It took almost three hours for everyone to reach the top of the mountain with hands and feet. From here, you can see mountains high and low as far as the eye can see. There are tropical savanna vegetation nearby and lush forests in the distance.
Everyone carefully observed the surrounding soil and vegetation. They also tried to dig in some places. The soil on the hillside is relatively typical southern red soil, and there are no special ore outcrops. Although this iron mine is called an open-pit, there are also
It is still covered with several meters of soil. They have to determine which points of iron ore are worth mining - the traversers do not have the powerful machinery of modern mining to remove the covering soil on the surface of the mineral deposits on a large scale.
After digging several times, Cui Yunhong was still dissatisfied and decided to use modern geophysical equipment to find it. He showed off his most precious transient electromagnetic meter, anchor detector and ultrasonic detector for a while, and finally delineated the possible location.
He explored several sites for development and dug less than 1 meter before discovering magnetite. He knocked off a piece and visually inspected it, and it turned out to be a rare and rich iron ore.
When Li Benqing saw the head shopkeeper playing around with some weird things, he started to dig a hole and dug out a stone and put it in his pocket like a treasure. However, this stone was neither gold nor silver, and it was not the most popular among the Han people.
I can't help but wonder about the green stone I like.
Cui Yunhong led the team further down the mountain for more than ten miles, and successively discovered multiple mineral spots suitable for mining, and also discovered an associated pyrite mine. Unfortunately, transportation was inconvenient, otherwise it would be a good fertilizer for the agricultural sector.
As for the legendary malachite mine, it has never been found, but Cui Yunhong didn't take it to heart - compared to iron, their demand for copper is very limited, and the Japanese red copper imported from Guangdong is almost enough.
A few people trekked all the way on the hillside and ridges carrying equipment on their backs, and from time to time they had to dig holes to set up equipment for drawing. Under the hot sun, everyone was sweating profusely, and pieces of miscanthus stuck to their skin, causing pain and itching.
It was finally time to take a break at noon. I drank the salt water that He Ping had mixed in the morning. As for the rice cakes that everyone agreed were unpalatable, they were all eaten with a slurp. The physical exertion was really too much.
"Do you want to continue the exploration in the afternoon?" Jiang Muzhi, the representative of the industrial port, asked breathlessly. His physical fitness was relatively poor and he had a lot of fat. After a whole morning of hard work, he was already a little overwhelmed.
Originally, Cui Yunhong didn't want to take him to join the expedition, but Bai Guoshi left with the ship and was going to lead another expedition to Tiandu. There was no one in the team who knew much about biology, animals and plants.
"Of course, it's not easy to come here once. We have to collect as much information as possible and go back."
"God, please let me go back to the 21st century. When will this day end!" Someone finally couldn't bear it anymore and wailed.
"It's like eating KFC." Someone looked at the sky with blank eyes, "There are also grilled mutton skewers, grilled chicken bones, grilled corn in front of our school..."
"It's too late to think so now, just work honestly." Cui Yunhong said with a smile.
"Isn't it difficult to mine such a big mountain?" Jiang Muzhi asked.
"Mining is not difficult," Ye Yuming said, "If you completely ignore the laws and regulations on mine safety production, just give me fifty workers. It is purely manual operation, only one shift during the day, and each person produces ore every day
Two tons is no problem. We can produce 100 tons of ore in one day, which is almost 40,000 tons of iron ore for the whole year." He used to work in mine safety supervision and knew a lot about mine blasting and mining.
"Aren't you running a black coal mine?"
"It's not black, it's just average. Besides, this kind of open-pit mine doesn't need to dig tunnels at all, just remove the outer covering soil." Ye Yuming looked around the mountain, "Actually, the amount of earth and stone in this mountain is not that big.
It’s not too big. If you have enough explosives, you can completely blow it up——”
Several people took a breath of cold air, and the whole thing exploded? Darling, it just knocked down a mountain. It was really a big move.
Cui Yunhong knows that this is not an exaggeration. It is very common to blast away a mountaintop in open-pit mining, and it is not technically difficult. Whether the Crossing Group has this ability is another matter.
"With 40,000 tons of iron ore a year, Ji Wusheng smiled crookedly."
"Such a rich iron ore can be used to make steel directly."
"This is only based on fifty mining workers, each working ten hours a day." Ye Yuming said, "When the Japanese mined in Shilu, each worker worked 14 hours per shift, and the quota was 8 tons.
