The other two pavilion elders also nodded solemnly: "You have indeed neglected your duty!"
"Now is not the time to hold people accountable, Father."
The prince looked at Emperor Zhaoming behind the desk, frowned and said: "This brochure only said that the iron ore was smuggled into the Construction Department, but it did not say why the bandits did this.
They exploited iron ore selfishly, concealed it without reporting anything, and audaciously abducted people to mine, causing countless deaths and injuries.
The ore they spent so much effort to mine ended up flowing into the Ministry of Industry of the Imperial Court...
Isn’t this too strange?”
The prince looked at the three pavilion elders again and said in a deep voice: "Could it be that the purpose of the bandits is just to add more ore to the imperial court, so they don't hesitate to go through so many tricks?"
Mr. Wen Ge shook his head: "The prince is joking, how is this possible?"
"If it's impossible, then why do they do it? What's the benefit to them of secretly transporting the ore to the Construction Department?" the prince asked rhetorically.
The three pavilion elders were silent for a moment.
Zhan Beihan didn't say anything either.
Xiao Lingyue hesitated for a moment and then said: "Your Majesty, I have an idea."
Everyone looked at her.
Emperor Zhaoming said: "Come and listen."
Xiao Lingyue said: "A few days ago, when I and King Yi were exploring Hulang Mountain, they visited the entire village and found that there was nothing unusual in the village, it was just an ordinary village.
The location of the iron mine is separated from the village by a mountain, and it must be reached through a secret passage.
After arriving at the iron mine, my daughter did not find anything smelting on the mine land.
In other words, those bandits robbed the people and only mined the ore, but they were unable to smelt the ore into iron tools."
The ore requires deep processing to be smelted into iron.
Otherwise it's just stone.
This is well known.
Emperor Zhaoming frowned and said: "You mean, those bandits smuggled the ore into the Construction Department, just to use the furnaces in the Construction Department to smelt the ore into iron tools, and then find a way to transport it out?"
Xiao Lingyue nodded: "This is the most likely. After all, apart from the Construction Department, Northern Qin can't find another place where ore can be smelted in large quantities."
Smelting ore requires a special furnace and coal, which must be repeatedly smelted to produce iron juice.
After the iron juice cools, it turns into iron blocks.
This kind of iron can be made into weapons, armor and other things.
What the bandit village has is only ore. They have neither a furnace nor coal, so it is impossible to process the ore into iron blocks.
So they have to think of other ways.
In the entire territory of Northern Qin, the only place that has the conditions to smelt a large amount of ore is the Construction Department of the Ministry of Industry.
"When I and King Yi were at the mine, they captured the leader of the bandit village alive. According to his own words, he and the people in the bandit village were only responsible for mining, transporting ore, and smelting iron. All of this was done by Nan Yan.
People are responsible.”
Xiao Lingyue said: "Iron ore itself is extremely heavy and difficult to transport. Even if the bandits excavate a large amount of iron-containing ore, it is impossible to travel all the way through Northern Qin and Wei and send it to Southern Yan - this
The process is too difficult and could be discovered at any time.”
"Therefore."
Zhan Bei answered coldly: "The bandits want to keep their business secret, and Nanyan wants to obtain new iron stably. There is only one way, which is to smelt the iron ore on site, turn it into pure iron, and then find a way to transport it out!
"
A huge piece of iron ore, after being smelted at high temperature, may produce iron as big as a fist.
This kind of pure iron can not only be directly used to make weapons, but it is also very convenient to transport, much easier than smuggling ore.
The prince's eyes turned cold when he heard this: "This is why they want to get inside the court, collude with officials and gangsters, and mix private ore into the Ministry of Industry?!"
"Other than that, I can't think of any other reason." Zhan Beihan said.
"In this case, the ore was sent to the Construction Department, and after it was smelted into iron, how was it smuggled out?" This chapter has been completed!