Accompanied by Long He, a supervisory trainer, Xu Chen carefully inspected some places inside and outside the valley where excavation and exploration had begun to contain ores.
At the same time, he also demonstrated the mining skills on the spot with a stone hoe.
After all, before time travel, this was what he did exclusively.
He has been conducting field surveys with a pickaxe for many years. Mining and vein exploration are his professional skills. Although he is assisted by various advanced instruments, manual mining is the most common method.
While digging, he also summoned a group of prisoners and supervisors to carefully distinguish which ores were good and which were inferior. After digging, they were sorted and stacked to avoid being mixed together. After sending them to the Ba people, it would take a lot of manpower and time to re-sort them.
Picking, especially for relatively rare and precious minerals such as malachite and raw copper ore, is required to be collected separately and not mixed in the ore.
After working for an hour and being exhausted and sweating profusely, a group of Uzbek hunters and a group of captives who went out to hunt also came back with two wild beasts.
The sun was almost setting at this time, and it was time to call it a day and have dinner.
Xu Chen left the stone hoe behind and went to rest where a group of miners lived.
The valley where the copper ore flows out is about two or three miles deep, with gravel mountains covered with thorns on both sides. This kind of terrain will not form large rock caves, so you can only live near the river beach where the main rivers outside the mouth of the valley meet.
At the foot of the gentle hillside, a simple fence was built with stones, imitating the kilns of the Ba people, and then a row of shacks were built with wood and thatch vines. Inside were stone shacks one after another, paved with hay and
The leaves look similar to those in ordinary savage caves, but more rudimentary.
There is a fire pit surrounded by a large pile of stones, with a large amount of burned ashes in it, but it has been extinguished now, and it seems that it has been extinguished for a long time.
Xu Chen asked a few questions and learned that fires have always been made to keep warm in the cold winter, but after the spring started, it rained a few times, and the fire pond was doused twice.
Besides, the temperature has gradually warmed up since the beginning of spring, and the need for fire has also decreased a lot. Now a group of captives basically eat raw and cold food. As for the hunters and supervisors of the Uzbek tribe, they all go back to the tribe to eat, or bring roasted dry food.
.
Ruying hair, drinking blood, and eating raw and cold food are still the norm for most primitive tribes.
It was only after he invented pottery after time travel that the Ba people slowly got rid of this eating habit.
Therefore, Xu Chen was not too dissatisfied with the diet of a group of captives. After all, the conditions were limited, and the Uzbek people were still in the stage of eating raw and cold food.
What he is worried about is the accommodation conditions.
The rainy season is coming soon. Once the rivers and streams start to swell, it will be impossible to live near the river beach. You must choose a safe place on high ground. In addition, with the arrival of the rainy season, it will be impossible to mine in the valleys and river beaches.
, must move to the hillside.
In addition, after the water rose, large rivers and small rivers were unable to pass normally throughout the summer. It was difficult to transport the excavated ore, let alone to the Ba people. So should mining continue?
Although there are many prisoners, the Gonghuo Clan and the Qia Clan will definitely redeem most of them within a year. It is estimated that a lot of the captives left in the Ji Clan and Cang Clan will be exchanged for them. After all, they are the closest and most convenient.
.
The Wu people are closer to the Ba people, so they will definitely exchange a lot of them during the spring and summer, but not many will be left in the autumn and winter.
Therefore, Xu Chen felt that he should take advantage of the current manpower to dig out as much ore as possible before these free miners were replaced.
But safety issues and ore transportation are big troubles.
This brings us back to the original question. The best solution is to mine, smelt and process copper on site, which is convenient and simple.
Even if there are heavy rains and floods in the summer, as long as the food supply is ensured, this place can become an isolated industrial and mining area.
In fact, most mining areas and smelting and processing plants in the world are in inaccessible areas, which eventually led to the formation of a unique factory and mining culture. Once the ore is dug out, a town born because of factories and mines will soon be abandoned and deserted.
This is the inevitable experience of the development of human civilization.
At first, they were worried about the strength of the Uzbek people and refused to cooperate, so they never put much effort into it. Now, although the copper mine has been controlled by several Uzbek families who have taken refuge, the internal conflicts have not been completely resolved.
Where there are interests, there will inevitably be struggles.
Those families of the Uzbek people who have not yet surrendered will not see this huge benefit that belongs to all of them fall into the hands of a few people. The greater the benefits and the longer the time, the deeper the contradiction will be.
Although Xu Chen was happy to see the conflicts within the Uzbek people, he would not be happy if such conflicts threatened his own interests.
A dead Taoist friend will not die a poor Taoist, it is applicable to all countries.
Therefore, if you want to open large-scale mining or even complete smelting and processing on the territory of the Uzbek tribe, you still need to completely deal with the group of die-hard elements represented by the Uzbek tribe leader.
Although they are beginning to show weakness now, they are not yet completely submissive after all.
Once they want to secretly cause trouble, no one can prevent them. The smelting furnace is over a thousand degrees hot, and any negligence may cause huge casualties. If they come every three to five, even the families who have taken refuge will be frightened.
give up.
