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."
Jiang Xuan made a quick decision, and after searching for a long time, he led the soldiers back to the Vine Tribe.
After returning to the Vine Tribe, Jiang Xuan first placed the copper ore he found properly, then went to the planting team to find a dozen warriors who were good at digging, and then brought more than a hundred warriors from the hunting team, and rode his mount to go again.
Where copper ore was discovered.
This time, the tourist no longer had to follow him. Jiang Xuan fulfilled his promise and asked him to join the Vine Tribe and become a peripheral tribe member of the Vine Tribe.
One after another, tourists made an exception and joined the Vine Tribe because of their meritorious service, which made the tourists around them envious.
The minds of many tourists have become active. They also want to look for opportunities to make great achievements, join the Vine Tribe, and get rid of the wandering state like the previous tourists.
On the other side, Jiang Xuan led the hunting team and planting team soldiers back to the place where the copper ore was found.
This time, they brought enough digging tools and the number of people was several times larger.
Even so, so many people searched for three days in a row and dug holes everywhere near the waterfall, but still no copper ore was found.
But Jiang Xuan was unwilling to give up and was determined to find the copper mine.
It wasn't until the fifth day of searching that things took a turn for the better.
At noon on the fifth day, when Uncaria and several warriors planned to hunt some wild beasts for food, they accidentally discovered a cave dug by a giant clawed beast.
Megaclaws are beasts that are very good at digging holes. Their limbs are very thick and their claws are very sharp, making them very suitable for digging in the soil.
In addition, the caves dug by the giant claw beasts are often very deep. Usually, if warriors want to catch the giant claw beasts, they can only rely on traps or happen to encounter them on the ground.
Originally, when Uncaria discovered that it was the cave of the giant claw, she was already planning to turn around and leave because the giant claw was too difficult to catch.
But at this moment, he accidentally discovered some fine malachite and azure ore in a large pile of soil dug out by the giant claw beast!
"Found it, found it! The stone the leader wants to find must be here!"
Uncaria grabbed a few small malachites and screamed excitedly.
Then, he immediately took these fine pieces of malachite to find Jiang Xuan.
Jiang Xuan was beside the bonfire, looking at the sky depressedly.
After he saw those few small malachites, he immediately became energetic and his depressed mood was swept away.
"Let's go, take me there quickly."
Jiang Xuan hurriedly followed Uncaria to the giant claw beast's cave.
Walking to the entrance of the giant clawed beast's cave, Jiang Xuan first dug through the fresh soil and found some fine malachite and even a piece of natural copper the size of a thumb.
Jiang Xuan said excitedly: "This giant-clawed beast must have dug into the veins of the copper mine. Dig, dig along the cave!"
After Jiang Xuan finished speaking, Uncaria and a strong warrior immediately stepped forward to dig hard with bone blades and stone hoes.
Other soldiers cleared away the nearby vegetation and then dug up.
Because their goal is not to catch the giant claw beast, but to find the veins of copper mines. The wider they dig, the greater the chance of finding them.
The giant clawed beast underground never expected that his home would suddenly be dug up.
After it heard the noise, it also started digging quickly underground. It wanted to dig out another exit before the Vine Tribe warriors dug all the caves and escape to avoid becoming food.
"Hang Chi Hang Chi..."
On the ground, the Vine tribe warriors took turns digging. Although they didn't know what the stones were for, the leader said they were important and everyone was very enthusiastic.
"Scratch scrape..."
In the underground cave, the giant clawed beast was also digging desperately. It was frightened by the movement above and desperately wanted to dig a hole to escape.
In this way, the warriors of the Vine tribe were digging on top, and the giant claw beasts were digging on the bottom. Both sides were working hard.
Although the digging tools of the Vine tribe warriors are relatively simple, they are all warriors and have great strength.
Half a day later, a deep pit had been dug into the ground.
As the sky darkened, Jiang Xuan asked the soldiers to stop digging temporarily and hunt some wild beasts to fill their stomachs.
After all, digging is a strenuous job. If your stomach is not full, you will have no strength.
They hunted some game nearby, dug some wild vegetables, and caught a lot of prawns in the creek.
After dark, the warriors of the Vine tribe gathered around the fire and excitedly discussed how long it would take to dig out the stone that the leader wanted.
Jiang Xuan did not tell them what these stones could be used for or how useful they could be.
Because copperware is an epoch-making product, when the tribe is not strong enough to fear everything, it is best not to let too many people know about it.
After the exciting discussion, the soldiers who had worked hard for a day filled their stomachs, and then most of them fell asleep, leaving only a few people to keep watch.
In the middle of the night, Jiang Xuan heard the sound of "scratching" digging again. At a certain moment, the giant clawed beast finally dug out another exit and ran away with a "swish" sound.
Jiang Xuan didn't pay attention, and even had a smile on his face.
This giant clawed beast helped them find the location of the mineral vein, and it was of great benefit to the Vine Tribe. Jiang Xuan had no intention of killing it, so just ran away.
The next day, the Vine tribe warriors continued digging.
By noon, they finally dug out the veins of the copper mine.
A thick, ribbon-shaped, colorful vein emerged from the ground, as if it were a giant metal dragon hidden underground.
Jiang Xuan looked at the large pieces of malachite, azurite, and small pieces of natural copper, and his eyes narrowed with laughter.
At this moment, a soldier dug up another silver-white ore from the veins of the copper mine.
Jiang Xuan walked over and took a look, and was immediately ecstatic.
"Tin ore, it turns out to be tin ore, this is a copper-tin symbiosis mine, hahaha, this is God's intention to help our Teng tribe rise!"
The discovery of the copper-tin symbiotic mine means that the Vine tribe will have the opportunity to smelt bronze that is harder than pure copper and more suitable for weapons and tools!
……
It is said that every additional monthly vote cast by book friends can increase the probability of successful bronze smelting by one point. It depends on everyone’s help...
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－－
Congratulations to "Hao Qingtian" for becoming the master of this book hall, and thanks to the hall master "Hao Qingtian" for the 4,500 book coins.
Thanks to the book friend "Left Way" for the reward.
Thanks to the book friend "Watch the Moon Sets in the West" for the reward.
Thanks to the book friend "It's too difficult to name" for the reward.