, they were all green stones, which looked like malachite, but when they looked closely, they were dimmer than the color of malachite. There were some impurities on the surface of the stone, which was probably not worth much.

Su Song hurriedly took these two jewelry and observed them carefully. The more he looked, the more excited he became. Even his hands were trembling. Finally, he raised his head and shouted to Zhao Yan: "Your Highness, this is really malachite. Although the quality is poor, it may not be worth it, as long as there is malachite, there must be copper mines, that is to say, there may be a copper mine buried under the Shiluling!"

For ancient people, copper was actually money. Even in the eyes of ordinary people, copper was more attractive than gold and silver, because although gold and silver were valuable, they could not be circulated in ordinary people. However, copper was different. Whether it was copper products, copper blocks, or copper coins, these could be used as currency, because copper was originally the currency stipulated by the court.

It is precisely the characteristic of copper. In ancient times, a copper mine was actually equivalent to a money mine. They only needed to dig out the copper inside to buy everything they needed, whether it was food or clothes. This is also the reason why Su Song was so excited when he learned that there was a copper mine in the area under his jurisdiction, because as long as the copper mine was mined, it could not only bring wealth to Qiongzhou, but also popularity, because many people were definitely willing to come here to mine.

"Haha, what is copper ore?" Zhao Yan laughed when he heard Su Song's words, "I can tell you that copper ore is just a companion ore here. Although the reserves are not small, the real mineral here is iron ore, and it is also iron ore rich ore. The reserves are extremely amazing. If the iron here is mined, it can almost meet the steel needs of the entire Song Dynasty!"

In later generations, the most famous Hainan Island is probably its beautiful scenery. However, few people know that the minerals on Hainan Island are actually very rich, and the most important one is iron ore. Among them, Shilu Iron Ore is known as the richest iron ore in China. The iron ore here not only has high reserves, but also has a grade of more than 60%. It is difficult to find such a high iron ore in Asia.

Speaking of which, although China has a large land and abundant resources, the reserves of iron ore are also very high, most of the iron ore in China are poor iron ore and the quality is very low. This is also one of the reasons why China did not produce good iron in history. Of course, there are also iron ore, but the number is very rare. The Shilu Iron ore in Hainan is a rare iron ore. Some people later counted it and found that the reserves of Shilu iron ore account for more than 70% of the entire China's iron ore, reaching nearly 500 million tons. This shows the importance of this iron ore.

"This... is there a larger iron ore rich in iron ore here?" Su Song and Su Shi said almost in unison at this time. They had been in charge of military weapons and naturally knew that the quality of the steel in the Song Dynasty had always been poor. Even the steel in Dali was stronger than that in the Song Dynasty. One of the most important reasons was that the Song Dynasty could not find the iron ore. The quality of the iron refined using the poor iron ore was too poor. Now they knew that there was a rich iron ore with huge reserves in front of them, which shocked them even more.

"Hehe, there is another thing that shocks you even more. The iron ore and copper ore in Shilu are open-pit mines, and it is not far from the coast. So as long as we build a cement road from here to Shilu, we can easily mine the minerals on the mountain. At that time, we can smelter it on site or transport it to other places in the Song Dynasty for smelting. However, no matter which method, it can bring a lot of wealth to Qiongzhou. At that time, it will not be a place to exil, but will become a treasure island in the Song Dynasty!" Zhao Yan tempted again at this time. In his previous life, he came to visit his friend who worked in the iron ore. The friend took him around and introduced the situation of the Shilu iron ore, so he understood it so much.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go back and mobilize the army to come, take over this Shiluling first, and then recruit miners to mine. This will help Qiongzhou and add a large iron ore to our Song Dynasty!" At this time, Cao Song couldn't help but say anxiously. Since he managed the bank, he has become much calmer, but now encountering such a big event, he has also left behind the calmness he has finally learned.
Chapter completed!