Therefore, if you want to truly build the Uzbek tribe into a copper mining, smelting and processing base, you must give up part of your interests to appease a group of tribal leaders, including the Uzbek tribe chief.
As long as there are sufficient benefits, the Uzbek people will definitely be very willing to cooperate in completing the excavation and smelting.
In time, the entire Uzbek habitat will turn into a huge copper smelting and processing plant, and it may even become the most important core industrial area of the Dachen Empire in the future.
Copper ore is continuously transported by ships using rivers, and is smelted in the valley outside. Then a dock is built at the mouth of the river outside the valley mouth, and river boats are built. The copper can be transported down the river to the vast downstream plain area.
There, there will be a huge city, with lead, tin, and charcoal transported from various places, which will be smelted into bronze alloys, weapons, axles, tripods, chimes...
The trajectory of five thousand years of Chinese civilization will unfold again, thus kicking off a splendid Bronze Age.
"Long live your Majesty the Witch King!"
Thousands of great witches and saints holding staffs and wearing cloaks knelt down and worshiped the heroic man sitting on the dragon's throne.
There are invisible phalanxes of chariots, cavalry, and infantry, and densely packed flags like a forest.
The Great Morning Empire unified the world and shocked all races. His Majesty the King of the Morning became the unprecedented King of Witches...
"Gudong~"
Xu Chen couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, and wiped his mouth full of saliva with his hands.
After coming back to his senses and looking at the shabby and crude habitat in front of him and the vast stretches of barren river beaches and barren mountains around him, he suppressed the noise and shouts of "Long Live the Witch King" that were filling his mind and took a deep breath to calm down his emotions.
mentality.
Dreaming is not a problem, daydreaming is fucked up.
It seems that I have been too inflated recently after defeating the Gonghuo Tribe and the Wu Tribe.
This mentality is getting more and more out of control.
this is not good.
What's more, for such a big copper mine, with dozens of captive miners who will soon be ransomed and the tattered wooden sticks in their hands, it is no more than a dream to complete large-scale mining.
To really open this copper mine, at least hundreds or even thousands of miners are needed, as well as a large number of strong and sharp metal tools for mining, logging, charcoal burning, smelting, transportation...
Everything is difficult at the beginning, difficult in the middle, and difficult at the end.
Faced with the poor start before him, Xu Chen instantly felt the urge to return to the Ba tribe and continue living in poverty.
What's more, he hasn't figured out how to deal with the Uzbek tribe leader and the group of Uzbek leaders who follow her.
Two small beasts were thrown on the river beach. A group of prisoners swarmed up and began to disembowel the meat and cut up the meat. Each one of them sat on the ground with a bloody piece and began to eat.
The strong scent of blood drifted in the evening breeze.
With a twitching face, Xu Chen called together the three training commanders from the Long and Wu tribe who were responsible for overseeing the work and leading the hunt for a temporary guidance meeting.
Although the conditions are difficult, the current management is too chaotic, and the accommodation and food conditions also need to be greatly improved. Of course, the most important thing is to carry out smelting work on site to reduce the unnecessary consumption of transporting ore.
First, in view of the deficiencies in management, Xu Chen demanded that the Uzbek people must strengthen the reward and punishment mechanism, include all miners in military training, and conduct militarized management by imitating the daily training of hunters.
Food cannot be left to them to scramble for food in a chaotic manner. Management must be strengthened to distribute food according to work.
Well-trained laborers who are proactive can be assigned relatively easy tasks, and can even be incorporated into hunting teams or supervisory teams, and can be promoted and appointed to some small bosses to achieve the purpose of self-confrontation and management.
This is not a prisoner of war concentration camp, it is just a punitive labor reform. To put it bluntly, it is a robbery of labor force. The prisoners must be proactive themselves.
Only a combination of discipline and rewards and punishments can change the current messy situation.
In addition, the accommodation conditions also need to be improved. In order to guard against the dangers caused by rising river water after the rainy season, it is necessary to choose a safe area with higher terrain to rebuild the house.
The house should be as strong as possible. It can be a combination of a stone house and a tent. It can be built with wood, stone and mud. It does not need to be spacious, but it needs to be able to shelter from wind and rain.
In addition, spring and summer are also the periods when snakes, rats, insects and ants are active. Prevention of parasites and diseases is also very important. The living environment should be kept as clean and hygienic as possible, the food should be cooked as much as possible, and excrement should be kept as far away as possible. It is best to gather it in a fixed place.
Excretion must be separated from the living area to reduce the risk of infection by pests, diseases, and parasites.
In cases where people have disappeared, patrols around the mining area should be strengthened, the nearby two miles should be included in the monitoring scope, wild wolves and other ferocious beasts should be driven away, and efforts should be made to ensure the safety of life in the mining area.
In addition, in view of the captives' habit of working hard, a credit accumulation system can be adopted, and performance appraisals can be conducted according to groups. Better tools, more food, better accommodation conditions, etc. can be allocated to strengthen incentives. As long as the mining reaches a certain amount
, you can also take a vacation and rest, or even end the labor reform early and let them return to the tribe, etc.