In addition to a small number of pneumatic picks, the mines at that time did not have much mechanized mining. With the ability of our group, we could maintain a mining team of 200 to 300 people and mine 150,000 tons of iron ore a year.
questionable."
Cui Yunhong said: "Actually, such open-pit mining does not cost much, but it requires supporting facilities. Just for workers to eat, drink, and have sex, they have to build a small village. If the arrangement is not good, it is not enough. Mining and transportation require high-intensity labor, and the quality of life is too high."
Otherwise, the mortality rate will be very high. Unless we engage in death mining like the Japanese do and directly use human lives to fill it, otherwise the mine will collapse in a few months."
Huang Zhao said boldly: "From now on, we will capture men from Japan and come over to mine!"
"No matter who does it, the amount of the project will not be small." Cui Yunhong said, "The difficulty with Shilu is the difficulty in transporting ore." He opened the map and said, "Originally, Changhua River provided a convenient passage to the sea, but it is a pity that Shilu Ridge does not
Not on the bank of the Changhua River, the only feasible route is still the same as the route chosen by the Japanese back then, building a railway from Shilu to Basuo and then out to sea from Basuo."
However, the construction of this line was quite difficult, as the terrain along the way was complex. When the Japanese army laid this 55-kilometer railway line, tens of thousands of workers were used, and it took 5 months to complete.
The line's terrain is flat between Bacsuo Port and Bac Li. There are hilly areas between Bac Li and Baoqiao. To the east of Baoqiao there are mountainous areas. The valley and hilly area between Bacli and Baoqiao are 15 kilometers long. The project is especially
Difficult. A total of 17 bridges were built along the line, including 3 large bridges, 3 medium bridges, 11 small bridges, and 178 culverts. All of them are reinforced concrete or iron frame structures. There is also a bridge built between Baoqiao and Shilu.
Tunnel, total length 250 meters.
Basuo was originally a small fishing village. In order to accommodate the entry of ore ships of more than 10,000 tons, it was expanded into an artificial port. The entire Shilu development included mines, railways, ports and power plants, employing a total of 140,000 workers. The number of workers killed and injured was more than
Thousands of things.
After hearing this number, everyone felt that it was not feasible to mine here. Jiang Muzhi whispered: "In this case, are we here in vain? The executive committee will definitely not develop Shilu."
"I also think that at least this idea will not be used in the first five-year plan." Ye Yuming said, "If you ask me, it would be better to go to the trouble of building a railway to the eighth place and then build a man-made port in the eighth place.
Just build it directly to Tiandu, connect the two major mining areas, and ship them out from Yulin, a natural port."
"The line is about 180 kilometers long, and it's not easy. The Japanese didn't finish it until 1943."
After the discussion on the development prospects of Shilu Iron Mine ended, the expedition team, which had recovered from their fatigue, continued their investigation activities on the mountains. During this period, Cui Yunhong collected other types of ores, but only malachite remained.
Refusing to show up - is she unlucky? Cui Yunhong was really puzzled. Shilu has been famous for its copper mines for hundreds of years, which means that malachite exposed on the surface should be very common. This kind of search did not end until it was getting late and went down the mountain.
.
Secondly, on the third day, the expedition team continued to conduct inspections and explorations around Shilu Mountain. During this period, they encountered a black bear by chance. The two sides looked at each other for a few minutes and ended with the black bear retreating on its own initiative. Although Huang Zhao wanted to
I'm addicted to shooting, but it's not easy to deal with such a huge creature, it's a waste.
Cui Yunhong saw that there would be no new discoveries if he continued the investigation, so on the morning of the fourth day, everyone broke camp and turned back. There was no conversation on the way, and they returned to the Sancha River. The bamboo raft was still in place. After a night's rest, they boarded the boat and turned around, following the current.
The disembarkation speed was very fast, and we had already returned to Li Village in the afternoon.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered Li Village, he was surrounded by more than a dozen Li Dings. Each of these people held swords and guns and had serious faces. Many ordinary people in the village stood in the distance and looked around. This posture shocked Cui Yunhong.
, you think we didn’t do anything bad?
"Xiaomu, what do you think your compatriots are planning to do?"
Mu Min said helplessly: "I am from the Li ethnic group, but I can't speak the Li language -"
While they were panicking, one of the leading figures bowed and spoke to them with a very respectful expression. However, they still couldn't understand a word.
Fortunately, Li Benqing was there. It turned out that this person was an Aoya from the village. He said that the owner of the cave in our village was very ill. I heard that they, Han merchants, had a magic medicine that cured Li Benqing's cold and fever in one go.
I want to ask them to give some magic medicine to save the cave owner.
Everyone was quite embarrassed when they heard this. If it was just malaria, it would be easy, just give him a few more chloroquine pills. But He Ping was just a half-baked health worker. If he was asked to treat the doctor seriously, it would be fine if he happened to get it wrong.
Killing people - these are the family members of the leader of the village! In the 21st century, Chinese people still chase doctors and nurses in the hospital after their relatives die, let alone in a primitive village house in the 17th century.
He Ping said: "Let's go and have a look."
"Are you really prepared to go and treat this cave master?" Mu Min was really worried.
"It would be even worse not to go. I think these people are quite sincere."
"But you don't even know what disease he has!" Mu Min said anxiously, "This is the master of Yidong. If you die, everyone in the village will be angry with you, and we will be too late to save you-"
"Don't worry, I have been educated by Dr. Shi for several months. I am still confident in my basic medical skills and can always cope with it. Besides, if we really want to leave, they may not be able to stop us."
Huang Zhao nodded: "Indeed, in the worst case, we can just kill them out. If you are afraid of injuring others, you can simply take Li Benqing away as well -"
"Don't worry, if you find that it can't be cured, I will give you some placebo. At most, you will be driven away, but I will never kill people."
So they agreed to treat the cave owner. The group returned to Li Benqing's residence first and took stock of the medicine box in their luggage. Because it was used by the expedition team, it contained various bandages, dressings, commonly used medicines, and anti-inflammatory drugs.
All kinds are available. There are also simple surgical instruments and sterilizing drugs.
While everyone was cleaning things, Li Benqing walked around outside and then quietly came back. With a worried look on his face, he said to Xiong Buyou: "Several shopkeepers, I'm afraid the disease of this cave owner cannot be cured with medicine-"
Xiong Buyou hurriedly asked what was going on? Li Benqing quietly told them:
It turned out that the owner of the cave had been ill for seven or eight days, and he had used Li people's medicinal herbs, but he could not recover. The people in the village suspected that he had been "banned". The so-called "banned" is similar to the ghosts and gods in Han Dynasty.
, it is generally believed that some people with magic skills summoned "ghosts" to harm people. The owner of the cave invited Taoist priests to unblock the ghosts, but they could not be released anyway. It is said that the summoned "ghost" was very powerful.
.so that no one dares to provoke this matter now.
"You are Han people, why bother to trouble the Li family?" Li Benqing kindly advised, "If the person who imposed the ban is angry and you intervene, and imposes a ban on you, wouldn't it be a disaster?"
Naturally, people don't care about this, but they can't fearlessly say "We are atheist fighters". This statement is probably unconvincing.
"Don't worry, old man," Xiong Buyou comforted, "We have science -"
"How powerful are your scientific ghosts?" Li Benqing's rhetorical question made everyone dumbfounded. It turns out that there is no concept of God in the original religious beliefs of the Li people, and supernatural powers are called "ghosts."
While they were talking, Mu Min suddenly walked up and asked, "Since someone is said to be banning someone, is it the male or female?"
"I heard that she is a forbidden mother. The Oyas have already asked people to arrest this woman." Li Benqing shook his head and said, "A good woman, I don't know what evil happened to her."
"This is bad." Mu Min was a little anxious.
"What's wrong?" Everyone was confused.
Mu Min explained that whenever there is a so-called "banned" thing, Daogong will name someone as the person who "imposed the ban". The man is called "Jin Gong" and the woman is called "Jin Mother".
People who have been declared as "forbidden men" and "forbidden mothers" are somewhat similar to the "wizards" and "witches" in medieval Europe. Everyone is afraid of and hates them, and believes that they may impose prohibitions on others at any time. In this way, Li Zhai
Once someone is accused of being a "forbidden male" or "forbidden mother", the masses will often kill them. In some places, it is a little gentler, but it is also inevitable to use so-called "ghost exorcism" methods such as torture and forcing them to bathe naked.
.This phenomenon was not eliminated until the 1950s with the vigorous intervention of the People's Government.
Now that someone is recognized as a forbidden mother, this woman's life is in danger.